Should I call it bold, or clever?
No matter how much they knew that the number of cameras placed for the courage experience mission was limited, and their locations were fixed, to actually go argue somewhere without a camera...
No, maybe...
“I figured it out from the moment you said we had to talk in front of everyone. You planned this from the start, didn’t you? Without caring in the slightest about my opinion again?”
“It seems you can’t imagine that I was at least trying to be considerate by giving you a chance to explain yourself.”
“What do I have to explain?”
So much so that they couldn’t even fathom that, and the rift between them had grown very deep...
“…….”
Jaeha hyung and I quietly crouched down toward the low bushes, focusing on Li Mingchen and Liu Wei’s conversation.
The reason we went looking for Liu Wei right away, well.
It was out of worry that Liu Wei, swept up by emotion, might do something harmful to Li Mingchen...
“Liu Wei. Get a grip, please.”
Because Li Mingchen was currently showing exactly how a quiet person acts when they’re angry, so there was no need to rashly jump in.
“You mean me deliberately taking care of your messes? That wasn’t just because of our family ties. At least it was because you and I are friends, you son of a bitch.”
I couldn’t fully understand all of Li Mingchen’s excited Chinese, but thanks to the Chinese I’d roughly picked up during my evil member days, I could clearly make out the curse “son of a bitch.”
And the expression on Li Mingchen’s face as he said that word.
“You really have a problem. You know? I’m not just talking about the current situation. You’ve had problems from before, but no one pointed them out, so you ended up like this.”
Beyond the flashlight beam wavering this way and that, Li Mingchen’s face, glimpsed in flickers, was twisted more intensely than ever before.
No, correction.
I should say it looked like a wildly blazing ember.
“If you think the reason I’m doing this now is out of simple anger, you’re very mistaken, Li Mingchen.”
In contrast, Liu Wei...
“I would have told you. I was trying to give you a chance to explain. Before I spoke to our sponsor—so, to Shumin’s father—about this situation. To properly understand what you were thinking when you did this.”
Truly, he was cold.
Liu Wei’s Mandarin pronunciation was as crisp as the textbook from Chinese class. To the point you couldn’t possibly think of him as someone who was angry.
“Did? What did I do?”
“Providing Shumin’s information to that guy. And making it exposed to a group that can’t be controlled, putting me in a very difficult position right now.”
“...
Ah, the start of that came from me? Liu Wei, is that your conclusion?”
The gap between the two, who had been about three steps apart, closed in an instant.
“If you’d already decided that from the start and were talking, what kind of excuse did you want to hear from me?”
“You finally mentioned the word excuse.”
“Speak properly. It’s only because you used that word that I used it too. You had no intention of listening to what I said as it was from the beginning, so why did you agree to talk with me?”
“…….”
When no answer came back from Liu Wei, Li Mingchen gritted his teeth and shoved Liu Wei’s shoulder hard.
The force was so strong that even though Liu Wei was a span taller than Li Mingchen, he was pushed back considerably.
“Forget it. I’m leaving. This is a filming situation right now, and I don’t want to talk to you anymore. As for you who threw away your handycam, just crawl back to the dorms on your own.”
“...
Li Mingchen.”
Soon, Li Mingchen fiddled with his own handycam a few times, then turned his back on Liu Wei and walked down the path opposite to the one we came from.
Liu Wei, who had been quietly watching that, also quickly moved his footsteps that way.
The hand glimpsed in the darkness was clenched into a fist, as if ready to strike.
Of course, in this situation, Liu Wei wasn’t suddenly going to hit Li Mingchen.
That guy might suddenly hang someone from a tree, but he’s not the type to hit anyone with his own hands.
So while I was observing the situation for now...
“...
Chun-yong, wait a moment.”
“Uh, uh? Jaeha hyung...!”
Jaeha hyung, who had been closely watching the situation beside me, suddenly sprang up and walked toward them.
