Chapter 113: Family

After calling the manager back, it was decided that I’d need to go to the company to sign the contract in person. Currently, I was in front of the YM headquarters building, a place that even Doah hadn’t visited.

This corporate building was located in the most urban part of the city center.

Unlike the university area where people wearing hoodies and sweatshirts were a common sight, here, everyone who was walking the streets were either dressed in suits or stylish outfits.

“Phew.”

After taking a breather, I took out my phone and called the manager.

「Hello?」

「Ah, hello? Have you arrived, Taemin-ssi?」

「Yes, I’m right in front of the building now.」

As expected for the place where a bunch of celebrities and trainees would come and go, the security looked really tight.

Just as I was starting to feel uncomfortable from the stare that the front guard gave me, a well-dressed man waved at me from a distance.

“Taemin-ssi?”

“Ah, yes. Hello.”

“This way, please.”

As I had expected, it was impossible to enter the building without a security card.

When we went inside and took the elevator, the atmosphere changed, and it really made me feel like I was in the entertainment industry.

Now I know why they installed this semi-transparent elevator. So that the entire building, from its interior to the people inside, could be seen from here.

Scenes that you’d usually only see in dramas flashed before my eyes.

Every single thing gave off the feeling of a tower built up piece by piece with money.

“This way!”

The manager, who called out to me, looked older than me.

With a smaller build than me and a kind face, he led me inside cheerfully.

“Welcome.”

Inside, I encountered the first familiar face in this unfamiliar space.

When I saw him, I immediately bowed my head.

“Hello.”

He was the casting team leader who had visited our neighborhood the other day.

“Thank you for coming all this way.”

“Ah, no, don’t mention it…”

After greeting each other, we entered the seminar room and began to discuss the details of the contract in earnest. Well, I mostly just listened to their explanations though.

“This is roughly our plan for about three months of activities.”

The PowerPoint presentation they showed was so meticulously prepared—even down to the logo at the bottom. It was to the point that I wondered if they really had made everything just for me alone. Well, as expected of a large company, I guess.

“So, uh… For the time being… I’m just going to appear briefly in a web drama…?”

I repeated that part of their explanation, trying to confirm it once again.

“Yes, yes! You won’t have much to do, at all! The director will probably tell you the details on the set, but you’ll have at most one or two lines of dialogue! Actually, maybe you won’t have any at all!”

As the manager repeated what he had said before, I nodded with a somewhat disgruntled face.

“And after that, depending on the result, I might need to attend interviews and such…?”

“Yes! Those would likely be uploaded to our company’s video portal, or offered to famous YouTubers. Of course, only if the result is good.”

It was clear that they were trying their best to accommodate me, knowing that I still had reservations about doing these activities.

In fact, none of the options they presented required any ‘ability’ from me.

They just need me to show my face.

That was all they needed.

The fact that they were trying to sell only my face didn’t really make me happy, but…

…Ugh, why did I feel so annoyed? I didn’t even know…

Seeing me staring blankly at the contract, the team leader proceeded to emphasize the thing that I wanted to know about the most last time we talked.

“Please know that all these benefits for Luka-ssi were one of the hardest things that we added here.”

Yes, there were additional benefits that Luka could gain if I were to sign this contract.

More specifically these clauses.

[Guaranteed original song for solo concert.]

[Ability to designate avatar creator for solo concert preparation.]

Well, I didn’t know exactly how significant the avatar thing was, but the guarantee of an original song sounded like an incredibly sweet deal to me.

For Doah’s sake, and also for mine…

An original song just for her, not for CLOSER as a group…

And its reveal would be at a solo concert…!

“W-Would the other CLOSER members have original songs too?”

That was something that I was wondering about. Would Doah be the only one who’d have one?

“The company wishes that all the members could have one, but we’d need to coordinate with our in-house composers in terms of schedules and such. I can’t say it’s a 100% certainty that they’ll get one.”

In other words, it was no different from a gacha game.

“Taemin-ssi, as a fan of Luka-ssi, you should know how exceptional these terms are.”

“I’m not trying to pry or anything, but do you have some kind of relationship with her…?”

