On the last day of the holiday, the minors began returning to the dorm one by one.
After seeing the last one, Namgung Hyun, come back, I pulled the blanket over myself and lay down to sleep, when suddenly the living room light came on and the three residents of the pigsty plus their friend Ha Hyun huddled around me.
"What?"
"We're here to give a present to hyungnim, who waited like a grown-up without crying even though he was lonely."
Piglet 1 starts spouting nonsense the moment he's back.
There were two people in this dorm to begin with, so the premise that I was lonely was wrong from the start.
I quietly watched to see what on earth they were up to, and the guys began a surprise present show, one at a time in turn.
"Ta-da~ I went all the way to Gwangalli to buy this, you know?"
What Namgung Hyun held up was a white short-sleeved T-shirt with 'BUSAN' written big in blue letters across the chest.
"No......! Mine's the same as Hyun-hyung's!"
"That's why I said we should tell each other in advance what we'd buy~"
"Because it's more fun to buy stuff like this without saying......."
It seemed this present show had been planned in advance by the four members other than Cha Min-seong and me.
With a glum expression, Seo Seo-jun took out a black short-sleeved T-shirt with 'I ♥ JEJU' written in white letters.
They must both have a special love for their hometowns.
And here I am, supposedly a born-and-raised Seoulite, and I've never once bought anything that says I love Seoul with my own hands.
"Mine didn't overlap, but I don't know if you'll like it."
What Ha Hyun brought was a dancing cactus doll of the kind that was once trendy.
It looked shady just on its own, and with a sombrero, poncho, and even maracas neatly fitted on, it gave off a strange kind of madness.
"You're sleeping alone in the living room, Seol-han-hyung, so I wanted to leave something you could think of as a roommate, in a way...... How is it?"
Ha Hyun, seemingly a little embarrassed, smiled awkwardly and tapped the cactus's hat with his finger.
"I like it. Thanks to this, the living room won't be as lonely."
Let's not dare talk back to the gracious one who helps me practice every day with a heart as vast as the seas and rivers, enduring it whether I flail my squid legs or spray ink.
Ha Hyun-nim, protect and preserve us: from today, you're the hidden seventh member.
In exchange for living here without paying rent, it'd be perfect if you went up on stage as my stand-in.
Judging by its outfit, that thing seems pretty cut out for the stage too, so isn't that mutual aid?
Lastly, Go Yeon-gyu tossed a soft scrap of cloth onto my legs.
The scrap of cloth turned out to be a white balaclava with panda ears.
"I went to Neverland and there were lots of your friends there."
That amusement park was famous for its pandas, all right.
Judging by how the corners of that guy's mouth were turned up even as he looked at my face, he'd clearly bought it to mock me, but the material was decent and it looked pretty warm, so it'd be good to actually use as winter gear when needed.
"Aw, hyungnim isn't a panda~ Maybe if it were a sharper-looking animal!"
"It's not that he's a panda, it's that the panda is his friend. The snow leopard that fights the kung fu panda looks just like him."
"Ah."
Hearing Go Yeon-gyu's explanation, Namgung Hyun immediately agreed.
Having finished the present show, the minors briefly said good night to each other before going into their rooms.
And so the living room light went off again, and in the living room—gone quiet in an instant, as if the liveliness of a moment ago had never been—only the cactus and I were left.
I should hand-wash the T-shirts and the balaclava first thing tomorrow and hang them to dry.
It probably wasn't intended, but somehow it felt like I'd received a belated birthday present, and it gave me a slightly odd feeling.
***
After the holiday ended, album production started in earnest, based on the results Go Yeon-gyu and I had brought.
Of all of it, the first to show results was the music side.
"They say the demo version of our title track is out."
Ha Hyun, who delivered the news, worked the laptop kept in the practice room and played the song.
The new version had been arranged far more cleanly and with far more polish than what Go Yeon-gyu first played for me. He'd been hanging out with the A&R Team people every day for a while, and it showed in the quality.
Seo Seo-jun, sitting on the practice room floor listening to the song blankly like someone bewitched, asked Go Yeon-gyu.
"We're debuting with this song? Really?"
"Why, you don't like it? Should I tell them to switch to a different song?"
"Ack! It's because I like it!"
Seeing the youngest spring up off the floor and explain with all his heart and soul, Go Yeon-gyu smiled, quite satisfied.
For a moment, the image of an owner watching his pet dog perform tricks overlapped with Go Yeon-gyu's face.
"The lyrics aren't set, so just use it for the melody."
I heard that when they gathered the company staff for a blind test of title tracks, Go Yeon-gyu's song was picked unanimously; thinking about it again, he's an amazing guy.
Of course, it's the idol industry, where even with a gathering of guys this good, you can go under without a sound if the company doesn't promote properly, so I can't let my guard down.
When I looked around, Ha Hyun, who'd been standing in front of the laptop a moment ago, had disappeared.
Where'd he go in the meantime?
Telling the members I was going to the bathroom, I slipped out of the practice room.
As I walked around the basement muffling my footsteps, I heard quiet sobbing from beyond the door leading to the supply room.
When I turned the doorknob and looked in, I saw Ha Hyun sitting against the wall of the dark supply room, crying.
"What are you doing in a place like this?"
Startled when his eyes met mine through the gap in the door, the guy hurriedly wiped his tear-streaked eyes with his sleeve.
