"Instead of giving you a mission card, I will be directly telling you what the third mission of this reality show is. I'll begin when you all gather in the living room."
Mr. Staff shouted so that those in the kitchen would also hear him, relaying the information for all to gather in the living room.
Could he really not stand the burger? It wasn't so bad to the point where I wanted to puke.
After eating the burger, Mr. Staff's face looked slightly more grey, and the bags under his eyes seemed darker than before.
I guess he's still feeling sick. See, that's why you should've been nicer… why would you put yourself at risk — eating it like that when you get sick so easily?
"It's our first day filming the show, and we're already doing our third mission?"
Park Jitae walked into the living room and asked the staff, holding a tray of hot chocolate in one hand.
"We actually expected there to be very little material to work with since you guys are still trainees who haven't debuted yet, which is why we planned to have multiple missions. To be honest, I think we could milk out about two weeks' worth of content just by compiling the videos of you shopping for groceries and cooking."
Mr. Staff replied as he chuckled bitterly.
I mean, it sure would be shocking to watch us get groceries and cooking. I bet nobody would expect us to cook up compost.
"I know that a day's quite short, but we have no choice but to give you multiple missions a day because we have other missions that you'll be finishing over a longer period of time. When you're completing a mission that we need to film over time, we'll be broadcasting parts that can be stretched out like the ones we filmed today."
That's how we plan for the actual broadcast, Mr. Staff added.
Park Jitae nodded and placed the tray on the coffee table. He picked up a mug and offered it to the staff.
"You must be feeling unwell after throwing up. Have something warm."
"Haha, I'll take you up on that. Thank you."
"Here, Lee Suan, drink. You too, hyung."
"Thanks for the drink. Good work, Jitae."
"Mmh, thanks."
Park Jitae picked up two more mugs of hot chocolate from the tray on the table in both hands. He handed the warm mugs to me and Seo Yoon-hyung.
The mug was filled with a hazy grey liquid with white foam adorning the rim. The warmth of the freshly-made drink travelled up my hands.
"It's hot, so be careful."
"Let it cool a little before you drink, Suan."
I fixed my face towards the hot chocolate and carefully blew cool air into it before taking a sip.
Mmmh, it's warm.
I subconsciously smiled at the sweetness that spread throughout my mouth.
"Is it good, Suan?"
Seo Yoon-hyung still seemed to have not drunk from the mug — he was holding it with both hands in front of his stomach. When I looked up at Seo Yoon-hyung, I was met with his gaze. I couldn't guess how long he had been staring at me for.
Seo Yoon-hyung gently curved his eyes and smiled before asking, Would you like some more?
"It's okay."
"If you want more, have mine. I don't like sweet stuff."
Park Jitae pointed at his mug, speaking in a friendly manner. You can have all of it, he added.
Who does he think he's lying to?
I remembered that back in the past, when we were filming our reality show, he had been inseparable with his candies and chocolates. Knowing this, I could tell that he was lying right away.
So why did they change so much this time? Why won't they distance themselves from me or treat my like an invisible person like they used to? Every time I thought I was about to get used to it, I was getting chills.
Mr. Staff loosened the camera that was fixed towards the kitchen and placed it on the dining table so that it would face the living room. He anchored the camera to film us as we gathered on the living room couch, unable to look away from the laptop screen.
Christ, we have to do this, too?
The laptop screen was showing a dark dance studio with only enough light to tell that there were five adult males in the studio. The silhouettes moved around, little by little, stretching and quietly getting into their individual positions.
After about five seconds of immobility, the introduction of the song started. The men in the screen vigorously moved their bodies as they demonstrated flashy dance techniques.
They danced energetically in time with the heavy drum beats, and cut through the momentum with great restraint. Intricate movements were performed with utmost unity and without a single sign of disorder. Even the angles of their arms and legs were coordinated. In just a glance, I could tell that it was a video of a perfectly synchronise choreography.
"That's our sunbae for you."
(T/N: "Sunbae" is anyone who has been in the same institution/field for longer than you have — eg. school upperclassmen, idol groups who have debuted before your group)
"Um, wouldn't it be a better idea if we changed our mission?"
