“Uh, it’s hyung!”
After wrapping up a short conversation with Kang Yeonhoo and heading toward the tents where the other teams were gathered, Jung Dajun spotted me first, waving his hand wildly. Next to him, Kang Ichae, hanging off a somewhat sulky Sung Jiwon while giggling to himself, smirked when he saw me.
“Welcome back.”
“How was it? Give us a review.”
“Hoyun, was it scary in there?”
“Yeah.”
Too different from me—scared it might purify me.
The members stared, startled by the unexpected answer, with no reply, only looking at me.
I chuckled, patting their backs and nudging them forward.
“I’m hungry.”
“Uh... o-okay, let’s go....”
“Dinner’s in the auditorium, hyung! They said it’s a catering buffet!”
Jung Dajun was already bouncing and flailing around, excited again.
As expected, I felt most at ease when I was with these guys.
.
.
.
A bit late, but after finishing a hearty meal, all the cast members had to change clothes. People who swapped their school uniforms for white jumpsuits were murmuring in confusion, and Kim Heeyoung clapped her hands to draw attention.
“Alright! Forget everything about the team battles so far. From this moment, we’ll begin the final game that will decorate the finale!”
Kim Heeyoung seemed determined to squeeze out as much footage as possible, borrowing WH Entertainment’s name and even dragging in Black Call. She gestured toward the massive screen set up in the amusement park and shouted.
“Repair the Amusement Park at Midnight!”
Letters popped up in sequence.
How excited. Truly.
[In the final game, ‘Repair the Amusement Park at Midnight!’, each player will be assigned as either a repairman or a thug.
Thugs, who cannot bear to see the joy and happiness of others, have arrived at the amusement park! If left unchecked, the rides will be destroyed, leaving citizens unable to enjoy them the next day.
Within the three hours remaining until opening, the repairmen must fix the broken machines and expose the thugs to ensure the amusement park can open safely.
Each ride has a mission that must be completed for repairs, and to confirm proper operation, you must ride them yourself afterward.]
“Oh, the scale is insane.”
“I always wanted to try something like this!!”
Jeon Saeyoung, standing a step diagonally ahead, muttered with fascination, and as if he had grown close after sharing snacks, Jung Dajun scampered over, chattering excitedly.
[On the other hand, thugs must interfere with the repairmen.
Using the provided trackpad, you can cut the power of certain streetlights to hinder their movement.
You can also use the paint-filled pointer to shoot at nametags, making the repairmen ‘die.’
Eliminate all the repairmen without revealing you are a thug!]
[Any role can ‘report.’]
[When ‘report’ is called, everyone gathers, and through voting, the thugs can be identified and executed.]
[Repairmen win if they expose all thugs before 2/3 of them die, or if they complete all given missions successfully.
Thugs win if 2/3 of the repairmen are killed or if the repairmen fail to complete missions within the time limit.]
[※ Each mission assigned to a ride only needs to be completed once.]
[※ Completed missions will be announced periodically via broadcast.]
[※ Time spent gathering after a ‘report’ is not included in the countdown. After a report is called, no new missions can be attempted. For 5 minutes immediately after a report, thugs can kill repairmen, but not afterward.]
[※ Repairmen can restore power each time a mission is successfully completed.]
[※ While riding the rides, thugs cannot kill repairmen.]
Kim Heeyoung continued explaining aloud.
“The prize will be distributed in gold bars, divided among the winning team members. There are 4 thugs and 12 repairmen. Please follow the staff to the designated place to confirm your role.”
Staff quickly handed out nametags. As I stood after attaching mine to my back, I overheard the members talking.
“Guys, being alone sounds dangerous. Shouldn’t we just stick together later?”
“Hmm, hyung, is that really good? Even a member could be a thug.”
“Well, I don’t want to stick with Seo Hoyun. He’s basically a thug just by existing.”
“Hey.”
Kim Sunghyun, who had suffered the most historically, narrowed his eyes and guarded against me the hardest.
I stood with arms crossed, watching his antics, until Sung Jiwon, the one who had suggested grouping up in the first place, glanced at everyone, then smiled brightly and asked me.
“Then Hoyun, want to move with me? I don’t mind if you’re a thug.”
“No.”
“Ah...”
His face drooped even further after my blunt rejection. I simply patted his shoulder twice as if to remind him of the cold world of competition, then headed to my assigned location.
Arriving near the bumper cars and rollercoaster, I was given a slip from the staff.
[Repairman]
The staff retrieved the paper right away, and I walked off. My destination: a ride not too far away but easy enough to handle physically.
“Seo Hoyun-ssi, those dolls look really scary. Are you okay with that?”
“I don’t really like rides.”
It was an ‘attraction’ lined with various dolls.
But before I could go more than a few steps, the surrounding lights popped and went out. The power had been cut.
‘Looks like the sabotage already started.’
I stepped to the roadside, waited for my eyes to adjust to the dark, then walked again, spotting a silver-haired figure sitting in front of the computer at the entrance.
“Hey, Jung Dajun.”
“......!!”
Startled, Jung Dajun jumped up from his frantic typing.
“H-hyung...!”
“You fixing it well?”
If he had been typing that hard without knowing who was approaching, he probably wasn’t a thug.
I expected him to be with others, but no one was around.
The power was out, and it was dark, so I opened my mouth to tell him not to move alone—
“Jung Dajun, being by yourself makes you an easy target—hey, hey!!”
“Hyung, don’t come closer!!”
“...What?”
With both hands stretched forward, Jung Dajun shuffled backward, widening the distance.
