Next time I’ll treat you to a delicious meal.
He met up saying he’d treat him to coffee but ended up getting treated instead. Regret flashed that maybe he shouldn’t have done that when he even brought Hyuk along, but there was nothing Doha could do when told the bill had already been paid.
He talked with Yungyeom for about 2 hours. Most of it was talk about Battle Crown. He thought they’d had an enjoyable conversation without crossing the line, but damn Lim Sehyun’s thoughts seemed different.
“Why, what, why those eyes again?”
Every time Doha touched his phone, Sehyun with flounder eyes clung to him.
“What exactly is your problem? Lack of affection? Just psycho?”
“Are you asking yourself?”
Ah, the back of my head.
At Sehyun’s answer, Doha’s blood pressure rose thinking, is this what MZ these days is like? Actually, strictly speaking, Lim Sehyun isn’t even one of the recent ones.
“Puberty?”
Why is someone who even regressed acting like this?
“Do you like Seo Yungyeom?”
Now he’s boldly dropping the sunbae-nim honorific altogether.
“Don’t you like him?”
“What does that have to do with me?”
“Then what does it have to do with me!”
It was enough to drive him crazy and make him jump. Before they knew it, the two had arrived in front of Sehyun’s studio. Doha wondered again why they ended up here and not at the dorm.
Did this bastard plan all this?
“Since we’re here, listen to our edited recording before you go.”
“I can listen at home too!”
Home! Home! I said I want to go home. Home!
“It’s still far from sunset, what home? When this is over, I’ll buy you something delicious.”
“Do you think of me as some kind of keyring?”
“Is there a human who follows a keyring to drink coffee?”
“Let’s not talk.”
Today’s Lim Sehyun was somehow strange. Just when he thought things had been quiet lately, what button got pressed now?
“And move your hand.”
Why is his body so close? His arm kept sticking on his shoulder.
“Yeah, yeah.”
It started again. Pretending not to understand while hearing.
* * *
The results of the second competition came out. The results were 1st place OnX, 2nd place AVN, 3rd place Crash, 4th place Blaze, 5th place Deep Signal, 6th place D.N.X.
Checking the results, Lim Sehyun laughed like the world was ending.
Doha thought.
He’s not happy about getting 1st place. He’s in a good mood because he beat AVN.
“Ah, it feels so refreshing!”
As expected, Lim Sehyun was showing a slightly different aspect from the typical joy of victory.
“The camera is rolling.”
It was to the point where Doha had to stop Sehyun, who always managed the members, in reverse.
Sehyun received the card given by the production team. Was it the 1st place privilege? With a rustling sound, paper came out of the envelope.
[3rd Competition / Song Swap. The 1st place team can take a song from the desired group and can also decide which group’s song other groups will perform.]
The 1st place privilege was quite interesting. Can take the song of a desired team? Plus can decide which team’s song other teams will sing?
“Hmm……”
“It’s difficult.”
What if we get cursed for picking a song they don’t like for no reason?
“Should we do a ladder game?”
“Does everyone have a song they want?”
“Hmm, shouldn’t we give each group a color that suits them?”
“How about matching them with songs with a completely new feel?”
Everyone’s opinions were divided. As for Doha, well, they’ll figure it out, so he was watching a fire from across the river.
“First, let’s decide ours.”
Sehyun said. Then everyone agreed.
“Doesn’t D.N.X’s song match our vibe?”
Yunbeom said.
“We’re going to rearrange it anyway, I have many songs I like from Blaze.”
“This one seems like it could come out with diverse composition.”
Everyone was seriously contemplating. But Doha noticed. Lim Sehyun already had everything thought out. He seemed to nod while listening to the members’ words, but wasn’t listening at all.
‘He has it all planned.’
In the middle of that heated discussion, Sehyun opened his mouth.
“Let’s go with this one.”
Sehyun pointed precisely at one of the groups written on the paper. Everyone looked at Sehyun with surprised eyes at that decision. It was unexpected.
“How is it, everyone?”
He wanted to ask if they even had the right to refuse in the first place. Doha also quietly looked at Sehyun’s fingertip.
Though Lim Sehyun is hot-blooded and has a competitive spirit, well, it must be a choice with a reason.
Might not be bad to trust him?
Just like that, with unanimous agreement, OnX’s next competition song was decided.
* * *
It was a clear day without a single cloud. On such a day, six teams and staff gathered on the lawn for the Battle Crown team building event.
It’s hard. Really. I wish competition programs would just do competitions.
Doha didn’t want to do these tiring activities. Moreover, they had started preparing for the 3rd competition, making it even worse. I don’t have stamina, stamina.
A team building event right after the competition results came out. Will there even be unity? It was truly questionable.
