By Zephyria Thanks to Sung Se-han, who had taken a comfortable bath in the tub and then driven him to work, he was able to arrive at the company on time. He joined the practice room without any problems, but he still couldn’t avoid Doo-hyun Hyung’s worries.
“Tae-kyung, I don’t really want to nag you, okay?”
“Yes. I’m sorry, Doo-hyun Hyung….”
He lowered his head because he was ashamed, and Doo-hyun Hyung patted his shoulder.
“No, it’s not like I’m telling you off because you’re so good at taking care of yourself, Tae-kyung. I just hope you don’t stay out overnight even if you meet Sung Se-han. You understand my feelings, right?”
He felt a little guilty, and his shoulders shrank. Thanks to Gun-woo Hyung telling him that he had gone to Sung Se-han’s studio, it seemed like they thought he was working on some song together.
He would rather be scolded. He was really dying because of the company people who were giving him looks of admiration.
“Tae-kyung, wait a minute.”
12 PM. Gun-woo Hyung called out to him as he was heading to the cafeteria with his younger teammates.
“Let’s talk for a bit.”
“Yes, Hyung.”
He sent his younger teammates up first and then closed the practice room door.
“Tae-kyung, do you know how sorry I was to my friend because you went like that in the early morning?”
He stood in front of Gun-woo Hyung, who was sitting on a chair against the wall, and bowed his head.
“I’m sorry, Gun-woo Hyung. I also had unavoidable circumstances….”
“I’ll give you her number, so apologize to Leeb directly, okay?”
He took a step back without realizing it.
“Gun-woo Hyung, I won’t be contacting Liv Sunbae personally.”
If Liv Sunbae had just expressed her liking for his song, he would have been polite enough. But since Sunbae had already confessed to him, he didn’t want to be connected any further.
“Tae-kyung, you shouldn’t do that to someone who likes you. First, sit down for a bit.”
Gun-woo Hyung reached out and forced him to sit on the chair.
“Ouch.”
He couldn’t help but groan because of the pain in his buttocks. Gun-woo Hyung, who had been looking at his ankles with concern, looked at him with a questioning look.
“Did you bump into something?”
“No, it’s nothing. I’m okay.”
His face flushed as if it had caught fire, and he covered his face with one hand.
It wasn’t just his buttocks, but in fact, various parts of his body were creaking and he was struggling. He seemed to have muscle pain because he had overworked his thighs too much from accepting Sung Se-han and spreading his legs and holding on.
It was fortunate that the morning practice had been short because of the meeting.
“Tae-kyung, just a minute.”
Status Window. The 2 points of inferiority that wouldn’t decrease at all. Penalty. Sung Se-han’s dream.
It was too difficult to think about everything at once, so I was putting it off. Everything was a handful to deal with.
“Right now, I just want to focus on the survival show. Please help me, Gun-woo Hyung.”
There was a time when I wished I could just go on the survival show. I wanted to get more attention, gather a lot of fans, and make our group, my name, known.
I wanted many people to know how well I could sing.
But what meaning would any of that have if Sung Se-han wasn’t there?
Sung Se-han. Sung Se-han was everything I wished for and desired.
Every time I realize this anew, can you even imagine how anxious I get, Se-han?
You probably can’t even imagine how afraid I am of losing you again.
Four days after the release of the cover song video, the first competition of ‘Star Light.’ Our team’s practice room recording took place.
“Wow…! The winner of the cover song competition has been decided.”
Gun-woo Hyung, holding a cue card, started an awkward line while the filming crew and writer Noona watched.
“Which team took first place? What do the members think?”
The younger members were rolling their eyes and holding back laughter at the announcement of the winner, which had no tension at all.
“Tae-kyung, which team do you think came in first?”
At Gun-woo Hyung’s question, I stepped forward. I had prepared an answer according to the writer Noona’s request to show off my friendship with Sung Se-han in this part.
“Actually, I think everyone already knows which team is in first place, right? Perfect Puzzle received such an overwhelming score. Right?”
I looked around at the younger members, and they all nodded. Jeong-min gave a thumbs up. I also gave Jeong-min a thumbs up and continued my answer.
