“A live broadcast? Sounds fun.”
That was Hajun’s first reaction when he got the schedule for their upcoming W-Live. Seeing the sparkle in his eyes, Keun Sejin joked, half-serious and half-playful.
“Man… why do I feel so anxious? Whenever this hyung says something is fun, my stomach drops.”
“Watch it.”
“Haha, I’m just kidding—wait, just a joke! Time out! Aaaargh!”
Keun Sejin screamed as Hajun locked him in a sudden wrestling hold.
Having pinned him down, Hajun claimed he was just helping loosen up his tight shoulders from practice and started giving him a massage.
“Aaaargh! Help—wait, oh?”
Contrary to his fears, the pressure felt professional. As the tension in his muscles melted, Keun Sejin blinked in confusion and relaxed, letting Hajun work on him.
“What is this? Why does it feel so good? Hyung, did you work as a masseur in America?”
“Nope.”
“But how…?”
“Me too! Do me next!”
Cha Eugene slid over, begging for his turn.
Hajun patted Keun Sejin to get him up and gestured to Eugene, who plopped face-down on the floor with a grin.
[Wow… hmm, you’re pretty good at this. But how did you even learn–]
“Curious?”
The steady patting on his back made Eugene’s voice vibrate as if speaking into a fan. Finding it amusing, Hajun kept tapping while thinking back to how he picked up this skill.
“Katy works as a model, so her legs get tired from walking in heels all day. She wanted a strong massage, but male masseurs can be sketchy, and dealing with weird guys is just a hassle.”
[Wow, Hajun, you’re such a siscon–]
Thud!
“Ouch! That hurt! Hajun hit me!”
“Just a massage, buddy.”
“Liar!”
“The massage isn’t over yet, valued customer. Where do you think you’re going?”
Hajun flipped him back into a wrestling hold, making Eugene scream and struggle to escape.
The living room grew so loud that the other members peeked out of their rooms to check on the chaos.
“Our live show is soon… well,” their leader, Ryu Cheongwoo, mumbled. He glanced at Hajun, bypassed Eugene, and locked eyes with Park Moondae. His gentle smile seemed to say, Well, Moondae is here, so it should be fine.
Moondae tried his best to ignore that gaze, though it wouldn’t change his fate.
He behaves well in front of the cameras, so we should be fine.
Or so he thought, and now he wanted to punch his past self. Man, how many times had he regretted trusting this guy?
Moondae stared with an empty look as the others laughed at his drawing of a magic wand (or whatever it was supposed to be). Hajun stood among them with a serious, deadpan look. Moondae already knew what kind of nonsense was about to come out of his mouth.
“Hey, you call this a dra—mph!”
Before Hajun could launch his insult, Ryu Cheongwoo smiled and slapped a hand over his mouth. The room was chaotic enough that it didn’t look too weird. Still, Hajun, who hated being stopped, grabbed Cheongwoo’s hand and tried to pry it off. Cheongwoo held his ground, laughing off the struggle.
“Moondae’s drawing has the biggest impact!”
Finding that Cheongwoo’s grip didn’t budge, Hajun realized the leader was indeed trying. Since a physical strength battle wasn’t ideal right now, Hajun smirked and went with a classic, childish trick.
Sensing danger, Cheongwoo tried to pull his hand back, but Hajun gave his palm a quick lick.
“…”
Cheongwoo froze at the damp, warm touch on his palm. He stood speechless at such an absurd, childish stunt from an adult friend. Too bad for him, Hajun was not the type to care about acting his age.
“Hmph,” Hajun snorted.
Keeping his gentle smile, Cheongwoo wiped his hand on Hajun’s back without a word. The other members, still recovering from laughing at Moondae’s terrible drawing, didn’t seem to notice.
As Moondae began to explain his drawing, Hajun leaned over and whispered to Cheongwoo, “Not mad?”
“Why should I be?” Cheongwoo patted Hajun’s back, gesturing for him to focus on Moondae.
Keun Sejin, who was checking the live chat, chimed in all of a sudden.
“Hold on! Before we hear Moondae’s explanation, we just got a tip about two people slacking off in the back!”
“Ah, sorry about that,” Cheongwoo apologized.
“Do we have to listen to this explanation?” Hajun muttered.
“Let’s see… whispering? You two were whispering and leaving out the members and Loviewers? We can’t have that! Do it again and you’ll face a terrifying penalty!”
Keun Sejin tried to smooth things over, but Hajun cut in.
“What’s the penalty?”
“Well, that’s… wait. Didn’t we agree to use honorifics today? It felt so natural I forgot on the spot!”
“Oh, right.”
Hajun spoke with ease, and the whole stream fast spiraled out of control. Keun Sejin fake-pulled his hair, and Cheongwoo, caught off guard by Hajun’s pace, looked flustered. No surprise, their first broadcast became pure chaos.
Moondae stared with an empty look at the camera lens, feeling that their first live stream would join their debut stage in the hall of embarrassing internet history.
“What, are we stopped? Hey, Picasso. Explain your masterpiece.”
“Uh…”
“If you won’t, I’m going first. Ta-da.”
Since Moondae was spaced out, Hajun, who was next, revealed his own drawing. The loud room fell silent, followed by gasps.
“Did you draw this yourself? That’s amazing!”
“Whoa, incredible. You’re so good.”
