Where is this…?
“Jun~” “So you’re Hajun.” “Damon!”
A dream. Or a memory from the past. A chorus of overlapping voices kept calling out his name. It had always been like that.
“Damon, do you know the word that suits you best? The one starting with D.”
“Hmm, Demon?”
Katy burst out laughing.
“Of course it’s Darling! No one in this world is as sweet and lovely as you.”
No, if so, that means you.
Yet those whispers remained forever out of reach. The ones he loved always faded into the far side of his memory.
“His temperature…” “It’s no use… that…”
Familiar voices pulled him back toward consciousness. Opening his hazy eyes, he recognized the faces gathering around. Bright sunlight filtered through the window, signaling late morning.
“…Cough. What are you guys doing?”
Clearing his raspy throat, he sat up, sending animal plushies and cushions tumbling across the blanket. Lifting a hamster body pillow with one hand, Hajun searched for its owner. Lee Sejin turned his head, avoiding eye contact. Cha Eugene popped his head through the gap, shouting out.
“Hajun! Are you feeling okay?”
“Yup.”
Waving a hand to reassure them, Hajun stood up, only to wobble and fall back onto the mattress.
“…Nope. Take that back.”
Guess I’m not fine after all.
Muttering with calm detachment as if assessing someone else’s body, Hajun checked his sweat-soaked shirt clinging to his skin. Gross.
Startled, the members crowded around him, everyone talking at once.
“Are you alright? No, instead of sitting here, we should get you to a hospital…”
“Should I call the manager hyung?”
“Didn’t he say a hospital won’t help?”
“Right, what does that even mean? Hey, now that you’re awake, explain… Wait, why are you taking off your shirt all of a sudden?!”
Their scattered chatter turned into a collective scream. Slumped on the bed with his shirt pulled up to his chest, Hajun scowled. Dammit, I can barely move my arms and legs.
“It feels gross… Want to change.”
Keun Sejin nudged Park Moondae’s side and whispered in a low voice. “Moondae-moondae, if this exact look came out as a photo card, how much would it trade for?”
“…”
“Ah, maybe it’d get cut for being too spicy…?”
If you know, don’t ask.
An ill teammate lying in his own bed at the dorm was normal enough… but his appearance posed a real problem. His face, normally unshaken by intense dancing, flushed red from fever, with cold sweat beads clinging to his forehead and chin. Half-naked in bed under those conditions…
“? Why are you covering my eyes?”
“Oh, just because~”
Ignoring Keun Sejin covering the youngest member’s eyes while talking nonsense, Park Moondae decided fixing this guy’s shirt took top priority. Ryu Cheongwoo stepped in to handle the situation for the underage members.
“Hold on, I’ll help. Fresh clothes…”
“H-Here…!”
Taking the shirt Seon Ahyun handed over, Ryu Cheongwoo helped him change. Watching Hajun poke his head through first and search for the sleeve holes while accepting the help with total calm, it seemed Moondae was the only one flustered.
Once changed, Hajun leaned against the headboard, his first words having nothing to do with explaining the situation.
“My body isn’t moving right. Give me a break.”
He spoke only about what lay ahead. With the sick person holding such an attitude, it was natural for Keun Sejin—the member who cared most about TeSTAR’s career—to speak up.
“You know our comeback is right around the corner, right?”
“Yeah. Why? Think a few days off will rust my skills?”
“…I don’t think that at all.”
Hajun grinned, the member who had picked up the choreography faster than both main dancers. Worrying about skill was a waste of time. The real question was how fast he could shake off this state. Keun Sejin rolled his eyes in a wide circle, his next words hitting the mark.
“Well, your mouth works fine, so explain. I heard the basics from Park Moondae… Just tell us how you ended up like this.”
“…”
“Ah, don’t just smile! You act sly when it suits you. Think I don’t know you pull that sweet smile only when you’re at a disadvantage? Won’t work on me!”
“Tch.”
Didn’t work, huh. Worked just fine at home.
Smacking his lips, Hajun closed his eyes to organize his thoughts. Opening them again, he looked at Park Moondae.
“How much did that punk Randy tell you?”
“…That you get sick out of nowhere, hospitals don’t help… and he doesn’t know the reason.”
“Out of nowhere, huh.”
Well, scum needing a beating didn’t show up on a fixed schedule. He thought someone of Randy’s level might have guessed the truth, but it seemed not. Which just proved how clean his work was.
Catching himself slipping in self-praise, Hajun tried to brush back his hair, only to realize his arm lacked strength. Rolling his eyes, he faced the seven pairs of eyes demanding the truth and spilled it plain.
“Hey, remember that Cheongryeo doll from before?”
“Why bring that up?”
Following Ryu Cheongwoo’s cautious question, Keun Sejin cut in with sharp precision.
“Hold on, don’t dodge the topic.”
