Episode 54

 

It was meant for a member not a lover -_-; I don’t have a girlfriend

The message I actually meant to send to you was accidentally sent to something to someone else and I was dealing with that

[Kim Gyowon]

Is one of your members “someone else”?  3:47 AM

 

*****

 

The early morning alarm rang loudly. Today was scheduled for practice with all the members together. Because everyone’s individual schedules had gotten busier, they had to wake up at dawn to coordinate their times.

Haeun fumbled to turn off the alarm. He could have fallen back asleep, but the System’s cheerful voice announcing the new day forced him to open his eyes. 

He looked at his phone with half-open eyes. He meant to check quests and schedules on the U-Idol app, but his attention was caught by the KakaoTalk notifications first.

Seongjae hadn’t sent anything since reading and ignoring his last message. Since they had practice today anyway, he was probably waiting to talk face to face.

Yejun also hadn’t sent any messages after Haeun’s embarrassing mistake. Though they had talked on the phone, Haeun was a bit worried remembering his disgruntled response before hanging up. Was he actually hurt despite pretending otherwise yesterday? Maybe he should reach out first.

Meanwhile, Kim Gyowon’s message had arrived at almost 4 AM. Though Haeun himself had fallen asleep close to 2 AM, so he couldn’t really say he’d gone to bed early, 4 AM still seemed a bit extreme. 

It was too early to have just woken up, but too late to have stayed up. What could have happened between 10:30 PM and 4 AM?

Though there was no real reason to grumble, he found himself thinking cynically anyway. Being half-asleep, his brain wasn’t working properly, so he had trouble immediately understanding the reply asking if members and others were different people.

‘What is he talking about…?’

After glaring at the message for a moment, Haeun wrote a reply. Though it was early, it had to be better than Kim Gyowon sending KakaoTalk messages at 4 AM.

Moving his finger toward the send button unconsciously, he hesitated, wondering if he should add an emoticon. Come to think of it, he’d replied to Kim Gyowon without emoticons last night too. Was the System making him use emoticons selectively depending on who he was talking to?

Or maybe the weak System was in shock after he’d already made an irreversibly big mistake. Perhaps that’s why it stopped caring whether he added emoticons or not.

Half-doubting, he sent the message as is. Fortunately, the KakaoTalk went through without issues this time too. Ha-eun could put down his phone with a light heart.

Morning 6:04 AM

You replied very quickly.

*****

Haeun was called out by Seongjae as soon as he arrived at the practice room. Though Seongjae had been quiet on the way there as if nothing had happened yesterday, it seemed he’d only kept his mouth shut reluctantly because other members were present. The look in his eyes when he gestured for Haeun to come out was a bit chilling. In a secluded corner of the hallway, Seongjae abruptly threw out a question.

“What is it?”

“What do you mean ‘what is it?'”

“Are you asking because you don’t know?”

“I told you I’d explain what happened yesterday when everyone’s together, right? Everyone’s here now, so let’s go in.”

It wasn’t that he was particularly intimidated by Lee Seongjae. He just didn’t like this atmosphere. Since entering this small body, perhaps his nerve had shrunk too – he felt somewhat cornered by Seongjae’s cold voice, but after deliberately pulling himself together, he stared back at him boldly.

Seongjae looked down at Haeun with his arms crossed, wearing an artificial smile that contrasted with his cold eyes. Haeun rarely evaluated men as handsome, and even less frequently thought of them as pretty, but seeing him like this, Seongjae’s face did seem to have delicate features.

But why was he suddenly smiling so proudly as if showing off his face? Though Haeun looked at him with unfriendly eyes, Seongjae seemed not to notice the displeasure.

“Who asked about it?”

“Then what is it?”

“Who were you talking to yesterday?”

Seongjae pressed, bringing his face close. Though yesterday’s message was written as a joke, hearing him talk like this made him seem like a wife nagging and interrogating an unfaithful husband. Though in the end, yesterday’s message meant for Sungjae had found the wrong recipient.

‘Why is this guy’s face so smooth?’

The thought occurred to him involuntarily, with Seongjae’s face being so close that he could almost see his pores. The System responded to his internal comment.

『Skincare is the duty of a professional idol! Follow ‘Seongjae’s’ example and work harder! .｡ﾟ+.ヽ| ゝ∀・*|ﾉ｡+.ﾟ』

He didn’t understand why the System was speaking as if it was proud, nor did he feel any need to take better care of his skin. He was still startled every time he looked in the mirror because of ‘Park Ha’s’ smooth, boiled-egg-like skin.

After I lightly ignored the System’s words again, Seongjae continued speaking.

“Is it Kim Gyowon? Were you sucking up to Kim Gyowon to treat you a meal?”

“Am I crazy?”

『Professional idols don’t use harsh words with members! (ﾉﾟДﾟ)ﾉ』

Haeun responded aggressively without thinking. Being accused of sucking up to Kim Gyowon for a meal- he hadn’t expected to hear such a horrible suggestion. 

Yejun had turned out to be a more polite and kind senior than expected, and since the System wouldn’t let him use harsh words with him, being nice was just natural.

Seongjae frowned in confusion. He seemed genuinely surprised, having apparently assumed it must be Kim Gyowon.

“Then who is it?”

Well, Seongjae probably had no idea that he was on texting terms with Black Bers’ Yejun. Haeun shrugged and asked innocently.

