The Evil Member Returns! Episode 16
The atmosphere in the practice room had been precarious the whole time due to the small clash that had broken out among the team members earlier.
“...
Juan hyung. I’ll match the beat.”
“Uh, uh. Got it...”
“From the top, from the top again. I’m turning on the music, one, two―”
Jihwaseong’s voice, which usually boomed noisily through the practice room, had gone cold. Perhaps because the team members were used to practicing under his orders, they looked even more intimidated. A caption like *Gloomy Self-Practice Time* could have popped up, honestly.
This situation wasn’t good.
For anyone here.
The trouble between Kim Juan and the other trainees had already been caught on personal interviews, and before that could even heal, another conflict breaks out?
It was the kind of fodder the production crew and gossipmongers would flock to like moths.
Maybe it was because I had some idol experience. I could vividly picture the community posts and social media reactions that would come from this.
Roughly... stuff like [Personality issues gone crazy lol] aimed at Jihwaseong, or [F*cking bastards who aren’t desperate at all blocking our Hwaseong’s path? Pisses you off, right?] directed at the rest of us including me.
...
That would be a bit troublesome.
Since things had come to this, I decided to speak up, intending to get us to talk it out openly and move on. It was around when Kim Juan’s part was about to transition.
“Sorry, can we pause for a moment―”
“―Logan!”
And as if he had anticipated my thoughts, Jihwaseong suddenly raised his voice.
Because Logan had messed up his footwork yet again.
“Ah, this. It’s really too hard. My feet keep, oops.”
Maybe because he hadn’t danced much before, Logan especially struggled with the stepping choreography, and he had flubbed the exact part Jihwaseong had been pointing out repeatedly.
Jihwaseong shook his bleached hair in frustration and said,
“That’s a problem. We’ve talked about this part over and over.”
“God, sorry. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to...”
“You shouldn’t be sorry, you should fix it. Do you know how many times this is? It’s already seven. Don’t you think this is too much?”
“...
Oh.”
“Hey, hey, Hwaseong.”
As the situation was about to get heated, Seobin hurriedly stepped between Hwaseong and Logan. Still, Jihwaseong didn’t stop talking.
“I keep trying to do well, but why aren’t you helping? Isn’t this a seriously weird situation? Really, I’m―”
“―Jihwaseong is acting like a dictator right now!”
But then Gao Yan suddenly burst out.
...
Why are you jumping in out of nowhere!
“Whoa, Chunyong?”
While I clutched Seobin’s shoulder in bewilderment, Jihwaseong, hearing Gao Yan’s remark, opened his eyes wide and shot back.
“What did you just say...?”
“Chunyong hyung knew Bin hyung couldn’t dance well and tried to help him. But you! You just kept treating us like idiots! If someone can’t do it, you’re supposed to teach them, chi sin!”
Why is my name coming up?
While Hwaseong had been exchanging opinions with the other team members, I had helped Seobin with his choreography, but I didn’t want it brought up like this.
I was just trying to do well on stage, that’s all!
Red warning lights started flashing.
This is an emergency.
“It’s like Jihwaseong’s the only one on the team! There are six of us, you know!”
Gao Yan’s rapid-fire outburst showed he wasn’t conscious of the cameras at all. The other team members, completely caught off guard, were flustered and just stared at Gao Yan.
Naturally, I dashed over to Jihwaseong first.
“...
Is that something you should be saying to me right now?”
This guy doesn’t take things lying down.
Jihwaseong was the type to speak while already thinking about what would make it on camera.
If someone cursed in Cantonese like Gao Yan, the production crew would be clutching their foreheads and editing it out, but Jihwaseong’s words, without any cursing, would definitely air as is.
“Did I pick on something trivial? Was I the only one acting cocky? I don’t think so. I thought it was something anyone could say.”
“Hey, hey Hwaseong...”
“Well, since we’re on the subject, I’ll speak frankly too. I know Chunyong hyung pulls people aside and gives tips. But did anyone come to the practice room before I spoke up? Or did anyone do extra practice on their own?”
“No, but right now...”
“No buts. Do you even actually want to debut? The way things are, it looks like I’m the only one who wants to debut. I’m the only one who’s desperate.”
And with the added pride of being a pure-blood AG trainee who would never get a bad edit, Jihwaseong’s words kept coming without restraint.
I desperately blocked the cameras with my back and whispered to Jihwaseong.
“Hold on, hold on. Jihwaseong. You’re worked up right now, okay?”
“...
Let go. I’m going to wreck that guy.”
Jihwaseong, his face pale with anger, growled at me. I wiped a line of sweat off my forehead with my sleeve and continued.
“I know why you’re saying that. But if you go any further here, it won’t be fixable. So let’s just stop here. Okay?”
“What do you know, hyung―.”
Quietly, so the cameras and the other team members couldn’t hear, I spoke quickly.
