Chapter 26: The Problem With Faces

“Hyung.”

“……”

“Hyuuung.”

“What.”

Practice was nearly over.

I was sitting against the wall listening to a recording alone when Wooseong came over. Even after I pretended not to hear him once, he dragged out the end of the word and called me again. He looked fully prepared to keep doing it unless I answered, so I finally pulled out one side of my earphones.

I hadn’t noticed because I’d been listening to music, but Wooseong was sitting much closer beside me than I expected. Wondering why he’d suddenly planted himself so close, my upper body unconsciously tilted a little away from him instead.

His complexion had recovered a lot recently, and he’d dyed his hair black again. Only now did he regain that cute charm that made him actually pleasant to look at these days.

“You know that music video shoot?”

“What about it.”

“After you and Jungwon left, I seriously thought I was gonna die.”

“Why?”

“Because Jungwon caused absolute chaos before he left.”

“Why?”

“No idea. They told him to shoot a few more takes, and Jungwon suddenly went, ‘Wouldn’t things come out properly if the director gave proper directions first?’”

“…He did what?”

“And then he ignored the instructions, changed poses a few times on his own, kept going ‘cut, cut,’ and then just walked out.”

“…He can’t do that.”

“I know. But the director couldn’t even chase after Jungwon, so instead he latched onto me like crazy for the last part. Told me to just stand there at some point because he’d given up. They filmed me from far away, then halfway closer, then right in front of the camera making poses—it was a whole mess.”

“You… yeah. Sounds rough. I had no idea after leaving. But why did Jungwon suddenly act like that?”

“Probably for the same reason as everyone else. Even I struggled at first because I genuinely couldn’t understand what the hell the director wanted with all that artsy nonsense. The more you think about it, the more pissed off you get. He started doing it when he was nitpicking Jaeha hyung earlier, then suddenly he started doing the same shit to me too. Once I started thinking about that, I couldn’t focus anymore either. So I made sure to suffer enough for your share too.”

“So what time did it end?”

“In the morning. They had to wrap up in a huge rush because of me too. Total chaos. I did good, right?”

“What part of that was good, idiot?”

“Ah, whatever. The shoot was going fine that day, but he kept acting like that for no reason. At the end, manager hyung went over to the director after yelling at us again and somehow smoothed things over.”

So Jungwon saying it’d end quickly wasn’t true after all.

I didn’t know whether he’d lied on purpose or genuinely didn’t know.

Either way, looking at Wooseong laughing while telling the story left me with mixed feelings. It was nice because he was so bright and carefree, but at the same time, hearing that they’d filmed all the way until morning because the music video director had basically given up made me worry whether the footage had even turned out properly.

And why had Jungwon acted like that all of a sudden?

He’d always been good at handling these things.

Still, what right did I have to say anything when I’d left first claiming I wasn’t feeling well without even staying to the end? Watching Wooseong proudly brag about avenging my share of the suffering left me speechless too.

He really had no sense sometimes.

Every now and then, looking at Wooseong made me think, Wow, life really does somehow work out for people this carefree.

Maybe this was why people said you should live positively.

Thinking, Whatever happens, happens, I answered,

“Yeah. Great job. Reaaally great.”

“So I thought about it, you know.”

“About what.”

“Why the director only kept acting like an asshole to us.”

“Yeonho hyung’s always good at greeting people, so directors tend to go easy on him. Hwan knows how to control his atmosphere well. And Jungwon…”

Jungwon was…

I wasn’t sure how to describe it.

Before I could finish, Wooseong cut in.

“His face carries him.”

“His face?”

“That director’s totally obsessed with looks too. I really thought about it, and I think the root issue is fundamentally our faces.”

I awkwardly fidgeted with the small earphone in my hand.

I hadn’t expected him to suddenly bring up such a fundamentally important topic like that.

Without realizing it, the hand holding my earphones drifted up to touch my own face.

Seeing my blank expression, Wooseong started quietly pouring out his grievances.

“Seriously. Faces. I’ve been feeling really wronged lately, okay? Jungwon’s face is already acting on its own.”

“So what are you gonna do about it.”

“I think I should get some work done too so my face can act.”

“……”

“Hyung, you’ll come with me, right?”

What the f*ck was this lunatic saying?

There wasn’t even that long left until promotions, and he wanted to mess with his face now?

So dumbfounded I couldn’t even respond properly, I shoved Wooseong’s face away with the same hand that’d been touching my own.

He kept saying he was dying lately from juggling variety shows and album prep at the same time. Had he finally gone insane?

I wiped the back of my neck with a towel and lifted my head, only to see the team manager stopping Jungwon near the exit and talking to him about something.

Earlier he’d been telling him to hurry off because of his commercial shoot, but now the conversation seemed to be dragging on.

Jungwon slowly nodded.

Then the manager gestured for all of us to gather.

Behind him, Yeonho hyung—who’d been stuffing clothes into his backpack—walked over too. The manager stood in the middle of our little circle and looked around at our faces for no particular reason.

