Doha looked at Sehyun blankly, at a loss for words.
“You just suddenly looked like a puppy with droopy ears.”
“Who are you treating like a dog?”
“Ah, hyung. ‘Dog’ and ‘puppy’ have different nuances.”
Sehyun clicked his tongue, saying ‘really now.’ Just then, the sound of the door opening was heard.
Beerillik-.
Immediately after, heavy footsteps were also heard.
“What happened! Where are you! Sehyun, Doha!”
It was manager Cheolhwan. He seemed to have rushed over, as beads of sweat were forming on his forehead.
“Are you guys okay?”
“Ah, yes.”
When Doha nodded, Cheolhwan discovered a rolled-up towel placed in one corner of the kitchen and went over there. Red blood was sparsely stained on the white towel.
Cheolhwan carefully lifted the end of the towel. His face instantly turned red and blue as he confirmed the grotesque contents slightly revealed.
“That crazy bastard…”
Cheolhwan cursed roughly as he covered the towel again.
It was incredibly harsh language that was hard to believe came from the mouth of the gentle manager who usually couldn’t even properly scold the members.
He dry-washed his face with trembling hands, then looked at Doha sitting there with haggard eyes.
“Doha, are you okay? You’re not hurt? Nothing splashed on you or anything?”
Doha nodded. Seeing him get so furiously angry made him feel sorry for bringing that thing into the house instead.
Cheolhwan couldn’t contain his anger and spun around in place.
“What are the security team guys doing? An outsider, with something like this, came all the way to the door and nobody knew? Are the CCTVs just for show!”
The living room rang with his shouting. Doha flinched his shoulders.
Seeing the manager get so angry made him newly realize the seriousness of the situation.
What Sehyun had called a ‘common occurrence’ might have been a lie to reassure him, he thought.
“Hyung, calm down. You’re scaring Doha hyung.”
Sehyun calmly stopped Cheolhwan.
“How can I calm down right now? They broke through all the way to the front of the dorm. Is this something to just let slide?”
“Still, we have to handle it quietly.”
Sehyun was rather calm. Well, how many times had he experienced this kind of thing before his regression?
At Sehyun’s cold point, Cheolhwan bit his lips tightly.
“…Ha, this is really frustrating.”
Cheolhwan roughly tousled his hair and sighed.
As if he’d made a decision, he picked up the grotesque thing wrapped in the towel with a determined expression. He wrapped it in multiple layers of plastic and tied it tightly so the contents wouldn’t be visible.
“First, I’ll take this and consult with the company’s legal team. We’ll proceed with the police report quietly at the company level.”
“Okay.”
“And I’ll go to the management office right now to check the CCTV. We need to catch whoever came. You guys absolutely don’t go outside, lock the door well and stay here. Got it?”
“Yes.”
Doha was trying to find peace of mind while listening to their conversation.
But the more he tried, the further away he got from peace of mind.
It suddenly felt like the illness that could only be cured by quitting being an idol was acting up.
I really need to leave here once Battle Crown is over.
It felt like returning to his initial mindset after a long time.
“Don’t be too shaken, just rest comfortably.”
“Yes.”
Cheolhwan, who had checked Doha’s condition with pitying eyes, left through the door. He seemed to be rushing to the company.
Bang—as the front door closed, a heavy silence enveloped the living room again.
“See? Manager hyung is solving it.”
Sehyun tried to refresh the atmosphere with a deliberately bright voice.
“So don’t be so scared.”
“Who says I’m scared?”
“I saw your legs shaking earlier.”
“That’s because I’m hungry.”
My stomach is churning, what hunger? But he didn’t want to act like a coward in front of Lim Sehyun.
Doha made an absurd excuse and buried himself deep in the sofa. But his heart was still beating irregularly. The displeasure of having a space he believed was safe invaded, and the fear of the blind malice directed at him. Those weren’t the kind of things that would easily disappear.
“Still, it’s fortunate.”
“What is?”
That thought suddenly crossed his mind.
“That the other members didn’t see it.”
“…”
At Doha’s words, Sehyun looked at him quietly, then came over and sat beside him.
“You’re kind, hyung.”
Suddenly receiving the compliment of being kind gave him goosebumps again.
It was just that it seemed better that he saw it rather than soft-hearted Haram, or Eden whose mental state was precarious these days, or hot-blooded Yunbeom who might cause some incident.
“But why aren’t you worried about me?”
“Me? About you?”
How shameless. Without batting an eye, organizing the situation.
Come to think of it, when did you even contact the manager?
“I think I’m hurt. I was so scared.”
Sehyun slyly leaned his head on Doha’s shoulder.
“At least wet your lips before lying.”
“I did wet them. They’re moist.”
A giggling laugh rang in his ear. Playing around with jokes like this seemed to bring back some composure.
“You’re really amazing, Lim Sehyun.”
It wasn’t a compliment, but Sehyun pleasantly buried his head deeper.
“Want to watch TV?”
