Chapter 119

"There, all done."

"Thanks, hyung."

Siwoo finished up disinfecting Hajin's blood-soaked hand, applying ointment, and wrapping it in gauze, then packed away the first-aid kit. When Hajin bowed his head at him, Siwoo took one look at Hajin in front of him, then another at the maknae line kneeling on the floor to the side, and let out a small sigh.

Then, in a cynical voice, he gave Hajin some advice.

"If you're hurt, go to a hospital."

"…huh?"

"You were like this last time too. The day Lee Yugeon disappeared. I told you to take medicine and rest, and you dragged yourself all the way to the convenience store one neighborhood over to find him and bring him back."

"No, but that day I wasn't even sick—"

"How were you not sick? You had a fever. Your body was hot, your face was red. You think I told Eunchan to take you back and dose you up and put you to sleep for nothing?"

Jung Siwoo scolded Hajin with real firmness.

Hajin was thrown twice over — once by the fact that he actually had been sick, and again by Siwoo laying into him this hard.

He'd never seen Siwoo this angry before, so Hajin couldn't even think of a comeback and just shut his mouth. Laid out like that, even from where he was standing, it added up to something that deserved a scolding.

"The company's got physicals and psych sessions coming up soon anyway, so I won't say anything about this to the staff separately. But if you're hurt, go to a hospital, see a doctor, get treatment. Don't try to fool yourself or anyone else with 'I'm fine.'"

"…yes. I'm sorry for worrying you, hyung."

Instinctively sensing this was the time to grovel, Hajin quickly bowed his head, and Siwoo let out a heavy sigh.

Then he turned his head to the maknae line, who'd been quietly waiting their turn, and had something for them too.

"You lot — if it's this late you should be asleep. What are you doing playing games until this hour? That kind of self-management should be basic by now."

"…sorry."

"Lucky it was only me who saw. What if you'd woken the other kids up? …The situation being what it is, I won't push it further. But going forward, when it's time to sleep, sleep. Don't be dozing off in practice the next day."

"Yes…."

At the maknae line's dispirited answer, Hajin felt bad — as if he'd gotten these innocent kids scolded because of him.

Sneaking under Siwoo's line of sight, he shot the maknae line a mouthed sorry — and Siwoo, catching it like a hawk without even glancing at Hajin, said,

"If you're going to apologize, do it properly."

"Huh?"

"You scared them. Seeing you painted in blood in the middle of the night, how do you think that felt? Apologize properly and show them you're actually fine, so the kids don't have nightmares tonight."

Then he nodded toward the maknae line, who'd been fidgeting with their hands and mouths from where they were kneeling this whole time.

"Come look. I'm heading out."

The moment Siwoo got up, the maknae line rushed at Hajin as if they'd been waiting.

"Hyung!!! You're really okay, right!?"

"Sh, shouldn't you go to the hospital even now!? That was really scary earlier!"

"Yah, yah! Quiet down! You're scaring Hajin-hyung!"

"Yuki was very shocked too!"

"Hyung, what if it leaves a scar…."

He'd played with them whenever he had the chance, sure, but even so, he hadn't expected worry this intense.

Then again, even to him, the state he'd been in earlier really was the kind of thing that could show up in nightmares. So, feeling a certain responsibility toward the dongsaengs who were worried about him, Hajin made a show of proving his body was perfectly fine.

"I got cut on something like a razor blade. It was dark, I didn't know it was bleeding this much."

Truth was, he'd been too dizzy to feel the pain.

Still, the cut wasn't big — a few days of gauze and careful ointment, and it should be fine.

'Still, kind of touching that they're worried.'

At least he had no shoots coming up for a while — that was one small mercy.

Hajin thought that as he patted down the puppy-like dongsaengs surrounding him, keeping them settled.

---

And then, the very next day, Hajin found himself slapping his own forehead over how blithely he'd said it.

'…exactly why I shouldn't have planted a flag like that!'

