Chapter 154:

Chapter 154:

Chapter 154

I wonder how he’s doing.

Ian’s solo life in the dormitory began.

There was nothing to take care of, since the cleaning lady came regularly to do the laundry and tidy up the place.

There was no bathroom war among the members who shared a room, and no one suggested going to the convenience store to get some late-night snacks behind the manager’s back.

[Ian] AWY, did you sleep well? Good morning.

└Good morning, oppa!

└You’re up early! Did you eat breakfast, oppa? Don’t forget to eat well!

Since he had no one to talk to except for the occasional phone calls, he wrote posts on the fan cafe every day. Thanks to that, he got a new nickname. They called him ‘Choi-tto’ because he came again as Choi Ian. Of course, it also meant Choi Crazy in a double sense.

‘Did I always get this lonely?’

Ian sat on the dining chair and answered the people who asked about Jo Tae-woong’s well-being. Then he rested his chin on his hand and looked at the living room.

The empty living room, it was hard to adjust to the quiet atmosphere after being in a noisy and chaotic one.

***

AWY Ian-Joo Young ‘Amazing Holiday’ appearance, special entertainment sense ‘explosion’

[Exclusive] AWY Ian, participates in ‘Our Youth’ OST, reveals luxurious OST lineup

AWY Ian, chosen as the model for N company’s game ‘Kingdom: Origin’

-If AWY is on hiatus, why is Choi Ian active?

└Idiot, it’s ‘team’ activity that’s on hiatus

└He’s working hard despite the hate comments and you’re here to write hate comments about other membersᄉᄇ have some sense

└Hey, he has to do solo activities. Do you think the other members are just sucking their fingers?

-I’m glad he has a lot of solo activitiesᄒ I wonder what our kid is doing

└Tae-woong-ahhhᅲᅮᅲᅮᅲᅮᅲ

└ᅲᅲᅲᅲᅲᅲᅲᅲᅲᅲᅲ태웅이보고싶다

└Let’s go write some support posts on the fan cafe

└I sent a fan letter too...ᅲᅲᅲᅲᅲ

└We’re going to do a mass support at 8 pm tonightᄋᄋ The announcement is up on the support team

After finishing various photo shoots and OST work for other dramas, Ian headed to the advertisement shooting site without a break.

“Hello.”

“Oh, hello!”

The advertisement staff who met Ian blushed. The people who were busy preparing for the shooting glanced at Ian. It was indeed a big company’s game advertisement, there were many staff members and the set was splendid.

[Wow, game companies are the best. They pay a lot and they also give us bonuses.]

They even prepared various finger foods for the advertisement model.

The game that Ian was going to advertise, ‘Kingdom: Origin’, was a large-scale project that the game company was pushing hard.

It was a fighting game where various characters with different worldviews gathered and fought each other. Ian played the role of a new character, Lee Hwan, a famous general from a virtual Joseon era.

It was their first grand update and the game company also paid a lot of attention to it. This advertisement was going to be used for a massive marketing campaign.

“Director Lee, hello.”

The director who was looking at the script got up and reached out his hand to Ian. Ian shook his hand and smiled brightly.

“Long time no see, how have you been?”

“Yes, director. I checked out the changed script yesterday.”

“How was it?”

Ian had met the director before. It was an advertisement with dialogue in a drama format, so Ian had requested a meeting beforehand.

“It was really good. I hope it turns out well.”

The director looked relieved at Ian’s expectant expression.

“I’m glad. I’m so nervous. You’re such a big star.”

“Come on, director. You’re flattering me too much.”

“You’re the first one who asked me for a script beforehand for a two-minute advertisement.”

“But it was better that we discussed it beforehand, right?”

The director gave an OK sign at once.

Then he shot a two-minute video that would air on public broadcasting and MyTube. It was a scene where he dodged the crowd that ran towards him quickly and knocked down many enemies with his sword.

“Wow, this is like a movie.”

“Wow, he does parkour too. Look at him climbing the wall, did you know that, director?”

“No? That looks like an ad-lib.”

The director gasped as if he had taken a shot of alcohol. His agile movements and exaggerated swings showed that he had studied how to look good on camera. After shooting several times from different angles, an OK sign came down.

“He has such a killer English accent since he’s native.”

“Shall we wrap it up like this?”

“Yes.”

Ian changed his clothes and came out after recording his voice on site.

“Thank you for your hard work!”

Ian bowed his waist to greet the staff, and they clapped and saw him off.

“I’ll go ahead first. Thank you for your hard work, director.”

The director who was standing near the exit to see Ian off smiled warmly at him.

“Ian, you would do well in action later.”

“Really? I’ll definitely appear in your work if you do one later, director.”

“Oh, are you serious? I’m recording this, you know?”

“...If my schedule allows it then.”

The director chuckled at Ian’s change of attitude and lightly tapped his shoulder.

“You did really well today. See you later.”

“Yes.”

Ian nodded to the director and left the set. As he was heading to the elevator at the end of the hallway, he heard someone calling him.

“Excuse me... Wait a minute!”

“Yes. Did I forget something?”

“No! I, I... I’m not a weird person, but... I’m a fan of Taewoong, I mean, Mr. Taewoong...”

The one who called Ian was the costume staff from before. She blushed up to her neck as she met his eyes and stammered.

“Yes.”

“I was too busy to write a fan letter... I didn’t write anything on the fan cafe or the internet because I thought it would be better not to look at them...”

“...If you have something to say to Taewoong, I’ll pass it on for you. Do you have any paper? Do you want to write a fan letter?”

“No! You’re busy, so I can’t make you wait... “

She hesitated for a while, then closed her eyes and shouted.

“Please tell him to take care of himself and come back slowly, it’s okay if he’s late... I’m cheering for him and I love him so much, can you please tell him that?!”

Her grammar was a mess and she even had a big accent at the end of her sentence. It was a ridiculous situation, but Ian didn’t find it funny at all. He couldn’t laugh. He nodded seriously.

“Yes, I’ll be sure to tell him.”

***

Ian lay in the middle of the empty living room of his dorm and stared blankly at the ceiling.

‘I wonder how Taewoong is doing.’

He’s not stuck in his room and not eating properly, is he? Ian reached for his phone on the floor.

He sometimes asked about him through the group chat, but he refrained from calling him in case he said something wrong.

‘Hey, do you know what I heard from the staff at the ad shoot today? They’re cheering for you. They said it’s okay if you’re late, just come back slowly. Isn’t this like saying our group should fail?’

But today, he felt like he had to talk to Taewoong.

‘There are so many people who support you like this. You bastard.’

***

At that moment, Taewoong was...

“Grandma! I just ate, why are you giving me so many snacks!”

“Eat everything your granny prepared for you! How can you dance on TV with that skinny body!”

“What do you mean skinny! I have to be thin to look good on camera!”

Contrary to Ian’s worries, he was doing very well.