Chapter 48
While cleanly avoiding Yoo Youngin’s gaze, Juha quietly observed his surroundings. Far away, Choi Taeri’s team looked harmonious.
Even Yeom Sangyeop, who had initially found it difficult to even speak with Choi Taeri, was now laughing and conversing freely. Even Andrew, who had been keeping his mouth shut, was chattering away next to Taeri. Having received elite education, it wasn’t hard to imagine that Taeri would be good at English.
Unlike his first impression of being just a cold handsome guy, Choi Taeri exuded energy that made anyone want to follow him – he was vibrant, gentle, and overflowing with talent. Even while preparing for the 1:1 death match, Taeri’s charm was giving the impression of being a colleague rather than a competitor.
It would have been nice if he were part of that group, but Juha didn’t have time for such idle thoughts. Figuring out how to implement the flower boy concept was the priority.
“Should we go eat dinner too?”
Following Jo Munseok’s words, everyone got up from their seats. Since the mission’s task was ‘one body,’ teams had to share rooms, eat together, and always stick together. With Yoo Youngin involved, Juha was quite uncomfortable.
While Chaemyeong and Eunwon, who had become close, chattered as they got up, Na Junho quietly stuck to Juha’s side.
“Relax your expression.”
Na Junho poked Juha’s side with his elbow. Juha startled and looked at Na Junho. Like a ghost, a camera approached them.
“What side dish would you like for dinner today?”
Na Junho asked, putting his arm around Juha’s shoulder.
“Um, stir-fried pork?”
Juha answered with whatever menu came to mind, conscious of the camera.
“If you eat salty food, your face will swell.”
Na Junho chuckled and joked. Meanwhile, the camera disappeared. As if that was enough, Na Junho lowered his arm from the shoulder.
“It’s been almost two months, but your acting is still so awkward. What are you going to do?”
Na Junho spoke to Juha with concern mixed in, then moved ahead first.
‘That’s true……’
Now that serious filming had begun, let’s get it together. Juha resolved as he walked.
As Juha’s team moved, Taeri’s team gathered on the other side also began to get up. They seemed to be going for dinner too. Even though he tried not to be conscious of it, Taeri came into Juha’s view as clearly as a focused camera.
Taeri’s face as he approached while staring at Juha was unreadable. The two teams gradually got closer and soon exited through the same exit.
Meanwhile, Choi Taeri smoothly grabbed Juha’s hand as he passed by.
‘Huh……?’
His body tingled as if stung by a bee.
He thought it was just secret skinship, but something was caught in Juha’s hand. It was a small folded piece of paper.
Juha suddenly stopped walking. He was dying to unfold it right away. It felt like all the countless things that had happened in less than a day since resuming the dorm could be forgotten with one hug from Choi Taeri.
“Aren’t you coming?”
When Juha suddenly spaced out, Na Junho, who had been walking ahead, came back to look after Juha.
“Huh? Oh, I should go. Let’s go.”
Juha startled and continued walking.
* * *
He couldn’t even remember how he ate sitting at the same table as Yoo Youngin. Chaemyeong and Eunwon, whose tension had relaxed, chattered away, and Na Junho nodded occasionally. Yoo Youngin laughed once in a while, but at the end of his gaze, he was glaring at Juha. It was a look that said ‘Just wait until I catch you.’
Since he didn’t have much appetite anyway, Juha ate roughly and got up first, using the bathroom as an excuse.
After entering a bathroom stall and locking the door, Juha unfolded Taeri’s note that he had put in his pocket.
[7 o’clock, 7th floor emergency stairs near the freight elevator.]
The handwriting was as calm and pretty as Choi Taeri’s appearance. Juha read the note several times and even touched the letters with his fingertips.
This building had two emergency staircases.
The right emergency staircase that many used instead of elevators, and the left emergency staircase where the freight elevator operated.
The freight elevator side was so gloomy that everyone avoided using it. Taeri had noticed that place and chosen it as a secret meeting spot.
‘I really want to see him.’
