-70-
The face of Hangeul that he found himself staring at was unfamiliar. Unlike his usual confident demeanor in everything, he somehow looked drained.
“……Ah.”
“…….”
“That is, I did receive a text, but I don’t know who sent it…….”
Hangeul rambled as he spoke, then raised his hand to cover his face. Even Bunhong was flustered by that reaction.
‘Is this question really something to react this strongly to?’
Hangeul, who continued to fidget restlessly, said to Bunhong.
“In a little bit, no. I’ll reply right away.”
“Yes.”
After answering and about to follow the members into the waiting room, Bunhong hesitated for a moment before unconsciously adding words.
“……Then, I’ll wait.”
As soon as they went inside, he immediately changed out of his wet clothes. That alone made the cold much more bearable. Then, at the vibration of his phone ringing, he unconsciously lifted his head. Surprised, Bunhong’s eyes widened.
‘It really came.’
It was a text message that arrived from Hangeul.
[Oh Hangeul sunbae-nim: What are you doing right now?]
He wiggled his fingers placed on the keypad for a moment, pondering what to say.
“Just in the waiting room……, sitting.”
Perhaps because he was overly absorbed in sending just one text, Bunhong unconsciously muttered the contents with his mouth.
[Oh Hangeul sunbae-nim: Be careful not to catch a cold! I’m worried because you got rained on.]
“Sunbae-nim also be care… ful.”
Duho glared at Bunhong with a strange look as he talked to himself the entire time he was texting with Hangeul.
“Did you hide something delicious in the dorm by yourself? Is that why you’re smiling?”
“…….”
The reason he couldn’t ignore and pass over even such a silly joke was because, even though he hadn’t really hidden a honey jar, he felt strangely guilty.
Even though his relationship with Hangeul hadn’t completely improved, the text messages they occasionally exchanged brought peace of mind in his exhausting daily life.
It was one such day. Right before starting follow-up song activities, in the midst of being frantically busy, a text message sent by Hangeul caught Bunhong’s eye.
[Oh Hangeul sunbae-nim: Is your time okay today? Do you want to come play at the studio later?]
Bunhong let out a short exclamation.
“Ah.”
Without time to think, he sent back a positive reply. So he made time to drop by Hangeul’s studio.
As soon as the soundproofed door opened, a noisy atmosphere unfolded. Though he was flustered by the unexpectedly large number of people, he rather thought it was fortunate since it seemed better than being alone together.
As Bunhong, who was severely shy with strangers, stood hesitating near the door without going inside, someone among them greeted him.
“Ah, hello.”
“……Yes.”
He shook hands, grasping the hand extended to him in bewilderment.
Discovering Bunhong, Hangeul quickly added words.
“They’re close hyungs from the band club.”
Whether he had introduced Bunhong in advance before coming, they already knew about him. Unlike when he had come once in the past, various instruments were set up, making the studio look smaller than before.
“The hyungs are releasing a new song this time, so I thought it would be good for Bunhong-ssi to listen together.”
As Hangeul said, he sat in the studio chair and watched the band’s performance. As Bunhong thought the song was good and unconsciously turned his head, he was momentarily captivated by Hangeul’s profile that came into view.
“…….”
He could see eyes sparkling under the lighting.
The band left Hangeul’s studio saying they had another schedule, leaving just the two of them. Perhaps thanks to the lingering effects of the music, fortunately it wasn’t awkward.
Hangeul said with a smile, resting his chin on his hand.
“Don’t they look really free?”
Then Bunhong nodded in agreement. After that, silence came for a moment before Hangeul asked Bunhong.
“Is the singer life manageable?”
“Um…… so-so, it’s okay.”
Hangeul smiled.
“I never thought we’d meet again like this.”
“…….”
From Bunhong’s perspective, honestly, he hadn’t expected Hangeul to approach him again. Honestly, he would never have been able to approach first himself, so it was something to be grateful for.
“Will you come play sometimes in the future too?”
At Hangeul’s suggestion, Bunhong nodded.
* * *
Before the album for follow-up song activities was released, they decided to do a live talk broadcast. Among the topics brought up for conversation this time, the most important one was about the newly decided fan club name. Reading the subtitles put up by the writer noonas on the opposite side of the screen appearing on the broadcast, Lucy brought up the topic first.
“Ah, that’s right. Our fan club name has been decided as Light, so light!”
Chayeon chimed in with a smile.
“Isn’t the meaning so pretty? It means light that brightens BLACK, so darkness.”
After talking about that for a while, they decided to play a simple game. Bunhong naturally spoke the subtitles he had read in advance, joining the conversation.
“Shall we try playing a card game?”
“Good!”
So they played several rounds of games, and Duho won them all. Though Chayeon was suspicious, wondering if he was using some kind of trick, in the end the first place prize went to Duho.
“Thank you, it’s all thanks to the fans!”
The other members all looked at Duho with annoyance as he pretended to tear up.
“The first place prize is…… a snack set.”
As Duho received the bundle handed by the staff while cheering, a scary shadow immediately fell behind him.
It was BLACK’s manager.
“And since Duho needs to diet, I’ll confiscate this.”
Lucy giggled saying “serves you right,” and in the midst of the noisy chaos, Chayeon read the final ending comment.
“So we’ve tried various games among ourselves, and there are spoilers for our follow-up song activities among these, so please make lots of guesses~!”
After ending the live broadcast like that, they returned to the dorm.
Before washing, Bunhong flopped down on his bed and looked over all the fans’ reactions to today’s broadcast and other activities one by one.
“Did I gain some weight? The photo looks kind of bad.”
Looking at an article photo that came up among them, Bunhong let out a deep sigh.
Perhaps because he hadn’t slept properly, even with makeup his complexion looked dark. It was even more so because he had pale skin to begin with.
His roommate Lucy approached Bunhong and asked.
“What are you looking at?”
“Look at this photo, doesn’t it look ugly?”
Lucy answered as if it was absurd.
“Are you perhaps deceiving? You want to brag because you’re handsome, right?”
Fortunately, it seemed it didn’t look that way, so Bunhong let out a sigh of relief.
“Where did you learn the word ‘deceiving’?”
“I may be mixed-race, but I’m also Korean.”
It was obvious he had picked it up while surfing the internet.
Bunhong took a towel and went into the bathroom to shower. During this busy schedule, whenever he had even a little time, he had been busy catching some sleep. Soaking his body in hot water made him feel better. However, the article photo kept lingering in his mind.
“Should I lose weight.”
He unconsciously muttered without realizing it.
Though he knew he had low self-esteem, there wasn’t a single thing among what he had that he liked. Even though he was cast for his face, honestly even his appearance seemed ambiguous.
‘The handsome one was…… honestly Lee Hanbit.’
Lee Hanbit’s face with strong features came to mind. Looking at his own thin wrists, Bunhong bit his lips. Only when Duho could be heard shouting from outside asking why he wasn’t coming out and had been in the bathroom for so long, did he stop his useless thoughts and finish washing his body.
Thinking that everything was something he wanted to fix one by one, Bunhong, who was drying his wet hair with a hair dryer, turned away from the mirror on the vanity table visible before his eyes.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
