Chapter 242. When the Workaholic Leader Takes Power (11)
Siwoo’s decision to readily accept Hajin’s apology stemmed from a simple reason.
What he wanted was a “younger brother he could get closer to,” not a petty victory in a battle of pride.
Jung Siwoo wasn’t the type of person who would foolishly continue a power struggle when he had already gotten what he wanted.
– So, when you wake up, even if it’s not to Hajin, please make sure to say something to the others, letting them know you’re okay.
Still, Siwoo thought there was more he needed to say.
So, as soon as he woke up in the morning, he asked his roommate, Doha, to gather the members. When the others insisted on cramming into the small room, saying that Siwoo shouldn’t be moving around since he was unwell, Siwoo preemptively went out to the living room himself. Overprotection just wasn’t his thing.
It was a weekend morning, when the younger members didn’t have school, and all schedules were pushed to the afternoon.
Siwoo, feeling the gazes of the younger members fixed on him, cautiously began to unfold the old nightmare etched in his memory.
“Have you ever seen someone die?”
His first words were heavy, but Siwoo continued with a voice that wasn’t all that dark.
“When I was… nineteen, my father passed away. Right next to me.”
“…….”
“He was very sick. I took care of him during his surgery and his time in the hospital…. One morning, when I woke up, he was gone. He looked just like he was sleeping, so I didn’t even realize he had passed at first.”
Looking back now, Siwoo thought his father had been a truly stubborn man.
Even though he was in pain, he didn’t recognize it as pain, so he missed the timing for treatment. He felt guilty for the rest of his life that his only child had to live in the hospital to take care of him.
Perhaps even on the day he passed, his father might have been the same, Siwoo thought.
Maybe he felt too unwell, something didn’t feel right, something seemed strange… but because he didn’t want to wake his sleeping son, or because he was embarrassed to call the medical staff for something trivial, he ignored it and just decided to sleep it off, thinking it would be okay.
It was a question that had plagued Siwoo’s nights for a long time, even though there was no one to answer it.
“At that time, I was still in school, so after my father’s funeral, I returned to the dormitory… but I couldn’t sleep at night. I was too scared to sleep, and I was scared of my roommate sleeping next to me.”
“…….”
“I held out for about a month, but eventually, I couldn’t take it anymore and left the dorm in the middle of the term. Not long after that, I ended up dropping out of school altogether.”
Siwoo added that, for the record, dropping out of school wasn’t because of his insomnia. He spoke with a low chuckle, but the members listening couldn’t bring themselves to laugh. Eunchan, who was sitting right next to Siwoo, had buried his face in his arms.
“Even though I got better after getting some counseling… I guess the stress lately has been getting to me, because I haven’t been able to sleep again.”
There were plenty of reasons for him to feel overly sensitive.
His roommate, Taehyun, was a heavy sleeper and always woke up later than Siwoo, and because their schedules were so busy, they all snatched sleep during travel or waiting times.
If there had been time to be alone, he could have calmed his mind or organized his thoughts, but because Hajin was running the group’s activity plan full throttle to win the Rookie of the Year award, there wasn’t a moment to rest.
Siwoo, thinking that it was literally a case of ‘sleep deprivation,’ chuckled softly at the worried looks his younger brothers gave him.
“But living with you guys is fun. I like the noise. I’m not planning to leave the dorm, so don’t worry.”
“You’re really….”
At Siwoo’s playful remark, Taehyun grumbled in a sulky tone.
Doha handed a cup filled with warm water to Siwoo, who was coughing dryly, and asked.
“Then, what’s the solution?”
“Since it’s purely a psychological issue, I’m thinking of telling the Director and getting counseling again while I take a break. I guess I need to find a way to adjust, considering I went from living alone to suddenly having six roommates.”
“For now, maybe having a room to yourself would be a solution.”
“Well, that’s possible, but….”
Siwoo’s gaze turned to Taehyun, his original roommate. Taehyun, who still looked deep in thought, met Siwoo’s eyes.
Taehyun, who still remembered the cold stare Siwoo had once given him, instinctively flinched and averted his eyes. Siwoo looked at Taehyun with a gentler voice than usual and spoke warmly.
“I’d like to stay roommates with you if you’re okay with it, Taehyun.”
“……?”
“We actually get along pretty well. I enjoy waking you up every morning.”
At Siwoo’s unexpected words, Taehyun looked back at him. Siwoo, who had slept well for the first time in a while, smiled languidly, his radiant beauty shining even more brightly. There was a slight hint of guilt and awkwardness in his eyes.
“I’m sorry about that day.”
“…….”
“I know why you asked Hajin for help. But… at that time, I didn’t have the room to understand your consideration.”
At Siwoo’s sincere apology, which Taehyun hadn’t expected, Taehyun bit his lip. His eyes turned red in an instant, and from across the room, Yugeon wordlessly tossed him a tissue. Taehyun, trying to hold back his tears, spoke in a trembling voice.
“I’m not crying, okay? I’m not like Kang Hajin hyung….”
“No, Taehyun. Why are you suddenly grabbing my collar in this touching moment?”
“I don’t know, it’s all your fault.”
“This? This situation? Suddenly? My fault? Why?”
Kang Hajin, who had been silently empathizing with the sad past of their group’s living statue, raised his hands in disbelief. Still, he pulled out a tissue for Taehyun, who was sniffing, and handed it to him.
Taehyun pressed the tissue to his eyes several times, then exhaled and calmed himself down.
Then he looked back at Siwoo, who was still waiting for his answer.
“From now on, if you’re not sleeping, I’ll nag you to go to bed quickly.”
