-36-
Brief break time. There was someone who dragged the blankly sitting Kim Bunhong to a table forcibly and suddenly attempted a bold situational drama.
“What’s your name. Response requested. Newbie.”
He was the only one who talked to Kim Bunhong sitting alone in the corner, but the problem was not knowing whether this was caring or bullying.
‘Duho hyung is really still the same.’
Bunhong hesitated for a moment then opened his mouth.
“Kim…… Bunhong.”
Duho tilted his head and said:
“Kim Geunhong? That’s a really unique name.”
Bunhong kindly clarified once more.
“Bunhong. Pink color.”
“Ah, yellow?”
A severe headache began to rush in. Kim Bunhong looked at him with empty eyes and barely suppressed the urge to step firmly on the feet of Duho who stood confidently in front of him.
‘This…… seems like he’s doing it on purpose.’
After doing such meaningless self-introductions for dozens of minutes, the break ended. Seeing a few trainees who seemed close to Duho giggling behind him, it seemed like he really was being teased, so Bunhong thought as he got up from his seat while dusting off his clothes.
‘He’s not even a kid, how childish.’
Then the scratch on Duho’s eyebrow caught Bunhong’s attention. Still, the fact that there was a member with the least sense of disconnect from before his regression, for reasons unknown, seemed to give him strength, and ridiculously, his tension loosened a bit.
Whirr-.
Even though he didn’t show it because of the rotating camera, the teachers instructing Class A also seemed to view him unfavorably.
As a result, he received a unilateral notice to prepare for the ‘position evaluation’ that would take place in a week.
Since he had his graduation ceremony, he no longer needed to go to school, and for Kim Bunhong, what remained was time.
‘What should I do now……’
Unconsciously fiddling with the watch on his wrist, Kim Bunhong suddenly realized.
“……!”
No, for him it wasn’t simply that time was given. It was something he had obtained only after dying once and coming back again. To be precise, it was something he had finally come to know he possessed.
The hour and minute hands flowing with ticking sounds, everything that made up the watch, everything that could be defined as time – if all of this could finally take on one form, it would be-
For him, it would be the word ‘desperation’ itself, Kim Bunhong thought. It wasn’t simply slipping away like sand when held in hand, it really wasn’t.
Apart from the broadcast, according to schedule, full-scale training would begin after positions were divided. The intention of what the teachers wanted to say to him was essentially to figure it out himself before receiving the ‘position evaluation.’ In other words, the one-week period was also a grace period to get crushed on his own.
Given the current atmosphere in Class A, he would surely be treated as a complete outsider for a week. Moreover, since there was still a lot of time left before the broadcast would officially begin, there really wasn’t much benefit for Kim Bunhong to come to the practice room. Just getting his face on camera a few times?
Actually, the program’s intention was closer to introducing BLACK’s members to the public rather than being a survival show, so they would be busy promoting existing members rather than highlighting trainees – he already understood this.
‘Because that was my idea.’
Should I just not do anything? It seems certain that I’m in the debut group anyway. Wouldn’t it be fine to stay quiet and then appear with a ta-da when the necessary moment comes?
Just like when he sent himself a text message to come back-
‘When the time comes, Jeong Ido will call.’
But something strange happened.
As soon as he recalled that memory, a subtle sense of rebellion began to rise in his heart. For that, his pride absolutely wouldn’t allow it.
The next day, as soon as he entered the building with hesitant steps, the person he met was the security guard who had been working in the company’s management office for quite a long time.
“You came first again today, student. Hehe-“
Since he usually didn’t have a good stomach, even before his regression, the guard used to be happy when occasionally given gifts like yogurt.
‘I remember he liked warm soy milk.’
The security guard smiled broadly at the soy milk pack that Kim Bunhong carefully offered, saying he was admirable, then patted his head saying he was kind and that it reminded him of his grandchild he left at home.
Though he was a familiar person, Kim Bunhong’s ears turned bright red from the sudden praise and physical contact.
The security guard who was praising Bunhong suddenly raised his head and said:
“There, is that Han Chayeon?”
Noticing that his gaze was directed behind him, Kim Bunhong heard the familiar name he was calling and turned around.
Thud. Thud.
