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Chapter 2
Having finished all the urgent work, I went to bed early the previous night.
I slept soundly and even made sure to eat breakfast.
Warm sunlight, a refreshing morning. It was clearly no different from any other day.
Ah, except for one thing…
A Few Hours Before Arriving at Clef Entertainment
Jin Dohyeon entered the underground parking lot.
Cars of all colors and brands welcomed him—his beloved “pride and joy” that he had carefully cherished over the years.
“Which one should I take today?”
He hummed a familiar melody as his long fingertips brushed over each car one by one.
Then—
“Producer Jin Dohyeon?”
His fingertips stopped.
A reporter this early in the morning? It hasn’t even been that long since I moved.
His eyebrows twitched.
“You’re Producer Jin Dohyeon, right? Whew, I’ve been looking all over for you.”
“…Who are you?”
Jin Dohyeon gave him a calm but sharp look.
“Hello. Representative Yoon sent me.”
“…?”
“Ah, you weren’t informed? I’ll be the manager assigned to you starting today. I look forward to working with you.”
The man politely bowed his head in greeting.
They’re even assigning me a manager? Well, I suppose that’s the least they could do.
Jin Dohyeon answered with a smile and climbed into the black van.
They spent some money, huh?
There were VIP seats, a small refrigerator, and even an air purifier. They had definitely put some money into the vehicle.
“Then, shall we get going?”
“Yes, thank you.”
The manager behind the wheel had a warm, friendly appearance from the moment Jin Dohyeon saw him. He resembled a teddy bear so much that Jin Dohyeon could have believed he was Yoon Taejin’s brother.
Jin Dohyeon naturally crossed his long legs as he sat down.
At that moment, a stack of papers on the seat beside him caught his eye.
“This is the program that Lumis will be joining.”
“…?”
Tilting his head, Jin Dohyeon picked up the stack of papers.
What kind of title is that? Is this a sitcom?
At the same time, the manager added an explanation.
“You know ‘JjinTube,’ right? It’s a YouTube channel that mainly covers variety shows.”
“Oh, yes.”
“They’re producing this program.”
Hmm…
Should he give them a carrot or a stick?
They told him to appear on a variety show, and they actually found him one.
“Do you remember? The Childcare Diary.”
Jin Dohyeon raised his head and met the manager’s eyes in the rearview mirror.
“Are you talking about the Childcare Diary that O.N.E’s senior members did?”
<O.N.E’s Childcare Diary>
A reality show in which the members of the idol group O.N.E personally took care of a baby.
Their clumsy attempts as first-time parents, the sincerity that blossomed from their inexperienced childcare, and the touching, funny, and heartwarming moments that came from it made the program a legendary variety show that swept the nation with love.
Thanks to the program, the members of O.N.E became even more familiar to the public.
They had already been a top-tier group, but after the show, they were no longer simply called “idols.” They became known as a “national group,” receiving boundless love from people of all ages and genders.
“Yes. Who knows? Maybe Lumis will become a national group like O.N.E’s seniors.”
“Hah.”
Jin Dohyeon let out a hollow laugh.
It was possible because they were O.N.E’s seniors.
Would anything really change just because the flop group Lumis did this?
“I took a quick look at it, and it seemed pretty fun. It’s just a little unfortunate that it’s a pilot program.”
Pilot?
Jin Dohyeon’s eyebrows twitched.
So it’s a stick, not a carrot.
What was a pilot program, after all?
It meant a test run.
A program that would disappear if it failed to get views or attract a response.
Of course, from Lumis’s perspective, a group that needed to make their name and faces known even one more time, appearing on any program was the right thing to do…
They could spend that time practicing their songs or choreography one more time instead.
Jin Dohyeon slowly ran his long fingers over his lips, then abruptly closed the stack of papers and tossed it onto the seat beside him.
“You’re not going to look at it anymore?”
The manager asked while making eye contact with him through the rearview mirror.
“No. I don’t think I need to.”
“Still, I think it would help if you took a look…”
Jin Dohyeon narrowed his eyes in confusion.
But instead of answering, the manager merely gave him a mysterious smile.
At that moment, Jin Dohyeon suddenly felt as though his entire body were floating.
It was as comfortable as gently drifting on the surface of water.
He really knows how to drive smoothly.
That was his last thought before drowsiness quickly overcame him.
Click, click, click!
“So cute!”
“How are you this good?”
“You’re a natural! You really are!”
A bunch of much younger(?) people were squealing, “Kyaa!” while taking pictures of Jin Dohyeon with their phone cameras.
“……”
What was even more absurd was that Jin Dohyeon’s body, accustomed to having photos taken, was reacting automatically regardless of his will.
He naturally struck poses—resting his chin on his hand, tilting his head slightly, and even winking.
Yoon Taejin had been quietly watching the scene from across the table with his arms crossed.
At last, he opened his mouth.
“…You brought a kid we don’t even know?”
“Yes! Isn’t he so cute?”
“Is our acting department involved in this too?”
“Where is he appearing?”
“Good grief…”
Yoon Taejin let out a deep sigh and rubbed his temples.
There were only two serious people in the conference room.
Everyone else was already having the time of their lives.
They were shouting “Hand!” at Jin Dohyeon and holding out their hands, taking pictures while shouting “Cheese~,” and even giving him junk food he had no intention of eating.
What am I, a dog?
At this rate, they were going to tell him to “Sit!”
“Hey, move away! Stay right there and sit still!”
…They certainly didn’t disappoint.
Jin Dohyeon sighed and shook his head.
“What’s your name?”
Yoon Taejin asked.
Ha… How many times do I have to say it?
My name is Jin Dohyeon! Jin Dohyeon!
