Second Try Idol

"...uh..."

I momentarily froze as I was taken aback by Lee Cheol-Min's action. He acted as if he wanted to be empathized.

I then pushed him away firmly. “Get off of me man. Stop focusing on On Ki-Hoon, and you should make some memories too since it's the last day."

‘Please calm down your anger toward On Ki-Hoon and give up on exposing him, brave one.’

Although I was pretending to be cool and calm while talking to Lee Cheol-Min, I felt as anxious as if I was holding dynamite.

Lee Cheol-Min then sat down a distance away while lowering his head. After that, he muttered curses under his breath, “My entire fucking life… Should have just put me out of the family registry… Should have sent me to an orphanage or something.”

“Are you talking about your dad?"

“Why do I have to suffer because of him... I even dropped out of school and now here too..."

“...Are you crying?" I asked.

Thinking about it, Lee Cheol-Min must have had his reasons for applying to this show. Perhaps he simply wanted to finish school life without prejudice, not knowing he would meet On Ki-Hoon.

I could faintly understand his heart, even though I had never experienced such pain. It must have felt like all the misfortunes stemmed from his father's imprisonment. In reality, most of Lee Cheol-Min's hardships were actually caused by his parents.

“It's so overwhelming that I don't fucking know how to live anymore. Shit… Life is so fucking scary, but no one will know how I feel. Being used by bastards like On Ki-Hoon also sucks."

“It's been tough on you."

Lee Cheol-Min's ears and neck turned red as he buried his head in his knees, but he always looked like a proud man.

However, now I could even hear him sobbing, so I silently stroked his back. His family issue was a monster that inevitably followed him for life.

“I have it too, something I want to hide." I knew the feeling of having my dreams slip away because of something that wasn’t my fault and was out of my control.

I continued, “...Hey, I'm not your friend, but if it's really tough and unbearable—"

Just then, the phone rang. It was a call from the writer of the show. Ah, they must have noticed the mic was off. I sighed, stopped talking, and answered the call. “Hello."

- Hyun-Woo, where are you? You are still in the parking lot, right?

“Yes, I'm hiding here with Lee Cheol-Min."

- Could you check if your mics are on? They seem to be off.

“Just a moment, please." I quickly turned on the mics for both me and Lee Cheol-Min. “Ah, they were off. Must have been pressed by mistake. They are on now."

- Oh, got it. They said they caught your signals. Alright.

I put away the phone and roughly brushed off the situation. “Anyway, keep in touch. What's your phone number?"

“010-2182-1821," Lee Cheol-Min said with a congested voice.

I frowned and saved the number in my phone. After that, I made a call. “Geez. If you hated parting with your friends so much, you should've said something. I can’t believe you are crying because of that. Stop, kiddo!"

“Ah, what kind of bullsh—"

“Stop swearing. The mic is on now, you stupid!”

Lee Cheol-Min shut his mouth when I pointed at the mic.

“Do you want to come to our fan meeting? We are performing, and the other kids decided to come."

“I have a part-time job, but, ugh, don't know. Just send the address."

“You are adorable, kid. Alright." It felt like I was looking at a young boy. The reason I continued to meet Lee Cheol-Min after the shooting was for after-service. After all, I had to prepare for any possible troubles as the exposure often happened quite a while after the shooting. There was a possibility that something might happen with On Ki-Hoon after the shooting ended, and it could lead to an impulsive post on the internet.

“Ah, Suh Hyun-Woo is here. I was looking for you and wondering where you ran off to."

Goh Yoo-Joon spoke quietly as he came next to me and joined me.

Then, Lee Cheol-Min moved a bit further back.

“Were you two together? What, wow, why is Lee Cheol-Min like that?" Goh Yoo-Joon asked worriedly as he saw Lee Cheol-Min who obviously had been crying.

“Ah shit, this is embarrassing..."

Lee Cheol-Min lowered his head in embarrassment, and I answered, “He must have been very sad about parting with his friends."

“Ah, is that so? Do you want to come to our performance? We are going to have our fan club inauguration soon."

“I asked about that already. He said he will come if he can.”

“Ah, then let's keep in touch. We don't even know each other's contact. What's your number?"

“I asked about that too. I will tell you later. Don't ask too much from someone shy, dummy."

“Oh. Hey, don't cry. We are, like, adults now~"

Despite our intention to hide, our talking made it pointless. But thanks to that, we managed to avoid an awkward situation.

“Found you! Yoo-Joon, Hyun-Woo, and Cheol-Min!"

“You guys are talking too loud. Didn't you even want to hide at this point?” The seekers came running toward us as they heard us.

“Ah, we got caught. It's all because of Goh Yoo-Joon, really."

“No? It's because Lee Cheol-Min was crying."

“What?" When Lee Cheol-Min frowned, Goh Yoo-Joon smirked and put an arm around his shoulder.

