Chapter 90

  The members, who had been laughing and chatting with Sol for a while, suddenly focused back on writing their profiles, as if nothing had happened. Unlike the others who filled out the blanks thoroughly, Sol had nothing more to write.

Hobbies, talents, strengths, weaknesses, activities. Unlike the other members, Sol still had blank spaces on the paper. When he flipped it over, he saw there were more questions on the back page. Sol frowned slightly. It felt like taking a test. Of course, if this were a real test, his grade would be terrible since he couldn't fill out the answers.

Sol shook his head and glanced at the other members' profiles, just like Ga-ram and Ji-ho had done earlier. Tae-oh, sensing Sol's restlessness, asked him.

"What's wrong? Looking for something?"

At Tae-oh's question, the members all turned their attention to Sol. Ji-ho, who was sitting next to him, casually pulled Sol's profile sheet closer.

"Did you finish?"

"Uh... yeah."

Caught off guard by Ji-ho's question, Sol gave an awkward answer. But contrary to his response, his profile looked almost the same as it did when they had been laughing and talking about birthdays earlier. Ji-ho pointed at the blank spaces on the paper with his finger and looked at Sol.

"Your nickname is blank, and so are your talents and hobbies."

"I just don’t have much to write."

Sol responded to Ji-ho’s observation with an awkward smile, brushing back his short hair as if feeling embarrassed. Then, Ga-ram's arm suddenly reached across in front of Sol. Holding a black pen, Ga-ram’s hand moved over Sol's profile and filled in one of the blanks under "Talents."

"Talent: Dancing."

When Ga-ram filled in the blank for him, Ji-ho read it out loud and nodded in agreement.

"Fair enough. But honestly, Sol's face is a talent too."

"Write 'face' under talents too," Deuk-yong chimed in, agreeing with Ji-ho. At that moment, Tae-oh, who had been sitting at the far end, stood up. Hearing the sound of his chair dragging, Sol thought their strict leader Tae-oh was about to step in and mediate the situation, but what came out of Tae-oh's mouth only encouraged Ji-ho and Deuk-yong further.

"Writing 'face' as a talent is a bit much… Put it under strengths. You sing pretty well too."

"Singing is overlapping with mine, though. But still, write it down."

Ji-ho made a sharp comment in a loud voice, then quickly nodded. Instead, he tapped on the seat next to him, which had "dance" written on it, urging Ga-ram to write something down. Following Ji-ho's actions, Ga-ram also nodded, wrote down "singing," and, as Tae-oh suggested, added "pretty face" under strengths. Sol, finding himself in a situation where his profile was being altered, could do nothing but raise his hands and watch.

“Hobbies. Isn’t Sol hyung's hobby sleeping?”

“I don’t really have any hobbies….”

Sol nodded slightly at Deuk-yong's comment, trailing off.

“I do sleep a lot, though.”

Feeling uncomfortable with Deuk-yong leaning forward and blocking his view, Tae-oh stood up from his seat and bent down to join the members gathered around to look at Sol’s profile. A shadow, cast by Tae-oh, loomed over Sol’s head. Normally, when Deuk-yong and Ji-ho started fooling around like this, Tae-oh would stand back with his arms crossed, either stopping or mediating the situation. But today, for some reason, he was actively joining in. Ga-ram was the same. Sol, feeling dazed, just blinked.

As they were about to write down "sleeping" under hobbies, Ga-ram hesitated for a moment, then checked both his and Sol’s profiles.

“I wrote ‘sleeping’ too.”

“Ga-ram hyung, are you serious? What kind of idol has sleeping as a hobby?”

Deuk-yong, who had no complaints about writing “sleeping” for Sol’s hobby, grimaced and scolded Ga-ram.

“You all wrote your profiles so boringly.”

Compared to how everyone else had honestly filled in their profiles, Deuk-yong’s profile seemed somewhat over the top. There was just too much added. Beside the skill of "rap," he had written “really good at it” with so many additional comments that the page was almost entirely filled. As Deuk-yong flaunted his profile, Ga-ram clapped back.

“You wrote way too much.”

“Look at your handwriting. Aww, our cute youngest.”

Ji-ho patted Deuk-yong on the back as he pouted, but the more Ji-ho did, the more Deuk-yong stuck out his lip.

Ji-ho furrowed his brow and glared intently at the shaking paper, as if he had noticed something from Deuk-yong’s profile fluttering in front of him.

"Excuse me, DK. Did you write ‘kind and cool’ as your strengths?"

"Is there a problem? I am kind and cool."

In response to Ji-ho's question, Deuk-yong arrogantly lifted his chin, clearly proud. The sight of him drew everyone's attention. As Deuk-yong remained brazen, Ji-ho pulled Sol closer by the shoulder, feigning innocence.

"Have all the kind people died? That's weird... The kindest person, Sol, is right here."

Ji-ho grinned mischievously, bringing his face close to Sol’s, so much so that their cheeks almost touched. Before Deuk-yong could even respond to the eldest’s teasing, Ga-ram had already added ‘kind’ next to ‘pretty face’ on Sol’s profile.

