I'M A GENIUS IDOL BUT MY PASSIVE IS SUNFISH: Chapter 81

 TL by Miru

I'm a Genius Idol but My Passive is Sunfish: Episode 81

[Yuyeon: I think ‘Naing’ is cute and kind of nice? Should we make it the official nickname for our fans?]
[Cheong: Like it! Naing sounds good!]

Truly the role of a skilled producer.
Smoothly wrapping up the topic, Yuyeon allowed Minsung to pull Yulmu and Baekya back into the frame.

[Minsung: Then we’ll wrap up here for now. We’ll see you soon at the next award show.]
[Cheong: I’ve got a collab stage with another team! The Circus! Look forward to it!]

With Cheong dropping spoilers about his year-end stage, the livestream came to a close. The broadcast hadn’t seemed that long, yet nearly half an hour had already passed. She’d been exhausted when she first collapsed into bed, but somewhere between laughter and live chat, her drowsiness had vanished entirely.

“When did it get so late…?”

With no classes the following day, she decided to fully enjoy the night, opening up YouTube to browse videos.

[DASE Cheong Legendary Fancam Compilation]
[DASE 'No Games'—100% Live Vocals]
[Pairing the Chick and the Peach]

Thanks to the power of algorithmic recommendations, all she’d done was watch one livestream—and now her feed was full of DASE-related content. She hadn’t admitted it openly, but ever since watching variety shows with Boksoong, one particular member had caught her eye: today’s birthday boy, Cheong.

With his ice-cold visuals straight out of a manhwa, Cheong surprisingly held the position of the team’s youngest member. Even better, his adorably broken Korean continually landed direct hits on her heart. But she was still deep in denial about her rapidly blossoming affection.

“Ugh, I’m not even into them. Why does this stuff keep popping up?”

Indeed, she was experiencing the infamous first stage of idol fandom: the denial phase.

 

* * *

 

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[DASE_Official]
Naing!! It’s me, Cheong Cheong! We won another award!!! I hope you enjoyed our special stage today! We’ve already got two rookie awards! I'm surrendering because you gave us such precious awards—I love you all! Love you so much!!!
(Group photo from K Awards Ceremony.jpg)
(Maknae selfie wearing ‘Circus’ shirt.jpg)

===========================

 

- Surrender...? Cheong-ah, you mean you're happy, right?! WE'LL be the ones surrendering, you just do whatever you want!!!!

(T/N): Cheong mispronounced the word “happy” as “surrender”

- As of today, “White-Shirt Cheong” is a brand!!!!

- Cheong, next time undo ten more buttons!! Then I’ll surrender too!!!

- Congrats on the second rookie award, guys!!

- Oppa, I love you

- Why are these comments so intense...? Someone please take away their exclamation marks!!!
└ You’re no better!!!

- It’s just text, but why does it feel so loud ㅋㅋㅋ

 

Winsome, Cheong’s fansite admin, paused her photo editing to dramatically wipe away tears—because her bias had personally posted on their official account.

He always said formal speech was hard for him, but that bold, casual opening line—"Naing!! It’s me, Cheong Cheong!"—nearly gave her a heart attack.

“Ah! Cheong Cheong is too cute.”

The primal side of her brain tried to take over.

“No! Get it together!”

Winsome scolded herself aloud, mustering determination. Regaining control, she returned to her noble mission—editing Cheong’s photos to bless humanity with his impossible good looks.

She was currently editing photos from the JAMA stage—DASE’s main performance. Wearing a dress shirt and a short ribbon choker, her "little wolf" was the very definition of “winsome”: captivating and irresistibly charming.

Due to poor seat luck, most of her photos were side or back profiles. Surprisingly, that had turned into good fortune, as the neatly tied ribbon at his neck made each shot uniquely appealing. Checking other fansites' uploads, she realized no one else had captured the ribbon so perfectly.

Clearly, heaven itself favored Winsome’s photography. She dove back into editing, struggling slightly to balance colors against the vibrant stage lighting. Just then, her friend and fellow fansite master, Baekya-Phenomenon (“Baeksang”), sent her a message.

[Baeksang-nim: Winsome-nim, how are you feeling? ㅠㅠ]
[Baeksang-nim: Oh my god… At yesterday’s K Awards, there was an angel flying around… I couldn’t help myself...]
[Baeksang-nim: They’re not much, but here are my photos of Cheong! Please recover soon! (30 photos attached)]

“What?! Oh my god—!”

They were special-stage photos of Cheong from yesterday’s K Awards.

[Me: OMG Baeksang-nim ㅠㅠ I can’t possibly accept these precious treasures ㅠㅠ]
[Baeksang: It’s fine! If I kept them, I’d probably only post them as a joke on April Fool’s day.]
[Baeksang: It’d be a global loss... I can’t keep his face all to myself.]
[Me: You’re an angelㅠㅠㅠㅠ]
[Baeksang-nim]: Oh! And I totally thought you wrote this at first ㅋㅋ (link)]

 

After sending the pictures, Baeksang added a link:

 

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[Hot Topic] K Awards Maknae Circus stage honestly killed it.
Upvotes 222, Downvotes 14 (+330)

Five idol maknaes performed "Rewrite The Stars," the OST from the movie The Greatest Showman. Honestly, this special stage might be the best among year-end performances.

First off, the lineup was insane:
Boys’ Kingdom, Glassy, Imperial, Flowermoon, and DASE.

