Chapter 54
The moment he overheard those words, Juha’s head snapped up. It was an ominous premonition.
No matter how much he and Yoo Youngin were enemies, they were currently on the same team, so he couldn’t overlook even the smallest thing.
“What past?”
Before Kim Minseong could even answer, Juha got up from his seat and approached them.
“Tell me!”
Juha asked with wide eyes.
“Huh? Uh…… That’s……”
When Juha suddenly appeared and urged him, Kim Minseong was startled.
“What is it!”
“That, that’s……”
In an instant, trainees gathered around them. While Kim Minseong hesitated, not knowing things would escalate like this, the trainees urged him even more.
“Youngin hyung was, was a pig loser. Photos and everything came out.”
Unable to withstand the pressure, Kim Minseong quickly threw out the words and disappeared.
“Pig?”
“He was a pig loser?”
“Yoo Youngin?”
“Youngin hyung……”
The trainees each muttered the words.
When it came to face alone, Yoo Youngin was definitely number 1 among the trainees. Though he wasn’t tall or well-built, he was thin enough that clothes looked good on him on screen, so he seemed to have no appearance worries. Because of this, all the trainees knew how excessive Youngin’s core fans’ pride in his appearance was.
In the buzzing atmosphere of the main hall, Juha read a strange mood. It was disappointment hoping for a competitor’s downfall – that this was all, too weak.
Since Youngin was usually so confident about his appearance and quite arrogant when cameras weren’t around, even fellow trainees considered him disgusting, so they had been expecting something bigger to burst from Youngin.
“Ha……”
Juha let out a hollow laugh.
When he heard the word ‘exposé post,’ all sorts of thoughts crossed Juha’s mind. Though it wasn’t the worst incident like school violence or sexual assault, Youngin’s fans who had been operating with a born-idol image would have been caught by the scruff.
But this incident was somewhat strange. Celebrity past photos would come up and disappear as entertainment once in a while, and a bullied past could even be sympathized with. In a situation where even plastic surgery celebrities’ pasts were just dismissed as dark history, Kim Minseong had spoken as if some major incident had occurred.
Meanwhile, Yeom Sangyeop slowly approached Juha’s side. Come to think of it, Sangyeop’s team leader Taeri was nowhere to be seen either.
“He was apparently made fun of as almost the school’s public property as a pig loser. In short, he was the whole school’s outcast. Seeing that, other fans waited and started bashing Yoo Youngin, so now there’s a dogfight in the communities. Youngin’s fans have been a bit extreme until now.”
Yeom Sangyeop whispered as if generously sharing a big secret. War outside the ring. Since Juha was also a victim of check voting from Youngin’s fans, he could imagine how hated Youngin’s fans must be right now.
Hearing about Youngin’s past and current situation, one side of Juha’s heart felt bitter.
While fans fought like this, the essence would become blurred. Not only was Yoo Youngin a victim in the past, but he was also suffering secondary damage as his past he wanted to hide was exposed again during his most rising period.
Watching such an obvious phenomenon of muddying the waters, Juha wasn’t entirely pleased with the hardship that befell his enemy. It was because he thought that if anything happened to Juha, he could be helplessly sacrificed to such public muddying of waters.
“His original name was also ‘Yoo Youngdae,’ so kids called him Yoo Yeongpig. So he lost weight and changed his name. If you see Youngin now, you can’t imagine it, right?”
When Juha didn’t speak, Yeom Sangyeop added more. Sangyeop’s tone when talking about others’ misfortune seemed somehow excited.
“Trash bastard.”
Juha muttered with a hardened face.
“Huh?”
Thinking it was directed at him, Yeom Sangyeop was startled.
“Got caught by a nasty-hearted bastard.”
“R-right, that’s what I’m saying.”
Yeom Sangyeop agreed while flustered.
Thinking of someone who would have written a post because it was stomach-ache funny that the pig loser the whole school united to mock suddenly appeared on TV being called super handsome, Juha let out a bitter laugh.
