Chapter 181
It was fun to play tiki-taka with Kang Si-yoon without any restrictions after a long time.
Seleves, who saw our lively reaction, became even more excited and asked all kinds of questions and jokes.
Because comments were coming in at such a fast pace, it was difficult to select a specific message.
Kang Si-yoon stretched his neck forward and asked a question out loud.
"Siyoon, what would happen if you reversed winner [이기자
He immediately glanced at me with a meaningful look in his eyes.
As if sending a silent message.
"Do you want me to answer as well?"
"As expected, you're always pretending. If we count to one, two, three, we'll answer together, okay?"
"I get it."
I nodded obediently and thought about the answer in my head.
If you do the opposite, well, the answer is very easy.
"Okay, then let's go? One, two, three! Honey~!" [자기
"Let's do this." [지자
"Huh?"
"Hmm?"
Kang Si-yoon turned his head sharply after hearing my answer.
His eyes were wide open, as if his mind had completely disappeared.
"Did I hear that wrong?"
"No, I think you heard it very clearly."
"Okay, let's try again. What if we reverse the winner?"
"Let's do this." [지자
"Aigoo, my head!"
While Kang Si-yoon repeatedly hit his own forehead, the chat window was filled with laughter.
―ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ No, why are you being so serious, Karis!? ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
―I guess it was impossible to get him to act cute after all....
―At this point, it seems like Karis truly thought that Jija was the right answer.
―Ris ya, clench your fists and be cheerful ㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠ
"No, Seleve! Don't encourage him any further! I need to see this blunt guy act cute at least once-!"
Kang Si-yoon waved his hands as he saw fans welcoming my reaction.
Perhaps his plan was this:
Maybe he wanted to elicit satisfactory answers from me, to do aegyo, through Seleves' witty questions.
Unfortunately, I had already noticed Kang Si-yoon's trick and had prepared a countermeasure.
'I don't know if I'm on live alone, but I don't want to act cute in a space with this guy.'
I never know what kind of advice might come my way, so I have to be very careful.
So instead of sweetly saying 'honey', I came up with an antonym in the dictionary sense.
Sorry, Seleves.
Next time I am alone, I will do my best.
'Still, I'm glad you said it was good.'
Kang Si-yoon, who failed in his first operation, became more motivated and began to search the chat window with his head tilted forward.
Seleves couldn't hold back their laughter as they watched him on the verge of being sucked into the screen.
-Siyoon, if you keep doing that, you'll get turtle neck, be careful!!ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
-Isn't this almost like a fish in a fishbowl perspective? I can only see Siyoon's eyesㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
―He's handsome even when he's close....
-Siyoon, it feels like you're being sucked into the lamp
"Siyoon, I want to quit my job and only see you! Oh, in this day and age, you absolutely cannot quit your job! I hope you will continue to be an active member of society. Fighting!"
"I want to slide down Siyoon's nose bridge! If you do that, my nose will break, no!"
"Siyoon, please pay the rent, because you have been living in my heart for several months. Pay the rent proudly! I will replace it with my set of three hearts."
Where on earth does such quick wit come from?
I looked at Kang Si-yoon, who was hosting a variety show on his own, with genuine admiration.
Soon, Kang Si-yoon, who caught one more question that fit my cuteness strategy, started to get going in earnest.
"Hey, Karis, what animal do you think you look most like? A dog? A cat?"
"I don't know much about animals."
"Guys, what do you think we look like?"
A lot of animal names were posted in the chat room.
"I guess I'm more of a puppy? I definitely think I'm more of a puppy than a cat."
In response to fans calling him a puppy, Kang Si-yoon briefly acted cute by putting both hands together like the front paws of a puppy.
'Ah, so this is how it's going to turn out.'
I immediately realized what kind of picture Kang Si-yoon was envisioning.
I guess you wish I could just do a simple imitation of a similar animal, like you just did.
"Karis, there are so many things? There are dogs, cats, rabbits, wolves... Hey, this won't do! I guess you'll have to do all the animals here once."
"Do you want to know what animal I resemble?"
"Of course!"
I smiled kindly at Kang Si-yoon, who nodded vigorously.
"Um, I mean, Siyoon."
"Yeah!"
"I guess."
"Yeah!"
"It looks most like a person."
"Ack!"
"Okay, if that answers your question, let's move on to the next one."
When Kang Si-yoon was speechless at my iron-clad answer, I naturally turned my gaze to other questions.
"Which would be better for a midnight snack, pizza or chicken? Hmm, I would usually recommend chicken. Chicken tastes better than cheese to me."
"... Have you been acting more cleverly?"
"I think it's all thanks to Siyoon."
In the end, Kang Si-yoon, who failed to elicit any aegyo from me, continued the live with a pouty face.
"I'll take more questions. I'll just answer them myself without asking Karis."
Seleves sent messages to Kang Si-yoon, who pouted his mouth like a sulky child, asking him to proceed with the broadcast like a child full of complaints.
Kang Si-yoon, whose ego is often consumed by concepts, couldn't miss this.
"Don't you fight with the members often? Why do we fight, when we're so close? Oh, but I find Karis a little annoying. He always teases me."
"I think that Siyoon teases me in return more than I tease him."
"That's just an excuse! I'll be asked the next question. Don't stop me."
Kang Si-yoon showed his intention to relieve the annoyance he felt because of unilaterally losing.