When Sehyun naturally turned on the TV, the silence that had been hanging in the house disappeared.
As the chattering voices of people saying who knows what filled the air, the tension remaining in his body slowly relaxed.
For a moment, he thought it was fortunate.
That is… that Lim Sehyun was by his side at a moment like this.
“Hyung, I can hear your heartbeat.”
“Get off.”
Lim Sehyun, who liked to cling, stuck heavily to him especially today.
* * *
Beep beep beep beep, beerillik-. As soon as the door lock unlocking sound was heard, the front door bang! opened roughly.
“Hey! Baek Doha!”
It was Yunbeom who rushed in shouting loud enough to shake the living room. He charged into the living room, barely taking off his shoes. Blue fire was dripping from his eyes.
“Are you okay? Are you hurt anywhere? What crazy bastard sent something like that!”
Yunbeom rushed at Doha sitting on the sofa and grabbed his shoulders. Then he turned Doha’s body this way and that, examining him thoroughly.
“Cheolhwan hyung told me. A kitchen knife? A heart? Are they insane, really? Didn’t their liver jump out of their stomach?”
“Ah, I’m dizzy. Let go…”
“They went to catch them, right? I should go and beat them to a pulp!”
Yunbeom fumed as if ready to rush out with a knife right then. He threw punches in the air like shadow boxing, but it was more distracting than threatening.
“Hyung, calm down a bit. You’re so loud I could die.”
Eden, who followed in after, frowned and smacked Yunbeom’s back.
“Ow! Why are you hitting me!”
“Everyone in the hallway can hear you. Do we need to spread rumors all over the neighborhood? And what are you doing grabbing a patient?”
Eden lightly pushed Yunbeom away and stood in front of Doha and Sehyun. His expression seemed indifferent, but his eyes were full of worry.
“Are you okay? Cheolhwan hyung called so excited I thought something big happened.”
“Yeah. Well, it wasn’t a big deal.”
“You seem to have been surprised though. Your face is half gone.”
That’s because I threw up everything I ate.
“What about you? Are you okay?”
“Me? I have a steel heart.”
At Eden’s question, Sehyun patted his chest and answered.
Eden sighed deeply, then took out two chocolate bars from his pocket and tossed one each to Doha and Sehyun.
“Your sugar must have dropped, so eat and get your wits together. Did you eat?”
“I ate but it all came back out.”
Eden blinked as if not understanding Doha’s words.
“Seeing you guys does make my stomach growl.”
“Wait. I’ll order something.”
While Eden familiarly opened the delivery app, Haram, who had been hesitating at the entrance, approached with a tearful face.
“Hyung…”
“Why are you trying to cry again?”
“No… I was just scared…”
Haram buried his face in Doha’s lap and whimpered. With his large frame clinging to him, Doha’s breath was cut off.
“You’re heavy. Get off.”
When Haram clung to him, Sehyun pushed Haram away. Being pressed from both sides was absolutely killing him.
Why are these guys really like this?
Watching that, Yunbeom snorted and perched on the sofa armrest. He was still not calmed down, shaking his leg restlessly.
“Anyway, for the time being, lock the door thoroughly. I’ll put a baseball bat next to the entrance.”
“Where do we have a baseball bat in our house?”
“We have one.”
At Haram’s question, Sehyun answered instead. Why do we have that?
“If we don’t have one, well, we can just buy one! And Baek Doha, you absolutely don’t go anywhere alone. Even when you go to the bathroom, tell me.”
“Am I a kid? Why would I tell you when I’m going to the bathroom?”
“You never know! What if a hand comes out of the toilet and grabs you?”
This bastard is… teasing me. Doha looked at Yunbeom with an exasperated expression.
“Stop saying ridiculous things. And you guys are making too much of a fuss.”
He was trying to spend the night having some serious thoughts, but the members’ fussing deflated everything.
“But why couldn’t I find something like that?”
Yunbeom said as if regretful. You’re envious of that…? What kind of guy are you even…?
“If I found the bastard who put that there, I’d just beat them up. That would be self-defense, wouldn’t it?”
“It wouldn’t be self-defense. Not unless they hit you first.”
Sehyun firmly crushed Yunbeom’s dream.
“Anyway, hyung, fix that habit of throwing punches first.”
“It’s itching. It’s itching.”
You can’t do that. You shouldn’t do that.
Yunbeom was still a member carrying an unexploded bomb.
That was the same from Sehyun’s perspective too. Sehyun put his hand on Yunbeom’s shoulder.
“Hyung, please kill your temper.”
“I do want to kill something.”
It seems Yunbeom’s stress is severe. What should I really do with him?
“Chicken and pizza are okay, right?”
Eden, who finished ordering, asked.
“Yeah. Good.”
“Did you order Coke?”
“Don’t drink Coke. You’ll gain weight.”
“You should have said that before ordering chicken and pizza.”
As the dorm started to get noisy, what happened earlier gradually faded for Doha.
How strange.
