Love's Newspaper Game

"Time's up! Fold the newspaper one more time!"

At the trainee MC's call, pairs that had been clinging together like single organisms sprang apart in a flurry. Ye-chan and Woo Hwi-gyum, who had been locked in a tight hold, put distance between themselves as if none of it had ever happened.

Ye-chan looked down with unfocused eyes at the crown of Hwi-gyum's head as the taller boy squatted on his long legs, neatly folding the newspaper.

How did it come to this?

Two hours earlier.

When assembly time arrived, the production staff handed out one door-lock card per room. In Ye-chan's room, the eldest, Shim Sang-rok, took the card.

"We'll try to move together whenever we can, but just in case—should we exchange numbers?"

Sang-rok pulled out his smartphone, and Beom Se-hyuk did the same. Rubel Entertainment was infamous for its iron-fisted management of its idols, yet apparently they didn't confiscate phones from trainees who hadn't even debuted. Ye-chan and Hwi-gyum, both without agencies, naturally had their phones as well, so the number exchange went smoothly.

After that, the four of them headed to their room, roughly divided the beds, and changed into the practice clothes hanging in the wardrobe.

"We've still got time. Want to take a commemorative photo?"

Sang-rok, now in a red T-shirt printed with his grade, name, and agency, waved his phone again.

"Sure, why not?"

Se-hyuk answered cheerfully. Ye-chan briefly wondered whether it was wise to leave a friendly group photo with a ticking time bomb, but bowing out here would have looked even stranger.

It's not just the two of us—it's all the roommates together. As long as I'm not the one who posts it, I can talk my ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠way out of anything.

And Ye-chan had no intention of ever uploading this photo with his own hands. Even while sorting through ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠those thoughts, he slipped expertly into the selfie frame and threw up a V over his head.

Click.

"These came out well. I'll send them to the group chat."

The industrious Sang-rok immediately created a group messenger room and uploaded the photos. Just as Nam Ji-yu had said, these were the kind of faces that ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠looked good even in a casual shot—the results were surprisingly decent. Ye-chan glanced at the group chat name, Choose My Prince 99 First Roommates, then turned off the screen.

When they arrived at the auditorium next to the dorms at the time the staff had announced, trainees in brightly colored grade-coded T-shirts were already gathering. From the far end, Nam Ji-yu in green spotted Ye-chan and waved both arms wildly. Ye-chan waved back with a show of enthusiasm.

Ji-yu already seemed to have made friends among his grade—trainees in the same color crowded around him.

Being sociable is fine, but over-the-top extroversion gets on my nerves.

For a moment, the face of a former member who had driven Ye-chan to bedridden exhaustion with obsessive networking overlapped with Ji-yu's unwrinkled, carefree expression. Whether to put Nam Ji-yu in the debut lineup and take him along was something Ye-chan would have to consider more carefully.

That damn party animal didn't start out looking like that either.

Ye-chan lowered his hand and casually took a position beside Beom Se-hyuk. If you wanted your face on camera often, sticking next to a PD's pet trainee—proven by the future—was the surest bet.

"Trainees, thank you for making the journey here."

Once everyone had assembled, the main PD took the microphone.

"Starting today, the first group training camp of Choose My Prince 99 begins. I hope this week becomes a meaningful time for each of you to discover your own potential."

It was an absurdly wholesome statement coming from the man who would one day rise as the master of devil's editing through this very program—but the trainees, ignorant of the future, gazed at the PD with shining eyes.

"First, we should get to know the people we'll be spending the next three months with, right? We'll kick off the first shoot with some light recreation!"

A small stir ran through the trainees who had fully expected the camp to open with the reveal and practice of the show's theme song. Ye-chan, who had already seen and heard the theme song's dance and vocals to death in the future, was thoroughly unimpressed.

So this is when they filmed the recreation.

He vaguely recalled that near the end of the show, not a full version but only short, fragmented clips had been released as behind-the-scenes footage. Ye-chan had watched them for monitoring purposes and simply thought, Oh, they did this too, and moved on—but the fandom had boiled over like an active volcano.

"Recreation needs prizes, of course! There are five events total! The winning team gets free access to the convenience store for the entire camp!"

That's the prize? Why would anyone go to the convenience store?

As someone who put nothing in his mouth after six o'clock except water unless it was work-related, Ye-chan couldn't understand it.

"Whoa, no way!"

"Convenience store! Convenience store! Convenience store!"

"How much can we spend?!"

Of course, the vast majority of trainees cheered unlike Ye-chan.

"We've got ninety-nine trainees right now, so that's an odd number. I'll take volunteers for a daily MC. Anyone who wants to give it a shot, raise your hand!"

"Me!"

Before the PD had even finished speaking, a D-Grade trainee in purple shot his hand into the air.

"Excellent. Trainee Gi Tae-rang, come take this mic and cue card."

"Yes, sir!"

Tae-rang charged forward with full momentum and cheerfully greeted the trainees.

"Hello everyone~! I'm Gi Tae-rang, your daily MC for today! Everybody make some noise!"

That definitely wasn't on the cue card.

Ye-chan thought as he joined the cheer.

"Shall we get started right away~? The first game is—drumroll—the Newspaper of Love game!"

At the childish, blatantly romantic name, the trainees let out a chorus of jeers.

"Come on, everyone—is love only about romance? Loving your family, loving your neighbors, loving your fans, and loving the trainee next to you—that's love too!"

Tae-rang poured out the words in a smooth torrent, like a fish in water.

