Chapter 124. How Dare They
This is the testimony of a very pissed-off Sparkling.
-“We were on our way back to the waiting room after the recording. Someone was practicing a challenge in the hallway. Even though we’re still trainees, we thought it was only right to greet them, so we waited! But it turned out to be Believer sunbaenim.”
According to Dan Haru’s testimony, the Believer sunbaenims (those jerks) didn’t have a particularly good attitude from the start when they received their greeting.
-“We greeted them first, but they didn’t acknowledge us. So I thought, ‘Hmm, maybe they didn’t hear us~,’ and we greeted them again! But again! They pretended not to see us! Then, when Taehyun hyung made eye contact with one of the members, only then did they finally say, ‘Ah, it’s Taehyun?’ and looked at us.”
At this point, Dan Haru slammed his fist on the sofa in anger. He was pounding the sofa like a furious rabbit stomping its hind legs, and it took some effort to calm him down. With his eyebrows furrowed deeply, Dan Haru continued speaking.
-“It’s okay that they didn’t acknowledge our greeting! I could tolerate that they only spoke to Taehyun hyung and ignored me and Jayden hyung. What really pissed me off was what happened next.”
Believer and Seo Taehyun exchanged some brief greetings and updates.
Up to this point, it didn’t seem like much of a problem, right? But Dan Haru firmly shook his head and reenacted the scene from that time.
-“They said it exactly like this.”
-“‘Did you debut? Ah, a special stage? No wonder, I was wondering why you were suddenly at the broadcast station. You’re still a trainee, right? Oh, you’re doing a survival show? Where? Another round of Boy’s World? Ah, your agency? Sorry, sorry, we’ve been too busy preparing for our concert lately. Ugh, I miss the trainee days. Hey, I envy you. At least you get plenty of sleep. I should have let you debut back then. Want to switch with me? Haha.’”
Well, that was an infuriating set of comments that made it hard to decide whether to get angry or laugh it off.
What was truly insulting was that the Believer jerks couldn’t possibly be unaware that Seo Taehyun was participating in *Miro Maze*.
There had been several articles about it even before the program started, so how could they not know?
As expected, Seo Taehyun, who had been sitting quietly beside him, spoke up with a bitter expression.
-“Those hyungs definitely know that I started activities with *Miro Maze*. They didn’t contact me for three years, and now suddenly, they reached out because they’re making a comeback and asked me to listen to their songs. During *Boy’s World*, they pretended to be close because I was trending, but as soon as I didn’t debut, they cut ties. I kind of expected this.”
Hajin wanted to reprimand Taehyun, wondering why he hadn’t mentioned this earlier, but he held back.
Because the Believer jerks’ tyranny didn’t end there.
-“Anyway, since there was nothing good about staying with them for long, I tried to wrap up the conversation and head back to the waiting room. But then their manager suggested it would be nice to do a challenge together. I didn’t really want to, but it was hard for me to refuse, so I stayed silent….”
Bang!
“Ah, you scared me!”
The atmosphere was disrupted again by Dan Haru suddenly pounding the sofa with a thud.
Ah, just when it was getting interesting.
“Dan Haru, who told you to express your anger like that? Should you be doing that, or not?”
“…But! Thinking about it again makes me so mad.”
“If you start breaking things every time you’re angry, hmm? Then I should have destroyed our dorm after the third mission.”
[System Alarm: Well, you did break your leg….]
[System Alarm: ( ｡ •̀ ᴖ •́ ｡)]
Shut up, you punk.
Hajin shooed away Thirteen, who was muttering under his breath, and then gave Dan Haru a stern look.
“Are you going to do that again, or not?”
“…I won’t do it again. I’m sorry.”
Dan Haru’s disgruntled pout made his words come out garbled, but Hajin nodded in satisfaction and looked at Taehyun.
“Okay. So, you were saying? They suggested a challenge?”
“They looked at me and laughed. Then they said, ‘Ah, I can’t do it with Taehyun.'”
“Suddenly? For no reason?”
-“‘If Taehyun does it… it’ll be too… fresh.’ And then they snickered!”
“Those jerks.”
Bang!
Not even a minute after telling Dan Haru to stop, Kang Hajin slapped the sofa cushion.
Then, Lee Yugeon, the only one actually sitting on the sofa in the waiting room, sighed.
“Can you stop hitting the cushion? Why are we all sitting on the floor with the sofa right here?”
“Don’t you know it’s a rule to use the sofa as a backrest? And Yugeon, what were you doing? I brought you along as a guardian so you could prevent things like this.”
“…Even guardians need to use the bathroom. Don’t I have any rights?”
Despite his words, Yugeon scratched the back of his neck and added, feeling some sense of responsibility.
-“When I came back from the bathroom, I saw what was happening, so I wrapped up the conversation and brought them back to the waiting room.”
-“That’s right. Yugeon hyung used Team Leader Suho as an excuse to get us out of there.”
-“What about the manager? Weren’t they there too?”
All eyes naturally turned to the remaining manager, who bowed his head apologetically.
-“It was my first time… I couldn’t quickly judge whether to interrupt the conversation or not. I’m sorry. I should have managed it better….”
-“Ah, no, it’s okay, Manager. Honestly, doing a challenge with Believer isn’t a bad opportunity.”
Seo Taehyun hastily waved his hand.