He wanted to retract yesterday's remark about being glad Miro Maze had no shoots on the schedule. By all appearances, keywords like #genre-savvy #wrong-genre-assumption #cliché had staked out permanent territory in his life for good!

Hajin turned back toward Ji Suho, sitting across from him with a huge grin on his face, and asked once more.

"We're… doing a special stage? On A Countdown? With 'To You I Declare'? And the taping's tomorrow?"

"Yep. One of their stages fell through at the last minute, apparently. 'To You I Declare' is getting a great response right now anyway, so Ntv reached out to us."

The news Team Lead Ji Suho had delivered — after calling the Sad-Ending team in first thing in the morning — was that the Sad-Ending team was going to be appearing on an actual music show.

"Since it's a stage that got decided suddenly, the schedule is pretty tight…. Still, from your side, doing a music show'll be a great experience. The station said aside from the schedule, they'd accommodate anything else on our end."

Ji Suho, all smiles, told them to take their time thinking it over, but honestly, no one in that room was going to take their time on something like this.

"I'm in. In exchange, you'll carve out extra practice time for us today, right?"

Taehyun jumped on the offer. Suho nodded like it went without saying.

"Obviously. My kids are doing their first music show — I'm not going to give them proper practice time? That's why I called you in this early. If we're doing it, there's a lot to prep."

"Then I want to do it. What about the rest of you?"

Taehyun's gaze landed on Hajin. When Taehyun pinned him with a burning look and delivered wordless pressure — hurry up and say yes — Hajin quietly hid his injured hand under the desk and answered.

"I'm in too. They're giving us the shot, we should take it. But then — are fans coming to the taping?"

"No. Schedule's too tight, and it's a pre-recorded stage anyway, so no audience this time. Would've been nicer to do it in front of the fans — shame."

With Taehyun and now Hajin on board, the decision came together fast.

Luckily, aside from Hajin, who'd sent his school uniform back home after the last mission, the remaining team members were all still in high school, so stage wardrobe wasn't a problem either.

"We'll go pick up Hajin's uniform from your place. Could you let your parents know?"

"Ah, yes. I'll tell my mom."

"Good, so — I already told them to keep Practice Room A open for you today; practice there. Tomorrow I'll be there in person to take care of you, so don't get too nervous. Just show them what you've already got."

"Yes!"

"Well done, guys. You know this whole thing came out of what you built, right? Go get breakfast before the cafeteria closes. Eat well — today's menu is good."

Beaming with pride, Ji Suho sent the Sad-Ending team on their way. At the words first music show, Haru and Jaeyoung were already buzzing, giggling to each other.

Just as the trainees were about to get up, Suho — remembering something — quickly opened his mouth.

"Ah, Hajin, Taehyun — could you two stick around a sec?"

"…? Sure."

Already halfway out of his chair at 'today's menu is good' — feet poised to bolt — Hajin swiveled the chair right back around and dropped back into it.

"Hm. Truthfully I was thinking of pulling just Taehyun aside, but I figured Hajin should know too."

Once he'd confirmed Jayden, Haru, and Jaeyoung were out of the office, Suho carefully broached the subject. Beside him, Taehyun — who apparently already had a rough idea what this was about — had quietly dropped his gaze and was wearing a wry smile.

'…what's this mood.'

Why am I the only one out of the loop?

Hating this exact kind of vibe, Hajin's eyes darted quickly between the two of them, and Suho cleared his throat and got to it.

"I'm going to try to work the scheduling so there's as little overlap as possible, but…. it looks like tomorrow, we might end up crossing paths with B-liver during the taping."

Ah.

The second Hajin heard that, he understood in a single beat why Suho had called the two of them aside.

B-liver. That group, one Hajin was familiar with too—

"…of course, it's all in the past now, but even so, I thought Taehyun should know."

—was a spin-off group made up of the debut lineup from Boys of the World, the show Seo Taehyun had been eliminated from.

