I’m a Genius Idol but my Passive is Sunfish Chapter 64

Daehwan didn’t bother to deny Shiyoon’s words. He just slightly lifted the corners of his mouth.

 

“Promotions are over, so you’re a bit free, right?”

 

He couldn’t tell what he was getting at, but rookies were never really free. Baekya smiled awkwardly and tugged at Jihan’s clothes.

 

It was an S.O.S. signal.

 

“We haven’t received anything regarding schedules yet, but I think we’ll be very busy preparing for year-end stages for a while.”

 

“Ah, right. Award ceremonies.”

 

Daehwan seemed deep in thought for a moment. Muttering to himself, he turned away only after looking at Baekya one more time.

 

“…Did I do something wrong?”

 

“Dunno. Just seems like he’s interested in you.”

 

“Huuh?!”

 

“Not that kind of interest.”

 

Jihan looked serious at the preposterous misunderstanding. Seeing his pronunciation slur, it seemed he slightly gritted his teeth.

 

“Almost got goosebumps.”

 

“Look who’s talking.”

 

* * *

 

– As expected of AIM. AIM absolutely devoured KCON. Legendary fanchants.

– Shiyoon keeps taking care of junior groups, pushing them forward, totally sweet ♥ But amidst that, the kid looking like a hamster sticking right next to his member is kinda cute.

– DASE’s 4-octave high note was crazy.

– Guess T-Ent is debuting a boy group~ Tons of ads on Twitter. Why didn’t he debut with Dase and end up at T-Enter?

└ Why do you think?

└ Must have been pushed out when the debut group was finalized. Didn’t you see the main vocal there singing?

– Did DASE Baekya steal Daehwan’s money? He looks like he’s about to drill a hole with his stare (Photo of Daehwan staring at Baekya.jpg)

└ Our golden maknae just can’t express it, it just means he’s extremely interested ㅠㅠ

└ Wasn’t this when all the performers came back on stage after the final broadcast? lol

 

Inside the car returning to the dorm. Yulmu, monitoring on his phone, spoke to Baekya teasingly.

 

“Baekya, if you borrowed money, pay it back quickly~”

 

“What are you talking about?”

 

Minseong, who was also looking up stage reactions, showed interest.

 

“Look at this.”

 

It was a preview of Daehwan taken by an AIM homma, showing Baekya sticking right next to Yooyeon, and Daehwan unable to take his eyes off him.

 

“…Should you pay him back soon?”

 

Minseong, taking the fans’ joke seriously, asked Baekya.

 

“Did you actually borrow money?”

 

“Are you kidding? I saw him for the first time today, what money would I borrow.”

 

Baekya was dumbfounded. Namkyung, listening to the members’ conversation from the passenger seat, laughed and turned around.

 

“He must have liked you.”

 

“I didn’t do anything, though?”

 

“He must have watched you guys perform. Who knows? Maybe Daehwan will give you a song.”

 

“Ah, no way.”

 

Daehwan was famous for not giving songs despite love calls from many singers. Since he only wrote AIM’s songs, the members also laughed off Namkyung’s words saying that seemed too far-fetched.

 

Just then, Baekya’s phone vibrated briefly.

 

[d: You are Baekya, right?]

 

A message from an unknown user.

 

Are my high school classmates selling my number somewhere… Lately, he often received contacts from unknown numbers.

 

‘Should I really change my number?’

 

He had used this number for a long time so he was quite attached to it, but if this kept happening, he’d have to seriously consider it.

 

[d: Going to the dorm? Didn’t see you leave.]

[d: When did you leave?]

[d: Do you go to the company tomorrow by any chance?]

 

The sender knew DASE’s schedule. The sunfish’s face hardened little by little.

 

With a high probability of the opponent being a sasaeng, Baekya immediately blocked the user. He used to get dozens of such texts a day.

 

But shortly after, a call came from an unknown number.

 

“…What is this?”

 

He got goosebumps at the feeling that it was ‘d’ for some reason. He thought about rejecting it, but the sunfish, feeling too sorry to do that, decided to let it ring until the opponent got tired and stopped.

 

However, ‘d’ was a much more persistent guy than Baekya expected.

 

“I think you’re getting a call?”

 

Minseong looked at Baekya at the continuous vibration.

 

“It’s an unknown number.”

 

This single phrase was explanation enough. Because everyone had similar grievances.

 

Minseong focused on monitoring again.

 

[2 Missed Calls]

 

During the brief pause, Baekya unlocked his screen to block the number. Entering the contact list, he was about to block that number, but another call came at that timing.

 

“Ah, no…!”

 

Instead of blocking, the call button was pressed. At the finger that kept slipping since last time, Baekya glared at his index finger and trembled.

 

“This damn finger!”

 

Trying to hang up before it was too late, the opponent’s voice came through the receiver. Perhaps because the car was so quiet, the content was heard clearly even without speakerphone.

 

[Finally picked up. Mr. Baekya? It’s Daehwan.]

 

‘Daehwan? Who is Daehwan?’

 

The lagged sunfish rolled his eyes and thought. In the meantime, the members nearby also seemed to have heard the sound and reacted.

