By Zephyria 「Yes! So, we, Perfect Puzzle, get to choose the competition team first!」
The Perfect members, gathered in the practice room like us, were listening to Song Woo-shin’s words.
「Each member, please give your opinion. Which team would be advantageous for us to choose?」
The leader was speaking, but my eyes were busy checking on Sung Se-han in the video. Sung Se-han, standing side by side with Roy on the far left, was meeting the camera’s gaze.
As if he knew I was watching him.
Unfortunately, I was in no state to be thrilled by Sung Se-han’s gaze.
Surely, they won’t choose our team, right? If he thinks of me even a little bit, there’s no way he’d choose us.
These thoughts were just my wishes, and I couldn’t guess what Sung Se-han was thinking at all, so I was so nervous that my palms were sweating.
「Woo-shin Hyung, Se-han Hyung won first place with his song, so how about letting Se-han choose?」
「That’s a good idea. Se-han, you choose.」
At Mu-yeol’s words, Song Woo-shin and the members looked at Sung Se-han.
「I’ll naturally.」
Sung Se-han stared at the camera without the slightest hesitation.
「Choose Sky Blue.」
That’s right. There was no twist. There was no deep consideration from Sung Se-han either. That guy was just always living as he pleased.
「Ah, I knew it. I knew Se-han Hyung would choose Sky Blue.」
「I thought so too.」
I couldn’t watch the video anymore and looked up at the ceiling of the practice room.
What, what’s going on? Sung Se-han, say something. Which of Perfect’s representative songs can our team even sing, huh? You bastard.
“Huh? Uh!”
Jeong-min, who was next to me, jumped up and shouted, startling me. And when I turned my head without thinking, my body froze in surprise.
A new filming crew was rushing in through the wide-open practice room door. The people who were entering in turn, receiving the cameras of the filming crew, were surprisingly the members of Perfect Puzzle.
For a moment, my head went blank, and I couldn’t react at all, just gaping like an idiot.
“Hello. We are Perfect Puzzle!”
The Perfect Puzzle Sunbae gave a big greeting, and only then did the members, who had come to their senses, bow their heads.
“Hello! We are Sky Blue!”
“Hello…!”
“Were you surprised by our sudden visit?”
Only after confirming that Song Woo-shin, who had entered first, was shaking hands with Gun-woo Hyung, did I turn my gaze.
My eyes met Sung Se-han’s, who was walking in last after Roy.
Ha… really, I didn’t expect this. The moment I saw Sung Se-han’s eyes, my heart pounded so hard that I couldn’t look at him properly.
I didn’t feel like this when I watched the video a little while ago. I had definitely decided that I would give him a mouthful of curses if I met him.
But when Sung Se-han actually appeared in front of me, I couldn’t even make eye contact and ended up avoiding him.
Thump. Thump. Thump. My heart was racing wildly, unable to handle the real-life Sung Se-han, whom I was meeting after three days.
“Wow… Tae-kyung Hyung, what’s going on all of a sudden?”
I barely looked around when I heard Jeong-min whispering behind me.
Seeing the Perfect members, all dressed in matching black training suits, in our practice room, it felt unreal.
The youngest member, Si-hyun, who was the smallest in the group, was the same height as me, 181 cm. With those giants standing in a row, our members looked relatively weak.
Everyone was so handsome and tall that it felt like the practice room had suddenly become much smaller.
“Being so close makes us look so inferior….”
Even Jeong-min, who was usually confident, looked dejected, which made me feel a little upset.
“What, Tae-kyung seems to be the most surprised?”
I snapped my head up at Song Woo-shin’s remark. I need to remember that we’re filming. This isn’t the time to just be flustered.
“Ah, yes…! I was very surprised. I didn’t expect the Perfect Sunbae to come to our practice room….”
“Haha. Actually, we arrived an hour ago and were watching everything on video. Tae-kyung was praising Se-han a lot, right?”
What…? In the time it took to blink once, I quickly replayed what remarks I had made a little while ago.
“Se-han really liked it.”
I couldn’t bear to see Song Woo-shin smiling mischievously and ended up covering my face with one hand.
“Ah, that’s….”
Cold sweat was running down my forehead, but I quickly regained my composure.
It was the moment when my twisted heart, which wouldn’t let everyone enjoy my embarrassment, raised its head.
“That was my sincere feeling.”
It was already water under the bridge, and since I couldn’t take it back, it was better to just brazenly push forward.
