After that, I had a slightly longer conversation with Choi Jeokhyeon about Lim Seunghoon and Kang Hyukwoo. I then received some screenshots of the conversation between Kang Hyukwoo and Lim Seunghoon via messenger.
I read the images one by one and sighed heavily.
“….Haa.”
My head was full of complicated thoughts, and my heart was heavy.
If this body didn’t belong to Han Seungbeom, I would have already been smoking a row of cigarettes.
As I closed my eyes, feeling like I was sinking to the rock bottom, I heard the manager telling us to get ready because we would soon be heading back to our dorm. I forced myself to snap out of it and tried to end my call with Choi Jeokhyeon.
“…I have to go now. The members might think it’s weird.”
“Wait a minute, Yutae-ya.”
But Choi Jeokhyeon’s voice stopped me, and he asked an unexpected question.
“Camilla didn’t say anything strange to you, did she?”
“…….”
I froze in place, feeling quite puzzled by the question.
It was very rare for Choi Jeokhyeon to initiate a conversation about someone else. This unusual behavior left me pondering for a few moments.
Should I ask him if it was true what Camilla had said during her conversation with Lee Hwayoung, that he had moved out and disappeared, or should I just pretend not to know?
And then I immediately came up with a short answer.
“…She didn’t.”
I hadn’t heard it directly from Camilla; I had secretly eavesdropped on the conversation between the mother and son. So, this answer wasn’t a lie. As I brainwashed myself of this, I ended up speaking in a voice that, even to me, seemed quite natural.
“She was busy talking to her son. It’s been a while since they saw each other, so it can’t be helped.”
There were three reasons why I didn’t directly ask Choi Jeokhyeon, “
Did you move?
“
The first reason was that I was certain I wouldn’t get a proper answer anyway. It was Choi Jeokhyeon, after all. If he had any intention of being honest, he wouldn’t have hidden it from me in the first place. So, even if I questioned him, it probably wouldn’t have mattered much.
‘He would probably just dodge the question by making some light-hearted jokes.’
And the second reason, If I asked too rashly, it could put Camilla in an awkward position. After all, I couldn’t turn her, an innocent person, into someone with loose lips who spilled information to a stranger.
And lastly, from the moment I heard Choi Jeokhyeon’s question, I had already figured out the truth about what Camilla had said to some extent.
As I had thought earlier, it was very rare for Choi Jeokhyeon to ask me about someone else first. When I ruled out the absurd possibility that Choi Jeokhyeon had a strange affection for his sister-in-law, the most plausible reason was that he was very concerned about
what Camilla might have said to me
. If that hypothesis was correct, it meant that Choi Jeokhyeon wanted to hide whatever Camilla knew from me, and in that case, her words were likely not a misunderstanding, but the truth.
‘…As expected, Choi Jeokhyeon is hiding something from me.’
“Really? Okay.”
Choi Jeokhyeon gave a short, dry reply that didn’t reveal what he was really thinking.
“Seungbeom-ssi! Hurry up! The members are all out.”
Then I heard the manager’s voice calling me again.
I briefly left the words, “I have to go in” and ended the call.
***
As soon as we returned to the dorm, the members and the manager started piling all sorts of delivery food on the table.
“Hyungs, did you properly pay with the company card?”
“Of course! We can do that much properly, you know? Don’t forget that we’re older than you,
maknae
.”
1
“If only the hyungs would just be a little more mature.”
“Wow, look at the way he’s talking.”
“If you’re a child, act like a child. Lee Danbi.”
The reason for this was to have a celebratory dinner to mark the end of the first activity period.
Normally, we would have gone out for a company dinner, but it was a little challenging to find a place where we could show our faces and talk comfortably while having a meal together. Additionally, the members had diverse tastes in food, so it was impossible to satisfy everyone at one restaurant. So, we decided to do this instead.
As the manager, who had a vacant look in his eyes from being drained by the
maknae line
2
bickering, sat down, the members each raised their glasses and shouted a toast.