He had no intention of defending Youngin’s character. However, no matter how much he and Youngin were in opposition, being ground to powder over such an absurd past wasn’t particularly pleasant.
Seeing humans who childishly exposed past photos because they couldn’t stand others doing well, and other trainees who secretly rejoiced at others’ unhappy pasts, Juha felt considerable disillusionment.
Then he realized he was unknowingly thinking from Youngin’s side and shook his head.
‘The fans will handle it themselves.’
“But what to do? Can Youngin’s pride endure it?”
Regardless of what happened to his own future, Yeom Sangyeop, who was curious about rumors and others’ affairs, chattered endlessly beside Juha. He felt particularly tactless today.
“What if he can’t endure it.”
Juha spoke with a hardened face.
“Huh?”
“If he’s someone who would abandon the stage over something like that, there was no need to compete from the start. I’m leaving.”
Juha greeted Yeom Sangyeop and turned around.
‘Of all teams, ours.’
Youngin had rubbed Juha wrong from the beginning. Though he mostly ignored him because his attitude was annoying, they were currently preparing for a stage in the same team. Since a team member’s problem would affect the entire team, it was definitely not an ordinary matter. After going to the trouble of threatening to keep Youngin in line, trouble had erupted from an unexpected place.
Even if he wanted to debut with Taeri, since they appeared on an audition program, he couldn’t always be in the same team as the person he wanted. However, to debut with Taeri in the end, he had to pass through this ordeal anyway.
The issue with Youngin’s past exposure wasn’t the dogfight between fans it triggered, but how Youngin would accept and overcome that humiliation and shame.
Anyway, he was a disagreeable person in every way.
Seo Eunwon and Jang Chaemyeong, who spotted Juha from afar, came running.
“H-hyung, big trouble! Youngin hyung disappeared!”
The faces of the two kids talking were pale.
“……We need to find him.”
Juha spoke calmly and approached Jo Munseok nearby. Munseok, who had many things bothering him, couldn’t look Juha straight in the eye.
Juha pulled him aside and asked quietly.
“Did hyung look for him too?”
“……Yeah.”
Jo Munseok’s answer wasn’t enthusiastic. Though Munseok would know where Youngin might hide, Munseok who had much to hide wouldn’t easily spill.
They must have already searched all the obvious places, so he needed to find somewhere he might go.
‘Could it be there?’
‘That place’ suddenly came to Juha’s mind.
“……Did you check there?”
Juha glanced toward the freight emergency exit and asked Munseok.
“No, no. We haven’t talked separately since you caught us that day. Really. Youngin said he absolutely wants to debut this time, so he won’t create anything that could be held against him……”
“……”
Youngin’s face from that day in the stairwell, almost pleading to his nemesis Juha with tears welling up, suddenly came to mind. Being caught by Juha in that incident must have been quite a shock to Youngin.
“I, I came to my senses too. Really. Honestly, what I said back then all came from jealousy……”
Jo Munseok used this opportunity to make excuses for himself. Well, it wasn’t an ordinary weakness, so he had no choice but to take a submissive stance.
Since all the participants gathered here were people desperate to debut, it was understandable that he had come to his senses like this after being caught conspiring by Juha.
“Got it, so I’ll go check.”
Juha let his words go in one ear and ran toward the freight emergency exit.
* * *
When he opened the heavy emergency exit door, he could see Yoo Youngin crouched in a corner over there.
Juha unconsciously let out a sigh of relief. Given Youngin’s personality of not being able to think deeply, he couldn’t have hidden in a complicated place.
“What are you doing here?”
As soon as Youngin saw Juha, he squirmed and turned his gaze and body the opposite way.
In front of him were piles of chocolate bags with alphabet letters engraved on them. Come to think of it, Youngin barely ate during team meals either. One day saying his stomach felt queasy, another day having no appetite, and yet another day saying his body felt heavy from practicing.
It was unfamiliar to see him who was like that piling up bags of chocolate and eating them.
“Must be nice.”
Youngin spoke with a bitter hollow laugh.
“What is?”
“That I’m getting screwed.”