When the signal announcing filming rang, teams wearing colorful tracksuits gathered in one place. Each group wore matching gym clothes of different colors, and OnX’s was blue.
They say we’re doing foot volleyball here, running, and flour games too…… It was dizzying.
Though lacking energy, pushed forward by an invisible hand that forcibly straightened his back—Lim Sehyun’s hand—he felt burning gazes.
Someone with yellow hair wearing pink clothes…… He looked familiar.
“That bastard is making a fuss again.”
Sehyun’s voice was heard from the side. He remembered.
Jo Taesik? No. Jo Taesan? Jo Taeseok?
“Jo Tae, what was it?”
“Jo Taejin.”
“Ah.”
“Call him Chase. People will misunderstand if they hear.”
Even knowing it would cause others to misunderstand, he had blurted out the name Jo Taejin in a place packed with people……
“Hello.”
“Wow, feels like it’s been a really long time.”
“Hello! Sunbae-nims!”
“Oh, it’s Crash sunbae-nims.”
“We’re here! Hahaha!”
With an average of five people per group, six teams meant over 30 people. Plus adding staff and each group’s associates, there were excessively many people here.
Every time he sees this many people gathered, it’s suffocating.
When the bustling atmosphere was settling down, the staff assigned seats, and members of each group gathered close together.
The side of his head still stung. Probably because he was receiving Jo Taejin’s intense gaze glaring at Lim Sehyun together. Or was he being condemned as a villain together for being in the same group as Lim Sehyun?
“Now! Then let’s start with the first event, foot volleyball!”
With Yungyeom’s energetic hosting, the curtain on the team building event rose. The sound of a whistle echoed long across the lawn.
OnX’s first opponent was Crash. 4th place in the 1st competition, 3rd place in the 2nd competition. A team that consistently maintained upper ranks and was closely chasing OnX.
“Hyung, have you played foot volleyball?”
Sehyun, standing in front of the net, asked Doha.
“The one you do with feet?”
“Of course.”
“Then I can’t do it.”
“……”
Sehyun let out a deep sigh. What can he do? Originally couldn’t do anything with balls. But with this body…… might it be a bit different?
.
.
.
It wasn’t different. Foot volleyball was difficult, and he was only creating scenes that could be used as comedic material for broadcasting.
“Just stand back there. Dodge when the ball comes.”
“I’m confident in that.”
Doha quickly retreated to the corner of the court. Kkakdugi. There was no position more to his liking than this.
As soon as the game started, the ball went back and forth like ping-pong. Perhaps because they were idols, their movements were extraordinary. A Crash member kicked the ball up, and Yunbeom jumped high and drove in a powerful spike.
“Nice!”
“Oh!”
……So that was something a human could do. I think I’ve seen it in that old Soccer King Shootdoli. Whirlwind something shot or whatever. Of course, there’s no such shot.
Haram jumped up and down happily. Sehyun wasn’t lacking either. He precisely aimed at the opponent team’s empty spot and poked the ball in. His eyes burned with competitive spirit.
Doha watched that fierce battle from afar.
“Nice, our team~.”
When Doha gave a thumbs up, Sehyun burst into laughter as if dumbfounded.
He really didn’t want to do it, but once he tried…… it seemed to help with unity?
* * *
Meanwhile, at the hosting booth set up under the shade. Yungyeom was leisurely watching the game. With an iced Americano in one hand and cue cards in the other.
“OnX has good teamwork.”
The PD next to him spoke.
“Indeed.”
Yungyeom’s gaze stayed on Sehyun busily running around the court and Doha leisurely standing behind him.
Every time the ball flew toward Doha, Sehyun threw his body to receive and kick the ball instead, his gaze glancing to check if Doha was hurt. It felt like a strange obsession beyond simply taking care of a fellow team member.
‘Hmm.’
Yungyeom raised the corners of his mouth while biting the straw. Doha stood blankly with a fresh face among the members dripping with sweat. That sight somehow brought a smile.
The game ended with OnX’s victory. Thanks to Yunbeom and Sehyun’s performance. Doha shared the joy of the winning team without having done anything.
They seemed to sparkle and shine. Yungyeom watched that sight intently, reflecting on whether there was a time when he was like that too.
‘Our hyung requires a lot of attention. Can’t do without me.’
Lim Sehyun’s eyes that rushed head-on without avoiding kept lingering. He felt intense hostility. Don’t people usually only send such gazes to enemies? Yungyeom had studied a lot about people’s gazes for acting. Lim Sehyun was definitely hostile toward him.
‘Well, that’s interesting too.’
To find that reaction interesting is a bit…… eccentric, perhaps.
Like that, Yungyeom watched OnX’s game with interest.
