Chapter 106

The final day of waiting for Yugeon arrived.

There was still no word from him, but Hajin was no longer afraid of the regression. As much as holding off time itself, he wanted — hungered — to finish Blue Flare's stage with Yugeon. And it wasn't just Hajin; every member of Blue Flare felt the same.

"…Chan. What are you doing?"

"Ah — hyung. You up? Sorry. I was just running through practice…."

"Practice for what? You were mumbling this whole time."

"Ah…. Yugeon-hyung's rap part. Just in case."

It's still the middle of the night, hyung. Sleep a little more.

Eunchan, who shared the room, said that and dimmed his phone's flashlight. Hajin — figuring you never knew — had watched the clock roll from 11:59 to midnight last night, and even after that hadn't been reassured enough to sleep, staying awake for several more hours. Which meant right now, he'd gotten one, maybe two hours of real sleep at best.

"Nah, it's fine. Turn the light on. I'm getting up too."

But Hajin got up without hesitation. Lying there would only breed more stray thoughts.

"You going somewhere, hyung?"

"Going for a run. Clear my head."

"Should I come with?"

"Nah, you practice."

Changed into light workout clothes, Hajin stepped out of the dorm into the dawn dew. The world hadn't yet come into its own color — it was still opening its eyes, blue. Hajin put in his earbuds and played the demo recording of their third-mission song.

Easy to play

Everything is easy for you

Softly singing along to the track that opened with the breath-mingled tone of Siwoo's voice, Hajin ran his usual loop.

"Haa, hoo, hhuuu…. wow, that's rough."

Only after running two full laps without a break did Hajin let out a ragged breath. Realizing that at this rate he wouldn't have the legs to make it back to the company, he finally dropped onto a nearby bench and steadied his breathing.

Out of nowhere, he felt like pulling out his phone and checking the internet. He'd fallen asleep last night after reading the reactions from people defending Yugeon; now he was curious to see how it had settled.

"…nothing much, huh."

People had already lost interest in a Yugeon they no longer had anything to curse at. Sure, here and there, unhinged types were taking advantage of the fact that Yugeon's family situation had come out to launch a different kind of personal attack.

But those people would've written hate about him even if he'd turned out to be royalty from some distant country, so Hajin trusted Suho would see them handed over to the law in due course.

The public had chewed Yugeon like a piece of gum until the flavor ran out and then walked away, but that didn't mean mentions of him had vanished entirely. Once everyone had taken their poke and moved on, what came into view were the ones who'd been there the whole time, standing in the same spot, tending the scars left behind.

The Destis, who'd believed in Yugeon and held their ground through every twist of the controversy.

handle: @MM_hashitag name: Miro Maze Hashtag Total-Push Team Announcing the total-push hashtag for cleaning up #Yugeon's related-search terms ※ Push time Today (22nd) 20:00 (KST)~ ※ Hashtags #Yugeon-ah_We'll_Protect_You #Yugeon's_Stage_Is_Always_a_Blast X Absolutely no hashtag use before the push starts X Related-search cleanup notices are on the thread handle: @2uuu_gunn2 name: ReasonGeon [photo: a PC screen capture packed with images and PDFs in neat rows] the miro notice is finally up!! for now i've sent in my first batch of everything i've gathered if anyone has more material to send dm me through the form in my bio and i'll compile it for a second batch handle: @2uuu_gunn2 name: ReasonGeon [photo: a screencap of Miro's legal-action notice] if you want to send directly please refer to the info below handle: @kang_HD name: Kangha-D please, world be a little kinder to Yugeon Lee Yugeon I love you Lee Yugeon handsome Lee Yugeon fun Lee Yugeon main dancer Lee Yugeon dance Lee Yugeon song …

The signatures of those who joined the wave were sometimes Yugeon's, sometimes not. Their ults were sometimes close to Yugeon and sometimes had no connection to him at all.

But everyone joined the wave with one heart.

Because they knew — this time it was Yugeon, but the same kind of thing could happen to their own ult at any moment.

The whole way back to the dorm, Hajin read the fans' cheers and prayers, and read them again. Even though the words weren't for him, somehow they comforted him. They hadn't shown these people anything yet — so what was any of this for? Why go this far for someone they'd never even seen in person?

But Hajin already knew.

That sometimes, loving and rooting for someone doesn't need a reason at all.

"…everyone in the practice rooms?"

Back at the dorm, after showering and changing, Hajin found the quiet of the place a little strange. His steps carried him, out of habit, toward Blue Flare's practice room.

"……?"

Even from down the hallway, he could see the practice-room lights were on. Wondering if the guys were all in there, he headed over — and noticed the sounds coming from inside were louder than usual.

Through the slightly cracked door, a rowdy chorus of voices spilled out. Just counting how many voices he could pick out, it sounded like more than ten guys in there.

Hajin's pace quickened. He'd done two laps back to back and then walked all the way from there — and still, without a trace of fatigue, he broke into a run.

The practice-room door flew open without so much as a knock.

"…Hajin-hyung!"

Eunchan called out to Hajin in a bright voice. Between the trainees clustered around someone, a path opened up naturally.

The knot of people scattered, and Yugeon — lightly sweeping back his smooth, neatly-settled blue-black hair — came into view.

Yugeon turned and stood facing Hajin. That distinctly red mouth of his, with its sharply peaked cupid's bow, curved into a clean line — the same smile Hajin had seen once before, the kind that was refreshing just to look at.

"However I turned it over, it was too much of a waste — I couldn't do it."