Just thinking of Taeri’s face made Juha’s heart race. He even regretted not holding his hand tighter when they brushed against each other earlier.
Thinking that Taeri wanted to see him as much as Juha wanted to see Taeri made his heart feel touched for no reason.
Though it was a shame, Juha tore up the note and flushed it down the toilet in case it might be discovered. Though the sender and receiver weren’t written, anyone who saw it could figure out the freight emergency staircase.
As soon as he flushed away the regret and opened the door, Juha’s face, which had been smiling, suddenly hardened. Standing in front of him was Yoo Youngin.
‘Ah, shit……’
There were only Juha and Youngin in the bathroom. Juha felt like he had met his enemy on a narrow bridge. But he wasn’t afraid of Yoo Youngin.
“You’re pretty good at cornering people, aren’t you?”
Youngin struck first as if to say ‘you’ve met your match.’
“What do you mean?”
“You should do as you’re told nicely, but instead you’re causing trouble with a smile? If you get badly edited, you won’t even make it to 15th place.”
“I think hyung should be careful about editing. You weren’t managing your expressions very well earlier.”
“You really don’t know this industry, do you? When two people make mistakes together, the person with many fans gets covered up and the person without fans becomes a complete bastard. That’s someone like you.”
Yoo Youngin emphasized ‘someone like you’ while making eye contact with Juha.
A precarious tension continued between the two. The silence was sharpened more and more.
Ridiculously, Juha couldn’t refute those words. Yoo Youngin’s fans who were at the forefront of extreme fandom, compared to Lee Juha’s fans who had given up until he dropped to 15th place, being pushed out by them. It was a fight between a whale and an anchovy.
“Hyung, honestly, why did you bring me to your team?”
Juha’s face turned cold as he asked.
“Want me to be honest?”
Youngin’s face, which had only known how to make pretty and bright expressions, turned sarcastic.
“Tell me.”
“Because I hate seeing you stick to Choi Taeri. If I hadn’t picked you, Taeri would have picked you anyway.”
“Why does that bother you, hyung?”
“You’re trying to ride on his coattails. I want to see how far you drop without Choi Taeri.”
By now, even the polite laughter between them had disappeared.
“You gave me a good opportunity. I was curious too. How high I can climb without Choi Taeri.”
Juha responded with a straight voice.
“Acting tough when you can’t even get your toes in the top 10.”
“What bothers you so much?”
“You might feel wronged about the manipulation incident that caused a fuss last episode, but there are over twenty kids here who want to get their face and name known even if it’s through manipulation. Even when Choi Taeri had to write a clarification statement, you’re the only one acting all high and mighty. Who would like you?”
Juha hesitated for a moment. Yoo Youngin’s words weren’t wrong. On Juha’s first day joining this program, all he had was the determination to debut somehow. At that time, wouldn’t he have thought it would be good if his ranking went up even through manipulation?
But this wasn’t a situation to be solemn while examining the past one by one.
If he lost this battle of wills, he couldn’t win the battle of wills with stages and audiences that would be a thousand times more frightening.
“Your appearing on TV for 30 seconds more with some trivial story makes someone feel threatened that their lifespan is shortening. Don’t think only I curse you – think that everyone here hates you.”
Youngin spoke sarcastically.
Everyone here hates me. Those words were quite a blow. While Juha suffered from manipulation broadcasting and was hurt by Metabolic, someone else was losing their place due to screen time distribution.
‘I can’t back down.’
If he lost to Youngin here, he might be dragged around throughout this competition. Juha composed himself and opened his mouth.
“So what do you want, hyung?”
“For you to be humiliated and drop out.”
“But hyung, if our team does poorly, you’ll drop out too.”
Juha smiled without much impact as he spoke.
“A bastard who gets handed everything by Choi Taeri if he can debut has no words he can’t say.”
“Isn’t that what you want, hyung?”
The standard response to strong words is even stronger words.
“This bastard really……”
“Hyung, it was Taeri who suggested sharing rooms on the first day, and it was Taeri who ran to me during the death match pairing mission. What can I do when Taeri likes me? He follows me everywhere I go. I guess hyung is either envious of me or afraid of me.”
