If filming starts at 6 AM, we’ll go to the salon from 3 AM.
The closer it gets to 6, the more handsome we’ll become.
Though there are no fans to see us.
Jion stole glances at Seonwoo Jin’s face, which was especially handsome today, and sighed. In preparation for his hair getting messy while running, they had pulled back all his bangs early, and trimmed his sideburns and back hair neatly so his profile would look cooler during archery.
Fans can’t see such a handsome face and only female idols get to!
After filming started, among the idols filling the field, Jion felt indescribable fatigue, jealousy, anxiety, nervousness, and fear. Until filming started, he could do mind control thinking that with so many watching eyes, surely no one would openly express interest or make advances, but once filming actually started, the distance between groups was too close.
Ah, she’s not even managing her gaze.
Especially after noticing several female idols staring blankly at Seonwoo Jin, his nerves became even more sensitive, making it difficult to manage his expression. If only he hadn’t run into Sollin before filming started, he wouldn’t have become this sensitive. Jion, who had been sitting hugging his knees, collapsed toward Eungi and leaned his body against him while sighing.
“Why don’t you check your DMs.”
He didn’t know if it was coincidence or not, but when they ran into Loopy Cupy in the hallway, he kept thinking about what Sollin said while tapping Seonwoo Jin’s shoulder. He’d noticed since she brazenly followed him on SNS. As expected of Sollin, famous as a carnivorous woman and a teto woman. He thought she’d been rejected when exchanging contact info then, but it seemed she hadn’t given up and contacted him again via SNS.
“Ah, I’m sorry.”
“Please move!”
If the staff hadn’t rushed them from behind, the conversation would have continued a bit more. Jion stole a glance at Seonwoo Jin. Seonwoo Jin was looking straight ahead with an indifferent face, but considering his somewhat attention-seeking personality, there was no way he hadn’t noticed the surrounding girls showing interest in him.
“Haah…”
“Why are you sighing?”
“Ah, no…”
When Eungi reacted to the sigh rising from his core, Jion quickly made up an excuse.
“I’m disappointed there’s no fan section.”
“Ah, right… Should we at least have promoted?”
“Even if we promoted… we don’t know the procedure…”
Jion responded appropriately and smacked his lips. If there had been even a handful of fans, he could have warned Seonwoo Jin to be careful with his behavior since fans were watching, but now he had no grounds. And the situation was still awkward between them, so he couldn’t ask to check his phone either.
Damn, I should have made up quickly.
Jion regretted having pointless pride.
Did he exchange conversations with Sollin and stop replying midway? Or from the beginning? From what she said, it seemed like he hadn’t replied from the start… But did he really keep his promise?
Ah, I’d rather we all get eliminated in the preliminaries quickly and rest in the back, or leave early if possible.
Unlike Jion’s complicated head, filming proceeded smoothly. The hosting booth, made up of two loudly chattering male MCs and one bright-eyed first-tier female idol, led the filming with corny comments befitting a holiday family-targeted broadcast.
What started first was the sprint that Jinyeong was competing in. He didn’t know, but these days they must recruit idol trainees from the National Sports Festival, because there were more than one or two kids who were track selections. No matter how fast Jinyeong was, it was impossible to aim for a gold medal among the selections.
“Wow, I might not make it to the finals?”
Jinyeong, who passed the first preliminary round in third place, shook his head. He had to pass the second preliminary round to advance to the finals, and since third place was already close, it seemed advancing to the finals wouldn’t be easy. If the sprint was in this situation, advancing to the finals in the relay wouldn’t be easy either.
“It’s okay, what’s important is that you worked hard.”
“Still, I have to make the finals to get the camera even once more…”
Even at Ryu Geon’s comfort, Jinyeong couldn’t hide his disappointment. Seeing Jinyeong’s honest expression, Jion reflected on himself for wishing for elimination in all preliminaries and early departure just moments ago. Because he realized that despite saying he wanted to succeed so badly, wanted to stand on year-end stages, at some point he’d been trying to take shortcuts. Feeling sorry, Jion massaged the legs of Jinyeong who had slumped down next to him.
“Still, you worked hard. You got third place. Let’s do what we can.”
“What, why are you being so kind, it’s scary.”
Jinyeong glanced at Seonwoo Jin, confirmed he wasn’t reacting, and joked with Jion. However, though he didn’t openly show it in his expression, Seonwoo Jin was just as sensitive today as Jion. The reason was the same too.
