After finishing the hospital bill payment, when Sol asked Yeong-ho about the expenses, Yeong-ho angrily mentioned again that they’re not a ‘wicked agency’. He advised Sol not to worry about such things and urged him to speak up immediately if he felt unwell in the future.
The hospital was across the main road from the agency building. Only today did Sol realize that such a hospital existed here. As Sol and Ga-ram walked side by side, both worrying about various things, Sol murmured to themselves, ‘There’s a hospital here,’ only to have Manager Yeong-ho add that Tae-oh had carried him into the hospital.
Before Sol could express his gratitude, Tae-oh shook his head and curtly said, “Forget it.” His tone was extremely blunt.
“Hyuuung!!”
They walked briskly back to the dorm, and Deuk-yong was the first to run out barefoot. All the way back to the dorm, Yeong-ho kept mentioning that Deuk-yong was worried, and indeed, Deuk-yong’s complexion was pale, indicating that he was truly deeply concerned. Although it was Sol who collapsed, Deuk-yong and Ga-ram seemed to be in worse condition.
“Hyung, are you okay?”
“Kim Deuk-yong, let Sol sit down first before you talk. Don’t make him stand here when he just got back from the hospital.”
“Oh, right. Yeah. Hyung, come in quickly.”
Ji-ho, who had his arms crossed behind Deuk-yong, intercepted the barefoot Deuk-yong before he could reach the front door. While their relationship had somewhat loosened and become more comfortable, Sol didn’t think they were close enough to receive such a reaction from Deuk-yong. It wasn’t that he disliked it or anything, it just felt awkward. Until now, Sol had always cut off relationships and fled before situations like this arose, so he had never experienced such concern before.
Of course, this included Yoo-chan and Ju-hwan as well. Sol always avoided forming relationships in advance because when someone expressed concern for him, it typically led to feelings of sympathy and compassion.
Deuk-yong swiftly cleared away the items in Sol’s path, almost as if he were determined to be Sol’s bodyguard. He even waved his foot to push away any tissue shreds that might have stuck to Sol’s foot, just in case. Watching this scene, Ji-ho shook his head.
“Today must have surprised everyone. Try to rest early today. Since Sol needs to rest, don’t keep him for too long.”
“Yes.”
“Thank you.”
“Yeah, see you tomorrow. Sol-ah.”
Yeong-ho bid them goodbye after seeing Sol being led into the room by Deuk-yong, holding onto his hand. All five men who remained in the dorm, including Ga-ram and Tae-oh, collapsed onto the sofa. In fact, the weekend evaluation was a tense event not only for Sol but also for the other members.
“Hyung, are you okay? Did you hit your head or anything? Even if Tae-oh hyung caught your fall...”
“It’s okay. It must have surprised everyone... I guess I pushed myself too hard these past few days, just like Yeong-ho hyung said.”
“...Sorry.”
“Yeah. I’m sorry. Hyung.”
“I’m sorry too.”
“No, I’m the one who messed up the evaluation. Why are you apologizing?”
“I feel like I pushed you too hard, only thinking about my own goals. I’m sorry.”
“No, no. It’s not your fault. I was just too tense and stressed out... and feeling a bit unwell.”
“We felt like we were unnecessarily pressuring you and making things difficult, so we wanted to apologize.”
Starting with Ji-ho’s sudden apology, Deuk-yong and Tae-oh followed suit and apologized to Sol, one after the other. Sol was taken aback by the sudden situation and instinctively raised both hands. Especially Tae-oh had a very serious expression.
“Don’t apologize. And you all supported me. I stayed behind to practice because I wanted to improve more, that’s all.”
“Still. I feel like I acted really badly at first... ugh. Anyway, I’m sorry, hyung.”
Deuk-yong grabbed his head and yelled out. Seeing him causing a fuss, it seemed that at times like this, he was just an ordinary boy of that age. Sol found Deuk-yong’s behavior quite cute and smiled, gently patting his shoulder. It felt awkward to initiate contact for the first time in a long while.
Just as Sol did with Deuk-yong, Tae-oh also patted his shoulder, took a deep breath, and then tapped Ga-ram’s shoulder. As Tae-oh got up from the couch and went into the room, Ga-ram also walked away and went into his own room. Somehow, both of them seemed worried as their shoulders slouched.
“Hyung, are you really okay?”
“Yeah. I’m really okay now.”
“Then I’ll go check on Ga-ram hyung.”
Deuk-yong, reassured by Sol’s condition, seemed to finally let go of his worries, smiled, and happily jumped into his room. In the living room, with only Ji-ho and Sol left, there was a brief awkward silence. Sol was the one to break the silence first. Since Tae-oh and Ga-ram went with himself to the hospital, it seemed better to ask Ji-ho, who was left behind, about the situation.
“Um... Ji-ho hyung. The Representative and the trainers must have been surprised too, right?”
“Right. Well, Tae-oh carried you out after you passed out, and everyone was so shocked that we just roughly wrapped up the assessment.”
“Hyung, actually... I don’t remember anything from the middle, but they said the dance assessment was over....”
“What? Since when?”
“...From around the middle?”
Actually, Sol couldn’t remember anything from the start, but he added some lies to avoid unnecessary worries.
“....”
With a furrowed brow, Ji-ho looked at Sol with a serious expression.
“Sol-ah, are you really okay?”
“It was my first assessment, so I was too nervous.”
“...If you say so, then I guess.”
