Chapter - 65화 (65/150)
With uninvited guests showing up, the atmosphere—which was already a mess—hit rock bottom even faster when Dohyeon started picking pointless fights and raising his voice.
"If this is how it was going to be, why did you idiots go meet up outside, eat together, do that buddy-buddy bullshit, and all that? Did you seriously get rejected by Han Jisu? Because thanks to you, they're running their mouths about me and the other seniors being 'bullied' and shit. Look at the staff outside—don't you feel bad watching them suffer trying to block those cyber-wrecker bastards?"
He was talking about the day before the opening ceremony, when the five of them had gathered privately to eat. Dansol had also seen a few people mention it while searching for posts about Taeohh.
People were wondering why only Lee Yiyeon, Ha Minseong, and Yoo Dohyeon weren't there, and they kept bringing it up.
Just because they were on the same show didn't mean everyone was close, but people believed they all lived in some fantasy world where everyone laughed and got along.
"Sunbae, that's going too far."
Even so, compared to what Taeohh was being dragged for right now, Yoo Dohyeon's "bullying controversy" was a wild leap.
"Stay out of it. I'm going too far? Do you think those people outside think so? No. Because of one loach, I'm the one suffering again today. Those bastards get all the appearance fees, and I'm the one stuck with the mess. That's what they're thinking."
Dohyeon fired back like bullets, refusing to lose to Dansol. And yes—Dansol could see the staff, busy trying to control entry. Filming day one was always hectic, but today, everyone looked completely exhausted from early morning.
Do they really think that?
The stone Dohyeon threw cracked not just Taeohh's heart, but Dansol's too.
Dohyeon's last line kept drilling into Dansol's head.
And there was another thought making Dansol's head even noisier.
They said the spoiler post about Jisu being eliminated had come from one of the staff. What if those people digging for inside info find out Jisu is an alpha too?
If that got exposed, what Taeohh was going through now would be nothing—something bigger than a tsunami could start. Just imagining it made Dansol's heart feel like it was shrinking. He stood there like he'd been nailed in place.
Click.
Right then, Yiyeon came in through the front door, and Dansol finally snapped out of his pointless spiraling. The moment Yiyeon entered, Dohyeon beamed like nothing had happened.
"Sunbae! You're here?"
As if welcoming a spouse home from work, Dohyeon went to the door to grab Yiyeon's suitcase, but Yiyeon smiled gently and refused. Maybe it was embarrassing to be rejected in front of Dansol—Dohyeon disappeared upstairs right away.
Nothing has happened yet. Don't get scared in advance.
With Dohyeon spewing nonsense from morning, Dansol's thoughts had gotten heavy again.
When the unhappy thoughts surged too hard to bear, he dug his nails hard into his palm.
It was something he did whenever he got trapped in his own imagination and his breathing started to roughen. Once the sting made blood rush back into his hand, he could finally come back to himself.
"Dansol-ssi, it's been a while."
"…Hello."
"Hyung! I'm here too—why aren't you greeting me…?"
"Oh, Taeohh-ssi, it's been a while too. You're so wrinkled I didn't recognize you."
Only after stepping inside did Yiyeon finally seem able to breathe. She saw Dansol and forced a smile, like she was trying not to show it. It looked like things outside were even worse than before, and Yiyeon was making an effort not to let it show.
"Traffic was terrible on the way in today. Jeong Daesu-ssi, did you maybe punch a reporter or a YouTuber too?"
"…What? I don't hit people."
Minhyuk and Daesu—who came in after her—made jokes that didn't fit the heavy mood in the living room. But with Jisu, the one who always led the room's energy, gone, the space still felt strangely hollow.
"For some reason, the living room feels empty."
Maybe Taeohh felt it too. At his self-mocking words, Dansol finally moved and sat down on the sofa. With Taeohh slumped like this, Jisu's absence felt even bigger.
Dansol knew it wasn't Taeohh's fault, yet he still felt this emptiness—so the people who didn't know the background, or the viewers, would probably feel that hole even more.
At least Minhyuk and Yiyeon weren't the type to pry aggressively. Dansol was already worried about this week's footage.
"Yoo Dohyeon's in his room, Ha Minseong's outside. That's why it looks empty."
Daesu answered dryly, like he was telling them not to sink into pointless sentimentality. He spoke while looking away, like he was deliberately avoiding Dansol's eyes. They hadn't talked even once since that night, and a strange awkwardness hung between them.
"Why is Ha Minseong still outside?"
Yiyeon asked. At first, Minseong had stolen all attention from Dansol and Taeohh the moment he appeared, but as his real personality came out, he'd long since stopped mattering to them. They'd known he wasn't a good person, but seeing it up close, he was so bad it was beyond what even long-time fan feelings could "shield."
"He's over there…"
Minhyuk pointed out the window. Minseong, dressed up like he was attending a red-carpet awards show, was surrounded by people at the gate.
"What…? Why is he doing an interview with those people…?"
Yiyeon stepped up next to Minhyuk and asked, genuinely confused, but of course, no one could explain this absurd scene.
"Ah… I really regret this happened, and since I'm the new one here, as a senior I need to lead the cast so we can revitalize the program. Honestly… Jisu-ssi is a difficult person, you know? Huh? What specifically? Well… just overall, he's difficult. Like he's got a bit of celebrity disease… I've known it for a long time. Haha, as everyone knows… because we were like that… But… we're colleagues, and at one time, I did have feelings—"
He was puffing himself up like he was giving a politician's speech, but the interview was basically empty—he kept repeating the same thing over and over.
