Chapter Text
You’ve got to be kidding me
The system notification blared a pale red in the darkness, irritating Eden’s eyes nearly as much as the content written in the box. His eyes swiped across the holographic screen.
[The ‘Frail Body’ penalty will be applied for 3 Days.
※After 3 Days, there will be no health problems whatsoever!※
※Even if you go to the hospital for diagnosis or health checkups, no problems will show up!※
※It’s real, so please just believe it!※]
What the hell kind of penalty is that? How could he have a ‘frail body’ yet remain healthy at the same time, was the system stupid? Yoon Eden seriously started to doubt the systems’ intelligence because such a thing couldn’t possibly exist.
Not to mention how long the penalty would last compared to the ones before. Was it being petty? Oh he’ll show it what petty looked like.
[71:59:59]
Before he could give the systems a winding lecture on oxymorons and how the system could simply be one without the ‘oxy’ part, a deep seeded exhaustion fell over his body. Lying limply on his bed, feeling as if he were crushed under a pile of rocks, Eden soon fell asleep without much fuss.
XXX
Beep. Beep. Beep.
Eden woke with a groan, head throbbing and body heavier than lead. He made to reach for the nightstand where his phone’s ringing was echoing louder in his head the more it went on. Traitorously, his hand shook as it only made it halfway before dropping down on the bedding. The continuous beeping made the throbbing develop into a pounding that had him nearly moan in pain.
He reached out again with more force, finally grabbing his phone and shutting the damn alarm off. It didn’t seem like any time had passed at all but one glance at his lockscreen confirmed that it was definitely morning, several hours had surely passed by now but Eden still felt the same exhaustion from before he fell asleep.
Hah, he couldn’t go to the studio yesterday in case the penalty was something similar to ‘temporary vision loss’ which would leave him stuck away from the dorm, so he decided to head straight home. Who would have thought the shitty system would leave him with a penalty for three whole days. It was a ridiculous and egregiously disproportional punishment for failing to deliver a memorable speech, ah. If only there was a human resources department to report this unjust treatment. Alas, talking about this anywhere would just lead to him in a psychiatric ward at best.
Thus Eden had to go to the studio today, ‘frail body’ condition or not. It’s not like music production and a weak constitution were mutually exclusive, right?
XXX
As a creature of habit, he dragged himself out of bed to go for his routine morning walk. Walking along the track, Eden subconsciously tried to match Yehyeon’s pace when they eventually crossed paths, but as soon as he picked up speed he found taking in breaths becoming harder. Much harder. It was then did he realize how affected his condition was.
This is going too far!
He tried speeding up again but that only yielded more wheezy breaths. A clogging sensation filled his left ear alongside a building tightness in his chest. Damn, he hadn’t felt this winded since starting soccer in middle school. Deciding on a strategic retreat, Eden subtly slowed his pace to not end up a panting mess so early in the morning, his pride stinging at the thought.
But that hyung was always perceptive at the weirdest things, “hey, I said you should run!” Yehyeon yelled as he turned to see Eden lagging behind, eyes squinted to glare before they took on a scrutinizing look.
“I’m not in the mood to run today! Worry about yourself and look forward before you trip, hyung.”
Eden quickly finished the rest of his walk before that hyung started asking unnecessary questions. It’d be better to skip gym that day too. If he did anymore he might not have any strength left in his arms to work at the studio later. Dammit, he would get another penalty if this continued for three days— three whole days of no working out!
He took a perfunctory shower back at the dorm, the water feeling colder than usual but nothing Eden couldn’t power through. Normally, laying in bed staring at the ceiling would count as a major waste of his already limited time but his condition was truly a pitiful thing now. Eden stayed there for however long it took until he heard the youngest call him to eat from the other side of the door.
Feet dragging themselves across the cold wooden floor, he spotted a salad and some soup that Hajun made for breakfast. He sat with a dull thud, willing some form of appetite to come to him. A futile attempt. In fact, the longer he looked, the more he had the urge to not eat at all. The brothy scent invaded his nose making him hold back a gag, it was cloying to the point of being near disgusting.
