Archive of Our Own

Being a music show host was something that Iwol found to be weirdly satisfying. When he had first been offered the position, he had been ready to pass it up to a member more suited for the position like Seongbin or Cheonghyeon. However, encouragement from the company and the members helped push him to accept the offer.

The only troublesome aspect of it was that he was forced to share space and exchange greetings with groups and fandoms that he’d rather avoid at times. However, in those cases, he treats it like he did the one time he subbed in for Polo’s radio show and displays the utmost professionalism. Besides, it was kinda cute seeing the newer groups coming on, especially when it’s their first time on a music show. While not as cute as his kids, many of the younger group members had a charm to them in their wide-eyed amazement at all the new aspects of becoming idols. It makes him genuinely hope the industry does not crush their hopes too much. 

They’re all so incredibly polite as well. The groups always come in with smiling faces and complete 90 degree angled bows. Many of them bring him cards during their first broadcast to thank him for hosting. It’s a method he should have thought to implement with Spark when they first debuted and he feels ashamed at his lack of consideration for their first music show hosts. 

The new groups always politely ask after him and his co-host, rising rookie girl group One Kiss’ maknae, Ryu Hana. Even some people, like Heart Touch’s Moon Taehee and KillShotz’ Jo Hajun, who Iwol knows have major attitude controversies in the future, are incredibly kind and bright behind the scenes of the broadcast. 

Jo Hajun even told him after their first broadcast that Iwol is his greatest influence and the reason he wanted to be an idol. Considering this honor originally went to Song Minhil of Parthe, Iwol was a bit flattered and a bit apprehensive that this would be brought up again should the younger follow his original course of being a complete jerk.

This was what Iwol was reminiscing over as he walked to his dressing room, bowing in greeting to any staff he came across. He had missed last week’s recording as a result of Spark having an overseas schedule on the broadcasting day and so walking back this week felt a bit odd, like how he imagined most students felt starting up classes once again after a national holiday. Upon reaching his dressing room, he’s greeted by the onset makeup artist, Park Seon.

“Mr. Iwol,” she says pleasantly, “how was Japan?”

“It was very nice. The Japanese Sparklers were very enthusiastic upon seeing us.”

“That’s nice,” Seon noona responds. “I hope you were able to relax a bit though?”

“Yes, the members all did some light exploring and shopping afterwards,” he reassures. “Speaking of which,” he recalls, pulling out a wrapped package from the bag he had brought with him, “this is for you.”

“Oh really?” The older woman took the gift with curiosity that soon was replaced with glee when she realized what it was.

“You mentioned needing new bowls for your side dishes? I hope you don’t mind, but I saw these and thought they’d suit you.”

Iwol had agonized over whether or not to buy the ceramic set, afraid it’d end up a useless gift that just gathered dust if the noona didn’t like it, but could find nothing else that would suit her bold, yet timeless nature as a ceramic set with a subtle peacock design on it. He’s glad to see now that she seems to like it.

“These are perfect! Oh thank you, Mr. Iwol!” she exclaims, bowing deeply.

“No, no, thank you for all the work you do,” Iwol replies, bowing back.

“So is the rest of the bag filled with ceramics for the rest of the team or am I just special?” Seon noona asks in a teasing manner.

“Not ceramics, but I did try to pick out something for the styling team and the groups coming today.” He also got a gift for his co-host, gave treat boxes to each on-set staff member of the show, and included a bag of Japanese candies for the staff members of the groups for the show. Choi Jeho had asked if he was being excessive, but he’d rather give too much than risk someone being left out and it was his first time having to miss a commitment, so he figured it’d be fine. The group was doing well and he had more than enough for himself.

Before Seon noona could ask more, the other members of his styling team came in to complete his mermaid look and Iwol was able to present them all with hairpins that he had seen on a street market. Their response was just as good as Seon noona’s was, reassuring Iwol that he had picked the right souvenirs.

As they prepared him, Iwol was able to take a look at the room. His eyes immediately catch on a bright fruit basket on the table, surrounded by many cards. Iwol asks the styling team if they know what it’s for, but the rest of them are clueless with Seon noona saying that an intern had come to drop it off and just said it was for him. Iwol wondered if this was another elaborate gift from Mr. Gu Jahan, perhaps to welcome him back to the country, before pushing the thought out of his mind. This is too much, even for him. He decides to check the basket himself once he’s done. 