“You do realize it’s nagging, right?”
“You, Kang Hajin!”
“Okay, okay, I’ll shut up.”
“…If there’s anything that bothers you or worries you, you should tell us right away. That goes for everyone, not just Siwoo hyung. And you can do the same with me.”
“You’ve already been doing that with me…. Alright, alright. Stop glaring, I’ll really shut up.”
Hajin, who had been muttering from the side, quickly clamped his mouth shut at Taehyun’s sharp glare.
Taehyun, wearing an expression that seemed to wonder if Hajin had matured or thrown away his sense of responsibility, calmed his emotions and continued speaking.
“…And I’m sorry too. It’s not that I find you difficult to approach or anything. I wasn’t trying to exclude you from the discussion about your own issues. It’s just… I thought you relied more on Hajin hyung than on me. That hyung doesn’t look like it, but he’s really good at listening to people, you know.”
The nuance of Taehyun’s compliment was subtle, and Hajin raised his eyebrows, pondering whether to feel proud or not. While Hajin was debating, Taehyun flashed a small smile at Siwoo and shrugged.
“It’s most fun to share a room with you.”
The first to react wasn’t Siwoo, but Eunchan, who was sitting next to Siwoo.
Eunchan, who had been listening with his head down the entire time, looked at Taehyun in shock.
“…Hyung. Was our room not fun?”
“……….”
“Hyung…?”
Unable to confess that he was utterly drained from constantly breaking up fights between Yugeon and Eunchan every morning and then playing with Eunchan and Haru for the rest of the time, Taehyun remained silent and averted his gaze. Eunchan’s face was filled with even greater shock.
Yugeon was the one who brought order to the situation.
“So, is the reconciliation over? We’ve got a lot to do today since it’s cleaning day, so let’s eat quickly. We have to clean before the youngest leaves.”
“Is housework really that important right now…?”
“What’s more important? We start practice again tomorrow, so we won’t be able to do it today.”
“Yugeon is surprisingly serious about housework… If he showed that kind of dedication to writing rap lyrics, he would have taken over the Korean hip-hop scene by now.”
“Grandpa, you’re on mop duty today, so go wash the mop.”
Yugeon casually deflected Hajin’s joke and pointed with his chin to the mop he had pulled out and left in the corner of the living room.
The members burst into laughter at the sight of Hajin’s exaggeratedly despairing expression. Siwoo also laughed along and nodded.
“Alright. Let’s eat. I’ve said everything I wanted to say
.”
The dormitory became busy again in the morning.
Even though they had fought, they always gathered around the same breakfast table, so after making up, it was a bit noisier than usual.
Exempt from kitchen duty for now due to being a patient, Siwoo watched as the members bustled about. Then, when Hajin came out to the living room with a handful of utensils, Siwoo called out to him quietly.
“Hajin.”
“Huh?”
“Thanks for apologizing first.”
“…Suddenly?”
“Didn’t you say there was no need to apologize?”
Siwoo smiled leisurely, looking remarkably like his usual self. Seeing this, Hajin’s lips also curled into a wide smile. Then he threw in a word.
“Just get better soon. A statue shouldn’t catch a cold.”
It was a single line filled with 100% sincerity.
* * *
Yoon Jaehee, Kang Hajin’s number one fan and recently unemployed after leaving Renee, was living day to day off unemployment benefits and severance pay.
She received an unexpected request from a friend she hadn’t seen in a while.
“A Utopia concert?”
“Yeah. I managed to score a seat with my ‘godly hand’ this time, but the friend I was supposed to go with can’t make it! I was thinking about selling it, but I really don’t want to go solo to the concert…. Just for one day, please. I’ll cover the hotel and everything.”
“Wait, since when did you like Utopia? Weren’t you on the verge of leaving the K-pop fandom not too long ago?”
At Jaehee’s incredulous question, her friend pouted and lightly hit Jaehee’s arm.
“It’s because of you!”
“Because of me? What are you talking about?”
“You kept bugging me to vote for that Miro Maze guy, the one with the red hair. I was curious about what the fuss was about and ended up falling for Seo Taeil, who was the MC! Who would’ve thought? But what can I do? Seo Taeil is just too handsome. Did he really need to be that good-looking after completing his military service?”
“…Ah. Got it.”
Jaehee waved her hand dismissively as her friend excitedly recounted her journey into the fandom.
There were quite a few people on her timeline who had also become Utopia fans after watching Miro Maze.
“Anyway. So, are you going or not? You quit your job, didn’t you? If you have no plans, please come with me, okay? It’s my first concert ever.”
“Isn’t that next week or the week after?”
“Yeah. I’ve already booked the hotel, so you literally just have to show up. You already know all of Utopia’s songs, right?”
“That’s true….”
Jaehee hesitated for a moment.
Her schedule was wide open, and Kairos had just finished promoting their follow-up song, so there wasn’t any official schedule on the horizon. Utopia concerts were famously fun and full of things to see in the fandom.
As Jaehee was debating, her friend delivered the final blow.
“Hey, and they’re in the same company as Kairos. Who knows? Maybe a few of them will show up with guest passes.”
“Oh, right…. Oh wow, that really sounds tempting?”
Recalling how Utopia’s leader Taeil cherished her favorite, Hajin, Jaehee quickly made up her mind.
“Yeah, sure. And even if the boys don’t show up, Utopia is more than worth it.”
Little did she know that by the end of that Utopia concert, she would be showering her friend with endless gratitude over a delicious meal and dessert, considering her a savior for life in her fangirl journey….
At this point, she had no idea.