Chapter 14
Jaekyung stood straight, looking directly at Jungwoo. Considering how he’d always slightly turned his body to the side to avoid him until now, there was a strong determination to clearly convey his opinion this time. When Jungwoo looked at him questioningly, Jaekyung spoke with a somewhat displeased expression.
“You’re not going to follow me around today too, are you?”
Jaekyung scanned the surroundings. There was a camera far away, but if he lowered his voice, it wouldn’t pick up. Rather than being unable to do anything about it like yesterday, it was better to get rid of him now.
“No, I heard we’re doing profile photoshoots and attending lessons today, so I’d rather you weren’t beside me the whole time.”
“…”
Seeing Jungwoo’s lips stubbornly closed, Jaekyung inwardly snorted. It was funny how he understood everything but pretended not to by keeping his mouth shut.
“If I’m imagining things, it’s embarrassing for me. Honestly, it was uncomfortable having you around all the time yesterday too. Like… during dodgeball.”
Whenever Jaekyung went somewhere, Jungwoo followed like fish droppings, and during dodgeball, he would catch the ball whenever Jaekyung tried to do anything. If it was out of greed for the ball, he wouldn’t say anything, but Jungwoo didn’t even glance at balls thrown far from Jaekyung.
“I’m very shy with strangers. So let’s stop making each other uncomfortable and go our separate ways.”
Jaekyung quickly spat out his words and immediately turned around. His words carried some emotion since they came from his bad mood after dealing with Jeon Sanguk. There’s nothing more pathetic than taking out your frustration on others, but Jaekyung didn’t have the luxury to consider others’ circumstances right now. Especially Jungwoo. The guy who frowned and ignored him while they were in the same group.
The future Jungwoo should see this.
‘Now he won’t follow me anymore.’
He thought he should have said this from the beginning. Then he wouldn’t have had to worry about Jungwoo unnecessarily.
“Excuse me.”
When Jungwoo called out, Jaekyung deliberately slowed his steps.
‘Looks like he’s upset.’
That was fine in its own way. If Jungwoo stayed away because he was upset, Jaekyung could spend the month like a shadow. He turned around leisurely, feeling so annoyed that even stopping for Jungwoo’s call was bothersome.
He looked at him with an expression that said, What, do you have something to say? He hoped to appear as disagreeable as possible to the other person.
“Do you dislike me?”
“…Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because you’re burdensome.”
I hate standing out, I hate that we knew each other before. I want to completely ignore you but you make me conscious of you, so I hate it.
“I like you.”
“Yes, you dislike me too, so we should go separately… What?”
“I said I like you.”
Jaekyung was so taken aback that he didn’t know what to say. Openly saying he liked him. The cameras are far away, right? Right?
“Why?”
“What do you mean?”
“Why do you like me? How much have you even seen of me…”
You weren’t the type to like people so easily. Jaekyung felt frustrated by this situation where he couldn’t bring himself to say what was on his mind. But Jungwoo never lost his pace from beginning to end.
“I liked your voice. So I want to keep listening to your singing beside you. I want to be with you. That’s why I followed you around.”
“My voice… That’s a lie. You’re lying about liking my voice, right?”
“It’s the truth.”
Jungwoo murmured nonchalantly.
“Even if we had met somewhere other than this audition, I probably would have liked your voice.”
Bullshit. We did meet differently and you hated me. Jaekyung glared at Jungwoo with an increasingly sunken mood.
“What if we met when I debuted from this audition and after the contract period ended, I debuted with your agency? Would you have liked me even if I stuck to you and became a member then?”
It was a question that didn’t make sense due to many omissions. Jaekyung couldn’t explain his full circumstances so he omitted details, but it would be incomprehensible to Jungwoo. However, Jaekyung didn’t have the luxury to add more explanations.
“If it were a situation where I had to dislike Jaekyung-ssi…”
But Jungwoo perceived it quite accurately.
“Your voice would have really bothered me. If I had to dislike someone but found their voice appealing, how annoying would that be?”
Jaekyung’s lips parted at the answer that Jungwoo would have liked his voice regardless. What kind of situation is this?
“But that’s something that didn’t happen, and now we’ve met as trainees in this audition and we’re going to debut together, so I can freely enjoy that voice.”
Jungwoo came closer. When Jaekyung heard his breathing from up close, he tensed up and froze.
“I liked your voice, and your face is nice, and your personality is nice too.”
“You’re crazy…”
“I’m not done talking yet.”
Jungwoo slowly scanned Jaekyung’s face. His gaze wasn’t dirty but rather clean.
“We’re in the same team.”
Jaekyung kept his mouth shut trying not to show his surprise, but his eyes were already trembling slightly. What is this now!
“I didn’t hear anything about that.”
“The notice came this morning. They went around to each room handing out papers. Didn’t you see it?”
Jaekyung hadn’t heard anything. Or rather, he hadn’t paid attention to anything beyond his own bed from the start.
“Our names were written side by side on the list, and we need to stay together.”
“Did you hear that this morning too?”
“No.”
“…”
“The lessons are divided by team, so wouldn’t it be stranger if we went separately?”
