Chapter 161

Chapter 161

Honestly, Bae Sejin probably wants to accept the role. He’d been a child actor, and he’d gone on Idol Inc. with the express purpose of continuing his acting career. More importantly, he was obviously a much better actor than he was an idol.

I would have been swayed myself in his shoes. As he stood there with a dark look on his face, I gently questioned him, “I guess the show they’re offering you sounds pretty good?”

“The script was written by someone I worked with in the past when I was a kid. Supposedly it’s a small role...” Bae Sejin muttered, looking gloomy. “The PD who just spoke to me knows a PD on the series... He said it’s a good show, and it’s sponsored by T1, too...”

“Hmm...”

The agency had no doubt gotten an offer, too, but they’d probably rejected it on his behalf because of our promotions.

Maybe they don’t want us doing anything else at the moment since we should be ready to go on tour soon. Tours would be worth far more money, at least until our popularity began to decline.

“Well, what does it matter? Of course, he’ll say nice things about it since he knows the PD,” Bae Sejin said, obviously trying to convince himself more than me. He walked over to a nearby trash can, the business card the PD had given him in hand.

“Hold on,” I said.

“What?”

“You should discuss it with the agency. It’s been a year since we debuted. It might be feasible since it’s just one drama.”

Bae Sejin’s eyes widened.

From my perspective, it would be best for Bae Sejin to focus only on our group activities for at least three years, but there was no telling what might happen when it came to people’s desires.

If he keeps denying himself what he really wants, he might decide to leave the group altogether before the contract is even complete. It was obvious he was steering clear of acting jobs, fearing it might cause problems for the group, even though it was what he wanted to do.

There was a limit to how much a person could hold themselves back using logic and social obligations as an excuse. No matter how much fun he had being an idol, if he was forced to ignore what he was really good at, he was surely going to lose it one of these days.

Wouldn’t it be better to just let him do a drama now? From the sounds of it, it wasn’t even a big role. It would probably be fine. Even if people didn’t like it, they would probably just assume that the company had dragged a TeSTAR member in for promotional purposes, since it was a T1-sponsored drama. It would probably be easier for him to properly kick start his acting career a few years down the line if we let him have a taste right now. It would also ease the transition later.

I decided to throw him a bone. “We’re all starting to film variety shows, photo shoots, and ads on our own, anyway.”

Bae Sejin frowned, crumpling the business card and tossing it in the trash. “Forget it. It’ll just be a distraction.” He muttered to himself, “I’m only barely managing to keep up as it is... I don’t have time to waste on anything else.”

I could practically hear the pressure he was putting on himself in his voice.

“Our group activities come first.”

“Sejin...”

I was confused. I wasn’t the one who’d called his name. Turning, I found Kim Raebin, staring at Bae Sejin with big eyes full of pride. He was holding a drink in either hand, which probably meant he’d been bringing ours to us.

What’s he doing? He’s still wearing his footguard. Nonplussed, I stared as he beamed at us.

“Hearing you talk so passionately about our group makes me want to get better even sooner so I can contribute to the team.”

“Wh-what! Where did you come from?” Bae Sejin said, going bright red.

“Oh, these are for you!”

Well, there goes my chance. The mood I’d needed to try and change his mind was gone.

If he still seems disappointed about it later, I’ll try bringing it up again. I shrugged, took my drink, and followed Kim Raebin back to the others.

Bae Sejin was sipping his tea with a glum expression on his face, but he didn’t look particularly upset—that is until we got into the van.

“...so I met Bae Sejin and Moondae and gave them their drinks,” Kim Raebin was saying.

“Good work!”

“But still, be careful about walking around, Raebin. You need to be cautious until you’ve fully recovered.”

“I’ll keep that in mind!”

We were on the way back to our dorm. When the other members had asked him where he’d been, Kim Raebin told them about how he’d searched us out.

Then Eugene poked him in the side from his seat in the back of the van and asked, “What were they doing?”

“Oh, Bae Sejin seemed to be talking about his resolve to work hard in our future activities—”

“N-no!” Bae Sejin cried from where he was sitting in the passenger seat, face going bright red.

Raebin looked puzzled by the urgency in his voice. “But you were refusing some kind of offer and saying you’d focus on us as a group—”

“No! That’s not it... Uh, can you tell them, please?”

Why is he turning to me for help?

I explained wryly. “He was asked to be in a drama, but he refused, saying he wants to focus on TeSTAR activities for now.”

“Whoa!”

“R-really!”

I could see Bae Sejin groaning and covering his face.

“Nice one, Sejin.”

“You should go for it next time! It sounds like a good challenge!” Eugene said.

“I-I’ll work hard for the group, too, Sejin!” Ahyeon piped up.

The van was filled with positive emotion and encouragement, but Bae Sejin was unable to lift his head, obviously conflicted.

Dear me, I thought, opening a bottle of mineral water.

Big Sejin was sitting beside me, staring at his phone. “That must have taken a lot of resolve. Amazing!”

Bae Sejin flinched, then was silent for a long while. His next words seemed to escape him almost involuntarily. “You don’t really think that.” There was an edge to his voice.

Big Sejin smiled incredulously, but the expression quickly vanished. “What? Hey, don’t say that. I was just being nice.”

“I know you’re being sarcastic, but don’t be snide over something like this. You heard me, I refused.”

“When was I sarcastic— Never mind. I’m sorry. I won’t speak about the matter again. Does that satisfy you?”

“If you’re going to be like this all the time, just say it to my face.”

The mood in the van became tense.

Where the f*ck is this coming from? Before I could even wrap my head around what was happening, Big Sejin looked up from his phone, no longer bothering to hide his puzzled smile.

