From the moment she received advance notice about the filming, it was a name that made her automatically nervous.
No matter that he came as a one-day manager, knowing he was the successful Kwon Isoo, she thought she wouldn’t be able to treat him comfortably. To be more honest, as a broadcast worker, she couldn’t deny that thoughts like ‘that incredibly picky and difficult personality as someone’s manager?’ had crossed her mind.
And on the day itself. Having observed the RAYEON members and Kwon Isoo who arrived about an hour before the radio show started, she quietly thought:
Hmm, as expected, he’s just pretending to be a manager.
The atmosphere between Kwon Isoo and the RAYEON members even seemed quite bad. Though they didn’t make it obvious since it was a broadcasting station, it was all visible to the quick-witted staff. That chilly, even murderous air despite sitting together in the waiting room without exchanging a single conversation… Wait, weren’t the two of them filming a friendship program?
Kwon Isoo’s cold expression was particularly worth seeing, and if you checked the direction of where he was fiercely glaring, anyone would guess ‘ah, they fought.’
At least it was fortunate that the two RAYEON members conducting the broadcast seemed to have a decent atmosphere.
Actually, well, in this industry full of idols who could be swearing at each other in the waiting room but then once on-air would smile sweetly and act cute saying ‘we’re really close!’, it wasn’t particularly surprising that members from different groups acted like that.
Though it was a bit troublesome that she had to deal with Manager Kwon Isoo for business right away… She gulped. The feeling of cautiously approaching Kwon Isoo, who had kicked out of the waiting room with an irritated face as if annoyed by the awkwardly stiff air. Perhaps it was similar to requesting an alliance with a jungle predator?
‘Isoo-nim, ah, no, Manager-nim.’
‘……’
Kwon Isoo, who had been striding forward, turned his head and looked down at her silently. Perhaps because he was insanely tall, even just an indifferent expression had the effect of looking terrifying.
‘…Please deliver this script to the singers. And before the broadcast starts, if Yeonjae-nim and Hayun-nim each write answers to the pre-interview questionnaire and give them back to me… that would be good.’
Kwon Isoo, who had been looking at the bundle of papers she held out with an indifferent face, nodded roughly and took them.
‘Yes.’
Despite hearing confirmation, she was inwardly anxious. He’s not going to take them somewhere and burn them all, right? She continued to worry until 15 minutes before the broadcast when she could finally feel relieved upon seeing Kwon Isoo bring the thoroughly filled-out questionnaire.
She looked at the questionnaire she received with both hands as if it were some family heirloom. Wow, it’s nothing special but I’m quite honored… Actually, just that face alone seemed to be worth his salary.
Anyway, that was that. The broadcast had already started safely, and unless an unexpected situation occurred, there wouldn’t be much need to talk with the manager now… Actually, if a really serious situation occurred, she would communicate with RAYEON’s real manager, not Kwon Isoo.
So she tried to think of it as a rather fresh experience, but… what kind of case is this now?
Kwon Isoo, whom she thought would be stuck in the waiting room throughout the broadcast, suddenly positioned himself in front of the monitor and was staring intently at Do Yeonjae in the screen.
What? Didn’t they fight? Could it be a tactic to steal his gaze from outside the booth to make his pronunciation slip? That would be troublesome. In the moment numerous thoughts arose, a chilly voice was heard.
“He’s looking at the script too much.”
Huh? The writer blinked and looked at Kwon Isoo. Whether anyone was looking at him or not, Kwon Isoo continued nitpicking about everything, saying Do Yeonjae’s pronunciation just now was terrible, overall their chemistry was lacking. Listening to it, it was almost absurd. What’s with those childish complaints?
It felt a bit different from his image, so she unknowingly stared blankly at Kwon Isoo when suddenly his face hardened fiercely. She was startled and followed his gaze. An app chat that had just come up caught her eye.
– DdoYeonjae smiling while looking at Haet-hyung has crazy younger boyfriend vibes lol why is he fiddling with his shoulder, dying to touch it
Ah… Her expression hardened sourly. Occasionally when male idols appeared, chats like that would come. She had been flustered during her rookie days, but now it was something she’d gotten somewhat used to.
Since it’s visible radio chat, she can’t even filter it at the writer level… But did he frown after seeing that? There doesn’t seem to be a reason for that.
Moreover, the chat moved so quickly it was also confusing.
After briefly pondering with a puzzled face, she soon concluded it was her misunderstanding.
In the moment she was distracted, inside the booth the music ended and they smoothly entered the Part 1 corner. 7 minutes 50 seconds on-air. Just right. Today only the special DJs were scheduled to appear without guests, and Parts 1 and 2 consisted of Hayun and Do Yeonjae’s situation Q&A, recommended song introductions and real-time Q&A, while Parts 3 and 4 were composed of reading listener stories and quiz participation events.
The writer had to not only deliver messages but also match timing and adjust flow so the DJs could naturally follow the script. Quick judgment to cut off immediately if comments got too long, and flexibility to modify the script on the spot according to the DJ’s speech patterns or situation were also important.
In short, it meant there were tons of things to do during the broadcast.
“……”
Yet she absolutely couldn’t ignore the presence of Kwon Isoo standing next to her. In the end, unable to watch any longer, the writer quietly stood up.
“Um, Manager-nim… would you like to sit here?”
“It’s fine.”
