I’m a Genius Idol but my Passive is Sunfish Chapter 9

‘This is bad.’

 

Yelling at the system window for the first time in a while had come back to bite him. They’d misunderstood, thinking Baekya was disappointed in them and no longer wanted to be part of the team.

 

‘No… Did you even give me time to be disappointed…’

 

Baekya pressed a hand to his forehead and sighed. It seemed he’d completely botched his first impression.

 

‘Suddenly, I’m getting teary-eyed too…’

 

Baekya lifted his head, his eyes welling up with tears. Don’t let them fall.

 

But he couldn’t just cry here, too. Now that the manager had stepped out for a moment to take a call, he had to somehow resolve this atmosphere. For the sake of the new quest, too.

 

The system window that had popped up earlier was a hidden quest notification. Unlike main quests, which had to be completed no matter what, hidden quests seemed to be highly dependent on location and circumstance.

 

Therefore, the timing of the quest’s occurrence was naturally unpredictable. Examples would be <Dreaming of Mastering Singing> and <The Only Way to Live is to Practice>, which could only be carried out within the practice room.

 

The only saving grace was that hidden quests could be refused.

 

Thanks to him shouting ‘refuse’ as soon as he saw the word ‘dance’, the <First Impressions are Important> quest had disappeared, but this time, another quest had appeared.

 

[A new quest (hidden) has arrived!]

[Q. I Am Ground Self-Introduction: I am Baekya!]

 

Was it just his imagination?

 

It felt like the system was messing with him, but compared to before, this was practically cute. For the sake of his few remaining Star Points, Baekya decided to do the quest.

 

And to resolve this situation while he was at it.

 

“Excuse me… my name is Han Baekya. I’m a senior at Geumyong High School, and it’s been about 3 weeks since I joined ID. And earlier, I was thinking about something else and misspoke…”

 

A belated but ideal greeting followed, saying that he was very honored to be joining the team and asking them to take care of him.

 

But the gazes on him were still mixed with anxiety and distrust.

 

“It’s true. Please believe me.”

 

Please.

 

It felt unfair, but Baekya practically begged.

 

‘But why isn’t the completion notification popping up?’

 

There couldn’t have been a more perfect self-introduction.

 

‘Don’t tell me…’

 

Baekya forced a smile that wasn’t really a smile. His bad premonitions were never wrong. And the atmosphere showed no signs of improving.

 

“Hyung, my feelings are hurt…”

 

“If the hamster runs away, do I go back to my home? I came all the way to Korea with great difficulty. Sob.”

 

“He said that’s not what he meant. You guys stop crying, too.”

 

Minseong, who was comforting the crying maknaes, looked at Baekya. A face that said he was so sorry, with slumped shoulders. Baekya’s words didn’t seem like a lie.

 

But people perceived things differently. Baekya felt like he might freeze under Minseong’s cold gaze.

 

‘C-cold.’

 

He was tall and looked the scariest, so Baekya had already marked him as his number-one caution target—and now that guy was crying the hardest. Apparently, he’d made the team’s maknaes cry.

 

‘I’m screwed.’

 

Maknaes were loved everywhere. Making them cry was more than enough reason for someone to glare at him.

 

‘…Wait, did he just say ‘hamster’?’

 

Baekya squinted and glanced at the gray-haired boy. In that moment, a pretty hand was held out in Baekya’s field of vision.

 

“So it really was just a misunderstanding, right? I’m Han Jihan. Same grade as you—third year.”

 

It was the man who had been standing there silently all along. A cold face with impressive upturned eyes and straight black hair.

 

“Huh? Yes! Of course. Please take care of me.”

 

Baekya quickly grabbed Jihan’s hand and answered. Then a larger hand covered their clasped hands.

 

“I’m Yulmu. Na Yulmu. I’m glad to have one more friend in the team~”

 

Yulmu, who had his arm draped over Jihan’s shoulder, was the tallest among them. When he squeezed, all three hands shook together.

 

The sheer social-butterfly energy was palpable. Baekya’s gaze drifted upward.

 

‘He’s at least 10 cm taller than me.’

 

Yulmu was tall, and his hands were big, and his eyes were big, everything was big. The first thought that came to his mind was ‘I’m jealous.’

 

But quickly coming to his senses, Baekya lowered his gaze and pulled his hand away.

 

“Yes. Please take care of me.”

 

“Hey~ What’s with the formal speech between friends? Relax, relax. I’ll talk casually too.”

 

‘…You’ve been casual from the start, though.’

