Chapter 157

"Unnie! Over here!"

A stadium in Seoul, where Miro Maze's live-broadcast finals were being held.

Gwajam — off the train and scanning her surroundings as she walked — turned her head toward the voice calling her. When she spotted Squishy Bear waving her over from a pavilion under the cool shade of the trees, Gwajam hitched the bag on her shoulder higher and headed that way.

"Wow, so many people today."

"Right? If my dad hadn't driven me, I honestly would've barely made it."

The two of them had planned to watch the finals together today. Soda, part of the same crew, had also gotten her audience application approved, but she was apparently watching separately with her older sister, who was a Hajin fan. Instead, once tonight's finals wrapped, the four of them were going to meet up at a nearby hotel they'd pre-booked and do the afterparty together.

"Still some time before we go in, right?"

"Yeah. Unnie, is there anything you were going to pick up? I'm gonna go do a first sweep for now."

"Not really giveaways, just — I was going to meet up with a couple of my Bluebird moots."

"Ah, really? Should we hit a nearby cafe or something? It's honestly not that hot, so I'm fine here too."

"There's not much time before we go in anyway, let's just stay here. One sec."

Gwajam set her bags down beside Squishy Bear and pulled out her phone.

When she opened the Bluebird app, her timeline was already full of her moots posting arrival check-ins and giveaway receipts from all over.

Gwajam took a shot of one corner of the pavilion and put up a post saying she'd be waiting here — and soon enough, a DM came in from someone.

"Kangha-D-nim says she's coming over now."

"Heol? The Kangha-D-nim? Unnie, you're mutuals with her?"

"Yeah. It kind of just ended up that way."

"That's huge. So we get to see Kangha-D-nim right now? Heol, huge for real."

The moment Gwajam mentioned she was mutuals with Kangha-D — a famous named Hajin fan — Squishy Bear got more worked up about it than Gwajam herself, buzzing with excitement. Gwajam just watched Squishy Bear fondly and waited too, for Kangha-D — whom she'd always liked from a distance — to arrive.

A little while later, a woman in a suit set that read grown-up by any measure — hair in an elegant wave — came toward them alongside another woman with striking bleached hair and hip clothes that showed off her long, lean frame.

"Um, excuse me — are you Sunset-nim, by any chance?"

At the call using her side-account handle, Gwajam stood up and nodded. Then, with a could it be? look on her face, she asked softly:

"Ah, yes. That's me. Are you Kangha-D-nim by any chance…?"

"Yes, hi. It's really nice to meet you."

The woman in the suit brushed her hair back and greeted her warmly. Then she introduced the casually dressed woman beside her.

"This is Kang-Captain. She loves your photos so much, so I brought her along to introduce you."

"Hi. Sunset-nim, I actually reopened my account after seeing that round-3 photo of Hajin you posted."

"Ah, heol. Captain-nim! I've been such a big fan of yours. Hi."

Suddenly getting to meet not one but two named Kang-stans, Gwajam exchanged greetings with a stunned look on her face. In reality, the fresh home-master account Gwajam had opened — "Sunset University" — had picked up a fair number of followers thanks to Kang-Captain retweeting her photos and gushing over them in quote-tweets.

"Sunset-nim, you really have got to put that photo out as merch. I was setting money aside to buy a slogan when it dropped, and you said you had no plans, and I can't tell you how sad I was…."

"Honestly I wanted to, but this time a few things kept overlapping and I couldn't pull it off. Ah — I did pull a few bootleg photocards to hand out to moots I met today, so let me at least give you these."

"Ah, we prepared some things too. One sec."

A warm little round of giveaways and swaps followed. Sensing the three of them were going to be talking for a while, Squishy Bear read the room, said she was going to make a convenience-store run, and gave them space. In the end the three of them settled right in on the pavilion and got into full fan-talk mode. The topic, naturally, was Kang Hajin.

"I mean, honestly, I wasn't happy about him coming in 7th this time either…. But I still saw a real shot. This round, a lot of the event-driven votes ended up piling on other kids."

