After a boring first episode of [Working Humans]—which was basically just clickbait for the viewers—a real chaotic teaser for episode two dropped. The absolute highlight of the clip was this part:
[Won Hajun: “Stop right there!!!”]
[Staff (playing the bird): “Aaaaargh!!!”]
[Cha Eugene: “Go, Hajun!! Win!!”]
[Staff (playing the bird): “@#%*&!!!”]
It looked like they’d strapped a small camera to the bird mask. The screen bounced all over the place from the fleeing staff member’s view, and every time they looked back, Hajun’s massive figure was closing in fast. It was pure, raw action. Park Moondae scanned through the comments on the teaser.
[Hajun is really fast lol. Was he a track star in America or something..?]
[Maybe he played American football? I’m so curious about his high school days…]
[Someone please ask him at the next fansign!]
[Seriously, the camera angle from the staff’s POV is terrifying. It’s like a horror movie now.]
[Right? It looks like a tiger-sized giant chasing you down in seconds.]
[How tall is he? He looks huge.]
[189 cm.]
[Crazy. He really is massive.]
[Idols always lie about their profile height lol. It’s obviously fake but these fangirls actually believe it.]
[Sorry, what? I can’t hear you from all the way down there!]
[Hey, hey, go easy on him, lol.]
Classic. Seeing that Hajun’s fans were as fiercely protective as ever, beating down the trolls in the comments, Moondae was about to scroll down. He would have, too, if Keun Sejin hadn’t suddenly poked his head over and tapped on another video.
While the two same-age members bickered quietly, Hajun decided it was time to handle something he’d been putting off. He opened his drawer and pulled out the sealed Cheongryeo cotton doll.
“Hmm.”
Maybe he should name it Meatball. He fluffed his blanket and lay down, but he could still hear the younger members—specifically Keun Sejin—chattering away.
“Hey, monitor it with me! Are you really going to watch it alone and just sleep?”
“Yeah. You should sleep too.”
“But we can sleep in the car!”
Hajun spoke up toward Keun Sejin, who was whining about wanting to play with his friend. Although he ended up cutting off Lee Sejin, who had been speaking first, it was probably better this way for everyone.
“…He said he wants to sleep. Get out, it’s noisy…” Lee Sejin grumbled.
“I’m sleeping, so stop bickering. Teddy, go back to your room,” Hajun said.
Keun Sejin glanced at Lee Sejin lying down, then turned back to Hajun. He was about to reply with his usual cheeky grin, but he froze.
“Uh… I’ll leave, but can I ask you one thing first?”
“What.”
“Are you… going to sleep with that doll?”
“Yeah.”
At twenty-three years old, Hajun was planning to cuddle a plush doll to sleep—and not just any doll, but one made in the likeness of an industry senior. Keun Sejin scratched the back of his neck. Well… there’s no rule against it. It doesn’t really suit him, but hey, if it’s Hajun-hyung, anything is possible. Yep, makes all sense. Quickly coming to terms with it, Keun Sejin wished them a good night, closed the door, and went back to his own roommates.
Ignoring Moony’s intense stare, Hajun closed his eyes, clutching the doll in one hand.
Cheongryeo reached out and stroked the dog’s head. The dog kept changing size, growing larger and then smaller, its shape shifting all the time, but he felt no hint of anything odd. After all, it was a dream. Or at least, it would have been, if not for a voice breaking into his space.
“What is this, a chimera?”
The intruder strolled over and patted the dog. Once its shape stabilized into something resembling a golden retriever, Hajun nudged it toward Cheongryeo.
“There you go. I fixed it to match the clearest memory you have.”
“…More yellow than this.”
“What?”
“The fur color. It should be a more golden-yellow shade.”
Hajun let out a dry laugh. Talk about demanding. Still, since he had no real reason to refuse, he gently brushed the dog’s fur, shifting the color to a warmer yellow just as Cheongryeo wanted.
“There. Happy now?”
Cheongryeo stared blankly at the dog, his lips parting. Released like a long sigh, he whispered, “……Kong.”
As if responding to the name, the dog panted happily. Hajun watched with an indifferent gaze. That wasn’t actually Cheongryeo’s dog. It was just a reflection of his memories—a recorded video of sorts. Hajun had no intention of waiting around for Cheongryeo to have a heartwarming reunion with a fake dog.
“Now, can we talk?”
“Why is a TeSTAR junior here?”
When Hajun spoke, Cheongryeo looked up at him. In the real world, you’d think the guy lost his mind, but dreams always work that way. To be fair, Cheongryeo was in better shape than most. At least he seemed aware and made sense when he spoke.
“Because this is your dream.”
“My dream…”
Actually, scratch that. Watching his hollow eyes as he kept petting the dog like a robot, Hajun wondered if this was a waste of time. Still, he decided to push forward. A dream was a place where someone’s inner thoughts slipped out, in a way that doesn’t happen when they are wide awake. It was the best way to peek into the deepest corners of their mind.