 

“I think I’m hearing hallucinations…?”

 

Minseong picked his ear at the familiar voice coming from somewhere.

 

“Don’t you hear Daehwan sunbaenim’s voice somewhere?”

 

Yulmu also looked around searching for the source of the voice.

 

[Hello? Mr. Baekya?]

 

At the voice calling his name again, Baekya finally cleared the buffering.

 

….Daehwan? Daehwan!

 

“Su-Sunbae-nim?!”

 

Startled, Baekya hurriedly picked up the phone. Very politely with both hands as if the phone itself was Daehwan.

 

[Are you in a tunnel? The connection doesn’t seem good.]

 

What tunnel. It was a 4-lane highway straight to Seoul, but Baekya played along.

 

“Yes, just entered a tunnel. Yes….”

 

[No wonder. There was no reply even when I sent messages. I thought I was blocked.]

 

He was right.

 

Daehwan was currently in a state of being blocked by Baekya.

 

“N-no way. How could I do that to sunbae-nim…. Sigh. Absolutely not.”

 

The sunfish had no conscience.

 

Not wanting the topic to drag on any longer, Baekya quickly changed the subject.

 

“But what brings you to call….”

 

A timid voice. Noticing it, Daehwan stated his business and added a short apology.

 

[I wanted to ask if you’re coming to the company tomorrow, but since there was no reply to the message. I am sorry you must be tired.]

 

“Company? Wa-wait a moment.”

 

Taking the phone away from his ear briefly, Baekya asked Namkyung.

 

“Hyung, are we going to the company tomorrow?”

 

“Yeah. Why? Who is it?”

 

“Daehwan sunbaenim.”

 

Answering quickly, he lifted the phone again.

 

“Yes! They say we’re going tomorrow.”

 

[Really? Okay. Go in quickly and rest, see you tomorrow. You worked hard performing today.]

 

“Yes, see you tomor… Huh?”

 

[Ah, this number is mine so save it and unblock me. Go in then.]

 

Baekya stared blankly at the disconnected phone.

 

“Ah… My life…….”

 

He’d been caught blocking him.

 

Closing his eyes gently, he buried his face in his palms. He had completely forgotten he gave his number in front of the vending machine.

 

‘Right. Let’s just not run into him as much as possible.’

 

Making an extreme decision, Baekya called Namkyung. To avoid Daehwan tomorrow, knowing their purpose of visit and AIM’s movement path was priority.

 

“By the way, why are we going to the company tomorrow?”

 

“Ah, it’s almost the end of the year. We have a meeting scheduled to confirm award ceremony schedules and prepare for stages.”

 

Come to think of it, it had already been almost a year since DASE debuted.

 

* * *

 

December, when DASE debuted, was also a month packed with major award ceremonies including those hosted by the three major broadcast networks.

 

“Currently, the 3 majors, JAMA, Kiwi Music Awards, and K-Broadcaster Entertainment Awards congratulatory performance, only these are confirmed.”

 

“Is JAMA held in Hong Kong this time too?”

 

“Yes, seems so.”

 

In a conference room they hadn’t visited in a while, the DASE members gathered with staff to plan their year-end stages.

 

“The rest don’t have confirmed dates yet, so I can’t give you exact details, but they’ll probably be early next year. For now, just assume about six events.”

 

The man rattling off the year-end schedule was the head manager of ID’s management team.

 

“For the Entertainment Awards, there’s no need to prepare anything special. So that makes five? But AIM is here too.”

 

Another man scribbling on a notebook radiating charisma. This person was ID’s choreographer and performance director, Horang.

 

‘But why is that guy here…?’

 

Baekya glanced at one side of the meeting room past the two people. There sat Daehwan, whom Baekya had desperately tried to avoid.

 

He was spinning a pen with a serious face. He seemed to have come alone; none of the other AIM members were there.

 

“JAMA said they could give us one more stage slot.”

 

“Correct. But they seemed to want a joint stage between AIM and DASE….”

 

While answering, the manager checked Horang and Daehwan’s reactions. Meeting his eyes, Horang threw his pen and leaned back in his chair as if lying down, saying to just kill him instead.

 

“I don’t think that’s a good idea either. But another kind of collaboration might be possible.”

 

AIM already had 12 minutes of basic allocated stage time. Plus, excluding the congratulatory performance, the rest of the schedule was identical to DASE’s. But if the remaining overseas tour schedule was added here?

 

“That’s telling AIM to die and me to die too. Isn’t it?”

 

Horang cut off the manager’s expectation, saying absolutely not. On the other hand, unlike the adamant choreographer, Daehwan was positive about the stage itself.

 

“Since they are rookies, they should try everything they can. We can’t blow the juniors’ opportunity just because we’re tired.”

 

Daehwan looked at DASE, who had been sitting blankly since earlier,  and asked. Specifically towards Baekya.

 

“Do you know ‘Walking Dead’ by any chance?”

 

A distant senior to AIM and a 5-member boy group under ID, ‘VIVA’, now disbanded. Walking Dead was the title track of their second full-length album.