Wonderland
Cough! Gah! I'm so sorry!
Apparently even he didn't expect himself to spray his drink, because when Hyunsoo saw me suddenly covered in latte, he jumped up in shock.
At the same time, the few people around all turned their eyes toward us.
'…Good thing I didn't put on heavy makeup.'
When I go outside, I usually borrow Kim Soohyun's memories to put on makeup, but today I'd gone lighter—thankfully. If it had been heavier, wiping it off would've been a real pain.
"It's fine, please just sit down."
I was flustered, sure, but seeing Hyunsoo even more panicked than I was calmed me down.
I tried to have him sit back down and draw attention away, but both of us were too eye-catching. I could still feel people sneaking glances.
I wanted to sigh, but that would just make the high schooler in front of me even more nervous, so I held it in and wiped my face with a tissue.
"Uh… your clothes, I should compensate you for them…"
He must've sprayed it pretty spectacularly, because even my plain white T-shirt was stained brown.
But it wasn't anything expensive, so I shook my head.
"It's just a plain tee, it's fine."
"Uh… at least let me give you something to cover it…"
With that, Hyunsoo took a thin school cardigan out of his bag and handed it to me.
It was true that sitting there in just a stained white T-shirt felt a little awkward, so I gratefully slipped it on.
Honestly, with the café's air conditioning, I'd been a bit chilly. The cardigan felt just right. And since Hyunsoo was pretty slim, it fit me perfectly.
"Feels less chilly with this. Do you always carry a cardigan? It's getting warmer these days."
"Ah, the school's AC is too strong, so I bring one."
"Wow."
You bring a cardigan just because the school's air conditioning is too strong?
I use the AC in my own place too, but yeah—school units must be on a different level.
"Uh… are you really sure I don't need to replace the shirt?"
"What for? If you insist, then just give me this cardigan. It fits and looks nice."
The cardigan Hyunsoo gave me was pretty stylish, aside from the school crest.
Of course, I didn't actually mean it, but Hyunsoo nodded seriously.
"Alright. Then please keep it."
"…What? I was joking. Aren't school uniforms expensive these days? This T-shirt didn't cost much."
And honestly, what's a grown adult supposed to do with a school cardigan?
The real Kim Soohyun's old cardigan from her high school days is still stuffed away in the wardrobe at home.
"No, please consider it covering the trouble I caused."
Hyunsoo already looked completely resolved to give it away.
I really didn't need it, but… now that I had it on, it felt a little weird to take it back off and hand it over.
I looked down at the cardigan I was wearing.
The school crest on the chest was a bit awkward, but then again, it could be handy for blending in as a student, or just for casual outings.
…Maybe it wasn't so bad.
"Th-then… thank you, I'll take it."
I felt a bit like I was extorting a student, but honestly, Hyunsoo probably had more money than I did.
From what I just noticed—his shoes and his watch especially—he definitely had that wealthy vibe.
"Yes, I have spares anyway."
"Oh, you do."
"Then… shall we get back to talking about the song?"
Once I accepted the cardigan, Hyunsoo carefully steered the conversation back.
I, wanting to clear the awkward air as well, nodded quickly.
"Right, let's talk about Wonderland."
"Yes, how is it? The notebook has all the songs written in it."
"Hmm…"
At his question, I recalled the notebook I had just seen.
The first page was filled with scattered, random words.
But as the pages went on, those words connected, became sentences, and soon notes began appearing among them.
Watching that chaotic scattering of words turn into sentences, then lyrics, then a whole story, was fascinating in itself—but what I really liked were the lyrics.
"The lyrics were pretty. Honestly, they felt more like Japanese lyrics than Korean ones."
Phrases like "burning youth" and "charging straight ahead"—things that could feel cheesy—were woven in naturally.
"Haha… really?"
"So my part is here, right? The part where the energy drops."
"Oh, you caught that right away."
"Could I listen to it once now?"
"Ah, yes of course. Should I send it to you?"
"Please."
The melody line was written in the notebook too, but after seeing it, I wanted to hear it directly.
So I got the track from Hyunsoo and gave it a listen.
As expected, it began with a bright rhythm, high energy.
The calm, mature Hyunsoo I'd just been talking to was gone; in my earphones, he was SlimGold, shouting with vigor.
The lyrics brimmed with confidence: ignoring outside eyes, determined to build and show his own Wonderland.
But then the energy cuts off.
The music fades, and the inner voice emerges—
Instead of spitting words quickly to a lively beat, it slows down to quiet piano, admitting inner fear, anxiety, hesitation.
Then the tempo rises again, soaring into the highlight, with a burst of upbeat music closing the song.
In under four minutes, it spilled both ambition and vulnerability—and I found myself smiling.
"So I'm in charge of the inner voice, then?"
"Exactly."
The song was overall high-toned. Male high tones carried it, until a female low tone grounded it once, then let it explode again.
"Nice."
Not bad at all. And with the lyrics already written, all I had to do was focus on singing it well.
"It'll be a bit difficult."
"I know. I'll need to put real emotion into it, right?"
People often make the mistake of thinking slow or low parts are easier just because they're not fast or high.
No—holding down the weight of a song at a low point, keeping it from breaking apart, requires the highest skill.
You can't rely on speed or range—only emotion and tone.
As for emotion…
Well, tone is something I was born with.
Learning to carry emotion would take practice, but that was fine.
More than anything, I liked the song. So I sealed the deal that day and left the café.
[So you officially agreed to join the project?]
"Yes, I liked the song."
[Oh… liked it a lot?]
"I don't know about the others, but you can look forward to the track I'm part of."
