Chapter 285: Chapter 285

“Agh, Seo Hoyun is seriously fucking annoying.”

I took a sip of beer and glanced at Joo Woosung. He was busily typing on his phone. Probably messaging his members.

He said he was trying harder, and now it seemed he was actually getting along with them.

“I told you. I’m the biggest troublemaker.”

Catching my meaning instantly, Joo Woosung spoke while his fingers kept moving.

“If I’d just made up my mind, it would’ve been this easy. Don’t know why it was so hard before.”

Then he set the phone on the table and looked out the window.

“We need to go shoot some self-content too. Our schedule’s been empty for a while—gotta give the fans something.”

“Hey, hide that face. You’re basically saying, ‘Wow, how did Joo Woosung think such a commendable thing?’ all over your expression.”

I just grinned, and he grumbled that I was cocky for a junior.

“But you guys don’t have any schedule? I thought you’d be coming back soon.”

Joo Woosung picked up a piece of squid and chewed it.

“Chae Jungwoo’s got vocal cord nodules.”

“Vocal cord nodules?”

I thought I knew most of WH Entertainment’s gossip, but this was news to me.

Joo Woosung continued calmly, as if describing the weather.

“Guess he pushed too hard during the tour. Kept insisting he was fine... but he was diagnosed at the start of the year.”

“The company and the members agonized over it, but what else can you do? We had to delay the comeback until Chae Jungwoo recovers.”

He didn’t even look that regretful.

“You could still make a short comeback, no?”

“Better to not do it at all than half-ass it.”

“What about without Chae Jungwoo?”

“He’s too popular. Can’t leave him out.”

If they released even a single, they’d basically be guaranteed the grand prize this year too.

The fact they’d decided on such a firm break meant his condition was pretty serious.

As I quietly swallowed my beer, Joo Woosung glanced at me and added,

“You know what this means? Since Black Call started winning the grand prize, this will be the first year we don’t get it.”

He wasn’t looking for sympathy or comfort.

Half-lidding my eyes, I threw out a light remark.

“I’ll enjoy the grand prize, then.”

“You’ve got to be fucking kidding me. Just because we don’t win, it automatically goes to you guys?”

Shaking his head, he drained his beer in one go.

“Company might nag later, but I don’t care. I’m going to wait.”

“‘Black Call’s Joo Woosung.’ Has a nice ring to it, doesn’t it?”

Just a while ago he’d been awkward with his members, but I guess he’d developed—or rediscovered—a sense of attachment to the group.

“Well, that was wise.”

An idol’s prime is short.

In the span of a lifetime, it’s just the time when the flower bud barely starts to sprout, yet people already say the flower has fallen.

That’s why agencies force idols to keep going. But the results of that overwork always backfired.

The moment even one member broke down, the group became nearly impossible to recover.

“Health is the most important thing for idols. If even one member falls ill, an idol career can end in a flash... Imagine if something worse had happened to Chae Jungwoo.”

But oddly, the more I spoke, the more uncomfortable I felt.

Like I was saying something I had no right to say.

“...It must have been a hard decision, but they all cared for each other.......”

Joo Woosung didn’t cut me off. He just slurped his beer with an irritating smile while staring at me.

“...It’s a choice you had to make to keep performing together long-term... Hey, why are you staring at me like that?”

Joo Woosung openly snickered.

“Funny and cute, you little shit.”

Even when I scowled, he only scoffed.

“Hey. You know what’s the worst flaw out of the endless list you’ve got?”

“You’re a smart bastard, but the moment you get tangled up in other people’s business, you completely lose your head.”

Then he pointed at the beer bottle in my hand and crooked his finger. I handed it over, and he shoved me out the door.

“Hyung’s tired, going to rest. Go on. Call me if it gets rough.”

Before I could reply, the door slammed shut.

This bastard or that bastard....

‘Why the hell would I call you if things get hard, you punk...’

I picked up the pile of t-shirts from the gift shop that had been tossed out with me and turned away.

To clear all my quests safely, I needed my members’ help. No matter how well I did alone, I couldn’t break into the 1st tier or complete the scenario quests.

And I knew I had to show them some level of trust.

Still, a part of me kept looking for ways to brush things off and slip by.

‘Nothing in life is ever easy.’

But if trust was truly necessary...

Maybe there was a small way to show it.

Glancing around, I whispered to call up the system window.

[If you’re asking for my opinion, I’ll always support you, Seo Hoyun. But this time, if you could just consider your members’ feelings a little more...]

I waved away the text that immediately cascaded down in blue light.

“Show me Jung Dajun’s stats.”

I had meant to check them before but never did. Now I was going to look properly.

As the numbers filled the screen, I froze.

Our Dawn’s cute maknae who still practices diligently.

