Chapter 112
Chapter 112
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 112
Chapter Title: Kang Minje and Pomegranate Juice
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“Minje hyung!”
Kang Minje took off his headset and spoke.
“Yeah?”
“Buy me a drink.”
“Huh? Oh.”
Kang Minje got up sluggishly. I grabbed his arm and dragged him out of the practice room. I could tell as soon as I pulled him along.
‘This guy’s stamina is completely drained.’
He couldn’t even stand properly. I sat Kang Minje down in a chair in the break room. Then I tossed him the pomegranate juice from my pocket.
“Drink this. It’s the best one, certified by a small company.”
“Huh?”
“Hyung, you haven’t rested at all since yesterday, right?”
Kang Minje smiled awkwardly.
“Is it obvious?”
“Yeah.”
“No one else noticed.”
His hand was too weak to even open the pouch. I had no choice but to peel it for him.
“Here.”
“Thanks.”
I didn’t want to waste time. I furrowed my brow and pulled out my smartphone from my pocket.
[cheat mode 1/3]
[Recover Kang Minje’s stamina condition]
[Change complete. Body will be altered.]
[Side effect: Vomiting for 5 minutes starting in 5 seconds]
[cheat mode 2/3]
Ah, damn it.
‘The side effects are usually mild for recovery, so what the hell is wrong with this guy’s condition?’
The 5 seconds flew by. I immediately sat down and covered my mouth with my hand. The nausea surged wildly.
‘It feels like holding back that motion sickness I only had as a kid.’
I desperately suppressed it. Kang Minje groaned while drinking the pomegranate juice.
“Huh?”
He stretched his shoulders and tilted his head.
“My body suddenly feels light?”
Of course it does.
“Dowon-ah, what’s wrong?”
“Ah, it’s nothing. Urp. Go ahead inside first.”
“Are you sick?”
Kang Minje scooted right next to me. I wanted to pull away, but even slight movement was tough.
“What’s wrong?”
“It’ll pass soon.”
Kang Minje leaned me against his shoulder. I startled and pulled back right away, but he kept drawing me in.
“Just lean on me for a bit.”
Kang Minje muttered.
“How did you know? That I wasn’t doing well.”
During dance practice, you were digging into the ground so hard—who wouldn’t notice?
“Everyone thinks I can keep going like it’s nothing.”
Yeah, that makes sense. You actually do perform well. You.
“Ah, honestly, it was tough. Staying up four nights straight might be too much.”
I was floored.
‘This sly fox overestimates his stamina way too much, doesn’t he?’
It wasn’t like he’d been sitting composing the whole time. This guy had been pushing through his schedule. I started to say something, but nausea hit again, so I ducked my head.
“But I’m glad anyway.”
Kang Minje scratched his cheek lightly and whispered.
“You noticed. Uh, what’s this pomegranate juice? My fatigue’s gone just like that. Should I buy some too?”
I looked at him with watery eyes from holding back vomit. Kang Minje really seemed pleased—he finished the juice and smiled brightly.
For a moment, I thought back to before my regression.
‘Did this guy do the same thing in Zenith before I regressed?’
He always looked tired whenever we met. I thought it was because he was a hot celebrity, but did he really live like this all the time?
I felt like throwing up again. I covered my mouth and bowed my head.
“Huh? Headache? Is this fluorescent light too bright?”
Kang Minje made a shadow over my face with his hand.
“This helps a bit. Is it indigestion? Dowon-ah, shouldn’t you go to the hospital?”
“I-I’m fine.”
“Want to stay like this a bit?”
I just panted for breath. That was all I could do to hold back from pushing him away. Today, those 5 minutes felt like 5 hours.
Kang Minje muttered softly.
“Being like this reminds me of the old days. I always slept in your room……”
I furrowed my brow.
‘Makes me want to curse.’
Cha Yeonhwa, the famous shaman from Seongnam City in Gyeonggi Province, had fed, clothed, and even let this sly fox sleep over.
“You know you lean on people when you sleep, right?”
A chill ran down my spine.
‘What era is he talking about!’