You were supposed to never talk to trash YouTubers like that in the first place. Minseong was feeding them a buffet.
Maybe because he'd lived abroad for so long, Minseong seemed to think the ex-reporter YouTuber was still a legit press journalist. He talked on and on without realizing he was shredding his own image.
If Minseong had even hinted to his company or manager that he planned to do an interview, this wouldn't have happened. They would've fought like hell to stop him.
From the moment Minseong had shown up dressed to the nines, his manager had felt uneasy. He'd said he was going to the lodging, then vanished, so the manager ran around searching—only to hear he was doing an interview and nearly collapse, sprinting toward Minseong like a racehorse.
And in truth, things were worse than feared.
With popular member Han Jisu eliminated, and even top idol Ma Taeohh getting dragged, a few agency CEOs started panicking because it no longer felt like "someone else's problem."
Meanwhile, Zeus's agency CEO—maybe because of their solid fandom, or because the group had grown through every humiliation since debut—watched the situation calmly. Idols go through nonsense like this all the time, or so he said. It was the poise of a businessman who'd raised multiple top idols.
Of course, everyone's goals were different, but for some cast members, this show was meant to let them step down from their heavy "industry top star" image and approach the public more casually.
These days, even "real variety" usually had some scripting, and the public knew that too, so a little flirting wasn't a big deal.
But once it turned into real emotional conflict, it became a personality issue, and then becoming hate-comment fodder was only a matter of time—so whispers were spreading that people were considering this as a good timing to drop out.
In a situation this shaky, instead of keeping his mouth shut, Minseong was making it louder. His manager felt like he was going to explode.
Minhyuk watched for a while like he was amused, but when Minseong brought up his "old story" about dating Jisu for the third time, Minhyuk lost interest and went inside to play with Dantangi.
"Is he an entertainer or a politician? Every time Minseong-hyung opens his mouth, it's negative—so why does he love interviews so much? Does he seriously not know that?"
Taeohh watched for a long time and muttered.
"Maybe he keeps talking because he doesn't know."
At Daesu's line, everyone in the living room snickered. Minseong hated his past idol image, but maybe he was still being overrated and barely maintaining his spot only because he'd had that flashy past to begin with.
His idol career, added together, was only about three years—yet he'd been living off it for over a decade. Dansol was honestly jealous.
"Given the situation, we're doing everything indoors today. Those bastards outside pitched tents and won't leave… so all the work we put into building the outdoor set for two days got wasted. We'll keep it simple—cook a meal, make dessert, talk a bit, and in the evening, when a teacher comes, you can just chat comfortably."
"A… teacher?"
"What are we learning?"
"We're not really learning… just… you know, about what might happen going forward… this and that… listening."
PD Choi's vague, evasive tone was suspicious, but with things like this, no one pressed further.
Because an unexpected gale had blown everything away, the outdoor set they'd rebuilt over two days was now impossible to control with YouTubers camping nearby with cameras and tents.
They couldn't even go out to the yard, so PD Choi changed the entire schedule to be done indoors.
"First, we'll split into groups of three or four and start by preparing the meal."
They could've filmed this two days ago if they'd known. Staff looked flustered by the sudden change. Taeohh lowered his head, guilt crushing him like everything was his fault.
"Taeohh-ssi… are you okay?"
Sol, are you okay?
Whenever Dansol sometimes sat in a corner blaming himself like Taeohh was now, Jisu would appear and stroke his head, comforting him.
Dansol knew it was Jisu's way of shielding him from the cameras.
He knew he couldn't hide big Taeohh with his own body like Jisu did, but he did what he'd learned—standing in front of Taeohh to block the camera and offering clumsy comfort.
Just believing the camera wasn't filming him helped Taeohh pull back a little from the panic that had suddenly hit.
Then a large shadow blocked Dansol's front.
"How should we divide teams?"
"…I—I…"
It was Daesu. Already holding an apron, Daesu stood in front of Dansol.
With him there, in a kitchen with no blind spots, Dansol could finally breathe easier, tucked into a tiny patch of cover.
"Let's do rock-paper-scissors. Dansol-ssi and Dohyeon-ssi can play."
"…Okay."
"Rock-paper-scissors!"
Dohyeon won three rounds in a row and took Yiyeon, Minseong, and Taeohh. Taeohh looked at Dansol desperately, like he was begging him not to send him to Dohyeon, but it was useless.
"This is better. Quiet."
Daesu said in a voice low enough that only Dansol could hear. Dansol gave a small smile.
"Dansol-ssi, is there anything you want to eat? You said you like Korean food, right?"
Minhyuk rummaged through the grocery bags the staff had brought. With Minhyuk and Daesu, Dansol could feel them trying to treat him like normal.
"Uh… yeah! I'll cook something good—"
"No. You should stay still today."
"No, but I—!"
"Tsk."
Because they appreciated it, Dansol tried to step up and cook himself, but Minhyuk and Daesu flat-out stopped him. They even made him sit back down when he reflexively rose at the sight of ingredients.
Whether it was genuine consideration or just self-preservation, he didn't know—but they were desperately committed to not letting him take charge of the cooking.
"I… just feel like cooking today. Really. I want to."
"Okay. We'll handle it today."
They were two people who'd already tasted Dansol's cooking before.
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