Visual member, ending fairy. Sol stared blankly at Ji-ho’s unfamiliar words. Ji-ho raised one eyebrow as Sol looked at him, then lowered it, giving a sly expression with stretched eyes. His face was almost fox-like.
“You’re an idol. Your face will be in close-up on screen!”
Ji-ho made a square with his index and thumb, framing Sol’s face, displaying his various expressions. He squinted one eye, brightly smiled, and puffed out his cheeks. Deuk-yong clutched his stomach and laughed at the eldest’s antics. Instead of responding to Ji-ho, Sol alternated between looking at Tae-oh and Ga-ram.
“Don’t look at them. Ga-ram and Tae-oh both do well when they have to.”
“Even Tae-oh?”
Sol looked up at Tae-oh, whose face showed neither a smile nor a frown. When Tae-oh met Sol’s eyes, he quickly turned away towards the mirror.
“Our leader is definitely serious and passionate in that regard.”
“Your ability to handle attention has improved over the past few days, and now filming doesn’t feel awkward anymore. You’ll continue to improve.”
“Yeah. Ji-ho hyung, why are you intimidating Sol?”
“Hey, Kim Deuk-yong. You’re the one who teased Sol about his smile first.”
“Oh, right. That was me. My bad.”
As usual, Ji-ho and Deuk-yong started bantering. Sol smiled as he looked at Ga-ram, who had been speaking kindly to him with a calm voice since the first day.
***
Since their conversation with Tae-oh, everyone knew that Sol had a problem similar to stage fright, although they didn’t know the details or symptoms. Despite this issue, everyone acknowledged and admired Sol for practicing day and night and showing results.
After that day, Ji-ho returned to normal. He didn’t look at Sol with suspicion or belittle his talents. He worked hard alongside Sol, sometimes even watching Sol’s singing. Although his relationships with the members improved and the triggering of trauma during practice had decreased compared to before, it was not completely resolved.
The burden of having to show his skills in front of others during evaluations still weighed on Sol, but now he had a ‘Stability Potion.’ With an escape route, his mind became a little lighter and more stable.
“Why are you intimidating our hyung!”
“Our hyung? Am I not your hyung?”
“Ah... Well, I guess you are.”
As Ji-ho threw a glance, Deuk-yong, not quite suited to his large frame, shrugged his shoulders and chided Jiho. He flexed his broad shoulders to their fullest extent, contorting his face slightly into a fierce expression reminiscent of a scolded puppy, then shook his head lightly. Observing Deuk-yong’s expression, Sol eased the tension in his shoulders and chuckled softly, like a deflating balloon. At least in his own opinion, that’s how he laughed. Sol found the current atmosphere quite comfortable.
“Wow...”
Sol, distracted while putting down the water bottle handed over by Tae-oh, didn’t see who had said that first. Raising his head, he found all four of them staring at him intently.
“Why... What?”
Caught off guard by the sudden focus on him, Sol looked around with a bewildered expression. He widened his eyes, wondering what mistake he had made, and nervously shifted his gaze, causing the tightly tied ponytail on his head to come loose.
“No, nothing. Just now...”
“What is it!! You can laugh like that!!! Why did you laugh like that!”
As Ga-ram reached out towards Sol, Deuk-yong intervened like a reckless driver overtaking from the side. Shouting excitedly, Sol flinched involuntarily. Deuk-yong tended to get louder and faster when overly excited. His somewhat fierce demeanor and loud voice often led to misunderstandings, and this was indeed a misunderstanding.
However, understanding that it was a misunderstanding, and how his body reacted were two different things. Sol, who had always been cautious and avoided people’s criticisms, felt unexpectedly intimidated by Deuk-yong’s sudden intrusion and loud voice. Looking at Ga-ram being pushed aside by Deuk-yong, Sol glanced around and awkwardly stuttered.
“Just now? It’s just... I laughed because you looked cute...”
“This hyung’s face is really something! It’s a scam, a scam.”
“That’s right. Honestly, I thought when I first saw Tae-oh and Ga-ram that there couldn’t be anyone with a better face than them in the world?”
“Are we talking about the whole human race here?”
Ga-ram, pushed aside by Deuk-yong’s hand, looked back at Ji-ho. Sol also nodded involuntarily. It hadn’t been a great first meeting, but Sol had admired Tae-oh’s face upon seeing it.
He really looked like a statue. Of course, the same could be said for Ga-ram. It’s not that Ji-ho and Deuk-yong didn’t look good. While both of them didn’t have an easily noticeable appearance, they inevitably got overshadowed due to the other two being excessively outstanding.
“Me too. I felt relieved when I saw my brothers because I’m not as good-looking as them.”
“No, shouldn’t you despair if you’re less attractive?”
“You’d like me to despair!?”
“That’s it! I worried I’d turn into a squid just standing next to you.”
