“Sung Sol.”
A deep voice echoed from above. Despite its weight, the voice swirled around Sol's head, failing to settle in his ears and instead dissipating into the air. Sol caught the tail end of the faintly heard voice and answered in a weak, trembling tone.
“...Yeah.”
Sol turned his body toward Tae-oh, whose voice had woken him up. However, Sol’s face, which had emerged from under the blanket, was no longer its usual pale self; it was flushed red, just like when he had stood under the red lighting at yesterday’s shoot. His face, now red as if he were heavily intoxicated, caused Tae-oh to tilt his head to the right.
“What’s wrong with you?”
“It’s too cold in the house.”
Sol let out a hollow laugh in response to Tae-oh’s question. What was he talking about? As soon as they had returned to the dorm last night, Sol had complained about the cold and left the boiler running all night. The floor of Tae-oh's room was so hot it felt like they were in a sauna, and Deuk-yong, who tended to get hot easily, had been sweating profusely from the heat. Moreover, Tae-oh had personally checked Sol’s warm blanket before they went to bed.
Tae-oh reached out and placed his hand on Sung Sol’s forehead. It was as warm as an electric heating pad. Tae-oh shook his head.
“I’ll tell Yeong-ho hyung...”
There was nothing more to say. With a flushed face, a warm forehead, and a voice drained of energy, it was obvious to anyone that he was saying, “I’m sick.”
Yeong-ho, who had arrived later than usual to pick up the members, had already been concerned. Seeing Sol, wrapped tightly in a blanket, only made him worry more. Standing in the living room, completely covered from head to toe in a blanket, Sol saw the members off on their way to work.
Ga-ram waved his hand to Sol with a face full of concern. As expected, Ji-ho was nagging until the very end, telling him not to stand around in the living room and to go lie down, and that he’d boiled some barley tea, so he shouldn’t drink any cold water. Sol nodded weakly in response. Finally, Yeong-ho left the dorm after telling Sol to get ready to go to the hospital when he returned after dropping the members off.
Sol tightened the blanket around himself and looked around the now-empty dorm. The memories of when he had first arrived here were still vivid. However, much had changed since then. Now, his belongings were scattered throughout the place. The warm floor, the cozy atmosphere created by the barley tea Ji-ho had just brewed—these were signs that he had become a part of this space.
His limbs were heavy, and his knees ached with the unmistakable signs of a body aching with the flu, but despite the physical discomfort, his mood wasn’t bad. Ga-ram's jacket, hastily thrown on before they left, was draped over the sofa, and the traces of Deuk-yong's breakfast—evidence of him having eaten some chicken breast—were still visible on the dining table.
Although Sol had been left alone at the accommodation, he didn't feel like he was actually alone. Initially, it had all started because he was pushed into it by external forces, but now the boundary between whether it was his own will or someone else's was unclear. Even during yesterday's shoot, it felt that way. In fact, it now leaned more towards his own will.
Though there was still a long way to go, he felt he had run tirelessly up to this point. Of course, to people like Tae-oh, Ji-ho, Ga-ram, Deuk-yong, and Eun-gyeom, who had truly worked hard towards their dreams, Sol's journey might have seemed insignificant.
But ever since that accident, this was the first time he'd worked so hard on something for such a long time. It was his first attempt. He had forgotten how to run and had taken awkward steps forward, but before he knew it, he was starting to regain the version of himself that used to dash across the stage with confidence.
Moreover, he had no regrets about what he had confided in Tae-oh the night before, almost as if he had been drunk. In fact, Tae-oh's overly simple response had helped. At the time, Tae-oh’s nonchalant words had felt a bit disappointing, but because things ended that way, they were able to talk as usual without any awkwardness this morning.
His body ached, but his mind was clearer and sharper than ever, and he felt no trace of sadness.
While Sol was left behind, the rest of the members returned to the practice room and finally had some individual practice time. They had been continuously training and preparing to support Eun-gyeom's stage, but since Eun-gyeom's music video shoot wasn't finished yet, they had some extra time.
A lot had changed in the practice room as well. As Chae Min-ju started filming, the weekend evaluations and training sessions became more individualized. Once the members reached a certain level of harmony, the curriculum changed. Now, they had to choreograph their own routines, and beyond basic vocal training, they had to take a step further, working on arranging or composing music.
After finishing the practices needed for their individual roles, they eventually gathered, as usual, in the practice room. Tae-oh stood in front of the mirror, dancing to a jazz-inspired song, while Ga-ram, Ji-ho, and Deuk-yong sat together in a row behind him. The three of them watched Tae-oh repeat the same moves over and over, as he had been working for days to perfect his choreography.
They had only sat down for about 10 minutes to catch their breath before lunch, but Tae-oh didn’t even allow himself that brief rest. It was Deuk-yong who broke the silence among the three of them, who had been quietly watching Tae-oh’s steady efforts.
“Do you think Sol hyung will be okay on his own?”
At Deuk-yong's casual question as he watched Tae-oh, Ji-ho nodded and answered.
“Yeongho hyung said he'd take care of him. He’s not a kid; of course, he'll be fine.”