“I even respect Se-han musically. I’m not just saying this for Se-han’s sake, I’m sincerely a fan. Sung Se-han, you’re the best!”
After speaking sincerely, I gave a thumbs up and smiled with innocent eyes.
Clap, clap, clap! The younger members clapped in a way that didn’t match the comment, causing the side effect of my lips twitching.
“Wow… I can really feel the sincerity in Tae-kyung’s words, right?”
I nodded my head greatly at Song Woo-shin’s words filled with laughter.
Well, it was actually a sincere feeling that I had kept in my heart.
“But, Tae-kyung Hyung!”
I was startled when the youngest member, Si-hyun, raised his hand and called me.
“Yes, yes?”
“Just now, Tae-kyung Hyung said ‘musically,’ right? Then does that mean it’s not about anything other than music? Please explain exactly!”
Huh? Is he seeing this angle? I could only blink stupidly.
“Se-han… other than musically….”
I looked around at our members as if asking for help, but they were all looking away.
“He’s a good friend, but….”
While all the Perfect members were holding back their laughter and looking at me, I ended up making eye contact with Sung Se-han, whom I had been avoiding until now.
Seeing those eyes, which were filled with expectations, really shameless, something welled up inside me.
Ha…! It was just a pity that I couldn’t say that other than musically, that guy is really out of control, a crazy bastard who lives as he pleases!
“Sometimes, when I see him doing things without hesitation that I can’t even imagine, I often admire him, thinking, ‘He really has a lot of unique qualities!’ He has a lot of talent, so he has a really unique and outstanding side, Se-han.”
Seeing the Perfect members’ expressions sour at my remarks, I somehow felt relieved. Yeah. I can’t be the only one suffering from Sung Se-han’s crazy behavior.
“Oh… I see! Se-han, Tae-kyung is continuing to praise you like this, you can’t just stay still. You say something too.”
I swallowed hard without realizing it at Song Woo-shin’s urging.
“It’s a bit unexpected.”
Sung Se-han, with his right hand on his left chest, gave a picturesque eye smile.
“Tae-kyung doesn’t usually express his feelings very much… I didn’t know he thought so highly of me. I’m a bit touched today.”
Ah, that hypocritical bastard. He can smile sweetly like the most affectionate man in the world when the camera is on, even though his eyes are usually crazy. Isn’t he a born con artist?
I was also hopeless because my heart was pounding at that con artist’s eye smile. No matter how hard I tried not to be conscious of it, I really couldn’t handle that gaze that was constantly directed at me.
My heart felt like it was shrinking, afraid that someone would notice his subtle gaze that was scanning me from head to toe.
“As expected, Se-han and Tae-kyung are really good friends. Ah, I’m jealous.”
“I have friends too, I want to call them right now. Hahaha!”
Song Woo-shin and Gun-woo Hyung matched each other and continued the progress, but I couldn’t focus on anything because of Sung Se-han.
What am I supposed to do if he just keeps looking at me so openly? Is he trying to make my heart explode and die? I wish he would say something.
“But, Se-han Hyung.”
Suddenly, Jeong-min stepped forward and pointed at Sung Se-han. Everyone’s attention was focused, but Jeong-min continued with a dissatisfied face.
“Tae-kyung Hyung praised Se-han Hyung’s song so much, but why isn’t Se-han Hyung saying anything?”
There were many surprising things today, but Jeong-min’s sudden remarks were the most embarrassing for me.
“Tae-kyung Hyung also sang really amazingly well, but why isn’t Se-han Hyung….”
“Haha. Jeong-min…!”
I was so embarrassed that I hurriedly grabbed Jeong-min’s arm and stopped him from speaking. Jeong-min even turned around with sharp eyes, making my face burn and making me want to run away.
In fact, it was what I had wanted to say all along. I had been constantly, constantly curious.
I thought about Sung Se-han throughout the cover song recording, and I was anxiously curious about how Sung Se-han would listen to my song.
I wanted to see Sung Se-han’s surprised expression, so I carefully chose a song that would allow me to show off my singing ability to the fullest, which I hadn’t been able to fully show in my debut album.
Sung Se-han being moved by my song. That was more important to me than things like rankings.
But for the past three days. Even if it wasn’t like that on the first day, even during the several phone calls a day, even while exchanging messages, I couldn’t hear any impressions of the song from Sung Se-han.