“Are you two thinking of just leaving after talking like that?”
Because that wouldn’t resolve the conflict at all.
Talking so gently like that, while holding a flashlight, a tall, handsome trainee...
Ah, there’s no way he wouldn’t stand out!
In the end, I also had to get up with an awkward face and walk to Jaeha hyung’s side.
Carefully placing my handycam in the bushes so it wouldn’t get wet was a bonus.
It’s short, but it’s footage we went through hardship to film; we can’t let something like rain ruin it.
“What...”
“…….”
As the eyes of the two Chinese trainees who spotted us widened.
Under the flashlight beam, Liu Wei’s gaze precisely turned to me.
“...
Kim Chun-yong.”
“Chun-yong and Jaeha? How did you get here...”
“You shouldn’t just carelessly throw away filming equipment, guys. Especially with the rain. We were really worried something had happened.”
Even though Jaeha hyung gently answered their questions, Liu Wei’s gaze didn’t know how to leave me.
No, now he even started walking toward me, turning his back on Li Mingchen.
“I don’t need to have a conversation with you anymore.”
Liu Wei’s low-murmured Korean was a voice I was hearing for the first time.
“But since we’ve run into each other like this again, there’s no particular reason not to share a few words either.”
A slightly cracked, very low voice.
That voice, similar to mine yet with a much lower tone, was entirely directed at me.
As if Jaeha hyung beside me, and Li Mingchen who had been fiercely arguing moments ago, didn’t matter at all.
“You said you’d make it interesting, but it wasn’t really that interesting.”
“…….”
“Thinking about how you could repay what you’ve done was more interesting.”
“Liu Wei, just a moment...”
“Don’t touch me, Son Jaeha.”
“…….”
In the instantly closed distance, Jaeha hyung tried to pull Liu Wei away, but it was beyond him.
Liu Wei, who had nudged my shoulder away with his fingers, slowly murmured.
“Since you still seem out of it after going through that, I kind of feel like doing it once more.”
With something a bit more certain.
I rolled my eyes to understand what Liu Wei had said.
Because almost-stopped rain was still falling, and in a situation where a fight with someone else had suddenly sent sparks flying, I’d heard an absurd sentence.
So, this bastard right now...
Is he talking about messing with my family with some baseless rumor?
But I didn’t need to agonize further over what those words meant.
“Last time it was your older sister, so this time, your younger sister?”
Because he very kindly provided confirmation.
Liu Wei’s expression didn’t change at all.
As nonchalant as if asking whether I’d eaten, slept well, or was practicing properly.
“Ha, haha...”
This is...
“—Chun-yong!”
“What, Li Mingchen. Liu Wei’s clothes were a bit wrinkled. I’m just fixing them.”
I forced a smile at the flustered Li Mingchen, then chewed out each syllable toward Liu Wei, who had been grabbed by the collar and pulled right up to my nose.
“Hey.”
You pigeon bastard.
“I said it back then too. Did you think you were the only one desperate?”
“…….”
At my words, Jaeha hyung and Li Mingchen fell silent, and the corners of Liu Wei’s eyes twitched.
Normally, I would think things like, ‘What I just brought up wasn’t a good direction,’ and try to assess the situation...
“I was desperate too, and my family is precious to me, so I did that. That wasn’t to be funny, man.”
But not now.
“If the target of your ridiculous rumor had been me alone, I might’ve let it go. But since you touched my family, should I have stayed still? Did you really think that simply?”
“—You touched something you shouldn’t have.”
“Do you think you’re something? Don’t spout nonsense. Because you’re not worth it.”
I smiled, carrying my dejection and anger.
“Why are you throwing a fit at us without ever thinking about the lines you’ve crossed, Liu Wei? Isn’t it ridiculous?”
It was the first curse to leak out of me since I’d been endlessly nagged by my sister and Nari, saying ‘what use is it for an idol trainee to swear.’
