Chapter 36: The Pumpkin Incident

The weather was perfectly clear, without a single cloud in the sky.

Both locations had incredible natural lighting, so much so that additional lighting equipment was barely necessary.

This music video would clearly be completely different from the gloomy, darkness-filled one they had filmed in his previous life.

Excitement bubbled up inside him, and Sim Eunchan unconsciously clenched his fist.

The filming crew had arrived earlier and already prepared everything so B the 1 could begin shooting immediately upon arrival.

Without any waiting time, they headed straight inside.

Large agencies could afford to film multiple concepts over several days.

But B the 1 belonged to the tiny, tiny agency PotenHigh.

They couldn’t.

They had to shoot three different concepts all in a single day.

That meant there wasn’t a moment to spare.

“Filming starts now!”

At the call, they lined up in formation.

A familiar instrumental track soon began to play.

Eunchan lowered his gaze to the floor and recalled everything they had practiced.

The music video shoot progressed more smoothly than expected.

They had already completed all the group choreography scenes and were now filming individual shots in order.

Whether they had already finished filming or were still waiting for their turn, nobody rested.

Everyone monitored the footage intently with tissues stuck to their foreheads to absorb sweat and prevent their makeup from smudging.

The second concept was more casual than the initial uniform look—white shirts paired with black slacks.

They repeated the process of filming group choreography cuts followed by individual shots.

The final concept featured comfortable everyday clothing in a variety of colors.

Throughout the entire music video shoot, not a single person complained.

Nobody slacked off because they were tired.

“Thank you all for your hard work today.”

“Thank you for your hard work!”

The music video shoot, which had started early in the morning, continued until well past two in the morning.

By the time everything wrapped up, both the staff and the members were completely exhausted.

Eunchan greeted the hardworking staff with a loud voice despite the late hour.

The other members followed his lead and bowed deeply.

Greetings should never be neglected.

No one ever suffered for being polite.

They were on their way back to the dorm.

The members were practically unconscious, falling asleep the moment they got into the van.

Eunchan was no different.

Once they arrived at the dorm, everyone immediately started arguing over who would shower first.

Only Ryu Seo-oh calmly walked into the bathroom ahead of everyone else, took the first shower, and returned to his bed.

Watching him, the others laughed helplessly.

The shower order was eventually decided through rock-paper-scissors.

Once again, Eunchan came in dead last.

Leaning against the wall while waiting for his turn, he waved at Hyun Woo-young as the younger member emerged from the bathroom.

“Good work today.”

“Same to you, Eunchan-hyung.”

“Tired, right? We have jacket photos tomorrow, so get some rest.”

After sitting down for a while, Eunchan felt a little more energized.

Then he realized something.

He hadn’t properly complimented Woo-young today.

“Your styling looked really good today.”

Woo-young’s gaze shifted toward him.

“Thank you. You looked great too, hyung.”

“Um… like a scrubber…”

“…A what?”

“…No. Like a pumpkin.”

“…”

For a moment, Eunchan wondered if he had heard wrong.

“Like a pumpkin.”

“No, I heard that part.”

Cutting him off, Eunchan furrowed his brows.

He knew Woo-young was straightforward.

The younger man tended to speak directly rather than beat around the bush.

But this was a bit—

No.

Quite a lot.

Of course, Eunchan had no intention of letting it slide.

No matter how much older he was mentally, some things were simply unacceptable.

“A pumpkin? Did you just call me a pumpkin?”

“Yes? Yes. A pumpkin.”

“Ah. Not a zucchini. A sweet pumpkin.”

“That’s not the important part!”

Whether it was a zucchini or a sweet pumpkin didn’t matter.

A pumpkin was still a pumpkin.

Eunchan quickly reviewed whether he had done anything wrong to Woo-young today.

No matter how hard he thought about it, nothing came to mind.

Especially considering today’s styling had turned out exceptionally well.

And yet he looked like a pumpkin?

“Do you know what people generally mean when they compare someone to a pumpkin?”

Suppressing the emotions threatening to burst out, Eunchan asked carefully.

Woo-young fell silent and slightly raised an eyebrow.

“Sweet pumpkins are cute.”

“…”

Eunchan stared at him.

No, glared at him.

He recalled all the words he had ever used to describe Woo-young.

A sculpture.

A pictorial.

God’s favorite child.

And yet Woo-young had looked at him and thought—

Pumpkin.

A pumpkin.

No matter how he thought about it, he wasn’t ugly enough to deserve being called a pumpkin.

