Kim Sunghyun had been spending his nights without sleep lately.
Was it because he had many younger siblings and was used to looking after them, or was it from nearly three years of experience as the leader living and breathing together with his members?
‘Seo Hoyun’s been strange these days.’
He could understand Hoyun wanting to stay at home for a while, saying it was because of his younger brother’s health issues. If he were in that situation himself, he would have put his family first too.
Besides, Hoyun still showed up for practice every now and then, never missed a music video shoot, and attended every official schedule. As always, he worked hard.
Even so, what worried Sunghyun was—
‘Why does he keep looking paler by the day?’
Looking at him, you would think the patient was Seo Hoyun, not Seo Hojin.
Just what in the world was going on?
Even as the dawn deepened and the moonlight ripened, he tossed and turned, unable to sleep with worry. Then, with a careful knock, the door opened, and Sung Jiwon peeked in.
“Sunghyun, are you asleep?”
Rubbing a hand through his hair, Sunghyun sat up groggily.
“No. Come in.”
Sitting down on the floor by the bed, Jiwon carefully spoke.
“You know... back when we did the underwater filming... I think Hoyun fainted....”
“You thought that too?!”
Sunghyun shot up, raising his voice without realizing it.
“We mess around a lot, but none of us would joke about safety. Especially not with Hoyun, he’s sensitive about that. At the time I was too shocked and just asked if he was okay, but thinking it over later, it felt strange.”
Letting out a deep sigh, Sunghyun scrubbed his face with his hands.
“...Does anyone faint from just a cold or the flu?”
“Well... I’ve never been in water when sick, so...”
“Normally, no....”
Even knowing full well that Hoyun was an adult capable of handling himself, even recognizing that at times he seemed far more mature than himself, Sunghyun couldn’t help but worry. He thought of it as being a little overprotective.
‘Seriously, who told you to get this sick.’
After attending Kang Ichae’s mentor performance on Rising Rookies as a group schedule, Hoyun had said he was going to see the manager—and the next place he turned up was the ER.
At that time, Hoyun had already gone into cardiac arrest.
‘How could I not worry?’
Scratching at his eyebrow with his thumbnail, Sunghyun muttered.
“Shouldn’t we just ask the company for help? WH Entertainment seems to take pretty good care of their artists.”
“No. That could mess up our schedule.”
The unexpected remark made Sunghyun frown. Raising a hand as if to ask him to wait, Jiwon added an explanation.
“Maybe I’m overthinking it, but this could be used as an excuse to push back our comeback. Even the pressure from the company to delay activities—Hoyun was the one who blocked that.”
“What?! Hoyun blocked that?!”
“—I don’t think he wanted us to—oh, wait, you didn’t know?”
Looking wide-eyed at Sunghyun, Jiwon awkwardly averted his gaze.
“Why hasn’t anyone told me this until now?”
“Ah, n-no, Sunghyun, I mean...”
“There’s talk about someone higher up backing him. Is that true? Does that have anything to do with this?”
“Wait, wait! I don’t know that much!”
Jiwon waved his hands, looking desperate. Sunghyun stared at him hard, then scratched the back of his head instead of sighing.
“...Fine. Let’s put all the side issues aside for now. Let’s just keep a closer watch on Hoyun.”
He knew anyway that Hoyun wasn’t the type to be stopped or persuaded by words.
The smarter choice was to support him by drawing clear lines and making sure he didn’t go too far. Jiwon nodded, seemingly agreeing.
Their eyes met, and both let out a long sigh.
Even though they’d come to a conclusion, Sunghyun still felt uneasy.
“I just hope he doesn’t push himself too much....”
The next day, surveillance on Seo Hoyun began.
“Seo Hoyun-ssi, you’re here?”
“Hoyun-ssi! Could you come over here for a sec?”
“Hoyun-ssi~.”
When he hadn’t been paying attention, he hadn’t noticed, but everywhere he turned, people were calling for Hoyun.
He himself was eaten up with worry that Hoyun might collapse at any moment, but the man in question was calmly moving around, diligently doing his part.
Even after being told multiple times that he didn’t have to, Hoyun still dragged himself to the practice room.
“One, two....”
From the front, Sunghyun led the members, all the while keeping his eyes locked on Hoyun.
Today, they broke the choreography—one they’d repeated countless times—into finer parts to bring out more detail.
They set up a camera for monitoring and repeated the routine about five times before the music finally stopped.
“Ughhh!”
Collapsing to the floor and gasping for breath was Jung Dajun, the one with the most stamina.
“Why does the choreography feel harder every time....”
“The point moves are simple enough.”
Poking him in the side, Kang Ichae teased while downing water.
“That’s just so it’s easy to copy, duh....”