-“Those hyungs have been like that since *Boy’s World*. They look down on me because I’m younger; I’m used to it now. I’ll just get back at them by doing better. Really, it’s okay.”
-“Taehyun hyung….”
Taehyun’s mature response made Jaeyoung and Haru tear up as they held Taehyun’s hand tightly.
*”Let’s definitely debut!”*
The determined declaration was almost touching.
In that emotional moment, Hajin crossed his arms and nodded.
-“Yeah. Let’s get back at them.”
-“Right! After we debut and succeed….”
-“No, let’s get back at them today.”
-“…Huh?”
All eyes turned to Hajin.
But Hajin didn’t blink an eye as he smirked wickedly.
-“They’re making a comeback today?”
-“Y-Yeah….”
-“Then all we need to do is get more attention than their comeback, right?”
Let’s see who wins.
At Hajin’s sly smile, the members of *Sad Ending* shivered slightly.
* * *
Knock, knock, knock—
Someone knocked on Believer’s waiting room door. While the youngest manager went out to check, the members of Believer remained sprawled out in their seats, not moving.
-“Guys, the juniors came to greet us. Get up.”
-“Who? Haven’t we greeted everyone already?”
-“It’s *Miro Maze*. You know, where Seo Taehyun was.”
-“Oh, really? Did they come to greet us too?”
-“They wouldn’t have any albums to exchange. Just tell them to rest.”
The members chuckled, and their team leader-level manager let out a small sigh.
Perhaps because they had risen too quickly and too soon, the attitude of the Believer members couldn’t be described as good, even generously.
*”They picked up bad habits during *B-Lite*.”*
The members, who didn’t have long trainee periods, lacked skills but had gained popularity solely due to their physiques and looks, leading to their debut.
Maybe that’s why they didn’t have any particular sense of desperation and seemed to take their success and fame for granted.
*”What era’s popularity are they relying on….”*
Now that *Boy’s World* and *B-Lite*’s effects had worn off, Believer’s recognition and fame were hanging by a thread.
Each member still had name value, so their appearance fees were high, but the core fandom that actually bought their albums and streamed their music was dwindling by the day.
*”This industry changes so quickly. They should be working hard to secure their place with a big hit…”*
Yet the members who had already tasted “popularity” seemed to lack a sense of reality.
The manager sighed as he opened the waiting room door.
Then, young boys who clearly looked like bright, sparkling rookies entered the room with cheerful smiles.
The manager observed each trainee carefully. Though the members dismissed them as debut-less nobodies, *Miro Maze* was causing a significant upheaval in the boy group scene. It was necessary to check if any of them posed a threat.
-“Sunbaenims, hello. We’re here to greet you.”
-“Hello! We are *Miro Maze’s* *Sad Ending* team. Please take care of us!”
A tall, sharp-looking trainee led the spirited greeting, his voice echoing throughout the waiting room. The energy in his voice was enough to slightly unnerve even the Believer members, who had initially stood
up just to keep up appearances.
-“Ah, yes… Hello. We’re Believer.”
-“We already met earlier, so why come again? Did we seem like seniors who are strict about greetings?”
Believer’s leader tried to lighten the mood with a casual remark.
The problem was that the mood didn’t lighten up at all.
After ignoring their earlier greetings, now acting like they were jovial seniors didn’t convince anyone.
Just as a fleeting silence began to settle, the trainee who had led the greeting earlier beamed and responded.
-“Ah, but we felt we should greet the entire team at least once. We may not have a team name yet, but we hope to debut soon and greet you with a cool team slogan next time.”
-“Oh, yeah… Sure. Looking forward to it.”
-“By the way, I recall you sunbaenims are also from an Ntv survival show, right? You were with our Taehyun in *Boy’s World*.”
-“Well, yeah. That’s right.”
Believer’s members exchanged glances and nodded at each other, feeling reassured by the trainee’s smooth comment.
The trainee then playfully patted Taehyun on the shoulder.
-“I really enjoyed *Boy’s World*. I bet the teachers watching *A-Countdown* today will be reminded of those days.”
The implication was loaded, but the Believer members didn’t seem to think much of it.
However, Believer’s manager could guess the hidden meaning behind those words.
*”Believer still hasn’t shaken off the image of being a group derived from *Boy’s World*. Today, people will naturally associate Seo Taehyun and Believer while watching *A-Countdown*.”*
But today was Believer’s comeback stage.
If “the reunion of *Boy’s World* trainees” was discussed more on community forums than “Believer’s comeback,” it would be a huge loss for Believer.
*”It’s hard to believe a debut-less trainee would think that far ahead…”*
Still, this was the entertainment industry, where one could never afford to let their guard down.
In this jungle-like world where new faces constantly emerged and vanished, the manager cautiously tried to get a better look at the trainee.
Just then, someone stepped in front of him, blocking his view.
-“…? Ah, hello, Team Leader Ji.”
-“Hello, Manager. It’s been a while.”
It was Miro’s Team Leader Ji Suho.
Why was Ji Suho, who was in charge of Utopia, here?
Wasn’t it supposed to be that rookie manager?
-“I have something to discuss with you. How about we grab a coffee at the vending machine outside?”
-“Right now?”
-“We have a proposal for you.”
Ji Suho calmly smiled as he baited the puzzled manager.
-“It’s about the challenge.”
Step 1 of stealing Believer’s spotlight.
It started with a challenge.