That Kind of Interest
When they returned to the hallway outside Practice Room 1, Bae Sae-byeok was waiting by the door.
“Are you okay?”
Jeong Ui-tak waved him off, insisting he was fine as Bae Sae-byeok approached after hearing what had happened.
When Bae Sae-byeok tilted his head to check the state of the cheek under the ice pack, Jeong Ui-tak pushed his forehead away with a finger.
“Don’t worry about stuff like this, you little shrimp.”
There was only a one-year age gap, yet he was putting on adult airs, so when Ye-chan just stared at him, Jeong Ui-tak whipped his head away and snapped.
“What! What is it!”
Ye-chan answered with an expression that said he found him admirable, instead of words.
“This hyung is really……!”
“Trainee Jeong Ui-tak, if you’ve been to the infirmary, go see the PD for a moment. He’s in the small conference room.”
“Ah, yes.”
A staff member who had been inside the practice room must have sensed their presence; he opened the door, stepped out, and spoke.
As Jeong Ui-tak hurriedly vanished down the end of the hallway, Bae Sae-byeok bowed his head.
“Thank you for looking out for us in so many ways.”
“It’s fine. I did it because I wanted to…… Are you okay?”
At Ye-chan’s question, Bae Sae-byeok blinked his lashes.
Does this kid really not realize he was the one who got picked on?
The thought crossed Ye-chan’s mind that if someone’s head was a flower garden like Beom Se-hyuk’s, they might not be sensitive to other people’s malice, so that could explain it.
Ye-chan roughly waved his hand.
“No. I misspoke.”
“You feel sorry for Ui-tak hyung, right?”
“What?”
Bae Sae-byeok answered calmly, his expression not changing in the slightest.
“What they were doing was kindergarten-level, so it was so childish I didn’t care. But I feel sorry because Ui-tak hyung seemed to get stressed every time those people acted like that.”
Ye-chan first calmly scanned their surroundings.
Bae Sae-byeok, still wearing that clear face, calmly stopped him.
“It’s fine even if there’s a camera. I’m going to say the exact same thing in the interview.”
What are you going to say in the interview, you crazy bastard!
Ye-chan, who had nearly spat out what rose to his tongue, gave a short fake cough.
Looking closely, Bae Sae-byeok’s eyes had spun a full three hundred sixty degrees.
Ye-chan pondered how to talk this revved-up bulldozer down.
“Hey, Bae Sae-byeok. Wouldn’t it be better to think this over again? That you’re the unfair victim will naturally become clear to everyone once the footage airs, so is there really a need to say it with your own mouth?”
He subtly implied that the wrong sparks might fly the moment the words left his lips, but Bae Sae-byeok didn’t so much as blink.
“Is ‘needlessly’ a word that should be attached to honestly speaking about the situation I experienced?”
Bae Sae-byeok speaking so fluently, unlike usual, felt quite unfamiliar.
This is completely a lid-blown state.
Still, telling an angry person “You’re angry, right?” would only backfire.
Ye-chan decided to approach it rationally.
“Yeah, it’s not my place to tell you what to do. Still, wouldn’t it be better to talk it over with Ui-tak? It’s not just your problem; Ui-tak’s name will come up with yours.”
The force in Bae Sae-byeok’s eyes, which had been shining with a subtle madness, subsided.
Ye-chan didn’t miss the opening and pressed in.
“Right now we’re definitely competing as individuals, but once we debut, we’ll be working as a team. If you really want to debut through this program, it wouldn’t hurt to think once about the losses and gains of the team you’ll belong to. I’m not saying you have to unconditionally give up your personal freedom for the team—I’m talking about that balance.”
“……Yes. Thank you for your concern, hyung.”
Bae Sae-byeok, fully returned to his usual self, nodded obediently.
At perfect timing, Nam Ji-yu poked his head out the door.
“Ye-chan, you guys head to your practice room now. Sae-byeok will stay with our team until Ui-tak gets back.”
“It’s fine. Our team has to practice too.”
Nam Ji-yu had tried to look after Bae Sae-byeok, who would otherwise have to stick with the three people who had ostracized him, but Bae Sae-byeok refused outright.
