At the same time, the area below suddenly turned noisy. The sound of trainees scrambling off in a panic echoed up the stairs—clearly, they’d recognized his voice. Kang Ichae only flicked his eyes downward to glance below the stairs, then turned his gaze back to me. He was dressed in tight-fitting black slacks paired with a round-neck cropped short-sleeve top. A black choker was wrapped around his neck. It looked too simple to be a stage outfit. “Came to see the funny and cheerful rapper, huh?” This bastard’s got good ears. Still chewing gum like some punk, Kang Ichae rested his right foot on a step with a thud and started tying the laces on his combat boots. “Hyung, I’ve got good instincts, you know.” I bit the inside of my cheek and responded as casually as I could. Sweat was trickling down my back, but my makeup kept my complexion looking normal. “But I’m feeling very uneasy right now.” I thought I could bluff my way through this, but Kang Ichae tapped the toe of his boot on the floor a few times and smirked lazily at me. First Min Jiheon, now this. Why the hell were so many people telling me to go home? “Don’t just hang around to get your face on screen for a single minute. If you’re worried about sparking a scandal, I’ll ask the production team to edit you in like they do with class photos when a kid misses the school trip. You know—just slap on a passport photo or something.” “Have you ever even been on a school trip?” “Oof, low blow. Then we’ll say Min Jiheon’s variety shoot ran long or something.” As if you could get away with that kind of lie in this information age. One quick check and it’d fall apart. I tried to laugh it off, but Kang Ichae’s eyes were sharper than I expected. Those eyes—sharp and dangerous... “You know the audience can see the crowd from the stage, right?” ...If I didn’t leave, he looked ready to tear me apart even if I was a fellow group member. I quickly opened my mouth. “I’ll talk to the manager.” Only then did he flash a bright smile. “I worked hard on it, so it’s a bit of a shame. But hey, you can always see my stage again, right?” With that, he said he had to head back to the green room and walked away—tossing in one last “I believe in you.” Watching his back as he left, I leaned against the wall. After my personal healer just gave me emergency treatment, you think I’d just walk away? At the very least, I planned to stay and gauge the crowd’s reaction. I took a few steadying breaths and left the emergency staircase to return to the performance hall. I nodded and sat back down. A special seating area had been set up on the right side near the stage. Before long, the trainees’ performance began. 【I wanna catch you, catch you, catch you And yeah, this was about school talent show level. 【Your body’s so beautiful The members, who had started off reacting enthusiastically, were now falling silent. ‘At this rate, shouldn’t the audience be paid to watch?’ I was beginning to understand why they included a mentor performance. It wasn’t just to motivate the trainees—it was to grab the viewers’ attention and salvage the show’s credibility. 【Your face is so pretty Kim Sunghyun murmured coldly—uncharacteristically so. “No wonder someone cried...” Next to him, Jung Dajun scratched at his arms uncomfortably. ‘Kim Heeyoung really washed her hands of this one.’ Whether she knew or not... I kept clapping nonstop, trying to hide how badly my fingers were trembling [N O V E L I G H T] from the pain. But I could still endure it. For now. [Let’s check out the special stage prepared by the mentors for the trainees!] After all the trainees had performed, the MC introduced the mentors’ special stage. “Whoa!! Ichae hyung’s coming out!!” The Dawn members burst into cheers, full of excitement. Like I ever listened to anyone. The stage, designed to look like an abandoned construction site, was bathed in chaotic swirls of deep blue and red lighting. A faint whistle echoed across the hall, and the title ‘DICE’ flashed across the screen. Right in the center, someone was sitting on a chunk of shattered concrete with a cap pulled low over their face. Beneath a rider jacket and a cropped T-shirt, sharply defined abs peeked out, stealing the spotlight. At the front of the stage, six backup dancers stood in formation, waving flags emblazoned with “THE DAWN.” The one kicking off the mentor performance was none other than Kang Ichae. “Kang Ichae...! Oh man, you—!!” “Hey, watch your tone... and where’s the ‘hyung,’ huh?” Kim Sunghyun covered Jung Dajun’s mouth but couldn’t take his eyes off the stage. The backup dancers wore matching pure-white uniforms. Compared to that, Kang Ichae’s all-black look—with only his head exposed—made him stand out even more. Bathed in spotlight, he tossed aside his cap and lifted one corner of his mouth into a smirk. 