Chapter 31: A Bad Habit

JemiForOnce @hanjemisrealgay

Speaking seriously here

It feels like Q2P issued an order for them to stay apart

Because HanJem is real-life gay

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EggAccount @egqwoipehtDekq

It’s literally just Yoo Jemin laying low after taking a beating for business gaying, what are you on about lol

The top mega-ship, HanJem—which had been churning out content almost every single day—hit a sudden crisis.

This happened because Jemin, spooked by the backlash over his excessive business gay act, went out of his way to avoid even standing near Eunhan.

Though only a few days had passed, for the HanJem fandom, where legendary moments used to drop daily, it was a massive blow.

‘This is going to look way too unnatural…’

Jemin knew it, but he was too conscious of public opinion to help it. He figured he should move his seat next to James-hyung for a while instead.

After all, the space around James-hyung was an absolute RPS-free zone.

“Aigoo~ 4ever! Aren’t you the sons raised by our Morning Train!”

“Thank you so much~”

Back before they blew up, they had only ever appeared on a single radio show.

Returning to that same radio program as a way to repay the favor, the host remembered everything this time—from the group’s name down to each individual member’s name.

“Sit next to me.”

Woohyung spoke toward Jemin. It was simply because they were currently in a period of strict monitoring and close observation regarding Yoo Jemin.

Jemin quickly scanned the seating arrangement.

‘What should I do?’

Jemin wanted to sit somewhere away from both Woohyung and Eunhan.

However, to do that, he would have to take the center seat and push the two of them to the sides. Since that was impossible, he chose to sit next to Jung Woohyung instead.

The order was Yunbin – Eunhan – Woohyung – Jemin – James.

[4ever Kim Giho’s Morning Train Thread! (Comments 999+)]

• Look at Seo Eunhan’s puffy face lol Ah so cute, we’re probably gonna see his swelling go down in real-time again lol

• HanJem is sitting apart again today…

• Didn’t Jung Woohyung just pat the seat next to him? Don’t tell me he told him to sit next to him again? I’m losing my mind, this obsessive top bastard;

Perhaps because it was being broadcast as a visible radio show, the response was burning hot even before it started.

“Today on Kim Giho’s Morning Train! We finally have them back. 4ever, who returned after hitting the top!”

“Everlasting 4ever! Hello, we are 4ever!”

“How have you been doing in the meantime?”

“We’ve been living so happily thanks to receiving so much love through an unexpected opportunity.”

“That follow-up track was previewed on our radio, right? I told you our Morning Train has an eye for talent. I said I liked it~”

I guess people really need to blow up first.

Kim Giho, who used to spend every break checking his stock portfolio during their last visit, showed a completely transformed attitude. Even after going on air, the heartwarming atmosphere continued.

After the members took turns giving short greetings to the listeners, the DJ turned to Woohyung and said:

“And-ing! We can’t go without listening to it, right? We’ll listen to the full version later, but Woohyung-ssi! If you could give us a short verse right now!”

“Ah….”

It was a sudden request to sing. The DJ had likely brought it up to give Woohyung—the popular member—some extra screen time.

Woohyung brought his body closer to the microphone.

Jemin assumed he was about to sing, but Woohyung stared straight at him instead.

‘Why?’

Jemin’s heart sank instantly, fearing Woohyung was about to cause a broadcast accident.

Fearing he might say something like, “I don’t want to. If you suddenly ask me to sing, do I have to do it acapella? I’m not a karaoke machine,” Jemin glared at Woohyung with wide eyes.

It was a look telling him to stop complaining and just sing already.

“How about Jemin-ssi sings the chorus this time?”

At Woohyung’s words, Jemin pointed a finger at himself and soundlessly mouthed, “Me?”

Woohyung nodded.

Seeing Woohyung dumping it on him without any prior discussion, Jemin thought Woohyung either really didn’t want to sing or simply hated him.

“Then I’ll sing a short piece for you.”

Still, ‘I’m a singer too. It’s not like I can say “It’s not my part so I can’t do it,” right?’