Though his words were comforting, Ji-ho’s expression betrayed lingering suspicion. Sol tried to look perfectly fine and smiled broadly.
“So, do you remember how the assessment went?”
“Uhh...”
“You didn’t perform as well as during practice, but you managed to complete the routine properly. The trainers acknowledged your effort... They mentioned your lack of eye contact and some shortcomings, but since it was your first assessment and you showed effort, he gave you a B and encouraged you to work harder.”
“They said that?”
Slouched lazily on the couch, Ji-ho paused as if recalling the moment, before slowly continuing his words. As he trailed off, Sol urged him on.
“As they were giving their evaluation, you suddenly collapsed backwards.”
“Oh...”
“Tae-oh immediately carried you to the hospital... and Deuk-yong was a bit shocked. I tried to calm him down.”
“He must have been really surprised. Sorry about that...”
“Yeah. Everyone was shocked. You fell backward like a log...”
“Haha... a log.”
“Don’t laugh like that. It’s awkward.”
“Yeah...”
Though Sol could imagine vaguely what the metaphor ‘log’ implied, he chuckled awkwardly. But Ji-ho didn’t just brush off his awkward laughter.
“I know things weren’t great between us at first, and I understand it’s not easy. But still, if there’s something wrong with your body or anything like that, at least tell me a little. I’m not such a bad person that I’d say something even when you’re in pain, right?”
In response to Ji-ho’s somewhat serious words, Sol laughed awkwardly again, not knowing what to say. Such conversations always felt awkward for Sol.
“What’s wrong? That laughter... You don’t really think I’m that bad of a person, do you?”
“No. No, hyung.”
“Speak informally.”
“I’m still not used to it...”
“Oh, it’s uncomfortable.”
“No, it’s not...!”
Ji-ho smiled with his eyes narrowed like a polite fox as he looked at Sol. Startled by his gaze, Sol hurriedly lowered his hand. Observing Sol hastily making excuses, Ji-ho glanced once toward the direction where Deuk-yong and Ga-ram were.
“I was a trainee at another agency before I came here.”
“At a different company?”
“Yeah. Not boasting, but it was a bigger place. It was much stricter there than here. Even if you got hurt or sick, no one could say anything, you just had to bear it... and things like phones were completely prohibited.”
“...So, it’s like that in other places.”
“Not all of them. The atmosphere there was a bit... different. There weren’t kids like Tae-oh, Deuk-yong, or Ga-ram. It was just everyone busy trying to survive. When you’re in pain and there’s not a single person to acknowledge it, it’s just too...”
Suddenly, feeling the atmosphere becoming heavier, Sol felt his concentration slipping away. As Sol’s mind became increasingly preoccupied with his own thoughts rather than Jiho’s words, he nodded absentmindedly for a moment. At that instant, Ji-ho paused and raised his head, breaking the silence.
“It was so miserable. Nobody seemed to care about anyone.”
Suddenly, Ji-ho’s words made his whole body feel heavy. Now, Sol felt uneasy with others’ attention and worried looks, but there was a time when he just wanted someone to understand his pain without him having to say anything. Even though these emotions were personal and internal, individuals still hoped for understanding and empathy from others without explicitly expressing their feelings.
At Ji-ho’s words, Sol regained his momentarily blurred focus. Sol had felt somewhat uncomfortable and wary towards Ji-ho until now, but with what he said, he began to sense a bit of familiarity from the other.
“Oh, I shouldn’t have brought up old stories... Forget it. You must be tired, go and rest.”
“After finishing the conversation with Ji-ho and entering the room, Sol found Tae-oh standing there with his phone in hand. Just as Sol was about to express gratitude once more, Tae-oh’s phone rang, interrupting the moment. Seeing Tae-oh leave the room whispering ‘Yes, Mom’ softly, Sol flopped onto his bed. Unlike the hospital bed, the dormitory bed now felt quite cozy.
Although the thought of needing to shower due to sweating a lot during the day lingered in his mind, once he lay down, everything suddenly seemed bothersome. Opting for laziness for a day instead of moving, Sol fidgeted on the bed and then reached up to touch his still warm forehead. Suddenly, the status window appeared in his mind.
[Abnormal status: High fever, muscle pain, dizziness]
[Warning! You are currently in a trauma state. It is recommended to use a stability potion.]
“It’s still here... When will it disappear?”
As always, the status window, as if reading Sol’s thoughts, promptly brought up another window.
[Would you like to use a ‘Stability Potion’?]
[Number of available Stability Potions: 2]
Sol frowned as he looked at the writing that appeared in front of his eyes. After diligently bringing up various windows for a while now, this one seemed different again.
“Stability Potion?”
[Stability Potion: When used, grants resistance to trauma for 1 hour and removes abnormal conditions.]
As Sol carefully read through the small letters, he couldn’t help but let out a sigh.
“What is this? I didn’t know such a thing existed.”
If he were someone familiar with games, he would have paid attention to the messages that had been continuously popping up in the system window. While most people would have eagerly checked the rewards they received for completing quests successfully, Sol wasn’t interested.
Sol had little interest in games, and aside from being a novice, he found the words pouring out of the system to be burdensome. He hadn’t had the time to pay attention to the details. Now that Sol realized this fact, he recalled the system windows he had encountered whenever he succeeded in a quest. Then, the system unfolded exactly what he was curious about right in front of him.
And there were quite a few letters that appeared on the mint-colored system window.
