Hajun pulled the tail attached to his dinosaur pajamas with a scowl, watching the members chatter about what to do with their free time. Ryu Cheongwoo, who had picked at his dinner without appetite, kept checking on Hajun’s quiet mood.
“Hajun, is there anything you want to do?”
“Take off these pajamas.”
“Um… Are they that awkward? Want to swap with mine?”
Hajun glared at the wolf tail on Cheongwoo’s pajamas and shook his head. It looked better than the chubby dinosaur tail, but still… What kind of crazy person made guys over six feet tall wear such cute pajamas? He had no choice but to sit down, clutching the tail as best he could.
Hajun stared at the members wearing pajamas with short tails. The group, deep in planning content, had been talking about playing the truth game or mafia, mentioning the karaoke machine in the house, so nobody noticed Hajun’s gaze.
Lucky for Hajun, his main target also had his attention elsewhere. Hajun erased his presence and crept behind Keun Sejin.
“I saw a lie detector earlier, so for the truth game—AHHH!”
“Swap with me.”
Keun Sejin shrieked as Hajun’s hand slammed onto his shoulder without a sound. Surprised by Hajun popping up out of nowhere like a ghost, the others gasped in shock.
“Hajun hyung?? Wait, since when were you behind me… Give some warning next time! But more than that, let go of—”
“Swap.”
“Huh? Wait a second. Okay, I’ll give it to you! I’ll give it to you, so stop pulling—Gasp! You pervert! You brute!!”
“You’re wearing a t-shirt and shorts under those, so why act like this?”
Ignoring Keun Sejin, who crossed his arms over his chest with an exaggerated scream, Hajun pinned him down and stripped off the pajamas. Watching the ruthless scene, the members forgot to stop Hajun and stared in a daze as Keun Sejin got hunted down.
Won Hajun obtained Bear Skin!
Moondae rubbed his eyes, feeling as if those exact words hovered above Hajun, who stood proud with Keun Sejin’s pajamas in one hand. Of course, it was just his imagination.
“Loviewers, did you see that? That guy is this kind of person. Don’t get fooled by his image at fansigns! Fake! Hypocrite! Sob.”
“Whatever. You wear this.”
Hajun threw his old dinosaur pajamas at Keun Sejin, who was clinging to the camera in the corner and squeezing out fake tears. Changing into the bear pajamas he stole from Keun Sejin, Hajun let out a small hum and fiddled with the round tail on the back.
Ryu Cheongwoo stepped in to speak.
“Let me stop you there. Don’t rip it off.”
“Why?”
“It might ruin the clothes.”
“Got it.”
Ripping it wrong and tearing the bear’s rear end in two was never something anyone wanted.
Keun Sejin, who had put on the dinosaur pajamas, sat next to Hajun and said with a solemn face, “Even if you stole my pajamas, you can’t take my bear character.”
“Wouldn’t take it even if you gave it to me.”
Hajun pulled the bear hood over his head, ignoring Keun Sejin’s nonsense. Staring at the bear ears on the hood with eyes full of regret, Keun Sejin continued.
“Big Sejin Bear will not forget this grudge…”
“Why? The dinosaur suits you too.”
“Big Sejin means bear, bear means Big Sejin. Don’t ruin my firm image.”
“Fine, fine. Good grief, can’t even say a word.”
Narrow-minded guy, Hajun thought, clicking his tongue.
Seeing Hajun, who showed zero awareness of how important an image was to an idol, Keun Sejin waved his hand.
“Hey, you don’t get it. This stuff is vital for idols, you know?”
“Yeah, yeah.”
“Securing a cute, adorable animal image first, and giving joy to fans through it…”
Hajun tuned out Keun Sejin’s philosophy, lost in his own thoughts.
According to the data he gathered, Park Moondae had a rift between fans pushing a Tibetan fox image and those pushing a puppy image. Cha Eugene had a conflict between his own choice of a tiger and his fans’ choice of a cat.
At least those two shared feline or canine traits. Ryu Cheongwoo had two two distinct sides—falcons and wolves. As for Hajun himself… People called him a black tiger, a dragon, a gorilla, a crocodile… What else? Anyway, there were too many.
In the first place, I am human, so why keep calling me an animal? I am human. I was never an animal…
Hajun sat up straight from his slumped position on the floor. His sudden movement made the members flinch.
“I get it! It’s a taemong!”
“Huh? What… What is?”
“Humans becoming animals, animals becoming humans.”
“…??”
Feeling like he solved a riddle, Hajun gave a wide grin.
Cha Eugene raised his hand high. “Taemong! I know that! A golden lion climbs a big tree and eats apples.”
“Good dream. Feline family.”
“? Why bring up cats?”
Cat, tiger, lion… Triple feline family. Looking at Cha Eugene, Hajun nodded to himself in agreement.
Ryu Cheongwoo turned to Hajun and asked what his conception dream was.
“Me? What was it again… A huge black dragon was playing above the clouds with thunder and lightning. Then it lunged without warning at my mother, so she woke up startled.”
“Wow, awesome.”
“Ooh.”
“So she gave up on her plan to abort me.”
“…Uh…”
“…”
Keun Sejin made a scissor gesture at the camera, asking the staff to edit that part out.
Just as the free time seemed to turn into casual chatter, the mood died down once more.
Thank goodness it’s just us here. Thank goodness this isn’t a live broadcast…
Seeing the awkward silence, Kim Raebin spoke up with hesitation, making everyone brighten up.
“Um… In truth, I have something to suggest… May I speak?”
“Huh? What is it?”
“Raebin, is there something you want to do?”
“Let’s do it! Let me hear it!!”
