Chapter 21
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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 21
Chapter Title: Safely Complete the Music Show Stage! (1)
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A dark room.
I groped along the wall and flipped on the switch. As the light blazed on, Eun Hae-sol, lying in bed, tossed under the covers.
“Ugh.”
“Eun Hae-sol, get up already!”
“One minute—no, three minutes more.”
“We’ve got a schedule.”
Today was our music show schedule.
SCS Music Bus. It was the first music program we’d be appearing on.
Eun Hae-sol rubbed his eyes and got up.
“Let’s hurry and get ready to head out.”
“Yeah….”
The members who had woken up started coming out of their rooms one by one, heading into the bathroom in turn to wash up.
After washing up, I came out towel-drying my hair and spotted Baek Si-woo in the corner, checking his smartphone while drying his own hair.
“All dry?”
“Yeah. Your turn.”
“Thanks.”
I took the hairdryer from Baek Si-woo and dried my hair. Looking around, the other members were mostly ready.
Maybe because of the music show schedule, the dorm felt more tense than usual.
That was when Cha Jae-hyun looked at us and said,
“Alright, shall we get going?”
Baek Si-woo, waddling as he pulled on his pants, said,
“We’ve still got some time, right?”
Cha Jae-hyun checked his watch and said,
“We’ve got a bit until departure, but I hear the manager hyung is coming early.”
“Why does that hyung always come early?”
“No idea.”
Cha Jae-hyun, who had been scanning us, tilted his head and said,
“What about Yu-bin?”
Baek Si-woo let out a deep sigh and replied in a worried tone.
“He’s still in dreamland.”
“You didn’t wake him?”
“The kid seriously won’t get up even if you beat him to death.”
He was at that age where he slept like a log.
Cha Jae-hyun shoved Baek Si-woo toward the room and said,
“Go wake him up quick.”
“Hyung, I’m telling you, he really won’t wake up. It’s not like he’s the sleeping prince in the forest or something. He sets alarms every ten minutes and still doesn’t budge once.”
“Then give him a kiss to wake him.”
Ugh. Cha Jae-hyun and his brand of jokes.
Baek Si-woo hesitated for a moment before replying,
“Should I?”
Why are you playing along with that?
Music shows required prep from the crack of dawn, so all the members’ faces were etched with exhaustion.
Yawning, Cha Jae-hyun said,
“Didn’t Song Yu-bin sleep last night?”
“Seemed like he couldn’t sleep from nerves.”
Fair enough. With a big schedule ahead, Song Yu-bin’s personality meant he probably hadn’t slept well.
‘Plus the showcase trauma.’
Cha Jae-hyun, who had been checking his smartphone, darkened.
“Manager hyung’s coming in ten minutes.”
“If he finds out Yu-bin hasn’t woken up, he’ll flip out. What do we do?”
Cha Jae-hyun stood there with a thoughtful expression before speaking.
“Let’s all go wake him.”
We all barged into Song Yu-bin’s room. As soon as we opened the door, we saw Song Yu-bin sleeping soundly on the bed.
“Song Yu-bin!”
No reaction no matter how much we called.
Cha Jae-hyun raised his right arm and smacked Song Yu-bin’s back.
“Whoa. That’s gotta hurt like hell.”
Baek Si-woo looked at Song Yu-bin with pitying eyes. Then he continued,
“My mom used to wake me like that for school. The awful memory of it stinging even after first period just came rushing back. What about you, Eun-ho?”
“My mom was pretty laid-back, so she’d just let me be late if I didn’t get up.”
After finishing, I glanced to the side. Eun Hae-sol seemed eager to join the conversation, so I casually asked,
“What about you, Eun Hae-sol?”
Eun Hae-sol rolled his eyes to the right, thinking for a moment, then opened his mouth.
“Mom wasn’t around.”
Oh. I didn’t know. Was that a bad question?
Baek Si-woo fidgeted awkwardly, unsure what to do, but Eun Hae-sol waved it off like it was nothing.
“It’s fine. I don’t even remember what she looks like. They divorced when I was little.”
“I see.”
Cha Jae-hyun plopped down in front of the bed with a tired look.
Even after repeated back-smacks from Cha Jae-hyun, Song Yu-bin didn’t twitch.
Seeing that, Baek Si-woo shook his head and said,
“Told you? He won’t budge.”
Eun Hae-sol, standing nearby, muttered,
“How about targeting a pressure point instead of the back?”
