At that suspicious glance, I deliberately acted exaggerated.
"I'm in top condition. I could go ten hours straight without a break."
"Okay, I'll pass that along to Jiwoo hyung."
"Kidding."
I had to surrender right away at the comeback, but—
Kang Ichae, now reassured that I still had the energy to joke, narrowed his eyes and grinned playfully.
"Seriously, Hoyun hyung… You always make people worry. Hopeless~"
"Ahaha~."
You crazy bastard.
I cursed him inwardly, but it did seem like the health-obsessed rapper was finally loosening up a little. I was just about to pull the maknae away so we could talk alone when—
Jeong Dajun suddenly clung to Kang Ichae and asked,
"Pretty zombie hyung hyung, did the filming already start?"
"Yup. We've already filmed episodes one and two."
Filming?
I couldn't recall anything that would explain it, so I kept my mouth shut and tried to figure out what was going on. As we headed toward the practice room, Kang Ichae spoke again.
"I heard the vibe with the trainees over there… isn't great. How's it going these days?"
"About the same. And maybe because there are so many survival shows now, but the participants all seem pretty average in skill."
"Our company's trainees??"
"…They're… probably working hard?"
"So you don't care!!"
Ah, come to think of it—wasn't Kang Ichae supposed to appear as a mentor on a survival program?
"But our trainees seem like good kids. I almost feel like I should tell them that escaping this place as fast as possible is the best thing they can do for their lives."
As Ichae muttered this with an oddly serious expression, I tilted my head at the strange vibe. That's when my memory slowly returned.
Rising Rookies—a new idol survival program led by tvK.
The only notable thing about it was that it was less popular than Shining Star.
Kang Ichae had thrown a fit about being asked to mentor as a second-year idol, but since he was a hot topic lately, a composer/lyricist, and a survival show alum himself, the company had apparently persuaded him by saying he'd be helpful to trainees.
It seemed they split the mentors into two groups—current idols who excel in creative work and mid-career idols known for their professional experience—and while they were technically "mentors," they were really just appearing as assistants.
> [Huh? Kang Ichae?? lmao this is a reach ㅠㅠ]
[So what, half the people with more experience suck anyway lol. Ichae will do better. His feature on Gang Yeonhu's variety show was amazing...]
[Even if they split mentors by experience, isn't he the youngest?? He's gonna have it rough.]
I'd even seen online comments questioning if he was a good fit, given how strong the other mentor lineup was.
Why did I forget all that?
Scratching the back of my head, I looked over at Kang Ichae.
I figured his reputation would sort itself out once the show aired.
Even if he said he didn't care, he wasn't someone who slacked off on the job.
"Don't worry about the juniors—worry about yourself."
"Obviously. I'm already swamped with year-end stages and comeback prep."
It almost seemed like he was finally taking an interest in The Dawn's success. I was getting a little emotional, but Ichae stretched and whined,
"Ugh~. So much to do. I'd borrow even Dajun's feet if I could."
"My feet? If you borrow them, will it be okay, hyung? Should I lend them??"
For the next album, we were trying to strengthen The Dawn's style while also appealing to the masses. The plan was to make a comeback by mid-next year, if possible.
And to that end, it'd be great if we all gained some recognition through variety shows.
For now, I was the one doing most of the appearances, but it was about time the other members started building their solo presence too.
Kang Ichae had the survival program covered, so if Jeong Dajun could make a splash on Take Care of Me, that would be perfect.
"Watch out for the cameras."
"Aww~ Are you worried about me?"
Why does he talk like that?
Even as I nagged, Kang Ichae just laughed and winked.
"Don't forget to come cheer me on when I do my mentor performance~."
With a small laugh, I stepped into the practice room with the others. Inside, Seong Jiwon and Kim Seonghyeon were already dripping with sweat mid-practice.
When our eyes met, Seong Jiwon immediately stood up.
"Oh! Hoyun, what are you doing here?"
"Hey."
"I told you to rest! You were so sick yesterday."
"I'm fine. Keep practicing."
I tossed my sports bag into the corner and started stretching.
Honestly, my condition had been swinging like crazy these days.
At night I felt like dying, but by morning, I'd wake up feeling somewhat okay.
"Hyung, you're just like that meme. 'I lost my appetite, I collapse sometimes, I feel nauseous—but it's fine. I can handle it.' That one!"
"Shut up."
Jeong Dajun stretched his face toward me, teasing relentlessly.
Seong Jiwon, who had been watching him, let out a deep sigh and returned to position.
