[Kei]
For the first time in years, Kei wished he had never known Jae-Won.
Not because of the scandal.
Not because of the threats.
But because he knew exactly how Jae-Won operated.
And that was the problem.
Jae-Won had never been the type to lose control and act without thinking.
Even back when they were trainees, he had always been patient.
Observant.
The kind of person who could smile at you in the morning and use something you told him in confidence against you by evening.
Back then, Kei had mistaken that patience for maturity.
Now, he wasn't so sure.
"Kei."
His manager's voice pulled him out of his thoughts.
Kei looked up from his phone.
"What?"
"Have you heard a single word I've said?"
"No."
His manager stared at him.
Kei stared back.
"...At least you're honest."
"I'm having a difficult day."
"You're having a difficult day?" His manager let out a disbelieving laugh. "Your press conference just ended, three news outlets are already publishing articles about your statement, and the legal team wants to discuss the leaked information. And you're sitting here looking like you're about to commit a crime."
"I'm not going to commit a crime."
"Wonderful. Then stop looking like that."
Kei glanced down at his phone again.
His manager followed his gaze.
"No-Ah?"
Kei immediately locked the screen.
His manager's eyebrows rose.
"Oh, so it is No-Ah."
"Don't start."
"I didn't say anything."
"You were about to."
"I was about to say that if you're going to stare at your phone every thirty seconds, you should at least admit you're worried about her."
Kei slowly raised his head.
"Do you want to keep your job?"
His manager laughed.
"There's the personality I know."
Kei ignored him.
But the smile disappeared from his face almost immediately.
"Get me everything we have on Jae-Won."
His manager's expression changed.
"Everything?"
"His previous agency. His recent activities. Who he's been meeting. Any communication between him and the people involved in the leak."
"Kei, if you're planning to confront him—"
"I'm not."
His manager looked unconvinced.
Kei sighed.
"I'm planning to find out why he's doing this before he gets another opportunity to hurt someone."
His manager studied him for a moment.
Then he nodded.
"I'll talk to the legal team."
"And don't contact him directly."
"Understood."
Kei leaned back against the sofa.
There was one more thing he needed to know.
Something that had been bothering him ever since No-Ah mentioned the café.
"Did anyone ever tell you why Jae-Won left the company?"
His manager frowned.
"Jae-Won? I thought you knew."
Kei went still.
"Knew what?"
His manager hesitated.
"After you debuted, there was an internal investigation involving a trainee who had been sharing confidential company information with someone outside the agency."
Kei's expression hardened.
"What does that have to do with Jae-Won?"
"His name came up during the investigation."
For a moment, Kei couldn't speak.
He remembered those days.
The exhausting training schedules. The arguments. The constant pressure to debut before someone else took his place.
And Jae-Won.
Always beside him.
Always listening.
Always asking questions.
Kei swallowed.
"Why wasn't I told?"
"Because the company handled it internally. I don't know the details, and I'm not saying he was responsible for anything. His name was simply mentioned."
Kei looked away.
A memory surfaced.
Jae-Won sitting beside him in an empty practice room, asking him what he would do if only one of them could debut.
Kei had laughed at the time.
Then I'll buy you dinner when I become famous.
Jae-Won hadn't laughed.
He had only looked at him and said, You'd better remember that promise.
Kei closed his eyes.
He wished he could remember what happened after that.
But suddenly, the past seemed full of things he had never thought to question.
And now No-Ah was caught in the middle of it.
His phone buzzed.
He opened the notification.
A message from No-Ah.
No-Ah
Are you busy?
Kei answered immediately.
Kei
No
Three seconds later, another message arrived.
Your manager is going to hate you if you keep lying like that
Kei blinked.
And how did you know
Because you answered in approximately 0.2s seconds
Maybe I'm just a very efficient man.
You need a hobby.
Talking to you is my hobby
He stared at the message after sending it.
Then immediately regretted every decision that had led him to this moment.
Why had he written that?
Why had he pressed send?
Why was he like this?
The typing bubble appeared.
Disappeared.
Appeared again.
Finally—
That's unfortunate
Kei stared.
Then laughed under his breath.
You are terrible at comforting people
You're still texting me
He couldn't argue with that.
For a few seconds, the conversation felt normal again.
Then another message appeared.
Kei
His smile faded.
Yea?
Something's wrong.
He sat up immediately.
What
The reply took longer than usual.
I received another message. I think it's from Jae-Won.
Kei's stomach tightened.
Don't reply to it. Send me a screenshot
A moment later, the image arrived.
The message was short.
"You should ask Kei what happened the night before his debut evaluation."
Kei stopped breathing for a moment.
He read it again.
Then a third time.
The night before his debut evaluation.
