There is an old rumor that has long floated around the broadcasting industry: if you see a ghost while preparing for a comeback, that album is guaranteed to be a massive hit.
The gaze you feel from the corner of an empty practice room, a missing item that vanishes without a trace in the dorm, or a ghost appearing inside a recording booth—
Such things had already been recycled by the media so many times that no one took them seriously anymore.
Whenever Jung Seonui heard these kinds of superstitions, she would always scoff. She considered them nothing more than a tool to capture public attention.
But today, at WH Entertainment, it would not have been strange if something really had shown up. Through windows so spotless not a speck of dust clung to them, the cloudy sky was visible, and an odd, gloomy chill hung heavy throughout the entire building.
Feeling something uncanny, Lee Jihyun tilted her head.
“Team leader, why is it so cold here?”
“Who knows... maybe the AC is too strong?”
Jung Seonui rubbed her arms with her palms for no real reason as she and Jihyun walked toward the meeting room.
“At least we can go right into recording without problems. Thanks to that, the next album won’t be delayed.”
“Right...”
“Seriously, there’s no group like The Dawn!”
Even while often being bossed around by Seo Hoyun, Jihyun still took meticulous care of The Dawn.
Shaking her head, Jung Seonui kept walking.
“Well, let’s do our best again tod—”
And just as they reached the meeting room and opened the door—
Whoooosh.
A cold draft brushed against their cheeks.
“Feels colder in here than outside...?”
Jihyun, shivering as she muttered, trailed off.
Inside, The Dawn was already seated.
As usual, Seo Hoyun was flipping through thick stacks of documents, Kang Ichae was twirling a pen with a bright grin, and the others wore their calm expressions. Yet the chilly air unmistakably seeped out from right in the middle of them.
“Oh, should I turn off the AC if it’s cold?”
Before Jihyun could stop him, Kim Sunghyun jumped up and grabbed the remote. Beside him, Jung Dajun mumbled,
“Even if we turn it off, it’s still cold...”
Cautiously stepping inside, Jung Seonui and Jihyun glanced at The Dawn and quietly sighed.
“...Well, shall we... start with the teaser?”
After a brief silence, Jihyun spoke first.
Though the chill lingered, the meeting itself proceeded smoothly. Jung Seonui only rubbed her arms again, guessing to herself—
So something really did happen.
***
Fucked.
The silhouette reflected under the dim light etched coldly into my eyes. I forced my trembling feet, ready to bolt toward the emergency exit, to stay still.
“How have you been?”
Kang Ichae remembers me.
Joo Woosung, even Min Jiheon didn’t know—
But him?
A rush of tangled assumptions stabbed through my brain like falling meteors, screaming warnings.
“Looked like you were having fun.”
If I showed panic now, there would be no salvaging it. I had to stay calm.
Feeling my heart /N_o_v_e_l_i_g_h_t/ pounding violently, I calmly looked back at Kang Ichae. Standing cocky with his arms crossed, he was waiting for my answer.
‘This bastard’s gone crazy.’
His eyes, sharp and certain, pierced straight into me.
Judging from the way he mentioned Kim Wooho, he must also have been inside Nugu Actor Tycoon...
Could I make an excuse? He was here to confirm and finish me off, no doubt.
Should I just tell him everything?
“Kang Ichae...”
In the blink of an eye, countless words surged through my head, only to collapse and vanish.
Because of this situation, a dangerous hope bubbled up inside me—maybe he’d believe me.
‘Maybe he could even help me... until I go back.’
‘Shit.’
The thought that one day I would have to return hit me like a bucket of ice water.
“...What do you mean, how I’ve been?”
“...”
“You didn’t see me? I almost died out there.”
Yeah. Best to just act like I didn’t know.
Even if he figured out my circumstances, there was nothing good in it for him. Same for me.
I didn’t need help anyway. As long as he kept doing his part as a member of The Dawn, that was enough.
He raps well, he composes well, he listens well enough...
“You okay?”
I took a step closer, trying to shift the mood.
“How’s your condition? I heard you were really sick too.”
Ichae only stared back at me, silent and narrow-eyed.
I sighed. Staying in this dark, stifling room talking like this was pointless. Better to get out and breathe the damp, sticky summer air.
From two years of experience, I knew—this kid couldn’t be left in a cramped, dark place.
“Let’s go. The others are waiting—”
I turned toward the emergency exit, grabbed the knob, and pushed it open when—
Thud.
A larger shadow blocked my view, and a hand pressed gently against the door from behind, closing it again.
He tilted his head slightly, eyes lowered, glancing at me sideways.
“...Knew it.”
Then a cracked voice brushed against my ear.
“Knew you’d try to run.”
The look in his eyes right now could kill me.
