Chapter 292: He's Unnecessarily Quick on the Uptake
Manager Lee Jaeyoon, who had watched over Stardust ever since their debut, had recently developed a new concern.
He had never been the affectionate type to begin with, and he wasn't very good at expressing his emotions either...
But he genuinely cared about the members of the team he managed.
Perhaps because he had watched them grow up from such a young age, there were times they felt like his own children...
There wasn't a single one of them who didn't worry him in some way.
Even so, Seohan had always been one of the members who caused the least concern.
A member with social skills so polished it almost seemed as if he were living his second life, and who always kept up with every practice physically.
The youngest, who had always listened so well, had been getting hurt one way or another lately.
He hadn't been that shocked when Seohan was injured during the music video shoot.
But then came the unexpected attack by a sasaeng, followed by Seohan collapsing for three days.
As Stardust's manager, his heart had nearly dropped out of his chest more times than he could count.
Because of that, checking the members' complexions the moment he arrived at the waiting room had become his routine over the past several days.
After finishing a conversation with the Self-content Behind-the-Scenes Team, Manager Lee Jaeyoon finally arrived at the waiting room.
“Oh, Sehyun.”
“Yes?”
He walked over to Jin Sehyun, who was sitting on the sofa swinging his legs.
“How's Seohan feeling?”
Manager Lee Jaeyoon casually looked over the members as he checked their condition.
It didn't seem like anything unusual had happened.
Then an unexpected answer came from Jin Sehyun.
“He was fine. I'm not sure about now.”
“Why? Is he sick somewhere?”
“Not exactly....”
Jin Sehyun shook his head before gesturing toward the wardrobe room with his eyes.
Crash, bang—
Suspicious noises echoed from inside.
Thud!
Manager Lee Jaeyoon blinked.
For some reason, he felt like he already knew what was happening.
“Ah.”
Surely not.
Jin Sehyun cleared his throat before calmly adding,
“He's getting physical therapy in there.”
...And that was how things ended up.
At the same time.
Inside the wardrobe room.
Seohan let out a short scream while wildly flailing both arms.
“Aah!”
“I didn't hit you....”
He hadn't hit him.
He was only gripping the back of his neck.
“Haa....”
Do Seojun let out a deep sigh as he firmly held Seohan by the nape of his neck.
No matter how much he tried to filter his words right now, nothing nice wanted to come out.
“There are things you can hide and things you can't... Are you messing with me?”
“I was going to tell you after the concert.... If I'd said it beforehand, you would've stopped me.”
“Of course I would've.”
He could only say that calmly because the concert had already ended.
Even during rehearsal, he had barely managed to suppress the urge to rush in and stop everything.
And how could any family stay calm after hearing their only younger sibling had collapsed in a foreign country?
When he first saw the news, he had honestly felt some inexplicable PTSD....
Hmm.
What was that about again?
Do Seojun tilted his head at the abruptly interrupted memory.
Come to think of it, there wasn't really anything in his life that should've caused PTSD.
No one in the family had ever been seriously ill....
That's strange....
When Do Seojun simply frowned without saying anything, Seohan looked at him curiously and tilted his head.
Meeting that obvious stare, Do Seojun finally came back to his senses.
“Hmm?”
“What are you looking at?”
“Is your personality seriously for real...?”
Seohan frowned in disgust, but it didn't affect Do Seojun in the slightest.
Tsk.
Clicking his tongue lightly, Do Seojun spoke.
“Whatever. As long as you didn't cross the River Styx.”
Still, seeing some color back in Seohan's face was reassuring.
He'd thought the kid was only insisting he was fine, but he didn't seem to be hurting anywhere.
Even if he hadn't exactly liked what Seohan had been doing lately...
He only had one blood-related younger brother.
It would be a problem if he died young.
Naturally, he couldn't help worrying.
After confirming Seohan was alright, there wasn't much left to say.
“......”
Several seconds of silence followed.
The two simply stared awkwardly at one another.
Then, Do Seohan changed the subject first.
“Ah, by the way....”
