Chapter 41: Please Behave, There Are CCTVs

Not really knowing much about the hanwoo menu, he was just blankly flipping through the pages when Seo Jun-jae, sitting across from him, placed the order instead.

Soon after, a staff member brought the meat in and began grilling it right at the table.

After a toast with the beer and soft drinks they’d ordered, they started eating.

“Anyone want doenjang jjigae and rice with me?”

Ha Jin-woo, who had been eagerly flipping through the menu as if he’d just used Jae-seo and Lee Chan-seo as an excuse, looked around at them.

Jae-seo wore a momentarily dumbfounded expression, then shook his head at Ha Jin-woo and took a gulp of beer.

“Hyung, how’s the beer?”

Lee Woo-rim, sitting next to him, asked with sparkling eyes fixed on Jae-seo’s beer glass.

Without a word, Jae-seo poured some cider into the glass in front of Woo-rim.

Woo-rim, making an openly disappointed face, picked up the glass and chugged it down.

At Woo-rim’s exaggerated “Ah!” sound, Jae-seo let out a small laugh.

Watching them, Seo Jun-jae suddenly asked him a question.

“What’s your alcohol tolerance?”

Alcohol tolerance?

“I’m not sure.”

He hadn’t drunk any alcohol since entering this game world, so he didn’t know his tolerance.

Well, even in his original world, he’d never really been drunk, so it was the same either way.

“What about you?”

Returning the question out of courtesy, Seo Jun-jae smiled and said, “I’m not sure either,” which seemed to mean the same thing as Jae-seo’s ‘not sure’ from his original world.

Even being good at drinking—just another unfair setting, he thought, chewing and swallowing the meat sullenly.

***

Before they knew it, the meat on the grill was gone, and the plates of side dishes were also empty.

The beer and soda bottles were all finished too.

“We could order more, you know?”

When Yoon Ji-heon said this, looking at him and Lee Chan-seo, Jae-seo shook his head.

Understanding, Yoon Ji-heon nodded and stood up.

They all went outside together and thanked Yoon Ji-heon for the delicious meal.

He waved his hand, saying it was nothing.

“Hyungs, how about taking a four-cut photo to commemorate today?”

Lee Woo-rim suddenly raised his arm and pointed at a building across the street.

Following his arm, Jae-seo saw a brightly lit four-cut photo studio.

He thought skeptically that they were in front of cameras all the time, why would they want to take more pictures, but surprisingly, everyone except him nodded, saying it was a good idea.

Refusing now would just mean getting dragged along by Lee Woo-rim or Ha Jin-woo anyway, so he agreed.

As soon as they entered the photo studio, accessories like colorful sunglasses, headbands, and hats caught his eye.

Just as he was frowning, wondering how anyone could wear such things, something was suddenly plopped onto his head.

Turning to check the mirror, he saw a white animal headband perched on his head.

It looked ridiculous enough to make him groan.

Just as he was about to take it off, Lee Woo-rim squeaked.

“You can’t take it off, hyung!”

There was something on Lee Woo-rim’s head too as he said this.

Come to think of it, everyone else standing behind Woo-rim also had headbands on.

For a moment, he wondered if this was normal, but seeing Lee Chan-seo fidgeting with his headband with a displeased expression, he suspected Woo-rim had forced them on everyone.

“Can I upload these to social media?”

At this point, even if he said no, Woo-rim would probably find a way to get consent anyway, so he obediently nodded and followed Woo-rim into the photo booth.

Woo-rim, who had already paid, suddenly pulled Jae-seo, who was standing at the edge, next to him.

“What are you doing over there, hyung!

Us tiny ones should stand in front!”

Having never in his life been called tiny, Jae-seo made a dumbfounded expression and turned his head.

At that moment, he spotted himself on the screen attached to the center of the photo machine and quietly bent his knees next to Woo-rim.

Right, tiny indeed….

It wasn’t that he was particularly short, but the humans standing behind him were just too tall.

His pride was subtly bruised.

It was fortunate, if anything, that at least Chae Han-ul wasn’t there.

“Jin-woo hyung, why are you back there?

Come to the front quickly.”

Ha Jin-woo, who had been trying to linger in the back row unnoticed, reluctantly came forward at Woo-rim’s firm call, grumbling.

“Ah, shit, I’m 177cm too….”

Jae-seo quietly looked at Ha Jin-woo as he said this.

Feeling his gaze, Ha Jin-woo glanced at him with a face that seemed to say, ‘Yeah, you’re in the same boat,’ and quietly took his place on Woo-rim’s left.

After fiddling with various settings on the screen, Woo-rim came back between Jae-seo and Ha Jin-woo and struck a pose.

As Jae-seo blankly stared at the timer on the screen, Woo-rim, maintaining his cute pose and expression, tapped him on the shoulder.

“Wha ah u dohing?

Pwease do a poth!”