“Why hit a pressure point? You trying to kill him?”
I stared at him incredulously, and Eun Hae-sol pretended nothing happened.
Cha Jae-hyun, pondering deeply, spoke up.
“How about blasting some loud music?”
“Tried that earlier. Didn’t work.”
“What song?”
“Some upbeat dance track?”
Cha Jae-hyun approached Song Yu-bin with his smartphone in hand.
Baek Si-woo stared blankly and asked,
“Hyung. What’re you doing?”
“Sticking heavy metal right in his ear. Might wake him.”
“What if he gets too startled?”
“That’s his problem. I’m starting to get pissed myself. After today’s schedule, I’ll have to give him another round of mental training.”
Another round of that horrific mental training? He’s joking, right?
Cha Jae-hyun’s smartphone then blared noisy heavy metal.
Ziiing-zaaang-zaaang-zaaang―!
The members all clamped their hands over their ears. At the racket, Song Yu-bin’s sleeping face twisted.
Seeing it work, Cha Jae-hyun’s eyes sparkled as he said,
“Crank the volume higher?”
“You trying to burst the kid’s eardrums?”
Soon, the signature heavy metal shriek that could tear your ears apart rang out.
Screeeeeeee―!
I couldn’t take it anymore and yelled,
“Hyung! What the hell kind of music is this!”
“This? Black Suicide Band’s ‘Eternal Death’…”
“Who asked for a song breakdown? It’s too loud—turn it off now!”
“Then how do we wake him, huh?”
We all turned at once. There was Song Yu-bin, eyes half-open in a daze.
“He’s up!”
I snatched the smartphone from Cha Jae-hyun’s hand and hurriedly turned off the music.
“Ha. Quiet at last.”
Patting the still-spaced-out Song Yu-bin’s back, I said,
“Go wash up quick.”
“What time is it? Oh crap. Sorry.”
Song Yu-bin stumbled into the bathroom, and only then did the members sigh in relief.
A few minutes later, Song Yu-bin emerged after a super-speed wash, rubbing his eyes as he sat on the floor and turned on the hairdryer.
Baek Si-woo teased,
“Ooh, Yu-bin’s looking sexy.”
“Hyung! Cut it out.”
Droplets of water trailed down from Song Yu-bin’s wet hair.
“Yu-bin-ah. Dry your hair properly before coming out. You’re dripping on the floor.”
Just then, the door lock beeped, and the manager came in.
“Everyone up?”
“Yeah.”
“Ready to head out?”
“Just need to get Yu-bin dressed.”
At that, the manager clicked his tongue and grumbled.
“What? He just woke up now?”
“We’ve still got time till departure, so we’ll get him dressed quick and head down.”
“Jeez. Back in my day, I was always at work ten minutes early.”
The members were trying their best to hide it, but they all looked fed up with the manager.
I’d only heard it as a meme, but now I was hearing the “latte” rant for real.
“Rookies should be full of passion, right?”
At that moment, the manager suddenly shut up. Wondering what happened, I saw he’d locked eyes with Eun Hae-sol.
Eun Hae-sol was glaring at the manager with cold eyes.
“Ah, whatever. Take your time.”
Was it the memory from that time? The manager backed off with an uneasy expression.
Still groggy Song Yu-bin fumbled into his clothes. Watching him, Cha Jae-hyun said,
“It’s cold, so button up to the top.”
“Hyung, leaving a few open looks cool.”
“You trying to freeze to death showing off?”
“Ugh. Got it.”
We headed out of the dorm. As we went down the stairs, a murmur of voices grew from outside.
Some ominous feeling crept in.
The moment we opened the building’s entrance door, cheers and camera shutter sounds exploded.
Click-click―
“Kyaaah!”
“Jeong Eun-ho! Jeong Eun-ho!!”
“Jae-hyun! Look over here!”
“Fuck, move your damn head in front!”
What kind of circus was this?
We all stood there stunned when the manager hurriedly blocked the sasaeng fans.
“Move! Out of the way!”
Despite the manager’s pleas, the sasaengs lunged like zombies.
“Kyaaak! Jeong Eun-ho, I love you!”
“Cha Jae-hyun is so freaking cool!”
“Guys! I left letters in the mailbox—read them, okay? Please?!”
“Come out already!”
Rattle-clunk―
In the chaos, we piled into the van.
As the door shut, the fans’ voices faded. Through the window, sasaengs screamed at us.
Song Yu-bin was wide awake now.
