Chapter 10: When the Body Refuses to Remember

After watching them greet each other and start talking, Kim Sunju’s face visibly relaxed.

“Today’s an off day, so everyone get some rest.
If anything comes up, call me right away.
Got it?”

“Hyung, can we use the practice room today?”

“The practice room?”

At Shim Eunchan’s sudden question, Kim Sunju’s eyes widened.
When he asked again to make sure, Eunchan nodded and continued.

“I was thinking of practicing a bit.”

“Today?
You’re not going to rest?”

“If I move my body, useless thoughts don’t creep in.”

It sounded reasonable, but honestly, he also wanted to check whether he’d forgotten the choreography since it had been so long.

“Go with me, Eunchan.
I’ll watch you.”

Moon Sebyeol’s voice genuinely surprised Shim Eunchan.
He hadn’t expected Sebyeol to step up like that right away.
They’d known each other for years, but he hadn’t thought Sebyeol’s emotional recovery would be this fast.
Especially since he’d drunk quite a bit the night before, which would’ve been rough on his body.

Once Moon Sebyeol volunteered, the other members also said they’d go to the practice room together.
That was when—

“Can I come along too?”

Everyone’s gaze snapped to Hyun Wooyoung.

“I want to learn the new choreography.
Ah, only if it’s not inappropriate.”

“Inappropriate?
Not at all.
It’s fine, it’s fine.”

At Hyun Wooyoung’s careful addition, Moon Sebyeol smiled and agreed without a second thought.

Moon Sebyeol had always been weak to people who worked hard, so Wooyoung’s words were clearly a plus.
The look in Sebyeol’s eyes as he watched Wooyoung immediately softened.

Kim Sunju, who had been observing everything quietly, couldn’t hide the smile creeping onto his lips.
It was a complex smile—part pride, part relief, part something else entirely.

After a moment of silence, Kim Sunju spoke.

“You mean the main practice room, right?
Of course you can use it anytime.
You know this—you guys are our company’s only idol group.”

“…Hyung.
Did you just say ‘of course’ like that?”

“What?
What’s wrong with that?”

“It’s kind of a phrase that gives away your age.”

“My age?”

As Moon Sebyeol joked with an exaggerated grimace, Kim Sunju reacted more defensively than usual.

Taking advantage of the moment, Shim Eunchan handed out the hangover drinks he’d bought.
The members accepted them gratefully and downed them in one go.

“Our team isn’t usually like this, but something happened yesterday, so we drank a bit.”

Jung Minyu smiled awkwardly as he explained to Hyun Wooyoung, clearly feeling strange about drinking hangover remedies at a first meeting.
It wasn’t a detailed explanation, but Wooyoung seemed to get the gist and nodded slightly as he replied, “It’s fine.”

“I’ll drive you to the practice room, then.”

“We’d appreciate that.”

“Alright.
Wait a second.
I’ll get ready and come right out.”

“Hey—Ryu Seo-oh.
That’s why I told you to shower earlier.
What were you even doing?”

Ryu Seo-oh hurried into the bathroom, and Moon Sebyeol heckled him from behind.

Before they knew it, a much larger group than expected was heading to the practice room.
Originally, Eunchan had planned to go alone and quietly practice some dancing.
But this wasn’t bad either.
In the end, syncing up sooner rather than later could only help.

Shim Eunchan glanced at Do Junseo.
He still looked unconvinced, but there wasn’t anything more Eunchan could do for him.

The members finished getting ready faster than usual and headed out together.

Pushing open the steel door, a stagnant, icy air rushed out from inside the practice room.
Weak to the cold, Shim Eunchan shivered violently, changed his shoes with difficulty, and buried his face into his padded jacket like a turtle retreating into its shell.

They turned on the heater, but since the weather was brutally cold, it would take time to warm up.
Rather than waiting, it would be faster to move and work up a sweat.

“You’re freezing that badly.
That’s why I keep telling you to gain some weight.”

“……”

It was so cold he didn’t even feel like opening his mouth.
He was wearing a padded jacket—why was it still this cold?
Just how many degrees below zero was it right now?
By feel alone, it seemed like minus twenty.
Stuffing his hands into his pockets, Shim Eunchan stood glued to the radiator, completely still, like a tree.

Winter was an especially brutal season for him.
Seeing Eunchan trembling, Do Junseo wrapped his arms around him from behind.