The manager glanced at me curiously. I only gave him a vague answer.

“Uh, she’s a hoobae from college. Also, I personally like Luka as a character…”

“Oh, so you knew Luka-ssi even before she joined our company.”

Well, there were other details to pass our relationship as just knowing each other, but I didn’t need to say that here.

“In any case, this is the best offer we can make for now.”

The team leader said those words with a meaningful expression, refraining from saying anything else.

They did mention that I’d receive some compensation for the activities I’d do, but I shouldn’t expect too much of it.

After all, I wasn’t someone with a name yet, but a newcomer, and the company would bear all the costs for carrying out this project.

In other words, this was still the time when both me and the company were investing in each other for our own benefits.

“Just think of these three months as a trial. After that, depending on the result, you can decide whether to continue to work with us, or exterminate the contract right there and then.”

As he said that, the team leader handed me a pen and I…

“…I’ll be in your care.”

Became part of YM.

“Wow! So Oppa is part of the company family now?”

Doah said those words, getting a chuckle out of me.

“What family, you dummy?”

“We’re in the same company, so we’re families!”

Seriously, what family? She hadn’t even gone to the headquarters once.

Well, it still felt nice to see her so happy.

“When your web drama comes out, I’ll be the first one who’d leave a comment!”

She said, sitting on the bed while unlocking her phone.

“Say you’d do that. What are you going to write?”

“Something like ‘The guy at x minutes and x seconds is super handsome.’”

“Ew, no. People will come flooding in and confess to me if you do that.”

I waved my hand, as if disgusted, but Doah shook her head.

“But, wouldn’t it be just fan love rather than confession?”

“Isn’t misguided fan love the scariest thing for a celebrity?”

Like the feelings I had for you, for example.

At first, it was just a small feeling of me wanting to cheer on you, but it had grown uncontrollably now.

“But Oppa, if you’re going to do this for real, isn’t that kind of thing… unavoidable…?”

Well, I didn’t really have a plan of doing this for real yet.

Just for these three months.

My plan was to do exactly what they told me without thinking much about it and be done with it.

Actually, if I thought that the activities they proposed were too intense, I wouldn’t even have tried it.

“Nah, I’ll just be appearing here and there for three months. Nothing would happen.”

“Oppa, you know how intensely people get into these things these days, don’t you?”

“Look, Doah, when it comes to being a fanatic fan, I know much more than you.”

“Then you should know that even the most trivial things could be a trigger!”

She had a point.

How many people ended up becoming fanatics purely by chance?

Like, they just accidentally discovered something they liked and somehow got really deep into it.

“But come on, people won’t become my fans when there’s nothing to do, right?”

As if to tell her not to worry, I put my hand on Doah’s head and ruffled her hair. She then buried her face in my chest as if embarrassed.

“…Why are you making me out to be someone with nothing to do? I’m super busy.”

Her voice was quiet but it was clear.

As expected of Luka-tan.

Back when our relationship first started, she didn’t do this much, but nowadays, her cheesy lines were reaching a similar level to the jokes Luka would tell.

Now, if she were to turn it into a content for her stream…

I placed my hand on her cheek. Her temperature, which wouldn’t tell me a lie, clearly told me of her current feelings.

“So, are you saying that you’re my fan?”

I asked, wanting to hear it directly again.

“…You’re a fan of mine too, Oppa.”

“Nah, I’m a Luka’s fan.”

“But I am Luka! How is it different from you being a fan of me?”

What a stubborn girl.

Who was it who told me to look at her as Doah and not Luka?

Was it only a line that she’d use at her convenience now?

“Then you can be my first fan.”

That was an achievement that I failed to accomplish.

To become Luka’s first fan.

When I first found Luka, she was just starting out, but it wasn’t like there were no people watching her.

Her viewers were already in double-digits back then.

And now their numbers had already reached the tens of thousands.

“Well, now that I’m your first fan, won’t there be some kind of benefit for me?”

Sitting on my lap, she raised her head.

She showed her white neckline, clearly trying to seduce me.

“Hm? I thought this sort of thing isn’t allowed between family members?”

A deep kiss followed, making the word ‘family’ sound out of place.