| Episode 95. Employee Farm Experience (3)
8 p.m.
In the city, it would have been prime time for us to be hard at practice, but in the countryside, where the sun had gone down and there was no internet, it was exactly the right time to play Truth or Dare.
At this point, I was beginning to wonder if the system had known things would turn out this way and assigned us a task like “Share Secrets with the Members.”
After finishing with the cucumbers and freshening up a little, all the members gathered in the living room and sat down.
“Ah, this kind of thing is best when everyone holds a candle!”
“Isn’t that more of a retreat-training-camp vibe?”
“But it sets the mood!”
For Lee Cheonghyeon, who kept going on about the mood, I borrowed the writer’s phone, turned on a video titled “[1 Hour] Campfire Ambience,” and handed it to him.
The moment Lee Cheonghyeon was given a cyber campfire to hold in his hand, he shut his mouth.
“How should we decide the order?”
When I asked, Jeong Seongbin answered immediately.
“We haven’t done our compliments for this week yet, so how about we start with whoever gets stuck while complimenting the person next to them?”
“Sounds good.”
Since he had brought it up, Jeong Seongbin confidently volunteered to go first.
“I want to compliment Cheonghyeon on his spirit of service. I was really moved watching him take charge of building the brick oven because he didn’t want the older members to get cuts on their hands.”
“It seemed more like he just wanted to do it himself.”
Whether Kang Giyeon muttered that or not, Lee Cheonghyeon happily accepted Jeong Seongbin’s compliment.
The compliment relay proceeded smoothly. Perhaps because we had done it several times at the dorm, everyone was accustomed to complimenting the members.
The turn went around and eventually came to Choe Jeho.
I was the person he was supposed to compliment. I gestured for him to hurry up and say something.
Choe Jeho furrowed his brows and groaned.
“Uh…”
“What was that silence just now?”
Choe Jeho couldn’t say a word, as if he had a rice cake stuck in his throat.
Couldn’t he at least compliment me on something from today, like Jeong Seongbin had? Thanks for diligently wiping the lid of the pot, Iwol-hyung! Something like that.
Of course, Jeong Seongbin’s compliment had been sincere.
I clasped my hands together and fidgeted with my fingers.
“You mean you have nothing?”
“No, it’s just that you got scolded by Jeong Seongbin the other day.”
“So what you’re saying is that I only ever do things worth getting scolded for, so there’s nothing to compliment? You answer questions first.”
I shoved Choe Jeho straight into the pit of Truth or Dare.
It wasn’t a particularly good choice, however. No one dared to ask him a question.
Well, of course you’d be afraid of what might come out of that mouth.
‘What kind of topics did the fans react well to when these guys talked about them?’
For one thing, no insane person here was going to bring up first love.
Questions about our school days… could be left out too, since this guy didn’t seem to have many friends back then.
After thinking it over, I opened my mouth.
“If we ever have schedules out of town or overseas, who would you want to share a room with?”
It wasn’t a question aimed specifically at today. We were all going to be crammed into the same room tonight anyway.
Choe Jeho answered without hesitation.
“Park Ju-u.”
“Why?”
“He’s quiet. Isn’t it more comfortable when you don’t have to interact much with each other?”
“I think we’d have to hear Ju-u’s opinion too.”
“I like sharing a room with Jeho-hyung too…!”
What a good kid. Park Ju-u, you’re exempt from folding laundry next time.
As for you, Choe Jeho, you’re getting one hundred sessions of speaking nicely.
The next main character was Jeong Seongbin, who had lost the game of wits.
The moment his turn came around, Lee Cheonghyeon pounced as if he had been waiting for it.
“I’ve always wanted to ask this! Hyung, would you rather have five Iwols, or one five-year-old Iwol?”
Was this some kind of penalty game against me that had been going on since earlier?
While I stared at him in disbelief, Jeong Seongbin began seriously pondering the question.
Beside him, the third parties opened an intense debate.
“What kind of question is that? It’s obviously five-year-old Iwol-hyung.”
“Why?”
“You could give him early dance training.”
Kang Giyeon became completely absorbed in the conversation and started spouting terrifying things.
I had gone from twenty-nine back to twenty, so why couldn’t I go back to five? Still, what was the point of this discussion?
After deliberating for a full five minutes, Jeong Seongbin spoke with a solemn expression.
“I’ve decided.”
“Oh! What are you choosing?”
“I’ll go with five-year-old Iwol-hyung.”
When Park Ju-u asked why, Jeong Seongbin squeezed his eyes shut and replied,
“If there were five of you, we’d each have to watch one of you. But if there’s only one, all five of us can watch him together…!”
“Sorry, but are you planning to raise me as a group?”
It was so absurd that all I could do was let out a hollow laugh.
What a bunch of idiots. If it were up to me, I would multiply every one of them by five and make them perform five times as many events.
Once the conversation got moving, all kinds of questions came flying out.
Hardened by years of drinking games, I escaped the question hell without getting caught even once. Praise me, past self.
* * *
The day’s filming ended after the production staff delivered our wake-up mission.
We had agreed in advance not to conduct any nighttime filming, considering that more than half the team were minors.
Only after the cameras were turned off did the guys remove their makeup and return to their natural state.
Maybe because it wasn’t stage makeup, there wasn’t much difference even without it. Or perhaps they were all still young.
By the time I finished washing up, the blankets had already been neatly spread out in the room, one for each person.
We lived in dorms, but at most, we had shared a room with three people. Today, however, there were six of us in one room. It reminded me terribly of the military.
‘Still, the blankets are bright and cheerful. Not bad.’
I glanced around. The others had already lain down beneath their own brightly colored blankets.
