Chapter Text
"I-I'm sorry, I just... I saw it on your profile and... I thought..." Ahyeon stammered, the words dissolving into the heavy air between them. His voice grew quieter with every syllable until the sentence simply collapsed halfway through.
He looked like he wanted the floor to swallow him whole.
Unfortunately for Cale, the rest of the room had already noticed.
The shift in atmosphere was immediate and almost tangible. Conversations slowed, then thinned out entirely, replaced by a subtle but unmistakable attention directed toward the two of them.
Cale stared at Ahyeon for a moment, processing the situation.
...What exactly was he supposed to do here?
Rejecting the effort outright would only make things more awkward. Pretending not to understand would be even worse. Ignoring it entirely wasn't even an option at this point.
Ahyeon had clearly worked up a significant amount of courage just to say that much.
Cale exhaled quietly through his nose, a breath so soft only someone standing directly in front of him might have noticed.
Alright, whatever. Let's smile and roll with it.
"You studied ballet in France, right?" Cale said evenly. "Your pronunciation earlier was good."
Ahyeon gaped slightly. The tension in his shoulders loosened so abruptly it was almost jarring, like a tightly wound string finally snapping free.
Cale blinked once, genuinely caught off guard by the intensity of the reaction.
'...Was it really that serious?'
"Y-yes!" Ahyeon said quickly, nodding. "I lived there for several years while studying. I'm still not very good at conversation, but if there's anything you need help with-"
His voice trailed off again, though this time it lacked the earlier panic. It was softer now, edged with lingering nervousness rather than outright anxiety.
Cale tilted his head slightly. "Please speak more comfortably, Ahyeon hyung." He said, deliberately using the honorific to put the other trainee at ease.
The effect was immediate.
Ahyeon's eyes widened just a fraction, a faint flush rising along the back of his neck. The shift was subtle, but noticeable enough that even the people nearby reacted.
"Hey, hey, wait!" Keun Sejin suddenly cut in, sounding personally offended as he leaned forward. "Why is he a hyung when I have to beg for it?"
Several people snorted. Lee Sejin A hid a smile behind his hand. Even Moondae's lips twitched in what might have been amusement.
Though Cale ignored him with the practiced ease of someone who had spent years tuning out. His focus remained on Ahyeon, who looked momentarily flustered again by the sudden attention.
"Ah, s-sure," he said hastily, nodding with a small, awkward smile.
Yet even as he said it, something about the situation felt strangely backwards to him.
Technically, he was older. By several years, actually. He should be the one addressed respectfully, the one offering guidance, the one with the natural authority of seniority. That was how these things worked.
But standing in front of Cale made that feel fundamentally wrong.
It wasn't anything obvious that caused it.
Cale wasn't particularly imposing physically. He didn't speak with deliberate authority or try to dominate conversations. His posture was relaxed, almost lazy, his expression perpetually hovering somewhere between mild interest and utter boredom. He looked, in many ways, like someone who simply couldn't be bothered.
And yet, Ahyeon couldn't shake the faint, irrational feeling that the red-haired trainee in front of him was someone older. Not in age, but in presence. Like someone who had already lived through far more than the rest of them.
It made calling him casually feel oddly unnatural.
Ahyeon swallowed the thought quickly before it could spiral into something embarrassing.
Cale, meanwhile, was thinking something entirely different.
To be fair, he was fairly certain Ahyeon meant nothing by the entire situation. There was no hidden intention here, no ulterior motive. Just an awkward attempt at bridging distance.
Still, the timing felt a little strange when he thought about it.
They had met a few times already.
So why now?
Cale's gaze drifted briefly toward Ahyeon, who still looked like he might combust from embarrassment at any moment.
The question lingered in the back of his mind, a small, curious pinprick.
Still, the answer didn't particularly matter.
What Cale didn't know was that Ahyeon had, in fact, tried to approach him multiple times before. Each attempt had failed in the same way, with Cale leaving too quickly, slipping out of practice rooms, or disappearing back to the dorms before Ahyeon could gather the courage to speak.
In a way, this situation was entirely self-inflicted. If Cale hadn't been so adept at vanishing, Ahyeon might have worked up the nerve weeks ago, in a quieter setting, without an audience of a dozen curious trainees.
But here they were.
Cale shifted his attention elsewhere.
The mention of French brought up a different issue entirely.