“This bastard……”
Juha cleanly cut off Youngin’s words and left the bathroom. He could clearly see Yoo Youngin trembling with rage, but he didn’t look back.
Though it was refreshing, he was also worried on one hand. No matter how much he disliked his teammates, they were on the same boat. If this battle of wills didn’t end by tomorrow at least, it would definitely cause harm to the other team members too.
‘Either get closer or suppress him, one of the two.’
With that kind of personality, he would continue to torment Juha. The cameras were also a problem.
If their battle of wills was caught on camera, Juha would literally be torn apart by Yoo Youngin’s fans.
‘Just get caught for one thing, just one.’
It was time when something was needed to grab Yoo Youngin’s leash.
“Ah, what a surprise.”
The smartwatch he brought as a timepiece buzzed with an alarm. It was 7 o’clock, the time he promised with Taeri.
Juha hurried toward the freight emergency exit.
* * *
When he climbed up to the 7th floor following the emergency stairs, a black silhouette suddenly stretched out long. As a person entered the deserted place, Juha carefully lowered his body and approached.
As expected, it was Choi Taeri. As soon as he saw Juha, he ran down the stairs, grabbed his wrist, and went back up to the 7th floor.
“I missed you.”
Choi Taeri hugged Juha tightly as soon as he saw him.
This warm embrace, the strength of the encircling arms, the scent spreading throughout his body, and the low voice saying ‘I missed you.’ He wanted to make Taeri small, put him in his pocket, and take him out whenever needed.
Intoxicated by the sense of security, the two couldn’t escape each other’s embrace for a while. As Taeri’s arms gradually tightened without controlling their strength, Juha let out a low “mmgh” moan. Only then did Taeri’s arms relax.
“How’s practice going?”
Juha asked.
“Well, for our team. Everyone’s still being careful so far. What about you?”
“Me, well……”
Juha couldn’t bring himself to say it. It hurt his pride to complain about what happened with Yoo Youngin. My business is my business. He didn’t want to inform Taeri, who was on a different team, about every little detail.
“Is Yoo Youngin being a pain?”
As if he knew all of Juha’s feelings, Taeri struck first.
“Huh? You knew?”
“I’m not a dull person.”
At Taeri’s words, Juha burst into laughter. Right, he only acted like a puppy around Juha, but Taeri was a smarter and sharper person than anyone.
“Because I got 3rd place, you’re the only one who got bothered.”
Taeri lowered his gaze as if he had committed a sin.
“It’s okay. Eunwon is there too, Chaemyeong gets along well, and Junho hyung seems like a decent person. I’m going to do really well with the kids on my team this time, so feel free to be jealous.”
Juha spoke playfully to reassure Taeri. Taeri kissed Juha who was pretending to be strong.
“What if someone comes?”
“No one comes here at this time. I’ve checked several times. This is my hideout.”
Taeri answered and kissed him once more. This time, Taeri held Juha’s face with both hands so he couldn’t move. As warm hands wrapped around both cheeks, Juha raised his head as if he had surrendered. It was a signal to kiss.
Taeri wrapped Juha’s arms tightly around his waist and kissed him. The wet sound split the dark emergency exit. The way they searched for each other’s tongues was just like the process of intertwining bodies.
Taeri slowly and gently swept through Juha’s warm mouth, then stirred it strongly again. Juha’s lower abdomen gradually heated up and the strength around his eyes relaxed. Taeri’s movements became increasingly sticky. At this rate, something terrible seemed about to happen.
“Mmph, I think Jeongnam is coming?”
“Jeongnam is already here.”
Taeri grinned and answered Juha’s joke. With that short conversation over, their lips mixed again.
Suddenly cutting through the sticky air, the emergency exit door on the lower floor opened. Then came the sound of someone entering. From the many footsteps, it seemed like more than one person.
Juha and Taeri separated as if they had made a promise and held their breath.
“You’re sure no one saw us coming here, right?”
One voice was definitely Yoo Youngin’s.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
