Chapter 69: Rumor (1)

The lounge behind the temporary dorm building.

It might get a bit awkward if I ran into Kang Siwoo, so I deliberately chose a place where the members were unlikely to come.

Brrr—

As soon as I made the call, it didn’t take long for the ringing to stop.

It was Lee Dokyung.

"Why?"

I asked in a low voice without any pleasantries.

To be honest, I wasn’t thrilled about Lee Dokyung’s call.

Since our connection had stemmed from mutual threats, our relationship wasn’t exactly wholesome.

On top of that, when the first words are like that, it starts to make me anxious about what he might be up to.

“Congratulations.”

“…What?”

“Congratulations on your debut….”

I asked again, wondering if I had misheard.

Then I slowly rubbed my ear with my hand.

What is this? Creepy.

“What’s with that reaction? Am I not even allowed to say congratulations?”

“You’re free to say it, but it gave me chills for a moment.”

“I didn’t call to pull anything shady….”

He didn’t call just to say congratulations, right?

I frowned slightly and put a little distance between myself and the phone.

Lee Dokyung, who would have been a member of Stardust in the original future.

Just like what had happened to me back then, he was dropped by a single rank, and that must’ve made him think all sorts of things.

Failing right in front of your nose—it’s frustrating enough to make you want to give up everything.

It’s the only thing you’ve ever done your whole life, and now you’re probably overwhelmed not knowing what to do.

Considering everything Lee Dokyung had done, I didn’t exactly feel sorry for him, but I could understand the sentiment.

However—

Even so, this didn’t seem like the Lee Dokyung I knew.

Lee Dokyung wouldn’t act like this.

No, wait a second.

His voice… it sounded slightly hoarse….

“Is Kang Siwoo doing well?”

Are you drunk?

“Did you drink?”

“……”

I knew it.

No wonder it felt weird when he started off with “congratulations.”

If he were sober, he would’ve said the same thing with much more sarcasm.

“Suddenly, I thought about that bastard….”

Lee Dokyung stammered with a husky voice.

“I got dropped by one rank and Kang Siwoo made it in? I can’t exactly applaud him and say congrats, but is this what poetic justice feels like…. Ah, I should’ve lived better.”

A drunken confession, no doubt.

I could almost smell the alcohol through his words.

I frowned and replied.

“Glad you realized it at twenty.”

“Anyway, that’s why from now on… I’m trying to live a little better, so I even called you, Do Seohan.”

“Ah, okay.”

I responded casually to Lee Dokyung’s words, preparing to hang up.

The hyungs were probably waiting back at the dorm, and I didn’t have time to listen to his drunken nonsense for too long.

Well, he might be drunk today, but he’ll sober up by tomorrow.

“Don’t drink too much and go home safely.”

“……”

Just as I was about to hang up the call—

Lee Dokyung’s voice echoed through the receiver.

“It’s just… Is Seongbin-hyung doing okay?”

“…What?”

“It’s nothing big… I’m just… a bit uneasy.”

Huh?

Now I couldn’t hang up.

I scowled deeply and gripped the phone again.

Why was Cha Seongbin’s name coming up now?

“What’s with that comment that sounds like you’re about to stab someone in the back?”

Lee Dokyung’s potential backstab target was Cha Seongbin….

I would’ve brushed it off before.

He wasn’t someone directly involved with me, and to be honest, he wasn’t the type I particularly liked.

But now that we were on the same team, it was a different story.

No matter what shady business it was, I intended to stop it.

Maybe he noticed the slight harshness in my voice, because a flustered cry came from the other end.

“No, really, that’s not it. I know I’m not the most trustworthy guy! But this time, I really mean it…. I said I wasn’t pulling any tricks.”

His voice sounded genuinely frustrated.

“If it’s not a trick, then that’s even worse. Did something happen to him?”

“Well….”

Lee Dokyung hesitated for a moment before cautiously speaking.

“Some bad rumors are going around.”

Bad rumors?

I rolled my eyes and focused on what he was saying.

If what he had just said was a drunken confession, then this probably wasn’t just some random chatter either.

“It might be a baseless rumor, or maybe just blind hate….”

Stop beating around the bush and tell me.

“I heard something big might blow up soon.”

At those words, everything suddenly turned cold.

Lee Dokyung added in a low voice.

“He didn’t cause any trouble, right?”

To you, spacewalk

Even if I can’t reach you, I’ll be fine

To that planet, run in

Even if I collapse without reaching it, I’ll be fine

“Yes—great. Let’s go with that.”

“Great job, everyone!”

“Thank you! We’re counting on you!”

Recording for the title track “Spacewalk” was finished.

Composed by Billy Vinger, arranged by Cha Seongbin, and I was credited for partial lyrics.

It’s rare for a rookie to contribute this much to their debut track, which meant I’d grabbed a huge opportunity.

And the song—really, it turned out incredibly well.

Everything was going smoothly.

Except for one thing that kept bothering me.

“Seongbin-hyung.”

