Chapter 23: Rotten Bastards

Yoon Ji-heon kept his mouth tightly shut and lowered his eyes, and everyone else fell into silence along with him.

Strangely, though, it didn’t seem like an atmosphere of discomfort.

No, rather…

“Wouldn’t ‘July Snow’ be okay too?”

As Seo Jun-jae cut in with a bright smile, Yoon Ji-heon slowly nodded.

Perhaps Yoon Ji-heon had had that song in mind from the beginning too.

Seeing Yoon Ji-heon seem to agree with Seo Jun-jae’s opinion, Ha Jin-woo looked flustered and asked why.

Since Jae-seo had also thought that song suited their team the least among the eleven, he found it odd and looked at Yoon Ji-heon and Seo Jun-jae.

“It would definitely generate the most buzz, wouldn’t it?”

As Yoon Ji-heon said, if Yoon Ji-heon and Lee Chan-seo, who was from the same agency as A.C.E, were on the same team and sang an A.C.E song, it would definitely become a hot topic.

But he wondered if this team really needed to go that far to generate buzz.

Besides, ‘July Snow’ was the brightest and lightest song among the eleven mission songs.

It felt a bit wasteful for a team that had gathered several of the most outstanding participants in each position—dance, rap—to do a song like that.

“The song is good too.”

When Seo Jun-jae suddenly added this naturally unnatural comment, Yoon Ji-heon turned his head toward him.

As the two made eye contact, Jae-seo got the feeling some kind of silent agreement was passing between them.

Why are they so set on doing ‘July Snow’?

Just as he was inwardly curious about the reason, he looked up and his gaze met Seo Jun-jae’s smiling eyes.

He flinched involuntarily, and Seo Jun-jae’s seemingly gentle eyes curved down brightly.

“Jae-seo, what do you think?”

…What?

In an instant, eight pairs of eyes converged on him.

“You’ve been quiet for a while.

Jae-seo, I was asking what you think about ‘July Snow’.”

He looked around—Yeo Hyun-tae next to Seo Jun-jae, Lee Chan-seo across from him, Jang Young-bin beside him, even that talkative Chae Han-ul—all were there, so why was he the only one being asked…?

“Uh, well, ‘July Snow’ is good.

I think it’s good.”

He wasn’t particularly keen on it, but it wasn’t like there was another song he wanted to do, and above all, with Seo Jun-jae and Yoon Ji-heon wanting to do it, it felt burdensome to step forward and say he didn’t want to.

Just as he gave a half-hearted answer, Chae Han-ul, who had been listening next to him, quickly jumped in.

“If Jae-seo hyung likes it, I like it too!”

…Han-ul, please, let’s not do this.

“I’m okay with it too.”

Even Lee Chan-seo, who had been quiet all along, put forth his agreement, and the momentum tilted toward ‘July Snow’.

“Come to think of it, Ji-heon hyung’s ‘Saga’ yesterday got an amazing reaction, so wouldn’t ‘July Snow’ be okay too?”

“Oh, right!

It hit number one on real-time popular videos!”

He thought that was different from this, but since they were going to do it anyway, it was probably better to be positive, so he kept his mouth shut.

At this point, Ha Jin-woo, who had originally picked ‘July Snow’ as the song he wanted to do the least, seemed to have the same thought and eventually raised the white flag.

“Then are we doing ‘July Snow‘?

If our guesses are right, that’s number 9, right?”

With everyone’s agreement, Seo Jun-jae, holding their team’s sticker, walked toward the panels.

The gazes of participants from other teams, who had been discussing among themselves, instantly focused on him.

When he attached the sticker to panel number 9 without hesitation, they gasped and looked back at them with surprised eyes.

Probably reactions like –

‘Yoon Ji-heon is doing an A.C.E song with ND’s Lee Chan-seo?’

‘They’re doing that song with that combination?’

Well, it wasn’t strange—even Ha Jin-woo, right there on their own team, still had a face that said he couldn’t understand it.

Seo Jun-jae and Yoon Ji-heon were the ones who wanted to do it first, so they’ll handle it themselves.

Putting all the responsibility on those two, he bowed his head to avoid the questioning glances from the other participants.

He resolved inwardly to just do his assigned role adequately, so he could escape unscathed without getting entangled with anyone.

***

…Damn it.

Holding the bathroom door handle, he bit his lip.

He shouldn’t have come back to this unlucky bathroom.

Regret washed over him, but it was too late.

Inside the same bathroom where he had overheard Lee Kwon’s gossip before, familiar voices were coming from two people.

Feeling his resolve from just 30 minutes ago crumbling to dust, he eavesdropped on the conversation flowing from inside.

“What’s your game?”

Yoon Ji-heon.

“Game?

What do you mean?”

And Seo Jun-jae.

…God!

He screamed inwardly, calling out to a god he had never once believed in in his life.

Why not just turn around and leave instead of eavesdropping here?

If it were up to him, he would have left already.

