Chapter 259: Santa, Please Take Care of Rudolph (1)
A Rudolph strike declaration.
With a serious face, Kang Siwoo received the list of runaway Rudolphs.
As the leader Santa, he had to capture two Rudolphs and return them to Santa Village. The faces he needed to capture… were familiar.
Kang Siwoo swallowed dryly and spoke.
“Cha Seongbin, Do Seohan… where am I supposed to find them?”
If Seoul were a small place it would be one thing. It felt like searching for a needle in the ocean, so he asked—but a staff member grabbed the microphone and answered.
[Here is a location hint for the Rudolphs.]
A staff member from the Self-content Team ran over and placed an old cellphone in his hand.
“It’s a song hint. Please listen to it.”
“Ah, yes. Thank you.”
As instructed by the Youngest Writer, he plugged in the earphones, and a familiar song began playing.
At the same time, Kang Siwoo’s eyes widened.
Wake up and unfold your dream
You can do it
Take me take me
Reach out your hand
The one who believes in me is you
So don’t hesitate
Catch me
“Huh?”
Of course he recognized it from the very first line.
He had heard the song hundreds, thousands of times. Even now, his body remembered the choreography before his mind did.
Kang Siwoo lightly swayed his shoulders and muttered.
“This is our signal song, isn’t it?”
The Stardust Project Signal Song <Catch Me> had been given as the hint.
A few locations came to mind, but the first place that popped up was naturally the broadcasting station.
“From what I can tell, it might be the TBN Broadcasting Station….”
While Kang Siwoo was thinking, a photo suddenly arrived on the phone the production team had given him.
Ding.
The moment he turned toward the notification sound, a small laugh escaped him.
“What is this photo?”
It was Do Seohan crouching in front of a flowerpot.
Apparently he had even found a deer headband from somewhere and was wearing it.
An instinctive smile appeared on Kang Siwoo’s face.
He quickly regained his composure and looked back at the camera.
“Hmm. Overall, the place looks familiar, so I think it’s the floor where our Music Broadcast waiting rooms are.”
It was just a guess, but he would only know for sure after going there.
“Then to capture Do Seohan….”
Kang Siwoo nodded slightly.
“I’ll head out now.”
---
“Santa is Siwoo-hyung?”
TBN Broadcasting Station, 3rd floor.
The sudden news early in the morning made his pupils shake violently.
The Rudolph headband on his ears wobbled nervously back and forth.
He was being chased—and the one chasing him was Kang Siwoo.
Wasn’t that basically a horror game?
“If Siwoo-hyung is coming to catch me and Seongbin-hyung….”
I fell into thought and lightly bit my lower lip.
Right now I was in the same broadcasting station as Cha Seongbin.
“Does that mean we don’t know who he’ll catch first?”
“Yes. He’ll probably come after receiving a hint… but we don’t know what the hint will be!”
One of the writers assigned to the broadcasting station answered with sparkling eyes.
Cha Seongbin was hiding on the 5th floor, and I was hiding on the 3rd floor.
But there was one restriction.
Rudolphs couldn’t leave their assigned spot without a special reason.
That meant I’d be stuck here until Kang Siwoo arrived at TBN Broadcasting Station.
“…What if I become a tree?”
Earlier I saw a greenhouse garden area in the middle. If I hid among the trees, maybe I wouldn’t be noticed.
…So I awkwardly tried to hide among them.
“How is it? Do I look like a person?”
Instead of answering, the Camera Director shook his head vigorously.
“He’s definitely going to search here too, right…?”
Siwoo-hyung was extremely meticulous.
Even though the 3rd floor was quite large, he would probably search every corner.
“Wait a moment.”
While I was worrying with a dark expression about where to hide, some savior-like news arrived.
[If a Rudolph succeeds in the mission, they may leave their current area.]
“…!”
My eyes widened.
“What’s the mission?”
If it wasn’t a cooperative mission and I could do it alone, I was confident I could finish it quickly.
“It’s a pronunciation mission… you just have to read a long sentence without making any mistakes.”
“When I was young, my dream was to become an announcer.”
“Wasn’t it a firefighter?”
“…Pardon?”
That rumor reached here too?!
“Ah—no, it’s not.”
The Youngest Writer waved her hands awkwardly and laughed.
I laughed along, feeling embarrassed.
“Anyway… I’m confident!”
I didn’t know when Kang Siwoo would arrive, so time was urgent.
Besides, if it was just a pronunciation mission, there was no reason for it to take long.
I clenched my fist confidently.
And then—
[Are the bean pods in the field shelled pods or unshelled pods? And if they are shelled pods what of it, and if they are unshelled pods what of it…]
“Bean… bean… bean po—wait. Let me try again.”
“Yes!”
“So if the unsh— unsh….”
“Again!”
“If it’s a shelled pod then what….”
“Again!!”
I definitely started with confidence.
“…This is an emergency.”
Somehow I had turned into an idiot.
---
At the same time, Cha Seongbin was looking out the window on the 5th floor.
The car that had just parked outside looked suspiciously familiar.
He couldn’t check the license plate from here, but judging by the model, it looked like Manager Lee Jaeyoon’s vehicle.
“Looks like Kang Siwoo arrived.”
