Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

It wasn’t the first time Park Moondae thought how strange his life had gotten while he sat, slumped down on the hardwood floor of the dance studio, trying to catch his breath.

“Moondae, here.” Ryu Chungwoo handed a bottle of water to him.

After taking a couple of deep breaths, he softly said, “Thanks, hyung.” Their leader smiled in return as he received it.

It felt weird. After all, they had been in the same situation years ago, but with their positions reversed, as he had done that numerous times for a younger Chungwoo during archery practice. Such an ordinary thing to remind him of the past he had left behind. Doing it now as teammates would always feel funny to him…

Tsk.

Frankly, it was a bit annoying. Moondae cracked open the bottle cap seal and took a sip. The universe had a wicked sense of humor, throwing around supernatural curveballs that had somehow, along the way, landed him into interacting again with his half-brother, who only knew of him as a cousin way back then. Pretending to be colleagues wasn’t easy, but he had gotten used to it compared to how it was back then in Idol Inc.

Chungwoo turned to everyone else who were busy wiping away their sweat. “Remember, proper hydration is important not only for physical but for peak mental function as well,” said the sports addict while passing around water bottles to the rest of the group.

Moondae’s eyebrow twitched, even that statement rings a bell.

Except for Keun Sejin and Seon Ahyeon, who were busily discussing alterations to their choreo, everybody voiced out their agreement with their leader in different levels of unenthusiastic zeal. They were all tired after hours of intense practice that was spent correcting formations and choreography, just to alter it in the end.

“Eugene, no soda,” Chungwoo gently admonished one of their youngest members. “You might crash later if you drink that.”

In Moondae’s peripheral view, he saw how the elder Lee Sejin guiltily switched a Diet Coke to water, after hearing what Chungwoo had said.

“But hyung, water is boring,” Eugene, the sugar addict, pouted.

Not that Moondae was any better with his diet. Call him a hypocrite but… he might as well try to curb Cha Eugene’s excessive dependency on sweets, at least in regards to soft drinks.

“Eugene,” he started and the majority of the members directed their attention toward him. It was awkward, and with so many eyes on him, Moondae felt hesitant to speak. But still, he soldiered on to what he was going to say.

“That drink contains aspartame, an artificial sweetener which the body breaks down into methanol, and then later on into formaldehyde.” When Eugene’s eyebrows rose high enough, he continued with his attack. “And when formaldehyde gets dissolved in water it is then called formalin, which is used as a preservative in funeral homes.”

A moment of silence before…

“AH! Zombie!” Eugene accidentally dropped his bottle of Coke which was caught by a wide eyed Raebin. Fortunately, the cap was still closed and nothing spilled. “Hyung, I don’t want to become a zombie!”

Moondae honestly couldn’t tell whether Eugene genuinely believed that conclusion, or if it was just a convenient way to say what he wanted to say in a neat little package, given Eugene’s limited Korean. At least, Moondae hoped that the essence of what was said was understood.

Though, he could definitely tell that he had disgusted the older Sejin from drinking soft drinks at the moment, after their eldest member had not-so-subtly kicked away the bottle of Diet Coke with a shoe heel. Chungwoo was trying too hard not to laugh at this absurdity, while Raebin looked thoughtful at a gloomy Eugene.

Then, Moondae felt an arm drape around his shoulder. “Feel free to bite Moondae-moondae when you turn into one, Eugene~” Keun Sejin said happily. “His brain would surely be tasty~ It’s always cooking!” Moondae casually tossed the sweaty arm away from him.

“E-everyone! Let’s… let’s get back to practice!” He was so glad to hear Ahyeon’s interruption.

And all of them shouted “Yes!” in unison.

They all quickly moved back into their respective positions on the dance floor, except for their two team members who willingly volunteered to teach them their choreography. Keun Sejin and Seon Ahyeon demonstrated the revised steps with the help of the room’s full-length wall mirrors.

“Guuuuys~ It’s a little bit similar to a simple shuffle but not completely like that. Look at Ahyeon’s feet closely, then compare them with your footwork~” With a lot of echoing thump, scritch-scratch, and squeaking sounds in the studio, the two had broken the steps well enough with a countdown that the revision was easy to follow.

“That’s right~ Moooove it this waaaaaay~” In a sudden jest, Cha Eugene mimicked Keun Sejin’s voice and movements in an exaggerated way, causing everyone to burst into laughter.

Well… almost all of them.

While Keun Sejin had Cha Eugene down in a headlock and everyone’s attention was fixed on the ruckus, Moondae noticed the elder Lee Sejin was busy figuring out the steps by himself, with lips drawn together in a very tight line. It seemed he was having a hard time following them.

With a thought, Moondae opened Lee Sejin’s status window.

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***[Name: Lee Sejin]***

Vocal: C- (B+)

Dance: D+ (B)

Visual: A+ (S)

Talent: A (S-)

Personal Trait: Focus (B)

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Moondae could empathize with the struggle. Lee Sejin’s dance stat was still at D+. It would be tough to surpass that hurdle in such a short amount of time without an innate dance talent. After all, going beyond that, changing the grade level from D to C, would be akin to passing a steep learning curve. It was as if one had mastered the basics and progressed into increased proficiency with the lower grade dance skill set. Then using those acquired skill set from the D levels, one could effectively begin to challenge the C level problems. Like, finally being able to defeat a mid level boss for that given stage.

He nodded to himself, but then sighed after a moments breath. Not that all these conjectures applied to Moondae. What does he know about talent and skill mastery? These kids had years of training while he cheated with a reality bending status window. And for that… he could whole heartedly commend Lee Sejin’s effort. This guy’s persistence and determination to succeed was truly admirable. With consistent hard work, he was sure that their eldest member would be able to break through that grade barrier soon.

And speaking of consistency, Lee Sejin have the ideal personal trait for it.

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***[Focus (B)]***

-- I want to make it happen. --

>> Concentration +100% <<

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Simple name with a clear description. Moondae was certain that he would keep it equipped if that trait appeared to him in one of those roulette draws. And all these contemplation had reminded him that he needed to organize and distribute the accumulated points.

“Alright~ We had too much fun. Let’s practice everyone~”

In deep thoughts with fingers beneath his chin, he silently opened his own status window and examined it’s current contents.

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***[Name: Park Moondae (Ryu Gunwoo)]***

Level: 15

Title: ---

Vocal: A

Dance: B-

Visual: B+

Charm: B

Personal Trait: Infinite Potential, Words of Persuasion (C),

Bacchus 500 (B), Catch-All Ears (A)

Status Abnormalities: Win an Award or Die

Points Remaining: 3

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“Um… excuse me, hyung?”

Moondae nodded at what he saw. A great accomplishment done by fulfilling achievement quests such as 100^th Stage Performance and 5000^th Practice Session. A well deserved reward for the grind. He also received an additional point in one of the pop-ups that he had put aside after a couple of great performances.

In the process, he also received another drawn trait… which Moondae had immediately thrown away out of sheer humiliation. No. He simply will not need the ability to control his tears! Goddamit. This status window’s a fucking troll!

“Moo-moondae?”

“Ah, he seemed upset about something…”

“How can you tell, Chungwoo?”

He crossed his arms in further contemplation. Moondae weighed in on what he had received so far. Even without a drawn trait for this round, he was satisfied with the results. What’s even more satisfying was when he found out that his stats had increased naturally. He mused that the extra activities they did on the side, such as WLive and fan signing events, had made an impact. Certainly an exploit that definitely deserved a well thought out consideration for a more effective push in the future, not just for his sake but for the group as well. Because, needless to say, other than Lee Sejin and him, the other members had also increased their stats. In fact, he was kind of elated to witness everyone’s growth.

Going back to his previous thought…

Life was certainly strange. To think that someone like him, a previously broke data seller, would be delighted to become a part of the idol industry, even with a looming death curse upon his head. Although… it’s also bittersweet to think about. Because, he couldn’t help but question his unique circumstance regarding this body switch. What would happen in the future when all of the status abnormalities were over? Would he wake up one day to find out that it was all just a vivid dream? Would he go back to his depressing life as Ryu Gunwoo? Or would he…

… would he be able to meet-up with his brother in a better circumstance than when he had left? Maybe… even patch things up bet—

Somebody squashed his face by pressing their palms on both of his cheeks.

“Will you stop overcooking your brain~ We know you’re the idea generator, but it’s time to practice, Moondae-moondae~”

Keun Sejin’s big wide grin was too close to his face. Ah… this guy’s patience was growing thin. Moondae broke out of Sejin’s hold and blushed when he realized that everyone was waiting on him.

“Sorry.” He rubbed the back of his neck. To recover from the shame and stem off any inquiring mood, he fooled around by smacking Keun Sejin’s back. “Focus, Sejin.”

“Wha~Me?!”

Everyone laughed. That’s good enough.

Then their leader interrupted with, “Precision is born from unwavering focus.” The proud athlete said it with a small smile and a nod. “And focus is nothing more than a tool that could be mastered.” The rest of the members agreed. The maknaes even looked at their leader with glittery eyes.

…dammit Chungwoo…

Moondae cringed at one of the nonsense quotes he spouted back in 8^th grade, that was now haunting him through the use of Chungwoo’s mouth. He couldn’t help but feel that Ryu Chungwoo was channeling the old Ryu Gunwoo. What was he, his brother’s spirit animal?

“If you think about ‘focus’ like a sword, then the brain could be the hand that wields the sword!” Kim Raebin excitedly told an equally thrilled Eugene.

“Oh! I could cut demons with my focus!” Eugene did a few sword fighting stance. “Even if I turn zombie.”

Then Cha Eugene playfully whisper-shouted at Raebin that everybody could hear. “Moondae hyung’s brain was wobbly like jelly.”

Everyone laughed again. Wow. The kids were having fun bullying him.

“Right. I won’t cook for you anymore.”

“No! I take it back! Moondae hyung’s brain has more muscles than a quarterback!”

“Six pack abs~”

“His brain goes to the gym and lifts weights every night.”

The room was full of giggles.

Stop.

“N-no! Moo-Moondae’s focus was just directed at something else. I-in fact… he’s the most focused of us all!”

Everyone was surprised at Ahyeon’s sincere words. Of course he knew that the guys were just having fun dunking on him, but Moondae was touched. He made a mental note to make something good for Seon Ahyeon later.

“And now, no one has any grip on their focus anymore.” Lee Sejin added. “We have an altered dance routine to learn...”

Oh. He’s right.

Keun Sejin clapped to get their attention. “Thank you, Sejin hyung~”

“S-shut up.” Lee Sejin rebuked.

Keun Sejin’s smile was a bit strained. It seemed the two were still at odds with each other. But the bigger Sejin had recovered from the social faux pas like always.

“Shall we do it from the top then~”

Everyone agreed.

“If you have any troubles, Moondae. You can always come and talk to me,” Chungwoo muttered next to him as they all went back to their positions.

He internally apologized to his brother because it’s not going to happen.

“… Yes, hyung.”

And Moondae appreciated the fact that it was easy to escape the earlier humiliating mental agony by focusing on their dance practice.

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Park Moondae, who was originally born as Ryu Gunwoo, was fourteen years old when his dad decided to introduce him to his brother.

But, he did not know it yet at that time, how hate would greet him with a smile, and how jealousy would take root in his heart.

. .. … .. .

. .. .

.

Given the rare moments he shared with his dad, it became a tradition between father and son to spend a day or two together doing what they love: outdoor photography.

Once or twice a year, they would schedule a weekend to camp out in the woods, then shoot some wildlife with a telephoto lens early in the morning. But often enough, they would just go to the park and use a lightweight point and shoot camera, taking pictures of cute dogs who were taking a walk with their owners. Petting cute puppies satiate Gunwoo’s desire to have one because the apartment he shares with his mom doesn’t allow any kinds of pets.

Currently, he sat beside his mother on the steps by the front gate. Between his legs was his photography gear snugly packed in a backpack with a few changes of clothes. They were waiting for his dad, who hadn’t mentioned where they were shooting today.

“You should go back to bed, mom. Don’t you have work later on? Your eyebags might scare away the tourists,” he said while wiping his eyeglasses with his shirt.

His mom pouted at him. “For your information, young man. These bags under my eyes are Gucci.”

All Gunwoo could do was groan at the phrase and his mom faked sob at his reaction.

“Wah! Hu hu... My very own son is ashamed of me! Oh, what should a poor mother do to earn his son’s love back?”

“Stop. Please. You’re embarrassing me.”

His mom fake-wailed even louder, so he pulled out his readied camera and snapped a photo of her. His mom gasped at the sound of the shutter. Gunwoo then browsed the saved photo and showed it to her.

“Oh, look how pretty you are, mom.”

“You!” She gritted her teeth at the meme-template-worthy picture. “Delete that. Delete that right now, Ryu Gunwoo!”

“I don’t wanna.”

“Ungrateful son!”

“Okay, okay,” His palms were up in surrender. “I will delete it…” Gunwoo pushed his glasses up. “For ten thousand won.”

For a moment, his mom looked as if she’s about to reprimand him but instead said, “Five thousand.”

Nice.

“Deal.”

His mom transferred the ‘extra pocket money’ via a payment app while grumbling about what a scammer his son had become. Gunwoo showed his mom that he had deleted it. After a few seconds, he recovered the photo from the trash folder. He found it funny and wanted to keep it for real.

They returned to the hushed embrace of the early morning, sharing the delicate hues of first light while they waited for his dad to come.

The gentle rustle of the leaves and the cool crisp air blowing on their faces painted a serene ambiance. It was peaceful. The quiet stillness seeped into his mind, whispering that it’ll be okay if his dad didn’t come today. He knew their place. One day their father and son bonding would end and it would be alright. They would be fine, him and his mother. He’s happy even with just the two of them.

Funnily enough, Gunwoo was only a Ryu because his mother’s family name was also a Ryu. Although, she came from a completely different bloodline, a small impoverished clan. It didn’t have a legacy like his father had. His mom and dad once said that they did love each other, and they did wanted to get married. But, in the end, it was better for them not to be together. That most of their relatives still followed an old abolished law, forbidding couples with the same last name to get into a conjugal relationship. Frankly, Gunwoo believed that the arranged marriage due to company mergers played a far bigger role. But who was he to point that out? All it would do was add in more misery for the two of them. He sighed. His parents were adults, they probably know that already.

He raised his head. The purple and subtle blues make a beautiful backdrop behind his tired and sleepy mom, who seemed to be lost in deep thought. Gunwoo adjusted his camera settings and took a shot.

“What is it this time?” She said with annoyance after hearing the sound. Gunwoo just smiled and showed the photo to her.

“Oh my gosh!” She held both her cheeks in delight. “I look like Hwang Jini!”

...er.

“Ahhh! My son’s so talented! Look at what your father’s missing out on. Send that to me later, okay?” She patted his head while giggling continuously. “Oooh! I have a new profile picture.”

“Sure, mom.”

The familiar rumble of his dad’s jeep wrangler could be heard down the street. Gunwoo stood up and strapped his backpack on.

“Mom, eat before you go to work later, okay?” Both of them were brunchers who couldn’t eat when it’s far too early in the morning. He was already a couple of steps down when his mom called him back.

“Hey, Gunwoo.” She said it so gently that Gunwoo would’ve mistook it for the wind. He turned to face her and was puzzled at the melancholic expression on her face. “Do you want to be a proper Ryu?”

Gunwoo’s eyebrows furrowed. “What does that mean?”

His dad’s car had arrived in front of their apartment. She chuckled tiredly and moved her hand in a shooing motion.

“Just… an idea.” His mom waved her hand in goodbye. “Have fun today, dear!”

It was weird but Gunwoo didn’t think much of it as he slid inside his dad’s jeep.

“Are you ready, Gunwoo?” His dad asked as he frowned.

“How could I be when you don’t want to say where we’re going today. I don’t even know what proper lens to bring.”

His dad laughed awkwardly as the man ruffled his hair. “Anything is fine, kid.”

They engaged in stilted small talk while on the road. His dad asked about school, and Gunwoo replied that it was fine. In turn, he asked about work, and his dad answered it was okay. Both were aware of how badly they communicate with each other, contrary to how they could smoothly work together on the field with a camera in their hands.

So, Gunwoo tried that angle.

“I saw your picture on the Herald. It was great.”

“Ah. Thanks.”

“… Yeah.”

Back to the thick suffocating silence. Gunwoo sighed and pulled his phone out and zoomed in on the photo that his father took. He showed the screen to his dad.

“My favorite was the fly on the politician’s head. Like, it knows he’s shit.”

His dad sneaked a glance and snorted. The man tried so hard not to laugh, shoulders shaking but both hands stayed on the wheel. “That’s my favorite too, because nobody in the office noticed it yet.”

Gunwoo raised a brow. “Wild.”

Afterwards, they both fell into silence, but at least the mood in the car had lifted. While stuck in morning traffic, they busied themselves by eating several packs of choco pie. Gunwoo browsed the internet out of boredom when, out of nowhere, his dad decided to drop a bomb.

“Your brother has a competition today. That’s where we’re headed.”

Gunwoo choked on his last pie and his dad passed over a cool bottle of apple juice from the cooler.

When he could breathe properly, throat still a bit scratchy, all he could say in reply was, “Cool,” to his dad’s awkward smile.

But deep inside, Gunwoo wasn’t ‘cool’ with it at all!

…

They arrived at the venue. It was an archery range and quite a few groups of people were scattered everywhere. He briefly noted the kids that was loitering around, holding bows and arrows here and there.

While his dad drove around the lot to find a parking space, several scenarios played in his mind. Because of the word competition plus the keyword ‘archery’, he imagined a calm and collected teen that was so focused on the target. The world would blur and the teen won’t notice anything else until the arrow had hit a bullseye. Then the teen would clench a fist after a win, and that’s the only time the teen archer would turn towards the audience. But as he did so, his proud grin would be wiped away after seeing an unknown boy next to his father.

“Are you my hyung?” The teen archer would probably say. Their father would gladly introduce them to each other, none the wiser, but the archer would probably not be able to focus for the rest of the competition, and would miss every single target. It would all be Gunwoo’s fault. “I hate you! You ruined my game!”

But then again, as if his subconscious underlined it twice for emphasis, Gunwoo remembered that while he’s an illegitimate child, he was also the ‘first born’. He groaned. So many family drama would arise just from that.

Therefore, the image of the brother from another mother, changed into an icy, snobbish, but talented prince, who would throw his bow over his shoulder once he was done hitting all targets dead center. A personal assistant would then be scrambling in haste to pick his things up, but would subsequently bump into the frozen archer prince, who had seen the bastard standing beside his father.

Eventually, the prince would come closer to look at Gunwoo from head to foot, judging a bastard’s worth.

“You’re supposed to be my hyung?” The prince would click his tongue. “Pathetic.”

Then archer prince would held his arm out in the air, as if waiting for a falcon. With quick understanding, the assistant would give the prince his bow and arrow. Archer prince would then point the weapon at Gunwoo, the bastard who dared step into his territory.

“Son of a whore, you will never be my hyung!”

...ugh.

Gunwoo internally apologized to his mom on repeat because his vile imagination called his mother a whore even if it was for dramatic purposes.

Gunwoo would like to go home now, please.

“—woo, Gunwoo.”

He flinched when a hand landed on his shoulder. His dad’s eyebrows went so far up.

“Are you okay?”

Oh. The car’s already parked.

“I’m fine.”

“The cooler and the snacks could stay in the car for now. Can you help me with the other bags?”

“Sure.”

It suddenly occurred to Gunwoo that his dad had brought more food than usual. Was the man planning an outing with his other son too or something? Then seconds later, he was struggling not to make a face, as his thoughts dragged his mind into an image of his father forcing Gunwoo to interact with his half-brother, in the name of family bonding. He hoped the legal wife wasn’t here at the very least.

Oh, it was probably alright to ask that.

“Your wife’s alright with me coming here?” He asked nonchalantly while he slung the straps of a tripod carrying case and a lens storage bag across his torso, before hanging his camera strap around his neck. His dad had a habit of packing a lot of extra lenses even though they won’t be able to use it in the end.

“She’s busy. My wife’s the head organizer for an art exhibit that’s opening today.” His dad gave him a knowing smile while handling the rest of their gear bags. “That’s why… I feel like you three could meet here.”

Wait. Three?

His dad chuckled a bit at his reaction and the man rubbed the back of his neck. “Uh, your sister would also be here, of course. A close family friend was kind enough to drive them both here. They’re probably at the registration booth by now.”

Gunwoo released a soft sigh. He doesn’t know why he suddenly felt sad. It might be callous of him to think that his brother was born out of an obligation but… what about the little girl? Was his sister born out of love?

As they both headed out to the registration booth, a young girl shrieked out to his dad.

“Papa!!”

“Hey! Don’t run you two! It rained earlier, you might slip!” A middle-aged lady who were following behind, called out to the two little kids who came rushing towards them.

Uh… little kids?

“Chungwoo oppa lost a tooth. Can I keep it?” The little girl with pigtails was holding out a tiny tooth to show their dad. He estimated her age to be around six or seven years old. She’s also wearing a very colorful shirt that has a unicorn print at the front.

“But… That’s my tooth...” The little boy started to sob. “How am I going to make a wish if you took it?” The upset little boy, who was probably around ten, was dressed in a simple form fitting shirt that has an archery club logo on it.

And… Ah, the boy did have gaps between his teeth. Two gaps… The little boy still have his canine and two front teeth, but the incisors between them were missing. Gunwoo stifled a laugh. His brother looked like a sobbing vampire bunny because of it.

“Is he alright?” Gunwoo asked his dad after taking a deep breath to control himself.

“Milk tooth. Had been loose for a few days now,” his dad replied. The two kids started to quarrel and their dad was trying to break them up. “Your brother had been too stubborn about pulling it out.” Then his dad whispered, “The wish was a made-up thing from one of their cousins who visited from abroad.”

While the children chased each other, running around as the adults tried to end their fight, Gunwoo re-examined his thoughts. He thought his brother would be closer to his age, filled with teenage angst, and would outright reject his existence. But, this…

Without being fully conscious of his actions, Gunwoo snapped several photos of his siblings.

‘Ah… They’re both cute,’ was all he could think about as he viewed the pictures that he took.

“And you must be Gunwoo.” The middle-aged lady said while peeking over his shoulder. “Aww! How adorable! You got your dad’s eye in taking the perfect shot.”

Gunwoo unconsciously stepped back from her inquisitive gaze.

A few minutes later while all the fuss was happening…

The lady, who was also the close family friend, was actually a distant cousin of their father, Ryu Seomin. She also introduced herself as an archery club manager and gave Gunwoo a business card.

“I have two daughters who’s quite around your age and the both of them were a pain in the ass, I tell yah. Must be in their teenage rebellious stage when they decided to draw a knife to each other’s throat. Though, I put all the blame on their father. But you!” Gunwoo flinched. “Don’t worry, boy. I only heard good things about you from your dad! It’s nice to finally meet you.”

“Nice to meet you too.” He bowed. Gunwoo hope he won’t get to meet her daughters in the future. They sound terrifying.

“Seomin noona. I can’t believe you’ve beaten me in introducing him to the rest of the kids before yourself,” his dad said.

The lady laughed. Said kids were bawling in tears though. What a popular milk tooth.

“Chunghae, your oppa has a competition today. Why don’t you give him back his tooth?” Their dad tried to reason. “You’ll get more later on anyway. You just have to be patient.”

“I need it!” She squealed in a very high pitch tone then continued to sobbed. Her small fist was still locked around the tooth. “I-I need to make a wish now!”

“But I needed it more!” Chungwoo cried out while rubbing away his tears. Gunwoo wondered if his brother was nervous about the competition and wanted to wish for a guaranteed victory.

Ah. Gunwoo had some idea he wanted to try. He patted his pockets and took out two objects in his hand, then knelt down near the two kids.

“Oh, I’m troubled. I got two baby unicorn teeth with me and I don’t have a wish to use them for.”

Gunwoo opened his palm and on his hand was…

“E-earplugs?” Chunghae asked in confusion. The brother remained sobbing but was watching them curiously.

She was correct. It was two transparent silicon replacement earplugs with a glittery design. Gunwoo’s mom had bought a bulk of it because it was on sale, along with other junk products that could be found on the internet.

“Yes, these are earplugs. But do you know where they came from?” He asked her dead serious.

“...um, the factory?” Her sobs were diminishing.

Gunwoo squished one earplug with his fingers a couple of times, showing the two how it looked.

“Of course.” He looked at the both of them, meeting their eyes in a serious gaze. “Do you want to know a secret?” The two kids nodded.

“The factory had to process them first before we could use them. They are ‘milk teeth’ after all.” He was laying it on thick by emphasizing the words milk teeth.

“They had to hollow out the tooth and make it soft and squishy.” He squished it again for dramatic flair. “It was a lot of work. They used different machines and chemicals to achieve what I have here today.”

“Like shampoo?” Chunghae asked.

“Or dish-washing liquid soap?” Chungwoo added.

...what?

“...yes... Now, where do these factories get them?”

The little girl thought for a brief second before answering.

“Baby unicorns?” She answered softly with doubt lacing her voice.

Gunwoo nodded. “You seem to be an expert. Want to know another secret?”

She bit her lips before nodding. Chungwoo nodded as well after watching them skeptically. The adults at the back were covering their mouths to muffle their giggles. Though he felt a bit betrayed to see his dad secretly taking a video of them.

“It’s ran by fairies,” he said in a conspiratorial tone.

Chunghae gasped while their brother bit his bottom lip.

“And you can’t tell anyone about it, or else...”

“Or else what?” She whispered.

“Or else… the fairies will wipe away your memory.”

She yelped. “Oh no! You told us about it!” Chunghae covered her mouth in shock.

Gunwoo gasped, his hand flew to his head. He blinked repeatedly, eyes flitting around as if disoriented. Glancing between them and his palm, he feigned confusion as if he was lost.

“Oh. Pretty earplugs,” he said impassively to his hand. “What are we talking about?”

“Noooo! The fairies got you!” Chunghae shakily pointed at him.

“What fairies?”

“The ones who ran the—”

Chungwoo covered his sister’s mouth. “You can’t tell... remember?” Her eyes were wide and they shook with realization.

“Ah. I remember now. I was going to give the earplugs to your oppa because he’s sad that you already have his tooth—”

The little girl dropped the small tooth to Gunwoo’s hands.

“I’ll… I’ll take good care of the baby… I mean the earplugs. But I need two because one is for making my wish and one is for safe keeping.” She was so business-like.

“You don’t want to share the earplugs with your brother?” Gunwoo asked.

“He can have his tooth back.”

It was done. Gunwoo gave the earplugs to his little sister, and with a subtle wink, he gave the tooth back to his little brother.

He moved to stand up but Chungwoo stopped him with a question.

“What’s your name?” His little brother shyly asked.

Gunwoo and his dad shared a glance. His dad then knelt between the two little kids as well, arms around them that was similar to a hug.

“Chungwoo, Chunghae. You both know that I love you and your mother dearly, right?” Both of them nodded, but Chungwoo seemed to have caught on that something was amiss, judging from the kid’s expression. “I… this person right here is…”

His father froze, eyes drawn away, looking at something behind Gunwoo’s back.

“Mama!!” The little girl squealed and ran to hug her mom. “My wish came true! You made it in time, mama!”

Gunwoo’s ears rang.

“Of course I’m here, baby!”

His dad stood up and he followed as well. He was not that surprised to find both of them were stiff with trepidation. His dad’s legal wife was wheezing and her hair seemed to be a little bit disorderly.

All the warmth he stored while interacting with the kids were gone. He felt like he was at the bottom of a well.

“I thought I won’t be able to make it. Well, I’m glad I’ve employed good people.” She kissed his father’s cheek in greeting.

“Oh! Hello.” She gave Gunwoo a saccharine smile that didn’t reach her eyes. “Kids, looks like you’ve already met your cousin Gunwoo.”

Gunwoo’s fist clenched unconsciously.

“He’s a cousin?” Chungwoo asked.

“Yes! You know how big our clan is. And Gunwoo’s your papa’s best student. Right, hon?” She had her palm on his dad’s arm like a subtle reminder for something. “He’s the apprentice that our family’s been kindly sponsoring for quite some time now.”

After a couple of deep breaths, his dad spoke. “Yes. He’s… my best student.”

“And what a good timing!” The wife was looking at the camera around Gunwoo’s neck. “Gunwoo, why don’t you take our family picture? It’s my son’s first competition. A very important day. I want to commemorate it.”

“Why don’t I take the picture then?” Their family friend asked.

The wife laughed. “Seomin noona? I’m sorry but you don’t know how to take a good picture! Let’s leave it to those who have the talent.”

“Then let me—” His dad was interrupted by her arm encircling his dad’s waist.