However, as soon as he was done dressing and the team was starting to clean up, a knock came at his door. “You can enter,” Iwol says, confused as to who would be here.

In comes his co-host, Ryu Hana dressed as a seashell. The two look at each other in confusion.

“The theme today is ocean,” Seon noona says to the unasked question. 

“Why does oppa get to look so much prettier than me though?”

“You’re too young,” Kim Iwol replies immediately. If he felt uncomfortable in the thin, sheer top the styling team gave him, then there was no way he was going to allow a minor to walk out in whatever would be the female equivalent of this outfit. Especially Ryu Hana, whose career had been criticized from dusk until dawn for first being oversexualized by her company and then oversexualizing herself after she had turned of age. Granted, that was the view of netizens who often were ignorant of the fact that even adult idol styling choices were made by the company and that it often depended on the company atmosphere and values whether or not the idol would get a say.

Ryu Hana puffs her cheeks out in protest and the rest of the room tries not to coo at the frowning seashell in front of them.

“Here, I have something that might cheer you up,” Iwol says, walking over to his bag. He pulls out a custom purple hand fan and hands it to the young girl.

“Oh my gosh, this is so cute!” she squeals. She bows her head in thanks. “Thank you, Iwol oppa!” She raises her eyes and Iwol sees them catch on something behind him. “What’s this?”

Iwol turns his head and catches sight of a fruit basket that rested on the table behind him. “Oh, just a fruit basket. I was going to check the sender after I was done.”

Hana grabs the card attached to the basket and reads it out loud. “To Mr. Iwol. We’re so sorry to have missed you for our first broadcast and hope you enjoyed your time in Japan. We look forward to meeting you this week. All the best, PIXIE.”

PIXIE was a new 5-member boy group formed from a survival show that had made their highly anticipated debut the previous week. It was unexpectedly kind of them to send him such a luxurious gift basket on top of all of the things they had to do to prepare for their debut. 

“Oooh, there are pineapple slices in here,” Hana exclaims. “Could I have one please, oppa?”

“Go ahead,” Iwol says before turning and inviting the others in the room to also take some. There was no way he could finish it by himself, after all. As they all started to enjoy the basket, a thought pops up in Iwol’s head.

“Hana?”

“Yes?”

“Did you not get a fruit basket?”

Hana shakes her head and Iwol finds himself growing upset. She was a co-host too after all and had also missed last week because she was sick. Rather than buy him one luxurious fruit basket, he would rather they had gotten them both a decent basket or even just sent them both cards without gifts attached. It’s a testament to Ryu Hana’s uncanny ability to understand the people around her that she begins to wave away his concerns without even looking at him as she digs in the basket for more pineapple slices.

“I’m not offended by it or anything, oppa. I can’t fault them for wanting to make a good impression on the Bias Checker.”

Iwol finds himself thrown at the unfamiliar address. “The what?”

“Bias Checker,” she repeats, before going still. She takes a look at him and must note his complete confusion because she gets up and starts making excuses about wanting to run through her script before recording starts. How dull does she think he is? Going over the script was why she came here in the first place.

“Stop.” She stops mid stride at his command.

“What do you mean Bias Checker?”

Hana sighs so heavily that Iwol is reminded of Supervisor Song whenever she exited a meeting with the department heads. “Iwol oppa, if I tell you, you can not tell anyone that I was the one who said it.”

Iwol gives a bewildered look with the stylists and is met with expectant gazes, as if they felt Hana was being completely reasonable in her request. So, he agrees.

“There’s a…belief,” Hana begins, “amongst idol fans that if you show favor to an idol or a group, then they’re good people.”

“What?”

“It started on a forum,” Hana says. “The first post honestly didn’t get much traction from what Sol unnie told me.” Iwol would normally write this off as improbable, after all, what forum posts would he have not seen? But, then he remembers how hectic his schedule has been in recent memory and the joint efforts of Jeong Seongbin and the UA staff to keep him from lurking a lot in fan spaces that might breed overly negative environments. 

So perhaps it’s possible that he missed another moniker being added to his name. But still… “Bias Checker?”

“Well, from my understanding, after the All Over scandal happened back then, some people started observing how you acted around different groups and took it as a cue. It didn’t really become a big thing until the scandal with Voca’s Lee Minji happened.” 