As if disliking that word, Liu Wei bit his lip once, then pushed against my shoulder and raised his voice.
“...
If you think I care about such things, you’re mistaken.”
“What?”
“Lines. Those are set from the start for who can cross them. I am someone who can cross them, and you were someone who can’t. That’s why I can hold your family and shake them, spread rumors, and debut.”
While you can’t.
“No matter how much you struggle, Kim Chun-yong, you can’t debut. Your place wasn’t even made from the start. I wonder if you know the meaning of the word ‘pre-arranged.’”
“…….”
“So, let go.”
Nothing will change.
“…….”
Now, as if the rain had fallen all it would, faint moonlight spilled over the trainee canning facility area through clouds slowly drifting on the wind.
Feeling that cold light, I clenched my fist tight.
Ah, seriously...
I want to hit him just once.
Whether my weak fist hurts him or not, the fact that he’s making me feel this way is infuriating in itself.
Of course... I had no intention of doing so.
“Chun-yong.”
Because Jaeha hyung’s hand, watching this situation from behind, touched my shoulder.
That hand, slightly damp from the rain but filled with warmth.
Like that, just as I was swaying between reason and emotion...
“—Wait, over there! Gao Yan came here without missing a single story! There’s definitely treasure under that big tree!”
“Huff. Move aside, Gao Yan! The treasure belongs to our team!”
“Liao Ta, running with those short legs is no use! Gao Yan’s legs are really long! This is what you’d call the running of a top 1 percent Hong Kong man!”
“Eek! Our leg lengths aren’t that different!”
From afar, the sound of other trainees running toward this area was heard.
Four gazes intertwined this way and that, and the sound of eyes rolling around could be heard.
“...
Oh dear.”
At the same time that sound was heard, the person among those standing here who dashed off in that direction was...
“—Li Mingchen!”
Something none of the three others standing here had expected.
“Huh? Huh? Li Mingchen is at the place where the treasure should be?!”
“Minho, temporary alliance with Gao Yan’s team. It seems Li Mingchen has the treasure. Let’s catch him and claim it!”
“Uh, uh-huh! Let’s do that!”
Patter-patter—the sound of Li Mingchen and the others running away was heard, and Jaeha hyung carefully untangled my hand gripping Liu Wei’s collar.
“I think it’s best to stop.”
After throwing a short word at me, Jaeha hyung, bathed in moonlight, smiled softly and turned his body toward Liu Wei, who was standing still.
Right now, hyung’s face wasn’t that of an idol trainee who had been in a survival show with me, but of the leader hyung who had protected me and the members.
“Liu Wei. Do you by any chance know what Li Mingchen just took with him?”
It’s the handycam.
“With the memory card inserted.”
“…….”
“In my opinion, if that falls into the PD’s hands... I don’t think anything very good will happen, for either you or Chun-yong.”
At those words, Liu Wei raised an eyebrow, stared intently at me once, then slowly moved his steps.
Only then did Jaeha hyung and I remain again in this spot.
“Ha...”
As I slumped down from a sense of exhaustion and quietly sighed, Jaeha hyung brushed off leaves and such from my wet clothes and said quietly.
“It seems like it’s the first time I’ve seen you that angry, Chun-yong.”
“I suppose so.”
Still, thanks to getting properly angry once, I felt like my head had cleared.
Actually, the handycam Li Mingchen took was definitely in a state where it couldn’t be used properly, soaked by the rain.
So, the reason Jaeha hyung stopped me in that situation was probably, in case I threw a punch at Liu Wei and it became a truly irreversible situation...
Chun-yong, you know.
“It seems our camera didn’t get wet. Thanks to you keeping it out of the rain.”
Whooosh—Jaeha hyung’s voice mixed with the sound of wind and the horror BGM the production crew had laid down, chillingly digging into my ear.
“...
Then the memory must be fine too?”
And, that didn’t sound bad at all.