The Villainous Member Has Returned! Episode 221
The bickering between An Tae-yi and the WIZ members went on for some time.
“So, basically, from what you’re saying… you pulled this stunt because you were worried about another group’s members’ business, isn’t that right?”
“Hmm, not quite. You should say I dragged my tired body here even after rehearsal to keep a promise with my friend.”
“And he calls himself a member, seriously. I’m going crazy….”
It was essentially a standoff between one person trying to keep his promise with Kim Chun-yong no matter what, and the others who wanted to drag him back to the waiting room quickly because they had no idea what he’d do next.
“I’ve told you a hundred times there aren’t any more vending machines, An Tae-yi. Should I make it so you can’t walk on your own two feet?”
“Well, who knows? Couldn’t they have arrived late to where we already went? Just once more downstairs….”
“You’re really hopeless. Hey, Ha-won and I will grab his arms. You guys grab his legs. On three, we lift.”
“Guys? Sorry, but what about my opinion? Uh, wait!”
“…
Two, three!”
“Ah! I have a duty to visually confirm the touching conversation between Yu-chan and Si-woo…!”
No matter how secluded a spot it was, this was indisputably the middle of a broadcasting station hallway where year-end stage rehearsals and recordings were in full swing.
The sight of the hottest rookie male idols these days, right up there with T.O.J, grabbing one of their own member’s limbs and lifting him up naturally couldn’t help but draw attention.
“Hm? Jeong-eun. Look over there. Isn’t that… WIZ?”
“Oh my, so it is. Are they filming a ch-challenge or something? Oh my, they’re lifting a member up…?”
“Hah, those damn challenges. There are really so many weird things these days. Short-form content is absolute madness.”
Thanks to that, not only the broadcasting station staff who had been rushing up and down floors to deliver urgent notices to the performers—
“Haaah….”
—even the eyes of Kim Chun-yong, who had belatedly run out from the waiting room and arrived at the vending machine, took in that absurd sight.
“…
What is he doing right now?”
Unlike An Tae-yi, who had exhausted the members by rummaging in front of every vending machine right after rehearsal, Kim Chun-yong arrived, breathtakingly, at the very vending machine where his own members were, and couldn’t hide his dumbfounded expression even as he caught his breath.
He had merely asked them to check whether his members were reconciling well.
“Guys, wait, ow… s-someone pinched me there?”
“Nobody pinched you. Stop fussing to be put down.”
“…
Dan-u hyung. I’m sorry. Actually, I pinched Tae-yi hyung once because he was being annoying.”
“That… can happen. I misunderstood.”
“Wait, you’re not apologizing to me, you’re apologizing to Eun? Dan-u, that’s too much!”
So this was the sight of him being grabbed by his own members and carried off like a criminal.
“…
Hey, WIZ?”
“First, let’s shove An Tae-yi into the waiting room, and… Kim Chun-yong?”
Kim Chun-yong trudged over, and the first to lock eyes with him was Han Dan-u. The guy quickly realized this was quite an unsightly scene, and his face soon flushed red.
But what could he do.
“What is it, Dan-u? Chun-yong? Is that Chun-yong? Ah, I can’t see. Wait….”
“Ah, hyung! Don’t just swing your arms around like it’s nothing!”
But they couldn’t set down An Tae-yi, who was thrashing around like that.
So Han Dan-u cleared his throat with a small “ahem” and chose to act nonchalant.
From the start, Kim Chun-yong and Han Dan-u were used to acting this way.
They had been very close in the past. After one big fight, they had become distant, but it was no longer a relationship filled with bad feelings.
They existed as members of different groups, but neither intended to treat the other poorly like they had when their feelings had soured.
Thanks to that mutual understanding, the conversation between Han Dan-u, who was carrying An Tae-yi, and the panting Kim Chun-yong began to flow naturally.
“…
I heard you asked An Tae-yi for a favor? But instead of listening to you, it seemed like he was planning to cause trouble everywhere.”
“Ah, my situation was a bit of a mess… Tae-yi was the only one I could ask. I’m sorry.”
“No. I mean, no. Me causing trouble? Guys. You really don’t trust me. I’m hurt.”
“Tae-yi hyung, please be quiet. Then who in our team would trust you? You should reflect on your own behavior.”
“Seon-ho, that’s too much. I just wanted to do Chun-yong a favor….”
“…
Ahem.”