Losing strength was one thing, but losing will to eat as well? This was just telling him to fail his weekly missions, few things the system did felt as devilish as this. Staring dejectedly at the bowl of rice soaked in soup he’d normally be eating heartily by now, someone cleared their throat which brought his attention away from the mushy rice.
“Eden, aren’t you going to eat?” Hajun asked, a soft, questioning lilt to his voice. It was then that Eden remembered that strange habit Reve picked up over the past couple of years.
“Eating, I’m eating now,” he said, picking up the spoon to scoop soup into his mouth despite how utterly against the notion his stomach was. The soup wasn’t overtly flavorful— it was actually quite mild— but his insides churned when he tried swallowing. Ugh.
Eden valiantly tried to stuff a few more bites down his throat before deciding it was a futile effort. It was a shame to waste Hajun’s good soup but it’d be even more of a waste to eat it just to throw it back up. Like this, Eden could save it in the fridge to eat later.
“I’m done,” he said while picking up his bowl. Standing abruptly he headed to the fridge to store his meal. He turned back to the table only to find the members looking at him before glancing back at each other.
“Already? If you didn’t like the food I could’ve made another side dish.” Hajun said after a beat.
“No need, I’m not that hungry yet, just keep eating like that.” He waved at them to continue the meal.
Another beat with another round of glances before Hajun spoke again. “Sure, but wait for us in the living room before we go practice.”
“Yeah, yeah,” he turned his back to them to loiter on the sofa. His body seriously felt like a bag of bricks. At least there wasn’t any more food in front of him to make his stomach churn, but Eden worried about how he would survive dance training if he already felt like this now.
Aside from dancing, there was still the unfinished title track candidates, meetings with the A&R department, and album song filtering that needed his attention for the week. Adding in his almost daily monitoring and fan cafe post, Eden’s previously simple schedule suddenly went from being light early-activity preparations to a grueling crawl through agendas.
Great is the burden the leader must bear. Sigh.
Maybe his body was just adjusting. Surely the system, which would shock him for so much as having an unfocused expression during short livestreams, wouldn’t delay their comeback preparations, right?
He was snapped out of his musing when he was called for practice. Eden sluggishly made his way with the others to the nanny van, everyone piling in to head to the agency.
XXX
This really fucking sucks.
They’d barely made it past the first song yet he was as tired as if he had performed a full set. Copious amounts of sweat made his shirt cling uncomfortably to his back. His chest tightened the same way it did that morning.
“Wait, let me rest for a bit before we continue,” he huffed, bending down to rest his hands on his knees. A minute passed like that before he decided it was better to sit. His chest still felt so damn stuffy.
As he was deciding whether he’d feel better if he laid down, Doby handed him a water bottle. Good job fake maknae, that attitude will take you far.
“Hyung, did you work out too much this morning?”
“He didn’t go to the gym earlier.” Yehyeon frowned.
At his words, all eyes turned to him. It happened as he was struggling to open the bottle, curse these arms weaker than chicken legs, was all the muscle he’d built just for show now?
“Are you sick somewhere?”
Hajun swiftly took the water from him, opened it with a pop and, and placed it back into his hands as if it never happened. Eden grumbled at him but took the bottle without much fuss. Taking a swing of water to quench his parched throat, the water decided then and there that it was the optimal time to slide down the wrong way.
He coughed, trying to clear the water from his windpipe, yet one he started there seemed to be no end. Quickly, it turned from coughing to a coughing fit to nearly hacking his lungs out of his body. It had Eden’s throat feeling worn and raw, all his attention drawn to his spasming diaphragm. By the time he finished, Eden had somehow ended up hunched with his head dipped between his legs and by his knees.
