Chapter 94
Yunha burst out laughing with a “Puhaha” beside them. Despite his tall stature and usual blunt demeanor, Na Junho seemed to be quite a scaredy-cat.
In the test that followed immediately after, as if nothing had happened, Na Junho easily handled the test. Na Junho’s voice suited rap better than vocals, but his singing skills were also flawless.
The third was Lee Juha. True to his cautious nature in everything, he approached like a scared kitten with his tail down, creeping forward stealthily, and only after confirming no one was there did he hurriedly look around.
‘Huh, there’s no one…’
Juha was clearly flustered that there was no one in the room. His expression showed so clearly on his face that Taeri, who was beside him, chuckled softly.
Soon understanding the situation, Juha managed to do the audition reasonably well.
Fourth was Yoo Youngin. He walked confidently inside, but when he realized no one was there, his pupils shook. It was just the camera and Youngin alone.
“What? Youngin is acting really weird, oppa.”
Youngin was frozen stiff enough for Yunha to notice at a glance. Even when the AI took photos, he forced his lips to curl up, and when dancing and singing, he even cracked his voice. It was amazing that he got a B- after performing like that.
Seeing the AI evaluation rankings with Juha and Taeri taking 3rd and 1st place respectively, Juha’s parents seemed relieved.
When the AI team formation list appeared, the family read the names of Juha’s teammates listed on screen with their eyes glued to it.
“Oh, right oppa! You were on the same team as Choi Musin, right?”
Yunha said, tapping Juha’s knee.
“You knew about that? How did you find out?”
Juha was so surprised that he forgot Yunha had hit his knee and asked back.
“All the fancams were uploaded on YouTube before the broadcast aired, what do you mean. Mom and Dad saw them all too.”
“Ah…”
The fact that fancams were already up before the main broadcast was probably Gnet’s strategy. Even without filming separate teaser videos, word of mouth would have spread and it would have had a solid advertising effect.
“How was Choi Musin? Huh? Oppa?”
“You’ll see everything when you watch. You said you saw all the fancams, so why are you asking.”
When Juha threw out the words in an uninterested tone, Yunha pouted.
“You’re really such a boring person.”
“Musin was fine. He had a lot of ideas too. Good personality as well.”
Taeri answered since he couldn’t bear to watch anymore.
“Really? See, see, just like I said, right? I had a feeling about Choi Musin.”
“What are you, a shaman? What feeling. You don’t even eat dried persimmons.”
“Damn, you’re really no fun.”
When Yunha glared at Juha with contemptuous eyes, Taeri, who was between them, burst into laughter.
“Be quiet for a bit, Yunha.”
At her father’s scolding, Yunha bit into a cheese ball and closed her mouth.
Each team’s mission location was decided, and finally, Kim Namhong opened his ball.
“Trainee Kim Namhong has drawn ‘Military Base’!”
“Wow, what should we do…”
“Oh my…”
“Hehe.”
At the announced ‘Military Base’ location, Yunha dropped the cheese ball she was biting, the father stopped reaching for chicken, and the mother covered her mouth with her palm. Seeing that reaction, it definitely seemed the production team’s effort to create buzz with ‘Military Base’ paid off.
The time for it to end was approaching. Since the stage filming was done yesterday, today’s broadcast couldn’t include the performance scenes.
While looking at the clock anxiously, Team 3 Son Saesun’s preparation process appeared.
‘So, since the elderly will probably have difficulty remembering our faces when voting, we’ll wear headbands to make it easy for them to remember each of us individually. Like animal ears.’
“Oh? Wow, oppa! Jang Chaemyeong is pretty smart too.”
“Right.”
For the first time, Juha agreed with Yunha’s opinion.
Given the characteristics of elderly people who would have no interest in My Idol at all, it would be difficult to distinguish participants enough to pick an MVP in a short stage of less than 5 minutes. So the idea was to make an impression on the elderly by wearing different animal ear headbands. He thought only his musical ideas were good, but Jang Chaemyeong seemed to have sparkling creativity in many areas.
Team 3 put headbands in a box and had each person draw one. Andrew drew a tiger headband, Jang Chaemyeong drew a rabbit headband, and other trainees drew and wore deer antlers, giraffe, sheep, etc. Even Seo Eunwon…
“Wow, look at that kid. I’m going crazy.”
He wore a headband with bull horns and ears, and was ridiculously cute.
Episode 8 ended with a shot of otherworldly cutie calf Seo Eunwon blinking his eyes. It was an ending that made you look forward to what kind of aegyo he would show wearing such a pretty headband.
“Ah really, they cut it off well. How are we supposed to wait until next week. Today’s broadcast portion was really short.”
Yunha kept muttering while looking at the TV. The preview showed each team member’s practice process, Junho and Taeri sleeping with a partition between their beds, and even a scene of Juha and Youngin facing each other wearing strange headbands and face masks.
While the family was disappointed watching the preview, Taeri carefully got up from his seat.
“I’ll be going now.”
“Going? It’s late, why don’t you sleep over.”
“Taeri oppa, sleep one more night!”
When Juha’s mother spoke to Taeri, Yunha also joined in stopping him.
“Taeri, sleep one more night?”
This time even Juha’s father got up and tried to stop Taeri.
“No. I have to leave early tomorrow. Thank you. Next time I should bring something…”
“Bring something? Juha will go play at your house and impose on you a lot again. Don’t bring anything, just come visit often.”
