“……”
Goosebumps rose all along the arm that had been grabbed.
The person speaking to him now… they had definitely traveled together and sat down to eat meals together just until a few days ago.
But now they felt like a completely different person.
‘If Jaeyoung goes that far, you should also…’
‘You know, teacher. Which one had the unusual personality!’
Things he thought he’d already forgotten completely struck his mind white in an instant.
Bang, bang, bang!
“Yusang-ah?”
A palm approached before his eyes.
‘I can’t get caught.’
The moment he had that thought, Yusang pushed the manager and rushed out.
“Hey, Jeong Yusang!”
Even as he kicked off the ground leaving the staggering manager behind, he was afraid whether this was okay to do. But.
“Ha, fuck. So annoying. That’s always the biggest problem.”
The moment he heard that voice, the presence behind him became an object of enormous fear.
Yusang opened the emergency exit door. The company in the pitch-black middle of the night. Unconsciously, his feet headed toward a familiar space.
***
– Find him quickly. Even if the kid is immature, there’s a limit.
At Executive Director Choi’s angry voice, the men let out sighs.
“That’s why I said we should keep the kids in line. Would this even make sense in the old days?”
“The employees who joined recently are the problem. They coddle the artists like young ladies and young masters. Geez.”
To the staff members, the inside of the company was no different from the palm of their hand. They casually looked around and discovered a practice room with lights on.
“There it is.”
“Hey, Yusang-ah! Doing this won’t be good for you either!”
“At this rate, you’ll harm the other members too! Don’t just think about yourself! Hurry and come o…”
It was when they stuck their faces through the window in the practice room door while berating him.
BANG!!!
“Ugh!”
A fierce force struck down on the window. Soon after, the door swung open.
“What?”
“Uh, huh?”
“Why are you peeking secretly?”
It was Go Won, the rookie from the 5th Division.
He looked down at the two people with extremely fierce eyes.
“Ah, well… we were passing by, and the lights were on.”
“…But we can look a bit, you’re really sensitive.”
“There was a new song leak incident recently.”
“……”
“Even if passing by, I’d prefer if you didn’t look.”
Executive Director Choi’s close staff members knew the full story of that.
Therefore, they couldn’t say anything and moved away with sour expressions.
Go Won, who waited for the figures to disappear beyond the darkness of the hallway, closed the door.
And he turned his head to see a person crouched down, covering their mouth with both hands while trembling.
“Sunbae-nim.”
“……”
“Do you have debt?”
“…? What are you…”
“Ah.”
Was this how he should have reacted…
Go Won realized anew just how transparent he must have been when Baek Hanje had asked the same question.
“…Is something wrong?”
It was hard to believe this was the same person who had forcibly made him yield the practice room just a few hours ago.
Still frightened, yet also with a face hurt in pride, tears finally welled up.
“Shit…”
Yusang recalled the voices that had been chasing him just moments ago.
They were all people from the 4th Division family.
But the first person to ask what happened in this situation, and even helped him—of all people, it had to be this person.
“I don’t know what it is, but wouldn’t it be better to resolve it amicably through conversation? At this rate, the problem seems like it’ll only get bigger.”
“……”
“Do your members know about this?”
“No…”
“Try contacting them once.”
At Go Won’s words, Yusang bowed his head deeply and took out his phone. And for a long while, he poured out messages.
But the chat room saved as ‘Brand Newton’ had no replies. Not even from Nam Jungho, who always read messages first.
“……”
Yusang’s fingertips trembled unnaturally. Go Won turned his gaze away and pretended not to notice.
“Ha, I think this is the right place.”
Just then, footsteps were heard from outside again. Go Won reflexively turned up the speaker volume.
“I said it’s not. You know how much they fought on that radio show? And don’t mess with Go Won for no reason. It gets complicated if Baek Hanje or Kwon Taeyoung step in.”
“Ah, really. Jeong Yusang, that bastard thinks he’s actually a kid because we keep saying he’s cute, cute. If you’re a celebrity, you smile even if you don’t want to, and that’s how you make money.”
The sarcastic voices moved away again. The shoulders of the two people in the practice room, who had been extremely tense, also relaxed.
“…Sunbae-nim. Did you run away from a filming schedule?”
“No!”
“……”
In front of eyes that looked like they would immediately report his location to the managers, Yusang finally confessed the truth.
“The bastard who was a bully in middle school says he’s going to be an actor.”
“……?”
“So, to whitewash his past, pretend to be close with me, variety show, shit…”
“……”
“While living with the hyungs, I thought I’d gotten better, but I, I, just can’t do it…”
The unseemly trembling that started in his hands spread to his shoulders. Even without saying it, it was clearly revealed that Yusang had been the victim of school violence.
