Let’s be brutally honest about this.
‘Of course Bae Sejin would want to do a drama.’
He’d been a child actor to begin with, and he was the kind of guy who had gone on Idol Inc. because he wanted to keep working as an actor.
On top of that, anyone could see that his acting-related abilities were better than his idol-related ones.
‘Even I would’ve been tempted.’
I casually asked Bae Sejin, whose complexion had darkened slightly.
“The drama they offered you must’ve been pretty good.”
“…It’s by a writer I worked with back when I was a child actor. Apparently there’s… a small role in it.”
Bae Sejin muttered with a slightly gloomy expression.
“The PD who just talked to me said he knows that drama’s PD… and that it’s a good drama, and T1 is also helping fund the production…….”
“Hmm.”
If that was the case, the company must have received an offer too, but apparently they’d turned it down because of our activities.
‘Maybe since a TeSTAR tour is starting to look likely, they didn’t want to leave any room for distractions.’
After all, until our popularity started declining, a tour would undoubtedly make more money.
“…Whatever. It’s fine. Anyone would say something’s good when their acquaintance is involved.”
As though forcing himself to shake it off, Bae Sejin headed toward a nearby trash can, apparently intending to throw away the business card.
“Wait.”
“Why?”
“How about at least talking to the company about it? We’ve been active for over a year now. I think it’d be fine to discuss doing one project on the side.”
Bae Sejin’s eyes widened.
Honestly, from my perspective, the best-case scenario would be for Bae Sejin to spend another three years thinking about nothing but group activities.
But people’s feelings were a variable.
‘If you keep suppressing someone, they might run off before the contract period is even over.’
It was obvious he wanted to do it but was forcing himself to hold back because he was afraid it might interfere with the team.
There was a limit to how much a person could endure through reason and social awareness. No matter how much he’d come to enjoy being an idol, if something he was good at was right in front of him while he kept struggling at nothing but the thing he was bad at, it was the perfect recipe for going insane.
‘Wouldn’t it be better to let him do one drama now?’
From what I’d heard, it sounded like a minor supporting role. I figured something at that level might be fine.
Even if he got some criticism, it seemed like the sort of thing people would brush off without much trouble by saying, ‘Oh, T1 is producing it, so I guess they even dragged in a TeSTAR member for publicity~’
If we let him do a little acting while the circumstances happened to line up this neatly, it would probably make it easier for him to seriously pursue acting a few years down the road too. There’d be less resistance from the public.
I even slipped in some justification so Bae Sejin could rationalize it to himself.
“Besides, we’re already at the point where we’re appearing individually on variety shows once in a while, and doing photo shoots and commercials.”
“…….”
But Bae Sejin crumpled the business card in his stiff hand and dropped it into the trash can.
“…!”
“It’s fine. It’d only distract me.”
Then he muttered as if making a vow to himself.
“I’m barely keeping up as it is… I don’t have the leeway to pay attention to something else right now.”
The pressure he felt was audible even in his voice.
“…Our activities come first.”
“Hyung…….”
“…??”
That wasn’t me.
At the voice suddenly cutting in, I turned my head and found Kim Raebin looking at Bae Sejin with a melancholy expression.
Seeing the drinks in his hands, it looked like he’d been carrying around the ones Bae Sejin and I hadn’t received because we weren’t at our seats while searching for us.
‘What the hell is a guy who still has a brace on his foot doing?’
It was ridiculous, but the person in question looked perfectly cheerful.
“Seeing you devote yourself so completely to TeSTAR’s activities makes me want to recover from my injury as quickly as possible and contribute to the team too, hyung.”
“W-What the hell! Where did you come from?!”
“Ah, please drink this!”
Bae Sejin’s face turned red as he jumped in alarm.
‘It’s over.’
There was neither room nor atmosphere left to persuade him any further.
‘If he keeps looking that disappointed, I should at least bring it up again later.’
I shrugged, took the drink, and followed Kim Raebin back toward the others.
Bae Sejin was sucking on his own drink with a sulky expression, but he didn’t seem particularly upset.
At least, not until then.
“…So I found Bae Sejin hyung and Moondae hyung and delivered their drinks.”