Yugeon gave a shrug in place of a longer explanation, eyes saying hyung gets it, right?

But that was enough.

Really, it was enough.

And so, the day of the third-mission recording arrived.

Yugeon had come back,

and Hajin still hadn't regressed.

It was the 'tomorrow' he'd been so desperate for.

---

'Wow, I'm actually gonna throw up.'

That was the girl's first take on the sight in front of her — a sight she'd been sure, absolutely sure, she'd never lay eyes on again.

"Can't believe I'm back here at this ungodly hour…. Yeah, quitting k-pop's just not in the cards this lifetime."

When the recruitment notice for the third-mission audience went up, the girl genuinely had no intention of applying. For real.

Sure, her main (Harang) was all Doha content, her alt (Soda) had been nothing but Miro Maze lately, and she'd been cranking out so many Wolpyeong-z gifs she was seriously thinking of spinning up a dedicated gif account — but still, no intention!

Then she came to and found herself on the phone, accepting her seat. Clearly a k-pop wraith had possessed her in her sleep and applied on her behalf.

"Alright, since I'm here, might as well have an unbelievably good time."

Truth be told, everything that had gone down these past few days had left her a little unsettled. She'd been like everyone else — judging Yugeon on his looks and what she'd seen on the broadcast — and now that she knew his full situation, she was a little ashamed of herself for it.

Even if she hadn't left hate comments or bashed him outright, when she'd scrolled past those controversy posts, she'd absolutely thought, for someone like him, isn't that possible?

'It's not like I'm new to k-pop. What have I even been doing all these years, Yun Se-eun.'

Yugeon was definitely going to be on stage today, so she'd pour every ounce of that guilt and repentance into cheering him on.

With that resolve, the girl hurried toward the studio. Maybe because it was still early morning, the waiting line wasn't as long as she'd expected.

Coming closer, she spotted her fandom friends, who'd gotten in line ahead of her.

"Unnie! Over here!"

"Hi, hi~."

Luckily there was no one behind them, so she could slip into the line without feeling bad about it. Even at the back, she counted fewer than twenty people ahead — meaning they really had come early.

Standing in line like this, at 10 a.m. they'd get their entry numbers. After that, they could go kill time nearby, then come back before the recording started and file in by number.

Today's shoot didn't start until 4 p.m., and check-in ran until 2, so technically you could show up right at the deadline…. But that'd land you dead last, straining to make out your kids' silhouettes from the far back row.

'It eats a whole day, so it's usually mind-numbingly boring…. But with fandom friends along, that changes everything.'

The girl looked at her fandom friends — the first offline meetup she'd had with them in ages.

The taller one, ball cap pulled low and in a black rider's jacket, was Gwajam; the compact one in a floaty blouse-style dress, sorting the bundle of free unofficial goods she'd brought to hand out, was Squishy Bear. To these two, the girl went by Soda.

"Way fewer people than I thought, though?"

"Nah, they'll start piling in soon. We just got here really early."

"When did you two get here?"

"Just now, us too. Gwajam-unnie stayed here last night, though. Booked a room nearby."

"For real? Ugh — should I have just done that too?"

"You heading home right after today? I booked mine through tomorrow — just crash and go home. Squishy's staying too. Tomorrow's the weekend anyway."

"Yeah, unnie, come stay with us! Tonight's episode 4, so we can watch it together!"

"Whoa. I'd love that. But is three people okay?"

At Soda's surprised look, Gwajam answered with a cool smile.

"I hate cramped rooms so I booked a big one. Just cough up the extra-person fee, and after the shoot we can grab late-night food and hang out. It's been a while since we all got together."

"Gwajam-ah, I love you. In exchange I'll cover lunch later."

"Then I'll get coffee! I got my allowance."

At the words of Squishy Bear — the only high schooler in the group — Soda and Gwajam both put on stern faces and shook their heads.

"Nope. Students don't pay. Put that back."

"Squishy, no. No way. You already dropped a ton of cash on that free goods run you're about to do, right? Absolutely not."

"But I'm always the one on the receiving end from you unnies! Let me at least get drinks. I'm almost fully recouped from the Siwoo {griptok}(#pou6bpcxs01b) run this time, so it's fine."

At Squishy Bear's pleading eyes, Gwajam and Soda gave in with a laugh. She might be in high school, but Squishy Bear was sharp and switched-on. Her ult was Jung Siwoo, and every so often she made and sold Siwoo-related goods. The fandom was still small, so the profits weren't huge — but from a student's angle, you could call it a decent side hustle. Well, the problem was that she immediately blew all her earnings on free goods to hand out.

"Even then — designing it, sending it to the vendor, approving the proofs…. Once you factor in the demand poll, packing, shipping, all of it — calling it 'recouped' is a stretch. If you counted labor you probably wouldn't even hit minimum wage."

"Oh come on, still small-fandom, and just breaking even on production costs is a big deal. Plus the girls who do rake it in seriously rake it in."

"Truly the creative economy k-pop built."

Chatting away, before they knew it 10 a.m. had come. The lightly-populated line was now packed enough that people were bunching up two and three abreast alongside them.

"Wow, the line's massive now."

"Yeah, seriously. Good thing we came early."

"So where to now? Bit early for lunch — café?"

Standing in line at the crack of dawn had hit her with a moment of what am I doing with my life, but now — walking out with entry numbers in the twenties, past the envious looks of everyone still lined up down the block — she felt like this much suffering had been worth it.

'Next time, I'm booking a room too.'

Already sketching out the plan for her next audience run, Soda hummed a tune, her good mood on full display.