“Right now, …are you saying those people chased you to forcibly make you meet that bully?”
Yusang only nodded while exhaling wet breaths.
After a moment of silence, Go Won said.
“First, if you keep staying here, you’ll get caught eventually. Let’s move to somewhere safe now.”
“Wh-where?”
‘Why are you asking me that?’
Separate from Go Won’s thoughts, Jeong Yusang looked at Go Won with a desperate and anxious face.
Go Won quickly looked outside through the window.
“…I think we need to go out through the emergency stairs next to this. The hallway is dangerous because those people keep going back and forth.”
“……”
“Can you stand up?”
Yusang placed his hand on the wall and stood up. Go Won first stuck his head out the door to confirm there was no sign of people.
“Let’s go.”
Go Won led the way and opened the emergency exit’s iron door. Yusang quickly followed in through the open door.
With the extra baggage attached, Go Won pondered.
Their current location was the 8th floor of the building. It would be best to get out of the company, but if impossible, they had to find a safe place inside.
‘But why are they going this far?’
No matter what, to forcibly drag their own company’s artist to cover up the faults of another company’s actor.
‘They must have received money from the other agency.’
“……?”
An extremely familiar tone of voice echoed in his head.
He opened his eyes wide and looked around, but instead of the voice returning, a vibration sound came.
Yusang took out his phone. It was a call from ‘Super Leader Hyung.’
“Just a moment.”
Go Won covered Yusang’s phone with his hand. And he strained all his nerves.
“……?”
Fortunately, there was no sign of people around. That hallucination-like sound from earlier either.
“You can answer.”
“…What the… I’m already scared, why are you doing this…”
Yusang glanced at Go Won with wet eyes before bringing the phone to his ear.
“Hy-hyung.”
Rapid speech came through Yusang’s phone speaker. It was a sound tinged with worry.
The eyes that had been anxiously brimming with moisture finally became completely wet.
“I’m sorry… I, I, wanted to try to do well alone…, I wanted to help too…, I’m sorry, for not saying anything…”
“……”
Go Won waited for the call to end while looking around.
“Don’t be angry. No, it’s okay…”
A green emergency exit sign entered Go Won’s view.
Emergency exit.
A place to escape.
A different area from before.
“Yeah, hyung.”
“……”
And, hyung.
‘But do you really want to help that Newton maknae kid?’
“……!”
Go Won hesitated and then nodded.
Though it might be a voice his mind created like a mirage in the crisis situation.
It was true that just the thought of the existence called Baek Hanje brought relief.
“Ah.”
Then, the safest refuge in this place came to mind.
‘Hyung’s studio.’
A place just one floor down from here on the 8th floor.
‘Right, even if the CEO comes there, they can’t touch it.’
“!”
Then Jeong Yusang, who had finished the call, sniffled and raised his head.
“The hyungs and another manager hyung are coming to the company to pick me up.”
“……”
But Go Won couldn’t answer those words. No, he couldn’t say anything.
Baek Hanje sunbae-nim
Studio door lock password: 19750623
‘How?’
As if Baek Hanje knew about this situation…
But right now wasn’t the time to think about that. Faint footsteps were heard in the distance.
“Let’s go toward the 5th Division.”
If they hid in the studio with its thick soundproof doors firmly locked in two layers, they could buy time until the members came to pick up Yusang.
The two quietly went down one floor and opened the emergency stairs door. The building at a time when everyone had left work had almost no light.
But since it was a space he frequented second only to the practice room in the company, there was no difficulty finding the way even in darkness.
The moment he saw the familiar studio door, his mind relaxed on its own.
It was at the moment he touched the door lock.
Beep-
“Hey, over there!”
“……!”
The sound of roughly kicking off the floor came from beyond the hallway. It was close enough to get caught while entering the password.
‘Oh no.’
Ah, hyung!
In the midst of urgently running, the voice of Baek Hanje spreading through his mind was leisurely, which was frustrating.
“Stop right there!”
‘Run hard and hide well. 10 minutes will do.’
‘How…!’
They frantically went down the stairs and arrived at a floor he couldn’t identify.
Go Won panted for breath, then opened his eyes wide seeing the sign posted in front of the door.
“Shit, where did they go?”
“Wouldn’t it be better to just call him out after dawn?”
“No. We received something from that side, so we need to resolve it today. That rookie actor kid seems to have some backing too.”
Listening to the faint conversation, Go Won and Yusang stood pressed against the wall.
“Let’s search each room starting from this side.”
The moment flashlight beams rushed into the dim interior with a bursting sound, Go Won covered Yusang’s mouth.
