Chapter 32: I’ll Show You a Better Side

“Then, as the team maker, what would Jun-jae pick as the must-watch points for the ‘July Snow’ stage?”

“Hmm…

I’d say it’s probably the overflowing charisma of our center Han-ul, the refreshing voice of our main vocal Woo-rim, and the various charms our jack-of-all-trades Jin-woo hyung will show us, wouldn’t you agree?”

After a moment’s thought, as if he’d received a script in advance, he effortlessly listed his answers.

Jae-seo was newly impressed and secretly glanced at Seo Jun-jae.

No matter how much training they received from their agencies, this would be his first time actually experiencing something like this—could he really act that skillfully?

It felt beyond surprising, almost miraculous.

“Then shall we give a sneak peek of our team’s must-watch point as chosen by Jun-jae—our center Han-ul’s ending fairy pose?”

“Wow!”

As Ha Jin-woo seamlessly continued from Seo Jun-jae’s answer, Lee Woo-rim cheered and clapped as if catching the wind.

The two had perfect chemistry.

It was so smooth and natural that if Jae-seo didn’t know it was just a self-cam in the corner of the practice room, he might have believed it was an MC interview segment inserted into a music broadcast.

“I’ll do it if Woo-rim hyung sings for me!”

Before Chae Han-ul’s answer even finished, Lee Woo-rim immediately began singing the final chorus.

As Chae Han-ul danced to the song, Ha Jin-woo moved the camera this way and that, capturing him as if it were an actual music broadcast stage.

When the song ended, Chae Han-ul pretended to gasp for breath and threw every kind of heart at the camera.

Behind Ha Jin-woo, who was laughing and saying it would have been a disaster if they hadn’t asked him to do that, Lee Woo-rum was clapping wildly with exaggerated cheers.

“Yes!

Now, let’s say goodbye to these two who showed us their cute and cool sides and move on to other members.”

“Bye, Han-ul and Jun-jae hyung!”

Beyond the two waving at the camera as they did at the beginning, Ha Jin-woo, who had been looking around, made direct eye contact with Jae-seo.

Seeing him smile, Jae-seo thought, He’s coming to me next, and at that moment, Chae Han-ul suddenly turned his head and also met his gaze.

“I, I can too!

Can I follow along while you hyungs film the self-cam?”

As Chae Han-ul urgently blurted out, before Ha Jin-woo or Lee Woo-rim could even answer, Seo Jun-jae blocked Chae Han-ul with his own body.

“Go where?

We need to practice hard.”

Then he glanced at Jae-seo.

There was also that strange expression he’d made when Chae Han-ul took away Yeo Hyun-tae and himself, who were teaching Jae-seo dance before….

Did he notice that Chae Han-ul has that kind of interest in me?

Lost in thought, Jae-seo stood still when suddenly his name was called loudly and the area around him instantly became noisy.

“Next is our team’s secret weapon.

Please Take Care of My Idol’s tone-color gangster, Jae-seo hyung!”

At Lee Woo-rim’s booming introduction, Ha Jin-woo shoved the camera right up to Jae-seo’s face.

Startled, he pulled his body back and lowered his head.

“Ah, hello.”

As he awkwardly greeted and lifted his head, Ha Jin-woo, who had been looking at the screen attached to the camera, let out a small “Oh” of admiration.

Curious at the sudden sound, Lee Woo-rim pressed close beside Ha Jin-woo and soon they were both exclaiming in admiration.

“Wow!

Hyung, right now you’re like that.

Kind of, uh, a blue ion beverage CF vibe?”

Ha Jin-woo nodded in agreement, then suddenly hummed a famous ion beverage commercial jingle and gestured for him to spin around.

“Hey, Jae-seo hyung!

That’s not how you spin!”

After he did as told, Lee Woo-rim looked extremely frustrated and even stomped his foot.

Beside him, Ha Jin-woo muttered that his visuals were ion beverage CF but his actions were antifreeze CF, even clicking his tongue.

“Woo-rim, you show him.”

As Ha Jin-woo hummed the familiar melody again, Lee Woo-rim spread his arms, spun around once, then smiled at the camera and performed the eccentric move of sweeping back his hair.

When the song ended, the camera that had been on Lee Woo-rim turned back to Jae-seo, and the song started repeating from the beginning.

…Wait, is he telling me to copy that just now?

Stealthily sighing away from the camera, he spread both arms wide left and right like Lee Woo-rim had done, pivoted on his foot, and spun around in place.

