Team Leader, You're an Idol Now - Chapter 19
It wasn’t only the fans who were too excited to sleep. With cameras in the rooms—and after seeing the broadcast staff in person—the trainees were restless too.
“…you know…”
“You—ah!”
Woo-Gyeom heard the commotion outside and assumed they’d all gathered in someone’s room to chat.
That was, until Raul, half-asleep—started getting angry.
“Ah… seriously, it’s so loud. If you’re going to fight, go fight outside…”
Raul covered his ears with a pillow and fell back asleep, but Woo-Gyeom shot upright.
‘Fight…?’
His eyes darted around, then he left the room. The noise was coming from the four-person room.
“Um—sorry, it’s just really loud…”
Woo-Gyeom opened the door while choosing his words carefully—
—and got smacked in the face by a flying pillow.
The thud was unmistakably loud.
“Hyung! Are you okay?!”
The pillow dropped from his face. Woo-Gyeom stared blankly at Yu-Chan.
Yu-Chan was climbing down from the top bunk in a panic. The trainee on the opposite bed was fidgeting, looking lost.
‘Ah, shit. My face. Was it that bastard?’
Woo-Gyeom glared briefly toward the pillow’s owner, then asked Yu-Chan,
“What were you doing? I came because it was too noisy—”
He rubbed the throbbing tip of his nose. Yu-Chan checked Woo-Gyeom’s face, then picked up the pillow from the floor.
“Pillow fight.”
And then—without hesitation—he flung it right back at the pillow’s owner.
Woo-Gyeom only managed to reach out; he couldn’t stop it in time.
“Ack!”
Even though it was just a pillow, the scream was loud. The pillow’s owner toppled backward onto the bed.
‘Did he hit him at full force?’
Woo-Gyeom glanced at the camera that was still recording. Yu-Chan didn’t care at all—he didn’t even look at the kid he’d hit.
“Yu-Chan, should we step out for a second?”
“Yes.”
Just then, Hae-Rang approached from behind. He must’ve just showered, his hair was wrapped in a towel.
He looked happy to see Woo-Gyeom and asked,
“Woo-Gyeom! What happened?”
“Ah, well… do you want to come out too?”
“Come out? Me too?”
Woo-Gyeom, Yu-Chan, and Hae-Rang sat around the dining table. Yu-Chan, still sulking, dug out an ice cream he’d apparently stashed somewhere and started eating it.
Hae-Rang quietly studied the expressions on Yu-Chan’s and Woo-Gyeom’s faces.
‘What do I do now?’
Woo-Gyeom was a little dazed. He’d gotten them out here, but he still hadn’t decided what to ask.
‘Do I ask why they fought? Or do I start by asking if it even was a fight?’
He drank some water and set the cup down in front of the camera like nothing was happening.
‘This is when you go straight down the middle.’
Carefully, he asked Yu-Chan, who was chewing his ice cream loudly,
“It was really loud earlier. Were you guys fighting? What happened?”
Yu-Chan denied it immediately.
“We weren’t fighting. It’s just… they wouldn’t let me sleep!”
“Huh?”
“They kept talking loudly.”
Yu-Chan frowned and slapped the table with a bang. Then, chewing the ice cream stick between his teeth, he said,
“It’s not like it’s a private room, right? But they just kept talking. I was lying down trying to sleep, and their voices were so loud I couldn’t even ignore it. And it was all about other people, too.”
Woo-Gyeom listened seriously, then asked carefully,
“Other people?”
“Yeah. And it wasn’t even nice stuff. They were all excited about it—ugh.”
Yu-Chan looked like he didn’t even want to think about it.
‘So it was trash talk.’
Woo-Gyeom remembered what happened earlier—how trainees had whispered behind Hae-Rang’s back even when Hae-Rang tried to talk to him.
‘It wasn’t “competition.” It was malicious—twisted with jealousy.’
Woo-Gyeom could already picture what had happened.
Yu-Chan continued.
“I told them to keep it down first, okay? But they ignored me. I kept listening and listening and got pissed, so I told them if they hate him that much, say it to his face. They can’t even open their mouths in front of him.”
