In one of LeTi’s conference rooms, Cheongryeo sat with his members for what was called a group discussion—though it felt more like a series of orders. A sharp pain shot through his head without warning. He stopped, pressing his palm hard against his forehead.
Chaeyul looked over with concern. “Hyung, are you okay? It’s happening again. Your headaches have been getting worse these days… Is it stress?”
“No. I’m fine,” Cheongryeo said.
“Still, you should rest…”
Cheongryeo answered with a firm tone, telling him not to worry. Yet Chaeyul picked up on a rare edge of irritation in his leader’s voice. Stepping back, Chaeyul couldn’t help worrying, wondering if he ought to look into herbal medicine for him.
Meanwhile, the other members felt like they were walking on thin ice.
“Back to the practice room, then.”
“Again—”
“Got it! Let me move~ Come on, everyone!”
Sino rushed to put his arm around Behan’s shoulders and steered him out of the room. Pushing back against Cheongryeo while he was in a foul mood from a headache was a fast way to get destroyed.
Following them out, Judan reached for his phone. A vivid memory flashed across his mind—a moment when someone had snatched a few strands of Cheongryeo’s hair and slipped them into a pocket.
Relying on the mountain of data he had gathered over time, Judan arrived at a thought close to the truth. Hesitating, he texted his exorcist junior.
[Me: By any chance, junior-nim, can you cast curses?]
[Me: Ah, and congratulations on taking first place on Music Bomb.]
[Me: But if you can cast curses, can you break them too? What should I call it? A spell? Exorcism? Or maybe ritual cleansing? People say they mean the same thing, but I figured I should use the word you prefer. Or considering your background, do you prefer the term exorcism?]
[Me: Junior-nim?]
[Me: Please reply when you see this.]
[Won Hajun Junior-nim: Busy. Don’t text me.]
Judan stood frozen, staring at his phone in dismay. From behind, Cheongryeo approached and called his name.
Judan tucked his phone away and turned around.
“Judan. Are you in touch with that TeSTAR junior?”
“Yes.”
“I see. By any chance… No, never mind.”
Cheongryeo frowned, cutting himself off. Something trying to surface in his mind got swept away by another wave of pain. Instead, he remembered he meant to text a different TeSTAR member.
After sending Judan on his way, Cheongryeo rubbed the bridge of his nose and pulled out his phone. Finding Park Moondae in his contacts, he sent a message. The persistent headache annoyed him, but he could handle it.
Having ignored his senior’s message, Hajun tossed his phone onto the bed and walked over to Park Moondae.
Moondae, who was in the middle of replying to Cheongryeo, flinched. “…Why are you leaning over my phone?”
“Are you texting Cheongryeo?”
“He texted me first… Mind backing off a bit?”
Hajun narrowed his eyes, staring at the screen. “Why doesn’t he text me?”
“…”
A senior dropping subtle hints, and this guy getting jealous over it… Moondae wished the two of them would just text each other face-to-face and leave him out of it.
Then Moondae spotted the eco-bag in Hajun’s hand—a bag Angelina had given him a while back—and lost his words.
“…Are you done packing?”
“Yeah. Right here.”
Hajun opened the bag to show the contents: a toothbrush case and a couple of folded shirts. Seeing such a sparse stash, Moondae felt like his own single backpack looked heavy by comparison.
Hajun shoved his phone and wallet into his pockets and headed for the door.
In the living room, the rest of the group gathered and made a fuss at the sight of them.
“Is Hajun hyung going on a temple stay? What’s with the monk lifestyle?”
“Moondae packed light too. Are you guys going to be okay?”
“Yeah.”
“Are we heading into the wild? Why did the rest of you pack so much?”
Hajun teased Bae Sejin, whose bag looked as big as his own body. Bae Sejin sputtered back in protest, trying to grab his bag back. Moondae glanced over, noticing Hajun remembered every member’s representative animal without mistake.
Cha Eugene trotted over, asking about food. “Where are the snacks?”
“What?”
“Where are the snacks?”
“…Snacks,” Moondae muttered.
“Pfft!”
Hajun handed Sejin’s bag back and burst out laughing at Moondae, who had become by now the group’s snack provider. Park Moondae = guy who hands out food. It was clear what formula Eugene had stored in his brain.
[Hey, bully boy. Stop extortion and let’s go.]
[I’m not a bully! I’ve never picked on anyone in my life. If anything, Hajun, you look like you used to mug people in back alleys… Ow! You violence addict!!]
“Haha. So full of energy right from the start…”
Eugene held his stinging forehead, yelling in complaint. He made a huge scene, begging Kim Raebin to check if his skull had cracked open. Raebin sighed at his antics, while Ryu Cheongwoo gave a helpless laugh, feeling drained before the trip even started.
Hajun, the culprit behind the chaos, wiped his hands and flashed a grin at the opening camera. Taking advantage of the commotion, he blurted out the opening line on his own.