“Gain some weight already.
Stop talking about dieting.
Build some muscle or something.
Then you wouldn’t feel the cold as much, huh?”

“M-muscle, my ass.
I hate working out.”

“There you go again.”

When Do Junseo swayed side to side, Eunchan, trapped in his arms, wobbled along with him.
He’d been silent just moments ago, only to suddenly cling like this.
They’d always been close as same-age friends, but today he was being especially extra.

This was Do Junseo’s habit—trying to erase awkwardness like this.

Shim Eunchan noticed that Junseo was carefully avoiding turning his head toward Hyun Wooyoung.

It wouldn’t be easy to accept a new member on the very day it was announced.
Eunchan understood that and had no intention of blaming him.
He knew well enough that everyone moved at their own pace.

Shim Eunchan tilted his head and lightly knocked his shoulder against the head resting there.

“Ow.
I’m dying.”

Do Junseo exaggeratedly collapsed onto the practice room floor.

“Junseo, get up.
Eunchan always has it rough in winter.
Should we brew you some herbal medicine?”

Jung Minyu came over and pulled Junseo up.
The others, seemingly unfazed by the cold, had already taken off their outerwear and were warming up.
Shim Eunchan shook his head.

“It’s fine.
I’ll just stay like this for a bit.”

“Be careful not to overheat.”

“Okay.”

As he replied, Eunchan felt a gaze on him and turned his head.
It was Hyun Wooyoung.
Wooyoung had also taken off his thick jacket and was loosening up, all while watching Eunchan.

What are you staring at.
Never seen someone freezing before?

With his mood as rough as the cold, Eunchan didn’t avoid his gaze.
After lingering for the span of two blinks, Wooyoung finally looked away.

“We’ll go first, so Wooyoung, just watch once.”

“Yes.
Understood.”

“Eunchan, you come line up too.”

“Yees—.”

He couldn’t keep clinging to the radiator forever.
Dragging his feet, he started taking off his padded jacket, only for Moon Sebyeol to walk up and yank it off in one motion.
With a yelp, Eunchan shuddered and hurriedly took his place in formation.

The song was titled Get Ambitious.
A moombahton trap track that opened with the aching voice of main vocalist Do Junseo.

—In my memories, you’re ambitious like ice

Do Junseo stepped forward from between the five members standing with their backs turned, finished his part, and joined the formation again.
The six members began their synchronized choreography to the heavy beat.

The steps were difficult, with countless small details to pay attention to.
Determined to really show something this time, Moon Sebyeol had crafted the choreography with ambition, and its high difficulty made it hard to master.

To be honest, back then, Shim Eunchan had gone on stage without fully mastering the choreography to a satisfying level.
At the time, he thought that was the best he could do.
Looking back now, that wasn’t true at all.
He’d merely believed he’d done his best.

Because of the aftermath of a botched cosmetic procedure, Eunchan hadn’t been able to focus properly on dancing, and even Moon Sebyeol, the main dancer, hadn’t pushed him hard.

As Eunchan traced those old memories, he worried about what would happen if he couldn’t keep up with the choreography now.
That worry quickly became reality.

Sadly, there was no miracle where his body simply remembered everything.
He hadn’t forgotten it entirely, but the movements resurfaced in fragments, full of gaps, leaving him barely able to follow along.

This is… bad.
Really bad.

It was a good thing he’d checked in advance.

The song hadn’t even been released yet, so there was no way to review the choreography beforehand.
In the end, he had to match it with the members—and this wasn’t something he could half-ass.
It was better to admit he couldn’t do it properly.
If things were going to break, better to break early.
Hiding it would only make things worse.

Moon Sebyeol shot him a hawk-eyed glance every time Eunchan missed a move or fell half a beat behind.
At first, his expression was stern, but as the mistakes piled up, it shifted into something closer to concern.
The other members were the same.
Their gazes toward Eunchan filled with confusion and worry.

Thankfully, the goal was to show Wooyoung the choreography once as a whole, so they didn’t stop and went all the way through the song.
If they’d paused every time Eunchan messed up, it would’ve taken hours.

His eyes met Hyun Wooyoung’s.
The look seemed incredulous.
Fair enough—if their positions were reversed, Eunchan probably would’ve reacted the same way.

Being embarrassed wasn’t the important thing.
If you ran away and covered things up because of embarrassment, you’d end up doing nothing at all.

Why did you even regress?

For that, time was too precious.

Gritting his teeth, Shim Eunchan forced himself to keep following the choreography.