Chapter - 49화 (49/150)
"Hey, Choi Woo Hyun. Are you insane? Why would you say something like that?"
"Woo Hyun-hyung... that's not okay! Sol-hyung worked hard for us...."
Even though he knew it was embarrassing, Dansol couldn't stop crying, wiping at his eyes over and over with his sleeve. The other members stepped in after Woo Hyun's vicious slip of the tongue, but Woo Hyun wouldn't stop.
"Was it for us? It's for himself. Ah... do we have to be grateful while we're standing there as props? Because we, the guys who used to bounce from one local event to another, got this chance thanks to you?"
"Hey! Choi Woo Hyun! You—"
"Don't pretend you're innocent. Don't pretend you don't know.... This opportunity you brought in isn't welcome to us either."
"...Let's stop. I'll practice by myself so I don't cause problems tomorrow. I don't think today's a day we can practice together."
Unable to take Woo Hyun's sneers, Dansol ran out of the practice room like he was escaping. It was the members who had forced him into Chunmongdo when he didn't want to go. And now that Dansol's popularity had grown because of that, he couldn't understand their two-faced attitude—getting offended and jealous only now.
What was even sadder was that after he ran out like that, he had nowhere to go.
Dansol was sitting down in the alley beside the practice room, crying, when the phone in his hand buzzed. It was Jisu calling. He wasn't in a state to answer, but the earlier call he'd hung up on so coldly weighed on him, so Dansol wiped his tears away and hit the call button.
"Hello...?"
—Sola! I'm near your company...!
"...Huh?"
For some reason, Jisu's voice sounded like it was right nearby.
"Hyung... where did you say you are?"
—I'm in front of your company! Huh? Dansol, are you outside?
Step, step.
Jisu walked toward the sound of Dansol's voice and poked his head out between the buildings.
"Found you!"
When his tall shadow fell over him, the narrow alley darkened. Afraid his crying would be noticed, Dansol buried his face into his cap and lowered his head.
"Sola, what are you doing here? Sneaking a cigarette?"
"Ah! No!"
At Jisu's words, Dansol flared up and lifted his head, exposing his just-crying face.
"You... you cried?"
"Ah... no. But hyung, why are you here?"
"You said earlier you were practicing without eating... so I brought you food. Were you crying because you were hungry?"
"Th-that's not it...."
The heavy, deep-sea sadness Dansol had been walking through surged up the moment he saw Jisu. Like a child who finally bursts into tears once someone soothes them, Dansol continued in a voice that trembled like a goat's bleat.
"I... practiced... dancing...."
"You did?"
"Hic... they said 'fluttering' and 'scattering' are different..."
"Huh?"
"...I can't tell even when I look... and I still haven't learned all the choreography, but they keep telling me to hurry...."
Jisu listened with the focus of someone taking an English listening exam, but he couldn't make sense of words like "learning choreography" and "details." Dansol kept going for a long time—about Yoonseong, about Woo Hyun—his goat-like trembling voice refusing to settle.
Only after Jisu finally brought him to his car and gave the still-sobbing Dansol water did he properly hear what had happened.
"So... you're slower than the others at learning dance, but you ended up pushing out the main dancer and somehow got put in center, so it's awkward for you. That's it?"
"Hic... yes...."
"Hm... then we can't help it."
Seeing how serious Jisu's face was, Dansol felt embarrassed, like he'd been too childish. It also felt like he'd tattled to a third party about something that happened between members.
"You'll have to prove it with skill."
"Huh?"
"For now, just trust hyung and follow me."
Jisu grinned and started the car. Dansol, who hadn't even buckled his seatbelt, hurriedly put it on and grabbed the seat.
He'd run out without thinking, but he hadn't expected things to turn out like this. Every time they stopped at a light, Jisu busily called someone and typed out messages. Then they arrived in front of a building in Gangnam.
"Hyung... where is this...."
"My company."
"What⁈"
"We remodeled the practice rooms not long ago. They're really flashy and nice."
