The Gates Opened on the First Day of Debut Chapter 42

“But how could you ask me to remake that song? After what happened back then… You know it too, Hyung.”

 

What did he just say?

 

His voice suddenly dropped, so I couldn’t clearly hear what he said after ‘After what happened back then.’

 

Hanul was saying something over the receiver to Seo Yijae.

 

However, it wasn’t on speakerphone, and I was too far away to hear.

 

“Haa…. I get what you were thinking when you made the request, Hyung. But I….”

 

As if his head ached, Seo Yijae stood motionless for a long time, pressing a hand to his forehead.

 

‘Just what on earth happened while they were promoting as Winter Boys….’

 

I wanted to dash out right that second and ask Seo Yijae, but I exerted superhuman patience and held myself back.

 

‘There are cameras.’ 

 

Seo Yijae didn’t seem to have noticed, but a camera was filming him.

 

“Alright. I have to go practice now. I’m hanging up for now. Yeah. I’ll call you later. Thanks for looking out for me, Hyung.”

 

Hanging up the phone, Seo Yijae lifted his head and blankly stared up at the fluorescent lights on the ceiling.

 

I watched for the right timing to step in.

 

“Sniff….”

 

Seo Yijae suddenly hung his head low and sniffled, rubbing his face with his sleeve.

 

‘Wait, is he crying?’

 

Flustered, without even having the presence of mind to consider timing or anything, I approached Seo Yijae.

 

“Yijae Hyung!”

 

“Chowol…?”

 

“What are you doing here?”

 

“Ah, nothing.”

 

Seo Yijae slipped the phone into his pocket, watching my reaction.

 

I pretended not to have seen a thing and asked nonchalantly. 

 

“Did you finish taking care of your business?”

 

“Ah, yeah.”

 

“Then are you going to practice now?”

 

“Yeah….”

 

Seo Yijae nodded, smiling weakly.

 

Good grief.

 

Even if I wanted to pretend not to notice, it wasn’t easy.

 

Because anyone could see ‘something is wrong with me’ written in huge letters across his face.

 

“Did something happen?”

 

“Huh?”

 

“Your complexion doesn’t look good.” 

 

“No, no. Nothing happened. It’s just… I overate.”

 

In his rush, Seo Yijae threw out a ridiculous excuse.

 

When I had clearly seen him eat like a bird with my own two eyes earlier.

 

Seo Yijae also seemed aware that he had given a ridiculous excuse, as he cautiously gauged my reaction. 

 

“Well, alright then.” 

 

Since I had no intention of pressing him further, however, I let it slide casually. 

 

“Did you take some digestive medicine?”

 

“Ah, yeah….”

 

“I guess the business you had to take care of was taking digestive medicine?”

 

“Uh, yeah. That’s right. I got one from the writer and took it.”

 

I practically spoon-fed Seo Yijae an alibi.

 

“Can you practice? If you’re feeling really sick, go back to the dorm and rest.”

 

“No, I can do it. I can’t keep being a burden.”

 

“Alright, then.”

 

I headed to the practice room with Seo Yijae.

 

Deciding to resolve Seo Yijae’s issue slowly, what was important right now was practice.

 

“Still, all our team members seem pretty nice, don’t they?”

 

I changed the subject to lighten the mood.

 

“Huh? Ah… our teammates? Um, they are nice.”

 

Seo Yijae, after pondering for a moment, burst into laughter as if recalling someone’s face.

 

I laughed along with him. 

 

Because I knew whose face he was picturing.

 

‘Joo Gilhyung.’

 

While we joked about it now, back when Yoo Sung and Joo Gilhyung were on the same team, it was not a laughing matter at all.

 

Even I, who had thought of making use of Joo Gilhyung, occasionally thought, Wait, is this wrong?

 

How stressful must it have been for Seo Yijae and Okada, who knew nothing?

 

Chatting about this and that as we walked, we arrived at the practice room in the blink of an eye.

 

“At least our guys are on the well-behaved side, so we don’t have to worry about them causing trouble….”

