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Seeing Bunhong making a blank expression at his words, Lucy smiled softly.
“…Looking at you, when you rest, you’re almost always lying in bed just listening to music.”
“……”
“Instead of doing that, let’s use the speaker and listen together from now on.”
Listening to Lucy’s words, there was one person who came to mind.
‘Can I listen to the music?’
It was Oh Hangeul who had carefully made such a suggestion to him in the dressing room.
Bunhong, who had been hesitating, answered.
“I… like somewhat melancholic songs. Depressing ones, so you probably won’t like them much.”
“Really?”
“Yeah.”
He had opened his mouth really carefully to express his refusal indirectly, but Lucy, who had been scratching his face, tilted his head and answered.
“I thought so since hyung is always smiling.”
Looking closely, he had quite a serious expression.
“……”
“There’s no one in the world without pain.”
Bunhong, who was caught off guard at an unexpected moment, became flustered and fell into thought for a while.
‘Was that it? Was it pain?’
It felt like wounds he hadn’t been aware of until now were being fully exposed above the surface.
He thought wounds only formed when you got stabbed or scratched somewhere externally. The reason he always felt comforted when listening to music was because of that.
More than any words, the lyrics that always filled his empty heart touched him so deeply.
As always, music was the only thing that understood such feelings of his. In moments so sad they made him want to cry, he was always alone. When he closed his eyes tightly and entrusted his body to the melody as if wandering alone over an endless sea, it felt like someone invisible beside him was crying together with him.
Bunhong let his words trail off as if sighing.
“I see…”
He had always envied people who had clear conviction about their emotions from long ago. On the contrary, it took him this long just to barely understand himself, requiring such a long time even to become self-aware.
Suddenly the door burst open and Duho entered the room.
“You have a schedule tomorrow but you stayed up gaming~ I should tell on you all.”
His pronunciation was slurred because he was chewing squid. Looking at the monitor that was on, the two in the room frowned and covered their noses at the giggling laughter and the smell it carried. Lucy was the first to shout among them.
“Ah, squid smell! Hyung!”
Instead of saying something to Duho, Bunhong quietly whispered to Lucy.
“You didn’t lock the door?”
“No…”
“I always told you to lock it since Duho hyung might come in.”
“……”
“Because we can’t lock Duho hyung’s door.”
At those words, Lucy nodded and answered.
“I was wrong. I’ll be more careful from now on.”
Then Duho, who had been listening to their conversation, blinked as if shocked. Making a hurt expression, he simultaneously dropped the squid he was holding on the floor with a thud, which looked quite intentional.
“Hey, are you guys excluding me right now?”
They quickly sent Duho out before the squid smell could completely permeate the room.
“Phew. It’s a long day.”
After the brief commotion, Bunhong, who wiped the sweat from his forehead, sprawled on the bed and muttered to himself.
* * *
Before follow-up song activities began, they decided to briefly appear on a variety show for promotion. BLACK took some time to watch videos of their senior singers OORA who had already appeared on the same broadcast before. They sat surrounding the television as usual in the dorm.
Eventually viewing ended and it was time to share their thoughts. Bunhong, who was sitting on the floor leaning against the sofa, was the first to speak.
“…Oh Hangeul sunbae seems to do everything so naturally. Whatever it is.”
Whether at street performances or even on variety programs, he was a man with the talent to naturally make unfamiliar atmospheres his own.
Anyone could easily tell just by watching briefly that this wasn’t everything Hangeul possessed, even if you said it was thanks to his handsome appearance. His pretty features became a primary factor in drawing others’ attention. On top of that, with his refreshing wit, rich reactions, and pure yet quirky personality, he stood out particularly in every scene of the broadcast. It was perhaps natural that everyone came to like him.
Even though they appeared as a group, the cast members and viewers all only talked about Oh Hangeul. Yet OORA’s other members didn’t seem to begrudge or be jealous of such popularity of Hangeul’s.
To speak honestly of Bunhong’s thoughts, he was someone who stimulated his inferiority complex in a different way from Lee Hanbit.
Later, while sitting in the waiting room before appearing on the variety program, a CF featuring Oh Hangeul solo began playing on the television installed on the wall.
Despite the noisy waiting room, Hangeul’s voice clearly entered his ears. Without knowing it, Bunhong’s gaze was drawn there.
It was a perfume advertisement, where Hangeul in a perfectly fitted black suit stood with one leg up on a chair, looking to the side. As upbeat music played, he slowly turned his head. While spraying perfume and burying his nose in his wrist, Hangeul whispered in a low voice.
“Come on, everyone love me.”
A beautiful man that everyone would covet was craving affection. It was a seductive gesture as if he were a single flower calling a swarm of butterflies to himself.
Though it was truly a brief moment, it was charming enough to be intensely recognized in his mind. Enough to make him feel that what he had shown at filming locations and various places after regression was nothing. Realizing this, Bunhong unconsciously chewed his lips.
While filming continued for a while, one of the program’s regular cast members asked BLACK.
“OORA kids appeared here recently, you know that right?”
Lucy raised his hand and answered energetically.
“Yes, we’re their juniors!”
“How cute. Did you become close with your seniors?”
Chayeon quickly chose a safe answer.
“Haha. They’re so busy that it’s hard for us to see them too. We greeted them in the waiting room after debuting, and we’ve run into each other a few times at the company since then.”
“Inside the company?”
“Yes. In the company cafeteria…”
“Ah, right. AT Entertainment is famous for having delicious food, right? There are rumors all over the broadcasting industry.”
Duho shouted energetically.
“That’s right. Our company really serves good food!”
As if that was a good opening, the cast member playfully tackled him.
“Oh oh, the food is good? Is everything else maybe not so great?”
Filming continued like that for a while, but only Bunhong was quietly watching the situation with his mouth closed. Actually, he had appeared on this variety program before regression too, so it wasn’t simply due to shyness. It seemed his physical condition from being treated at the hospital last time hadn’t completely recovered. Standing under the various lights installed for filming, dizziness began to wash over him.
Bunhong mechanically smiled brightly and struggled desperately to blend in and seem fine somehow.
However, perhaps noticing that he wasn’t concentrating, someone asked him.
“Earlier, someone from BLACK members seemed to say that you haven’t gotten that close with OORA sunbaes yet, but I guess Bunhong-ssi is an exception.”
Bunhong opened his eyes wide in great surprise at those words.
“Excuse me?”
“Ah. Before coming here, I got a text from Hangeul asking me to take good care of Bunhong-ssi since he’s shy and was worried about him.”
“……”
The cast member’s reason for bringing this up seemed not to be for Bunhong’s sake but rather a kind of showing off connections – that he had exchanged numbers with Hangeul. However, it was unexpected information.
‘Did he hear that I was appearing today?’
Hangeul’s contact information was still saved in his phone. But he was curious why he had to hear this story through someone else. Was it because Hangeul’s phone number had changed that he didn’t receive direct contact? After pondering complexly, he eventually gave up on deducing.
A few days later, BLACK’s first terrestrial broadcast appearance aired. Among that day’s cast members, the one most talked about by viewers was surprisingly Kim Bunhong. Everyone was curious about what kind of relationship he had with Oh Hangeul. In other words, they seemed to want to know what kind of connection existed between the two that would lead to such a separate request.
This was because all the responses to the post uploaded on the official SNS account asking [Q. Ask BLACK anything you’re curious about!] were about that.
‘Why do they want to know so badly?’
While finding it strange, Bunhong, who wanted to satisfy the fans’ curiosity, began pondering how he should answer this.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
