The Most Effective Way to Defuse a Bomb (4)

Dan Haru opened those big eyes wide and launched into an impassioned speech.

"That time we went to Rene! What if you beat him down with facts so hard the shock made him ghost? Have some remorse!"

"Guilt, you mean. Anyway — how is this my fault?"

At that, Dan Haru grumbled that honestly, he thought I had some responsibility here. Even Ju Eunchan nodded along without missing a beat.

These little bastards?

"Fine. Say Seo Taehyun ghosted because my truth bombs shook him up. Then all the more reason for me not to go — he'd get sick just looking at my face."

"Only a sincere apology from the perpetrator can heal the victim's wounded heart."

"Now I'm the perpetrator? However you slice it, wasn't the perpetrator in that meeting room Cha Minseok, not me?"

"Should we bring Minseok-hyung along, then?"

"…Forget it. Not another word."

Even against that logic, Dan Haru held firm. His eyes were even sparkling at what I'd said — at this rate that kid was actually gearing up to drag the Rene sculpture along too.

Dan Haru was clearly a lost cause, so I turned to work on Ju Eunchan instead. But Ju Eunchan — already spiraling under his sense of debt and responsibility toward Seo Taehyun — sat there with grim resolve on his face, already searching for the guesthouse address.

"Eunchan-ah. Don't make that face. That's the face I'm most scared of on you."

The kid already looked like a straight-up mob-boss heir out of a noir film, and when he squared his face into a scowl, he might as well have been a full-on gangster.

Exhausted by the two teenagers who wouldn't listen to a word of reason, I just flopped down where I was. Ju Eunchan, staring intently at his phone, glanced over at me, then slid closer and asked quietly:

"…Hyung, why don't you want to go?"

"You want the honest version?"

At the question of whether he wanted the truth, Ju Eunchan thought for a beat, then silently nodded.

"I don't really see the upside of going that far to drag Seo Taehyun back."

"……"

"You said you wanted the game fair to everyone, and that's what I'm putting together. A survival-show veteran with a thick fanbase? Sorry, but to me, Seo Taehyun's nothing more than a competitor with high stats."

The two of them had put time in getting to know him, and being teenagers still soft on affection maybe made a difference — but not for me.

Sure, in a past life I'd felt bad about how his had gone, but that was it. In this one, I'd only met him two or three times and just started talking casually with him. Maybe it was too cold a thing to say to these kids, but wrong was wrong.

Ju Eunchan — face hard to read, radiating an air like he was about to order someone buried — sat there thinking, then asked:

"If there's an upside, will you come with us?"

"Look, I'm not even close with Seo Taehyun. Is this really worth pushing me this hard on? Me coming won't change anything, I said."

"The investors."

Just as I was about to give up trying to figure out why he was so hell-bent on wedging me into this, Ju Eunchan tossed the topic out flatly. I looked over, wondering what he meant, and he pressed on:

"I saw the deck you were putting together the other day. Taehyun-hyung was in it too. The frontman pulling in all the early buzz and name recognition."

Oh?

"Miro's trainees, honestly, don't have much public awareness out there yet. Sure, being 'the' Miro means a survival will get attention no matter what. But the buzz with a Boys of the World Seo Taehyun versus without one? Totally different tier."

Couldn't deny it. Almost got me for a second.

Ju Eunchan and Dan Haru gazed at me with big pleading eyes. Under those angel-kitten eyes, I felt my resolve start to wave—

…yeah, my ass.

"I am absolutely not going looking for that kid, so quit the nonsense and eat your chicken."

I was busy enough trying to live my own life — and now I was supposed to trek across the country hunting down a Seo Taehyun who might well be a bomb? Yeah, when pigs fly.

---

'…Quiet, huh.'

Meanwhile.

The very man who'd turned Miro upside down — Seo Taehyun — was stretched out cool as anything on a wooden platform, a soft sea breeze rolling over him.

"Taehyun-ah. My sis called about you again today, asking if you're okay. You really alright staying here?"

His uncle, coming out from cleaning a room a guest had just checked out of, clicked his tongue and asked with concern. Taehyun nodded, eyes half-closed.

"I'll lay low here just a few days and then head back."

"I mean, it's nice having you around… I'm only saying because your mom's really worried, kid."

"It's fine. I'll call her myself."

"Alright, well… I've got a reservation coming in today, so shout for me when the guest arrives."

Uncle seemed to figure any more nagging would be more of a burden than a help, and left it there. Instead, he pulled out some eggs and sikhye Taehyun could pick at, set them on the platform, and quietly cleared out to give him time alone.

Taehyun slowly opened his eyes.

'What am I supposed to tell Mom.'

His parents had backed him a full seven years. Even the trainee spot had only been won because his mother — after Boys of the World three years ago, when his father had wanted him to quit on the spot — had argued and argued back, harder than Taehyun himself, to pull it off. And now he'd kicked all that aside; his career in the industry was done.

'…How do I even say it. That I'm not debuting anyway.'

Taehyun thought of the Head of Department — the whole reason he was down here, and the source blocking his path to debut — and let out a deep sigh.

