"At this rate, didn’t I basically rip the inside of my nose?"
I stared for a moment at the drops of blood plopping off my hand onto the toe of my shoe. What kind of nosebleed happens this often.
I was seriously debating whether to get electrocauterization when a wad of tissue suddenly appeared in front of my eyes.
I lifted my head a little and saw Park Juu’s face, as pale as the tissue itself.
"Here, tissue..."
"Uh—thanks."
I pinched my nose as hard as I could. Jeong Seongbin asked me:
"Are you okay?"
"Yeah, I’m fine. It’s nothing."
Then Choi Jeho said while yanking out tissues in rough bunches:
"This is nothing? The floor’s bright red."
"The floor?"
I lowered my gaze to look down.
It’s something you can just wipe up, so why make such a fuss...
"Wait, why is the floor like this?"
The practice room floor was slick with blood.
Maybe I’d hesitated and stepped in the drops, because there were even shoe prints in a few places.
"Why do you think. Take your shoes off and go sit over there!"
Then Lee Cheonghyeon started wiping the soles of my shoes with wet wipes. Taking a few sheets from him, Kang Giyeon joined in mopping the practice room floor.
"Hey, it’s fine. I’ll—"
"What do you mean you’ll. You’re going to wipe the floor? When you’re bleeding like that?"
Squatting as he scrubbed a shoe, Kang Giyeon shot me a look.
Lee Cheonghyeon chimed in:
"I knew a day like this would come. A person doesn’t sleep and spends every day on practice and work—how’s your body supposed to hold up?"
"Cheonghyeon, is it just me, or do you sound pleased with yourself?"
"That’s right."
While I traded one line at a time with Lee Cheonghyeon, Park Juu gently tugged my arm. He sat me on the sofa and pressed fresh tissue into my hand.
"You should head in early and rest today."
Jeong Seongbin said it.
But that won’t do.
I have to fill the practice hours to color in the Job Competency Enhancement Program!
It’s only two more hours to hold out. I can’t leave it like this.
For the greater good I decided to endure the embarrassment and said, solemnly:
"No, I’ll plug it with tissue and do it."
"Huh?"
From a distance, Lee Cheonghyeon answered like he couldn’t believe it.
When I lifted my head, all five of them were staring at me.
"This sort of thing stops quickly. If I just pack the nose a bit and—"
"No. However you look at it, dancing in this state isn’t it."
"I agree with Seongbin. It’s not like you’re just moving around..."
Left and right of me, Jeong Seongbin and Park Juu each put in a word.
Unbelievable. I’m not asking to do a lot! Just let me go for two hours!
This was getting awkward. I scratched my head hard and offered a more moderate proposal to negotiate.
"Then how about just the blocking?"
"You really think a few more hours of practice today will change something huge? That’s enough—just go back to the dorm."
Choi Jeho said it as he dumped the wet tissues in the trash.
What do you mean “change something huge,” you punk. How long am I supposed to share a stage with a member whose dance proficiency is single-digit?
‘So basically, you don’t care.’
Insufferable. It’s bad enough being bad at it—don’t get in the way of my practice on top of that.
With no choice, I sent a rescue look to Kang Giyeon.
If anyone has a stronger obsession with practice than anyone and clashes with Choi Jeho far and away more than the rest of Spark, that guy would surely take my side...
"Giyeon, what are you doing?"
I asked as I watched Kang Giyeon pick up my bag without meeting my eyes once.
He opened my bag and, sliding in my water bottle and planner, answered:
"Packing."
"That’s my stuff."
"That’s why I’m packing it."
When he finished, he neatly snapped the clasp shut and handed the bag to me.
"Let’s go to the dorm."
"What?"
"If you’re worried practice won’t run right without you, then we’ll just end practice here today, too. Seongbin, is it okay if we head out early just for today?"
His expression was cold.
No one stopped him. If anything, Park Juu and Lee Cheonghyeon hurried to grab their own things in case Jeong Seongbin said no.
"What are you doing?"
"What do you think. Packing to clock out!"
Then Lee Cheonghyeon slung his backpack over his shoulders and looped my bag across his front, standing up.
I was utterly floored. They act like they’ll die if they can’t practice, so why the sudden flip.
If someone can’t do it, you should at least help him function as a proper person somehow. Is now really the time for you to be showing goodwill?
The finishing blow to me, sitting there in a daze, was delivered by Choi Jeho.
He shuffled along after the younger ones who were bolting for the door, then stopped beside the practice room switch, hand on it, and said:
"What are you doing. Aren’t you coming?"
