Chapter 64
“No. Not yet.”
-Our song is too low on the charts…….
“The broadcast hasn’t even started yet. Let’s wait a bit.”
Juha gently consoled Eunwon. Since the pre-broadcast charts didn’t count toward the scores anyway, he had forgotten about charts, but Eunwon seemed to already be focused on them.
-Hyung.
“Yeah, Eunwon.”
-You know, I want to perform on stage with hyung again. I felt reassured having hyung with me this time.
At Eunwon’s honest words, Juha smiled softly.
“Did you say that to Jang Chaemyeong too?”
-Ah, no! I’m most comfortable with hyung. I like Chaemyeong hyung too of course, but…….
Eunwon, who went out of his way to say those words in case Chaemyeong might feel left out even though he wasn’t around, was adorable as expected.
Eunwon didn’t seem to think of Juha as a competitor at all. If Taeri made Juha fierce, when looking at Seo Eunwon, Juha became pure.
He only hoped that the 15-year-old who was happy to receive praise and love for doing cute things on stage wouldn’t fall apart.
“I had fun being with you too. Since it’s a rest day anyway, don’t think too deeply about it. Rest well. Got it?”
-Mm.
After Eunwon hung up, Juha went to check the Watermelon Chart. The moment he entered and saw the chart, Juha doubted his eyes.
‘This is considered a low ranking?’
Since Eunwon had been sighing deeply saying the ranking was too low, he had prepared himself mentally and was going to check the rankings from the bottom, but Butterfly Dream was visible before scrolling down a few times.
Metabolic’s ‘Butterfly Dream’ was currently at 17th place. Considering that the original Butterfly Dream’s highest ranking was 52nd place, 17th was an achievement to be proud of.
‘What rank was this kid thinking of?’
Thinking about it that way, Juha was incredulous.
Charts don’t lie.
This mission was a battle of how strong the team members’ streaming power was, regardless of the original song’s stage. In Team 1’s case, they had Yoo Youngin with the strongest voting power and Lee Juha, a voting prodigy. Seo Eunwon’s fans were also formidable, and Na Junho also had considerable core fans built up solidly since his youth taekwondo national team days. So the streaming count had easily gone up.
Juha looked up and down the chart.
Taeri’s team’s Delfino’s ‘Peppermint Girl’ was at 13th place. Kim Namhong’s team’s ‘Don’t Trust Me’ was at 21st place. Other songs were still outside the top 20.
‘Is this even possible?’
The broadcast hadn’t even started yet. Not only Team Juha’s fans, but fans of other trainees too – the streaming war had already begun.
Juha was curious how high Butterfly Dream could climb after today’s broadcast.
“All done.”
Teacher Jury finished tidying up the remaining hair on Juha’s neck and showed him the mirror.
The moment Juha saw the mirror, he involuntarily gasped “Huh.”
“Why? Does it look strange?”
“N-no. Th-thank you.”
While greeting, Juha couldn’t take his eyes off the mirror.
He couldn’t believe what he was seeing. It was just a hairstyle change, but Lee Juha in the mirror was a completely different person.
“You really look like a celebrity. You’re more handsome than on screen, and now that you’ve changed your hairstyle, you look better than current idols.”
Teacher Jury looked in the mirror with Juha and constantly praised him.
When Juha came out of the room touching his awkward new hair, his mother, who had been sitting in the waiting area, jumped up.
“……Is it okay?”
Juha asked his mother carefully. This was also the first time mother had seen Juha with such an extreme hair color.
“Your hair is fine now. We don’t have time, so let’s go out.”
“Where, where to?”
Mother didn’t answer and strode ahead.
“Mom has it all thought out.”
As soon as she got him in the car, mother started the engine busily and spoke with determined eyes.
The place the car arrived at was unexpectedly an optical shop. Juha blinked and looked at the three-story building. Both Juha and Yunha had such good eyesight that they joked their ancestors were Mongolian. So an optical shop was a place they would never have occasion to visit in their lives.
“Are you getting me glasses? My eyes aren’t bad……”
“Hurry inside. It’ll be troublesome if people recognize you.”