"Right, if you just look at Hajin's vote count, his slice actually grew from before. And for the finals, you can't ignore the general-public votes either — I really think Hajin's going to debut. What matters now is what rank."

"You think so? He will, right? Ah, I really hope Hajin debuts. His rankings have always been so low…. Even at 7th last time he was so happy about it, and something about that just breaks my heart a bit?"

It didn't feel like they'd talked that much — but once they got going, the time just slipped away. Before they knew it, the three of them had settled into calling each other unnie and little Sunset, and had bonded so tightly it was almost like they'd become sworn sisters.

It was only after Squishy Bear got back — convenience-store run done, second round of giveaways done, water and snacks and batteries in hand — that the three-way conversation showed any sign of wrapping up.

"That settles it. Today we really get Hajin debuted, then next time let's do another meetup for sure."

"Yes, yes. Sunset owes us a meal."

Is this what they mean by the poise of the working adult?

The Captain and Kangha-D said their goodbyes to Gwajam with a laugh and left in a breezy exit. Being treated as the maknae now — when with Squishy Bear and Soda she was usually the one playing something close to captain — didn't feel bad to Gwajam either. Gwajam checked that the phone numbers she'd gotten from the two of them earlier had saved properly and gathered up her things.

"Have a good talk? You all looked like you were having so much fun, I couldn't butt in."

"Yeah. There's definitely a specific kind of fun in talking with other Kang-stans."

"There's kind of a bond that forms between real Kang-stans…. Should we go in now?"

"Yeah, yeah. Let's go, slowly. Has Soda's crew arrived?"

"No, I checked in with her earlier and her sister's cutting it close because of work, so they'll be walking in right at start time. Let's go on ahead. Unnie, you brought your camera today too, right?"

"Obviously. If I can, I'll get a few of Siwoo and Doha for you too."

"Thankuu. Ah, what do I do. I'm so nervous!"

The two of them picked up their things and started moving toward the venue.

An afternoon in Seoul, the sun slowly bleeding off its heat.

But the heat here was burning hotter than it ever had.

At last — the finals.

---

The long-awaited opening line to Miro Maze's finals was, of course, this.

"Those who would reach the sun — fly high. The journey to become Miro's Icarus!"

A line they'd heard to death over the past three months, and yet today it landed different.

Watching the dazzling lighting, the massive electronic screens, and the LED panels installed almost like sculptures, Gwajam finally felt in her bones that today was Miro Maze's last day.

"At long last, tonight — the group that will become Miro's future is born."

An introduction of the final tallying methods, the judging criteria, and the judges followed.

Today's judging panel spanned from Miro's CEO Han Sewon to Ji Suho and the rest of the Miro artist-development team, plus friend-of-the-show guests Sarin and same-agency sunbae Park Woong, alongside a range of other names.

"So then — who will the seven boys who become Miro's tomorrow be? The long three-month journey is finally reaching its end. Destis — please, stay with these boys' challenge all the way through, to the end."

Seo Taeil's line ended, and a short VCR rolled.

A sketch video documenting everything from episode 1 up to now. Even though it was only three months ago, that freshness came through. The Miro Maze title track played softly underneath, arranged for solo piano. It was the most standard of survival-show clichés, and yet somehow it landed emotional anyway — Gwajam, watching the VCR in silence, tightened her eyes against the swell rising in her, holding the tears back.

"Ah, what do I do. I'm going to cry."

"The kids have really lived hard…."

Beside her, Squishy Bear was already half-crying, so Gwajam pulled tissues from her bag, handed them over, and sniffled a little herself. In the meantime, the VCR ended on a heartfelt closing line.

♩♬♬— ♩♩♪♬,

The melody that had come through in piano lines a moment ago played again — this time in the familiar sound of guitars.

At the intro every person here knew, cheers close to screams burst out from every side.