It must have been a satisfying answer, as both Deuk-yong and Ga-ram nodded simultaneously. Of course, Ji-ho, who had answered, also nodded along. Silence fell again. For some reason, an unusual quiet lingered among the members today. Normally, they would be chattering away or busy playing pranks during break time, but today, everyone seemed a bit subdued. Ga-ram broke the silence this time by speaking.
"Sol, he's going to eat lunch, right?"
As expected, the topic was Sol. With a tired expression, Ga-ram casually tossed out the question, and Ji-ho realized the reason for this sluggish atmosphere. It was because Sung Sol wasn't there. It was hard to say when exactly Sol, who wasn’t particularly talkative and was often shy, had become the center of the group, but it was clear now.
He had joined late, knowing nothing and feeling discouraged as the last member. Whether they wanted to or not, the others naturally found themselves looking after and helping him, and before long, they started gathering around him. It became almost automatic to glance at Sol at the end of every sentence, as if asking, "What about Sol?" It had become routine to check on him and make sure he was okay with everything.
Ji-ho nodded slowly at Ga-ram's words. Even Ji-ho, who had been analyzing the somber mood, was caught up in this "What about Sol?" phenomenon.
"Well... yeah, hopefully he doesn't skip it just because he finds it bothersome."
"When you're sick, you're supposed to eat porridge and take medicine."
Deuk-yong responded to Ji-ho's concern. The three of them, sitting side by side, nodded as if they agreed with each other. At that moment, all three were worried about Sung Sol, who was left alone in the dorm.
"...Let's focus."
Tae-oh, who had been sweating while dancing in the unheated practice room in the middle of winter, spoke in a low voice. Normally, Tae-oh would have been the first to turn on the heater in the practice room, but today, without Sol, even the heater remained off. At Tae-oh’s words, Deuk-yong pouted. Sure, one of the members was sick and alone in the dorm, but shouldn't they at least be allowed to worry about him during breaks? To Deuk-yong, Tae-oh, the usual workaholic, seemed especially cold today. Couldn’t he at least pretend to be concerned?
The three of them stopped talking and quietly watched Tae-oh's movements. He was working harder than usual today. Watching him intently, Ga-ram pointed out one of Tae-oh’s moves and mimicked it by just waving his arms while sitting.
"...Isn't it this next?"
The sequence was wrong. This was a move they had practiced tens or hundreds of times, but clearly, his mind was elsewhere too. When Tae-oh hesitated, Ji-ho and Deuk-yong tilted their heads.
"Tae-oh?"
"Tae-oh hyung?"
Tae-oh paused at their questions and caught his breath. For some reason, he just couldn’t focus today. The words "let’s focus" weren’t directed at the members sitting behind him, but at himself. Tae-oh had messed up the choreography he had created, feeling embarrassed, and stood still for a while, his shoulders twitching. Once he calmed down, he put on a face that seemed even more serious than usual. He was flustered.
“Hold on… I’ll go see Yeong-ho hyung.”
Hearing Tae-oh finally speak after a long silence, Ji-ho lowered his head. He was pretending to stay composed, but he wasn’t any different from the rest of them.
“What's with you, hyung? Why are you laughing all of a sudden?”
As Ji-ho, head down, began shaking with laughter, clueless Deuk-yong playfully shoved him with his body. Ji-ho, who had been trying to stifle his laughter, collapsed onto the floor when Deuk-yong pushed him. Lying on the cold practice room floor, Ji-ho chuckled while Deuk-yong shook his head in disbelief, eyeing him uneasily. To Ji-ho, this change didn’t seem all that bad.
Leaving Ga-ram’s gaze and Ji-ho’s laughter behind him, Tae-oh exited the practice room in search of Yeong-ho.
“Yeong-ho hyung.”
“Oh, Tae-oh. What’s up?”
Tae-oh, a long-time trainee who had figured out how to do most things on his own. The only time Tae-oh sought out Yeong-ho was when there was something he couldn’t handle on his own. It was amusing that Yeong-ho got tense whenever a trainee called him, but that’s how Tae-oh’s call felt to him. Most often, the reason Tae-oh came looking for him was because of his unfortunate family situation.
“Did Sung Sol go to the hospital?”
As expected, it was about the hospital. Yeong-ho nodded, relieved to hear the name attached to the inquiry. After briefly feeling relieved that it wasn’t something serious, his expression grew a little uneasy.
“No, he kept insisting he didn’t want to go, so I just brought him some medicine.”
“Just medicine? He had a pretty high fever.”
“Yeah, I know. I kept telling him we should just go to the hospital for peace of mind, but he’s surprisingly stubborn.”
Though Sung Sol seemed frail and timid, he could be surprisingly headstrong. His face was flushed, clearly running a high fever, but he insisted on just taking medicine and resting.
In any case, despite their differing appearances, there was one common trait among the members of this team—they were all stubborn. None of them needed to be chased around and nagged to practice. Instead, they had to be persuaded to take breaks for the sake of their health.
Though each of them seemed like mismatched buttons, once sewn together, they fit neatly despite their differences, forming a well-put-together outfit.
