SWNOVELXO Chapter 162
Chapter 162
On Raon continued his conversation with his junior, Go Kyung-yoon, who he claimed he wasn’t on awkward terms with.
“So, why did you call me?”
“I just thought it’d be nice to see your face after a long time.”
Go Kyung-yoon, tilting his head nonchalantly, added an explanation.
“When you received the merit award earlier, I saw you on stage. I figured I wouldn’t get to see you in that school uniform again, so I thought I’d take one last look. Oh, and I enjoyed your performance. You dance well.”
“…”
“That’s all. Really, no other reason.”
“Liar.”
“How could you dismiss it so quickly? That hurts.”
“If you really just wanted to see my face, you wouldn’t have called me to meet with Oh Hyun-jin.”
Watching Go Kyung-yoon smile thinly instead of answering, On Raon thought he needed to stay alert, not knowing the true intention of this sly junior.
“Hyun-jin is disappointingly the same, but you’ve changed a bit.”
“That title is strange too. Why do you call him ‘senior’ Hyun-jin? You and Oh Hyun-jin are classmates, and if you count debut dates, Lifting debuted a few days earlier.”
In On Raon’s opinion, Oh Hyun-jin had no grounds to be called a senior by Go Kyung-yoon.
“If you must know, Oh Hyun-jin is my senior in joining the company. I guess you could say it’s a title from those days.”
Go Kyung-yoon explained obediently.
He continued calling Oh Hyun-jin ‘senior’ as a joke from when he first joined TRUE.
“Did they really get along well enough to joke around like that?”
On Raon frowned slightly.
From those words alone, it was hard to imagine that Go Kyung-yoon and Oh Hyun-jin were in the same group.
“Well, calling Oh Hyun-jin ‘senior’ ends today. As you pointed out, I’m actually senior to Oh Hyun-jin. When I told him that, he got really angry. He’s so childish.”
This guy…
No wonder Oh Hyun-jin seemed overly reactive to trivial provocations; it seemed like Go Kyung-yoon had already teased him on similar topics.
From this, it didn’t seem like they were on particularly good terms.
“Hold on.”
Excusing himself, On Raon took out his phone and searched the internet for Go Kyung-yoon.
“Although it’s not been long since his debut, fans must have already compiled the basics.”
Entering a certain wiki, On Raon quickly read through the pre-debut section of Go Kyung-yoon.
Go Kyung-yoon quietly waited for him.
**2. Pre-debut**
– He was a trainee at TRUE from the second year of middle school to the first year of high school. Despite his young age, he participated in several stages as a dancer due to his excellent physicality and skills.
– However, for some reason, he left TRUE and stopped being a trainee for a while. Then, in his second year of high school, he joined Luizen Entertainment.
On Raon’s brows furrowed slightly.
According to the letter left by ‘On Raon’, he had started practicing in Korea in earnest during the summer vacation when he was 16.
Before that, he had lived in the U.S. and came to Korea to practice during vacations.
If Go Kyung-yoon had been a trainee at TRUE from the second year of middle school to the first year of high school…
It seemed like it overlapped… or didn’t overlap… with the time when ‘On Raon’ was severely bullied.
“Don’t you remember? When I said I was quitting as a trainee, you cried as soon as you came to Korea.”
At that moment, Go Kyung-yoon threw out a statement that confused On Raon even more.
“That’s nonsense.”
“I even have a video of it.”
“Liar.”
“You’re right. It’s a lie.”
What the hell is this guy?
“But it’s true that you cried.”
Go Kyung-yoon joked, as if amused that On Raon couldn’t remember anything.
This guy is really something else.
On Raon, suddenly feeling very tired, suppressed a sigh.
He couldn’t tell where the lies started and ended with this guy. It was even more troublesome because there seemed to be a mix of meaningless and insignificant lies that only made him feel foolish if he paid attention to them.
“Did I cry because I was happy you were leaving?”
“No? You cried asking me not to go.”
On Raon chuckled incredulously.
“No matter how foggy my memory is from back then, do you think I’d believe that?”
“I always adhere to the basics in any situation,” Go Kyung-yoon said with a calm smile.
“And there were far too many people in that basement who didn’t even have the basics.”
* * *
Go Kyung-yoon had been noticeably mature for his age since childhood.
When he first joined TRUE Entertainment in his second year of middle school, everyone in the company assumed he was a high school student and treated him accordingly.
“You were in middle school?”
“I thought you were a high schooler.”
Even after they found out his real age, people’s attitudes didn’t change much.
“He’s just naturally mature.”
“He’s not like other boys his age.”
During his tumultuous adolescent years, being a head taller than his peers, able to think more deeply, and having a mind that worked at an adult level, along with coming from a decent family, constituted a form of power on its own.