“Do you know why I’m here?”
“Because it’s a dream.”
“Right. But why would I show up in your dream?”
“I wonder… The one from the future should be Park Moondae.”
So he does know. Hajun floated in the air as he listened to Cheongryeo mumble. What do I even want to do here? He had considered using this dream as a practice run to beat Cheongryeo up, but from what he’d gathered, the guy was highly guarded. If he pushed too hard, Cheongryeo might just wake up and avoid him in real life, which would be boring. He clearly had the upper hand with information, and he didn’t want to give anything away. So why did he go to all the trouble of getting that cotton doll just to break into someone else’s dream?
Looking at Hajun’s annoyed face as he drifted around, Cheongryeo said, “Why don’t you sit down instead?”
“No.”
“Do you hate me?”
“Yeah.”
“Did I do something to you? Is that why you’re in my dream?”
As Cheongryeo’s speech became clearer, it meant the dream was about to end. Hajun scowled. He wasn’t completely immune to the odd physics of a dream, either. His mouth moved on its own.
“Because you’re lonely.”
Then, the dream shattered.
Hajun checked the time and rubbed his face. At least he didn’t oversleep.
“Fuck.”
“W-what?”
Lee Sejin, who was already awake, flinched at the heavy curse right out of bed. It was more of a reflex than an actual question, but Hajun answered anyway.
“Had a shitty dream.”
He had snooped around in someone else’s dream, so he had no one to blame but himself, but Hajun had no shame. He started it! What a bold thought. He realized he was still holding the Cheongryeo doll and opened his drawer to look for thumbtacks. At the sound, Moony stirred awake and rubbed his eyes. Moony froze the second he saw Hajun stabbing two or three thumbtacks right into the doll’s head.
Moony looked around in a panic for their other roommate, but Lee Sejin was just as stunned, staring with trembling eyes and his mouth half-open. After that display—which was way too disrespectful to an industry senior, not to mention creepy as hell—Hajun tossed the doll back into the drawer and shut it.
Enjoy your mysterious headache. A tiny voice inside Hajun’s mind asked, Didn’t you say you didn’t want to bully him like a petty kid? But he quickly shut it up. Who cared? He needed this to feel better.
“What are you doing? Go wash up if you’re awake,” Hajun said to Lee Sejin.
“Uh… you just… those thumbtacks…”
“What about them?”
“…Was that a voodoo doll or something?”
“Yeah.”
“…Why??”
“You wanna know?”
“N-no!” Lee Sejin bolted straight into the bathroom.
Moony quickly looked away when Hajun’s eyes drifted toward him, silently asking if he had any questions too. Don’t overthink it. Just ignore it. It’s not like he decapitated the doll, so it’s fine.
Did… did he die?
“And the winner for the first week of July is… Congratulations! TeSTAR’s Magic Boy!”
“…??”
How did they win first place when VTIC was still on the charts? It was a lucky mix of things: the viral teaser for [Working Humans] blew up on Wetube’s algorithm, their extra fansigns pushed album sales, and VTIC had finished their promotions the week before, so their voting power dropped. But at that moment, all Moony could picture was Hajun stabbing thumbtacks into the Cheongryeo doll’s head with force.
While the rest of the dazed members stood frozen, Hajun didn’t even blink when he was handed the microphone. Hotshot stepped in fast to grab it and start the acceptance speech.
“Thank you so much. We really didn’t expect this win… First, thank you to our fans. And thank you to all the staff members working with us…”
“Are you crying?!” Hajun blurted out, genuinely confused as he watched tears run down Hotshot’s face. Wait, why is he crying? We won first place—shouldn’t he be happy? Wanting him to stop, Hajun patted Hotshot hard on the back while trying to grab the microphone, but Gummy Bear jumped in to stop him.
Rescuing the mic from Hajun’s clutches, Gummy Bear wrapped up the speech while listing off all the key people.
“We’d like to thank Director Kwak Singyun, Team Leader Kim Hyejung, and everyone else who helped make this album possible! And most of all, we love you, our fans! We really didn’t see this coming… Thank you so much for this incredible win!”
The fans’ cheers shook the stage. Messages of congratulations, comfort, and love filled the air. It was total chaos. Hotshot wiped away his tears and awkwardly patted Hajun’s arm, signaling him to stop pounding his back.
“I haven’t been this shocked since Alex handed me his wedding invitation,” Hajun muttered.
“Haha… Well, time for our encore stage!”
But the chaos wasn’t over. Somehow, Champ had snagged a microphone and shouted, “Shareholders? Thank you!”
“…!”
“Ack.”
After causing a minor broadcast slip-up, Champ was quickly subdued by Hotshot and the other members, who dragged him over to stand next to Hajun. As Champ looked around in confusion, Hajun simply shrugged.
The intro for [Magic Boy] started playing. While Moony struggled to sing on beat and ended up messing up all his lyrics, Hajun and Champ casually enjoyed the stage, amused by their struggling teammates. A solid win for Team California.
