Chapter 334

Chapter 334

Big Sejin had believed me.

How did this happen? I had no clue how it was possible. I’d even opened the status window last night, wondering if there had been something happening that twisted the situation in my favor, but could find nothing out of the ordinary. Big Sejin was completely himself, and had accepted my explanation.

This… is reality? I still couldn’t believe it. Naturally, of course, I wasn’t unhappy about the outcome, though it did feel a bit strange. I’d never been this honest with anyone before, nor had I predicted that his attitude would not shift after he’d heard everything. As a result, we seemed to have gone a little… overboard at today’s concert.

I feel like my lungs are about to explode.

“Here you go!”

“T-thank you.”

I breathed hard, taking the smartphone and towel that a staff member handed me.

He didn’t even need this. I had actually prepared something on my phone for use in yesterday’s reveal.

Big Sejin is a practical person. If he was to accept the sort of nonsense that would normally only appear in web novels and the like, I’d expected I’d have to give him some sort of evidence. But there was no such thing, of course—nothing but circumstantial evidence anyway.

The testimonies of those involved. Since all I had to rely on was people’s statements, I’d at least tried to secure some variety on that front. I’d started with Ryu Chungwoo.

“Of course. If I can help, I’ll do it.”

He’d told me to attempt having a conversation first. Next had been Big Moon.

“Uh… You want me to have a video call with Lee Sejin?”

He’d welcomed doing so, of course. There was nothing more that needed to be said. In fact, I arranged a meeting with Big Moon and Big Sejin at a later point. The next person was a problem, however. There would be room for suspicion if I only requested the help of those who liked me or someone Big Sejin didn’t personally know. From his perspective, it would only be believable if I had someone who was actually at odds with me—Cheongryeo.

“Really?”

He seemed puzzled as to why I was doing this, but didn’t refuse. He did tell me this.

“I don’t mind, but… I wouldn’t recommend it. He won’t believe you.”

Yeah, I f*cking know. I’d thought that, too, to be honest. But he’d believed me. And all it took was an explanation.

I wasn’t going to look a gift horse in the mouth. Maybe it was the lack of sleep, but I’d felt a tingling thrill in my head as I went back to my room late the previous night. As a result, I did something last night that would have earned me a metric sh*tstorm of controversy if it had gotten out on the internet—I texted an idol who was very much my senior before I went to sleep.

[He believed me]

The reply that had arrived the next morning was as follows.

[Is that right?]

[Bring him to see me sometime :)]

Are you nuts? What are you inviting us for? I had no idea what he was planning. I moved my eyes away from my phone, feeling rather uncomfortable.

“What are you doing…?”

“Checking if anyone texted me,” I said.

“Okay.” Bae Sejin hesitated for a bit, then said with a face full of expectation, “You two… made up, right?”

I laughed. I hadn’t had time to tell him since we were too busy preparing for the concert. And now he was asking me as soon as it was over.

“Yes.”

He sighed deeply as though he found this news very reassuring.

That’s a hell of a sigh. I looked at him with some surprise. We’d gathered later than usual that morning, thanks to him.

“Thank you,” I said.

“Wh-what?”

“For the delay. And telling Lee Sejin to talk with me.”

“…! Y-you heard?”

“Yes, but not on purpose. It gave me the courage to apologize.”

Bae Sejin turned as red as a cherry, and I grinned at him.

“But there was no need for you to apologize as well,” I said.

“I know. I was just trying to start a conversation, that’s all!”

Is that right?

“Things seemed so bad between you two…”

Was it that obvious?

Bae Sejin seemed to almost feel faint with relief, actually. “I-I’ve never been in a situation like that before… So I’m not sure if I did the right thing.”

“You did.”

That’s what I’ve been telling you. Are you even listening? Even so, I understood what he meant. I doubted he had ever tried to mediate between two people his age.

He seems to have avoided other people even in school. He probably hadn’t thought his first attempt would go so well.

“Well, anyhow… It’s great to hear that you made up…”

The new experience really seemed to have taken it out of him. He looked completely drained, but proud of himself nonetheless.

Should I make him a nighttime snack or something? I was about to say something when I saw Big Sejin turn away from a conversation with Chungwoo and come this way.

Don’t tell me that he planned with Chungwoo to talk to us separately? I hadn’t ever been treated this way before.

Big Sejin eyed me for a few moments, then spoke to Bae Sejin.

“Uh, Sejin.”

“Huh?”

“Thank you. I heard from Chungwoo that you made it so we could gather later than planned.”

Bae Sejin seemed to be wondering why Big Sejin knew this, but the feeling of pride seemed to win out.

“Ahem. We’re a group. It’s best for us to take such things into account for each other’s sake. And by the way! It wasn’t just me that wanted it. Everyone else did. Well, uh, you might be wondering why I affected our work this way, but this is also—”

“I don’t think that.”

“…!”

Big Sejin rubbed his neck.

He’s embarrassed, isn’t he?

“I didn’t think you’d pay so much attention to this. I’m not being sarcastic, I mean it.”

I wondered if I should just leave him to it and walk away, but I didn’t want to risk them getting into some kind of fight again. So I waited and watched.

Bae Sejin didn’t seem angry, but his expression did grow subdued. “Why would you say that?”

“I thought you’d avoid getting involved, even if you were concerned about other members. This sort of thing isn’t very pleasant.”

“…!”

I was the one who was surprised now.

Would you look at that? He’s actually saying exactly what he thinks, for a change. Bae Sejin, who’d been carefully wording his statements before, also grew a little more open in response.

“No, it’s not exactly pleasant.”

“Yes.”

“But today was the concert, and I was involved in your fight… So I did what I could. I know that you’d have done the same.”