Jae-seo looked at him with a face asking what the hell he was saying.

Woo-rim, subtly rolling only his eyes to check the remaining time, said clearly, “A pose, a pose!”

Belatedly understanding, Jae-seo started to raise his fingers in a peace sign, but his arm had barely gone up halfway when the photo was taken.

“Hey!

Jae-seo hyung, try to be cute!”

Then Woo-rim quickly moved Jae-seo’s arm and fingers for him, sticking his own index finger into Jae-seo’s cheek.

Nodding with satisfaction, he began manipulating Jae-seo into poses for every shot after that.

By the time they finished taking the photos, he was so tired he just wanted to get out quickly, but being trapped in the very back of the booth, he couldn’t even leave.

While Woo-rim spent ages selecting the photos—this one was good here, but that part was bad, that person had their eyes closed in that one—Jae-seo just stood there with a blank face.

Then he felt something on his head, and soon the headband, which he’d been so tired he’d forgotten he was even wearing, was gently removed.

Turning his head, he saw Yeo Hyun-tae, who had been standing right behind him, carefully smoothing down his hair that had become ruffled when the headband came off.

…Does this guy actually like people more than I thought?

Watching Yeo Hyun-tae, that thought crossed his mind.

At first, because he didn’t show much expression or talk much, and his impression was rather sharp if anything, he hadn’t thought so, but after practicing together and spending time with him, he’d come to realize that Hyun-tae was fundamentally kind and paid close, careful attention to others.

So, basically, he liked people, and since Jae-seo was also a person, he liked him too, and that’s probably why his human-like favorability was on the higher side, right?

Thinking that way, the 27.1% favorability made perfect sense.

He didn’t know exactly why it had turned out that way, but unlike Chae Han-ul, who frequently and excessively did strange things towards him befitting his 50.3% favorability, Yeo Hyun-tae didn’t.

For some reason, it didn’t seem like Hyun-tae liked him in the same way Chae Han-ul did.

If that were the case, couldn’t they become really good friends?

“I’m done!”

Lee Woo-rim, finally done selecting, turned around and made a strange noise, “Eung?”

“Hyungs, why are you having a moment over there?”

At Woo-rim’s bizarre words, Ha Jin-woo started snickering with the same expression he’d worn when teasing Jae-seo after the contest order decision.

Jae-seo could so easily guess what he was about to say that he tried to escape, but Ha Jin-woo was a little faster.

“What’s this, trying to kiss again?”

As Ha Jin-woo started teasing him, Lee Woo-rim soon wore a similar expression and joined in.

“Hey, was that it?

I’m so clueless….

Sorry!”

Then they promptly left the booth, saying they’d give them some privacy.

Jae-seo was just staring at the closed curtain with an exasperated expression when it was suddenly pulled back and Ha Jin-woo and Lee Woo-rim poked their heads in, laughing.

“There are CCTVs, so keep it appropriate.”

Unable to stand it anymore, he threw the headband at them.

***

At Yoon Ji-heon’s suggestion of having one more quick drink, they sent Lee Woo-rim and Lee Chan-seo home first and moved to a pub, just the adults.

He suspected this was where the real conversation would start.

They sat at a corner table, ordered beer and snacks, and chatted about trivial things.

Some of it was about their respective agencies and trainee life, so he just quietly listened.

Then, as the beer they’d ordered arrived, Yoon Ji-heon chugged his and finally brought up what he’d probably wanted to say.

“Everyone, are you okay after the broadcast came out?”

Although he asked everyone, his gaze was on Jae-seo and Seo Jun-jae.

He seemed to want to check again on Seo Jun-jae, of course, and also on Jae-seo, who had said he was fine over the phone.

Jae-seo thought it was a bit much to be this concerned, even if they were on the same team and the criticism had focused on the episode where the team was formed.

But then he recalled the incident in the bathroom the other day and immediately understood.

Yoon Ji-heon probably thought he’d be debuting with Seo Jun-jae too, so he was trying to manage his mental state in advance.

And while he was at it, he was worrying about Jae-seo as well.

“I’m fine.”

Actually, it was hard to whine about being hurt by the ‘PD pick’ criticism, because compared to most participants, it was true that he had benefited from the editing.

Even just comparing himself to Ha Jin-woo, Jang Young-bin, Lee Woo-rim, and Chae Han-ul, who were on his team, his screentime was on the higher side.

“I’m fine too, I guess.”

Seeing that they both seemed genuinely okay, not just pretending, Yoon Ji-heon said it was a relief and downed the rest of his beer.

Even the usually talkative Ha Jin-woo seemed to have caught on and remained silent, drinking along with them.

They seemed about to order more beer, so Jae-seo hurried to empty his glass.

At that moment, his vision spun dizzily.

What was that?

Feeling puzzled, he placed his glass back on the table—

Thud.

Pain shot through his forehead, and his vision went dark.