Chapter 41
We arrived at The Showcase shooting studio in Gyeonggi-do province. This was our third time visiting this studio, including the first-meeting and first-round performances, so we felt much more at home.
“Hello!”
“Hello~”
We greeted the cameramen waiting for us outside the car and went outside. In the beginning, we overreacted because we were excited to see so many cameras, but now, we quickly became used to the idol life.
“What games do you think you will play today?” The camera director asked Yeon-Hoon. Yeon-Hoon met the cameraman’s eyes and pondered this question for a bit.
“Maybe eating lemons?” Yeon-Hoon said a game out of the blue.
“Hahaha!” Dong-Jun, who walked next to him, burst out into laughter.
“What! Why are you laughing!” Yeon-Hoon said angrily.
“But that’s so random~” Dong-Jun explained.
“W-What do you mean it’s random? It’s possible!” Yeon-Hoon said shyly. And as I watched from the back, I sighed inside my mind.
‘Damn it.’ I forgot to tell my group members, but the way the games were chosen for the mini-games was from the first question the cameraman asked us. I was too focused on Park Young-Ho that I forgot about what was really important now.
Of course, it would’ve been quite silly if I had warned them beforehand; they would have definitely raised questions if I had told them not to brashly answer the cameraman’s question and only respond after thinking about it for some time. They would ask why they had to do that, and I would have to explain myself in many ways.
But perhaps, I could’ve dropped hints or intercepted between the cameraman and Yeon-Hoon and answered for him. There were many possible ways, but I missed my chance.
‘Damn it. I didn’t even eat breakfast.’ I feared that I would have to eat lemon for my first meal. I prayed that the other teams said something like an eating contest or something because I really wanted to avoid eating lemon on an empty stomach.
“Huh?” It was then we saw familiar faces at the end of the corridors.
“Aren’t they Bleshu?”
“Yeah!”
“Oh!”
Bleshu walked toward us from the opposite side.
“Hello!”
“Oh! Hello~”
We greeted the Bleshu members cheerfully. In the set, the only one who treated us friendly was Bleshu. I also felt happy to see them and smiled, and seeing my smile, one of the Bleshu members averted his gaze. Nevertheless, it was a welcoming response. Above all, Bleshu’s leader appeared truly surprised to see us.
“Did all of you fast or something...?” Bleshu’s leader appeared genuinely surprised to see our faces. Other members also commented.
“Everyone is looking so sharp.”
“Did your makeup change?”
“You guys seriously look like celebrities all of a sudden. Haha.”
My group members smirked, hearing compliments about their appearance for the second time today. They would probably burst into frantic laughter if someone poked them on their side. Though they were pretending to be humble, it was clear they were probably cheering inside their minds.
“You guys also look really, really good today too!” Yeon-Hoon responded as he was paying back their compliments.
“Haha, thank you.” But the depth of a compliment that came truly from the heart was different from a repayment one.
“Then, let’s see each other at the studio later!”
“Yes, see you later~”
After exchanging greetings with the Bleshu, we walked the corridors again. My group members seemed to have forgotten their fatigue, and their moods seemed to have boosted up after hearing compliments since this morning. It was good that our team’s morale was high, especially today when we were going to have a variety-like shooting. A high-spirited team gave good reactions and got more screen time.
‘Perhaps, we could gather more fans if today’s shooting gets broadcasted,’ I thought. Today’s shooting could be an important opportunity for us to quickly gain more fans and increase the size of our fandom.
“It’s the waiting room~” Yeon-Hoon hummed and opened the waiting room’s door.
“Huh?”
“What?”
“Wait a bit.”
Yeon-Hoon was about to open the door and stopped. It was because next to our name, there was another group’s name.
—Only One/Siren’s waiting room
“It’s a shared space?”
My group members froze. Not only were they not close to Only One’s members but they also felt strangely uncomfortable around them.
‘Damn it.’ I wanted to almost punch myself. If I had known that I would have to share rooms with Only One, I wouldn’t have provoked Kang Hyun-Sung last time. This would be a terribly uncomfortable waiting time. I hoped that they would at least have a divider between the two teams, but I highly doubted it. Sensing by the general set-up, it appeared that the broadcasting crew purposefully organized this to place us together in the same room.
There was no way this studio was lacking in waiting rooms. It didn’t make sense that after giving us separate waiting rooms in all the previous shoots, they would suddenly not have enough. Another reason why they separated us in the previous shootings could be to prevent us from spoiling each others’ performances.
‘Then, does that mean that there’s nothing to spoil today?’ I wondered. Perhaps, they thought sharing the same waiting room would be more helpful in igniting competition among us.
“Ahhh! What are we going to do?” Yeon-Hoon rolled his feet uneasily.
Creak.
The door opened then, and Only One’s member, Kim Si-Woon popped out.
Gasp!
“That surprised me!”
Kim Si-Woon took a couple of steps backward in shock, seeing us. It was understandable. I would’ve also been surprised to see full-grown men standing outside the room as soon as I opened the door—though, of course, I wouldn’t have been nearly as shocked as Si-Woon and would’ve probably moved a couple of steps back.
Then, after calming himself down, Si-Woon said, “Glad to see you. It seems like we have to share the waiting room today.”
“Ah, haha! Yeah!”
“Seems like it!”
“Yeah!”
My group members forcefully tried to sound energetic. Yet, the excitement on their faces was clearly lower than before.
“Come inside! You don’t have to stay outside.” Si-Woon moved to the side and gestured for us to come inside.
“Then.”
“Please excuse me~”
My group members slowly went in, but they clearly looked like people who were going inside someone else’s room. The mood was so awkward that we might have to go greet the Only One members and introduce ourselves too at this rate, saying, ‘Say Yes! Hello, we are Sirens!’