"I'm sorry. I'll be right there."
I slowly closed the door so it wouldn't make a loud noise and sat down next to Ha Hyun.
"Don't wipe them, just cry. You'll hurt your skin."
"Okay......."
Tears were still running down Ha Hyun's cheeks, but the guy, apparently trying to diligently follow what I'd just said, kept his hands still and only blinked.
Beside him, I quietly waited until Ha Hyun calmed down.
A moment later, Ha Hyun, who seemed to have collected himself a little, spoke first.
"You're not asking why I'm crying."
"You'll tell me when you want to."
"...When I see things like this, I think you and Min-seong-hyung are a little alike, Seol-han-hyung."
Come to think of it, I feel like I heard something similar from Cha Min-seong before.
Ha Hyun, whose lips moved faintly as if there was something he wanted to say, hugged his knees and carefully began, looking at the floor.
"Um, this is my fourth company, you see. Making a debut team is...... a first for me."
To think he'd never made a debut team, even with skill and visuals like this. He must have been terribly unlucky with companies.
Even to my eyes, which had seen countless celebrities in person to the point of being sick of it, Ha Hyun had handsome looks that made me think he could only have been born destined to be an idol.
Should I say what people usually call an 'otaku-magnet face'?
It's just that, of all groups, he debuted in PLUTO and got undervalued; if he'd debuted in a refreshing group that suited his style, wouldn't the public's reaction have been different?
"So when I heard the song earlier, I thought, I really can debut this time, and suddenly the tears came. Pathetic, right? Crying over something like this."
"It just makes me think you wanted to debut that badly. I don't think it's pathetic."
"You really see everything in a good light, Seol-han-hyung."
"I've never particularly seen things in a good light. You're just too hard on yourself."
As I was saying it, it suddenly occurred to me to wonder whether this was something that could comfort Ha Hyun.
Isn't there a famous story that thinking types and feeling types comfort people differently?
Ha Hyun looked, to anyone, like someone who'd want to hear the kind answer 'Why were you sad?' when he said 'I was sad, so I bought bread.'
And I'm the breed who'd answer 'Enjoy it.'
Anyway, hoping what I'd just said wouldn't lose its original intent and land as sarcasm, I hurriedly tacked on a postscript.
"Ha Hyun."
"Yes."
"As you've probably noticed, I'm bad at comforting people. Even I think I have no talent for this kind of thing."
"...Huh?"
"So don't take what I said too much to heart—just let it go in one ear and out the other. Like, ah, he calls this crap comfort. You're a smart kid, so I trust you understood."
Ha Hyun, who had only been blinking while listening to my pathetic excuse, pressed his lips together for a moment as if trying to hold back a laugh, then soon started laughing out loud.
"Pfft...... Ahaha! No, you really do have a talent for comforting people, hyung. Really."
The guy laughed so hard that tears welled up at the corners of his eyes again.
"You really are Namgung Hyun's friend. The way you tease is exactly the same."
"I'm not teasing!"
"...Hold on."
I looked toward the door and put my index finger to my lips. At that, Ha Hyun lowered his voice and asked.
"What is it?"
"I heard footsteps. Someone's coming this way, I think."
"How did you hear that......? I had no idea."
Ha Hyun probably wouldn't want it revealed that he'd been crying in here, so what reason could two trainees have for being together in an out-of-the-way supply room?
"Ha Hyun, do you have anything to eat, by any chance?"
"Something to eat...... Would this be okay?"
The guy rummaged through his pocket and took out a small bag of gummy bears.
"Can I open it?"
"Of course."
At the same moment I tore open the bag of gummy bears, the supply room door flew open.
The owner of the footsteps was Namgung Hyun.
"You there! You said you were going to the bathroom, so what are you doing here with Ha Hyun!"
"We were trying to eat on the sly and got caught."
When I put on a performance, deliberately picking up a gummy and even tossing it into my mouth, Namgung Hyun's expression was instantly colored with betrayal.
"Wow, I'm seriously disappointed. How could you leave only us out and eat? Seo-jun! Let's drag these traitors out alive!"
"But can we drag Seol-han-hyung out? That hyung is really heavy."
"Humans are creatures who can do it if they try!"
As a creature who tries only if it can be done, I seem to have failed the conditions for being human as of today.
Seo Seo-jun and Namgung Hyun grabbed me from both sides and pulled like they meant to wreck my arms, the same as last time, so in the end I got up voluntarily again and walked to the practice room.
"If it's two on two, shouldn't one of you be holding Ha Hyun?"
"Ha Hyun's our senior, so that'd be insubordination. Not allowed."
So since I'm the new guy, you can treat me however you want? This tiresome hierarchy. It's so unfair I could cry.
"What was that thing? Um, when the police arrest you and say you can get a lawyer."
"You have the right to remain silent, anything you say can be used against you in a court of law, and you have the right to an attorney."
"This hyungnim's performance is great today too."
Playing with guys young enough to be my nephews is really exhausting.
When we got back to the practice room, Go Yeon-gyu, seeing me looking like a criminal standing at a photo line, gave me a look that openly said how pathetic I was.
Cha Min-seong, not caring what was going on around him, was alone playing the song and quietly singing along.
A group showing off this hopeless teamwork. Is it really going to be okay?