Ye-chan made a sound that was admiration and not quite admiration.
“……You really are a kid with strong spirit.”
Bae Sae-byeok bowed at the waist toward Ye-chan and went into the practice room.
Ye-chan watched the small back of that head for a moment as it moved away, then started walking toward his own practice room.
“Ye-chan’s here!”
The instant Ye-chan opened the door to Practice Room 2, Seonwoo I-gyeong came running and slung an arm around Ye-chan’s neck.
“Did it get resolved okay?”
At Shim Sang-rok’s question as he approached next, Ye-chan roughly nodded with his waist still bent.
“Then let’s start practice right away. While you were gone we changed a few things.”
Kang Hae-sol, glancing at the clock on the wall, was doing his absolute best not to show it, but the impatience was plain on him.
Ye-chan quickly peeled off Seonwoo I-gyeong, who was still clinging.
“Sorry for being away so long. Can you tell me which parts changed?”
“I’ll tell you. Come this way.”
When he followed Seonwoo I-gyeong over near the mirror, Kang Hae-sol led the remaining members and started practicing again nearby.
“Even though he talks like that, Hae-sol was really worried.”
Ye-chan glanced up at Seonwoo I-gyeong and nodded.
“You don’t seem very surprised?”
“Is it something to be surprised about? Hae-sol hyung is originally kind.”
“Really? I don’t think anyone except you would think that.”
At Seonwoo I-gyeong’s slyly probing words, Ye-chan answered nonchalantly.
“Is that so? If you watch a little, you can tell. And I-gyeong hyung thinks that way too, right?”
“You seem to have a lot of interest in Hae-sol? You two haven’t even been on the same team before, have you?”
What kind of answer does this bastard want to hear by doing this?
“So where’s the changed choreography?”
Ye-chan, who had no desire to continue this unproductive conversation any further, changed the subject with an indifferent face.
“The group intro and Hwi-gyum’s part. Change the direction like this and the moves like this…… Yeah, you’re good.”
Unexpectedly, Seonwoo I-gyeong didn’t cling and properly taught the changed choreography.
Ye-chan already knew his dance skills were excellent from seeing stages, but his ability to put choreography together was quite something too.
Around the time Ye-chan was finishing the new moves, Seonwoo I-gyeong, who had been putting in interjections from the side, turned the topic again.
“Why are you interested in Hae-sol? Interest of the kind that wants to debut together, or something like that?”
He’s really being a nuisance.
Ye-chan briefly checked the direction where the remaining members were.
There was some distance, and all three were focused on practice, so it didn’t seem like anything said here would carry.
He turned his head again and looked at Seonwoo I-gyeong.
The face smiling brightly while waiting for Ye-chan’s answer came into view.
“It is that kind of interest, so what.”
He replaced the rest with an expression that said Got a problem?, and Seonwoo I-gyeong tilted his head to the side in an exaggeratedly cute way.
“Wow, Hae-sol is so envious. Can’t you show me that kind of interest too?”
“To hyung? Why? Are you interested in me?”
Ye-chan snorted, expecting the usual empty words.
But the answer that came back was unexpected.
“Huh? Haven’t I been showing it a ton so far? Me, I’m super interested in you and Hae-sol. Interest of the kind that wants to debut together.”
After finishing, Seonwoo I-gyeong winked one eye.
At the sudden confession, Ye-chan felt a bit dazed.
Wanting to debut with me is natural if it’s natural, but…… saying it so openly is a first, so it’s weird.
“Uh, um…… I see.”
The faces of the party members he had coaxed so far flashed by like a lantern show.
Having indirectly experienced their feelings and feeling awkward, Ye-chan changed the subject. Seonwoo I-gyeong, still grinning as if it were fun, asked,
“Aren’t you curious about the reason?”
“No, not particularly.”
Isn’t it obvious since I’m this amazing.
Whether the words he wanted to say were too obvious on his face, Seonwoo I-gyeong burst into laughter.
“Puhaha. Wow, your confidence is really amazing. Confidence with grounds! Very good!”
Is it something to laugh that much about……
Seonwoo I-gyeong, who laughed holding his belly without caring about the cold gaze, opened his mouth again.
