Chapter 46: It's a Problem Because It's Too Soft
I was worried that he might have to be taken to the hospital, but thankfully, Junseo hyung quickly regained consciousness.
Of course, just waking up didn’t mean his condition was good.
When I entered the practice room, Ha Junseo was sitting against the wall, his face pale as a sheet.
"Hyung, are you okay?"
"Uh... yeah. I’m fine. Can you give me some water?"
I could tell he was trying to act fine, but it was obvious to me.
I handed him the water bottle that was on the windowsill, and Ha Junseo smiled and thanked me.
Gulp, gulp-
He drank the water quickly, trying to catch his breath, but his complexion still didn’t improve.
The other trainees who had rushed over after hearing the news of him collapsing gathered around.
Ha Junseo smiled awkwardly, looking a bit burdened by the attention.
"I’m really fine. Everyone go back to practicing."
Since he said he was fine, I couldn’t just stand back and watch idly.
The trainees, who had been peeking from a distance, cheered him on with a shout of "Fighting!" and returned to their positions.
"Hyung, take care of your health!"
"Junseo, get some rest."
"Yeah, we’re going in."
After the crowd left, only familiar faces remained.
Jin Sehyun, who had run out to call for staff, returned with a worried expression.
It seemed that the shock from earlier hadn’t worn off yet, and his face still looked serious.
"……."
"See? I told you I’m fine."
Ha Junseo awkwardly tried to ease the frozen atmosphere with a smile.
"I guess I practiced too much. Ugh, am I getting old? A year, just a year makes a difference, huh? Haha…."
It had happened during the Betters practice.
It seemed he had been pushing himself, and it had finally caught up to him.
I had heard he was practicing day and night, so if he had collapsed in the middle of practice like this, his condition must have been serious.
Honestly, I wanted him to go to the hospital right away.
The person involved didn’t seem to have any intention of doing that, though.
Ha Junseo, still looking at Jin Sehyun, spoke cautiously. His personality seemed to weigh on him, as he felt he had caused trouble for the team.
"I should have managed my condition better. Sorry."
Jin Sehyun frowned as he looked at Ha Junseo, who had his head bowed.
"Is that really important right now?"
"Well… it’s a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, you know?"
"Hyung."
Obviously, there was no way Jin Sehyun would have responded kindly.
"Sigh…."
Jin Sehyun ruffled his hair with his hand and let out a sigh.
"Next mission is important, of course it is. It’s a matter of life for both you and me."
"……."
"But I’m not the kind of person who would drag a collapsing person to practice."
He must have been worried, being the one closest to him.
It was obvious that Jin Sehyun wasn’t comfortable seeing Ha Junseo visibly wasting away.
I knew Ha Junseo well.
He was the type to be more sensitive to others' struggles, but he never took care of his own body and mind.
Sometimes, the responsibility of being a leader weighed more heavily on him.
I knew that even now, and in the future, he would still be like that, and that made me feel more sorry for him.
I looked at Ha Junseo and said a few words.
"Please, rest."
"You really need to rest."
He wouldn’t think about getting proper sleep, and he was drowning himself in caffeine, so it was no surprise that he collapsed.
It seemed that Jin Sehyun thought the same way and started scolding him. Of course, I joined in.
"I knew it from when you drank that deadly coffee."
"……."
"You literally forced yourself awake with caffeine. Hyung, at this point, you’re a necromancer. What, are you a skeleton now?"
"Do you even know if that water you drank was water or coffee?"
"...It’s not that bad."
"At this point, I bet your blood runs on caffeine."
I couldn’t help but agree with that point.
Ha Junseo, who had been keeping himself alive with coffee instead of water, couldn’t even argue back against Jin Sehyun’s blunt comment.
"Okay, okay... I got it…."
"If you collapse again, I’ll be watching with my eyes wide open."
"Ugh…."
"I’ll be watching even in the middle of the night!"
"...I told you, I got it."
At this point, Ha Junseo had no choice but to listen.
After all the scolding from Jin Sehyun about needing to go to the emergency room for a check-up, Ha Junseo just nodded politely with his hands together, looking like a child being scolded by a teacher.
He looked like a kid who had just been scolded by a teacher.
Since there were medical staff nearby, they would take care of him whether he wanted it or not.
There probably wouldn’t be any big issues.
We couldn’t stop him from going back to practicing after going to the hospital, but I figured that the scolding had been enough for now.
"Hyung, let’s go."
"Really, go to the hospital. You need to go!"
Screeeech.
Bang-
With that, Jin Sehyun closed the door with a serious face and walked out.
"……."