He had already studied the language beforehand in preparation for a situation like this. Multiple textbooks, grammar guides, vocabulary lists all imprinted in his memory. He could read French with reasonable fluency, understand written passages without too much difficulty.
However, memorizing dozens of textbooks isn't nearly enough to be able to speak a language. Reading is a different matter from speaking it. His tongue didn't cooperate the way his memory did.
Trying to talk it.... well, unsurprisingly, it just would sound exactly like what it was-- a Korean man attempting to speak French.
For now, it shouldn't matter a whole lot. If asked about his accent, he could just bring up the fact that he had been living here for too long, that an accent naturally formed.
Hopefully, no one will bother to question it much.
"Umm- i, is it alright t-to exchange num- numbers!"
The sudden interruption snapped him out of his thoughts.
Ahyeon stood there, phone already halfway extended, as if retreat was no longer an option.
"Me, me too!" the younger middle-schooler added immediately, shuffling closer with surprising speed and holding out his own phone with bright enthusiasm.
Cale felt awkward, especially so because he wasn't familiar with everyone in the group.
Behind them, Keun Sejin was grinning widely at him. He leaned in close to Cale's ear, dropping his voice to a conspiratorial whisper that was absolutely, definitely loud enough for everyone to hear.
"Aren't I such a cool hyung?" he murmured, practically vibrating with smug satisfaction. "Helping you make connections, expanding your network, facilitating friendships-"
Cale turned his head slowly, fixing Keun Sejin with a flat, unimpressed stare that could have frozen boiling water.
'Who asked you to help me make connections, you brat.'
Outwardly, however, his expression remained perfectly neutral. His face looking like a blank canvas upon which nothing was written.
'This is escalating too fast.'
Internally, Cale watched this unfold with the quiet horror of someone witnessing a non-preventable disaster.
There was a brief moment of silence.
Then-
He reached out his hand and took the phone.
"...Fine."
Keun Sejin, of course, looked absolutely delighted with himself. He was practically glowing.
"I told you," he said smugly, already pulling out his own phone and scrolling to his contacts with pointed significance. "Networking is important. You'll thank me later~"
I am going to block your number first thing I get home.
Cale kept that thought to himself.
He was almost at the door again when a voice, calm and unhurried, stopped him.
"Ahem, I would like to have your number too."
Cale paused on his tracks.
'Hmm?'
The voice belonged to Park Moondae. His expression unreadable but undeniably blank as if they were talking about something trivial. However, anyone who is familiar with him would know that this was not at all something expected.
He was polite, yes. But also unmistakably distant.
"..."
The silence stretched, thick with unspoken surprise. Even Ahyeon, still clutching his phone like a trophy, glanced between the two of them with wide eyes.
Keun Sejin recovered first, though his voice came out higher than usual. "You're asking? You?"
Moondae didn't acknowledge him. His gaze remained fixed on Cale, patient and unhurried, as if he had all the time in the world.
Cale studied him for a moment, trying to parse the angle. There had to be one. Moondae didn't strike him as someone who acted without purpose.
But his expression revealed nothing. Just that same quiet, waiting stillness.
"...Alright," Cale said finally, pulling out his phone.
***
Park Moondae POV:
As was his habit, Moondae checked social media almost immediately after the episode finished airing. He did not expect anything unusual. Reactions to survival shows typically followed a predictable pattern, with a brief spike in attention before settling down again once the initial excitement passed.
But this time-
"The reaction is much stronger than I expected."
His thumb paused mid-scroll.
The numbers alone made it obvious. Engagement was higher than usual, comments multiplying faster than he could refresh, clips being reposted across multiple platforms within minutes.
And it was not limited to his own team.
The opposing team was gaining traction just as quickly, which was hardly surprising considering they had two popular figures that already had a strong fan base from the very beginning: Ryu Chungwoo and Cale Henituse.
Moondae's gaze lingered on the latter name for a moment longer than necessary.
"He's practically a case study on his own."
He tapped into one of the trending clips, and the video began playing immediately. It was short, barely ten seconds long, capturing a simple formation change where Cale stepped forward and briefly met the camera. That was all. There was nothing particularly flashy about it, no exaggerated expressions or deliberate attempt to stand out.
And yet, it worked.
The comment count alone made that obvious.
"He had the fewest lines but he's the most memorable," Moondae murmured under his breath.
From a technical standpoint, it did not make much sense. There were other members who had contributed more vocally and visually and some who had displayed more obvious effort in engaging the audience.