After hesitating for a moment, Seohan carefully asked,
“Hyung... Have you ever had any strange dreams or anything?”
“What are you talking about?”
A dream?
The question was so sudden that it caught him completely off guard.
Slowly stroking his chin, Do Seojun thought for a moment.
Ah.
“There was one.”
The serious answer widened Seohan's eyes.
His voice grew slightly tense.
“What was it?”
But—
“A dream where I beat you up.”
“......!”
Whoosh—
Before Do Seojun had even finished speaking, Seohan sprang to his feet.
Then, before Do Seojun could even stand up—
He kicked open the waiting room door and bolted out.
Whoosh—
As far as escaping speed went...
It was honestly impressive.
“Wow....”
Looking at the empty space where only an afterimage seemed to remain, Do Seojun let out an incredulous laugh.
This is exactly what's wrong with youngest siblings.
They're unnecessarily quick on the uptake....
[Was it real that Do Seojun came to Stardust's LA concert?]
Why is Seohan's brother here?
Did he seriously fly all the way to Los Angeles just to see his younger brother?
(Photo)
(Photo)
No matter how you look at it, it's real.
He's even proudly waving a banner lol.
It's true lol. I seriously laughed for ages after seeing those pictures. Why are you here? lol
└ Milky-white Do Seohan lmao. These brothers are hilarious.
└ You reap what you sow. They definitely inherited comedy genes.
└ That's all well and good, but Do Seojun didn't exactly plant Seohan, did he?
└ LOLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL
└ Their parents just took mysterious collateral damage lol.
└ Most brothers don't plant their younger siblings—they pull them out(?)
└ 2222 I get pulled out every single day.
But isn't Mr. Do Seojun currently a producer? Why's he over there?
└ I heard he quit.
└ ?????
└ No lol. He's still working there lol.
└ LMAO Why are you making the guy unemployed all of a sudden? lol
└ Honestly, the crazier part is that he used annual leave to fly all the way to Los Angeles lol.
It's Universe Dust's overseas concert, and all my Mutuals on JjaekJjaek are talking about him lol. I'm convinced that man has some kind of supernatural romantic aura....
└ FR. When his face appeared on the giant screen, I literally gasped because he's so ridiculously handsome.
└ Please, I'm begging you—become an actor....
└ Seriously. That face not being in entertainment is a social loss....
[Our MamHamjji thankfully looks completely fine.]
I knew he'd be healthy...!!
I trusted him...!!
But Doubles kept refusing to release any updates, so I was worried sick....
He absolutely destroyed the concert stage, his live vocals were incredible, and judging by the overseas concert clips, his condition looks amazing.
I'm so happy just seeing Seohan's face again. 😭 He even appeared with his brother, so he really seems okay. 😭 Seohan, don't get sick. 😭😭😭
Even after getting the Private Message, my heart was still pounding, but seeing his face finally calmed me down. 😭 Still... I kind of wish he'd rest a little longer... But if I can't see him, I get anxious too... What's wrong with my heart?
└ You're just worried about him.
└ 222 That's how every Dusty feels. 😭
.
.
.
Fortunately, the fact that I had collapsed never became known to the public.
Thanks to that, my absence from the overseas schedule was simply explained as a minor incident for the sake of my mental stability.
The overseas tour had gotten off to a safe start, and Stardust temporarily returned to South Korea for a break between schedules.
To be honest....
I hadn't exactly stayed sane throughout the tour.
If the members hadn't constantly looked after me, I honestly felt like I would've caused some kind of accident.
That was how absent-minded I'd been over the past two weeks.
"When we get back to Korea, don't even think about taking on any schedules. Stay in the dorm, got it...."
Cha Seongbin had repeatedly told me that through gritted teeth.
To keep that promise, I stayed off-screen except for the group livestream.
And so—
Day three of my boring stay-at-home life.
I finally left the dorm to take care of a promise I'd been putting off.
The destination was Doubles' first-floor brunch café.
Since it was an awkward hour, the café was completely empty.
