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The reactions to the occasional fan posts in the fan community were quite good. It was thanks to Yuho working himself to death and taking care of his body like his life depended on it for the past few years.
Even so, nothing changed the fact that he was an unpopular member of an idol group that had never even gotten first place.
“Yuho. Aren’t you going to the practice room?”
Knock knock. The person who spoke to Yuho along with the knocking sound was Jueon, the oldest hyung.
“Ah. I’m going. I was just about to leave.”
Yuho hurriedly shut down his computer and grabbed his bag before heading out.
When he had a lot on his mind, nothing beat practice.
* * *
“Oh. Seon Yuho. You could be the main dancer now, couldn’t you?”
Jueon gave a thumbs up with both hands and praised Yuho as he watched his dancing skills, which were now on par with any group’s main dancer.
As expected of 7SPOT’s self-esteem fairy, Hwang-hyung. Yuho was impressed by Jueon’s unconditional love and decided to tease him.
“It’s all thanks to the members’ affection and attention. Especially Jueon-hyung’s love played a big part.”
“Ah. Are you deflecting credit to me again? It’s all the result of Yuho-ssi’s hard work.”
“Not at all. These are results I couldn’t have completed without you, hyung.”
“Ah. Then let’s cleanly conclude that it’s all thanks to me.”
The two continued their self-congratulations with polite greetings and even a handshake. Having been together for a long time, their back-and-forth flowed as naturally as water.
“Seriously. If it weren’t for you, hyung, I couldn’t have endured.”
Yuho removed all playfulness and expressed his gratitude to Jueon. The two had an extraordinary bond as comrades who had struggled with dancing and as members competing for the lowest popularity in the group.
“Not Inhan?”
“That guy’s effectiveness wore off quite a while ago.”
“Wow. Inhan would be hurt if he heard that.”
The jokes ended there. To just brush it off playfully—five years had already passed and there was no hope of things getting better.
“What’s going to happen to us?”
Yuho threw the question at Jueon.
It was a question without a subject, but he expected the meaning was sufficiently conveyed.
“The hiatus will get longer. There might not even be a next album.”
Though only one week had passed since their comeback, enough time had gone by to see the results regarding the album.
First-week album sales had dropped by about ten thousand copies, and their ranking on major music charts was in the mid-to-low range. From the third day onward, they fell off the charts.
The numbers were even worse than the last album. Anyone could see that 7SPOT was a group in decline.
This is why they say stick together and you die, split up and you live. Yuho let out a deep sigh.
“It seems like the company wants to release a unit album with just Inhan and Yeomin?”
Jueon told Yuho in a calm tone. It was the first time hearing about it, but Yuho’s reaction was also dry.
“That might sell better.”
“You know I originally dreamed of being an R&B singer, right?”
“Hyung. I played guitar in the band club.”
“Maybe we should have just formed a band together.”
“Yeah.”
Jueon and Yuho’s laments had noticeably increased lately. Even though they thought they shouldn’t, things didn’t go as they intended.
“But hyung, you have three OST songs.”
“That’s right. Though all three of those songs are OSTs for dramas with Yeomin and Inhan. I wish people would recognize our Yuho’s good singing too.”
“They say ambiguous talent is the cruelest.”
“What ambiguous talent? Who else has learning ability as good as yours?”
Through past experiences, Yuho had learned that being average at everything actually meant not being exceptionally good at anything.
If I’d known it would be like this, I should have joined a dance club instead of the band club in high school.
“If I held a solo concert, how many people would come?”
“A lot would go. Because Inhan would go to watch.”
“Ah, hyung.”
“That’s also a blessing. Having a guy like Inhan as your fan.”
“How is Inhan my fan?”
“Jung Inhan is totally your fanboy. Sometimes he’s worse than the actual fans.”
As Jueon said, the intensity of Inhan’s unusual behavior toward Yuho was getting worse day by day.
Up until two years ago, he often stuck with Yeomin, even if just because of company directives, but now he completely ignored whatever anyone said and followed Yuho around everywhere.
Thanks to that, the NanHyo shippers, who had been an extreme minority, were running wild with overflowing content, while the major NanYeom shippers, unable to forget their past glory, were currently beating down the NanHyo shippers.
Of course, it wasn’t all bad. It was only natural that fans would also notice the member their bias obsessively liked, and as a result, the number of Inhan’s fans who placed Yuho as their second or third bias was steadily increasing.
“He’s neither a fan nor a fanboy, okay? He’d naturally go even if you held a concert, hyung.”
“He’d go to my concert once but would go to all sessions of your concert, wouldn’t he?”
“He wouldn’t do that, okay? Because I wouldn’t let him come.”
“Then Inhan would cry again because he’s upset.”
He wouldn’t cry, but he’d have a face full of dissatisfaction, lips pressed tightly together, eyes downcast.
Unable to even say a word of complaint.
That image was so clear that Yuho decided to postpone holding a solo concert for quite a while.