Ha. They’re really fucking staring.
Just as only female idols staring at Seonwoo Jin appeared in Seong Jion’s eyes, only female idols staring at Seong Jion entered Seonwoo Jin’s eyes. Especially the most annoying one was Hyeryun from Sugar Pink, whom he’d encountered during the previous ‘Yoon Myeongha incident.’ Seonwoo Jin still hadn’t forgotten the intense reaction Jion showed toward her.
In this regression, firmly attached to Jion, Seonwoo Jin showed no interest in her unlike before. Since he only met girls who liked him anyway, it was right that he had no interest in the current situation where Hyeryun was showing interest in Jion.
If it were up to him, he’d want to move seats and set up a human wall between Sugar Pink and Jion, but it was funny to move seats too obviously, and since they hadn’t subtly made up with Jion, getting close would look weird too.
Damn, I should have made up quickly.
Seonwoo Jin was thinking exactly the same thing as Jion while glaring ahead. And unlike the two’s complicated heads, the competition flowed smoothly.
Unlike complaining that he probably wouldn’t even make the finals, Jinyeong advanced to the finals with a second-place performance in the second preliminary round. Since there were four selections, he wouldn’t make it to the podium, but making the finals was already a big gain because they gave individual interviews once to those who advanced.
“Now, Jinyeong-ssi! Let’s hear your thoughts on advancing to the finals!”
“Yes, this is BNCZ’s first participation and first competition! I want to show a good performance and bring a medal to my members.”
To Jinyeong’s exemplary answer, the MC playfully added a question.
“Ah, don’t you want to bring anything to your fans?”
“Ah… we don’t have a fan section…”
“Ahhhhh…”
At Jinyeong’s voice echoing across the field, a huge sigh poured out from the cheering section. It was the first time such a big reaction came out since the opening cheer induction. The MC who asked the question was also flustered and didn’t know what to do.
“Ah… then, to the fans watching on TV, a word!”
“Ah, our dear fans! We’ll do well and go!”
“Yes, BMCZ…”
“It’s N.”
“Oh, I’m sorry. BNCZ! Fighting!”
It was a sad but memorable interview. Fans sitting in the fan section took out their phones one by one to search for BNCZ or zoomed in their cameras to check Jinyeong’s face.
“He’s handsome.”
“But even Huntis has a fan section, why don’t they?”
“Right…”
Originally, for small and medium agency idols to rise, appropriate sympathy was needed. While individual interviews proceeded and the competition started, girls who had no one to cheer for since their oppas were all eliminated in preliminaries all felt their hearts lean toward Jinyeong.
“Jinyeong fighting!”
“BNCZs fighting!”
Jinyeong, who had been dispirited by the individual interview where they were caught having no fan section and even got the group name wrong, raised his head at his name being shouted from somewhere and looked around. Then, soon confirming other fans waving at him, he smiled brightly and bowed at the waist, and that image was displayed through the giant screen on the field.
“…Jinyeong is catching the flow.”
Then the members couldn’t just sit still either. Jion gathered courage and tapped Seonwoo Jin’s shoulder.
“Let’s go to the front and cheer for Jinyeong too.”
“Hm?”
“Hurry.”
Jion gestured with his chin toward the front row. Already excited, Eungi ran to the front and started enthusiastic cheering calling Jinyeong’s name, and Ryu Geon, hesitating because it was too conspicuous behavior, stood next to Eungi awkwardly waving his hand.
“Let’s go.”
Jion pulled the hesitating Seonwoo Jin and dragged him forward. The female idols’ gazes naturally gathering as they passed were so very unpleasant, but still, if they didn’t cheer for Jinyeong now, who knew when they’d be caught on camera again. And even excluding such calculations, he wanted to cheer for Jinyeong.
A person with sincerity is beautiful. If supported by effort and passion, even more beautiful.
Jion returned to the heart of a pure idol after a long time and waited for the competition to start. The sincere Jion, smiling brightly and bouncing around, was also pretty, and Seonwoo Jin couldn’t take his eyes off Jion’s profile.
Ah, he’s really so pretty.
He absolutely couldn’t help but like this Jion. If he kept looking, he felt like he’d suddenly kiss Jion’s cheek regardless of people’s eyes, so Seonwoo Jin covered his mouth and turned his eyes toward Jinyeong standing at the starting line.
—Bang!
“Start!”
Along with the acrid smell of gunpowder, the sprint finals began.