“Yes. Since we spent the day playing around, I think we should do something more productive from now on…”
Thanks to Kim Raebin’s idea, the fan song project got full support and encouragement from the production team, lasting through the night.
They even gave the group until the next morning to fill the broadcast with the song creation process. Hajun, however, had already mastered his assigned part long ago.
Watching the members scattered across the living room resting or working hard, Hajun hummed his line.
“All I want is everything you gave~”
As he sang the playful lyric built around his name, Cha Eugene, who was lying face down on the floor, picked up the song like he was talking in his sleep.
“…With you, everything will turn out fine~”
“Maybe it’s you…” Kim Raebin hummed along in a daze while putting the final touches on FanSong_Final_Final2.mp3. He looked no different from a zombie.
Hajun spotted Bae Sejin struggling to learn the dance in the corner, Park Moondae in a somewhat better state, and the two main dancers coaching them both. He then turned his head to find Ryu Cheongwoo.
Ryu Cheongwoo, who was looking at his phone while talking to the production team, turned his head at the weight pressing on his back. Hajun leaned his body weight right onto him.
“PD?”
“Call him PD-nim.”
“Yeah. What did he say?”
“He suggested we release the fan song right away once we film the video.”
“Let me guess, you agreed.”
Hearing Hajun’s relaxed words, Ryu Cheongwoo smiled and said they should ask the other members too. In truth, as rookies, TeSTAR had little say in the matter since the production crew even convinced their agency.
The sole comfort left for Bae Sejin was that the choreo wasn’t too hard.
…It would be even better if this guy bothering him from the side disappeared.
“Strawberry shortcake, cream on top.”
“…”
Beside Bae Sejin, who worked hard moving his short arms and legs to hop around, Hajun sang an English nursery rhyme to tease him.
“Tell me the name of your—Oops.”
“Get away from me! You’re in the way!”
Hajun dodged the swinging arm with a chuckle and ran off.
Park Moondae shook his head in silence at the sight. It wasn’t just the youngest members whose mental age dropped by half when put together. The older ones were even worse.
“Guys, let’s start filming soon.”
“Okay~”
“Yes!”
“Sure!”
“I’m hungry!”
It was obvious who said that last part without even looking. Truth be told, skipping breakfast to work made it make sense, but Hajun, who cared nothing about eating meals, didn’t care either way.
He pulled the tail on Cha Eugene’s snow leopard pajamas and offered, “Try eating this.”
“Is Hajun stupid? You can’t eat this.”
“You eat everything well, so I just wondered.”
“Am I a pig?”
“Weren’t you?”
“I’m not a pig! Even pigs don’t eat this.”
Ryu Cheongwoo and Park Moondae separated the two Americans, who would keep going forever if left alone.
Yawning, Keun Sejin wiped his mouth, saying all this talk about pigs made him crave grilled pork belly.
“Let’s film fast and go eat.”
“Sounds good~ Moondae, did you check the camera?”
“Yeah. Pressing record now. One, two… Three.”
Three.
On the other side of the globe, long past bedtime in the early morning hours.
Staying up past midnight was said to be the enemy of beauty, but to Katy Marvel Won, that statement held little truth. Pulling all-nighters was routine during busy seasons, yet models stayed gorgeous. In other words, beauty came from money.
“Katy, not asleep yet?”
“David? I don’t have a schedule tomorrow.”
Following a knock, her oldest brother, David, poked his head into her room.
“Haha, I’m not nagging. I stopped by the main house after a while, so I just wanted to see my cute sister’s face.”
“Where are you coming from at this hour?”
“I took care of a minor issue nearby. It was too late to drive back home… So I’m sleeping here tonight.”
“A minor issue dealt with by the COO? Right.”
“Ah, you sounded just like Damon just now.”
As David said that, Katy’s phone chimed. Checking her Inheart alert, Katy sat up and patted the space next to her.
“Speak of the devil! Something just popped up on Damon’s team SNS!”
“Is that so?”
“It’s a Wetube video. David, watch it with me. You saw your cute sister’s face, so check out your cute brother before you go.”
“Shall I? Let’s see how our Little D is doing.”
Loosening his tie, David pulled up a chair and sat beside Katy’s bed. In contrast to his lips that curved into a smooth arc, his eyes devoid of warmth stared at the screen Katy held out.
[TeSTAR – Magic is You]
Damon appeared on screen wearing ridiculous bear pajamas.
Come to think of it, this guy was always like this. He looked sharp and picky, yet possessed an easygoing side. When Katy played fashion show model as a kid, he put on without complaint whatever she dressed him in.
[I feel good today, like something great will happen]
That chilling gaze that left a deep impression since childhood remained the same despite the passage of time. Whenever those eyes reminiscent of that woman looked into the camera lens, David kept his eyes fixed on the screen without looking away.
[With you, everything will turn out fine, new to me, but somehow good]
He had zero interest in watching tall men flap animal ears—even more when one of them was someone he knew—but one thing seemed clear even to someone who knew nothing about K-POP.
[All I want is everything you gave]
He seems to be doing well.
His friend suffered after the co-CEO vanished into thin air, yet Damon remained at total peace… Making things hard for the people around him as usual.
[Even if nothing stays the same, the magic of this moment]
[Maybe it’s YOU~]
Chuckling at the sight of his half-brother looking so happy, David spoke up.
“When is Damon coming to America?”
“I don’t know.”
“He better brace himself when he comes back. Father seems pretty furious.”
“Oh… That’s…”
“Give him a heads-up. He won’t take my calls. I don’t know if he forgot to take me off block or what.”
Katy tapped the heart icon on the finished video and agreed. With his business done, David stood up. Exchanging a brief goodnight with his sister, he stepped out of the room.
