39. Fish (3)
Meanwhile, Baek Yuri immediately realized that the 'guardian' that Neoul was talking about was the sea priestess. And he was surprised that she knew CEO Won Hashin. And that she was in a position to give him orders.
"...."
After receiving information about CEO Won Hashin, Neoul hesitated for a moment and then got up from his seat.
"I think it would be better to go first."
He couldn't stay here forever. Baek Namoo strongly opposed sleeping outside, so he couldn't stay on the street until the filming day.
The reason why he asked why he didn't come in person was because he was upset that he called him a fish. He didn't really mean to tell a complete stranger to come. Neoul was not that unkind.
'It's a little annoying that Officer Dongdong called the sea priestess so carelessly, but…'
Neoul was not the type to harbor negative feelings for a long time. He was generally indifferent in any situation. He could be lenient when it came to the slip of the tongue of a young subject.
If Baek Yuri's evaluation of Won Hashin is not bad, and he seems to have a friendly conversation with Dongdong, an outsider, and if he is a thoughtful person who prepared a Korean teacher in advance for me who came from the sea….
'I guess it's okay to go and meet you.'
After deciding, he moved right away.
Neoul packed his luggage that he had unpacked and grabbed his carrier.
"Oh, Neoul! I saved my and Yuri's numbers on your phone!"
Baek Gi-yeom told him that he could contact him whenever he needed help.
Neoul thanked him and left the front door.
* * *
When she first met Neoul earlier, Officer Dongdong, who had been enthusiastic, brightened up and her eyes sparkled when Neoul came down, but she kept her mouth shut and didn't say anything right after getting in the car. It seemed like she was constantly watching Secretary Song's expression.
After about 30 minutes of driving, they arrived at a house with a high wall.
A man with his hair pulled up high without a single strand of hair remaining and wearing pomade and black sunglasses greeted Neoul.
He came out to greet outside the front door, dragging his slippers, but his standing posture was crooked.
"You're here, fish?"
"...."
He was a very rude person.
"If filming is over, you should be waiting right there. Where are you wandering around causing trouble to so many people? Huh?"
Neoul got out of the car and looked down at the other person with his eyes narrowed.
The first impression was completely different from what he had imagined while riding in the car.
'Why did the sea priestess entrust me to such a thug?'
He doubted if he was really a trustworthy person.
'Even though his words and attitude were rude at first sight, he didn't stink.'
Fortunately, he didn't seem to be a vicious person with a rotten soul.
"Are you Won Hashin?"
"Yes. I am Won Hashin. Let's go in first, fish. Secretary Song is off work."
"Yes, sir."
As Secretary Song bowed and stepped away, disappearing from sight, the blue-ringed octopus Dongdong threw away her calm demeanor and jumped up and down, screaming.
"I told you not to call him fish! You landfish!"
"A landfish? Are you saying that to me? You arrogant Moon Dongdong?"
Wan Hashin quickly grabbed the end of Dongdong's hair and let go. It was a childish and mean action or a timid gesture.
Then Dongdong's skin changed into a bright yellow with blue and circular rings. Her black hair also changed into blond with blue spots.
Neoul looked at her curiously. He had seen the color change in the form of a short blue-ringed octopus, but he had never thought that a human-looking octopus would change like this when it felt threatened.
"I told you not to touch me! Do you want to die?"
"Hey! Secretary Song is over there!"
When Won Hashin shouted while pointing to the garage, Dongdong hid behind Neoul with a bewildered expression.
Neoul also looked in the direction of the garage, but Secretary Song was already gone. Dongtong, who realized that Won Hashin had tricked her, became even more aggressive and glared at Won Hashin.
Won Hashin ran into the house giggling, and Dongdong ran after him.
Neoul was left alone in front of the wide open front door.
Inside, the screams of the person who wanted to get his head torn off by Dongdong could be heard.
"...."
Did I come along for nothing...?
For some reason, he suddenly felt tired and wanted to go back to Baek Yuri's house. Baek Yuri was calm, and Baek Gi-yeom was bright and energetic, but not crazy, so they were fun to talk to.
Won Ha-shin was rude, and Dong-dong was noisy, and when the two met, it was painful to the ears.
Neoul shook his head and went inside.
Won Hashin, whose hair was messed up and whose clothes were tattered, led Neoul to a fairly spacious room.
"Okay, this is the fish's room."
Even after being retaliated against by Dongdong, he stubbornly called Neoul a fish. Neoul, who already had the nickname of "Raccoon Raccoon," didn't bother to correct him because it was annoying.
Dongdong glared at him instead.
"This again!"
"Officer Dongdong. I'm fine. Stop it."
Neoul smiled and stopped Dongdong.
Won Hashin hid behind Neoul and giggled.
"Ebebe, Dongdong~ Your prince told you to stop~"
"Iik! But Prince! He keeps…!"
"Stop."
Neoul cut her off softly but firmly.
"Officer Dongdong. Just because the other person's words and actions are rude, should I be rude to them too? A great man doesn't get angry over something like this."
What's so great about a title?
Since Neoul had a good nature and generous heart, he could easily show that much generosity to humans.
"What, are you calling me rude and a mean person right now?"
Won Hashin grumbled, feeling offended, but Neoul ignored him and continued talking to Dongdong.
"And this is not the Dragon Palace. I am a prince in the Dragon Palace, but a Gal Neoul who is nothing on land. Officer Dongdong, please keep that in mind and act accordingly."
"...I was reckless. I will keep that in mind."
Dongdong bowed her head deeply and reflected on her words and actions.
"You just need to be careful in the future. Raise your head. Officer Dongdong."
"Yes!"
Dongdong looked up at Neoul with sparkling eyes.
