I pressed my face against the car window, gazing outside.
All that was visible were the closely attached outer walls of buildings.
“Can you see it?”
“No.”
My siblings shook their heads.
I tried twisting my head with my hand against the window, but the view was obstructed.
Quickly, I rolled down the window and we all poked our heads out one by one.
And then…
“Wow.”
The elegant facade of a building lood over a tall fence.
It was an eight-story villa.
Exchanging awestruck ‘wows’ with my siblings, we soon clasped hands and erupted into cheers.
“Wowwwww!”
“Guys, a new house! It’s our new house!”
We imdiately composed ourselves, but I couldn’t help embracing Rihyuk in sheer joy.
We huddled together, sharing our happiness, and I touched my flushed cheeks in disbelief.
“Wow. This is amazing. For real.”
“Manager, is this really our new place?”
At Bi Joo’s question, Seok Hwan nodded.
“We finalized the contract recently. This is your new ho now.”
“Wow. It’s really true.”
“The CEO was generous. He said instead of moving every year, why not settle in a really nice place all at once.”
“CEO!”
We cheered for ‘God Kyuho’ towards the shining sun beyond the car window.
Seok Hwan added,
“The company thought, since you hardly ever leave the house, you might as well have a nice place to stay.”
“Wow!”
We ignored everything else, savoring our joy, while our team leader explained the new accommodations.
“It’s close to the company in Cheongdam-dong. Especially famous for its security, which is the biggest perk.”
“Really, it’s too good to be true.”
The ntion of security resonated with us.
We still had traumatic mories from our first residence, where a pair of stalkers tried to break in on New Year’s Day.
The second place wasn’t much safer either.
Despite being a corridor-style building, it was still vulnerable to outsiders due to its apartnt-like structure.
Compared to TNT or Teen Spirit, we had fewer stalker issues, but we weren’t immune.
Various incidents ant our managers had to be on constant standby.
Like finding delivery boxes torn open at our doorstep, invoices shredded to pieces.
Or the ti a delivery man hid a stalker behind him, prompting a police visit.
Or when I went downstairs to recycle and was suddenly blinded by cara flashes.
Most recently…
“I got a call from the real estate agent.”
The lady who owned unit 1104 across from our place spoke with a worried look.
“You should be careful.”
“Why?”
“The agent said so foreign woman offered to pay five tis the market price for your apartnt.”
Though she declined, the threat lingered.
That’s why moving to a better, safer place felt so right.
“It’s really a relief.”
Rihyuk sighed with relief.
“Lately, it seems like the frequency of stalkers has been increasing, especially after the end of the year.”
“Right. These days, wherever we go, it feels like we’re being watched.”
The managers nodded in agreent.
“We were supposed to move later due to the current lease, but we expedited it because of these issues.”
“So, what about the old place?”
“It’ll be used for the road managers.”
Minki chid in, forming a heart with his fingers.
“Thanks, guys. You got us a ho.”
We all burst into laughter at his playful heart gesture.
After the briefing on the new residence’s location and details,
“Shall we go take a look?”
“Yes!”
The vehicle began to enter the villa’s grounds.
From the identity checks to the surrounding CCTV, it was clear the security was top-notch.
It felt like I had arrived at a car show, with luxury vehicles lined up neatly in the parking lot.
I could sense Minki’s driving beco abruptly cautious as we reached the entrance of the building.
Sigh…
The last day of February.
Feeling the chilly winter air at lunchti, I exchanged smiles with my younger brothers as we looked around.
Beep—
After swiping the keycard, we entered the lobby.
“Wow—!”
There was no fountain, but it certainly resembled the lobby of a hotel with one.
A lobby adorned with marble.
“How did you get here… oh?”
The security guard at the desk glanced at us, slightly squinting his eyes, and with a curious ‘oh?’ expression.
“Hello! We’re NewBlack, just moving in!”
“Ah, hello.”
He didn’t seem too surprised to see us, which was fitting for a place rumored to be ho to many celebrities.
He smiled and showed us his phone.
“I enjoy listening to your song, ‘Winter Sleep.’”
“Thank you!”
When Ri Hyeok sang a short refrain as fan service, the security guard bead with a pleased smile.
Then, he wrote sothing in the logbook.
It gave the impression of a well-secured place.
Bijoo whispered to , tilting his head.
“It feels like we’re in a departnt store, hyung.”
“Right. If we go to the second floor, I bet we’ll find a store selling grandma’s clothes.”
“Exactly. And if we go to the basent, there’ll be a grocery section.”
While sharing such thoughts, we enthusiastically took selfies in the first-floor lobby, and Jiho quietly slipped away.