“Honey, I want a complete family picture. If you took it, then you won’t be included in it.” Her tone was patronizing even though she was pouting.

“It’s fine.” Gunwoo removed the lens cap with shaking fingers. “I’ll take it.”

The two kids were in the front of the parents. The family friend moved away from the camera’s range. Gunwoo raised his camera, made sure that everything was in order and took a shot.

“Can I see?” The wife asked with a pointed grin.

“Sure.”

The picture was already on display but she pressed something else that brought her into another category.

“Oops. Sorry... I’m not familiar with this old model… Oh! these are cute.” She took her time looking at the pictures of her kids. But flipping through them, she arrived at the photos that Gunwoo took of his mom this morning. Her hand seemed to slip and she deleted them. “Oh no. I’m so sorry! I didn’t meant to do that.”

Gunwoo was trying to control his breathing. Anyway… his camera doesn’t permanently delete files right away. There’s plenty of time to recover them later.

“It’s alright.”

“Can I make a request?”

“Sure.”

Her hands then gripped his shoulder, pushing him back. He was startled by the action, his legs felt wooden and Gunwoo fell backwards. His dad was too late in stopping her.

The wife gasped. “Oh, I’m so sorry! Honey, I just thought that he was too close. I want him to include the venue in the picture too so I…” She explained to his dad.

Ah... He gets it. Gunwoo stood up and brushed himself off. He gave her a cold smile, but toned it down to a corporate smile instead. “Let’s take a better family picture then, ma’am.”

The father and son bonding had officially ended. Those kids weren’t his siblings. The people he’s currently interacting with were strangers. Clients. As she had said, sponsors. He would treat this day as a part-time job of sorts. Gunwoo slid his glasses down his nose a bit, where the frame would obscure their faces. It makes it all bearable.

He led the family to a place that had better lighting and had a more interesting background feature. There was also a poster at the back that could tell what event this day was for. Gunwoo included it well in the composition.

He counted down, told then to smile, and pressed the shutter.

-----------------------------------

---------------------------------------------

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Flash!

“Sorry hyung, your eyes were closed at the wrong time. Let’s take another picture,” Park Moondae said to Ryu Chungwoo.

“Oh, okay.” Chungwoo shifted his pose.

While the older Lee Sejin was the only one left practicing by meticulously examining every move in the mirror, the rest of the members were on another break from dance practice. One of the managers said that their sponsor, who provided their dri fit sports clothing, had requested an indirect advertisement. It would be a series of pictures that needed to be posted in their SNS for about a week complete with a hashtag, and would be mixed in with their other regular posts. He’s the only one left who wasn’t disgustingly sweaty at the moment, at least visibly, so everyone decided that Chungwoo would be enough for the initial set.

“How about this?” He asked while making sure his eyes were open.

Moondae chuckled softly for a bit before hiding it with a cough. “You look like Raebin after receiving an unexpected compliment from an opponent. Are you going to punch me, hyung?”

Everyone who was near them suppressed their giggles. The younger Sejin almost spat out his drink. Chungwoo chuckled as well. Honestly, he wasn’t terrible at posing, but he was not in the mood for any picture taking at this time. He wanted to get their choreography done and memorized, then have a bath and relax back at the dorm.

“Hm… How about this, hyung.” Their main vocalist stroked his chin in rumination. “Imagine, one of the sea’s finest offerings: freshly harvested blue crab meat. Succulent, tender, velvety strands, bursting with natural ocean-fresh sweetness and umami taste… Complemented by the salty artisanal soy sauce, adding depth, grounding the sweetness and briny taste of the sea,” Moondae described the dish with little to no inflection.

Chungwoo felt like he was about to drool. This was so unfair. Fresh raw crab marinated in soy sauce had always been and continues to be his favorite traditional dish.

“Then imagine it all waiting for you at the dorm,” their main vocalist added.

He licked his bottom lip and swallowed his saliva. Chungwoo was actually feeling a bit hungry now because of it. He’ll blame the oncoming craving on their crazy photographer teammate later on. For now, they have some work to do.

Moondae was looking intently at his face before nodding. “Lock that imagery in your mind and do some arm stretches. Forget that I’m here.”

“Oooooh!” Some of the guys at the back who were watching them, exclaimed in unison, having perceived what their in-house photographer was trying to achieve.

Chungwoo followed Moondae’s direction while their main vocalist got to work, taking several photos of him in different angles using the company issued phone. He did one that uses a resistance band loop, a ‘thread the needle’ warm-up that he had to be on his hand and knees for, and lastly a triceps stretch. All of them were done while thinking about his favorite food. Then Chungwoo blinked, and for a second, he thought he saw another person holding a professional camera, looking at him through the viewfinder.

“Okay, that’s enough,” breathed Park Moondae, who ended up laying on the floor just to get a dynamic angle shot. Chungwoo pulled the younger man up by the forearm, helping him stand.

Strange. And it wasn’t the first time too… Whenever he’s interacting with Park Moondae, Chungwoo couldn’t stop himself from thinking about another guy from his childhood.

“Ooh~ I wanna see~”

“Me-me too.”

Moondae gave the phone to the younger Sejin. “Then choose the ones to use,” their main vocalist said tiredly as he went on ahead towards their snacking station. Raebin was already there, rummaging for energy bars.

Chungwoo joined Sejin and Ahyeon in looking through the photos.

“You look so dashing, hyung~”

“I-I agree!”

Both the younger Sejin and Ahyeon praised him, even though he really did nothing special. It was all thanks to Park Moondae’s great photography skills.

“Ha ha, don’t I look like someone who’s thinking about eating crabs?” He pointed at himself.

“Not-not at all!” Seon Ahyeon shook his head.

“Next time, I’ll think about pizza,” Eugene said, who was suddenly standing beside them. “Pizza will make me more fierce.” Their energetic maknae made a fist in declaration.

“No~ It will just make you hungrier for real,” the younger Sejin teased. “And unconsolable for the rest of the day unless we order pizza.”

“Now I want to eat pizza,” their maknae added. “Hyung, can we have that for dinner?”

Their dance music was continuously playing in the background, as Chungwoo and the others select the best photos to post, while teasing how much of a glutton Cha Eugene was. Their song was technically still a demo, they had yet to do a prerecording for their stage performance and further polishing according to Kim Raebin’s standards.

And as the music looped back to the start, all of them heard a loud thud. Someone had fallen. No! Lee Sejin, the senior, was laying on the floor clutching his leg. Chungwoo immediately went towards their injured team member.

His gut twisted. This was his fault. As the leader, he should have made sure that someone was keeping an eye on any teammate who insisted to continue practicing instead of taking a break. No... Chungwoo should’ve insisted for them all to take breaks, he didn’t do enough to make sure Sejin also got some adequate rest. It was obvious that their eldest member was having a hard time learning the choreography, and had the least stamina among them.

Also, as a former athlete, he should have had the foresight that with Sejin pushing himself to the limit, the risk of injury becomes higher than before.

“Are you okay?” He asked worriedly while crouching beside their injured teammate.

“I’m fine.” Lee Sejin tried to stand but the pain made him wince and ended up grabbing his ankle instead. The other members had followed suit, surrounding them both but gave enough breathing room to work with.

“Sejin, can we see your ankle?” Chungwoo supported Sejin in shifting to a more comfortable position.

The former actor’s face was pale and his hands were shaking. But with gritted teeth, their eldest member mustered the courage to pull his pant leg up. Lee Sejin’s ankle were swollen. Somebody gasped.

Seon Ahyeon joined both Sejin and Chungwoo on the floor, examining the injury. “I-it’s a little swollen, but it’s a-alright. You… you should still go straight to the hospital though, for-for a splint, brace, or...or just a proper compression wrap.”

Chungwoo gratefully nodded at Ahyeon. Frankly, his head were in chaos and was jumping to the worse possible conclusions. He could’ve ascertain Sejin’s level of injury himself. But, given his experience with injury after effects… he’ll have to admit that at times, he ends up overly paranoid. He was thankful that somebody else had spoken up about it, someone on the team who majored in dance that made him knowledgeable with foot injuries.

“Yes. Sejin,” he said in forced calm. “Why don’t we sit down for now, then let’s call the manager and go to the ER.”

“…Okay,” Sejin muttered in agony.

By lifting their injured member’s arm over his shoulder, Chungwoo assisted the older Lee Sejin to the chairs in the corner of their dance studio. Everyone was quiet. Not long afterwards, their manager arrived.

“L-let’s go, together,” Seon Ahyeon stated.

But the former actor swiftly rejected it. “No! You can’t delay the practice because of me. I’ll be right back!”

“I’ll go with you then,” Chungwoo said. It’s his responsibility to look after his teammates after all.

Still, Lee Sejin strongly refused. “As the leader, you need to stay and look after the others. I’ll be fine.”

Someone had joked that they were not children to be looked after, he tuned them out. He felt inadequate but Sejin was right. Chungwoo nodded his agreement and Lee Sejin left accompanied by the two managers.

“H-hyung, it… it’s not that swollen. Se-Sejin hyung would be fine.” He was a bit surprised that Seon Ahyeon was trying to reassure him. He smiled at their gentlest team member.

“You’re right, and it’s no use to needlessly worry when we could be using our time wisely. Let’s practice.”

However, the medical check-up took longer than it should. It became harder for Chungwoo to concentrate on their dance practice. Nobody was joking anymore. It seemed that all of them were worried as well as time goes on. Hopefully, the injury wasn’t as bad as his nervous mind was making it out to be.

Finally, their session was over. Unfortunately, the older Lee Sejin was still not back. The messages they received from the managers weren’t informative enough, just them saying that Sejin was still with the doctors, or everything looked okay. All of them decided to wait back at the dorm instead.

“I was looking forward to pizza…” Cha Eugene dejectedly said at the handful of energy bars that was offered to him when he said he wanted a snack.

“I can’t believe you still have an appetite during this trying time,” Kim Raebin commented.

“What? Hyung’s fine. I had worse accidents during football,” Eugene said in a muffled voice because his mouth was full of the high-protein snacks. “You’re worrying too much.”

Chungwoo blinked at that. He had forgotten that he wasn’t the only athlete in the group. He sighed. He should really pay more attention to his fellow members.

They heard the door open…

“My, my, Sejin! Is this your dorm? You really have stepped up in the world, my son.”

Most of them shuffled right away towards the entrance hall to see who it was. Unexpectedly, it wasn’t the managers who were assisting their injured member, but an individual who was unfamiliar to the rest of them.

“I would certainly come visit often,” the man said while looking around. From the context, the middle-aged man appeared to be Lee Sejin’s father, the same good-looking facial features served as a significant clue. But the man barely supported his own son’s weight. Actually, their injured teammate seemed to be leaning away instead.

“My schedule doesn’t allow a lot of free time… I’m rarely at the dorm,” the former actor said in a tense tone.

“Why would that be a problem? Your dad could take care of the place for you~ Especially now that you needed help.”

“… It’s fine. You don’t have to.”

Their teammate looked grimmer and seemed more uneasy in the man’s presence.

Chungwoo waited for an appropriate pause and politely addressed them. “I’m so sorry to interrupt...”

“Ah! My Sejin’s friends~ Hello, I’m Sejin’s dad!” The man was sporting an oily grin. The strong smell of cologne was also bothering Chungwoo, as if the man was trying to hide the heavy whiff of alcohol that was noticeable in his breath.

The group said their greetings with a respectful manner. He could see wariness in the eyes of most of his teammates. He even noticed the younger Lee Sejin and Park Moondae exchanged cautionary glances.

“Ahaha! You don’t have to be so formal. Why~ whenever I go out with my Sejin, people would always mistook me as his older brother!”

Their younger Sejin had perfectly cut the man off, trying to set a parting mood. “Ha ha, you do look young, abeonim.”

Chungwoo smiled and tried to finish their polite farewell. “Thank you for taking Sejin home. Unfortunately, we have a scheduled filming in the dorm right now—”

“You don’t have to worry~ I’ll go behave in a corner somewhere and watch quietly.”

Ah… the man was indeed slimy. Chungwoo doesn’t know how to dismiss or remove their teammate’s parent from the dorm without being rude. The atmosphere seemed to be getting worse too. He clenched and unclenched his fist, trying to come up with an answer.

The younger Sejin waved to get the man’s attention. “Ahh~ ha ha, that would be negligent on our part! It wouldn’t be right to treat a member’s parent so thoughtlessly. We’ll have to formally invite you next time where everything had been properly organized, abeomin.”

It was bordering on impertinence. The former actor’s father would have to be thick not to sense that they want him out of their dormitory.

“Oh~ You don’t have to do that. In fact, I’ll be gone after a short while.” The man rolled off one of his shoulders. “It wasn’t easy carrying my son here, you know. A dad’s life is hard!”

No. Not thick but certainly stubborn and probably had an ulterior motive as well. Chungwoo sighed silently.

All of a sudden, Park Moondae rushed towards the bedrooms…

“Well~ Go on then. I’m actually curious to see my Sejin’s work. I actually used to…”

It only took a few seconds but their main vocalist came back with a familiar ornate paperbag. It was the holiday gift set that everyone received from the company.

Park Moondae presented it to Sejin’s dad with both hands and a bow in a show of respect and sincerity, akin to how Chungwoo was taught in the traditional Confucian value and etiquette that his family had upheld to this day. He blinked the thought away. What nonsense… While it may not be strictly adhered to in a casual setting, the gesture was a common practice to others as well.

It’s just that... the way Moondae moved… the way their main vocalist positioned his limbs, especially the fingers, was so similar to his Gunwoo hyung who used the traditional gesture as a form of defiance.

What did hyung called it back then? ‘A... veiled middle finger fit for a prickly queen?’

Huh...

“Abeonim, you’ve worked so hard. We’re grateful for all the things you’ve done. Please, accept this gift. It is all we have at the moment. We hope you find it satisfactory.”

“Ah! Aigoo~ I’m not the kind of person who accept things like this.” The man still shamelessly took it though.

Park Moondae raised his head and was about to step back, when their older Sejin’s dad had a good look at their main vocalist’s face.

“Hmm?! You—!” The man’s expression was weird.

All of them were alarmed when the man suddenly grabbed Moondae’s arm. “Your mother… tell me your mother’s name…”

It took quite some time before Moondae was able to hesitantly answer. Chungwoo wondered if they should call security, given how excited the man had become.

“Oh my… Sejin. Sejin!! This was your friend who won first place, right?” The man’s grin was all teeth. “Well, good news, son. I think I found your brother!”

Park Moondae froze at what Lee Sejin’s dad had said. While the former actor, their older Lee Sejin, had almost fallen but was fortunately caught by the younger Sejin.

Chapter Text

“Well, good news, son. I think I found your brother!”

Park Moondae froze at what Lee Sejin’s dad had said. For a brief second he thought he must have slipped, hit his head on the way to get the red ginseng set, and was currently unconscious. What kind of nightmare scenario was this? Brother? The only brother he knew was Chungwoo, and the former athlete did not even know the truth that they were more than cousins.

In a knee-jerk reaction driven by his racing thoughts, Moondae looked back at his half-sibling and their eyes locked for a brief second. There must have been something on his face because Ryu Chungwoo’s expression hardened.

What…?

“Sir, please remove your hand from my teammate,” TeStar’s leader had said in a polite but serious tone. Moondae did not realize that the man was still grasping his forearm. Wait, did Chungwoo thought he was asking for help?

“Ah~ Haha!” Lee Sejin’s dad had let him go but not before thumping Moondae’s shoulder and roughly ruffling his hair. “You look like your mother you know. I’m just so happy to have finally found you!”

Like a taut rubber band snapping his mind back into place, Moondae was reminded that this mess wasn’t about him at all. But still, he did not appreciate being in the middle of it.

His eyes narrowed at the man’s usage of words. “You were looking for me?” He discreetly triggered his phone inside his sweatshirt pocket to audio record, using a simple user-defined action app, activated via a specific number of consecutive presses of the hardware buttons that anyone could easily setup. Then he pulled his hands out of the pocket.

If this shitty situation was true, then what happened? From what he had gathered about the original Park Moondae, there was no indication that the kid had anybody else to provide any kind of support. Heck, he even felt a bit... guilty... for the indirect hurt he had caused. He might have been the last straw that pushed the kid to do something gravely permanent.

Nevertheless, the Moondae from before suffered all alone and had no clue that he still had a parent. Did that meant that the kid’s mother cheated and took this explosive secret to her grave? He also internally groaned at the possibility that the original Park Moondae may be related to the Schrodinger's junkie.

Moondae’s mind worked overtime and he paled at the kind of information that may leak to the press. Could a family scandal prevent the team from winning an award? Moondae clenched his fist. Of course it would. Not only that but this could end his career if not handled well, closing all avenues to fulfill the mission.

“Yes. Your parents paid well!”

He blinked in confusion at the non sequitur.

“P-paid?!” Lee Sejin stammered in revulsion and his dad laughed at his reaction. The man looked at everyone, amused by the captivated audience.

“Ah~ I should say ‘donated’ handsomely,” the man snickered before placing a hand on his chest, acting morosely. “As a parent, I can understand their misery. You should see the hollowness in their eyes, they were clearly devastated. Going through several ART procedures that still ended up failing? That was a lot of money, you know!”

Moondae raised his brows. The kid’s parents had complications having a child? Well... the kid’s mother most probably did not cheat on her husband. And… he hoped they had cherished the original Moondae when they were alive. He sighed at that thought. Wherever the kid was right now, regardless of any beliefs and philosophies, he wished him peace and happiness.

“ART?” One of their maknaes murmured.

“Assisted Reproductive Technology, according to this,” another one whispered back.

“Ah~ you’ve ruined your algorithm, Raebin. Prepare to have infertility treatment advertisements from now on.”

Moondae groaned and wanted to hit Keun Sejin, but forced himself to focus on what the avaricious sperm donor was saying.

“—found a back door. They were desperate she said! Long story short, a friend of a friend of a friend introduced us. And here we are, producing a grand champion~” The man cheered while presenting him like a prized pedigree in a dog show. “It’s all because of the strength of my semen! Ahahaha!”

What. The. Actual fuck.

Moondae shivered in pure disgust. Bathing in bleach won’t be enough. He would be glad to have Cheongryeo’s ability to restart just to stop this man from blabbering those words ever again. He sneaked a glance at Lee Sejin and their injured member had buried his face in his palms. And… judging by everyone’s reaction, they all suffered greatly as well.

It’s time to end this.

“So when did you start looking for me?” He purposely put a little bit of emotion into the question. But goddamit, everyone was looking at him with pity, especially Lee Sejin. He ignored them.

It was important to hear when this sperm donor acquired the knowledge that the original Park Moondae had become an orphan. Preferably, ages ago. He could’ve asked that directly but they might just end up talking in circles. This man wanted someone who was easy to manipulate. It would be useful to appear as one.

The man stopped laughing and shifted into a much gentler stance. “I looked for you since a few weeks after your parents died. I was worried you know. You were so young and helpless. I wanted to be there for you, as your dad.”

What a load of crap. But. In wanting to appear as the father that Park Moondae could ever need, the sperm donor said the right words. It had established a timeline.

As expected, the man continued on with useless excuses about his absence, as if Moondae’s silence had said, ‘But you weren’t there.’ He didn’t pay much attention to it, though it was interesting to note that the man’s son, Lee Sejin, was seething.

There was no use to continue the pity act. “All I have is your word. That doesn’t prove that you’re my biological father,” he said, cutting off the man’s alibis. “And as an adult, I retain full control over my genetic information through right of privacy. By law, I have the right to refuse a paternity test.”

Immediately, the man’s bearing changed. “You-you have your mother’s eyes. You told me her name! They match with the person I knew… Fine, I don’t care about some paternity test if you don’t want to do it. But don’t you want to have a family? And we actually look alike if you squinted!” The man opened his arms a bit as if waiting for a hug. “You’re free to call me dad~”

Moondae sighed. “If you falsely register a family relationship in the family relations registry, you could get fined for up to ten million won or could get imprisoned for years.”

Lee Sejin perked up at that, while the sperm donor looked a bit irritated. It was obvious that this guy was only after the filial obligations of the children to their parents, that unfortunately included giving financial aid to them.

“It also applies to…” He tapped his chin in thought. “Let’s say you managed to convince me to register our family relationship, and in the end it was false. Same punishment by law, since you’re the one who made me do it.”

“But it’s true! I’m your father!” The man emphasized by jabbing Moondae’s chest with a finger in each syllable. Fortunately the man stopped, or else Chungwoo and the others might find the need to bodily remove Lee Sejin’s dad from the dorm. “I still have contacts with the clinic. I can get receipts to prove it!”

“Then what, use whatever documents you’ve got as proof in a court hearing?” Moondae smiled icily. “But as you implied, the procedure was done illegally. You’re not only implicating yourself but your friend as well.” And possibly endangering the sperm donor’s shady life, considering the possible huge total sum of money involved in clandestine procedures such as this.

The man was gritting his teeth, he probably knew that and was likely weighing his current options. However, Park Moondae as potential money printer was too tempting a target. Lee Sejin’s dad won’t easily give this up.

“Regardless. It’s probably too late at this point even if you could prove it. In our country, the biological father has no parental rights and obligations until his paternity could be established by,” he raised a finger, “An adjudication of paternity by the court, which would be difficult given the context of the unlicensed medical practice involved.” Moondae raised another finger as the man opened his mouth. “Or by a formal acknowledgment of paternity by the putative father, which would also be difficult in this case.”

“And,” Lee Sejin decided to intervene. His shoulders tensed up when everyone looked at his direction. “And… according to this article…” Their injured member read from his phone screen. “If the putative father is deceased, the paternity action must be filed within two years after the date of knowing his death.”

Moondae gave their eldest member a small smile and a nod before facing the sperm donor once again.

“It’s beyond two years as you’ve said previously.” He pulled out his phone and stopped the recording. He then tapped the clip here and there, until he found the exact place he was looking for, and replayed that part for all to hear.

“—I looked for you since a few weeks after your parents died—” He stopped playing it and pocketed his phone again.

“I suppose it’s clear enough that you knew they were dead for a long time now.”

The man’s face crumpled and was turning red.

Moondae sighed tiredly. At least he had established his control on the majority of this messed up situation. Next, it’s time to close the rest of the cracks as much as he could by throwing in some bone.

“I’m not some heartless monster though. Of course some connection to a family is always good. And although I did point out my right to privacy earlier, I’m not exactly refusing to have a paternity test, or to have some form of contact with you.” The man’s face eased up a bit. “All I’m saying is… it’ll be better if we keep this to ourselves.”

Hopefully, the indication that the man’s possible new source of income was kind enough to willingly cooperate—but if the kid got upset Park Moondae could back out anytime—was clear enough. Like, a leak to the press was adequately upsetting.

To hammer in the nail further, Moondae added in obscured but pointed details that the sperm donor might concern himself with.

“Abeonim, I don’t want you to get in trouble if certain types of people started digging further, and I’m not just talking about journalists. The press are nothing compared to the others.” He let the man’s imagination take care of the rest. This kind of person who was willing to step into dishonorable business practices had probably seen some crazy shit.

The sperm donor paled as he blinked at all of them. Awesome.

To be honest, Moondae doesn’t know anything about ‘certain types of people’ that might come after Lee Sejin’s dad. He just want to scare the crap out of the guy.

“And I guess what we’ve learned today was quite taxing to all of us. We all deserve some rest and figure out what to do next,” he said gently as a form of closure.

There. He had given the man a smooth way out.

Then suddenly…

------------------------------------------------------------------------

***[Words of Persuasion (C)]***

--Now that you mention it, it’s true!--

>> ACTIVATED! <<

(ACTIVATION CHANCE: 35%)

TARGET: Lee Sejin’s dad

EFFECT: Ability activated upon successfully influencing a person.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

Huh…

Moondae wasn’t relying on a skill trait to appear, but he inwardly thanked the status window. Funny how it felt as though the status window also wanted the man out of their faces. His lips twitched in suppressing a chuckle.

“You’re right...” The man clutched the gift set bag closer. “We can talk some other time, I guess. Can’t be helped because of your busy schedule, hahaha~” Moondae got thumped on the shoulder again. “Get your hyung to pay for the paternity kit, kid.”

“What?!” Lee Sejin squeaked.

“Don’t be ungrateful Sejin! Think of it as gratitude for giving you a chance to debut as an idol.” The man hollered at his injured son. “Park Moondae lost a lot of money by buying another recruitment slot!”

Ugh.

“There’s no need—” Moondae tried to refuse but a red faced Lee Sejin cut him off.

“It’s fine! I’ll… I’ll do it.”

Moondae would prefer if he did not, actually. They were too busy preparing for a show and an album. And he’s too busy trying to avoid suddenly dropping dead if they ever fail to get an award. Please. Get on with the program and forget about the damn paternity kit.

Shortly afterwards, the sperm donor left. Finally.

That ordeal felt more tiring than their dance practice. All of them strolled towards the living room.

“P-please, hyung. You-you need to sit down. Your foot…”

As Seon Ahyeon tried to guide Lee Sejin to a chair, their injured member swung a hand in reflex. Luckily, Ahyeon was able to avoid it.

“Hey!” Keun Sejin spoke out impulsively.

While all of them where shocked, their eldest member was horrified at his own action. “I’m-I’m sorry!!!”

“I-it’s alright!” Ahyeon replied.

Ah fuck this, really. Lee Sejin’s mental state must be in shambles. If the former actor could move normally, the guy would probably run and escape to his room.

Honestly, Moondae felt the same. He wanted to be alone and clear his head. Ideally with a can of beer or two. Moondae doesn’t know how to proceed with the knowledge that he might be… No. He had to correct that thought. He doesn’t know how to feel about using a body that might be blood related to one of their team members. Granted, Park Moondae and Lee Sejin haven’t met before, fortunately, so he doesn’t need to pretend to know certain contexts about their childhood relationship. Or worse, pile on with the amnesia schtick.

He groaned at the notion of being in another brotherly relationship though and unconsciously glanced at Chungwoo. He flinched when he found out that his half-brother was looking intently at him.

“Are you alright?” Their leader asked.

Moondae chuckled nervously then rubbed the back of his neck. “Why are you asking me? I’m not the one with an injured foot.”

Chungwoo blinked back at him as if surprised, before sinking into confusion at his reaction. Please. Can this day get any weirder?

As he seated himself. Lee Sejin, who settled down on a sofa instead of running away, was intentionally avoiding his gaze. There was a lot to unpack. Where the hell do they even start? Actually, no. Don’t unpack. But he longed for the maknaes or Keun Sejin to mess around so that they could clear away this heavy atmosphere.

While deliberating on whether he could provoke Cha Eugene with a pizza, Kim Raebin carefully raised a hand like an anxious student in a class recitation.

“Um… But… Where did manager hyung-nim suddenly vanished to, that your father showed up instead?”

Good question.

Lee Sejin sighed wearily and addressed Raebin. “There was a problem and... I guess, being in a hurry, the manager contacted him to keep me company.”

Moondae rubbed his chin in thought. It’s a given that managers were always on the go. It’s a stressful job to juggle various kinds of tasks. Considering that the second manager was a newcomer, delicate situations such as emergency hospital visits could be too much for the newbie to handle. In trying to understand the manager’s decision, he guessed that a parent would be an appropriate alternative instead, in some cases.

Unfortunately, it wasn’t normal at all to assume that Lee Sejin’s father would be a sack of shit and an unreliable asshole of a parent. Anyways, Moondae made a mental note to check if there were any more problems that needed to be addressed regarding their activities.

Eugene chimed in next. “Is your ankle okay?”

Nice. He was glad that the former quarterback tackled one of the most important issues at hand.

“T-that’s right, ankle!” Ahyeon expressed worriedly.

And Chungwoo fleshed out their inquiry. “How long do you think it will take to recover?”

Hm. Why does he felt like the team members were deliberately trying to avoid another elephant in the room by addressing a different matter at hand? Not that Moondae found it unpleasant. In fact he welcomed it. He wished everyone would just swept the sperm donor incident under the rug. Actually, that was not a bad idea. It was awkward anyway. He’ll just pretend it never happened and push it far away from his conscious thoughts as much as he could.

He nodded and tuned in back to the group’s conversation.

“—overdid it on purpose. Being in a cast would provide a more stable support while I… I-I just… I just want to get better soon.”

The maknaes raised their thumbs in teary admiration. Like a cliché line from a sports manga, it’s pretty popular with the impassioned youths.

“Hyung… that’s awesome...”

“So cool!”

The maknaes sobbed their praises. Only then did their eldest member’s tense expression loosened up.

Though, Moondae took it as a double entendre. Lee Sejin wanted to get better not just in health but in dance as well, most probably. Perhaps, that guy would try to memorize the steps and practice even with a half cast.

