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Matthew is having a perfectly good morning until he walks inside the practice room and sees someone he doesn’t recognize.
“Oh!” He goes, watching the way the boy has his arms around Yujin’s shoulders, squeezing him and calling him cute. The weirdest thing is, Yujin is just letting him do it. Seems to be enjoying it too, trying to hide that secret smile that takes over his face when he likes something but is too much of a teenager to say it out loud. “We have a visitor!”
Hao, urging the members to come in and close the door, tilts his head to the side. “Where? Who?”
Ah, Matthew recognizes him now. The oval face, dark brown eyes and hair, the sharp smile with way too many teeth. It’s Kim Taerae from Tempest.
Matthew assumes he is visiting for the day, but that he’s close enough to some of the group to not be considered a visitor anymore. Just a friend hanging out. He shrugs and starts stretching.
But, when Hanbin tells them to get in formation, something starts to feel off.
“Where’s Taerae?” Matthew asks. It’s not like him to be late, and practice started twenty minutes ago.
“He’s right here,” Gyuvin points behind himself, mouth open in confusion.
He’s pointing to Tempest’s Taerae, who waves at Matthew.
Matthew rolls his eyes. Of course Gyuvin would make that joke.
“Seriously, where is he?” He asks. They have a pair dance they need to practice later.
“Mashu, stop being weird!” Hanbin whines in his high-pitched, joking voice. But his eyes are dead serious.
Still. Matthew turns to the other Taerae. “Aren’t you from Tempest?”
The other Taerae smiles. He has approximately 95 teeth in his mouth. A shiver runs down Matthew’s spine.
“Nope.”
After that, Hanbin insists they start practice. They do it, with the other Taerae joining them, but Matthew is unable to focus. What is going on? Why is nobody saying anything?
Unless…
It’s a prank! Swap Taeraes for a day, pretend nothing is wrong, and see how Matthew reacts. There are probably cameras filming them right now, though Matthew can’t tell where they are. They’re called hidden cameras for a reason, he supposes.
After two hours, practice is over. Matthew is impressed that the other Taerae kept up with them; he probably learned the choreography beforehand. That’s a lot of dedication for a prank, which Matthew respects.
The others leave, and it’s just Matthew and the other Taerae practicing their pair dance.
Matthew assumes that’s when something is going to happen. Like Taerae coming out from behind a door to scare him, or the other Taerae asking him to do a bunch of random things. Anything, really.
Instead all they do is practice.
Fifteen minutes go by, then Matthew can’t take it anymore.
“Don’t you need to do something?” He asks. “For the cameras?”
“Cameras?”
“For the prank.”
The other Taerae chuckles. It’s an unpleasant sound, like nails on a chalkboard.
“Oh no, Matthew. This is not a prank.” And suddenly Matthew is back to Boys Planet, the Say My Name team telling him no, this is not a prank, we really want you to sing a part with less lines. “This is not a dream, either. I am very much here.”
“Where’s Taerae?” His voice shakes a little when he asks. “My Taerae.”
The other Taerae shrugs. “Dunno, but he’s fine. I didn’t kill him or anything, if that’s what you’re asking.”
“The others—”
“Only know me. There’s only ever been me.”
But that’s not true. Matthew was never in a group with this… creature. His Taerae is their main singer, can play the guitar, talks shit about Matthew but loves hanging out with him, likes to game, is silly and fun and awkward and warm.
The other Taerae is not like that at all.
“You’re not— This isn’t—” Matthew stops. Takes a deep breath. “I’m going to bring him back.”
The other Taerae raises his hand. Matthew thinks he’s going to get slapped in the face, but—
The other Taerae snaps his fingers.
*
Matthew wakes up in a cold sweat, panting and scared shitless. In the darkness of his room, he’s convinced he just had a nightmare. What a weird dream, haha.
But something in the back of his mind tells him it was not a dream at all.
He grabs his phone from under his pillow and does a quick Naver search.
ZEROBASEONE, also known as simply ZB1, is a 9-member project group formed by MNET‘s survival show BOYS PLANET. The group consists of Sung Han Bin, Kim Ji Woong, Zhang Hao, Seok Matthew, Kim Tae Rae, Ricky, Kim Gyu Vin, Park Gun Wook, and Han Yu Jin.
Yes, that’s right, but when he scrolls down to the members’ profiles, a picture of the other Taerae is where a picture of his Taerae should be.
TEMPEST is a 5-member South Korean boy group under Yuehua Entertainment, consisting of LEW, Hanbin, Hyeongseop, Hyuk, and Eunchan. Hwarang left the group on August 11, 2024.
No mention of a Kim Taerae at all.
He watches a few Boys Planet clips on YouTube, and his Taerae is never in them. Even in the pictures on Matthew’s phone, it’s the other Taerae that smiles, an arm around Matthew’s shoulder, making a V for the camera.
But that’s just not possible. Something is very, very wrong here.
He decides to do what he always does in times of need: talk to Hanbin about it.
It’s three in the morning, but Matthew doesn’t care. He takes the elevator up to Hanbin’s floor, lets himself in the apartment, and tiptoes to Hanbin’s room.
He’s asleep under the covers, the back of his head the only thing visible. Matthew urgently shakes his shoulder.
“Hyung, wake up!”
“Huh? What is it, Matthew-yah?”
“It’s Taerae, he—”
Matthew stops. That wasn’t Hanbin’s voice.
Hanbin turns around, and Matthew sees his face: full lips, pointy nose. A smile with too many teeth.
It’s Hanbin from Tempest.
“Noooooo!!”