I swallowed the words rising in my throat and shut my mouth tight. Those glinting eyes looked far too dangerous. Best to keep quiet.
Just then, the loud ringing of a phone cut through the air.
“...Do you know when I first woke up?”
Without even checking the caller, Ichae hung up and rubbed his neck.
“When that pathetic drama with Min Jiheon blew up.”
A chill ran down my spine.
At the same time, I remembered the system error after Jiheon used his ability.
If that had dragged Ichae into this world...?
“After waking up in the long-abandoned house in America, how confused I was, how clumsy, how shitty every day felt... I won’t even bother explaining.”
He spoke relentlessly, as if rehearsed a thousand times.
“And there... you were an actor.”
His brow furrowed slightly as he went on.
“I looked up everything. The dramas you appeared in, the entertainment news shows... even tiny articles in the papers, even live clips. The familiar signatures told me—you’d fallen in there too. So I tried to meet you but...”
The one who had come all the way to WH Entertainment to see me.
The billboard that went up, demanding I repay my debt.
“But meeting a celebrity... was harder than I thought.”
He let out a hollow laugh.
I searched for a chance to cut in, lips twitching, when his gaze collided with mine again.
He was demanding an answer.
“Kang Ichae.”
This was the moment to sever it.
“I honestly have no idea what you’re talking about. You dreamt it?”
There was a reason people hauled into hearings always stuck to “I don’t know.”
There wasn’t a single piece of proof tying Seo Hoyun in his words to me. If the person involved denied it too, there was no pushing further.
‘Don’t lose your composure.’
The tension in the air felt taut, like a wire about to snap.
Instinct told me—if I gave this kid even a sliver of weakness, he would tear me apart and swallow me whole.
“Wash your face or someth—”
“Hyung. Hoyun-hyung.”
Ichae rubbed his brow, sounding tired.
“I was lost. Dumped into a strange place, not knowing if I’d ever go back, if anyone would remember me. I wondered if everything I believed real was just a dream, or if I had truly gone insane. Drowned in those thoughts... I couldn’t even sleep properly for months.”
“...”
“And now you want to end it by saying I was just some lunatic who couldn’t tell dream from reality?”
His hand shadowed his face, hiding his expression.
“Do you think I’m a joke?”
I swore I never thought that.
But I had nothing I could say to him.
The heavy silence weighed down on my shoulders.
I searched desperately for anything to break the mood, but his sharp gaze stabbed right through me.
‘This bastard...’
Silence was the only answer.
Ichae observed me intently, every detail of my face.
“There’s no such thing as things suddenly appearing in this world. Coincidence can’t repeat. Strange things don’t happen over and over. If the hospital says I’m fine, why do I collapse all the time? How did a drama like Shining Star even get made? Are the other dramas connected too...?”
His guesses inched closer to the truth.
“...All these bizarre events—if someone just admitted it, everything would make sense.”
I had to push him away firmly before it got out of hand.
Sweeping my bangs back, I answered in a flat voice.
“You must have been really sick.”
The corner of his lips twitched.
Just as he seemed about to explode, the door burst open.
“Ah!! Here you are!”
Sweat beaded on his forehead, Jung Dajun came in with a wide smile.
“Whoa, it’s dark. What are you two doing in here?”
Not seeing Ichae’s face, the maknae babbled as he wiped his cheek with the back of his hand.
“Ah~~! Hyungs, why aren’t you answering your phones!! Pick up faster, seriously, we worry! Jiwon-hyung and Sunghyun-hyung, everyone split up like we were playing hide-and-seek, looking everywh...ere....”
“...”
“...”
“...Sorry.”
Caught under our stares, Dajun glanced around nervously, bowed, and scurried out just as fast as he had come.
Then Ichae’s hand turned the doorknob again and opened it.
“Gahhh!”
The suddenly opened door made Jung Dajun, who had been outside, jump and flail in fright. But Kang Ichae only kept a faint, composed smile.
“If hyung doesn’t want to talk, then it can’t be helped. We’ll just take it slow, one piece at a time.”
“......”
“To see whether I’m insane, or whether hyung is just denying it.”
How about both?
As I grumbled inwardly, Kang Ichae stepped first into the hospital corridor, ruffling Dajun’s hair as if to mess it up.
“Maknae, I missed you so bad, you know?”
Then, humming a little tune, he strolled off.
I stared at the back of his head.
This was a seriously shitty situation.
Of all people to find out—fuck.
“...W-what’s with him?”
Frozen stiff from Ichae’s touch, Jung Dajun hurriedly fixed his hair, then clung to my arm, watching my reaction.
“Hoyun-hyung, maybe... maybe you should just apologize sincerely to Ichae-hyung?”
“......”
“...No, forget it. I’ll apologize sincerely instead, yeah....”