“What do you mean by that? I’m already being very straightforward.”

“You’re always trying to make me look bad with your sarcasm. Did you think I wouldn’t notice?”

“Why would I want to do that? I have no idea why you’re saying this all of a sudden.”

“Slow down, guys.”

Bae Sejin spun around to glare at Big Sejin, his eyes burning. “You’re doing it right now. You think I’m an idiot, don’t you? I know you think I hardly contribute to the group and I’m arrogant as hell.”

“...!”

“See?”

“I just don’t know what to say to that, it’s so absurd.”

“And you act like we’re good friends when we’re in front of the camera.”

Big Sejin’s temper was starting to bubble over. “What do you expect me to do, then? Fight with you on camera? This is work, we’re not just some kids fooling around. Why must you always—”

Bae Sejin banged his fist down on the armrest. “I’m being serious! You’re the one who’s acting like this is a joke.”

“The hell?”

Things had suddenly grown so heated that the only reason they weren’t already exchanging blows was probably because we were in a moving van.

Big Sejin leaned forward in his seat, almost standing up in the moving vehicle. “What did you just say to me?”

“Hey, cut it out.”

Have they lost their minds? I put a hand on his chest, pushing him back into his seat. The others, who’d been confused by the fight breaking out so quickly, began to try and talk them down as well.

“Yeah guys, cool it! I nearly had a heart attack behind the wheel!” the manager yelled back over his shoulder.

“P-please c-calm down...”

“Why don’t we discuss this calmly back at the dorm?”

“We’re inside a moving vehicle right now. You could cause an accident!”

They glared at each other, but silently took their seats once more. The vibes were still utterly vicious, though. Inside the van was completely silent, and I repressed the urge to groan.

They’re driving me crazy. The incompatibility between the two of them that I’d noticed before we’d even debuted had flared up over something trivial.

Maybe they’re just fed up with dealing with each other. Just trying to think of how we were going to get around this made my head hurt.

I guess first up, I’ll mediate a conversation between them when we get back. It was a pain, but it couldn’t be helped. I closed my eyes, deciding to wait until we got to the dorm to say anything.

They didn’t talk when we returned home, however—the moment we arrived, they each holed up in their respective rooms. The moment Bae Sejin made a beeline for his room, Lee Sejin scoffed and headed to his. It didn’t look like they were trying to avoid the issue necessarily—they were just still very angry.

F*ck. There was no mediating this. The other members sat in the living room, quietly staring at the TV. In a bout of terrible timing, an ad I didn’t particularly want to see appeared on screen.

[With touches as warm as their loving hearts]

[Meet the future guide dogs training at a professional guide dog institution in Oseong!]

It was the ad I’d filmed with Cheongryeo. A bright filter had been placed over a clip of yellow dogs running through a grassy field and leaping on me, aiming to lick my face.

The Moondae on screen wore a pretty stupid expression.

“Oh, it’s you, Moondae.”

“Puppies are nice...” Eugene said, voice lacking its usual enthusiasm.

In fact, all the other members looked a little dazed.

Our team has been getting along pretty well until now. We’d never had a fight as bad as this one break out before. It wasn’t surprising that they were so confused.

In contrast to the bitter mood in the room, the screen showed a flurry of activity, the puppies rolling around with Cheongryeo.

[They have been raised thanks to your love.]

[Thank you, people of Korea!]

[The people’s insurance—Oseong Life Insurance]

The mess of dogs on screen was somewhat reminiscent of our situation which was also a hot mess. I sighed deeply.

This is terrible. Tousling the hair on the back of my head, I tried to mentally sort through the situation in my head.

Let’s see now. First of all, the timing for this is terrible. It had obviously been a difficult decision for Bae Sejin, to not accept the role, which meant he’d been touchy already when he’d climbed into the van. He was a sensitive guy, to begin with. He must have noticed the subtle undertone to Big Sejin’s words in the past and had apparently been stressing about it for some time. And today had been his breaking point.

Big Sejin’s always been very serious about his career. He always kept his eyes on the prize, even though it wasn’t possible that he had a status abnormality to contend with, like me. I could tell he wasn’t very happy about Bae Sejin’s inclusion in the group, since he was the least talented, stiff, and not very social.

From his perspective, he’d been very patient with Bae Sejin, only for the older member to finally erupt like this today.

More importantly... Those two simply don’t mesh well. They had nothing in common, other than both doing their best in their own ways. They didn’t like each other and couldn’t understand one another, either.

I massaged my temples. Frankly, I wanted to just leave them be, as long as they committed to being nice to each other in front of the camera.

But I have to try and do something. They’d been considerate of me when I had a difficult time with Chungwoo. Shaking my head, I got up from the sofa and headed for the kitchen.

“Moondae.”

“Hey.”

Chungwoo quietly followed me, smiling wryly. “I’ll talk to Sejin—that is, Lee Sejin. Why don’t you try talking to Bae Sejin? The two of them should at least try talking it out.”

“Hmm.”

He seemed to have taken into account that Bae Sejin and I were currently roommates. I was conflicted for a moment, but eventually shook my head.

“I think I should go check on Lee Sejin instead.”

“Yeah?”

There was something that was bothering me in hindsight, and I was the only member who knew anything about this issue in question.

Chungwoo nodded easily enough. “All right. You’re both the same age, after all.”

“Right.”

“Okay then... Let’s do this.” Chungwoo patted me on the shoulder and left the kitchen.

I turned and opened the fridge.

Alcohol is probably not a good idea. I’d take him some cold water instead. With two bottles of mineral water in hand, I went to Lee Sejin’s door and knocked.

“Hey, it’s me,” I said.

Moments later, there was a sigh as he opened the door.