Chapter 69: Strangers Becoming Us

Besides, I was in no position to be worrying about others.

When I was about to have an incident with a teammate, who was I to say “How are you going to handle this?”…

“Now that we’ve signed the contracts, it feels weird.”

As I fell silent, the meeting room became quiet.

Then Lee Woo-rim’s voice echoed softly.

I was really going to debut.

Woo-rim flopped face-down onto the table with a thud and muttered, his voice a mix of emotion and a little fear.

I, who had jumped into a survival show without any trainee experience and managed to debut right away, didn’t know how to respond.

Instead of speaking, I turned my head and stared intently at Park Seo-hu.

Flustered by my gaze, Seo-hu hesitated for a moment, then slowly opened his mouth.

“I was going to quit singing altogether if I didn’t make it this time.”

“Why?!”

Woo-rim jerked up in shock, almost shouting the question.

I was quite surprised too, though not as much as Woo-rim.

Seo-hu seemed so ambitious and proud of his singing, yet he had been thinking of quitting after this show.

“When you train for a long time, you get to know, whether you want to or not, whether you have potential or not.

Even if I sang a little well, I didn’t have the looks, couldn’t dance, and I was getting older.

Plus, my mentality is trash, so I thought, ‘I’m just not cut out to be a singer.’”

As he spoke, he kept glancing at Woo-rim.

I wondered if Woo-rim wasn’t one of the reasons Seo-hu’s confidence had been shaken.

I’d heard that when trainees from the same agency compete for the same position, often only one of them gets to debut.

From Seo-hu’s perspective, Woo-rim was younger than him, had the visuals, and was a truly terrible rival.

It made sense that his “mentality” would be severely shaken.

“It felt like a spark I thought had gone out was rekindled with a final sigh.

So… I feel really strange too.”

Ending with the same words Woo-rim had said earlier, Seo-hu shut his mouth and rubbed the back of his neck with an awkward expression.

Woo-rim, who had been staring intently at him, suddenly slammed the table, stood up, and strode over to Seo-hu.

Startled by Woo-rim’s eccentric behavior, Seo-hu’s eyes widened, and he pressed his back against the chair as if trying to retreat.

Just before Seo-hu’s chair nearly tipped over, Woo-rim stopped and abruptly spoke.

“I’ve had similar thoughts too, but…”

Only then did I vaguely understand why their relationship had been so awkward.

Woo-rim had felt the same anxiety when listening to Seo-hu sing.

That was why he couldn’t treat Seo-hu the way he treated others.

“Still, I always liked your singing.

I’m so glad we’re debuting together like this!”

But precisely because of that, he seemed genuinely relieved that Seo-hu wouldn’t quit singing.

Those feelings seemed to get through to Seo-hu, as a small laugh escaped him.

“Yeah, I like your singing too.”

Then he suddenly extended his hand as if asking for a handshake.

Woo-rim obediently took his hand, then quickly reverted to his usual energy, shouting “Hyeong!” and burying himself in Seo-hu’s arms.

“Aack!

What are you doing?”

Seo-hu, practically horrified, grabbed Woo-rim’s head as he nuzzled and pushed him away.

Woo-rim, pushed back, exaggeratedly pouted and grumbled, then suddenly pulled out his phone.

“Then let’s take a selca!”

With words and actions that were utterly incoherent, Seo-hu looked flustered.

Regardless, Woo-rim pressed close to Seo-hu and raised his phone.

As I quietly watched their incomprehensible reconciliation show, I suddenly met Woo-rim’s eyes over the phone.

“Why aren’t you coming over, hyung?”

His tone reminded me of when we took four-cut photos.

Obediently, I got up.

I wouldn’t have been able to refuse anyway, but especially when Woo-rim used that stubborn tone, there was no way to resist.

As I stepped next to him as ordered, Woo-rim smiled brightly, struck a pose, and said,

“Okay, I’ll take it.”

At the same time, the meeting room door burst open.

Lee Chan-seo, entering, quietly looked at us gathered in front of the camera, then naturally moved behind Park Seo-hu and struck a pose.

“You crazy bastards, why are you doing this?”

“I’ll take another one.”

