Chapter 90

A few days passed with my head still full of suspicions about Lee Yugeon.

And today was the day — the long-awaited Miro Maze episode 2 was airing.

"Alright~ chicken's here~."

The place: Ju Eunchan's living room — by now past familiar and halfway to being my own place.

The one bringing over the just-delivered chicken, unlike usual, wasn't Seo Taehyun but Kim Wonho.

"Thanks for the meal!"

"Dan Haru, at times like this you've gotta be clear about who you're thanking."

"Who am I thanking?"

"The person who bought this chicken."

At that, Dan Haru and I turned our heads toward the same spot in unison.

Ju Eunchan — sitting in the middle with his back against the sofa — felt our eyes on him, and his face turned into a question mark.

"…what, want me to put my brother on video call for you?"

"That would be rude, so I'll bow to his likeness instead. Thank you, Eunseok-hyungnim."

"Thank you, Eunseok-hyungnim!"

"What, that's the mood? Then thank you too, Eunseok-hyungnim~."

Even Kim Wonho, who'd been setting out the chicken, joined in and gave Ju Eunchan a respectful bow.

At which Ju Eunchan, mid-flip through the remote to find Ntv, gripped it tight and said,

"Cut it out before I ask everyone to leave."

"Yes."

"Yep."

"Let's eat, let's eat~."

Today's gathering, put another way: 'ordering good food on Ju Eunseok's card at Ju Eunchan's place while watching Miro Maze episode 2 together.'

—My brother sent me his card so I could treat my friends to something good….

—Doesn't he usually just send pocket money?

After a brief pause to marvel at the incomprehensible world of the rich, I heard Ju Eunchan out — he was asking me to help find other trainees to join in.

—Now that the parachute-hire thing is behind me, I'd like to get closer to the other hyungs too. But, um.

—…got it.

And so recruitment for Ju Eunchan's housewarming party began.

The criteria: guys who 'happened to be free today, hadn't gone home, and were still around the dorm.'

…and, out of that pool, only the ones Ju Eunchan wouldn't feel awkward around.

Which was how we got this lineup.

Me, Kim Wonho, Dan Haru, and….

"Eunchan-ah. There was no towel, so I grabbed one out of the cabinet."

"Ah, yeah. That's fine, hyung. Go ahead and use that one."

…Lee Doha too.

I'd been wondering when Ju Eunchan had gotten close with Kim Wonho, but apparently they'd started talking during 〈Cinderella〉 — the second mission — when they were on the same team.

'Seo Taehyun's mom and uncle came up to visit for the first time in a while, so he filed for an overnight leave.'

I hadn't asked about the other guys. Not interested.

Come to think of it, on my way out of the dorm I had overheard something.

—Yeah, babe. I put in for an overnight today. Ah, it's fine. Cap and mask, we're good. Uh huh~.

…looked like the guys getting too bold for their own good were starting to trickle out, one by one.

'Didn't see the face, but the voice was one hundred percent Shin Youngho.'

Yeah, the cooldown was about up — the kids were due for their scandals to start dropping, one by one.

Sure, it was an agency stocked with heavy-hitters, and background checks on trainees were plenty rigorous, but scandals earned their name for a reason.

The ones who'll blow up all blow up. In this business, they even manufacture blow-ups out of the ones who wouldn't.

'Better fervently hope it's not me.'

While I was sunk in thoughts like that, Kim Wonho — mid-tear into a chicken piece — waved a hand vigorously in front of my face.

"You're out of it."

"Chicken sitting right in front of you and you're thinking that hard? Heatstroke?"

Since he asked in a genuinely alarmed voice, I quietly tossed him something more alarming.

"Shin Youngho's dating someone."

"WHAT?!"

"Huh?"

"Who?"

Explosive reactions, as expected. But the shock was only momentary — for some reason, they all took the news in stride, like they'd seen it coming.