“Wheeew… How many times do I have to say it! I’m Jjin Dohyeong! Jjin Dohyeong!”
Frustrated, he patted his chest with his tiny palm as he shouted.
The conference room instantly erupted into deafening screams.
“Kyaaaah!”
“He’s seriously too cute!”
“My heart hurts!”
“Jjin Dohyeooong!”
No, this can’t be happening! Y-Yeah, this is a dream!
As he desperately denied reality and tried to pinch his cheek—
“No! You’ll hurt that pretty face!”
Two or three people simultaneously lunged at him to stop him and wrapped him in their arms.
What great company benefits~! They even assigned me bodyguards!
Yoon Taejin clutched his head and spoke with an exasperated expression.
“Look, the kid’s face isn’t the important thing here…”
Exactly.
Trapped in the employees’ arms, Jin Dohyeon nodded.
“Hey, haven’t you seen his parents? Did you guys make him get lost?”
“No! He was waiting for the elevator!”
“Really?”
Yoon Taejin leaned his upper body forward and made eye contact with him.
“Who did you come to see? Do your parents work here?”
Fuck, Taejin hyung! I came to see you! You!
Jin Dohyeon shouted with all the anger of a man playing a life-or-death game while wearing a green tracksuit.
But—
“Pig! Taejin hyung!”
The words that came out of his mouth were completely different.
Thanks to that, smiles bloomed across the employees’ faces.
“Pfft!”
“He called you a pig!”
“Representative, you should lose some weight! Kids really do have an accurate eye for these things.”
The time they had spent together.
The countless big and small incidents that only the two of them remembered.
The nights when they had raised glasses of alcohol and promised that someday they would create a company for artists together.
Jin Dohyeon desperately tried to prove that he really was the “Jin Dohyeon” they knew.
Only then did Yoon Taejin seem to believe him a little.
Just a little.
“So you really are… Dohyeon?”
“I’m telling you I am! How many times do I have to say it?”
“Uh… You? So…”
“Ah, seriously! This is so frus-trah-ting…”
Jin Dohyeon shouted while frantically waving his short arms and legs.
The situation was still incredibly frustrating, but after being alone with Yoon Taejin, Jin Dohyeon managed to discover several important(?) facts.
First.
When he spoke too quickly, his pronunciation got tangled.
Perhaps because his body had become smaller and his tongue had shortened, his words became jumbled.
One might think that his pronunciation getting messed up was hardly important in a situation like this.
But the problem was that the clumsy pronunciation coming from this tiny body was surprisingly dangerous(?).
Even Yoon Taejin occasionally clutched his chest and exclaimed things like, “So cute!” and “My heart!”
Second.
The manager who had picked him up that morning.
Yoon Taejin said he had never sent such a person.
Then who the hell was the manager who picked me up this morning?
And finally, the third thing.
It was as if this tiny body had some sort of language patch installed on it. Whenever he cursed, the words were automatically changed into something strange.
“Damn it!”
Jin Dohyeon felt like he was going insane from this utterly absurd situation that had descended upon him without warning.
But whether he understood Jin Dohyeon’s feelings or not—
Yoon Taejin was still looking at him suspiciously.
“Hmm…”
A fully grown adult suddenly becoming a child?
Does that… even make sense?
Yet the things the child in front of him was saying were things that no one except the real Jin Dohyeon could possibly know.
And there was one more thing.
“Damn it!”
Jin Dohyeon searched for any place with an edge—a desk, a chair, anything—and began rubbing and bumping his back against it like an elderly man at a mineral spring.
What the hell? Is he really Jin Dohyeon?
Even the seemingly perfect Jin Dohyeon had one flaw—or rather, a quirk.
His back itched whenever he was stressed.
Thanks to that, during his idol days, he had often been caught scratching his back, earning the dishonorable nickname “Jaldeujal” (short for “a guy who doesn’t wash well, is dirty, but handsome”).
“Damn it! This is driving me crazy!”
Jin Dohyeon began wandering around the office.
Then his eyes lit up when he spotted a backscratcher sitting in the corner.
“Hyung, I’m gonna use this for a bit, okay?”
“Huh? Ah, sure…”
A kid young enough to be his son—
No, if they were living in the Joseon era, young enough to be his grandson—
had suddenly appeared, claimed to be his “friend,” and was now sitting in the company president’s chair scratching his back with a backscratcher.
His mannerisms.
The stories only the two of them knew.
Judging by the circumstances, it really is Dohyeon…
Yoon Taejin could understand it logically, but accepting it as reality was incredibly difficult.
Knock, knock.
“Representative, the writer is here.”
An employee poked his head through the door as it opened.
“The writer?”
“The writer in charge of JjinTube.”
“Ah!”
Yoon Taejin immediately rushed over and opened the door.
Standing outside was a writer with a cute-looking appearance.
She was the writer in charge of JjinTube’s .
“Oh my, Writer! What brings you here without even calling?”
“R-Representative! I’m really sorry!”
The writer suddenly grabbed Yoon Taejin’s hand.
“Uh, uh, you don’t have to…”
Yoon Taejin’s face turned red.
Well, well?
Jin Dohyeon clicked his tongue.
“The child who was supposed to appear suddenly got scared and started crying and making a huge fuss… Ah, but please don’t worry! You know how parents are these days, right? They secretly like having their kids appear on TV. The parents are still positive about it, so…”
The situation was roughly this:
The child who had agreed to appear suddenly refused, putting the entire program’s existence in jeopardy.
As a result, Lumis was in danger of being dropped from the program before it had even begun.
Heh, I guess a flop group really is a flop group. They’ve got unbelievably bad luck.
Jin Dohyeon shook his head.
At that moment, the writer pushed up her glasses and her eyes lit up.
“Who is that kid?”