“Why? Do I look like someone who wouldn’t have contacts with the seniors?”

“Where would you get senior contacts from…? No, wait, just tell me who it is. Why can’t you say it?”

“Why do you keep asking about this since yesterday? Why is it so important?”

Haeun was getting irritated. It was strange to keep bickering with Sungjae over something so trivial by his standards. 

Yesterday’s stance at the entrance like parents waiting for their troublemaking son was understandable since he had gone off with Kim Gyowon without explanation. 

Haeun didn’t think he would ever interrogate Seongjae this persistently about which seniors he was in contact with, no matter how close they’d become.

Was he naturally this obsessive about minor things? Though it would be surprising to hear, it wasn’t exactly a secret that needed hiding, but seeing Sungjae questioning him as if ready to grab his collar made Ha-eun less inclined to tell him.

While they were continuing their pointless squabble, someone poked their head out of the practice room and walked into the hallway. It was Junwoo.

“What are you two talking about? With just the two of you.”

There seemed to be a sting in the words “just the two of you.” Well, Junwoo always spoke in an irritating way. Haeun turned to look at him, brightening at the thought that Junwoo had come to rescue him from Sungjae.

But when they actually faced each other, he suddenly felt unpleasant as he remembered something he’d forgotten.

“Yah! Come to think of it, why did you push me yesterday?”

“What?”

Junwoo made a face like he knew nothing, then naturally stepped between Seongjae and Haeun, creating distance between them. Thanks to this, Haeun escaped Seongjae’s interrogation and began to seriously question Junwoo instead.

“Yesterday, you pushed me to get into that van, didn’t you? Are you pretending not to know?”

『Professional idols don’t speak to members like a delinquent! ‘д’)ﾉ』

At the system’s warning, Haeun tried hard to stay calm and collected.The standards were really low to call this level of speech delinquent-like.

“…What do you mean I am pretending not to know?”

When asked again in a much softer voice than before, Junwoo, who had seemed a bit dumbfounded, soon answered casually.

“Hyung, you had to talk to Kim Gyowon at the filming location anyway. I thought it worked out well since they came first, so that’s why I did it.”

“Still though, I’m the only one who suffered…”

Although Haeun wanted to argue back, there was nothing wrong with what Junwoo said, even if it was unsatisfying. However, Haeun’s grumbling was cut off by Seongjae’s voice.

“Suffered? What did you do? Don’t tell me Kim Gyowon made you do punishment exercises—”

“That’s not it!”

It was completely chaotic. Since when had Seongjae become so worried and overthinking? Every time someone said something, he would let his imagination run wild. 

Had some kind of formula like ‘Park Ha getting dragged away by Kim Gyowon, receiving punishment, and coming back to desperately suck up’ already been established in his head?

Junwoo shook his head with a sigh, as if the back-and-forth between the two was pathetic. Haeun, who was no longer able to bear this atmosphere any longer, quickly escaped to the bathroom saying he would go wash his face.

After washing his face as he said he would, his mind definitely felt a bit clearer. Given how things had turned out, he first needed to explain to the members what Kim Gyowon had said yesterday. It was something he had to discuss before the schedule was confirmed anyway.

While he was pondering how to appropriately break the news about potentially appearing on a variety show, his pocket vibrated. Haeun quickly pulled out his phone.

[Kim Gyowon]

You’re up early  7:11 AM

I needed to go to the practice room

But speaking of which, what about you sunbaenim?

When did you even sleep?

[Kim Gyowon]

I’m actually pretty sleepy today

Practice room? Didn’t your activities just end recently  7:13 AM

Being an idol is my main job, you know? Of course I practice even during breaks ㅡㅡ

But how did you know?

The reply that had come immediately stopped there. Even after staring at it for a while longer, the notification ‘1’ didn’t disappear. What was this about? Are all busy people like this? After pondering deeply, Haeun tilted his head and stepped out of the bathroom.

Returning to the practice room, Haeun explained the situation to the members, leaving out some details. However, none of them seemed to accept it readily. They all showed even more reluctant reactions than Haeun himself.

“You’re saying Kim Gyowon said he’d go on a variety show because of you? Why?”

Since this was something Haeun was curious about himself and didn’t know the answer to, he couldn’t respond. He tilted his head to one side to mean ‘well…’, and Ilhyun, the kindest one, carefully said:

“Is he usually someone with a strong sense of responsibility?”

“He definitely seemed like someone who likes to meddle in others’ business.”

Junwoo muttered. Though Haeun immediately understood what he meant, he kept his mouth shut, knowing that if he showed any recognition, he’d obviously have to explain.

“What do you mean by that?”

“Just that, surprisingly, he might be that type of person.”

Junwoo deflected the conversation dismissively. 

Ilhyun calmly said that if things really worked out that way, the situation would improve, then deliberately shifted the conversation to practice matters. He seemed to be trying to prevent the mood from becoming tense.

Just as they were about to start discussing “Next Super Star,” the reason they had gathered to practice today, Haeun’s phone vibrated.

“Ah, just a moment.”

Haeun took out his phone and immediately checked KakaoTalk.

[Kim Gyowon]

What?  7:49 AM

It was a very curt single character. As Haeun frowned and was about to reply, he slowly raised his head, suddenly feeling piercing gazes. All the members were staring intently at him.

“…Why are you all looking at me like that?”