What need was there to persuade Eden? Just get rid of the risk factor from the start and be done with it.
Of course, in the process he had to take risks by drinking with Jo Taejin, but anyway, since he had no intention of touching drugs or anything like that, even if suspicions arose, the test would come out negative, and he’d even prepared a victim script saying he went to Jo Taejin’s drinking appointment to apologize for their previous fight but suffered terrible things. He’d also taken photos of leaving that place early. Of course, looking at how things were going, there’d be no need to step forward.
At that moment, Eden approached Sehyun, who was humming while wiggling his feet with a relieved heart.
“Sehyun-ah.”
“Yes, hyung.”
“…Thank you.”
“What?”
Eden sat down in a chair. His gaze went toward the floor.
“Actually, lately I’ve been thinking about home and almost got close to Taejin. If you hadn’t told me in advance…”
Eden dry-washed his face. Just thinking about it made him dizzy.
“Hyung, don’t worry. Just because that kind of guy is next to you doesn’t mean you’ll become the same kind of druggie.”
Sehyun said firmly.
“Unless you get used and become a scapegoat.”
In the past, Eden didn’t do drugs. However, while being next to his druggie cousin, Jo Taejin, who was being threatened by a reporter who caught his tail, threw Eden to the reporter instead of himself, causing drug suspicions to explode about Eden instead.
Of course, the test came out negative, but the fact that he was Jo Taejin’s cousin and their frequent meetings were enough to devastate his idol life.
“Hyung isn’t the kind of person who would be ruined by drugs or anything like that.”
“……”
Sehyun stared intently at Eden.
“Right?”
Sehyun said to Eden as if hoping for confirmation from the other person. Then Eden nodded his head.
“Hyung is really a good person.”
Sehyun smiled brightly. Eden didn’t understand what made him so happy, but he was caught off guard and ended up in Sehyun’s embrace.
In the tightly hugging embrace, Eden was awkward, but he just patted Sehyun’s back.
“What, why are you two doing that?”
Haram, who entered the waiting room, saw the two hugging each other and quickly came to sit next to them.
“Should I hug too?”
When Haram playfully tried to embrace the two, Sehyun recoiled in disgust.
“No, I have no desire to hug two guys!”
“Why is one okay but two isn’t?”
Before they knew it, Eden and Sehyun’s bodies separated, and Sehyun hunched his body as if avoiding Haram.
“Geez, how petty.”
“Fine. I’ll just hug you.”
When Eden said playfully to Sehyun, Sehyun glared at Eden. And then, Doha, who had finished preparing his outfit, also entered the waiting room. And seeing Haram and Sehyun squirming with each other, he flinched.
“Hyung, should I hug you too?”
“…I’ll pass.”
“Ah, why! Don’t leave me out!”
The sound of laughter from OnX’s waiting room echoed beyond the door to the hallway.
* * *
The air in the broadcasting station conference room was heavier than a funeral home. On the table lay about ten cold cups of coffee and crumpled scripts scattered about.
“Haa…”
The main PD let out a deep sigh and dry-washed his face. His eyes were haggard like someone who had stayed up for several nights. The main writer sitting next to him was nervously clicking a ballpoint pen.
“You heard about the situation, right?”
The PD asked in a powerless voice. Then the OnX members and Cheolhwan nodded their heads.
“Yes. We saw the article.”
Cheolhwan answered cautiously.
“AVN is being completely edited out. Starting with this week’s broadcast, we have to remove everything. Not just the performances but every single reaction cut. Thanks to that, the editing room is on fire right now, on fire.”
The PD tore at his hair. It was understandable. A strong championship candidate and a team that occupied a considerable portion of the runtime had disintegrated overnight. A broadcast runtime shortage was as clear as day.
“The problem is the 3rd round.”
The writer put down the ballpoint pen and opened her mouth.
“Originally we were going to do 1:1 rival matches for the 3rd round, but now the pairs don’t match up. Should we redraw the bracket, or should we change the rules… Especially OnX picked an AVN song so we have to change that too… My head is going to explode.”
The writer’s face was also haggard. Sehyun, who had been quietly listening to their words, opened his mouth.
“What about doing it as a forfeit win and we keep the AVN song as is?”
At Sehyun’s words, the PD, writer, and even the members were all surprised. Purposely doing a controversial group’s song?
