Chapter 14: On the Plane

“I’ll just do the rap, so don’t worry and practice hard.”

Seo Ye-jun flicked Jun’s forehead lightly, then stood up.

“Where are you going all of a sudden?”

Without answering Jun’s question, Ye-jun just waved his hand and headed to the practice room.

Ha-hyeon, who had started practicing before the other members, was leaning against the mirror for a moment.

“How is it?”

“I’ve learned all the choreography.”

Ye-jun thought he was the best in the world, and he rarely acknowledged others easily. Ha-hyeon was one of the few people Ye-jun considered truly impressive. He was born with talent and worked incredibly hard, but his good looks played the biggest part in earning Ye-jun’s approval.

Ye-jun considered his own face his greatest asset, and he was obsessed with looks down to his bones.

“Hey, even if you’re frustrated while practicing, take it easy.”

“What are you talking about? I haven’t even started yet.”

Maybe his body was stiff from practicing alone, because Ha-hyeon tapped different parts of his body as he asked. Even roughly, he practiced the other members’ parts too so he could teach them, so he was clearly several times more tired than the others.

“We’re all doing well right now, so let’s take it slow.”

At the caring leader’s words, Ha-hyeon’s expression changed strangely. It was the moment his suspicion became certainty.

Ye-jun had become strange. He needed to revisit the hypotheses he had set aside.

First, Ye-jun had an accident alone without anyone knowing and became strange somewhere. Second, someone else had possessed Ye-jun’s body.

“I’m going out to get some ice cream.”

‘No, maybe not.’ Ha-hyeon shook his head and played the music again.

To borrow Jun’s phrase, the “practice that nearly killed us” ended successfully.

Thanks to moving busily, they were able to learn the choreography quickly. They barely got Ha-hyeon’s okay, and without time to catch their breath, went straight to the airport for the music video shoot.

It wasn’t a public schedule, so they thought they could board the plane quietly, but somehow the information leaked and there were fans with cameras. Ye-jun, in comfortable and rumpled clothes, even waved his hand before quietly boarding the plane.

“Where are you going to sit, hyung?”

Hwi-young, who usually preferred aisle seats, asked.

Ji-gu and Ha-hyeon were already sitting next to each other, and Jun had already taken the window seat.

‘That leaves the middle.’

Ye-jun didn’t like feeling cramped, so he always sat by the window or aisle. Ye-jun stared at Hwi-young, who was asking while watching his reaction, then quietly sat in the middle.

“You sit there.”

“Are you sure? You always sit in the aisle or by the window, hyung.”

“I just sat there by chance. Don’t you know I don’t care about seats?”

Looking at Ye-jun shrug, Hwi-young briefly recalled a flight from the end of last year. The image of Jun and Ye-jun arguing over who would sit by the window was still vivid in his mind. They had fought so childishly that he still remembered it.

Hwi-young looked at Ye-jun with doubt, then just sat in the aisle. If he says to sit, then whatever.

Ye-jun sat in his seat and fastened his belt, twisting his head this way and that. Flying was always uncomfortable. He had traveled abroad often as a child, but he had never once flown in a seat like this.

Of course, even this seat was much better than economy, but Ye-jun wasn’t satisfied.

“Enjoy a comfortable flight.”

The announcement rang out from overhead. Yeah, it was always a comfortable flight, just like that announcement said.

The seat was practically a bed, with a high partition for privacy, and each seat had its own air conditioning and air purifier, so it was even pleasant. What Ye-jun liked most was the spacious table and the luxurious in-flight meal that came with it. After a comfortable meal, he would close his eyes and open them to find himself on the other side of the world.

Even if he was a big rookie who made the company’s stock price soar, they couldn’t put him in first class on every flight. He could have paid out of pocket to move seats, but Ye-jun didn’t bother.

But now he thought maybe he would start doing that. Before the regression, he had been a veteran top idol in the country and always flew first class, so the sudden downgrade wasn’t easy to get used to.

Ye-jun was uncomfortable, but surprisingly, less than thirty minutes after takeoff, three of them were asleep. As expected, the one sitting stiffly with his eyes open was Ji-gu.

Having been on the same team for a long time, they had flown together countless times, but unless it was a long flight, he rarely saw Ji-gu sleep. Even then, he mostly only slept the bare minimum.

“Not sleeping?”

Ye-jun casually asked Ji-gu, who was sitting a little apart. And before an answer came, he pulled Jun’s blanket, which was about to fall to the floor, back up to his chest.

“You’ve been taking really good care of Jun lately, hyung.”

Ji-gu had turned his head at Ye-jun’s sudden question, and seeing him pull the blanket back up, he craned his neck from over there and asked. Because his voice was small and not properly audible, Ye-jun frowned and asked.

“Why are you talking so quietly?”

“In case Ha-hyeon hyung wakes up.”

Ye-jun looked at Ji-gu, who was gazing down at the seat next to him with loving eyes, and his expression cooled.

Yeah. It wasn’t the first or second time. No matter what anyone said, he was the reliable leader who had spent ten years with them, so he had to be able to overlook things like that now.

“Aren’t you the one taking care of him right now?”

Ji-gu, who had fixed the blanket covering Ha-hyeon and placed a pillow in his empty arms, continued.

“It’s because he didn’t used to do that.”

“I’ve always taken good care of him.”

“Not to the point of pulling up a slipping blanket.”

Ji-gu gestured with his eyes at Jun, who was sleeping. Ye-jun loved and cherished his younger members, but he didn’t fuss over them like a baby bird. He didn’t even clean up after himself and lived roughly, to the point that the members took turns organizing his things.

“It’s because you’re worried, right?”

“About what?”

“The hospital.”

Everyone around was staff, and there was no one in particular to hear, but maybe out of consideration for those nearby, he spoke without a subject. But Ye-jun understood immediately.

“Don’t try to ask first. He seems to want to hide it.”

“Do I look that clueless?”

“I know you’re quick to notice, hyung, but just in case. Everyone has circumstances they can’t talk about, stories they want to hide from others.”

He was right. Even Ye-jun himself changed the subject whenever anything about his parents came up. It wasn’t particularly embarrassing or painful, but he didn’t want to tell others or receive attention.

Everyone had their own reasons, so not asking before they spoke was basic courtesy.

“I’m saying this because you seem especially worried about him.”

Ji-gu had seen it exactly. The guilt Ye-jun felt was exactly about 105 times what the members felt. He really cherished this younger member, and it bothered him that he hadn’t known even after regressing once. He was sorry that he had never even thought to show interest, despite never having heard a word about his parents.

“I’m not worried, so you sleep too.”

For now, he decided to support the precarious body. If he ever felt like opening up, then quietly listening was the leader’s duty. For now, he just hoped they could finish the shoot without problems and return.

Feeling uneasy, Ye-jun glanced at the window.

‘It’ll go well.’

With things constantly happening that were completely different from the past, there was nothing he could be sure of. Whether Ye-jun slept uncomfortably or tossed and turned, the plane kept moving forward.

While thinking that on the next flight he absolutely had to upgrade to first class, he fiddled with his phone with the screen off when something stirred next to him.

It was Jun, just waking up.

“You woke up right on time.”

“How much longer is left?”

Ye-jun watched Jun groan for a while, as if his eyes wouldn’t open as well as he wanted, then turned on his phone screen. He checked that there wasn’t much time left until the scheduled landing and answered.

“Not much left. We’ll land soon.”

“Wow.”

At the words that they would land soon, Jun put his face to the window. They were still high in the sky, so he wouldn’t see anything, but his back looked restless as he looked around as if a beautiful view were spread out right in front of him.

“Fix your hair before you look.”

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