Episode 108. Wrapping Up Work (3)
The sound had come from a small plaza where the fountain ran in the summer.
There, Choi Jeho had dipped his feet into a tiny waterway.
Wait.
A waterway?
"Just where are you right now?"
"It was in the water, so what was I supposed to do?"
In Choi Jeho's hand was a ziplock bag dripping water. Through the transparent plastic, a neatly folded note could be seen.
"So you just went right in there?"
"They said it's where kids play in the water, so it's fine. And I took off my shoes and socks before going in."
Checking whether it was a restricted area was important, of course.
Still, though. Weren't his feet cold?
I pulled a handkerchief from my pants pocket and handed it to him.
"How did you find this, Jeho-hyung? That's amazing."
"I just saw it."
Choi Jeho answered nonchalantly, but saying he "just saw it" didn't do justice to the poor conditions. For one thing, it was dark, and with the fountain turned off, almost no light reached the waterway.
Honestly, it was easier to assume this guy's instincts were on the level of a wild animal.
We moved under a light and unfolded the note Choi Jeho had fished out.
Inside, it was written like this:
[Come to the place where we all smiled and took a picture together!
Don't be late!]
"Does it mean the place where we took the thumbnail photo?"
"Isn't it where we took the group selfie earlier?"
Jeong Seongbin and Gang Giyeon voiced their opinions in turn.
But something felt off. That is, it was too ambiguous to call it a specifically strange point.
*Don't they usually write these things in colloquial speech?*
"The place where we smiled and took a picture."
I sounded it out in my head several times, but it hardly rolled off the tongue. Maybe if it were "a place where we laughed and took pictures," but...
In cases like this, it was one of two things.
Either it was nothing and I was overthinking, or it was intentional.
Several scenes flashed through my mind.
But there was no benefit in overestimating myself, so I called upon Lee Cheonghyeon, Spark's official walking encyclopedia.
"Cheonghyeon, do you remember what the scene was for the third-chorus hook of our 『With List』 MV?"
"The third-chorus hook?"
If my memory served, the backgrounds for 『Like a Dreamy Breeze』, 『But Just Once』, and 『Chatting About Pleasant Things』 were all studios where individual member cuts were filmed.
And in the next line...
"'Putting on a happy smile'... a Ferris wheel came out!"
Lee Cheonghyeon, realizing the intent behind my question, said with a brightened expression.
At the same time, I turned to the other members and shouted.
"You heard him? Everyone run!"
* * *
The distance from the garden to the Ferris wheel was quite far. Thanks to that, we had to run until we were gasping for breath.
And so, like a signal flare splitting the night sky, we dashed through the amusement park.
"Juu!"
"Hyung! Guys...!"
We were able to reunite, without tears, with Park Juu, who had been waiting alone in front of the Ferris wheel for two hours.
"You must've been cold waiting until sunset."
"No, I'm fine."
"What do you mean, fine! Come here. Your maknae will give you a hug."
Park Juu received attentive protection from Jeong Seongbin and Lee Cheonghyeon as he joined the center of the group.
"Then is our mission a success?"
Gang Giyeon neatly confirmed whether we had succeeded. Really, everyone had clear roles except me.
"Before that! Everyone, what was the mission success condition?"
"Wasn't it finding Park Juu before 8 o'clock?"
Choi Jeho placed a hand on top of Park Juu's head and asked back.
It was then.
A bell tolled from somewhere. Like the hourly chime at a cathedral or church.
At the same time, a sound like something tearing through the sky was heard.
"Hyung, behind you!"
In the sky behind us, grand fireworks were blooming beyond the Ferris wheel.
'You asked what I want to do when we go to an amusement park?'
'Yeah. You're the protagonist of this MV, so speak your mind freely.'
'We already talked about riding the attractions... If I choose something else I want to do with our members...'
What Park Juu in the MV had wanted to see with his friends...
'I want all six of us to gather and watch fireworks.'
And the fireworks that Park Juu outside the MV had wanted to watch with the members unfolded like magic.
'Even the me in the MV... I think I'd want that too.'
Colorful shooting stars poured down from the night sky.
It was an enormous, beautiful sight, so much so that you would mistake the staff's voices congratulating us on our mission success and the end of promotions as coming from far, far away.
And so, our second round of promotions came to an end.
* * *
Once the 『With List』 promotions ended, UA granted us our first vacation.
Since entering UA as a trainee, there hadn't been a single day in a year and three months that I'd rested from practice. Tears of gratitude trickled down inside my heart.
Even at Hanpyeong Industries, I'd never used up all my annual leave. But having no vacation at all was a different matter.
I wanted to apply right then to the Ministry of Employment and Labor for the establishment of an idol occupational code for the sake of maintaining the K-pop industry, along with the introduction of mandatory vacation pay. But since they'd let us rest for a whole week straight, I'd endure.
"It's been so long since we've had a whole week off; what is everyone going to do?"
Jeong Seongbin asked with an excited face, as if he couldn't remember the last time he'd rested in succession. Yeah, someone who'd worked as hard as you should leave by now too.
"I'm going home."
"I'll probably go home too."
The dance line's destination was the same as during the holidays.
