Chapter 342

Chapter 342

I’d never given him my address, and he hadn’t arranged to meet with me in advance, and yet here he was standing at our dorm door. He hadn’t even rung the doorbell. Instead, I had a handful of missed calls. In addition to all this, he had a history of unhinged behavior.

F*ck. I glanced at his face again, visible through the ajar door. He remained as shockingly expressionless as before.

“Why are you here?” I asked.

“I didn’t search you out. I’m just dropping by on my way back to my dorm.”

“I never told you my address.”

“You told me last time.”

I had never told him.

“You told me which floor you were living on.”

I said nothing.

I had told him this in passing to try to ease the tension before mentioning Ryu Gunwoo back when I’d bumped into him early in the morning with his dog. And if he’d already known at that point which building I lived in, it would have been easy enough for him to guess where I lived.

You simply put two and two together, you bastard. This was the sort of habit I would expect to form in someone who’d had so many second chances thanks to his resets. He couldn’t be unhinged enough that he was unable to maneuver basic social decisions like this.

But Cheongryeo wasn’t done.

“I have some news to share with you.”

“What—”

Then he told me something I wasn’t expecting to hear.

“Kongi is sick.”

“…!”

What?

“I just left him at the vet.”

I finally understood what his strange behavior meant. He was… confused.

F*ck… I withheld a sigh, but for a different reason this time.

“Wait.”

I undid the chain, opened the door again, and stepped outside. Our dorm was the only residence on this floor, so I assumed there wouldn’t be any issues.

“How is he ill, exactly?”

“He has acute renal failure.” Cheongryeo frowned a little. “Or something very close to that, anyway. Someone who works for us… brought over some grapes and didn’t put them out of Kongi’s reach.”

I said nothing.

“This sort of thing is completely new to me.” His voice was so still and calm that it made me wonder if he’d taken a sledgehammer to the head of whoever this person was.

I massaged my brow. “Did they apologize?”

“Why does that matter? An apology won’t cause them to suffer instead of my dog.”

This was exactly the sort of thing I’d expect someone who’d made enough money to last him a lifetime to say.

So he ran off to take care of his dog first. And on his way back home, it seemed his head had become crowded with thoughts.

Is that why he called so many times? To tell me about this? I thought, guessing the reason for the missed calls.

Cheongryeo quietly continued to speak. “I won’t have any photos of Kongi to share with you for a little while. I thought I would explain in person.”

I stared at him silently.

“You like Kongi.”

Are you serious?

“You could’ve just texted.”

“Oh.”

Did you just realize that now?

He quickly changed the subject, however. “Um… This way I can tell you right away, face-to-face.”

“Or you could’ve told me over the phone.”

“I was calling just to warn you. It would have been rude to come without saying anything. It’s only right to be careful, since there are other people living in the dorm with you.”

“And… how did you know that I would be at the dorm?”

“There was no need to guess. If you weren’t here I would’ve just left.”

He was speaking utter nonsense, but somehow managing to sound very logical. He wasn’t in his right mind, that was for sure. I rubbed my eyes. This bastard seemed to be deeply on edge and needed to talk to somebody. He didn’t seem at all aware what a sorry state he was in, however.

“Your dog… will be fine.”

Cheongryeo tilted his head to the side. “Is that right? I don’t know how you can be so sure.”

“You left him with a professional vet, right? If they let you leave right away, then the dog should be fine. The vet explained the dog’s condition to you, right?”

He stared off into space for quite a while, then spoke again.

“Yes, you’re right.

I took action quickly enough to keep his kidneys from coming to too much harm. They inserted an IV without any problems, too. The chances are low, but if Kongi’s condition suddenly worsens, the vet said he would be in touch.”

“All right.”

“I have schedules starting tomorrow anyway, which means I won’t be able to take care of him at home.”

“Right.” I nodded. “Seems like leaving him at the vet is the wise thing to do. What’s the problem?”

“I’m not sure. I was just thinking that unexpected things happen so often in life.”

“Hmm…”

The look in his eyes was dark. I hoped he was only talking about the dog.