Ah, the Lee Minji scandal. He had honestly felt bad for the group. Even in the past, the other members of the small girl group were completely unaware of their eldest members’ drinking problem and were shocked when she ended up getting arrested for vehicular manslaughter while under the influence. The group disbanded soon after and netizens shunned the other members, forcing them all to leave the entertainment industry.

Iwol, for obvious reasons, avoided the woman and her attempts to turn him into a drinking buddy whenever they were at the same events together. After the scandal came out, he tried his best to be kind to the other members, who constantly looked like they had 2 ton weights on their shoulders. Apparently, the netizens had taken note of this.

“The fact that you were really nice to the other members is the reason a lot of people think the group didn’t go under,” Hana continues. He thought it was a change in the timeline that the group continued on, just like the change where Lee Minji had actually killed someone rather than caused severe property damage, but apparently it was the result of his actions.

“And seeing how you’re not really close with Parthe sunbaenims, outside of being friendly with Han Gawoon sunbaenim, or Sticky sunbaenims, people took that as further signs since only Han Gawoon is regarded well within the industry as being pleasant to work with.” Iwol had no idea people paid this much attention to his interactions with others. “So the companies started taking note as well. Now it’s pretty standard for every new group to try to make sure you think well of them. I mean, we even did it.”

Iwol tries to think back to his first impression of One Kiss when they had debuted a few months back. He remembers feeling bad for how the group turned out, as their story was pretty similar to that of Spark’s and impressed at how politely they conducted themselves. He had sincerely hoped they’d do well, the same way he does for other groups. 

The door opens and someone sticks their head in, asking for the two to come out to record their opening.

“Anyways,” Hana says. “Don’t think too hard about it, oppa.” She pats his shoulder the way that reminds him of how he would comfort one of the younger members when they were too self-conscious. 

Unfortunately, telling someone not to think too hard doesn’t work like that and he finds himself dwelling on Hana’s words even on his way back home. 

When Iwol gets to the dorm, he finds Jeong Seongbin on the couch watching the news. The leader takes one look at his face before asking what was wrong. Before he can say anything, Park Joowoo comes out of his room, asking if something was wrong. This triggers Choi Jeho to also leave their room and somehow brings the maknaes out of their maximalist haven as well.

“Nothing’s wrong,” Iwol denies.

Kang Kiyeon frowns at him so fiercely that he has to reiterate the sentence twice more. “I just found something out that’s making me introspective, that’s all.”

“What was it?” Cheonghyeon asks. “Is something wrong with the music show broadcasting network?”

“Are they doing something shady?” Kang Kiyeon tacks on.

“No,” Iwol says. “Why is that where your mind goes to?”

“Well, what is it then?” Choi Jeho asks. 

“I just… do the words Bias Checker mean anything to you?”

To his surprise, every member immediately calms down.

“Oh, you found out about that?” Jeho asks blandly. Found out about what? So even Choi Jeho, who’s only relationship controversy is a fake dating controversy with his sister and whose only friends were in the room with them, knew about this before him.

Perhaps sensing the slew of nagging that they were all about to receive, Jeong Seongbin stepped in. “We found out after someone at the action school mentioned it around Jeho hyung. He asked us about it and when we didn’t know, I got in contact with Ms. Min Jukyung and asked her.”

Betrayal. Deep betrayal. Is this how Caesar felt as he turned and saw that the wounds on his body were caused by the knives brandished by those he considered brothers?

“Ms. Min told us not to mention it to you,” Joowoo says, “because she’s afraid that if you’re aware, you’ll become too self conscious in your interactions with other groups.”

Who wouldn’t become self conscious? All this time, he’s been going around acting obliviously when he’s had the power to make or break groups just based on who he goes out of his way to greet. Is this right? Can this much power really be yielded by one man?

He expresses as much, but is not met with the sympathy and understanding he expects. 

“It’s not as if everyone believes it,” Jeong Seongbin reasons. “And really, it’s not much different than how groups act whenever they meet a sunbae they admire or who has influence.”

“Yeah, hyung,” Lee Cheonghyeon adds. “People are nicer to us too because Spark is popular so it’s not like it all falls on you.”

“People don’t go out of their way to write you cards when you miss a broadcast episode,” Iwol says, waving around the stack of envelopes that were in his dressing room. Going through them in the car ride back, it was revealed that they were cards from all of the groups who had performed last week.

