Chapter 87:

Chapter 87:

Chapter 87

It’s not me.

(Unfortunately, AWY is on a world tour, so it’s hard to cancel their schedule right away.)

(That’s too bad.)

(Do you have anyone else in mind besides AWY?)

(Well...)

There was one more person he could think of. But... Lim Tae-woo’s face hardened.

Would he resent me for disappearing without a word? Would he be angry at me for changing my number and going off the grid? But I can’t ignore him any longer.

After a moment of thought, he opened his eyes and said.

(Yong-min. Kim Yong-min, who was in Diamond with me.)

***

“If it’s a long padding ad, are we supposed to do something like this?”

Park Jin-hyuk gestured in the air, pretending to swing a coat that he didn’t even wear.

“And then they’ll add Mount Everest in the background?”

“And the wind will blow from the front and make our hair flutter like this.”

AWY arrived at the shooting site with high expectations, as the clothing brand they were shooting for was a subsidiary of a large corporation.

“The concept of the ad is penguins.”

“Penguins...?”

And their expectations were shattered.

“Yes, do you see that green screen over there? They’ll add the Antarctic background.”

The members, who wore long padding from head to toe, finished the shooting quickly by walking and imitating penguins.

‘It’s not... penguins...’

‘Long padding!’

That was the narration that AWY members had to record later.

What about Everest? The camera that sweeps over the whole body as if flying in the wind?

‘How is it?’

‘It must be fun...?’

The members nodded their heads as they looked at the storyboard of the ad together.

“Next, there will be a short group video of us wearing padding. But this version is a bit crazy.”

“Oh, is there another version?”

“Yes, the other version is just us dancing with our padding on. Coolly.”

There was a non-crazy version too! The members sighed with relief inside.

Anyway, they were only going to film the back of the members walking from afar, so the preparation time was not long. all new stories at n0ve/lbi/n(.)com

All they had to do was wrap their bodies carefully with padding.

Ian put on the gray padding that the staff handed him and exclaimed softly.

“Oh, this looks nice, doesn’t it? It’s light.”

“You can take it with you when you’re done.”

“Really?”

“Yes, the head office told us to give it to you as a gift. If you look closely here...”

The staff pointed to the sleeve of Ian’s padding.

There was AWY’s logo embroidered on it.

“It’s one of only seven in the world. That’s what the advertiser asked us to tell you.”

“Wow! Advertiser! Lord!”

The members zipped up their padding to their necks and jumped up and down in their seats, dancing a tribal dance they had seen somewhere.

“It looks expensive and they’re giving it away for free?”

“We have to show them what a real ad model is, don’t we?”

“Let’s wear this in the summer too?”

“Jin-hyuk hyung, that’s too much.”

Anyway, free is good.

The members smiled happily.

A crazy ad would also spread by word of mouth if it was good.

“Don’t we have to make it look like real penguins if we’re going to do it?”

“How do penguins walk?”

“Like this?”

Park Seo-dam and Kim Joo-young had tears in their eyes after watching the fan video, and their eyes were red because of that.

“It was so good in Seoul too.”

Ian, who finally shared a room with Kim Joo-young, the cleaning king, muttered as he lay on his bed.

“Me too...”

Kim Joo-young lay on his bed next to him and stared blankly at the ceiling.

“I wish we could do more than just perform.”

Ian jumped up at Kim Joo-young’s words.

“Why can’t we do more? The best thing is to keep working for a long time without getting into trouble.”

“That’s true.”

“No crime, drugs or dating until our 30s.”

“Ah, dating is a bit... We’re going to become wizards at this rate.”

“It’s okay to be a wizard once in your life, right? How many years left until we become wizards?”

“If I knew this would happen, I would have dated a girlfriend when I was a trainee...”

Ian and Kim Joo-young chatted casually and fell asleep.

***

Ian watched Lim Tae-woo’s broadcast appearances whenever he had time during his tour, and one of them was broadcasted when AWY couldn’t appear due to their schedule.

The special program after ‘The Man of Trot’ was an entertainment program where ‘The Man of Trot’ TOP7 contestants went to meet someone they missed or wanted to see.

‘Huh...? Something looks familiar here?’

Lim Tae-woo, who was going to meet someone he missed, looked nervously outside, and the outside scenery was familiar.

Lim Tae-woo got out of the van with a gift basket. He waved his hand happily at the person who was walking over from the other side.

(Yongmin!)

“Me?!”

[Is that Kim Yongmin?!]

Strictly speaking, I’m not him anymore. Ian pressed his face to the small phone screen.

It was Kim Yongmin, who looked a bit aged but still healthy. Ian felt a strange feeling as he faced his past self across the screen.

(Taewoo, long time no see. I watched ‘The Man of Trot’. You still got it.)

Kim Yongmin smiled brightly with a carefree face. At his smile, Taewoo suddenly burst into tears.

(What? Why are you crying all of a sudden?)

(I’m... I’m sorry for disappearing without a word back then...)

Kim Yongmin laughed out loud and hugged Taewoo.

(Kid... You didn’t cry like this before. Why are you crying now?)

“Exactly...”

Ian twisted his face as if he was about to cry.

He felt unfamiliar with the sight of his former self moving on the screen.

And at this moment, he wanted to be Kim Yongmin again and talk to Taewoo honestly.

After that, Kim Yongmin grilled some charcoal meat for Taewoo, whom he hadn’t seen in a long time, and the real talk time began.

They drank a glass of soju and asked each other about their recent situations.

It was a late-night cable show, so drinking was allowed.

(I knew he would make it. He lived in the practice room all the time during Diamond.)

Kim Yongmin said to the PD.

(Hey, that’s the same for you. He did more than you, PD-nim.)

(Really... I’m glad you made it too.)

At that unexpected remark, Taewoo clenched his mouth and made a walnut chin. He felt like crying again.

(Why did you quit being a celebrity all of a sudden? You had more talent than me.)

(Ah, that’s not true.)

Kim Yongmin smiled bitterly and gulped down a glass of soju. After a long hesitation, Kim Yongmin opened his mouth.

(You cried and said we were hopeless back then.)

(...I did.)

Taewoo fiddled with his soju glass for no reason. He remembered how he went missing without contact after that.

(It’s not us. It’s not you, it’s me who couldn’t do anything in the entertainment industry.)

(Hey, that’s... What are you talking about?)

Maybe it was because his soul had changed. Kim Yongmin didn’t have the obsession with the entertainment industry that he had in the past.

‘That person is no longer me.’

Ian was able to get out of the unfamiliarity as he saw Kim Yongmin’s face that he had shaken off.