Chapter 101: Rest Forever

A current idol—one who had just debuted—got caught getting chummy with fans.

Just the revelation alone would cause a huge stir, but the content of their exchanges was even more ridiculous.

Badmouthing team members. Badmouthing senior celebrities in the entertainment industry.

“Ha…!”

It would’ve been better if it had just been talk, but it seemed he had even accepted a luxury watch behind the scenes.

With a face drained of all color, Kang Ji-hyuk snatched the phone from Ray’s hand.

“Hey, are you crazy? Why are you touching someone else’s stuff?”

“Ha….”

Ray let out a hollow laugh and clenched his teeth.

There are times when playing the victim works, and times when it absolutely doesn’t. This was the latter.

“Wow, you’re really bold.”

“What?”

“If this gets out, you’ll be buried instantly, and you’re just going to let it slide like this?”

It was beyond his understanding.

The sharp words slipped out on their own.

“Do you want that watch so badly? If it were me, I’d be too ashamed to keep being an idol. Aren’t you embarrassed in front of the fans?”

“…Watch your mouth.”

“You should’ve watched your actions first.”

Ray glared at Kang Ji-hyuk with a deadly look and opened his mouth.

Someone had suffered for over two weeks cleaning up the mess Kang Ji-hyuk made.

If he was going to keep pulling crap behind the scenes anyway, why suggest releasing a fan song?

It was absurd.

“Why release a fan song? To deceive the fans who know nothing? To at least pretend you’re sincere toward them?”

“Hey!”

Kang Ji-hyuk’s face turned crimson as he roared.

Ray curled his lips into a twisted smile and sneered.

“Ah, or was that fan song also a serenade dedicated to those people—?”

“You bastard….”

Right then—

A fist came flying toward Ray’s face.

Thud—

With a loud impact, his jaw twisted to the side.

The heavy blow made his body stagger, and he lost his balance.

“Wow….”

That hurt like hell.

Collapsed on the floor, Ray rubbed his throbbing face and rolled his eyes.

His cold cheek began to burn hot.

“Did you just hit me?”

After taking that hit, Ray’s eyes turned just as wild as Kang Ji-hyuk’s.

“You crazy bastard.”

“Hey, you’ve lost it, haven’t you?”

They were one step away from rolling around on the living room floor of the dorm when—

“Are you—are you crazy?”

“What are you doing!”

The members, who had heard the commotion late, came running out in shock.

Ji Yeojoon threw himself between the two.

“Damn it, have you lost it? What’s wrong with you guys!”

He’d heard the sound of blows from inside the room.

He’d planned to take a quick nap before recording, but now he was wide awake.

They weren’t kids anymore—how could this even make sense?

Fighting with fists at this age—unbelievable.

The members had known the two were on icy terms lately, but they hadn’t expected things to go this far, and they were clearly taken aback.

The younger ones cautiously added their voices.

“Hyungs, what’s going on!”

“Please, calm down.”

Kang Ji-hyuk still seemed unable to calm his anger as he glared at Ray, and Ray met that deadly gaze without backing down.

“He hit me first.”

“Hey, enough.”

“Haa….”

When he wiped his mouth with a grimace, as expected, blood stained his hand.

So that metallic taste from earlier was blood.

Seeing that, Ji Yeojoon’s face went pale.

‘This is insane.’

They had a reality show shoot scheduled for tomorrow.

Judging from the damage, the swelling wasn’t going to go down anytime soon.

No way.

Clutching his throbbing head, Ji Yeojoon shouted to the younger members.

“Go call the manager.”

“Y-Yes!”

In the tense atmosphere, even the members hurriedly left the scene, leaving only a cold silence in the dorm.

“……”

Even then, Ji Yeojoon’s gaze remained fixed on Ray’s swollen face.

Watching this ridiculous scene, a sudden wave of stress surged up.

“Argh, damn it!”

Bang—

Ji Yeojoon lashed out, kicking the innocent wall.

The living room was a mess from the two’s rampage.

One guy was burning up from being beaten, while the other stood with clenched teeth, silently staring at the wall.

“What the hell is wrong with you two?”

Looking at them, only words laced with self-mockery came out.

“Ha, our team’s going great, huh.”

The KJ Entertainment office.

“Haa….”

Lee Hyunseung, head of KJ’s management team, let out a deep sigh.

He thought he’d seen every kind of ridiculousness during his long years in the entertainment industry.

But—

Today was a new one.

Never in his life had he seen rookies get into a fistfight the day before a shoot and be dragged in by their manager.

Are you guys even idols?

“Haha… ha….”

Lee Hyunseung let out a short, deranged laugh before gritting his teeth.

Then, his shout roared loud enough to shake the office.

“You punks, are you out of your minds?”

At those words, Ray bit down on his lower lip and lowered his head.

He had expected trouble when he started provoking Kang Ji-hyuk, but he hadn’t thought it would blow up this much.

“Ah.”

His swollen lip stung, making him stop chewing at it.

“Phew….”

Lee Hyunseung’s sigh filled the office.

“What are you going to do now?”

“……”

“Are you sane? You’re not kids—fighting in the dorm?”

The head rubbed his forehead as he looked at Ray’s puffy face. One glance told him the swelling wouldn’t go down in a day or two.

“With that mess of a face… do you think you can shoot tomorrow?”

Frankly, it wasn’t even worth discussing.

There was no way he could appear on camera looking like that, so Ray would have to be excluded from this reality show shoot.

