Chapter 92
Chapter 92
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 92
Chapter Title: A Night in America
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The hotel rooms were assigned so that Haru, the leader, had one to himself, while Lee Ho-jun and Jung Eun-woo shared one, and Park Ji-ham and I were assigned to a room together.
“Alright, get some good rest today. See you tomorrow.”
After saying goodbye to the other members, we went into our room.
‘Is this really the room I'm staying in?’
The inside of the room was incredibly spacious.
It was large enough for the two of us to run around in.
I thought a hotel room would just have a bed and a bathroom, but there was a separate area with a sofa and a TV, like a living room.
Only after passing through that space did the bedroom appear.
Two beds stood side by side, slightly apart, and they were so large that it seemed like a few more people could use the room without any problem.
‘I wonder how much it costs to stay in a place like this for a night.’
“Let's unpack our stuff first.”
I opened my suitcase at the foot of the bed and started to organize my things.
“Whoa. Look at the night view.”
Park Ji-ham, who had slightly pulled back the curtains, let out a gasp of admiration.
“Yoon-seul, you should take a look at this too.”
I lifted my head and saw a spectacular view.
“Wow.”
“Amazing, right?”
I nodded vigorously in response to Park Ji-ham's question.
“We really made it. To think we'd come to a room like this for work. I've never seen a hotel room this big before.”
“Me neither. Even when we went to regional events, we'd usually just end up sleeping crammed in the car on the way back.”
The beautiful night view seemed to make the atmosphere feel a bit nostalgic.
“By the way, it's been a while since the two of us shared a room.”
“Yeah, it has.”
It was the first time since we were on the same team during RED CUBE.
“Back then, I never imagined we'd end up in the same group. I honestly thought I'd be eliminated before even making it to the finals.”
It was the same for me.
Who would have known?
That we'd go from being so awkward and uncomfortable with each other to being fine sharing a room.
“I had a feeling you'd debut.”
Park Ji-ham let out a small laugh at my words.
“Me? Come to think of it, I thought you just said that to everyone, but you didn't, did you? You only said it to our members. Was it like you already knew we were going to debut? I was really surprised when I heard you just told everyone else to 'work hard'.”
For a moment, I wasn't sure I could control my expression, so I subtly turned my head away, pretending to organize my suitcase.
“How would I have known that?”
“True. If you knew that, you'd be a fortune teller, not an idol.”
His tone suggested he would never believe me, even if I told him I really did know the future.
‘Who would believe something like that? If I brought it up, they'd probably just think I was struggling with stress.’
“Anyway, it's great that we debuted. We even got to fly business class to America.”
Our plane seats weren't in economy, but in business class.
We'd naturally assumed we wouldn't be flying business, so everyone's eyes went wide as they took their seats.
Our manager burst out laughing when he saw us.
He added that with so many people in economy, there was no way we could fly there, and told us to please realize that we were popular idols.
‘Popular idols.’
It still felt awkward.
The gap between now and when I was active before was so huge that it was unavoidable.
‘Still, I'll get used to it soon enough.’
“So much has changed in such a short time.”
Park Ji-ham said, flopping down on the bed.
“Haaah.”
He let out a long yawn, perhaps because he'd been tossing and turning on the plane the whole time.
“I'm tired, but I can't sleep.”
My body was already so used to flipped day-night schedules that I could fall asleep anytime just by closing my eyes, so it probably wasn't jet lag.
“By the way, did you see social media?”
“Why?”
“No reason. I just glanced at it on the way to the hotel, and the BRAVEs think the company styled you in the clothes you wore today.”
I'd already seen that.
‘I even reflected on it a bit after seeing it. It made me realize just how bad my fashion sense was.’
“Yeah. Seeing that made me think I must have been pretty bad.”
“Well, the misunderstanding will probably clear up once our own content gets uploaded. Ah, I can't take it. I need a can of beer.”
Park Ji-ham shot up from his seat, opened the mini-fridge, and pulled out a can of beer.
This was thanks to the manager telling us that everything in the fridge was provided by the festival organizers, so we could eat or drink whatever we wanted.
“Does drinking beer help you sleep?”
“It's definitely better than not drinking. Besides, on a day like this, I feel like having one. Drinking while looking at a view like this really lets you savor the feeling of success, you know?”
Park Ji-ham sat on the edge of the bed, beer in hand.
Then he took a few gulps of the beer.
“Kaaah.”
It looked incredibly refreshing.
“Plus, the alcohol helps you sleep better. In dramas and stuff, you see drunk people sleeping so soundly you could carry them away and they wouldn't notice.”
Hearing that piqued my curiosity.
‘It's not like I have to finish the whole can. Maybe I'll try a sip?’
“Then I'll have some too.”
After closing my suitcase, I stood in front of the mini-fridge.
When I opened the door, I saw a variety of alcoholic drinks, beverages, and water, all neatly arranged.
‘Which one of these should I drink?’