【Did you throw the dice?】 I’d heard he wrote, composed, and produced this track himself. Under the sharp electric guitar riffs, the drums kicked in. 【Wandering like a madman, I finally found it Second Chance won't come to anyone Can’t deny it—my heart’s pounding】 Even with Kang Ichae’s usual edgy preferences, the melody stuck hard and fast in your ear. Only a few seconds in, and I momentarily forgot I was even in pain. It was that impactful. 【Told you, we can never leave this scheme This setup was made just for you】 It was a mentor group stage, but Kang Ichae’s lines were laced with lyrics and motifs pulled straight from The Dawn’s past songs. 【Perhaps I was too kind But by now, you should’ve figured it out Follow current ɴᴏᴠᴇʟs on novelFɪre.net Shot up high, then crashed hard】 Was he showing love? Or was he threatening to devour anyone who dared challenge him? The lyrics could go either way. ‘God, this is relaxing.’ Maybe it was because I’d just sat through that trainee performance, but this was... something else. Kang Ichae’s rap was sharp, aggressive, a bit vulgar—and when it was time for the next mentor, he slipped into the background with ease. 【Still can’t figure me out? Do you want me to hug you now? Get your cool back, take a breath Do you want me to repeat?】 From there, the mentors took turns. But no one on that stage shone as brightly as Kang Ichae. 【Perhaps I was too kind】 You could just tell. He was absolutely dominating. 【That sense of déjà vu It’s not a coincidence—it’s a trap】 When his part came back around, he placed one boot firmly on top of a speaker. 【I want to paint you in my colors】 Then, letting one side of his leather jacket slip down, he rolled his hips into a wave. 【Can I bite you little?】 The crowd erupted in screams. Hands flew up. People screamed. Some were mashing the vote remotes like maniacs, yelling that they were “picking Kang Ichae”—even though it wasn’t a contestant performance. Kang Ichae was going berserk up there like a man unchained. Every trainee in their reserved seating had their jaws hanging open. Shocked stiff. His overwhelming skill. That aura that seized the entire crowd. ‘Honestly... maybe I didn’t need to stay to see this.’ He’s a guy who’d nail it no matter what—I probably stayed for no reason. I forced a crooked smile through the rising cough in my throat. To stay conscious, I clenched my fist so tightly that my nails dug deep into my palm. 【This isn’t a joke—it’s a warning】 And in that moment, my eyes locked with Kang Ichae’s. His eyebrow twitched ever so slightly. He continued the performance unfazed, but his gaze screamed, Are you fucking insane? That health-obsessed lunatic had spotted the sudden deterioration in my condition at a glance. 【I want to paint you in my colors】 Sure, he quickly masked his expression and moved the mic closer to his mouth, smiling again. But his eyes stayed ice cold. 【I don’t have time to cherish you】 The soaring melody dropped in an instant as the lyrics wrapped up. The song came to an end. The members were still caught in the afterglow, faces flushed. “Wow, hyung’s expressions were insane~!” “It was totally intense~!!” They were showering him with praise, saying how perfectly his expression matched the stage vibe. I suddenly knew this wasn’t going to end smoothly. Before Ichae could corner me again, I made up my mind to get out of there. Better to deal with this from the dorm. “I’m just gonna... talk to the manager for a sec.” I’d done enough reaction shots for the broadcast. After letting Sung Jiwon know, I slowly got up and slipped out into the hallway. Then, my hypersensitive senses caught it—the sharp, metallic tang. On instinct, I raised a hand to cover my nose, but blood slipped right through my fingers and dripped onto the floor. It was more than I’d ever seen before. A horrible ringing tore through my ears. I swiped an elbow across my ear and came away with a thick smear of blood. Cursing under my breath, I fumbled for my handkerchief, slammed it over my face, and ducked into the emergency stairwell. A flood of warning windows flashed before my eyes... and vanished all at once. A wave of nausea surged up as I barely held back vomit. The skid of tires pierced my eardrums. And with a viciously familiar sensation, the day that haunted my nights replayed before me—again and again—the nightmare I’d once escaped. The one I wanted to forget: my car accident. —A warm splash of blood burst in my chest.