“I’m not dodging, okay? To put it simple, curses come in two main types. The first uses an object like a doll as a marker for indirect harm, and the second…”
Except for Cha Eugene, who understood none of it, shock spread across the members’ faces in different ways. Some froze solid, while others recovered their composure in a flash. Park Moondae spoke first.
“Any witnesses?”
“Oh, you ask that first?”
“How’s the cleanup?” Keun Sejin joined in, a hint of anxiety showing behind his smile.
Since this was no laughing matter, Hajun answered right away without dragging things out.
“Nothing for you guys to worry about.”
“But…”
Ryu Cheongwoo asked the crucial question, his eyebrows furrowed in concern.
“I know you’re strong, Hajun. But look at you now. How can we not worry? …Who did you go up against to end up like this?”
“Doesn’t matter who. This state is just backlash. Either way, I win.”
“Hold on. Are you avoiding the question?” Keun Sejin blocked his escape route.
Acted like he didn’t hear, Hajun raised a limp hand and pointed at one person.
“That guy’s—”
“…Me?!” Lee Sejin gasped, startled by the sudden finger pointing at him.
“—father.”
Former father, rather. A blood relation, sure, but on a spiritual level, that bond held no weight. Calling him a father… A bond like that, severed by force without either party’s consent, wasn’t something Hajun should drop out of nowhere.
“…??”
“???”
The members went silent. Lee Sejin’s father? Hard for anyone else to add a word to that.
Lee Sejin’s face went rigid, his body tense with fear over what Hajun might blurt out next. But after a long silence, Won Hajun showed no intention of speaking further.
In the end, Lee Sejin broke the silence himself.
“…Why…”
That was all he could squeeze out, his mind a tangled mess. How much did Hajun know about that man? What did he do using that strange power…? Did he… kill him? …Was he pitying him? Is that why…
Watching Lee Sejin’s trembling lips, Hajun averted his eyes. Guilt aside, he knew he had pried into someone else’s wound. Or maybe he felt a bit of regret for taking away another’s prey.
Hajun muttered in a low voice. “Well… you know.”
“…What?”
“That man made you cry.”
Hearing a line straight out of a TV drama without warning, the members blinked, doubting their own ears. Pausing like a frozen screen, Lee Sejin clenched his fists, stood up, and yelled, his face a mix of embarrassment and disbelief.
“I-I didn’t cry!”
“You did.”
“I didn’t…! Who would cry over…!”
Biting his lip, Lee Sejin’s face contorted before he stormed out of the room. Ryu Cheongwoo called his name and rushed after him. A moment later, the front door clicked shut as they left the dorm.
The remaining members stood bewildered, reading the room or sneaking glances at Hajun in panic. What kind of drama was this?
Keun Sejin scratched the back of his neck, stepping up to summarize.
“Wait a second. So you put a heavy curse on someone… and ended up in this state, and that ‘someone’ happens to be Lee Sejin’s father?”
Is that right? Did I get this right? Keun Sejin asked, wondering if this was reality.
In contrast to Keun Sejin’s confusion, Hajun gave a short, crisp answer.
“Yeah.”
“Hmm…”
Lee Sejin’s father—a sudden topic, yet hard to pry into. In particular for someone with a strained relationship with Lee Sejin. Keun Sejin swallowed his words without digging deeper.
Park Moondae let out a sigh, wrapping things up on Keun Sejin’s behalf.
“It’s about time for choreography practice… The two who left will head straight to the company. Talk to Lee Sejin when we get back. I’ll inform the agency about your condition.”
“…Leaving?”
“Yeah. My body gets stiff if I skip practice even for a single day.”
With comeback right around the corner, taking time off was out of the question. If nursing was needed, someone else would have to step in.
“I’ll call the manager, so go see a doctor. Don’t say it won’t help. We can’t explain that to the agency…”
“…Don’t need one.”
Hajun turned his head away, pulling the blanket over his shoulder. Park Moondae stood speechless. After all that concern…
Checking the time, Keun Sejin rounded up the younger members before they ran late. Cha Eugene and Kim Raebin wished Hajun a quick recovery at the door.
“Hajun, we’re going! Get well fast!”
“We will be back! Please rest well.”
“U-Um… I…”
“What are you doing? Let me go.”
“Huh? Y-Yeah…”
Seon Ahyun sneaked glances at Park Moondae, worried about the giant blanket caterpillar on the bed, but had to follow as hands tugged him along.
“Gasp, what’s this?”
“S-Salt…??”
“Ah.”
Hearing the commotion outside as the members discovered the salt Park Moondae had scattered near the entrance, the dorm fell quiet as the front door shut.
Alone at last, Hajun flexed his fingers, checking his condition. Eat something tonight… I’ll recover within three days.
Thanks to Ryu Cheongwoo’s strong Yang energy driving away spiritual chill overnight (his two roommates were fine as long as they looked after themselves), his state wasn’t too severe. Hajun looked up at the ceiling, glad he had imbued the dorm with protective energy beforehand.
The animal plushies piled beneath him felt awkward, but he paid them no mind. He had no intention of falling asleep while resting like this.
