“So I have to do it too?”

“I guess so? The focus is on him, but they’ll probably try to get hold of you for an interview as well. And also get you to showcase your skill or talent.” As soon as Kang Min-Ho gave a firm answer, Woo-Jin and Lee Min-Soo’s faces turned red simultaneously. The former was flustered that he had to showcase his skill, and the latter was filled with rage because they would be interviewing Woo-Jin as well, even though he was the focus of the news coverage.

“Woo-Jin, you don’t have to worry about showcasing your talent.”

“Me? What kind of talent do I have?” Woo-Jin was perplexed as he truly believed in his lack of talent and asked Park Yeon-Ah for clarification as she obviously knew more than he did. Kang Min-Ho snapped his fingers in exasperation, saying he too knew of Woo-Jin’s talent. “Woo-Jin, you really are unbelievable! You’re good at imitating other singers. What are you worried about when you can sing exactly like the original singer as long as you sing with determination?”

After hearing Woo-Jin’s version of ‘Confession,’ both Kang Min-Ho and Park Yeon-Ah had tried to find out the secret behind singing that well. And then, they found out that Woo-Jin could do singing impressions perfectly. He was so good at imitating the original singers’ voices that if he were to go on Hidden Singer, he’d be able to defeat the original singer. [1]

“I’m just imitating them, that's all. Back then, when I spoke to the members… or just people I know, I took note of the distinct features of each of their tones and imitated them.”

Min Si-Hoo had once expressed his dissatisfaction with the distribution of the parts when they were recording Blue Fit’s debut song. At that time, Seol Moon-Young had gotten Woo-Jin to sing the parts by imitating Min Si-Hoo’s voice. After living together for more than a year, Woo-Jin was very familiar with the tone and characteristics of Min Si-Hoo’s voice, so he could effortlessly do as told.

“If you don’t have the confidence to sing as well as Woo-Jin, don’t be greedy.” Seol Moon-Young had said that to Min Si-Hoo when his face turned pale after hearing Woo-Jin sing a song in a voice that was almost identical to his own. He couldn’t argue further as the song sounded completely different despite having identical voices. However, Min Si-Hoo resorted to violence from then on.

“That’s your talent!” Kang Min-Ho and Park Yeon-Ah jeered at Woo-Jin, whose response lacked enthusiasm, remarking that only talented people could be so nonchalant about it.

“But Min-Soo, why do you look so unhappy? Is something wrong?” Park Yeon-Ah asked. She was teasing Woo-Jin when she tilted her head to the side and glanced over at Lee Min-Soo sitting silent and gloomy. Ever since they started talking about talents and skills, for some reason, his face had turned pale, and he seemed very uncomfortable.

“No. It’s just that my episode is airing today, so I guess I’m a little nervous.”

“You’ll probably be better than us considering that you already have quite a bit of experience acting in dramas. You have no idea how terrified we were on the day they aired the first episode because it’s our very first drama.” Kang Min-Ho added that his stomach still hurt just by thinking about that day, to which Park Yeon-Ah nodded her head earnestly in agreement.

When the two people told Lee Min-Soo not to worry because they had been worse than him, Lee Min-Soo forced a smile and looked at Woo-Jin from the corner of his eyes. He couldn’t tell what Woo-Jin was thinking, and the calmer Woo-Jin looked, the more anxious he felt.

‘This is not what I had in mind.’

Lee Min-Soo’s original plan had been to flaunt his fandom in front of Woo-Jin to dampen his spirits. When he had heard that Woo-Jin’s fans were going to prepare lunch boxes for the cast and crew on a certain day, he thought they were just going to be regular lunch boxes. Hence, he intentionally arranged the food truck to come a day before and treated everyone to the fantastic spread of food. In other words, he wanted Woo-Jin to experience the difference between the two of them for himself. Woo-Jin seemed very proud to have a few fans, so Lee Min-Soo wanted to utterly crush his spirits and keep him down.

However, Woo-Jin’s response was less than ideal. Instead of feeling defeated, he took the initiative to approach Lee Min-Soo’s fans and even thanked them for the food. As a result, it caused a commotion among the fans who came on behalf of Blue Hole. Almost as if they had momentarily forgotten whose fans they were, Lee Min-Soo’s fans flocked towards Chae Woo-Jin to ask for autographs and take pictures with him. And Chae Woo-Jin had acceded to their requests, smiling the entire time.

“I’ll take my leave now,” when Woo-Jin got up from his seat after he was done eating, Lee Min-Soo turned his head to look at him.

