Chapter 108: Wrapping Up the Task (3)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 108: Wrapping Up the Task (3)
The sound had come from a small square that featured a fountain in the summer.
There, Choi Je-ho was standing in a small water channel with his feet submerged.
Wait.
The channel?
“What are you doing in there?”
“This was in the water. What was I supposed to do?”
Choi Je-ho was holding a dripping ziplock bag. Through the transparent plastic, I could see a neatly folded note.
“Even so, you just jumped right in?”
“It’s a place where kids play in the water, so it’s fine to enter. Besides, I took off my shoes and socks first.”
Checking if a place is off-limits is important, I suppose.
Still, isn't the water freezing?
I pulled a handkerchief from my pants pocket and handed it to him.
“How did you even find this, Je-ho Hyung? That’s amazing.”
“I just saw it.”
Choi Je-ho answered nonchalantly, but the environment was far from ideal for 'just seeing' anything. For one, it was dark, and since the fountain was off, there was almost no light reaching the channel.
It was easier to just accept that this guy had the instincts of a wild animal.
We moved under a light and unfolded the note Choi Je-ho had retrieved.
Inside, it read:
【Come to the place where we all wore smiles and took a photo!
Don’t be late!】
“Do you think it means the place where we took the thumbnail photo?”
“Wasn't it where we took that group selfie earlier?”
Jeong Seong-bin and Kang Gi-yeon offered their opinions in turn.
However, something felt off. It wasn't exactly a glaring error, but it was... ambiguous.
‘Usually, these things are written in a more casual, spoken style, aren't they?’
‘The place where we wore smiles and took a photo.’
I repeated the phrase in my head a few times, but it didn't quite roll off the tongue. It would be one thing if it said 'where we took a photo while laughing,' but this was different.
In cases like this, it was one of two things: either I was overthinking a trivial detail, or it was intentional.
Several scenes flashed through my mind.
But since overconfidence never leads to anything good, I called upon Spark’s official electronic brain, Lee Cheong-hyeon.
“Cheong-hyeon, do you remember the scene for the third verse chorus of our 『With List』 music video?”
“The third verse chorus?”
If my memory served me right, the backgrounds for ‘It’s a dreamlike wind’, ‘But at least once’, and ‘Sharing pleasant stories’ were the studios where the members' individual cuts were filmed.
And in the next lyric...
“‘Wearing a happy smile’... the Ferris wheel appeared there!”
Realizing the intent behind my question, Lee Cheong-hyeon spoke up with a bright face.
At the same time, I turned to the other members and shouted.
“You heard him? Everyone, run!”
-
It was quite a distance from the garden to the Ferris wheel. Consequently, we had to run until our breath hitched in our throats.
After racing through the amusement park like a signal flare cutting through the night sky...
“Ju-woo!”
“Hyung! Guys...!”
We had a tearless reunion with Park Ju-woo, who had been waiting alone in front of the Ferris wheel for two hours.
“It must have been cold waiting until sunset.”
“No, it’s okay.”
“What do you mean, ‘it’s okay’? Come here. Your maknae will give you a hug.”
Park Ju-woo joined the center of the group, receiving the utmost care from Jeong Seong-bin and Lee Cheong-hyeon.
“So, did we succeed in the mission?”
Kang Gi-yeon made sure to confirm our success. Seriously, everyone except me has such clear-cut roles.
“Before that! Everyone, what was the mission’s success condition?”
“Wasn't it finding Park Ju-woo before 8 o'clock?”
Choi Je-ho asked back, resting his hand on top of Park Ju-woo’s head.
It was then.
A bell chimed from somewhere, like a cathedral or church announcing the hour.
Simultaneously, the sound of something cutting through the air echoed.
“Hyung, behind you!”
Turning around, I saw magnificent fireworks blooming in the sky beyond the Ferris wheel.
‘What do I want to do at an amusement park?’
‘Yeah. You’re the protagonist of this music video, Ju-woo, so give us some ideas.’
‘Riding the attractions was already mentioned... so if I had to choose something else I want to do with the members...’
The thing the Park Ju-woo in the music video would have wanted to see with his friends...
‘I want to watch fireworks with all six of us gathered together.’
And the fireworks that the Park Ju-woo outside the music video wanted to see with his members began, like magic.
‘Because I think the "me" in the music video... would want that too.’
Multi-colored shooting stars poured down from the night sky.
It was a landscape so vast and beautiful that I almost hallucinated hearing the production team’s voices from afar, congratulating us on the mission's success and the end of our promotions.
And just like that, our second promotion cycle came to a close.
Once the 『With List』 promotions ended, UA granted us our first vacation.
I hadn't rested a single day in the year and three months since I joined UA as a trainee. Tears of gratitude practically streamed down my heart.
Even at Hanpyeong Industry, I had never used up all my annual leave. But having no vacation at all was a different matter entirely.
I felt like immediately applying to the Ministry of Employment and Labor to establish an idol job code and a mandatory leave system to sustain the K-Pop industry. But since they gave us a whole week off in a row, I decided to let it slide.
“It’s been so long since we’ve had a whole week off. What is everyone going to do?”
Jeong Seong-bin, who probably couldn't even remember the last time he rested for several days straight, asked with an excited face. Yeah, someone who works as hard as you deserves a getaway.
“I’m going to my family home.”
“I’ll probably go home too.”
The dance line’s destinations were the same as during the holidays.
