Blood on the Pavement
Lazy sunlight drifted into the classroom.
"Yeonjae, do you know this movie? If it looks good, want to go see it together?"
Baek Seojin had planted herself shamelessly at my desk—front row, which belonged to someone else entirely—and was striking up a conversation with a shy smile.
Before I could even open my mouth, the guy beside me cut in first.
"I already saw that. With me."
"...It opens *this weekend*, you know? Would you kindly get lost back to your own class?"
With the bickering between Baek Seojin and Noh Bihyeok as background music, I swallowed a yawn. I was sleepy.
"Do you have any pride at all? The girl said no. Why do you keep pestering her?"
"Who's pestering her? I'm just asking her to watch a movie. You're not even in our class, so beat it!"
"The teacher said it was fine. Who are you to object?"
"Guys. If you're going to fight, do it quietly."
I watched their squabbling for a while and only stepped in when the decibels started climbing. They shut up instantly—but kept glaring daggers at each other, which was so ridiculous it made me laugh.
"In dramas, kids who fight like you two always end up dating in the end."
"That's going too far."
"Yeah, I take that back."
Their venomous reactions were eerily identical, which only made it funnier.
I gave a half-hearted laugh and was heading for my locker when Baek Seojin trailed after me like a duckling. No surprise there. The real surprise was how quickly I'd gotten used to this after just over a month of it.
"You were talking with Bihyuk, weren't you? Why?"
"What is there to talk about with that guy. Anyway, Yeonjae."
"Yeah?"
"How tall are you?"
When I asked why on earth she wanted to know, she answered, blushing, "Just curious." A frustrating reply, every single time.
"No idea. It changes every time someone measures me."
"That's exactly why I asked! You've gotten so much taller in the past month."
I nodded vaguely while gathering my textbooks. It was true—I had grown since the Twins shoot.
Thank goodness for small mercies.
Thank goodness I hadn't suddenly shot up mid-filming. Director Yoon, factoring in that I was still growing, had scheduled the shoot as tight as humanly possible—and it turned out to be the right call. The moment filming wrapped, I collapsed into my sickbed.
When the Fog had warned me in advance about the fever coming, I'd brushed it off as nothing. I figured that whatever happened, I could get up and act through it. It took actually getting sick to learn that when the pain was bad enough, breathing properly was a struggle, let alone performing.
The fever hit the instant I opened my eyes, so violent I couldn't even hold myself upright, and I spent over a week in and out of the emergency room. The real problem was that the pain didn't go away after that week was up. A dull, throbbing ache kept radiating through my wrists and ankles, and finally I asked the Fog—what kind of misfortune is this, if acting won't make it disappear?
The Fog answered with an awkward face: growth pains.
Which is to say, it didn't ultimately fall under the category of misfortune at all, so no amount of acting would dispel it. That was all I got.
"It's strange how my line of sight just keeps getting higher. Oh, not that it wasn't nice before too. N-not that I'm saying you were short before!"
"Yeah. I know."
"...Um, Yeonjae? About that movie I mentioned—"
"Lee Yeonjae. You going to the school store?"
The brow Baek Seojin had been gazing up at me with knotted all at once. Noh Bihyeok, blithely ignoring her, slung an arm around my shoulder, and I didn't dodge—I just moved along quickly.
"Thanks."
"You should sit her down sometime and talk to her seriously. Otherwise I don't think she'll ever get the hint."
"Already did. Told her it made me uncomfortable."
"Huh? And what did she say to that?"
"Said she was really sorry, but she was going to keep trying a little longer. Apparently she can't give up until she's tried everything."
"...Wow. She really is a few cards short of a deck."
"Such a way with words."
I pinched him in the side. An aspiring idol ought to be a little more careful with his body.
Watching him grumble about how much it hurt, I murmured quietly, "It's fine. Summer break's almost here anyway. For the next month or so, we won't be seeing each other's faces at all."
"Tough life you lead~"
Still, it wasn't all downsides. Thanks to Baek Seojin charging at anyone who got too close like an angry Maltese, the other kids kept their distance from me. The furtive glances hadn't stopped, but they'd been the same back in elementary school, so. Best of all, Baek Seojin never interrupted me when I was reading a script. That alone made her tolerable.
"I don't have training camp this week. Can I come over to your place?"
"Ijun hyung and Inhu hyung are coming over on the weekend. You're welcome to join, if that's okay. I'll let them know."
"Mmm~ Sure."
She did not look remotely thrilled about it. But I knew from experience that once she actually showed up, she'd have a great time, so I didn't worry about it.
Which is to say—if I'd known the disaster that was coming, I never would have invited anyone at all.
***
"Hi...!"
"Come on in."
I opened the front door and Seong Ijun stepped inside, clutching a paper bag to his chest. Even though he'd been here once before, he hesitated awkwardly on the threshold—and then his eyes went wide.
"Whoa... you got taller?"
"Yeah. A little."
"That's not *a little*... Has it really not been that long since we last saw each other? How did you grow this much...!"
Coming from someone taller than me, it was weirdly irritating.
"Filming wrap okay? I heard about it from Inhu, but..."
"Yep. Editing should have started by now."
It had already been a month since the Twins shoot ended. Scenes where Kang Taeil and Lee Jinwoo appeared together required splicing separate takes in editing. And with more than a few of those, the edit was bound to take a long time. There was separate CG work on top of that, and I heard the film would ultimately premiere next year.
I just nodded. My part was finished either way.
While Seong Ijun was unpacking the snacks he'd brought, Noh Bihyeok and Nam Inhu arrived.
"Finally, we meet! I'm Noh Bihyeok, Lee Yeonjae's friend~"
Just as predicted, Noh Bihyeok acted like the concept of shyness didn't exist for him. In no time he'd introduced himself all the way through to being an idol trainee, and beamed.