Candidly, Moondae was curious to see if Lee Sejin would be able to break the grade barrier even with an injury, or if the injury would cause the grade to backslide. A small part of his brain was itching to test it while observing the guy’s stats, and regarded Lee Sejin as if the former actor were a lab rat. If only there was no deadline.

Anyhow, should he warn the others that Lee Sejin might try to push his limits too much? …Nah, the pain would serve as a deterrent. Their eldest team member was fragile that way.

Then, he felt several consecutive pokes at his side. Good thing he wasn’t ticklish. When he looked back in annoyance, Keun Sejin was gesturing at their oldest member with the use of lips and subtle eye movements. When Moondae just stared exasperatedly, the big guy wiggled his eyebrows with a grin.

He remained quiet and Keun Sejin deigned to whisper to him, “Why don’t you try and uplift your hyung’s feelings as well, Moondae-moondae~”

He elbowed the guy in reply. But his action had caught Lee Sejin’s attention.

“I’ll make sure that I won’t bother the group any further,” their injured member said in a smile that darkened slightly. “My father… I won’t let him come here anymore. I’ll make sure that he won’t be a nuisance either. Don’t worry.”

The last one was directed at him. Well… that was ominously vague. Family affairs suck.

As always, one of their most innocent maknaes failed to read the room.

Kim Raebin voiced out in confusion, “Wouldn’t it be fine if he visited again? Parents always had the tendency to embarrass their kids. I think that’s okay? We’ll get used to abeonim’s terrible jokes soon enough, hyung!”

Moondae’s thoughts stuttered at how Raebin perceived them to be ‘terrible jokes.’

Lee Sejin’s face reddened like a tomato. “N-no! This dorm’s spacious, he might… he might insist on staying here.”

Raebin continued on with being clueless. “That’s bad? Won’t it be easy to ask the company for permission?”

“D-don’t! There’s no need. That man has bad hand habits…” Lee Sejin seemed to be struggling with a worthless battle.

He should’ve insisted that it’s a private matter to their maknae and Raebin would leave it alone. That kid’s respectful that way.

“Bad hand habits? What does that mean? He forgets to wash his hands?” Eugene decided to add into the chaos.

Raebin shrugged at his friend then said, “And won’t Park Moondae hyung,” Moondae’s eyes widened upon being mentioned, “Needed the chance to get to know his dad better? They just got acquainted earlier. With abeonim around, it’ll be easier for Moondae hyung to connect with a newly discovered parent. Won’t that be awesome and meaningful?”

Ah… Was their punk rabbit hiding this agenda in mind all along? Kim Raebin’s such a good kid for all the wrong reasons.

Moondae stood up and stretched. “Anyway, looks like hyung’s injury would be okay. Who wants a double crust stuffed pizza?”

And as expected, “MEEE!!!” Cha Eugene roared.

“And Chungwoo hyung, I owe you a ganjang-gejang. I know a place that does a take out delivery.” He pulled out the info with his phone. It’s pretty late for that kind of dish but Moondae was desperate to escape any kind of rubbish family talk.

“Ah… sure…” Their leader was looking at him weirdly.

“Ahyeon. Salad or sandwich?”

“N-no, th-thank you. I’m good…” Ahyeon was also staring at him strangely before sharing a knowing glance with Keun Sejin. He ignored it all and continued to ask the rest of the group what food they like to order, or perhaps a meal that he could make to get his mind busy with something else.

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. ... .

A boy watched from afar.

For the very first time, after a long long while, he was aware of what he used to be. A pang of wistful sadness tugged at his heart for being left all alone, yet, simultaneously, a profound happiness enveloped him. The boy was happy to see his hyung smile… messing around with the others… immersed, thriving, and full of life…

But then his emotions surged, it all became too much too soon. Being awake was agonizingly hard.

The entity cooed, opened its metaphorical arms to welcome him back, and the boy eagerly slipped back into a pool of blissful contentment.

There was no pain, no hurt, no suffering in its embrace. The boy just existed... as the being ever so slowly, ever so gently break him down, feasting upon his mind… his weak subconscious.

The boy was settled in waiting, merging with it, intoxicated by serving a higher purpose in empowering its cause.

. ... .

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While everyone was occupied with the late night impromptu feast, Ryu Chungwoo’s mind was lost in contemplation, thinking about something else… Or to be exact, someone, who wasn’t here.

‘So when did you start looking for me?’

The words spoken earlier by Park Moondae made a ripple in his heart. Quite similar but in a completely different context, Ryu Chungwoo had also tried to locate someone from his past, both him and his sister. They got so far as to get their cousin’s contact details, after their cousin left everything behind. But… hyung refused to meet up with them, or even reply after the initial message.

He cannot understand why his cousin would cut ties with them just like that. They were family after all, or so he thought… Even as cousins and as their temporary babysitter at times while apprenticing for his father, he looked up to Gunwoo hyung as his true older brother. He didn’t even care that his cousin never checked up on him after the accident, in rehab, in school or while he was busy as an Olympic athlete, …Or even towards the bitter end when the after-effects of the injury pushed him to find a different path in life…

Chungwoo closed his eyes with a deep sigh and took a sip from his drink. Alright… He was miffed about it. Possibly even more. To be honest… he was infuriated. But even so, he still wanted to see him again and try to understand why...

Why did hyung left them when he needed him the most?

“Chungwoo hyung, if you don’t eat that, the crab might regenerate and avenge it’s brethren,” Park Moondae commented. The dining room was full of laughter.

He shook his head. It’s no good to be stuck in the past. And it was unwarranted to blame their main vocalist for reminding him too much of Gunwoo hyung. He joined in the fun and chuckled, then he mixed in the crab eggs and brine sauce to his bowl of rice. He thought it would be impossible to request this meal so late at night, but Park Moondae somehow managed it.

“Hehe, crab zombies,” Eugene noted after trying it out with a bite of pizza. True. If those mangled crabs come alive again, it’ll be a horror show. Speaking of horror shows, one was playing on Netfler and everyone was ignoring it. He should just turn the TV off.

He stood up to look for the remote. “Both my mom and sister tried making some before, but the crabs either would end up hard like rocks after being frozen for so long. Or become really active and invade the kitchen like a revolution,” he narrated while rummaging around, then chuckled at the fond memories of his mom and sister running away from the crab with a knife in it’s claws.

With Gunwoo hyung’s direction, both him and Chungwoo trapped several of them with a lid and a tong. It was fascinating to watch how hyung popped their shell open in the middle of those flicking pincers and scuttling limbs. He felt like they were fierce warriors claiming their spoils. The dish became Chungwoo’s favorite because of that moment. How nostalgic.

“Viva la revolución!” Eugene shouted before chomping down on his food.

Chungwoo shut the TV off and headed back to his seat.

“Ah~ Moondae-moondae’s ruining our diet just because he doesn’t want to talk abou—” Moondae shoved a spicy chicken leg into the mouth of the younger Sejin. Chungwoo almost snorted after witnessing it.

“We burn a lot of calories, you punk. Especially with you teaching us peasants with out-of-this-world dance movements,” Moondae said before cracking open a can of beer.

Chungwoo blinked. How much beer had Moondae drunk at this point? He had lost count. Chungwoo was still on his second beer can. Then he noticed how Lee Sejin was eyeing Moondae’s drink. Was that concern on their injured member’s face? He sighed. So many things had happened today. At the very least, he was glad that Sejin’s injury wasn’t grievous.

The younger Sejin swallowed the food with an iced tea before replying, “If you’re going to blame me? Why aren’t you blaming Seon Ahyeon as well~”

Moondae ruffled Seon Ahyeon’s hair. “Ahyeon’s a good kid.”

“Ah~ Moondae-moondae, that’s the hand that was holding the chicken~” The younger Lee Sejin chortled.

Their main vocalist looked down at the hand with shaking eyes like it betrayed him. “… I’m sorry.”

“I-I don’t mind! I’ll-I’ll go shower anyway,” Seon Ahyeon said before laughing. Then he continued, “But I think Moo-moondae needs to sleep. You-you drank a lot.”

Abruptly, an anxious Kim Raebin stood up and bowed at Park Moondae.

“B-before you go to bed, hyung, I want to apologize! I realized that I stepped over your boundaries earlier and made you uncomfortable.” Raebin raised his head. “It’s just that, you’ve helped me a lot with my troubles about my grandmother before by talking about the painful memories you’ve recently remembered during that time. So, I wanted to help you out with your family troubles as well.”

Painful memories that were recently discovered???

Everyone had gone silent. Chungwoo waited for someone to drop the punchline for the joke. But remembered that it was Kim Raebin who said it. He scoured his mind on the kind of jokes that the rapper liked to tell… He cannot think of any.

Eugene did a facepalm beside Chungwoo and heard their maknae mutter, “Raebin, you idiot…”

Moondae blinked slowly at Kim Raebin and gently stood up. “Ah, yeah. Don’t worry about it. I think I’m going to bed. We still have practice tomorrow.”

Hey… Their main vocalist was resorting to… Does that mean that what was hinted at was true?!

“I wish you luck in remembering more of your memories in your sleep, hyung!” Raebin quickly added at Moondae’s retreating back. Their main vocalist just raised a hand and waved at them in goodnight.

In all honesty, Chungwoo wanted to call out to their escaping teammate and make the young man explain this sudden disturbing situation. But… that would be uncalled for. How should they even address it though?

And what was with this cursed day? It was one worry after another! Who the hell tripped on Pandora’s box?! He doubtfully looked at the empty beer can in his hand and wondered if it was spiked with something they shouldn’t be taking.

Cha Eugene and Kim Raebin bickered for a little bit but it wasn’t that serious.

“Stupid Raebin, airing out hyung’s private affairs.”

“What?! But I thought everyone in the group knows about hyung’s amnesia by now!”

Amnesia… The word echoed in his aching head. Chungwoo massaged his temples.

Seon Ahyeon and the younger Lee Sejin averted everyone’s gazes, primarily their two maknaes. It was also curious to see how the younger Sejin was very tight lipped at the moment. He half expected their tallest member to be joking around about it at the very least.

Anyway, it was late. They all solemnly followed suit to prepare for bed, after setting aside the left overs and storing them inside the fridge. Lee Sejin insisted on helping out even with an injury. Although, it might have been due to avoidance. Their eldest was probably waiting for Moondae to sleep before going to bed himself—to dodge an awkward encounter with a roommate, who could possibly be his long lost half-brother… who apparently has amnesia…

It was just the two of them now and Chungwoo had finished wiping off the table. Sejin limped around arranging the dining chairs into place.

“Sejin, do you need help going back to your room?” He asked while turning off the lights in the kitchen, living room, and in some of the hallways.

“N-no, I could manage on my own. Actually… I wanted to talk.”

His responsibilities as a leader fell onto his shoulders like a mantle once again. It weighed a ton, specially today. Although most of the time, he kept wondering why he’s even the leader. He’s so incapable of being one.

“…Sure. But we shouldn’t take too long. Above all, you need rest.”

Sejin nodded and they both took their seats.

“Do you know what that was about?” Their injured member started.

Chungwoo raised a brow in question then angled his head. Are they seriously going to talk about that right now?

“About… Park Moondae’s memory problems,” Sejin continued in a hushed tone.

Of course… Chungwoo sighed and crossed his arms. “To be honest, I don’t know much about it either.”

He was deeply concerned as well, but it seemed to be a delicate situation that shouldn’t be rushed with some kind of confrontation, especially considering Park Moondae’s aversion to talking about anything personal. If they were to provide any form of support for their teammate, he didn’t want their help to backfire and make matters worse in the process.

Sejin chewed on his lips for a bit before voicing out more of his worries. “My father’s not a good person. And… and if it’s true that Park Moondae’s my sibling, I-I’m afraid that my dad might take advantage of him… Even more so now, after we got to know that Moondae have issues with his memories. W-what if that leaked out to my father and he used it? Like… he could ingratiate himself into Park Moondae’s life that way, and-and take away Moondae’s independence or something.”

“Hm.” Chungwoo tapped his fingers on the table.

That was horrifying. But it also sounded like a plot from a drama series. Maybe because of the injury, that could signify the lost of some of his bodily control, Sejin’s paranoia had overflown. And sometimes, just to feel sane, it feels much better to worry about another person’s problem than your own. He could empathize with that… All Chungwoo could do was quell some of Lee Sejin’s anxieties for now.

“Moondae might have difficulties remembering the past, there’s probably trauma involved judging from what Kim Raebin had said, but Sejin…” He leaned in closer and locked eyes with his teammate. “Do you really believe that Park Moondae would allow any of that to happen?”

They shared a brief moment of silence until Sejin breathed out deeply and Chungwoo leaned back.

“No… he’s strong. Unlike me.”

Honestly? He felt the same way about himself. He still believed that Park Moondae should take the leader's position from him. But it was unsuitable to say out loud right now. Chungwoo patted Sejin’s hand with a small reassuring smile.

“You’re underestimating yourself. Moondae’s frighteningly adept of so many things, but… I bet they are things that you can do as well. Everyone in this team have different strengths.”

Chungwoo observed the silent teammate. Like a storm passing by, Sejin’s expression was slowly clearing up. Although his posture was still tensed, it seemed as if his apprehension was slowly being replaced by a burning determination.

After some time had passed, their eldest member seemed to have reached a conclusion.

Lee Sejin looked up and gave him a firm nod. “My father needs to be stopped from ruining more lives. It’ll be better for us all if he goes to jail.”

Chungwoo felt like banging his head on the table. “Isn’t that too extreme? Besides, Raebin does have a point. If your dad’s really his father, then Moondae have the right to judge for himself if he’ll welcome the man as a family in the end.”

Sejin looked like he had been slapped. “You don’t understand. My father’s an awful person!”

“I’m not saying he isn’t.” He tried to calm their injured teammate down. “But… he’s still your dad.”

Lee Sejin’s expression was closing off.

He added further. “Park Moondae’s an orphan. Don’t take this away from him.”

At that, Sejin turn contemplative. “I’ll… I’ll think about it.” After rubbing a cheek for a bit, their eldest member pulled out a phone and opened a browser. “I want to check out some things first. You should go to bed.”

Chungwoo sighed softly. “Okay, but don’t stay up too long.”

Sejin nodded absentmindedly in reply and busied himself with research. Chungwoo left his teammate in the dining area to go to the bathroom. But before he went to his room, he checked on Park Moondae for his own peace of mind. The young man was deeply asleep.

Upon reaching his shared bedroom, he was a little bit surprised to find that the younger Lee Sejin was already asleep, fully covered by a blanket. Unfortunately, he couldn’t say the same for his other roommate, who was still wide awake, watching a show with a smartphone.

“It’s late, Eugene. Go to sleep,” Chungwoo called out while changing into his bedclothes.

“Just one more episode, hyuuuuung!” Cha Eugene whined, sprawled on a messy bed. Their maknae seemed to be watching the same show earlier from Netfler.

“Don’t be so loud, Sejin’s already asleep, you might wake him,” he cautioned, looking over at their sleeping roommate.

With a huff, Eugene said in defense. “He’s not. Sejin hyung’s doing something in his phone too.”

The blanket flipped, and the very-much-awake younger Sejin turned towards them with a disappointed look.“Ah~ Eugene, you traitor. I’ll get you for that later~” Their tallest member teased, before returning his attention to his phone.

Chungwoo sighed in exasperation, placed his hands on his waist, counted to three in his head and declared, “If you both don’t want to go to bed right now, I’ll confiscate your phones.” His roommates laughed. “I mean it.”

That shut the both of them up. The younger Sejin volunteered to turn the lights off.

At last, all of them were settled on their beds, trying their best to sleep. Their maknae grumbled while tossing and turning on the bed.

Chungwoo’s eyelids felt heavy but his racing mind wouldn’t let him drift off. Usually, it was easy for him to sleep after drinking some beer. It’s not the time to be sentimental. He really needs to sleep. The pragmatic side of him was quick to remind that there were tasks to attend to, responsibilities demanding his full attention… However, after a bit of pondering, he couldn’t shake off the lingering emotions. So he groped around for his phone. The soft glow illuminated his face as he composed a message to his sister, not caring at all about how late it was, or how he’ll probably regret it in the morning.

‘Have you ever thought about why Gunwoo hyung left?

Or why he stopped seeing us?’

He wasn’t exactly looking for answers to these questions, but at the same time he wanted to send more. Chunghae would hate it if he did flood her with these kinds of texts though. Besides, it’s unfitting for an older brother to do so. Be that as it may, she’s lazy with reading or replying to messages from family anyway, ever since his sister had a falling out with their mom, and demanded to live in a different house, declaring her independence. He wondered a bit on how long the rebellious stage would last…

Then to his surprise, Chunghae replied right away.

‘Oppa, are you intoxicated?

You’re always so mushy when you had alcohol, you blind mama’s boy.

I don’t have to wonder why because I know...

Well… Gunwoo oppa have every right to hate us.

Because after his mother died, mama took everything away from him.

Then she made sure his life was miserable.’

...what?

He read Chunghae’s reply again and again. It didn’t make much sense. In addition, he didn’t know that… Gunwoo hyung’s mother had died. And what was that jab about their mom?

He sent another text.

‘Don’t make up stories, Chunghae.’

“Booooo~ Chungwoo hyung’s so unfair…”

“Right, so unfair…”

“~This is abuse of power…”

“I want to watch Netfler...”

Several unnecessary commentaries were thrown by his roommates.

He swallowed the lump in his throat. He needed to sleep. Chungwoo set his phone aside, not waiting for a reply. He covered his eyes with his arm and attempted some breathing exercises, but nothing seemed to work. Soon enough, his two roommates had dozed off.

Morning came and Chungwoo was still wide awake.

Chapter Text

The persistent beeping of his phone alarm was mocking him. Park Moondae reached over to his bedside table with a heavy lethargic arm, not to silence the damn phone, but to blindly grasp for his glasses.

“Um… here…”

Someone nudged the phone closer to his fingers, and Moondae blearily opened his eyes, squinting at the person who did so. It took several seconds before his mind caught on that he doesn't wear eyeglasses anymore. He silenced his phone with a swipe and Lee Sejin limped back to his own bed. Funny. Did the alarm bothered the injured guy so bad?

“Thanks, hyung,” he told his roommate as he stretched his limbs to wake up. An echo of a dream where he was Ryu Gunwoo, lingered faintly like a fog as he rolled to the side before sluggishly sitting up. He couldn’t recall what it was but he knew it wasn’t good.

“Do… do you have a hangover?” His roommate asked. “You should take some medicine and drink some water.”

Weird. They usually leave each other alone, preferring to mind their own business.

“No. I’m fine.” His head did ache a bit and he felt a bit parched. There was nothing new about it though and he had worse symptoms before.

Glancing at the former actor, who struggled to place the half-cast leg on top of a hamster body pillow, had vividly brought back the memory of what an absolute disaster yesterday had been. He inwardly groaned. Right. He would be delusional to think that those revelations wouldn’t change the group’s dynamics towards him.

What’s done was done. All he could do was adapt and move on. It’s fine as long as they don’t hinder with work, or make his life more… difficult… His eyes twitched as he continued to observe the still struggling roommate. Ugh… Now, because of the possible connection, he felt compelled to help the guy.

Moondae went towards the other bed and cautiously helped position the pillow better, while Lee Sejin gently lifted the injured leg with a wince.

“Y-you didn’t have to...”

Moondae just shrugged at the embarrassed former child actor. Then his eyes caught the several notes scattered all over his roommate’s bed, several tabs on an open laptop and smartphone, and the dark circles under Lee Sejin’s eyes. It was noticeable even underneath his roommate’s rimless eyewear. All that was missing was a large cork board, pins, and colorful yarns, to complete the conspiracy setting.

Hm. Did the guy even sleep? Well, Moondae guessed that their injured member would be taking a nap later on anyways. Lee Sejin would be crazy to attend practice with that swollen ankle. In all likelihood, the rest of the team would forbade it.

At least their eldest member did not seem to have cried unlike the past few days. Moondae briefly wondered if that was the case then. His roommate was probably trying to solve the issue with the sperm donor. Family related problems were not likely to be solved so easily though. Add in to the fact that the original Park Moondae was now a variable in those problems. What a mess...

When his roommate noticed that he was trying to read some of them—wait, was that an article about the menstrual pad controversy, and what’s with those mental health journals—the guy hastily gathered up all the papers and closed the laptop. Then, with a jolt, as if remembering something, Lee Sejin snatched a paperbag from somewhere on the bed and was handing it over to him.

“I’m sorry about my… about dad. Here, take my red ginseng set.” Lee Sejin shook it. “O-oh! Right! I already ate some. I’ll-I’ll buy you a new one, so take this for now.”

Was their eldest member actively trying to become a hyung to his dongsaeng unlike before because of possible family relations? He hesitantly took the package.

“Thanks, hyung. Though… I guess we could share it, like a roommate stash.” He took the opened pack of candies out of the paperbag and displayed it on one of their side tables, where anyone could easily take one. “Let’s eat well…” There. He could meet the guy’s effort in social interaction halfway through… Somewhat… At the very least.

God, it felt so awkward. To escape this horrid brotherly trial run that he did not sign up for, Moondae took his towel and toiletries away, then moved towards the bathroom to prepare for the day.

But before he could leave…

“Oh and.. um, I ordered the paternity kit through one of the managers, uh... under their name, for additional privacy. It’ll probably arrive tomorrow.” Lee Sejin rubbed his cheek with a finger. “So… I’m afraid dad would be visiting again. Maybe… the three of us could eat dinner together?”

Moondae closed his eyes in resignation. To be fair, the sperm donor’s legitimate son appeared to be having difficulties with that as well.

“Sure,” he said with a nod, though questions plagued his mind. He looked away as he asked, “But… are you okay with that? With your dad possibly having another son… that’s not with your mom?”

Lee Sejin’s deep sigh was quite telling. “I’m not surprised, actually.”

Moondae blinked at the tone and looked back.

Lee Sejin removed his glasses and held Moondae’s gaze. “Well… I am, but only because... Because it’s you! And we’re both in the same idol group.” The guy shook his head. “My father having another child... It’s not unthinkable, given that my parents had been divorced for a long time now.”

The essence of those words overlapped with thoughts from his distant past. Moondae couldn’t help but think that despite Lee Sejin being resigned to it, there must have been hurt, the kind of hurt that only an abandoned child could feel, underneath all the rationalization. Humans are resentful creatures. At some point in his teammate’s life, that sperm donor would have had shown the side of a loving father to his son. And Park Moondae’s existence would birth doubts, casting shadows on those precious childhood memories that Lee Sejin surely hold dear. He doesn’t want to destroy that.

He stopped the swirling thoughts, clenched his fist, and tried to disentangle his own emotions from the situation.

Moondae doesn’t want to trigger a possible altercation that could affect the group, just because future resentment from being a possible half-sibling was unavoidable. He had to show that he wasn’t invested in getting in between them, nor interested in getting to know Lee Sejin’s father.

So as a primer, he said this without much inflection, “For what it’s worth, hyung. I’m just a business transaction for your father. I don’t think he loves me as a son.”

Lee Sejin spluttered, “W-what?! Why did you… I mean, do you think that I’ll-I’ll be jealous or something?! Or… or that…” Then, the incredulous expression on their injured teammate’s face gradually softened into one of tenderness. “Oh…”

Lee Sejin covered his mouth for a couple of seconds, before continuing in a softer voice that was laced with pity. “I could introduce you to mom… She’ll love you like her own.”

What now…? He touched his temples. Ugh… Moondae doesn’t like the emotions being conveyed in those eyes.

“Hyung, I think you’ve got it wrong.”

“Don’t worry, Moondae. I totally get what you mean.”

“You don’t.”

“I’m sure you’ll like her, she’s not like my father. We could… we could be the support system that you need.”

He couldn’t say anything more. It was as if the more he tried to repudiate the forming misunderstanding inside Lee Sejin’s mind, the more it cemented that Park Moondae’s a lonely little orphan who was too shy to admit that he wanted to have a parent.

“...sure,” he settled on saying instead, matched with an awkward smile, while backing out of their shared bedroom and into the bathroom.

After a quick shower, he pondered whether he had made things harder for himself while brushing his teeth. Maybe this newfound connection with Lee Sejin could prove useful, or perhaps not. Either way, it left him feeling like a con artist. If not a mental asylum, he hoped that the former baby shaman actor, wouldn’t attempt to perform an exorcism on him if it were revealed that he wasn’t the original Park Moondae.

He rinsed his mouth then looked at his reflection. He played around with an idea of an introduction in his head, if it ever got to that point. ‘Hello, I am not an evil spirit. I’m just a normal guy who’s stuck in your brother’s body, while trying to survive.’

It did not take too long for him to let out a pained groan, because it sounded like what an evil spirit would say if his life was a comedy skit.

“You should… You should really take some medicine if you have a hang over!” His roommate shouted from beyond the door.

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Stuck…

It seemed like Ryu Gunwoo would be stuck on another sleepless night in the Ryu Estate, courtesy of the prickly queen.

“I’m going to die.” He sighed as he poured a can of energy drink over his mug of coffee and stirred it with a pen. After that, he put in his earbuds and slid the volume up to blast away his misery with the power of K-Pop.

Damn that woman. Under the guise of an official apprenticeship, with a signed working permit from the Minister of Employment and Labor and all that jazz for being a minor, his father’s legal wife had dumped huge files of pictures for him to edit. Even if he had streamlined the usual editing process using action scripts, he still had a mountain of work to finish.

Gunwoo doesn’t know what had gotten into his mom’s head, but after she accepted a higher paying job to lead guided yacht tours abroad instead of local expeditions, she suddenly decided to drop him here to live with his dad for the meantime. She doesn’t want him to be alone, she said. The legal wife had expected this arrangement as well, and for some reason, the two women were pretty chummy with each other.

Well… only on the surface. He could feel the tension while they both smiled and laughed like long lost friends. It was also suspicious how his father looked at them as if reminiscing the good ol’ days. He shivered while remembering their loaded conversations. Women are scary.

Anyway, the additional allowance he would be getting was not so great. But! He really liked having access to the photography studio, expensive equipment, and the means to create archival quality prints of his own photos. There was also a promise of him shadowing his father while on the professional field in the future. Gunwoo was ashamed to admit that he was easily swayed on agreeing to stay here because of that, even if he had to travel quite far to go to school.

Though, it felt weird to work in his dad’s home office when the man was rarely at home. It’s not like his father took on other apprentices, nor opened the studio for other photographers. The patriarch was always on call, traveling all over the country. His dad did say that he was thinking about opening a photography studio with a print shop as a business on the side, but work had kept the man too busy to push it through fruition.

Except for the photography equipment however, the rest of the machines were useful for the legal wife’s work as a coordinator. A handful of people do come and go at the office, usually to make custom print materials. They always leave Gunwoo alone though because the bristly queen was always around, watching them work. So, while his father was his photography mentor on paper, the kind of work that swamped Gunwoo in this apprenticeship since he started staying here, made it seem that his actual boss was the man’s legal wife.

After his dad boasted about Gunwoo’s knowledge in photo editing, the legal wife tested his skills. She seemed happy enough with the quality of his work, but it was hell for him since then. She piled on so many photo editing work on him that Gunwoo wasn’t able to work on the things he wanted to do in the studio yet. Granted, school had been a bit of a pain as well.

Anyway, the work would have been fine if it were regular editing requests such as color correction, clean up, sharpening, adjusting the vibrancy and saturation, so on and so fort. He wouldn’t even be opposed on retouching, removal of blemishes, or even subtly mimicking filter effects to make some of the insecure guests slimmer, minus the warping of the background and other surroundings of course. But it was the unrealistic demands that rendered this apprenticeship downright frustrating.

For example, just two weeks ago...

His boss was pointing at several event photos to be further edited on the monitor. He actually adjusted all of them already based on her meticulous standards. He was so tired of looking at the boring faces of the so-called elite.

“This woman beside the ambassador, holding his arm. Make sure she doesn’t exist.”

Did Gunwoo missed a note somewhere that he had become an assassin? Internal jokes aside, this job was impossible. Judging from the pictures, that woman was probably the ambassador’s mistress. Gunwoo had glimpsed some news article that the ambassador and his wife were having trouble with their marriage.

It’ll be hard to edit to make it seem that the ambassador wasn’t with anyone in those pictures, but it was doable. Nevertheless, the real problem lies in another matter.

“I could do that, ma’am. But what about the pictures that the guests took on their own?”

Ah… his boss was offended, better keep his head down low. He’ll probably receive a punishment later on, but Gunwoo felt that he had to say the mistake his boss was likely to make.

He continued. “The pictures were probably posted in their own social media accounts by now. If you remove her from the official photos that would be posted in the company’s website later on, and someone made a comparison, then wouldn’t it make your own company highly suspicious?”