“Kid, you do like playing hide and seek unlike how tough you look, huh?"

“No, I don't! Ah, I said it was the name of a stationery shop, you mother...."

I quickly covered his mouth to seal it. ‘Back off, foul-mouthed demon.’

Anyway, Goh Yoo-Joon could joke around with someone who was grumbling like that. We then went to the stone steps outside the field where the caught kids were already sitting and chatting.

“I got caught! First one to be caught, and I thought I'd die of boredom! Woo! Joon! And you are... Cheol?"

“...Pfft."

“Cheol? Are you talking about me?"

“Because you are Lee Cheol-Min, that's why," Goh Yoo-Joon casually replied and sat down on the steps.

While the seekers and the remaining hiders were engaged in an intense chase, we had nothing to do as we were already caught. The only thing to fill the time was chatting.

...But still. Even though it was a bit cold, sitting quietly in a place where the sunlight was warm and without a breeze made me sleepy.

“Suh Hyun-Woo, don't fall asleep," Goh Yoo-Joon muttered softly and passed me one earbud.

“Ahh... I should have slept more yesterday."

“You've been overdoing it."

I put in the earbud and leaned back against Goh Yoo-Joon.

“But you will be able to sleep today. Su-Hwan hyung lets us rest the day before a performance."

“Yeah."

“Suh Hyun-Woo, you can't fall asleep."

Being told not to sleep was something I could easily ignore at this level of sleepiness. I knew I shouldn't have slept, but…

Whether Goh Yoo-Joon spoke to me or not, whether the insane dance break part of "Chronos" was playing in the earbud or not, my eyelids closed on their own, and I really fell asleep.

***

“Hey boo~."

“Ugh, please."

“Wake up, Woo!"

I frowned at Daniele's incredibly cheesy voice and woke up. “Get off, Daniele..."

“Did you hear? You are misunderstanding~ Misunderstanding~"

In my drowsy state, I could tell that Daniele was really high-spirited. While I was asleep, the game of tag had ended, and all the students had gathered around to watch me sleep.

“I thought you had frozen to death," Goh Yoo-Joon chuckled, and he apparently had taken pictures of me when I was asleep.

“Anyway, now that Hyun-Woo is awake, let's go back to the classroom. It's cold."

“Yeah!"

All the students followed Goh Yoo-Joon's words and flocked back into the classroom.

During the ten-minute break, the fourth period was a special time with life stories from Kun-Ho, who had been our homeroom teacher until the end, followed by final goodbyes from other teachers and the cafeteria staff after lunchtime.

The sixth period of Memory High was for interviews, also known as consultations.

It was soon my turn to start the interview from the front row.

- Can you share your feelings now that the last class at Memory High is over?

Because the writer asked this question, I pressed my slightly swollen eyes and responded, “It's like... I realized today that we've all become really close."

- What do you mean by becoming close?

“I somehow made friends with many people of the same age. I've been a trainee since I was very young, so I barely had memories of hanging out with classmates. I've really built a lot of memories here, and I am grateful for it."

- You were pretty shy at first, Hyun-Woo.

“I still am. But the fear and strangeness of dealing with friends my age seem to have faded a bit. It’s probably because everyone is so nice and friendly.”

- Now, all that's left is to graduate. How do you feel?

“I wish it could have lasted longer. I'm actually sad. Coming to shoot always felt like playing and having fun."

Even on really tiring days, it felt like being back in real school, and I genuinely enjoyed myself as if I were nineteen or twenty years old again.

Despite being a shoot, I felt so comfortable that I was genuinely sad it was ending. “But I'm glad that I will keep in touch with my friends even after graduation. Thank you so much for creating such memories for us."

The writer handed me a folded piece of paper with a smile.

- You haven't checked the rolling paper that Yoo-Joon took, have you?

“My rolling paper?"

- Yes, the teacher brought it. Want to see it here?

I nodded and unfolded the paper.

[You are the prettiest friend in the world! I've never met anyone as beautiful as you! We are friends! I can't write in Korean well, so I couldn't write what I wanted to say. Sorry 😢 - Daniele]

[I've actually been a fan of you guys for a few weeks now. I kept watching your music video over and over... It's okay if you don't give me a ticket to the inauguration ceremony... because I already got one lol - Hee-Su]

[At first, it was fascinating to be on a show with a celebrity, but now you just seem like a good-looking friend who is very shy hahaha. Let's keep in touch and play league together if we are too busy to meet in person. - Joon-Hwan]

[I can't usually say this, but I rely on you a lot. I hope you can rely on me too, dude. Tell me anything, and I will listen. Always thankful and love you. (Let's not show our rolling papers to other members, please) - Your favorite human in the world, Mr. Goh]

They were characters brimming with personality and warmth, enough to make me laugh.

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