When Kwon Isoo’s gaze fixed on him, Do Yeonjae apologized with a gentle smile.
“Ah, sorry. You really looked like you seriously didn’t want to do it.”
“…Then would I want to do it?”
Kwon Isoo, who had been staring at that smile, soon turned his head elsewhere. Even during this, the masked man just stood there silently without answering.
Since the advertisements Kwon Isoo filmed were mostly for atmospheric products like perfume or cars, that statement wasn’t incomprehensible either. If it were up to him, he wanted to agree with that, but… Do Yeonjae decided to obediently accept the reality that had come crashing down on him.
“Doing this kind of thing won’t ruin your dignity. Let’s just do it quickly.”
“Are you serious?”
“Yeah.”
When situations arose where he had no choice but to do aegyo, Do Yeonjae was the type to accept it faster than expected. Since debuting as the group’s maknae, he’d done aegyo here and there so much that he’d built up a certain tolerance.
More than anything, they only had 31 minutes left to be stubborn right now.
Leaving the frowning Kwon Isoo alone, Do Yeonjae replayed the video and began following the movements with his eyes. Cutely shake both arms, then stick out tongue slightly with a V sign and wink, then puff up cheeks fully and make hand hearts on both cheeks… after all sorts of chaos… at the end, look at each other, stick out lips fully, and make a flower holder pose.
“…….”
I think my tolerance just got reset. Do Yeonjae thought with a face that had suddenly become overwhelmed. So that’s why he didn’t run away and just stood there. Because this can’t be finished in 1 or 2 minutes…
But the longer you drag out this kind of thing, the more awkward the atmosphere becomes. Having quickly memorized all the movements, Do Yeonjae declared with a resolute face.
“Let’s finish in 5 minutes.”
…In less than 5 minutes, Do Yeonjae had collapsed.
“…….”
Ah, I really endured everything.
He endured sticking out his tongue, endured winking nonstop like someone magnesium deficient… but looking at Kwon Isoo face-to-face with lips stuck out making a flower holder pose—he really absolutely couldn’t do it. Kwon Isoo looked down disdainfully at Yeonjae, whose face had turned bright red as he sat down on the floor, and threw out criticism.
“You said doing this kind of thing won’t ruin your dignity.”
“Not dignity… I think I’ll be ruined.”
Do Yeonjae answered with a strained voice.
At this rate, I’ll develop aegyo trauma.
He’d done all sorts of trending challenges since debut, but this was by far the most difficult of them all. Where on earth did the PD find this? The video length was only 10 seconds, but it felt like 100 seconds experientially.
But for someone who complained so much, Kwon Isoo seemed to be doing it quite shamelessly well. If there was a problem, it was his extremely dry face, but anyway, he did everything he was supposed to.
Whew, I can’t be the only one causing trouble. Let’s try again. Having calmed his mind with deep breaths, Do Yeonjae stood up.
“I’ll try again.”
This was the fifth attempt.
The masked man who nodded gestured with his phone that filming had started. Another staff member played the music with proper timing from the side. The cute, lively, cheerful background music filled the spacious practice room.
– Lovely lovely boy ♬♩♪ Funny funny day ♬♩♪ Oh my joy! ♪ Shiny shiny star ♬♩♪
V sign… wink… hand heart… all done. Now all that remained was the flower holder. For this part, Do Yeonjae decided to empty his head. Don’t think about anything. No thoughts at all…
Soon after, his eyes met directly with Kwon Isoo making the flower holder pose. Do Yeonjae endured the impulse to immediately bolt from the spot by gritting his teeth. Then with the mindset of attaining enlightenment, he stuck his lips way out. No, what I’m sticking out right now isn’t lips but a lump of rubber attached to my face, rubber…
“…….”
But Kwon Isoo was staring down intently at that lump of rubber. His indifferently fixed gaze was quite blatant to the point where it seemed like his facial muscles might spasm.
Why is he staring like that?
When on earth does the song end? He rolled his eyes stealthily. Just when his patience was reaching its limit, the song stopped. Do Yeonjae stepped back hesitantly to quickly secure his personal space, then looked at the masked man.
He seemed satisfied as he gave a thumbs up. We succeeded… Haah. Kwon Isoo, who had seemed fairly okay, also seemed to have lost strength as he collapsed against him and rested his face on his shoulder.
“The hint, please.”
Yeonjae, who tilted slightly from the weight, requested the hint with a tired face. The song had clearly ended, but it seemed like “lovely lovely boy funny funny day” kept playing on repeat in his head.
The masked man suddenly grabbed his stomach and repeated the same words in a blunt voice,
“I’m hungry from practicing, how about dak-galbi? I’ll treat.”
“…Pardon?”
“I’m hungry from practicing, how about dak-galbi? I’ll treat.”
Do Yeonjae, who didn’t understand what he meant, narrowed his brow. Dak-galbi? He glanced down at Kwon Isoo’s face, but he was just frowning, seeming equally clueless.