“You’re young. You have a lot to learn, Gunwoo. Just do what I tell you to do.”

And so he did. He missed a few of his morning classes because of it. At least his boss was happy enough with the results. He still received some punishment for talking back though. Gunwoo had to read and memorize ancient texts from Ryu ancestors in some gloomy part of the estate for hours after school, while maintaining the proper sitting position on a floor cushion. It was agony trying to unfold his legs afterwards.

As for the edited pictures of the ambassador’s mistress, it had caused quite a scandal and a lot of blaming games in the media. A tabloid journalist published that it was the ambassador’s wife who ordered the photos to be edited. Gunwoo thought it was a lie but it turned out to be true. His boss’ expression while watching the news interview was quite revealing. She smirked at him when she saw Gunwoo carefully watching her while they were having breakfast with the kids.

Then Gunwoo belatedly realized that the woman who was edited out of the photos, was also an emerging artist that his boss had organized an art exhibit for, not too long ago. The scandal had placed the artist’s name out in the press, she received a lot of interviews, and her simple life as a struggling artist was well received. The press made it look like her only fault was falling in love with the wrong man, and that she had broke off their relationship already.

Weirdly, the woman’s artworks had tripled in value since then. Two of the paintings were displayed down the hallway in the Ryu Estate.

He doesn’t know who’s really playing the game but… His father’s legal wife reminded him of a queen on a chess board, and Gunwoo was nothing but a pawn. He stopped questioning his boss for her decisions after that.

Gunwoo stretched his arms out with a yawn after clicking the print button. It wasn’t that late yet, but he was really tired. Fortunately, he did not received a job as outrageous as before, but the bossy queen was still anal-retentive about unnecessary details. Like, who the hell cares if she zoomed in enough to see that the pixels doesn’t flow naturally, pointing to an edited work. Nobody would give a damn if the photo that was only for an article’s opening, talking about another high end art exhibit that was soon to open, was edited.

Anyway, that one was added to the perfectionist checklist which made his working hours longer. His solution for the pixel flow correction, aside from adding subtle noise here and there, was to print an A1 size photo of the edited piece, then take a picture of it in the studio. A bit costly but it’s not his money anyway.

He removed his earbuds while trudging towards the printing room. As he was trying to massage the back of his neck, Gunwoo heard a sniffle. He followed the sound and found his little brother moping between the boxes in one of the storage rooms.

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“Good armadillo form, Chungwoo. Ten out of ten.”

Chungwoo felt Gunwoo hyung sat down beside him. He doesn’t want his cousin to tease him right now.

“I didn’t know that the storeroom would be a nice habitat for a little armored critter.”

Chungwoo curled inwards even harder, hiding his face in his arms. Though, he sneaked a peak in reflex after hearing a couple of clicks of a camera phone’s shutter.

“Hm…”

His cousin was busy with his phone, so Chungwoo continued to brood in silence.

He’s such a failure. Their coach made him the anchor because he was the strongest archer in the team. In crucial moments his shots mattered the most. A determining factor, they’ve said. And usually, his arrows sealed their win. But on the last competition, he’s the reason why they lost. The scores speak for themselves, he had brought shame to their club.

It’s like… he had turned into a literal anchor, who was too heavy for his teammates to carry. If he’s gonna be optimistic about his position in the team, the coach might just make him participate in individual events from now on. But he wouldn’t be surprised if they made him a reserve instead, or kick him out of the team entirely.

Because… because it’s been a few weeks now and he still kept missing the target when it was the easiest thing he could do before! And it’s much worse than when he was a beginner. In his current state, his arrows ended up hitting the ground, the backstop, or the berm. Fortunately, he hadn’t injured anybody. He had no clue why he became like this. Just thinking about it makes him want to cry even more. Everyone must be very disappointed in him.

He felt soft taps on his shoulder. When he raised his head, he saw an edited picture on Gunwoo hyung’s phone screen. In it, both him and his cousin were curled up like balls side by side. His brows furrowed. They were surrounded by cut up armadillo pictures, who were also rolled up into their protective shell.

Then hyung tapped the screen and all the round shapes had rolled out randomly off the screen, including the two of them. It was so stupid and so random that... Chungwoo couldn’t help but giggle while tears rolled down his cheeks as the gif looped back to the start for the third time.

After that, Gunwoo hyung showed additional funny memes mixed in with loads of puppy pictures. Although, not all of them were about dogs.

“Who’s that?” Chungwoo asked at one of the random photos.

“That’s my mom,” his cousin replied.

“She’s pretty,” he said.

“Hm, I’ll tell her you said that. She’ll be very happy.”

“She’s also this one?” He pointed at another photo of her that was quite comical.

“Yup.”

“Why does the text say: when you’re trying to yawn but you sneeze instead?” He asked in confusion.

Gunwoo hyung chuckled. “The face have muscles too. Yawn-sneezing is one of the ultimate forms of facial workout. A morning routine that certain adults do in the morning.” Hyung poked both of Chungwoo’s cheeks. “They need proper exercise and it’s very hard to master.”

“Oh.” He tried to copy the expression on the picture. His cousin laughed then copied the expression as well. Likewise, Chungwoo burst into rolls of laughter beside the teen. Both of them continued doing the weird expression several times and laughing at their faces. He did not notice when he had uncurled his body and had relaxed enough to lean onto his hyung with all his tears dried up.

With a gentle smile, Gunwoo hyung pulled him out of the storage room and offered a bottle of water from the small office fridge. “Remember, it’s important to keep yourself hydrated,” his cousin said. “Or else your brain will dry up like the Sahara desert.”

Chungwoo remembered one of the hydrohomie memes from earlier. “So like… big taste?” He asked playfully after receiving it.

Hyung narrowed his eyes, who also opened a bottle for himself. “Big gulp,” his cousin replied with a nod.

They stared at each other in anticipation. Slowly, big wide grins formed on their faces, and they both loudly stated, “To drown the spiders that fell in our mouths!”

Chungwoo and his cousin competitively chugged their drinks afterwards. Then, several seconds later, after gasping for air, Chungwoo compared the remaining water inside their plastic bottles.

Gunwoo hyung crouched down in defeat on the wooden floor. “My enemy had won.”

Chungwoo giggled while shaking the two bottles excitedly, making the remaining water inside splash in a funny way. “What have I won?”

His hyung stood up, brushing away some imaginary dirt from his pants and shirt. “Bragging rights and the chance to tell me what turned you into an armadillo.”

Armadillo? He was confused for half a second as they both stared at each other in silence. Then he remembered the rolling gif from earlier, that was created because he was moping about his condition. Chungwoo couldn’t believe this guy. He thought about it before, but his cousin wasn’t a normal kid like the ones he met at school.

“You tricked me,” he groaned his accusation.

“You’re free to refuse your reward,” Gunwoo hyung said in a deadpan while pushing his glasses up. “And if you do, then that means you forfeited the game and I win.”

Chungwoo thought that his cousin could’ve just asked ‘what’s wrong’ and he’ll tell him about what the assistant coach told him. But maybe, if hyung asked that way, Chungwoo would still be crying like a pathetic little baby, and he doesn’t want that either. Besides, he doesn’t want to forfeit in their hydro competition.

He sighed at the floor. After a moment, he mustered the courage and asked, “Hyung… what if… What if I fail to become an archer?”

-----------------------------------

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“You look terrible. Are you sick?” Park Moondae asked him while the main vocalist prepared some light brunch meals for everyone.

Chungwoo had just gotten back from running around the neighborhood. He was hoping that he could clear his head in time before his work schedule for today. However, it was futile. Chunghae did not reply and was ignoring his calls.

He went straight to the fridge to get something cold to drink.

“Alcohol.” The older Lee Sejin huffed into his coffee while muttering the rest, “Should be banned in the dorm, in my opinion.”

He wondered how bad he looked for the older Sejin to prod him like that. It was a bit annoying. Chungwoo wanted to say that alcohol did not affect him at all in the slightest. He just couldn’t sleep. Besides, he only had two cans of beer, while Lee Sejin’s possible brother had drank too many. He chewed the insides of his cheek in irritation. There was no value in useless arguments anyway.

“I’m fine,” he said in a grunt while accidentally slamming the refrigerator's door close too strongly.

All the members tensed up at his action. Shoot. He inwardly groaned, sighed heavily, and apologized as he took his seat. He took slow sips of his drink while he tried not to think too much about it. His head was killing him.

The younger Lee Sejin laughed nervously and redirected the attention elsewhere, squinting at the older Sejin. “Wow~ Moondae-moondae wanted to ban alcohol?”

“What?”

“W-what??”

The two possible half-brothers said at the same time. Then the younger Sejin eyed their main vocalist at the kitchen, who was staring at their tallest member in a displeased manner.

“Ah~ There you are Park Moondae! I’m sorry but abeonim had the right idea. I just realized that you and Sejin hyung really do look alike! And once I did, it was impossible to tell you two apart~”

Moondae smiled icily. “Oh, I remember you said that you were on a diet.” Their main vocalist went closer to the table with a sizzling pan and dropped a fried egg on one of their maknae’s plate that already had some food in it. The sleepy Eugene seemed to jolt wide awake at that.

“Cha Eugene can have your egg.” Moondae also placed one slice of orange in front of the younger Sejin. “Enjoy your breakfast.”

“But Moondae, do you see how big I am?” The younger Sejin pointed at himself with a pout. “Do you want me to starve?” Moondae’s only answer was an additional piece of banana. “You’re… you’re not really angry, are you?” Park Moondae walked away.

Before the main vocalist went back towards the kitchen however, their volunteer cook dropped a blister pack of medicine in front of Chungwoo without a word. He smiled a bit and nodded his thanks before taking it.

After a moment of awkward silence, two large serving plates of eggs and toasts were placed in the middle of their breakfast table.

Park Moondae sat down with them and said, “No one’s allowed to go into practice without eating, of course. But. I refuse to take Sejin’s pictures.”

“Nooo! Not my pictures!!! Moondae-moondae that’s too much!” The younger Sejin cried and their main vocalist decided to ignore his woes.

“B-but… if the quality of the p-pictures drop, won’t-won’t the dri fit sponsor be unhappy about it?” Ahyeon interrupted.

Park Moondae blinked in surprise at Seon Ahyeon while holding a toasted bread with both hands. “Why are you helping him?”

“Be-because I’m a good kid!”

Chungwoo chuckled at their team’s antics as he shook his head. At that, the atmosphere inside the room became brighter. Shelving their worries aside for now, they reviewed their scheduled activities for the day, while they all ate in peace and harmony.

Except for Kim Raebin, who haven’t found the peace and harmony.

“Hyung, I’m so sorry…” their maknae muttered beside Park Moondae.

“It’s fine,” their main vocalist tensely replied.

Raebin did not seem to notice though and leaned in further. “But hyung, I did something wrong. I revealed your secrets.”

“Really, it’s fine. Please stop apologizing,” Moondae said through gritted teeth.

“Or else, another bomb might drop~” Their tallest member teased then backtracked after seeing Park Moondae’s glare. “I’m kidding! I’m kidding!! Your Tibetan fox face is extra scary today, Park Moondae~”

“I will make up to it and properly apologize—”

Hm. Chungwoo stroked his chin in contemplation while watching them. He debated on whether he should talk to Kim Raebin later on. Even though their maknae appeared to have regretted his actions, it still seemed as if the young man haven’t fully grasped the kind of mistake he had made. He also considered on how to teach Raebin about reading the atmosphere and how to properly respond. But… Doesn’t that come instinctively in a person? Chungwoo felt his thoughts hit a brick wall.

Then Cha Eugene tapped him on the arm.

“Don’t worry, hyung. I’m Raebin’s best friend. It’s my job,” Eugene had calmly said with a proud disposition.

Oh? He was surprised to find that Cha Eugene might have an idea of what he was concerned about. And without shouting at that.

“Job to do what?” He asked with a raised brow as he continued to eat.

“Raebin teaches me a lot about Korean stuff. I will teach him about the social stuff,” the maknae whispered back to him, full of conviction.

Honestly, Chungwoo doesn’t know if he could trust that. Eugene scrunched his face and pouted at Chungwoo’s expression.

Still, their maknae continued in the same soft tone, “Kim Raebin’s head, too much of a musical expert. Always locked in recording booth. Lots of practice with composing, but out of practice with ins and out of delicate friendship relationship.” Cha Eugene finished with a large bite of toast dipped in egg yolk. “Grandparents doesn’t count.”

Chungwoo forced himself to not verbally groan at their foreign teammate, while his eye twitched as he tried to digest the meaning of Eugene’s words. Cha Eugene’s Korean may have been getting better, but it was still lacking in some areas. Although, he did get the gist of what the former quarterback was trying to say, there were still doubts in his mind. There were both young after all.

But then again, the young do need to experience life on their own in order to learn.

Chungwoo nodded at Eugene. “Alright. I will trust your judgment to guide your best friend.” Besides, he doesn’t know how to exactly help the younger maknae. Cha Eugene and Kim Raebin had been acquainted with each other far longer than anyone in the group. Letting the other maknae deal with it might be the best solution in the end.

Eugene grinned happily. “You can count on me, hyung!”

“What are you saying, Cha Eugene? Are you betraying me once again~”

“I am not!”

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Several hours of intense practice later, TeStar were on their first two hour break of the day.

“Hyung, Raebin and I will be talking man to man,” Eugene said in a form of permission to go out of the dance studio.

Chungwoo’s lips twitched in amusement. He gave the two a thumbs up and mouthed ‘Good luck!’ Cha Eugene nodded then pulled his confused best friend by the hem of his shirt, while Raebin’s hands were full of snacks reserved for the two of them.

“No. I will not be taking a picture of you half naked. Are you crazy?”

“Ah, hahaha~ But the glistening sweat over my muscles makes a wonderful effect, yeah?”

In a corner of the studio, Park Moondae and the younger Lee Sejin were busy with the pictures for their SNS posts. The light bickering made their voices echo in the room. As much as he want to, Chungwoo cannot tune them out.

“It’s an indirect ad placement for a dri fit shirt.”

“Well, I placed the shirt over my shoulders, see~”

“The logo’s crumpled that way.”

“Everybody knows what this is. It’s a well known brand. Isn’t it more ‘indirect’ this way?”

Chungwoo was eating some Caesar's salad sprinkled with some of their left over meat from yesterday. Seon Ahyeon and the older Lee Sejin were having the same. The team wanted their injured member to rest back at the dorm, but Lee Sejin insisted that he could still memorize the choreography even while sitting. That by watching them perform would help him visualize the steps better in his head.

It made sense in Chungwoo’s mind so he allowed it, given that Sejin doesn’t aggravate his foot. He decided to stay by Sejin’s side whenever they’re not practicing, just in case their teammate needed some assistance.

“...why are we even doing this now? You’re not Chungwoo hyung.”

“Moondae-moondae, are you saying I look bad sweaty?”

“Very.”

Chungwoo sighed. While he accompanied their injured teammate though, he was trying to contact his sister. She still doesn’t want to pick her phone up. It’s also the same with the rest of his text messages. No replies. He’s half tempted to go and ambush the office she’s interning at.

“Hm, I guess if you really want to shine in your photos, then follow me.”

“Yesssss!!!”

He heard the door close and Chungwoo looked up from his phone.

“Oh. Where are they going?” He asked the teammates that were eating beside him.

“Different venue, I guess,” Lee Sejin replied. His teammate was also busy browsing something on the phone, but after a moment, Sejin put the phone down with a sigh and met Chungwoo’s eyes. “Chungwoo... are you okay?”

He noticed that Seon Ahyeon suddenly felt out of place between them.

“S-should… Should I?” Ahyeon nervously pointed at the door. “So, you two… p-privacy.”

“Nah, it’s fine.” He sighed heavily. “You should stay and finish your meal, Ahyeon.” Then he addressed Sejin. “It’s just my younger sister. She’s ignoring me.”

“Maybe, b-busy?” Ahyeon supplied.

He huffed. “Yeah, maybe.” He was playing with the cherry tomatoes with the chopsticks hard enough that the utensils went through the styrofoam container. While that may be true that she’s busy, he also knew the reason for the silent treatment.

“Is it hard having a sibling?”

Chungwoo blinked at Sejin’s question. It suddenly occurred to him that these two members doesn’t have siblings. Well… the ‘only-child status’ might change for Sejin soon enough, after they got the paternity test result. It doesn’t feel real. It still felt like somebody’s ideal prank for a variety show.

“I guess…” He thought for a bit then continued with a chuckle. “It’s both a gift and a curse.” He munched on some of the crunchy lettuce.

For quite some time, Chungwoo lived as an only child. Then his sister came, wrapped in a used canvas cloth, a toddler found by his mom sleeping between bottles of turpentine and linseed oil. They did not get along, him and his sister. Little ol’ him thought that maybe because his sister was a girl, it would be impossible for them to understand each other. That idea stayed with him for a long time. He even remembered wishing so hard by using his milk tooth for a brother instead, like a horrible buyer’s remorse. He cringed at the thought.

In the end she became an important part of the family and they all love her dearly. Although, mom was devastated when Chunghae decided to venture out into the world too early. Dad was very supportive of her though. Even if they weren’t blood related, Chunghae clearly inherited the adventurous side of their father.

He took a deep breath and continued, “In general though, it sort of like being in Testar. We have disagreements from time to time, but we also have precious moments shared with each other. And while we became protective of each other, we also help each other grow.”

His two teammates turn contemplative for a moment. What’s with this sentimental atmosphere… It makes him want to eat something sweet… Though, it was helping him get rid of the bad mood he was in since this early morning.

Then Seon Ahyeon let out a brief sigh. “I’m-I’m happy… to be in Testar. W-we’re like, one big family,” Ahyeon shyly stated while playing with the ends of his sleeve.

Chungwoo smiled serenely. Seon Ahyeon had come a long way. With the given context, the young man might be thinking that Testar helped him grow as well. Still, Chungwoo cannot let go of the fact that they all got lucky with Testar. Because, not all kinds of family were great to have.

“Um, I guess.” Lee Sejin said. “I… I do feel the same… I feel like I’ve changed… Or changing for the better. For so long, I only felt like a burden for the group.”

“Sejin, you’re not,” Chungwoo said.

“N-no…” Ahyeon added.

“But that’s the truth. I’ve… I’ve been helped a lot that… it’s kind of frustrating to think that all I do is take. So now that I might have a brother. It just kind of hit me, you know.” Sejin was looking wistfully down at his salad. “It’s a different kind of worry I have for my mom, but at the same time… it also felt the same. It’s weird.”

“Oh.” Chungwoo said gently, “Do you feel like you have to prove yourself?” Like how he felt when he received his gold medal at the Olympics, asking whether it was enough for his Gunwoo hyung to come back.

Sejin chewed on his lip for a bit before answering. “Yeah. I-I guess for the concept of mothers in general, they’re always ready to accept you and love you for who you are. But… But I feel like as a brother… Park Moondae might not.”

Both Chungwoo and Seon Ahyeon did not have any immediate response at Sejin’s statement. He grimaced. All Chungwoo knew about Park Moondae pointed towards how their main vocalist would eventually push Lee Sejin away, if their injured teammate decided to pursue a close family relationship. At least, it looked like that in his head.

Though, like how his family found Chunghae at first, Chungwoo’s relationship with his sister was surely rough at the start. But… But… Chungwoo’s shoulder drooped. He wanted to say that it was smooth sailing since then, but that would be a lie. Especially now. Giving any advice about sibling dynamics felt like he was being a hypocrite.

“J-just… just be yourself, hyung.” Ahyeon finally chimed in with a bright smile directed at Lee Sejin.

But before any of them could react, the door opened and the younger Sejin strolled in while looking at the company issued phone’s screen. They must have finished taking the pictures.

“Oh~ Ahyeon! Help me choose!” The younger Sejin waved the phone at them.

“W-where’s Moondae?” Ahyeon asked.

“Uh, he’s with VTIC’s Cheongryeo sunbaenim.”

“What?!”

All of them were surprised at the strong reaction of the older Sejin. Their injured member blushed and hid his head.

“Did sunbaenim said what he wanted with Park Moondae?” Chungwoo asked.

“Just that Moondae-moondae’s been ignoring his messages so he came here, and that they have to talk about work or something,” the younger Sejin shrugged. “Moondae kicked me out so here I am.”

“You should’ve stayed!” Their injured member said in a spiteful tone. “I don’t… I don’t trust that guy. He gives me a bad feeling.”

The younger Sejin sighed while pinching the bridge of his nose. “Hyung, they’re in the building. Park Moondae’s a grown up, he can take care of himself.” Then his voice started to rise up, as if releasing a pent up anger. “Just because you might—!” But their tallest member was able to stop himself from saying anything else.

Chungwoo thought that he’ll have to break up a fight. The younger Sejin then motioned at Ahyeon about the pictures.

While Seon Ahyeon and the younger Lee Sejin were on the other side of the room, looking at the photos, Chungwoo tried to ask their injured teammate about what had happened.

With an irritated sigh, the older Sejin spoke up. “That guy doesn’t like me, ever since Idol Inc… Actually… I thought Park Moondae doesn’t like me as well. But it might be that Sejin’s influence.”

...What? Chungwoo felt like pulling his hair. Seriously. Where did this hostile implication come from? Sure, they weren’t close. But Chungwoo did not feel that there was any real conflict between them. He needed to keep the two Sejins in check and assess the situation.

After their break ended...

It took almost half an hour before Park Moondae returned. Nothing seemed to be amiss. Their main vocalist apologized for being late, with Cheongryeo sunbaenim in tow, who peeked in the room and said hello before leaving.

What’s worrying however was their maknaes, Cha Eugene and Kim Raebin. They were late for almost an hour. And when they returned, the both of them were pale and looked a bit shaken. They said their apologies while avoiding everybody’s gazes and returned immediately to their dance practice before anybody could ask what’s wrong. Chungwoo hoped that their talk wasn’t all that bad, but their odd reactions said otherwise.

The worrying silence from the maknaes continued on ‘till dinner and further when it’s time for bed. At least their complexion seemed to have recovered, but Chungwoo caught them shooting worried glances at Park Moondae.

Kim Raebin almost choked up in tears when their main vocalist asked if he was okay. “I-I can’t. I can’t break the bro code, hyung.” Then, when Park Moondae patted Kim Raebin’s shoulder in a show of support for the so-called bro code, their main rapper looked as if he wanted to hug the guy.

What was funny though was that, their main vocalist seemed to be in genuine confusion and doesn’t have a clue what was going on with the two either.

Eugene wasn’t any better. And when Chungwoo asked if their talk was unsuccessful, or if they both needed help, Cha Eugene sighed so deep, as if the whole weight of the world was on the maknae’s shoulders.

“Hyung, I’ve got a bro code to uphold.” Then Eugene wiped his face tiredly and smiled at Chungwoo bitterly. “It’s just that… The world… It’s so big. So big, hyung.”

What the hell did those two talked about???

Chapter Text

As Testar’s reliance on their genius composer increased more and more, music creation evolved into an integral part of the group’s creative process. With some helpful nudge from Park Moondae, the A&R department had recognized the significance of this development. They reserved a modest recording studio especially for Testar’s own use, located just a few doors down from the agency’s dance studio. A dedicated space inside the agency’s building, conceived primarily to cater to the whims of their esteemed maestro, offering a sanctuary anytime an inspiration struck, and whenever a virtual workstation installed in a laptop wasn’t enough. It’s also helpful that Kim Raebin was well liked by that department.

Gone were the days where they had to check with their managers if a booth was available in the regular recording studios, just because some of T1 Entertainment’s floundering shows that had their budget cut, needed voice overs or other audio materials to be recorded. A few of T1’s advertisement jingles were recorded here in T1 Stars as well. That was why coordinating studio time for Testar back then and the various musicians who played for them, was a logistical nightmare.

Not to wax poetry on such an inane subject but Moondae relished the perks of no more traveling between meetings, practices, and production, just to go to a rented space. Everybody hates traffic especially Moondae. He cannot waste time stuck inside a car, he had a literal deadline after all.

Nevertheless, their very own recording studio also worked for Moondae at this very moment, because the crazy reset addict suddenly showed up at the agency while he was taking pictures of Keun Sejin for their sponsored post. Honestly it was creepy, though Moondae only had himself to blame. Unfortunately, his mind was too preoccupied for the past few days and he had forgotten to reply to Cheongryeo’s recent messages. Therefore, VTIC’s leader had deigned to drop by under the pretense of work.

He briefly wondered if the guy was up to something that was probably borderline insane. Regardless, what Cheongryeo wanted to talk about was possibly a damnable subject matter that should be kept private. Moondae was sure that they wouldn’t be disturbed inside the control room of Testar’s own recording studio, so he led him there. Otherwise, he would have to leave the building with the psycho.

Once inside the control room, they spent several minutes beating around the bush. They were exchanging awkward pleasantries and courteously dodging queries about each group’s activities, when their conversation steered elsewhere.

The crazy guy insisted on giving a song to him. Cheongryeo said he made it, a great piece with a catchy melody. Of course, Moondae politely refused the massive red flag in the form of an appealing tropical house music track. Can this guy even hear himself?

The pointless conversation went on and on. Moondae did not outwardly said ‘No’ but he kept redirecting the unwelcome gift to a more appropriate recipient. Until finally, after numerous sidestep rejections, his persistent guest reached their limit.

With a bitter laugh, Cheongryeo stopped the looping tropical house track and pulled out the cheap memory stick from the computer.

“As expected, you’re smart.” VTIC’s leader sighed heavily. “Your instincts are sharp. Uselessly so.”

Cheongryeo let the flash drive fall down onto the carpeted floor, and the next thing Moondae knew, his crazy guest was holding a microphone stand with a circular bottom. VTIC’s leader raised the metallic stand in the air. Moondae was frozen in fear. The taller man then brought it down hard, slamming the corner of the round base directly on the plastic device like a hammer, shattering it.

“Actually.”

WHAM!

“I didn’t…”

SLAM!

“Make this.”

Moondae cannot help but flinch badly at every dull thud. The small device was nothing but a myriad of unrecognizable bits and pieces. As if nothing happened, Cheongryeo placed the steel stand back to where it was before, beside the analog mixer. With a breath, it suddenly occurred to Moondae that he had unconsciously backed off towards the far end corner of the control room.

He forced himself to step closer towards the crazy guy. Cheongryeo wanted something from him. VTIC’s leader was also in enemy territory. Moondae exhaled, trying to calm his nerves. This was nothing but an intimidation tactic. His shaking eyes were locked onto Cheongryeo, but they still drifted towards the isolation booth’s glass window. He thought he saw something move but the lights were off. Damn this reset addict, giving him so much anxiety that he’s getting jumpy even from his own reflection.

“Ah, that’s a good equipment. It did not bend in the slightest.” The crazy bastard had the audacity to smile amiably at him.

Moondae stuffed his clenched fists inside his pocket, trying to trigger his phone app to record. But then he realized that his pocket was empty. He had left his cellphone with the others inside the dance studio. Oh well…

“That’s property damage,” he said. Good. At least his voice was steady. It would be bad to show that he was affected in any way.

“The only property I damaged was my own.” Cheongryeo’s foot nudged the broken pieces on the carpet. “See? Your mic stand and the floor were both okay. I was very careful.”

Alarmingly, the aim was precise.

“So you only wanted to get rid of it?” Mister Unhinged nodded at his question. “You seemed to have a lot of practice with this.”

“You can say that.” VTIC’s leader shrugged.

Moondae won’t be surprised to know if this guy had killed another person beside his own before. In Cheongryeo’s eyes, murder can be undone by resetting after all.

VTIC’s leader spun one of the wheeled office chairs and sat on it with a crossed leg. “That song. It would have become a hit two years ago. A promising new composer would have sold it to T-Holic.”

Moondae’s eyebrow twitched at the weird phrasing that only the both of them could understand. He crossed his arms and took the other chair. “You intercepted it, somehow. The song didn’t became theirs.” He had reviewed T-Holic songs before for his audition in Idol Inc. and Moondae would have remembered this catchy track.

The bastard’s smile sent shivers down his spine. “I have no sympathy for untalented hacks like him. The composer was sued for plagiarism soon after. Unfortunately, he escaped overseas.”

But... That was then. An altered past. He had to ask, “Is the composer still alive in this timeline?”

Cheongryeo released a hearty laugh. “Oh, junior.” The guy wiped away tears from laughing too much. “He’s doing well, in fact, because I bought the song. I paid a lot.”

Moondae didn’t know if he should believe it.

The crazy guy continued with the explanation. “Because of that history, I cannot, in good conscience, give the song to someone who works in the company.”

“Because of the high probability that it could be found as a plagiarized piece.”

“Exactly.”

He released a shaky sigh. “And you wanted to give it to me. To include it as one of Testar’s B-side tracks.”