Big Sejin looked as though he’d been slapped in the face, while Bae Sejin now looked pretty confident.

“Hem. Isn’t that right?”

“Well…”

Big Sejin suddenly grinned. “Of course. In any case, it was all a huge misunderstanding. I’m sorry.”

Bae Sejin said nothing.

“And thank you. Really.”

“Sure. Uh, I’m sure it wasn’t easy, but it looks like things turned out for the best.”

The mood suddenly felt so much lighter. I shrugged.

“You too, Park Moondae!” Bae Sejin said. He was dragging me into the conversation now that he felt embarrassed.

“Don’t mention it,” I said. “We should head down now.”

“Oh, right.”

We began to make our way down the corridor quickly. The others had all returned to the dressing room already.

Big Sejin started to grin, beginning to joke. “Don’t tell me that’s why you stayed in the living room when we were roommates? Doing what you can?”

“No… I was just uncomfortable.”

There was a momentary silence.

“Well, all right.”

“Ahem. Maybe if we become roommates again… we could try talking more.” Big Sejin tried again.

“You didn’t even respond properly when I tried to make conversation!”

“What! It’s just that I didn’t have anything to say!”

I knew this was going to happen. Even so, it was a huge improvement that they were now being honest about what they didn’t like.

They must have known that they didn’t have any ill will toward each other, but maybe it didn’t sink in before. It seems to have done so now. I shrugged.

“You know I really have trouble understanding you sometimes, you know that?” Big Sejin said.

“I know. That’s what I think of you, too.”

It seemed this was all the arguing that I was going to see from them now. It was huge progress.

They won’t explode even if they’re left alone. I was pretty happy about this unexpected boon.

***

There was a similar process as we went into the dressing room and got ready to leave.

“Hey! Welcome back!” Raebin said.

“This stuff is good. Try it!” Cha Eugene said.

They were trying to hide it in their own way, but it was really obvious what they were thinking. I know that you fought and made up, and I feel proud to have played a part in helping you do so.

Even the staff seemed to have heard something, since they smiled as we went past. Damn it.

“Hahaha! Thanks!”

Big Sejin couldn’t seem to stop laughing. It was probably deeply embarrassing to him that everyone knew. I know since I feel that way, too.

He did say quietly to me, “Park Moondae, tell me if you ever encounter some kind of problem later. And I’d like to meet that guy you said you were going to introduce me to.”

Right. If you want to see with your own eyes, I don’t think it’s a bad idea. And he seems to have spoken with Ryu Chungwoo already. I felt more light-hearted now. I straightened up a little, then my eyes found somebody else—Seon Ahyeon. He was sitting alone in the corner, looking at something. He seemed deeply taken aback when he noticed I was looking at him.

“…? Wh-what?”

“Nothing.”

I realized it must have been pretty uncomfortable for him, since the two members who were his age had just fought and made up.

I didn’t know so many of them would end up finding out we’d fought, though. And there would be more situations in future where I’d have to leave Ahyeon out of certain conversations. I decided to put a clean end to this whole thing.

“I just wanted to say I’m sorry if we stressed you out.”

“N-no! I was worried, but… I-I knew you would make up.” He smiled faintly, then added in a quiet voice, “Uh… I-if you have any concerns… Y-you can tell me too.”

Don’t tell me he knows something?

“Thanks.”

“D-don’t mention it.” He smiled and began packing up his things. I found myself wondering.

How will he react if he ever finds out? I wasn’t sure. I hadn’t even thought that Big Sejin would believe me. In any case, I originally hadn’t meant to involve Big Sejin as much as I had, so Ahyeon wouldn’t feel all that left out. I stood beside him, picking up my stuff as well. Then I found something of Bae Sejin’s—an e-book reader, if I was not mistaken.

“This is yours, right?” I said.

“Huh? Yeah.”

I handed it to him since I’d picked it up, which lit up the screen. It was locked, but I could see the title of the book he was reading.

It’s Okay to Fight Today

I stared.

“I-I just read it as a reference!” he said.

“Right.”

It was a self-help book. He really was serious about this, wasn’t he? It would be silly if I didn’t compliment him now.

I spoke immediately. “You’re such a determined person. And you know how to bring about results.”

“…!”

Bae Sejin didn’t seem shocked to hear me say this, surprisingly enough. Instead, he muttered lightly, “Yes. It seems to be the case with producing music, too. I-I thought I would be bad at it, but it seems some things simply take the effort to try… I was surprised. I’m going to try to be a little more… proactive now.”

“That’s a great idea,” I told him.

“Yes.”

Bae Sejin seemed to have come to a new resolution in his mind. A chance for him to act on this came before long.

A few days later, we received word.

“The film company got back to us.”

“Wow!”

It seemed that our request to participate in the soundtrack for the movie based on Ruins Factory’s game had been safely delivered through T1. Chungwoo, who’d been our contact point, smiled, the expression laced with distress.

Distress?

“They like the idea.”

“No way!”

“Wow!”

Eugene, who’d been the most excited about it, whistled. Chungwoo still looked troubled, however.

“The deadline is very soon, though.”

“What?”

Don’t tell me…

“It seems they already have something going on, and we asked a bit late. If we really want to participate…”

“Yes?”

“We need to give them a demo in four days.”

“…!”

This was an absurd deadline. Everyone turned to Raebin as one, since we needed the opinion of an expert. I already knew the answer, though.

I know exactly how he’s going to react. As expected, his eyes were gleaming.

“Amazing, Moondae! You saw this coming, and that’s why you insisted we work together for three days out of seven!”

Well, think of it that way if you must.

Our hellishly busy K-pop retreat was about to resume.