“I’ll host a music show next and we’ll see, but I don’t expect any of the sunbaenims to write to me just yet,” he responds. Cheonghyeon and Kiyeon had both been asked to be recurring judges on a new survival show. As the youngest and most junior judges, Iwol had worried they’d find it difficult to fit in, but clearly that was for nothing.

As Kiyeon and Cheonghyeon begin to bicker, Iwol shoos the other members away, bringing an end to the conversation and heading to the bathroom for a shower. But even after trying to clear his head in the shower, he finds himself still bothered by the whole thing. 

Despite promising to himself just a week early that he’d hold back from calling this number, Iwol types a set of familiar digits into his phone. The receiver picks up almost instantly.

“Iwol-ah?”

“Hi noona. How’s it going?”

“Good. This hotel you picked is really nice,” Wonjoo noona responds. “But, what’s happening with you? I thought you swore you wouldn’t contact me while I was gone.”

It took Iwol multiple months of begging, pleading, and crying in order to convince Wonjoo noona to let him treat her and a couple of her friends on a one week hotel staycation. Of course he swore not to call her. If he did, he was afraid she’d be reminded of who was footing the bill and check out early to return to work.

“I wanted your opinion on something.” He proceeds to lay out every detail of the saga to her, not leaving a single thing out. He’s met with contemplative silence.

“I’m inclined to agree with Seongbin here,” she says at last. “This doesn’t seem that much different from subordinates trying to curry favor with a supervisor at work. Perhaps a bit more blatant is all. So, why are you so bothered? Is it because of the amount of pressure?”

“No.” And that’s the truth. While before he might have felt some type of way about having so many people rely on his word, now he’s learned to take it for what it is. The netizens will believe what they believe and trying to fight against it will only delay the time it takes for them to move on, so he may as well just continue to do his best as he’s always done. “But what if I get it wrong?”

“Get what wrong?”

“The idols.” After all, Han Gawoon was a good guy in an unfortunate position and Gu Jahan managed to turn things around. What if he treats an idol distantly because of a scandal that doesn’t end up happening and ruins a career as a result?

He expresses all of that to his noona who takes it in. “Well, would you have treated All Over or Parthe or Sticky any differently if people had believed in you to this extent back then?”

“Absolutely not.” As if he would have allowed them to get anywhere near his kids and trouble them with their various controversies.

“Then, there you go. It’s not like Gu Jahan and Han Gawoon were completely innocent in the beginning. But they changed their ways and the way you approached and treated them changed accordingly. You can’t control whether a group changes their attitude or not just like you can’t predict what will happen in the future. It’s just that you’ve seen what could happen and act accordingly. It’s up to the people whether they’ll make the same mistakes or not. And if that’s their true nature, they’ll make those mistakes regardless of if they act nice to you or not.”

“I suppose.”

Noona must sense that her words were not able to completely soothe him. “What else is wrong?”

“I don’t want to create an environment where everyone carries themselves differently when I’m around.” Iwol prides himself on being one with the people. This level of authority has hoisted him straight up there with the entertainment world aristocracy however, a position he is not suited for. He would sooner jump into the Han River in nothing but swim trunks and pool floats carrying an “I love Yoo Hansoo” banner while being broadcast on national television than become anyone’s Manager Nam.

“Is that the environment you create? From what I’m hearing, it sounds like everyone just becomes more polite and mindful around you. That’s not necessarily a bad thing.”

“Right and now debuting groups have something else to add to their anxiety off top of everything else,” Iwol responds. “People may as well start calling me an etiquette officer.”

“Right, because Nagging Machine is so much more preferable,” Wonjoo retorts. “If you’re concerned with the environment around you, why don’t you try observing things? See how people act when they don’t know you’re around. Or ask for an outside opinion.”

He tries to think of a way in which that could be possible when he hears one of his noona’s friends calling her. “Ok, noona, go back to enjoying your vacation.”

“Wait, we can still talk.”

“I’ll sort it out, don’t worry. Go enjoy yourself.”

She’s quiet for a moment before giving in. “Keep me updated.”

“Of course,” he promises.