Logically, the one who threw the punch should sit out, but from a public standpoint, that wasn’t an option.

That aside, the real problem was the fan song release—less than a week away.

What a headache.

‘What am I supposed to do about this?’

After agonizing for a long while, Lee Hyunseung finally spoke with difficulty.

No matter how he thought about it, there was no other choice.

“Ray, you’ll have to take a break.”

Ray’s eyes widened.

“As for the fan song… I think it’s best we say it’s due to health reasons.”

“…What?”

“What do you think?”

Since it wasn’t a full album promotion, he was suggesting Ray use this chance to rest for a few weeks.

He judged it would be better for both Ray and the team.

The company would almost certainly reach the same conclusion.

“……”

Ray lowered his gaze with a serious expression.

“Two to three weeks should be enough. Don’t rush it. You guys are in a downtime right now, so you don’t have many schedules anyway.”

“Yes….”

He was the one who had invested the most time in the fan song, yet now he couldn’t even participate in the promotion.

He understood the decision, but he couldn’t help feeling upset.

Ray swallowed dryly, fidgeting with his hands.

‘Should’ve just held it in.’

He was the only one paying the price for losing control of his temper.

As regret weighed him down, he hung his head.

Then, from his seat some distance away, Kang Ji-hyuk poured oil on the fire.

His tone was utterly calm, as if it had nothing to do with him.

“You don’t seem well. Get plenty of rest.”

“…?”

Is this guy insane?

Every gaze in the room—Lee Hyunseung’s, the members’—snapped to Kang Ji-hyuk.

Even Ji Yeojoon, sitting beside him, clicked his tongue.

“Wow… hyung, are you a psycho?”

He hits someone and then has the gall to say that.

Even Satan would cry at this level.

“Hey, hey. That’s enough.”

Lee Hyunseung quickly tried to rein in the rapidly chilling atmosphere.

But Ray spoke up at the same time.

“I think hyung should take a break too.”

“What?”

The head looked at Ray in surprise.

“He got caught accepting a watch from a fan.”

He didn’t stay quiet.

“Why not just rest forever, hyung.”

───────

[Notice Regarding The Core Member Ray’s Health and Activities]

Hello, this is KJ Entertainment.

We would like to inform you about member Ray’s health and his absence from upcoming schedules.

Ray recently experienced health issues and visited the hospital, where, after consultation with the medical staff, it was decided that he would take a break for the time being.

We will do our best to support Ray so that he can return in a healthier state.

Thank you.

───────

The Doubles practice room.

From early morning, the news Jin Sehyun brought was nothing short of shocking.

“Hey, did you see this?”

“What’s this?”

At the first line, I couldn’t help but grab Jin Sehyun’s phone in surprise.

An out-of-the-blue announcement about Ray suspending activities.

Hyung looked at me with startled eyes and asked,

“You didn’t get any message? You two talk sometimes.”

“I couldn’t reach him yesterday.”

He usually replied instantly no matter what I sent, so it felt strange that I couldn’t get through to him at all yesterday.

And now suddenly, he’s taking a break for health reasons?

Jin Sehyun blinked slowly.

“Got any guesses?”

“None at all.”

“Mental health is health too. I heard things have been noisy over there lately.”

Jin Sehyun’s opinion was that it was probably some kind of stress-induced illness.

Even so, he didn’t seem like the type to be that fragile.

The real ocean sunfish was right here…

Cha Seongbin was lying upside down with his feet propped on a cushion, fiddling with his phone.

Noticing my gaze, Cha Seongbin turned his head sharply.

“Why are you looking at me?”

“Ah, no reason.”

“Hmm~ Every time ‘mental health’ comes up, everyone looks at me~.”

Well, that’s because you’re the biggest ocean sunfish here.

Even if he pretended otherwise, I knew he still carried the four-leaf clover I’d given him before our debut stage every single morning.

I was glad it helped.

Cha Seongbin stretched his arms out wide, chattering happily.

“Ah, I’ve made another killer beat, you know?”

At least lately, his self-esteem seemed to be through the roof.

“What should I do? Am I… a genius?”

But that lasted only a moment.

“Now that I think about it… maybe I should scrap it….”

Why does he never have a middle ground?

In exactly one minute, Cha Seongbin’s face returned to a gloomy one as he grumbled—this time sitting upright.

Jin Sehyun, unable to watch any longer, casually suggested,

“Hyung, just lie back down upside down.”

“Huh?”

It didn’t even sound like real advice, but it worked.

“Oh? Inspiration’s flowing….”

Hmm~ hm-hm-hmm~

Cha Seongbin started humming again, settling into an upside-down pose—this time defying gravity a little more than before.

Does that actually work?

“That hyung’s seriously weird….”

Just like that, Cha Seongbin got back to composing for the next mini album without further complaint, and the other members were just as busy for various reasons.

Ha Junseo was going through intense practice since the morning for a YouTube cover video,

‘Every time, it’s madness.’

Kang Siwoo and Seo Ian had been in the soundproof booth practicing vocals for a while.

I looked at Seo Haim and Jin Sehyun and said,

“Let’s get back to practice too.”

“Okay.”

“Fighting~!”

We all stood up energetically together.

Right then—

Knock-knock—

Through the glass door, shapes appeared, followed by the sound of knocking.

“Huh?”

“Wha~?”

Cha Seongbin, who had been upside down, flipped himself up like a rewind.

The people we’d arranged to meet around this time.

Ha Junseo swallowed hard.

“It’s the Tipple sunbaenims.”

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