[Alright, I'll hold you to that.]
"Sure. Though I still have to deal with this problem first."
[…]
The manager's silence made me lose words for a moment.
I'd said it as a joke, but I guess it hit him hard.
"Uh… don't worry too much. I'll handle it."
[Do you know that line actually makes me more anxious?]
"Huh?"
[When you're in collabs or group schedules, you're really reliable. But when it comes to your solo streams, I can't help but worry.]
"Haha… isn't that a bit of a biased view?"
[I wish it were.]
Well, I could see his point. I did have a tendency to speak a little too freely in my solo broadcasts. But honestly, I'd never once crossed that line—never said anything to really deserve heavy backlash.
"Haven't I always managed somehow?"
[That's true…]
"Then trust me this time too."
[Alright… try mediating first. If it doesn't work, we'll need to have a few more meetings about this.]
"Understood."
[Good luck.]
After hanging up with the manager, I leaned back in my chair and sighed.
Phew… a meeting about song participation in the afternoon, then a one-on-one with the manager after.
Am I living too busy these days?
I thought that as I started preparing my stream.
Fortunately, none of the other members were streaming at that time.
A perfect slot to gather viewers.
[Miro: Major Announcement]
With that deliberately clickbaity title, I hit the "Start Stream" button.
???
What's this?
lol hey hey
Miro, this is my first time catching you live
Graduation?? omg
Already releasing a second song??
Who are you to be making a "major announcement" lol
I really enjoyed your song, Miro
Are you doing a song stream today?
What do you mean karaoke, new viewers please chill
Already, the chaotic chat window was making my head spin.
Ignoring it for now, I got straight to the point.
"Alright, everyone. I have a major announcement."
Major announcement ㄷㄷ..
What is it??
"Isn't it about time we came up with a fan name?"
Idols inevitably exist alongside their fans.
And for fans to feel a sense of unity, they need something to call themselves, right?
Yeah, we need one.
Everyone else already made theirs ages ago.
Poll time, let's go!
Any candidates??
The moment I mentioned a fan name, chat got even more fired up.
Since it's Miro, how about Minotaur?
Or shorten Miro-yuksu (Miro broth) into Miyuksu.
God, these military service boomers have the worst naming sense.
Just keep it simple pls.
Do a café poll?
Normally, fan names are chosen together with the fans.
But look at this chaos. Do you really think a disorganized mob could agree on anything?
At times like this, a leader's decisiveness is required.
"From this moment on, you are all Mirodan."
???
What?
You already decided??
Then why even ask, you bitch lol
As expected, the chat blew up the moment I said it.
"Look back at the stream title. Do you see the words 'discussion' or 'debate' anywhere?"
[Thank you ArtisanMiro for the 10,000 won donation!]
"Are you saying you're just going to be a dictator now?"
Whoa
What the hell
(opens notepad)
"Thanks for the 10k donation. Lately, haven't the new viewers and old ones been fighting a lot?"
Yeah
The new military boomers never shut up even when we tell them to lurk quietly lol
Even when I bring it up directly, my chat doesn't snap out of it.
Even my top donor—the "Chairman" of my channel—was joining in on bashing the newbies.
If I wanted to unite this mess, I needed a strong performance as a leader.
"Here, let's take this one: 'These new military boomers won't shut up when we tell them to lurk'—this guy wrote that."
I clicked on the message and pulled up the user log.
ArtisanMiro
gasp
LOL it's the Chairman
Public shaming, caught in 4k
"This person's donated a lot here, right? Been around since the early days. Let's see… banned temporarily 67 times, force-kicked 3 times. I remember one was by me, and the other two were from the mods."
Of course, my channel had moderators—viewers from early days I recruited. Normally they just hand out 5-minute timeouts for profanity. And yet this guy had been kicked out twice by them?
"Looking at the logs… wow. Bitch this, whore that… every insult under the sun."
LMAOOOOOO
Is this channel always like this??
That's kinda over the line, ngl
Look at the Chairman's level lol
Straight up public execution
Just ban him already
If he donated even a little less, he'd already be permabanned, no question
"Alright, that's enough of that. Next, let's grab a random new viewer."
I pulled up another log from chat on screen.
"Here: followed today, 15 messages, 0 timeouts, 0 bans. Completely clean."
LOL
The newbies are the ones doing the good work
So are we kicking the Chairman or what?
Are you saying we should all chat like that guy?
"No, what I mean is…"
I scrolled all the way back and pulled up the Chairman's very first chat message, then displayed it side by side with the newbie's message.
"See? They're the same, right?"
And sure enough, the resemblance was uncanny.
Whoa wtf
LOL
Is that an alt account?
Look how he was testing the waters back then lol
"The conclusion is this: whether you're a newbie or the Chairman, you're both viewers of my channel. You're both Mirodan. There's no need to divide sides. So let's shake hands."
Beautiful
Truly the Great Miro
Who even shakes hands in chat? lol
Wait so the fan name really is Mirodan now?
Is this channel always like this?
"Alright, put your hands out."
I ignored chat's reactions and focused on the performance.
The reason I picked the Chairman out of all the trolls was for this very moment.
Of course, as a loyal viewer, he'd play along and type it first.
And with this much attention, the newbie I'd randomly pulled up on stream would surely type it too.
I quietly reached under the desk and tapped it out on my phone.
"There, they shook hands. From now on, no more fighting."
LOL
We need to record this in history
I'm getting emotional…
Hey newbie, we'll let it slide just this once
And just like that, I successfully defused the first problem peacefully.
It seems I really do have the qualities of a leader.