***

The next week finds Iwol standing in a bathroom stall, trying to come up with decent hiding places behind the scenes of the music show. Emphasis on trying because he underestimated just how hard it was to hide as a pale man over 180 cm tall. At least this week he was dressed as a cowboy, so the outfit itself was fairly basic, but still. There were no storage rooms or closets that’d allow him to easily overhear conversations in the general waiting room and he didn’t want to impede on anyone’s privacy by hiding in a dressing room. He tried to just stand in a dark corner on set and see if he could go unnoticed, but ended up scaring a sleep deprived writer who mistook him for a horror movie figure. He’s about to just leave and surrender his dignity to try crawling under the table in the general waiting room after going to get his makeup done by the styling team when the bathroom door opens and he hears his name.

“-wol sunbaenim not here this week as well?”

“No, he should be here.”

The voices belong to KillShotz’ Jo Hajun and PIXIE’s maknae Im Taehyun. 

Jo Hajun continues, “I saw him earlier.”

“Oh, that’s good. The managers are getting on us about impressing him, especially after they heard we forgot to get a fruit basket for Hana sunbaenim as well. It’s so annoying. How did you even survive it?”

“It’s not too bad,” Hajun responds.

“Seriously though,” Taehyun continues. “I like Spark as much as the next person, but what’s the deal with this guy? Everyone keeps tripping over themselves to try and get on his good side and even you aren’t bothered by it. Be legit with me, did he bribe someone or something?” The questions, although blunt, don’t necessarily seem to be coming from a place of malice, but more of a serious confusion. 

“No!” Hajun exclaims. “What, no! Iwol sunbae isn’t like that. He’s actually really nice.”

“Seriously?” Taehyun asks with deep skepticism.

Iwol can’t blame him. He also questions why everyone is going so far. 

“Ok, I’m gonna be real with you, ok? But you can’t tell anyone about this.” Iwol’s ears immediately perk up at Hajun’s serious tone and he senses a shift in the atmosphere.

“Ok, I promise,” Taehyun says.

“I meant it,” Hajun emphasizes.

“I swear, man,” Taehyun insists. “What, did you kill someone and he hid it for you or something?”

Hajun is silent for a beat too long and Iwol hears his rising panic echoed in Taehyun's voice as he asks in panic whether Hajun actually killed someone. Iwol wonders if the authorities will believe him if he tells them he had no idea and wonders if he can claim plausible deniability when he was eavesdropping in the bathroom stall.

“What? No, dude, you’re so dramatic,” Hajun says. 

“Then what is it?”

“There was a producer in the company,” Hajun starts. “He gave a lot of us trainees a hard time. Picking on us. Forcing us to do vocal guides for songs out of our ranges and not letting us go until we got it right or lost our voices trying. Stuff like that. Back then I wanted to quit. But then Iwol-ssi was attacked by Yoo Hansoo. You know how when that happened a bunch of the companies started internal investigations to make sure they wouldn’t have to deal with something like that, right? Well, the producer backed off and even started treating us better because of it. But, a bunch of the hyungs were inspired by Iwol sunbaenim’s courage and part in the police investigation against Yoo Hansoo, that they told the company about him and got him fired.”

“Woah, seriously?”

Hajun must have nodded because he simply continues. “It was a huge deal for us. Without Iwol sunbaenim, I probably wouldn’t have become an idol. And if I did, the company atmosphere probably would be a lot worse than it is now. There was a time where I forgot about that though.”

“Forgot? How do you forget that?”

“Well, time passed and I debuted. I felt positively about him, sure, but it’s not like he was specifically trying to help me out when he got attacked by Yoo Hansoo, so I forgot how grateful I felt towards him in the moment. So when we debuted and the managers started insisting we make good impressions on Iwol sunbaenim, I was more annoyed than anything.”

“So it’s not just me!”

“Of course not. It’s me. Do you know how many remedial classes the company forced me through because I found it difficult to bow my head?”

“Ok, so what changed then?”

“One time I was absolutely exhausted and forgot to bow to Iwol sunbae at the end of a pre-performance interview.” Iwol searches his memory for this moment before recalling. It was the first performance for KillShotz’ first comeback, but the members had undergone so many schedules prior to it that they had looked physically exhausted. When Hajun had forgotten to bow at the end of the interview, Iwol brushed it off as a consequence of how overworked he was. He even pulled aside their manager to ask after the younger group’s schedule, citing concerns that they might not have enough time to rest so he could figure out a way to manipulate the broadcasting schedule to let them fit in at least a short nap.