Yu-Chan glanced at Hae-Rang and pressed his lips into a straight line. Hae-Rang looked like he was wondering if this was about him.
“You did well.”
“Then I’m seriously going to sleep now. Good night, hyungs.”
Yu-Chan checked the time, clicked his tongue, and stood up.
“Night.”
“Good night.”
After receiving their greetings, Yu-Chan slipped back into the room.
Hae-Rang didn’t look good.
“They were talking about me, right?”
***
Hae-Rang didn’t understand every word Yu-Chan said, but he could easily guess that someone had been saying bad things about him.
This wasn’t the first time other trainees had talked trash about Hae-Rang.
“At first, I thought it was fine. I thought people might misunderstand me because they were seeing me for the first time.”
“I see.”
Hae-Rang had joined the company without knowing Korean at all.
He was learning Korean during language lessons, but not well enough to speak quickly.
“I thought it would get better once I learned more. But it got worse. Ah… it’s not everyone. Just two people. But after we became the planning team, it got worse.”
Hae-Rang let out a long breath and lowered his head.
Woo-Gyeom understood the parts Hae-Rang hadn’t said out loud, too.
“The trainees were being petty.”
A few were jealous of him—so jealous they used the fact that he couldn’t speak Korean to tear him down.
“They must’ve been jealous. I didn’t realize they’d be this nasty, using your Korean as an excuse.”
“…Yeah.”
Hae-Rang looked troubled. Woo-Gyeom patted his shoulder.
“It must’ve been hard, not even being able to talk about it.”
“Yeah. So I was happy when Yu-Chan said he argued back for me.”
Woo-Gyeom thought of Yu-Chan, whose “focus” was slightly off.
‘He looked more angry about not being able to sleep… but he did stand up for him, so.’
Woo-Gyeom smiled as if he didn’t notice.
Hae-Rang asked,
“What should I do from now on? I feel bad, like it got this bad because I didn’t respond.”
Woo-Gyeom crossed his arms and thought.
“Hmm… I think the important thing is not looking easy to mess with.”
He felt a little bitter calling that a “solution.” He wasn’t worried about “punishing” the ones spreading rumors.
‘If they talked trash even with cameras in the rooms, that says it all. There’ll be moments they say things even while mic’d.’
If it got recorded, it became proof.
But until then, the only thing Hae-Rang could do was look intimidating.
That’s the entertainment industry.
‘You can’t shut people’s mouths.’
Punishing the openly malicious ones was only part of it.
Even worse words would fly once they became the debut lineup, and after debut.
Idols danced on top of people’s gossip.
‘If this kept going until the debut lineup was confirmed… maybe that’s why Hae-Rang forced himself to learn Korean fast in my past life.’
Woo-Gyeom remembered how good Hae-Rang’s Korean had been.
It was sad to think he might’ve studied just to understand people’s nasty digs.
‘But I can’t exactly tell him, “Go study Korean.”’
Woo-Gyeom worried too. Becoming fluent fast wasn’t a fundamental fix.
Seeing Hae-Rang still downcast, Woo-Gyeom said,
“When it happens, what if you just say it?”
The moment you stop looking like an easy target, people don’t whisper right in front of you anymore.
“Just… say it?”
“Yeah. Coolly. Ask, “Are you talking about me?” I asked that outright. Like, “Do you have something to say?”
“[You went through that too?”
Woo-Gyeom nodded.
People talked about him not only after his idol career failed, but even when he first joined entertainment.
‘Did Woo-Gyeom finish high school? Did he even attend classes?’
‘He’s young and already quit? Show us the dance you used to do.’
He’d heard all kinds of things before he even became a team leader.
And because the internet never forgets, even after retirement or disbandment, people kept flapping their mouths.
“I heard it a lot. Too much to count. If I’d just swallowed it all every time, I wouldn’t have gotten this far.”
“Really?”
“Yeah. Just say it. Like it’s nothing.”
Hae-Rang looked surprised—then his face brightened.
He probably thought Woo-Gyeom meant his “journey” only as far as becoming the planning team.
“So I can just say whatever comes to mind?”
Woo-Gyeom nodded.
Seeing Hae-Rang finally look lighter, Woo-Gyeom smiled back.