Completely ignoring Seo-hu’s protest, which looked dumbfounded, Woo-rim spoke, and I turned my head toward the phone screen.

Looking at Seo-hu’s face on the screen, still wearing an expression of incomprehension, I silently thought to myself.

It might take a little longer than before since Ha Jin-woo isn’t here, but you’ll get used to it soon.

***

Yoon Ji-heon, the last to finish signing his contract, entered the meeting room and sat in an empty seat.

Soon after, two of the staff members we had seen earlier came in.

They reintroduced themselves as the managers of the newly created ‘NUAVE’ exclusive unit within ‘K-Dream Entertainment’.

One of them immediately handed out papers to us.

Looking at the paper, it was a schedule of upcoming plans.

The most eye-catching thing was…

“Holy cow, our debut is on August 14th?”

It was the debut album release date written at the very bottom.

Above it, a list of schedules for album preparation was arranged, including debut song recording, dance lessons, concept photo shoots, music video shoots, and more.

On the right side, other schedules like profile shoots, magazine pictorials, and commercial filming were listed.

After a brief explanation of each schedule, they gave us information about moving into the dorm.

“After your individual profile shoots, you’ll move straight to the dorm, so pack your bags.”

When asked if there were any more questions, Yoon Ji-heon glanced around at us and shook his head on our behalf.

As the staff members stood up, saying they’d finish there, Lee Woo-rim made an “Ah” face and raised his hand.

“Could you take a group photo for us?”

“Huh?

Of course!”

As Woo-rim eagerly handed over his phone, Lee Chan-seo quickly moved to push the table aside and make space.

The chairs we had been sitting in were neatly arranged in a row.

“Even if we’re taking it ourselves, we have to keep the center!”

Saying that, he dragged Seo Jun-jae and sat him in the center chair.

Then he looked us over, as if considering the composition, and began assigning spots one by one.

“Jae-seo hyung, on Jun-jae hyung’s left.”

Following his instruction, given in the same tone as during the selca with Seo-hu, I obediently went to the chair and sat down.

Only after everyone was positioned did Woo-rim, who sat in the empty chair to my left, call the staff member who had agreed to take the photo.

The staff member, facing us, moved the hand holding Woo-rim’s phone left and right, then spoke.

“Alright, I’ll take it.

One, two, three!”

***

After taking group photos in various poses as requested by Woo-rim, it was already close to evening.

“Shall we have a celebratory dinner together?”

“I’d love that!”

At Yoon Ji-heon’s sudden suggestion, Woo-rim almost jumped for joy saying yes, and the other members also nodded, saying it was fine.

Then Kwak Jun-sung raised his hand with an awkward face.

“I have a prior dinner appointment.”

“Ah, really?

Then we can do it another time, no problem.”

Yoon Ji-heon nodded, saying he understood.

Woo-rim immediately slumped his shoulders with a sulky face.

Jun-sung, glancing at him with apparent concern, scratched his cheek and opened his mouth.

“I feel bad that you guys are postponing it because of me.

Why don’t you wait a bit?

I’ll just show my face and come back.”

At Jun-sung’s suggestion, Woo-rim perked up like a dog pricking its ears and started looking back and forth between Jun-sung and Yoon Ji-heon with hopeful eyes.

While Yoon Ji-heon was pondering, “Hmm…”, Woo-rim’s pleading gaze fixed on him.

“You already have plans.

Are you sure it’s okay?”

“If I explain the situation, it should be fine.”

“Then it seems more convenient to do it today than to find another time later.

What does everyone think?”

He added that if they waited until moving into the dorm, it would probably fizzle out.

Woo-rim was the first to nod eagerly, saying good.

Honestly, I thought that once we were all in the dorm together, it would be easiest to celebrate then, but I just followed the others and nodded.

Seeing everyone in favor, Yoon Ji-heon nodded back and spoke.

“Uh, but the place is a problem.

Where should we go?”

Come to think of it, for the ‘July Snow’ team dinner, Yoon Ji-heon had already reserved a private room at a Korean barbecue place.

The pub we later went to also had high partitions between tables.

Whether it was a regular meal or a simple drinking session, he seemed to be choosing places very carefully, having apparently experienced that getting spotted, talked about, or photographed wasn’t pleasant.