No-Ah had no reason to know about that night.
Almost nobody did.
He could still remember the practice room. The argument. Jae-Won's expression when Kei walked away without looking back.
And the promise he had broken.
His fingers tightened around the phone.
Do you know what this means?
Kei stared at the screen.
He could lie.
He could tell her it was meaningless.
He could promise that everything would be fine and deal with the consequences later.
But he had already spent too much time allowing other people to control the truth.
Yes.
A pause.
But I need to explain it to you clearly.
Her reply arrived quickly.
Ok
Then another message.
I'm listening.
Kei stared at those two words.
I'm listening.
Somehow, they frightened him more than the threat itself.
Because if No-Ah listened to the whole story, she might finally understand that he wasn't the person she thought he was.
And he wasn't sure he could bear watching her look at him differently.
Still, he began typing.
Before I debuted, Jae-Won and I had this serious argument.
He stopped.
Deleted the sentence.
Started again.
And deleted it again.
He paused.
Then typed another one.
And I think Jae-Won wants you to find out through someone other than me.
☆ ☆ ☆
[No-Ah]
No-Ah sat on the edge of her bed, staring at her phone.
The unknown number had stopped messaging her.
That somehow made everything worse.
She could handle someone being rude. She could handle people making assumptions about her and Kei.
What she couldn't handle was the feeling that someone had been watching her life from a distance, waiting for the right moment to pull something apart.
She opened the screenshot again.
You should ask Kei what happened the night before his debut evaluation.
What had happened?
Had Kei hurt someone?
Had someone hurt him?
Or was this another attempt to make her doubt him?
She hated that she didn't know.
She hated even more that she wanted to know.
Her phone buzzed.
Can I call you real quick?
No-Ah hesitated.
She had spent the entire morning telling herself she wasn't going to get involved in more of Kei's problems.
She had responsibilities.
Schoolwork.
A café shift.
An entire life that had somehow become tangled up with an idol whose face appeared on billboards.
And yet—
Okay
Her phone rang almost immediately.
She answered.
"Hello?"
"Hi."
No-Ah frowned.
"Why do you sound like you're calling to announce your own funeral?"
Kei let out a quiet laugh.
"I don't."
"You do. It's unsettling."
"Sorry."
She went silent.
That single word sounded strange coming from him.
Not because Kei never apologized, but because he usually followed it with some ridiculous excuse.
This time, he didn't.
"Kei?"
"Yeah?"
"Tell me what happened."
On the other end of the line, she heard him breathe out slowly.
"Before I debuted, Jae-Won and I were best friends."
"I know that part."
"We trained together for years. We wanted the same things. We understood each other better than anyone else did."
No-Ah listened without interrupting.
"Then, near the end of our trainee period, something happened. Something that changed our relationship."
"What happened?"
Kei was quiet for a long moment.
"I made a decision that affected both of us. I thought I was doing the right thing, but I never gave him a chance to explain his side."
No-Ah frowned.
"That sounds suspiciously vague."
"I know."
"Are you deliberately avoiding the details?"
"Yes."
She blinked.
"Wow. At least you're honest."
A faint laugh came through the phone, but it disappeared quickly.
"I'm not trying to hide it from you, No-Ah. I just need to make sure I remember everything correctly before I tell you the whole story."
She leaned back against her pillows.
"Okay."
"You believe me?"
"I believe that you want to tell me something. That's not the same as knowing whether you're right about everything."
Kei went silent.
Then he laughed softly.
"You're impossible."
"And you're dramatic."
"I've been told."
"By me. Repeatedly."
"Unfortunately, I remember."
For a brief moment, No-Ah smiled.
Then her eyes drifted back to the screenshot.
"Kei?"
"Hm?"
"Do you think Jae-Won is doing all this because of what happened between you two?"
"I think it's possible."
"Then why involve me?"
There it was.
The question he had been avoiding since the moment he saw her message.
"I don't know," he admitted.
She looked down at her hands.
"That's the part that scares me."
His voice softened.
"I'm sorry."
No-Ah swallowed.
"I don't want to become the reason you and your company have more problems."
"You aren't."
"But—"
"No-Ah."
She stopped.
"Whatever happened between Jae-Won and me started long before I met you. You didn't cause it, and you don't have to fix it."
She didn't answer immediately.
For once, she had no sarcastic remark ready.
Because she knew what it felt like to be blamed for something that wasn't yours to carry.
And hearing Kei say those words made her chest ache in a way she didn't quite understand.
"Okay," she whispered.
He didn't rush to fill the silence.
For a while, neither of them spoke.
Then No-Ah cleared her throat.
"By the way."
"Yeah?"
"If you become a criminal, I'm not visiting you in prison."
Kei laughed.