Since the group's contract had been unusually short, he had a hazy memory that the original group who'd debuted on Boys of the World — B-light — had disbanded sometime last year.

'B-liver's comeback is around now?'

B-liver was a group formed after B-light broke up, made up of three popular B-light members who happened to share an agency.

They'd debuted right after B-light broke up, so parts of the fanbase caught some flak — those bastards were just waiting for B-light to disband, weren't they — but….

'Numbers-wise, they did fine, honestly.'

The fans who'd liked those three specifically as a same-agency trio actually praised the agency for handling it well.

Anyway, one way or another, they were probably going to be a slightly uncomfortable presence for Taehyun.

'Meanwhile on this side — three years rotting at Miro with no debut, and the survival's still in progress. At least it's not that Voldemort bastard from Rene… no, no.'

Just as he was internally thinking at least it isn't Cha Minseok, Hajin hurriedly shook his head and tried to shut the thought down.

A firm resolve: no more planting stupid flags.

The life of a fan who's mastered every cliché…. (shaking my head no)

Wherever he'd popped out from, Thirteen had chimed in — but Hajin habitually hit mute.

Twice, sure — but three times? Never! Ahahaha!!!

Then, having apparently tinkered with the System's functions at some point, Thirteen popped right back up undeterred.

In the face of Thirteen's smug little needling, Hajin didn't so much as blink, just cranked the opacity down.

Aaaaaah! How on earth are you even doing that!??

Waving off Thirteen's whining, Hajin looked at Taehyun.

"How about you? You okay if you cross paths with them?"

"…I knew they were coming back this time. Articles were up, and the hyungs reached out to me directly."

What was Seo Taehyun's relationship with the B-liver guys again? Well, if they'd reached out, it wasn't outright bad, was it?

Whether Hajin and Suho were busy studying his face or not, Taehyun laid out his position more calmly than expected.

"Still… I'd prefer if we didn't run into each other as much as possible. If we're taping on the same day there'll be moments we can't avoid, but…. I just don't want to give anyone anything else to talk about."

"Right, the company'll talk it through with A Countdown properly. And I'll be there in person tomorrow…. but if a situation comes up where I can't be there for care, I'd like you two to look after the kids at that point. Sorry to ask."

"Sure."

"Yeah. …thanks for looking out for us, Team Lead."

Nodding, Taehyun thanked Suho. Suho, as if being thanked for that were somehow beside the point, laughed and gave Taehyun's shoulder a couple of light taps.

"You came to Miro and built a stage this good — I'm the one who should be thanking you. Alright, you two go on. Eat breakfast."

Once the warm moment wrapped, Hajin raised a hand.

"I have a question."

"Sure, what's up?"

"What's today's breakfast?"

"Rice-cake-and-dumpling soup, I think?"

At that answer, Hajin — whose thought circuits had been running badly on hunger for a while — brightened. He grabbed Taehyun's arm and got straight up.

"Jackpot. Then we'll be heading out. Yah, Seo Taehyun, get up."

"No, why do I—…. I don't eat breakfast!"

"Then come watch me eat in front of you. Hyung hates eating alone. The other kids will've already eaten, right?"

"…are you seriously a kid, hyung?"

"Grandpa, actually, you ungrateful little grandson. Team Lead, we'll be off."

"Sure, sure. Enjoy your food."

"Ha, seriously…. Excuse us, Team Lead. Ah, come on! Slow down!"

Finally letting out a sigh, Taehyun bowed his head at Suho and, still gripped by the arm, got dragged out by Hajin. Even after they'd left the office, the sound of the two of them bickering went on for a while. Listening to that noise in a good mood, Suho settled back into his seat with a smile.

"…did I worry for nothing?"

Even as he said it, Suho scrolled through his phone for the A Countdown PD's number.

It was the kids' first music show — the drive to give them the best possible conditions was already welling up in him.