“Why.”
“Do you have something to say?”
“I am not picking a fight.”
“Just asking because I am curious.”
“Yeah.”
“What are you going to use memorizing this for, anyway?”
Han Hoseong hummed.
His tone was gruff, but he really did look curious, so Woo Yeongchan did not get mad.
“We made it big with this, you know.”
“No exaggeration: the Chika Chika Song has more views than all our past MVs put together.”
“It is no stretch to call it HIGH-5’s signature song.”
“Congratulations on becoming the nation’s tooth.”
“Thanks, nation’s bacteria.”
“Anyway, we get asked to sing this song all the time.”
“From big stuff like variety shows to little stuff like elementary school kids on the street.”
“Cannot say no every time, right?”
“Ha……”
Woo Yeongchan tipped his head back and let out a sigh.
But all he saw was the dreary practice room ceiling instead of Hawaii’s blue sky, which just made him feel more suffocated.
“And we have a CF to shoot in three days.”
“What?”
“What CF?”
“Fruit and vegetable juice.”
“After that kids’ song became a hit, ads with similar concepts came flooding in.”
“Toothpaste, toothbrushes, salads.”
“That kind of thing.”
Han Hoseong sat down next to him.
He had been throwing his body around even harder than Woo Yeongchan, yet he did not look tired in the slightest.
Woo Yeongchan had figured he would be as scrawny as Kim Jeguk, but it turned out he had pretty solid stamina.
“So you have to memorize the choreography perfectly within three days.”
“You need to dance in the CF.”
“Can you do it?”
“If it is just memorization, I am already done.”
“But if it is a CF, are you saying it will actually air on TV?”
“Yeah.”
“I do not know exactly which channel or what time, though.”
In other words, footage of him dressed as some kind of fruit or vegetable, wiggling around cutely, would go out over the airwaves.
Woo Yeongchan declared:
“I am not doing it.”
“If you do not want to, I cannot force you.”
“I do not have any way to, either.”
“But Zenon, I am not threatening you.”
“Can you return your signing bonus?”
“……Signing bonus?”
“Yeah.”
“We got it paid out in advance.”
“If you bail on the shoot, you have to give it back.”
“Might even owe penalties on top of that.”
“I would have to ask the operations team for the exact details……”
Han Hoseong trailed off.
Woo Yeongchan fell silent.
Signing bonus, penalties.
He had no idea how much it added up to, but he was certain it was pocket change to his past self and a small fortune to his current one.
“Honestly, a threat would have been kinder.”
“Reality is worse.”
“Sh*t……”
“Hey, you are about to curse again.”
“So what?”
“Do I have to give up swearing to sing kids’ songs?”
“Nobody is listening.”
“Do not do it even when we are alone, Zenon.”
“If it becomes a habit, we are screwed.”
Woo Yeongchan shuddered.
The gentle voice and the model-student lecture were bad enough, but every time someone said “Zenon,” his skin crawled.
It felt like an allergic reaction to a name that did not fit his body at all.
“Do not call me Zenon.”
“Then what should I call you?”
“Woo Yeongchan.”
“Or better yet, call me Kim Jeguk.”
“……What has gotten into you?”
Han Hoseong’s eyes went wide.
“You hate being called by your real name.”
For Kim Jeguk, “Zenon” was more than a stage name.
Everyone had called him Zenon since before his debut, so it was practically his real name.
“My name is Woo Yeongchan, not Kim Jeguk.”
“……”
“And definitely not Zenon.”
“I am not some atomic number 54.”
“Why should I be called Zenon?”
“It is because you used to throw a fit if nobody called you Zenon……”
“I am Woo Yeongchan.”
He insisted again.
Han Hoseong looked at him with fresh eyes.
Could a person really change this much just because of a severe shock?
It was like seeing someone other than Zenon.
He had turned the thought over a few times yesterday and today, but this was the first time he genuinely doubted it.
“Ah sh*t, already fifteen minutes gone.”
Even the way he grumbled but still stood up was unlike Zenon.
If it had been Zenon, he would have made some excuse and stopped practicing.
‘What am I even thinking?’
Han Hoseong shook his head hard.
His judgment must have slipped because of the abnormal situation.
No matter what, how could he seriously wonder whether Woo Yeongchan had possessed Kim Jeguk?
“What are you doing?”
“Not getting up?”
“Huh?”
“Oh, one second.”
At Woo Yeongchan’s call, Han Hoseong stood.
He grabbed his phone.
“Let us take a selfie before we start.”
“Why?”
“You have got a good look right now.”
“Sweat in just the right amount.”
“Your hair is even falling nicely, like it was styled.”
“What are you talking about……”
Woo Yeongchan glanced at his face in the big mirror.
It was not because he had complaints about this body.
He genuinely could not understand what “good look” he was supposed to be having.
A man was still a man no matter how pretty, was he not?
“Hurry.”
“Strike a pose.”
“Pose?”
When he struck a bodybuilder pose showing off his muscles, Han Hoseong made a face and corrected him.