The sound was so sudden and genuine that she couldn't help smiling.
"That's your concern?"
"I have very limited free time."
"I see."
"And the prison food probably isn't good."
"You're a terrible person."
"Thank you."
He was still laughing when she ended the call.
For several seconds, No-Ah held the phone against her chest.
Then she lowered it.
She wasn't going to let a stranger's message decide what she believed about Kei.
But she wasn't going to ignore it, either.
She took a screenshot of the unknown number, saved the messages, and sent them to Kei's manager after getting permission from Kei.
Then she blocked the number.
At least, that was what she thought she needed to do.
Until her phone buzzed again.
Not a text message.
A notification.
Someone had sent her a follow request on Instagram.
The account had no profile picture.
No posts.
No followers.
The username was a random collection of letters and numbers.
She almost ignored it.
Almost.
Then she noticed the account's display name.
Before The Debut.
No-Ah stared at it.
Her finger hovered over the screen.
She didn't accept the request.
She didn't reject it, either.
Maybe she should wait for tomorrow.
She set her phone down on the nightstand.
And lay down on the bed.
☆ ☆ ☆
[Run-Seo]
Run-Seo watched the message status change.
Delivered.
Not read.
She placed her phone on the table and leaned back in her chair.
Across from her, Min-Ji was busy sorting through the café's inventory sheets.
"You've been staring at that phone for ten minutes," he said without looking up.
"I'm thinking."
"That's concerning."
She gave him a flat look.
Min-Ji grinned.
"Sorry. Couldn't resist."
Run-Seo turned her phone face down.
"Do you think people can change?"
He stopped writing.
"That's a random question."
"Just answer it."
He considered her for a moment.
"Of course they can."
"Even if they've done something terrible?"
"Depends on what they did. And whether they're actually trying to change."
She looked away.
"That's a very convenient answer."
"It's also the only honest one I have."
For a while, the only sound between them was the faint hum of the refrigerator.
Then Min-Ji spoke again.
"Why are you asking?"
"No reason."
He didn't look convinced.
But he didn't push.
Run-Seo picked up her phone again.
There was still no reply.
She opened an old conversation.
A familiar name sat near the top of the screen.
Jae-Won.
Her thumb hovered over the chat.
She had told herself she was done with all of this.
That she would stop watching.
Stop asking questions.
Stop trying to understand why Kei had moved on while she was still stuck in the past.
But every time she thought she was finally free of it, something pulled her back.
A memory.
A photograph.
A name.
And now, No-Ah.
Run-Seo opened the conversation and typed.
Run-Seo
Are you stopping soon?
She stared at the message.
Then deleted it.
Typed again.
You said you wouldn't involve her.
This time, she sent it.
The reply arrived less than a minute later.
Jae-Won
I haven't done anything to her
Run-Seo's stomach twisted.
I know you contacted her.
I asked her a question. No harm in that, right?
Three dots appeared.
Disappeared.
Then—
You wanted him to face the past, didn't you?
Run-Seo stared at the screen.
She remembered the conversations.
The promises.
The things Jae-Won had said about how Kei had changed after debuting.
How success had made him selfish.
How he had abandoned the people who had helped him get there.
Some of it had sounded believable.
Some of it had even sounded true.
But somewhere along the way, the purpose had changed.
This wasn't about making Kei admit he had been wrong.
It was about making him suffer.
And Run-Seo wasn't sure when she had stopped questioning it.
Her fingers trembled slightly as she typed.
This wasn't supposed to happen.
His response came immediately.
Then you should've stayed out of it.
She went completely still.
Another message arrived.
You're not innocent.
Run-Seo read it once.
Twice.
Then locked her phone.
Across the table, Min-Ji looked up.
"Run-Seo?"
She forced herself to smile.
"What?"
"You're pale."
"I'm fine."
He studied her face.
"You're a terrible liar."
For the first time that afternoon, she had no answer.
Because the truth was becoming impossible to ignore.
She had wanted Kei to regret leaving her behind.
She had wanted him to look back.
To remember her.
To wonder what he had lost.
But she had never imagined that someone else would use her resentment as a weapon.
And now she was beginning to understand something far more frightening.
Jae-Won didn't care whether she regretted it.
He only cared whether she was useful.
Her phone buzzed one last time.
She looked down.
A new message.
Keep your mouth shut, Run-Seo.
Unless you want everyone unless to learn what you did too.
Her face drained of color.
For several seconds, she couldn't move.
Then she slowly turned the phone off.
Because whatever happened next—
she could no longer pretend she was only watching from the sidelines.
She was already part of the story.
And Jae-Won had just reminded her that he knew exactly how to make her pay for it.
Should she have done it?
☆ ☆ ☆