True to the circus theme, each member or pair got their own “act” and part—it was wild. That couple dance between Glassy and Boys’ Kingdom near the end? Cinematic perfection.

But personally? The most memorable was DASE’s Cheong Cheong, who opened the stage. (I’m not even a fan.)

Even among a lineup of baby-faced maknaes, he stood out like a grown adult. (Not saying he looks old—just powerful.)

He stepped onto the stage barefoot, under a single spotlight, looking all cold and handsome—and wow.

Black hair + white shirt + barefoot + good-looking = game over.

At this point, the K Awards could’ve ended the special stage right there and it would've been enough.

Anyway, as soon as the soft instrumental (almost acapella) started, two silk ribbons dropped from above.
The song was in English since it’s a foreign track, and his pronunciation sounded native-level. Total Slytherin energy—guess he’s good at English too.

With the most heartbreaking expression, he started singing and totally hijacked my remote. Then he wrapped the silk around his arms—like really wrapped it!
And then suddenly he starts running in a huge circle! When the music climaxed—he actually took flight like an angel.

I looked him up later and turns out he's in the group with that pink-haired guy who’s been going viral for hitting 4-octave high notes lately.
His voice tone is really nice, and he didn’t stand out in a bad way during the group chorus. He blended in smoothly.

They’ve been calling him a “monster rookie,” and now I totally get it. He held his own even among older idols and totally owned the stage. Super excited to see where he goes from here! If you haven’t watched it yet, seriously—go look up the video.▼
(Video)

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- That face is honestly the most fascinating and unbelievable thing to me…

- I was literally on edge watching Cheong fly through the air. I thought he was gonna fall ㅠㅠ I swear I couldn’t even breathe during that part ㅠㅠㅠ

- Apparently it was his birthday yesterday ㅋㅋ. Saw him at the pre-recording wearing clothes his hyungs bought him.

 └ He’s actually kinda cute, despite how he looks. As soon as he opens his mouth, he’s all squeaky and chirpy ㅋㅋㅋ

- What is going on with that core strength? He pulled that off with no equipment, just pure muscle??

- The vibe difference between Boy’s Kingdom’s maknae and DASE’s real maknae is wild. (attached: backstage photo of the maknae circus lineup)
 └ Anyone can see the one on the right looks like the older one…
 └ I saw a post yesterday saying the guy on the right just turned 19 and I was SHOOK. There’s no way someone who’s only been alive for 19 years has that kind of aura;;

 

“Ughhh, Cheong Cheong…”

Winsome dramatically collapsed onto her desk. She’d been looking forward to her bias’s special stage for weeks—but the day before, exhaustion caught up with her, leaving her bedridden. Clearly, she’d pushed herself way too hard following the Hong Kong schedules.

Even her non-fan friends—complete idol noobs—had messaged her after seeing K’s Maknae Circus stage, demanding to know who "that barefoot angel" was. That was how impactful Cheong’s performance had been.

Stuck in bed due to illness, Winsome couldn’t even watch the broadcast in real-time, let alone take photos. It was only this morning that she’d finally managed to see her bias’s special stage clip.

Even then, she'd been too jealous to watch it more than once…

Just then, she received another message from a different fansite friend:

[Hanji: Winsome, I heard you missed K Awards?]
[Me: Yes… I wanna die seriously…]
[Hanji: (file.zip)]

It was from Jihan’s fansite admin, Hanji. Winsome’s instincts screamed that this file had to contain Cheong’s performance video. Her fingers trembled as she typed:

[Me: What’s thissssss?]
[Hanji: Cheong’s special stage.]
[Hanji: Got bored, filmed it for fun. Keep it. Are you coming to M Awards?]

“Ahhhhh—!”

Winsome burst into tears. Clearly, she hadn’t wasted her life after all!

She vowed to repay Baeksang and Hanji for this priceless favor someday.

 

* * *

 

December 31st.

“Time flies.”

Jihan murmured softly, staring out the car window at the slushy snow drifting down.

Exactly one year ago today, they’d climbed into a car without even knowing their destination, only to end up standing bewildered at Imjingak. Today, on their first debut anniversary, DASE was heading out for their final schedule of the year.

“Don’t tell me we’re going back to Imjingak again...?”

Suspicious after recent traumatic events, the sunfish narrowed his eyes distrustfully at Namkyung.

“Look!” Namkyung retorted, tapping the navigation screen. “Destination: Ilsan KINTEX. 20 minutes remaining.”

“I see. Just making sure,” Baekya muttered, finally sitting back after verifying the screen for himself.

“When we move dorms, make sure you don’t share a room with Yuyeon,” Namkyung grumbled. You’re getting way too paranoid because of him.”

“Hyung, you’re the one who broke my trust. Don’t blame me,” Baekya shot back.

After the infamous airport prank, Namkyung’s credibility had hit rock bottom. Now he and Yuyeon were in a constant race for the #1 spot on Baekya’s internal “Do Not Trust” list.

“Don’t worry,” Jihan reassured them, holding up his phone screen. “They already announced Imjingak’s lineup.”

He showed everyone the final lineup M Awards had posted on social media. Even among idols, being “exiled” to Imjingak was a hot topic of conversation.

 

- Today's Paju temperature: -20°C. Confirmed Imjingak exile list: S.AM, DAON, NewSound, Perfume