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Taerae doesn't know why he hates Ricky so much. Maybe it's jealousy, that Ricky is closer to Matthew than him. Maybe it's fear, that Ricky will make it into the group and not Taerae. Maybe it's anger, that Ricky will always be seen as better than him, as more handsome than him, as a better dancer than him. Or maybe it's a mixture of all these emotions, that leads Taerae to hack into the Boys Planet editing software on his smuggled laptop and attempt to evil edit Ricky.
Of course, he didn't originally plan to evil edit his fellow contestant. He just wanted to give himself some more screen time, you know, to make himself more appealing to the Star Creators. Naturally, he couldn't find any footage, because of course Mnet wanted to screw him over and erase his existence from this show.
Instead, he finds heaps of footage of Ricky. Footage of him rehearsing, even of him eating, but most importantly, footage of his reactions and conversation. The opportunity was too good to pass for Taerae. The clips of Ricky making judgemental faces and talking about his fellow contestants are right there, and Taerae wants - no. He needs him gone.
When Taerae returns from the laundry room where he has been conducting his not-so-innocent activities, everything is normal. It's only after the latest episode airs when chaos breaks out in the dorms.
He hears muffled yelling coming from one of the rooms. Following the sound, he opens the door to the Say My Name room and finds Matthew screaming at his teammate, Hanbin, who is backed into a corner.
Taerae doesn't want to intervene, so he stands silently at the door and observes the conversation - can you even call it that? - playing out in the room.
"I can't believe you would do this!" Matthew yells, pointing an accusing finger at Hanbin.
"I already told you that I don't know what you're talking about!" Hanbin shouts back. It's evident that the man is upset - he looks like he's on the verge of tears.
"Oh please, don't act all innocent now. We all know it was you," he seethes, speaking through his teeth.
"Matthew, please, you're my best friend," Hanbin pleads. "Please just tell me what it is. You know I wouldn't lie to you." His voice cracks as he speaks.
Matthew takes a deep breath in, calming himself before lowering his voice and speaking so softly that Taerae has to strain his ears to hear him.
"Hanbin. Please tell me why you evil edited Ricky."
At this accusation, Hanbin gasps and takes a step back, further backing himself into the corner.
"W-what?" he eventually manages to splutter.
"Come on, spit it out," Matthew responds, his voice rising again at Hanbin's innocence.
"Matthew, you really think I… I…"
"Well who else would it be? Nobody else has any reason to sabotage Ricky, and we already know that it isn't a staff member. Lord knows they favour him."
"Wha- Matthew. You can't seriously think it was me?" Hanbin pleads.
"Oh, but I do think it was you. Along with every other contestant. Now admit it before I tell Hao," Matthew threatens.
The threat scares Hanbin. Everybody knows that Hanbin is absolutely infatuated with Hao, and the prospect of them being separated frightens Hanbin more than he is willing to admit.
"What the fuck?" He raises his voice to curse at Matthew. "Matthew, be so fucking serious. You know it wasn't me. You know I wouldn't do that! Give me a single fucking reason you think I would ever do that!" He is almost screaming now, tears dripping down his face, his arms raised and moving wildly as he talks.
"You want a reason? I'll give you a fucking reason! You're jealous. You're jealous that Ricky is closer with Hao than you are. It's so obvious, Hanbin," Matthew yells back. The screaming match is bound to have alerted other contestants by now, but neither of them seem to care.
Hanbin drops his hands, and stares straight into Matthew's eyes. Taerae can see that Matthew's words hurt him, can see the resignation in his eyes.
"Matthew… I…" he takes a deep breath in and sighs before continuing. "If that's really what you think of me, then… then I don't think we should be friends any more."
Matthew keeps his voice raised to shout at Hanbin one more time. "Good. I don't think I want to be friends with the likes of you." He turns and storms out the door. Taerae quickly hurries away, positioning himself far enough from the door so that it doesn't look like he was eavesdropping. He can hear Matthew say something back to Hanbin before exiting the room. "You know, he's one of my best friends, right? I seriously can't believe you would do this to me. He's one of the only people I can speak English to. And you…" he sighs, "you tried to take that away from me. I don't think I can forgive you."
Taerae turns to face away from the door and starts walking in the opposite direction. He can hear Matthew slam the door behind him.