"Actually, he had a girlfriend before too. This was back when you guys were all still special class — he snuck his girlfriend into the company once and got caught by Team Lead Yeonggon."

"Wait, aren't you not supposed to do that?"

"Obviously not. He was about to get cut back then too, but I think that Han Seongwoo-hyung covered for him or something."

Yah, you little shit. Dropping another V*ldemort's name here, seriously….

The moment that name came up, I instinctively checked Ju Eunchan's face first.

But contrary to my worry, Ju Eunchan looked far more unfazed than I'd expected, chatting back and forth with Kim Wonho.

"So that's why that hyung was trying so hard to get in Han Seongwoo-hyung's good graces."

"Whoa, right. Tsk, we should've picked up something was off back then. Who'd have guessed that hyung was the parachute?"

"Right. Well, we won't have to see his face anymore, so."

Ju Eunchan's face as he said it looked calm. Same as always.

Really — the first line of defense against peer abuse had to be separating perpetrator from victim, huh.

"……?"

Then my eyes met Dan Haru's. Seemed like he'd been reading Ju Eunchan's face similarly. Since he knew the situation better than anyone, it was probably weighing on him more heavily.

'Come to think of it, he's got pretty solid situational awareness….'

Adding another guy to the list of ones I still can't get a read on.

Suspicion had tipped pretty heavily toward Lee Yugeon, but until it was confirmed I absolutely couldn't drop my guard.

"Oh, that reminds me — I heard some news about Han Seongwoo-hyung."

'Stop, you little bastard…!'

Back in his general-class days he'd apparently just danced with Yoon Taehee and nothing else. Kim Wonho didn't seem to have any idea that Ju Eunchan had been ostracized by Han Seongwoo.

'Truth is, part of it was that I was too quick on the uptake.'

That Han Seongwoo bastard had been so cunning about the freezing-out that even Ji Suho and the New Talent Development team hadn't known until I said something. So Kim Wonho bringing it up so casually wasn't a problem.

Besides, the news Kim Wonho claimed to have heard about Han Seongwoo was too much of a bombshell to let slide.

"…what's he up to?"

"Went to the army. Apparently his dad shaved his head clean and marched him in personally."

"H-his dad? Personally?"

"No idea. Whatever kind of mess he made — he got completely cut off by his family too."

Ju Eunchan's face — which had clearly been holding steady until then — twisted subtly. Seemed like the ending was so absurd he didn't know how to react.

I stuck a chicken drumstick in Ju Eunchan's mouth and turned back to Kim Wonho.

"Where'd you hear that? Is it reliable?"

"Overheard Shin Kyungho running his mouth with his crew on sports day."

And at that point, it was my turn to get hit with a shock.

"Wait. Shin Kyungho? Not Shin Youngho?"

It felt like the world was collapsing. His name wasn't Shin Youngho?

"Ah, right? Hyung, you kept calling him Shin Youngho, didn't you? I wasn't hearing things?"

"His name isn't Shin Youngho?"

"Nope. Why are you rewriting somebody's name? Right — no wonder. I thought I'd misheard earlier too."

"For real, not Shin Youngho?"

"Not Shin Youngho. Shin Kyungho."

No way.

Felt like finding out the guy I'd thought was a white sheep this whole time was actually a gray goat.

"Anyway — his name isn't the point right now. Wanna know how Shin Kyungho found out?"

"How did he find out?"

Dan Haru's eyes were glittering — the face of someone determined to hear the bitter end of that rotten bastard's story.

"Han Seongwoo-hyung apparently called Shin Kyungho asking to borrow some money. Cried the whole time, going on and on about his situation."

"From the army?"

"Yeah. From the army."

At that, everyone sitting there let out a small "mm~" and nodded. Even Lee Doha, who up until then had just been listening without a word!

'If he enlisted just now… he'd be twenty-four when he gets out? Idol debut's a bust.'

These days you couldn't get into the army even if you wanted to, so for them to have shipped him off this fast…. Front line, minimum, guaranteed.