 

I spoke with confidence as I opened the practice room door.

 

Right in the center of the practice room, Yoo Sung and Han Theo stood facing each other.

 

“Were you guys practicing… huh?”

 

At first, I thought they were running through choreography formations.

 

But looking into Yoo Sung and Han Theo’s eyes, I realized I was sorely mistaken.

 

“You guys… what are you doing right now?”

 

Yoo Sung and Han Theo were glaring at each other.

 

With a terrifying momentum, as if they were about to lunge at each other this very second.

 

*    *    *

 

“Are you really not going to tell me what happened?”

 

I pressed firmly against my throbbing temples.

 

“….”

 

“….”

 

The two troublemakers pretended not to hear my question, keeping their mouths tightly shut with sullen expressions.

 

“You guys, seriously… it’s going to be troublesome if you act like this.” 

 

But Yoo Sung and Han Theo seemed to have absolutely no intention of telling me what happened.

 

‘If this keeps up, everything will just flow the way Jang Hyuksoo wants.’

 

What Jang Hyuksoo wanted was discord between teammates.

 

Rather than being all friendly and harmonious, having them tear at each other and fight might be better for drawing in attention. 

 

But high buzz doesn’t necessarily lead to debut.

 

Tearing at each other and fighting for the sake of buzz was by no means a good choice for an individual trainee. 

 

Having no other choice, I switched my target to Kang Haesoo, who had been drooping his head glumly for a while.

 

“Haesoo-ya.” 

 

“Why don’t you leave him out of this?”

 

Yoo Sung, who had been pretending not to hear anything no matter what I said, finally opened his mouth.

 

“What’s this, so you can speak?” 

 

“What?”

 

“You weren’t saying anything earlier. I thought you’d forgotten how to speak.”

 

When I snorted and retorted sarcastically, Yoo Sung furrowed his brow.

 

But as if he had no comeback, he just kept his mouth shut and swallowed his anger.

 

“If you don’t want to drag Haesoo into this, then you can tell me what happened. Directly with your own mouth.”

 

“Why should I? Are you my dad?”

 

“That sounds fun. Want to try calling me dad?” 

 

“Hey, do you really have to have the last word every single time?”

 

“Look who’s talking.”

 

The voices between Yoo Sung and me grew louder and louder.

 

Kang Haesoo, who was watching the situation, hastily cut in.

 

“Ch-Chowol Hyungnim, Yoo Sung Hyung. Please don’t fight. I-I’ll tell you everything!”

 

“No, I told you not to say anything.”

 

“Unlike you, he’s actually easy to talk to. Alright, go ahead and tell me.”

 

“So what happened was….” 

 

But Kang Haesoo couldn’t continue.

 

Because Han Theo, who had been watching the situation from behind, clamped a hand over Kang Haesoo’s mouth.

 

“You can’t.”

 

Yoo Sung and Han Theo exchanged a silent glance.

 

Only moments ago, they were glaring at each other so murderously they looked ready to tear each other apart.

 

Now, they looked like longtime partners whose teamwork was completely in sync.

 

“What are you two doing?”

 

“It’s late anyway, let’s just go back to the dorm and sleep.”

 

“Good idea. Hurry and go in, Chowol-ah. You look tired.” 

 

Yoo Sung and Han Theo hastily rushed out of the practice room.

 

Blankly staring at the closed practice room door, I let out a dry laugh.

 

“What was that…?”

 

*    *    *

 

Yoo Sung and Han Theo.

 

The two were remarkably similar yet different.

 

Their exceptional looks and skills went without saying.

 

The problem was their personalities.

 

Yoo Sung reveals, while Han Theo conceals.

 

Because of that difference in personality, Yoo Sung had a lower chance of debuting despite having both outstanding visuals and skills.

 

‘Just what on earth happened between them?’

 

I was curious, but Yoo Sung and Han Theo seemed determined to take it to their graves before telling me.

 

‘For now, I need to keep the two apart. There’s no telling what kind of trouble might brew.’

 

Or assign someone to watch over them.