Ri Hyeok tapped the elevator’s ‘up’ button.
“What’s going on? Why isn’t it coming down?”
“Indeed.”
The right one was under maintenance.
And the left elevator seed to have no intention of descending from the sixth floor.
I turned to Junghyeon.
“Junghyeon, take a listen.”
“Just a mont.”
Junghyeon pressed his cheek against the elevator door.
During his eavesdropping, Ri Hyeok firmly grasped Junghyeon’s hem.
“Why are you holding onto that?”
“What if the door suddenly opens and we fall?”
“You’d fall with it.”
“Don’t worry. If I fall, I’ll make sure to grab onto your clothes.”
We all held onto Junghyeon’s hem, sharing a warm conversation.
anwhile, Junghyeon murmured, “Hmm?”
“They’re fighting.”
“Fighting?”
“Yes, it sounds like soone is shouting to hurry up.”
We pressed our ears against the elevator door.
The faint sound of shouting traveled from the sixth floor.
“Oh dear. Seems like a fight broke out.”
The managers also showed interest.
The security guard approached the peculiar sight of a five-mber group clinging to the elevator wall.
“What’s the matter?”
“The elevator isn’t coming down from the sixth floor…”
“Oh, the sixth floor.”
The security guard reassured us with a warm smile.
“It will co down soon.”
“…?”
As we stood there puzzled, the elevator finally began to descend with a hum.
Roarrrrr!
Growl!
The sounds of a fight seed to intensify.
Ding.
“The first floor,” announced the elevator, as the sounds of conflict abruptly ceased, and the doors opened in silence.
And at that mont…
“…?”
We locked eyes with a six-mber idol group inside the elevator.
As the doors opened, the handso young n greeted us with kind smiles.
The leader of Teen Spirit, Hwiyeon, opened his eyes wide in shock.
“Mom?”
Laughter erupted from us.
“What’s wrong?”
Yeonhu, who had been staring at the ground next to us, lifted his head and jumped in surprise.
“Ah, damn! Oops… I an. Sorry for swearing, bro.”
“It’s okay. It’s been a while; it’s actually kind of nice to hear.”
“What brings you here?”
The kind smile that had filled his face faded, revealing his true expression.
After the Teen Spirit mbers and their managers greeted us with bows, saying ‘hello.’
The last to descend was the Teen Spirit manager, who had the serene air of an enlightened monk.
Hwiyeon asked,
“Wow, it’s really been a long ti. How have you all been, brothers?”
“We just finished our tour in Japan and returned ho.”
“Ah! That’s right. We saw that recently. You were totally wasted.”
“…”
The younger ones and the Teen Spirit mbers clapped and cackled with laughter.
I said with a smile,
“There’s a nicer word for it, senior. ‘Drunk.’”
“Ah. Right. I tend to curse a lot…”
While Hwiyeon was smacking his plump lips, saying ‘oh my,’ Yeonhu started speaking.
“It must be a joke. Damn it. Did you really win the leader’s position in a ga of cards?”
“Hey. You should speak respectfully to your elder.”
“Oh my. I don’t care~ I don’t do hierarchy~”
“Fighting again? Oh my, here we go again. Always causing a scene.”
It was like a festival of neighborhood grandmas who loved to curse, a scene of chaos and destruction unfolding.
We smiled at the familiar, heartwarming sight.
This feeling, returning to the Korean entertainnt industry, sothing I had missed. It wasn’t bad.
“Anyway, so this bird, I an, Yeonhu left his power bank behind and said we need to bring it…”
“Speak properly. It’s a power bank given by the fans.”
“So what? It’s just a power bank. If you leave it behind, just borrow one.”
“It’s a gift from the fans!”
“No! I an, it’s just a power bank!”
I raised my hands, creating a barrier between the arguing Teen Spirit mbers, and the chatter stopped.
Then I turned to Ri Hyeok.
“Sort this out.”
“It seems there’s a difference in perspective. How about we settle this with the precious power bank? It’s precious, but still just a power bank.”
“…Ah! That makes sense!”
The Teen Spirit mbers exclaid in realization, ‘That’s so clear!’ in admiration.
Yeonhu said with a look of respect,
“You guys have a longer reach, don’t you? We’ve always admired that.”
“Right. Right.”
I’m just a GED holder…
“But how did we get on this topic?”
We pondered for a mont before giving up.
Anyway.
“Nice to see you, brothers!”
“We feel the sa!”
With a cheer, we clapped hands, sharing in the joy.
For a while, mbers of similar ages exchanged updates on their lives.