Just as I was about to pull mine over myself, someone beside me called out.
It was Jeong Seongbin.
“Hyung, are you going to sleep?”
“Yeah. I should.”
The company had already lectured us about not letting our dark circles get worse before our comeback.
If I knew how to control that, I would have gotten a job at a dermatology clinic.
“You should go to sleep too. We have to get up at six tomorrow.”
“Yes.”
Jeong Seongbin obediently crawled under his blanket.
Then, thirty seconds later, his head popped back out.
“By the way, hyung.”
“What is it?”
“May I ask why your back is like that?”
As he spoke, Jeong Seongbin cast a quick, nervous glance at me.
“What? Are you worried I got into trouble somewhere?”
“No! I never thought that at all…!”
Jeong Seongbin flinched and waved both hands frantically.
At the same time, we quickly checked our surroundings to make sure we hadn’t woken anyone. Perhaps the day’s rural activities had exhausted them, because the others hadn’t moved an inch.
Even if he claimed he wasn’t suspicious, Jeong Seongbin must have been worried deep down.
It wasn’t uncommon for an idol who had debuted to suddenly disappear because of something that happened in the past.
And I was a trainee who had joined the team late, at twenty.
It was understandable that someone might be wary if a person whose school years they knew nothing about suddenly showed up with a huge scar across his back.
But I had no desire to talk about my hopeless, joyless family history.
Talking about something like that would only make things awkward for both of us.
As I wondered what excuse I should give Jeong Seongbin, the system appeared above the dark ceiling.
+
[SYSTEM] The ‘New Task’ is being announced again.
▷ Share Secrets with the Members
▷ Reward: Increased chance of a stable comeback
+
Share secrets?
Hadn’t we already shared them all during Truth or Dare? What else was I supposed to talk about here?
I was quite puzzled.
The system could be lazy from time to time, but when it came to new tasks, it was usually diligent about checking on them.
Perhaps reading my thoughts, the system popped up again.
+
[SYSTEM] An assignment from the ‘Person in Charge’ has arrived.
▶ Assistant Manager Kim! You’re not planning to quietly slip out of this alone, are you? Then I’ll be hurt, you know? You have to take part in gatherings like this together so the team’s teamwork improves.
+
Ah.
Was I being disqualified simply because I hadn’t been caught during Truth or Dare?
I had thought that, with editing, it wouldn’t be noticeable onscreen even if one member didn’t get caught. I had been shortsighted.
“If you don’t want to talk about it, you don’t have to!”
“Hm?”
Jeong Seongbin, who had been watching my expression, hurriedly continued.
“You weren’t worried that I’d been getting into trouble, were you?”
“Not at all?!”
“Really? Then why did you ask?”
“It’s nothing, really…”
Jeong Seongbin’s eyes darted around for a long while before he spoke.
“I was wondering if there was anything I could do to help if it was something you didn’t want to show…”
“Huh?”
“Like telling the company in advance when we decide on the outfit concept… Ah, I’m not trying to take matters into my own hands or anything! It’s just, I…”
Unlike his usually clear-cut self, he was taking a long time to get to the point.
I quietly waited for Jeong Seongbin to finish saying what he wanted to say.
At last, though he was still fidgeting, he carefully brought out the words he had truly wanted to say.
“When I mentioned your back earlier, you seemed flustered. I’m sorry for carelessly touching on something you might dislike…”
“…”
“I know it’s not really an equivalent gesture, but if you want to prevent something like that from happening in the future, I’d like to help, at least in whatever way I can.”
Only then did I understand why Jeong Seongbin had been unable to meet my eyes.
He had spent all this time feeling sorry because he thought he had touched someone else’s sore spot. With a conscience that alive, how was he supposed to survive in this harsh world?
A quiet laugh escaped me.
“It’s not like that. You don’t have to worry.”
“…That’s a relief, then.”
“I mean it.”
I slowly closed my eyes. Beside me, I heard what sounded like Jeong Seongbin tugging his blanket up.
“It wasn’t caused by me getting into trouble, either.”
Outside, insects chirped in the grass.
When the chirping stopped, I could hear someone’s breathing as they slept, and then the insects began calling again.
“…Things at home were a little rough. Sometimes they went too far.”
I had chosen and trimmed my words to an excessive degree, but the meaning must have gotten across. Jeong Seongbin was a smart kid, after all.
Another insect called out in the distance.
The atmosphere of the countryside at night was unfamiliar, creating the illusion that my childhood memories didn’t belong to me.
As if I were reading the faded diary of someone from long ago, someone with no connection to me.
“It happened because I was unlucky at the time. I don’t get many chances to show my back, so I’d forgotten about it.”
I gave a small laugh and turned toward Jeong Seongbin. He wore an expression that suggested he was struggling with complicated feelings.
“It’s not a pleasant sight, so I’ll keep it covered well. Don’t worry too much.”
“Hyung…”
I turned my gaze away from Jeong Seongbin again, saying that I was tired and that we should sleep.
The countryside at night was frightening. It made a person start reminiscing about the past in an instant.
As I turned over, doing my best to hide my awkward feelings, I heard someone sniffle from the other side of Jeong Seongbin.
‘Is someone catching a cold? Or allergic rhinitis from being in an unfamiliar environment? If not…’
I sat up in the middle of the night to identify the culprit who was sniffling.
Several blankets rustled, then fell silent in an instant.
“You there.”
“…”
“Don’t tell me… there was someone who wasn’t asleep?”
Even when I asked, the three heads hidden beneath the blankets didn’t move an inch.
That was when I heard another sniff from behind Jeong Seongbin.
No way.
None of you were asleep?
Guys, I’m… kind of flustered here…