I couldn’t stay like this anymore. I used every ounce of strength to pull away from him. Just then, as if by miracle, the 5 minutes passed and the nausea subsided.
I hurriedly made an excuse.
“Uh, Minje hyung! Ah, cough!”
My words caught in my throat. I coughed uncontrollably. While covering my mouth and hacking for a while, I remembered the forgotten side effect.
‘Damn it!’
My palm was drenched in blood.
‘It’s been less than a year, after all.’
Blood trickled between my fingers. Kang Minje stared at me blankly.
Damn. I’d hidden it so well until now.
The coughing stopped soon. He bowed his head slightly. Then he pulled a handkerchief from his pocket.
He placed the handkerchief in my hand. I wiped my hand and mouth with his handkerchief first. Then I quickly looked around. If anyone saw, it’d be bad.
“Dowon-ah.”
“We agreed to keep it secret.”
“Yeah. Yeah, we did.”
His eyes were unusually moist.
“Hyung, don’t misunderstand. This is nothing.”
“Yeah.”
Damn. He doesn’t believe me.
“I’m healthy.”
“Yeah.”
This is driving me crazy.
Kang Minje bowed his head sadly, then lifted it again. Like a drama lead who just learned his birth secret, he smiled sorrowfully.
“You’re like that, Dowon-ah. You won’t tell me the truth, will you?”
What the hell is this now! What truth is there!
‘If I honestly said it’s a cheat side effect, would you believe me?’
I removed the handkerchief from my mouth. I needed an excuse right now.
‘What would work?’
I took a deep breath to calm my emotions. After thinking it over, a good excuse came to mind.
I smiled brightly.
“Of course. I didn’t want to worry you, hyung.”
“You make it so I can’t even worry about you?”
Kang Minje took back the bloodied handkerchief.
“At least let me do that much.”
What the hell is he saying? Are you filming a drama right now?
“Minje hyung, I’m really fine.”
“Yeah. I’ll pretend that’s true.”
Kang Minje pocketed the bloodied handkerchief.
“I’ll head in first. Wash up and come. Dowon-ah.”
He turned away like a tragic heroine.
Wow.
‘Unbelievable.’
What’s this sly fox thinking all by himself?
‘I need to know, but I don’t want to.’
A sigh escaped me naturally. I shook my head and stood up. My hand was still sticky with blood.
‘Damn. Why does the coughing have to happen?’
I quickly found the bathroom. Even rubbing with the handkerchief, my fingers were bloody. He was right—I definitely needed to handle this properly.
***
I wiped off the bloodstains and returned to the practice room. The performance must have ended already, as the members weren’t looking at their tablet PCs.
‘Whatever, I can check the performance myself.’
I slipped in quietly, but eyes followed me. Since it wasn’t just one or two, I looked around and asked.
“What’s up?”
Leader hyung answered first.
“You were amazing.”
What?
“Me?”
Lee Seungjun nodded.
“Real-time reactions were great.”
Ki Jaeyun stretched his legs and grumbled.
“Tch. Why don’t I get that screen presence? What should I fix?”
Why is he so obsessed with surgery?
I asked Leader hyung.
“Was the performance really good?”
Yoo Hajin grinned.
“Very good. When it hits the video sites later, our views will be solid.”
That’s what I’d hoped. I nodded and stretched.
“Alright, attention. Let’s start practice again.”
I immediately picked up my stick and stood in front of the mirror.
“Let’s do up to the part we’ve learned first.”
We nodded. The music started soon, and we moved our feet and wrists as instructed.
Swish—
Zenith and the dancers in the mirror looked like an army. We carefully stepped, swung our sticks, and turned once.
“Up to there! But, huh?”
The dancer tilted his head.
“Hey, music genius?”
I chuckled. Kang Minje’s nickname was music genius.
‘Well, it fits.’
If he’s not a genius, who is?
Kang Minje smiled softly and replied.
“Yes.”
What a cheeky guy. Doesn’t deny it.
“Why’d you suddenly get so good?”
The sly fox glanced at me.
“Ah, must be the pomegranate juice. My condition improved after drinking it.”
