Chapter 107:
What? Am I dating?
“Why did you buy so many masks?”
“Mom, I might need them someday.”
“You can buy masks here too…”
Nahyunju sighed as she saw the masks that Ian brought in bulk.
She thought he must have had a reason, so she put the masks in the warehouse and hugged Ian lightly.
“It’s good that you got a vacation. Welcome back.”
“I don’t think I can come back for a while… Ouch!”
Jessie Choi, the daughter of his grandfather who used him as a shield against the know-it-all cousins, slapped Ian’s back.
“Sis, when did you come?”
“Just now. Wow, our family has idols too. You’re very popular, right?”
“Here?”
Was he famous enough for ordinary Americans to recognize him? Ian looked at his cousin with a puzzled face.
“The K-pop fans love MyDIA and you guys the most.”
“Really?”
“Why did you come when I was busy? When are you going to tour again? Give me some tickets too.”
“Look who’s talking.”
Ian got hit on his back again.
He ate rice cake soup and met his friends at the gathering of his relatives. His five-day sweet vacation flew by and he boarded the plane to Korea.
***
“…Didn’t we say we’re moving?”
The first thing Ian saw when he arrived at the dorm was the piles of holiday food in front of the fridge.
He casually put his carry-on bag in the living room and headed to the kitchen.
“Are you here?”
Jotaewoong was sitting at the table and calmly eating a rice cake.
“We said we’re moving, but everyone gave us so much food.
They said to eat with the members.”
“Adults are like that.”
“But it’s winter now, so it won’t be bad to take them with us when we move, right?”
“It might be okay if we freeze them…”
Ian sat next to Jotaewoong and picked up a rice cake.
It was cold because it wasn’t heated, but it was still delicious because it was homemade.
“Did you rest well?”
“Yeah, you too?”
“Wow, no kidding. They even brought albums and asked me to sign them. I would have taken them if they told me. Grandma was making a fuss that we have a superstar in our family. She even took pictures with my cousins. It was like a fan meeting.”
He groaned but his face was full of pride as he spoke. Jotaewoong rummaged through the fridge and put some food in it.
“What did you do there?”
“The same thing, ate rice cake soup, met friends… Oh yeah. The K-pop fans there like us a lot too.”
“Really?”
“There were some people who recognized me on the street.”
“Wow… We’ve grown a lot, a lot.”
Jotaewoong laughed like an idiot. Ian looked around the dorm that had no signs of popularity and asked.
“Where are the others?”
“They haven’t come yet. I’m the first one.”
“So all this food… You brought it?”
“Yeah.”
One person brought this much holiday food? Ian felt uneasy at that moment. Kim Juyeong came in through the door lock and shouted.
“Who’s home? Help me! I have too much luggage!”
Ian unconsciously touched his forehead.
***
Awi prepared to move out of the dorm.
Unfortunately, they were moving away from the company, but they were moving to a spacious place with five rooms and three bathrooms.
“Take good care of your fans’ gifts. If you ever lose their letters…”
Park Jinhyuk made a throat-slitting gesture.
“I already took them home.”
“But even if we don’t lose them, someone will bash us. They might make fake letters and bash us with them.”
He said that but he put the fans’ gifts in the deepest part of the box. Kim Hyun wrapped the collage frame in the living room with bubble wrap carefully.
[Wow, they know everything. They really need to get off the internet.]
‘Is it common to make fake letters?’
[It’s common if they want to ruin our popularity. There are weird people everywhere. But not many people believe them. Their goal is to stir up the fandom.]
‘They have nothing better to do.’
The members started packing their stuff early in the morning and stacked boxes in front of the door. Park Dongsu came to work early and helped them pack.
“Guys, are you almost done?”
“Yes. I put the important stuff over there.”
“Good. Since we’re at the moving center, go practice at the company.”
They hired a company that specialized in moving celebrities.
The dorm that Awi used to live in would become the trainees’ dorm, so there was no furniture to move.
“How many award ceremonies are we going to in February?”
“Three.”
“There’s no end to it, no end.”
But since they could do the same stages they did on music shows, they didn’t need any extra preparation.
Juhyuk and Jinhuk went to the composing room, and the rest of the members decided to practice the cover song that would go up on Awi’s official YouTube channel.
“Where’s our dorm again?”
“Gimpo, they said it’s spacious.”
“Honestly, seven people in two rooms and one bathroom was too much.”
“I’m glad we don’t have to fight for the bathroom anymore.”
Especially, having a battle for the bathroom every morning was quite stressful.
When they went down to the basement, it was lunchtime and the trainees who came out of the next practice room greeted Awi.
“Hello!”
“Oh, hi. Did you have a good holiday?”
“Yes.”
Nouel hid among the trainees when she saw Awi, but she couldn’t avoid Jo Taeung’s eyes.
“Nouel, hi!”
“Ah… hello.”
Nouel tried to leave, but Jo Taeung blocked her with his arm around her shoulder. Ian put his hand on her opposite shoulder.
“How’s your leg?”
“You took off the cast, you must be healed.”
Nouel’s pupils trembled without mercy as both her shoulders were held.
“I was really grateful back then.”
“Next time, I’ll give you banana milk in person. I enjoyed it.”
“How… how did you…”
Nouel’s expression turned sour. Should I stop teasing her? Ian pushed Nouel’s back.
“Guys, have a good lunch.”
The trainees headed for the stairs. Kim Hyun scolded Ian and Jo Taeung.
“Hey, stop it. People will think you’re ripping her off.”