"We can do it, too!"
"…Let's try it."
…Even though you guys may be good at dancing, this isn't something that we can handle…
Just 30 minutes ago, as soon as Ryu Sunho and Oh Rion finished washing the dishes, came into the living room, and plopped down onto the floor in front of the couch, Mr. Staff, who had been waiting for all the members to gather, announced our mission.
"The third mission of iridescent's Debut Project is recording a dance cover of a song by the popular, on-the-rise idol group, 'Yoso'."
"Um, is this Yoso the Yoso that I'm thinking of right now?"
"A dance cover of Yoso? All of their choreographies are straight from hell, so there are literally no dance cover videos out there."
"Don't all of Yoso's choreography involve acrobatics?"
"Yeah, they're really well-known for their stunt dance performances."
Hahh, this is actually driving me crazy. Now they're going off making us to some weird shit.
"It is indeed a dance cover of the Yoso that you are thinking of! Our reality show is actually a program written to encourage competition between you and the group 'ideale', who will be debuting on the same day. We're also filming ideale's Debut Project at the same time. Our hope is that the two groups will improve themselves while competing against each other and stay as good rivals and as friends during the time you stay active as singers."
Hahh… I'm actually gonna go nuts…
"For that reason, this dance cover of Yoso will be simultaneously prepared by both groups. You are free to choose whichever song you wish. You will be given seven days. After seven days, you will be judged, and whoever wins will have their dance cover broadcasted on our reality show."
Mr. Staff finished his long explanation and loudly caught his breath as he added, Do you have any questions?
"I do! Will we be practising with that group called ideale?"
"Wasn't this a reality show featuring only us?"
"Mr. Staff, if the two groups are in this reality show together, will we be running into them while we practise?"
"Who will be the judges?"
"What will happen to the cover video of the group that loses?"
The group ideale had caught a storm of attention ever since their debut, and they were still popular even on the day of my retirement.
Ideale was a group whose members cared for each other very much. Due to this, iridescent's internal turbulence, in fact, gained them even more popularity. Especially because we had debuted on the same day, iridescent had received even more criticism from the public in comparison to them.
"Ideale and iridescent will not be practising together. However, you will be meeting on the day of the video evaluation. We had planned for this to be a competitive show from the very beginning, which is exactly why we began without explaining anything. We believed that if we had announced beforehand that this would be a competitive show, it would have been difficult to film the parts so far while maintaining a laid-back atmosphere."
Hahh, then what do they plan to do about the atmosphere from here on…?
"Some individuals from each group's agents and the filming crew will be judging. The voting will be anonymous. The whole dance cover of the winning group will be broadcasted, and only practice snippets of the losing group will be included. After the seven days, the two groups will be living together in larger quarters until the debut, and the filming will continue."
Huh? Maybe this works out for me in a sense. If there are more people caught on camera, I'll be less noticeable.
When I nodded and looked around, Seo Yoon-hyung was taking out his laptop, and Oh Rion had already taken his phone out and opened the music app to choose a song from their playlist with Ryu Sunho.
Park Jitae was ruffling through his hair with a slightly surly expression.
"I think we'd be in better balance if Suan moves more to the front."
Are you picking a fight with me just because we have a large height difference?
Sweat rolled from my forehead down the contour of my face, ultimately dripping from the tip of my chin. I massaged my sore wrists, shook them in the air a few times, and made big rotations with my shoulders.
The five of us were busy coordinating our movements through the mirror and memorising the choreography for one of Yoso's songs.
Despite the fact that we had been practising high-level acrobatics for almost eight hours without rest to memorise the choreography, no sign of exhaustion or fatigue could be found in the expressions of the members of iridescent, who were now soaked in sweat, as I glanced at them through the mirror.
"Yoon-hyung, I think it might be difficult for Suan-hyung to continue doing the part where he does a backflip before kneeling on the ground and supporting Jitae-hyung from below."