I followed him out and stood by the window, feeling the wind.
"Phew."
The wind was colder than usual today.
Jin Sehyun, with a frown, stood next to me and stared out the window. After watching Ha Junseo collapse right in front of him, it seemed like everything else was hitting him all at once.
Jin Sehyun sighed deeply and quietly spoke.
"Ugh. This is ridiculous…."
"What’s ridiculous?"
"Hyung, who practiced to the point of collapse. He’s a fool, but I think he’s sincere, too."
Honestly, who here isn’t sincere?
The debut they had longed for was so close.
They had come this far, running toward it.
There were more than a few trainees who burned their will as if it was their last chance, not even knowing they were destroying their own bodies.
Seo Ian was the same, and so was I.
You don’t get two chances.
We had to survive and endure here to stand on the stage we had dreamed of for so long.
But then…
Ha Junseo...
Ha Junseo honestly didn’t know.
I knew he worked hard, but I never realized how desperately he must have been.
After all, he was a debut member of Stardust.
That thought had been engraved in my mind, so I never paid much attention to it.
He was probably facing an unknown future.
So, I overlooked the fact that he had no choice but to be so desperate.
It makes sense, he must have been crazy to debut just like me.
“Right.”
I let out a hollow laugh and took a candy out of my pocket.
It was a sweet strawberry-flavored candy. The artificial strawberry scent quickly spread in my mouth.
I rolled the candy around in my mouth as I sighed.
“It’s not easy, right?”
“Has it ever been easy?”
I turned my head and looked at Jin Sehyun, who mumbled in self-mockery.
A natural-born main vocalist. He sang well, and his visuals were perfect.
His personality was straightforward, the type who wouldn’t seem stressed about anything.
Even someone like him, who had it all, must have been sincere.
Ha Junseo, Jin Sehyun.
Everyone.
“......”
When our eyes met, Jin Sehyun’s eyebrows twitched.
“What are you thinking about?”
Just...
I grinned faintly and answered his question.
“A lot of thoughts.”
010-2xxx-7xxx.
That early morning.
Ha Junseo, instead of insisting on his way, went to the hospital on his own, and I returned to the dorm and stared at the meaningless numbers.
It was Lee Doyeon’s phone number.
“......”
There was a sure way to win first place.
If I made Kevin’s issue public, it would end cleanly.
It wasn’t just any issue, it was the drug scandal of a trainee who hadn’t even debuted.
If the news broke before the concept evaluation, the Betters team would suffer a huge blow.
And, there were people I knew in that team.
Were we close?
If you ask, I’d shake my head.
In a survival program, who is really close?
True friendships are only formed when there’s room for them.
Once the debut team is decided and we become the same team, we might get closer.
But right now...
They were just people I felt drawn to.
In a world where people like Kevin and Lee Dokyung existed, those who didn’t use their sharp minds for devious purposes. Honest, down-to-earth people.
And to take first place, even at the expense of those people...
I squeezed my eyes shut and let out a deep sigh.
“Haa...”
Suddenly, Ha Junseo’s words echoed in my head.
‘Seohan is too soft, that’s the problem~.’
At the time, I thought it was complete nonsense.
But now, as I reflected on those words, I chuckled softly.
“Right. Too soft, that’s the problem.”
Even as I said that, my hands were already moving.
“......”
I fumbled through my pocket and pulled out my phone.
I had already said something, so it was up to me to clean up the mess.
Stopping it before the article came out this week was the priority. Lee Doyeon wouldn’t like it, but she wasn’t the type to act hastily just because of a one-week difference.
I quickly typed on the keyboard with one hand.
The matter we talked about, let’s postpone it to March 8th.
It was right after the third evaluation.
It should be fine by then.
Ding-
Right after sending the message, Lee Doyeon’s reply came almost simultaneously, but I didn’t read it.
Instead, I just gritted my teeth and stared straight ahead into the empty space.
I wasn’t giving up.
Let’s fight this properly, without shortcuts.
Because, after all, I was going to take first place.
“Alright, let’s give it a try.”
The filming set, with banners rippling like waves.
The audience, who had been waiting in line since early morning, was now exhausted, both physically and mentally.
But now, the wait was almost over.
The red light on the camera began to flash.
College student Jo Yoonseo, with an excited expression, tightly gripped the banner.
She had won the lottery through fierce competition. She skipped her afternoon classes to follow her fan to the filming location.
This was a chance to see Ha Junseo in person. Her heart raced, almost feeling like it might explode.
Jo Yoonseo stood on tiptoe and checked the view.
She was in.
“What? It’s closer than I thought?”