“Could you give us a more detailed hint?”
“I’m hungry from practicing, how about dak-galbi? I’ll treat.”
Haah… it’s not working. We need to figure it out quickly… Just as he was holding his forehead with a headache, a realization suddenly struck him and he raised his head with a jolt. If it’s dak-galbi.
“It’s Vocal Room 707!”
Puzzlement appeared in Kwon Isoo’s eyes. He straightened his back and asked.
“707?”
“If you take bus 707 from here and go just one stop, there’s a famous dak-galbi restaurant. I secretly went there with Ihyun hyung before without the company knowing.”
Hyung and I ordered 5 servings of dak-galbi and added fried rice twice. Moved by the taste, the autograph I carefully made should still be stuck in the center of the restaurant. After that autograph spread on SNS, it got marked as a ‘RAYEON Foodies Certified Restaurant’ and became a holy site that RayIts frequently visit.
After hearing Do Yeonjae’s explanation, Kwon Isoo made an expression that seemed to say ‘Anyway, that foodie bastard….’ Regardless, Do Yeonjae bowed to the masked man and hurriedly dragged Isoo out of the practice room, saying it must be there.
As Do Yeonjae deduced, they could find the card under the speaker in Vocal Room 707. This card was [Bass].
After finding the third card, 18 minutes remained.
Now they just needed to find the bass… the floors where cards hadn’t appeared yet were the 5th floor cafe/conference room and the 3rd floor company cafeteria.
Where should we go? Though it seemed leisurely at a glance, if they got stuck with something like another ‘Friendship Challenge,’ time could be devoured in a flash, so they had to decide well.
“Should we go to the cafeteria? We already looked over the 5th floor earlier.”
The floor they’d examined most thoroughly before NPCs were deployed was the 5th floor. They’d looked carefully not only at each conference room but even every cafe seat. So Yeonjae’s opinion to go to the 3rd floor they hadn’t visited yet was reasonable, but Isoo had a somewhat uneasy expression.
“No, let’s go to the 5th floor first.”
“…Why?”
“Just a feeling. I think it’ll be on the 5th floor.”
“Really? Hmm…”
“Let’s go to the 5th floor and find the masked person first, and if it seems like it’ll take long, we’ll go down then.”
After thinking for a moment, Do Yeonjae nodded, saying okay. Though he didn’t quite understand his reasoning, he decided to trust the genius producer’s intuition once.
If something like another ‘Friendship Challenge’ came up like Kwon Isoo said, they could go to the 3rd floor then.
As soon as the elevator door opened on arriving at the 5th floor, Yeonjae doubted his eyes. A masked man was inside the cafe wearing an apron, pretending to make coffee.
The concept is really thorough…
Yeonjae, who let out a hollow laugh, approached close to the side of the counter and knocked on the table.
“I’d like to order.”
When he played along appropriately, the masked man turned his head to look this way. He picked up a sign.
What’s the total price of the following menu? 💝
※No cheating with the menu board, one chance only.
Iced Americano (shot added)☕+Marshmallow Strawberry Pop Pop🍓 Latte+Honey Bomb🍯 Bread+Cheese Slice Cake🧀+Choco Loaded❤ Muffin
- 14,700 won 2. 15,200 won 3. 15,500 won 4. 15,700 won 5. 16,000 won
“Ah…”
Seeing the flashy menu names, Do Yeonjae made a dismayed expression. He’d never tried anything except iced Americano.
“First one should be 2,300 won. When I always buy it with two extra shots, it was 2,800 won. Um, the rest…”
Since it was the company cafe, he figured it would be cheaper than other franchises, but he had no idea beyond that. It was multiple choice so he could guess well, but with only one chance, it was risky.
The menu board was only visible if you went to the front of the counter, and the kiosk was even farther away, so cheating was completely impossible. To be honest, he’d just learned for the first time that there was a menu called Marshmallow Strawberry Pop Pop Latte… Just as Yeonjae, who made a groaning sound, was about to somehow rack his brain, Kwon Isoo’s low voice rang out.
“Number 2.”
“…Huh?”
At the confident voice, Yeonjae turned his head. Kwon Isoo answered with an expressionless face.
“From the second one in order: 3,200 won, 4,300 won, 3,400 won, 2,000 won. Combined with the 2,300 won you mentioned, it’s 15,200 won.”
“…….”
Then he frowned seeing Do Yeonjae with his mouth open.
“Why are you looking at me like that? If you really can’t believe it,”
“No, it’s not that I can’t believe it…”
Do Yeonjae somehow swallowed and asked in a tense voice.
“Have you tried everything here? Marshmallow Strawberry Pop Pop Latte and… Honey Bomb Bread, Cheese Cake, Choco Loaded Muffin?”
“…….”
When he listed the flashy menu names again, Kwon Isoo’s mouth clamped shut. It was an expression as if he’d just realized how he must have looked getting the prices right without hesitation.