‘So those are the sasaengs you only hear about.’
The manager in the driver’s seat spat curses and said,
“Ugh. What the hell from the crack of dawn.”
He drove off aggressively. The dorm receded into the distance.
Looking around, everyone had shell-shocked faces.
The manager clucked his tongue and said,
“First time for this, huh?”
“Yeah.”
“Don’t worry. You’ll get used to it soon enough.”
Get used to it soon?
Did stuff like this become normal as you lived the idol life?
The manager glanced at us through the rearview mirror and said,
“Before joining here, I managed a debut team at another agency once? Even then, the dorm front was crawling with kids like that.”
At that, Song Yu-bin’s eyes widened.
“Sasaengs from debut team days too?”
“Happens sometimes. Not never.”
My head started throbbing.
Why go that far? Risking harm to their own lives—what meaning did that love have? In time, they’d regret it bitterly too.
Then, I recalled words from an idol trainee friend.
‘Jeong Eun-ho. Remember what I say. Never engage sasaengs! They do it to get even a word from you. Say anything, and they’ll love getting chewed out.’
I leaned my head against the window and let out a small breath. Cha Jae-hyun noticed and asked,
“Eun-ho. What’s wrong? Upset?”
“Nah.”
“We’re on the way to our first music show. Keep the face up. Got it?”
I nodded with a smile.
Today was our first music show stage. No matter what, I had to hit the stage with bright energy.
Smiling, I said,
“Fighting.”
“Aja aja!”
“Fighting, everyone!”
The members regained their smiles.
* * *
How much time passed? Glancing at the clock, it was 3 a.m. We headed to the salon for makeup.
I slapped my face repeatedly to shake off the drowsiness.
“This way, please~”
Following the staff’s guidance, I entered a room and sat down.
Lowering my head, I saw a array of colorful cosmetics on the desk.
Soon, the makeup artist arrived.
“First music show today, right?”
“Yeah.”
“Gotta make you look pretty for your debut music show. Music Bus, was it? Their lights are brutal, so heavy makeup it is. One sec~”
The makeup artist pulled out various tools from her bag and got busy.
“Eun-ho, right? Your skin’s amazing. No blemishes to cover.”
Swish-swish―
I stared blankly, waiting for makeup to finish. Whenever sleep threatened, I fought to stay alert.
After how long? Finally, after layers of brushes, makeup was done.
“Here, look.”
I lifted my head and faced the mirror.
‘Whoa.’
My face in the mirror had insanely heavy makeup.
‘Why so intense?’
Stunned, the makeup artist smiled and said,
“Surprised? Their lights are no joke—if you don’t go this heavy, it all flies off. You’ll get it when you see.”
“Th-thank you.”
Heading out, I thought: For those three minutes on stage, so much effort from so many people.
I had to give my all for a great stage so it wouldn’t go to waste.
The moment I stepped into the hallway,
“Eun-ho! All done?”
Baek Si-woo ran up and clung to me.
“Ow, you leech.”
I barely pried off Baek Si-woo and looked up. The members all had heavy makeup like me.
But one was missing. No Eun Hae-sol.
I approached Baek Si-woo and asked,
“Eun Hae-sol still?”
“Guess so. No idea why, but his makeup’s taking longer. Let’s head down once Hae-sol’s done.”
Right then, the door opened, and out came Eun Hae-sol, makeup complete.
The first thought seeing makeup’d Eun Hae-sol:
‘What the heck.’
I couldn’t believe my eyes.
Eun Hae-sol’s face was mud-brown. Dark and murky on the face, but neck pure white—inexplicable.
“Pfft!”
The members burst out laughing, and Eun Hae-sol’s face flushed red.
“Hey, don’t laugh!”
Turns out, his face was so pale that under lights, his features risked vanishing, so he got tone-down makeup.
Baek Si-woo, shoulders shaking as he held back laughter, quipped,
“Hae-sol-ah. Back from the mud festival?”
“Stop teasing!”
We all clutched our stomachs, chuckling.
Makeup done, we boarded the van again.
The members collapsed into sleep the moment they sat.
I closed my eyes too. And murmured softly,
“Hope nothing goes wrong.”
* * *
“We’re here.”
At the manager’s voice, the members woke one by one.
Opening my eyes, I saw the broadcasting station with the SCS logo through the window.
‘That’s where we’ll do our first music show stage….’
I clenched my fist and vowed.
‘Let’s end it safely.’