Idol & His Star

Solar Charge

Uki and Suha decided to call it a night. As Uki still had to repair his starship and an unknown wish to fulfil, he spent the rest of his time wondering how he could help Suha. The man was an idol who had his first show, but the reactions from the audience were lacklustre. Nothing was more depressing than looking at a star that had lost its light.

When they watched Suha's playback for his debut stage, Uki noticed how downcast the man was. His eyes remained affixed on the screen while he grimaced at every bad angle the editing crew made using his footage. There were better takes, but the television station did him dirty in that last shot. He filmed three times, but they chose the worst camera view to add to the broadcast.

It was too unfair.

Ring!

Suha's phone went off, and the idol's eyes dimmed further. It was a call from his manager. He could guess what his manager wanted to say. After all, he was the only one debuting from his company this year. All eyes were on him, but he wasn't doing well enough.

"Hello?" Suha answered the call, but the manager skipped the congratulations and went straight into nagging.

Even if Uki could not tell what the manager was saying, he knew those words were hurtful. Suha was good at hiding his expressions, but Uki was an experienced star guardian sensitive to other people's emotions.

Suha clenched his jaws. The words hurt more than the years he spent training for this day. He didn't get any reaction or support from the audience, the broadcast station did him dirty, and his company condemned him as a failed investment. Moving forward from now on would be extremely difficult without anyone supporting him. Idols were people whose careers depended on popularity and fan support. Without his company behind him, fans beneath the stage and debut mates by his side, Suha was truly alone.

After the phone call ended, Suha closed his eyes. He truly wanted to cry.

"What happened?" a voice startled him.

That's right. Suha had almost forgotten that he wasn't alone. Not in his apartment.

To his left, the star guardian blinked with concern. The starship was still in auto-repair mode, but he needed more solar power before repairing the communications system. Suha did not look well. Maybe he needed some sunlight too.

"Nothing happened," Suha replied and looked away. He was technically unemployed now that his chances of having another show were slim. It was difficult for the company to find a TV station willing to let him debut, but now that he messed up, there was probably not another chance anytime soon.

As his schedule was relatively free now, Suha thought about the strange purple-haired star guardian. Uki Violeta was good at singing. He did not have much to do and wasn't told to return to the company. Ordinarily, Suha would go out and hunt for a part-time job he could quit on short notice if he had to. However, he did not feel like it today. Instead, he considered spending the day indoors getting to know Uki better.

The alien could speak Korean quite well. There were some words and sentence structures he could not grasp, but they communicated well.

"Are you sure you don't want to eat anything?" Suha asked when it was time for lunch.

Uki shook his head. "I can't eat. However, could you put my starship by the window sill? I need to solar charge it in daylight, or there won't be enough power to sustain it through the night."

Finding a good spot on his window sill, Suha placed the crystal-like flower on it and blocked the edge with a cup in case the find blew it.

As Suha cooked, Uki borrowed his laptop and researched human culture. He learned many things from going through Suha's search history. Not much about the newly debuted idol was seen. However, Uki had an idea.

"Have you ever thought about singing for an online audience instead?" Uki asked as Suha added some chicken to his bibimbap bowl. Even if he wasn't working, he had to maintain his weight as an idol.

"Are you talking about streaming?" Suha asked. "The company hasn't created an account for me yet. I also don't think anyone is going to care if I stream. There is too much competition online."

Frowning at his pessimistic look on life, Uki took matters into his own hands while Suha ate. He created an online account for Suha and secretly started to stream without a camera. As Suha ate, Uki talked to him, asking him questions and even managing to snag a line or two of his song while eating.

"I was meant to debut with another senior, but he left a week before we went onto the big stage. I guess he got tired of waiting."

Nodding Uki monitored the growing number of audiences online. Most of the people were commenting on how beautiful Suha's voice sounded.

"Was it difficult for you to debut alone?"

Suha paused and thought about it. Was it hard? 

"It was tough having to re-record the song and choreograph a new dance by myself in under a week before debut. However, compared to that, I think it would be harder if I did not debut at all. The audience's reactions might not be good, and the edits did not help, but that's ok. At least I made it this far."

Sighing deeply, Suha closed his eyes. "I don't know if I would be given another chance after this. The entertainment world is difficult to live in."

Unknown to Suha, the newly created account steadily gained recognition as online audiences tried to figure out who this unlucky recently debuted idol was. Uki only smirked to himself. The world has yet to know who this amazingly talented man was, but he was the first to find him.

Uki Violeta loved it when dying stars shone brightly as if telling the universe not to forget them. Even if Suha failed, he should give it his all to be remembered for a long time.