‘He’s got some energy back. At least he won’t spiral into self-hatred.’
Woo-Gyeom started cleaning up. He picked up the cup he’d left aside and stood.
“Let’s sleep. We’re filming the teaser tomorrow.”
“Right. Teaser filming.”
Hae-Rang echoed in Korean, smiling. It looked good on him.
‘Did we solve something, at least?’
Woo-Gyeom felt relieved and returned to his room—without knowing at all how his advice would play out.
* * *
Beep-beep-beep—
An alarm blared through the dorm. All the alarms they’d set for the same time went off together.
‘Ugh. I’m dying.’
Woo-Gyeom shut off the ear-splitting alarm. Beside him, Raul was stirring.
‘Ah—right. The camera.’
Woo-Gyeom met the camera’s lens… then quickly turned around and pressed his fingers into his eye area.
‘I don’t want to show my morning swollen face.’
By the time the massage moved from his eyes down toward his neck, his eyes finally opened properly.
“Good morning, everyone.”
Woo-Gyeom stood, waved at the camera, and greeted it.
If he could get even one more shot on air, it was worth it—while the others were still shy around cameras, he needed to collect as many solo shots as possible.
“Morning.”
But the moment he stepped out of the room, his dream of hoarding solo shots popped like a bubble.
Min-Jae was walking around shirtless.
“Ah… good morning.”
‘Haha. I’m jealous.’
Woo-Gyeom remembered panicking and covering himself when the staff had been in the dorm.
Seeing Min-Jae’s always-ready body made him suddenly want to work out.
“Good morning, hyung.”
“Good morning.”
Yu-Chan, rubbing his eyes, and Hae-Rang—oddly brighter than before—came out into the living room too.
Soon an FD entered and told them to move to the salon.
“Did everyone sleep well?”
They boarded a large bus following the staff’s instructions. Manager Bong was already waiting.
‘So he doesn’t have to drive when we move together for filming.’
Everyone took their seats.
Dan-Woo sat beside Woo-Gyeom, and Raul sat across in a single seat.
Manager Bong counted heads, then began.
“Today we’ll go to the salon for makeup, then move to the studio. We won’t go to the studio as a group like this—once you’re done, you’ll go over in order.”
“Yes.”
“At the studio, you’ll wear coordinated outfits and start filming. It’s your first teaser shoot, so do well. And tell the salon to make you look your best. Got it?”
“Yes!”
The trainees answered loudly.
This was finally the shoot they’d dreamed of, and most of them had never even been to a proper salon before.
‘They’re all insanely excited. Once we get there, it’ll be a battlefield.’
Woo-Gyeom pictured a salon and set where a bunch of people moved together—chaotic and crashing into each other.
Manager Bong continued.
“We need to decide the makeup order. How should we do it?”
“Who wants to go first?”
Min-Jae asked smoothly, like he was naturally stepping into the leader role, nice to see.
“Me. I want to go early.”
“Me too. I’d rather be earlier if possible.”
“Same. I want to get makeup done quickly.”
Including Hae-Rang, Dan-Woo, and Woo-Gyeom, six of them raised their hands.
Among them was the dance-team trainee who’d thrown a pillow at Woo-Gyeom last night.
Woo-Gyeom finally got a good look at his face.
‘No wonder he’s insecure about his looks. He kind of has a slug vibe…’
Woo-Gyeom thought that briefly—then saw the writer looking excited.
“Hmm, a lot of people want the early slot.”
‘They’re going to make us play some game, aren’t they?’
Woo-Gyeom only wanted to be early-ish.
If he got makeup done and filmed first, he’d have leftover time to hover in front of cameras.
“Alright—then let’s play a game. Before that, give me one line of determination each?”
A few shouted “Fighting!” and the like.
It was Hae-Rang’s turn.
Even bare-faced, he was handsome. He pretended to think, rubbing his chin… then spoke.
“I want to go fast. Because I think this guy will take too long for makeup.”
With a grin, Hae-Rang pointed at Slug.
It felt like somewhere a goofy “bwip-bwip-bwip” horn sound went off.
‘Did I mess up breaking his seal or something…?’
Woo-Gyeom started sweating.