 

Seeing him yesterday, Kang Haesoo didn’t seem all that reliable.

 

‘Is there no choice but for me or Yijae Hyung to stick close to them? But Yijae Hyung is also too soft-hearted….’

 

Ah, I don’t know.

 

My head was so cluttered with thoughts about Yoo Sung, Han Theo, and Seo Yijae that I barely slept at night.

 

“Yawn….”

 

“What’s this, you couldn’t sleep?” 

 

“Ah… yeah.”

 

“You should get plenty of sleep while you can.”

 

Spotting me yawning with a tired face, Yoo Sung clicked his tongue in disapproval as he spoke.

 

‘This punk… whose fault do you think it is that I couldn’t sleep?’

 

When I narrowed my eyes and glared at him, Yoo Sung, perhaps aware of his own fault, slipped right into the bathroom to wash up first.

 

Yoo Sung and I washed up quickly and headed straight to the practice room.

 

The time right now was 5:00 AM.

 

Since the cafeteria opened at 7:00 AM, the plan was to practice for about two hours before eating breakfast.

 

In the practice room, which I naturally assumed would be empty, an early visitor was already there.

 

“Oh? Yijae Hyung, you’re here early?”

 

“Ah… yeah.”

 

Seo Yijae greeted us with a face that looked ten years older than yesterday.

 

Sensing that something had gone wrong, I asked Seo Yijae with growing dread.

 

“Hyung, did you not sleep by any chance?”

 

“….”

 

“S-Seriously? Why…?”

 

“This….”

 

Seo Yijae handed something out toward me.

 

“A USB? Did you stay up all night arranging the song?”

 

“Haha….”

 

“Wait, why would you do that! We agreed to decide the arrangement direction and work on it together today.”

 

“Just… because I wanted you guys to hear it as soon as possible.”

 

Seo Yijae answered, scratching his cheek as if embarrassed.

 

I was at a loss for words.

 

Just what kind of jerk was this Hwang Minwoo guy to ruin the song of someone so pure and passionate?

 

“Let’s listen together once Theo and Haesoo get here.”

 

“Okay.”

 

I noticed that Seo Yijae’s condition was unusual. 

 

It wasn’t merely the exhausted face of someone who had pulled an all-nighter.

 

Resignation, despondency, fear, anxiety… all sorts of emotions flickered across Seo Yijae’s face.

 

‘Just what happened while he was arranging the track?’

 

One hour later.

 

Han Theo and Kang Haesoo arrived at the practice room.

 

Immediately gathering the team members together, I played Seo Yijae’s arrangement. 

 

—Clang, clang, clang. 

 

A winter day just before Christmas.

 

The sound of church bells, where white snow lay softly piled, rang out across the entire village.

 

‘He made a bold attempt.’

 

Usually, intuitive sound effects like bells aren’t used often, but since the concept of Winter Boys was winter, it suited the mood passably well.

 

‘It wouldn’t be bad even if it went with a complete carol feel… huh?’ 

 

A sharp howling of wind that didn’t fit a peaceful Christmas echoed out.

 

—Whoooooosh!

 

The fiercely whipping wind abruptly cut off.

 

And as if that wind sound had been an auditory hallucination, a calm beat followed.

 

‘This is….’

 

A calm beat has its own merits and charms.

 

It highlights the vocals and makes the listener focus on the lyrics and melody.

 

But the beat Seo Yijae used was, how should I put it….

 

‘It has no substance.’

 

Driving forward with a heavy punch would have been so much better, so why did he use a beat like this?

 

Especially when the bassline was already weak.

 

In the pre-chorus, a sudden drum sound was introduced to build tension.

 

‘Is something about to start?’

 

But betraying everyone’s expectations, an out-of-nowhere trumpet sound burst forth.

 

—Pa-pa-ra-pa-pa!

 

The expressions of all of us, except Seo Yijae, darkened progressively.

 

“This is….”

 

At a loss for words, I whipped my head toward Seo Yijae, who was hugging his knees.

 

Seo Yijae smiled with resignation and asked us.

 

“How is it?”