Chapter 143:

Chapter 143:

The next day, I headed to the practice room provided by the production team, feeling a bit worried and nervous.

Today was the day we were supposed to finalize the choreography and the costume concept, so they would surely come on time.

Contrary to my expectation of the minimum courtesy and sincerity between humans, I was the only one in the practice room today.

“Am I the only one who arrived early today?”

I asked the camera, which was waiting to film my commute, while greeting it.

“Yes, today the Vesper members are having trouble participating due to their schedule, and one of AtoX has a personal schedule and can’t come.”

“What?”

I couldn’t help but doubt my ears.

“When we had a meeting yesterday, they said only one of Vesper might have a hard time with the schedule...”

“Oh, didn’t you contact them separately through something like a group chat? They contacted us through their manager.”

“...”

I had hesitated to make a group chat yesterday because of the strange uneasiness. As expected, it was not without reason. I clenched my fist and laughed with belated regret.

“At least one of AtoX is coming, right?”

“Ah, yes. They’re almost here!”

What can two people do? I took out the materials I had written without resting after dinner yesterday and put them on the table.

I had printed four copies of the materials according to the expected number of people. When I threw the unnecessary prints on the table, the cameraman came over and asked.

“What is this, Ise?”

It was probably going to be edited out, but anyway, I had to show only the good side of me when the camera was rolling.

“Oh, this is the print I was going to give to the team members when they came. I’m a bit overzealous, so I made a few concept sketches based on the references that I thought would suit the five of us.”

“Can you show us a little bit?”

“Oh, sure!”

I was going to show them how hard I had prepared at the meeting later, and show them to the other team members as well... It would be better to show them in front of the camera now when I’m alone, since there would be no impact if I did it in front of just one person.

“So... up to here. This is what I prepared.”

I had made the presentation materials as perfect as any professional designer, thanks to the self-made external demonstration PPT that I had made to save money.

And as if to prove the basis of that confidence, the staff all clapped and admired.

“Wow, Ise, you’re awesome. You could go to a lecture or something right now. K-POP Media Introduction, something like that.”

I waved my hand modestly and gave a humble response.

“No, no, that’s not it. I’m interested in planning, so I like to look for things and make materials, but it’s still just a hobby...”

“Right. You said your last comeback was self-planned, right? I’m looking forward to this stage too, aren’t you?”

I wondered why they were praising me so much. They seemed to be in a lot of trouble because the members weren’t coming and they had to film their quota today.

It wasn’t the main broadcast, but practice, so I guess it was inevitable that they didn’t care about the schedule.

‘Who has time to spare? I gave up another variety show at this time to come here.’

I felt a surge of anger. Hold on. I’m in front of the camera right now. It’s better to look like a fool than to be filmed as an idol who loses his temper.

I took a deep breath and exhaled, trying to calm myself. They say patience is a virtue, but even a saint would kill after three times. Just then, AtoX A burst into the practice room with a loud bang.

“Hello! Sorry for being late!”

He apologized with words, but his expression and tone were far from sincere. He didn’t seem to think that being ten minutes late was a big deal.

I quickly regretted feeling sorry for him when he got bombarded with hate comments after the first mission stage.

It was an apartment complex where many celebrities lived, so I thought the security would be good.

The moving was going well, and the label separation issue was also resolved smoothly. I only had to sign the final contract next week.

‘I should think positively.’

I was making side dishes non-stop to get away from the stress of the crappy unit activities, when the members came back to the dorm one by one after finishing their practice.

“Wow, what’s that smell? It smells delicious!”

The house became noisy in an instant as several of them, led by Seon-woo and Kyunghwa, who were in the same unit as me, came in chatting loudly.

“Wow-!”

As soon as people came into the house, I became a dog. Pposili licked Seon-woo’s hand with his tongue out and jumped up.

“Ah, I’ll wash my hands and come back, wash my hands!”

Seon-woo ran to the bathroom, avoiding Pposili’s tongue, while Kyunghwa, who had sharp eyes, waved his hand at me without any spirit.

“...I’m back.”

I could tell without looking at what had happened. He must have been exhausted from mediating between the guys who only insisted on what they wanted to do.

Soon, Pposili ran over to Kyunghwa’s side, panting, and poked his pants with his wet nose.

When Pposilil bit his nose, a nose-shaped stamp was printed on his light-colored cotton pants.

“Oh...”

This was a pretty cute sight, even to my eyes, who didn’t like dogs very much. It seemed like he was trying to comfort him, but Kyunghwa’s expression didn’t change at all.

[※‘Ryu Kyunghwa’s’ self-esteem is at its lowest.]

I could see that without him telling me.

What exactly happened? I asked Seon-woo with a wink, ‘What’s wrong with him?’ Seon-woo quickly put his finger to his mouth, as if to say ‘shh’.

“I’m tired, so I’ll go wash up and come out.”

Kyunghwa went into the bathroom with dull eyes, carrying his clothes and underwear from the suitcase he had packed.

“Are you going to eat dinner?”

“...Yeah.”

This guy was a mackerel, not just for a day or two. I needed to find out why he came back with such a bad mental state.

Click-.

As soon as the bathroom door was locked, I called Seon-woo to my ear and whispered.

“What the hell happened?”

“Uh, that’s...”

Seon-woo looked around with an embarrassed expression. And then he whispered in a voice smaller than an ant, as if it was a secret.

“I don’t think it’s right for me to say it... Maybe you should ask him yourself when he calms down.”

No way, Seon-woo could be this considerate? I asked him, raising my expectations of him a little bit.

“What really happened? Did you catch something on camera that you shouldn’t have?”

As I asked with a worried mind, Seon-woo shook his head vigorously.

“Ah, no, not that...! Ah, maybe...?”

He started with no, but trailed off, making me very uneasy.

If I can’t ask him right away, I have no choice but to see for myself. I decided not to show any signs of what happened. I made a short resolution and called the system for the first time in a while.

‘System.’