Today there was filming in Sehyun’s studio. It was to capture video of the members gathering to discuss the direction of the arrangement.
At first it was awkward in front of the camera, but as they focused on the members’ conversations flowing naturally as usual, natural footage was captured.
Bulldozer Sehyun surprisingly actively accepted the members’ opinions. Thanks to that, the members’ morale became much higher.
The direction decided after a long meeting was to arrange the song by adding oriental elements and create a performance incorporating a story related to dokkaebi folklore. Rather than a singing stage, it was closer to a musical-like performance.
After filming ended and the filming team left, only then did the members relax comfortably.
“Aren’t you hungry?”
Yunbeom checked the time that had passed well beyond lunch and patted his stomach.
“Hyung, you didn’t even eat breakfast.”
“Hm? Yunbeom hyung, you were starving?”
Sehyun, who heard Haram’s words, spun his leather chair around and asked Yunbeom.
“Because he overslept.”
But Doha answered instead.
“What should we order? Chinese food?”
Yunbeom rummaged through the magazines and booklets under the table in front of the sofa. It was an analog action quite unsuited to this era when apps are so developed.
“Food smells stick to the studio.”
But Sehyun was picky about cleanliness and crushed Yunbeom’s expectations.
“Then go out and eat.”
“Isn’t there a Japanese restaurant Yunbeom hyung likes around here?”
The members added their words one by one and chose a lunch menu. Then Doha spoke up.
“I haven’t digested yet so I’m not thinking about it.”
“Me neither.”
Sehyun answered following Doha.
“Then let’s just go eat by ourselves. Where did Cheolhwan hyung go? Call him.”
“Okay.”
Eden, Haram, and Yunbeom stood up from their seats.
“Don’t go wandering off after eating, come right back.”
“Wasn’t everything finished?”
“We still have to look at some of the new song work. Eden hyung, did you send the song samples?”
“Yeah. Check your email.”
“Ah. Okay.”
When the members left the studio to eat, Doha sprawled his body on the empty sofa. Although it wasn’t done in a studio, filming was filming, and fatigue came rushing in. When he lay down with his back against the sofa, he felt like he could live.
“Rest a bit.”
Sehyun looked at Doha like that, then turned his chair around again and continued working on the song. Various melodies flowed out and stopped repeatedly, but now he had gotten quite used to this hectic thing.
A little later, whether thinking of Doha or to increase his own concentration, Sehyun lowered the studio lighting. Only one soft yellow light remained, illuminating the studio.
Doha placed his hands neatly on his stomach and blankly looked at the studio ceiling. On the studio ceiling were very small star-shaped glow-in-the-dark stickers.
‘How sentimental.’
His eyes began to close. It seemed perfect to sleep until the members came back after eating. He was hungrier for sleep than food. It was because lately he hadn’t slept enough to be satisfied due to practice.
Idol life is busier than one can imagine. The members would casually mention staying up all night without sleep, but at that rate they’d die young.
As expected, it doesn’t suit me. But would the life of a dumpling shop young master be that comfortable? Baek Doha’s grandfather always goes to the shop at 4 AM. There’s no easy work in the world.
Having these random thoughts, his eyes slowly closed. Strangely, sleep came easier than at the dorm.
* * *
-My shadow wet in the rain
-Following where you smiled
A gentle voice tapped at his hazy consciousness. It was Sehyun’s voice.
-Tangled fate we couldn’t hold
-Forgetting you feels like a sin to me
-stay with me, don’t say goodbye
When he blinked his stiff eyes, the glow-in-the-dark stars on the ceiling greeted him additionally. He opened his eyes in the same sleeping position.
-Even when morning comes, I close my eyes
-Because you’re inside them
Sehyun didn’t even know Doha had come to his senses and was still humming the song. He was singing the chorus part when inspiration seemed to strike, and he tapped the piano keys a few times differently.
Sehyun was deeply immersed in anything. Whether it was music, dance, or whipping members.
What a youth with such good energy.
Doha turned his stiff neck left and right while fumbling to lean against the sofa. Sehyun, who had been wrestling with the keyboard for a while, suddenly looked at Doha.
“Oh, you’re awake.”
Sehyun, who had been concentrating without knowing Doha had gotten up, said.
“Yeah.”
Doha’s gaze turned to the cute yellow chick-shaped desk clock. About 40 minutes had passed.
“Want to drink some coffee?”
“Where is it? I’ll get it.”
“We have to go out and buy it.”
“Ah… that’s annoying.”
“Why do you find everything annoying, hyung?”
“I’m generally lacking in motivation.”
“How long have you lived with such a lazy attitude?”
