Chapter 13: The Kindness That Slips In Unnoticed

“Yes.”

“Eunchan-hyung, come eat dinner.”

The one who opened the door and spoke was Hyun Woo-young.

It had been a week since he officially joined the team.

Hyun Woo-young had already moved into the dorm and was sharing a room with Jung Min-yu.
His family home was in Gyeonggi Province, but rather than wasting time commuting back and forth every day, he readily accepted the suggestion to live together in the dorm. He packed his things and moved in the very next day after their first meeting.

Eunchan had worried a little—what if things get awkward the next time we meet?—but Woo-young greeted him as naturally as if nothing had ever happened.
He wasn’t the type to act thoughtlessly in front of others, and realizing that, Eunchan also chose to act as though that day had never occurred.
It was an unspoken agreement.

Hyun Woo-young blended into the team smoothly without needing anyone’s help.

His skills were excellent to begin with, and on top of that, he worked hard without cutting corners. It didn’t take long for the members to look on him favorably. One might have thought his politeness was just an act, but there was no way anyone could keep that up twenty-four hours a day for an entire week.

Even Shim Eunchan—who hadn’t been particularly impressed by his first impression—eventually accepted that this is just who Hyun Woo-young is.
Another reason was that after that first day, Woo-young neither bristled at Eunchan nor tried to appeal to him in any special way.

The change applied to Do Jun-seo as well. His stiffness and awkwardness had eased noticeably.

Eunchan felt relieved that it hadn’t taken as long as he’d feared.
Team chemistry wasn’t something you could ignore, after all. Subtle tensions between members always showed on stage. Unless something drastic happened, they would probably grow even closer before the comeback.

Just like now—calling each other out for meals like this.
Even though Eunchan himself had decided to skip dinner.

He’d said he wasn’t eating tonight because of tomorrow’s schedule, but it seemed that message hadn’t reached Woo-young.
Then again, it wasn’t exactly something everyone needed to know.

“Ah… yeah. Thanks.”

He marked the script he’d been reading and closed it.

He wasn’t planning to eat, but going out to greet everyone and then coming back didn’t sound so bad. Thinking about it, there was no real reason he had to hole himself up just because he was skipping a meal.

“Let’s go.”

Standing up, Eunchan lightly tapped Woo-young’s shoulder.

He could just say hello, then return and continue reading the script.

Woo-young looked at him as if he had something to say, then turned his gaze away.
He probably wanted Eunchan to drop the honorifics. Woo-young had suggested it before—never outright, but likely after that first day, he’d thought Eunchan was deliberately keeping his distance.

But this was more comfortable for Eunchan.
If he spoke casually, he worried he might slip up.

It wasn’t that he was treating Woo-young specially either—he’d spoken formally to Lee Haemin before as well.

The only person he’d ever spoken casually with was Do Jun-seo, whom he’d met early in their trainee days when they were the same age.

Back then, after seeing a senior trainee get their contract terminated over an attitude controversy, Eunchan had decided on a personal rule: use honorifics. He even tried that with Jun-seo—only to be mercilessly mocked—so he eventually went back to speaking casually with him.
With Jun-seo alone.

After that, there was no one else he dropped honorifics with. The other members sometimes seemed a little hurt by it, but since they understood it wasn’t about distancing himself, they never complained.

When they stepped into the living room, the members were already seated around the fold-out table, eating.

Sniffing the air, Eunchan could tell tonight’s menu was kimchi jjigae and grilled pork neck.

He couldn’t actually tell the difference between pork belly and pork neck by smell.
He just knew Ryu Seo-oh preferred pork neck over pork belly, and whenever they grilled meat, they usually bought that cut because of him.

At PotenHigh, it sometimes felt like “even a ghost looks better after dying full” could be their company motto. During off-seasons, they let B the 1 eat whatever they wanted. So much so that food expenses probably made up more than half their budget.
Even with idol diet management, six young men at their peak were still six young men. It couldn’t have been cheap—yet no one ever made them feel bad about it.

That, too, was one reason rumors about PotenHigh’s CEO being a chaebol carried weight.

Looking at the members huddled together, Eunchan thought they resembled a cluster of small king oyster mushrooms, each about the size of a finger joint.