As my roommate, he probably understood my condition best—and clearly wasn't happy about my stubbornness.
"Seven, eight!"
"Ddan! Koong, dararara…."
About 30 minutes into practice, even just standing started to feel overwhelming.
The choreography was insanely difficult, and my head was pounding endlessly.
I pressed my temples with my fingers, and the next moment, my vision spun—
"Uwaah!"
—and I collided with Jeong Dajun, who was moving into formation.
With a high-pitched scream, our feet tangled, and we both went down.
"Ugh!"
"Whoa! Hyung, I'm so sorry!!"
Dajun had crashed nose-first into my chest and was now clutching the bridge of his nose while quickly pushing himself upright.
Without a word, I lightly tapped his shoulder, gesturing for him to get up, and just lay there panting.
"…Since I'm already down, f**k it, let's rest. This floor's kind of nice."
"Please just rest normally. No one's stopping you."
Ignoring him, I sprawled out on the floor and stared at the ceiling. The members gathered around, fanning me gently.
"The choreo's pretty tough, huh?"
"Feels like the formation changes every five seconds."
"Can't we make it just a little easier?"
Sure, idol choreography keeps getting harder every year, but couldn't we just dance something anyone could follow?
Kim Seonghyeon said he'd "consider it," which basically meant: denied.
As the members joined in for a bit of a break, Kang Ichae, half-heartedly pretending to fan me, suddenly spoke up.
"But hey, I learned something shocking while mentoring. Turns out, Hoyun hyung isn't actually clumsy."
"…Huh?"
"Hey, Seong Jiwon. Did you just say 'huh'?"
I glared at him, and he had the audacity to smile innocently.
Lately, I'd noticed he defaulted to smiling whenever he didn't know what to say.
"I seriously thought you were hopeless at dancing, hyung. But now that I think about it, if you were on this program, you'd be in the top-tier dance class."
"Wanna die?"
"If you were paired with Jiwon hyung, you'd already have run off crying."
"Ahaha, it's not that bad…"
As Seong Jiwon chuckled out loud at his own joke, the other members immediately deadpanned.
"Hyung, it's exactly that bad."
"Seong Jiwon, it's that bad."
"You wanna practice more or something?"
"—Jiwon hyung is the most handsome man on earth and has the voice of an angel!!"
"Wow~."
Jeong Dajun dramatically flopped to the floor in submission, and Seong Jiwon returned it with a saintly smile.
From the conversation, it sounded like Kang Ichae had been shocked after seeing how little effort the survival program trainees put in—barely half the amount of practice The Dawn did on a regular day.
Honestly, it wasn't just The Dawn. The people helping on the show were Joo Wooseong and Chae Jungwoo. Even the rivals on the survival were members of Hi5.
Of course those just starting out looked completely unpolished compared to all that.
Especially when you considered Kang Ichae's stats had been unusually high even from the start—too high to call him a "rookie."
"So, how are the kids?"
"...Obviously."
Kang Ichae's brow twitched before smoothing out again.
"I'm caring for them with love."
And then he smiled like a sunflower.
"Lies!! I heard you already made a few trainees cry!!"
"Cry, what cry. Something got in their eyes. That place is really dusty."
"You definitely made them cry…"
I'd bet my bank account they cried.
I mean, these kids barely had any life experience—how were they supposed to survive someone like sly old Kang Ichae?
Even I found him scary when he got serious.
That aside… I kinda wanna check Ichae's stats.
Still lying down, I tapped the floor with my index finger. The system screen popped up right on cue.
For the first time in a long while.
---
[Kang Ichae
The very definition of a genius!]
Vocals: S-
Dance: A+
Variety: A0
Acting: B-
Charm: S-
"...!"
Up until recently, that bastard would at least respond when called—but for the past few days, there'd been total silence. Now, finally, he had appeared again.
Startled, I scrolled through Kang Ichae's stats and was once again shocked by how much they'd risen, even without any direct intervention.
"I'm gonna step out for a bit."
"Okie~."
The conversation among the members had already shifted to dinner and who had dish duty, so I casually let them know and walked out of the practice room.
Kang Ichae had practically lived in the studio lately, and it looked like all that effort had quietly stacked up and converted into stat growth.
"Hey, mine too—give it a boost."
The moment I said it, my own stat window appeared.
---
[Seo Hoyun
Official Nuisance]
Vocals: A+
Dance: B+
Variety: A+
Acting: A-
Charm: A0
???: ???
---
'…Huh, my stats are higher than I expected?'