Dansol stopped Jisu as he tried to pull him into the building by the arm.
"No... if we use another company's practice room and someone says something, what do we do...."
His vision swam as he remembered the time he'd clashed with a girl group over the single practice room they had. Even within the same company, people fought a silent war to reserve practice rooms—there was no way another company's person barging in would be seen kindly.
"It's fine. This practice room—no, this whole building—hyung earned and bought it. Who's going to say anything? Let's go."
"Hyung... I'm really okay."
"I said it's really okay. We don't even have idols at our company anyway. The practice rooms are basically just for show, so we have plenty. If you keep refusing, I'm going to get mad."
Jisu practically dragged the stubborn Dansol into the elevator.
"The teachers already came and are waiting."
"Te... teachers?"
"Yeah. I booked them. I did good, right?"
After taking the elevator down, the inside of Jisu's company was on a completely different level from Dansol's. Past the modern hallway, there were multiple practice rooms. Like Jisu said, there were several rooms, but there weren't many people.
And even the few people they passed bowed ninety degrees to Jisu.
"Wow...."
"Nice, right? Come on."
Jisu gave only a rough acknowledgement to their greetings and held Dansol by the shoulder, heading to the practice room at the very end of the hall. The room was covered in mirrors on three sides, with a huge screen and a projector. Even the wooden floor looked like expensive material—optimized for dancing.
"Uh...⁈"
"Dansol! You're here?"
Inside the practice room, following Jisu's lead, were Taeohh, Minhyeok, and Daesu.
It made sense for Taeohh, since he'd be on the stage too, but seeing Minhyeok and Daesu was so unexpected that Dansol hesitated.
"What? Why are Jeong Daesu and Jegal Minhyeok here?"
Even Jisu seemed not to have expected it, turning prickly.
"You know why I'm here, right, Dansol? I told Minhyeok-hyung to come. They say you solve practice questions better when you understand the test writer's intent."
"The test writer...?"
"Ah... you didn't know, Dansol? Minhyeok-hyung is producing the music for the opening ceremony."
"I... didn't know... really...!"
Only then did Dansol think he understood Woo Hyun's sharp reaction. He must have misunderstood after seeing Dansol with Minhyeok since Chunmonggak.
"Then why is Jeong Daesu here? Jegal Minhyeok, did you call him?"
"I came on my own. Your manager called me crying. From what I heard, it sounded like Han Jisu was stirring something up again, so he asked me to stop you. But I'm glad I came."
Daesu smiled as he met Dansol's eyes.
"Damn... perfect. I had a lot of lunchboxes left anyway. Eat this and go home."
Jisu pointed at the lunchboxes he'd carried up from the car. He'd originally brought them for the Dino Soul members, but he hadn't even been able to take them out of the car and had carried them straight here.
Dansol's lips trembled like he might cry again. Who was he to gather these busy people here? All he felt was sorry—and grateful.
"I'm really... sorry. And thank you. But I'm really okay. You seniors are busy...."
"Sola, hyung isn't busy at all."
"I'm even less busy. If I don't have filming, I work out at the gym for five hours. Because I'm bored."
"No, I'm even less busy! If it weren't for you, I'd spend the whole day on Netflix trying to pick something, fail, then stare at the ceiling for an hour at a time."
While Jisu and Daesu bragged about who was the bigger unemployed bum, Minhyeok came over, looking at Dansol with worried eyes, and spoke gently.
"You really don't have to feel sorry to me."
"Hyung... I'm the most sorry to you. If I'd known you were producing the music... ha...."
"I heard it's because people got hurt over the center position."
"Yes...."
Dansol was so embarrassed he wanted to crawl into a hole and hide. Singing or acting was one thing, but on a stage where he had to mainly dance, he was afraid people would see him as selfish for wanting center. He shrank back, worried and scared.
"I'm sorry. I'm the one who asked them to put Dansol in center."
"...Huh⁈"
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