Chapter 203
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 203
“I guess so.”
Since it was clear that Jeong Da-jun would grow up to be a much better adult than I ever was, I couldn't bring myself to say anything more. Instead, I just kept waving my sparkler around.
“But isn't this illegal abroad?”
“Sparklers? It’s illegal in some states and not in others. But who actually follows that in the US?”
So he must have lived in the States.
“My mom and I had a rule where we’d watch a movie together every Friday. I saw the fireworks in the distributor's opening logo and thought they looked so cool, so I begged and begged her for some.”
“So, was it fun?”
Kang Yi-chae curled the corners of his lips slightly and shrugged.
“Not as much as I expected? No… actually, it was a total disaster. I was screaming my head off because I was scared, throwing the sparklers on the ground. My mom was cleaning up the mess, but she was cracking up seeing me cry. She’s actually kind of mean.”
“You take after her, don't you?”
“Let me correct that. My mom was incredibly sweet, just like me.”
After tossing out that lame joke and snickering to himself, Kang Yi-chae’s gaze drifted upward as if searching through his memories. He murmured softly, “Ah… I miss her.”
Watching him, I finally asked the question that had been bugging me for a while.
“Why are you suddenly opening up? You usually hate talking about your family.”
“…Could you not ruin my rare sentimental moment?”
He was the type who would stay silent even when everyone else was chatting casually.
Yi-chae grumbled about me interrupting his trip down memory lane, then pressed his lips together and rubbed the back of his neck.
“…Hyung. Do you remember that lie you told a long time ago?”
“When?”
I’d never made a promise I couldn't keep, but I lied as easily as I breathed, so I had to think hard about what he was referring to. Yi-chae stared at me intently.
“When we went to Japan. You lied and said it was your first time there when it wasn't.”
“……”
For a moment, I couldn't process what he was saying and had to search my memory.
Tracing back through the past, I eventually recalled a conversation from our first overseas promotion in Japan. One of the members had definitely asked if it was my first time in Japan, and I had lied and said yes—
“…That?”
“Yeah, that.”
My eyes darted around as I felt a surge of internal shock.
“Hey… you still remember that?”
“I have a uselessly good memory.”
“Anyway,” Yi-chae continued. “I figured out it was a lie pretty quickly. You definitely didn't act like someone who was there for the first time. Telling Da-jun there was nothing in Shinjuku, knowing all the shortcuts and backstreets…”
The same went for me.
How was I supposed to know that my uselessly good memory would bring back that one family trip to Japan from my childhood so vividly?
Yi-chae flicked a few more sparks before setting the now-extinguished sparkler on the ground.
“I kept wondering why you’d bother lying about something like whether you’d been to Japan. It didn't seem like you were plotting anything. I thought about it over and over, and now I think I get it.”
The faint light from the sparkler in my hand, which was also beginning to sputter and fade, dimly illuminated our surroundings. In the flickering light, Yi-chae looked strangely unfamiliar.
“When something is too precious, you don't want to share it with others.”
“……”
Eventually, my sparkler went out too. The only light left was the glow leaking out from the pension. It was a pitch-black night.
“That gets a bit suffocating for me sometimes, so I’m trying to fix it. To be more honest.”
I tapped my sparkler—now nothing more than a black stick—against the ground before setting it down like Yi-chae had.
“That’s unexpected.”
I couldn't entirely relate to a cringey word like precious, but I understood the sentiment behind it.
Everyone has topics they don't want to discuss with others.
In my case, most of those topics involved Seo Ho-jin.
“So, you’re saying you’re going to start opening up to the members?”
“Watching a certain someone made me think that living honestly might not be so bad.”
I didn't know what had caused this sudden change of heart, but it seemed Yi-chae—who usually avoided things or brushed them off with a joke—had truly made up his mind.
“Don't you think Kang Yi-chae has changed a bit?”
Suddenly, my earlier conversation with Kim Seong-hyeon flashed through my mind.
“You really have changed.”
At my murmur, Yi-chae’s eyes widened, and then he burst into laughter.
“Pfft, no. Not really. I’ve always been like this.”
“……”
“Hyung, you have a tendency to stop looking at anything else once you’re fixated on one thing.”
Yi-chae began counting on his fingers as he talked about the members.
“Look, Da-jun is actually more mature than you think. Ji-won hyung is surprisingly… no, he’s actually quite cold-headed. Seong-hyeon hyung can be strict because he has very clear boundaries.”
“And?”
“I’m saying I have a ‘surprisingly’ part to me too. Get it?”
I couldn't answer immediately and took a moment to choose my words. In the meantime, Yi-chae lit another sparkler.
“……Then, Yi-chae.”
“Yeah?”
“If you haven't changed, why are you walking on eggshells?”
I was good at arguing and talking back, but I didn't know how to beat around the bush or be gentle, so I threw it straight at him.
“Why aren't you pushing forward in your own style? Not caring what others think is one of your strengths. Did you decide to compromise?”
“……Me?”
Yi-chae looked startled for a moment, then added, sounding bewildered, “What are you talking about? Why would I compromise?”
“Isn't that it? You even changed your composing style, which you used to love so much.”
I had assumed Yi-chae had set aside his own greed to cater to the public.