“Have you never seen a sweet pumpkin before?”

“They’re about this big and all compact and round.”

“I know what a sweet pumpkin looks like.”

His voice came out less politely than intended.

“Which part of my face looks like a pumpkin?”

“A sweet pumpkin.”

That damned sweet pumpkin.

“Whether it’s a sweet pumpkin or a zucchini isn’t the point.”

“Look carefully.”

An inexplicable stubbornness rose within him.

Eunchan abruptly stood and thrust his face toward Woo-young.

Woo-young seemed momentarily startled but quietly looked back at him.

The problem was that Eunchan was now seeing Woo-young’s face up close as well.

Seriously.

This guy was absurdly handsome.

He had thought Lee Hae-min was handsome, but Woo-young was on an entirely different level.

The difference was overwhelming.

At this point, the word “beautiful” suited him better than “handsome.”

Thick eyebrows.

Deep double eyelids.

Kind-looking eyes.

A high, straight nose.

Perfectly sized lips that were naturally red and full.

How could a human being look like this?

Even his damp hair looked as though it had been professionally styled.

No, seriously.

How did he not even have visible pores?

Was he really human?

At this point, he honestly looked computer-generated.

No matter how much Eunchan stared, he didn’t feel real.

…Well.

If someone who looked like this thought Eunchan resembled a pumpkin, maybe it made sense.

That was when Woo-young’s status window flashed through his mind.

[Do you… like that kind of thing? (Unique Aesthetic Sense / A)]

When he’d first seen it, he hadn’t understood what it meant.

Now he did.

So that was it.

His aesthetic standards were simply different from everyone else’s.

It was an innate trait.

What could anyone do about it?

The trait was ranked A, too.

Eunchan had unfortunately stepped right into its line of fire.

For a moment, he felt sorry for Woo-young.

Then he remembered all the younger man’s ridiculous stats and withdrew that sympathy immediately.

With abilities like those, he could survive a small penalty like this.

“Woo-young.”

“Yes.”

At barely a handspan apart, Eunchan called his name quietly.

Woo-young answered obediently.

“You shouldn’t go around saying things like that just because you’re handsome.”

Really.

Whether Woo-young thought he looked like a pumpkin or not, what did it matter?

As long as Eunchan himself disagreed.

“Eunchan-hyung. What I meant by pumpkin was—”

“Yes, yes. A sweet pumpkin.”

“I get it.”

“You said it wasn’t meant negatively.”

Woo-young fell silent.

His eyes narrowed slightly, as though trying to determine whether Eunchan truly believed him.

“You must be exhausted today, so go get some rest.”

“You washed your face properly, right?”

“Today’s makeup was heavy. If you don’t remove it completely, you’ll end up with skin problems later.”

“Come here.”

Eunchan soaked a cotton pad with toner and handed it to him.

Woo-young stared at it.

“Rub your face with this.”

“With this?”

“Yeah. Like this…”

“You know what, it’s easier if I just show you.”

Abandoning the explanation midway, Eunchan directly rubbed the cotton pad against Woo-young’s face.

The height difference made it somewhat difficult.

When Eunchan told him to sit in a chair, Woo-young obediently complied.

It was much easier once he sat down.

Thinking about it now, Woo-young seemed to have a habit of looking directly into people’s eyes.

It was already slightly burdensome during normal conversations.

Having him stare like that while Eunchan cleaned his face was—

Well.

Quite distracting.

“You’re making me self-conscious.”

“Stop staring and close your eyes.”

“Okay.”

Woo-young obediently closed his eyes.

Eunchan brushed his fingers through the younger man’s hair and swept it back.

A smooth forehead was revealed.

His head shape is nice too.

Letting out a quiet breath, Eunchan absentmindedly patted the top of his head a few more times.

Woo-young’s long eyelashes trembled slightly.

Realizing he might have been touching him too much, Eunchan withdrew his hand.

Even now, those eyelashes were astonishing.

He had thought they were long when Woo-young’s eyes were open.

With them closed, they looked even more ridiculous.

Silently marveling once again, Eunchan carefully wiped every part of his face while checking for any leftover makeup.

After thoroughly cleaning his entire face, he examined the cotton pad.

“Open your eyes.”

“See this?”

He showed the stained cotton pad.

“This is exactly why you use toner afterward.”

“It removes whatever your cleanser missed.”

“Now that you know how to do it, make sure you use it after washing your face from now on.”

As expected, Woo-young obediently nodded.