Jemin lightly warmed up his throat and closed his eyes.

YooJeminArchive @yujemin4ever_archive

The chorus of And-ing sung by Jemin…

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KpopMultiStan @giootgiootk-pop

I thought YJM was a free-rider member

but he’s actually decent lol

The first verse of the chorus was a part that Woohyung started and then handed off to Yunbin.

Since it wasn’t his own part, was acapella, and carried the risk of a voice crack, Jemin couldn’t help but worry.

Even though it wasn’t an official performance setup and he only needed to sing lightly, getting nervous was inevitable. Fortunately, thanks to being in good condition today, he finished the song safely.

“Ooh~ Jemin-ssi sings so well. Lately, this is the only song I listen to.”

“Thank you so much.”

After finishing the song, Jemin turned his head toward the DJ to express his gratitude for the compliment.

‘W-What is it.’

Woohyung was staring intently at Jemin.

Jemin tried his best to ignore Woohyung’s gaze, which was fixed on him with a serious expression. However, he couldn’t help but remain bothered by it.

• Look at my hyung staring like he’s about to devour him lol As expected of an absolute top

  └ That’s literally a gaze that looks like he’s gonna eat him alive, it’s scary

Due to the camera angle, Woohyung staring at Jemin was broadcast directly onto the visible radio feed as well.

‘Did I sing that badly? No, in the first place, he asked me to do it when I wasn’t even prepared!’

Though he felt wronged, failure to focus on the broadcast could lead to an attitude controversy, so he pushed those thoughts deep into a corner of his mind.

Forcing a smile, he clapped and laughed along at the DJ’s unfunny jokes.

• What’s up with Jung Woohyung’s radio attitude?

• Look at your hyung meticulously taking his share of egg account posts lol I was wondering why it’s been quiet lately

  

  📚 Also on NHV NovelsEven If You Control My Body, I Will Never Submit to YouRead Now →

The person who should have been swept up in an attitude controversy was someone else entirely.

Even during Yunbin’s talk segment, Woohyung remained lost in thought while looking at Jemin.

‘He sang it pretty well.’

He had naturally assumed that part had a designated owner. That was why he hadn’t deliberated during line distribution, and the other members took their assigned parts as a given too. Naturally, he had never asked Jemin to try singing a different part either.

Of course, in the end, they would have recorded it the exact same way as now, but that might have been because the track was written that way in the first place.

‘I don’t really know yet, but.’

Woohyung admitted that he truly might not know Jemin that well.

However, doesn’t everyone possess unexpected potential? It was hard to fully agree that Jemin’s potential was as high as Hyunguk-hyung’s evaluation made it out to be.

To begin with, Woohyung was someone who only believed what he could see. Until he saw it himself, he couldn’t bring himself to believe it.

Stop staring

Unable to take it any longer, Jemin slid a piece of paper over to Woohyung on which he had written Stop staring.

Woohyung silently folded the paper in half.

Jemin winced, wondering if folding the paper was a subtle message that Woohyung was going to fold him in half instead.

Anonymous (223.62)

Hey I work part time at the convenience store in front of 4ever’s dorm and Yoo Jemin just bought three bottles of soju lol

└ Fake news get out

└ Sent PDF to Q2P

└ Submitted employee management complaint to headquarters bye

Jemin was not originally someone who enjoyed drinking, but without alcohol, he felt he couldn’t go on living out of sheer sorrow.

Just as his sorrow gauge was piling up, the event that finally made Jemin snap occurred inside the car returning to the dorm.

“You guys can’t fight in the car today.”

Returning after running through three whole schedules, everyone was in an edge-strained state.

To catch catnaps inside the car, each member was wearing a sleep mask or a neck pillow. Yunbin seemed worried that Woohyung and Jemin might fight halfway through and wake everyone up.

“I won’t say a single word, so don’t worry.”

Jemin spoke from the bottom of his heart. He had been feeling bitter toward Woohyung lately and had no desire to talk anyway.