“My three years of experience in The Dawn’s self-filming reality show... my instincts are telling me. Hyung, you’re a thug....”
“......”
“Sorry, but don’t come any closer.”
Then he turned and bolted.
I could only stare, unable to retort, feeling like some third-rate villain, before muttering belatedly.
“...I’m a repairman.”
Clicking my tongue inwardly, I realized once again that raising baby dumplings or elephants was pointless—they’d never trust you when it mattered. Suppressing my irritation, I bent down to the computer, reading the repair instructions stuck to the monitor. The mission: complete a typing drill program by finishing a long text.
The list showed several idol songs from WH Entertainment. Clearly planted intentionally.
‘So they’re giving us free promotion.’
Fine. If they’re handing it out, I’ll gladly take it.
Knowing the longer I stayed, the more exposed I was, I still pulled up the most recent track, ‘Level S2,’ set it to encoding, and began the typing program.
“Too bad there’s so much English.”
Since only Korean text could be entered, a lot of lyrics got cut out.
I hadn’t typed office work in a while after becoming an idol, so my fingers were a little stiff, but with around 800 keystrokes per minute, the mission ended quickly. When I pressed enter on the final period, the attraction lit up again.
‘Flashy.’
With little feeling, I intended to ride quickly just to clear the mission, when a bright voice called from behind.
“Oh? Already fixed it?”
Turning, I saw Chae Jungwoo scratching his cheek at the entrance.
“Hello, sunbaenim.”
“I also came to fix it... hmm, if it’s alright, can I ride with you?”
It didn’t make sense—repairmen should be busy running around doing missions, yet he wanted to linger here. As I [N O V E L I G H T] subtly shifted my foot back, Chae Jungwoo gave an awkward smile.
“Haha, you’re too cautious. It’s nothing like that. I just wanted a one-on-one chat with you, Seo Hoyun-ssi....”
Suspicious. But the moment a senior lowered his brows and asked like that—in fact, the moment Black Call’s Chae Jungwoo asked—there was no option for me but to agree.
While boarding, I adjusted my expression. When we faced each other again, I casually patted the seat beside me.
“Have a seat.”
“Thanks.”
Chae Jungwoo didn’t hesitate, plopping down immediately.
The staff I expected to follow instead only checked the camera installed on the boat and waved.
“Alright, we’re starting!”
The park employee checked the safety bars, released the brake, and the boat floated out, rocking gently as it drifted along the waves.
Purple lighting cast fog across the ride, while old dolls creaked into eerie shapes.
‘...Is this even safe for kids?’
Chae Jungwoo swept the scenery with an indifferent gaze.
“...This alone could’ve been punishment enough.”
While I stared straight ahead, he asked me directly.
“Earlier you went to the haunted house, then came here. Weren’t you scared?”
“Well, not really....”
“Haha, Woosung said Yeonhoo was trembling like crazy.”
Crossing his arms, Chae Jungwoo leaned comfortably back.
“He praised you the whole meal. Said you really looked after Yeonhoo.”
“Sunbae-nim is exaggerating. We just all got scared together.”
“Really? To me, it looks like you’re still keeping that promise I asked about.”
This small talk was sounding dangerously close to something unairable.
I frowned slightly, then quickly relaxed, glancing at the camera.
“...Sunbaenim, I don’t quite understand what you mean.”
With a chuckle, Chae Jungwoo tilted his head toward the camera.
“Mm~ haha, they’ll edit it out, right? I trust our company will handle it well.”
So WH Entertainment had prior review rights. In return, Kim Heeyoung must have secured the whole company’s participation.
“Anyway, I wanted to say thank you. And congratulations on your album doing so well. I heard The Dawn and Hi-Five are alternating the finale stage at the year-end show.”
“......”
“Our company turned out to be fairer than I thought. As long as the results are good, no discrimination. It’s the first time an outsider pulled such results, so I only just learned that myself.”
I pretended not to hear.
Turning my head away, I answered dryly.
“We still have a long way to catch up to sunbaenims.”
“Eh, I think of Seo Hoyun-ssi as a rival, you know? I can’t let my guard down either.”
“...Hahaha.”
I’ll ignore that too.
“Thanks for keeping your promise all this time. Especially about Woosung. Now I get why The Dawn members like you so much. You treat people well.”
“......”
Nothing in this world is free.
Everything has a purpose.
I muttered inwardly what I couldn’t say aloud.
“Ah, we’re here.”
Staff at the exit filmed as we returned.
The thought of how this conversation might air made my head spin, but Chae Jungwoo looked completely unbothered, trusting it would be edited out.
“Shall we go?”
“...Yes.”
I followed him off the boat, standing under the brightly lit lanterns outside. Facing me, Chae Jungwoo smiled softly, eyes curving.
“But Hoyun-ssi, sorry.”
“Yes?”
“This next part... I don’t think it’ll get edited.”
As expected—bad premonitions never fail.
The moment his hand slipped into his pocket, I quickly stepped back, looking for cover.
“Mm, nowhere to hide, though.”
Lifting his hand, a pointer dangled on a keyring around his finger. With a playful “ta-da!”, it was clear if I turned to run, I’d be dead.
As I calculated how to get out of this—
“—Hyung!!!”
Suddenly, a black shadow slammed into Chae Jungwoo, knocking him backward.
“Don’t you dare touch my hyung!!”
The one shouting was, shockingly, Jung Dajun—the same kid who had bolted from me earlier.
Still hugging Chae Jungwoo tight, the maknae shot me a fierce look.
“Hoyun-hyung! I believed in you from the start!!”
Where the hell are you selling that crap.