Once I said that much, Yi-chae seemed to understand the situation and started laughing like a madman.
“Ah, what the hell, hyung.”
“……”
“Since when were you so sensitive?”
Well, what else was I supposed to think when a stubborn guy like him abandoned something he’d always stuck to?
Instead of answering, I rested my chin on my hand and let out a deep sigh. The guy snickering next to me seemed to be in a great mood.
“You see the tree but miss the forest. I’m not giving up.”
With that, Yi-chae stood up.
“I think people sometimes get the wrong idea because of my genius.”
The sparkler he was holding crackled, throwing light into the air.
The sharp scent of gunpowder brushed against my nose, mixed with the thick summer air. The faint sound of grass insects reached my ears. Dim orange lights and a black sky.
And within all that, Yi-chae looking down at me.
“—I actually have plenty of grit.”
He flashed a bright smile at me.
He looked like an innocent child, yet also like a hardened adult who had weathered all sorts of storms.
Just as I was thinking how exceptionally strange Yi-chae felt today, he stepped closer.
“Whoa!”
Splash!
He pushed me right into the pool.
The cool water slapped against my skin.
I kicked off the bottom of the pool and surfaced, coughing out the water that had gotten into my nose and mouth. I looked up.
“Hey!! Kang Yi-chae!”
Even though I was shouting in anger, Yi-chae was doubled over laughing.
I brushed back the wet hair covering my face and spat out my annoyance.
“You dared to push me? Are you crazy?”
“You just figured that out?”
He shot back with a smirk, then tossed his burnt-out sparkler over his shoulder and jumped into the pool himself.
“What are you doing, you brat?”
“A little bit of venting?”
“You want to die?”
“No, I want to take a picture with you, hyung.”
I didn't know what he was venting about, but I was pissed too. I grabbed Yi-chae by the scruff of the neck and dunked him as he was giggling and moving to grab the Polaroid camera.
Even while swallowing water, the guy’s face was full of leisure.
“What? What are you guys doing?”
Just then, Kim Seong-hyeon poked his head through the sliding doors, holding a black plastic bag. It seemed he’d finally been dragged to the nearby convenience store by the maknae.
Jeong Da-jun, who appeared behind him with an ice cream in his mouth, saw Yi-chae and me soaked in the pool. His mischievous streak flared up, and he shoved Kim Seong-hyeon into the water.
Seong Ji-won, who arrived a moment later, was no exception.
In the end, everyone looked like drowned rats. Forget a hundred photos; we couldn't even take one.
‘Lee Ji-hyeon is going to have a fit.’
I decided I’d have to take at least a few shots when the sun came up and climbed out of the water alone.
“Ho-yun hyung!! Are you leaving already?! Are you scared?!”
“Yeah, terrified. Fuck.”
Ignoring the maknae’s taunts, I headed inside the pension.
“It’s hard to keep up with these kids' stamina.”
Muttering that I’d probably end up in the afterlife if I played with them any longer, I found a towel and shook out my hair. I could still hear the splashing and shouting from outside.
Feeling gross, I was about to pull off my T-shirt to take a shower when my phone vibrated.
“Hello?”
[Why did it take you so long to answer?]
“Well, you see…”
I didn't feel the need to explain, nor were we on such terms, so I trailed off and waited for him to speak. Kim Jae-yeon sounded slightly puzzled.
[Uh… what? Did something good happen? You sound like you’re in a good mood.]
“Just get to the point.”
When I drew a sharp line telling him to shut up and say what he had to say, Kim Jae-yeon cleared his throat awkwardly and spoke.
[Ahem, cough… I found it. Yun Hee-eon’s weakness.]
I let out a hollow laugh as I listened to the explanation.
Yun Hee-eon, you stupid idiot, I thought, feeling pathetic for him. But who could have known?
That I would soon be in a pathetic state myself.
.
.
.
“—I really ch-cherish you.”
I even stuttered slightly to convey my feelings, but the response I got was:
[…Did you lose a bet?]
Only a voice full of disbelief followed a long silence.
Ding!
[The target does not acknowledge the expression.]
[This does not count toward the total.]
‘Shit!!’
I couldn't take it anymore and threw my phone onto the bed.
That’s right. I had been so confident, having no idea I’d be suffering like this in the near future.
‘Should I just give up?’
I thought doing aegyo was nothing now, but I never expected an even bigger obstacle to remain.
A whirlwind of thoughts raced through my head. I had several moments of intense reality checks, wondering if I really had to go this far, but I had to endure.
Barely calming myself, I picked up the phone again and looked up at the system window.
[Quest Arrived:
‘Express affection to a designated close person.’
Express affection to a close person nearby and gain their trust to build a deeper relationship.
Affection Expression Count: 0/5
On Success: Obtain ‘Pandora’s Box’ item.
On Failure: Rumors regarding Seong Ji-won will be released to the press.
※ The close person is one of the people around you.]
Dammit. To find the "close person," I had to pester everyone I knew.
If there was any silver lining, it was that if the person wasn't the "close person," a system window would immediately pop up saying [The target is not the player’s designated ‘close person’], so I didn't have to waste too much time.
However…
“It can’t be this guy….”
I let all the strength drain from my body and flopped onto the bed.
To explain how I ended up in this mess, I need to go back a few days.