The S-Rank Paparazzi Reincarnates as an Idol Chapter 105

Chapter 105

 

Contrary to her worried thoughts, her favorite idol nodded readily.

“Of course! Just let me know when you’re ready.”

She quickly switched her phone to video mode.

“I’m ready.”

“Okay, I’ll start.”

Holding the wolf doll against his cheek, her favorite idol leaned closer toward the camera lens.

‘Ah… my heart feels like it’s going to explode!’

Struggling to steady her trembling hands, she recorded him as he stared directly into the lens.

“Seoyoon, thank you for supporting our team. I also want to send you my gratitude and some encouragement. Always stay strong! Fighting!”

‘I could die happy now.’

At that moment, not a single won spent on hundreds of albums felt wasted.

“Time’s up. Please move along.”

At the staff member’s call, she reluctantly forced her feet to move.

As she walked away, her favorite idol waved the wolf doll and continued saying goodbye until the very end.

“Seoyoon, thank you for the doll! I’ll treasure it!”

At that moment, she realized something.

This person wasn’t an idol who only gave his best on stage.

He was someone who sincerely cared about every single fan.

All the time, money, and feelings she had poured into those hundreds of albums seemed to have existed for this very moment.

She had intended not to look back as she left her seat, but unable to resist, she turned around anyway.

Her favorite idol was still waving at her.

‘I’m so touched…’

The moment she returned to her seat, her legs gave out, and she collapsed into her chair.

‘That was the best.’

She had attended countless fan sign events while stanning other idols before, but she had never experienced one this satisfying.

“Wow… I just saw him, and I already want to see him again.”

She laughed, yet tears simultaneously welled up in her eyes.

‘There’s no way I can stop liking him now.’

Looking at the idol who had proven he was worth all of it, Miss Park clenched both fists.

‘Since I’m already this deep in, I’m going to stan properly!’

 

☆☆☆

 

Some fans were crying from overwhelming emotion.

Others could only lower their heads, unable to get a single word out.

Since it was a place where he met countless fans in a short amount of time, the emotions conveyed to him came in all different colors.

‘There really are so many kinds of headbands.’

Starting with wolf ears, he wore rabbit ears, cat ears, ribbons, and all sorts of headbands one after another.

Whenever there was a brief lull, he also made sure to put on every accessory fans had given him and pose toward the telephoto cameras in the waiting area.

‘That book-cover prop is pretty creative.’

One prop, apparently based on a web novel cover, was titled:

[The Northern Grand Duke Debuts as an Idol Full of Aegyo]

The prop had a circular hole cut where the face should be.

When he stuck his face through the hole at a fan’s request, she screamed in delight.

‘There are so many people I’m grateful to.’

Though the fan signing event was proceeding smoothly, not every part of it was beautiful.

Perhaps because the team had been formed through a survival show, there were far more solo-member fans than all-member fans.

Some fans openly treated other members poorly while only supporting their favorite.

Even when members greeted them, they would merely shove an album forward while staring only at their favorite member, or they would refuse conversation entirely and maintain an icy silence.

‘Maybe it can’t be helped this early after debut.’

The aggressiveness of people who supported specific individuals rather than the team as a whole was hurting the members.

Every time he saw traces of discomfort flash across the faces of Seo Hayul or Kang Chan, who were both particularly shy, his grip on his pen tightened.

‘Those two are the ones I’m most worried about.’

Unlike the other members, who were easygoing and mentally strong, Seo Hayul and Kang Chan were surprisingly soft-hearted beneath their tough appearances.

“Siwoo, does it feel good to win first place because people pitied you?”

The fan sitting in front of him clearly didn’t seem pleased that he had ranked first.

‘That’s the third time I’ve gotten this question already.’

Since it wasn’t entirely false, it didn’t affect him much.

Wearing a relaxed smile, he answered.

“I can’t deny that my family circumstances, which ended up being exposed, had some influence. But I believe fans voted for me because they saw how hard I worked rather than because of my family situation.”

“…Siwoo, you’re really shameless, aren’t you?”

There were always one or two people like this… fans who openly picked fights.

“I think that’s one of my strengths. So that fans won’t think they voted for me out of pity, I’ll prove myself through my skills from now on.”

“Ha… talking to you is exhausting. I’m leaving.”

“Yes! Please get home safely!”

He bowed ninety degrees toward the fan as she stood up.

‘Good riddance.’

This was mild, if anything.

There were occasionally fans desperate to provoke him, but by his standards, they were almost cute.

In fact, seeing malicious solo stans give up and leave often gave him a strange sense of satisfaction.

It was while he was waiting for the next fan.

A sharp voice came from the seat beside him.

“Chan, do you think what I’m saying is a joke?”

“…No.”

Turning his head, he saw a woman with folded arms glaring fiercely at Kang Chan.

“You’re really terrible at managing your expressions. I’m only saying this because it’s me. If you want to survive as an idol, you need to fix your attitude and facial expressions first.”

“…I’m sorry.”

Kang Chan lowered his head.

Siwoo hesitated for a moment, wondering whether to intervene.

Then words that should never have come from a fan’s mouth slipped out.

“Does it show that you were raised by your grandfather? Tsk. Kids without parents always end up showing it somehow.”

‘That crossed the line.’

Without hesitation, he rose from his seat.

‘Can’t be helped.’

