“Chase! You have to go on stage!”
At that moment, fortunately, AVN’s manager called Chase. Chase-ssi, whose Korean name was Jo Taejin-ssi, kept huffing and glared at Doha instead of Sehyun who had disappeared, then turned on his heel.
Phew, that’s a relief. I thought the sparks might fly this way.
“Um……”
Doha, who saw Chase disappear, carefully spoke up.
“Eden. Are you okay?”
“Sehyun…… Why is he acting like that?”
He looked dumbfounded. Well, that made sense. To anyone watching, it looked like someone who came to catch a cheating lover, getting angry saying ‘why are you being friendly with that person!’ and leaving. What kind of imagination were the people whispering in the hallway having…….
Doha swallowed his dry saliva. Seeing regressor Sehyun lose his reason and charge in like that, it was clear that Chase, no, the human named Jo Taejin was no ordinary bad connection.
‘Is he a druggie?’
Did he pour something bad into Eden? Or maybe…… there’s a deeper story.
Thinking about it quietly, he felt that Sehyun wasn’t the type to be reckless enough to do something useless. Especially since he was someone who treasured OnX’s team image more than anything in the world.
“Sehyun probably has some reason for it.”
“A reason?”
A retort flew out immediately.
“……Or maybe not.”
Let’s not take sides for no reason. What kind of mess is this from the middle?
“But did you know that person originally?”
For someone he had just brushed past once, they seemed too close.
“He’s my distant relative. We’re from the same hometown too. We weren’t that close in Seattle, but after coming to Korea and living as idols, we contacted each other occasionally.”
“Ah.”
An acquaintance from before, and a blood relation at that. It was a deeper connection than he thought. Then even the great Lim Sehyun wouldn’t find it easy to separate them.
“Let’s go back for now.”
Eden headed to the waiting room.
“I need the bathroom.”
Now, regardless of what was between those two, this side was urgent first. If he didn’t want a catastrophic article saying an OnX member peed himself in the hallway.
* * *
Doha, who had refreshingly finished his business, returned to the waiting room with light steps. Creak, he opened the waiting room door. The air inside the waiting room, which would normally be noisily doing final run-throughs, had dropped to below zero.
‘What’s with this atmosphere?’
Yunbeom and Haram were stuck to opposite ends of the waiting room, only repeating innocent stretches. It was a desperate gesture that clearly said ‘we don’t know anything.’
And the two people in question.
Eden was sitting in the chair in front of the mirror wearing headphones, staring intently at his face without moving. It was a strong declaration of will that he wouldn’t listen even if anyone spoke to him.
Sehyun had buried himself even deeper than before in the single-person sofa in the very corner of the waiting room. His appearance of biting his nails fiercely with his head down looked precarious like a volcano about to erupt at any moment.
And awkwardly left in the middle between them was Doha, who had just returned from the bathroom.
Haram and Yunbeom looked at Doha as if telling him to somehow do something about it.
You’re asking me to do what you couldn’t do yourselves……?
‘……Ah, seriously.’
Unable to do this or that and only rolling his head, Doha pressed his forehead.
‘Because you’re the leader. Only at times like this am I the leader. Is the leader here to mediate things like this? Hmm, I guess that does seem right.’
Doha washed his face dry. They had to go on stage in just 30 minutes, but the team atmosphere was like this. At this rate, they’d be lucky not to make mistakes on stage, let alone getting first place.
“Um……”
Doha opened his mouth to somehow settle the situation.
“Guys. We have a stage soon……”
Doha, who had been speaking up to here, thought. Should I just let it crash and burn like this? That might be the happy ending.
Just then.
Knock knock.
With a light knocking sound, the waiting room door opened. All the members tensely looked toward the door. They wondered what was happening this time.
“Hello. I stopped by to cheer you on.”
An unbelievably gentle and welcome face. It was Seo Yungyeom. He came in holding snack boxes full of sweet smells in both hands.
“Oh? Sunbae-nim!”
Haram and Yunbeom, who had been stiff, jumped up as if they had met their savior. It was the same for Doha.
“I was passing by and saw OnX’s waiting room. I thought everyone’s sugar levels would be dropping, so I bought some donuts.”
Yungyeom put down the snack boxes on the table with his characteristically gentle smile.
“Wow, thank you! We’ll eat well!”
The atmosphere was instantly ventilated. Yungyeom’s appearance was like a single ray of sunlight pouring through a cloudy sky.
Yungyeom quickly scanned the members and discovered Sehyun buried in the corner radiating a dark aura, Eden frozen with headphones on, and Doha standing blankly.
His gaze quickly scanned the waiting room. He tilted his head for a moment, then spoke.
