# Chapter 70
“Ah. You bastard!”
Though I glared at Han Sijin while saying this, I wondered who I should really blame.
After all, I was the one who turned on the switch, I was the one who wrapped my arms around his neck, and I was even the one who wrapped my legs around Han Sijin’s waist.
Yet despite my unfair cursing, Sijin didn’t even protest about being wronged. He just smiled with his eyes curved prettily, planted a quick kiss on my forehead, and got up.
His perfect naked body made me think he looked like a sculpture come to life whenever he moved.
Where on earth did he get such mental strength from?
Sijin maintained his physique by exercising frighteningly hard instead of eating well with me.
And with that impressive strength, he tormented me until dawn the next day.
Though the ecstasy Sijin gave me was extremely satisfying, once he gets going, he doesn’t think about stopping. People would probably throw stones at me if I said it was difficult.
While Sijin turned on the oven to bake bread and returned, my eyes didn’t leave him for a moment.
“Ah. You’re pretty.”
“I told you to say I’m handsome!”
“I say this because I want to hear this response. I find it so cute when you get all flustered like this, hyung.”
“Do you actually think of me as your hyung? You call me hyung, but it seems like you don’t take me seriously at all.”
“That’s not true. I don’t think of you as trivial. I think you’re cute and lovable.”
His expression wasn’t frightened at all.
He probably knew I was just trying to intimidate him.
That was a big change too.
Before, I had to explain everything to him, but now it seemed like trust had naturally developed without me having to say anything.
I lay face down with my face buried in the pillow while looking at him, and Sijin approached, sat on the edge of the bed, and took my hand.
His long, slender fingers overlapped with mine.
Sijin looked down at me and kissed each of my fingers one by one.
His sensual lips parted, and his red tongue licked my wrist, making my body curl up.
I thought the heat had just subsided, but feeling it rise again at that sensation, I felt completely helpless before Han Sijin’s magic.
I always kneel too easily before his seduction, but now I didn’t particularly feel any sense of defeat.
It’s more like I quickly accept it with a “well, that’s just how I am.”
Still, thinking that I couldn’t waste my rare day off like this, I held onto my thread of reason.
“Sing for me. Han Sijin.”
“A song? Which one?”
“That one. December.”
“Ha… I didn’t want to do this because I knew this would happen. Did you fall for me after hearing me sing?”
“What are you saying? I fell for you long before that, you know? Since before you could even sing properly.”
“What is this? It feels like a deal, but also not a deal, so ambiguous.”
Even as he said this, he stood up, backed away a few steps, and took position.
“Sijin… Ah. Let’s cover below your waist. You shouldn’t sing while dangling like that, right?”
“Huh. Why? I’m Crop Five, you know. Basically, I can’t sing without my members being properly assembled.”
“Is that your member?”
“Yes. Even if I can’t bring all four, I must have at least one.”
The fact that I was bickering with Han Sijin about this was embarrassing enough.
And then his song suddenly began.
The opening part of December.
The part that Seo Irun had performed perfectly and received praise from many people.
Listening to Sijin sing that part comfortably, I thought he had raised the key.
‘If he does it like this, what will he do later on?’
But as Sijin’s song progressed, I realized I had been wrong.
‘No way? Impossible.’
I tried to record it with my smartphone, but Sijin, seeming to notice what I was trying to do, came over and grabbed my hand.
“This is only for hyung. So listen alone.”
He rapidly spat out those words like rap and naturally moved on to the next part.
He could do it all along but deliberately didn’t?
Why?
While I watched Sijin with amazement, he perfectly performed December from start to finish like no one else could.
There wasn’t any strain at all until the end, and his breathing remained steady.
And it wasn’t like he missed the emotions either.
“Sijin. This makes no sense. What happened to you?”
“I practiced like crazy. Without you around, practice actually went really well. When you were here, I hated practicing because I wanted to play with you, but during the concert, I couldn’t see you and had nothing to do, so I had nothing left but practice. So I think my previous inability to sing well was all your fault, hyung.”