"So you're with WB Entertainment. A friend of mine is a trainee there too...!"
"Wow, really? Small world. What's your friend's name?"
Seong Ijun, apparently a surprisingly good match for Noh Bihyeok, looked thoroughly delighted. Their conversation flowed along like water, and I got up from my seat.
"Might be someone you don't know—huh? Where are you going?"
"I'll grab some Coke. Keep chatting."
Even out in the hall, the voices inside never let up. I was chuckling to myself on the way to the kitchen when Manager Ahn Jinbae came over.
"Is there anything you need?"
"Just came for Coke. Did you finish the pizza? Want me to bring you some?"
"I'm fine, thank you. Ah—I was thinking of stopping by the office for a bit to see Team Leader Woo..."
His voice trailed off hesitantly, so I nodded to let him know it was no trouble.
"I'm not going anywhere. Don't worry, go ahead."
"Call me if you need anything. And don't leave the building on your own—not even for the convenience store."
Manager Ahn Jinbae only left after I promised several more times that I understood. I saw him out to the door, then headed back to my room and—
"...?"
Why was the mood like this.
"You're back...?"
Seong Ijun's awkward greeting wasn't nearly enough to paper over the strange heaviness hanging in the air. Noh Bihyeok's face had gone rigid, and Nam Inhu looked angry.
"Did you two fight?"
Silence. Three people in the room, and not one answer. I set down the Coke and waited—and Noh Bihyeok shot to his feet, shattering the quiet. Grinning, he apologized for ruining the mood and said he'd head out first. I barely managed to grab him at the front door.
"Bihyuk."
"Sorry for killing the vibe. Don't worry about it."
"Hold on. What happened?"
Noh Bihyeok just said he'd text me once he got home and walked straight out. I stared at the closed door for a moment, then went back inside.
"Can someone explain what just happened?"
"Bihyuk and Inhu got into an argument..."
I stepped away for a few minutes and they fought? A sigh escaped me before I knew it. I asked what exactly had happened, and apparently it started with Noh Bihyeok being offended that Noh Bihyeok was talking only to Seong Ijun.
"He was just so obviously acting like I wasn't even there. Look, I know Ijun hyung is famous beyond anything I could compare to."
"Mm..."
I opened my mouth, then just nodded for now.
"Then he asked if you were really *that* good at acting, and one thing led to another, and the past came up."
"The past?"
"You know—when I got jealous of you and said we should just phone it in. It's old news, so I brought it up lightly, and then all of a sudden he changed his expression and..."
It was an episode Nam Inhu had tossed out casually, thinking it long over—but when he added, "That was the first time I ever saw Lee Yeonjae get angry," Noh Bihyeok had apparently taken it the wrong way. He assumed Nam Inhu was mocking me. He scowled; Nam Inhu, already rubbing him the wrong way, got rubbed even more wrong by that scowl. A few more barbs flew back and forth, and it ended with, "Why are your eyes like that?"
Oh, for crying out loud.
I'd heard that at our age, kids routinely fought to the death over nothing and then had their arms around each other's shoulders minutes later. I relaxed the brow I'd unconsciously furrowed while listening.
"Hyung, first of all—there's no way Bihyuk looked down on you for being less famous."
"Of course, since he's your—"
"I'm not taking his side because he's my friend. If he actually just wanted to get close to you, he'd have apologized for the misunderstanding and stayed. That's it."
It wasn't as if he could see Seong Ijun every day, and he wasn't stupid enough to kick away a good opportunity with his own foot just because he couldn't manage his feelings for five minutes.
"And if he really had been disrespecting you, he'd have played nice to your face. It's not like you like people who suck up to you, hyung."
"..."
"Also, I think part of this is my fault... I told him hyung tends to be shy with strangers."
I'd mentioned in advance that Nam Inhu was easygoing, so the two of them would hit it off quickly. From Noh Bihyeok's perspective, he'd probably thought he was looking out for the shy one first. I shouldn't have opened my mouth at all.
When he heard that, Nam Inhu let out a long sigh and dragged a hand down his face.
"I jumped to conclusions... Ugh, inferiority complex. That's my whole problem."
"Just apologize. At least it didn't blow up into something big."
Thankfully, Nam Inhu let the misunderstanding go right away. I was pouring Coke for Seong Ijun, who'd been sitting there awkwardly in the middle of it all, when my phone buzzed. It was Noh Bihyeok.
Already home?
He shouldn't be there for a while yet. Odd, but I answered without hesitating.
"Already home?"
—...
"Hello?"
I thought maybe it was a misdial and was about to hang up when a dazed voice came through. I strained to make out the garbled words—and the moment they resolved into meaning, I shot to my feet.
"Stay right there. I'm coming now."
Click.
I hung up, and my body was moving before my mind caught up. Seong Ijun scrambled after me, white-faced.
"Who is it?"
"Bihyuk. He got hit by a car out front."
"What?!"
Nam Inhu jolted up in horror, but I couldn't manage any reply—I hurried out. The elevator, crawling down floor by floor, had never once felt this suffocating.
What did I do wrong?
No. I practiced plenty. When did the misfortune factors transfer?
I bit my lip so hard it nearly split, and the second the doors opened, I bolted. I heard Seong Ijun shouting after me from behind, but my head was pure static.
I ran until I tasted blood in my throat, all the way to the spot Noh Bihyeok had described. The paramedics had apparently already arrived—the whole street was in chaos. Even gasping for air, I didn't stop running.
And then I saw it. Blood, spreading across the pavement.
"...!"
My breath caught dead in my throat. I stood frozen, staring blankly at the ground, when someone called out from behind me.
"Lee Yeonjae!"