What am I even thinking? It was an impossible fantasy to begin with.
“Contract renewal will be difficult, won’t it?”
“We’re in crisis starting with the very next album.”
“Still, if contract renewal talk comes up, Yuho, will you do it?”
Jueon’s question gave Yuho a lot to think about.
Among groups that debuted in the same year, there were already groups that had completed their contract renewals early. Of course, those groups were at least second-tier with solid fandoms.
In 7SPOT’s case, the contract renewal status was still unclear.
“Would they even renew? With results like this.”
“They might make an offer to hold onto the popular members.”
Jueon’s words made sense, but Yuho saw the possibility as very low.
He had even reached the conclusion that being the first to step back in times like this was the way to reduce the burden on the popular members.
“You don’t want to?”
“No. It’s not that I don’t want to.”
Yuho hesitated for a moment at Jueon’s question. Then he soon conveyed his honest feelings to Jueon.
“I won’t do it.”
“Why?”
“Because it feels like I’d be holding back the other members.”
At Yuho’s words, Jueon nodded with an ‘I knew it’ reaction. Yuho added more.
“Even if we change companies, we can still come together as a group, right? If possible, I hope everyone goes to better companies. Including you, of course, hyung.”
“Inhan would be really hurt if he knew.”
If the question of who would have the hardest time if 7SPOT disbanded were thrown out, the public would easily guess it would be the unpopular members, but those close to them thought differently.
Inhan had come up from the provinces at the young age of fourteen and had grown up constantly watching his hyungs’ backs.
For him, who had been separated from his family and couldn’t properly experience his school years, his hyungs were his family, his world, his everything.
But Yuho thought Inhan needed to learn to stand on his own now.
Only then would Yuho be able to let go of Inhan with peace of mind.
“Even if he’s hurt, it can’t be helped. Reality is cold.”
Yuho had felt that fact keenly over the past five years. And he thought he needed to slowly start figuring out how to survive alone from now on. After all, life is solitary.
That’s how Yuho was preparing to distance himself from Inhan.
* * *
Yuho’s golden hair scattered here and there following his dance moves. It was because the dance moves were so intense, despite having sprayed on a ton of hairspray when getting his hair done.
After the intense choreography of the chorus passed and they entered the dance break section, Inhan’s brief solo dance began. Next came Yuho and Yeomin’s pair dance, and with Taylor’s solo dance at the end, they transitioned back to the full group choreography, and the song reached its highlight section.
With the music subdued, Yuho’s delicate voice filled the stage, and immediately after, Jueon’s high note, befitting his reputation as a reliable vocalist, burst forth satisfyingly.
Following Inhan’s last verse, the stage ended.
It was the last music show stage for their 8th mini album.
“We killed it on stage today.”
After finishing the stage and heading to the waiting room, Raulie said smugly. Inhan, who was next to him, added his comment.
“Jueon-hyung was about to pierce the ceiling today.”
“I thought I saw heaven’s gates opening. It was so sacred.”
Yeomin continued the joke, and the younger members’ chatter began.
“These guys are exaggerating again. Acting like they didn’t also kill it today.”
Jueon, who didn’t even have the energy left to speak, scolded the younger line without even looking back.
Jueon was walking ahead with Taylor, and Yuho, who was at the very back, followed the members while fanning himself with his hand against the heat.
And without fail, Inhan turned around looking for Yuho.
“Hyung. Are you okay?”
Inhan stopped walking and spoke to Yuho with a smile curving his eyes. Yuho smiled back and answered.
“Yeah. I’m okay.”
When Yuho approached where Inhan was standing, Inhan placed his hand on one of Yuho’s shoulders. And he also joked with Yuho.
“I thought your body was going to break during the bridge choreography, hyung.”
“You were no joke either.”
“Ah. Was it obvious? I tried upping my energy by about 30 percent.”
“It was totally obvious. The ONESPOTs’ reactions were different from usual.”
“Ah. Really?”
“What are you saying. You felt it too.”
It was a continuation of mediocre days. Whether he’d become immune to unrequited love or his emotional fluctuations had decreased because he’d matured a bit, Yuho and Inhan’s relationship was maintaining a lukewarm temperature.
Of course, it was an evaluation made entirely from Yuho’s perspective.
“How was it for you, hyung?”
“Huh?”
“I’m asking how it was for you watching me perform today, hyung.”
Inhan asked while making eye contact with Yuho. Yuho chose his words roughly and answered.
“You were cool. Truly 7SPOT’s main dancer.”
“Ah, really? My hard work paid off.”
At Yuho’s words, Inhan smiled as if pleased. He shrugged his shoulders proudly as if it were some great compliment. And he said to Yuho.
“You were like a jewel, hyung.”
Watching Inhan deliver a jewel-like comment with a jewel-like face, Yuho took a deep breath. Ah. This is really a foul. Even though he thought he was okay now, Inhan still shook Yuho’s heart like this from time to time. More than anything, Inhan’s handsome face was guilty.
