Chapter 19: Clear the Air

“First, I’ll start.

If there’s anything about me that hurt your feelings or you wish I’d fix, please let me know.”

As expected of a true group leader, Yoonbin led the conversation first.

“Honestly, I don’t have anything I’m upset about with you, Yoonbin-hyung!”

“Same here, nothing much…”

“Having two older hyungs in the group must have made the leader role burdensome, but you’ve been doing so well that I’m only thankful…”

“Yoonbin’s selfie filters are way too weird.”

Just as things were about to end on a heartwarming note, James pointed out Yoonbin’s filter choices in a firm voice.

“You look kind of like a cucumber.

I definitely think you should fix that.”

“…Alright.

I’ll take that into account and try taking photos with the default camera instead.

Is there anything else?”

Perhaps because the members knew how hard Yoonbin worked behind the scenes, none of them expressed any real dissatisfaction toward him.

Since this gathering wasn’t meant to center around himself anyway, Yoonbin quickly moved on to the next topic.

“Then, if anyone has something to say about another member, let’s lay it all out honestly right here and now.”

“I have something about Woohyeong!”

Unexpectedly, Yoonbin spoke up first.

Jemin had also intended to confront Woohyeong, but having his turn taken by Yoonbin, he quietly lowered his raised hand.

“Me?”

Woohyeong didn’t seem to have any clue what this was about.

He asked back with a puzzled expression while looking at Yoonbin, but Yoonbin nodded once more.

“Woohyeong, you act a bit more casual and comfortable around Jemin-hyung.

Sometimes, I actually feel jealous of that.”

“What? Jealous?”

Jemin found Yoonbin’s words ridiculous.

Of all things to be jealous of.

He wondered if Yoonbin was teasing him or what he could possibly mean.

Unbothered, Yoonbin continued.

“How should I put it… it feels like you keep your distance from me too much…”

Thinking back, Woohyeong only spoke to the other members about strictly necessary matters and never engaged in personal conversations.

He would pick fights, but he never joked around.

Since even those fights were mostly directed at Jemin, the other members must have felt rather awkward instead.

While Jemin understood how they felt, he couldn’t help thinking it was a luxury problem.

“You can act a bit more comfortable with me too, Woohyeong.”

“It’s not that I was uncomfortable… but fine.”

Woohyeong seemed unable to understand Yoonbin’s point.

He hadn’t felt uncomfortable himself, but he seemed unaware that he was making others feel uncomfortable.

Jemin didn’t like Woohyeong’s attitude of ‘I don’t really know what I did wrong, but okay for now.’

“I have something to say to Jeong Woohyeong, too.”

Jemin raised his hand high, wanting to catch this momentum.

Woohyeong acted as if he had expected it.

That expression saying “Go ahead, let’s hear it” was strangely irritating.

“I want you to act uncomfortable around me.”

Even at Jemin’s risky statement, Woohyeong seemed barely affected.

“One person asks to be treated comfortably, another asks to be treated uncomfortably… how picky.”

“I want there to be a wall between us, and I want there to be a line.”

“That’s something I agree with, too.”

Yoonbin watched their reactions, wondering if he should step in and stop them.

Jemin let out a deep sigh, steeled his heart, and looked directly at Woohyeong.

“And more than anything else… why on earth are you doing this to me?”

Silence fell at Jemin’s point-blank question.

Though anxious, Yoonbin thought this was a necessary moment, so he deliberately refrained from intervening between the two.

“I mean, even if I’m being ignored, I at least deserve to know the reason.”

Whether he was frustrated by Woohyeong just staring at him, Jemin gulped down some soju and wiped his lips with the back of his hand.

He couldn’t read Woohyeong’s thoughts just by looking at his face.

After staring straight at Jemin for a long while, Woohyeong finally opened his mouth.

“Because I don’t understand why you need to be in our team.”

“Hey, that’s going too…”

Surprised by Woohyeong’s words, which were harsher than expected, Yoonbin grabbed his shoulder.

Meanwhile, James, even though it involved his own group, was chewing on the popcorn bought as a side dish, watching the scene unfold with keen interest.

“I didn’t want to say it, but you insisted on knowing.”

At Woohyeong’s shameless attitude, Jemin envisioned an entertainment news article with the headline: [Popular Idols J-kun and Y-kun in an Early Morning Drunken Brawl?!].

If the agency couldn’t block it, it would pop up marked as [Exclusive], and if they blocked it well, it would appear under initials in a hair salon magazine.

Thinking about how the agency’s CEO would handle it gave him his answer.

That man was someone who would choose freedom of the press.

So Jemin decided to hold back.

“Do you know how important Jemin-hyung is to our team~”

Eunhan jumped into the fire to take his hyung’s side.

Jemin was grateful, but the more he listened, the more uncomfortable he felt.

“He sings well.”

Yoonbin is better at singing.

“He has a great body, too.”

James-hyung or Yoonbin have better bodies.

“He dances well, too.”

He hated to admit it, but Jeong Woohyeong dances better.

“And he has a lot of fans, right?”

Eunhan had more individual fans.

“He’s kind.”

That was subjective and abstract.

“He’s a complete all-rounder!”

“Yeah.

Eunhan, thank you.”

“For what? It’s nothing!”

The more he heard, the more Jemin realized how ambiguous his role truly was.

Woohyeong didn’t even bother to respond, seemingly too lazy to refute Eunhan’s words.

“It’s because of Hyunguk-hyung, isn’t it?”