Come to think of it, despite all the various issues these guys have been involved in, they’ve never had any trouble with clubs or casinos. I suppose I should be relieved that I don't have to worry about them wandering off to the wrong places.
Ah, there was one person whose destination had changed since the holidays.
“Me too! This time... I’m going to visit home.”
Park Ju-woo decided to go to his aunt’s house for this vacation. I could hear his aunt’s voice through the phone, saying she’d have braised short ribs waiting for him.
For the record, Park Ju-woo suggested I go to his aunt’s house with him. I declined.
‘My aunt said I should bring you along, Hyung...’
‘No, I’ll stay here and practice hard.’
I was so flustered just by Jeong Seong-bin’s parents visiting the dorm; me going to a complete stranger’s house?
I would definitely become an 'Amazing Clumsy Person.' It was a hundred times better to avoid such a situation from the start.
“Huh? Then is I-wol Hyung going to be all alone in the dorm?”
At Lee Cheong-hyeon’s words, everyone turned to look at me.
“I guess so?”
“Then I’ll stay behind too.”
“Seong-bin, why are you staying? Do you not trust me to be alone in the dorm or something?”
“No! It’s definitely not that!”
Jeong Seong-bin waved his hands in denial.
“I’m twenty-one. I’m perfectly capable of being alone.”
“It’s not that...”
“It’s not that what?”
I asked back, but no one could quite find the words.
It wasn't that I didn't know what they wanted to say. They probably felt uncomfortable going home and leaving one member behind with nowhere to go.
But as I said, I am a full-grown adult.
In fact, I’m not twenty-one, I’m twenty-nine... no. Since it’s been over a year since I became younger, if you count the years I've lived, I’m basically thirty.
It makes no sense for a thirty-year-old man to be unable to stay alone for a week. I have the pride of a head of household who has been responsible for a single-person home for years.
“I appreciate the concern, but even if I had somewhere to go, I would have stayed at the dorm this time. There’s something I want to practice.”
“Practice?”
Kang Gi-yeon asked. Seeing his eyes sparkle a bit, it seemed he was interested too.
“Yeah. But I’m not letting you join.”
“Why?”
“Think about your dance break this time. If you don’t rest now, your cartilage is going to be begging for mercy.”
I’ve put so much effort into preventing ankle injuries since last year; I can’t let him ruin his knees now.
Kang Gi-yeon couldn't hide his dissatisfied expression, but he conceded to my point. I was just grateful to be spared an argument.
Just as the atmosphere seemed to be settling, Lee Cheong-hyeon, who had been unusually quiet, tapped the table to draw attention.
“Everyone, why is no one asking me where I’m going?”
“Aren't you going home?”
“I was thinking about it, but I just decided. I’m staying at the dorm with I-wol Hyung!”
“With me?”
I was taken aback. I had truly intended to spend my time flailing my legs around in a hellish solo dance session.
“You don’t have to do that for my sake, Cheong-hyeon.”
“No, this is a choice for both of us, Hyung.”
“Why?”
At my question, Lee Cheong-hyeon answered with a smile and unfocused eyes.
“Even if I go home, it’s midterm season for my older brother and younger sibling, so I won’t even be able to breathe properly...”
“Aha...”
“Therefore! I’m going to have a killer vacation with you, Hyung!”
“Fine, do whatever makes you comfortable.”
After a long conversation, it was decided that Lee Cheong-hyeon and I would spend the week together.
But I never imagined...
“Hyung! Look! Did you see that seagull fly off with a whole bag of anchovy snacks?!”
...that I would end up all the way in Busan during that week.
I stared at the guy who was running toward me, looking thrilled despite having all his snacks stolen by a seagull.
And I thought to myself:
‘How did I end up here with him?’
The incident traced back to the day before the vacation began.
Starting with Choi Je-ho, whose home was the farthest, the members left the dorm one by one.
In the midst of that, Jeong Seong-bin, who worried about us until the very end, left after repeatedly insisting that we call him if anything happened.
Thus, only Lee Cheong-hyeon and I remained in the dorm.
‘Hyung, are you going to practice?’
‘Yeah. You rest if you want to.’
‘Aww, how can the younger brother rest when the older brother is setting such an example!’
Up to this point, everything was going according to plan. After finishing our usual night practice, we returned to the dorm.
‘Hyung! What do you think about watching a movie before we sleep?’
‘Aren't you tired?’
‘Just thinking about the vacation starting tomorrow is giving me a dopamine rush. I’m in total awakening mode right now.’
The guy who had been so exhausted he was practically melting into the floor was suddenly energized and grabbed the remote.
I told Lee Cheong-hyeon to put on whatever he wanted to watch and went to my room to get my laptop. I wasn't much for watching videos, so I planned to organize my future plans while he watched the movie.
However, when I came out of the room, what was playing on the TV wasn't a movie purchase screen, but a documentary.
In the corner of the screen, small letters read: ‘National Environment: Mystery of the Sea.’
Lee Cheong-hyeon was staring at the ocean on the screen with sparkling eyes, not moving an inch.
‘Did he always like the ocean?’
It seemed his claim of diligently reading the 「Slippery Sea Creature Guide」 during his childhood wasn't just talk; his eyes were as bright as the waves on the TV.
In that moment, I made a troublesome choice.
Since I had been doing all sorts of things to help Lee Cheong-hyeon gain composing experience anyway, I figured I’d give him a field trip so he could soak up some inspiration while we rested.