“Ah…”
Jaekyung pressed his wrinkled brow with his fingers and looked around. He had told Jungwoo to stop following him when they were alone, but now he wondered why no one else was around.
“Are we the only ones in our team?”
“There are 11 teams with 9 people each.”
“Ah… Then where are the others?”
“They went down for breakfast first.”
Stay together, you say? Jaekyung rubbed his dry face, wondering if he was still half asleep.
“You woke up late, so I said I’d bring you.”
“…You came all the way here because of me.”
“Yes. Everyone told me to go get you. I guess I seem closest to you.”
Because we stuck together yesterday. With each of Jungwoo’s words, Jaekyung’s head drooped as if hit by a hammer. After saying it would be embarrassing if he was imagining things, now he was looking around for a hole to crawl into out of embarrassment.
There wouldn’t be mouse holes in a hotel. What more was there to explain when they were placed in the same team and Jungwoo had come to get him because he was late? On top of that, after receiving something resembling a confession, the initiative had already passed to Jungwoo.
Jaekyung let out a shallow sigh. Am I really such a pushover? Just when Jaekyung was wondering what to do next after barely rebuilding the wall that almost collapsed in an instant…
“Aren’t you coming?”
Jungwoo, who had walked ahead of Jaekyung, casually told him to hurry up. Jaekyung, who had been staring blankly at the spot where Jungwoo had been standing, crumpled his face.
“What the hell.”
When he ran his fingers through his hair irritably, his hair, which usually parted well, got tangled in his fingers today.
*Â *Â *
“Team A will start profile photoshoots first.”
After going with Jungwoo to check his team members, Jaekyung kept his mouth shut and remained still afterward. Though unintentional, there were many familiar faces including Jungwoo. Though he didn’t know all the final members, there were already 2 people Jaekyung recognized.
Yoon Hajun, Park Geonhu.
And his roommates Han Chanhyung and Lee Sowoon were there too. He felt that it would have been better if the team consisted only of unfamiliar faces.
“Did you see the list placed on the table?”
At Han Chanhyung’s cautious question, Jaekyung shook his head. Apparently it had been circulated in the morning, just as Jungwoo had said.
“I thought you might have missed it since you and Sowoon seemed surprised when you saw it.”
In situations like this, one could improve relationships by apologetically scratching the back of their head and saying they didn’t see it. That’s how normal human relationships work. But Jaekyung didn’t feel the need to do that, so he just shook his head. If he was avoiding Jungwoo because he disliked him, why should he care about Han Chanhyung or Lee Sowoon?
‘After the ranking announcement is over, I’ll never see these people again.’
Jaekyung turned his head to look at each person’s face once and then stood facing the empty wall. Without name tags on their stomachs like before, he couldn’t tell who was who, but he wasn’t curious about anyone. While others were engaged in conversation, Jaekyung just stood still. If caught on camera, one might wonder if he was frozen in place.
With Jaekyung standing still, Jungwoo, who hadn’t been moving much, became noticeable. He kept turning just his eyes to look where Jaekyung was looking, then slightly turning his head back toward Jaekyung, which strangely drew people’s attention.
“What are you two doing?”
Unable to stand it anymore, Yoon Hajun muttered as if they were crazy.
“What?”
Jungwoo replied nonchalantly, but knowing that even he thought it was strange, he didn’t meet Hajun’s eyes.
“Is one going for a stone Buddha concept and the other a tourist?”
Hajun pointed at Jaekyung and Jungwoo alternately.
“Mind your own business.”
When the staff gathering the teams appeared, Jaekyung’s time started flowing again.
“We’ll distribute clothes according to the sizes you submitted in your documents. If anyone has had dramatic changes since then, please let me know individually.”
Some laughter mixed in at the staff’s light joke. Amidst this, Jaekyung quietly accepted the clothes passed to him.
“The changing room is over there. Please sit in the chair as soon as you change.”
The staff member, who had explained the flow for makeup and hair, quickly left. Jaekyung received the clothes and watched the others’ reactions. As people hesitated to enter the changing room, Jaekyung went in first. It seemed they would probably shoot in the order of who changed first, and it was more boring to stand awkwardly amid such hesitation.
After entering the changing room, Jaekyung hung his clothes on one side and took off his own. The clothes were hung up unfolded so he could roughly see the size, but it was somewhat ambiguous. Still, since seeing doesn’t tell everything, he tried them on one by one.
‘Are these clothes a bit small?’
He had expected a plain white shirt and beige cotton pants. With a cardigan of appropriate size. But whether he received the wrong size or not, none of the clothes fit his body.
They fit his body perfectly, almost making him wonder if they were too small (though not uncomfortable to move in). But the cardigan was oversized, as if it was two sizes larger. Jaekyung looked down at the cardigan for a moment, contemplating.
Should he go back in his original clothes and ask for a different size, or go in the cardigan and get new clothes first?
“Are you still in there?”
“Ah, just a moment.”
Jaekyung came out holding his clothes in a bundle.
“Uh…”
Yoon Hajun, who was about to enter to change, hesitated.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