“Why is the atmosphere like this? Did you fight?”
One hundred dan of perceptiveness. Yungyeom immediately caught the strange current.
“Uh…… well, there was a bit of a situation.”
At Doha’s excuse, Yungyeom nodded. He had his usual smile on his lips.
“You can get sensitive before a competition. The bigger the stage, the more so. At times like that, sweets are the best.”
Yungyeom opened the donut box to lighten the atmosphere.
“Thank you.”
“Wow! That looks delicious!”
“Getting to eat donuts bought by Yungyeom sunbae-nim too, isn’t this something you live long to see?”
Haram and Yunbeom quickly approached near the donut box and exaggeratedly continued the conversation. Doha picked up a donut and brought one each to Eden and Sehyun.
“Why come all the way to someone else’s waiting room to be meddlesome?”
Sehyun muttered in a voice only loud enough for Doha to hear. It seemed he didn’t like that Yungyeom came here now.
This precious brat.
Doha shook his head from side to side.
Meanwhile, Yungyeom was giving encouragement and support to Haram and Yunbeom, saying he saw the rehearsal and it was so cool, he’s looking forward to today’s stage, etc. Looking at it like this, he was a nice senior who loved his juniors. He could have good character even while standing at the peak of success. Well, maybe that’s why he succeeded?
As the sweet donuts went in and they received encouragement from a great senior, the members’ expressions softened considerably. Eden also took off his headphones and munched on the donut, showing a somewhat calmed appearance.
“Then, fighting today too!”
When Yungyeom cheerfully greeted and waved his hand, the OnX members jumped up and gave him a 90-degree bow.
Yungyeom left the waiting room. Then here and there, they exhaled the breaths they had been holding.
“Hey, do it in moderation, guys. Seriously.”
Yunbeom, who couldn’t hold back anymore, said with a frown. Then Sehyun sighed and spoke.
“Sorry, hyung.”
In the end, Sehyun apologized to Eden.
Doha also thought it was right for Sehyun to apologize first. Lim Sehyun surely had some reason, but Eden, who knew nothing and was caught up in Sehyun’s sudden action, would naturally be confused.
It’s hard even when you know what’s happening, so how absurd must Eden be feeling…….
“Anyway, let’s pull ourselves together and do this.”
Sehyun, who had been disturbed for a moment, returned to his original tension.
“Right. Let’s watch the rehearsal video one last time. You know where we made mistakes, right?”
All that was left now was to do well in the competition.
* * *
Seo Yungyeom, who had gone out to the hallway, looked at the firmly closed door of OnX’s waiting room. He thought of the OnX members beyond it. Especially Sehyun, who had been watching him sensitively.
“Hmm……”
He smiled as if finding it interesting. He was someone who smiled habitually, but when he saw the OnX members, a genuine smile would come to mind. For some reason, his interest kept going there. Was it because of a specific person?
Just as Yungyeom was lost in thought for a moment, someone recognized him and bowed at the waist to greet him.
“Yungyeom-nim! I’m a fan!”
“Yes. Thank you.”
A passing staff member asked him for a handshake, and Yungyeom responded with a friendly smile.
* * *
“Good work!”
Bang! As soon as the EDM beat close to a roar stopped and the stage lighting went dark, the AVN members came down to the backstage drenched in sweat.
The members scattered as they received water handed to them by staff. Mixed with the leisure of the first-place team and the excitement of having executed the stage perfectly, the entire backstage heated up with their adrenaline.
“Hey, are you okay when you slipped during the landing earlier?”
“Yeah. Ah, maybe I’m not fully sober yet……”
“Get it together. Seriously.”
“It’s because of that bastard.”
Chase thought his mistake on stage was all because of Lim Sehyun. Who does he think he is to say what to a senior? Disgusting? Just because he’s doing a bit well these days, does he think he can do whatever he wants? Just thinking of that pretty-boy face made his insides boil even now.
How could he screw that bastard over to feel satisfied? That was all he could think about.
“Good work.”
“Good work! Thank you!”
People were greeting each other as always, but for some reason, it felt like their gazes held contempt for what happened in the hallway earlier. It felt like they were laughing at how he could be disrespected like that by a junior.
Fuck, fuck!
He should have punched that face right then! He still couldn’t suppress his anger.
“Coming through.”
“Careful, careful!”
Chase discovered staff members pushing a cart containing props while setting up the stage set.
His gaze touched the oriental-style props.
“Excuse me.”
“Yes? Ah, Chase-ssi! Your stage was really cool!”
The youngest staff member was startled and greeted him.
Chase let that greeting go in one ear and out the other, gesturing with his chin at the cart.
“This, is it OnX’s props?”