On top of that, cut off even by his family — his only real backing. Felt like the perfect ending for a kid who'd tried to make it big on money.

The schadenfreude was so satisfying I wanted to hear more, but unfortunately the catch-up ended there.

Because episode 2 had finally started.

"Oh, it's on. It's on."

Monitoring a broadcast with someone else seemed to be a first for all of us.

I looked at Lee Doha, sitting next to me — the one who'd ended up tagging along on the grounds of being Kim Wonho's roommate.

"Yah. You okay? Not uncomfortable?"

"Yeah. I'm fine."

"It's just, felt like maybe I sprang it on you. I only invited you along because Kim Wonho said you'd be at the dorm today too."

Even though they were all from the special class, Lee Doha didn't especially seem close to Ju Eunchan or Dan Haru.

Still, dragging out just one of two roommates would've been a pretty awkward move, wouldn't it?

I'd asked without expecting much, and Lee Doha had accepted right away — which honestly threw me off more.

Lee Doha, quietly listening, turned the question back on me.

"You — are you uncomfortable that I came?"

"What? Get real. Would I have invited you if I was?"

"If you guys are fine, I don't mind either."

Lee Doha said it evenly and picked up his drink.

He was the type to state it plain and clear when something wasn't right, so it seemed like he really wasn't uncomfortable being here.

'Well, that settles it.'

Either way, I couldn't stand any one of us being uncomfortable at a gathering like this.

Once I'd double-checked that Lee Doha's expression was fine, I turned back to the TV, where a fast, condensed recap of episode 1 was playing.

"They'll probably wrap up with the stage and the results tonight, right?"

"Probably? Feels like they've shown everything they had from the practice scenes."

I answered Dan Haru's question while dipping a fry in ketchup.

'Ah. I want to check reactions, but I can't get on my phone with the guys here.'

Reaction monitoring would have to wait until tomorrow — with that in mind, I decided to just relax and watch episode 2 tonight.

The A-team and B-team practice sessions picked up from where the last episode left off.

If episode 1 had focused on drawing out each trainee's individual personality and character, episode 2 seemed focused on 'how they were becoming a team.'

—No matter what, I can't become a burden to the team…. That's what I keep telling myself.

"Wow…. incredible fake."

"Haru-yah. You just said the quiet part out loud."

On came Shin Kyungho's thoroughly detestable interview — from when Seo Taeil had called him out during the midway check.

Dan Haru had just said out loud what everyone else was only thinking. I whispered carefully in his direction — and Dan Haru, not so much as blinking, savagely tearing into a strip of squid, replied,

"Wish I could've said it to his face."

"Uh-huh. Sure."

Dan Haru looked like he really would have looked Shin Kyungho straight in the eye and said exactly that.

While I was quietly nodding, on screen Seo Taeil's assessment continued.

—But Hajin — you didn't push for it this time either, did you?

Seo Taeil's line, followed by a close-up of me looking up in surprise at it. The very next scene cut straight into Seo Taeil's interview.

—Hmm…. Hajin.

The interview room — a black backdrop with the Miro Maze title logo studded in neon.

Perched on a tall bar stool, Seo Taeil crossed his arms in a thinking-it-over pose.

Silly as it was, it left me a little tense. Either way, it was somebody's assessment of me — given somewhere I wasn't there to see or hear it.

—Honestly, I have really high expectations for Hajin.

"Whoa, Seo Taeil's favored-trainee, confirmed — gavel down."

"In interviews everybody talks like that. Not like he can say 'that Kang Hajin bastard,' right?"

I was about to shoot Kim Wonho down for getting ahead of himself when the next line came through.

And what came out was the kind of thing I could never have imagined.

—Honestly, I think Hajin and I have a lot in common.

"So the 'confirmed' was legit after all?"

Me? A lot in common with who?

Seo Taeil, thirteen-year veteran pro idol, god-tier group leader?

…me?