As Deuk-yong’s voice grew louder, combining with Ji-ho’s naturally resonant voice, it became noisy. Compared to quietly practicing before, they now playfully acted their age. Sol sat with bent knees, chin in hand, observing the two’s antics in earnest. Watching them today, he found himself giggling softly.
“Ji-ho hyung, you don’t have the face of a squid.”
“Enough about faces. Let’s get back to practicing.”
As their voices grew loud enough to echo down the hallway, Ga-ram and Tae-oh also chimed in. It was a rare moment of joy. He hadn’t experienced such a situation and mood in a long time. He had distanced himself from things like this after quitting dance and not going to academies. Sol smiled subtly, watching Deuk-yong and Ji-ho, with Ga-ram wedged between them.
Sol and Tae-oh’s eyes met as the latter approached to intervene with the three. Sol, who had casually smiled while glancing around, found himself unexpectedly grinning broadly. Tae-oh, who had come to stop the three, paused and stared at Sol.
Deuk-yong’s neck flushed with anger. He raised his voice as if he were going to lose his temper, but Jiho, who was smaller than him, grabbed his head as if to say, ‘When did that ever happen?’ and would make a sound like ‘heung’ while holding onto his forehead. Sol gently closed his eyes and smiled, revealing his neat white teeth. Regardless of how the situation turned out, whether he was in a game or not, he was enjoying himself right now.
“Ji-ho hyung doesn’t have the face of a squid, but what about me? What about me? Ga-ram hyung, you’re too much. Really. Am I the one who’s supposed to be a squid?”
Suddenly, when Deuk-yong’s attention turned back to Ga-ram, Ga-ram stretched out his body like a cat and glanced briefly at Sol. Despite Deuk-yong’s continued probing from the side, once Ga-ram turned his gaze to Sol, he couldn’t look away.
“Ga-ram hyung, are you ignoring me now? You won’t even look at me now that I’m a squid, right?”
“Hey! Kang Ga-ram, aren’t you ignoring me too?”
“…No, that’s not it. Sol looks really pretty when he smiles.”
All four of their gazes turned towards Sol at once, but soon shifted back to Deuk-yong at his loud exclamation. Sol’s quick change was like a creature emerging briefly on the shore, only to quickly hide from the rushing waves.
“Look at Ga-ram hyung trying to change the subject. Wow... seriously.”
“Do we have to endure Kim Deuk-yong’s awful aegyo* just to make Sol laugh?” (T/N: The act of acting cute or childish in a way that’s meant to be endearing.)
“Awful? Ji-ho hyung... I’m still youthful and cute as the youngest!!”
“Look in the mirror! Even if you say you’e the oldest, everyone would believe it!”
“He’s cute. Why deny it? It’s not that extreme.”
In the end, Sol, who was trying to defend Deuk-yong against Ji-ho’s words, couldn’t hold back his laughter and burst out laughing. His laughter was triggered because he precisely remembered the feeling he had when he first saw Deuk-yong. Sol covered his mouth with his hand to stifle the laughter that burst out. Once the laughter burst out, it spread uncontrollably like a yawn and couldn’t be stopped. How long has it been since he genuinely laughed out loud? He had lived as someone who couldn’t laugh so loudly until now.
“Oh, he really burst out laughing.”
“You fool. What if he hears that? I was purposely not saying it! Kang Garam! You clueless guy!”
“Huh? Was that it…?”
As everyone began to genuinely amuse Sol, Ga-ram pointed at him with his fingertip and spoke. It turned out that because his fidgeting lasted longer than usual, Deuk-yong and Ji-ho deliberately exaggerated their reactions to amuse Sol. Ji-ho grabbed Ga-ram’s head, speaking slowly to him. Only then did Sol understand, sighing heavily at Ga-ram’s sluggish response, and burst into laughter again.
“Let’s stop now and get up. Let’s try one more time.”
“So, is Tae-oh going to the hospital?”
“Yeah, I have to.”
When Sol finally managed to stop laughing, Tae-oh clapped his hands twice. Unlike Deuk-yong and others who swiftly got up, Ji-ho rose up like an elder, making a noise with a sigh. Seeing that, Sol felt like he would burst into laughter again. Trying to contain his laughter, Sol glanced at his fatigue level through the system window.
[Current Fatigue Level: 32/100]
[Currently in a state of ‘Very Small Happiness’. Fatigue is decreasing rapidly.]
*Starlight - Dreamer Dance Proficiency: 85%
Vocal Proficiency: 53%
As Sol stared at the system window that appeared before his eyes, he could only stand dumbfounded, feeling as if he had been hit on the head. It was because of the rapidly decreasing fatigue level, unlike usual, and the single sentence he had never seen before. Within that sentence, a particular word emphasized brought astonishment to Sol.
‘Very Small Happiness.’
Though it was qualified by an adjective, it was indeed ‘happiness.’ Tears seemed about to well up. Amidst everyone standing in formation, Sol muttered to himself. The corners of his mouth lifted slightly.
“I guess I’m happy right now....”
Poor baby I'm so proud and happy for him. I loved this chapter
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