Chapter 87
“Pfft.”
Jo Munseok couldn’t hold back and burst out laughing.
“Ah, that’s, hy-, hyung…”
As Nam Suchang stumbled over his words, unable to find a way to recover, Baek Cheonsan innocently smiled and pointed at him again.
“Huh? He’s calling me hyung again.”
At Baek Cheonsan’s expression as he looked at Nam Suchang with curiosity, even Juha and Taeri couldn’t hold back and burst out laughing with a “pfft.” Nam Suchang’s face flushed red as he found himself unable to do anything.
“I thought you couldn’t speak without adding ‘hyung.’ No wait, hyung? You can talk, right? Hyung?”
Jo Munseok, who had been quiet the whole time, teased Nam Suchang while trying to suppress his snickering. Unable to properly respond, Nam Suchang mumbled words like “no,” “what,” “just,” and “that” while fidgeting before eventually closing his mouth.
“Ah, sorry, hyung. *Cough*, ahem. I used a similar method on stages with many turns too. Shall we practice? There’s only one day left now.”
Taeri got up from his seat while trying to suppress the laughter that kept wanting to burst out. Juha followed suit, laughing as he stood up, then suddenly stopped mid-motion.
‘So he does know how to laugh. I thought he’d forgotten how to laugh.’
Juha stared blankly at Taeri. It wasn’t just Taeri whose face had been stiff. Since they’d all been tense from constant practice, everyone’s faces were full of fatigue, so fortunately Taeri’s anguish didn’t show.
“What now?”
Thinking the question was directed at him, Juha suddenly looked up. While Juha had been lost in other thoughts, Taeri had somehow come to stand in front of him.
“Ah, no. Just.”
“Just what. You keep stealing glances at me, so it makes me want to look even cooler.”
Taeri extended his hand to Juha with a mischievous expression.
“If you get any cooler, I won’t be able to breathe. Heave-ho.”
Just as Juha was about to grab Taeri’s hand and stand up, Taeri pulled his hand sharply as if playing his usual prank. Juha was drawn by that force and fell into Taeri’s embrace with a thud.
“I love you.”
In that brief moment, Taeri whispered a confession into Juha’s ear.
“…What?”
At the unexpected confession, Juha’s heart pounded unbearably. Suddenly, all the worry and tension that had filled this practice room disappeared, replaced by the feeling of a flower garden in full bloom.
“Hyungs! Let’s practice!”
Choi Musin called out to Taeri and Juha while bouncing around. Only then did Juha remember they needed to practice.
* * *
All the trainees on the minibus heading to Semun Hospital had tense expressions. It was inevitable since this was an intermediate mission worth 10,000 votes. With luck, those 10,000 votes could raise their original ranking by 2-3 places. The team members each tried to predict their rankings and ran their happiness circuits, but their faces hardened when they thought about the performance.
Although all the team members had given up their break time and practiced like their lives depended on it, anxiety took precedence as they faced the stage.
“Will our formations be visible from the upper floors too…?”
Choi Musin asked as if talking to himself. Since it was an idea he had proposed, he seemed very worried that they might fail to achieve their purpose and only make the stage chaotic.
“It’ll be fine. Even from the front, we matched our formations neatly.”
Juha comforted him quietly and fell back into thought. Since they couldn’t modify the stage now, all they could do was give their best performance of what they had practiced so far.
The car became quiet again. Sitting next to Taeri, Juha went over his parts in his head several times.
‘I just need to not mess up the movement patterns…’
The biggest weakness of this stage was that even if he got it right, if another team member made a mistake, the entire stage would fall apart. Because the formations changed quickly due to their flashiness, once they got out of sync, all the subsequent formations would collapse like dominoes. He was afraid that they’d end up frantically trying to find their positions and the stage would end in complete chaos.
As Juha spent time mentally simulating the stage, he suddenly felt empty. Come to think of it, Taeri, who should have been whining to play around, was unusually quiet. Juha sneakily glanced to the side. Taeri was resting his chin on his hand and only looking out the window. He didn’t have any particular expression, but compared to his usual brightness when he was with Juha, Taeri looked considerably down.
‘He must be in a really bad mood.’
Knowing about the relationship between Taeri and his parents, Juha could feel that anxious feeling transfer to him as well.
“Are you okay?”
Juha asked while quietly taking Taeri’s hand. Only then did Taeri remove his hand from his chin.
“…Yeah.”
At Juha’s question, Taeri answered while awkwardly raising the corners of his mouth. He had maintained a bright expression until yesterday, but from the moment he got in the car, Taeri couldn’t hide his expression.
He wanted to act like nothing was wrong, at least in front of Juha, but today his mood was completely uncontrollable.
As Semun Hospital drew closer, Taeri’s heart rate rose to an unpleasant degree. Although his mother Ji Inhui was away at a conference in England, his father Choi Junghyeok and other family members would all be in the hospital.
They were all busy people, so they wouldn’t have time to watch a performance in the first-floor lobby. But if they knew Taeri was performing, they were the type of people who would somehow make time to come watch. Their only entertainment was tormenting Taeri, after all.
When he thought of their contemptuous gazes, Taeri couldn’t muster the courage to perform happily. In this mood, he absolutely couldn’t take the stage.
‘I need to overcome this.’
It was the most frightening thing, but he couldn’t move forward without overcoming it. To perform here, a private meeting with his father was an unavoidable duty. Having made up his mind, Taeri suddenly stood up from his seat.
“Taeri, where are you…”
Before Juha could follow, a staff member blocked Taeri’s path.
“Where are you trying to go?”
“I’m sorry, but I think I need to meet my father briefly before the performance. Please.”
Taeri spoke politely without making eye contact with the staff member. Although they didn’t make it obvious, everyone tacitly knew that this hospital belonged to Taeri’s family.
“If you go out now, the hospital will be in chaos.”
The staff member looked considerably flustered by Taeri’s sudden action. Gi Jeong-ah, who was standing nearby, also looked at Taeri with anxious eyes. If someone recognized him while he was wandering around alone, My Idol’s “guerrilla volunteer performance” could be exposed.
“Then could you please contact Department Chief Choi Junghyeok in Pediatrics? Please.”
Taeri politely asked again. The staff members looked at each other uncertainly in this sudden situation. Although Taeri wasn’t thoughtless enough to cause trouble at a performance site, both staff and participants were equally nervous before the stage. Even knowing they were troubled, Taeri wouldn’t bend his will.
“I’ll make the call.”
Gi Jeong-ah spoke as if she had made a decision. She also thought it would be better to resolve emotions before the event rather than proceed with today’s event while carrying the unstable tension between Choi Taeri and Choi Junghyeok.
“Please do.”
Taeri’s tone as he spoke while slightly bowing his head was extremely polite, and his eyes were clear.
Even while Gi Jeong-ah went to make the call, there was no change in Taeri’s expression. Juha watched him anxiously from beside him. A little later, Gi Jeong-ah, having finished her call, entered the program room.
“The department chief says he has outpatient appointments soon, so please come up to the examination room.”
Gi Jeong-ah spoke carefully to Taeri.
“Yes.”
Juha, who had been watching him, hurriedly approached. Taeri looked anxious, like someone standing on old glass and taking one step at a time.
“Taeri.”
“I’ll be back.”
Turning away even from Juha and heading for the door, Taeri looked as resolute as a gladiator preparing for his final life-or-death battle.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