The moving warmth that smoothed over his back in up and down motions was the first thing he noticed in that state. He glanced to the side, licking his lips that were now chapped for some reason, to see the warmth on his back attached to an arm which was attached to Hajun.
Hajun’s eyes raked over him with an emotion he couldn’t describe, hand still rubbing soothing motions along his back. He noticed Eden staring and quietly handed him the water bottle from earlier. Eden didn’t remember dropping that.
A brief quiet washed over the group, he wasn’t sure what caused it but he was too tired to complain about them making the atmosphere weird.
And in a fashion that was very much like him, Dobin broke the silence; “can you still practice, hyung? You look like a ghost sucked out all your vitality.”
What ghosts, ah? The only thing remotely ghostly in this room was the system and its floating screen, not that they could see that, of course.
He must have looked truly pitiful right now since the others didn’t refute the nonsense coming from Doby’s mouth. All this time spent on maintaining his health with daily exercise, healthy meals, and vitamins were for naught if he was like this. Forget frail, Eden was in the state of a patient! He grumbled at no one in particular.
“Healthy mind… healthy body… what trash…”
Eden’s not-so-soft lamenting, unfortunately, did not go unnoticed.
“Uhm, hyungs? Eden-hyung is muttering nonsense about health… Should we take him to the hospital?”
Yes! This was why he outsources his brain to the maknae. To think he didn’t even need to bring it up himself or throw a fit about calling 119 this time.
He weakly rasped his assent and told them to call the manager. There was a bit of back and forth on whether this degree of illness warranted a hospital trip but, eventually, they all agreed that it was better to have it checked before it became a serious problem. Eden would’ve scoffed if his body wasn’t trying its best to imitate a wet noodle.
Flopping down to the floor, he spent a few odd minutes watching the rest resume practice while waiting for manager hyung to take Eden to the clinic.
XXX
The hard plastic chair was unforgiving in its discomfort. The air conditioning in the internal medicine doctor’s office made it unbearably cold as well, Eden suppressed a shiver.
“Your temperature is normal. You don’t have any other symptoms like coughing or phlegm?”
“I don’t, but my stamina just suddenly dropped overnight. I was wondering if there was a problem with my immune system.”
“Then you should go to a big hospital to get a full exam, we don’t have the facilities here.”
So there was something wrong! Once they made their way back to the nanny van, Eden opened his phone to schedule a visit to the nearest hospital in the area. However, before he could do anything on the website, the systems’ holographic screen filled his vision with big, bold letters.
[※I said there would be no health problems after 24 hours!!※
※I also specified that no problems would show up even if you go to the hospital for diagnosis or health checkups!!※]
※It’s real! Please! Just! Believe! Me! Please!!※]
His eyes stung as the screen lit up much brighter than usual. Ah, the system was really pissed now…
Eden obediently put down his phone at the system’s unusually firm attitude. It wasn’t as if he was intimidated by it, he’d simply decided that maybe he could trust the system just this once. Maybe.
Although he decided to keep his hospital visits to a minimum this time, the urge to book at least a laboratory assessment grew stronger the more his head started to ache.
As Eden stepped into the dormitory, he was greeted with the sight of all the members armed with surgical masks. Briefly, he wondered if the car made a wrong turn and he was dropped off back in the clinic. However, a glance at Yehyeon quickly knocked him from his stupor, there were few who could manage to radiate that amount of beauty with half their face covered in plastic baby blue.
“Isn’t this too dramatic? What’s with the masks, huh? With that response someone would think I’m a germ.”
These guys were really amazing at raising his blood pressure. On a good day, he would scold them endlessly for the disrespect. Now, even slightly raising his voice at them made his head ache go from mild to maddening. It made him reach up to rub at his temple.
Looking back at the group, he could see Dobin creep away from him, eyes full of fear. You’d think he contracted the plague or something at how they looked at him. The thought made him even more irritated. Ah, the headache followed suit.
“What did the clinic say, Eden? Was it the flu?”
“Oh yeah, how was your check up, hyung?”