Through the intro of a song they'd heard enough times to hear it in their sleep, a circular lift in the middle of the main stage slowly rose up. When the briefly-darkened venue was flooded with blue lighting, up on that stage, ten boys in navy uniforms were already in place.

The formation had probably been set to the rankings from the second cut ceremony — Jung Siwoo stood at center, hair swept cleanly back. The features, arranged so harmoniously across a face without a single flaw, carried something almost sacred.

"The uniforms are crazy!?"

"Unnie, Siwoo…. Siwoo's too gorgeous…. What do I do…."

While Squishy Bear — a Siwoo one-pick — nearly fainted, breath catching, Siwoo, who'd been holding his gaze low, slowly lifted his head and locked eyes with the center camera. Like a perfect half-circle drawn with a compass, his lips curved in a steady, even arc.

Tilting his head slightly, Jung Siwoo sang.

Hey. It's me.

At the first line, delivered with a small smile as if he really was glad to see them, the venue was flooded with cheers all over again.

Starting from that first line, the formation shifted quickly and the choreography began.

For a very long time we

were looking at different places.

Jung Siwoo ran through paired choreography with his partner Seo Taehyun as he sang.

The original choreography had been built for a nine-person odd-numbered formation, but since the finals count was 10, the production team had allowed a change to the choreography structure.

They'd decided to bring back the even-numbered structure Hajin had built for Team B back in round 1.

A long journey begins, right now,

the One and Only I wanted.

Toward the dream that is dazzling you, I'll run.

Won't stop — a voyage of only you.

Eunchan — finally setting the rap position down — carried the sub-vocal part with Jaeyoung. Compared to Jaeyoung, who still read a bit young even in the uniform, Eunchan wore the uniform like it was cut for him.

The belt cinched at the waist, the epaulets on his shoulders, and — this time again — the buttons fastened tight all the way up to his throat: instead of making him look stiff, they set off Eunchan's tall, solid build.

Moonlight filling the sky,

a Starry Night pouring down.

When all of that traveling ends,

we'll finally meet — our Highlight.

Taehyun cut forward to center — that pretty, distinctive tone of his, the kind of voice that if you heard it while listening absently, you'd instinctively wind back to hear again.

The silver chain and brooch caught the light and glittered. Taehyun's striking features on the big screen, and the rich range of expressions he ran through, were more than enough to have people spellbound.

"Ah, this is really insane. Insane."

Squishy Bear was carrying on in a voice full of feeling, but honestly, everyone else here felt the same way, so there was no one to call her on it.

After that — Lee Doha, in a peaked cap with a blue sash wrapped from one broad shoulder down to firm hips, and Lee Yugeon, with two wide leather straps crossed across his chest like belts, layered horizontal over vertical — traded rap in their own tones.

The two voices, similar and yet distinct, unexpectedly harmonized and filled the venue with a full, ringing sound.

Now the song rolled into the first chorus. The formation shifted once more, and someone in the very back adjusted the mic hooked at their ear and strode forward.

"No way…."

And the moment that 'someone' filled the big screen properly, Gwajam lowered even the camera in her hands and stared, dazed.

Another sun rises, to shine on you and me.

Above those sharp eyes that had drawn her in from the moment his first profile photo dropped — a deep burgundy eye look.

The bright, sweet vocal tone she'd streamed hundreds of times over and never once gotten tired of.

The kind of volume that filled the venue to its walls; the long uniform coat that set off his tall 182cm frame; the black leather gloves that showed off his long, pretty fingers.

"Unnie, Hajin — Hajin's hair…!"

"……."

The moment she saw Kang Hajin — hair dyed sun-red streaming behind him, singing with a confident smile and a look more brimming with feeling than anyone else's — Gwajam knew, felt it in her bones, that she would never forget this moment for the rest of her life.

Take my hand, so we don't lose the way.

I'll walk with you, so night doesn't come.

The sight of Hajin holding a hand out to the camera without hesitation shone brighter than anyone, brighter than anything.

A radiant sun she would never forget.