“That doesn’t… that doesn’t explain why you couldn’t sing well before?”
Sijin burst into laughter.
As if wondering how long I was going to milk that topic.
“But why didn’t you let me record? You don’t want others to hear?”
“Yes. I don’t like standing out alone. I think it’s best to take on my part and complete it within Crop Five.”
His determination not to reveal that he could handle all parts by himself was impressive.
It was good to see that he found such satisfaction in Crop Five, but on the other hand, I felt sad wondering if he was hesitant about standing on his own.
Knowing Sijin’s capabilities, I thought perhaps my job should be to help him try many things and produce results.
But Sijin smiled as if he knew exactly what I was thinking.
“Hyung. I think I could become a massive universal star on my own. You know, there are things you can know without having to prove them. I feel like I was born to become a massive universal star. But it doesn’t mean much. I’m just happy now, and I don’t necessarily need to become a massive universal star.”
“Really?”
“Why, hyung? Do you want to be the manager of a massive universal star?”
Sijin’s expression became serious.
It was a face that suggested he wouldn’t want it for himself, but he might consider it if it was for giving me that title.
I found it funny that Sijin and I were having this conversation with such serious faces.
But if you asked whether what Sijin said was absurd, it absolutely wasn’t.
He was capable of it and fully qualified.
And it seemed like if he just wanted it, he really could become a massive universal star, and many people were already saying such things.
“Hmm?”
As if it wasn’t just a casual comment but something he really wanted an answer to, he asked again.
“No. I just want you. Just Han Sijin. I think I prefer if you’re Han Sijin of Crop Five.”
A satisfied smile spread across his face.
“I think it worked out well. This is just right. This level of success. If I wasn’t in Crop Five and if Crop Five hadn’t achieved this much success, I might have been digging a tunnel to be by your side.”
“Shouldn’t you still dig a little bit?”
At my words, Sijin stared blankly at me for a moment and then burst into loud laughter.
“Hyung. Do you really think so?”
“Yes. I think it’s right. Is your opinion different?”
Sijin laughed refreshingly and shook his head.
“I want to say no, but I can’t deny it.”
Then he approached me without hesitation.
“Okay. You’re right, hyung. So I need to imprint my irreplaceable charm on you.”
“Uh… I don’t think that’s necessary. I already know that.”
But those words couldn’t stop Sijin.
As always, the problem was me.
I should have either pushed him away or pulled him closer, choosing just one, but contrary to my words, I already had my arms wrapped around his neck.
* * *
The rumors about the ‘God Ki Hyunshin Cover Contest’ spread quickly.
Even before it was officially announced, it heated up online communities with tremendous firepower, and the synergy between Crop Five and Ki Hyunshin was beyond imagination.
Seeing how things progressed in reality, it was confirmed that the intersection between Crop Five and Ki Hyunshin wasn’t very large.
Their fan bases didn’t overlap much.
This meant that the synergy that could be generated from their combination was limitless.
As talk about the ‘God Ki Hyunshin Cover Contest’ spread, people showed tremendous focus.
There was a lot of discussion in advance about who would participate.
And there was also talk about which songs the participants might cover.
So when Ki Hyunshin himself mentioned it during a broadcast with Crop Five on their channel, top stars who claimed to be Ki Hyunshin’s fans frequently appeared.
Ki Hyunshin seemed to become increasingly comfortable matching rhythms with them on Crop Five’s personal broadcasts.
Did Crop Five really like Ki Hyunshin that much?
The members had mentioned that they wanted to treat him especially well after learning I was a fan of Ki Hyunshin, and it seemed that feeling was being conveyed to Ki Hyunshin.
Other junior singers also said they liked him and respected him.
Even if that were true, actually talking together and creating a comfortable atmosphere is a separate issue, but they had good chemistry with each other.