I quietly called out to Cha Seongbin as he came out of the recording booth.

His eyes widened as he walked out with his hands in his pockets and a headset still on.

“Hyung, I have something to ask you.”

“To me? What is it?”

Cha Seongbin stopped with a smile.

Aside from arrangement matters, we’d hardly ever had a one-on-one conversation, so he looked puzzled as to why I was calling him.

I hesitated a bit in front of him.

“Um. So…”

They said Cha Seongbin had a fragile mentality, so I hesitated a little.

But this was something he needed to know.

If bad rumors were spreading, I couldn’t just let him be unaware.

And it was the same from my standpoint.

Whether it was baseless or he really had skeletons in the closet like Lee Dokyung—

I needed to know which it was.

Only then could I figure out what I needed to do.

“It’s just… I heard something…”

After that, I simply passed on everything I’d heard from Lee Dokyung.

There were some bad rumors about Cha Seongbin.

I didn’t know exactly what they were, but something might blow up soon.

He was essentially asking if I had done anything suspicious in the past.

“……”

It wasn’t something that could be taken pleasantly,

And the smiling expression on Cha Seongbin’s face went cold for a moment.

“Hmm.”

But only for a moment.

Cha Seongbin smiled again and shrugged his shoulders. That characteristic carefree and sly smile of his.

“Well, it’s the first I’ve heard of it.”

“Really?”

“Yeah. There’s nothing about to explode with me.”

Cha Seongbin stretched as he added,

“Cha Seongbin lived a good, clean life~.”

That guy—since he dropped the formal speech he’d been hiding behind during Stardust days, his slyness had gotten worse.

No wonder he didn’t come off as trustworthy.

Because I still had a sliver of doubt, I asked again.

“You’re really sure?”

“Of course. I’m a pure soul, you know.”

Cha Seongbin tilted his head and let out a light laugh.

“My issue is that I’ve got a weak mentality. I’ve never caused any trouble though.”

“Hmm?”

There it was—the ocean sunfish.

It was the first time Cha Seongbin himself brought up his own mental fragility, so I was momentarily caught off guard.

“Your mentality…?”

I worried for a second that I’d stirred up something fragile by bringing this up,

“Kind people are always soft-hearted.”

“…?”

Maybe the most useless thing in the world was worrying about Cha Seongbin?

“What? Why?”

“Ah, it’s nothing.”

He looked like Jin Sehyun, all sharp features and classic visuals, but to think he was glass-hearted—it was hard to believe.

That guy, fragile?

Honestly, Seoh Haim’s claim that he was more like a stray cat made more sense.

Maybe Cha Seongbin took my serious expression as concern, because he added something unnecessary.

“But I usually don’t crack. I won’t break, and there’s nothing to break about. Until I actually break, I’ve got a vibranium mentality~.”

“……”

“Anyway, don’t worry too much. I don’t know where you heard it from, but even if you turn me inside out, there’s not a speck of dust.”

I don’t know.

In life, sometimes,

Even a chimney with no fire gives off smoke.

Just as Cha Seongbin had said, nothing happened.

At this point, I was beginning to suspect Lee Dokyung had pulled some trick,

But then again, he was way too drunk for that.

Maybe he was embarrassed for calling in the middle of the night and saying all kinds of nonsense—he completely stopped contacting me the next day.

Well, better left alone. If nothing happened, then that was fine.

Honestly, we were way too busy to pay attention to such trivial matters.

We had finished recording all the included tracks, then moved on to the music video shoot, and continued with relentless practice.

Doubles was really grinding us to perfection for our stage debut.

‘Slight exaggeration—I think I might actually die.’

‘Seohan, hyung’s legs are shaking….’

As we prepared for our debut in a daze, finally, a brief moment of relief arrived.

It was reality show filming day.

Even though the cameras would follow us around, they were all from Doubles’ own team, so we could relax more.

Most importantly, everyone looked refreshed just to be out of that endless training factory.

“Finally, reality filming! I’ve been waiting a week for this…!”

Seo Haim shouted joyfully, clenching his fists tightly.

Maybe because he was in front of the camera, his already bright face looked even more wildly shiny today.

“So today! What I’m saying is! We’re here to film our glorious debut reality show, just before the long-awaited, much-anticipated room assignments!”

“Haim, breathe.”

“Huff… huff.”

That’s right.

The first course of the debut reality show was room assignments.

Everyone was excited, chatting away with glowing faces.

“Aren’t you curious what kind of place we’ll be staying in?”

“Just looking at the outside, it already feels promising~.”

“It’s big! It looks huge!”

“No matter what, I think it’s gonna be better than the Stardust dorm.”

The quality of the dorm?

The size?

Room assignments?

There was a flood of conversation going on all around us, but I only cared about one thing.

In that case….

“I’m definitely calling the bottom bunk…”

“Seohan, there are no bunk beds.”

Kang Siwoo suddenly interrupted, and my eyes widened.

What?

Seriously?

“Wow.”

Doubles really spent some money.

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