‘What do I do about this?’ I briefly assessed the situation, recognizing the strangely familiar development to what happened in Japan, and carefully opened my mouth. Kang Ichae tilted his chin, as if to say go on, let’s hear your excuse. “As if. You think I’d ignore you and... come on...” I trailed off mid-sentence and shut my mouth tightly. Kang Ichae’s eyes flared even wider. “What, not gonna finish?” He let go of the bed’s headboard and grabbed the IV pole. One wrong move and it looked like he’d use that thing to smack me. Kang Ichae tilted his head and continued. “I told you to rest at home. But no, you insisted on watching the performance, and now I get told by someone else that you collapsed and ended up in the hospital. How do you think that makes me feel?” One of Kang Ichae’s traits was that the angrier he got, the more expressionless his face became. And being the one who had to face that now? Miserable. “Apparently, the one who called was Min Jiheon. Random, right?” Though I was sitting there obediently listening, there was one thing I wanted to correct. Sure, I made it abundantly clear I didn’t like Min Jiheon, but it’s not like he was a complete stranger to either me or Kang Ichae. He was our agency senior, after all. But I knew from years of expert-level social reading that saying even one word more might tip this whole thing past the point of no return, so I kept my mouth shut. ‘He probably thinks I pulled some shady shit again.’ Which, to be fair, wasn’t entirely wrong. If not for Min Jiheon, I might’ve actually died. Kang Ichae stared at me, demanding the truth with his eyes, and I hesitated. Lying any further wasn’t going to work. But I couldn’t tell him everything either. I’d already passed out the moment Jiheon slammed on my chest. When I came to, I was in the hospital. ‘That doesn’t even sound believable.’ Lucky I didn’t get dumped in a ditch somewhere. I was pretty sure Min Jiheon had brought me here after I collapsed, but I had no clue about anything that happened in between—so I couldn’t say anything carelessly. ‘...Don’t know if this’ll fly, but.’ If I wanted to ramp up idol activities, I absolutely needed Kang Ichae, the one who handled most of The Dawn’s music. “Ichae, I’ll explain.” I made up my mind to calm him down and just stick to the parts I could talk about. “I appreciate you worrying, but I really didn’t see it coming. I felt fine during the show.” Kang Ichae’s eyebrows twitched. “But then it got worse really fast... and I happened to run into Min Jiheon at the station. We talked for a bit and he helped me out, that’s all.” What else was I supposed to say? I didn’t have anything else to offer, nor did I feel like making anything up. “I’ll make sure I stay healthy so it doesn’t affect our activities. We’re going to the top, remember?” So instead, I threw in a little of my genuine drive to climb to idol first-tier status. That should’ve been enough, right? There was a ton to do—I needed to repair things with Kang Ichae ASAP. I still had to gauge the fans’ mood, check how the company was handling things, and figure out the fastest route to clear this damned ‘Idol Tycoon’. But Kang Ichae’s silence dragged on. Eventually, his lips slowly parted. Then, one corner of his mouth curled up. “I’m curious, hyung.” “You’re smart, so you should be able to answer this.” The veins on the back of the hand gripping the IV pole bulged. I instinctively shifted back a little. “What happens if you drop out of the next album’s promotions?” “What if you stop promoting altogether?” Are you out of your mind? Grammatically, it was a question, but it wasn’t something that needed an answer. ‘Is this bastard seriously insane?’ He looked like he’d actually knock me out just to force me to rest. I jumped up, trying to calm him down somehow—but just then, creeeak—the hospital door opened. I froze and turned my head, only to see Sung Jiwon standing there with his nose red. Before the final Shining Star performance, the two of them had fought over whether or not to let me go on stage. According to Kim Sunghyun, things got pretty serious back then... We could barely keep up with the pace as it was—any conflict between members now would be fatal. “Uh, uh... Jiwon, you’re here.” I awkwardly sat back on the edge of the bed with a nervous smile, but as Sung Jiwon looked between me and Kang Ichae, it only took him three seconds to figure everything out. He walked over in firm strides and grabbed Kang Ichae’s arm to pull him back. “Ichae, come on. Hoyun’s sick right now.” Even as he allowed himself to be pulled away, Kang Ichae’s eyes remained locked on me. When he focused on someone, it was like the rest of the world disappeared. “You know it’s easy to put activities on hold, right?” Sung Jiwon stopped moving. His gaze sank coldly onto Ichae. Kang Ichae wasn’t wrong. Even I could think of multiple ways to pull it off immediately—though there’d be some backlash. ‘What about me, then?’ My plans didn’t include any downtime. I was already anxious even during album prep. If I went on a long break, the public would forget me in an instant. “...That’s enough, Ichae. Come outside and talk to me.” Finally, Kang Ichae turned his gaze away from me and stared directly at Sung Jiwon. Sung Jiwon covered his mouth with one hand, looked off to the side for a moment as if thinking, then gave a faint, scoffing laugh. “...So you’re not going to listen.” It was a look I’d never seen on him before. His lips were curled in a slight arc, but he was clearly pissed. The tension in the room was now plunging into full-blown frostbite. Just as I was holding my head trying to figure out how to deal with these lunatics— —Jung Dajun appeared. Still sticking to his “sulking” act. Sniffling and wiping away tears at the corners of his eyes, he suddenly shouted, “Hoyun hyung can eat now!! Honestly, your attitude just now was super annoying, but you still have to take care of your health, so hurry up and eat something yummy!” “Hey, Jung Dajun. Lower your