Cheongryeo’s smile was dripping in honey. “I was going to explain the situation, of course.”

Moondae’s jaw tightened. Explain? When? After Testar had already released the album?

The bastard wasn’t done. Cheongryeo leaned forward. “Now that I explained it like this, junior won’t ever accept a song from this composer. Isn’t that right?”

This fucker. The crazy bastard deflected. It was so obvious that Cheongryeo wanted to screw him over. Moondae breathe in heavily. If he didn’t notice that something was amiss, if he didn’t knew Cheongryeo’s past, if he was blinded by a beautiful gift from a senior, like how he readily accepted the poisoned gifts from Chungwoo’s mother... It would be the end of Testar, the end of Park Moondae.

“You said previously that I noticed because I was uselessly smart. Then you murdered a thumb drive.”

Cheongryeo laughed again. “I only wanted to have fun. You robbed me of the opportunity of a perfect timing to explain.”

This slippery snake probably meant the opportunity to laugh when VTIC’s rival group plummets into the pits of hell.

The bastard sat on the office chair like it was a throne. VTIC’s leader became serious once again. “We’re the same, you and I. We exist in a volatile industry. We went back to the past. And we both want to manage the risks to our respective group.” Cheongryeo drummed his fingers on the office chair’s arm rest. “Now that I’ve steered you and your group away from harm, in regards to that tainted composer. It’s time you give something in return.”

What? Since when did they enter into a bartering system?

Cheongryeo sighed at his expression. “I don’t need huge amounts of information. I’ll be satisfied with the big picture. Just tell me what you remember about the main flow of trends and events for the coming months. Maybe towards the next year?”

Moondae remained silent.

The other guy comely opened his palms in a welcoming manner. “We can exchange information. Piece things together. From my perspective to yours. How about that?”

But... What could he tell? He was just a broke student preparing for tests. The bastard in front of him won’t be interested in the incidents reported in late night news, nor the name of the typhoon that would wreck everybody’s summer vacation next year. And surely, Cheongryeo won’t be interested in the little bits of info that he gathered whenever he checked on the machinations of the Ryu clan in the art, finance, and business sector. He only did it to stay clear of the legal wife.

“I thought I told you that I was a civil servant examinee?” He said tonelessly.

VTIC’s leader readily dismissed it. “So what? Still. You were familiar with the industry and the community enough to win as the grand champion. You knew what would appeal to the masses. You’ve also handled obstacles in a timely manner, that also produced a large positive impact.”

Tsk! There was a misunderstanding. If he wanted to be pedantic about it, then sure, his future knowledge helped him win Idol Inc. Without them, he won’t even be able to stick his foot into the industry. The rest was simple logic that anyone could do when one was desperate enough to survive. And despite how much he cursed at it, the status window helped immensely as well.

The skills he acquired won’t be possible if the status window didn’t exist. Moondae felt offended that his hard work was seen as nothing but manipulations… Though, in the end, they were. He had no right to be offended about it. What was pride when faced with death? He had no talents. No passion. It was a fact. Just look at how many times he had failed interviews and civil service exams. He was just an ordinary guy that somehow gotten game-like character traits and characteristics that he could nurture because this system exist. All he had done… he did it to live.

Ah… He sighed tiredly at the sudden hollowness inside his chest. He once thought that he could be something he could be passionate about, but that was taken away from him. The status window have the same cruelty. It gave him sweet poisonous fruits. If he gets too attached with this life, got lost with the pleasure of being an idol, he might just end up getting hurt again. That is to say, if he would still be alive by then.

So, no. Fundamentally, Cheongryeo wasn’t the same as him. Given that this wasn’t his body in the first place, only granted by an unknown game like system, there was a chance it could be taken away. Cheongryeo started as an idol and ended the status abnormalities as an idol. Ryu Gunwoo did not. He does not remember any idol named Park Moondae from his timeline either, if the kid somehow survived. Sure his life had changed but there was no proof it could be permanent.

He eyed Cheongryeo. Handled obstacles in a timely manner? Hah! Moondae was reminded on how lucky he was during those difficult times. He met talented people who worked well with him. Although it was stressful, his controversy was easily solved without him doing anything about it either. However, for a guy who could start all over again whenever all hope was lost… A person like that would see that luck only exist because of planned actions. Opportunities doesn’t come, one has to chase for it, and create the environment where chance would fall to one’s favor.

So… Moondae had a strong feeling that this crazy bastard would lose his mind if Moondae started talking about a cheat like the status window. It won’t be cheap plastic devices that would be hit next time. It could be Park Moondae’s head.

He was taking too long. The guy might get impatient enough and start hammering. Shamelessly and stoically, he resorted to the clichéd showbiz answer.

“It was all hard work and talent.”

The guy looked back at him in doubt. “Hm? You seemed too knowledgeable about the right timing… Of everything. The cuts worked well for you. You knew who to choose. Even after the program. You know how to navigate the swamp. Really, junior. It’s hard to believe that you have no prior experience in this dirty industry.”

Fine. Undeniably, for this guy, Moondae won’t be able to hide behind a sunshine and rainbow response. He would have to give this bastard the flavors being asked, while composing an unprofitable picture for someone like Cheongryeo.

Moondae looked away and hunched his shoulders a bit. “I dug up idol info before the announcement of the show even began. It was just a hobby. That’s why I roughly knew about it.”

Cheongryeo was speechless for a moment. Probably reassessing Park Moondae’s worth. Finally, the guy let out a long drawn out sigh while touching the bridge of his nose.

“You were an idol fan.” The guy sounded tired.

“Yes,” he lied with a nod.

“Who were you a fan of?”

Does this prick wanted to hear him say he was a fan of VTIC?

“MallangDalkom.”

Cheongryeo sighed again. “Popcon. Of course. Should’ve been obvious.”

Ugh. Really?

In a more subdued tone, VTIC’s leader spoke once again, “Anything you remember will do then. I’ll reciprocate with what I know as well.”

It was the sweet sound of resignation. He could work with this. There would be no expectation from Cheongryeo to hear the best kind of information from Moondae right at this moment. Moondae tried his best not to look at the steel microphone stand as he nodded.

“Um, okay,” He started as he combed through and sorted out the paltry idol related news he could recall. “Ah. Maximite Biton’s drunk driving will explode early next year…”

“That’s typical of him. Next.”

From what he could recall, the car that guy smashed into belonged to a prominent figure in politics. So it kind of became a big deal even if both parties weren’t hurt that badly. …Not that any of those were relevant to Cheongryeo.

He placed a finger beneath his chin. “Hm… Mudie-ssi would be releasing a carol at the end of the year. I often hear it in cafés and restaurants… It would probably do well on the music charts.”

“…I see. Next.”

Damn. Couldn’t this guy utilize any of those? Granted, it’s hard to see Cheongryeo singing and dancing to a happy holiday tune. Chaeyul would fit the image, probably. And with the kind of controversy the Maximite member had, all they could do was avoid possible contact.

Several minutes passed. Moondae was getting a little bit annoyed. What reciprocity? There was no give-and-take. They’ve exchanged info in the same typical fashion multiple times, with him providing the info and Cheongryeo losing interest more and more, and was only giving disparaging comments.

“How about a beat? A melody? Any rhythm that’s going to be popular next year?”

“Why would I wait next year? If I knew I would’ve used it already.”

The boredom vanished for a bit as Cheongryeo’s eyes widened, then it was back to being uninterested.

“...I see.”

In the end, the guy had to admit that Moondae didn’t have any future information that could be valuable.

“Seriously, it doesn’t sound like you were lying…”

“Should I tell you about the competition rate for the next year’s public announcement?”

Moondae doesn’t even have to use future knowledge for this. All he needed were statistics, current events, and a little pinch of gossip.

“...Never mind.”

Perhaps this guy hated applied mathematics.

They hit a lull that Moondae felt like it was safe enough for him to ask questions. “Do you have any idea why this happened? Or why it had to be us?”

Cheongryeo frowned. “To be honest. I want to know that as well. But, I could tell you this much…” The guy stared at him like he was being judged. “Once you’ve done the task, you won’t have to deal with sudden deaths anymore.” Then the guy scoffed. “Besides, the future knowledge we retain remains relevant in some form or another. So those years have been very useful.”

He felt like he was being mocked for a moment there. Of course he already knew that he could live another year after fulfilling the task. Anyway, he caught the underlying tone in the word ‘useful.’ For someone so obsessed with being a top idol, there’s only one route it could go.

“You gave a reason for T-Holic’s plagiarized song. But. Did you deliberately stole a song from another group?”

The guy laughed as if Moondae told a corny joke. “Why ask such an obvious thing? It’s not like they composed the music themselves. It’s a matter of who acquires the song from the composer first, isn’t that right?”

What a loaded answer. With how unbeatable VTIC had become throughout the years, it’s not surprising if it turns out that it was a normal thing for Cheongryeo to grab the top hits of the year, then go on a jaunt and have a merry restart. This fucking suicidal bastard.

The guy gave him a bittersweet smile. “Too bad it ended for me last year.” The reset addict sounded as if he actually missed it.

Wait a second!

Did this crazy guy meant that both the future knowledge ended as well as the status abnormalities, thus deactivating his ability—and capability to easily take chart-toppers? Regardless. If this bastard turned back time last year, then got thrown to the period before his debut, judging from the ‘truth’ Moondae had seen… and taking in VTIC’s annual leave into consideration… Cheongryeo’s disaster had been running for at least seven years.

Mindful of the commonly occurring deadline, then there were at least eight status abnormalities. For someone without a status window, Cheongryeo would have been grasping blindly on what the task would be and how to solve them. Moondae wondered, then dreaded the number of possible times this guy had failed. And if dying would just result into restarting, then there was no end to it unless the task had been fulfilled. No wonder this bastard lost his mind.

Maybe Cheongryeo’s not a psychopath, just a miserable sociopath.

“Oh, junior. If I could still turn back time, I won’t steal another song. What I would steal would be you.”

Moondae groaned inwardly. “Please don’t throw those kinds of jokes around, sunbaenim.”

The bastard only smiled at him. “Didn’t you have an afternoon practice you needed to attend?”

Shit. He glanced at the control room’s clock and groaned at the time.

Before he went towards the door, he couldn't help but ask, “Have you killed anyone before?”

While also heading for the door, Cheongryeo laughed at him again as if he had told a silly joke. “In this timeline?”

Ah… Moondae had decided. It would be better to keep his distance away from this crazy reset addict in the future.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

Back at the dance studio…

Moondae arrived and saw that only three members were in the middle of practicing. He glanced around the room. The two youngest members hadn’t returned yet. Further more, he sensed that something was wrong. What the hell happened with the atmosphere?

Keun Sejin had became lousy with his movements and guidance. Then there was Seon Ahyeon who was stiff, without his usual grace, and with a worried expression evident on his face. In addition, their leader seemed to be watching the two Sejins more, than ensuring his correct positioning in the formation. Granted, the composition was incomplete because half of Testar members were missing in the dance floor. But still, their synchronization was completely destroyed.

Not to mention, it was out of character for the two maknaes to skip practice. He briefly debated to search for them, but he was more worried about the rest of the team. When their eyes met, Ahyeon seemed to be anxiously conveying something through their shared glances, pointing at the other dance instructor. Because of that, he caught Keun Sejin’s irritated huff and the eye roll directed at their injured teammate, who was busily taking notes in a corner. Likewise, he saw Lee Sejin’s scowl before turning away from Keun Sejin. Moondae sighed. How the fuck did their animosity escalated in such a short amount of time?

Anyway, before the music went on further, Park Moondae gently pushed Cheongryeo out of the room. The bastard even had the audacity to smirk amusedly at the state of the practicing Testar members.

“You really shouldn’t be here, sunbaenim.” He tried to reign in his annoyance from leaking into his voice.

Cheongryeo’s response carried a hint of condescension. “I’m a professional. You don’t have anything to worry. And please, check your inbox more often, junior.”

“I’ll try my best not to block you, sunbaenim,” he retorted.

The both of them sported their most fakest smiles as they all said their goodbyes, but not before VTIC’s leader waved at the other members and the staff. Tsk. Ever the celebrity.

After giving a curt apology for his tardiness, Park Moondae joined in with the practice. Then a few minutes had passed… It doesn’t feel good.

The unpolished song played repeatedly for several times, as Testar’s poor performance continued. The uneasy faces of the attending staff who were around watching them, do not bode a positive sign either. This was not good. He would have to break his team out of this weird funk later on after practice. But at this moment, Moondae needed to work and polish his own dance steps as well. He just… didn’t know what he was doing wrong. But it was perhaps due to the fact that the usual cues from his teammates that served as a marker for him to stay synchronized with everyone, aside from the music, weren’t there or was quite misleading. Ugh. He probably just needed more practice. Though, dancing with these members didn’t felt like moving through a thick fog before. What the hell?

“Ah, P-park Moondae!” Lee Sejin called out after the song ended and after a staff called for a short break. A hand that was holding a pen, motioned for him to come closer.

“What is it, hyung?” He approached the seated injured member.

With a bitten lip and a hesitant look, Lee Sejin played a video using a smartphone in a hamster case. Moondae crouched and leaned in closer to see the screen better. It was a recording of their session just a few minutes earlier.

“I think… um, this part. What you did here is wrong,” the former actor anxiously told him. “And I don’t know if you know, but recently… you’ve been repeating it.”

Was this guy for real? Why would Moondae repeat a mistake on purpose? Of course he wouldn’t know.

“What?” He asked with furrowed brows before settling on watching the part of the video where the former actor was pointing. Honestly, he doesn’t know what Lee Sejin was getting at. His movements seemed fine to him.

After seeing his puzzled expression, Lee Sejin explained further. “Um, Chungwoo said something about our own strengths so… I-I was trying to tie in the gestures and steps with the lyrics. It… it helps me remember the action when I think of this performance like a play on a theatrical stage. It’s quite like acting out a directed expression for the script. So-so I remembered.”

“Okay…” Good on him, Moondae supposed. Was Lee Sejin trying to teach him a new way in learning how to dance? He doesn’t quite get the point. Moondae’s not an actor and it was relatively easier to count, than to try the mental gymnastics Lee Sejin was spouting.

“Um, that’s why…” Lee Sejin tapped the screen and switched to another video. Keun Sejin and Seon Ahyeon could be seen dancing. It was from the time their volunteer dance instructors had introduced the altered steps. “I got this from one of the managers… There. See? Look at how Seon Ahyeon twisted his body… Right there, just as the lyrics transitioned to the next verse. When you do it, you sort of cut it off abruptly? Like… like you just pointed instead of properly reaching out… Sorry. I’m not good at explaining it.”

Moondae blinked. Huh… What caught his attention wasn’t Ahyeon but the other guy. Sure, he had already determined that the strange mood was affecting their performance. But what he gathered was more than that. He had to watch the other video again.

“May I?” He gestured if he could borrow the phone.

“S-sure...”

After receiving it, he toggled something on the settings and managed to split the screen vertically to play both videos from different apps.

“O-oh, I didn’t know it could do that!” Lee Sejin sounded pleasantly surprised.

“Don’t do it often. You might fry the processor,” he said absentmindedly as he watched the videos play, and soon after, he understood why it felt so terrible to dance with this group earlier.

While it was true that Keun Sejin’s not their center, he’s still a very important member of the group. If this guy’s lousy, then everybody else becomes lousy in turn. But if Keun Sejin steps up and dance with all his heart, then he drags everyone along with him, unknowingly pushing the rest of the members to do better on stage.

Moondae pondered for a bit, compared the case to when a different member was gone, and took the former actor as an example. Not to be rude but the difference in the quality of their performance was night and day. Lee Sejin’s absence and everybody’s worry over the incident did not affect the quality of Testar’s performance at all. And that’s because Keun Sejin’s presence on the dance floor had kept the rest of the members all together like glue.

Even with this recording of the introduction for the altered steps. Seon Ahyeon might be their main visual, but Keun Sejin had a subtle influence on how well Ahyeon performs as well. Then compare that to their recent dance session. Keun Sejin’s crummy execution of the steps had rippled across the members that were dancing with him.

He released a heavy sigh. Seriously. What a troublesome guy.

Likewise, Moondae couldn’t disregard what the former actor had done on his own as well. Initially perplexed at the weird concept, Moondae realized that Lee Sejin’s mind had started to digest dance through a different lens, even though the guy’s body remains a beginner at it. He was reminded that everybody had a different way of learning. Moondae was certain that once Lee Sejin healed fully, leveling up would be far more smoother than at the start.

He paused the videos and handed the hamster phone back to its owner. “I think I understand it now.” He straightened up and smiled at the former actor. “Thank you, hyung.”

Lee Sejin looked stunned for a moment but nodded and smiled warmly back.

Then Keun Sejin opened his sarcastic mouth. “Oooh~ Sejin hyung’s finally trying to be a proper older brother to Moondae-moondae. Thank you for the priceless tip, hyung. But please, don’t be a tiger mom.”

Ugh… The two Sejins were glaring daggers at each other.

Before any arguments could break out, their leader had fortunately stepped in, handing out water bottles with a forced smile.

“Watching a recording of ourselves in our downtime is actually a pretty good idea. Good job, Sejin. We should make a proper request for the equipment and have the staff set it up.”

“R-right,” Lee Sejin agreed.

Then Chungwoo turned to the other guy and patted Keun Sejin on the shoulder. “You could take a break if you’re tired, Sejin.”

“Oh, I’m not, hyung,” Keun Sejin replied.

“I think I made a few mistakes myself.” Their leader chuckled awkwardly. “You were quick to see them before, but you completely missed it this time. Or did you ignore them on purpose? You don’t need to lower your standards just for us, you know.”

Keun Sejin’s eyes widened, mouth gaping for a bit. Moondae cringed inwardly. What a blow to the ego.

Chungwoo continued, “Why don’t you observe the group in the front for the rest of the practice today, so that you can guide us properly and correct our mistakes? That way you could take a short breather.”

Half of him agreed with their leader’s method. Whatever caused the unnecessary bitterness, Keun Sejin do need to cool his head. And by positioning their biggest team member at the front, facing them, the guy won’t have to see their injured member in the corner.

But… A praise for Lee Sejin and a timeout for Keun Sejin? Tsk. Some might misunderstood it as taking sides.

Sure, what Chungwoo said was nothing and shouldn't be taken personally. Keun Sejin’s one of their current instructor after all. But for a guy who’s already in a foul mood, then to be segregated by their leader in such a way… It was isolating. It felt like his half brother had enacted a punishment.

Keun Sejin exhaled shakily and scratched the back of his head apologetically. “Sure, hyung. I’m sorry for not noticing.” Their leader’s subtle admonishment was properly received.

Moondae felt bad and decided to lighten the mood a little bit, as the others get into their positions, and with Keun Sejin moving to the front.

“Even stuck in one place, when it comes to k-pop, you can out dance us all and still shine like a disco ball.”

The big guy looked back at him blankly before snorting. “Aw, Moondae-moondae~ That’s so sweet.” At least Keun Sejin’s smile was back in place, even though it was a bit sarcastic.

“Also, a disco ball doesn’t have a mouth.”

“Hey you—”

“Anyway, I specialized in singing but can’t coach you guys in that area because my patience will run thin.” And Moondae doesn’t know where to begin in the first place. Telling the members to just ‘sing a lot,’ like how he grinded with the status window, wouldn’t be proper. “But you and Ahyeon make a really good pair of instructors. So, I’m counting on your eyes, teach.” Then he slapped the same area where Chungwoo patted Keun Sejin previously.

“Ow!”

Moondae quickly moved to his own spot on their formation before the big guy could hit him back. Then the music started.

He mentally added to his previous theory from earlier, without Keun Sejin, the group wasn’t a group. It was as if the members were just dancing individually in the same given spot with the same dance movements. They were fine, average at best, but not as one and not Testar’s best. While Cha Eugene sucks the viewer’s attention like a black hole, Keun Sejin was the group’s mood setter. Moondae hoped the others realize that.

“Your mind’s wandering again, Moondae-moondae~”

Ah, hell.

A few minutes later, while their performance slowly improved, now that Keun Sejin wasn’t oozing with resentment and Ahyeon doesn’t seem to be on the verge of sobbing, their team was then enveloped by a new layer of concern. The two maknaes have arrived, seemingly appearing as if they came out of a haunted house but was acting tough on purpose.

Moondae cringed at their pledge to this so called bro code or something… Did Cha Eugene brought in a fraternity ideology from America? Regardless, he wanted to stay out of it. Their worried glances and odd responses that were directed at him gave him the creeps. Logically, he should cover this unknown base and know what it was all about. But. He had a feeling that if he tried to confront whatever the maknaes’ issue was with him at the moment, he’ll get trapped into digging an even deeper grave for himself. Look at where that amnesia schtick got him. At the very least, nobody was confronting him about it. He was glad that most of the members have tact.

Ugh… Kim Raebin had turned from the previously nosy kid who wanted to see him have a magical time with Lee Sejin’s dad… into this misty-eyed child who see him as a frail puppy that got hit with a bat. It’s not as if he preferred the nosy one, but he despised the latter.

For now, he’ll let them sort it out themselves. Their assumptions had worked out fine so far. Not great, but good enough. If the two youngest members were still weird after some time had passed, and it started to affect the group… Well… He’ll cross that bridge when they get there.

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At breakfast, Ryu Chungwoo suggested that they all take a day of rest after the exhausting strangeness of yesterday. Nobody rejected his notion. Additionally, the elder Lee Sejin and Park Moondae had an appointment scheduled later in the afternoon for the paternity test with Sejin’s father.

It wouldn’t be a work-free day however. Testar also had a meeting planned with the game developers for an update, and their main vocalist was initially slated to attend. So, while Park Moondae was preoccupied in taking a picture of Seon Ahyeon in the living room for their indirect promotional post, Chungwoo offered to take Moondae’s place at the meeting instead. It’s his job in the first place, he was the leader after all. But besides that, he wanted to talk to someone who wasn’t answering any of his calls.

Truth be told, he was eager for a change of scenery, even just for a short while. A drive around town would be refreshing, because despite managing to catch some sleep, Chungwoo still felt somewhat unsettled.

He didn’t like how he had acted towards one of their teammates yesterday. He had mixed feelings about what his sister had said. He can’t figure out what made the younger Sejin dislike the older one. The maknaes were so weird, he doesn’t know how to deal with them. And lastly, he felt like a sham. Being a leader doesn’t really fit him.

He sighed as he headed towards the parking lot.

It was quite immature of him to admit, but he somehow felt wronged that his sister called him a ‘blind mama’s boy’ when their mom was actually pretty strict towards him when they were growing up. It was Chunghae who often got spoiled when they were kids. She had more choices, she was allowed to be messy, and her school grades, as long as they were above average, didn’t matter that much in the end. Chungwoo on the other hand was saddled with high expectations and was given an image that he had to grow into. He had to be a perfect son.

Chunghae was the blind one. Can’t she see how lucky they were? With how their family operated, Chungwoo was honestly surprised that their mom allowed him to pursue a career in archery. Then after failing that, he was permitted to be an idol, encouraged even by both their parents. And then his sister was free to express herself with this ongoing rebellion. Doesn’t she realize how much grief she was causing them? And this disrespect was going too far.

What was the point of those lies? Their cousin chose to cut ties with them. And if those accusations were true, what would their mother gain from making their cousin suffer? It doesn’t make sense. He only wanted to talk about Gunwoo hyung for a bit just because he felt nostalgic. He wasn’t asking for the pointless drama.

He reached the car but stopped when he heard voices from the other side of the vehicle.

“—ink that there’s a reason why hyung’s brain was wobbly like jelly…”

It was Cha Eugene’s voice.

Chungwoo peeked to the side but didn’t made himself known. Their foreign teammate was crouching beside Kim Raebin, with the both of them leaning on the car’s door. It was inappropriate for Chungwoo to listen in their conversation, but he thought that it was a good opportunity for him to know what their maknaes’ problem was and how he could help.

“Yeah,” Kim Raebin sighed. “And to think that I was a fan of that evil time traveler.”

What…? Chungwoo’s brain halted. At first he thought they were talking about Moondae… but then, a time traveler that was somehow evil? Are they talking about some movie?

“Sell collection?” Eugene suggested.

Raebin looked really conflicted before he settled on saying, “…No.”

“Fine… But, what do we do?” The American teammate asked worriedly.

“I don’t know.” Their main rapper played with the rings on his fingers anxiously. “If we interfere, we risk erasing more of hyung’s memories. Like you said, Marty McFly started vanishing in those photos. But this is real life. Not some comedy sci-fi. So of course it’s not some useless picture that gets affected.” Their youngest member was getting agitated towards the end. Then Raebin sighed bitterly. “At least sleeping helps him a bit, I guess.”

Eugene was so subdued, different to how he usually was. “Sleeping always helps. We cannot let his brain turn to soup.”

Chungwoo wanted to face palm. He was so lost with everything.

“Yeah… And… and we cannot let hyung turn evil either. Like, like that sunbaenim.”

“He was scary.”

“He was.”

Seriously. What are they talking about?

The two shared a contemplative silence for a moment. Chungwoo deliberated on whether he should make some noise, but Eugene started talking again.

“Do you think Chungwoo hyung know CPR or other emergency stuff like that?” Eugene asked distractedly.

At that, Kim Raebin straightened up and became alert. “I like what you’re thinking, Cha Eugene! Where do you think we could order a defibrillator?”

The other maknae squared his shoulders. “eBay, probably. Also, Sherlock Holmes had those injection thingy.”

“We should make a list of the things we needed to research.”

Chungwoo wondered if this was what they call LARPing. He slowly backed away from the car and changed his mind about going for a drive. He decided to call a taxi instead. Although the convo reminded him about the nonsensical fairy factories and unicorn teeth from his childhood, Chungwoo doesn’t have the mental capacity to confront the two maknaes about the crazy things he had heard them say.

Chapter Text

“Perfect,” Gunwoo said to himself. And as expected, his brother couldn’t help but comment about his terrible shot.

“Perfect? But the arrow didn’t even reach the target, hyung,” Chungwoo said in a confused tone.

It was the first time that he saw how sad and lonely an arrow could appear, like a hopeless dude who gave up halfway through life, jutting out from the ground like so.

“I know.” He nodded with conviction. “I was aiming for that blade of grass,” he said as he handed his brother’s bow back. “Behind it would be one dead ant.”

Chungwoo’s face told exactly how ridiculous his statement was.

Ryu Seomin, their father’s distant cousin, laughed out loud at his declaration. “I see! Nice shot. Congrats on hitting your live mark then, boy!”

Gunwoo pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose. The glare from the sun had hid his lying eyes just right. “Yes, thank you, manager-nim.” His somewhat trembling arms haven’t fully recovered yet from the weight of Chungwoo’s bow and the extra tautness of the string. Was his brother’s arm made of pure muscle? A punch from the kid would probably vaporize his abdomen.

“Um, are you going home then?” An anxious and downcast Chungwoo asked Gunwoo, while playing around with the handle of the huge lunch pack Gunwoo had prepared for them, thinking they could go for an outdoor lunch or something. The manager answered his brother’s question instead of him.

“Your Gunwoo hyung haven’t finished the tour of the range so far. He’s been mighty fine helping me out update the club’s old website with spankin’ new photos. Isn’t that great?”

An awkward smile was his reply at his brother’s inquiring gaze. Actually, he wasn’t planning on anything special. All he did was open up SNS accounts for them, and added those generic social media widgets at the bottom of the club’s website after their father’s cousin agreed to his proposal. He created the need for the club to have new photos so that he could use it as an excuse to enter the archery range for free.

He could’ve just visited his brother while he’s practicing, however…

‘No! I don’t want you to see how terrible I’ve become!’

…Chungwoo had refused vehemently.

“I’ve included my share in that lunch box. But, if you prefer to eat it all, then I guess I’ll be going home after the tour.”

“Ah—No! Please, let’s eat lunch together, hyung.” Conflicting emotions warred on his brother’s face. The kid looked like a confused sad little puppy though.

“Don’t worry.” He ruffled the puppy’s hair. “I’ll be too busy to watch you obliterate those targets anyway.”

“I wish,” Chungwoo childishly muttered unhappily.

Gunwoo blinked at that. His little brother probably thought nobody had heard.

One of the assistant coaches signaled that it was time for his brother to resume practice. Gunwoo observed for a moment how Chungwoo tucked the bow with the lunch pack in a corner, before diligently carrying out the basic drills with a dumbbell. The coach seemed a bit strict with giving out instructions. With a sigh, Gunwoo followed the establishment’s manager back to her office, where he stowed away the rest of his belongings.