As if it was really the pomegranate juice.
‘Whatever, believe what you want.’
It was none of my business.
That’s when it happened. The dancer in front dashed to Kang Minje and grabbed his hand.
‘What, what is it.’
I thought he teleported.
Kang Minje stepped back, flustered.
“Pomegranate juice is great, right? It’s really good, but people don’t know.”
“The one from that small company?”
“Yeah. I’ll tell you where I get it. You really know good stuff? People don’t know the benefits of pomegranate juice. We have to take care of our bodies. Wow, it really works. The kid who was staggering is back to life in an instant!”
Oh dear.
The praise for pomegranate juice continued, but it was still none of my business. I casually reviewed the choreography, clenching and unclenching my fists.
I felt a bit pleased seeing Kang Minje suffer.
***
VIP’s agency was famous for having a lot of money.
No one knew where it came from, but they had plenty of funds anyway. Maybe that’s why. The agency LEP Productions invested heavily in VIP.
VIP repaid their agency decently. After they blew up, LEP Productions expanded into various fields. Thanks to that, they now had not just idols but actors too.
The treatment VIP received was simple.
Founding heroes of a major agency.
The 9-year veteran boy group had entered Japan, and the response was successful.
“The problem is we’re losing ground domestically.”
VIP member Jeremy said.
“I’m pretty patriotic, but they don’t cut us slack. We earn a ton of foreign currency.”
“Yeah. We’re promoting Korea more than athletes—shouldn’t they give us a medal or something?”
“They will?”
They looked at each other and chuckled.
“But it’s nice coming back to Korea. Sick of Japanese food.”
“We can only stay briefly. Money’s pouring in over there—why stay here?”
“Performances are still tough. Why give us a 12-minute finale?”
“Because we’re VIP. They wouldn’t dare give it to the openers.”
They sat on the waiting room sofa, laughing lightly.
“So many new groups since we’ve been gone.”
“That new girl group was super pretty.”
“What, gonna date her? Look at this guy. What about Kurumi-chan!”
“Kurumi-chan! Jem-chan’s two-timing!”
They laughed for a while, then picked up their smartphones.
“Check reactions? What for? We were freaking awesome. It’ll all be about us.”
Jeremy searched quickly.
“Huh?”
“What?”
He’d searched ‘Year-End Music Special Showdown’. Naturally, VIP should dominate.
“Something’s off?”
“What do you mean?”
Jeremy showed his phone to the members.
VIP member Coca furrowed his brow at the screen.
“What’s Zenith?”
“Rookies? Right?”
“I know them! Friends’ rookies. That’s why Kiki’s always trash-talking them.”
Jeremy smirked.
“Kiki? Vita? They flopped.”
“They disbanded. Kiki left Friends. He’s going solo now.”
“Bet he makes 5 million won!”
“I say 50 million!”
They laughed and looked back at their screens.
“So who are these guys? Zenith—oh, Kang Minje’s there.”
“Oh, the genius?”
“Wait. Let me search. Huh? Kang Minje’s not even the top result?”
They stared at their phones.
Searching Zenith brought up an unfamiliar name.
“Who’s Cha Dowon?”
“Calls himself a trendsetter?”
“While we were in Japan, things got funny. Who made him a trendsetter? Dude’s freaking young. Still in middle school!”
Jeremy smirked with one cheek.
“Crazy bastard. Who decided that.”
VIP leader Jeremy muttered at his screen.
“Might need to check this out……”
“Huh? What do you mean?”
“He uses his face well. Gotta see the stage.”
Searching Zenith on the video site brought up the ‘Year-End Music Special Showdown’ right away.
Jeremy squinted, focusing on the screen.
Upbeat music played. As the girl group members jumped out, Zenith in sailor outfits smiled.
‘Good song.’
Kang Minje arranged it? Yeah, he’s supposed to be a genius.
Another member whose name I didn’t know stepped back. Then the music shifted slightly to a waltz vibe.
Cha Dowon appeared on screen. Not much part, but once the camera hit him, eyes were drawn.
“This guy……”
I had to admit it. Couldn’t look away.