“No matter how much they package you as AG pure-blood, you’re from Director Do’s line. Do you think the PD would look after you that much?”
Hearing my words, Jihwaseong’s face went momentarily blank.
Then, his mouth opening and closing, he said,
“...
What do you mean.”
Good, at least this reaction was better.
I hastily made Gao Yan and Jihwaseong shake hands and shouted theatrically.
“Hey, make up, make up! Even though you weren’t fighting, anyway, hurry and make up!”
The point was, no fight ever happened.
Where on earth do idol trainees get into fights?
At my shouting, Gao Yan, who had been fuming, looked slightly bewildered and raised his eyebrows.
“...
Huh? Huh? Chunyong hyung? Make up?”
“Yeah, make up! Real men say harsh things to each other and then apologize right away. Understand?”
“Didn’t say harsh things! ...
But what’s a real man, Chunyong hyung.”
“Big bro.”
After hearing my words, Gao Yan suddenly calmed down and extended his hand to Jihwaseong. His face had turned deeply serious.
“...
Sorry. Hwaseong. I got worked up.”
Truly, the power of the word “hyung” is great regardless of nationality. I nodded slightly and whispered to Jihwaseong, too.
“Jihwaseong, you too. Hurry.”
Then, Jihwaseong, who had been standing there with a look like he’d tasted something bitter, pouted his lips and soon held out his hand.
“...
I was a bit worked up too, Gao Yan.”
So apologizing is out of the question, I see.
I clicked my tongue.
Once the situation was at least somewhat patched up by my mediation, the team members who had been hanging back chimed in one by one.
“Th, that can happen. I understand Hwaseong’s feelings, and Gao Yan’s too.”
“That’s right. Hwaseong, I’m so sorry. Seven times was too much. I won’t mess up again, really.”
“...
Neither of them said anything wrong.”
Although Kim Juan, who was sulky toward both me and Jihwaseong, threw in a jab with a sideways glance.
Kim Juan must have really disliked that I stopped Jihwaseong when he was self-destructing on his own.
“Good grief.”
I shook my hair out and let out a deep sigh. How can that guy be so sly underneath? When his face looks like a hamster.
Anyway.
Under everyone’s judgment that practice wouldn’t go on properly given the unsettled mood, the early-morning session ended there. It was about an hour earlier than usual.
In the dark hallway heading back to the dorms, Gao Yan and Logan, headed to the same room, spoke in low voices.
“...
I really have to do better. It’s the first time I’ve seen Hwaseong that angry. My mistake.”
“Yeah, Logan. Thinking about it again, you were too much. Seven times. Gao Yan fixed it after five.”
“That’s also... Oh? Chunyong hyung, where are you going?”
“Ah, go on ahead.”
I pointed to the first floor with a finger and waved them off.
“...
I think I need to talk to someone.”
With Jihwaseong, that is.
* * *
“You go ahead. I’ll turn off the lights, organize the equipment, and then head in.”
Others might not have realized, but there was no way that line would work on me. Knowing Jihwaseong’s personality, would he just go in quietly and sleep?
“...
Knew it.”
As I expected, Jihwaseong was still sitting all alone in the middle of the practice room assigned to our team.
Not wanting to show that side of himself, he even had his hood pulled over his head on camera.
If Chief PD sees that tomorrow, he’ll think these brats who haven’t even debuted are being pathetic, that’s for sure.
I carefully opened the practice room door and went in. With his face buried between his knees, Jihwaseong answered roughly without checking who it was.
“Ah, I’m almost done tidying up. Just dozed off for a sec...”
“Hey, it’s me.”
Hearing my voice, Jihwaseong whipped his head around so fast it practically made a sound.
Jihwaseong’s tiger-like eyes were demanding some kind of explanation from me.
Well, I was going to talk anyway...
“If you’re done organizing, you want to head out first?”
Not here.
*Here, the cameras pick up voices.* I pointed my thumb outside the practice room, and Jihwaseong, who had been about to say something else, quietly shut his mouth and followed exactly where I went.
This really felt just like after we had debuted together back in the day.
Slightly sentimental, I guided Jihwaseong toward the emergency staircase leading to the basement.
“...
Why come all the way down here?”
“There’s a camera on the boundary between the first and second floors.”
“......”
“Ah, don’t worry. If we talk here, even if our voices echo, they won’t be picked up back there.”
I had once seen Liu Wei, who had known that trick beforehand, get angry at Li Mingshen right here. There was no way I’d forget that.
“No, hyung, just how...”
As if dumbfounded by how meticulously I had picked the spot, Jihwaseong held his forehead. I casually plopped down on the stairs and patted the spot next to me.
“Sit down. Sit and talk. Don’t your legs hurt?”
“...
Fine.”
Jihwaseong immediately sat down and asked me the question he’d been mulling over.