…Okay, maybe king oyster mushrooms was a bit harsh.

Tilting his head, he wondered why, when one or two of them could have eaten on the sofa, they were all crammed around a narrow four-seat table. It was funny, but it also made his chest feel oddly tight.

Woo-young, who’d arrived at the table first, didn’t sit down right away. Wondering why, Eunchan looked at him.

“……”

“……?”

As they stood there staring at each other in confusion, Woo-young spoke first.

“Eunchan-hyung, sit down.”

“…Ah, no. I’m fine. You sit. I’m not eating anyway.”

At that, Woo-young’s face flickered with confusion.

“Huh? You said you weren’t eating—then why’d you come out?”

Do Jun-seok asked, pausing with meat halfway to his mouth. Ryu Seo-oh also looked up.

“Eunchan, don’t be like that. Since you’re here, at least eat a little. You barely ate lunch too, didn’t you?”

“If I eat dinner, my face swells. Tomorrow’s our first greeting—I want to look decent.”

Hearing that, Jung Min-yu nodded with a sympathetic expression. After telling them to enjoy their meal, Eunchan lightly tapped Woo-young’s shoulder and returned to his room.

He wasn’t exactly full—but it was manageable.

Even with tomorrow being his first script reading, maybe thanks to the mental buff, his hands weren’t cold, his heart wasn’t racing uncontrollably. Sitting on the bed, he picked up the script again.

He’d barely finished a single sentence—

“Eunchan-hyung.”

“Huh? What’s wrong?”

Sensing a shadow fall over his vision, Eunchan looked up. At some point, Woo-young had come in and was standing there. Seeing his hesitation, Eunchan marked the page with a finger, closed the script slightly, and asked again.

“Did you… not tell me on purpose?”

“Tell you what?”

“That you weren’t eating dinner.”

“Ah.”

Eunchan parted his lips slightly. Woo-young must have come straight here without eating.
He usually seemed gentle and soft-spoken, but sometimes his temper flared suddenly—like at their first meeting, and like now.

It hadn’t been a big deal to Eunchan, but it clearly felt different from Woo-young’s perspective.

Well. That happens.

“If you’d told me when I came to get you, you wouldn’t have had to come out and then go back in again.”

Why is he this upset?

Eunchan felt Woo-young’s reaction was a bit much—but everyone had days like that. Days when even small things felt irritating.
For Woo-young, today seemed to be one of those days. If he felt ignored, that alone was enough reason. It wasn’t something worth taking offense at, and Eunchan had no desire to turn it into some kind of power play.

So he relaxed his face and put on a lightly friendly smile.

“Hey, don’t be like that. Thanks to that, we got to talk like this—just the two of us again.”

Woo-young shut his mouth tightly. His lips moved as if he wanted to say something, then pressed together again.

…Hmm. Maybe that was too much.

Just as regret brushed his ankle, like dipping a foot into hot broth, Woo-young spoke.

“Do you… skip meals often?”

After a brief pause, his voice had softened.

“Not often. It’s just because I’ve got something tomorrow.”

“But if you have something tomorrow, shouldn’t you eat even more? If you don’t eat enough, you’ll ruin your health.”

“I can handle it. …No, I’m kidding. I don’t starve myself that badly. I’m used to dieting for weight control.”

The atmosphere had eased, and Woo-young’s overly serious concern amused him. Eunchan smiled with his eyes. No matter how you looked at it, this was someone worrying about him.

“But Woo-young, you’re kind. The hyungs used to wave fried chicken right in front of my face just to get me to eat.”

He hadn’t eaten it in the end, but Eunchan said it lightly. Woo-young’s expression turned strange.

“In front of someone who’s fasting?”

“Yes. That’s how tough I grew up.”

He answered jokingly. Back then, it had been painful enough to bring tears to his eyes—but it was early in their debut days, and he didn’t hold a grudge over it.
At the time, he’d dieted recklessly. So recklessly that the other members—watching him—had shaken freshly fried drumsticks in front of him, asking if they didn’t look delicious.

Now he could laugh and say you shouldn’t diet like that, but back then, the others had genuinely worried about his health.

“So it’s fine. Don’t worry about it. …Oh, right. Woo-young—you’re going to the Idol Sports Championships too, right?”