“I personally found Perfect Puzzle’s cover song very impressive. The song selection suited the vocals so well, and not just because he’s my friend, but I really thought, who else but Se-han could create that kind of atmosphere….”
For the past three days, the video I played whenever I had a chance was not my cover video, but Sung Se-han’s ‘heaven.’
I replayed it so many times that I thought half of the video views, which exceeded 8 million, were probably mine.
Of course, I wasn’t just focused on Sung Se-han’s voice, which made people anxious.
Once to stare at the brown eyes that changed every moment, and once again to stare mesmerized at the alluring curve of his lips. And once more to stare blankly at his broad, sharply angled shoulders….
“He’s just like heaven itself from head to toe. Even if I didn’t know Se-han, if I saw the video and listened to the song, I would have become a fan right away….”
Wait, hold on…! What did I just say?
I glanced up and saw the assistant director and the director of photography staring at me with wide eyes. The writer Noona, who had her mouth covered, was twirling her finger, signaling me to continue.
“Th-that’s how well Se-han sang….”
Gun-woo Hyung looked at me with a dumbfounded expression and then hung his head.
Ha. Damn it…! There’s a limit to how much you can over-immerse yourself. I was so lost in thought about Sung Se-han during the recording that I did something crazy. I can’t believe it, but it was the reality I had created.
“Director, Noona. I’ll do it again.”
It would be better to be seen as a clueless guy who dares to cut off the recording.
I can’t let this kind of interview air on TV. Absolutely not.
“Why? Tae-kyung, it’s good. I like it. Why?”
Looking at the writer Noona’s slightly crazy eyes, I felt a chill down my spine. Ah, everything’s ruined.
“Noona, please… I think I overdid it a bit because I was trying to portray Se-han too positively, can I do it again….”
I approached Noona with a desperate heart, but the director stopped me with his palm.
“We’re short on time. Leader, turn the cue card.”
Jeong-min grabbed me, who had been stopped.
“Tae-kyung Hyung, you did well, why are you like this? I had the same thoughts as you while watching Se-han Hyung’s video.”
I grabbed Jeong-min’s arm as if I had met a savior and looked back and forth between the director and Noona.
“Director! I would also appreciate it if you could air what our Jeong-min just said. Please…!”
“Uh!”
Everyone’s attention was focused on Gun-woo Hyung because he suddenly shouted.
“Uh, uh….”
Gun-woo Hyung, flustered, looked at me with eyes that seemed to be asking for help. I naturally went next to Gun-woo Hyung and looked at the cue card.
“Gun-woo Hyung, do you have some kind of mission? Why are you so surprised….”
I quickly scanned down the cue card and let out a groan. No, what is this….
“Gun-woo, you have to read it to the members too.”
As soon as the writer Noona’s instructions were given, Gun-woo Hyung quickly read the card.
“Following the cover song, the second competition will continue with each team’s representative song competition. Each team will have several representative songs to be proud of. The method is to choose one of those songs and create a stage.”
The fact that the second competition was a representative song competition was something we had already been told, so we all knew it.
And because I had watched this survival show before, I naturally knew all the competitions that would take place. But….
“However! This competition will be conducted in a way that the teams that took 1st and 2nd place in the cover song mission choose the opposing team and create a stage with that team’s representative song.”
There was definitely no competition conducted in this way in my memory. So, it’s a completely newly introduced competition.
“S-the opposing team’s representative song…?”
“Gun-woo Hyung! Read it one more time. Quickly….”
The younger members showed a flustered appearance, and I held my head.
There was no time to wonder about the suddenly changed competition method. This is not a normal problem. All the stages we have prepared so far have become useless.
Ah, this is a headache…! Gun-woo Hyung made a frightened expression when he saw my blank expression.
“Wow…! This is what a survival show is like. Gun-woo Hyung, it looks like it will be really fun, right?”
I belatedly smiled and nudged him with my shoulder, and Gun-woo Hyung quickly regained his composure.
“I was really surprised… but it does seem like it will be fun. Haha!”
“Members, gather around.”
The members gathered in front of the laptop set up on the table, and filming resumed.
The video of Perfect Puzzle, the 1st place team in the cover song, was playing on the laptop.