What’s wrong with Evan? What does Evan lack compared to Yechan?
Siwoo’s gaze, as he spoke those words, landed on Evan’s face, who was standing next to him looking at the garden where filming preparations were ending.
Then the gazes of Evan, Yechan, and Chan all turned to Siwoo. And even the camera director who had been capturing the four’s entire conversation took a step closer.
It was as if everyone was waiting for Siwoo’s next words.
“……”
In the sudden situation, Siwoo raised his hand and touched his cheek.
“Me? I’m better than Yechan?”
It was Evan who broke the awkward silence.
“……”
Siwoo tried to avoid the four’s gazes by touching his cheek, but seeing the camera approaching even closer, he stood up abruptly from his seat.
“No, Sangjun hyung is the best. Sangjun hyung!”
Heading toward Sangjun, who was preparing the slowest and walking out leisurely from afar, Siwoo sighed deeply inside. I’m glad I can escape like this.
* * *
“Hello. What did we decide to do today?”
The program filming began with Sangjun’s natural hosting. At Sangjun’s words holding the cue sheet, everyone’s gaze turned to the table placed on one side.
“We decided to divide into teams and play a game, but teams aside, is there a penalty?”
“Penalty. Of course there is. You just have to wear the penalty outfit and do the departure gate photo time tomorrow. The penalty outfits are already prepared.”
Sangjun answered Chan’s question while pointing at the table.
Already on top of it, various capes were prepared. A short red cape that was Superman’s symbol, a long black cape that Dracula would wear. Next to them were cute angel wings.
“Wait a minute. I understand Superman and Dracula, but what’s this next to them? And if we divide into teams, we only need two, so why are there three penalty outfits?”
“The production team thoroughly wants me to participate too…”
“Wait a minute!”
It was Yechan who interrupted Sangjun’s answer to Chan’s consecutive questions.
“Then Sangjun hyung unconditionally receives a penalty no matter what? Hosting and receiving a penalty? Then why host?”
“No. Just stay still for a bit. If everyone keeps interrupting like this, how can I explain? I haven’t explained yet. Let’s divide into teams first. But how do we divide teams?”
Sangjun, who had been answering diligently in the middle, threw a question at the production team in front.
“What teams, they’re making us play another game. Just do it like this. Like this.”
Yechan, who had been standing next to Siwoo just moments ago, suddenly moved positions. He passed Siwoo, passed Sangjun who was standing in the middle, then grabbed Chan’s wrist, who was standing next to him.
“Evan hyung, go over there.”
Then he gestured with his chin toward Evan, who was standing at the very end, to go next to Siwoo.
“What? Dividing like this? Is this okay?”
Looking at the two who were casually walking—Yechan’s sudden action and Evan walking leisurely because Yechan told him to go over there—and standing where Yechan had been, Chan twisted his wrist caught by Yechan and spoke.
“……”
“Now, we’ve divided the teams like this. First game explanation coming.”
Although he had clearly explained that there was a game prepared by the production team, Sangjun, who cut that off in the middle, proceeded by flipping the cue sheet. At that sight, Siwoo raised one hand to cover his lower face and burst into laughter, and Chan, who had been trying hard to pull his wrist from Yechan’s hand and was walking forward, stopped in his tracks.
“There, Lee Chan-ssi. You’re blocking the camera, so come back to your spot. The first game is ‘Elephant Lipstick’. You all know this, right? Ah, really so cliché. Isn’t there something more innovative?”
Everyone burst into laughter at Sangjun’s grumbling toward the production team.
“The game method is simple. You blindfold yourself, spin like an elephant trunk ten times. Then you find your team member and prettily apply lipstick for them. And the person who got lipstick applied comes back to the starting line, you see the glass here? You kiss here to leave a lipstick mark. The person who leaves a lipstick mark first wins, but we’ll check the lip shape here. If a trace that really doesn’t look like lips is left, you’re disqualified. Time matters but draw it accurately.”
True to Sangjun’s personality of finding everything bothersome and being casual except for working on songs, even the hosting was like that. There was no room for disorder.
“Should I do it?”
Siwoo naturally thought he would be the one to wear the blindfold and spin. Above all, he would be the best among the team members at balancing after spinning in place.
“Wait. Evan will do it, right?”
It was Chan who interjected into their conversation.
“What?”
“Obviously Evan hyung will do it. If Siwoo hyung does this, it’s cheating, cheating. What’s the point of making someone who majored in ballet do the elephant trunk?”
Evan and Siwoo had no choice.
Siwoo crossed his arms and stood crookedly at the arrival point, looking at Evan and Yechan at the starting line. Both had their eyes covered with black cloth. Since this side was a bit downhill, he first thought about what would happen if they rolled down by mistake.
