Chapter 22
‘What a dilemma.’
Since the rankings hadn’t been announced yet, Juha decided to wait for now.
“Main Master Lee Cheong will announce the mission rankings.”
As Park Jusung finished speaking, Lee Cheong appeared on stage. As the trainees’ cheers poured out, Lee Cheong smiled and greeted them.
Wearing a black dress with bold gold accessories and her hair tied in a ponytail made Lee Cheong’s small face stand out.
“I’ll announce from 20th place.”
Lee Cheong’s clear voice echoed through the hall.
Starting from 20th place, names were called and the corresponding trainee’s concept photo appeared on the large screen behind the stage.
“16th place, Yeom Sangyeop.”
Along with the name, Sangyeop’s photo appeared on screen.
“Oh!”
Yeom Sangyeop, who was ranked 27th last time, had achieved a much better result than expected.
“15th place, Seo Eunwon.”
“Oh! I’m in the same room as Yeop hyung!”
As Eunwon bounced around excitedly, Sangyeop affectionately patted his head as if he found him cute.
The ranking announcement continued. Since there were quite a few changes from the first episode rankings, the hall stirred every time a name was mentioned.
“4th place, Choi Musin.”
“Wow!”
Choi Musin, who had chosen kimchi which was considered the worst prop, ended up in 4th place.
Choi Musin’s ranking, who had minimal presence at 57th place, drew everyone’s admiration. Although it was a one-time mission ranking measured by heart votes, it gave hope to the lower-ranked trainees.
“3rd place, Yoo Youngin.”
‘Ah, damn it…’
As 3rd place was called, Juha’s anxiety reached its peak.
Based on heart votes up until yesterday, Juha was definitely not outside the top 20. The same went for Choi Taeri.
Then 1st and 2nd place were obvious.
‘No way…’
Juha clicked his nails nervously as he stared at the screen.
This couldn’t happen.
He couldn’t share a room with Choi Taeri again this time.
He had been running away all day based on the plan to not share a room starting today, but if this happened, everything would be ruined.
“2nd place, Choi Taeri.”
As if naturally betraying Juha’s heart, Taeri’s name was called.
Choi Taeri was 2nd place. On screen appeared a photo of Choi Taeri pulling a rope taut while glaring straight ahead. Seeing Taeri on the big screen, even in this situation, Juha felt his whole body tingle as if electrocuted.
‘Then 1st place is…’
“1st place, Lee Juha.”
Thud.
As his own name was called along with “1st place,” Juha’s mind went blank. The screen filled with a photo of Juha wearing a disheveled dragon robe.
“Oh…”
“Wow…”
Seeing his photo on the large screen, even the competing trainees burst into admiration.
It was definitely a striking photo. While everyone was faithful to their concepts, few trainees had created such drama with a single photo like Juha.
He had achieved the 1st place he had so longed for, but Juha wasn’t pleased with this situation.
‘This is driving me crazy.’
Rather than the joy of 1st place, anxiety about having to be roommates with Choi Taeri again overwhelmed him. While he could somehow get by when cameras were around, if they ended up lying alone together under those blankets at night, even Juha wasn’t confident he could restrain himself.
And if he ran away to the sofa again, Choi Taeri wouldn’t just let it slide this time.
He couldn’t show a despairing expression here. Because he had placed 1st in the photo shoot mission, cameras had come right up to his face.
“Congratulations, trainee Lee Juha.”
“Thank you.”
Lee Cheong personally placed a large flower lei around Juha’s neck. Each flower on the lei was as big as Juha’s face. It was just winning 1st place in a mission once, but everyone was treating it like he had won an Olympic gold medal.
Anyway, 1st place was good.
Hiding his desire to cry, Juha smiled brightly at the camera.
“Trainees, please pack your belongings in your respective rooms and come down by 10 o’clock.”
“Yes!”
After answering, the trainees scattered one by one.
Meanwhile, Juha was caught by the production team for a behind-the-scenes interview. They bombarded him with predictable questions about his feelings on placing 1st, the situation when taking the photo, etc.