“Yes. Thank you.”
Taeri smiled properly and politely greeted them. Having visited a few times, the family had gotten comfortable and all came out to the entrance to see Taeri off.
“I’ll take you.”
Juha put on his shoes and went out with Taeri. The family who had been following gradually to see him off eventually came out to the elevator and greeted Taeri.
“Take care!”
“Sleep well. Yunha, take care too.”
Taeri greeted them until the elevator door closed.
Finally alone in the elevator, both Taeri and Juha let out sighs simultaneously.
“Was it uncomfortable watching with all my parents?”
“No. I was a bit envious.”
“What are you envious of?”
“Just. It’s fascinating and also surprising that a house can be so lively like that.”
Taeri held back his words, worried that bitter emotions might show.
Juha looked at him and thought of the empty apartment Taeri would return to. Worried that watching with his family might have hurt Taeri’s feelings, Juha glanced at him carefully.
With a ding, the elevator arrived at the 1st floor, and Taeri got off dragging his suitcase with a familiar expression.
“I’ll take you.”
At Juha’s words, Taeri was about to go ahead but turned around.
“It’s fine. Are you worried I can’t find my way home?”
“Should I sleep at your house tonight?”
Juha got off the elevator and grabbed Taeri’s luggage, dragging it for him. Taeri chuckled and took the suitcase back from Juha.
“Ah, Lee Juha! Sometimes you treat me like I’m some fragile kid. You haven’t seen Jeongnam in a while, so you’ve lost your touch, right?”
When Taeri said this coquettishly, Juha couldn’t say more.
“Alright.”
Juha reluctantly nodded and left the apartment. Each week when the group lodging ended, the weather gradually added more summer heat. Fortunately, since it was past midnight, there was no tropical night.
When they reached the apartment entrance where taxis stopped, Juha suddenly stopped with a thud.
“Call me when you get home.”
Juha’s eyes were still full of worry.
“Yeah. I couldn’t sleep at all last night because I was holding back from doing anything while lying next to Lee Juha. I think I’ll be able to sleep well tonight.”
“You’ll really be able to sleep well, right?”
Juha still couldn’t put his mind at ease.
“Yeah. So let’s meet in our dreams.”
At Taeri’s joke, Juha burst into laughter. He wanted to do more for him and stay together, but this much seemed enough to send Taeri off with peace of mind.
Just then a taxi arrived.
“I love you.”
“I love you more.”
Taeri left his confession and got in the taxi. Juha waved until the taxi disappeared.
“He really left…”
Only after the taxi was out of sight did Juha lower his hand and talk to himself.
The 2 days and 1 night spent at home with Taeri felt like a dream, but thinking of Taeri kept making his heart ache. Someone who didn’t know the situation wouldn’t believe that Choi Taeri looked pitiful. He was still Eoltae and from a diamond spoon family background. But the Taeri that Juha saw up close was someone so lonely that he had accumulated layers of wounds inside and couldn’t even feel the pain anymore.
Juha found it fascinating that he was empathizing with and worrying about ‘someone else’s’ affairs. During his 6 years as a trainee, he had been so absorbed in self-pity that he had no interest in others’ affairs. Each day was so difficult that he had no time to sympathize with or help others.
Things were just as intense now as they were before, but Juha had definitely changed from before. Just looking at Taeri made him want to spend time together and help him, even if it meant reducing time for himself. When he was hurt, he wanted to hurt together with him, and when he was happy, he wanted to make him even happier.
The reason Juha could love Taeri so confidently was because he was certain that Taeri felt the same way. In this hellish race toward debut that couldn’t be endured with ordinary mental strength, the reason he could make it this far without getting his heart broken or giving up was all thanks to Taeri. He even thought that without him, even if he made it to debut, his mind would have been eaten away.
With a ‘ding’ sound, the elevator arrived at the 14th floor.
When Juha returned home, the living room table was already cleaned up and his parents had gone into their bedroom.
The one who waited for Juha in the living room late every night was always Lee Yunha.
“Did Taeri oppa get home safely?”
“Yeah. Lee Yunha, you really need to watch your mouth. Never go around talking about Taeri.”
Juha warned Yunha once more out of anxiety.
“I don’t even talk about you, so why would I talk about Taeri oppa.”
Yunha grumbled and turned her attention to her phone. True, she was quite tight-lipped so she was trustworthy. Whether it was embarrassing or what, she hadn’t even told her friends that her brother was a trainee until they found out.
Juha suddenly reflected, seeing how kind Taeri had been to Yunha the whole time.
“Ahem, how did it go when you took Taeri’s autograph before?”
Juha awkwardly asked about Yunha’s well-being.
“Of course! It was Choi Taeri’s autograph, so naturally everyone was amazed.”
Yunha spoke proudly about Taeri as if he were her own brother.
“Do you like Taeri that much?”
Juha probed his sister with unusual sarcasm.
“Oppa, honestly, do you think there’s anyone who would dislike Choi Taeri? He’s handsome, polite, funny, and even kind on top of that. Isn’t he the perfect free pass for meeting the parents?”
“So? Do you wish Taeri was your oppa?”
“Ah, what kind of bullshit is that. If you’re tired, just go sleep.”
Yunha answered with an expression of extreme disgust at such a nonsensical question. Juha, who felt suddenly embarrassed after asking, also awkwardly scratched his neck. Still, he was pleased that Yunha didn’t answer that she wished Taeri was her brother.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