“The manager was so pissed at me,” Hajun continues. “I was in for it, I could tell. His neck even turned red. But before he could do anything Iwol sunbae stepped in and pulled him aside. I have no idea what they talked about, but the manager didn’t lecture me and even talked to the company about reducing some of our schedules. After that, I started observing him, I guess.”

“What, you became a fan?”

“I guess. I’d just take notice, you know? Whenever I come for broadcasts, he’s usually greeting everyone, even the staff with a smile and a bow. He speaks kindly to everyone, even the junior groups and the rookies. He remembers all of our names and greets everyone. When he’s not around, the staff members always speak well of him. They say he’s super hardworking, very friendly, and usually one of the first people on set. And, I realized that I want to leave the same impact on people that he does. He’s my idol.”

Iwol found himself deeply touched by the younger’s words.

“So, if I can write him a card and possibly brighten up his day, then it’s not bothersome at all.”

“Ok,” Taehyun says. “Well, I still haven’t met him, so I’ll wait and see I guess.”

A phone starts ringing and Iwol immediately starts frantically searching for his before the ringing stops.

“Crap, that’s my alarm,” Hajun says. “We better get back before the hyung’s kill us.” 

Iwol listens as the two sets of boots run out of the bathroom and then waits another two minutes to make sure the coast is clear before leaving the stall, washing his hands, and exiting the bathroom. 

On his way back, he contemplates what he had just heard. He never imagined that something like that was why Hajun had turned to liking him and that his struggle with Yoo Hansoo had affected so many people. Maybe his noona was right. Maybe he was making a more positive environment. 

When he reaches his dressing room, not only is the styling team ready for him to do his make up, but Ryu Hana also sat munching down on pineapple slices, from a fruit basket. This must’ve been the remedial fruit basket Im Taehyun implied sending. 

“Oppa! PIXIE sent me a fruit basket too, so I figured I’d come share some with you,” Hana says before taking a second look at him. “Oh come on! You can’t tell me that I’m too young to dress like a cowgirl!”

The stylists burst out into laughter upon seeing the petulant tumbleweed on the couch. Iwol has no idea how they were able to keep their composure until this moment. Even if he knew the theme was the Wild West, can anyone take serious a tumbleweed in the American west with a pineapple slice from the Amazonian basin stuck in its mouth?

“Oh don’t start with me! You can sit and complain all you way, but then you take a million selcas and talk to your fans on BubblePop about how cute you look in the gimmicky costumes,” Seon noona retorts. “Besides, take it up with your stylist if you have a problem with it. Or do you want me to tell her?”

“Unnie, I was wrong,” Hana immediately says, bowing her head and starting up another round of giggling.

“Hana, can I ask you a question while you’re here?”

“Go for it, oppa.”

“Did you ever find it bothersome? When you had to curry favor with me?” While Hajun found it annoying, he was able to get over it quickly because he felt indebted to Iwol. Hana, as far as he knew, had no reason to be burdened by such feelings.

“How honest do you want me to be?”

“You can use informal speech.”

“It was so annoying that I wanted to hate you,” she says without hesitation. “Like seriously. I have all of this choreography to learn and then all of a sudden, the manager is on my back about impressing some dude I barely know anything about. Rin unnie even told us to stick close when we were around you because we were all so sure you had to be some weirdo.”

“Aren’t you aware that there’s such a thing as too much honesty?”

“You won’t hold it against me,” Hana says with authority. “It’s not in your nature. That’s how I got over it, by the way.”

“Hmm?”

“How I got over feeling annoyed. That’s what you're really curious about, isn’t it? We came and greeted you that first time, bringing with us a fruit box the manager stuck in our hands. You got so flustered because you didn’t expect a gift and insisted we share the box with you. So we all sat down and shared polite conversation while splitting the fruit box. You even noticed that I got sad when the green apple slices ran out and gave me a slice of pineapple. The unnies all appreciated your advice at that time. Then, you continued to look out for us during our promotion period, always greeting us respectfully and even doing a dance challenge with Dayoung unnie when she asked. That especially earned you points because Dayoung unnie is super socially anxious. It was an odd feeling to be met with warmth when we often got indifference or even derision because we didn’t debut from a big company.”

“So that’s how I won you guys over?” Iwol aims for a slightly joking tone to mask how thick his voice was starting to get.