He tried to be more lively and energetic while monitoring the scenes, but it only made things more awkward.
“Thank you to all the fans who voted for me, th-thank… thank you for saving me.”
Instead of saying “I love you,” those words came out. The laughter of the filming staff was recorded directly in the audio.
“Good work, Juha. Congratulations.”
“Thank you.”
Juha came out of the interview booth after finishing the interview. He thought he might be the only person in the world whose heart felt this heavy after placing 1st.
“Lee Juha!”
At the sudden female voice calling him, Juha turned his head. It was Main Master Lee Cheong.
“Hello.”
Juha clasped his hands in front and bowed politely. Though there were no cameras around, he wanted to maintain courtesy toward the main master.
Lee Cheong walked over with the clicking sound of her heels.
“You did really well. Writer Kim Dongmin was full of praise for you.”
Lee Cheong smiled brightly as she spoke to Juha. He had seen girl group noonas a few times when he was a trainee, but this was the first time seeing such a top-tier girl group member up close.
Her appearance and aura were definitely different from other celebrities. She was glamorous, confident, and full of the conviction that she could captivate anyone.
“I’m still lacking in many ways.”
Juha answered awkwardly, scratching his neck.
“I was really surprised when I saw your photo. Should I say I want to keep watching you?”
Juha slowly raised his gaze to look at Lee Cheong. Lee Cheong’s eyes looking at him were peculiar. The way she swayed her body slightly while letting out soft laughter was completely different from the charisma she usually showed from the master’s seat.
“…Thank you.”
Juha bowed with his gaze lowered.
The moment he raised his head, unfortunately Choi Taeri was visible in the distance across from them. Before he could even think he needed to run away, Taeri started running toward them.
‘Ah shit…’
Juha looked around restlessly. He couldn’t make a face or just run away in front of Lee Cheong.
Lee Cheong suddenly being friendly was uncomfortable, but more than anything, the person he least wanted to face in the world was approaching.
“Noona!”
“…”
In the midst of this, Taeri’s use of “noona” to address Lee Cheong grated on Juha’s ears.
“Oh, Taeri. Good work.”
“What were you talking about?”
Taeri smiled brightly as he spoke to Lee Cheong. He hadn’t wanted to run into him, but seeing Choi Taeri acting like that with someone else bothered him even more.
Acting so cute with an older woman.
Honestly, it was really disgusting to watch.
“Well, I should…”
“Wait.”
Taeri firmly grabbed Juha’s wrist as he tried to leave. Caught again. Why was this light wrist so easily caught by Choi Taeri?
“Alright then. Taeri, Juha. Do well.”
Lee Cheong, sensing the atmosphere between the two, awkwardly made her exit.
“You seem close with Master Lee Cheong.”
He had tried to say it casually, but resentment seeped into Juha’s voice.
“Yeah. We’re from the same agency, so we knew each other before. She’s good to me.”
Imagining Lee Cheong being “good to” Taeri made Juha’s face slightly contort.
Meanwhile, cameras moved in and out, reorganizing the main hall. Amid the surrounding chaos, Taeri looked at Juha with suspicious eyes.
“Why didn’t you contact me yesterday? I told you to when you woke up.”
Taeri seemed to be trying hard to hide his irritation.
“I woke up too late.”
“Why did you ignore all my calls?”
“Oh right. I forgot I was supposed to call you back. Today I came with my mom so I couldn’t answer the phone. Let’s go to the room. I need to put my stuff down.”
Juha answered even more brazenly, trying not to show his panic.
“Yeah. Let’s go to the room. Since we’re in the same room, there’s nothing to adjust to.”
As soon as Taeri’s answer fell, Juha headed toward the elevator first. Watching his retreating figure, Taeri’s lips twisted.
* * *
After putting down his luggage and while Choi Taeri was changing clothes, Juha quickly escaped the room.
He was uncomfortable that Taeri might say something. If it were Juha’s usual personality, he would have easily defined their relationship through conversation, but right now he didn’t want to bring up what happened “that night.”
