Title: Korean Idol, Part 2
Author: Luce Red
Series: Hikaru no Go
Disclaimer: Characters are the property of Hotta and Obata, as well as Jump
and Shueisha. The lines on Ko Yong-ha’s note at the end are taken from Margaret
Mahy’s Changeover. Also influenced by supacat (lj), whose musings gave me
this idea.
Notes: general fic, wackiness, Bae Yon-jun references. Implied
AkiraHikaru. Part 1 here.
Summary: Hikaru is educated in the needs of fandom. Again.
-------------------
Shindou Hikaru had occasionally wondered whether he was, as Sai had tried to tell him once or twice, suited for the life of a Go pro. He had more than a few thoughts on the possibility of seeing Sai again. He had had a few doubts—but not many—about his rivalry with Touya Akira. It was rare for him, however, to be confronted with such solid, impenetrable reality.
Hikaru was in hell.
First, this could not be happening.
There was no other explanation for Ko Yong-ha's appearance right before him in the lobby of KBS, currently the place of employment of one Bae Yon-jun, hottest idol among the female of the species in Japan, known to them also as 'Yon-sama.' And he thought getting laughed at by Su-yon was bad enough. If Yong-ha saw the ten autographed Bae Yon-jun coffee books in his bag, Hikaru was going to have to commit sudden and violent seppuku.
Second, this should not be happening.
The Korean pro—who had grown taller again, Hikaru groused—was smiling at him. Not the smirk Hikaru had been accustomed to seeing at official games, but a full-blown, honest-to-god smile, the sort reserved for family members and close friends. Very close friends, Hikaru amended inwardly, as Yong-ha took a slow, deliberate step towards him, his eyes running down the length of Hikaru’s body, and up again, to focus on his face. Hikaru gulped at the hungry expression on Yong-ha’s face.
He was a married man!
Well, not exactly, he amended, as he suddenly found his back hitting the receptionist's desk—when had he backed up so far back?—they had an understanding, right? Of course, in Japan it was advisable to get married even if your, ah, interests lay elsewhere, but Go professionals had an automatic out because they were expected to be strange and lead irresponsible lives—just look at Ogata-san. He and Akira were fairly discreet, anyway. And that line of thought was not helping him, Hikaru thought, pressing himself to the reception desk (the receptionist had gone to help with crowd control) as Yong-ha took another step forward. “Good…good afternoon, Ko-san,” he said. To his chagrin, his voice sounded strangled, and he couldn’t remember what was Korean for “What are you doing here?”
“Shindou Hikaru,” the Korean pro said, while Hikaru squirmed. How did Yong-ha make his voice sound so sexy?
“Er, hi? Good game yesterday, wasn’t it?” Hikaru said weakly, trying to look away from Yong-ha’s eyes… and face… and lips. Oh dear god why had he never noticed that Yong-ha could pout?
His eyes still intent on Hikaru, Yong-ha inched forward—Hikaru tried to merge with the receptionist’s desk—and spoke.
His voice was low, husky, with a rhythmic lilt that made Hikaru’s insides dance madly. No, bad thought! Then again, Hikaru couldn’t understand a thing Yong-ha was saying. Purely by accident, he caught the words “Bae Yong-jun”.
“Yon-sama?” he croaked, and thought morbidly, Did I just say ‘Yon-sama’? I’m turning into a housewife!
At the name, though, Yong-ha’s gaze intensified. Hikaru repressed a whimper. He remained motionless, supported only by the desk behind him, and his feelings veered towards ‘terrified’ when Yong-ha took another two steps so that he was directly in front of Hikaru. More Korean poured from his lips.
Hikaru tried to look away and made a valiant attempt to convert his expression from “Yes! Yes!” to “total incomprehension—ignorant Japanese here.”
It must have worked, for Yong-ha abruptly made an irritated noise in the back of his throat—Hikaru’s knees threatened to give way at the sound, and he looked anywhere else but at him—and said, “Su-yon said you came to get Bae Yong-jun’s autograph,” in Japanese.