Just a plain standing pose.
Well, Woo Yeongchan figured this body did not have muscles worth flaunting anyway, so standing still was the better call.
“Stick one leg out.”
“No, not that far.”
“Angle it a little…… yeah, right there.”
After a string of directions, Han Hoseong moved in close beside Woo Yeongchan.
He was invading personal space without a care.
Woo Yeongchan was so dumbfounded he did not even feel annoyed.
Click.
Han Hoseong took a shot of their reflection in the mirror, then switched the camera to the front.
He stretched out one long arm and wrapped the other around Woo Yeongchan’s neck.
“Hey!”
“Whoa, what is wrong?”
“I am the one who is surprised!”
“Why do you touch someone’s body without saying anything?”
“Sorry if it bothered you.”
“I was just going for a shoulder hold……”
“Do not do stuff like that.”
“Okay.”
Han Hoseong looked embarrassed but did not put the phone away.
He kept snapping photos from different angles.
Then he picked a few and showed them to Woo Yeongchan.
“I am uploading these later.”
“Which one came out better, this one or this one?”
“They look the same to me.”
“Still, pick one.”
“Whichever you like.”
“I do not care.”
“It is not my face, anyway.”
If embarrassing, awkward photos of Kim Jeguk spread around the internet, it was none of Woo Yeongchan’s business.
Han Hoseong insisted, holding out the phone.
“I am posting two mirror shots and two selfies.”
“Whatever.”
Woo Yeongchan glanced at the screen.
Whatever the truth was, the two men in the photos looked pretty close.
For the next three days, Woo Yeongchan practiced obsessively.
Half of it was his own will, and the other half was not.
With Moon Haeil pointing out every mistake, Seol Itae watching him with wavering eyes, and Lee Jujin cheering him on with vague optimism, slacking off was not an option.
On top of that, Han Hoseong stayed at his side like a personal trainer.
Thanks to them, Woo Yeongchan mastered all three kids’ songs.
He got to the point where he would mutter “chika chika chi, kachi kachi po” without realizing it while brushing his teeth.
It was quite an accomplishment, but instead of pride, it only made him feel pathetic.
“Well, at least the signing bonus is safe.”
“That is a relief.”
“You bet it is!”
Lee Jujin, who had overheard Woo Yeongchan talking to himself, shouted enthusiastically.
“Once we have got the money, that is it.”
“No way we are spitting it back out.”
“The word ‘refund’ does not exist in our dictionary.”
His eyes behind the brown lenses burned with greed.
The look did not match his plump lemon costume at all.
“……You would have done better going into management.”
“What is with the sudden management talk?”
“I majored in business…… ah, forget it.”
Woo Yeongchan looked away from Lee Jujin.
Now that he thought about it, he was supposed to go back to school next semester.
If he did not get his body back by then, he had no idea what would happen.
‘I am not going to get expelled at this rate, am I?’
The thought was surreal yet entirely too real, and a chill ran down his spine.
Just then, a blunt voice cut in.
“Put your outfit on.”
Woo Yeongchan turned.
Moon Haeil was standing there in a tomato costume.
He looked even more ridiculous than Lee Jujin.
“If you cannot get it on by yourself, want some help?”
It was Seol Itae, standing next to Moon Haeil.
He was wearing a cabbage costume with delicate leaf detailing.
All three of them looked completely absurd.
Unfortunately, Woo Yeongchan could not laugh at them.
He was the strawberry.
“Of all things, a strawberry……”
He hated it, but there was no helping it.
The others had assigned him the strawberry because he was the shortest of the five.
It was not as if he wanted to be a lemon, tomato, or cabbage instead.
“You used to like strawberries.”
“Did your taste change?”
“It is not my taste that is the problem.”
“It is the costume.”
“Do I really have to wear a strawberry stuffed this full of cotton?”
“What is wrong with it?”
“It is cute.”
“It looks nice.”
Lee Jujin answered without missing a beat.
Woo Yeongchan gave up on the conversation and slowly accepted reality.
He pulled the strawberry costume over his head.
It was unnecessarily bulky, and the arm holes were so narrow he could barely find them.
As he twisted around in irritation, Lee Jujin and Seol Itae took pity and came over to help.
“Phew.”
Woo Yeongchan finally got the strawberry outfit on and caught his breath.
No sooner had he relaxed than Lee Jujin held out a headband.
“Got to have the stem on top.”
“Otherwise you will not look fresh.”
“……”
Woo Yeongchan glared at the headband, then snatched it.
The strawberry stem attached to the middle wiggled.
“What are you all doing?”
The waiting room door opened and Han Hoseong walked in.
He was wearing an apple costume.
By Woo Yeongchan’s standards, it was the least embarrassing getup of the five.
If You Notice any translation issues or inconsistency in names, genders, or POV etc? Let us know here in the comments or on our Discord server, and we’ll fix it in current and future chapters. Thanks for helping us to improve! 🙂