The place was fairly big, though not on the scale of larger professional archery clubs seen elsewhere, such as the venue used for competitions. Still, it offered several shooting ranges, providing ample space to accommodate numerous groups. Judging by the diversity in the archers’ heights and appearances, it seemed they were organized not only by skill level but also by age. Among the scene, a formidable group was surrounded by numerous personal assistants and coaches, probably the professional league members of the club. He also saw the age group his brother belonged to, where some familiar faces peered curiously at his brother, but Chungwoo pretended not to see them.

They entered a pleasant and cozy office. He could easily imagine some of the kids taking a nap here.

“Manager-nim, I’m sorry if this is a stupid question, but why’s Chungwoo segregated from the other kids?”

Ryu Seomin sighed heavily before answering him as she took her seat on the couch. “He’s not in a good state to shoot with them, according to the coach’s recommendation.”

Oh. His shoulders drooped. So it really was a big deal then, huh? He was saddened by the news. Gunwoo had seen his brother from the previous competition, Chungwoo was awesome. His brother’s form when drawing the bowstring was a painting given breath, and the sound as the arrow flew through the air was a wordless poetry in motion. And to top it all off, Gunwoo had never seen his brother miss a target. Watching Chungwoo had honestly shook him to the core.

“Well, go on ahead then, dear boy. You’ve already met the staff earlier.” The manager waved her hand in a shooing motion while flipping through the pile of documents on the coffee table. “I’m sure that the reason that you’re here is not really about gathering materials for your portfolio, nor updating the club’s website.” His father’s cousin chuckled at his stiff expression. “We’re family, kid. Just remember that you can talk to me if you needed somethin’. I’m not like your father’s legal wife, yah know.”

Gunwoo took his camera out of his bag, then bowed at the manager as he excused himself out of the office. Indeed, Ryu Seomin’s a relative. But since he was a child, every adult relative Gunwoo had met from both sides of the family, had looked back at him and his mother with contempt. People also liked to gossip about them whenever they attend family gatherings. He was so used to the fake smiles and their amenable facade of friendliness, that hide the already formed opinions about them. None of it was good. It was also why he could never have any friends at school. Not that they knew about the Ryu family dilemma, but still, the stigma of having an unwed single parent was potent. It also doesn’t help that his mother gets lonely every once in a while.

He recalled the time where his mom was pregnant when Gunwoo was just in preschool. When it was due, she went to the hospital without him, but his mother did not come home with his sibling.

Ugh… Thinking about it would only trigger a migraine. Anyway. He’s not here to wallow in self pity. He’s here to find out if there’s anything he could do for his brother.

Gunwoo chose a perimeter where he could observe his brother from a distance and started taking photos of random interesting stuff he found around him: the athletes, the staff, their archery equipment—which was very aesthetically cool, and the venue itself. Even though he used it as an excuse, it was still true that he promised to work on the club’s website.

Moreover, although he knew the basics back from school, Gunwoo wasn’t like these people. He’s not an athlete, nor an archer. So he didn’t understand what target panic really was despite the explanations his brother gave a few days ago. Online research helped him grasp that it was primarily a mental problem. Chungwoo’s brain was getting in the way by thinking about the things it should not be thinking of, while the body tries to perform the standard routine. Even professional players could get it, which takes them years to recover, if not at all.

Therefore, Gunwoo believed that the best way to support Chungwoo for now, was to cheer the little kid at practice, bringing in snacks and beverages, while pretending he was there just to take archery pictures for his portfolio. Chungwoo hated it though, hence the need for a different reason to be here. The pup had a very huge ego.

Anyhow. He would’ve cheered for his brother in a different way, if not for one suspicious detail that won’t leave his mind after hearing it in passing: Chungwoo’s competency started to decline, after one of the new assistant coaches got hired by the club. Coincidence? Maybe. But he figured it was better to be a paranoid bug who’s doing something about it at the very least.

“Hey, are you related to Ryu Chungwoo?” One of the kids around Chungwoo’s age had suddenly asked him. Perhaps the kid was just trying to make some small talk. After all, Gunwoo had asked if he could hold the kid’s slick and stylish recurve bow.

“I’m his cousin,” he said distractedly. It was kind of cute but upon closer inspection, the several accessories attached to it made the bow a bit cumbersome and confusing. “Woah, your bow’s much lighter than Chungwoo’s,” he said in honest surprise. “Can I take a picture of you using it?”

“Sure!” The kid was ecstatic, one of the few children he encountered today that wasn’t camera shy. “And, um,” the little archer said, while making the… probably correct but definitely different archer’s stance. Gunwoo couldn’t quite discern the problem. All he knew was that it was not the same as his brother’s stance.

The kid continued. “I guess I was right, you’re related! You look like an older version of him, but only if Ryu Chungwoo grew up as a vegetarian and got addicted to reading books instead of sports.”

What the hell does that mean? Did this kid just called him a nerd? His eyebrows twitched in irritation and he forgot to press the shutter button on purpose. The kid’s arrow barely hit the target anyway.

“Can I have a copy of it later?”

“From the website. Though, I’m not the one who would choose the photos to be posted.”

“Oh, bummer.”

Gunwoo also tried the same with the other club members whenever they were free. He found it peculiar that he hadn’t come across a single bow heavier than his brother yet among the different levels on the kids group.

“It’s because your cousin uses a bow made for adults in the professional field.” One of the teens around his age had replied when he asked. She tucked a loosed strand of her hair behind her ear as she talked.

Gunwoo’s brows furrowed. “Why?”

“I dunno…” The kid trailed off as if searching for answers. “It was recommended to him by one of the coaches. Though, it’s also the norm here to teach the members on how to use different types of bows and get familiar with them.” Her tone fluctuated in uncertainty. “But somehow, your cousin got stuck with the heavier equipment.”

Gunwoo brightened up a bit. “Then, all Chungwoo needed to do to get out of this slump is to use a lighter bow?” Inwardly, his question was full of hope.

Unfortunately, the kid shook her head. “They tried that already but your cousin’s form had changed drastically. That’s when the coaches figured out that his issue wasn’t about the equipment at all.”

“Oh… That sucked… Can I take a picture of you taking a shot?”

“Sure, but only if I could get your number.”

“I’m sorry but I don’t do freelance photography.”

“…”

She still posed for a picture but Gunwoo wondered why the teen’s confidence deflated like a popped balloon.

---

Then later on, before lunch…

While Chungwoo was busy freshening up in the washroom, Gunwoo finally managed to have a conversation with the assistant coach who was responsible for his brother.

“Quite young for a reporter, aren’t you?” The stern assistant coach remarked, tone frosty as he crossed his arms over his chest. “Is this for a school newspaper?”

“Um, no, sir. I’m here to work on the club’s website?” He tried his best to keep his composure. “Manager Ryu Seomin had introduced me to everyone on the staff earlier.”

“Hm. It did not concern me. Why would I pay attention to that? So… you’re not here to know about why I chose to retire?” The guy still remained frigid.

Gunwoo wanted to roll his eyes. What’s the deal with this guy? Was the assistant coach being defensive of a supposedly sensitive topic, or fishing for an audience to hear about his tragic backstory? The man didn’t seem to be that old to give up on archery. He appears healthy. If Gunwoo could hazard a guess, retirement could have been a way out of a controversy. So really, why even bring it up? Gunwoo plastered a smile to his face. In situations like this, playing to their ego might be the best course of action.

“I apologize for my lack of familiarity with the archery scene.” Which could be translated to, ‘Sorry, my guy. Your career was so mediocre that normies didn’t get to hear your name. So sad.’

He continued. “But I must commend your attention to detail in how you’re training my cousin.” He widened his eyes. “It was truly inspiring.” He gestured at the assistant coach with his free hand. “I can also sense that you have a higher standard for the athletes under your care. The other coaches should take notes about your methods.” Hopefully what he had said didn’t sound sarcastic, because it kinda was.

The assistant coach huffed. “Hm. Damn right.”

...okay. It felt as though steam would come out of the man’s nose any second.

“I don’t like vultures. But since you’re not one of them and you seemed interested…” The man huffed again before continuing. “I left the professional field to change the future of archery. There were too many rubbish players with rich parents who think it’s too easy or that they would look cool. It’s all just a fun game to them. Weak archers like those don’t have any respect for the craft.”

Gunwoo was so close to asking what kind of drug the guy was taking. The man was possibly forced to retire because nobody could agree with his delusions.

“This club must be frustrating for you then,” Gunwoo had said so since most of the club members were enjoying themselves from what he had gathered.

“Exactly. You said you’re Ryu Chungwoo’s cousin?”

Gunwoo nodded.

The assistant coach uncrossed his arms and looked far into the distance. “Your aunt understood the importance of it. That’s probably why she invited me here to teach her son.”

Wait… what? Chungwoo’s mother?

“She wanted him to break and I agree. Ryu Chungwoo has a bright future ahead of him, but archery is not for everyone. Your cousin needs to reach the lowest point. That’s the time where his heart would be bare enough to reach his true potential.”

Gunwoo took a deep breath. He cannot believe what this guy was saying. “She… You… forced this target panic on him?”

The man chuckled. “Forced is a strong word, young man. Ryu Chungwoo’s current issue is nothing but a symptom of how weak his mettle is. If he cannot overcome this, then it’ll be better for him to quit.”

Shortly after, Gunwoo took a photo of the assistant coach for the website, then excused himself. He settled outside the manager’s office, researching the hell out of the assistant coach in the internet. The man was a legend, not for his achievements as an athlete, but for his reputation as a mentor. Gunwoo read posts and articles that said that the man could either propel an athlete to greatness, or crush their dreams entirely. Just like what the man had said about Chungwoo’s possible future as an athlete. Disturbingly, the guy could only be an assistant coach for now because his coaching certification got revoked after a tragic incident with his last student.

The door to the office opened and his brother came out.

“Hyung, the kimbap and gyeran mari were really really tasty! Can I… Uh… Hyung? did something happen?”

Gunwoo’s eyes locked on with Chungwoo’s. He imagined how his brother’s eyes would look like after the kid’s dream was crushed under all that weight. Lifeless and empty. He couldn’t let it happen.

Gunwoo forced himself to smile as he stood up. “You can have them all or share the food with your friends if you want.” He handed over his camera to Chungwoo.

“You’re leaving?”

“There’s an emergency. I’ll see you later, alright?”

“…um, alright.”

After a hasty travel that he could barely recall…

Gunwoo stormed into the Ryu household with fists clenched tightly at his sides. His face had little to no emotion but his eyes blazed with intensity. Tunnel vision had set in, there were no thoughts other than bitter questions and barbed insults.

How dare that woman. Can’t she comprehend what she had done? What kind of mother would entrust their child to be taught by a guy like that?! Doesn’t she know that Chungwoo’s already struggling under his care?

He was seething. It was as if his brother was stabbed in the back by Chungwoo’s own mother. Wildfire burned through his veins, consuming all rational thought and every shred of calmness. He wanted to explode but he had to keep himself together. With sharp and purposeful movements, he headed towards the legal wife’s office.

But upon reaching the hallway…

“Gunwoo oppa!!!”

…he got ambushed by a little hug monster.

Gunwoo felt a surge of conflicting emotions. He wanted to rage just from what he had learned and he almost lashed out at her. At first, his instinct was to pull away. He really doesn’t want to snap at the little girl. Yet, Chunghae clung even harder, her squeals of laughter got louder as he tried to shake her off.

Ah… Goddammit. It’s no good. The tension that had been coiled tightly within had began to unravel. His anger drained bit by bit as his sister seemed like she doesn’t want to let him go.

“Not… now, Chunghae.”

“Not now what?”

Ugh… He spun around and more squeals bubbled out of the little girl who was still clinging on to him.

“Do it again!!!”

He wanted to stay angry, but how could he, with a face like that? The heaps of colorful wobbly butterfly clips on her hair pulled a chuckle out of him. He had no choice, so he spun her again three more times that resulted in more laughter. At least his sister was having the time of her life.

Gunwoo sighed after taking a breather. “I need to talk to your mama.”

Chunghae finally settled back on the ground. “Then let’s go talk to mama together!” She yelled while jumping. Where did she get all that energy from?

He really doesn’t have any time for this. Gunwoo rubbed his chin in thought. “Want to earn some cash?” For a second, he thought that his sister doesn’t have any concept of money yet, but Chunghae’s eyes says otherwise.

“I can buy more butterfly?!” His sister shook in excitement.

He bit his lip, trying to stifle a laugh. Really, her head doesn’t have any space for more of those moving hair clips.

“Sure.”

---

A few minutes later…

A bill of one thousand won was stuck between the wall and his sister’s forehead.

“It’s all yours after you reach a hundred,” he said.

“What if I counted to two hundred?” His greedy sister whose face was currently attached to the wall asked inquisitively.

“Then I’ll double it.”

“What about three hundred?”

Ugh… There would be no end to this if he let her continue.

“If you reach five hundred, I’ll give you a special prize.”

“Really?!” She squealed.

“But if you let it fall to the ground then you’ll have to give me one butterfly.”

“No!!!”

“So don’t let it fall.”

Gunwoo almost chuckled when the little girl tried to nod and panicked when the money almost slipped.

“I won’t let it fall.” She declared. “I need an army of butterflies to defeat the fairies.”

Kids were so random. Anyway, Chunghae started counting out loud.

“You’ve got this, Chunghae,” he cheered.

While Gunwoo proceeded down the hallway, his sister’s counting voice echoed faintly in his ears. A subtle smile tugged at his lips as he stood in front of the home office. All thanks to the unexpected touch of silliness that eased his frayed nerves, calmness had washed over him. He still did not think he had any chance of changing the mind of his father’s legal wife, regarding her questionable decisions about Chungwoo. But, a clear head was loads better than charging in with raw emotions.

Gunwoo breathed in deeply to prep himself, then knocked at the door.

“Come in,” his boss’s voice was muffled. She doesn’t sound to be in a bad mood, but he knew she’ll be busy. She always was. And she’ll dislike being interrupted, nevertheless, she’ll hate the words he’ll have to say even more.

He exhaled as he turned the handle and opened the door.

The room was full of mock-up posters propped on tripod stands, an assortment of scattered notes and printouts strewn across every available surface, and his boss’s desk was overflowing with sampled flowers, small packs of food samplers, and a variety of gift bags. The door to the bathroom that was connected to his father’s office was almost covered by the stands. Despite the clutter, there was a method to the madness, a semblance of organized chaos.

“Finished with the editing?” She asked without looking at him.

Gunwoo swallowed a groan, he’s not here about work. “Not yet, ma’am.” She did say to take his time with the current batch because of the oncoming exams. Though he was almost done with them, just thinking about the boring job was exhausting.

“Well…” She stepped back from the mock-ups a bit to look at them as a whole. “Those pictures are not that important anyway. Just select about a third of the bunch and leave the rest. I trust your judgment.”

He was a bit taken aback. “…thank you, ma’am.”

His father’s legal wife was humming a tune while jotting down notes on colored sticky notes and attaching them to various places on the mock-ups.

He opened his mouth to talk about what he came here for but she spoke again before he could.

“I know that your mother’s cruise had ended. She’s on her way to her apartment.” She switched out some of the notes, crumpled up one of the pink sheets and let it fall to the ground. “You don’t have to waste my time just to tell me you wanted to go home.”

Oh... Gunwoo blinked in surprise and unconsciously looked down at his hands. It’s as if his breath was stolen away from him. The date had slipped his mind, he completely forgot about his mom’s arrival today. He was looking forward to it, but that was before he found out about what his brother was being put through.

Gunwoo clenched a fist and strengthened his resolve. “I went to the archery club and met the man in charge of your son.”

The humming ceased. His father’s wife stopped what she was doing and placed the colored pad on the table. With how this woman go about her business from day to day, Gunwoo knew that he doesn’t have to elaborate on the assistant coach’s background. She’ll dig any information about the people surrounding her and her family for her own use.

“Why?” He asked as he sighed softly, forcing himself to remain calm as he continued to insult her. “Are you still not satisfied with what Chungwoo could do, that you’re willing to gamble on his well-being?” He concentrated on the burning embers of his anger.

Honestly, he’s not expecting an answer. Those questions only posed his knowledge of the current situation, as if saying he knew that the assistant coach was bad news. Gunwoo might not know what she was thinking about exactly, but he wanted her to realize the gravity of what she had done. It might be pointlessly rude and disrespectful but he cannot let it go.

Slowly, she turned towards him, arms crossed over her middle torso with a finger tapping on her elbow. Her expression remained apathetic but her eyes were piercing cold.

As she drew near him, her finger stopped moving. She smiled but it didn’t reach her eyes. “Are you telling me that I’m a terrible mother?” His father’s wife stood in front of him. She barely opened her mouth but her voice was clear.

He smiled back at her. “I’m glad we’re on the same page then.”

All of a sudden, his father’s wife raised her hand. Gunwoo flinched and squeezed his eyes shut, expecting to be hit. But instead of a stinging slap, he felt his cheek being held. Her other hand followed and his face was caught between her palms.

“You could’ve been mine.” Her voice sounded fragile.

His eyes snapped open with perplexity.

Then her tone turned bitter with antipathy. “You could have been my son.”

With a subtle push, she let go of him.

“In vitro fertilization,” she continued with the same icy tone and smile. “Funny story, did your mother ever told you about the time we had implanted my fertilized egg in her uterus, then hours later she fucked my husband raw?”

Her poisonous smile widened, pleased with the expression on his face. His father’s wife wheeled around and went back to sticking notes over the posters.

“The snake just can’t forget about her ex’s dick, I suppose.”

What was this… What was she trying to achieve? There were static in his ears. She wanted to hurt him, that was true enough. The room was suffocating. Gunwoo doesn’t know what to do with this knowledge. His father’s legal wife returned to work, humming, as if he doesn’t exist. What she said was beyond ridiculous. However, what would be the point in lying?

Gunwoo bit the inside of his cheek. His clenched fists were shaking. Enough about him. He huffed to himself that shortly tumbled into a deranged giggle. This woman was only trying to distract him from the topic at hand.

With vitriol, Gunwoo spouted, “I’m happy… that you’re not my mother then, ma’am. Because, see… the assistant coach said you wanted to break Chungwoo! I certainly don’t want that to happen to me.” He swung his hand harshly and accidentally jostled some of the tripod stand. Ah... it felt like his sanity was leaking through his ears. “Did his playing style bothered you that much? Did your little son failed to reach your expectations? Or was he—”

This time a slap did land and he welcomed it.

The room was silent for a moment. The shock shook off the remaining buzzing noise and woke up his mind at the same time. Gunwoo caressed the stinging cheek with a bitter grin. He’ll probably regret everything later on but he was satisfied to see this despicable woman crack.

“I’m doing it for my son’s future!” She howled while her hands moved in distress that ended up shoving the remaining standee away from her. The room was a mess. She took a moment to control herself, breathing in deeply while looking at everywhere but him. “Once Chungwoo quit this useless hobby, then he’ll be able to concentrate on what’s important.”

He sighed. It felt like all his remaining energy had been sapped out just from being around her. There’s no use talking to these kinds of people. Gunwoo replied in a monotone. “I get it. Your son’s happiness doesn’t matter to you one bit.” Then he turned to leave.

“Happiness?” The woman chuckled at his back. “You’re still too naive, Gunwoo. He can have that and more when he’s older.”

Gunwoo clicked his tongue in a show of defiance. “Chungwoo won’t break. I’ll make sure of it.”

He was about to pull the door open when suddenly the woman gasped. Gunwoo turned to face her in reflex. As he saw her stunned expression, he quickly followed her gaze, and froze at what he saw as well.

There, behind the fallen stands near the bathroom’s door, holding one of the sampled snacks and a crumpled paper bill, was a scared and crying Chunghae. The little girl was looking at them with wide terrified eyes.

“Baby?” His father’s wife prompted worriedly.

With a wobbly lip, Chunghae whimpered and ran.

-----------------------------------

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“Ahh!! You’re so unfair, Moondae-Moondae~” Keun Sejin was making a fuss again as the big guy browsed Ahyeon’s photos with a pout. “All of them were soooo good! It’ll be hard to choose which one to post.”

Taking pictures of Seon Ahyeon was as effortless as plucking ripe fruit from low-hanging branches on a warm summer day. With Ahyeon’s disabled status abnormalities, the kid’s charisma had shone magnificently. Park Moondae had to stop himself from taking twice a dozen more for how much he enjoyed Ahyeon as a photography subject. He honestly missed having the ability to do rapid fire shutter clicks, a camera phone was just too slow. Besides, since they acquired some free time, he decided to take the pending photos of the other members as well and be done with this indirect advertising job.

He rubbed his chin absentmindedly. “Then let Ahyeon pick his favorite,” he suggested, gaze drifting off as he contemplated on the ideal location in the dorm for their next shoot. “They’re his photos after all.”

“I-I’d be de-delighted!” Seon Ahyeon said with a burst of enthusiasm. Moondae briefly wondered if the unusual mood within the group was the cause for this newfound energy. “B-but since it’s a set… Se-Sejin and Sejin hyung, will choose their fa-favorite too. To-together!”

Moondae widened his eyes a bit at Ahyeon’s assertiveness, and Lee Sejin, who was drinking some ginger tea while reading, coughed in surprise.

“Ah, haha…” Keun Sejin rubbed the back of his neck. “That’s uhh… A good idea, Ahyeon-Ahyeon~” The guy’s forced demeanor was blatantly obvious, his discomfort with the notion had shown through a smile that bordered more on a grimace than genuine warmth.

Although Moondae could sense what Seon Ahyeon was aiming for, it won’t be that easy to patch things up between the two Sejins. Like a bad chemical reaction, the two will explode if they had as much as a little skin contact. Chungwoo will lose his head if their leader came back to a destroyed dorm and a fist fight.

He sighed softly and internally apologized for squandering Ahyeon’s effort. “Why not upload the pictures in the chat room so that every member could cast a vote?”

The two Sejins perked up at that.

Ahyeon looked a little bit disappointed for a moment before strengthening his resolve. “Al-alright!” Mister Charisma said with a fist pump before starting to type in the chat.

Ah... They’ll receive an essay instead of a simple poll if Ahyeon did it. He made eye contact with Keun Sejin but the guy just shrugged at him with a nonchalant smile. A way of a recompense?...Fine.

“Then… Who-who would be the next model, Park Moondae?” Lee Sejin anxiously blurted out from the corner of the living room.

Hm. Moondae glanced around but couldn’t find the two maknaes. “If you’re ready, hyung,” he answered.

Lee Sejin’s shoulders hiked up at his response. “Uh, yes!”

It was too late when Park Moondae realized that his session with Seon Ahyeon had stirred his usually dormant photography itch. Likewise, the unspent energy from the canceled dance practice had probably factored in his restlessness as well. To be frank, he kind of wanted to play around, something he had never felt for a very long time. He tamped it down though, because it would be too weird to be overtly eager for something like this.

Suddenly, Keun Sejin slung his arm around Moondae’s shoulders. “Remember, Sejin hyung cannot move around much because of his injury. So~ the usual exercise theme you had going so far is out of the question.”

“Shut your mouth. I can move however I want!” Lee Sejin rebuked as the guy pushed himself up from the comfy armchair. Their smallest member had no chill.

Moondae heard Keun Sejin click his tongue but it was too soft to be heard by anyone else. The guy just kept smiling despite the antagonism. A bear and a hamster fight would be so one sided. Seriously though, who poured the oil over this burning dumpster fire? Anyway…

“Already considered that,” he said as he removed the giant arm over him. “His injury won’t be a problem.”

He started clearing up the living room’s space as much as possible. Moondae couldn’t help but list in his head all the equipment that he doesn’t have and picture their placement as if this was a photography studio. Soon enough, Ahyeon and Keun Sejin followed his lead in assisting with moving the furniture. Meanwhile, Lee Sejin stepped aside with a forlorn expression, doubtlessly feeling out of place.

“Hyung, imagine that you’re an athlete,” he said in a huff as he dragged the coffee table to the hallway. He glanced at the available lights and the open windows, wondering if they would be enough. It was a good thing that the staff had left a few of the lighting equipment for their reality shows. Moondae only used simple light sources for Ahyeon earlier, which resulted in a melodramatic warm-up ballet for the most part. However, what he had in mind for Lee Sejin would be different.

Lee Sejin turned pensive about his request. “What… What kind of sports?”

“Whatever you want.” After turning the lights on, he threw a baseball cap in the middle of the empty floor to be used as a marker and arranged the selfie stick to an appropriate length. Moondae raised it above his head and took test shots, then he kept adjusting the angle of the phone and the camera settings, until he was happy with the result.

Hm, the distance was quite not enough. Maybe he should stand on a chair...

“B-but, hyung’s foot,” Ahyeon muttered worriedly while carrying out one of the rectangular ottoman.

“Aha~ I think I know what the plan would be,” grinned Keun Sejin before dramatically plopping down beside the baseball cap, and posed in a familiar heart shape hand gesture. “Did I get it right~” The big guy winked at him.

Silently, Moondae stared down impassively at Keun Sejin’s cheery face. How long will Popcon continue to pester him?

He nudged Keun Sejin’s foot with his own. “Get up if you don’t want to become a bear rug.”

“Am I~ a fluffy bear rug?” Their tallest member rolled away while speaking.

“A fluffy dust magnet,” Moondae answered without thought as he took one of the rounded sofa cushions, wondering if it could be used as a prop.

“~That steals your breath away?” Keun Sejin suddenly pushed himself up and whirled into some form of breakdance. Ah, this guy was probably missing dance practice. Ahyeon was clapping at the side.

“Like asthma,” he said and remembered that they had a multi purpose folding ladder somewhere. He wondered where it was.

When Moondae turned around to go look for it, he saw Ahyeon vibrating beside the lighting equipment, trying to suppress giggles by covering his mouth.

“You three are really close friends, huh,” Lee Sejin commented.

Moondae was about to deny that statement but he was beaten to it by the other Sejin who dropped down and sat on the floor.

“It’s because we went through a lot together, hyung,” Keun Sejin responded in a sincere tone. “It’s only natural we became close.”

Was this guy about to start something? Moondae could practically feel Lee Sejin’s aura becoming gloomy by the second.

Keun Sejin continued, “And personal matters aside, as members of the group who’s trying their very best to succeed in this industry, we really shouldn’t be putting up barriers.”

Ahyeon decided to chime in. “Y-yes, hyung! We… We’re all becoming friends. And… and growing together as a family.”

Apologetically, Keun Sejin rubbed the back of his neck. “So I w—”

“Well I’m not the one who put up those barriers.” Lee Sejin bitterly interjected.

They were all stunned into silence.

Moondae wanted to facepalm. It seemed as if the two Sejins lived in different planes of existence. They were unlikely to engage in any civil conversation, if they weren’t in the same level in the first place. He should break this up.

“Sejin.” He caught Keun Sejin’s attention. “Do you know where the foldable ladders were stored?”

With an exasperated sigh, the big guy answered back, “I’ll go get it then~” And walked out of the living room.

“Hyung,” Moondae turned to Lee Sejin. “Please change and lay down so that we could start.”

---

If Seon Ahyeon was like a breeze as a photography subject, Lee Sejin made Moondae felt like a kid who had just discovered that sweets existed.

Even though all of the pictures were taken with Lee Sejin laying down on the floor, it ended up as the most whimsical and dynamic photo set for this project so far. They first started with making the former actor imitate an athlete’s active pose like volleyball, basketball, and soccer, using different household items arranged as props. It was alright, like a doll being posed, there was nothing special about it.

But after Moondae suggested in jest that he’s a 2D character from a manhwa, subsequently describing some sample sports scenario in its heightened moment, Lee Sejin’s experience as an actor had really showed. They even ended up branching out of the sports themed pictures, and the concept became closer to a fantasy circus.

“Whu-what if… we use musical instruments as props next?” Ahyeon excitedly offered. He had tasked himself on arranging the props plus Lee Sejin’s hair and clothing as if their subject were in motion. It appears that Moondae’s not the only one having fun with this activity.

“I’ll go borrow some from Kim Raebin then. Don’t fall, Moondae-Moondae~” Keun Sejin was still keeping his distance from the former actor and had resorted to assisting Moondae instead, given that Park Moondae was balancing on top of the ladder. At least the two Sejins weren’t fighting at the moment.

“You’re really good at modeling, hyung.” He said while waiting on Ahyeon to finish combing Lee Sejin’s hair.

“N-no! You gave me a clear imagery to follow that’s why I…”

He waited for the former actor to finish his sentence but it seemed that Lee Sejin had trailed off.

So Moondae added further instead. “But you’re the one who interpreted them.”

“Y-yes. I… I saw the pictures! They-they were really good,” Ahyeon said before standing up and clearing out of their DIY set. “Y-you were great, hyung!”

Moondae raised the selfie stick and signaled at the two that he’s taking a shot.