I’m not sure exactly when, but after going through the end-of-year performances, we started to see each other more as equals than as seniors and juniors. ℟ÅꞐОBĚ𐌔
It was quite comfortable.
As Jiho was laughing and chatting with the Teen Spirit mbers, leader Hwiyeon whispered,
“Never tell the younger ones to speak informally. Brother. You really need to rember this.”
“…”
“It’s like unleashing hell. Really.”
It felt like Maeda-sensei’s ‘You’re getting divorced! Definitely!’ – ‘Hell is unleashed! Definitely!’
Quietly watching the hierarchy of Teen Spirit turn into a battleground, I patted Hwiyeon’s shoulder in consolation.
Then the topic of moving ca up.
“Wow. So now we’re neighbors. Let’s get along well, brothers.”
“Yes. We’re in apartnt 701.”
“If you ever co to visit and so weirdos ring the doorbell, don’t avoid it.”
“Don’t worry. Feel free to co over anyti.”
As we exchanged these words, the Teen Spirit mbers hesitated, then asked.
“Um… Brother Woojoo.”
“Yes?”
“You don’t happen to compose music at ho, do you?”
“Oh, I do. A lot, actually.”
“…!”
The mbers of Teen Spirit, who were about to suggest hanging out, began to falter in their speech.
I wonder how I’ve beco such a topic of conversation in the music industry.
The younger mbers covered their mouths, giggling, while Teen Spirit averted their gaze.
“Guys, it’s ti to head out.”
“Yes! We’re off, brothers!”
Jiho waved his hand to the younger line of Teen Spirit, as if they had been friends forever.
“Take care! Our friends!”
“Friends!”
I laughed at the sight of the younger line raising their fists in response.
After Teen Spirit disappeared with a bow to the security guard, saying, “Thank you for your hard work!”
“…Oh.”
Minki blinked rapidly, shaking his head.
“What just passed by?”
“Teen Spirit.”
“It sounds like the na of a typhoon when you say it like that.”
Ah, I imagined a voice announcing the approach of Typhoon Teen Spirit number 7, and we all laughed.
Then, we got on the elevator and asked.
“How about it, hyung? Don’t you ever want to experience being with other idols besides us?”
“Not at all. I really like you guys.”
“We like you too, hyung.”
We exchanged such conversations as we got onto the elevator.
Standing in front of room 701.
Was it because Teen Spirit, notorious for their serious fan issues, lived here?
A sense of trust in security was growing.
Beep—
The electronic lock disengaged with a soft chi.
We clasped our hands together and sang the BGM of Love House.
“La la la la~ La la la la~”
We entered with an imaginary bright filter over us.
And at that mont.
Everyone except Seokhwan, who had been here before, scread.
“Wowwwww!”
“This is crazy! This place is insane!”
“Hey, your dorm is like a palace.”
The ceiling was incredibly high.
Bright sunlight poured through the living room’s full-length glass windows.
A large TV and sofa set adorned the living room.
“Wowwwww!”
Junghyun dove onto the sofa, and we piled on top of him like a sandwich.
“Amazing! This is huge!”
The youngest mber shouted excitedly, and we all joined in the noisy clamor.
And then.
“Uh…?”
Junghyun, buried at the bottom, chuckled and blinked.
We asked.
“Why? What’s up?”
“Look there. I think we’re on the second floor.”
“…!”
When we turned our heads, we saw the tall ceiling and the loft railing.
Chills ran down our spine.
“Amazing…”
It was then that the spiral staircase caught our eye.
Overwheld by the house, we were montarily speechless, just like when I visited Director Jo Gyuhwan’s house early last year.
Sandwiched between my brothers, we could only look around and exclaim in awe.
Seokhwan said.
“You might get hurt. Get up and follow . I’ll show you around inside.”
“Yes!”
That’s when we started the house tour with the TF team leader.
“First, this is the kitchen.”
“Kitchen!”
“The cooking utensils at the accommodation were all worn out, so I bought most of them new. I’ve also stocked up on so simple snacks.”
Soon, we cheered at the sight of various ingredients in the fridge and the cabinet full of ran packets.
I’ll definitely have to cook so later.
“When you had dinner with the CEO in Busan, Bijoo, you ntioned you were interested in baking these days, right?”
“Yes, that’s correct.”
“The CEO told , so I bought the equipnt.”
“Wow…”
Bijoo’s eyes glistened as she looked at the oven and other appliances filling the kitchen.
Her expression was such that she seed ready to burst into tears at any mont, so we comforted her with gentle pats.
Soon, Bijoo, who had grabbed a pancake flipper as a souvenir, followed us with the determination of soone about to burst into tears.
