Chapter 44
When proper practice began, each person’s individual skills were laid bare. As they learned the choreography piece by piece according to the formation, everyone’s rate of learning differed.
“If we want to modify this part a bit, it would be better to extend powerfully instead of doing the wave, don’t you think?”
Taeyeon, who had mastered all the choreography, created modified moves from the basic motions. Jaekyung and Jungwoo followed along without much difficulty, but the others were different. Hajun, who was fundamentally learning through repetition, practiced while listening to Taeyeon’s explanations, but Yang Chaejun and Choi Wooju’s skills barely improved.
“So you need to extend your arm here.”
At Taeyeon’s explanation, Yang Chaejun repeated the movement once more, but the timing was off and he kept missing the moment to extend his arm.
“For this, you move by splitting one beat in half.”
When Taeyeon told him to move a bit faster, Yang Chaejun tried again with a serious expression, but even the other movements he hadn’t been getting wrong became tangled up, and he ended up just awkwardly sticking out his arm at the end.
“Huh? No, like this here.”
Somehow Taeyeon ended up next to Yang Chaejun, helping him one by one, so Choi Wooju was assigned to Jungwoo.
“Let’s try again from here.”
Since Choi Wooju was showing the choreography in front of Jungwoo, Jaekyung was left alone. As Jaekyung was observing Choi Wooju’s movements and casually turned his head, he made eye contact with Jungwoo in the mirror. Jungwoo sent him a look that said to hurry up and do his individual practice.
When did he tell others to help and practice diligently, and now this.
Jaekyung stared intently at Jungwoo before turning away his gaze.
‘It’s good for me if they leave me alone.’
The camera lights were blinking, which was quite distracting, so this worked out well. Jaekyung planned to practice a couple more times and then leave. Today’s mission was scheduled before dinner, so there was plenty of free time.
Though it seemed like the audition period should be the most intensely busy, surprisingly Jaekyung wasn’t busy at all. They provided meals on time, and he only had to do practice time and the occasional missions that came up, so his body was actually more comfortable.
When he went outside, he’d be on edge until bedtime worrying about meals, money, and even his mother, but inside here, it was like entering a different world where he had no worries.
Sometimes he thought about after the training camp ended or after getting eliminated from the audition, but since his body was comfortable, even those thoughts didn’t last long.
While moving his body and letting various thoughts flow, Jaekyung suddenly lifted his head at the sound of someone approaching beside him.
“Um… hyung.”
It was Yang Chaejun.
“Sorry, but could you teach me the dance?”
At this request similar to what Sowoon had made before, Jaekyung looked around for Taeyeon. But Taeyeon was nowhere to be seen—he must have gone out.
“Oh, if you mean Taeyeon, he went out for a moment.”
“Then wouldn’t it be better to wait until Taeyeon comes back?”
“Uh… I don’t know when he’ll be back.”
In the brief moment, something must have happened as Yang Chaejun scratched his head. From his somewhat troubled and also awkward behavior, Jaekyung sensed that he’d had friction with Taeyeon.
When Jaekyung just stood there without saying anything, Yang Chaejun indirectly told him about what happened with Taeyeon.
“I think he got frustrated because I couldn’t do it. When I kept getting confused about the same parts several times, he sighed.”
At this, Jaekyung recalled the idol days he’d spent with Taeyeon. He’d acted cute with people he was close to, but he wasn’t particularly kind to Jaekyung. Well, that could be understandable since they weren’t close. Anyway, since he showed his emotions openly, they must have both felt uncomfortable with each other.
“…I don’t know the details either, so I won’t be able to teach you as well as Taeyeon.”
“That’s okay.”
Yang Chaejun smiled bashfully and stuck close to Jaekyung’s side. Jaekyung didn’t notice Jungwoo’s gaze as he was asking Yang Chaejun what parts he found difficult.
* * *
“No, make this part softer.”
“Like this?”
“That’s right, but.”
Watching Yang Chaejun’s dancing, Jaekyung briefly rested his chin in his hand and pondered. If it were simply a matter of learning, repeating it several times would suffice, but there were many things that needed to be addressed comprehensively.
First of all, Sowoon had been like a baby chick. There were things that needed to be taught one by one due to his lack of experience as a trainee, but he followed along well bit by bit. In comparison, Yang Chaejun seemed similar at first glance but had his own peculiar habits.
Unnecessary gestures would creep into the middle of the choreography, causing him to miss the beat, or he’d worry needlessly about his expressions so his body couldn’t move smoothly.
“You need to fully extend your arm here. And when you turn around, it has to connect directly to the next choreography, so you can’t slow down.”
“Yes.”
Watching Yang Chaejun move again, Jaekyung extended Yang Chaejun’s arm and carefully adjusted it again. Then, struck by a sudden question, he grabbed Yang Chaejun’s shoulder and asked.
“Have you mastered all the basic choreography for this?”
“I did it, but not perfectly.”