Stepping over, he wrapped an arm firmly around Kang Chan’s shoulders.

“Siwoo?”

Looking at the confused Kang Chan, he gave him a smile reserved for social situations.

“Same-age buddies! What are you talking about with the fan? Let me join too.”

Then he met the woman’s visibly startled gaze head-on.

“That’s okay, right?”

His tone remained polite to the very end, but his eyes didn’t retreat an inch.

The woman was momentarily speechless.

The sharp hostility she had been directing at Kang Chan wavered slightly in the face of the unexpected interruption.

“…Ah, no. I’m just having a personal conversation with Chan right now.”

The woman stammered awkwardly and slowly uncrossed her arms.

But Siwoo gave her no chance to escape and smiled even more brightly as he delivered the finishing blow.

“Ah, a personal conversation? I happened to overhear a little from next door, and it sounded like you were really worried about our Chan.”

“…!”

“When the topic of family upbringing came up, I was so touched that I rushed right over.”

The moment the words family upbringing left his mouth, the woman’s face turned deathly pale.

He could feel Kang Chan’s shoulders trembling slightly beneath his arm.

‘This guy’s built like a mountain, yet all he could do after hearing something like that was apologize.’

Something hot surged inside him, but he forced himself to keep his expression under control.

“Maybe because Chan was raised by his grandfather, he’s especially polite. He tends to think everything fans say is automatically right.”

He tapped the album in front of the woman with his finger.

“But what you just said… those words were actually meant for me, right? The whole world knows I grew up without parents too. Because if you were really saying that to Chan, I think he’d be terribly hurt.”

“Th-that’s not what I meant…”

“Surely a Lumina who cares about us wouldn’t use the fact that someone has no parents as something to ‘show’ and look down on them for it. Right?”

He deliberately emphasized the fandom name Lumina, and the woman’s eyes shook violently.

The atmosphere in the hall noticeably changed.

The gazes of nearby fans began converging on them.

Whispers broke out here and there, accompanied by the sound of people holding their breath.

“Siwoo, I’m okay…”

Kang Chan tugged lightly on his sleeve, but Siwoo firmly squeezed his hand and gave the woman one final smile.

“Our parents may not be here, but we have fans who care for us like family instead. Right, Chan? Someone who came all the way here and even gives us advice like this.”

He scribbled an additional message across the woman’s album.

[Thank you for caring about Chan. I’ll make sure to keep an eye on him too. — Siwoo —]

It was less of an autograph and more of a warning.

“What are you doing?”

“Signing it. You came here for an autograph today, didn’t you?”

The woman twisted her lips.

“No, I was just being honest as a fan. If you’re an idol, you should accept that kind of feedback.”

“That’s true.”

He nodded and continued in the gentlest voice possible.

“Feedback is important. But when words stop being feedback and become something that hurts people, I don’t think we have any obligation to accept them.”

“…Are you lecturing me right now?”

“No. I’m explaining.”

He glanced down at Kang Chan.

The tightly pressed lips and trembling fingertips made it obvious how deeply hurt he was.

“You know, Chan has worked harder than anyone else since before his debut. And he’s never once taken fans lightly. He’s the kind of guy who writes a list of possible questions on his palm because he’s scared of making mistakes.”

The malice of wanting to hurt a hardworking twenty-year-old like this disgusted him.

Love that proved itself through hurting and tearing someone down was wrong.

“Bringing up the environment someone was born into… that’s not proper behavior, not as an idol, but as a person.”

The fact that Kang Chan had been raised by his grandfather without parents was already public knowledge online.

Still, he hadn’t expected someone to weaponize it like this.

The entire hall fell silent.

He could sense staff members cautiously starting to move.

The woman bit her lip hard and muttered,

“You’re making a big deal out of this.”

“Yes. I’m that kind of person. Especially when it comes to my members.”

He smiled brightly and dipped his head slightly.

“But today’s fan signing event is supposed to be a happy occasion. I’d appreciate it if we could leave it here.”

The woman snatched up her album and stood.

“What a joke.”

Before the staff could stop her, she fled the hall almost as if running away.

‘Good riddance.’

Siwoo lightly patted the back of the dazed Kang Chan.

“You okay?”

“…Yeah.”

Kang Chan still couldn’t raise his head.

“When the next fan comes, just do what you were doing before. You didn’t do anything wrong.”

“…Siwoo, thank you.”

For some reason, that single sentence settled heavily in his chest.

“Yeah, you idiot.”

Picking up his pen again, he encouraged him.

“Chan, what are you doing? The next fan’s waiting.”

“Huh? Ah… yeah.”

Kang Chan wiped at his eyes and adjusted himself in his seat.

Only after confirming that the next fan had approached and was gently offering words of comfort did Siwoo return to his own place.

‘Is not having parents really something people should be attacked for like this?’

Whenever people made sharp comments about parents… a thing nobody gets to choose, he honestly couldn’t understand it.

‘It’s an environment I had no control over. What exactly am I supposed to do about it?’

Of course, there were many good people too.

But there were always people who deliberately targeted that wound.

Whatever.

Right now, beside him were five members who felt like brothers, and in front of him were countless dependable fans who supported him rather than one rude person.

‘I hope Kang Chan realizes that too.’

Looking at the approaching fan, he adjusted his grip on the pen once more.

The strength in his fingertips was far firmer than before.