“We’re heading out, Loviewers! Last person out cooks dinner tonight!!”
“Wait, hold on—!”
“Hey! You can’t just run off first!!”
“Haha, let’s go~!”
“WOO-HOO!”
As Hajun darted out, some members panicked while others got excited, rushing out the door in a scramble.
Seon Ahyun got swept along in the crowd. Bae Sejin stumbled after them, while Keun Sejin ran laughing, winking at the camera on his way out. Cha Eugene recovered from the flick on his forehead in seconds, shouting with joy as he gave chase. Kim Raebin looked back and forth between the camera and Eugene’s back in a panic before dashing out.
Just two members remained in the living room.
Ryu Cheongwoo caught Moondae’s eye, shaking his head with an amused smile. “Shall we head out too?”
“…Yeah.”
“Then for TeSTAR’s first trip, let’s make plenty of memories. Departure… well, we already departed. Haha.”
Let me go, Moondae. Having delivered a normal opening statement despite the weird situation of having just two members left, Cheongwoo smiled with warmth and led Moondae out the door.
“What gives? Why are you last? I said Moony-moony had to be the last one out.”
“…”
Moondae tried to find words for his evolved nickname, then gave up and kept quiet. First he was Eugene’s snack guy, now he was this guy’s housekeeper… He had plenty to say, in particular since Hajun almost never touched the food Moondae cooked anyway.
Beside him, Keun Sejin nudged his arm, pointing out the window. “Moondae-moondae~ The weather is great today, right?”
So Keun Sejin is the source of this nickname evolution.
While Moondae gave a half-hearted nod to Keun Sejin, Cheongwoo explained to Hajun, “Haha, everyone will bound to help cook together anyway. It looks better on camera if we all join in.”
“Is that so… Huh?”
“What’s wrong?”
Hajun froze on the spot, turning his head fast as if tracking something. Cheongwoo asked in confusion.
Scanning each face, Hajun stood up halfway and gripped Kim Raebin’s shoulder tight.
Startled by the move, Raebin stammered, “W-why are you doing this?”
“You. …No? Wait a second.”
“Hajun, what’s wrong? Calm down first.”
Cha Eugene grabbed Hajun’s wrist where it gripped Raebin’s shoulder, but Hajun didn’t budge.
Before Cheongwoo could step in, Hajun lowered his hand.
Raebin couldn’t tear his eyes away from Hajun’s sharp, gleaming pupils.
Taking Raebin’s hand instead of his shoulder, Hajun spoke in a low voice. “I smell death near you.”
Silence fell over the van.
“…Huh?”
“Pardon?”
“What?”
Exclamations of confusion and disbelief broke out a beat late.
Moondae sat up straight, his face hardening. Given Hajun’s traits and spiritual senses, this wasn’t something to brush off.
Though to the other members… he just sounded out of his mind.
“Uh… Hyung, did you drink?”
“No.”
“Wait. First, the camera… Ah, the crew can edit this out later.”
Cheongwoo moved toward the mounted cameras in the van, muttering under his breath.
Moondae reached over and switched off the nearby cameras anyway. Since this was self-produced content, taking five minutes off camera wouldn’t hurt.
Meanwhile, Eugene faced Hajun with a stern expression.
[That joke wasn’t funny.]
[It’s not a joke. Hold on, I’m concentrating.]
The atmosphere grew heavy, but Hajun was dead serious. Fiddling with Raebin’s cold, stiff hand, he muttered under his breath before asking, “Is someone in your family sick?”
“Huh? No… Um… Can you tell me what’s going on…?”
“The Gate of Bereavement is opening… or about to open? This part is tricky.”
“…Gate of Bereavement?”
Hearing Bae Sejin repeat the term with blank eyes, Moondae felt his face turn pale. If Hajun was telling the truth—Raebin had no business being on this trip right now. But their schedule was just starting… No, Hajun might not be right about everything. Even a skilled shaman couldn’t… But if it was real… damn it.
He didn’t even have the leeway to explain the term to Eugene, who kept asking what it meant. Moondae struggled with an internal dilemma, wondering if he should demand the driver turn the car around right away.
The members exchanged hesitant looks, not sure how to react to Hajun’s wild claim. Awkward air filled the van.
Hajun clapped his hands once, drawing everyone’s eyes to him.
“Alright, don’t panic. I’ll try to seal it. You in the back row, swap seats with me.”
“Y-yes…!”
Seon Ahyun scrambled up from his seat. Sliding past Bae Sejin, Hajun sat down next to Raebin, gripping his hand. He looked around at the bewildered faces of his group.
“No questions. We have about an hour left, right?”
“Uh… yeah.”
“Good. Turn the cameras back on. And don’t wake me up. Bunny, keep hold of my hand. Nothing terrible happens if you let go, but it takes longer. Starting now.”
