Chapter 142

Whatever had happened below the stage, or was happening now —

on the stage itself, you had to forget it.

It wasn't that Hajin agreed with that because he was wired with some fiercely professional idol mindset.

It was just that once you've spent enough time out in the working world, you learn that's how life goes.

You break up with your partner yesterday, you still show up to work today.

Your body could feel like it's dying, and the client isn't going to give you a pass.

Your day-to-day's tight enough that you're wearing thinner by the day —

that's still no excuse to be curt with a customer.

Which was why, when he stepped up onto the stage carrying that tangle of feelings, Hajin smiled.

The best smile he could manage in that moment — bright, playful.

Among the people gathered here, some had to have come with nothing but clean, decent hearts — wishing purely for his happiness, willing to drop everything and travel this far for him.

"Yes! Youth-Never-Dies team. Having successfully cleared your team mission — Perfect Pitch — you've earned today's most crucial item, the 'band instruments'! Congratulations!"

Hajin's team, Youth-Never-Dies (Gong Seok's naming), had drawn Perfect Pitch as the team mission — say each syllable of a word crisply and quickly, hitting the accent on every one. The mission word was — no joke — Destinestimightyalmighty, and they'd been right on the edge of the word losing all meaning, but they'd made it through.

"…we almost had a live band with no band."

"Given how it's shaken out, missing the mic stands now is a problem in its own right."

"We absolutely have to get the stage LEDs too."

"What'll the personal missions be…? I really hope they're not too hard…."

The items riding on Youth-Never-Dies' missions were, no less — instruments, mic stands, and the stage LEDs.

They'd already secured the most critical one — the instruments — and clearing the personal missions from here would let them run the stage without issue. A simple majority was all they needed — meaning two chances out of four.

"Alright, then. First up on the Desti mission — who's going first?"

At MC Yeonwoo's question, Haru's and Seok's eyes naturally slid over to Hajin. Probably because Hajin had a good instinct for variety, and always tended to step up first for this sort of thing.

Even by Hajin's own reckoning, on a normal day he would've stepped up first just to lift the team's morale. But…

"……."

He was trying not to let it show, but honestly Hajin was having trouble focusing on any of this right now. As the sun slowly dipped, the lighting rigs around the plaza came on hard — and from the stage, the faces of the audience filling the square were now clearly visible.

Here and there in the crowd — Destis holding placards with his name, or waving phone LEDs — and every time he caught sight of one, his chest tangled a little more. He didn't want to let it get to him, but that wasn't easy.

Still, that was that, and this was this.

Just as Hajin let out a short breath, steadied himself, and was about to open his mouth to say he'd go first —

"I'd like to give it a try!"

"Oh — Trainee Dan Haru. The maknae showing his mettle after all?"

"Yes! I'll — I'll bring the mic stands back for my hyungs, no matter what!"

Haru fired up an unbreakable resolve — like even if he couldn't fetch the stars from the sky above, he was going to fetch these mic stands — and shot his hand into the air, volunteering.

Before Hajin could even react, Haru had walked out to center stage. While Choi Yeonwoo ran a quick interview with him, Siwoo quietly shifted over to the seat next to Hajin and gave his back a soft snap out of it thump.

"Alright — Trainee Dan Haru's Desti mission is—!"

"Ughhh…. please, something easy…."

"—the 'Trainee Trivia Quiz'!"

"……?"

"Miro Maze's maknae, known by the nickname 'Hyung Collector' — Trainee Dan Haru. Just how well does he actually know these hyungs he loves so much? This mission puts that to the test. Three questions in total. You have to get all three right for it to count as a clear."

Haru, face tight with nerves, gave a grave, resolute nod.

Even if he blew this one, they still had three chances left — why was he this deadly serious about it? Hajin, in spite of himself, let out a small laugh.

"Alright — first question. In Miro Maze episode 1, what drama did Trainee Gong Seok re-enact with Trainee Park Jaeyoung in his attempt to escape the maze?"