Cha Seongbin quickly closed the window and turned around.
He had to escape this building before Kang Siwoo came upstairs.
He handed the mission paper to the staff.
[Mission: Stack ten erasers at once without knocking them down]
“I completed the mission, so I can go now, right?”
“Yes, you may leave.”
There had been some twists and turns, but he successfully completed the mission before Kang Siwoo arrived.
Thanks to that, he could move to the next location.
Cha Seongbin quickly gathered his belongings and went down the stairs.
After leaving the 5th floor, his heart felt lighter.
“Did Seohan finish?”
Maybe I should call the maknae who’s probably struggling.
Cha Seongbin smiled and took out his phone.
The recipient was Do Seohan.
Fortunately, the call was answered immediately.
“Hey, Seohan.”
“Yes, hyung.”
It had already been about thirty minutes, so his mission must have been almost finished.
“Did you finish your mission?”
“Hyung, that bean pod thing…”
“…?”
“Whether it’s an unshelled bean pod or a shelled bean pod… no, wait….”
“What are you saying?”
“How do you pronounce this?”
Cha Seongbin widened his eyes and mouthed silently.
‘Is that really his mission?’
Apparently it really was, because a distressed voice muttered from the phone.
For Seohan’s sake, Cha Seongbin shared what he had just confirmed.
“Emergency.”
“Hey, Siwoo-hyung was in the lobby earlier.”
“…What? Really?”
“He’s probably almost upstairs by now.”
Right then, silence fell on the other end of the phone.
The maknae who had been struggling with shelled pods and unshelled pods suddenly became quiet.
Cha Seongbin rolled his eyes and asked quietly.
“Why?”
“……”
“He really went there?”
“……”
“Ah, looks like he did.”
And then—
“AAAAAH!”
A short scream suddenly rang through the phone.
The sound was so loud he quickly moved the phone far away.
“Wow! Wow! Wow! What the— AAAAA!”
“S-Seohan…? Are you okay?”
“Wah!”
Thud.
Crash, bang.
Something sounded like it was grabbed.
“…Oh dear.”
Cha Seongbin clicked his tongue and shook his head.
---
[Q: You captured the runaway Rudolph. What are your plans moving forward?]
“Ah, there are still many Rudolphs who haven’t returned home yet. As Santa’s representative, I’ll do my best to ensure their quick return.”
[Q: Is the one next to you a Rudolph?]
“Yes, that’s correct.”
[Q: Does the Rudolph wish to return to Santa Village?]
“Yes, he looks very happy.”
“AAAAH….”
Dangling.
Seohan was shaking his head violently while being held by the back of his collar in Kang Siwoo’s hand.
“I’m being dragged away after getting caught by him….”
“Oh my. The Rudolph can speak. That shouldn’t be possible.”
“Let me go!”
Kang Siwoo released the maknae at that point.
Seohan fixed his deer headband neatly and checked the camera.
Seeing that, Kang Siwoo muttered in disbelief.
“A Rudolph that’s aware of the camera….”
“But what happens to a captured Rudolph?”
The Rudolph was curious about his future fate.
At that, the Youngest Writer answered with a smile.
“If you return to the company, you can have dinner at the company cafeteria….”
Doubles’ food was actually pretty good.
“But if you escape from Santa Village, you’ll dine at a fancy restaurant….”
“Oh! Do Seohan is running!”
Not a chance.
No one could outrun Kang Siwoo in a chase.
Before I could escape, my collar was grabbed again.
“Ah!”
But like in any variety show, simply returning to the company right away wouldn’t be entertaining.
After thinking for a moment, Kang Siwoo grinned.
“But honestly, there’s another Rudolph I want to catch.”
“Cha Seongbin…?”
Our dependable eldest hyung, Cha Seongbin.
We always wanted to tease him, but he rarely fell for it.
Kang Siwoo nodded.
“Seongbin-hyung is getting older, so I don’t think it’s good for him to eat too far away.”
“Pfft.”
At Kang Siwoo’s shameless remark, Seohan bit his lower lip.
“I agree.”
“Seohan, want to make a deal?”
“Huh?”
Seohan’s eyes sparkled.
“If you tell me where Seongbin-hyung is… I’ll give you thirty minutes.”
“Thirty minutes where you won’t catch me?”
“That’s right.”
If I mastered the bean pod pronunciation in thirty minutes, I could move to another location.
It was an offer too tempting to refuse.
But—
“Still… there’s something called loyalty….”
Seohan tilted his head slightly.
“Is it okay for me to just tell you where he is?”
“Yes!”
The Youngest Writer smiled brightly and added.
“Yes, it’s allowed.”
“Oh, it’s allowed~.”
“Do you know where Seongbin-hyung went?”
“But if I just tell you like that… would it really be fun…?”
“It would be very fun.”
“Very fun~.”
Honestly, the corners of his mouth had already been rising for a while.
Of course—
“We’re survival-show idols.”
“Our brotherhood is almost too good.”
Seohan nodded and slowly stroked his chin.
“Ah, so where Seongbin-hyung went is…”
He had never actually hesitated.
With sparkling eyes, Seohan asked Kang Siwoo,
“Should we call him?”
“That’s a great idea.”