But on screen, the result was undeniable.
"Isn't he basically a scene stealer...?"
More clips appeared as he continued scrolling. Fancams, edits, slow-motion cuts, each one isolating small moments that initially seemed insignificant. However, when replayed, those moments carried a subtle weight that kept drawing attention back to him.
They were spreading at an unusual speed.
Moondae replayed the performance in his mind, breaking it down piece by piece. The formations had been solid, the transitions clean, and the distribution of parts relatively balanced.
Cale had not even been positioned at the center for most of the performance.
And yet, the focus kept returning to him.
"He disrupts the visual balance."
It was not a flaw. If anything, it was an advantage. But it was also something that could not be ignored.
"That's... troublesome."
Moondae was not someone who stumbled into being easily overshadowed. He understood how to present himself, how to control his expressions, and how to adapt to the expectations of both the audience and the camera.
At least, that's what he is trying to achieve.
However, standing next to someone like that changed the conditions entirely.
It was not a matter of effort.
The margin for being noticed simply became smaller.
The way whatever he does, all attention goes to him, and with his scary status, it was all too absurd. His presence was too much to the point that just simply being around him would make you feel invisible.
But somehow along that fearful thoughts, Moondae begin to recall Cale's face as he was talking to Ahyeon and Woongil. Despite looking reluctant and uncaring, he wasn't rude. In fact, his expression was almost warm. Perhaps he has a surprisingly soft spot for those he deemed weaker.
Moondae let out a quiet breath, his expression settling back into neutrality as he locked his phone. 'Whatever. For now, it's better not to end up on the same team.'
The conclusion came naturally.
It was not driven by hostility, nor by insecurity.
It was simply the most practical decision.
Still, from an objective standpoint, there was little room for dispute regarding the performance itself. When he briefly checked the overall reactions again, one thing remained consistent across most opinions.
Despite the divided preferences and ongoing debates, the outcome of the stage was not being seriously questioned.
Their team had delivered a stronger performance.
At least that part is straightforward.
There was no major backlash, no controversy surrounding the result, and no immediate complications that required attention.
On the other hand, just like each participant, not all of the opinions for Cale Henituse and 'Mountain Hero' were positive.
[Controversial opinion about the performance of 'Mountain Hero.' It was mediocre]
It's honestly so obvious what's happening here. The only reason this team is getting any hype is because of the two center figures: Ryu Chungwoo and Cale Henituse.
But other than those two popular members, there was nothing particularly captivating... view more
┗ Idc what everyone is saying. It was fire
┗ I just know none of the other group members are gonna make it that long...
┗ without Chungwoo and Cale nobody would be talking about this team
┗ the editing team did them dirty. Their screentime was almost nonexistent
┗ fr like why do I not even know half their names
┗ Subin literally carried the arrangement and got 3 seconds of screentime btw
--------------------
[Cale Henituse gives me bad vibes]
That redhead foreigner is lowkey arrogant.
He barely talks, doesn't react, and always looks like he's judging everyone. Why won't he interact properly with the others? He thinks he's too good for them or something
┗ or maybe he just doesn't speak much?? y'all are weird
┗ i'm crying he said like 3 sentences the entire episode and y'all built a personality
┗ I can smell it from here... the ugly scent of jealousy ~
┗ What are you even talking about? We just making up stuff now? get a life
┗ he literally comforted his teammate did we watch the same show
┗ he's just socially awkward stop projecting
┗ Maybe it's just a concept
┗ that's not arrogance that's introversion 😭
-------------------
[Unpopular opinion: Cale didn't carry, he just stood out]
I feel like people are confusing 'presence' with 'skill.'
He didn't even have that many lines, but the camera kept going back to him.
That's not carrying, that's just good visuals and aura.
┗ EXACTLY finally someone said it
┗ but isn't that literally part of being an idol...?
┗ presence matters more than lines tbh
-------------------
Moondae skimmed through the comments without much change in expression.
There was criticism, speculation, praise, and the usual baseless assumptions that came with public exposure. None of it was particularly surprising. If anything, the division in opinion only confirmed that the episode had succeeded in drawing attention.
Still, one thing was clear.
Regardless of whether the reactions were positive or negative, Cale Henituse had firmly embedded himself into the audience's awareness.
That alone made him dangerous.
Moondae locked his phone again, this time without reopening it.
The noise of public opinion would only grow louder from here.
"I should focus on what actually matters."
The ranking announcement was approaching.