Don’t tell me he wants to do something to the person who left the grapes behind? Whichever it is, it’s probably not a good sign. I guessed that the dog was probably a very important part of his life. I hadn’t seen him so out of sorts since the main vocalist of VTIC had gone down the wrong path.

I guess the situation is similar… Something uncontrollable was threatening a part of his life that mattered to him.

I hope this doesn’t make him obsessed with the idea of resetting again. At this rate, I wouldn’t be surprised if he suggested killing Goldie #2 and seeing how things go from there—but no. I can’t allow that.

After a brief silence, I spoke. No matter what constituted the center of his life, he needed to somehow find a little bit more peace of mind.

“Accidents happen, though, no matter how you live your life. Nobody can prepare for every eventuality. So what matters is how you deal with what life throws at you. In that sense, I think you did pretty well today.”

“…!”

“You reacted quickly and kept your dog from suffering too much. And thanks to you, he’s going to recover soon, which I’m happy to hear.” I summarized what I was trying to say. “You did well.”

Cheongryeo stood staring blankly for a moment, then nodded slowly. “Right… Yes.”

“So if your dog—”

“Yes. If Kongi recovers without any problems, everything is fine.”

He still wasn’t listening.

Just as I thought. His tone seemed a little calmer though, as if he had recovered his composure at least. His expression was back to normal, too.

“Come see Kongi once he’s out of the vet’s,” he said.

“We’ll see,” I said, nodding, and he finally smiled.

There. I had no idea why I was doing this for a guy who had tried to kill me, but before I knew it, here I was, volunteering my time for no pay. That wasn’t even the worst part—I had work to do elsewhere.

My break time… I stared at the phone in my hand, then realized the missed calls and my call had been placed quite far apart.

It’s been almost 30 minutes. It seemed Cheongryeo had been standing outside the door for longer than I had realized.

By his standards, that’s an unreasonable waste of time. It was probably because he was frustrated, since I was the only one who knew why he had gotten the dog in the first place.

I debated for a moment, and said, “Do the guys in your group know?”

Cheongryeo spoke without resistance. “No. They’re not at the dorm at the moment. I sent them all to the agency. You know, because of that incident.”

“…?”

That incident?

“Oh.” Cheongryeo cocked his head. “You didn’t check the Internet today, did you?”

Cheongryeo stood there staring blankly for a moment, “I see. You didn’t ignore my calls on purpose then. You must not be looking at your phone right now, huh? You’re either preparing for a new album, or taking a break.”

Why did he keep trying to deduce what I’d been doing?

“What happened? Something serious?”

Don’t tell me it’s another news article in the general news section? I didn’t expect any other member of VTIC to make the news that way, but making that sort of assumption wasn’t always accurate.

Cheongryeo seemed unconcerned. “I wouldn’t say anything serious happened. Let’s just say we all knew this was coming.”

“What was coming?

“Huh? We all have to serve in the military, you know.”

“…!”

It felt like lightning had struck my brain.

Is it that time already…? It was a good thing for us, but it wasn’t time for them to join the military yet.

“You still have some time left, don’t you? I thought you could delay it because of some medal you received.”

“Hmm… We already agreed to join together.” Cheongryeo smiled faintly and leaned against the wall. “We all agreed that would be the best option if we want the group to last longer.”

“Oh…”

Don’t tell me…

“We’re all starting service on the same date and getting out on the same date as well.”

I had guessed correctly. The entire group was joining the military and getting out at the same time. It was unheard of. It allowed them to return to functioning as a complete group in the fastest possible time, but it was also an extreme strategy that prevented any of them from doing solo activities in the meantime. I had never guessed that an idol group would actually do something like this.

“I told you, didn’t I? That this year’s daesang would be easier.”

I nodded slowly. Now I understood.

“That means you’re joining the military too,” I said.

His loss of composure then, was partly owing to the fact that he was about to join the military, and was feeling quite disturbed about it.

“Huh? No.”

Hey!

“I’m only going for six months. Haha. That means I’ll join next year. It’s far more impactful for all of us to discharge at the same time—naturally, of course.”