He just felt foolish running away when he hadn’t even done anything wrong.
When he went down to the first floor, Seo Eunwon and Yeom Sangyeop, who had come down at the right time, saw him and waved.
“Yeop hyung! You came down early.”
“What about your roommate, why did you come alone?”
Sangyeop looked Juha up and down with suspicious eyes.
“Taeri was doing something by himself, so I came first.”
“Take care of your roommate a bit. Are you two close or not? You seemed really close.”
“Well, we’re all competitors.”
Juha cut off his relationship with Taeri with one sentence.
“If you say it like that, I’ll be hurt.”
As Yeom Sangyeop poked Juha’s side with his elbow, Seo Eunwon also closed his eyes tightly and agreed. They were really cute people.
“Anyway, I was really surprised. They say quiet cats climb the stove first, but what was that photo?”
Yeom Sangyeop patted Juha’s shoulder as he spoke.
“It just came out that way. Hyung was no joke either.”
“Me? Haha, well. That’s what I built these muscles for.”
Sangyeop laughed awkwardly.
Fans who saw Yeom Sangyeop’s photo showing off his arm muscles while holding dumbbells praised him as “a real adult” and “mature sexy.” Though he had some immature aspects unbecoming of an elder, Yeom Sangyeop was a rare character among the thin and sickly-looking trainees.
Despite being 24 years old and having completed his military service, he looked considerably young and was over 185cm tall as a former honor guard member, with all his muscles being sizeable, making him look like an athlete.
Moreover, his black and white concept photo focused on his arm muscles holding dumbbells, looking less like an idol photo and more like the cover of a men’s fitness magazine.
“That’s fine for me, but I was really surprised when I saw yours. How did you manage to wear a dragon robe and… tsk. Young one, don’t learn from watching such things yet. Got it?”
Yeom Sangyeop patted Seo Eunwon’s head as he spoke.
“Why not, I can take photos like that too.”
“No!”
As Eunwon spoke with sparkling eyes, Sangyeop sternly scolded him.
Indeed. Whatever Juha had imagined while taking that photo couldn’t be passed down to a 15-year-old.
* * *
While Yeom Sangyeop went to greet the fitness boys he had become close with through working out and Juha was indulging Eunwon’s aegyo, Choi Taeri hurriedly came downstairs and looked around. Juha stood with his back to him as much as possible, avoiding Taeri. The clueless Eunwon was dragged around by Juha, but Juha’s priority was not getting caught by Taeri.
Fortunately, before Taeri could find him, staff members came in and organized the hall.
Even though he wondered what sin he had committed to be running away like this, he was convinced that minimizing the time spent talking with him was the right thing to do.
Soon Park Jusung came up on stage.
“Before showing you the 1st ranking decision mission, let’s start with a light warm-up game. It’s called K-pop Random Dance Pairing!”
“Pairing? What kind of pairing?”
Everyone was full of questions at the unfamiliar term.
“K-pop representative songs will play from now on. You’ll dance to the songs, and when the music stops, a number will appear on screen. You just need to gather in groups of that many people.”
It was a simple game often played during recreational activities. It seemed intended to assess the trainees’ dance skills and create chemistry.
Most were standing in groups around their roommates or close friends, making it easy to form pairs. Lee Juha secretly checked on Choi Taeri’s condition.
Around Taeri, the same crowd was surrounding him as expected. Including Yoo Youngin, most were trainees who had made it into the top 10 during the first ranking announcement.
They acted as if that ranking meant something, putting up walls with other trainees. Especially that annoying Yoo Youngin was confident as if he had already confirmed his debut with Choi Taeri. Seeing Yoo Youngin smiling brightly while talking with Taeri made Juha’s stomach turn again.
When Juha glared toward Taeri, Eunwon tugged at his sleeve.
“Hyung, is something wrong?”
“Ah, no. It’s nothing. You absolutely have to stick with me. Got it?”
“Yeah.”
Eunwon nodded with determination in his eyes.
‘Let’s just focus on filming.’
Now that the cameras were really rolling, there was no time to think about other things.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