How had it come to this?

Taehyun's mind went back to the day it had all started.

—They said if I bring you in, you're one hundred percent debuting. Let's debut together, Taehyun. Yeah?

There'd been plenty of reasons Taehyun had said yes to Minseok's offer, but the biggest was that, when Boys of the World had wrapped, Taehyun had been unbearably lonely.

Surviving on his own without an agency, tucked between hyungs much older than him — that had been Taehyun. More important than the promise of an immediate debut or a jaw-dropping signing bonus was having a friend to push through the fog with.

—Head of Department, sir, what's this…?

—You know Ocean Blue, right? Word is they like you a lot. Sign now and they'll debut you as a solo right off the bat and back you with a huge push. Sign here.

The whole thing had started with a contract the Head of Department had shoved in front of him one day.

—I was going to shut this down, but I'm giving you the shot because I was thinking of you.

—…Uh, a solo debut is still a bit much for me. I'd like to keep training at Miro.

—What? I'm telling you, this is a real chance.

A foreign-capital agency with a name. A contract fee a teenage boy couldn't have dreamed of. A guaranteed debut. To trainees worn thin by the grind, it was a temptation impossible to ignore. But Taehyun knew.

Wherever everything was pure sweet, there was always a trap.

—You sure you want to just brush this off? Right now you're 'Boys of the World Seo Taehyun,' sure — give it a few months. The public forgets in an instant. Making sure one kid never debuts wouldn't take me any effort at all.

Once things didn't go his way, the Head of Department started acting out of spite. Taehyun was in the special class, but he got cut off from every perk the special class offered. He tried to look at other agencies, but somehow the man had gotten wires in place there too.

The days piled up, and he didn't know what he was running toward anymore.

—You'll hold onto them for me, Minseok?

—You're at the dorm — I go home every day, safer with me. I'll hang onto them until you meet with the reporter.

Deciding he couldn't just take it, Taehyun started gathering evidence from that day on, piece by piece. The double contract the Head of Department had shown him, the abuses being pulled on other trainees. It was scary, but evidence was the only way out.

And when his friend Minseok offered to hold onto it all — Taehyun really hadn't known.

—How could you lose them!

—I'm sorry. I've been looking, but…

—The reporter told me to keep them safe, they need those to write the piece—

—I'm sorry, Taehyun. I'm really sorry.

What that 'I'm sorry' had actually been for, Taehyun genuinely hadn't known.

—You seriously didn't know? Cha Minseok sold you out to get to Rene. He knew Rene had made you an offer and went straight to the Head of Department, asked to be sent instead.

What Minseok had traded that evidence for, why he'd suddenly moved to Rene without a word and stopped answering — Taehyun truly, not in his wildest dreams, had known.

"…Bastard."

Taehyun was sick of all of it. What was a debut worth, that you'd sell out a friend for it? A dream he'd chased for so long stirred deep in his chest, insisting it wasn't fair — but Taehyun was too worn out to feel it.

—I gave you a shot of mine once too, didn't I.

—…What?

—Boys of the World — I was the one supposed to go on, and you did instead. Think of it as you passing me one this time.

—Are you even hearing yourself?

—Ah, fuck. What's the problem! You can debut without stuff like this!

That conversation from the day he'd gone to see Minseok came back, and his head started throbbing again. Taehyun squeezed his eyes shut. Realizing only now that the friend he'd thought closest had been looking at him and nursing not friendship but inferiority — the shame and self-disgust burned.

"The worst. Seriously."

His uncle's seaside guesthouse really was the perfect place for sorting through thoughts and taking time alone. He and Minseok used to come here together, too. The pointless memory dragged his mood back down.

"Ah. Haru."

And with that memory came the faces of the others who'd been there.

—I want to debut alongside someone like you, hyung.

"Didn't even get to grab tteokbokki with him, huh…"

He worried about Eunchan too — Eunchan was probably blaming himself for the whole thing. He'd left without even a proper conversation.

…maybe I should reach out. Faces kept drifting up on him, and Taehyun finally pushed himself upright and was about to step off the platform—

"……?"

"You. You little shit."

Someone was standing in front of him, casting a shadow. A voice, pissed off in a satisfying way, sounded familiar from somewhere — and when he looked up, Taehyun couldn't even make a sound.

"Found you."

There stood Kang Hajin — every bit the grim reaper made flesh.

---

"Hgk—!"

"And where do you think you're going."

The instant our eyes met, Seo Taehyun made an instinctive move to bolt. Anticipated. I grabbed his hoodie mid-motion and hauled him right back down onto the platform.

"Hyung — hyung, why are you here!?"

"'Why are you here' — that's casual. Taehyun-ah."

"I said, what are you doing here!"

I glared at the very source of my being dragged down to this Gangwon-do coastline and ground my teeth.

"Ths-s-all-y'r-fkn-fault…"

Flash! A familiar notification popped up over Seo Taehyun's head.

'Seo Taehyun' is 'reacting' to you. Whether he can be recruited as a companion will be determined by his 'reaction rate' in the conversation to come. Companion Recruitment Progress 1/??

Damn this quest!