Fuck, just leave me alone!
The room went dim with the light off.
A warm glow seeping in from the living room, and my roommate’s kind words telling me to rest well.
It’s all bullshit. Fuck.
I pulled the blanket over my head and sank into endless misery. My 20 hours were about to get blown straight to hell.
It’s been a while since I felt anger this fierce.
It had quieted down for a while, and now this damned nose is acting up again.
‘Did my fatigue level go up again?’
With a “no way” feeling, I opened the System, and under the dark blanket the System lit up bright.
.
.
Cumulative Fatigue: 45% (Labor Support Service in effect)
Last time I checked it was in the 30s, and before I knew it the fatigue had shot up.
‘Come to think of it, even at just 60% my limbs were trembling.’
Then I could understand why I was like this.
Still. Back when I worked at Hanpyeong Industries, even if I got a nosebleed I had to cram a cotton pad up there and keep working, that’s what.
I was muttering an old-man monologue no one wanted to hear when I heard someone come into the room.
Right after, with the click of a switch, the living room light went off.
"Good night!"
"Yeah."
I heard Lee Cheonghyeon and Choi Jeho trading their nighttime greetings.
I’d thought I could hear them out in the living room talking about physical-condition management and lack of sleep time.
Looks like, since they finished practice early for once, they agreed among themselves to go to bed early for a refresh.
Refresh is great. Better than popping a nosebleed and collapsing.
There were a few sounds of blankets rustling above my head and across the way, then it quieted. Outside the living room went still fast.
You can sleep after leaving a clutz like me like this?
I was so heated I couldn’t close my eyes.
What’s the point of these kids guarding an idol with such tight security if...
...Hold on.
That means they’re all asleep now.
Then as long as I don’t get caught by them, I can go out, right?
The time left before I finished today’s practice quota was just two hours.
To throw away all the practice time I’d built up over this because of this would be a huge waste.
If I’d done something else in that time, maybe; but I did nothing but practice, and not getting the results would be galling, wouldn’t it.
That experience of working myself to death on overtime and not getting paid because the company had an inclusive-wage system was enough.
Under the blanket I clenched my fist. And decided.
"Run for it!"
I couldn’t set an alarm because someone might wake up, but I could just not sleep and hold out.
Do you know what it took for me to rack up these practice hours. I’m not going to watch them get overturned by someone else’s will like this.
I prayed the guys would greet a silent night, a holy night, and stayed wide-eyed with all my nerves tuned to my ears.
The Spark kids fell asleep faster than I expected.
About thirty minutes of waiting and the living room had no signs of life.
This is all thanks to how hard I’ve been driving them. Good job, past me.
"Whew..."
Thankfully, I didn’t get another nosebleed while practicing. Yeah, if it has any sense it should keep quiet.
If it came to it, I almost practiced breathing through my mouth. Thank god I didn’t.
I’m this desperate and the Spark brats won’t even cooperate.
Remembering myself from two hours ago sneaking out so hard I had to carry even my socks, I teared up.
If they’d just let me practice from the start, I wouldn’t be doing this insane thing of voluntarily returning to the company in the middle of the night.
Muttering every complaint under my breath, I turned off the music. At the same time, the blank in Dance (2) on the System filled in.
▷ Kim Iwol
Dance (1) ■■■■■□□
Dance (2) ■■■■■□□
Vocal ■■■■■□□
If I hold out just two more days, even I’ll become a slightly more evolved clutz...
"Hey!"
I nearly jumped out of my skin.
I clutched the heart that almost leapt out and turned toward the door that made the loud noise.
Standing there, flinging the door open, covered in sweat—was Jeong Seongbin.
Jeong Seongbin’s mind had been complicated lately.
Nothing was difficult when it came ❀ Nоvеlігht ❀ (Don’t copy, read here) to work.
People at the company tried to treat the youngest of them well, and on days when problems were about to arise despite that, the group’s oldest, Kim Iwol, would step up and sort out the traffic.
The group’s mood was good, too.
There was even a time when Jeong Seongbin wondered what would happen if they debuted exactly as they were.
Not that they were on bad terms—some of them might have been—but not good either, and every time he saw members creaking around each other in awkward friction.
Even while knowing that relationships between boys couldn’t improve in a snap, he still wished they would.
Maybe thanks to those earnest prayers.
After the eldest, Kim Iwol, came in, the group crossed the brink of what looked like risky rifts and gradually took on a better shape.
So had this team now entered a stable phase?
Jeong Seongbin couldn’t answer that easily.
It was because of the one who kept being mentioned till now—Kim Iwol.