If only his right hand weren’t stuck to the handle like glue, refusing to let go.

“Don’t act like you don’t understand and answer me properly.

You know those A.C.E bastards?”

“Hmm, no.”

“…Hey, you chose that song for the same reason I did, right?

To make those bastards look like fools.”

Ah, please….

He really, really didn’t want to know what they were thinking.

“Then why the hell do you make eyes like that at people you don’t even know?”

“…Are you worried I might act like a rotten bastard again and screw up the team like before?”

When Yoon Ji-heon didn’t answer, Seo Jun-jae let out a small laugh.

To anyone listening, it would have sounded like the gentlest voice in the world.

“Don’t worry.

I’m not stupid enough to show that side of me.”

…So he’s admitting he’s a rotten bastard, is that it?

“And A.C.E?

I don’t know them, and frankly, I’m not interested.”

“Then why—”

“Do you think you’ll be able to debut?”

Cutting off Yoon Ji-heon’s words, the low question that flowed out seemed sarcastic at first glance, but strangely, beneath it, rather than doubt, there was conviction.

An arrogant conviction that in the end, both of them would debut—something no one could deny, something infinitely close to fact.

“So, what?

If we debut together, we’ll be linked whether we want it or not?”

“I hate troublesome things.

It’s easier to nip it in the bud.”

Was that why they insisted on doing ‘July Snow’?

To preemptively turn them into a ridiculous group, worse than trainees, so it would be annoying to be associated with them later if they debuted?

In the end, buzz or whatever, they were just planning to use them for their own benefit.

“Those pretentious bastards.”

Just as he muttered quietly enough that they couldn’t hear inside, the strength in his right hand suddenly gave out, and his hand fell away from the door handle.

If he stayed here longer, who knew what kind of tricks he might fall victim to.

With his hand now free, he moved his body back and carefully, but quickly, moved his steps so as not to make a sound.

…Was there some kind of water vein running under that bathroom?

Muttering absurd nonsense to himself, he renewed his resolve never to come to this bathroom again, no matter what happened.

Having taken a long detour from the 3rd floor down to the 1st and back up to the 3rd to use the bathroom, when he returned to the practice room, all his team members except him were sitting in a circle in the center.

The spot next to Chae Han-ul was conspicuously left wide open, but pretending not to see it, he squeezed himself between Lee Chan-seo and Lee Woo-rim, who were closest to the door.

“Ah!

Jae-seo hyung!”

Ignoring Lee Woo-rim’s exaggerated shout and Chae Han-ul’s thoroughly disappointed expression, he settled into his seat.

Just as he was finding some peace of mind among these minors under 19 with low favorability, he made eye contact with Seo Jun-jae, who was sitting diagonally across from him.

As always, it was a smile that looked nothing but bright on the surface, but perhaps because he had something to feel guilty about, it felt uncomfortably unsettling.

…He didn’t get caught, did he?

From what he’d experienced so far, Seo Jun-jae seemed pretty sharp.

Just in case, he awkwardly smiled back and then, pretending to be absorbed in the lyric sheet that had somehow appeared in his hand, he buried his head deeply, blocking Seo Jun-jae from his view.

His appearance must have seemed genuinely focused on the lyrics, because Lee Woo-rim suddenly spoke to him.

“Looks like you found a part you like, hyung?”

At Lee Woo-rim’s question, he quickly scanned the lyric sheet and pointed to sub-vocal 6, which had the smallest amount of lines.

Curious about his answer, Lee Chan-seo also tilted his head toward the paper Jae-seo was holding.

“I think sub-vocal 2 or 3 would suit you better than sub-vocal 6, hyung.”

“Right.

Jae-seo hyung, have you not listened to this song before?”

“I have.”

Lee Woo-rim, with a face that seemed to say, ‘How can you pick that part if you’ve listened to it?’, soon made an “Ah!” sound and wore an expression of understanding.

“Hyung, you said you haven’t been receiving vocal training for long, right?

That must be it.”

Lee Chan-seo followed up with, “Ah, it was two months, wasn’t it?” and nodded in agreement.

Completely unable to understand what they were talking about, Jae-seo frowned.

Seeing this, Lee Woo-rim hurriedly opened his mouth with an “Oops” expression.

“No, it’s not that we’re ignoring you or anything.”

…I’m not even offended?

“It’s just that you need to sing a lot and listen a lot to know what kind of songs your voice suits.”

Thinking he was actually upset, the two teenagers even waved their hands apologetically while watching his reaction.

Feeling a bit sorry for them, he nodded and answered that he understood.

They immediately returned to their original state and started chattering away.

“Hyung, you have a good tone, so like Chan-seo said, I think sub-vocal 2 or 3 would really suit you?

Ah, but I think 2 might be better than 3!”

“Don’t you think 3 is better?”

And then they began a heated debate among themselves about why this part was better and that part was good.

He wondered why they were getting so worked up over his part when they hadn’t even sorted out their own parts yet, but as soon as the actual part distribution began, the reason immediately became clear.