voice.” “What should we get?! Jjajangmyeon? Pasta? Doenjang-jjigae?! {N•o•v•e•l•i•g•h•t} Personally, I vote Doen-jji!!” Then came Kim Sunghyun, trailing in with a pale face, and his expression worsened as soon as he saw the mess inside. “You, you guys—what the hell are you doing?” Sunghyun rushed over to the relatively calm Jiwon. “Wait. Everyone, step back for now.” “Sunghyun, wait. Let me talk to Ichae for a sec.” “Y-You serious? Sung Jiwon, you’re already mad!” His tone was as gentle as ever, but Sung Jiwon’s eyes were halfway gone. Finally grasping the situation, Jung Dajun looked between them in alarm. Then he clung to Kang Ichae’s arm, whining. He moved like someone who’d done this many times before. “Ahhh, hyung, hyung! This is a hospital!” Even with his rage meter maxed out, Kang Ichae remained gentle with the maknae. “Please don’t fight. Watching you guys fight once was more than enough!!” “We’re not fighting. We’re just going to talk outside. It’s fine.” “No, it’s not fine!!” Having seen blood spilled once already, Kim Sunghyun and Jung Dajun were desperately trying to stop the two. The maknae stepped in front of Kang Ichae and hugged him tightly before asking me, “Wait, what’s going on all of a sudden?” “D-Did Ichae hyung say something about your promotions again?” I was calculating how much to say to the maknae when he jumped ahead of me. ‘Does he have trauma?’ Whatever happened during the final Shining Star competition must’ve left a heavy impact on everyone. Sung Jiwon furrowed his brow slightly, looking uncomfortable that this was being discussed in front of me. “—Ichae, look. You didn’t really mean what you said, right?” Kang Ichae looked Sung Jiwon dead in the eyes and smiled. “I kind of regret it, you know. Back during Shining Star—why did I listen to you and leave Hoyun alone?” But his voice dripped with cold, and his glare was razor-sharp. “This is what came of being persuaded like that.” ...Honestly? That sounded pretty convincing. Kang Ichae, you terrifying bastard. Even I was momentarily swayed by the logic. Kim Sunghyun and Jung Dajun didn’t say anything aloud, but their expressions showed they weren’t entirely opposed to Ichae’s point. It was like we were about to head straight into a continuation of the infamous Sung Jiwon vs. Kang Ichae fight from Shining Star Season 2. “Sung Jiwon, hold on just—” The leader and the maknae, clearly traumatized by that previous incident, scrambled to intervene before things blew up again. They looked exactly like shrimp caught between two whales, about to be crushed. Then I made eye contact with Jung Dajun. His mouth moved silently. ‘Hyung! Do something!’ His pupils trembled with betrayal. Hold on. I’m working my ass off thinking here. Maybe... sacrifice someone? “Why are you looking at me like that?!” Wouldn’t a true leader step up at times like these...? But Kim Sunghyun, as sharp as ever, immediately understood what I was about to do just from a glance—he quickly ducked behind Kang Ichae’s not-so-covering frame to hide. Too bad. The jig was up, and the effect would be reduced. I was racking my brain for the next option when— The door burst open again. “Gah—huff, hyung! I’m here...!” Wearing an expression that screamed I RAN, Seo Hojin came panting into the hospital room. “Are you really sick? Are you okay?!” My dumb little brother had arrived. After watching the members about to tear into each other, seeing Seo Hojin’s face felt like oxygen. He didn’t have those chubby cheeks anymore, but still. “Sorry, I tried to get here as fast as I could—I even took a taxi, but the traffic was awful...” After closing the door behind him, Seo Hojin turned and noticed the weird atmosphere in the room. He made a confused sound. Thɪs chapter is updated by NoveI~Fire.net Even Kang Ichae and Sung Jiwon, who had been on the verge of lunging at each other, paused at Hojin’s arrival. Jiwon was the first to soften. He gave a gentle smile and greeted him. I figured this was my chance and reached for Hojin to pull him out of the room with me. “Hojin, come on, let’s—” Suddenly, Jung Dajun broke free from Ichae’s grip and darted over to Seo Hojin. “Hojin hyung, I’m sorry!!” And then he ducked behind Seo Hojin and— —shoved him right into me. Caught off guard, my brother toppled over onto me. A hard blow to the gut. And weight. And I regretted raising him so well, because he was taller than me now—and heavier, too. The impact knocked the wind out of me. “Cough. Seo Hojin, you could have held your ground! You trying to kill me?!” “N-No! I just panicked! Dajun’s way stronger than he looks!” He’s basically an elephant pretending to be a puppy... He’d been eating a ton lately. Didn't look like he’d bulked up much, but apparently he’d gotten stronger. “I’ve been learning judo, hyung!!” “...Good for you......” “Why are you praising that right now?!” While I muttered out a vague compliment, Seo Hojin awkwardly scrambled off me. Meanwhile, Jung Dajun spread his arms wide and looked around at everyone. “See?! Now can you two stop fighting?!” “I mean... this worked pretty well, right?!” My near-death under Seo Hojin’s body? Everyone stared at the maknae with dumbfounded expressions, thrown by the sudden absurdity. “Just listen! Hoyun hyung is a patient! First thing is to help him rest! He should only be surrounded by good stuff, and only see good things!” Says the guy who just crushed me with another human. And now he was stuck. “So, what?” Jiwon asked gently. He probably thought he was being nice because Dajun was the maknae, but with both his and Ichae’s sharp stares on him, Dajun visibly flinched. Kim Sunghyun’s face was tight with tension as he watched the scene. This guy had no plan, huh? From the stammering and frantic eye-rolling, he clearly just blurted stuff out before thinking. I sighed and opened my mouth to help recover— “LOCK HOYUN HYUNG UP!!” Dajun shouted over me, raising his fist toward both Jiwon and Ichae. “...What did he just say?” A frigid silence fell over the hospital room.