She had never met Neoul in the Dragon Palace, so she had been prejudiced against him since she only heard that he was a reckless prince, but seeing him so mature and bold made her see him differently.
Everyone in the Dragon Palace doubted whether Neoul could actually get the rabbit liver to cure the Dragon King, but now that she saw him, she could truly trust him.
Won Hashin, who was watching the two people talking like in a historical drama, opened his eyes crookedly, feeling like a barley sack that had been put away.
He muttered while nervously tossing his hair.
"Haaah. Where did the priestess go after leaving the kids with me?"
It was Won Hashin's monologue, but Neoul heard and answered.
"She went to the Dragon Palace. She's going to deliver the rabbit liver I gave her to Abamama."
"Rabbit liver?"
Just as he was about to ask what kind of nonsense he was talking about, Dongdong interrupted him.
"Prince! Have you found the rabbit liver?"
"Yes. Sir Baek Yuri rescued it. Thanks to that, the Sea Priestess must have arrived at the Dragon Palace by now, finished delivering it, and is watching the situation."
"But why is the prince here? If you got the rabbit liver, you should have returned to the Dragon Palace quickly! Why did you leave it to the Sea Priestess, no, the Sea Priestess nim, and stay on land?"
Dongdong's question made Neoul pause.
She's right. Neoul should have returned to the sea. He should have seen and confirmed with his own eyes that Abamama's illness was improving.
However, when the Sea Priestess said she would deliver it instead, he stopped caring. And he had not left the land until now.
"There is something... that happened on land."
An idol survival show that he joined without much thought. His original purpose was to get the rabbit liver. But now...
'I want to go all the way.'
He was curious about what would happen if he made it to the end of the survival show. What would happen if he debuted. Why do so many people yearn for it? Why do they want to get their debut in their hands?
"There's something I really want to confirm."
More than anything... He wanted to know if the indescribable emotion he felt on stage for the first time in his life was just a one-time thing, and if he could feel it again if he stood on stage again.
'I want to feel that feeling once more.'
The high-quality stage that Baek Namoo showed also gave Neoul a new shock that he had never experienced before.
The ability to sing songs as if they were his own regardless of genre, the talent and dancing skills that caught people's attention, and the skillful stage manners.
'I want to catch up.'
Neoul's first stage ended without even looking at the audience. It was because he was so caught up in the thought that he had to do everything he practiced, he had no time to relax.
Still, he was happy and felt a sense of accomplishment that he had done it all the way, and he felt good about the cheers that poured out after finishing the stage...
Baek Namoo was different. Baek Namoo was the person who really suited the stage.
'I want to do that too.'
He was jealous, and a seed sprouted in a corner of his heart. He wanted to beat Baek Namoo.
—ᴛʜᴇ ᴘʀɪɴᴄᴇ ᴅᴏᴇꜱɴ'ᴛ ꜱᴜɪᴛ ᴡᴏʀʀʏɪɴɢ ᴀɴᴅ ᴀɢᴏɴɪᴢɪɴɢ, ꜱᴏ ʟɪᴠᴇ ᴀꜱ ʏᴏᴜʀ ʜᴇᴀʀᴛ ᴅᴇꜱɪʀᴇꜱ. ᴛʜᴀᴛ'ꜱ ᴏᴋᴀʏ.
Neoul opened his mouth, recalling what the sea priestess had said.
"My heart goes to this place."
The hesitation from earlier disappeared, and his voice was straight.
"It seems there is something I can do on this land."
Somewhere in this land, this country, this city.
Something that will make him useful, not a second prince who has nothing to do and disobeys Abamama's orders and goes over the dragon palace wall.
Something that will make him shine like them, like the humans who shine with their eyes sparkling....
It is here.
Dongdong and Won Hashin, who had been silently listening to Neoul's story, exchanged glances.
'What is the prince talking about? Do you understand what he's saying?'
'I don't know. How could I know something you don't know?'
In the end, Won Hashin sat Neoul down, gave him a glass of cool juice, and asked him questions one by one to figure out the exact situation.
"So to sum it up... The Dragon King collapsed, and the ministers said that rabbit liver was a panacea, so you came to the mainland, but somehow you ended up participating in an idol survival program?"
"Yes."
"And a friend named Baek Yuri bought you rabbit liver, and since you didn't want to leave the survival program, the priestess went to deliver the rabbit liver to the Dragon Palace instead?"
"That's right."
"You two, who know nothing about human society, are left to me like this?"
Oh my! You're such a terrible witch!
Won Hashin muttered, twisting his lips crookedly.
'If you just explain it to me and leave it to me, what's wrong with it? You're not even a celebrity, but you're trying to do a mystical concept, what the heck?'
As a sea priestess, she couldn't carelessly reveal the future she had glimpsed, so she couldn't help it, but Won Hashin, who didn't know the inside story, was just frustrated because he couldn't figure out her true feelings.
"Anyway, that's right. You want to debut, right?"
Won Hashin immediately turned on YouTube and searched for
Won Hashin found and played the individual live performance video of Neoul among them.
[Come on—
I wanted to meet you.
Someday—
I knew we'd meet]
'Oh...? I thought you couldn't do it, but it's much better than I thought...?'
His poor dancing skills stole the attention, but his beautiful voice caught the ears, enough to make dancing any better.
[I think I've been waiting for you
for a long time
The masters of this stage are you and me
This is a dance we dance together
Let's stay together! Forever
Let's dance without stopping]
The vocal range seemed very wide. Although the breathing and stability were somewhat lacking due to dancing, the pitch was very accurate. It seemed like he could debut as a solo singer right away with just a little bit of practice. Let's leave out the dancing that he's bad at and only use his vocals, which are his strengths.
"Fish, why do you insist on being an idol?"
"Huh?"
—