As a result, Go Kyung-yoon could easily integrate into the mainstream group without doing much and enjoyed a comfortable daily life based on that.
Naturally, there were kids who found him annoying, but they couldn’t easily mess with him.
That was the smart position Go Kyung-yoon had established.
Additionally, Go Kyung-yoon knew well that in this industry, every connection made early on would directly correlate to one’s future abilities or influence.
He had such outstanding skills and exemplary behavior, to the point of being called ‘Go Scholar’, and a surprisingly amiable personality when necessary, that it was widely expected he’d be included in the next boy group debut team. He diligently made an impression on people who could be beneficial to his future entertainment career.
It wasn’t just Go Kyung-yoon; any trainee who started navigating the harsh social environment from a young age did the same.
Go Kyung-yoon’s talent and ambition were so impressive that even the notoriously picky TRUE production team, Bibi, became aware of him, even though he was just a trainee.
Through this, he learned more than he did by mingling with other trainees in similar positions.
“Our plan got delayed about three times…”
“That’s because there were a series of resignations this time…”
While preparing for the stage together and listening to the stories of senior singers who had debuted before him, Go Kyung-yoon suddenly realized something.
‘Ah, this place is no good.’
To Go Kyung-yoon, staying at TRUE and debuting there was like boarding a ship made of rotten wood, which only appeared splendid from the outside.
The state of the trainees who were likely to debut with him was also not good.
Even if Go Kyung-yoon managed to debut and the company somehow maintained the status quo during his activities,
knowing that TRUE Entertainment couldn’t even handle the basics properly was enough.
This was a matter of pride, and if speaking grandly, a matter of honor.
Having been taught by his family to live with integrity and at least uphold the basics, regardless of what he did in life, Go Kyung-yoon didn’t want to stay in such a place.
Thus, despite having spent a considerable amount of time as a trainee at TRUE, Go Kyung-yoon decided to boldly leave, even if it meant paying back the expenses and penalty fees the company had invested in him.
TRUE tried desperately to change the mind of Go Kyung-yoon, whom they considered a trainee ready for immediate debut.
“What do you mean you’re quitting all of a sudden?”
“I’m sorry for the trouble after all you’ve done for me. My parents’ business has been struggling lately, and I’m questioning if I should continue this…”
Of course, Go Kyung-yoon, who had already made up his mind, did not relent and made sure to use his parents as an excuse to prevent any backlash.
Anywhere seemed better than here.
* * *
And a few years later,
Go Kyung-yoon, now a trainee at Luizen Entertainment where Jing Xiao and Ok Do-yoon were also signed, saw On Raon participating in the widely popular “Pick Your Heart Season 3.”
Having lived in Korea, he wasn’t unaware of the various activities On Raon had undertaken throughout 2017.
“He has changed a lot.”
That was Go Kyung-yoon’s first impression upon seeing On Raon, who had regained his body through the broadcast.
It was a rather stark attitude for someone who was meeting an old acquaintance from school.
However, it was not a made-up fact that On Raon cried when Go Kyung-yoon decided to quit as a trainee at TRUE.
Though he didn’t cry outright but showed slight tears that he couldn’t hold back.
Anyway, a kid crying was still crying, Go Kyung-yoon thought dryly.
In the context of social interactions, Go Kyung-yoon now deliberately referred to On Raon as ‘senior.’
But in fact, in terms of their previous relationship, Go Kyung-yoon was the senior.
Rumors had widely spread among the trainees that a guy who danced well but had an unpleasant vibe had joined, and On Raon couldn’t properly participate in the training until it was almost time for him to return to the U.S. after the vacation.
The basement of TRUE was already notorious for its severe territorial behavior.
No trainee showed kindness to On Raon, who couldn’t speak Korean well and somehow evoked a strange repulsion.
Moreover, it was about to escalate into organized bullying.
Even Go Kyung-yoon, who practiced in a different class, heard about this.
If it had been just territorial behavior, overcoming it could be considered a part of one’s ability, but bullying was another matter.
The fact that the trainees leading this bullying were likely to debut with him in the next boy group fueled Go Kyung-yoon’s desire to escape from TRUE.
“Why isn’t this kid allowed to join the self-practice?”
“Go Kyung-yoon…”
“Let’s at least uphold the basics, the basics.”
With the intervention of Go Kyung-yoon, who was obsessed with basics to the point of madness, On Raon was finally able to enjoy the fundamental rights of a trainee.
Of course, Go Kyung-yoon also felt an inexplicable repulsion when he saw On Raon, so he didn’t particularly take care of him beyond that.
However, as seen in Go Kyung-yoon’s case,
not everyone inflicted such harsh violence just based on their feelings.
People like Oh Hyun-jin could never be forgiven.