"Ah! Answer! Shoot the Moon!"

"And what was the line from Shoot the Moon?"

"The one liquor in the whole world that can get me drunk…. is right here on your lips…☆"

"Aaghh…! Stop…! Stop it, please…!"

Haru was the one delivering the iconic line, but somehow it was Seok behind him taking the damage — a truly bizarre phenomenon.

Whether Siwoo was patting Seok's back to help him endure it or not, Haru was busy being proud of himself for polishing off question one in an instant.

Haru cleared the second question — 'What song did Jung Siwoo sing at his Miro audition?' — with the same ease. With good instincts, Choi Yeonwoo asked Siwoo to sing a bar, and Siwoo — never one to duck a request — delivered a sweet, unaccompanied live from where he was sitting.

And then, finally, the last question.

"Alright — get this one, and the Desti mission is 50% cleared. Here's the last question."

"……."

"Trainee Kang Hajin's favorite ice cream flavor is mint chocolate. O? X?"

At his own bit of TMI coming out of nowhere, Hajin looked up.

Now cemented as an official arena-plaza flashpoint alongside the perilla-leaf debate — 'mint chocolate' making an entrance had the crowd stirring.

Haru propped his chin on his hand like a detective, deliberating — then shook his head firmly and answered.

"X. He likes mint chocolate, but it's not his favorite."

"So — do you also know what his favorite flavor is?"

"Hajin-hyung has a favorite ice cream for every brand! But mint chocolate isn't the favorite!"

"Are you sure?"

"I'm sure!"

"Then do you also know his favorite flavor at 31 Flavors?"

Production had probably signaled to stretch a little more — Choi Yeonwoo didn't give the answer away easily and threw Haru an extra question. Haru, face still serious, mulled it over carefully and answered with deliberation.

"Uhh…. there are a few flavors he goes for regularly. Lately I think he's been getting Rainbow Sherbet a lot!"

"Rainbow Sherbet…?"

At an ice cream every bit as divisive as mint chocolate, Siwoo — who'd held his composure this entire time — turned toward Hajin with a look of pure shock.

Hajin, who'd been listening to Haru's answer flatly, replied to Siwoo, unbothered.

"What. Hyung-nim, you eat Bibibik."

"What's wrong with Bibibik?"

"You eat Babamba too."

"……."

"And Bungeo Ssamanko."

Meaning: your palate and mine are basically in the same ballpark, so let's not fight about it.

Reading the truce for what it was, Siwoo quietly shut his mouth and turned his eyes back to Haru.

Hajin decided he'd let the fact that he also happened to like Bibibik, Babamba, and Bungeo Ssamanko slide unmentioned.

"Yes! Correct! Trainee Dan Haru, Desti mission cleared!"

"WAAAH! Hyungs!! I did it!!!"

"Good — proud of our bunny warrior."

"Sorry, our what?"

"Nah, just — proud of you. Now we only need one more clear."

Hajin patted Haru's back as he came bounding back into the hyungs' arms.

Wait — had I actually told this kid I had a different favorite ice cream for every brand?

The small question that surfaced in a corner of his mind — Hajin set it aside for the moment.

---

Team Youth-Never-Dies ended up securing every last item once Seok landed his own mission — 'Name That Song by Lyrics Alone' — twice in a row.

As instruments and gear were set up on the stage, cheers of pumped-up anticipation rolled through the Destis. When Hajin — not Siwoo — sat down at the keyboard, which had been drawing gasps from the crowd from the moment it appeared on stage, those cheers doubled.

"Alright, then. While the hyungs are checking their instruments, why don't Trainee Haru and I do a little interview."

"Ah, yes! I'll give it a shot."

With the team members each running instrument checks, an unavoidable dead spot opened up — and Choi Yeonwoo naturally pulled the quietly-standing Dan Haru out to center.