Only then did Kim Chun-yong realize what was going on, and he cleared his throat just like Han Dan-u while rolling his eyes.
Right.
Kim Chun-yong had sent a message to An Tae-yi asking, ‘Can you go to the vending machine and check if Yu-chan hyung and Si-woo are getting along well?’
But he hadn’t added anything like, ‘You have to go alone.’
Because that was obvious!
‘No, couldn’t he just say he was going to the bathroom after stopping by the waiting room? This guy really has a gift for exceeding people’s expectations….’
Clicking his tongue at the pandemonium, Kim Chun-yong soon shook his head, placed his hand on Han Dan-u’s shoulder, and whispered resolutely.
“…
I’m really sorry. I didn’t expect things to get this far either.”
“No, come on. How could this be your fault. …It’s An Tae-yi’s usual behavior.”
“Guys. I can hear everything. You weren’t whispering just now, you were saying it loud enough for me to hear?”
Having heard the entire conversation between Kim Chun-yong and Han Dan-u, An Tae-yi soon let his body go limp with a whimper, and his sniveling voice only grew louder.
“Sigh. I was trying to do a good thing, but everyone keeps scolding me. I couldn’t even find Yu-chan and Si-woo. Everyone is so mean, really!”
“Hey, this won’t do. I’ll put him in the waiting room first.”
“Huh? Uh….”
Just as the thoroughly fed-up WIZ members were carrying An Tae-yi and heading toward their waiting room.
“Han Dan-u. Wait a minute.”
“…
Huh?”
“I’ll talk to Tae-yi for a bit. It’s nothing long. Ten seconds?”
“Sure, fine.”
Kim Chun-yong hurriedly approached An Tae-yi, whose limbs were being held, grabbed the guy’s ear, and whispered.
“…
An Tae-yi. What’s this about? You said you couldn’t find Yu-chan hyung and Si-woo?”
“Yeah, I searched every single vending machine. They weren’t anywhere. This was the last one….”
“Then you didn’t see them at all? Not even a hair?”
“Yeah. No, but still, Chun-yong. I tried so hard. Don’t you dare say this wasn’t part of the promise!”
Kim Chun-yong looked once at An Tae-yi, whose neat porcelain-like face was whining like a seven-year-old boy, then once at the sparkling green vending machine, and let out a soft hum.
Well.
The WIZ members had been too focused on An Tae-yi to see, and An Tae-yi seemed to have missed it because he was easily distracted, but….
Kim Chun-yong, who had sprinted over with his radar for his own members switched on from far away, had clearly seen.
The two pairs of walker boots, subtly visible beyond the gap of the vending machine—the same style he was wearing.
“…….”
After giving that small gap a brief gaze, Kim Chun-yong soon spoke into An Tae-yi’s ear the words that would calm him down the most right now.
“…
Yeah. Good work, Tae-yi. Wait at your waiting room after the stage later. I already told the manager hyung in advance. Let’s hang out together after today.”
For the guy who had exerted himself to carry out the favor asked of him, and for the WIZ members who had worked hard to stop him.
“……!”
At that moment, An Tae-yi’s eyes sparkled like a child who had discovered a new toy, and the WIZ members’ faces were colored with confusion—‘What is this?’—thanks to An Tae-yi suddenly taking a posture that was comfortable to carry.
“Let’s go, let’s go, guys. To the waiting room. Easier to lift me now, right? Hmm, good.”
“Huh? Uh….”
No, it was good that he suddenly started listening, but….
Should they be happy that he had changed to make carrying him easier?
“Somehow, I feel bad about this….”
“Eun. Are you stupid? I felt bad from the moment I started chasing Tae-yi hyung.”
“Jo-eun, Jayden. Stop fighting while carrying An Tae-yi. Let’s just hurry. We’ll be the ones putting Queens to shame….”
And so, the noisy WIZ crossed the hallway and headed to their waiting room.
Silence returned to the front of the vending machine.
A silence where only the voices of broadcasting station staff from afar and other idols rehearsing could be faintly heard.
“…….”
Kim Chun-yong watched the shadows of the two pairs of walker boots still lingering behind the vending machine, quietly rolling his eyes.
Kim Chun-yong didn’t know exactly why Bang Yu-chan and Jang Si-woo were hiding behind the vending machine right now.
He could only guess that the two had been having some conversation and hid upon seeing An Tae-yi coming this way.