……And sat back down.
Hmm. Scratching her cheek while pointlessly looking at the monitor, she turned her head again and carefully asked.
“Is there something you’d like to say separately….”
“No.”
Kwon Isoo cut off others’ words like that and continued to glare at Do Yeonjae inside the booth 37 times, mutter to himself 19 times, and scrunch his face looking at chats he didn’t like 23 times. Throughout until Part 2 ended. And the <My Favorite! Chemistry> filming director silently captured such scenes.
Is that really okay? The writer suddenly started worrying about the future of a program that had nothing to do with her.
So she sneakily checked the main PD’s expression in the corner. Huh? But…
‘He’s smiling?’
The writer, who had frozen for a moment, soon shook her head and stood in front of the printer. Now wasn’t the time to worry about other people’s business. A paper came out from the printer with the eyewitness account that had come in by message during the opening earlier. She attached a post-it with scribbled comments next to the paper.
[Please have Yeonjae-nim read it directly! Were you aware of the women’s gazes at that time? What made you laugh << Hayun-nim asks questions. Have a short conversation about the eyewitness account and connect to the Part 3 listener story corner by asking ‘Have you all had any fun experiences like this recently?’ That would seem natural~]
Meanwhile, Do Yeonjae inside the booth opened a water bottle taking advantage of the commercial break.
It seemed that conducting a radio show for two hours with consistent tone without a single mistake wasn’t as easy as he thought. How do the DJs do this every day?
Just as he was quenching his thirst while renewing his respect, the complexion of Hayun hyung in the seat next to him wasn’t normal. Even though he seemed fine on the outside, there were things visible only to Do Yeonjae right next to him. For instance, a body that was slightly stiff, or the act of breathing deeply unlike usual.
“……”
Do Yeonjae, who had tilted his head for a moment, silently closed the cap. He naturally bent his waist as he put the water bottle down on the table. He whispered into Hayun’s ear.
“Hyung… you have indigestion after all, right?”
“Yeon, Yeonjae.”
He could see his shoulders tremble with a flinch, perhaps surprised that his physical condition was discovered.
The microphone was off, but the visible radio through the camera was still broadcasting. He deliberately turned the angle in case lip reading was possible. When Hayun turned his gaze, their eyes met right in front of each other. Yeonjae examined hyung’s face closely from nearby and calmly added.
“I’m sorry. For making the atmosphere uncomfortable for no reason. I shouldn’t have left you alone.”
“No, Yeonjae. I’m fine—”
“Fine my ass. Look how cold your hands are.”
When Yeonjae grabbed his hand, Hayun tensed up.
He originally had a weak stomach, so he was picky about food and often had indigestion. It wasn’t for nothing that RAYEON members checked Hayun’s complexion at every meal. Sometimes they overreacted when his face was a little pale, but today at least, Do Yeonjae’s prediction was right.
Though it wasn’t severe, a subtle stuffiness had been bothering Hayun since earlier.
However, the cause of Hayun’s indigestion wasn’t the uncomfortable meal atmosphere as Do Yeonjae thought. It certainly wasn’t Yeonjae’s fault, who had done nothing wrong.
It was simply because he hated himself.
Because he hated himself so much for feeling jealous of the maknae’s friend.
Hayun clenched his mouth shut with all his might. Because he couldn’t say that seeing you care about your friend made a strange anxiety surge, that he couldn’t overcome that impatience and ended up interfering when you tried to talk to him, that he was so disgusted with himself for being like that his insides felt completely blocked.
Even in the midst of his churning stomach feeling like something was stuck, the breath felt at close range made his head dizzy. Hayun lowered his eyes to forcibly hide his trembling pupils. The large hand covering his own was so warm he wanted to stay touching it forever, but…
Hayun already knew from numerous experiences. That Yeonjae’s warmth comes unexpectedly and then disappears indifferently as if it never happened.
“There’s digestive medicine in my bag. I’ll ask them to bring it.”
It was the same now. Hayun looked down blankly at his hand where Yeonjae’s touch had lingered until just now and swallowed an empty breath. If only I didn’t expect from the start. If only I could be satisfied with just that brief warmth, just the digestive medicine specially prepared for me.
Why is that so difficult? Why do I keep getting greedy……
Hayun looked at the back of Yeonjae standing up from the chair with a complicated expression. Since he’s a DJ he can’t leave his seat for long, so it seemed he was going toward the booth door to ask for the digestive medicine.
Hayun, who had clenched his fist, moved his gaze toward the monitor. It seemed like he could calm his troubled heart only by reading the real-time chat.
But… the chat content coming up was a bit strange.
– ???????????
– What?
– Huh???
– Wow crazy
– Has he lost it
The chat window was plastered with question marks. Hayun opened his eyes wide in surprise. What’s going on? Did some problem occur in the broadcast process? He furrowed his brows seriously and continued checking the chat when a name that shouldn’t be visible started appearing.
– Is-is-is that Kwon Isoo??????
– He’s fucking handsome
– I’m rubbing my eyes so hard wondering if I saw wrong
– Wow his height is insane
– Is Kwon Isoo joining RAYEON as a new member?
– Not just side profile, come out more in front of the camera please ㅠㅠ
What? Kwon Isoo?
Hayun immediately raised his head. He could see Kwon Isoo, who had entered the booth holding paper, looking at Yeonjae crookedly.