“Good work~”
“But be careful about walking around from now on, Raebin. You need to watch yourself until you’ve recovered.”
“I will keep that in mind!”
We were in the car on the way back to the dorm.
In response to the members asking, “Where on earth did you go?” Kim Raebin told them the story of how he’d found the two of us and brought us back.
Then Cha Eugene, sitting in the back, poked Kim Raebin in the side and asked,
“What were the hyungs doing??”
“Ah, Bae Sejin hyung seemed to be making a resolution regarding TeSTAR’s future activities…….”
“N-No!”
Bae Sejin, sitting in the very front, hurriedly denied it with his face burning red.
Apparently unable to understand the intensity of that reaction, Kim Raebin tilted his head with a slightly bewildered look.
“But I am certain you rejected some sort of activity while declaring your dedication to TeSTAR…….”
“No! That’s not… Hey, say something…….”
“…….”
Why are you calling on me? Explain it yourself.
I reluctantly opened my mouth.
“Hyung got an offer to appear in a drama, but he turned it down. He said he wanted to focus on our activities.”
“Whoa!”
“R-Really?”
I caught a glimpse of Bae Sejin groaning and covering his face with both hands in the front seat.
“You worked hard, Sejin.”
“Try it next time! Challenges are good!”
“I-I’ll work hard on our activities too, hyung…!”
The car filled with warmth from everyone’s mild admiration and encouragement. Bae Sejin, apparently experiencing a complicated mix of emotions, couldn’t lift his head.
‘Good grief.’
Clicking my tongue, I opened a bottle of water. Beside me, Big Sejin casually looked at his smartphone as he tossed out a remark.
“You must’ve been really disappointed. That’s impressive of you~”
“…….”
Bae Sejin flinched in the front seat, then remained silent for a while.
And then, as if the words had slipped out before he could stop them, he abruptly replied.
“You don’t really think that.”
“…!”
His answer was somewhat sharp.
A disbelieving scoff flashed across Big Sejin’s face and vanished just as quickly.
“What? Come on, why would you think that? I was just saying something nice.”
“…I know when you’re being sarcastic. Don’t do it over something like this. I told you I turned it down.”
“I mean, when exactly did I mock what you said… No. Yep. Sorry. I won’t say anything from now on. Is that okay?”
“If you’re going to act like that every time, just say it outright instead.”
The atmosphere inside the car suddenly froze.
‘What the fck is this now?’*
Before I even had time to think, Big Sejin lifted his head from his phone beside me.
Now he wasn’t even bothering to hide his scoff.
“Say what outright? I’m already saying what I mean.”
“Stop subtly making me look like the weird one. You think I don’t notice?”
“I’m asking why I would make hyung look weird. Seriously, I don’t even know why you’re saying this.”
“Guys, hold on.”
Bae Sejin whipped his head around. His eyes were blazing.
“You’re doing it right now. You think I’m pathetic, don’t you? I know you think I’m useless and only have an inflated sense of pride.”
“……!”
“See?”
“I didn’t answer because what you said was so ridiculous.”
“And then whenever it benefits you in front of the cameras, you act like we’re close.”
Big Sejin was starting to look genuinely furious too.
“Then should we fight in front of the cameras? Hyung, this is our job, not some kids’ game, and every single time you—”
Bae Sejin slammed down on his armrest.
“I am serious about this job! You’re the one treating it like some kids’ game.”
“What?”
The atmosphere grew so ugly that it felt as though the only reason it hadn’t turned into a fistfight was because we were inside a moving car.
At that moment, Big Sejin practically rose from his seat, leaning his entire upper body forward.
“Who the hell do you think you’re—”
“Hey. Enough.”
‘Are you insane?’
I immediately pressed one hand against his chest. The others, who had been caught off guard by the sudden explosion of the argument, finally snapped out of it and started pulling the two apart as well.
“Yeah, guys, let’s stop! Hyung’s going to have a heart attack while driving!”
“C-Calm, calm down…….”
“How about we get back to the dorm first and talk this through calmly?”
“We’re in a moving car right now. We could get into an accident!”
“…….”
The two glared at each other before silently settling properly back into their seats.
Of course, the atmosphere remained murderous. Inside the car, now quiet enough to hear a pin drop, I held back a groan.