Not knowing what was what, I figured it was best to just drink the same thing as Park Ji-ham and reached for it.
“You shouldn't have that one. Drink the one with the lime on it.”
My hand stopped mid-air at Park Ji-ham's words.
“Lime?”
“Yeah. You said you don't like coffee because it's bitter, right? This one won't suit your taste. The one with the lime on it is a bit sweet, so drink that one.”
I nodded and picked up the beer can with a picture of a lime on it.
‘It's bigger than a regular soft drink.’
“Go on, take a sip.”
At Park Ji-ham's gentle urging, I opened the can and slowly took a sip.
Just as he'd said, it wasn't bitter and had a sweet taste.
‘It's better than I thought.’
“How is it?”
“It's good. It doesn't taste like the alcohol I know.”
I'm not much of a drinker, so while I knew things like this existed, I'd never even thought to try one.
But if this was alcohol, I thought it might not be so bad to have a drink with the members once in a while.
“Then shall we have a toast?”
Park Ji-ham said, holding out his beer.
I lightly clinked my beer can against his.
“Everyone's going to be so surprised tomorrow when I tell them you had a drink, right?”
As I sipped it carefully, my eyelids started to feel heavy.
I rubbed my eyelids with the back of my hand.
“What, are you sleepy already?”
I didn't even have the energy to speak, so I just nodded in response.
“You must have a low tolerance. I guess that's a good thing, in a way?”
Park Ji-ham was looking at me with an amused expression.
“You have had a drink before, right?”
“Yeah.”
Drowsiness washed over me, and my body felt languid.
“You didn't get this drunk then?”
“I'd never had more than a sip before.”
“Ah. Let's get to sleep. If you drink any more, you'll mess up your schedule tomorrow.”
Park Ji-ham took the beer from my hand and placed it on the nightstand.
Then he turned off the lights in the hotel room.
“You're going to sleep really well tonight.”
It seemed like Park Ji-ham said something else to me, but I don't remember anything after that.
* * *
We arrived at the festival venue in a long car that looked like a limousine.
It was specially provided by the festival organizers.
I'd felt it on the way to the hotel yesterday, too, but the treatment we were receiving was incredible.
“The hotel was so nice. It was hard to believe I was here for work. The bathtub had jets; I felt like I was on a luxury hotel vacation.”
“And there were so many movies to choose from, it took me forever just to pick one.”
On the way to the festival venue, the members talked about the hotel.
“What did you and Ji-ham do at the hotel yesterday?”
“Yoon-seul and I had a drink yesterday.”
“Huh?”
“A drink?”
The members' reactions were more intense than I expected.
“You mean Yoon-seul drank too?”
“Yeah. There were all kinds of beers in the mini-fridge, right? There was one with a lime on it, and I guess he liked it. But he really shouldn't be drinking anywhere else.”
“Why?”
“He's totally defenseless. His eyes were closing, his speech was slurring. It's the perfect setup for something to happen. He can't drink outside.”
Park Ji-ham's words reminded me of last night.
‘It was the first time I'd ever been that drunk.’
“Well, at least it seems you don't have a hangover.”
I nodded at Lee Ho-jun's words.
When I woke up in the morning, my body felt no different than usual.
I did feel a bit stiff, but that was likely due to the long flight.
It would have been a real shame to get a hangover from just one can of beer.
Besides, I had an important stage to perform on today. It would be a disaster if I wasn't in good condition.
‘If I messed up the performance not because I was sick, but because I drank, I'd regret it for the rest of my life.’
“Guys. See that over there? That's the stage you'll be on today.”
Everyone's gaze followed the manager's pointing finger.
It was still only 2 PM, but red lights were flashing on the stage, as if a performance was already in full swing.
“We're going to be on that stage?”
Even though we were still quite a distance from the venue, the sheer size of the stage was overwhelming.
‘It seems even bigger than it was during rehearsal.’
It wasn't the actual stage, but we had rehearsed in a gymnasium of a similar size.
Even then, I'd thought it was big, but I had no idea it would be on this scale.
‘A real stage has a completely different kind of presence.’
“Big, right? Look at the crowd gathered in front of it.”
I shifted my gaze to check the size of the crowd in front of the stage.
‘Just how many people is that?’
It was a crowd so large that I couldn't even begin to count them.
“And there are fewer people now because it's daytime. By the time you perform, there'll be even more.”
“Even more than this?”
“Yep. It's still the afternoon. It'll get even more crowded in the evening. They sell day, evening, and all-night tickets here, and the evening tickets sell much better and are more expensive.”
I couldn't believe that even more people would show up in the evening.
‘Is it even possible for it to get more crowded? There are already so many people I can't even guess the number.’
“I heard that by evening, this place will be so full you won't see any empty space. Packed solid.”
A new wave of nervousness began to set in.
“To think you guys get to stand on a stage like that, I'm truly overwhelmed with emotion.”
The manager, seemingly oblivious to our bodies stiffening with tension, didn't stop talking.