Chapter 72.
Light seeped in between the curtains. Juha tossed and turned and gradually woke up from sleep.
“Huh?”
Juha was startled as soon as he opened his eyes.
What he saw was clearly his familiar room, but Taeri was right in front of him. For a moment, Juha thought he was dreaming and blinked his eyes.
“Did you sleep well, honey?”
“Ah…”
When Taeri greeted him with a voice mixed with laughter, only then did Juha remember yesterday’s events. The first time Taeri came to visit his house, gave autographs to rascal Lee Yunha, and whispered in the room until late felt as distant as the far past.
“You really sleep comfortably at home, don’t you?”
Taeri said with his chin propped up, smiling brightly. His gaze was directed at Juha’s t-shirt that had ridden up above his navel. When Juha hurriedly pulled his t-shirt down, Taeri clicked his tongue regretfully.
“When did you wake up?”
“A while ago. Your mother seems to have come. Yunha went to school earlier and your father seems to have left too. I was thinking about going out first to greet her, but I was worried she’d be surprised, so I was waiting for you to wake up.”
Taeri explained one by one what had happened in Juha’s house while Juha was sleeping, as if it were his own home. Juha looked at Taeri chattering away with drowsy eyes and smiled warmly.
“Mmm, what time is it now?”
Juha asked in a voice still not fully awake while groping the floor looking for his cell phone.
“9 o’clock. Your mother seems to be preparing breakfast, so let’s go out and greet her.”
“Ah, yeah.”
Juha rubbed his eyes and got up. Even though he hadn’t slept many hours, perhaps because he slept next to Taeri, it felt like he’d had a honey-sweet sleep.
While Juha was sleeping, Taeri had tidied his clothes and face, looking neat as if he’d just arrived. Juha, who only fixed his bedhead, took Taeri out to the living room.
As soon as they opened the door, the delicious smell of food vibrated through the air.
“Hello, mother. I’m Choi Taeri, Juha’s friend.”
As soon as Taeri saw Juha’s mother, he politely bowed and greeted her. Juha’s mother, who had been checking the seasoning of food in front of the gas range, hurriedly put down the ladle and wiped her hands on her apron.
“So you’re Taeri. I heard from Yunha that you came to our house. My goodness, you’re really handsome. You look much better in person. Ho ho.”
The usually blunt mother spoke while smiling brightly to her heart’s content in front of Taeri. Although she had told him to invite Taeri, she was slightly worried since it was a sudden invitation, but mother was calm. Rather, she seemed to be in a good mood seeing the handsome and well-mannered Taeri.
“You’re too kind.”
Taeri said with a beaming smile. Mother placed a hot pot of stew that was still bubbling with warmth on the dining table.
*She must have returned at dawn after going to a funeral house yesterday.*
Juha looked at the dining table lost in thought. He wondered when she had prepared all this – the table was full of a 12-dish spread including soybean paste stew, bulgogi, japchae, and meat pancakes.
“I hastily prepared food, so I don’t know if it’ll suit your taste. Our Juha is inviting a friend for the first time. There’s nothing fancy, but please eat a lot. Juha, if you had given mom a heads up, I would have prepared more… Ho ho ho.”
Juha’s mother spoke while showing a splendid spread that contradicted her modest words.
“Aren’t you embarrassed to say there’s nothing fancy?”
When Juha said with a dumbfounded expression, mother poked his side saying “This kid…”
“Sit down and please eat. I suddenly made it with only ingredients we had at home, so it’s not much.”
“Not at all, mother. I’ll eat well.”
Taeri politely greeted her and sat down to begin eating. He had only taken one spoonful of soup, but Taeri’s eyes lit up brightly.
“It’s really delicious, mother!”
“Ho ho ho, that’s right. Eat a lot.”
“Our mom really is a good cook.”
“I’ve never eaten such delicious home cooking before.”
Taeri quickly finished one bowl with just the soybean paste stew and side dishes and filled his second bowl of rice. As expected, with Choi Taeri’s baby pig-like appetite that made viewers feel pleased, Juha’s mother also watched with a constant smile.
However, overlapping strangely with Taeri’s past that he heard last night, one corner of Juha’s heart ached for no reason.
