Title: Korean Idol, Part 1
Author: Luce Red
Series: Hikaru no Go
Disclaimer: Characters are the property of Hotta and Obata
Notes: general fic, wackiness, Bae Yon-jun references
Summary: Hikaru is educated in the needs of fandom.

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“This is heavy,” Hikaru grumbled as he adjusted the bag hanging from his shoulder. “Why do I have to do this? I could be at home practicing my Go.”

“All work and no play makes Hikaru a dull boy,” Akari said. “Now stop grumbling.”

Akari in the throes of idol-worship was scary, Hikaru decided. He had thought it was bad enough when she had that crush on him in elementary school, and later when she briefly dated Mitani. It was incomprehensible when the object of her ‘adoration’ was a Korean TV actor with floppy hair and a pair of wire-rimmed glasses.

“Oh, there they are,” Akari said after a moment of searching through the crowd. “Yumiko, Akiko!” She hurried towards Masui and Kinoshita, who were also in the queue to collect the limited collector’s edition of Bae Yon-jun’s photographs and camera stills from that ‘so romantic’ Winter Sonata. “You look so cold,” she exclaimed. “I brought some hot tea from home. Hikaru!”

“Yes…” he surrendered his bag, and watched as Akari pulled out the huge thermos flask. The four girls—Tsuda Kumiko had arrived in the meantime as well—shared the tea and whispers about their idol, interspersed with giggles. Hikaru pulled out his copy of Go Weekly and prepared to wait in queue.

On the whole, it wasn’t too bad, Hikaru thought four hours later. The majority of the fan-base was made up of middle-aged housewives (there were a lot of girls around Akari’s age too), and they didn’t scream too much. Akari and the others had obtained their copies, and he had won points for being a considerate friend with an actual life outside of Go. He did wish, however, that they would wait until they got home to moon over their new acquisition, instead of standing outside the collection office.

“You know what would be perfect?” Tsuda asked, staring at her copy with a dazed look.

“What?” Akari asked.

“Yon-sama’s autograph! Right here.” She pointed on the blank space next to the cover photograph of the actor’s face.

“You’re right! It’d be just right,” Akari exclaimed, her eyes turning starry like the girls on shojo manga.

Tsuda gave a regretful sigh. “What a pity Yon-sama wasn’t able to make it to Japan this time!” she said, echoing the sentiments of the thousands of like-minded fans, some of, it was reported, had wept bitterly with disappointment at the announcement of ‘heavy work schedule’ and ‘filming delays.’ Privately, Hikaru thought it was pure and utter terror: just look at the last time the actor visited—the sheer crush of female fans had nearly decimated the hotel he stayed in.

“Well, Hikaru is going to Korea next week,” Akari murmured, to Hikaru’s horror.

“It’s for Go!” he said hastily. “I’m going to play with Ko Yong-ha, remember?”

Any hopes he had that she would take his upcoming game with the annoying Wangwi seriously were dashed when she gave him a hopeful look. “You’ll be in Seoul, right?” she said.

He gulped when Tsuda, Masui, and Kinoshita all turned to him. “Really, Shindou-san?” Masui asked, her eyes growing far larger than he had ever seen.

“What a wonderful coincidence, Shindou-san!” Kinoshita said, clasping her hands together.

Hikaru thought glumly that it was a pity they had never seemed that enthusiastic about Go. “Please,” he held his hands up in a gesture of surrender. “I’ll only be there for three days.”

He watched as their faces fell, and quelled an irrational urge to sigh in relief—which would certainly get him thumped by Akari. Speaking of Akari…

She had her hands on her hips, and was glaring. “Hikaru!” she said.

He fought the urge to salute. “Yes, Akari?” he asked.

“You’re staying with Hon-san, aren’t you?”

“Er, yes?”

“And you can ask Hon-san to get autographs of Yon-sama on our behalf, right?”

The whispers of ‘oh, right’ and ‘yes!’ from Tsuda and Kinoshita were not helping, Hikaru thought as he debated how to answer. The prospect of asking Hon Su-yon to get autographs from ‘Yon-sama’ made Hikaru wince. As though ordinary citizens—even a Go pro—could know a famous TV actor personally. He could just imagine Su-yon’s response now: long, mocking laughter. And if Ko Yong-ha came to hear about it, Hikaru was going to kill himself.

“But, Fujisaki-san, I don’t think Shindou or Hon-san will be able to get the autograph, even if they are in Seoul. I remember the news reporting that he’s busy filming in Busan.”

Akari’s expression, and that of her fellow fans, turned glum at that.

Hikaru nearly fell down in relief. “Touya! When did you arrive?” he asked.

“Just a moment ago. I came here with Ichikawa-san, actually, but she met some friends and decided to have dinner together.” Touya nodded politely at the others. “Did you come to collect your copy of the photo book as well?”

Akari and Tsuda waved their copies at him; Masui and Kinoshita only nodded—either they were still shy, or they were disappointed about the autograph.

“I got one too,” Touya said, showing them the plastic-wrapped volume.

Hikaru’s jaw fell. Yes, ‘Yon-sama’ looked… nice, and Touya, well… No. He just couldn’t see Touya as a fan.

“… yes, my mother asked me to get a copy…” Touya was talking to Tsuda.

Hikaru felt unexpectedly relieved.

“Oh, Hikaru’s got a copy too!” Akari exclaimed.

The book suddenly felt very heavy in his bag. Hikaru felt his face flush. “It’s for my mother!” he said quickly in response to Touya’s stare. His voice was too loud, he realized a moment later.

Touya only smiled. “Your mother’s a fan, too?”

Hikaru nodded hurriedly.

***

When he got home, he thrust the book towards his mother as though it were red-hot. “Here it is!” he said, as though trying to deny all connection with it.

His mother’s eyes lighted up. “Thank you for taking the trouble, Hikaru,” she said, gripping the book eagerly.

“It’s okay.” Hikaru admitted that he was not a particularly thoughtful son, but he could manage little things like these. “I’m going to take a hot bath to warm up,” he said. “It was cold out there today.” Only crazed fans would willingly queue up for the entire afternoon, on a winter day, to collect a book featuring their ‘Yon-sama.’

When he emerged from the bathroom, his mother was sitting at the kitchen table, turning the pages of the book reverently. Little sounds—suppressed squeaks, Hikaru guessed amusedly—emerged from her lips now and then. He started to make his way back to his room, rubbing at his hair.

“Hikaru?” His mother sounded… speculative.

Warning bells started to go off in Hikaru’s head. “Yes?” he responded, turning back.

“You’re going to Seoul next week, right?”

“Ah, yes?” For once, he hoped that she was going to start with the lengthy advice about taking care of himself, eating well when abroad, and Dressing Up Warmly.

“Do you think…” His mother paused, almost shy, “Do you think you could get Yon-sama’s autograph for me?”

----------Go to part 2---------------

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