Chapter 17
Nothing showed on him, but as he brushed off his butt and moved around busily, Lee Sowoon’s eyes widened in surprise before narrowing into a smile.
“But let’s do it in a corner over there.”
He’d make sure only Lee Sowoon got caught on camera while he danced from a blind spot.
“Let’s start from the beginning.”
Lee Sowoon played the video on his phone. Instead of watching it intently, Jaekyung observed Lee Sowoon. He didn’t know what agency he belonged to, but Lee Sowoon really seemed to have only learned the basics – his hands and feet were completely out of sync. When the video ended, Lee Sowoon gave Jaekyung an embarrassed smile and said he’d play the video again.
“It’d be better to play just the song instead. That way we can practice while looking ahead.”
At his explanation that they wouldn’t be able to see themselves in the mirror if they watched the video, Lee Sowoon immediately played the downloaded audio track. Jaekyung stood with his arms hanging comfortably at his sides, then raised them to the beat.
Of course, he deliberately made his movements smaller than the exaggerated ones in the video he’d just seen. He lowered his arms, flowing smoothly into a wave, then stepped his feet for the next choreography.
“Huh? Wh-what. How did you do that?”
Lee Sowoon had raised his arms along with him, then awkwardly lowered them while turning to look at Jaekyung. He was surprised to see Jaekyung follow along effortlessly, unlike himself who had been stumbling from the very first move. Jaekyung stopped dancing and met Lee Sowoon’s eyes in the mirror.
“When you lower your arms, you just need to flow smoothly into the wave.”
“Flow smoothly?”
“Yes. That way the choreography connects naturally… Like this.”
Lee Sowoon lowered his arms and demonstrated an unnatural wave. Jaekyung shook his head and demonstrated again.
“Like this.”
He showed how to lower the arms while flowing into the wave, then watched Lee Sowoon follow along.
“Don’t let your arms and the wave move separately.”
Lee Sowoon took Jaekyung’s advice to heart and tried again. It was more natural than before, but overall still an awkward connecting movement. Jaekyung watched Lee Sowoon for a moment, then reached out his hand.
“Let me touch you for a second.”
“Y-yes.”
As soon as Lee Sowoon stammered and nodded vigorously, Jaekyung placed his hand on his back.
“Can you try lowering your arms slowly again?”
“Like this?”
“Yes. Lower them at that speed again. And try moving with the thought of pushing forward the part I’m pushing.”
Jaekyung pushed the upper part of Lee Sowoon’s back to match the speed at which he lowered his arms. Though it was awkward, Jaekyung’s timing for starting the wave was so well-matched that the movements connected smoothly.
“Wow.”
“You don’t need to do it fast, so take it slow. Let’s try again.”
Behind Jaekyung, who had moved positions while touching Lee Sowoon’s body, the camera’s red light blinked.
“You don’t need to dance this song powerfully. Flexible extended arms are more natural than putting strength in your body.”
“Like this?”
“Yes. Try extending them a bit more.”
Jaekyung directly straightened Lee Sowoon’s bent elbow.
“It looks weird if you extend them halfheartedly.”
His body was too tense, and lacking confidence, his arms and legs were hunched up… There were so many things to fix. Seeing Lee Sowoon’s awkward movements, Jaekyung scratched his cheek gently, estimating where to start helping him. Lee Sowoon tried following the choreography, tapping his feet a few times, but soon got tangled up awkwardly. He danced deliberately to show Jaekyung.
“The steps get tangled here.”
“That’s because you have to come in off-beat here. It’s difficult because you have to move your upper body to the main beat as soon as you change steps.”
Jaekyung slowly changed his feet in a bouncing motion as if to demonstrate. When he deliberately slowed down the speed, Lee Sowoon nodded as if he understood and moved his feet. Since they were moving slowly through what should be fast movements, the pose looked strange, but Lee Sowoon took it seriously. Encouraged by this, Jaekyung adjusted the angle of Lee Sowoon’s toes.
“Once your feet establish balance first, it becomes easier to move. Brush your chin while extending your arms like that and pop your hips.”
“Like this?”
“Yes. A little more. To not look awkward…”
Jaekyung, who had been speaking, suddenly froze with a reality-check expression.
‘Wait. What am I doing right now?’
As he’d been fixing Lee Sowoon’s movements one by one, he’d unconsciously become focused.
“Ahem. If you do it like that, it’ll work. The teacher will fix the rest.”
Jaekyung brought his clenched fist to his mouth and forced out a cough. Fortunately, Lee Sowoon, who was concentrating, didn’t grab onto Jaekyung and was practicing the same movement repeatedly, so it seemed like he wouldn’t be caught further. Jaekyung quietly moved away from him.
‘This is crazy. I’m crazy.’
I’m not in a situation to be teaching anyone right now – I must have lost my mind. Sighing and wondering when the hell the dance trainer would come, Jaekyung poked at an innocent wall. The cushioning that went into the soundproof walls in each practice room compressed and expanded under Jaekyung’s force.
“Ahem.”
