Chapter 149: End-of-Year Stage (19)

Chapter 149: End-of-Year Stage (19)

“Okay, time to let go, everyone." It had been quite a while since Joo-Han pulled me into a hug. Actually, I felt like it had been ages.

“Awww! Hyung, do you have any idea how heartbroken I was because there was an empty spot during the meeting?" asked Jin-Sung.

“Yeah, I get it. Jin-Sung, you really adore me, right? But you need to let go now. My back's starting to hurt."

Upon hearing about my sore back, they finally released me and took seats close by.

“Hyun-Woo, come and sit on the couch."

“Sure. ...Yoon-Chan?" In the midst of getting ready to carry on with our live broadcast, one guy was still clinging to me. Park Yoon-Chan remained still, his head resting on my forearm.

‘What's up with him?’ As I looked bewilderedly at Park Yoon-Chan, the ever-perceptive Goh Yoo-Joon shook his shoulder, looking shocked. “...What? Is Yoon-Chan crying?"

“He is crying?"

“Yoon-Chan is crying?"

We hurriedly clustered around Yoon-Chan, and he quickly let go of me as he sensed our movements.

“Hey, why the tears? What's got you so upset?"

“...I'm just so worried..." The sight of my injury had shaken him to his core, and the memory of Jin-Sung's previous harm only added to his distress. Yoon-Chan tried to quickly stifle his tears, covering his face with his hands.

Suddenly, I realized that we might have been neglecting our Q-app fans too much. Glancing at the chat, I noticed that it had shifted from “haha” to a sea of crying emojis.

“Please don’t cry.”

“Ah! Is he really crying? No, no. You can't cry. If you cry, Jin-Sung the cry baby will start too."

Worried about the mood turning too heavy, Goh Yoo-Joon quickly tried to lighten things up, and Joo-Han glanced away from Yoon-Chan to the screen.

“Everyone, looks like our Yoon-Chan really missed Hyun-Woo during the meeting. But no worries. Hyun-Woo is all good, right?"

“I'm totally fine.” Raising an eyebrow, I playfully gestured toward Yoon-Chan with a thumbs-up and cracked a teasing smile. “This guy here~ Why so emotional~."

“Yoon-Chan~ has such a soft heart~."

“Exactly~ Baby Yoon-Chan's heart is so... delicate... Uh..."

“...Jin-Sung?"

‘Is Jin-Sung crying now?’ They said tears were contagious, and it seemed like Jin-Sung had been holding back his tears until now.

Lee Jin-Sung, who was teasing Park Yoon-Chan, suddenly started crying amid his laughter.

While the chat was flooded with ???? when Yoon-Chan cried, it switched back to ???? when Jin-Sung started to cry.

I admit it. While Yoon-Chan's tears trickled quietly, evoking sympathy from onlookers, Jin-Sung unleashed his sobs with fervor, looking somewhat... ehm, entertaining.

“We... we had to... cover... dance... heup..”

“Cover dance? Did you guys decide to cover a dance?”

“Uhuhuh, yes!”

Goh Yoo-Joon started giggling and started to playfully respond to Lee Jin-Sung's words. “Pfft!"

“Ah, don't laugh...!"

“Pfft! Ah! My, my back..." As soon as I laughed, I felt a sharp pain in my back, clutching it and burying my face in the couch. However, I was still giggling.

“Ah, seriously... I'm sorry, Rings. We've been chatting amongst ourselves too much." Jin-Sung apologized to the viewers with his eyes turned red. It seemed like he was expressing his sadness about my injury and suggested doing a cover dance together once I got better.

Joo-Han clapped his hands to shift the sad atmosphere. “Come on! If we continue like this, everyone will think Hyun-Woo is seriously injured! It's not like that, folks. The younger ones were just a bit startled. Yoo-Joon, can you take the kids and have them wash up and come back?"

“Okay." Goh Yoo-Joon took the sniffling Yoon-Chan and Jin-Sung to the bathroom, and Joo-Han picked up Manager Hyuk-Soo's phone from the living room table.

“What? Haha. Anyway, Hyun-Woo was really quiet and aloof, just like Joo-Han hyung said. I'm all about jokes, and Hyun-Woo was way more sensitive back then, so we really didn’t hit it off."

“Yeah, you two always fought but then ended up being close."

“Yeah, we didn't like being stuck together, but the company had us go to school together and always kept us close. It was inevitable that we'd butt heads."

“But you two still bicker until now."

“Shh, that's enough."

After that, we got bombarded with lots of questions. Some fans wanted us to appear more on variety shows in the next album, asking about our plans for the next end-of-year stage, and if we'd consider doing gaming broadcasts again or individual streams. In total, the stream lasted about two hours, including a brief interruption due to an error.

The fans said it was one of the longest live streams ever.

“Anyway, we will try to get on more variety shows for the next album just as you want. Sorry for not being much on Q-app lately."

“I promise we will be on more frequently."

“Have a wonderful night, everyone!"

Ding!

[The broadcast has ended.]

As the livestream came to a close, I found myself nearly slouched completely on the couch. Our extended session with the members brought fresh energy, but it left me feeling drained. I couldn't help but worry that my exhaustion might have seemed like I was exaggerating my pain again, especially after someone in the chat had pointed it out earlier.

“Good job everyone. I will clean up here. Yoo-Joon, could you help Hyun-Woo to his room?"

Everyone dispersed to their respective rooms. Joo-Han stayed behind in the living room for a chat with the managers and sent us off to our rooms.

“Can you walk?"

“Yeah, I'm a bit better now. My back was killing me earlier."

“You were clutching your back and laughing on air."

Goh Yoo-Joon supported me to the room and then asked Yoon-Chan to bring a towel soaked in hot water.

“Hey, pop that in the microwave first," I said.

“No way. What if it catches fire? I will just wrap it in plastic to prevent water leakage. It will be fine."

Goh Yoo-Joon covered the towel in a plastic bag and gently placed it on my back as I lay on the bed. “Be more careful, dude. Why get hurt, you silly?"

“The stage was slippery, okay?" I giggled, teasing him, but Goh Yoo-Joon gave me a stern look and headed back to his bed.

“Anyway, I was worried, so get better quickly. We've got stages to share. The manager said if you don't recover, he won't set up the stage."

“That won't happen. I will get better."

Goh Yoo-Joon shrugged nonchalantly. “If that's what you think, fine. But seriously, don't overdo it. You saw the kids crying, right? To be honest, it scared me too."

Seeing how Goh Yoo-Joon rushed backstage right after I got hurt showed me how shocked he was. “I am really sorry."

I know I was being a burden to them all. I wasn’t the only one who wanted to shine on the year-end stage. Even though they didn't say it, I knew they were disappointed. I needed to recover as much as I could, at least to the point where I could move properly...

“Anyway, don't move around. I will help you out until you are fully better."

“Thanks, man."

Goh Yoo-Joon casually nodded, lying on his bed and booting up his laptop. “Yep."

While Goh Yoo-Joon played games and I had my hot towel treatment, Joo-Han came into the room to check on me. He seemed determined not to let me on stage unless I was completely healed.

“Sigh.”

With only a week left until the next performance, I decided to take it easy and learn the choreography through video to avoid any further injuries.