Mother grabbed Juha’s wrist and went in. As soon as they entered, the staff member who recognized Juha guided the two to a private room so they wouldn’t encounter other people.
“Please give us the best colored contacts in the same color as his hair. Something that won’t strain our kid’s eyes.”
Mother spoke directly to the optician without even looking at Juha’s reaction.
“……”
Juha carefully observed mother’s movements while checking the lenses the optician offered one by one.
Mother seemed to have made no ordinary decision. Between the hair salon and optical shop, it must have cost at least a million won. Since it was the first time spending such a large amount on appearance alone, Juha was being cautious, but mother showed no sign of regret.
‘Could it be because of yesterday’s incident?’
Mother was upset after hearing that he went out in training clothes but borrowed a friend’s clothes for filming.
“It’s fine though……”
“Just hurry up and choose.”
When Juha muttered apologetically, mother gave him a scolding that wasn’t quite a scolding.
“Haha, your mother has good sense. Matching hair color with eye color is the rule these days.”
The optician sided with mother and brought out more options. After putting on ash-colored amber lenses, Juha looked in the mirror.
“……”
Though he couldn’t voice it aloud, Juha was so amazed he wanted to touch his reflection in the mirror.
It wasn’t simply the emotion of being attracted to his own face, but he really felt like he had become a different being.
Juha’s original hair and eye color was natural light brown, which looked neat. But with ash blonde hair and same-colored lenses, he exuded mystery.
It felt strange, like he was really becoming an idol.
* * *
After changing his hairstyle and getting in the car with plenty of lenses, Juha felt reassured. Then he caught sight of himself in the side mirror and still felt awkward.
‘What would Taeri say if he saw me?’
Since he hadn’t mentioned going to the hair salon, Taeri had no idea about this. Since they had agreed to watch the broadcast together tonight, thinking of Taeri’s surprise at seeing him made Juha excited for no reason.
Mother seemed to like Juha’s changed style, as she kept glancing at the passenger seat while driving.
“Tell me if you need anything. Don’t go around looking shabby. Don’t just mooch off others – ask for money when you need it.”
“It’s fine.”
Juha said while hugging the lens bag tightly.
“This is really the last time. When else would you challenge this if not at twenty? Mom will support you thinking this is really the last time too, so don’t go around wearing clothes you got from friends.”
“……”
Juha bit his lips and held back his words. Mother believed her son had gotten clothes a friend was going to throw away. He couldn’t say now that it was a gift. Though that wasn’t his intention, he felt inwardly sorry for making mother worry.
“Do you want to invite that friend of yours to our house before you go back to the dorms?”
Mother asked Juha casually.
“Which friend?”
“Choi Taeri? Right?”
“T-Taeri?”
When Taeri’s name came out of mother’s mouth, Juha flinched and asked back.
“You always go to his house to hang out. You can’t just keep imposing like that. It makes mom uncomfortable. It’s the first time mom is seeing a friend you get along well with.”
Indeed, until now Juha had never had a friend close enough to introduce to his parents. But Taeri was too ‘special’ a friend to proudly show to mother.
“……I’ll ask.”
After reluctantly answering, Juha glanced at his phone. Even though he had called Seo Eunwon, there was no response from Choi Taeri.
‘I should call when I get home.’
Since it was close to rush hour, traffic was a bit heavy crossing the Han River. After enduring the stop-and-go traffic, they arrived home well past 6 o’clock.
Juha went into his room and looked at his phone again.
Since yesterday he had been suffering from company practice schedules all day, Taeri would obviously be busy today too.
‘But he’ll let me watch the broadcast with him.’
Just as he was getting chills thinking ‘Could it be that the company wants to monitor it together too?’, the phone rang.
“Taeri!”
Startled, Juha immediately answered the phone.
-You answered right away.
“Ah, yeah. I was looking at my phone. Are you busy?”
-What should I do? Grandfather insists I must come to a family dinner today, so I think I have to go there.
Taeri’s voice dropped weakly as he spoke.
“Will the dinner end very late?”