Even after the car started moving, Jemin was busy leaving comments for fans. The other members fell asleep almost as if passing out.

“Hey.”

Since there had been silence, Jemin assumed Woohyung was sleeping too, but he wasn’t.

At the sound of Woohyung’s voice calling him, Jemin briefly contemplated pretending to be asleep.

“What.”

“Do you think you have competitive edge?”

“I survived, so obviously I do.”

“In what way?”

He had promised not to fight today, but it felt like he wouldn’t be able to keep that promise at this rate.

Toward Woohyung, who was picking a fight, Jemin felt a emotion beyond annoyance—a surge of deep sorrow.

It wouldn’t feel so unfair if he had actually done something wrong. However, he couldn’t show weakness in front of Woohyung.

Glaring with wide eyes, Jemin snapped back at Woohyung’s words.

“The tolerance it takes to handle you acting like this.”

Woohyung, on the other hand, had asked out of pure curiosity. He was genuinely curious about what Jemin considered his own strength to be when evaluating himself.

The problem, however, was that Woohyung’s way of speaking wasn’t particularly gentle, and his half-closed, sleepy eyes made him look displeased.

“I’m going to sleep now, so don’t talk to me.”

Not tolerance, I meant what competitive edge do you have in terms of vocals?

Woohyung was about to add those words, but Jemin had already closed his eyes and turned his head the other way.

Woohyung didn’t speak to Jemin again until they arrived.

“I’m going to stop by the studio briefly before heading in.”

Before reaching the dorm, Woohyung got off first near his studio.

The other members roughly said goodbye without even being able to open their eyes properly. Jemin kept his eyes closed, pretending to sleep until the very end.

Only after arriving at the dorm did he open his eyes.

“You must be so tired today, great job, and manager-hyung worked hard too. Ah, but you all know you have to wash up before sleeping, right?”

Eunhan, who was walking like a zombie, was caught by the back of his neck by Yunbin.

“Going to the convenience store for a second.”

Watching Jemin leave the spot, Yunbin started to say something, but stopped himself.

‘It’s Jemin-hyung, so I don’t need to worry, right?’

Stepping out to the convenience store out of the members’ sight, Jemin’s action was this:

“Please ring these up.”

Buying three bottles of soju.

As long as he wasn’t caught by Yunbin, it was fine.

Perhaps because he washed up first, Yunbin was already lying down. James-hyung was in the middle of showering, and Eunhan was nodding off while waiting.

Jemin naturally walked into the room carrying a black plastic bag containing three bottles of soju.

“If I drink outside, people might take pictures for no reason….”

In his heart, he wanted to sit at an outdoor food stall and down soju with grilled chicken gizzards, but Jemin was an idol.

He obediently hid in his room and pulled out the soju bottles one by one.

“There’s a limit to holding it in too.”

Dumping a part that wasn’t even his on him out of nowhere, glaring directly at him, and on top of that, openly sneering about whether he had any competitive edge.

“Does being good at what he does make him the boss? Just because I’m not that bad, does he have the right to look down on people?”

Sipping alone out of upset feelings, he emptied an entire bottle in no time. The second bottle was quickly reaching the bottom as well.

Even amidst all this, Jemin’s idol mindset kicked in.

Fearing he might post on social media while drunk, before drinking, he changed his phone lock to a pattern that was difficult to draw and turned off the power entirely.

Drinking it straight without any snacks made his stomach burn, but because his heart burned even more, he couldn’t even feel the stomach pain.

“If you don’t like it, drop out and form a duo with that hyung. I’m never leaving this group.”

Jemin muttered into the empty air.

He thought it wouldn’t matter even if he passed his alcohol tolerance limit and made a disgraceful scene again. In fact, it felt like he had already crossed that line a bit.

If his drunk habit turned out to be throwing up, Woohyung—who shared the same room—would have to clean it up. He figured that could count as its own form of revenge.

However, Jemin didn’t know.

He didn’t know what his true drunk habit actually was.