There was no hint of playfulness in Ryu Sunho when it came to dance. He had a serious expression on his face as he talked to Seo Yoon-hyung.
"I go tat, tat-tat here, and do a backflip. Tat, and I kneel down and put my hands together so that Park Jitae can jump off my hands while helping him by raising my arms as he jumps. Isn't that right?"
Park Jitae will be able to jump more easily only if I do this…
I danced the problematic part to show Ryu Sunho, and even motioned the part where I had to support Park Jitae.
"If Suan-hyung keeps practising that bit, I think he's gonna hurt his wrists. Suan-hyung's wrists are so thin to begin with, yet he has to play the role of supporting Jitae-hyung, who is the heaviest out of us all."
"You're right. Should I do the part where you need to support Jitae?"
"Yeah. You can do it instead of him, hyung. He looked a little unstable since a while ago."
The situation was flowing in a direction that was against my will.
"I'll do it. I can do it. This part is almost at the very end, and if we change this bit, we'll have to change all the choreography before this part."
I don't want to cause trouble for you guys until I earn money and leave the group.
I once again told them with a stiff expression, 'Let's carry on as it is.' Seo Yoon-hyung and Ryu Sunho replied worriedly, Since that's the last part, I'd like for us to practise that part with caution. Park Jitae, who was standing right next to me, merely stared at me with a dissatisfied expression.
"Be careful, hyung."
Oh Rion, who was silently and diligently practising his part to memorise the choreography, seemed to also have been concerned. He commented nonchalantly and replayed the video that we had taken of ourselves as practice.
"Should we head back now? Sunho should go back and sleep early to prepare for school tomorrow."
"Let's just do it one last time."
"You gotta go to school tomorrow, idiot."
"We can call it a day."
When Seo Yoon-hyung remarked that we should pack up and go back to our flat, Ryu Sunho stubbornly insisted, Just one more time. Let's try the whole thing one last time and then leave, despite having practised for almost eight hours with no rest. Notwithstanding Ryu Sunho's persistence, Park Jitae continued to ignore Ryu Sunho's protest and cleaned up around the dance studio. When Oh Rion said that we should leave, Park Jitae picked up our bags and left with him.
The three of us that remained in the dance studio stared at the door through which Park Jitae and Oh Rion left.
"They're probably tired as well. Suan and Sunho, you should also go get your bags. Let's go back to our flat," Seo Yoon-hyung said as he picked up his bag.
"You can head out first, hyung. I'll follow after you with Ryu Sunho," I replied as I pointed at Ryu Sunho. I walked with Seo Yoon-hyung towards the door and gently pushed his back.
Seo Yoon-hyung turned his head while still facing the front and said before leaving, "Make sure you turn off the lights. It's dark outside, so be careful when you come back."
When I turned to face Ryu Sunho, he seemed quite down. He had a complicated expression on his face that was a mixture of disappointment and frustration.
"Aren't you tired?"
I approached Ryu Sunho and asked gently.
"Aren't you gonna go, hyung?"
Unlike his usual self, he asked back in a slightly subdued voice and manner of speech as he stared into my eyes.
He really was like a child.
It felt as if I was looking at myself from back when I was immature. I was filled with foolhardiness that I could do more and that I should be perfect, but nobody had shared that feeling with me. I was frustrated and disappointed… and so was he.
"I thought that you'd leave as well, hyung."
I was afraid that if I left Ryu Sunho alone when he was like this, he would take after the sense of futility and unsightly reluctance that I had felt back then. So I couldn't leave him. I couldn't leave because I was overlapping my past self over Ryu Sunho in my mind.
"I'm not. I guess I can go back with you. Shall we go after trying it once more?"
I wondered if I would have changed if there was someone who had said the same to me back when I was selfishly hoarding everything to myself. That's why I was concerning myself with Ryu Sunho.
Ryu Sunho, who had been chanting One more time, nodded enthusiastically with his eyes widened with surprise. Suan-hyunggg! Once more, let's go after doing it just once more, he replied.
How could he be so simple like a dog?
I let out a small laugh and positioned myself in the mirror.