“It’s-It’s because Park Moondae’s a great photographer.” Lee Sejin said without breaking the expression of someone doing a pretend balancing act on a stack of toppling dining chairs.

Moondae took a couple more shots until he was satisfied with the result. “Okay. I think we could arrange a different set now.” He carefully descended from the ladder.

Lee Sejin pushed himself up in a seating position. “Seriously though, Park Moondae. You really have a talent in photography… Well… As well as singing and… and…” The former actor blinked in deep thought. “Actually, you have loads of talent in all sorts of stuff. I just… All I’m saying is… Have you ever considered being one?”

Moondae smiled morosely as he browsed the pictures stored in the phone’s gallery. “Considered being what, hyung?” He suddenly felt tired.

“Being a photographer, of cou—”

Keun Sejin’s blushing head popped out from the hallway and waved an arm to get their attention. In a conspiratorial whisper-shout, their tallest member said, “Guys, I need your opinion about something!”

---

Keun Sejin led them outside the shared bedroom of Kim Raebin and Seon Ahyeon, where they all could clearly hear…

…THUMP – THUMP – THUMP – THUMP – THUMP – THUMP –...

… a very curious rhythmical sound. It went on and on. There's even the squeak of the mattress spring between the intervals.

“Is that the bed?” He asked rhetorically.

“Right?!” Keun Sejin was still whisper shouting with a reddened face. “Are they… you know…”

Moondae blinked in confusion. Were they what?

Lee Sejin, who hobbled behind them, supplied the rest of the question instead. “Are they seriously having sex right now?!” Their injured member had resorted to whisper shouting as well, with a face like a fast forward ripening tomato.

Seon Ahyeon had covered his face with both hands already, but the ears were definitely red.

Moondae scrunched up his nose. These guys were so ridiculous. He recalled a completely different noise when he had walked in on his mother having sex with a tourist in their apartment a long time ago. He reached out for the door’s handle…

“No! Moondae-Moondae!”

“S-stop!”

...and opened it to find Cha Eugene on top of the bed, kneeling next to a pillow while pumping both fists rhythmically on the center of it… like how a dog wakes their owner in the morning. Kim Raebin on the other hand, was also seated on top of the bed beside the other maknae, crossed legged, reading something from a laptop.

Kim Raebin sighed and shook his head in dissatisfaction. “I don’t think that’s right, Eugene.”

With a serious expression, and while still pumping, the other maknae replied, “It is so. It said to do it like... Ha. Ha. Ha. Ha. Stayin’ Aliiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiive!”

Cha Eugene sang the English line in basic falsetto, then breaking one sustained word into multiple octaves, one note lowered after another. But it was all done with a faster dubstep beat.

Moondae furrowed his brows. Were they doing some kind of 60s CPR remix? Oh well. Who was to he question the bizarre methods of a creative.

The door opened wider until the handle hit a wall and the sound made the two maknaes snap up towards them.

“Oh, hyung!”

“Hyung!!!”

Why did those two looked guilty of something? Was it still about the bro code thing? Anyway…

Moondae turned towards the two shamed Sejins beside him. “Congrats, you two have found a common ground. Both of you need to get your minds out of the gutter before they fuse.”

“That’s… Unacceptable!”

“It did not cost you anything not to say that, Moondae-Moondae!”

Chapter Text

“And for this character.” The bubbly head artist switched to another page of the art concept board print out. “We exchanged the previously double eyelids to inner double eyelids instead.” The developer informed Chungwoo excitedly. “This way, B11 looks exactly like Park Moondae, doesn’t it?”

Ryu Chungwoo could only nod in agreement and smile pleasantly with the other nodding developers in the meeting. He gently took the colorful printout when it was handed out to him, and looked at the said detail more closely. He couldn’t tell the difference, really. He doesn’t know how eyelids could add to the overall likeness of the characters to Testar members. These artworks were all cartoon to his eyes. For him, the costumes created based on them were enough to serve as a distinction. He won’t say that, of course.

“It looks great,” he said. There was nothing more he could say but shower them with compliments, which was justified. They did an awesome job.

The developers had modified the pool of initial party members that the players would be interacting with in the tutorial portion of the game to match the Testar members from the trailer even more. When he first learned about what they did, Chungwoo worried that Testar accidentally piled on extra work for the developers to make this collaboration project work.

“It’s reassuring to know that you could work with the materials you already have to make these changes,” he added further as he handed the printout back.

The head artist chuckled. “These are just simple tweaks. Not unlike making a character avatar with the available assets!”

“But putting in these details, however small, totally make a big difference.” The head programmer chimed in. “Especially Lee Sejin’s rimless glasses! His character in the game had visually gained more depth and personality with that simple alteration.”

“Speaking of small details, Kim Raebin’s mole and Cha Eugene’s fang that was peeking at the side of his mouth just a little bit, were perfect and cute,” the team’s narrative designer commented. “They’ve added so much charm to them.”

“The trailer was really inspiring, huh!”

“For sure. It was as if our babies were alive and breathing.”

Comments were rapidly thrown back and forth.

“Freaky that you’re so happy about these said babies being alive, when you’ve planned their death from the start and would be happening shortly afterwards at the end of the tutorial.”

“How dare you… That was called love.”

“Aigoo! Your love hurt so much that its traumatizing, sweetheart.”

“I’ve immortalized our babies by sacrificing the players’ traumatized hearts!”

“Was that your reason for every character you’ve killed in all of our games?!”

Chungwoo laughed along whole heartedly with them. He was pleased that the meeting was proceeding like so, with the developers casually bantering and teasing one another. He could easily imagine that if it was his mother here with them, she’ll say that the contents of this meeting could have had fit in an email instead.

But if they insisted on going that route, Chungwoo wouldn’t know how much these characters meant to these people, down to carefully matching these tiny details with Testar’s characteristics. It made him appreciate playing his own character even more.

While the developers were still busy ribbing each other with the characters they’ve created, Chungwoo took photos of the art boards. He wanted to show the others about this development and was sure that they’ll enjoy seeing the personalized alterations of their characters as well. But as he was about to upload the photos, Chungwoo saw that Seon Ahyeon was in the middle of typing something in the chat.

He waited for a little bit to let Ahyeon finish. And waited… And waited… Seon Ahyeon was still typing. That made him sweat a little bit, given the internal chaotic mess Testar was currently in. Hopefully nothing was wrong. If it was an emergency, they would call him instead, right? Oh well… He can let them know about the design changes when he get back at the dorm.

They finished the meeting with the technical stuff, like matching the schedule of the game’s promos and public opening, to Testar’s own scheduled promotional materials. He checked with his digital planner if anything would cause an issue. So far, everything was proceeding smoothly.

Somebody asked him why he was the one keeping notes of Testar’s schedule and not one of the managers, and he said that it’s not a big deal for him to do if this lightened up the workload of their staff. Besides, the managers and admin have access to it. It’s not as if he was the only one managing it.

There was not much else to talk about so some of the developers had excused themselves to get back to work, while the two founding members of the game studio were packing up. Chungwoo was surprised when they gave him the packed printed art boards and said that they gladly wanted Testar to have them.

The three of them were in the hallway of the office, just outside of the conference room, when Chungwoo awkwardly spoke up. “Uh, I don’t know how to shift to this topic but…” He rubbed the back of his head, feeling self-conscious all of a sudden. “I would like to speak to one of your interns? If that’s alright. Her name is Ryu Chunghae.”

They looked at him oddly.

“Intern? We’re just a small studio who basically knew each other from our school organization. We don’t take interns.” The head artist started, she tapped her chin with a pen. “Although, there is a Ryu Chunghae working with us as a concept artist and illustrator for almost three years now. In fact, she’s sort of my assistant when I held workshops at school and helped design most of those initial party members in 127 Section.”

“Wait. I just realized,” the other developer broke in with narrowed eyes. “You… both have the same family name. Are you related?”

With a sheepish smile, Chungwoo replied lightheartedly. “Well… she’s actually my sister.”

The two game developers shared a disbelieving look, before the head artist squealed then bodily shook him, gaining curious looks from the staff around. The head programmer had to pry her off Chungwoo’s arm.

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A few minutes later…

With huge long strides, Chungwoo had easily kept pace with the two flushed developers as they hurried towards the head artist’s office, where they said his sister was currently busy with work. He winced as the door was pushed open with so much force that made it slam against the wall.

“RYU CHUNGHAE!!! You unruly rebellious child!” The head artist practically charged at his sister. Chungwoo stopped her by holding onto her arm. “You not only lied to us about your age, but you lied to us that you were looking for your family!”

Chunghae looked at them in shock and betrayal, then to him with wide disbelieving eyes, before she bolted out of the window on the other side of the room. Well… at least she tried to. Chunghae failed to pull herself up because she lacked upper body strength.

The head programmer managed to persuade the other developer to leave them alone for now in a much more quieter voice. As they left the room, Chungwoo sighed and casually strolled towards his sister, who was still struggling to climb up out of the window.

“What are you doing?” He asked tonelessly.

His sister had the audacity to huff and groan at him. “Getting away from you, obviously.”

He crossed his arms. “Why?”

Chungwoo found it hard to take her seriously when there’s multiple jiggling butterfly clips on her head, and the giant VTIC print in the middle of her large acid-washed purple shirt. She probably made it herself.

“Because I want to!”

“Oh?” He decided to try pulling at one of his lures. “I heard you helped design the initial members from 127 Section. Who was your inspiration on designing that sniper character? Even without the alterations, it already looked like me.”

Chungwoo grinned as his sister let go of the window sill, just as he predicted, and faced him with a scowl with fists resting on her hips.

“For your information, I wasn’t thinking about you when I drew Sniper. I was thinking about Gunwoo oppa! Can’t you see that hair, and the gun’s scope that actually looked like a telephoto lens?” She then dragged him by the wrist, towards one of the tables in the corner of the room, before flipping through several pages of her sketchpad.

“See?” She pointed at separate sketches showcasing the character’s equipment. “If it’s you, then it would’ve been a bow and arrow from the start.”

He actually thought it was due to artistic choice, making the scope comically large, fit for a mobile game character.

Though, even with that given explanation, Chungwoo still smiled mischievously down at her. “But a bow and arrow could be classified as a weapon just the same as a sniper rifle. Unlike a camera. Don’t you think so?”

His sister was grinding her teeth as she glared up at him, and Chungwoo’s smile became wider.

“Besides that,” he continued. “Gunwoo hyung wears glasses. I don’t see the sniper wearing any.” He shrugged exaggeratedly.

Chunghae rolled her eyes. How disrespectful. “Are you stupid, oppa? Having multiple lenses would be redundant in this case! And what are you smiling about?!”

Chungwoo couldn’t help it. Maybe because of the built-up stress from work, the dam had broke and he burst out laughing, which infuriated his confused sister even more.

The two developers peeked their heads in the doorway.

“Can… can we go back in now?”

“We really want to have an explanation, if that’s possible.”

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The Ryu siblings decided to talk elsewhere after Chunghae proved to her employers that she did not falsified her documents. Although, she did lie to them about being older, she still had their dad’s blessing and had properly filed papers to prove that she was allowed to work even as a minor while studying on the side. She lightly roasted them that it was their own fault for not checking and only taking her word for it. Chungwoo was ready to apologize for her behavior but it seemed like they were somewhat used to it.

When the topic about ‘searching for her family’ was brought up, Chungwoo couldn’t believe that his sister just casually blurted out that she was adopted, and that it was true she was still looking for her long lost biological parents. She even sounded proud of it.

Then she tried being cute and said, “Oppa, if you’re here to apologize to me when you called me a liar, then you have to do it properly!”

For that reason, Chungwoo found himself inside one of the most expensive cafés in Seoul, where his sister was busy gorging on several costly pastries, while he sadly drink his pricey green tea.

“Don’t look at me like that, oppa,” she said, as another variety of macarons was placed on their table. “I know mama’s still sending you an exorbitant pocket money allowance.” Chunghae rolled her eyes as she sipped her mixed berry juice.

“Would you even be able to finish all of these?” He asked with a raised brow.

It was fortunate that the café had a somewhat private area where they wouldn’t be disturbed. Still, Chungwoo took some precautions by wearing a hat and shades.

“Good thing I’m not an idol then! I don’t have to worry about getting fat.” She scornfully chuckled before taking a bite of the caramelized puff pastry.

She wasn’t fat. In fact, Chungwoo believed she could benefit from more savory meals than sugary snacks. The dark eyebags doesn’t bode well either. He hoped she wasn’t pushing herself too hard just to prove her independence to their mom.

“So what are you here for, exactly? You’re not here to convince me to go back home, right?” She asked inquisitively but in a much lighter tone.

Chungwoo laced his fingers and sighed. “I guess… to start off, why did you try to run away from me earlier?”

His sister took her time to nibble her food and to chew it down thoroughly before answering him. “Because you don’t believe me anyway.” Chunghae suddenly sounded so small. “You won’t believe me anyway.” She pulled her glass of juice closer as if hiding behind it.

“What makes you say that?”

Her lips wobbled as she shook her head. She tried to smile when she looked back at him but it only made the welled up tears in her eyes to become more noticeable. Chungwoo was lost for words.

“Then tell me, oppa. Do you even believe me when I tell you that I’m looking for my parents?”

Chungwoo leaned in close. “I could… I could help you with that. I’m sure mom would—”

“Oh stop being such a mama’s boy.” She interrupted, then huffed as she directed her gaze anywhere else but him.

“Why do you keep saying that?” He was actually puzzled, but it was not the time to point fingers on who was the most spoiled child among them. His words were measured and careful, suddenly aware that his sister might be in a delicate state. “Mom have resources we could use. She has connections that could help locate your biological parents faster than any of us would be able to achieve, if that’s what you truly want.”

She laughed bitterly, her eyes were sharp. “Oh like how we could have used her so called resources when we looked for Gunwoo oppa?”

Chungwoo leaned back in his chair. “That was different. We couldn’t ask her help because… the both of them don’t get along. And we did find him. He just… doesn’t want anything to do with us.”

His sister laughed again but this time, her laughter dissolved into full on crying. Chungwoo let her have her moment as she sobbed quietly into her hands. He noticed some customers and concerned café personnel checking in on them. Even if he wanted to comfort her, Chungwoo bottled it all down.

They weren’t close like the other siblings who would easily offer physical comforts. Or rather… they can’t. At some point in their lives, and maybe because Chunghae was adopted, proper decorum with maintaining a certain physical and emotional distance between opposite genders in the family, had been imposed by their mother.

He could understand the reason for that of course. But it doesn’t make it easy to watch his sister, even if they weren’t blood related, to be in such agony.

Soon enough, Chunghae was harshly wiping her face away with a paper towel, while trying to control her breathing. To anyone’s eyes, they probably wouldn’t be able to guess that his sister was privately tutored in proper etiquette, social graces, and cultural refinement.

When she recovered enough of her bearing, Chungwoo asked, “Do you want to order anything else?”

And that made her chuckle brightly. Not in the bitter, apathetic way she had been doing so.

“Even if it’s illogically expensive?” She smirked while dabbing her nose with a balled up tissue.

Chungwoo shrugged. “As if you’re not already aiming to dry my savings up?”

They both laughed. Chunghae pushed a plate of macarons towards him and he took one with a calm sigh. This was how far they could show that they do care about one another. But a thought nudged at him. Maybe they could have been closer if Gunwoo hyung was there to bridge the gap, to break the given rules and be like the other normal siblings. Though, there was no use thinking about what could have been. After all, it was hyung who chose to stay away from them.

They shared an amiable moment, trying out the different offered sweets. When his sister asked him if he was going to watch out for his diet, Chungwoo said to not worry about it. It’s easy for him to shed excess fat in just giving his all to fulfill their scheduled activities if he did end up gaining weight. Chunghae threw her used up tissue at him for that.

Then she turned sober once again. She propped her elbows on the table and rested her temples in the meat of her palms.

Chungwoo blinked when he saw worry and fear in her eyes.

“Oppa… Do you want to know something scary?”

He furrowed his brows at her question as he sipped his drink. Chungwoo gestured for her to continue.

His sister straightened up a bit while biting her lips. It took her several minutes to gather her thoughts, leaving Chungwoo in suspense.

Chunghae avoided his gaze, she breathe in deeply and exhaled before opening her mouth. “Back then… While it hurt that Gunwoo oppa cut ties with us, in the back of my mind, it was okay. Because I knew where he lived.”

Chungwoo stiffened at what he heard.

His sister continued. “I wanted to confront him but didn’t because I was afraid he’ll push me away. Well… we were busy anyway, playing our own parts in the Ryu family.” Chunghae started to shred some of the tissue papers on the table as she talked. “Aunt Seomin continued to look out for him secretly even if he pushed her away. So it was okay… It was okay. But… I got to know mama more. Her dreams since she was young. What she was willing to do to achieve it. What she was capable of doing if you ever stand in her way.” She released a heavy sigh. “I’m afraid of her… I’m really, really scared of her. I want to see my biological parents, but… mama was the real reason why I left.”

Chungwoo was confused at where she was going with this. Though, he could see how hard it was for her to talk about this subject. So even if there were a lot of questions in his mind, he didn’t interrupt and only waited for her to continue.

His sister finally looked up and met his eyes. “And… I’m afraid for you and your friends as well,” she said in a soft but terrified voice. “Someday, she’ll decide that you had enough playing like a plebeian.”

When it seemed that she was waiting for a response, he asked quietly, “Why? What did you learn?”

Chunghae shook her head a little while her lips trembled. “I don’t—I still don’t have any proof yet that he’s… I want to believe that he’s still alive but… He’s gone. I…” His sister hid her face in her hands. She sighed long and hard, but at the end of it, his sister had seemed to have reached a conclusion within herself. “Gunwoo oppa’s gone. You have to believe me. It’s like, he just vanished. And—and… if there’s anyone capable of disappearing anybody without a trace… It’s mama.”

Chungwoo’s throat felt dry and he let out in a choked gasp, “What are you trying to say, Chunghae? Mom’s… Mom’s just a coordinator for art exhibits.”

His sister laughed bitterly once again. “Well… coordinator’s one word for it. Do you really believe that an ordinary event organizer and a professional photographer, even how renowned papa had become, can support our lifestyle? Just the maintenance of those old properties would bankrupt us.” She shook her head, as if she was still in the middle of denial herself. “When I got to learn about mama’s side of the family… why they were so powerful… I suddenly realized what mama really wanted for me. I want out.”

Chunghae finished her drink, and with a thunk from the empty glass, she continued. “But I don’t have a choice. I’m the unlucky child she picked to play as the daughter with a prewritten script. I’ll be an artist with a pitiful past, who was given a fairytale-like life when she adopted me, when she made me a part of the polite society. That story would sell well, you know, after the right journalists that she would pick had done their job, overly dramatizing my story.” She sighed hopelessly. “I might be able to run now, but not forever. I’m just… prolonging the inevitable. And that goes the same for you.”

Then with finality, she said, “So, be ready. Unlike me, who’s only a future tax write-off for the rich and powerful, mama have big plans for you, oppa. You might not get to be an idol any longer. And if you disobey her… I’m afraid that whatever happened to Gunwoo oppa might happen to your friends as well.”

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While they waited for his father to arrive...

Park Moondae, who was beside him, had his eyes glued to his phone again, and Lee Sejin was starting to think it was getting to an unhealthy level.

Sure, the internet was a great tool for research, communication, and leisure, but… Sejin caught a glimpse of what his plausible-brother was looking at. It was disturbing. He pushed his glasses up. What’s with this weird fixation in purposefully searching for anti posts? Why would Park Moondae read disparaging comments about himself? As a public figure, won’t that be damaging to one’s ego? Sejin could only read a few before they sour his mood. Did this correlate to Park Moondae’s compulsion on changing hairstyles often? Or was this something due to his missing memories?

“Is there something wrong, hyung?” Park Moondae suddenly asked.

“Ah! No—nothing!” He was shocked into replying. When he peeked as his glasses slid down the bridge of his nose, Park Moonda had switched to looking at comments about their recently released concept photos. Again, his teammate was inputting those weird hashtags in the search bar.

Then his plausible-brother caught his eyes once more, and Sejin was probed questioningly with a raised brow and a tilted head. He just shook his head with an awkward smile, and the both of them went back to doing their own thing.

Sejin noticed that Seon Ahyeon’s consultation with the therapist seemed to be working out fine. Perhaps, he should gently push Park Moondae into that direction as well when they get some free time from work. Not only for the amnesia but maybe it could help Park Moondae to wean off alcohol. He made a brief note of it in his notebook. Then he reviewed some details he had written about his father. If possible, he would like to dissuade Park Moondae from trusting that man. And of course, he still haven’t given up on sending his despicable father to prison.

At first, they were planning to meet in a family restaurant that had a private room. But they soon realized, being out in the public with that man, would be detrimental for the both of them, and maybe even their group. So, they changed the venue at the last minute. As expected, his dad complained on how lame it was that they chose to do their business in one of T1 Star’s meeting rooms. But the man still agreed in the end after the not so subtle threat of cancelling the paternity test altogether.

“Is your foot hurting?” Park Moondae inquired unexpectedly.

“It-it’s fine! I feel fine.”

“Hm. That’s good.”

Sejin needed to find a better conversation topic, fast. “Um… How… How are the concept photos?”

Park Moondae blinked back at him as if surprised by the question and took a moment before answering. “It’s alright. It was taken well by the fans. Some of them had began to compare it with the album specifications, and was having fun choosing which concept they liked best.”

Sejin had began to relax his tense shoulders. “Oh?” He prompted for his teammate to continue.

Park Moondae leaned back and loosened up as well. “Yeah. Overall, they love the concept theme. My worries with this game collaboration is almost gone.”

Was it easy for his teammate to be numb about those harsh criticism? Sejin knew what he saw. Park Moondae wasn’t even acknowledging them, yet his teammate searches for it. Do Park Moondae read them for work and no other reason? Or was it a topic not worth opening up to someone? Sejin could understand if Park Moondae wanted to keep it to himself, though his teammate shouldn’t have to.

So, he also decided that he should brave it out and check what the people thought about them from time to time. Maybe not as exhaustive as Park Moondae does. Reading them… It could be helpful.

But then, he caught Park Moondae’s weird phrasing. “Almost?”

Park Moondae sighed and gave him a small smile. “There’s always something to worry about, hyung. It would actually be suspicious if everything was perfect.”

That made him furrow his brows as he slowly leaned in. “So… When will you stop worrying about it?”

“When it’s over.” Park Moondae shrugged. “We can all rest when it’s done.”

“I… see,” he said, while contemplating on how stressful it must be to live inside Park Moondae’s head. With that kind of mindset, the problems seemed to be never ending.

If it was Sejin, he wanted all his troubles gone and not think about them anymore. But of course, that would only be a foolish errand. Maybe, that’s why his life had fallen into such a shitty situation. In wanting them out of his sight, he had allowed his problems to fester.

“You were great in this shoot. You didn’t let the heat wave affect you.”

“Wha-what?” He stammered distractedly after suddenly being drawn away from his thoughts.

Park Moondae had the concept photos on display via his smart phone, and he waved the device a little to indicate that he was talking about it.

“You even managed to control your complexion, hyung.”

Sejin spluttered at the sudden onslaught of praises. “That’s just! I mean… It’s not!!” He wanted to tell it was all due to makeup and him not moving too much unlike the other Testar members, but the words jumbled in his mind as they tried to get out of his mouth all at once.

“Good job, hyung.”

All he could do was blush as he hunched on himself. “T-thanks…”

It was weird to hear praises from someone who spoke with little to almost no inflection, and with such a straight face at that. Wait… Were those compliments or sarcasm?! Why did he suddenly felt like he’s the younger child in this situation?

“I—to be honest, somehow, I liked the photos you took for the dri-fit indirect ad more,” he quickly blurted out in his desire to control their position. “They look more natural! These… These concept photos.” He browsed the gallery. “Even though they look great, don’t you think they were too heavily edited?”

“Hm.” Park Moondae stroked his chin in thought. “You have a point. But, that’s just the norm, hyung. Celebrity photos are, and always will be, heavily edited. It’s industry standard. Especially with important promotional materials.”

“Huh…” Sejin suddenly got curious and nudged his glasses up. “Was that just a product of the modern times? With how easy and accessible filters and photo editing had become, everyone wants perfection… Was there ever a situation nowadays where editing doesn’t occur?”

Park Moondae chuckled. “Although they do make life easier, professional editing would still be a different beast than ready made filters.”

Upon hearing that laugh, Sejin brightened up. He was glad to have found a topic where Park Moondae seemed to be really interested at.

His teammate continued, “It still depends on the person’s skill and experience editing them, how to present the subject, what the goal was, or the direction of the shoot itself. Sometimes the photographer was just bad, and there was no time for a reshoot. Often enough, overly edited images would unfortunately be the final result.”

It occurred to Sejin that maybe, this was what Park Moondae did before his teammate decided to become an idol. He wondered what made his plausible-brother consider to shift away from this industry.

Park Moondae wasn’t done. “Although there were instances where the one editing it had gotten lost in the process and wasn’t seeing the big picture. Or the file was handed down to a bunch of different people who had different tastes and goals in mind, and retouched them to hell several times. Would this fit the color theme? Does this match the layout? Does this person have a weight controversy at the moment? Lots of different factors to consider. But of course, there are cases where editing is not permitted. In fact…”

Sejin looked up from examining the photo gallery when the words petered out. Nobody seemed to be at the door. It was still closed shut. He thought the reason for the trailing-off was that their vile guest had arrived. But there was no one there. So he glanced back at Park Moondae in confusion and… Sejin got worried.

Park Moondae’s eyes were dull as he stared at nothing in particular. No… It seemed as if his teammate was lost in thought. But, it’s more like as if he was locked in some stressful recollection or something. Shit… Was his plausible-brother having an episode?

“P-park Moondae?”

It was only when Sejin laid his hand over Moondae’s arm, that Park Moondae seemed to have blinked himself into awareness once again.

“Are you alright?” He had to ask.

But the knock on the door interrupted them.

“Lee Sejin-ssi, your father have arrived.” An admin staff had informed them. Both Lee Sejin and Park Moondae stood up. Although he did it with a wince. Then the admin continued, “He’s also with a… friend? Said he’s a doctor. Do we let him in?”

He shared a glance with his plausible-brother. At least, Park Moondae seemed to be back to normal. He’ll shelf that dazed-scare issue for now.

Sejin had been thorough when he requested for the paternity test. After ordering the kit, he decided to invite a med tech from the same clinic, complete with NDAs, to ensure that they’ll collect the samples for the kit correctly, and discreetly. He wasn’t expecting his father to have thought of the same reason as him when inviting this doctor.

“Yes… please,” he said at the staff. They’ll soon find out what the deal with this doctor was anyway.

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It was quiet except for the occasional phone ringing outside the meeting room. The med tech was preparing the paternity kit, laying out packs of swabs and vials on the table. Judging from the woman’s awkward demeanor and pinched expression, she could also feel the thick tension in the air.

Sejin wanted to know what his plausible-brother was feeling so that he could properly support him, but Park Moondae’s face was disturbingly blank. Which was completely opposite when it came to his father, who was grinning widely, seated at the other side of the table, as if he had won something substantial. The doctor standing behind the man only added to the sinister aura exuding from them.

After introductions, he asked his father if he had invited the doctor to offer some assistance, or to make sure that everything proceeded smoothly, but the man denied all of it.

“He’s just here to support me as a friend~ That’s all!” His father then laughed boisterously as the said doctor looked back at them smugly.

The med tech addressed his father. “Okay, um, sir? I’ll need you to go first, if you’re ready.” The woman was holding up a sterile swab. The man leaned forward with a slightly opened mouth, and the med tech swabbed the inside of his father’s cheek. The process took no time at all.

“Get used to calling me dad, son.” His father told a stoic Park Moondae, while the med tech moved the swabs away to dry them a bit before proceeding to seal the samples in a labeled container.

“We’ll see.” His teammate calmly replied.

“Won’t that be useless though,” Sejin said to his father. “It’s not like you can make it official.”

Then for the first time, the doctor friend that came with his father spoke up. “I think it’s the thought that counts.”

Sejin immediately hated this guy.

After the med tech was done putting away the previous samples, she turned to Park Moondae and said with a slight smile, “Your turn, please.” They repeated the same process.

Sejin wondered what Park Moondae was thinking at the moment. His teammate was so devoid of expressions.

“Sejin, you did order a 24-hour turnaround time, right? We wouldn’t want to wait too long.” His father grinned at him as the woman began packing up her equipment.

He sighed heavily. “Yes… I did.” The clinic demanded a costly fee for the expedited service.

“Good!” His dad replied.

The med tech addressed them all but was mainly focused on Sejin, given that he was the one who arranged and paid for this test to be done. “The results will be sent to you via email as soon as we have them, followed by a posted letter later on.”