At least Juni had the decency to ask how he was, with Jaehee following, even if they also treated Eden like a germ. Don’t think he didn’t notice them keeping their distance.
“It’s not the flu. They didn’t find anything wrong.”
Doubtful looks flashed across their faces.
“Nothing? Not even a common cold, hyung?”
“Surely this guy must be lying, now way he looks like that without something going on”
“Either way, we have some fever reducers in the cabinet if we need them.”
“This doesn’t make sense! Did hyung live so vigorously that his health stats can hide diseases from detection?”
Pointedly ignoring a few comments from the bunch, he decided to clear the members of whatever weird misconceptions they had on his health when he was better. He was human, too, you know. Eden turned to go into his shared room only to be halted in his tracks by a hand.
“Hey, wear this mask, if you look this miserable then we can’t risk the other’s catching it, flu or not.”
Yehyeon thrust a mask at him so quickly that he might as well throw the damn thing then took two wide steps back, as if being any closer would give him whatever mystery bug Eden had. Jokes on that hyung, even he didn’t know what he had. All that was certain was that it wasn’t infectious.
Stifling a sigh, and putting on the mask, Eden finally continued walking unbarred to his room. The sooner he got to bed the better, he didn’t think his blood pressure could take it.
Eden pushed open his door—
A bare mattress stared at him from his bed.
“...What?”
“Ah, I thought it was the flu so I boiled and disinfected your bedding, sorry I forgot to tell you, hyung.”
Eden whirled around to glare at Dobin— which, bad idea because ow headache.
“Ahh! Hyung, calm down and listen! It wasn’t my idea! Hajun hyung! Hajun hyung told me to take out your bedding!”
Dobin shrieked and skittered behind Hajun. To think, even Hajun thought of him as a germ now. He turned to his friend with a reluctant expression.
“Jun, how am I supposed to sleep…?”
“You can take my extra bedding,” he said, without missing a beat. Eden would have complained more but he guessed Hajun had his reasons.
Defeated, he turned to retrieve the extra bed set from the other room. Before he could take a step in that direction though, the pain in his head converged to a centerpoint between his eyes. Pressure built there for a moment before releasing itself with a wet sensation down his upper lip.
Eden turned his head down, a dot of crimson stained his shirt. It really is just one thing after another, huh.
He was already exhausted from everything that happened today, from the system's scolding to the members' antics, that he didn’t have the energy left to throw a fit. Eden sighed again, he prayed that this penalty wouldn’t leave him with a permanent brow wrinkle with how often it made him sigh and frown.
Eden bent his head forward more, reaching up to pinch his nose to stem the blood flow. Holding out a hand to take the wad of tissues Hajun handed over, he assessed the damage to his shirt. Surprisingly, he didn’t get any more blood on it after that first drop. While debating on whether a bloodstain of this tiny caliber warranted a change of clothes, he heard Dobin let out another scream.
“Kyaaaaah, nosebleed!”
“Dobin, is this the first time you’ve seen a nosebleed, huh?” Eden could barely keep the snark out of his voice with how much the guy was currently contributing to noise pollution.
“Who are you? You’re not Eden hyung, are you? Eden hyung wouldn’t have such a calm reaction! He should be making a fuss telling us to call 119 right now! Ahhh, don’t tell me it’s another possession?” Dobin’s eyes shook in fear.
Again about that damn possession, it’s all the system’s fault, ugh.
Eden could only lament internally about the woes of being the unwilling owner of a system like his. First it shocked him like a dog, then it swapped out his personality which made the members gain weird beliefs, and now it’s putting his body through the wringer without mercy.
“Doby, it’s a nosebleed. It would be one thing if I were coughing up blood, of course I’d call 119, but if we demand to be brought to the hospital for every minor detail, it would be celebrity power abuse. Do you want another controversy, huh? We’d be on the front page by morning!”