A familiar face sitting by the window waved at me.
“Oh, Mr. Seohan! Over here!”
The one smiling brightly by the window was Kim Woochan from The Way.
Sometimes, seeing that face stay so relaxed no matter what happened made me a little jealous.
Chuckling softly, I took a seat.
“I came back last week.”
“Ah, I see. But....”
Completely unaware of what was going through my mind, Kim Woochan tilted his head with a smile.
“Who would've thought the day would come when my junior would ask to see me first?”
Usually, Kim Woochan was always the one approaching me.
From my perspective, I simply felt awkward about calling over a senior I wasn't entirely comfortable with.
Apparently, though, he'd been a little dissatisfied about that.
Smiling sheepishly, I spoke.
“Ah, I'm sorry.”
“I wasn't trying to get an apology~.”
The smile faded from Kim Woochan's eyes.
“Just be honest instead. Why did you ask to meet me?”
“Ah....”
While I was in Los Angeles, Kim Woochan had already explained the rough situation to me.
The Awl Incident seemed to have affected the people around me one way or another.
As a result, the abnormally elevated Synchronization level had been stabilized through data recovery.
Although I had ended up fainting during the process, thankfully nothing worse had happened....
That was everything I'd been told.
And.
The reason I had come to see Kim Woochan today was....
I let out a short sigh before speaking.
“I'm anxious.”
“Ah.”
“I'm really anxious.”
I'd already regressed.
I'd somehow ended up carrying the ridiculous title of Variable of the Universe.
I had to accomplish impossible achievements.
And every other day, someone was trying to kill me.
Whenever things like this happened, I couldn't help feeling wronged.
Was I really asking for that much?
“I don't know when I'll die, and I'm anxious about going on stage. Honestly, even sitting here drinking coffee in a café makes me wonder if a truck's suddenly going to come flying at me....”
I swallowed dryly before setting my fork down.
“If I say things like this, the members will just worry about me, so I can't really tell them.”
This was something they could never understand anyway.
Regression.
Parallel universes.
Everything connected to them.
I couldn't explain any of it.
It was a burden I had no choice but to carry by myself.
But....
There was only one person I could comfortably talk to about things like this.
Kim Woochan.
That was why I'd come here.
Now that I'd finally said it out loud...
It sounded like childish whining.
Feeling embarrassed, I hurriedly waved both hands.
“Ah, sorry. You're probably dealing with something similar yourself.”
“Why?”
“You're doing great.”
Kim Woochan answered calmly.
Chewing on a bagel, he gave a small nod.
“By the way, you charted on Billboard this time.”
“…?”
“You'll probably clear the Overseas Tour Achievement soon, won't you?”
“Huh?”
What was he talking about now?
“Ehhh?”
Seeing my bewildered face, Kim Woochan looked even more surprised than I was.
“What? You didn't know?”
“Hm?”
Only then did I notice my phone, which had been vibrating nonstop this entire time.
Bzzzz—
Hundreds of notifications were appearing at the top of the screen in real time.
At first I thought some sasaeng had decided to terrorize me first thing in the morning....
But it was our group chat.
[Victorious Sehyun: Do Seohan why aren't you checking your messages?]
[Junseo hyung: Where'd this kid go? lol]
[Choco Haim: Did Do Seohan go to the library?]
[Choco Haim: Where did DoBookstore go?!]
[Cha Seongbin hyung: Please read them~~~~ Please~~~]
[Victorious Sehyun: Hey Do Seohan answer your phone already!!]
[Junseo hyung: Huh?]
[Victorious Sehyun: Oh, he saw them.]
[Junseo hyung: Seohan-ah. (Excited Bear Emoji)]
[Seo Ian hyung: Seohan-ah! Seohan-ah!!]
[Victorious Sehyun: Hey Do Seohan.]
[Victorious Sehyun: Don't be shocked when you hear this.]
[Victorious Sehyun: We got No. 17 on Billboard.]
Kim Woochan smiled slyly.
“Congratulations on reaching No. 17 on Billboard.”