Sejin said his thanks, and the woman left the room, ushered by the waiting admin staff toward the building’s exit.

As the door closed, the room was bathed in silence for a few moments before it was soon broken by Park Moondae.

“What do you want, doctor-nim?” His teammate asked flatly.

Sejin’s father laughed. “So direct~ You certainly aren’t wasting anyone’s time!” The man then shared a loaded glance with the so-called doctor. “But first~ Son, are you recording?”

With an exhale, Park Moondae pulled out his phone and placed it on the table. The screen showed that it was indeed recording audio. This room have no CCTV. It had pros and cons, but they chose it because of how sensitive this topic was. Just a screenshot posted online by someone outside of their control could launch countless scandalous headlines. But dealing with this untrustworthy man who might twist the truth for their advantage, Sejin could see that they needed something in hand, like an audio recording, as proved by their previous encounter.

He tensed slightly beside his plausible-brother, but managed to control his expression. Actually… After Park Moondae showed him the trick in playing multiple videos in a split screen, he remembered that his teammate had a discreet way to activate the audio recording and asked how he could do it as well. So, after some button configuration, Sejin had tried using it as an audio journal of sorts, recording random thoughts throughout the day. Though, he still preferred to write them because of their noisy dormmates.

But for this instance, Sejin had been recording since all their guest had arrived.

His father’s hand moved to tap the stop button on his teammate’s phone screen, but Park Moondae had readily pulled the phone away.

The man’s grin was gone. “Could you stop recording?” His father told his teammate.

Park Moondae remained impassive. “I could. But why would I?”

The doctor, who was leaning on the wall with his arms crossed, finally decided to join them at the table and seated himself beside his father.

The older man brought his hands together and opened his mouth. “We have something important to tell you two. It actually concerns another teammate of yours.”

Both Sejin and Park Moondae stiffened at that.

The sinister doctor continued. “I was hoping he would be here, but of course, family affairs should be kept private. Even among the poor innocent Testar members he’s been deceiving all this time.”

Sejin’s eyebrow twitched in irritation. What were these two hoodlums planning?

The man sighed mockingly and hunched theatrically. “But, if you decided that we are too deceitful for your taste, then I’ll be glad to stay for the pasta instead,” he finished with an eerie grin.

“P-pasta?” Sejin blurted out in confusion.

His father chortled. “Well you did promise that we’ll go to that Italian restaurant.”

“I didn’t. We were just going to a regular restaurant.”

“Bah~ Why do you keep your old man’s hopes up like this, Sejin? I’m with a friend. I promised him that my most wonderful boy will treat us to something Italian in celebration for debuting. Don’t embarrass your father, son!”

Sejin gritted his teeth. He wanted to walk out of the room and be done with this nonsense.

“So, you won’t tell us who or what it’s about if we don’t stop this from recording?” Park Moondae intervened then tapped the phone to stop the app. “There. It’s not recording anymore.”

The two men grinned and his father opened his mouth again. “Not without the pasta.”

Sejin let out a pained groan.

“Delivery should be enough.” His teammate said, then started typing and searching for an Italian restaurant near them that take online deliveries. “As you can see, Sejin hyung cannot move too much with his injured foot.”

“You really shouldn’t have, Park Moondae,” Sejin said. Seriously. This was bad. His father would be asking more for something else later after giving in to them like this.

“How considerate,” the slimy doctor chimed in casually. “What a good younger brother for Sejin.”

Park Moondae then asked what all of them would like to eat. It was a bit surreal to see his stoic teammate nonchalantly ask the two men who were trying to extort free food—and possibly even more—about their delivery orders.

He sighed.

Now that food was on the way…

“Just… get on with it.” Sejin said exasperatedly.

His father put his hand on the doctor’s shoulders, and proudly proclaimed, “Let me properly introduce my friend again. This doctor was the one who did the ART procedure for Park Moondae’s mom.”

“W-what?” He gasped.

And Park Moondae followed with, “So, you’re not a real doctor then.”

“I was. Once.” The unlicensed practitioner was quick to correct with a hint of malice. “I ran a legitimate clinic once. But because of your leader’s mother, I lost my license and my business was shut down.”

The weight of the accusation had left them speechless.

Sejin pushed through it even if he wanted to cower away. “How… How do we know that you’re telling us the truth? And-and why even tell us about it—what do you want from us?!”

His father shrugged and spread his hands up, as if conveying that he wasn’t hiding anything. “I’m just concerned about my two sons’ future like any dad would~” The man leaned in closer. “Did you know that Idol Inc’s a fixed competition and Ryu Chungwoo would debut no matter what?”

Feeling weak all of a sudden, Sejin leaned back in his chair. Though, he noticed that Park Moondae was frozen stiff beside him.

His father continued, “First. The writer who scouted for him to join the show was his cousin. And second~” The man’s oily grin was back. “The show’s biggest sponsor, its owner was a friend of Ryu Chungwoo’s mother. Of course~ those chumps would want the national athlete to debut, no matter what. My Sejin almost didn’t debut, if not for his brother! How unfair, right?” Then his father’s gaze drifted towards the doctor.

Doubts had quickly sprouted up in Sejin’s head. Ryu Chungwoo had barely any negative edits in the show. In fact, their leader was always put in a positive light. Was this the reason for it?

“More than the questionable fairness of the competition,” the unlicensed doctor crossed his arms and inclined his head as he talked. “I also wanted to put Chungwoo’s identity into question.”

Sejin didn’t know if he could handle any more of this. “What do you mean?” He hissed furiously at his father’s friend.

With a sneer, the quack doctor started to tell them about an awful story. “Ryu Chungwoo’s mother cannot bear a child. She had tried, but they tend to end in a miscarriage. What’s more, her egg cell count was dwindling fast. Her ovaries stopped functioning normally even though she was still in her prime. So in desperation to have children with her husband in the future, she had her eggs frozen until she could find a suitable surrogate. But the poor quality of her eggs wasn’t able to let them survive the cryopreservation process, except for one.”

If he could, Sejin wanted to cover his ears. It felt like he was breaching Chungwoo’s privacy even if they don’t know if all of these was just an elaborate lie.

The old man sighed heavily in recollection before he continued. “It was a delicate specimen. I did the sperm injection myself because I’m the only one skilled enough that I could trust. But then she had to foolishly choose the ex of her husband as the surrogate.” The doctor shook his head in disapproval. “I don’t care if that woman was her friend who owed her a lot when they were young. After what those two sluts did in my clinic, my life was turned upside down!” The man slammed a fist hard on the table. “Then that rich crazy defective woman blamed me and my clinic for something so stupid!”

Sejin’s eyes widened and his mouth fell. He doesn’t know what to think about all of these. First, the rigged competition, and now this? He clenched his fist. Still, his father and this doctor was going too far. What they were telling them was private!

“Did… did that affect the IVF procedure?” A pale Park Moondae asked.

Sejin could understand why, hearing this about their leader was very upsetting.

The doctor huffed and talked down on his teammate. “Kid, while I commend you on knowing the name of that method, once the embryo got transferred to the surrogate’s uterus, it becomes implanted in the uterine lining. Especially with how healthy the surrogate was. It’s tucked in safely from all that banging.”

“Then,” Park Moondae said, his clenched fist was shaking underneath the table. Sejin gently patted his plausible-brother on the arm to calm him down. “Was there a risk that the surrogate could become pregnant with her own egg?”

Sejin blinked at the notion, then furrowed his brows in consideration. Was this the part where Chungwoo’s identity comes into question?

The doctor puffed irritably. “That’s what that defective woman believed as well! I’m the doctor here, and she didn’t believe any words I’d said! Her infertility must have affected her brain! She razed my clinic and made up lies to the board instead!”

It took several minutes for the old man to calm down, but the doctor still managed to carry on with the explanation. “In traditional surrogacy, perhaps. Taking in your mother’s case for example, Park Moondae. If she was not the intended mother, but she was both the egg donor and the gestational carrier where it was her own egg that was used. Then she had sex with another man? Sure, in terms of genetic parentage, it could get affected, of course. But even then, those cases were rare.”

With a condescending sigh, as if indulging them in a conversation that was beneath him, the doctor ended his lecture with, “And please, young man, this happened a few years before Chungwoo even came into the picture.”

“He wasn’t… He didn’t came from that fertilized egg?” Sejin asked. He didn’t know if there was another way to properly address it.

“That’s just it.” The doctor said with an air as though he was tired of the topic already. “Chungwoo looks like a proper Ryu, so maybe the father’s the same. But I know definitely that the mother was different because that crazy defect couldn’t produce any more egg cells. So it was questionable that the bastard Chungwoo was posing as the eldest when I know that he wasn’t.”

Park Moondae suddenly stood up, toppling the office chair over.

“Um… P-park Moondae?” He asked in shock.

But his teammate didn’t answer him and only walked out of the room, slamming the door on the way out.

“Sejin, why did your brother got angry?” His father whispered to him in confusion. “Was he close with your leader?”

Fortunately, he didn’t have to answer. The door shortly opened again with a kick from his… apparently enraged teammate, bringing in the ordered Italian food. Sejin’s heart was hammering in his chest.

Park Moondae pulled out the packages out of the paperbags one by one and started harshly serving them around.

With an icy tone, his teammate addressed the two older men as Park Moondae handed them their drinks. “So, what do you get in telling us about this?”

His teammate then opened up the plastic container for the carbonara, spreading the separated sauce expertly on the pasta, before placing it in front of his father. Still, with a sharp and frosty bite, Park Moondae spoke, “Do you plan to blackmail not only us but our leader as well?” His teammate had somehow placed the utensils intimidatingly. Sejin was impressed.

The lasagna was prepared next in front of the doctor. There was nothing much else to do besides opening the container. Park Moondae stabbed the fork on it though and all of them jumped. The plastic utensil broke, of course. His teammate’s voice remained frigid and glacial. “How about you? Seeking revenge? Planning to use Chungwoo to get to his mother?”

His father laughed nervously while the doctor was frozen in fear.

“Ahahaha~ I told you, I was just looking out for the both of you!” His pale father said. “There was no blackmail happening, honestly!”

Park Moondae glanced down at the food before looking back up at his father. “Eat. You were hungry, right?” That glare could send any grown man into running away.

Sejin’s father shakily took the fork and slowly twisted it on the pasta.

His teammate then snapped his head at the doctor. “Why aren’t you eating? It’s not good to waste food, doctor-nim.”

The doctor tried to start with the lasagna, pulling the broken fork out. “I… You… You were right.” Even with trembling hands the doctor managed to speak calmly in the end.

Then the old man clenched his fist and glared back at Park Moondae. “I loved my work. I was great at it. I was doing good for humanity. For this country! But that woman destroyed everything.” The doctor let the broken fork fall, brought his hands together, and grinned with hatred in his eyes. “I remember the day I lost everything every time I look at Ryu Chungwoo’s face. I’ll be happy to see him and his family suffer. If that’s revenge, then that’s what I want.”

Suddenly, Park Moondae bodily slammed over the table to pull the old man up by the collar. Most of the food was knocked over and spilled to the floor. Sejin and his father tried to break them apart but they weren’t able to.

“You already did something!” His teammate was fuming. It was alarming to see the normally calm Park Moondae this angry.

The old doctor sneered as he tried to pry Park Moondae’s hands off of him. “The journalist was much more hospitable than you. You should learn some manners, young man.”

At that, Park Moondae shoved the doctor away from him.

Then Sejin’s father found the strength to laugh. “Well, kids~ It’s not too late. I’m friends with that journalist, you see.” The man showily rubbed his fingers together. “We can convince them not to publish their story. For a price.”

Ah… It still ended up in blackmail. Of course. This was his father after all.

The doctor brushed off the dirt on his clothes and smoothened his collar. “But if you prefer not to pay, that’s also good in our books. After all, it’s not our careers that’s on the line. As a bonus, the Ryu family will also suffer.” The old man gave them an eerie smile.

Sejin was about to open his mouth but Park Moondae had beat him to it.

“How much?”

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After several minutes, the two infuriatingly greedy men had left. They had asked for far too much but agreed to receive the money in installments. In fact, Sejin’s father beamed at the suggestion.

“Um… P-park Moondae.”

His teammate remained quiet, solely concentrating on cleaning up. Sejin bit his lip. He couldn’t help because of his injury, so Park Moondae had delegated for him to hold the trash bag while he was seated. He wasn’t able to say no with how haunted his plausible-brother looked back at him.

“Please, talk to me… I… I know you’re upset. It-it might have come as a shock that you might be related to such a person but—”

“I’m not in the mood to talk, hyung-nim. Sorry.”

“Oh… It’s alright. I’m… I’m sorry as well.” His words gradually devolved into muttering at the end.

He was a bit surprised that this incident greatly affected Park Moondae. His teammate was usually so stoic and calm. Though, Park Moondae must be in shock at the moment, being related to such a criminal. His teammate must be deeply worrying about the future of their group as well. On the other hand, Sejin would be in the middle of a panic attack if he was alone. In his mind, he blamed and cursed at his father and that doctor over and over. They had just resolved the situation with his previous agency, now they were saddled with this? He decided to give Park Moondae the time to calm down.

Overall, he still didn’t know what to think about Ryu Chungwoo, but in the end, their leader wasn’t really a bad person. It would be easy for him to hate the former Olympic athlete and believe those said allegations if Chungwoo was obnoxious and arrogant. But there wasn’t a single bad bone in Testar’s leader. Sure, the circumstances regarding Idol Inc was suspicious, but in the end, Sejin believed that Chungwoo would’ve made it out and debuted anyway.

Regarding what that doctor said with the Ryu family affair, Sejin did not even want to touch that topic with a ten foot pole. He outwardly grimaced when he recalled some of the info. If he thought his family situation was a mess, then what was Chungwoo’s? A perfect example of Murphy’s Law? It’s like they were cursed, to be honest. And because of that, his phone felt heavy and foul because of what it contain.

The floor was mopped. The table and the rest of the chairs were wiped clean and put back into place. The mess in the room was almost gone when Sejin checked the saved recording for the third time with a heavy sigh. He was psyching himself up to talk about the audio file. It’s irrational that he somehow wanted to replace his phone after this day because it felt dirty. Sejin forced that thought away. They got something important to decide right now.

“Park Moondae. I… I know you said that you don’t want to talk but…” He squared his shoulders. “I need to tell you something.” He inhaled deeply. “I got it. I’ve recorded the meeting.”

His teammate froze.

“We can sue them for blackmail,” he said firmly.

Then Park Moondae met his gaze with blazing eyes and said, “No.”

Sejin spluttered, “B-but!”

Park Moondae went back to work as he talked. “Hyung, if we use that as evidence then Testar would be over. It would snowball. People will question the legitimacy of everything.” There was still a hint of frigidness in Park Moondae’s voice.

His teammate tied the trash bag’s opening with a tight knot, then continued to talk without looking at Sejin. “First Chungwoo’s career and credibility will be destroyed, given the doubtful crumbs that your father had dropped. But the spotlight will then shift to us next. Everyone will think that the show was scripted with made-up backstories for publicity, just to raise the show’s rating and earn a lot from sponsors.”

“But-but it’s easy to prove our innocence!”

“Do you think those antis and bored netizens, who only want to have fun by kicking someone down, will care?”

Sejin paled. Park Moondae had a point. Social media tend to condemn the person first before they could be proven innocent. But even then, their reputation would be damaged already. And if this got too big for them to handle, it was possible that there would be no future for the rest of them even if Testar broke up and distance themselves from one another because of this.

“A-alright… We won’t use this for that. But we have to let Chungwoo listen to it.”

Again, Park Moondae shut him down. “No.”

“W-why? Even if what the doctor said was exaggerated or not entirely the truth, don’t you think he deserves to know about it? It concerns him and his family after all!”

His teammate sighed, and for a moment, Park Moondae looked so lost. After a deep breath, Sejin was answered. “At least… not at the moment. We’re so close to our comeback, hyung. It would be a bad time to tell him about it. It’ll… affect the group’s dynamic and it will show in our performance.”

Sejin pursed his lips. Despite that the given explanation was reasonable, he felt that Park Moondae doesn’t have the right call for them to keep this from Chungwoo, even for a short amount of time. To hell about trying to keep a perfect performance! But… He sensed a different underlying fear beneath that perceived concern and protectiveness. He didn’t know what to think about that, so Sejin nodded in the end. He doesn’t want to upset Park Moondae any more.

He pushed himself up from his chair and hobbled behind his plausible-brother as they exited the spotless meeting room.

“W-were not gonna give them a single won, aren’t we?” He whispered.

“Of course not.” Park Moondae replied, seemingly lost in thought.

They waved at the bored looking manager waiting at the lounge that would drive them back to their dormitory.

“That’s good,” he said. “Because tomorrow, I will apply for a restraining order.”

He thought he would be opposed once again, but Park Moondae just blinked back at him and said, “Sure. What do you have in mind?”

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

Not surprisingly, the opposition came from the other Testar members when Sejin broke the news about the restraining order.

“Hyung! You-you would go that far against your dad?!” Kim Raebin was shocked at his declaration.

All of them were in the dining area. Understandably, Park Moondae was still a bit off, staring into space more frequently than before while deep in thought. But it was even weirder to see a melancholic Chungwoo.

Their leader looked miserable, keeping to himself, slumped in a far corner away from them, and playing with a… Was that an armadillo keychain? Where did that come from? Sejin wasn’t even sure if Chungwoo was listening to them.

What the heck happened?

Anyway…

Sejin emptied his cup of water in one swift gulp, then he cleared his throat and fixed his eyeglasses up. “It’s time I stop calling him father… Dad my ass!” He accidentally thunked the cup hard on the table. Now that some time had passed, he could properly feel the anger boiling inside of him because of what had happened.

“That bastard got divorced when I was young. He didn’t have custody. In fact, he never paid for child support!”

The majority of the members was taken aback. He flushed red at their reaction. Sejin centered himself again and concentrated on the animosity he was feeling.

“But what about Park Moondae hyung’s daddy time?” Cha Eugene jumped in with a raised hand, then addressed the said person. “Thoughts?”

“Nah,” Park Moondae said unenthusiastically. “Not interested.”

“Okay!” Their energetic maknae replied with two thumbs up. “Please continue, Lee Sejin hyung!”

Weirdly, the two seemed to have understood each other.

Although, just afterwards, Cha Eugene and Kim Raebin shared a brief whispered discourse among themselves before straightening back up again, and turning their attention back to him.

He sighed and took a moment to gather his thoughts so that he could explain the circumstance better.

On their way back here, using his plausible-brother as a soundboard, Sejin had actually came up with different forms of attack against his father. But most of them would have dire consequences, leaving too much to chance. In the end, he had to use his original plan. Park Moondae still looked unsure about it though.

He also apologized about his father. Because if everything worked out and the result proved that they were indeed brothers, then he’ll be robbing Park Moondae the chance to have a dad. Not that it would be something he could whole heartedly endorse.

Then Park Moondae told him, ‘Hyung, like I said before. It was all just a business transaction to that man. He only gave a seed. That’s all. From what you told me about the custody, he wasn’t really a father to you, in any shape or form. Then he will never be a father to me as well.’

It honestly wiped away any guilt he felt about that side of their problems.

In regards with the illegal doctor and the threat to Testar’s leader, Park Moondae scarily said that he’ll think of something, in a grave tone as if his teammate was considering to commit murder. He shivered.

Sejin exhaled and balanced himself by leaning on the dining table.

“That man… that vile human being… had been in contact with my mother, extorting money ever since I made a bit of a name for myself as a child actor.” He took several deep breaths to calm his nerves. “Unfortunately, my mom hid it from me. For years.”

“Y-you were just a child, h-hyung.” Seon Ahyeon commented in sympathy.

And Cha Eugene added with a nod, “A baby won’t know extortion, yes.”

Sejin continued, “After I took a break from acting, he rarely asked my mom for money.” He sighed deeply. “But then, he started bothering her again when he saw me in Idol Inc.” He felt so exposed opening up to them like this. But he had to make them understand because he couldn’t help the nuisance that would most likely occur for the group later on.

He swallowed then persisted with a slightly trembling voice, “Back then… I thought—I thought they split up because of contrasting personalities. He contacted me while the show was ongoing. Said he was having a hard time. I pitied him so I sent him some money.”

His foot was starting to feel uncomfortable so he tried to pull up a chair, and was surprised when Lee Sejin B assisted him. He awkwardly nodded his thanks and sat down.

Sejin removed his glasses and ran a hand through his hair. “The show worked so well that—that he kept asking for money… He demanded more. The amount gradually increased over time. And… he had a way to make me feel bad if I wasn’t able to give him some, like… like I was being a terrible son who refused to understand his day to day plight.” He shook his head. “I wanted to stop but he started threatening me. It was like that everyday ‘till the show ended. It was… It was hell.”

He slumped a bit on his chair. “I finally learned about the whole truth on our last break when I took a vacation with mom. She told me everything. About the gambling… About the several loans he couldn’t afford to pay… Strangers who owed him money that would suddenly show up at the house to take some of our stuff as payment. A-and he had the audacity to threaten my mom about taking me if she didn’t give him money!”

The room was covered in apprehensive stillness that made Sejin feel worse.

After a moment, Seon Ahyeon spoke up and Sejin was somehow glad for it. “T-then why… why are you still in contact, h-hyung?”

“My mom.” Sejin bit his lip, then he anxiously breathe in deeply. “I-I don’t know what he’ll do to her if I cut him off… Then that problem with my agency last time. I just… I’m just so overwhelmed. There were problems at every corner and.. And I felt so bad causing issues for the group.”

He wiped his face vigorously in frustration before releasing a heavy sigh. After a moment, with his father’s latest offense fresh in his mind, he said, “But it had to end. I’ve decided to stop running away. That’s why tomorrow, I’m going to file a restraining order… An article might come out as a result, so I’ll talk to the company to get their help in stopping it. But… I honestly doubt they’ll be able to.”

He pushed himself up and bowed to his teammates. “I’m sorry. I’ve brought trouble for the group again! I’m very sorry.”

“I-It’s fine! Really… h-hyung…”

“Please don’t—”

“It’s not your fault!”

Among the overlapping voices of his teammates, he heard Chungwoo spoke up, “Sejin, you don’t have to apologize for something like this.”

Immediately, Sejin felt guilty.

He slowly raised his flushed face and his eyes were somehow drawn towards Lee Sejin B.

“Um… Hyung-nim, I’m really sorry to hear that. But I don’t think that this would end with just a restraining order, so shouldn’t we think of another way?” There was a mixture of pity and shame as if Lee Sejin B felt sorry for him. It was a bit irritating, especially coming from that person, because he doesn’t know if it’s genuine or not.

That normally sarcastic teammate of his had the tendency to go with the flow, on the surface. But would then give out backhanded compliments, dishing microaggressions that he was certain was intentional.

But now was not the time for that… So he swallowed his pride as he visibly swallowed as well.

“I… know,” he replied haltingly. But in a much more firmer stance, he said, “That’s why I found the place where he engages in illegal gambling.”

There were several intermingled inquiries that followed, questioning how he was able to find that out. His irritation spiked again.

“Is it really important on how I found it?” He bluntly asked. “Anyway… I’m going to report it to the police and direct them there.”

Various gasps were heard.

“Then he’ll go to jail. After we get our earnings, I’ll send my mom to a better place with better security.”

Visible awed agreements could be seen, mostly from the younger members.

Then quite similar to what Park Moondae asked when they were in the car, Lee Sejin B brought up the same doubts. “But won’t that just end in a probation, hyung-nim? He might get a court ordered supervision by the authorities, but he won’t be serving time in prison.”

And Sejin was ready with the same answer he told Park Moondae. “I saved everything when he started threatening me. That man was part of a dangerous criminal group that runs a scheme to cheat who would win when he worked as a dealer in a casino.” He released a nervous breath. “I can… send those to the police anonymously.”

In the corner of his eyes, Sejin could see Park Moondae pondering hard about something. Previously, outside their dormitory, just before they hop out of the car, his plausible-brother had raised a sentiment that this could get dangerous. Their talk got cut off and Park Moondae didn’t get to elaborate it further when their impatient manager ushered them inside the building.

With a perceptive gaze, Park Moondae raised a finger to get his attention and said, “I believe we should prevent someone with that kind of criminal record from using hyung’s name, and in making inappropriate statements in the future.” His teammate put his hand down as he continued. “If that man ever get discharged from prison, he will certainly publicly claim to be hyung’s father. Then he will use his release as an excuse that he’s destitute. Given that our society highly valued filial piety, at the very least, he might use that to get financial support from hyung. And at worst, he could start an investment scam.”

Sejin’s eyes widened.

His plausible-brother wasn’t done. “You should draw the line there.”

He spluttered, “B-but how?” That would be great if they could only think of a way to do it.

Then Park Moondae spun a finger. “Hyung, why not change your name to your mother’s family name.”

Sejin accidentally swallowed his spit and coughed. It felt like his world was flipped in its head.

“It will completely erase your connection with your father if you do so.”

He continued to hack and wheeze at Park Moondae’s proposal and he was probably choking at this point.

“Calm down, hyung.”

Somebody filled his cup with water and he immediately drained it in a single swig.

He exhaled as if he had drowned. “That—that idea… I never thought about it… Why did I not think about it…” He wanted to pull his hair out. It was so simple! And yet it eluded him.

While there were murmurs of agreement all around the room, Lee Sejin B was quick to search on the internet about the technicalities of it, and cheerfully voiced out additional info. “Oh~ If you’re not a minor, you can do it without your parent’s permission! ...hm, but it said here that a letter of opinion will still be sent… So the perfect time to change your name legally would be when he gets distracted with that illegal gambling site report! You should definitely go for it, hyung-nim.”

Then Sejin’s excitement was doused coldly when he was struck by a realization. “It’s… It would be difficult to change my legal name in the middle of our comeback activity. It would take a while… because of that.” Although important, he was thinking more about the scandalous articles that Ryu Chungwoo might face because of the disturbance that he would cause, rather than Testar’s comeback.

He anxiously met his plausible-brother’s gaze.

“You can just use it as your stage name right away,” Park Moondae said. While the tone sounded casual, the eyes said differently. There was an unwavering, resolute look to them, a firmness that somehow gave a different meaning to Park Moondae’s next words. “Don’t worry about it, hyung.”

And Sejin knew he could leave that matter in Park Moondae’s hands.

“Ah! I see! Once you change your professional name, you can change your legal name naturally.”

He ignored the eagerly excited Kim Raebin.

Yes, Park Moondae’s capable, but would it be right to let his plausible-brother shoulder all that burden?

There was no use worrying about it. He’ll help his brother in anyway he can, of course!

He nodded to himself. “It’s great! My… family name doesn’t matter.” He already vowed to never run away anymore.

The members probably could feel the burning passion in his soul as he received applause for his affirmation. His shoulders hiked up a bit in shame.

Then Park Moondae voiced out directions that made Sejin feel a little bit funny inside. “If you’re going to discuss this with the company, make sure to have them pick an article that subtly implies that your parents’ divorce was due to reasons attributed to your father. Not explicitly, but just enough that it can be read between the lines.”

Honestly, Sejin was a bit freaked out with that fine delicate orchestration that his plausible-brother suggested. Park Moondae was in a different league among them.

“I… thought about it last time, but you…” He trailed off.

Park Moondae only tilted his head in question.

Then Ryu Chungwoo joined the conversation with a slightly awkward smile. Actually, there was a touch of sadness to it, as if their leader was in pain. “Apart from the goals that have just been mentioned… I think it’s a good decision.” Their leader’s eyes dimmed a little. “The family name from a mother who loves you, is much better than the one you got from someone like that…”

Sejin blinked several times. “…Right.” Something was definitely wrong with Chungwoo.

As he tried to excuse himself to call the company, a round of well-wishing remarks and congratulatory praises were thrown out by the members. Of course, it included the mocking applause from a certain someone.

“You’ve worked hard~”

Great.

Sejin pursed his lips into a tight line and civilly nodded at Lee Sejin B.

As he was about to hobble off into a more private area, Park Moondae caught up to him.

“Come to think of it, hyung. What is your mother’s family name?”

Sejin could feel his face burn to the tips of his ears. “...Bae,” he softly murmured.

Park Moondae leaned closer with an inclined head. “Yes?”

Sejin wasn’t heard…

“I said it’s Bae!” He ended up shouting in frustration and embarrassment, then tried to limp away as fast as he could. After all, people had already been using it to refer to him. So it was a bit humiliating.

Sometimes, he saw it as a label that had a tinge of malice. Other times, it felt like a box he was stuck in. He was the actor Sejin, and that’s all people would see him as. But now? He could proudly own it.

A name from a mother who loves Sejin. Chungwoo had it right.