Sehyun’s questions consistently made him want to punch him. Now he had gotten used to his expressions that were beyond direct to the point of being rude. Rather, if he spoke meekly, he’d think Lim Sehyun ate something wrong.
“I don’t know.”
“That really breaks my heart.”
Sehyun made an extremely pitiful expression.
“Then can I quit?”
“As if you could.”
The end of this wasteful wordplay was always like this. When Doha clicked his tongue with a ‘tsk’, Sehyun, who had been quietly watching him, kicked the floor hard and pushed his chair, moving it like a cart with a rattle.
Sehyun opened a drawer placed in one corner of the studio. He took something out of the drawer. Then he got up from the chair and came to Doha’s side. With a thud, Sehyun sat down on the single-person sofa diagonally from Doha.
“Here.”
Sehyun held out his hand to Doha. In his hand was a phone.
“What is it?”
“What do you mean what. It’s your phone, hyung.”
“Ah.”
Doha had been living forgetting what his phone even looked like.
“Why suddenly?”
He quickly took it since he was giving it. But he was bewildered. Why was this guy who had been acting like a demon returning the phone?
“Because I trust you, hyung.”
“Liar.”
“Was it obvious? I thought the tone was pretty good.”
When he immediately saw through Sehyun’s inner thoughts as he recited lies without batting an eye, the guy admitted it disappointingly quickly.
Doha flipped the phone around, checking whether Sehyun had secretly inserted a secret chip or something.
“You’ve watched a lot of movies, hyung.”
“You’re the type to do that and more.”
“Is that a compliment?”
Sehyun laughed softly. His laughter was cheerful.
“Really, why? Did you eat something wrong?”
“Should I take it back?”
At Sehyun’s words, Doha hurriedly shoved the phone into his hoodie pocket.
“You’re acting nice so my heart is softening.”
“Would a soft-hearted person roll a human to rock bottom like that?”
“Should I cancel?”
Doha turned his body and took a defensive posture. Watching such Doha, Sehyun thought he looked exactly like a squirrel hiding acorns.
“Let’s go out and buy coffee. The members should be coming soon, so I’ll buy some for them too.”
Sehyun got up from his seat, and Doha also got up following him. The two left the studio side by side. When Sehyun pushed the heavy door, Doha slipped his body right through the gap, feeling proud that he didn’t lift a finger. Watching such Doha, Sehyun laughed again.
Hyung is strangely funny.
These days, whenever Sehyun observed Baek Doha, his laughter became generous.
“I want to eat a green tea frappuccino. And a chocolate bread.”
“Why didn’t you just eat a meal?”
“Are meals and this the same? Are whales and anchovies the same?”
Doha walked ahead, and Sehyun followed behind him. Doha habitually put his hand in his hoodie pocket, and when he felt the phone, he took it out as is.
It wasn’t particularly an item he had attachment to, but seeing it again after a long time, it seemed welcome. He pressed the power button firmly. The power came on with a cheerful vibration.
“Don’t just look at your phone, look ahead and walk.”
Ignoring Sehyun’s warning with one ear, he waited and a window appeared asking him to enter the pattern.
“What was my pattern?”
Since he hadn’t seen it in so long, he couldn’t remember the pattern he had hastily changed. With a flustered face, Doha turned to look at Sehyun and held the phone screen in front of his face. Then Sehyun let out a laugh as if dumbfounded.
“Use your fingerprint.”
“Ah.”
It was the moment he sheepishly placed his finger.
The moment notification windows frantically scrolled up.
“Hm?”
In that brief moment, Sehyun’s eyes flashed. Doha felt a chill run down his spine for an instant. Just as he was swiftly retrieving the phone from in front of Sehyun’s eyes……
“Oops.”
Doha’s body bumped into a standing sign placed on the street, and his body swayed. Then Sehyun grabbed Doha’s arm.
Thud-, pong.
“……”
“Oh.”
From the recoil, the phone in Doha’s hand flew into the air. Quite unfortunately, the phone went right into a metal sewer hole.
Doha’s pupils shook violently. His imagination was stimulated by a reality he didn’t want to believe.
“……You, on purpose……”
This bastard, you didn’t do this on purpose, did you? Was it such a dangerous situation that you had to grab my arm? My body just swayed a little, didn’t it?
“……”
The two stared blankly at the phone that had fallen to the bottom of the sewer. The vibration that had been ringing stopped at some point and the light also disappeared. It seemed to have completely sunk in the shallow water and become dead.
Doha bent his knees with a thud. He crouched down and stared endlessly into the sewer.
Silence hung for a moment. Soon Sehyun carefully spoke.
“How about we go to the phone store next to the coffee shop first?”
They say an ill-fated person will break their nose even if they fall backwards. As expected, nothing goes well in this life.