Haru's fans, holding up his cheer cards and the like, let out a soft chorus of ohhs. Haru gave them a bright smile and waved back at his fans with a small pale hand.

"So — Youth-Never-Dies team. What kind of song have you prepared for us today?"

"We did a mashup of 'Where am I' and one other song. As for what the other song is — Siwoo-hyung will explain."

Like a student pointing to the principal's morning address, Haru gestured back at Siwoo, who was checking his guitar tuning. At which Siwoo — who'd been carefully checking pitches — let out a small "ah," took the mic from the stand in front of him, and answered.

"So…. the other song doesn't have a title yet. It might be nice if the Destis here today listened and recommended a title."

"So — is that a song you wrote yourself, Trainee Jung Siwoo?"

"No, my father wrote it."

The cheers that had risen at the word 'self-composed' swelled further when 'my father's song' followed. One more piece of lore cementing his 'Miro's Young Master' and 'Classical Prince' image had just been dropped, and Siwoo's fans were stamping their feet.

"Wow, a song written by your father. That's really something. But Trainee Haru — the other hyungs are each playing an instrument, it looks like. Do you not have one you're playing today?"

"Oh, no! I do! My instrument!"

At Choi Yeonwoo's question, Haru's eyes sparked bright — and he turned back briefly, triumphantly lifting his secret weapon from where it lay on the floor. The identity of the yellow instrument, plastered all over with cute stickers, was—

"A xylophone?"

"Yes! A xylophone."

At the darling, adorable instrument choice, Choi Yeonwoo laughed, a little caught off guard.

"I'm curious — of all the instruments out there, why the xylophone?"

"Um…. the hyungs taught me a whole lot of instruments. Once we got to the final arrangement, someone said it'd sound really pretty with a xylophone in it, so I ended up on xylophone."

"What kinds of instruments did you learn?"

"Recorder, drums, and Siwoo-hyung showed me some acoustic guitar too. Uhh…. cabe? Caho?"

"Cajón?"

"Ah, yes. That too. Really hard."

"Rhythm instruments are tough when you're first learning."

Choi Yeonwoo nodded like he understood. He seemed to have concluded that Haru had tried out several instruments, found them harder than expected, and settled on the easy-to-play xylophone. Not just Choi Yeonwoo — most of the audience seemed to have arrived at the same read; here and there, adoring he's so cute murmurs started rising.

Taking all of it in, warming up his hands lightly on the piano, Hajin thought:

When the practice footage airs, everyone's going to lose their minds.

Over the course of a few days, Haru had picked up every instrument the hyungs had taught him at pretty startling speed.

Piano, acoustic guitar, and recorder went without saying. Even drums, cajón, djembe — rhythm instruments — plus violin and bass guitar, he'd been able to pass off passable playing on all of them.

The reason Haru had ended up on xylophone today was, genuinely, because they'd needed a xylophone sound.

Not because Haru couldn't do anything else.

And it's part of why I'm even more sure he's the Selreg.

Hajin remembered that among the Selreg's past activity that Thirteen had checked the other day, there'd been an item — 'Has learned to play instruments.' He didn't have memories of regressing, but experience apparently accumulated to some degree….

If Haru really was the Selreg, then his quickly picking up instruments could very likely be a knock-on effect of that.

"Right. Perfect. Then, on to the stage—"

"Ah, wait — can I say one more thing?"

Just as Choi Yeonwoo, seeing the setup on stage was nearly done, was about to deliver his final wrap-up line, Haru stopped him. Choi Yeonwoo checked his prompter briefly for time, then nodded to Haru — go ahead.

At which Haru gripped the mic firmly in both hands and, in a soft voice, spoke.

"Before the stage — there's something I really want to say to my hyungs."

…to us?

Each still at his own station tending to his instrument, the team members lifted their heads at the same moment — and looked at the back of their spirited, gutsy maknae, standing in front of them.