“If you’re done eating, go to Juha’s room and play.”
When Taeri patted his stomach and put down his chopsticks, mother gestured at him as if shooing them away. As soon as the two entered the room, there was a knock knock sound.
“Have some fruit too.”
Juha’s mother came into the room carrying neatly cut fruit.
“Thank you, mother.”
Only after mother left could the two sit comfortably.
“Your family members are all nice. Your mother is lovely, and your sister is cute too.”
“You don’t know Lee Yunha’s true nature yet. She was a real devil when she was young.”
When Juha laughed as he spoke, Taeri smoothly grabbed Juha’s left hand with both hands.
“My hands aren’t free, so could you feed me?”
The obvious trick was cute, so Juha chuckled and brought an apple piece to Taeri. The way his cheeks puffed up as he crunched was so cute that Juha forgot about eating his own and kept feeding Taeri apples.
Everything he did with him was good, but these small touches especially made Juha’s heart flutter. As if knowing that feeling, Taeri pulled his hand and kissed the back of it. Always meeting only at Taeri’s empty house, being together with Taeri where his mother and sister could see felt different too. If before it felt like a hidden lover only he could see, now he even felt the leisure that came with the scent of people.
How long could they be peaceful like this? If they debuted together, wouldn’t such times be allowed more often? When his thoughts reached there, tension began to circulate in the peaceful daily life.
“Only two more times until the final now.”
Watching Taeri’s lips leave the back of his hand, Juha muttered as if talking to himself.
Taeri, who had been wiping the saliva from the back of Juha’s hand with his thumb, stopped his action.
“Are you nervous?”
When Taeri asked, Juha’s gaze fell downward.
“What if I don’t make it into the top 10 again this time?”
“This time I’ll take responsibility and bring you along. If Lee Juha doesn’t come with me, I don’t particularly want to debut here anymore either.”
Taeri spoke calmly while rubbing Juha’s cheek.
“Don’t do that.”
“I will though.”
Taeri let out a laugh and this time gave Juha a peck on the lips. The fresh scent of the green apple he’d just fed him spread around his lips.
Filming would start again tomorrow. In the first round, there was Taeri’s ankle injury, and in the second round, there were the trials of Yoo Youngin and Metabolic. Who knows what would happen this time. Juha resolved that he would only whine about liking Choi Taeri to death until today, and from tomorrow he would pull himself together again.
* * *
He wanted to fool around a bit more, but another call came from Taeri’s company. Since they were going back to group lodging tomorrow, the company seemed to be preparing thoroughly too.
The second competition rankings and pass/fail results would come out tomorrow, but since there was no way Taeri would be eliminated, they seemed to be focusing on preparing for the third competition. Fandom would want the picture of the top trainee from the nation’s best agency taking first place.
If they just finished the third round well, only the final would remain. So all companies were busy taking care of their affiliated trainees. During filming, everyone was just trainees, but when filming ended, they received care from their respective agencies. In all of that, the only place Juha could go was Han Jaewan’s practice room. He couldn’t urgently find vocal and dance teachers, and the cost wasn’t trivial either. His mother said to tell her if he needed anything, but knowing the family’s circumstances well, Juha couldn’t bring himself to ask for those things.
After Taeri left, Juha headed to Jaewan’s practice room again today.
Han Jaewan was currently an exclusive dance trainer at a mid-to-large agency and had been a trainee with Juha for a long time, so he knew Juha’s skills and potential well. Even though his schedule must be busy, Jaewan always made time to look after Juha. In a way, perhaps due to the shared feeling of being a failed trainee who didn’t debut, Jaewan seemed to want to help at least Juha debut. Still, receiving free training from him who had his main job made Juha feel sorry the whole time.
Learning that Juha hadn’t been able to use Jaewan’s practice room for the past few days, Jaewan had called directly yesterday and made an appointment to meet at the practice room.
However, when he was about to arrive at the practice room, Jaewan called.
“Oh, hyung. I’m almost there.”
Thinking he had arrived first, Juha hurried his steps.
-Juha, sorry but I’m still at the company. You’ll have to practice alone today. I can’t leave the kids, so it’ll take longer.