Then, staring at the camera, he swept back his slightly sweat-damp hair.

Behind the camera, Ha Jin-woo’s face twitched wildly before he burst into loud laughter.

“Snort, puhahaha!

Oh my, my stomach.”

Jae-seo looked down at Ha Jin-woo with a dumbfounded expression as he laughed, exaggeratingly holding his stomach and bending back and forth.

Beside him, Lee Woo-rim let out a long, resigned sigh.

“Haa…

Now I see why the other hyungs call you AI.”

“Snort, huff.

That just now was really, uh, like a robot trying to be cute.”

Ha Jin-woo continued, wiping his eyes with his fingers as if drying tears.

“But still, this time it was like an ion beverage CF filmed by a robot, so that’s progress, progress.”

At Ha Jin-woo’s teasing compliment, Lee Woo-rim nodded and added, as if consoling Jae-seo, “Up until the spin, it really looked plausible.”

Was it so bad that they had to squeeze out consolation like this?

Jae-seo was blankly staring at the two when Ha Jin-woo, apparently having finished laughing and collected himself, cleared his throat and repositioned the camera.

“Ah, everyone!

But I’ve been curious about something regarding Jae-seo for a while.

Can I ask now?”

When Ha Jin-woo stuck his face out from beside the camera and asked, Jae-seo nodded, and Ha Jin-woo brought up his question.

“Did something happen?

You were practicing really, really hard today?”

“Of course you always practice super duper hard, but—” Ha Jin-woo emphasized, and Lee Woo-rim nodded vigorously, continuing.

“Right!

Jae-seo hyung, contrary to appearances, has really good stamina, so even when others collapse after dancing, he’s always fine by himself, right?”

Worried that Jae-seo might be misunderstood as not practicing properly, he was explaining eagerly.

Even adding the unnecessary “contrary to appearances.”

“Until now, today was the first time I’d ever seen Jae-seo hyung collapse on the floor because he was tired.”

“You know how surprising that was?

Hyun-tae almost carried you and ran out.”

At Ha Jin-woo’s words, Jae-seo rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly.

The aftermath of staying up all night reading posts cheering for him had made his passion overflow a bit excessively.

He’d kept dancing without stopping until his stamina gave out, and when he lay down on the floor like everyone else did, since it was the first time since the camp started, everyone had been surprised and rushed over to him.

Plus, remembering his fake injury from a few days ago, they must have thought he’d hurt his leg, causing a small commotion about carrying him and such.

“I just thought I should work harder.”

Honestly, it was because of the fans cheering for him, but he still felt oddly shy about saying the word ‘fan’ out loud.

He paused briefly, his lips moving, then looked directly at the camera and spoke.

“I’ll always work hard to show you all a good side of me.”

***

On the morning of the seventh day since the second camp began, they headed to the now-familiar hall with their teammates.

Arriving at the hall, they went to the spot indicated by the staff and stood there.

Other teams who had arrived first and were gathered together glanced at them.

After a short wait, the remaining teams all arrived and filled the empty spots.

The trainers also arrived one by one and went to sit at the tables placed across from the trainees.

Son Chae-i, the last to arrive, sat in the center seat, and filming soon began.

“Everyone, you’re preparing well for the 1st contest, right?”

“Yes!”

“I’m sure you already know, but we’ll now begin the 1st contest mid-point check.

Imagine you’re on the actual stage and take this seriously.”

The already nervous participants swallowed hard at the cold attitudes of Son Chae-i and the trainers, devoid of any humor.

Son Chae-i, who on a normal day might have smiled for the overly nervous participants, scanned them with sharp eyes before speaking.

“The order will proceed by the panel numbers each team chose during song selection.

Then, the team that chose song number 1, ‘Breakers,’ please come out.”

In what felt like an instant, eight teams’ stages and evaluations passed before theirs.

Actually, nearly four hours had passed, but with harsh critiques pouring out left and right, to the point where it was hard to believe the contest was only three days away, the tension only increased, making those long hours feel like a mere moment.

“Next, the team for song number 9, ‘July Snow,’ please come out.”

At Son Chae-i’s call, he took a deep breath as if shaking off tension and moved forward.

They lined up based on the white tape attached a short distance from the table where Son Chae-i and the trainers sat.

Yoon Ji-heon gave a quiet count.

“Two, three.”

“Hello!

We want to become the miracle of April—we are ‘Miracle Idols’!”