Wiping sweat off with his T-shirt, Sunghyun turned his gaze to Hoyun. With the album release right around the corner, the choreographer’s feedback had become more detailed and precise.
“Hoyun-ssi, your expression is much better than before, but is your stamina low lately? You look like you’re lacking power overall.”
“How should I fix it?”
“Well, first, here—at 1:21—”
While checking the video they’d just filmed, Hoyun’s pale face was completely drained of color.
The choreographer gave instructions because he had to, but he looked concerned as he glanced at him.
“Pay more attention to isolation. And at 1:58, when you kick sideways in the group part, it needs to feel rough and forceful.”
“...Could you tell me by position instead?”
“Position?”
“The right leg I’m lifting here—should it go about three centimeters farther out?”
“...Uh....”
‘Three centimeters? Four?’ Hoyun muttered as he adjusted the move. The choreographer stammered like a computer hitting an error screen. Already used to this, Sunghyun motioned to Jiwon to step in and pulled Hoyun aside.
“Come here.”
He patted his back.
“Watch closely.”
Normally, Hoyun would have had that mischievous grin and cracked a sarcastic joke. But right now, he was barely keeping up with the formation.
‘What do I do with him?’
His dancing was improving, yes, but there was no sense of ease. The soft lines and unique atmosphere Hoyun usually carried had all but disappeared.
‘Will he still manage on stage...?’
“Hey, Seo Hoyun.”
If Hoyun was like this during the actual performance—
“Are you even going to be able to handle the promotion?”
—it would be worse than not performing at all.
Hoyun stopped, panting harshly, and lifted his chin to focus his blurred eyes on Sunghyun.
“...Oh.”
Then the corner of his mouth curled up.
“Our baby knows how to worry now?”
“.......”
Sunghyun hesitated, then shook his head and walked away.
That night too, the lights in «N.o.v.e.l.i.g.h.t» The Dawn’s practice room stayed on until late.
.
.
.
“Just kill me already.”
Punching in the passcode with his last strength, he collapsed as soon as he stepped inside.
“Ugh...”
His body hit the floor, but thanks to the anti-slip mats installed for Malang, it didn’t hurt much.
“Shit, thanks, Malang....”
Tossing his cap and mask aside, he rolled over.
[Status effect remaining time: 5 days 12 hours 16 seconds]
“...So damn persistent.”
The system window showing the penalty timer hovered in his vision. He frowned, then exhaled deeply.
His body just wouldn’t keep up during practice. Even staying still, his head throbbed and his stomach churned—how could he possibly dance well?
Running his hands through his hair, he suddenly noticed how quiet the house was.
“Guess he went to his parents’ place.”
After his overseas shoot, Min Jiheon had taken a vacation and run off with Malang, complaining that his bond with the dog was in crisis.
Hoyun kept telling himself to get up and shower, but stayed lying there. His phone vibrated in his pocket.
[Jung Dajun: Hyung, on the way back from practice I bought that ice cream you don’t even like]
[Jung Dajun: It was on clearance so the expiration date is really short, you have to come fast]
[Sung Jiwon: Hoyun-ah, here’s the video from the choreographer. Watch when you have time haha]
[Seo Hojin: Hyung, are you at the dorm?]
As Hoyun scrolled through the messages with trembling hands—
[Min Jiheon: Seo Hoyun-ssi~ He]
The name Min Jiheon popped up.
[Min Jiheon: You’re home right now, right?]
[Min Jiheon: Uh... so...]
[Min Jiheon: I’m really sorry]
[Min Jiheon: I’m someone who hates conflict to the extreme, I couldn’t help it]
[Min Jiheon: That friend was kind of scary...]
[Min Jiheon: Anyway, fighting]
[Min Jiheon: (praying hands emoji)]
What bullshit was this now.
Half-lidded eyes on the screen, Hoyun tossed the phone aside and shut his eyes.
If it was truly important, he would have called, so forget it.
‘Feels like I’ll die if I close my eyes like this.’
Fatigue and pain washed over him in waves.
He tried to cling to his fading consciousness, but his body grew heavier and heavier.
Beep, beep-beep—beep....
Then, the front door opened, and footsteps came inside.
It felt too early for him to be back, but since the person knew the passcode, Hoyun assumed it was his housemate.
“Hey, that text earlier—cough—what was it?”
“......”
No answer. Just a tap on his body.
“I don’t have the energy, so... don’t touch me, just get lost.”
Another tap on his thigh made him snap, lifting his eyelids.
“Ugh, I said get—”
And then he saw them: red sneakers he recognized all too well.
They were the ones Jung Dajun had gifted a member on his birthday.
“—out....”
Slowly raising his head, Hoyun met the face of the one he had just been practicing with.
“What now?”
Kang Ichae looked down at him with a pitiful expression.
“Ichae doesn’t feel like leaving.”