“I don’t have any scenes to shoot in the afternoon, so I’m going to record the theme song. Everybody, please work hard and practice the skill or talent you’ll be showcasing.” Even though Woo-Jin hadn’t eaten his fill yet, he felt it would be better for him to leave before Lee Jin-Ah arrived, so he left earlier than expected.

Glancing down, he found Lee Min-Soo looking at him. “I hope your shooting goes smoothly. If I remember correctly, you’ve done some singing imitations too, right?” Woo-Jin got reminded of how Lee Min-Soo used to copy the songs he had sung all the time and smiled. Thinking back, he remembered Lee Min-Soo singing quite a bit, but it wasn’t as good as Woo-Jin’s impression of Min Si-Hoo.

“That opportunist! He actually abandoned us and left. All he cares about is himself, huh?” Park Yeon-Ah grumbled as she stood up with a plate in her hands. The sudden wave of exhaustion increased her appetite.

In the afternoon, they would be shooting a scene where Lee Yoo-Ra would meet with the brothers, Choi Joon and Choi Kang, so Park Yeon-Ah had nowhere to run.

“At times, I envy the three of you because of how close you seem with one another.” After freezing on the spot for a moment upon hearing Woo-Jin’s parting words, Lee Min-Soo snapped out of his daze and spoke to Kang Min-Ho.

“I’m the same age as Yeon-Ah, and Woo-Jin is much younger than us, so it’s only natural for us to become closely acquainted.” Park Yeon-Ah was of the same age but opposite sex, while Chae Woo-Jin was of the same sex but a different age group, so there was no reason to be guarded against each other. No, in fact, it was all thanks to Woo-Jin.

All three of them were considered the main leads, but in truth, Chae Woo-Jin, or ‘Louie,’ was the main lead. However, they could become close friends because Woo-Jin took the initiative and approached them first. If the hot rising actor had a superiority complex, then age and work experience wouldn’t have mattered. There was no need to tell Lee Min-Soo about something this private, so Kang Min-Ho just replied evasively.

“Still, it’s only possible because you take charge and lead them, hyung.”

“I do have a sense of leadership.” Kang Min-Ho was joking, but the problem was that Lee Min-Soo didn’t know his personality well enough. If Park Yeon-Ah had been present, she would have slapped him on the back and mocked him, but none of his close friends were there.

“Even though the entertainment industry revolves around popularity, at times, they don’t give enough recognition to people with a lot of experience and an impressive filmography like you, hyung. Sometimes, I think it’s too much. Just on this set, I heard that Woo-Jin had struggled a lot in the beginning; on the other hand, you barely had any outtakes. However, the staff members treat Woo-Jin like he’s the best. Seeing that makes me very upset.”

Kang Min-Ho listened silently to Lee Min-Soo as he showered him with praises. He nodded from time to time with a smile on his face, encouraging Lee Min-Soo to say everything he wanted to say. When they heard a commotion at the entrance of the set, Lee Min-Soo got up from his seat and turned around.

“Lee Jin-Ah from Entertainment Plus is here.”

“I have to get going. I said those things earlier out of frustration. So please don’t worry too much about it. I like Woo-Jin too.”

“I’m well aware of that.” Kang Min-Ho smiled in understanding. Lee Min-Soo bowed to him and turned around; judging from the look on his face, he appeared to be more at ease.

“What were you guys talking about so seriously? I was afraid of interrupting your conversion, so I ate somewhere else.” As soon as Lee Min-Soo left the room, Park Yeon-Ah appeared and gave Kang Min-Ho a cup of warm lemon tea. He turned the cupholder so as not to look at Lee Min-Soo’s drawing and shrugged.

“Choi Kang is Choi Joon’s younger brother, after all.”

“Hmm, that doesn’t sound like a compliment.” Park Yeon-Ah frowned as she thought about Kang Min-Ho expressing his thoughts about the rational Choi Joon being a bad guy.

“And perhaps the younger brother is worse than the older one.”

“That sounds like a compliment.” It was definitely a compliment for Choi Joon when someone else was worse than the bad guy. Kang Min-Ho clinked his cup of lemon tea with Park Yeon-Ah’s cup and smiled at her, as the latter chuckled.

He continued, “Sometimes, people who have become successful at a young age have an ugly attitude and personality. They have a certain arrogance that makes them think they can treat people however they want. As a result, they look down on others a lot.”

“I get what you mean. I can’t stand how childish they are, but it seems like you handled it well.” Park Yeon-Ah comforted him by saying that he did a good job. Kang Min-Ho replied with a big smile, “I’m good at putting up with a lot of things.”