“Yeah, just looking at you, you’re amazing enough that if we just debut together, we’d keep succeeding. But the reason I got interested in you and Hae-sol isn’t that……”
“Have you learned all the choreography? Then let’s match it together.”
The moment Seonwoo I-gyeong was about to give the reason, Kang Hae-sol’s cool voice, from someone who had approached before they knew it, dropped over their heads.
His expression was not good at all, as if he thought the two were slacking off.
Gaining Kang Hae-sol’s trust was more important than Seonwoo I-gyeong’s inner thoughts. Ye-chan stuck right next to Kang Hae-sol without a moment’s hesitation.
“Let’s go match it right away, hyung.”
At Ye-chan’s appearance overflowing with motivation, Kang Hae-sol softened a little.
After a fake cough, Kang Hae-sol sent a frosty gaze to Seonwoo I-gyeong left behind and started walking.
“Puhaha. Ah, let’s go together, guys!”
Seonwoo I-gyeong, briefly stunned by Ye-chan’s not-quite-betrayal, burst into laughter again as if something were so funny and hurriedly followed behind.
After that, time flowed very quickly.
As dinner time approached, Shim Sang-rok came over to Kang Hae-sol, the leader on this side.
“About the mid-check of each team’s choreography that got cut off earlier—shall we finish it after dinner? We’re fine doing it again too.”
Kang Hae-sol looked back toward where the members were for a moment before answering.
Confirming the members nodding willingly, Kang Hae-sol agreed, and Shim Sang-rok waved his hand and returned to his own members’ side.
“Since it’s like that, let’s eat as fast as possible and match it one more time.”
“……If you move right after eating, it digests poorly.”
Lee Seung-heon, whose words had increased a bit as he got more comfortable these past few days, muttered.
Seonwoo I-gyeong put his arm around Lee Seung-heon’s shoulder and grinned.
“Don’t worry, Seung-heon. Hyung will get a plastic bag ready for you.”
“……Wow, that’s incredibly comforting.”
His expression says otherwise though.
Anyway, since it wasn’t a suitable topic to carry into mealtime, Ye-chan decided to pretend he hadn’t heard.
Entering the cafeteria, for some reason Jeong Ui-tak’s team of five were gathered eating dinner.
Ye-chan opened his eyes wide, wondering if they had somehow reconciled in the meantime.
Doesn’t seem like it.
Jeong Ui-tak reeking of extreme discomfort, Bae Sae-byeok moving his spoon with perfect nonchalance, and the three sitting across with faces as if they had chewed something bitter.
It was clear they were stuck together by force.
The main PD called Kim Dae-young and Jeong Ui-tak separately and gave them a warning or something.
If they acted so awkwardly toward each other, even the viewers beyond the screen would notice those five had fought.
Still, since Bae Sae-byeok who had been like a time bomb seemed to have calmed down, it didn’t look like the problem would spread much further.
Ye-chan lightened the burden on his mind at the fact that the annoying problem was resolved and decided to focus on his own stage.
“Who’s coming for the mid-check tomorrow?”
Seonwoo I-gyeong, whose eating speed was unusually fast, had already emptied his tray and tried conversation.
“Wouldn’t the song’s composer come? In the last competition the original singers came.”
“Wow, that would be good. We could also ask what they think of the lyrics we attached!”
“Don’t ask that, I-gyeong hyung. What if they say it’s not good.”
The somewhat timid Lee Seung-heon restrained Seonwoo I-gyeong. Seonwoo I-gyeong lightly patted Lee Seung-heon’s shoulder.
“Seung-heon, don’t worry. Our lyrics might have a different direction from what that person thought, but the quality can’t be low.”
Seonwoo I-gyeong cut himself off, raised his index finger, and wiggled it.
“It’s too~ fine.”
At Seonwoo I-gyeong’s words that were confident to the point of excess, Ye-chan set his spoon down on the tray and applauded.
Seonwoo I-gyeong looked back at him, pretended to be rather shy, then blew a hand kiss and winked.
Lee Seung-heon, who had been quietly watching the two’s antics from the side, put his hand on Seonwoo I-gyeong’s shoulder.
“Hyung, can you give me the bag now?”