I blinked, rubbed my eyes, and read it again slowly.

The practice room echoed with ragged breaths.

Catching his breath, Jung Dajun carefully checked his dance line in the mirror.

It was still painful to dance while injured, but strangely, the choreography was sticking to his body better the more he practiced. Even Kim Sunghyun had praised him sometimes.

‘Just a little more.’

Lately, even he thought he was getting overly anxious. He didn’t know why, but the fear kept creeping up endlessly.

When his unease made him misstep, he collapsed onto the floor.

At that moment, the door burst open and Kim Sunghyun walked in.

“Maknae, what are you doing.”

“Ah~, Sunghyun-hyung~. Thinking about life.”

Kim Sunghyun sat down next to him, holding out a box of donuts.

“Hoyun bought these. Said they’re for you.”

“He figured you’d just avoid him anyway if he tried to give them himself.”

Dajun shot upright, looking indignant.

“I never avoided him! It’s not like that... I just......”

He just wanted Hoyun to understand his feelings.

He knew if they faced each other, he’d forgive him right away, so he avoided him without realizing.

“...Maybe I did avoid him.”

“Yeah, I thought so.”

Sighing at the ceiling, Dajun picked up his phone and played the Connected stage clip from the Rix Cup.

The comments below came in multiple languages, most of them praising The Dawn.

“Yeah. I still feel like I’m lacking....”

There were negative comments too, but they didn’t really bother him anymore.

Maybe it was because people like Seo Hoyun or Kang Ichae laughed off hate comments easily. Or maybe because he had been with his members for three years now—long enough to learn to shrug them off.

Even when a staff member sneered behind their backs that they were just hollow shells tailored to public taste, he could ignore it.

Because it wasn’t true.

The Dawn had never once given less than their best.

Instead of wasting time on those words, he chose to practice more and try harder to catch up with his hyungs.

“So why are you so anxious?”

“...I don’t really know. Maybe because I want to do really well. ......And also...”

Dajun shut his mouth.

He knew Hoyun hadn’t been wrong.

It just stung because it came from Hoyun’s mouth.

‘But hyung, you’re the same!’

Hoyun acted like it didn’t matter if his heart stopped or his ankle snapped.

But when Dajun tripped once, Hoyun rushed over, checked him, and yelled at him in anger. Thıs content belongs to 𝙣𝙤𝙫𝙚𝙡·𝕗𝕚𝕣𝕖·𝔫𝔢𝔱

Thinking back, Hoyun had always been like that.

He remembered Hoyun sprinting toward him, panicked, during the relay race in “Victory Is Mine.” Hoyun had kept a wall between himself and the others, yet in that moment, he carried the maknae on his back as if it were only natural.

That’s why Dajun found him frustrating.

He’d throw himself in recklessly for his members, but brush off his own issues.

“I really don’t know what Hoyun-hyung is thinking.”

Kim Sunghyun ruffled his hair.

“Who among us knows what goes on in his head?”

“Not even Buddha would know.”

When Hoyun had been injured during preparations for the gymnastics concert, the members had opposed him going on stage. But he hadn’t listened. In the end, Sunghyun, Jiwon, and Ichae just sighed and adapted quickly.

Only Dajun puffed his cheeks in protest. Then Ichae poked him, chuckling.

“He’s the type you won’t understand until he shows you.”

“So let him show you.”

Ichae had already found his own way to support Hoyun.

But Dajun still didn’t know how to be helpful.

“Hyung, that’s the problem. Since I don’t know......”

He felt pathetic worrying without acting. Was he really that immature?

His head was a mess already, but hearing Hoyun call him young outright had made him snap. He’d stormed out of the practice room and run five laps, but still couldn’t calm down.

“...I can’t do anything for him.”

Sunghyun quietly listened, then opened the box and handed him a donut.

With a gloomy face, Dajun took a bite. The round donut became a half-circle.

“Hoyun said he bought only your favorite flavor.”

His nose stung suddenly, and he wanted to run to Hoyun and apologize for acting childish. But his body stayed glued to the practice room floor.

“Are you going to keep the same choreography?”

“I don’t know. It’s dangerous like he said.”

A soft smile tugged at Sunghyun’s lips.

“Being anxious will fade once you figure out the reason. Don’t rush it. Like I said, Hoyun probably scolded you because he had his own reasons.”

“So he’s not that bad of a guy... Well, okay, sometimes he’s hopeless and makes you think he’s insane, but he’s not completely unreasonable.”

“Watch him carefully on stage tomorrow.”

Dajun kept chewing with downturned eyebrows, holding a donut in both hands.

Sunghyun burst out laughing at the sight of their maknae being so maknae-like.

“He’s always best when he’s a little annoying.”