His way of speaking never failed to annoy me.

“So that means I’ll be the only one in my group at the award ceremonies at the end of the year. It was reported by the press today.”

“Is that right?”

“Yes,” he said, as if this was no big deal. He did seem a little bit subdued, but not especially so.

It must be pretty chaotic on the internet right now. I tried to guess the situation, but quickly gave up.

“Doesn’t that make you feel better? A competitor that you had trouble beating is about to disappear.”

“We can beat you even if you don’t go.”

“Oh. Right.”

So you don’t believe me, is that it? F*ck.

“And how do you feel?” I asked.

“I don’t know. Not good. It’s difficult managing a hiatus like this.”

His reaction was very businesslike, more so than I’d expected. The members that made up his team were all leaving, but he didn’t seem all that perturbed on a personal level.

Hmm.

“It’s a bit intriguing, though. I’ve never gotten this far before.”

I had nothing to say to this.

“You must use the storm by yourself—” he began, but he stopped abruptly. There was a sound coming from the front door. It was the beeping sound that the door made when it opened.

“…!”

Someone poked their head out. It was Big Sejin.

“Hey, Moondae, why are you out—”

It seemed that he’d come to find me because our break was over, but I hadn’t returned. He stopped short when he spotted Cheongryeo standing nearby.

Sh*t.

“Lee Sejin.”

“Wait.”

He switched tack in an instant.

“Oh, Cheongryeo. Hello!”

“Hello.”

“I’ve heard a lot about you. What brings you here—”

“You’ve heard a lot about me?”

Big Sejin stopped short for a moment, but soon continued in the same tone. “Yes, a lot,” he said.

I heard Raebin shouting from behind the door. “Hey, is someone here?”

“Well, you see…” Big Sejin said.

“One moment.”

This would not do. I pushed Big Sejin back into the dorm and shut the door behind us. Big Sejin frowned as soon as the door closed behind him.

“Moondae, what is he doing here?”

“His dog is ill… Well, that doesn’t matter, it has nothing to do with us. I heard that VTIC is enlisting.”

“What?”

“Whoa! VTIC is joining the military already?”

“My god. Did he come here to tell you that personally?”

Based on the way Raebin had thrown himself into the entryway immediately, I realized that the situation was getting more out of hand than I had realized. Those gathered in the living room had heard Raebin’s shout.

“The military?”

“That bastard is outside right now?”

“Wow, Moondae. Did you invite him over?” Eugene said.

“Did you invite him over so that we can ask his advice regarding our album?”

“Wait,” I said, calling a halt to the conversation. I was starting to sweat. “First of all, I didn’t call him here.”

“Who did, then?”

I made an excuse, using parts of his story. I told them his dog had been in an accident, and he’d come to see me because he had no friends available to talk at the moment.

Wait, that’s actually the truth, isn’t it? I wasn’t expecting that.

“Oh, poor dog…” Eugene said.

“I see.”

The members who were under the impression I’d only gotten into a bad fight with Cheongryeo in the past seemed to accept this explanation. Bae Sejin looked ready to throw open the door and tell Cheongryeo to get lost, but Chungwoo was doing his best to soothe him. It would be fine. I put an end to the conversation immediately.

“Let me just send him off.”

“Oh, I should say goodbye as well,” said Big Sejin.

Sure, do as you please. I didn’t bother to tell Big Sejin to stay inside and opened the door again. Cheongryeo was still standing there, leaning against the wall. Why don’t you just go home already?

“So all of you are home I see. Hmm. I’m sorry if I made you uncomfortable.

“Forget it,” I said.

I was getting a headache.

“As an apology, I have something to tell you.”

“Huh?”

Cheongryeo shrugged and produced his phone. He sent me a file.

“Huh?”

“It’s a music file…” Big Sejin said.

He was right. It wasn’t a song, however.

[Mirae’s Future Radio - Spacer Kwon Heeseung’s Cut]

It was a cut from a radio broadcast that Goldie #2 had appeared on.