“Inside the kitchen, there’s… Ah, first of all, this house has three bathrooms.”
“Wow…”
“We’ll look at that separately. For now, one of the rooms on the first floor is what Junghyun has been longing for.”
Junghyun spoke with an excited voice for the first ti in a while.
“A garden?”
“It’s a gym.”
“Ah. Yes.”
Our deflated expressions made Seokhwan look at us in disbelief.
“Why are you all disappointed together? Logically, there’s no way we could have a garden here.”
“Well… I thought a fancy house could have one.”
“Anyway, this is an indoor gym that not only Junghyun but all of you can use.”
The spacious room, covered with soundproof mats, was filled with exercise equipnt.
Junghyun, who had been fiddling with the barbells and plates, smiled and said, “This is really nice.”
“And this here is a storage room for supplies, cleaning tools…”
“Oh! Oh! Oh!”
“Right. Let’s leave Rihyuk to explore. We’ll go ahead.”
While soone was distracted, we looked at the two rooms on the first floor.
The interior was decorated in pastel yellow tones.
It looked like a room that mothers would love.
“This is Bijoo’s room, and the one across is Junghyun’s.”
“Oh. It’s quite stark.”
We nodded our heads at the spacious room, which had no special furniture arrangent.
After finishing the tour of the first floor and climbing the stairs to the second floor, Jiho clung to Seokhwan.
“Did you finish arranging and decorating the rooms?”
“Yes.”
“What if we want to change sothing?”
“You won’t want to change anything once you see it.”
“…?”
“Choose the room you want to use.”
Soon after, Rihyuk, Jiho, and I looked around the three individual rooms and imdiately chose our own.
The location was exactly where I wanted it to be.
And the design was the clean interior I had always wanted.
“How did you know?”
As we wondered about the secret, Seokhwan explained the mystery.
“Director Cho decided.”
“…?”
“He lived with you last year and learned from the experience… I an, he had the experience.”
“Ah.”
It seed that Director Cho Kyu-hwan’s keen intuition, along with his experience living with us last year, made the arrangent easy.
Seokhwan asked.
“Isn’t it great?”
“It’s amazing! There’s even a computer. I can do everything I struggled with on my gaming laptop!”
“Moderate your gaming.”
“Yes. I shouldn’t have said anything…”
“And the room over there on the second floor will be used as Woojoo’s studio and Rihyuk’s vocal practice room.”
“Wow!”
There was a mini studio with fully installed soundproof walls.
It had space for composing music and practicing vocals. As I looked around the equipnt, I asked.
“Who installed all this? It’s done so well.”
“The A&R team and the producing team ca over the weekend.”
“They must have worked desperately.”
“Coming to the office even on weekends isn’t always good. They said to make sure to tell you that sotis working from ho is better.”
I nodded with a smile.
After completing the tour of our new house and marveling at our rooms, Seokhwan asked, “So, how do we go about moving?”
“Moving?”
“Well, I’ve taken care of the furniture and built-ins, but you still have clothes and items in drawers. You’ll want to take care of your personal belongings. If there’s anything specific you want to pack…”
“No, there’s nothing.”
All five of us shook our heads simultaneously.
The Math Ghost smiled warmly. “You don’t want to go back to the old place, do you?”
Silence.
“If you want to live here, start now. It’s fine by .”
“Really, we can?”
“Well, it doesn’t matter… Let’s go back to the dorm. No matter how nice a house is, it can’t beat our apartnt. I miss ho. The sll of that place. Didn’t I urge you to rember that?”
“I’m sorry. I’ve realized this new house is the best.”
Seokhwan laughed and said, “Do as you please.”
After deciding to visit later in the afternoon to pack only the important personal items, soone shouted, “Let’s make ran! Ramyeon!”
“Ran! Ran!”
We rushed into the kitchen, equipped with an induction cooker, and hurriedly started making ran with Bijoo.
After the managers said they’d be back from the first floor shortly, we flapped the ran soup packets and surveyed the spacious living room.
“It’s nice.”
“It’s really nice.”
As a child, whenever I followed my grandmother to model houses, I always dread of living in such a place.
Though it’s not a house I share with my grandmother, the feeling of being in such a safe and wonderful ho, and with great people, made feel like I was on cloud nine.
“By the way, what was the Wi-Fi password the Teen Spirit folks gave us earlier?”
“Just a mont.”
I found the Teen Spirit dorm Wi-Fi on my phone, labeled “Why are you using this?”
It quickly ca to .
“JONNA.”
We all entered the password and burst into laughter, feeling the camaraderie.
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