Yoonbin, who had been watching quietly, chimed in.

At the unfamiliar name, Jemin looked at Yoonbin.

“Before you came to our agency, hyung, there was a guy named Hyunguk-hyung.

He was in the debut lineup…”

Seeing how his words trailed off, he must have been a trainee cut from the debut group.

Jemin understood the situation tactfully.

“It’s not like that hyung left because of Jemin-hyung…”

“It’s true that Yu Jemin joined right after that hyung left, though.”

“Nobody knows the full circumstances behind that.

We haven’t been in proper touch since then, either.”

“Even if I came here following that hyung, that was my own choice, so I don’t regret it.

I know that hyung taking a different path was his own choice and couldn’t be helped.

But.”

Following that hyung here?

Judging by the expressions on Eunhan and James’s faces, this was a fact only Yoonbin had known.

Then Woohyeong left A Entertainment because of that hyung?

Did he really do something that reckless?

On top of that, that person was also a trainee from A Entertainment who got cut from Q2P?

Is the CEO insane?

Just as Jemin’s mind was about to fall into confusion, Woohyeong delivered a line that truly wounded Jemin’s heart.

“Just filling a headcount doesn’t mean you’re filling an empty spot, does it?”

In the end, he looked down on me because he thought I wasn’t a good enough replacement for that hyung.

What would have happened if that person had been in my place instead?

Would the group atmosphere have been better, Jeong Woohyeong easier to control, and the title track a hit right from the start?

“On top of that, your slow choreography acquisition, clutching your phone instead of focusing on vocal or dance lessons, acting fake and two-faced depending on whether the camera is on or off—should I list more?”

As Jemin’s face grew progressively darker, Yoonbin wore a helpless expression, not knowing what to do.

“I’ll prove it to you.”

Jemin looked at Woohyeong with determined eyes.

“I’ll prove that I am absolutely necessary to this team.

So when the time comes that you have no choice but to admit it, don’t do petty stuff like this.”

Inwardly, Yoonbin thought Jemin was amazing.

To hear trash talk like that and not grab the guy by the collar made him practically a saint.

Meanwhile, James had finished his bag of popcorn and was now picking up the leftover crumbs.

“Sure.

If such a moment ever comes, that is.”

To the very end, Woohyeong remained insufferable.

“So are you two all cleared up now? Cheers!”

“Eunhan, they didn’t clear things up, they just openly fought…”

Eunhan was blissfully oblivious, getting ready to raise a toast.

Yoonbin tried to stop him, giving him a meaningful look.

Eunhan, how does that look like a reconciliation to you?

“No.

Thanks, everyone.

Maybe having an open fight like this is better than holding a grudge.”

“Then shall we toast to our unity?”

“Seo Eunhan, you just want to drink, don’t you?”

“Busted?”

They refilled the glasses they had already emptied.

Yoonbin wondered if it was really okay to let things slide so haphazardly like this.

“James-hyung, please do the toast.”

“When I say Everlasting, you say 4ever, okay?”

“Yes!”

“Everlasting!”

“Cheers!”

“You guys are too much, seriously.”

“Wow, why were we so synchronized just now? We didn’t even plan this!”

“Our teamwork only syncs up at times like this…”

It was officially time to eat and drink.

As expected, Eunhan collapsed less than five minutes after taking a few sips of alcohol.

After Yoonbin moved Eunhan to the bedroom and returned, he found James trying to knock out Woohyeong and Jemin with a drinking game.

“Hyung, please read the room.”

“Why?”

Yoonbin whispered into James’s ear.

“The two of them might still have more to talk about, so why are you getting Jemin-hyung this drunk?”

“Is that so?”

“No, I’m fine? Completely sober.”

Jemin overheard because Yoonbin’s voice was a bit too loud.

“See? He’s doing better than usual.”

Cleared up grudges, my foot.

Yoonbin felt the two of them needed time for a private conversation.

The problem was that James was currently riding high on his own excitement.

“Yoonbin, let’s go a few more rounds.

This is fun.”

“Hyung, where on earth did you even learn this kind of stuff?”

“From the CEO~”

“Got it.

But once you get drunk, you’re going inside.”

Yoonbin immediately targeted James.

Since Yoonbin had been a trainee for a long time, he mentioned this was only his second time drinking alcohol.

Contrary to those words, Yoonbin turned out to be a drinking game master.

He eventually managed to knock James out.

Jemin watched the scene blankly.

‘I better listen to Yoonbin from now on.’

Supporting the limp James, Yoonbin stood up from his seat.

“We’ll head in first.

Don’t mind us and clear everything up between you two.

Just for today, I’ll pretend not to notice even if you curse and fight.”

When Yoonbin went into the room with James, only the two of them remained.

As Woohyeong suddenly stood up to head straight into the room, the door burst open, and Yoonbin poked his face out to speak.

“I explicitly told you to clear everything up before going to sleep.”

The sound of the door closing followed.

Woohyeong remained standing as if he intended to ignore it and go into the room anyway.

“What a hassle…”

Jemin grabbed Woohyeong’s forearm.

Woohyeong looked at Jemin with a look that asked what he was doing.

“What?”

“I still have a lot to say, so don’t go.”

Earlier, with the other members present, Jemin had only listened to Woohyeong’s side, but Jemin also had enough things he disliked about Woohyeong to list them all day.

An eye for an eye.

Jemin decided that even if he had to rely on alcohol, he needed to end this exhausting power struggle with Woohyeong once and for all.