He scolded Dobin while wiping the blood from his lip with a tissue. Seriously, did yelling someone take up this much energy? If he burned calories every time he yelled, even Yehyeon wouldn’t bat an eye if he ate jjajangmyeon every night.
Tired from his nagging, Eden trudged to the couch where he flopped down with a dull thud, he closed his eyes and slumped back onto the backrest with his head almost leaning over the edge.
There was some shuffling to his left before the cushion beside him dipped. Eden peek one eye open to meet Hajun’s worried face.
“If it’s not the flu, it could be you pushing yourself too much. Take it easy for a few days. Haven’t you been staying late in the studio recently? It's about time your body gave up.”
Eden shook his head at Hajun’s gentle nagging. “I need to finish the song production to make the comeback schedule. And compared to before, this doesn’t even count as overdoing it.”
And there wasn’t a single lie in that statement. Truly, compared to their debut, the company has grown so much better at task dissemination that it can be said he’s been slacking as of late.
Eden let a few moments pass like that. He slowly sat back up, taking stock of his condition, and decided that he was stable enough to head to the studio to continue with song production. He stood to head to the door, Hajun followed after him.
“I’ll come with you”
Again, he must have made quite the pitiful site if Hajun was sticking to him despite believing that Eden was a hotbed for diseases right now. It was touching, really.
Eden turned a bit so say just as much, then he noticed the others following as well.
“Why are you all standing?”
“If Eden Hyung collapses again like in the practice room, it would be hard for Hajun Hyung alone to move Eden Hyung.”
“Doby, could you grab that blanket on the sofa armrest?”
“But can’t you all take off those damn masks?” Eden grouched.
And so, the five of them went to the studio together with Hajun driving, Eden in the passenger seat, and the three huddled in the back, still trying to keep some form of distance.
The dorm wasn’t too far from his studio so the ride was fairly short.
Eden unlocked the door and stepped in, what followed him was a blur of two people who quickly pried open one specific drawer in the room.
“Hey! Yoon Eden! Don’t tell me you came here in the evening and were eating this stuff? Hey, Doby! Youngest Member! Don’t eat it! Hands off!”
“Geez, I’m already sick enough to die, and Eldest Hyung is trying to kill me.” he said whilst picking his ear.
Eden sat at his desk and began to work with the sounds of yelling and wrappers crinkling behind him. Headphones on, time lost its meaning while he moved around different beats or tried adding novel instrumentals to the track. He didn’t know how long he’d been messing with the sound until he felt a sudden thick sludge at the back of his throat, making it itch faintly.
Reaching to the side where the tissues were, he silently gagged and tried to hack up the blockage as quickly as possible.
A few small wet coughs were enough to dislodge the sticky substance in his throat onto the tissue. One glance down showed him that it wasn’t mucus though, but a congealed dark red clot of blood.
Eden crumpled the tissue with little fanfare and threw the was into the bin by his desk.
He chanced a quick look at the members on the sofa behind him, they were making lively conversation with one another so no one seemed to notice what had just transpired. That let him relax a little. Good.
If any of Reve saw, Eden didn’t think that his headache could handle the ruckus they’d raise if he were caught coughing up blood. The fake youngests’ reaction to his nosebleed was already proof of how their dramatics wouldn’t let this end quietly.
Plus, the system kept assuring him that this would cause no harm after the time limit was up. Its persistence had to account for something.
He repeated that phrase in his head like a mantra every time he coughed up a new wad of blood or felt like pressure behind his eyes was going to burst them out of his skull. He swore once this ordeal was over that he would get the most comprehensive physical exam he could.
Eden continued to compose into what was probably well into the night, based on the growing complaints around him.
Eventually, the rest of Reve had enough and cajoled (read dragged) him away from his studio and back into the car to return to the dorm. Citing that he should at least get a full night's rest so as to not worsen his condition.
At the back of the car, his hand reached up to pinch at the ache that was building in his nose again. He sighed.
All I need is to last two more days.