He's not even looking at the cue card. Must be ad-libbing.

Ye-chan glanced toward the production staff and found them watching Tae-rang with thoroughly pleased expressions. He seemed to be in the staff's good graces so far—how his screen time had ended up so pitiful later on was a mystery to Ye-chan, who had seen the future.

"The Newspaper of Love game will be played in pairs of two~! Partners will be drawn within the same grade! All right, line up by grade—go!"

The S-Grade had nine members total—the same number as the final debut lineup. With eight possible partners, Ye-chan wasn't particularly worried about ending up paired with Woo Hwi-gyum.

"Whoever drew the same picture is your partner~! Everyone found their match?"

"……"

"……"

Well—even if he had worried, nothing would have changed, so it was just as well he hadn't.

Standing side by side with Woo Hwi-gyum, who held a slip of paper with a teddy bear drawn on it, the light drained from Ye-chan's eyes.

This airs after Hwi-gyum leaves the show, so it'll be one hundred percent edited out. Just do it halfheartedly and drop.

In his heart he wanted to forfeit on the spot since it wouldn't air anyway, but there were too many eyes watching—he had to show at least a decent amount of sincerity. The silver lining was that this footage almost certainly wouldn't be used as evidence of how close he and Hwi-gyum were.

"Ugh, why do I have to pair with you, hyung?!"

"Because you drew the same one as me, Ui-tak?"

"No, you drew the same one as me!"

Beside them, Jeong Ui-tak of Rubel Entertainment, in a yellow T-shirt, was throwing a fit at Beom Se-hyuk. It didn't seem to faze Se-hyuk in the slightest.

Because the S-Grade had an odd number, one person had to pair across grades. And of all people, that pair turned out to be labelmates Beom Se-hyuk and Jeong Ui-tak. If Ye-chan hadn't watched the draw himself, he would have assumed it was rigged.

"All right, we begin! First—one full sheet of newspaper~!"

Ye-chan and Hwi-gyum stood blankly on the newspaper. It was wide enough for both of them; no one fell off.

"Everyone passes! Now fold the newspaper once~!"

"Ack!"

At Tae-rang's words, Ye-chan and Hwi-gyum instinctively ducked—and their heads collided. Ye-chan let out a shout before he could stop himself.

You rock-headed bastard!

"You okay?"

Ye-chan had never decided to drop formal speech, but Hwi-gyum switched to casual language so naturally that Ye-chan decided to match him.

"Yeah, I'm fine. You don't hurt?"

"I've got a rock head."

"Yeah, that checks out."

A hollow laugh slipped out of him unbidden. Hwi-gyum calling himself a rock head with a completely straight face was so absurd it was almost impressive.

"I'll fold the newspaper."

"Sure. I'm the patient, so I'll leave it to you."

His head, having collided with a rock skull, was still spinning. Ye-chan simply let his body go with the flow of the situation.

"Both of us putting our feet down won't work. Step on my foot."

"Yeah, okay."

On the newspaper that had already shrunk to a scrap, Ye-chan frowned.

Is this… really okay…?

Even if it wouldn't air, wouldn't looking this close be a problem in front of everyone else? Didn't the two of them look like total best friends right now?

"Time's up! Fold the newspaper one more time!"

At Tae-rang's call, the remaining trainees sprang apart in an instant. Hwi-gyum carefully set Ye-chan—who had been standing on his instep—back on solid ground, then folded the newspaper once more with neat precision. For someone with such a detached face, the boy had a fierce competitive streak.

"Ah, hyung! The newspaper's crooked!"

"Is it?"

"Just move over that way! I'll do it!"

The Rubel Entertainment team, which Ye-chan had expected to drop quickly given how they'd been bickering from the start, was clinging on with unexpected tenacity and sniping at each other. Last round, Se-hyuk had been carrying Ui-tak on his back. This round, it looked like Ye-chan and Hwi-gyum would also have to fully lift one person off the ground.

"All right, climb on~!"

Having folded the newspaper to his satisfaction, Hwi-gyum stood and opened his arms toward Ye-chan. At the same moment, a hologram window burst into existence before Ye-chan's eyes.

Yeah. I was wondering why you were so quiet today.

Ye-chan raised a palm and stopped Hwi-gyum's approach. Then, without a word, he dropped to one knee in front of him.

"……Get on."

"Huh?"

A voice thick with confusion came from above his head. Ye-chan pointed a thumb at his own shoulder and said it again.

"Get on."

"I-if we're doing a piggyback, I'm taller, so I should be the one who……"

"I'm."

"……"

"Carrying you."

Something in Ye-chan's unyielding attitude left no room for argument. Hwi-gyum climbed onto his shoulders without another word.

"Ack, my butt's gonna split in half!"

"Ui-tak, butts are already split in half."

While the few remaining trainees dropped out one after another, Ye-chan stood as unmoving as a statue. In the final round, balancing on one foot on tiptoe with a sturdy 188-centimeter young man on his shoulders, Ye-chan held firm with imposing composure—and claimed the victory without a single dissenting voice.

"Whoa, that guy's insane."

"Gotta give him that one."

"……Why would he go that far?"

The trainees' ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠murmurs and applause sounded strangely distant.

The hologram windows celebrated Ye-chan's victory right along with him.

Someday I'll kill it. Somehow I'll kill it. I will absolutely kill it.

Clutching legs that trembled like a newborn fawn's, Ye-chan honed his murderous intent toward the hologram window.