Come to think of it, these guys had all sorts of scandals blow up, but never club or casino scandals. Should I call it a relief that I didn't have to worry about them wandering into trouble?
Ah, there was someone whose destination had changed from the holidays.
"Me too! This time... I'm going to visit home."
Park Juu had decided to visit his aunt's house during this vacation. I could almost hear his aunt's voice over the phone saying she'd made galbi-jjim and was waiting.
For the record, Park Juu had suggested I go with him to his aunt's house. But I refused.
'My aunt said to bring you along, Hyung...'
'Nah, I'll stay here and practice hard.'
I'd been so flustered when Jeong Seongbin's parents came to the dorm; me going to a complete stranger's house?
I'd definitely become a spectacular klutz. Avoiding that situation from the start was a hundred times better.
"Huh? Then is Iwol-hyung going to be left alone at the dorm?"
At Lee Cheonghyeon's words, everyone looked at me.
"Seems like it?"
"Then I'll stay behind this time too."
"Seongbin, why would you stay? Don't tell me you can't trust me to be alone at the dorm?"
"No! It's absolutely not that!"
Jeong Seongbin waved his hands frantically.
"I'm twenty-one. I can be alone just fine."
"That's not it..."
"That's not it?"
I repeated the question, but no one readily continued.
It wasn't that I didn't know what they wanted to say. They probably felt uncomfortable going home and leaving behind a single member with nowhere to go.
But as I said, I'm a full-fledged adult.
And I'm not even twenty-one but twenty-nine... No. It's been over a year since I got younger, so going by age alone, I must be about thirty.
What kind of thirty-year-old man can't handle a week alone? I had my pride as the head of a single-person household of many years.
"I appreciate the concern, but even if I had somewhere to go, I would've stayed at the dorm this time. There's something I want to practice."
"Practice?"
Gang Giyeon asked. Judging by the slight sparkle in his eyes, he seemed interested too.
"Yeah. But I'm not letting you join."
"Why?"
"Think about your dance break this time. If you don't rest here, your cartilage will beg for mercy."
I'd put effort into preventing ankle injuries since last year; I couldn't let him ruin his knees.
Gang Giyeon couldn't hide his displeased expression, but he nodded along. I was just grateful to be spared the argument.
Just when I thought the atmosphere had more or less settled, Lee Cheonghyeon, who had been quiet for some reason, slammed the desk and drew everyone's attention.
"Guys, why isn't anyone asking me where I'm going?"
"Aren't you going home?"
"I was debating it, but I just decided. I'm staying at the dorm with Iwol-hyung!"
"With me?"
I was bewildered. Because I'd truly planned to spend a hellish solo dance session flailing my legs about.
"You don't have to do that on purpose, Cheonghyeon."
"No, this is a choice for both of us, Hyung."
"Why?"
To my question, Lee Cheonghyeon answered with a smile, eyes unfocused.
"Even if I went home, it's midterm season for my hyung and dongsaeng, so I wouldn't even be able to breathe properly..."
"Aha..."
"Therefore! I'm going to spend an awesome vacation with Hyung!"
"Alright, do as you're comfortable."
After the long conversation, Lee Cheonghyeon and I ended up spending the week together.
But never in my wildest dreams...
"Hyung! This is crazy! Did you see that seagull running off with the whole bag of anchovy snacks?!"
...did I think we'd end up in Busan during that week.
I stared at the guy running back excitedly after having his snacks completely stolen by a seagull.
And I thought.
*How did I end up all the way here with this kid?*
The incident traces back to the day before the vacation started.
Starting with Choi Jeho, whose home was the farthest, the members left the dorm one by one.
In the midst of it all, Jeong Seongbin, who'd been worried about us until the very end, nagged us to contact him if anything happened before he left.
And so, only Lee Cheonghyeon and I remained at the dorm.
'Hyung, are you going to practice?'
'Yeah. You rest if you want to.'
'Come on, how could a dongsaeng rest when his hyung is leading by example!'
Up to here, everything was going according to plan. Having finished our usual late-night practice, we returned to the dorm.
'Hyung! What do you think about watching a movie before bed?'
'Aren't you tired?'
'Just thinking about how vacation starts tomorrow keeps the dopamine coming. I'm fully alert right now.'
The guy who'd been utterly exhausted, as if glued to the floor, perked right up and grabbed the remote.
I told Lee Cheonghyeon to put on whatever he wanted to watch, then came out of the room with my laptop. I wasn't one to enjoy watching videos, so I planned to organize my plans for the future while he watched the movie.
However, when I came out of the room, what was playing on the TV wasn't a movie rental screen, but a documentary.
In the corner of the screen, in small letters, it said "National Environment: Mysteries of the Sea."
Lee Cheonghyeon stared at the sea on the screen, eyes shining, without moving an inch.
*Did this kid like the ocean?*
As if his claim of reading *The Slimy Sea Creatures Encyclopedia* diligently in his childhood hadn't been an empty boast, Lee Cheonghyeon's eyes sparkled as much as the waves on the TV.
At that moment, I ended up making a troublesome choice.
I'd been doing all sorts of things to help Lee Cheonghyeon build composition experience anyway, so I figured I'd give him a field trip to get plenty of inspiration while we were resting.