-Grandfather set the dinner time for 8 today, so it’ll probably be late. I wanted to watch it together…….
“Can’t be helped. Call me when it’s over.”
-Got it. I’ll contact you later.
“Okay.”
Juha hung up and dropped his phone on the bed. His anticipation of showing his changed appearance first completely deflated. Feeling dejected at the thought that only he had gotten excited.
‘Let me take a shower.’
Juha grabbed his bathrobe and left his room, only to run into Yunha who had just come home.
“Geez, you scared me. Are you Lee Juha?”
Seeing him, Yunha startled and stepped back.
“I’m your oppa, yeah.”
Juha responded familiarly to Yunha’s rude tone.
“Why did you come back with hair the color of a golden retriever covered in fine dust?”
Yunha immediately picked a fight upon seeing her unfamiliar oppa.
A golden retriever covered in fine dust.
His heart sank for a moment. He worried that after changing his style, he might look strange on camera.
“……Does it look weird?”
Juha went into the bathroom and kept looking in the mirror while asking. Yunha leaned against the side and looked at Juha’s hairstyle with him for a while.
“Well, not weird exactly, you do look like an idol, but with those clothes and that hair, it’s kinda funny too……”
Yunha mumbled and trailed off. By sibling intuition, that was praise. Certainly, his hair was too flashy and didn’t match the clothes Juha was currently wearing.
While the siblings were bickering in front of the bathroom mirror, mother, who had taken a call from somewhere, hurriedly changed into a black dress and came out.
“Juha, Yunha. Order dinner for yourselves. Dad’s friend’s mother passed away, so I have to go to Yeongju tonight. It’ll be late, so Juha, don’t stay out overnight today and watch your sister. Got it?”
Mother spoke busily while putting on her shoes.
“What am I, a kid?”
“Take care.”
While Yunha grumbled, Juha saw mother off and came back to the bathroom.
‘I guess I’ll have to watch the broadcast with just Yunha.’
Before turning on the shower, Juha looked in the mirror one last time. His hairstyle was exactly as Teacher Jury had arranged it. Considering Yunha’s reaction, he felt confident it would look quite good with camera massage. He suddenly felt excited with anticipation to get on stage quickly and show people this appearance.
‘I should shower.’
Juha started showering while organizing his various thoughts. It took longer than usual because he carefully avoided his hair, worried the color might fade.
After showering, sudden fatigue hit and Juha lay down on his bed. There were 3 hours left until the broadcast.
‘If I study English and Japanese, I’ll have enough time.’
Just as he was organizing his thoughts and about to get up, he heard knocking.
Since only the two of them were home, it was obviously Yunha. Thinking it unusual for that wild child to actually knock, Juha shouted “Come in.”
“What?”
Juha asked bluntly as usual.
“Nothing much.”
“I’m going to study, so if you have nothing to say, get out.”
Juha spoke indifferently while making shooing gestures.
“Our class group chat went crazy because of you.”
Yunha threw out the words casually.
“Why would it go crazy because of me?”
“Because you were bawling.”
“What now.”
She came to tease her oppa for crying pathetically on the broadcast. Juha quickly lost interest in the conversation with Yunha.
“Oppa didn’t even cry when I got in a traffic accident, but you cried like that because Choi Taeri was eliminated?”
The traffic accident Yunha was talking about was from 3 years ago when a car tire ran over Yunha’s foot and she had her big toe in a cast for a few days.
If he were a real older brother, he would have teased her about it rather than cry for her – that kind of incident.
“When was that, bringing it up now. If you’re going to talk nonsense, get out.”
Juha turned toward the wall as if his younger sister was annoying. If she had come all the way to his room just to tease him about that, he didn’t want to talk much.
“Hey.”
Yunha poked at Juha lying on the bed.
“Don’t do that.”
“Hey, hey.”
“This is to oppa though……”
Juha sat up abruptly, annoyed.
“Can I get your autograph……”
“My, my autograph?”
Juha was speechless at such an absurd request from his blood relative.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
i was having a high hope that finally Taeri will meet Juha family but…pls meet Yunha first that would be okay too