“Oh, totally. Don’t tell the unnies I told you, but Rin unnie spent hours researching a good fruit box for you after I came on board as a co-host and everyone pitched in to get it.”

“What?!” The emotion in his voice turns into pure panic. “That’s way too much!”

“Funny, they said the same thing when I gave them those hand fans you got for them from Japan,” Hana says with a pointed look. Well, it’s not like he could let the maknae walk into the door with a gift alone! What if it sours the team atmosphere?

“Anyways, it was, like, really obvious that you had no idea about the whole Bias Checker thing, so it was easy for us to get over it because it wasn’t really you that was putting this pressure on us, just management.” She looks him up and down. “We should switch outfits. This doesn’t suit you.”

He flicks a thistle of her tumbleweed. “Informal speech doesn’t mean you become rude.”

“Sir, yes, sir!”

The twinkle in her eye reminds him of Lee Cheonghyeon and Kang Kiyeon. How does he keep getting attached to these mischievous kids?

“Let’s go over our lines please.”

“Yes, sir, yes!”

“Just speak regularly.”

“If you insist, oppa.”

***

Perhaps Iwol muses, he is not the Manager Nam in the situation. Perhaps he is actually the Nam Jooah. While he didn’t intend to do so, his actions have made things difficult for the people around him. But how does he rectify this? 

As that thought passes through his mind, a group of young men led by their manager stop in front of him and bow in greeting. Iwol returns their bow, recognizing the group as PIXIE.

Their leader, Mr. Lee Minhil, who had an unfortunate name twin, politely greets Iwol on behalf of the team.

“Oh PIXIE! It’s really nice to meet you. I was very grateful for your gift last week and sorry I missed your debut performance. Are Mr. Minhil, Mr. Siwon, and Mr. Owen all feeling better this week?” The reason Iwol had only now met PIXIE was not only because of his own schedule in Japan, but in part because over half of the group’s members had gotten food poisoning the previous week, forcing them to cancel their music show appearance due to apparently uncontrollable puking.

“Yes, we’re all feeling much better,” the eldest member and only foreigner, Owen responds. “Thank you for asking.”

“Actually, that reminds me. If you don’t mind waiting here a moment?” Iwol asks. Upon seeing a nod of confused consent, Iwol hurried back to his dressing room and returned holding a bag. “I brought some souvenirs for the group last week before I heard your appearance was cancelled and wanted to make sure you still got them.”

“Oh, thank you,” Lee Minhil says, accepting the gift. “That’s incredibly kind of you.”

“It’s nothing to burden yourselves with. Consider it a debut gift. You’ve all worked hard to get to this point after all. Let me know if there’s anything I can do to help the broadcast run a little smoother for you guys, especially if you start feeling unwell again.”

The members of PIXIE bow their heads again, which Iwol returns before letting them go so they could prepare for their interview with Hana. As they walk away, he hears Park Jaeyoon and Im Taehyun exchange conversation.

“Huh, he seems pretty normal.”

“Yeah, I was talking to Hajun about it and he said Iwol sunbaenim is really nice.”

“Will you both stop talking before he hears you?” Do Siwan asks chidingly.

“I think we’re far enough,” Jaeyoon retorts to his same-age friend.

“Boys,” their manager says. “Enough.”

“Yes, hyung,” they say in unison.

“Now make sure to send the next fruit basket to Ryu Hana at the end of the promotional period,” their manager reminds them. 

“Just Hana sunbaenim? What about Iwol sunbaenim?”

“I heard he feels incredibly burdened by gifts like that, so it’s probably best if we stick to a card with him. All gift baskets go to Ryu Hana.”

***

After Hana finishes her pre-performance interview with  Heart Touch, Iwol joins her on the interview platform.

“‘All gift baskets go to Ryu Hana’?”

“I may or may not have mentioned around a manager or two that you only like fruit baskets when you can share them with the groups gifting them, so if they're too busy for conversation they should just send a card.”

“And how does that lead to you getting all of the gift baskets?”

“Well, just because I said you were burdened doesn’t mean your favorite co-host who you love to dote on feels burdened,” she says with a sly grin.

“Do your unnies know you’re so underhanded?”

“Yes, they don’t care.”

“Don’t care?”

“Do you care if Cheonghyeon sunbaenim and Kiyeon sunbaenim are sly?”

Iwol considers it for a moment. “Fair point.”