VISUAL [CEW] ✔️

[ 18 ]

E I G H T E E N
THIRD PERSON'S POINT OF VIEW

"YOU KNOW HOW YOU gave me that cd?" Mr. Visual asked Hyerin, who hummed in response. "It was really good! Thank you. Do you want any credit or anything?" Eunwoo raised a brow in curiosity, wondering what her response would be. But the question had only confused her. "Credit? Are you publishing it? I thought song making was your hobby." He stopped swaying his head side to side on the couch, realizing he had never spoken about his way towards debuting as an idol. "Oh. I was writing it for my group's debuting album. I thought I told you I was a trainee. Hope you don't mind." Now it made sense to Hyerin, she nodded in understanding.

"Go for it. A lot of people don't debut. Luckily the Wanna One members are." She told him, snuggling into her pillow, curious about this male's identity. Eunwoo pressed his lips when the girl mentioned Jihoon and his friends. He remembered when Jihoon came as a trainee into Fantaigo for a year. He almost made it into Astro in that case as well.

"But aren't the members of Wanna One under different companies? Even a few of the members have debuted in different groups.... who was it? Oh! Ha Sungwoon hyung and Hwang Minhyun hyung." He mentioned the two friends of hers. Hyerin lifted her head, nodding to show that she knew what he was getting at. "It's a project group. Their companies will let YMC and CJ E&M Entertainment debut them. Eventually they'll move agencies where Swing Entertainment takes specific care for project groups like them. They'll have around two years. If they want to renew the contract, they can." Eunwoo nodded at the information given to him.

He sucked in a sharp breath, "I heard Park Jihoon was really close to joining Astro at school." He threw off the idea that Mr. Visual was him. Hyerin hummed again in response. "Not just at school. Around a year ago, he almost made it into the debuting team. But he couldn't because of a knee injury. He hates himself for it. First he didn't have enough money for them and then he couldn't even debut. It's one of the main reasons why Jihoon dislikes Astro so much. Just to distract himself from his own self-hate."

Eunwoo's eyes widened, he didn't know that. He really though Jihoon was out there hating him because of his visuals. Society had been cruel to him. And then fate. In a way... Jihoon had every right to be mad. That's what the male thought. "But he's getting over it. Astro sort of forced their way in. Weirdly enough, if it wasn't for Jinwoo, he would've never gotten over it." Hyerin spoke again, making Eunwoo chuckle internally at what she said. It was true that Astro, mainly Jinwoo, had forced themselves into their lives.

Randomly as well. "What do you think about Astro now?" He asked, holding his breath as he stared at her back figure. "They aren't dicks, that's for sure. Not entirely humble, but they aren't too bad." He smiled widely, shoving his hands in his pockets as he stood up. "That's good. I'll leave for the bell, Hyerin-ah." He told her, leaving her alone with her thoughts.

• • •

"Fancy." Woojin commented dryly, entering the COEX Artium, SMTOWN's cafe. Sanha raised a brow, pouting innocently. "Why did you say that with so much boredom, hyung?" He asked him, the fangirls in the room already whispering when they had come inside. Woojin exchanged a funny look with his two best friends, "Jihoon was a trainee here two years ago. We basically came here all the time in our first year. Don't you remember, Hyerin?" He stretched out his arms, taking a seat like it was home.

"Tell me about it, if you told me this was where we were going to have lunch, I wouldn't have missed studying and gone on a two-hour bus ride." She mumbled, spitting next to the Busan male. Astro exchanged flustered expressions. They raised a brow at their member Minhyuk, who glared at them in return. "How was I meant to know? You said they weren't rich." He hissed at Myungjun, making the short male avoid eye contact. "We aren't rich, but I'm pretty sure the middle class can some here too." Jihoon retorted, eyeing them with light disgust.

Eunwoo chuckled nervously, "Now, now. Didn't we come here to rectify our friendship?" He looked at the nine blank minded people. Hyerin cleared her throat, "Well, now that you have identified that. I'm going to go waste my money on a cupcake based off Chanyeol. Then spend my little money on their 'The War' album." She told her plans and headed off to get her food.

"I want meat." Sanha mumbled, scratching his head. "There's a meat store over there. Let's go." Woojin said, Sanha, Jinwoo and Minhyuk followed after him. Eunwoo looked between Jihoon, Moonbin and Myungjun, smiling awkwardly. "I'll go join Hyerin. I was looking forward to getting some BoA merch." He quickly walked off, catching up to the girl. "How's it going?" He asked the girl, who was enjoying her Chanyeol cupcake. She swallowed her bite, "Good. The food here is a bit expensive. But I'll live. My job pays me decently." The two walked to the pop-up store, which sold SM Artists' albums and merchandise.

"Job? You have a job?" Eunwoo asked her, being greeted by heart eyes of middle schoolers as well as high schoolers.

"Yeah. It's a winter job. I help out at this skiing place. I finished in February. I have to wait till November. So meanwhile I do my best to babysit the three kids on the level below us." Hyerin informed him, flickering her eyes over all the visuals that had suddenly hit her. Eunwoo was quickly asked to take a picture by a fifteen-year-old girl, he hesitantly agreed. Posing with a sweet smile and peace sign.

"Man... you haven't even debuted yet. You that good-looking huh?" She poked fun at him, making him chuckle lightly. "Are you saying I'm not?" He sent a wink towards her, making her heart flutter while her brain entered 'shut down mode' for a moment. "But aside from my looks... you get paid to babysit them?" He queried, picking up BoA's last album, 'Kiss My Lips'. Hyerin shook her head out of the trance, "Donggook samchon (Uncle) refused to let me babysit for free. So it became my second job. You should get a job if you want to experience the middle class life."

"I mean, being an idol is one. But is stealing you heart one? Or would that count as thievery?"