There. The secret was out. Cursing Su-yon silently, Hikaru nodded. He looked up at Yong-ha and froze. The other pro was still smiling!
“When I got here,” Yong-ha continued, “the autograph session was already over.”
The sense of what Yong-ha was saying penetrated Hikaru’s mind. “Er… you’re… you wanted to get an autograph?” he asked. Privately, Hikaru would have rather died than get anybody’s autograph—Kurata was still huffy at him about that half-signature—but the trip to Seoul had been prefaced with death threats along the lines of “Get Yon-sama’s autograph or else!” from Akari, Takeda-san from next door, the proprietor of Dougenzaka, and his own mother, and for the sake of his own survival he’d agreed to lug the coffee books all the way to Seoul.
“Did you get your autograph?” Yong-ha asked.
Hikaru nodded. It had been a rather embarrassing experience to be surrounded by all the other female fans, but at least they hadn’t screamed and jostled against one another, as in Japan. One of the girls—it seemed that there were more younger fans in Korea—had even helped to translate his halting requests to Bae Yong-jun’s assistants.
“Su-yon said you were going to get a lot of autographs.”
The look on Yong-ha’s face was a little dangerous, frankly. Hikaru nodded again. ”I did. But it was for Akari and Takeda-san and…” he trailed away, belatedly realizing what Yong-ha wanted. “No. Way.”
“I hear you’re with Touya-sensei’s son these days,” Yong-ha said, his gaze running over Hikaru again. “I haven’t played Go with him much, but I bet he’s the type that likes to take his time, isn’t he?”
Ko Yong-ha was not talking about Hikaru’s sex life.
“He probably wants to do it only when the mood is right, doesn’t he?” Yong-ha continued, while Hikaru’s thoughts screeched to a halt at the realization. “And he isn’t adventurous in the least. You can tell from his Go.” He suddenly leaned close enough for Hikaru to see each individual striation of his irises. “Ditch that boring daddy’s boy. You should go for someone more… powerful.” He loomed even nearer, and Hikaru could feel visible heat coming off the other pro’s expression.
With a dexterity he didn’t even know he possessed, even after years of playing Go, Hikaru reached into his bag and pulled out a perfectly autographed Daydreams of Bae Yong-Jun, shoved it into Yong-ha’s arms, muttered something along the lines of “Please-take-it-and-don’t-hurt-me”, before he took off as though an axe murderer was after him.
***
After answering the door, Su-yon returned to the living room with a perplexed look on his face. “Shindou Hikaru,” he said to his houseguest, who had been making plans for a getaway to a deserted island since he returned from KBS yesterday. “What did you do with Yong-ha?”
Hikaru’s face took on a hunted look. “What do you mean?” he asked.
“I mean, he was just at the door, and he said to tell you ‘thank you’, and he said something weird after that.”
“Er… what?” Hikaru didn't sound as though he really wanted to know.
“He said that you should have taken him up on his offer.” Su-yon frowned at him. “What offer was that? And he also said to give you this,” he waved a folded piece of paper at Hikaru.
Looking at the piece of paper as though it had teeth, Hikaru took it, unfolded and read the message in it, before sitting down to bang his head on the coffee table.
“Hikaru,” Su-yon said, “You can’t still be worried about losing Fujisaki-san’s copy of the book, are you? I mean, she wouldn’t really kill you, right?” he asked with the innocence of a sixteen-year-old who had never dealt with girls in his life.
Hikaru continued trying to beat himself into oblivion.
“I don’t see what’s so terrible about Yong-ha’s message. He’s probably taunting you about the game you played.” Impatient, he snatched the slip of paper from Hikaru, before the other pro could stop him. He read aloud, “You might have enjoyed it. I was planning on being very nice to you.” Seconds later, he was trying to strangle Hikaru. “What happened between you and Yong-ha?!” he shouted.
---------Go to part 3--------------