Han Chayeon, who was walking slowly with a heavy bag slung over just one shoulder, belatedly noticed the security guard greeting him warmly and bowed 90 degrees at the waist.
“Hello.”
Unlike his polite voice, his cool gaze briefly touched the flustered Kim Bunhong then disappeared without a trace as if he had seen something uninteresting. The security guard then spoke to Chayeon:
“Yes. Practice well today too.”
“Thank you.”
As expected, Chayeon’s greeting was polite but brief.
“Even after seeing him for so long, he’s really a guy who’s hard to get close to. Hehe.”
His vision that only looked straight ahead on his path and his unhesitating steps. The security guard, who was watching that retreating figure, scratched his cheek and then,
“Ah!”
Rummaged through his work uniform pocket and suddenly held something out to Kim Bunhong.
“This is the spare key to Class A practice room that I have. There are only exactly 2 of these?”
“Yes.”
“But one is already in Han Chayeon’s hands, and I think giving the remaining one to student Bunhong is the right choice.”
Because now student Bunhong comes to the practice room earlier than Chayeon, right? Since I’m sometimes busy and often can’t open the practice room door in advance – from now on, don’t wait and use this to open the door and go in to practice hard, the security guard patted Kim Bunhong’s back encouragingly and laughed heartily.
The power of soy milk was surprisingly great!
Putting his finger through the keychain and spinning the key around, Kim Bunhong stood briefly in the camera’s blind spot and looked up at the ceiling.
‘I didn’t intend this.’
After briefly pondering like that, he took a step as if he had decided something.
Surely the security guard had said, ‘Now student Bunhong comes to the practice room earlier than Chayeon, right?’ That’s right. There was someone who recognized his efforts.
Somehow it felt a bit overwhelming – Bunhong thought. Actually, there wasn’t much to learn even if he went to the practice room, but Kim Bunhong’s will led him there.
So from that day on, Kim Bunhong decided to continue acting the same rather than trying to change noticeably. Literally ‘consistently’ arriving early at the practice room and leaving later than others.
During meal times, he sat alone in a corner and ate at the company cafeteria. Since Bunhong’s body, having just become an adult, was still growing, he couldn’t participate in that day’s practice without consuming certain nutrients, so he made sure to eat ‘no matter what happened.’
Then came a certain day. That day the meal line was strangely long, and the moment Bunhong, who finished practice late, stood at the very end of the line, the cafeteria ajumma who was serving food made a troubled expression.
The trainees who got served before him had taken everything – at the ajumma’s apology that there weren’t enough side dishes, Bunhong waved his hands saying it was okay and sat down with a much smaller portion than usual on his tray, thinking:
‘What……’
So many trainees had come and gone that there weren’t enough side dishes compared to usual, but strangely, why was he sitting in the most corner seat in the crowded cafeteria – Bunhong briefly pondered.
When Bunhong sat down to eat, it was quite late for a meal.
The side dishes weren’t particularly varied and it wasn’t usually a popular cafeteria, so why were trainees from Classes A, B, and C all crowding around today?
The cafeteria ajumma wouldn’t lie, and they couldn’t all be gathering to practice in the cafeteria…… that was even more impossible.
‘Where in the world would there be trainees with such bad taste? Even Han Chayeon hyung wouldn’t do that.’
While eating with such doubts, he heard giggling laughter and quickly raised his head. Then something lightly hit his back as it passed by. It was a crumpled paper. It didn’t hurt, but it was clearly intentional.
When Kim Bunhong carefully bent down to pick up and unfold the paper,
[Cheater ã…‹ã…‹]
[How dare someone like you be in Class A?! It would be fortunate if you don’t tarnish the name.]
[What kind of connections do you have?]
……was written on it.
The handwriting, clearly written with the left hand on purpose, was so messy that it was impossible to tell whose it was.
As soon as he saw it, Bunhong’s mind went cold. He picked up his spoon and forced food into his mouth.
After stubbornly finishing his meal like that, he got up from his seat with his tray, walking through the piercing stares.
Throughout Bunhong’s steps, there were movements playfully trying to trip him, but perhaps conscious that cameras would be installed somewhere, there weren’t any trainees who openly bullied him.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