“Thank you for your hard work!”
“Hyungs, you’ve worked hard. I’m glad we were able to finish our activities without any incidents.”
“Seungbeom-ah, you worked hard. It must have been tough being the leader, right?”
I shook my head at Woo Kangwon’s words and casually replied, “Everyone worked hard. Don’t neglect practicing and let’s prepare well for the next activity”. As soon as I finished speaking, Do Yuda, who had been fidgeting like a student listening to the principal’s speech, started whining while looking at the wine glasses in front of the adult members.
“I want to grow up quickly so I can drink with the hyungs. It’s not much longer now! Next year! Wow, does that mean I can learn how to drink from you, hyungs?”
“Ah, right. Yuda and Zen will be adults next year. Who’s the good drinker in our group?”
“Hyung, you are refraining because of your diet, Kiryang-hyung can’t drink much because he has a weak stomach, and Seungbeom-hyung doesn’t drink at all. The only one who drinks properly is Nicholas-hyung.”
“Forcibly assigned to Mister Lee. But I quite like it. Is this fate?”
“Noisy.”
Lee Hwayoung ignored Zen’s wink and quietly sipped his wine. Watching this stiff and proper drinking style, Do Yuda stuck out his tongue and grunted.
“Haa … The person who can’t even spin a soju bottle is our team’s number one in the drinking hierarchy. And he only eats the bland side dishes. I prefer stew.”
“Yuda-ya, you should learn how to drink from someone who drinks gracefully. I think Nicholas might be able to teach you well.”
“Ugh, I want to drink like a dog.”
“Uh-huh.”
“Yu-chan is already a dog. Is there any reason to become a dog again?”
“…….”
As I watched the members noisily chatter with alcohol in front of them, I was reminded of the time when I had an after party after finishing a concert with the members of Prism.
I vividly remembered the memories: Cha Woon, completely drunk and groaning after being influence by Lee Chise; Lee Chise, gulping down strong drinks without a hitch while making everyone else drunk; Nam Yihwon, tipsy and laughing boisterously with a bright red face; Seo Yuseong, who didn’t even show his face and went back to the hotel room first because he disliked the noisy atmosphere; and Jay, who had collapsed on the table, already asleep.
And I silently watched from a distance as the members were having a good time, as always, with the afterglow of the concert still lingering in my mind.
This was a typical scene whenever the members of Prism got together for drinks.
After a few of such drinking parties, there was one day when a very drunk Jo Inchan approached me and asked.
“Hyung, why don’t you drink?”
Whenever Jo Inchan got drunk, he would come to me and ask me a bunch of questions.
Looking back on it now, I realized that maybe Jo Inchan had a lot of curiosity about me all along, and he just used the alcohol to honestly spill it all out. However, back then, I simply thought it was just a kind of drunken habit.
“If I get drunk and stumble around, I won’t be able to do my work. You never know what might happen, and if we’re all wasted, what are we supposed to do?”
It was an appropriate response to deal with a drunkard’s drunkenness.
It was a casual remark I repeated out of habit, but Jo Inchan quietly listened as if it were something important, and nodded his head.
Then, he rested his unsteady head on his knees and said this.
“Then I’ll do the same from now on.”
I couldn’t understand at all what kind of thought process led to such a conclusion, or what he was trying to accomplish.
At Jo Inchan’s sudden decision, I lightly tapped his chin and casually replied.
“It’s just my own opinion, I don’t think others should live like me. It’s enough with just me, so you go and play with the kids.”
But even after hearing that, Jo Inchan was still resolute in his determination.
“No. I won’t drink.”
“…Why bother?”
I thought it was inefficient.
Jo Inchan didn’t dislike drinking, nor did he have any terrible drinking habits. In fact, he even seemed to be having a lot of fun just before, when he was hanging out with the members. I thought there was no need for him to give it up. After all, I could take care of all the members on my own.
When I gave him a disapproving look, Jo Inchan replied with a wide smile.
“Everyone else is drunk, so if you’re left alone, wouldn’t you feel a bit lonely, hyung?”