“It’s a bit downhill here, will it be okay?”
“It’s fine. At most they’ll fall on the grass. It’s not like they’ll wear out from rolling a bit.”
Chan’s answer was so clean-cut that Siwoo, who had been worried, felt embarrassed.
“One, two, three……”
As Yechan and Evan started spinning at the start of the game, the voices counting numbers naturally grew louder.
Yechan, who finished ten spins first, started walking forward staggering.
“Left. Hey! Where are you going!”
Against the backdrop of Chan’s urgent voice, Sangjun’s voice roaring with laughter went in.
While Yechan was walking forward well but staggering and then heading back toward the starting line, Evan headed straight toward the filming team, not toward Siwoo.
“Not there!”
Evan, who tapped the shoulder of the camera director standing at the very front of the filming team once, changed direction and this time headed toward Siwoo.
“Quickly. Quickly.”
They just had to smear lipstick on their faces to create a fun situation, and confirm it smudged a lot from the lips. But when a time limit was added for going back there too, Siwoo and Chan naturally stomped their feet in place.
Just spinning like an elephant trunk would make them dizzy, but with their eyes covered too, both Yechan and Evan wandered even more severely.
“Here! Here.”
As Evan got closer, Siwoo first reached out his arm and grabbed Evan’s forearm. Evan’s hand holding the lipstick with a camera attached shook.
“Ah. Stay there. I’ll……”
You just hold the lipstick. I’ll move.
Before Siwoo could say those words, his chin was caught in Evan’s hand. Before Siwoo, whose head was tilted back naturally, could do anything or say anything, the lipstick approached.
Clearly Evan was blindfolded. Before starting, they checked the black cloth several times to confirm he couldn’t see ahead. But Evan, who came close, too naturally grabbed Siwoo’s chin and with his other hand applied lipstick to Siwoo’s lips without missing.
Without time to think deeply, Siwoo left Evan in that spot and ran to the starting line, leaving a lip mark on the glass before Chan.
“This game is over.”
While Chan was desperately calling for Yechan and Yechan, who was crawling on all fours, was having a dramatic meeting with Chan, the game ended. Of course, in his haste, Yechan was holding the lipstick against Chan’s cheek, not his lips.
Sangjun, who checked the glass where Siwoo left a lip mark, raised the glass panel toward the camera as is.
Although it smudged a bit, a normally left lip mark and Siwoo’s clean face were close-upped.
“What is this. Even with practice, this wouldn’t work.”
Chan, who cleanly acknowledged losing the game, clicked his tongue seeing Siwoo’s face that was too clean. Unlike Siwoo, who just wiped off the too-red lipstick with a cleansing tissue and only reapplied lip gloss, Chan had to receive makeup again after a full face wash.
Since they had to finish all filming while the sun was out, they couldn’t have sufficient break time.
“Now, this game. But if the friend team wins this game, we don’t have to do the third game. Two-Chan team, let’s just give up.”
Sangjun openly proposed to Yechan and Chan. Since both Yechan and Chan had ‘chan’ in their names, they were often called Two-Chan for short, and they naturally decided on Two-Chan as this team name.
“How can that be! We could win too. You’re not telling me to wear those Tinkerbell wings, are you?”
At the words to just give up, Yechan flared up.
“Yechan, why do you think you’d wear those Tinkerbell wings?”
“Let’s say we lost. Plus if Sangjun hyung also receives a penalty. Then you’ll both make me do that.”
At Siwoo’s question, Yechan immediately answered.
Since it was a program where members gathered to film, natural casual speech and such were allowed. That’s why Yechan spoke comfortably as usual.
“Oh my, our giant baby has grown a lot. Now he knows without being told.”
Chan smiled wickedly and raised his hand to stroke Yechan’s head.
“Then let’s go with what’s already roughly decided. The second game is…… Wow! Let’s change the production team, just. Do you have no ideas like that? Can’t you make something innovative?”
At Sangjun’s words after flipping through and checking the cue sheet, laughter burst out here and there again.
“From next time, just ask us too. This is really too much, too much.”
“Sangjun hyung, are you crazy? Then they’re really people who will make us plan it. You can’t say things like that.”
It was Evan who cut off Sangjun’s continued grumbling. Ocean’s schedule and all programs went through his hands, but this program was different. Since he was also appearing as a member of Ocean, the agency proposed not to touch this one at least.
Anyway, games were all the same, and it was a program they’d done every regression, but mostly the same things repeated. At some point, Evan had also let go of this program. And the games they proposed were actually fun in their own way. Even if everyone knew it was a staged situation, he had to act rather than enjoy it.
“So what’s the game?”
“Pepero game.”
At Siwoo’s question, Sangjun answered in a deflated voice.