“It… looks like a photo.”
Letting Seon Ahyun’s praise pass, Moondae blinked. Was it good? It was scary good. But the quality wasn’t the issue here. It seemed Bae Sejin thought so too, as he spoke up with caution.
“Is this… a lightstick?”
“Yeah. Cool, right?”
“I mean… you drew it well, but…”
“Why did you draw a chainsaw?” Eugene blurted out.
Lightstick? That? The closest thing to a lightstick was that the chainsaw blade glowed in rainbow colors. But no matter how you looked at it, it was just a chainsaw. Was this for real?
“You put a bulb here, and if you press this button, the blade spins. Cool, right?”
“Uh…”
“If things go south, it doubles as self-defense. This other button shoots the bulb out like a bullet.”
“What are you even trying to make?”
“I want them to win and stay safe wherever they go.”
Idol fans carrying chainsaws was a terrifying image. No matter how much he polished it with detailed shading and nice colors, it was still a chainsaw. Cheongwoo snatched the drawing away.
“Rejected.”
“Why!”
“Too dangerous.”
“It’s not even real blades!”
Well, if it were real, it wouldn’t be a lightstick anymore. Moondae gave up on trying to understand the fans cooing over Hajun in the live chat and focused back on his own drawing.
As the explanation went on, the members got involved, and Moondae’s lightstick evolved. Hajun did not hand the drawing back until he added metal spikes to a bat-shaped container surrounding the magic wand.
Moondae tried to picture thousands of fans holding spiked bats, then stopped. This lunatic sure thought idol fans were some kind of bloodthirsty gladiators.
Once they picked a lightstick design and announced the fandom name, their planned W-Live segment ended. But neither the members nor the Loviewers wanted to wrap up yet, so they kept the stream going.
Moondae kept a wary eye on Hajun, but Hajun behaved himself pretty well (except for licking Cheongwoo’s palm earlier when blocked from insulting Moondae’s drawing), which let Moondae lower his guard.
“Our MBTI? I’ve never taken it before… should we all do it together?”
“Sure.”
“Sounds like fun!”
Feeling Moondae’s occasional glances, Hajun clicked the link Keun Sejin dropped in their group chat and started the test.
[Q. You would give up an opportunity if you felt someone else needed it more.]
[A. Strongly disagree.]
What kind of question is this? No point to them.
Keeping his thoughts to himself, Hajun clicked through the questions. Looking up, he saw Bae Sejin staring hard at his phone, choosing his answers with absolute seriousness. He looked like the type who took these things to heart. Hajun peeked over his shoulder.
“Oh.”
“Wh-what? Why?”
“We have two letters in common.”
“No way!”
Freaking out, Bae Sejin looked up the types. While Bae Sejin scrambled to read through the traits to deny any similarities, Hajun wandered around to check the others.
“You’re just one letter off from me.”
“Yeah~ High five?”
Moondae watched as Hajun gave Eugene a high five with ease, feeling a bit complicated. He didn’t believe in these tests, but seeing both American guys get similar types made him wonder… No, classifying the entire human race into sixteen categories was ridiculous.
“Hajun hyung got ESTP? Let’s see… rebellious, thrill-seeking, super impulsive… Wow, this is pretty accurate.”
“Sharp senses, that fits too!”
“Doesn’t care what others think and does whatever he wants… wait.”
Cheongwoo trailed off while reading the description, and Moondae found himself trusting the test a little more.
Caring little about his own results, Hajun skimmed the summaries for his teammates. So, we have three nerds, three prom kings, and one nice, quiet kid.
The balance felt right. Having dealt with all sorts of people, these types were familiar to him. Except for Seon Ahyun.
“Why did you freeze up like that earlier? Your face went stiff.”
“I-I’m sorry…”
“Hey, don’t tense up. I’m not scolding you. But look at this guy glaring at me again.”
Hajun was curious. During their last fansign for this promotion, a fan seemed to set Seon Ahyun off. Getting a gift rejected wasn’t a big deal, so why break into a sweat? It felt like a bit much.
When he asked in the car on the way back, a sharp glare hit him from the side. Hajun spoke loud enough for everyone to hear, prompting Moondae to intervene.
“Ahyun has his reasons. It’s not something to discuss here. And I wasn’t glaring.”
“Sure you weren’t. You’re burning holes through my face. Whatever.”
The reasons were obvious. A quiet kid who stuttered having a trauma meant just one thing: bullying. Hajun grinned, making Ahyun flinch.
“I can fix it if you tell me.”
“Y-yes…?”
“There’s some jerk in your past who messed with you, right?”
“A j-jerk…?!”
Hajun stared into Ahyun’s shaking eyes. Frozen, Ahyun looked at Moondae for help by instinct.
“Just give me a name. A description works too.”
“Ah, well, uh…”
But for once, Moondae avoided his gaze. Though a slight sense of betrayal washed over him, Ahyun didn’t have time to dwell on it as Hajun kept pressing for a name. He just broke a sweat, repeating that he was fine.
He sweated more now than during the fansign incident. Though he couldn’t explain why, one thing was clear: he must never, ever let Hajun find out about Chae Seodam.
New Terms
- 러뷰어 – Loviewers (TeSTAR’s official fandom name)
- 채서담 – Chae Seodam (Ahyun’s high school classmate and bully)