‘This is driving me insane.’
The friction I’d been noticing since our debut had suddenly exploded over a trigger that wasn’t even anything significant.
‘I guess they finally reached the limit of how much they could tolerate each other.’
Just thinking about whether there was any way to resolve this made my head hurt.
‘…For now, when we get back to the dorm, I’ll start by mediating a conversation.’
It was annoying, but there was no helping it. I closed my eyes and decided to wait until we arrived at the dorm.
Read only on MUGEX
But forget a conversation—the moment we stepped into the dorm, both of them promptly shut themselves inside their respective rooms.
More precisely, the instant Bae Sejin headed straight for his room, Lee Sejin snorted and went into his own.
Rather than avoidance… they both just seemed pissed as hell.
‘Fck.’*
There was no answer to this.
“…….”
The rest of TeSTAR sat in the living room, silently staring at the TV screen.
As luck would have it, an ad I didn’t want to see came on.
[Warm Hands, Like a Warm Heart]
[Meet the guide dogs in training at Osung’s Guide Dog School!]
It was the commercial I’d filmed with Cheongryeo. Against a brightly filtered outdoor lawn, yellow dogs repeatedly ran out and hung off my head in a looping shot. My face looked incredibly stupid.
“Oh, Moondae hyung.”
“I like puppies….”
Cha Eugene’s voice as he said he liked dogs sounded less energetic than usual. Not just Cha Eugene—everyone seemed somewhat dazed from the shock.
‘This team did get along pretty peacefully, all things considered.’
After our debut, we’d never had a fight this blatant before. It made sense that they were startled.
In contrast to the bitter mood in reality, the screen showed a lively pack of dogs and Cheongryeo.
[We grew thanks to your love.]
[Thank you, citizens of Korea!]
[The Nation’s Insurance — Osung Life Insurance]
A doggone mess over there. A complete mess over here.
“Whew.”
A sigh escaped me on its own. I raked a hand through the back of my hair and organized the situation in my head.
Think.
‘First of all… the timing was bad.’
Bae Sejin had probably still been struggling to sort out his feelings after making the difficult decision to turn down the drama.
He was already sensitive by nature. Apparently, he’d noticed Big Sejin’s subtly loaded way of talking to him for a while, let it stress him out, and kept it bottled up until this particular remark rubbed him the wrong way so badly that he couldn’t endure it anymore.
‘And Big Sejin is already obsessed with career achievement.’
It wasn’t as if he had a Status Abnormality like me, yet he was the type to obsess over our results.
So it had been obvious that he wasn’t fond of Bae Sejin, who had worse stats than the other members, poor social skills, and yet remained stubbornly proud.
Which meant there was a high chance he thought the guy he’d been putting up with had suddenly turned around and started shit with him.
‘And more than anything… they just don’t click.’
Other than working hard, the two had hardly anything in common. They clearly didn’t like each other, and neither could understand the other’s behavior.
I pressed my temple.
Honestly, I wanted to just leave them alone and tell them to act professional whenever the cameras were rolling…….
‘Still, I should probably try something.’
…Ryu Chungwoo had gone out of his way for me before too.
Fed up with the whole thing, I got up from the sofa and headed for the kitchen.
“Moondae.”
“Hyung.”
Ryu Chungwoo quietly followed me and gave a wry smile.
“I’ll go talk to Sejin—Lee Sejin, I mean. How about you go to Bae Sejin? Those two need to have a conversation.”
“Hmm.”
The assignment seemed to be based on the fact that Bae Sejin and I were currently roommates.
I considered it for a moment, then shook my head.
“I think I’d better go talk to Lee Sejin.”
“Really?”
Yes. Looking back, there was something bothering me, and I was the only member who knew about it.
Ryu Chungwoo readily nodded.
“All right. Maybe talking to someone the same age will be better.”
“Yeah.”
“Then… let’s do our best.”
Ryu Chungwoo patted my shoulder and left the kitchen. I turned and opened the refrigerator.
‘Alcohol would probably backfire.’
I’d just take some cold water.
Holding two bottles of water in one hand, I walked to Lee Sejin’s door.
Knock, knock.
“It’s me.”
“…….”
A moment later, the door opened with the sound of a quiet sigh.