Perhaps those words were not spoken out of drunkenness, because after that, Jo Inchan hardly drank at all, except in truly unavoidable situations.
And this became one of the reasons I didn’t let go of Jo Inchan, even after watching the video Kang Hyukwoo used to blackmail us.
‘Jo Inchan isn’t the type of guy who’s used to going in and out of nightclubs. He wouldn’t even step foot in a regular bar unless he was with the members.’
As far as I knew, during his time in Prism, Jo Inchan never once stepped foot in places like clubs, and instead, he always spent his time in the practice room.
“Inchan in the practice room again?”
“He’s really amazing.”
When the members needed to find Jo Inchan, the first place they checked was the practice room, because Jo Inchan never left it.
Every day, he practiced, practiced, practiced.
It was really cliche, but he was so diligent that he endured days that would make others give up, as if it were nothing special.
No matter how bad the situation got, he wasn’t the kind of guy who would turn to adult entertainment or criminal activities so easily. Therefore, I expected there was some reason I didn’t know about.
But it was quite shocking to find out that it was Lim Seunghoon who dragged Jo Inchan to that place.
‘If only I hadn’t stupidly trusted Lim Seunghoon … If I had noticed sooner and pushed him away, maybe the members of Prism would have been living a happier life.’
Leaning back against the chair, I tilted my phone at an angle that wouldn’t be visible to the members, and looked down at the screenshot of Lim Seunghoon’s messages that Choi Jeokhyeon had sent me.
[Director: The preparations are done, so bring Jo Inchan right away.]
[Me: When I casually brought it up last time, he refused so firmly, so it seems a little difficult to bring him along amicably.]
[Director: I don’t care if you get him drunk and drag him here or trick him into coming. As long as we get the proper video, that’s all that matters.]
“…….”
After silently looking at the photo for a while, Lee Danbi, who was sitting next to me, spoke with a worried look.
“Seungbeom-hyung, your eyes are really red. Shouldn’t you go inside and rest? You had a fever today, remember?”
My mind was already tangled, so I nodded at Lee Danbi’s consideration and got up from my seat.
“…I guess I should. I’m going to get some sleep, so you guys don’t need to worry about me and just have fun. That way, my mind will be at ease.”
Leaving the members’ worried gazes behind, I entered my room, closed the door, and lay down on my bed.
As I closed my eyes to clear my head, I remembered what Jay had told me before.
“Hyung, since you left the group, Inchan-hyung hasn’t been keeping in touch with the other members much outside of our schedules. Chise-hyung and Cha Woon-hyung have been trying to reach out to him, but…..”
As soon as those words were finished, Jo Inchan’s face came to mind again.
“If you’re left alone, wouldn’t you feel a bit lonely?”
And the conversation I had with Choi Jeokhyeon kept repeating endlessly in my head.
“Is there any record of how they managed to drag Jo Inchan there?”
“It seems like they tricked him into going. There was a record of the two of them coordinating the story.”
“…….”
“They promised to make it possible for him to talk to Seo Yutae.”
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Translator’s Corner:
Maknae = youngest. Well, I guess you probably already know … I will use maknae sometimes to fit the tone a little bit. ↩︎
Maknae line
refers to the youngest members of the group.
In Pantheion, the maknae line is
Danbi, Zen, Yuda
. Then, in the middle, same-age Nicholas and Seungbeom. (Well, Zen and Yuda also same age, but they’re grouped with Danbi as the youngest). And
hyung line
(the oldest members) is Kangwon and Kiryang.
And in Prism, the
maknae line
is Jay and Seo Yuseong. The middle, same age Nam Yihwon and Jo Inchan, and the
hyung line
is Yutae, Cha Woon, and Lee Chise. ↩︎
Ugh my heart … I’m reminded once again why the top #1 song in my Jo Inchan’s focused playlist is Red Velvet – Chill Kill ……. could I make you stay one more time …. I want to burn the whole RH Entertainment down ….