Hyung.
“How do you know about our company’s internal affairs when even I don’t?”
I figured he’d ask this. How do I know? When Liu Wei left for China, the Managing Director Shin who had brought in the investment from that side resigned together with him. How could I not know? Damn, I’ve got 8 years of experience in AG, man. I couldn’t say it like that, though...
I wet my lips with my tongue and tried to pick how to answer.
After a moment’s thought, I decided.
“It was half a guess.”
I’d mix half-truths and half-lies.
It would sound more natural that way. Hearing my answer, Jihwaseong’s eyes opened wide.
“...
What?”
“Half a guess, I said. No matter how much you transferred from another agency, you still hear things. AG brought in Managing Director Shin from outside and pulled in Chinese capital to expand into the idol business this time.”
“What does that have to do with my position...”
“I stopped you for that reason. And honestly, since they’ve brought in Chinese capital, whether you like it or not, they’ll have to push a Chinese member. Managing Director Shin would probably be more comfortable with a Chinese trainee getting in rather than an AG trainee almost unaffected by his influence.”
At my words, Jihwaseong suddenly looked deep in thought. Worried he might misunderstand, I hastily added.
“Gao Yan is just an independent trainee. You know he’s from Hong Kong, right?”
“Ah, I know! I’m not that clueless. You think I wouldn’t know something like that?”
Who knows. I got the feeling you didn’t.
Anyway, Jihwaseong nodded, opening and closing his mouth several times. He seemed to have something he wanted to say but wasn’t sure how to say it.
“Then, hyung...”
Why did you stop me there?
Jihwaseong really was smarter than I thought.
“If you knew all that, you could have just let me crash and burn completely. When Gao Yan brought up your name back then, it was a really good edit point for you, wasn’t it?”
Jihwaseong folded down his fingers one by one, listing the mistakes he had made.
“Needlessly snapping at Logan when he’s still inexperienced, yelling that I was the only one struggling. Stuff like that. A leader who only thinks of himself, and the hyung behind him cleaning up the mess. Doesn’t that look really nice for broadcast?”
“Ha. You think about all that, yet you still fought like that back then?”
"Back then, I was sure I wouldn’t be in the running for the evil editing sacrificial lamb. Unless, of course, it got cut to make me look good. I answered that question honestly."
Ji Hwaseong pressed his folded fingers together and clenched his fist tight. Then, looking straight at me, he spoke as if chewing each word into bits.
"So, hyung, you answer honestly, too."
Why did you do it?
...
I shut my mouth for a moment and stared at him.
The bleached blond hair, the pale face. Even those mismatched eyes with one crease smoothed out from exhaustion. Everything came together all too well on this Ji Hwaseong I already knew, the member of Arrows.
Memories of our shared hardships came flooding back all at once. And the fact that I’d made him suffer so one-sidedly.
"Why do I have to go out there? I said no! I just want to quit all of it!"
Throwing up on stage after drinking. Collapsing. Storming out of a fan meeting without a word. Even Hwaseong clutching my shoulders and crying as I screamed that I couldn’t handle the schedule.
"Hyung, I know you’re struggling. I know you went through a lot. But when you do this..."
It gets hard for me, too.
Looking at that face, how much guilt had I felt?
So this time, just as Ji Hwaseong wanted, I answered honestly.
"...
Just, you’re really good at it."
"What’s that supposed to mean? What’s that got to do with covering for me?"
"Because I wanted to debut together."
...
Even when Ji Hwaseong fell silent, I kept on talking.
"This time I’m definitely debuting. And when I do, I thought it’d be good to have someone as good as you in the team."
"What..."
"I’m better at singing than rapping, and better at dancing than singing. Out of the eighteen of us, you’re the best at rapping. Isn’t that exactly the kind of asset a team needs? That’s why I did it. Is that so weird?"
Ji Hwaseong didn’t reply for a beat. But I knew who he was thinking about when he shut his mouth like that.
I shot him a cheeky grin.
"Seems like a solid answer to me. Right?"
At my words, Hwaseong, who’d been hanging his head, let out a long-held breath. His bright blond hair scattered wildly with the exhale.
"...
No. Not at all. You just made ‘I’m gonna latch onto you’ sound all cool for no reason."
"What? Yah, when did I ever latch—"
"Okay. Got it."
Before I could even finish, Ji Hwaseong shot up from his seat and looked down at me. His eyes were gleaming again, bright as a sunlit yellow.
"I’ll let you latch on. Starting tomorrow, I’ll carry you for real again. So today just... never happened."
I couldn’t help but let out a helpless laugh at the familiar Ji Hwaseong face I already knew.
"...
Do whatever you want, man."
And so, while I was busy catching up with my former member, a sun that looked just like Ji Hwaseong’s eyes was heaving itself up in strides outside the window.