If it had all been filmed already it would be one thing, but there was still room to change it…
“The props and stage equipment can be recycled, but there’s no time to practice from scratch.”
“Wa, wait a minute Sehyun-ah. But…”
Cheolhwan tried to stop Sehyun.
“We don’t mind.”
“Hey, are you really going to do an AVN song?”
Yunbeom, who had been listening quietly, raised opposition.
“What does it matter? The song is good.”
“What the hell are you thinking?”
The PD and writer listening to OnX’s conversation quickly sided with Sehyun as the situation rolled this way.
“Are you really okay with that? For us, well, we can use what we’ve filmed so far so it’s good…”
They’d expected strong opposition from OnX but this was unexpected.
“Yes. It’s actually better.”
There was something everyone had overlooked. Sehyun was a vicious incarnation of revenge. Hadn’t he vowed that if he ever took revenge on Jo Taejin, he would do it perfectly and cruelly?
“Why are you all like this? The song is innocent, right?”
Sehyun designed a perfect plan to take this opportunity to cover and erase even AVN’s hit song with OnX.
He would destroy it as much as he could destroy it, to the maximum.
The members exchanged glances with each other, contemplating whether this was a good idea or not.
‘There’s no way Lim Sehyun would make a wrong choice…’
Doha wondered if he was overestimating Lim Sehyun too much because of the regressor buff.
“For now, well… Let us have a meeting among ourselves.”
And so OnX came to have a long discussion about whether or not to keep AVN’s song as is.
* * *
Doha sat in front of the mirror wearing a sparkling stage outfit.
Silver beads were densely embedded on black see-through fabric, reflecting light with every movement. Especially the crystal decorations on the jacket’s shoulders were the epitome of splendor. Matching the stage concept of ‘War of the Stars,’ it felt like wearing the Milky Way all over his body.
“Hello. Doha-ssi, I’ll attach the pin mic.”
At the unfamiliar voice, Doha turned his head. It wasn’t a familiar staff member. A male staff member with a youthful face stood holding equipment. Cautious eyes turned toward Doha.
“Ah, yes.”
Doha offered his body to the man. The staff member fixed the mic pack at his waist and attached the microphone to his clothes. It was to capture pre-stage interview footage.
“I’m Kim Jeonghyeon, the new sound staff member.”
“Ah, yes. Nice to meet you.”
Had he seen him somewhere before? He did look familiar. He probably saw him coming and going while filming.
At that moment, a light passing by dangerously brushed close to Jeonghyeon’s body. Discovering this, Doha grabbed his shoulder and lightly pulled him to the opposite side of the light.
Then the man looked up at Doha with surprised eyes.
“Ah, it looked like you’d bump into it…”
When Doha smiled refreshingly, the man’s face reddened.
“Th, thank you.”
“Not at all.”
Doha was in a good mood today. It was because manager Cheolhwan had announced a beef dinner after filming ended. A life of being overjoyed or dejected over one thing to eat. It seemed somewhat pitiful but… anyway, he felt good.
He was humming the lyrics when the man cautiously opened his mouth.
“Um, I’m a longtime fan of Baek Doha-ssi. Your voice is really good.”
Saying such things at a time like this? No, is he saying it because it’s a time like this? Doha smiled lightly again. He did hear such things occasionally, but it seemed he still had a long way to go to get used to it. His hands and feet fidgeted on their own.
“Thank you.”
He gave thanks as others do, but how should he react after this? What would Sehyun have done? He probably would have made a fuss about giving an autograph.
“It’s an honor to film together.”
“Ah… Yes. Thank you too.”
Before he knew it, the microphone was properly attached, and the man stepped back. Only then could Doha see the man’s face in detail. He seemed to be about 175cm tall with a white face, and looked somewhat pretty.
“Th, then.”
But perhaps because his personality was timid, the man bowed 90 degrees and quickly disappeared from view.
“Hmm.”
How interesting. Does this face work on men too? Oops, he already knew it worked well. Sometimes he forgot that this body was ‘that’ Baek Doha.
Just as he was lost in thought for a moment, something heavy suddenly bumped into him from behind.
“…Choking me.”
Sehyun hugged Doha from behind. This bastard, didn’t he tell Haram he didn’t like hugging guys? Why does he cling to me at any time and place?