Yang Chaejun lowered his head as if embarrassed. While watching him learn the choreography again, Jaekyung raised his arm higher.
“For this one especially, small movements don’t work, so you have to lift it completely.”
Throughout this, Jaekyung continued to check his posture while carefully observing Yang Chaejun’s dancing. It seemed quite lacking for someone who had learned the choreography, but he kept his thoughts to himself.
After being stuck together for another two hours, Jaekyung let out a tired breath.
“Hyung, you really teach well.”
“Me?”
“Yes. I really didn’t think I’d make this much progress.”
At Yang Chaejun’s shy smile, Jaekyung offered something like a compliment, saying it was because he worked hard. Anyway, he had tried to follow what he was told to do.
“If I were alone, it really would have taken a long time.”
“Why would you be alone? Setting me aside, there’s Taeyeon.”
Since being assigned as main dancer, Taeyeon’s determination to master not only singing but dancing perfectly was extraordinary. So Yang Chaejun would have done well eventually too.
“No. It’s all thanks to you, hyung. Thank you.”
“That’s good then.”
At the continuous praise-like words, Jaekyung waved his hand as if embarrassed. Meanwhile, Yang Chaejun turned on the music and danced while giving Jaekyung a look as if to say watch him.
“Would this level be okay for performing on stage?”
It wasn’t just about getting on stage—he had to perform skillfully as the center—but Jaekyung roughly agreed and moved on. Instead, since he’d confirmed that Yang Chaejun had learned all the choreography for about 2 minutes, he thought his role was finished.
“Let me catch my breath for a moment.”
Now Taeyeon should be back, shouldn’t he? Then Yang Chaejun offered his thanks several more times and returned to the center of the practice room. Seeing him about to practice again, Jaekyung went outside. Getting away from the cameras felt like his blocked breathing had cleared up a bit.
“I thought the practice period would be long, but it seems short too.”
As Jaekyung estimated how long it would take to get perfectly ready for the stage, he spotted someone approaching from across the way.
‘Why am I seeing him here?’
Jaekyung looked around. He’d come out to rest somewhere without cameras, but he happened to run into Jeon Sanguk.
He hoped they could just pass by each other, but Jeon Sanguk walked diagonally as if blocking Jaekyung’s path.
“Well, look who it is. Seo Jaekyung.”
“Move.”
“You’ve gotten cocky since passing the first round?”
“I’ve never particularly thought that way, but you seem happy about it?”
At Jaekyung’s indifferent response, Jeon Sanguk immediately wiped away his sneering expression.
“Acting all high and mighty when you came up here riding the bus.”
“Bus?”
“Yeah, you rode Lee Jungwoo’s bus.”
Jaekyung didn’t understand immediately and tilted his head.
“You think I don’t know you’re clinging to Lee Jungwoo again this time, hoping for that same stroke of luck?”
“Ah…”
Jaekyung didn’t doubt that Jungwoo would be popular either. He was going to be the final first place, so hadn’t he himself made a fuss telling him not to drop out?
But on the other hand, the comment about getting through because of Jungwoo was strangely scratching an itch inside Jaekyung. It was as if there was hope that he might drop out if it weren’t for Jungwoo.
“That’s the end of it though. You’re a fucking nobody without Lee Jungwoo.”
“…Really?”
“What?”
“Am I really nothing?”
At Jaekyung’s question back, Jeon Sanguk looked at him with a ‘what’s with this bastard’ expression.
Jaekyung wondered why he hadn’t thought to ask Jeon Sanguk. Jeon Sanguk could tell him about himself much more bluntly than Lee Jungwoo could. The thought of wanting to avoid Jeon Sanguk disappeared at some point, and Jaekyung completely folded his arms in front of him.
“Let me ask you one thing. Between you and me, who’s more famous?”
“This crazy bastard.”
“Why? Am I more famous?”
“What are you saying. You’re trash right now.”
Jeon Sanguk raised his voice as if amazed. He cooled his heated face for a moment and pointed at Jaekyung.
“Getting cocky just because you got a little camera time on the live broadcast. Anyway, your screen time is practically nonexistent, so there’s not much buzz about you either.”
How fortunate that there’s no buzz.
“What about YouTube?”
“Why? You want to grab onto even that and climb up somehow? But what can you do? Since yours isn’t even an hour but shared content, you’ll have to share the view count too.”
The more Jeon Sanguk’s mockery intensified, the more comfortable Jaekyung’s insides became.
“I see. So I’m trash.”
When Jaekyung nodded and muttered, Jeon Sanguk sneered with a spiteful face.
“Why? Getting anxious because you don’t think you can handle it?”
“It’s the opposite.”
“Your groundless confidence is insane. You think you can handle it?”
He meant it was comfortable rather than anxious, but Jeon Sanguk interpreted it differently. Well, he had no intention of correcting the misunderstanding.
Looking at Jeon Sanguk, Jaekyung’s mouth relaxed more loosely than before, as if he’d found more composure.
Who would have thought I’d get comfort from you.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