“See? It’s actually a pretty good spot.”
“Wow, I think I might faint already. What do I do?”
“I don’t know. If Do Seohan comes here, he’s gonna collapse on the spot.”
Her fan, who loved Do Seohan, had been humming the released “Touch Me” (The Theme Song) on the way here without stopping.
She clasped her hands together and began praying earnestly.
“He’s definitely gonna come out doing something super cute, right? Please, beret.”
“Stop chanting about that beret already.”
“Please, Seohan. A woman is dying here…”
Jo Yoonseo laughed at her fan’s antics and focused the telescope.
It was a high-powered telescope from a famous brand she had bought with great determination recently.
At this distance, she could probably see with her naked eyes, but she wanted to capture Ha Junseo in high-quality, high-magnification.
Just when she was fiddling with the telescope in a daze...
The people in the front row suddenly screamed, like dolphins.
“Ahhh!”
Jo Yoonseo lifted her head in surprise.
“Hah, what’s going on?”
“It’s Han Dawon.”
“Wow, crazy. He really is an actor. He’s ridiculously handsome…”
Han Dawon, the top actor who’s still appearing in cable dramas.
As his pure, warm face appeared on the monitor, fans screamed, forgetting about their bias.
“Actor, please debut with us…”
“Damn it. Can’t I vote for Han Dawon!”
“Is it wrong if Han Dawon debuts?”
“…Wow.”
Following those fans, Jo Yoonseo snapped out of her daze.
It was because, as soon as Han Dawon began his introduction, the broadcast started.
“Hello, the heart of the universe. Welcome, patrons, to the Stardust World. I’m MC Han Dawon.”
“Waaahhh!”
“Ahhh!”
Han Dawon smiled and waved his hand toward the audience.
His hosting skills, which had improved during the Stardust Project, were quite refined even in front of a large crowd.
Han Dawon checked the script before continuing the show.
“Today, we’re at the last hurdle before the finals, the concept evaluation.”
The result of the third evaluation will be determined by 70% live audience votes and 30% professional judges’ votes.
This revealed the reason why the trainees had been practicing so intensely for the past two weeks.
“The team that wins first place in the concept evaluation will receive an enormous benefit in the ranking ceremony. They will receive a 100-point bonus.”
A 100-point benefit in the 1000-point system based on the converted votes.
It was a surprisingly large number, and sighs came from all directions.
“100 points?”
“Ugh, this rule is so frustrating…”
After all the effort spent on voting, are they really going to turn everything around with just the results of the third evaluation?
At this point, the fans’ eyes were burning with determination, thinking, ‘I must make my bias take first place.’
Jo Yoonseo glanced at the voting remote in her hand and steeled herself again.
She would only vote for Betters.
Han Dawon smiled as he watched the fans fiddling with their remotes with determined looks.
“Alright, then let’s begin the third evaluation, the concept evaluation, with 300 members of the live audience.”
“Waaahhh!”
“The first team to perform on stage is…”
Who could it be?
Jo Yoonseo swallowed her saliva and focused on Han Dawon’s words.
“It’s the Touch Me team.”
Wow, starting off strong.
A glamorous lineup that could rival Betters.
A team with a good overall balance, including Do Seohan and Cha Seongbin.
Naturally, this was the biggest target for Jo Yoonseo.
She bit her lower lip tightly as she looked down at the remote control.
“Ahhh!”
“Waaahhh!”
The roar of the crowd shook the stage for a brief moment.
Then, as if by an unspoken agreement, it gradually started to fade.
At that moment.
Click-
All the lights in the studio, including the stage, went out at once.
It was a complete blackout.
“……”
In the silent studio, only the fans' breathing could be heard. Jo Yoonseo’s fan, Deokchin, held onto the banner tightly and covered her mouth.
‘Now, it really begins.’
The long-awaited first stage of "Touch Me," which had been kept secret.
Finally, a small light turned on in the silence.
And then.
Do Seohan, wearing a blue jacket, shone under the spotlight.
Holding a rose in one hand, he gazed wistfully into the air.
Thud-
The rose petals fluttered and fell.
“Huh?”
His face, brightly lit, had a slightly different image from before.
It had become sharper, but still held the youthful look fitting his age.
His pure visual shone even brighter against the soft lighting.
‘Is he crazy?’
As Jo Yoonseo almost wavered for a moment, staring at the second-place visual vote winner,
Boom boom.
The sound of a heart-pounding beat started, and the song began.
Still looking at the empty side of the stage, she couldn’t help but let out an exclamation.
Could this setup be...
“Is this a solo performance?”
It was the solo performance of the center during the introduction part.