He just cleared his innocent throat again and held his breath for no reason, holding it until his shoulders rose from the stuffiness. The self-loathing from excitedly helping Lee Sowoon was only momentary.
“Haah.”
Even he thought it was hopeless. Saying he wouldn’t be an idol, saying he was sick of it all now, so why did he think it was fun while teaching Lee Sowoon?
While helping Lee Sowoon, he felt proud every time the choreography improved and kept talking because he thought he could make it even better. Despite his resolution to not stand out, analyzing Lee Sowoon’s posture down to the nano level was all for his own satisfaction.
A self-deprecating smile crossed Jaekyung’s lips.
“This part.”
“Ah… Y-yes?”
Jaekyung jumped in surprise at the sudden voice and turned around. Without him noticing when he’d approached, Lee Jungwoo was standing between Jaekyung and Lee Sowoon, looking at them.
“This part isn’t working well, so please look at it once.”
“No, why would I…”
“I saw you teaching.”
Jungwoo pointed at Lee Sowoon with his chin, as if asking him to look at his too.
“Trainee Yoon Hajun is over there.”
Jaekyung also pointed at Yoon Hajun with his chin. When he’d looked around before dancing with Lee Sowoon, Lee Jungwoo had been with Yoon Hajun.
“He says it’s weird.”
“What’s weird?”
Lee Jungwoo shrugged as if he didn’t know either. That’s why he came asking to be looked at.
“No, well…”
Though Jaekyung found the suggestion completely unwelcome, Lee Jungwoo shamelessly even played the music and performed the choreography he said was difficult. It was that same point choreography that Lee Sowoon had struggled with most.
*Give me your heart*Â Â
*I’m your only boy*Â Â
*Call my name*Â Â
*I’m right here as you see me*
Unlike Lee Sowoon who had stumbled with tangled steps, Lee Jungwoo’s movements flowed smoothly. But seeing this, Jaekyung’s expression gradually changed strangely. Lee Jungwoo lowered his arms and waited for Jaekyung’s response.
“How is it?”
“Well…”
It wasn’t that he couldn’t dance like Lee Sowoon. He seemed to have memorized all the choreography even before receiving lessons from a trainer. Jaekyung immediately got a sense of what problem Yoon Hajun had mentioned. As expected from someone at a major agency, his understanding of the movements was quite good. His body was flexible and his sense of rhythm was good too.
However…
“You know what song this is, right?”
“Yes.”
“What song is it?”
“It’s a dance song that seductively says ‘Please choose me.'”
Though the word “seductively” would need to be toned down a bit for the age demographic, it was roughly similar.
He knows it.
Jaekyung composed his expression that was about to change strangely.
“But why do you dance like that?”
“Did I dance it wrong?”
“No, why do you dance it so scarily?”
A crack appeared in Lee Jungwoo’s expressionless face. Jaekyung found it fascinating that he could reveal emotion with such small expressions. Not that he was swayed by those emotions though.
“This song isn’t one that goes dark. It should be refreshing from start to finish, but your expression is… well…”
Jaekyung wondered if he should say more, then let it out with a sigh.
“It’s like you’re threatening ‘Just try not picking me.'”
When a “pffft” laugh was heard from somewhere, Jaekyung turned his head. Lee Jungwoo just frowned in displeasure, but he couldn’t tell where the laughter had come from. Jaekyung suspiciously looked at someone’s back nearby, then continued the conversation.
‘Surely Yoon Hajun didn’t laugh?’
“So?”
“So that expression… don’t glare. Smile if you can.”
As Lee Jungwoo frowned even more, Jaekyung poked his forehead.
“I said smile, not frown.”
It’s not a foreign language, so why can’t he understand? Jaekyung demonstratively pulled up the corners of his mouth for Lee Jungwoo to see. Lee Jungwoo’s eyes widened in surprise, then his expression became dumbfounded.
I said smile.
“Don’t you know how to smile? I said smile refreshingly.”
“Why are you so good at smiling?”
“Huh? No. You have to smile when you’re on stage.”
“You usually don’t smile much, so what’s so natural about it?”
“Why is that coming up here?”
Whether I smile or not, what’s the big deal, you person.
“Puhahaha.”
The wrong person burst into laughter. Jaekyung looked back at Yoon Hajun with displeasure. He’d been subtly glancing over since Lee Jungwoo had approached, and had gradually come closer. He was waving his arms and legs pretending to practice, but it was obvious he was listening to their conversation. And now he was laughing without even being able to hide that he’d been secretly listening.
“Refreshingly, he said. Refreshingly.”
Yoon Hajun couldn’t finish laughing and let it flow between his words. Despite Lee Jungwoo’s displeased expression, Yoon Hajun persistently teased him.
“He dances well even when I watch him, but since coming here he’s been acting like an idiot.”
Yoon Hajun spoke like Lee Jungwoo’s spokesperson. Jaekyung had been thinking it was strange too. As far as he knew, Lee Jungwoo had been a trainee for quite a while. But it was odd that he couldn’t do such simple facial expressions.
“Is it because there are cameras?”
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