 

Baekya shot Yulmu a dubious look, but Yulmu didn’t seem to care. With an arm now around Baekya’s shoulders, he guided him toward Minseong and the maknaes.

 

“Hey, cut it out! Our Baekya says it’s not like that—how long are you guys gonna keep crying?”

 

It hadn’t even been 2 minutes since they had introduced themselves, but he was already ‘our’ Baekya. Baekya was a little flustered.

 

“I’m sorry. I think the kids just got emotional for a moment. They had a lot to worry about all day.”

 

Minseong apologized on behalf of the maknaes who couldn’t lift their heads. He was the man who had taken the lead and asked him to leave the practice room a little while ago.

 

“I’m Do Minseong. I’m the leader because I’m the oldest in the team.”

 

Minseong introduced himself with a playful smile.

 

“Hey~ Who else would do it if not hyung? You probably would have been the leader even if you were the youngest.”

 

“That’s true.”

 

At Yulmu’s words, Jihan also nodded in agreement. Even to Baekya’s eyes, Minseong seemed to be the only one who could be the leader in this team.

 

“I’m Han Baekya. Please talk comfortably.”

 

“Okay, then Baekya, you be comfortable too. And I’m sorry for asking you to leave earlier.”

 

“It’s okay. I kind of wanted to run away myself, in a lot of ways… I’ll ease into casual speech slowly.”

 

An awkward situation for both of them. Minseong scratched above his eyebrow and avoided his gaze.

 

Minseong, with his impressive pale skin, was what they call a ‘rabbit type’. The ‘house rabbit’ that every idol team was said to have one of.

 

“Oh, right. And here are our team’s maknaes.”

 

Pushed forward by Minseong’s hand, Yooyeon and Cheong came forward. Their lips were tightly pressed together, little walnut-like bumps under their chins.

 

Sniffling, checking their surroundings. They looked quite busy, and it was quite cute.

 

‘Is this what they call a ‘gap’?’

 

Baekya, who had bent his knees slightly, looked up at the two people with their heads bowed.

 

“If you keep crying, I’ll feel sorry…”

 

At those words, Yooyeon, who had his head bowed, peeked up at Baekya.

 

A distinct face with golden curly hair. Perhaps because of his swollen eyes, his impression was much softer than when he had first seen him.

 

“…I’m Han Yooyeon. 18 years old.”

 

After bowing shyly, Yooyeon poked Cheong in the side. He was saying to stop crying and greet him too.

 

“…I’m Cheongcheong.”

 

Cheong, who looked the sharpest among the members, had lived abroad, so his Korean was a little clumsy.

 

“Cheong, you have to add ‘yo’.”

 

Minseong quietly added. He was worried because Cheong was often misunderstood due to his cold impression.

 

“Why? I don’t want to. That’s for people who are higher than me.”

 

“What did you say, you punk?”

 

The tactless maknae kicked away his hyung’s concern in one go. To Cheong, Baekya was nothing more—or less—than a hamster, and he clearly looked younger.

 

Baekya’s introduction as a high school senior had been long forgotten.

 

“Hams—”

 

“Shut your mouth.”

 

Minseong covered the mouth of the maknae who was about to make an irreversible mistake and glared at him. It was a gaze that said he wouldn’t let him go if he said another word.

 

Perhaps because he had been on edge all day, his red, bloodshot eyes boasted a visual that could have come out of a horror movie. Cheong was instantly overpowered by the threatening red eyeballs.

 

“…This kid grew up with too much sunlight.”

 

Yooyeon, who was embarrassed by such a friend, shook his head and took a step away from Cheong. Muttering to himself, Yooyeon made eye contact with Baekya and smiled awkwardly.

 

With the atmosphere noticeably lighter, Baekya—after much hesitation—suddenly spoke up.

 

“I am Baekya…!”

 

It’s so random, but whatever.

 

[<I Am Ground Self-Introduction> Complete!]

[Quest reward is being distributed: 1 Star Point]

 

Only then did the quest completion notification pop up.

 

‘So I really had to say that line.’

 

He wanted to rant about how terrible the explanation was, but who knew what kind of misunderstanding that would cause. Everyone was already staring at him after his random outburst.

 

Baekya, pretending to be nonchalant, raised the corners of his lips and said.

 

“Uh, we don’t need to do anything complicated, so… haha. I’ll just talk comfortably too. I feel like it.”

 

He said he’d drop the honorifics slowly just a moment ago… Although no one said it, it seemed everyone thought it was strange.

 

But it was fine. The quest was cleared, and embarrassment only lasted a moment.