As soon as he heard Jaewan’s words, Juha’s steps slowed.
“It’s okay, hyung. I’ll practice and clean up before I go.”
-I’m really sorry. I’ll look after you more next time I come out.
“Yes. Good work, hyung.”
By the time he hung up, Juha was already in front of the practice room. No matter how close they were in the past, currently Jaewan was in charge of idol dance producing, so he couldn’t unreasonably ask him to watch his dancing. It was something to be grateful for if he could watch, and couldn’t be helped if he couldn’t, so Juha put his mind at ease.
*At least I have somewhere to practice.*
Still, he hadn’t had a place to practice these past few days. Just having this space was fortunate. Juha familiarly pressed the practice room’s passcode.
The desolate practice room.
After practicing alone for several months, the regret of not having an agency grew bigger and bigger. Other trainees came back with significantly improved skills during break periods, but Juha had no other choice but to just trudge through routines.
*Let’s just practice.*
Juha played familiar music and slowly warmed up. After taking a few days of forced rest, his body was quite stiff.
* * *
In weather that was hot for early summer, practicing continuously without rest made sweat pour down his body.
“Haa, haa.”
Juha caught his breath and looked at the clock. Before he knew it, 4 hours had whooshed by. He couldn’t even play phone games for 4 hours straight, so even Juha himself found it amazing how he didn’t know time was passing when he was just practicing.
“Phew.”
Juha wiped his sweat and grabbed a towel. Soon the evening class students and instructor would come, so he had to clean up and vacate before then.
His cell phone had many calls from unknown numbers today.
*Did I get hit by spam…*
Since the only unknown numbers that would contact him were spam, he decided to ignore them. Taeri hadn’t contacted him, probably busy at the company.
After cleaning the practice room thoroughly, Juha pulled his cap down deep and even put on a mask. Having sweated profusely, it would be even more embarrassing if people recognized him.
Since it wasn’t far, Juha walked while listening to music. It was a weekday afternoon and he chose only roads without people, so he could go comfortably without running into anyone. Remembering last night’s walk with Taeri, Juha unconsciously smiled slightly.
Arriving at the apartment, Juha briefly skimmed articles on his phone while waiting for the elevator.
“Huh?”
Seeing the title of one article, Juha’s eyes widened.
[‘Lee Juha-da’ Administrator Issues Strong Warning Regarding My Job is Idol Vote Manipulation]
“The administrator of ‘Lee Juha-da’, the fan cafe for trainee Lee Juha appearing on Gnet’s survival audition ‘My Job is Idol’ which is on a high ratings streak, issued a strong warning regarding vote manipulation early this morning.
According to the notice, an administrator of Y trainee suggested joint voting, and ‘Lee Juha-da’ expressed a firm intention to absolutely not comply with this.
Meanwhile, the clean voting that started from ‘Lee Juha-da’ has influenced other fan clubs, with several fan clubs including Na Junho’s fan club ‘Golden Kick’ and Seo Eunwon’s fan club ‘Silver Spoon’ already declaring clean voting.
With such ripple effects, other large fan clubs are also showing similar movements.
Below is the full text of ‘Lee Juha-da’s notice.
.
.
.”
*To go this far for me.*
Juha didn’t even notice the elevator had arrived and read the notice from ‘Lee Juha-da’ attached to the article several times repeatedly. What made Juha’s heart burn most was their conviction that they believed in Juha, hoping he would walk a flower path without controversy even after debuting, and until that happened. On the shabby path of returning home soaked in sweat after practicing alone without even a proper practice space, seeing the words of fans who believed in him more than he believed in himself made his heart well up with emotion.
Even in the elevator, Juha remained lost in thought. He was grateful just for them voting once for Juha, but they were even doing promotion, taking buses, and even worrying about Juha’s future.
Now, facing group lodging filming tomorrow, he wanted to prove to them how decent a person Lee Juha was. He had many thoughts about how he could repay these people’s hearts.
In reality, he was still just an ordinary trainee without even an agency.
Only when he reached the front door did Juha take off his mask and enter the house.
There were unfamiliar men’s shoes placed in front of the entrance. They were clearly luxury shoes, completely different from his father’s shoes.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