“It would have been nice. If hyung wasn’t on our team, that is.”
“Fucking honest, you bastard……”
Youngin made a meaningless joke and hung his head. This time he couldn’t bring himself to smile and Youngin’s lips kept turning down.
Looking at the completely dejected Yoo Youngin, Juha fell into contemplation.
Frankly, if Youngin dropped out of the program or withdrew due to this incident, it would be a huge benefit for Juha. Given how Youngin had become dispirited like wilted weeds, it wasn’t impossible.
But not now. Since Youngin had a free pass, even if he ruined this stage, it would end with automatic advancement to the 3rd competition or voluntary withdrawal, but the other five could all fall.
Thinking that one of them could be Juha himself was terrifying enough to make his future look dark.
‘I absolutely have to get him on stage.’
To advance to the 3rd competition, Juha was prepared to grab Youngin by the collar and drag him on stage.
“We’re not in a position to comfort each other, so I won’t give you fake comfort. Hyung, are you joking around right now?”
At Juha’s words, Youngin glared at him.
“Pretty and handsome bastards like you who’ve been that way since childhood wouldn’t know. How miserable I am right now.”
It wasn’t wrong.
Juha’s appearance had been outstanding enough to receive scout offers since elementary school, and he grew up properly without any reverse transformation. Even if his middle and high school past photos were thoroughly dug up, there weren’t any photos that could become Juha’s dark history.
Lee Juha had lived his entire teens for debut, so he was truly spotlessly clean.
“So what?”
“Yeah, I also wanted to be pretty and handsome and live off just my looks, have people praise my face as plausible, and have countless people heap praise on my face. I really wanted to experience that. I wanted to be paired with someone like Taeri and make people flutter, but fuck…… because of you……”
Yoo Youngin spoke incoherently while unable to hide his anger.
Interpreting those words, Juha was dumbfounded. In the end, the reason Youngin had a victim complex was because Juha, who grew up well without dark history, had taken away what he wanted – being paired with Taeri.
“This isn’t the place for hyung’s personal revenge, is it? Do you think having trauma in the past gives you a reason to treat me badly?”
“What would you know. No matter what you say, it only sounds like well-fed talk to me.”
Juha shut his mouth tight. He was getting increasingly angry. He wasn’t generous enough to give cheap comfort or sympathy, and he had no intention of doing so for Youngin.
“Hyung said it yourself, right? This place is full of people who want to draw aggro to make their names known. Wish fulfilled.”
“Don’t be sarcastic, you bastard.”
“I didn’t come here to fool around. I’m at rock bottom right now. Fuck.”
A curse suddenly burst from Juha’s mouth as his face hardened.
The competition was the day after tomorrow, but Youngin was still trapped in his victim complex, unable to take a single step out. Team 1 members were hanging by a thread, but Youngin had comfortably hidden away. When tormenting others he acted like it was his world, but when he got hurt himself, he didn’t hesitate to cause trouble by hiding – this sight aroused Juha’s anger.
Suddenly, in Juha’s eyes, the fans who were taking all kinds of abuse for being Youngin’s fans overlapped with the dejected Youngin in front of him. Even with the most fans that others would cry and beg to have, acting like this was pathetic to the extreme.
Though he hadn’t been running, Juha’s breathing became increasingly rough. Suddenly, words he couldn’t hold back began pouring out.
“Did hyung train for 6 years like me? Did you major in it while injuring your ankle like Taeri? You’re relying on your face. I don’t care whether hyung was a loser or whatever in the past. You didn’t kill anyone, you didn’t bully anyone, no matter how big a wound it is for hyung, abandoning the fans who lifted you to 1st place and acting like this is really…… ha……”
Though he momentarily intended to persuade him somehow to avoid dying together, seeing Youngin acting like this made him angry even at himself for staying at 15th place because of such a person and his fans.
“What do you know, you bastard!”
“Hyung also touched on Metabolic with me. So hyung should also endure this much.”
Even at Youngin’s scolding, Juha shot back coldly.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