Looking at the screen filled with neatly balanced A-ranks, I felt more confused than proud.
Both my variety and acting had gone up by a notch.
'I thought they'd be lower.'
Sure, I didn't have any S-ranks, let alone anything absurd like Joo Wooseong's EX-rank, but this felt honor-student-tier enough.
"Why the hell did my acting stat go up?"
Stage expressions?
I hadn't done any acting since 'Camera, Please', so if it was going to rise, shouldn't it have happened back then?
An answer popped up from the system screen.
Ding!
[It's gone up thanks to all the BS you've pulled on the regular!!]
"…."
It was hard to argue with that. I found myself nodding along in reluctant agreement.
All that relentless scheming for The Dawn's sake must've unintentionally KO'd a few people along the way.
I crossed my arms and gave myself a pat on the shoulder.
"I've worked hard."
[Wow. How can you be this shameless?]
Realizing that overthinking it wouldn't help, I started considering which stat to boost next—but just then, the screen in front of me began to glitch and emit static.
---
[Seo■◎yun??
Offic■ ■∂▽]
Voca▽: A+
Dan■: B◎◎+
Variety: A▽
Act▽◎ng: A-
Cha◎rm: ■0
???: ?∂?%
---
[ERROR!]
[ERROR!]
[ERROR!]
The letters distorted and blurred, then the whole screen let out a high-pitched alert and blinked out with a sharp "pop."
I stared blankly at where it had been.
"…What the hell?"
Frowning, I tried to recall the stat screen I'd just seen.
'...do?'
The final hidden stat—one of the characters had briefly flashed on screen before it vanished.
But just as I was puzzling over it, a new system window popped up and brought my brain to a screeching halt.
---
[Seo Hoyun!!]
☞ "Little Nuisance Bunny"
☞ I say Ho~~↗Woo↘
☞ You say Hoowoo↗ Hoowoo↗ Hoowoo↗!!
Nuisance: EX+
Shamelessness: S+
Wickedness: A-
Con Artist: S-
---
"...."
Judging by the slapdash formatting, this was obviously a joke—and I felt my eyelashes tremble in rage.
[Eekyung~ Your very first EX-rank stat! Worth celebrating~☆]
"Sometimes, I really wish you existed in real life… just so I could punch you."
The system screen nagged me like a mirror addiction warning me to stop obsessing over my stats, saying it was narcissistic. I waved it away with a hand and brushed my bangs back.
[The system's been a bit unstable lately, but it'll be fine soon! Good luck with the variety show and take a nice rest! >_<]
It dumped all that and disappeared in a puff. Honestly, even if I'd tried to stall, it probably would've run away anyway.
I mulled over the situation.
The sudden error message.
The unreadable stat.
Unstable system.
"…Hmph."
Why the heck did it tell me to "wrap up the variety show well"?
As I tried to interpret the meaning behind that message, I tilted my head side to side, the corners of my lips curling up.
Honestly, appearing on a variety show with Min Jiheon was exhausting—but it wasn't hard.
I mean, come on.
"That bastard, worrying over useless crap."
Variety is what I do best, isn't it?
---
[Today's the first airing of Please Take Care of Me!!]
The "Noeuls" (fan club) were buzzing with excitement but also felt a bit uneasy.
That was because Seo Hoyun had seemed a little under the weather lately.
> [Seo Hoyun's looked really sick lately ㅜㅜ Is he okay?]
[Baby looks so drained these days..]
Of course, the more popular you get, the more snarky comments come crawling in.
> [He always looks bothered anyway, who could even tell he was sick lol If you don't wanna do it, just say so—no need to force yourself to act like you're close with Min Jiheon lol]
[Stans acting like one sour face means "our baby's sick ㅠㅠ" < give me a break]
The Noeuls, well-practiced by now, blocked the hate, screencapped the comments, and filed reports.
> [You, who keeps leaving hate comments, might be a little sick yourself ㅠㅠ..]
[Uh… are you okay?]
[How do they all sound the same? No originality whatsoever.
Hey now… While you're like this, our Hoyun-chan is out there living his best goddamn life~!]
> [LMAO y'all go touch grass...]
In the midst of it all, everyone settled in front of their TVs like clockwork.
And their worries? Gone in an instant.
As soon as the first episode of Please Take Care of Me aired, all the concerns about Seo Hoyun's condition evaporated into thin air.
> [LOLLLL;;;????]
[Yo is Seo Hoyun actually insane?? LMAOOOOOO]
On-screen, Seo Hoyun was cool as ever—completely stealing the show.