Judging by the mood, Jungwon had just heard about this, while Yeonho hyung probably already knew.

“Why are you looking at us like that?”

“We got offered something important.”

“What is it?”

“You guys got a casting offer for Close-Up.”

“Oh, holy shit.”

Wooseong gasped.

Meanwhile, I pressed my lips together before smoothing my expression out again.

Close-Up.

Just like the name implied, it was a third-year reality show built entirely around close-up filming. They installed cameras all over the dorms and filmed practically every second of the idols’ lives.

The very first group on the show had cameras installed so thoroughly they even filmed inside closets, and they’d aired shower scenes too by angling cameras toward the top of the shower stalls.

Every episode exploded with comments because of it. People constantly argued that it bordered on pornography, articles blew up nonstop, and that controversy only cemented the program’s popularity further.

Each season featured fewer than ten episodes per group, and the show was ridiculously hot.

These days they supposedly restrained themselves a little more, but every now and then the show still dropped relationship scandals like bombs.

Or exposed bullying rumors inside teams.

Or conflict rumors.

Whatever they could manufacture, they would.

For some people, appearing on that show could become an outright disaster.

Maybe the manager noticed the sour look on my face, because he pointed his chin toward me.

“Jaeha, got something to say? It’s not easy getting onto this program.”

“I know.”

“Then why the expression? Do you know how hard we worked to get you guys on there?”

“I know.”

And I’d also overheard that another group was originally supposed to go on, but two of their members suddenly got caught up in dating rumors and a drunk driving scandal back-to-back, so production had urgently started looking for replacements.

Honestly, it made sense they’d come to us.

Even if our group results weren’t amazing, the individual members all had decent recognition, and we were in the middle of comeback prep too. Plenty to film.

Which also meant it would be exhausting as hell.

Not wanting to kill the mood for everyone else, I forced a brighter smile.

“Didn’t Flash get wrecked after Seungwoo’s girlfriend rumors started while filming that? People compared screenshots and started saying they had matching couple items and all that. I’m just worried about little things like that.”

“Jaeha. You hiding something again?”

“You know I’m not seeing anyone right now.”

At this point I didn’t even have the energy to get angry anymore.

The second dating rumors came up, they immediately targeted me.

And at that exact moment, Jungwon chose the absolute perfect—and suspicious—timing to quietly clear his throat.

The manager’s eyes widened instantly.

Then he grabbed Jungwon by the arm.

“Jungwon, do you know something? Did Jaeha screw up again recently?”

“No. Nothing.”

“I begged you—begged you—to at least let me know first if something happens, Seo Jaeha!”

“Jungwon literally said there’s nothing, so why are you like this?”

“Tch. Like your dating scandals only happened once or twice?”

“They were only once or twice! There wasn’t anything else!”

The problem was that those one or two incidents had been pretty massive.

Because there was something I felt guilty about, my defensive voice rose louder too.

“Seriously, manager. Jaeha’s been so busy writing songs lately he barely sleeps and he’s lost a ton of weight, so stop picking on him.”

Yeonho hyung tried calming things down out of politeness, and the manager—who probably hadn’t meant it seriously either—read the atmosphere and moved on.

Since nobody strongly objected, it was basically a notice rather than a discussion.

“We were thinking of renting a temporary dorm for the group life portion, but Jungwon said it was okay to use his place together. Once the program meeting’s done and the schedule gets finalized, pack your things. Leave behind anything that could become a problem if possible. Got it?”

“How long are we filming for?”

“About six episodes, so it shouldn’t take too long. The meeting’s this Thursday evening.”

Guess they really were in a rush if the meeting was only three days away.

I nodded.

Yeonho hyung left first while talking with the manager. Meanwhile, Hwan showed no interest at all and simply returned to the dance team to discuss choreography again.

Wooseong also said he was leaving and headed out.

The moment I confirmed nobody else was around, I glared at Jungwon and demanded answers.

Maybe because he knew he was guilty too, he apologized immediately.

“That cough earlier wasn’t intentional. Sorry.”

“Then why did you cough at that exact timing?”

“Maybe because I wanted to say something when you claimed you weren’t seeing anyone.”

“That’s exactly the kind of thing you need to be careful about!”

“Okay.”

Jungwon answered with a face that inspired absolutely no trust whatsoever.

The expression he wore while smiling looked way too entertained by my suffering—completely satisfied, honestly—so I smacked him hard across the back.

He didn’t even seem hurt.

Jungwon just kept smiling.

Even though they told us to pack our things, I already lived more in the dorm than at home anyway, so aside from clothes and my laptop, there wasn’t much to bring.

Promotions were starting soon regardless, and every day was just practice room after practice room anyway, so what difference did it make?

I dragged a small suitcase behind me while hugging the stuffed doll I slept with.

The manager hyung waiting beside the car took one look at me and let out a disbelieving laugh.

His eyes moved back and forth between my dragging suitcase and the plushie in my arms.

“Why do you have so little luggage?”

“This is everything.”