When we went inside, there was no divider, as I expected. Furthermore, the sofa was set up so that the two groups would have to face each other. It appeared the broadcasting crew thought really hard to showcase the rivalry story between us and Only One.
We put down our baggage on one side of the sofa and saw five clothes we hadn’t seen before lying on top of the sofa. They were bright-colored training suits that idols wore in sports festival programs. The sizes of the clothes ranged from M to XL, and the Only One members had already all changed themselves into these training suits.
“We are supposed to change into those and wait,” one of the Only One members told us.
“Ah, thank you!”
“Ohh.”
I took our clothes and went outside the room. I looked around and saw that the only place suitable to change clothes was the bathroom. After making sure that no one was there, we went inside the bathroom. Then, I checked the sizes and saw that there were two Ms, one L, and two XLs. Anyone could tell the medium size was for Yeon-Hoon and Dong-Jun, large for Woon, and extra large for Do-Seung and me.
“W-Why is only Dong-Jun and mine medium...” It appeared Yeon-Hoon felt a bit upset by the size he got. Dong-Jun took his size without any complaints, but Yeon-Hoon seemed to be envious of the members who got larger sizes. After sloppily throwing the clothes over me, I approached Yeon-Hoon’s side.
Then, I snatched the training suit from Yeon-Hoon’s hands.
“Huh? What?” Yeon-Hoon stared at me in shock. But I disregarded his response and fumbled with the top of the training suit. It was a thick, sweatshirt type of fabric and seemed to come out slightly looser than the standard size. I stretched the opening of the shirt and pulled it over Yeon-Hoon.
“Wait.”
Slip.
“Hey!”
The shirt went over him smoothly without a single blockage.
“It perfectly fits.”
“You want to kill me twice?”
“It’s good that they gave you the clothes perfectly in your size.”
“I-I’m not that small!”
“I never said you were.”
Medium size was normal since 174cm was the average height of a Korean male.
“How humiliating...your height was similar to mine when we first met...” Yeon-Hoon said angrily.
“I was growing during that time, but you were all grown then.”
“Y-You know, they say you grow even in the military.”
“Don’t most people already finish their military service by your age?” I asked.
“...”
Yeon-Hoon inflicted more damage as we continued to talk about heights. In the end, Yeon-Hoon decided to close his mouth and placed his arms inside the shirt’s holes. I thought this was the smartest decision he made in a while. I laughed inside my mind seeing Yeon-Hoon accept his shirt size.
“I can’t believe we are also wearing this training suit.”
“Yeah.”
“I always saw idols wearing it on television.”
My group members discussed this after changing their outfits. This was the type of outfit that an idol would have to wear at least once in their career. We had wondered whether there ever would be a time when we would also get a chance to wear these, and it felt strange now that the time had finally arrived.
“Let’s do a good job on today’s shooting,” I said.
“We can do it!”
“We can do it, Siren!”
My group members shouted our cheer and determined their hearts. When we returned to the waiting room, Only One was waiting for us. No, I supposed I couldn’t say they were waiting. They simply glanced at us when we came inside.
After we smiled at Only One, we returned to our sofa and got out our phones. We read through the comments under The Showcase’s preview and searched according to our own interests on the internet. We would’ve probably chatted and talked a bit more if Only One weren’t here, but we became a bit quiet because of their presence.
I pretended to be on my phone and stared at Only One and Park Young-Ho. Young-Ho still looked like he wasn’t thinking much. He was simply staring into space with a blank look in his eyes. I wondered if he was always like this. His face didn’t look ditzy, but his expression looked considerably spacey right now.
‘Oh, and I just noticed. He’s not wearing a cast?’ I thought he was definitely injured significantly to the point of needing one last time, but he wasn’t wearing anything right now.
'Was the injury lighter than I thought?’ Perhaps, his body condition was better than I expected. Then, what was the reason for Young-Ho’s leave? I didn’t know what to think.
Knock.
It was then someone knocked on the door.
“The shooting will start now. Please be on standby—” The person gestured for us to go on top of the studio.
“Ahhh~”
“Let’s go!” We all got up from the sofa and stretched our arms. Only One did the same as us, and we walked to the studio set together. And while walking, I glanced at Young-Ho’s leg.
‘There doesn’t seem to be a big problem with his walking,’ I thought. He walked too normally for someone who injured his leg. I thought he might have fully healed when there was a small staircase before getting up on the studio set.
‘What?’ When trying to go up the stairs and raising his foot, Young-Ho wobbled. Then, his expression noticeably looked pained. He managed to regain balance by clutching to the structure next to him, but his expression still remained dark. It was then that I realized Young-Ho’s state more clearly. I saw the cold sweat on the back of his neck and the stiff movements in his walking.
‘Is he enduring it?’ it seemed this guy was just bearing the pain. ‘How could he do something so foolish.’
I didn’t understand when he was pretending to be fine when everyone could tell he got injured last time. Was he worried that he could bring down the team? But that was such a useless worry. And normally, I would’ve passed over the matter and not minded it.
‘But sigh. This is crazy.’ There would be a program boycott if Young-Ho got injured today. Thus, I needed to do something about this before we went up to the stage set.
Tap.
I grabbed Young-Ho’s shoulder.
“Sorry?”
This broke the unwritten code of silence between us.
“What?”
“Hm?” Only One and our team members turned to Young-Ho and me.
And feeling their gazes on us, I clearly enunciated each word. “Mr. Young-Ho, it seems like you are suffering from severe ankle pain. Is it okay for you to shoot today?” I officially announced to everyone that this guy was hiding his ankle pain.
Updated from fr𝒆ewebnov𝒆l.(c)om