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“Hyung. Hyung. About yesterday’s package, you know.”
From the shop they visited for overall styling before appearing on the music show, Bunhong had been calling out to the manager all day and following him around. Seeing him like that, the female staff doing makeup laughed, saying he was like a duckling following its mother.
Even as his face turned red with embarrassment at those words, his curiosity about the identity of the person who sent him the package took precedence. Since that day, his head was filled with nothing but the thought that he absolutely had to find out who it was.
However, from morning on, the manager seemed too busy to answer Bunhong’s questions.
“…Ah. Yeah. Wait a minute. Hello!”
Whether there was some good news, the manager was running around here and there with a big grin, and there was no chance to speak to him again. Wondering if some incident had occurred, Bunhong who had been watching silently finally gave up and joined the BLACK group gathered in the waiting room.
As soon as he arrived, the door that had been closed burst open again, and the manager who hadn’t been seen for a while suddenly rushed in shouting.
“Did you guys see the video posted on this site!?”
Without answering, Bunhong glared at the manager with sullen eyes. He was annoyed by the face that was smiling brightly without answering his own question. Chayeon, who had been sprawled out on a chair, spoke jokingly.
“We don’t have time to watch stuff like that because we’re practicing, you know? Hyung, you look too excited.”
“No, look at this.”
All eyes gathered toward the cell phone screen he held out as if frustrated.
Lucy tilted his head and answered first.
“Huh? This person looks familiar… He really resembles Bunhong hyung. The song sounds like our music too, hmm!?”
“It’s a fancam.”
When Ido, who had been indifferently drinking an iced americano, threw out a comment, Lucy, who was slow to grasp situations, finally dropped his jaw.
Since the video was uploaded after the stage had already officially aired, the overall view count wasn’t that high, but since it appeared in ‘Rising Popular Videos,’ climbing higher was a sure thing.
The manager, who was acting triumphant with both hands on his hips even though he hadn’t filmed it himself, kindly added an explanation.
“Thanks to this grateful fancam, more people are taking interest in your debut stage too!”
As Bunhong scrolled through the video, he became convinced that it was definitely uploaded by the woman who had filmed him dancing and singing with a huge camera and an incredibly ambitious expression.
‘But she seemed like a fan of OORA sunbaes.’
That was because of the light stick she was holding, and he’d heard that they’d received several fans from their side who had been dropped from the public broadcast. While feeling bewildered about whether this was okay, he also prayed they wouldn’t get reported for copyright issues.
Because even though it was his first stage and the proper positioning probably hadn’t been figured out, he felt grateful for the affection shown in how carefully she had filmed him.
‘So I was making that kind of expression.’
Bunhong, who had been pretending to be nonchalant in front of others, finally smiled belatedly only after leaving the waiting room. He carefully held up two fingers toward the camera that was filming them due to ongoing reality show filming. Then he walked straight out of the waiting room to perform on today’s stage.
After briefly interviewing with the music show MCs backstage, just as he was about to climb the stairs the same as yesterday,
“Kyaa!”
“Bunhong!”
Voices calling them could be heard from here and there. Even while bewildered, the BLACK members waved at them and smiled brightly.
The significantly increased number of audience members in the seats compared to when they first went on stage, excited faces, people who knew their names…
All of this welcoming him somehow felt unreal to Bunhong.
‘This kind of thing is strange. It’s just like a fairy tale.’
He had always thought about it. Why was it Lee Hanbit and not him? Because he was convinced that he had joined BLACK before Hanbit and had worked much harder than him.
‘What exactly did I do worse than that guy?’
He didn’t know why he was suddenly seized by such inferiority complex. For a moment, as if falling into panic, he felt nauseous and queasy inside. As his body standing on two feet on the ground began to shake, he soon felt a fierce shock as if the world surrounding him was collapsing.
“…Bunhong!!”
“……”
“Kim Bunhong!! Get a grip!!”
At the violently shaking hands, Bunhong, who had been dazed, suddenly raised his head. Only then did his blurred vision gradually become clear and he saw Jeong Ido’s face. Along with the commotion, he also saw several staff members running toward them from behind.
Soon the bewildered Bunhong tried to move his body to grasp the situation. However, he couldn’t because the firm hands covering both his ears wouldn’t let go.
Like that, he had no choice but to look only into Ido’s eyes.
Ido silently mouthed ‘it’s okay’ to Bunhong without voice. While maintaining his usual utterly cold eyes.
“…!”
Only then could Bunhong discover something dripping from Ido’s hair. Yellow liquid was thickly falling onto his forehead. It was egg yolk.
* * *
The sticky yolk mixed with the mousse applied to his hair and hardened. Holding Jeong Ido’s hair that wouldn’t wash off well, BLACK’s coordinator spat out a bowl of curses with a disgusted expression.
“…Are they really crazy? How can they do something like this!?”
Watching that scene, Bunhong thought bitterly.
‘Even if the incident itself changed due to regression, the reaction itself wouldn’t change.’
The culprit who had hidden eggs among the audience and thrown them at BLACK on stage was caught quickly. It was a girl who looked to be a teenager. When word spread that she confessed during police investigation that she was an OORA fan, silence fell over the waiting room for a while.
OORA’s fandom was originally notorious. As Bunhong remembered, even before regression, they had received threatening letters from them several times. Still, he didn’t know that such hostility would lead to terrorism like this, but it seemed to be due to the sudden attention BLACK had received.
Since it was such a big incident, he thought articles with titles like ‘OORA malicious fan’s terrorism against junior group’ would be released in real time soon.
In the midst of this, the manager said while crossing his arms worriedly.
“What should we do? I explained the situation and moved the stage to the one after next, but it seems difficult to postpone it any further. Just…”
Although there were circumstances, it would be absurd for BLACK, who were brand new rookies, to cancel their schedule at will. While everyone was looking at him worriedly, the actual victim who had directly suffered the terrorism cut off the manager’s words with an insensitive expression.
“I don’t mind, so let’s just do it.”
“Are you okay? You?”
“Yes. This opportunity can be noise marketing too, so that’s good.”
In the end, they did go back on stage according to Jeong Ido’s firm will, but Bunhong couldn’t shake off an uncomfortable feeling throughout the performance.
‘Did I see it wrong? I’m sure the person who threw the egg seemed to throw it at me.’
And at that moment, it seemed like Ido had rushed over and covered him… He had a very strange illusion.
Otherwise, he had seen it coming right toward him, so how could it have suddenly fallen on Jeong Ido’s head? Although panic had struck for a moment, he wasn’t stupid enough to not have that much discernment.
After finishing the stage, Ido was sitting alone on a chair placed in the corridor in front of the bathroom. Bunhong, who had gone to find him, tried hard to probe about the situation. However,
“It seemed like it would be more troublesome if you got hit, so I took it instead.”
Ido looked utterly nonchalant.
“……”
“Watching you whine would give me more of a headache.”
Bunhong thought it was rather fortunate that Ido’s response was not kind at all. Because he didn’t have to feel sorry. He lost the will to continue the conversation at the other’s insensitive reaction. Instead of standing awkwardly next to him, Bunhong took the canned coffee Ido was holding.
He decided to throw away the uncomfortable feeling along with the remaining coffee by going to the bathroom and flushed the toilet.
Whoosh—
When Bunhong, who had been standing silently watching the swirling toilet bowl, came back out of the bathroom, Ido who had been sitting there had already disappeared without a trace.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