Kim Chun-yong didn’t know what effect An Tae-yi’s inadvertently spoken words had on those two.
Because when Kim Chun-yong arrived, An Tae-yi wasn’t unknowingly spreading gunpowder everywhere, but was whining while his limbs were held by his members.
Right. The one who came late knows nothing….
But.
“Um, you know. I’ve seen Yu-chan hyung and Si-woo since earlier….”
“…….”
“Ahem, how long are you going to stay there?”
“…….”
“The WIZ members are gone too, and our rehearsal time is soon. Yu-chan hyung, Si-woo. You need to come out now.”
“…….”
“Sigh. Just come out quickly, both of you.”
Kim Chun-yong did know one thing.
In that moment only he knew, whether the expression that had appeared on the faces of the members he had watched for a long time was a good thing or a bad thing.
“…….”
At Kim Chun-yong’s soft urging, the two who carefully emerged from behind the vending machine had their heads slightly lowered, faces flushed red.
The sleeves of the jacket Jang Si-woo was wearing were wrinkled as if they had been tugged on the whole time, and Bang Yu-chan’s styled hair was disheveled.
The moment he saw their disheveled state before their facial expressions, the worst-case scenario—‘Did they get into a fistfight?’—briefly flashed through Kim Chun-yong’s mind.
“…
Whew, really. You don’t know how awkward that was.”
“Chu, Chun-yong hyung-ah….”
The small voices flowing from the two’s mouths were enough to put aside Kim Chun-yong’s worry that he should first check if there were any witnesses to a fistfight.
Right now, the mere fact that Bang Yu-chan and Jang Si-woo weren’t rushing at Kim Chun-yong to flick his forehead was enough to explain the two’s current state.
‘Yu-chan hyung and Si-woo must have heard that I sent Tae-yi. The fact that they’re just standing side by side like this, scratching their cheeks….’
Having finished his judgment, Kim Chun-yong quickly grabbed each of their arms and raised his voice.
“…
Let’s go first!”
“Huh, huh? Chun-yong, what are you talking about all of a sudden?”
“We have to rehearse. Didn’t I say so earlier? Time is almost up. Si-woo too. Hurry!”
At times like this, you couldn’t give them time to think.
It was a fact Kim Chun-yong had learned while going through his own difficult time.
Not even giving yourself time to dwell on the bad parts, and quickly moving on to another chapter.
“Tomorrow is the anniversary, right? I wonder if Rex is okay. The medicine….”
“Hmm, he came in after drinking yesterday and has been sleeping all day. I don’t think he’ll wake up today.”
“…
I see. Still, let’s all go to the columbarium together tomorrow. We couldn’t go last time.”
In Kim Chun-yong’s case, it was either alcohol or sleep, which was practically worse for his mental health, but….
For Bang Yu-chan and Jang Si-woo, the fact that it was the stage made for a very good outlet.
“You two, you properly remember the pair performance of ‘Hide and Seek’ that Logan and I did, right?”
“Huh? Y-yes… I, I remember.”
“How about you two trying that today?”
“What, all of a sudden?!”
Kim Chun-yong grinned, showing his canines, at the two’s surprised reactions, and muttered with the most refreshed face he had worn recently.
“Logan and I just choreographed that by mistake back then, so what. Would it be any different for Yu-chan hyung and Si-woo?”
Kim Chun-yong tapped Jang Si-woo’s in-ear equipment and Bang Yu-chan’s ear mic once each, and continued slowly.
“Try it impromptu on stage. It’s the performance part anyway, so even if you mess up, people won’t even know it’s wrong.”
“Chun-yong. You’d never say something like that normally….”
“Yeah. I wouldn’t.”
But.
Today was special.
“—T.O.J! If you’re all gathered, please come up for rehearsal! We’ll check the ‘Hide and Seek’ performance stage and the ‘W.o.W’ stage together!”
The very moment Bang Yu-chan, Jang Si-woo, and Kim Chun-yong arrived at the waiting room, a staff member announced their rehearsal stage time.
Countless year-end stages awaited them after this, and what Kim Chun-yong had heard from Yu Ho-bin earlier was still on his mind, but….
“Shall we do a fighting cheer before going up? One, two, three….”
“T.O.J, fighting!”
For now, it was okay.
Because the resolution of what Kim Chun-yong had been most worried about lately was within sight.