With that, Hajun closed his eyes.
His head slumped forward in an instant, like a puppet with its strings cut. Raebin gasped in shock.
Their fingers remained locked tight beneath the seat, as if warning him not to let go.
Having turned the cameras back on, Moondae cast anxious glances toward the back row.
Keun Sejin tried his best to lighten the mood, but without Eugene joining in the noise, his efforts fell flat.
This heavy silence would no doubt get edited by the production team to look like exhausted idols drifting off to sleep one after another.
Moondae skipped his earplugs just in case, leaning back against his seat with his eyes closed.
Keun Sejin, who had been poking Moondae and asking what was wrong with Hajun, got no answer and shrugged, checking on Hajun in the back.
Asleep, Hajun looked calmer and softer than when he was awake.
Leaving everyone else on edge while he slept in total peace.
Yet any annoyance melted away when remembering the sharp gaze hidden behind those eyelids—and how those eyes curved when he stared at someone.
A peculiar guy.
Keun Sejin wasn’t the just one thinking it.
If anyone had voiced it out loud, every member in the van would have nodded along.
It had been a while since Hajun took this form.
Hajun looked at his semi-transparent spirit self floating in the air, then at his physical body slumped in the seat. He slipped his spirit hand right into the spot where his physical hand joined Kim Raebin’s.
Using that contact point as a gateway, he reached deep inside Raebin’s body, searching near his heart for the threads of fate.
He caught a thick bundle of sturdy threads that without a doubt belonged to family.
He spotted the issue right away.
Grabbing a thread that was fraying on the verge of snapping, Hajun bound it with a firm tone to the surrounding threads as a temporary fix. Then he hesitated for a moment.
Am I meddling too much?
Matters of life and death belonged to heaven’s fate. His mother had warned him time and again never to tamper with them without care…
Staring at the faint tear in fate, Hajun ran a hand through his hair in conflict.
Rushing into action was a bad idea. Even for someone with his background, direct interference felt risky… Besides, this was revealing divine secrets.
Man, if mother finds out about this, I’ll get a real scolding.
Floating upside down in a cross-legged position, Hajun rolled his eyes, running his fingers along the cluster of threads.
From time to time, he watched the members in the front seats turn anxious glances toward the back row.
Swiping his hand right in front of Moondae’s nose and passing straight through him, Hajun confirmed that despite carrying something strange attached to his soul, Moondae couldn’t see this side at all. Hajun straightened up.
“Your hair looks fine, Sejin. You don’t need to fix it.”
“A-ah, no. Just…”
In fact, the real talent for sensing things lay with someone else altogether.
Watching Bae Sejin touch his hair with a blank face when Hajun passed his arm in jest his arm through Sejin’s head, Hajun made a mental note.
Need to keep an eye on him.
Preparing to slip back into his body, Hajun aligned his spirit form with care his spirit form with his physical frame.
Before long, sensation returned to him.
The first thing he felt was warm body heat at his fingertips.
Kim Raebin, who hadn’t let go of Hajun’s hand for a single second, turned his head the moment he noticed Hajun waking up.
With his job done, Hajun loosened his grip without hesitation, but he didn’t pull away when Raebin’s smaller hand tightened around his.
Raebin’s worried eyes searched his face. “U-um…! You said no questions, but… can I ask just one thing?”
“Go ahead.”
Flustered by the casual reply, Raebin stammered.
The rest of the group turned around too, noticing Hajun was awake.
When it came time to ask, a wave of chaotic questions tangled in Raebin’s throat: What just happened, is my grandmother alright, how did you know, hyung, what is all this…
Struggling to find the words, Raebin stammered out, “…Is my grandmother,”
“Yeah. Hard to explain the details, but… she should be okay for now.”
Listening from the front row, Moondae wondered why Hajun phrased it like a guess, but for Raebin, that was enough.
As Raebin let out a long breath of relief, the other members blurted out their questions one after another.
“What… what are you for real?”
“Hajun, [I don’t tend to believe in this stuff], but I have to ask. That super power you mentioned before… is it… spiritual?”
“Hyung, what are you? A shaman or something?”
Ryu Cheongwoo stepped in to calm down the excited group, but Hajun cut in first.
“Something like that. To be exact, not a shaman…”
“I just see ghosts.”
Thump.
Turning pale as a sheet, Kim Raebin dropped his phone onto the floor.
Park Moondae, who already knew the truth through his Status Window, spoke up without a sound.
“…Should we turn off the mics again?”
The staff would chew them out for it, but facing a sudden coming-out from a spiritual medium—they had no choice.
New Terms
- 상문 – Sangmun (Gate of Bereavement / Omen of Death)
- 미트볼 – Meatball (Hajun’s nickname for the Cheongryeo plush doll)
- 쥬디 – Judy (Bae Sejin’s nickname from Hajun)