"You want a hug? Ha, you don't have to say all that! Just come and hug me."
Even though the concept was full of complaints, Kang Si-yoon meticulously took care of Seleves' requests.
He tried to hold the phone with both hands when a fan asked him to hug it.
Slam!
"Oh! Aahh! I'm sorry! I'm sorry!"
"I had a feeling that would happen."
"If you thought it was going to drop, you should have told me in advance!"
"I forgot."
Kang Si-yoon, who was trying to hold the phone but ended up touching the stand at the same time, dropped the broadcast phone in front of 80,000 people to the floor.
I first bent down and picked up the cell phone.
Then, I carefully placed it back on the stand and blew on the phone screen to remove any dust.
"There was something on your face, but it's all wiped off now. Are you really surprised?"
"...Why are you always the one doing all the cool and sweet stuff?"
"I will ask Siyoon to treat Seleve with care."
"Can't you hear what I'm saying?"
As we continued to have such an out-of-context conversation, we lost track of time once again.
The first live I did with Ji Yoon-chul also lasted over 4 hours.
This StarUs live was also approaching 3 hours in no time.
But the energy of my friend next to me never cooled down.
"No, I was really surprised when I first saw Karis. He had blonde hair, so I thought, 'Wow, that person bleached his hair to leave a strong impression during the level test!' But when I talked to him, I found out he was a foreigner. He came from a place I'd never heard of before, and he spoke Korean better than I did. It's not for nothing that I always say that Karis is Korean. If that's the first impression I get, then I can't help but say that."
"There are many people who say that they would like me to take the Korean language proficiency test someday."
"Hey, this is good content! Later, all seven of us are going to take the Korean language proficiency test. What if Karis gets the highest score there?"
"... Isn't that something that shouldn't happen?"
"No way! But it will definitely attract attention!"
Is it true that as long as he can attract attention, he doesn't care about his image and that of the other members?
After continuing our broadcast with Seleves until almost dawn, we realized it was time to go to bed.
"Oh, I got a text from the manager."
"What did he say?"
Kang Si-yoon showed me the message from Manager Hyung.
A message to slowly wrap up the broadcast as it will soon be dawn.
The message, "If you sleep too late, you're in big trouble!" was accompanied by a cute angry rabbit emoticon.
"Oh, it was so much fun, what a shame."
"Don't be too upset, we'll do live again next time."
We said goodbye to Seleves and told them that it was getting late and we had to go now.
"Then I'll come back later, everyone! Bye!"
"Have nice dreams."
The moment we finished the StarUs Live, Heo Yu-bin, who had been practicing vocals in the practice room, returned.
"Oh, is the live over?"
"It ended exactly 30 seconds before you got here."
"Ahhhh! I wanted to say hello too!"
Heo Yu-bin expressed his regret by spinning around in place and then very naturally fell down on the bed.
Then he suddenly opened his eyes.
"Huh? I clearly put a ton of clothes here."
"Karis and I cleaned up before the live started."
"As expected, my hyungs are the best!"
"Hey, hey. You're sweating so much. Go wash up."
"Yes!"
The regret of not being able to make a surprise appearance on StarUs Live disappeared in an instant, as Heo Yu-bin hummed as he headed to the bathroom.
I looked at his back and chuckled.
'There will be many days when we can do live in the future.'
Yeah, I definitely thought that.
I never thought that the day would come when we would be doing StarUs Live again so soon.
* * *
"Okay, everyone, have a seat! There's no time!"
"What, what is it?"
"Just sit down and watch!"
"This is the first time I've seen Eun-gyu hyung rush like this."
September 1st.
On the first day of the new month, we gathered in the living room after receiving a call from Chae Eun-gyu out of nowhere.
This is the first time I've seen Chae Eun-gyu, who usually acts laid-back, rush like this.
"Huh?"
Yoo Minha, who was looking around for a moment, noticed that there was one member missing.
"Hyungbin hyung isn't here? Where did he go?"
"Ah, Hyungbin is probably talking to Changmin hyung right now."
"Is this a topic we can discuss without Hyungbin?"
Chae Eun-gyu nodded.
"Hey guys, what's on in September?"
"In September?"
Kang Si-yoon was the first to open his mouth.
"Filming a music video?"
"That's true, but no."
"Choreography practice?"
"We always have to do that."
"Singing practice?"
"Hey, don't just say something randomly. Think about it carefully."
Amidst the flurry of nonsensical answers, Ji Yoon-chul quietly raised his hand.
"...Hyungbin hyung's birthday is on September 9th."
"That's right. Hyungbin's birthday is coming up soon."
"Ahhhh!"
It's the first member's birthday since debuting as Seleste.
I immediately thought I knew why Chae Eun-gyu had called us together.
"Are we preparing a surprise?"
"Yeah. Since this is Hyungbin's first birthday as a member of the same group, I wanted to do something special."
"I love surprises!"
Yoo Minha thumped the sofa twice in strong agreement.
"Let's save up money and buy Hyungbin hyung whatever he wants!"
"Min-ha, we don't have that much money yet."
"Oh, that's right. We didn't get paid."
It's unlikely that we would have received a settlement since it hasn't even been 6 months since we were formed.
The point is that expensive gifts are impossible....
"... Then, we have no choice but to make something with our own hands, right?"
Ji Yoon-chul spoke again in a quiet voice.
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