“We’re just trying to take care of her… Her reaction is fun.”
Jo Taeung and Ian smiled playfully. Ian was curious because his fan was a trainee from the same company, so he talked to her more.
After the world tour, their breathing was so well matched that they could quickly finish recording the dance cover video for YouTube.
The members who finished uploading checked the explosive comments that came up.
Juhyuk, who was in the composing room, opened the door of the practice room and said.
“Guys, Myungjin hyung is coming up soon. He must have finished moving.”
“New dorm!”
The members who were lying down in the practice room got up with a jolt.
As they excitedly played train and went up to the first floor, the trainees who came out for a break passed them casually.
At first they thought ‘This company is weird.’ but now they had already figured out the atmosphere of the company.
***
“We’re almost there.”
“Over there?”
“Yeah, over there. See?”
The members looked around closely as they leaned their faces to the window at Kim Myungjin’s words.
“There’s a shopping mall first.”
“We passed a big mart earlier.”
“Nice.”
Juhyuk and Jinhuk’s eyes sharpened as they checked the area near the dorm. Ian pointed to the other side.
“There, a convenience store.”
“Oh nice nice. If there’s a convenience store, it’s game over.”
The van smoothly headed for the underground parking lot. The members who got out of the van sniffed the smell.
“It’s new. I’ll give you 10 points right away.”
“The smell of a new house is very fragrant.”
“I wanted to catch new house syndrome anyway.”
Kim Myungjin smiled as he watched the members’ flattery from behind.
“Guys, this is it. Here on the 15th floor.”
“15th floor? Wow, it’s high-rise.”
“The security system is well done too, so there won’t be much trouble.”
“I really like it, hyung.”
The members followed Kim Myungjin into the elevator and stared intently at the rising floor numbers with excited faces.
“Wow!”
“It’s spacious?”
The members entered the living room of their new accommodation. Their luggage was piled up in the living room. Park Dong-soo, who was checking the last bag, blinked his tired eyes.
“Guys, you can choose your own rooms. I’ll pick you up tomorrow.”
“Thank you, Dong-soo hyung!”
The managers left, and the members excitedly explored the house.
The furniture was already furnished.
There was a kitchen and a living room, a bathroom in the living room, three single rooms and two large rooms with attached bathrooms.
“Let’s decide on the rooms first. How do we do that?”
“Well, Ju-hyuk hyung should have a single room.”
“That’s obvious.”
The large rooms had two beds on each wall. The members sat at the dining table in the living room.
“Guys, I’m fine with a large room.”
“No, hyung, you should have a single room. You can’t overwork yourself.”
“What does that have to do with having a single room?”
Kim Ju-young pulled his head back and made a double chin with a scowl.
“Hyung. Honestly, I can’t share a room with you. Your snoring is scary.”
At his words, Kim Hyun raised his hand.
“I’ve heard Ju-hyuk hyung’s snoring before. It was honestly kind of scary.”
“Really? Sorry… Then I’ll have a single room.”
“Then one single room goes to Ju-hyuk hyung.”
Lee Ju-hyuk, who secretly wanted a single room, quickly got up and took his luggage to his room. Park Jin-hyuk looked at the remaining members.
“Who wants a single room?”
Everyone raised their hands.
“Then let’s do rock-paper-scissors and the two winners get the remaining single rooms and the rest divide the large rooms among themselves?”
“Deal.”
The members bravely stretched out their hands at Kim Hyun’s words.
The members exchanged glances and swallowed their saliva.
“No single room if you don’t play rock-paper-scissors!”
Kim Hyun opened his mouth and Ian put out scissors.
The rest of the members put out paper.
Ian jumped up.
“I’m done.”
“Come on… best of three.”
“Nope, no such thing~”
Ian shook off Jo Tae-woong’s hand grabbing his sleeve and moved his luggage with glee.
The remaining members played rock-paper-scissors again with serious expressions.
After Ian, the winner was Park Seo-dam.
“Yes! Good luck, hyungs.”
Park Seo-dam also got up from his seat and went to sort out his luggage. Ian and Park Seo-dam high-fived each other as they moved their luggage.
“Ju-young, you know our friendship, right? I’m better than those hyungs since we’re the same age, right?”
“Hey, you and hyung are a dance duo. We need to share a room to have synergy, you know what I mean.”
“Hyung, did you get more tactful? And honestly, you know I’m cleaner than them.”
The one who wanted to be taken to the large room was Kim Ju-young, the group’s cleaning king.
Kim Ju-young arrogantly crossed his arms and scanned the roommate candidates.
***
The exciting day at the new accommodation passed, and morning came. Ian woke up from his sleep by the loud ringing of his phone.
“Ugh…”
Ian groaned.
He was not in a good mood because his long-awaited sleep was interrupted.
He frowned and grabbed his phone as soon as he picked it up.
Missed calls 14
“What?”
The caller was all Park Dong-soo.
Ian stretched and went out of his room.
The members who had received Park Dong-soo’s call were coming out one by one to the living room.
“Did you guys get a call from Dong-soo hyung too?”
“Yes. What’s going on?”
“But why are there so many messages?”
The members who checked their messages went to the main page of the portal site.
‘What?’
Ian also received messages from other people.
The message content was a question mark with an article link attached.
As soon as Ian clicked on the link of the article, he opened his mouth wide at the absurd content.
“Hey, what is this?”
“Ian, what is this article?”
The six members stared at Ian’s face.
Ian blinked his eyes wide open and answered incoherently.
“…What? I’m dating?”
When did I get a girlfriend?
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