Park Yeon-Ah burst out laughing after hearing the undeniable fact, and this scene was aired on Entertainment Plus as it was. Since then, Kang Min-Ho and Park Yeon-Ah continued treating Lee Min-Soo just like they did in the beginning. There was no particular reason to treat him differently since nothing had changed, just that they had no choice but to smile begrudgingly when they had to listen to the strange things Lee Min-Soo said when they were alone with him.

“I was truly shocked when I found out that the ‘Slipper Young Man’ was Woo-Jin. He’s not that kind and caring towards others. Regardless, it’s necessary to create a good image if he wants to join the entertainment industry. If he had revealed his actual personality, his time in the entertainment industry would probably be done by now.”

The tone of his voice was very casual, as though he was joking. It was easy to miss the true meaning behind his words and just listen to what he said without putting in much thought, laughing with him along the way. And it was easy for Lee Min-Soo’s words to linger in the minds of his listeners for a long time without them thinking too hard about it. In that regard, Park Yeon-Ah had given Lee Min-Soo a lot of points for his speech. He had mastered the art of disguising everything he said as a joke, acting like he wasn’t serious. He had a knack for getting people to nod their heads to everything he said at some point in a long conversation.

It was a conversation method specially used in variety TV programs these days. It seemed really easy for Lee Min-Soo to pique other people’s curiosity while glossing over secrets, playing it off as a joke, being indirectly sarcastic to the other party, and ultimately turning them into an object of criticism.

“Hmm, Woo-Jin was right.”

“I’m sorry?” Lee Min-Soo became nervous for a moment after seeing Park Yeon-Ah stroke her chin as she smiled meaningfully. He wondered what Woo-Jin had said to her while he wasn’t around.

“He said that both of you were never closely acquainted! After hearing what you said, I can see that you were not close to Woo-Jin. In many ways. So don’t go around telling people that you’re close to Woo-Jin, especially not on TV! You’re not the only one who can speak.” Park Yeon-Ah didn’t see the need to engage in a long conversation with Lee Min-Soo. She gently patted him on the shoulder, took her script, and walked away. She tried to put up with him, but she wasn’t as nice as Kang Min-Ho.

***

The next day, Chae Woo-Jin’s fans from Wish Baragi had prepared lunch boxes for them. They were shooting in the studio that day, so lunch boxes were more suitable than a food truck. However, there was another reason why Chae Woo-Jin’s fans had chosen to do it today.

“It’s my birthday today?” Park Yeon-Ah pointed at herself as she asked the people standing around her. Even though birthdays had become less meaningful over the years, she hadn’t ignored it intentionally this year. On the contrary, she had truly forgotten about it. Due to the tight filming schedule, she had been too busy to even know what day it was today.

“Happy birthday to you~! Happy birthday to you~! Happy birthday dear Yeon-Ah~ Happy birthday to you!”

Park Yeon-Ah ultimately smiled after seeing the two-tiered cake in front of her. She really liked how there was only one birthday candle. They had also made a small fondant figure of her, and it looked very cute and pretty, so she decided to take it with her.

“I mean, you didn’t have to do this for my birthday!” Looking at the shy and happy Park Yeon-Ah because she had never imagined something like that happening, Woo-Jin felt very happy and proud.

Today’s birthday party was prepared by Wish Baragi. While he was grateful for the lunch boxes, Woo-Jin quickly told Kang Min-Ho the truth after hearing about why Wish Baragi chose to do it today. Then, with Hwang Yi-Young’s help, both of them were able to get the hairpin and phone case that Park Yeon-Ah had always wanted. They knew their gift had matched her taste the moment they heard her gasping in admiration after unwrapping it.

“I’m already so thankful for the cake, and you guys even got me gifts? Thank you so much!”

Park Yeon-Ah held up one of the gift boxes with the words ‘Wish Baragi’ written on it and greeted the barags taking pictures at the back. And when she unwrapped the gift, she let out the most intense cry of joy they had ever heard today.

“This! How did you get your hands on these? It’s the 12th-anniversary limited edition pictorial and figurine of the series ‘O! Phelia’!”

Three years ago, Park Yeon-Ah’s ultimate favorite webtoon artist had published a limited edition pictorial and released a figurine to commemorate the 12th anniversary of the series. However, as a starving actress, she couldn’t buy it then. She felt dispirited and uploaded a post about it on her social media but deleted it a few days later. After that, she tried to get her hands on them after becoming financially more stable, but they were limited edition merchandise after all. Nobody was selling the items even though there was an interested buyer. Hence, she couldn’t help but cry out loud because she finally got her hands on these legendary items that she had only seen in pictures.

1. Hidden Singer is a variety-music TV program in Korea where one famous singer and several of their impersonators sing one measure of a song behind the blinds for four rounds. ☜