Seeing his profile gradually being filled out, Sol thought it might as well be for the best. After all, these were things he wouldn’t have filled out himself. As Sol silently looked on, Tae-oh, standing behind him, gently placed his hand on Sol’s shoulder. A large, warm hand pressed down firmly on his shoulder.

A few more strengths were added after that. Unsurprisingly, they were all positive remarks, such as ‘works hard at everything.’ As unexpected qualities filled the blank spaces, Sol tilted his head. He felt as though the person the members were describing wasn’t the same person as himself.

"What about weaknesses?"

"Hmm..."

Still teasing and bantering with Deuk-yong, Ji-ho pointed at the remaining empty spots and asked. Unlike the other categories that were filled out easily, the members all fell silent, each deep in thought.

Tae-oh, who still had his hand on Sol's shoulder, gazed down at Sol’s head, which was calmly positioned in front of him. The neatly parted hair made him think that Sol’s mind must be more complex than anyone else’s here.

As Tae-oh felt the unexpectedly firm sensation of Sol’s shoulder under his hand, he pondered over Sol’s weaknesses. His first impression hadn’t been great. Honestly, if he had only based things on that initial encounter, he wouldn’t have expected to be this close to him now. Only later did it occur to Tae-oh that Sol must have had his reasons, just like Tae-oh had been on edge that day.

It wasn’t that Sol had no flaws. His morning drowsiness, impossible to fix, or the times when he acted like things weren’t his problem, as if someone else’s issues were his own. And then, there was the fact that he rarely revealed his true feelings. It wasn’t about sharing his life story or his circumstances. Rather, it was about expressing simple things like ‘I’m tired’ when he was exhausted or ‘I’m hurt’ when he was in pain.

When he was hungry, he wouldn’t say it, and when he was cold, he wouldn’t mention it. Sol never volunteered such information first. Only when the other members spoke up did he quietly say, ‘me too,’ echoing their words. Because of this, they had to observe his actions closely.

At first, it was simply looking out for his own, as he had always done. Tae-oh didn’t like disruptions in his plans, so just as he checked on the condition of Kang Ga-ram and others, he occasionally checked on Sol too. But before he knew it, from the start to the end of each day, whenever something happened, Tae-oh would instinctively look at Sol first.

And now, even without Sol saying a word, Tae-oh could sense discomfort, awkwardness, or pain from his expression. There was no strong denial or affirmation. It was clear there was some untold reason behind Sol suddenly becoming a trainee. What drew Tae-oh’s attention to him was the fact that despite the obvious hardships and pain, Sol never once complained and always threw himself into practice—sometimes to the point of collapse.

It was precarious. That’s why, out of anxiety, Tae-oh constantly found himself looking at Sol. That’s how it was, but recently, for some reason, he had been looking at Sol more frequently, at all times. Just moments ago, when Ji-ho pulled Sol into a hug, Tae-oh realized that while he thought Sol must be uncomfortable, he was also uncomfortable seeing it happen.

Sol’s smile was beautiful. As Tae-oh tried to guess the untold story behind it, he felt a sense of kinship with him. While deep in thought about Sol, a sudden realization hit him, and he tightened his grip on Sol’s shoulder. Feeling the hardness of Sol’s shoulder blade against his palm, Tae-oh quickly loosened his grip, worried that he might have held on too tightly.

When Kang Ga-ram had suddenly said he liked Sol, Tae-oh finally understood why it had bothered him so much.

Tae-oh, who rarely showed his emotions, felt his gaze falter for a moment. Thankfully, he was standing behind Sol. If he had been facing him, his ears would have turned beet red, and he would have made a foolish expression. Feeling a lump in his throat, Tae-oh cleared his throat a couple of times.

Ji-ho, who had been teasing Sol about his flaws, burst into laughter and gave Sol a light shove on the shoulder. Deuk-yong, pouting, complained about why he was always made out to be the bad guy. Sol, seemingly not minding the situation, also laughed out loud.

Ga-ram, who was helping Sol write his profile, looked up at the sound of Tae-oh’s coughing. Their eyes met in the air. The two had been friends for a long time. Practically inseparable throughout their teenage years, they had been closer than family.

Tae-oh could tell from Ga-ram’s face that his confession that day hadn’t been about simple friendship, camaraderie, or colleague-like feelings.

Tae-oh wrapped his arm more tightly around Sol’s shoulder and pulled him even closer. Bending slightly at the waist, he reached out and pulled the profile Ga-ram was holding in his arm toward the center. With Tae-oh’s tall frame leaning down, it looked as though Sol had fallen into his embrace.

Suddenly overwhelmed by the large shadow and warmth, as well as the familiar scent of Tae-oh’s skin that now felt strangely unfamiliar, Sol looked up at the owner of the shadow. When their eyes met, Tae-oh’s expression softened ever so slightly. It was a subtle change that others wouldn’t notice, but Ga-ram, having spent so much time with Tae-oh, noticed it clearly.

T/N: Ooohh... let the love begin, I guess? ⸜(｡˃ ᵕ ˂ )⸝♡

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