I'm glad no one decided to go with me this time. Even then, I didn't head to the bathroom and went to the corridor right by the way, finding another random hall without cameras.
This hall didn't look empty and was decorated, but the corners of the walls were a bit dusty, as if nobody bothered to clean it thoroughly.
It's good enough to be my 15-minute basecamp.
I took out the phone I had on and just as expected, Admin-nim was still calling. I made sure the volume wasn't high before picking up.
"What, why'd you call first? I just finished filming about–"
"I know."
Oh. Okay, bestie...
Admin-nim immediately adjusted her wording, realizing how odd that just sounded. I mean, I already figured that she would be part of the staff or hiding among them, so it really wasn't necessary.
She cleared her throat audibly then said, "I was informed of that. Other groups are also done."
"Okay... So what was this about?" I referred back to our call.
"Right, yes. I wanted to share some information about your schedule."
Oh, finally, something useful.
"What everyone is aware of at the moment is that this theme song round will last a week. But between the last day and the day of performance, another bonus content will be filmed."
"And why do I have to know this..?"
The person on the other line went silent for a moment, then she spoke once more, "Don't exert yourself on the last day of practice. I'm not entirely informed on each activity, but it will be a long day. In fact, it might not just last a day."
"What?"
So you're saying the participants have to film for up to two days after exerting themselves from a week of non-stop practice, and right before the day of performing on stage?
For a mere extra few minutes of screen time?
"Why would it take so long?"
"Again, I'm not entirely aware. This will be informed the night before the last day of practice time, so utilize this information for your group's sake. The activity isn't something you can tap off, remember that."
You don't know what it's about, yet you say I have to do it?
Does this person want to help or not?
I sighed to myself. In the end, this information is pretty useful. I should tell those in grade one not to waste their energies on the extra episode. No matter how you think about it, performing a round well is the most important.
"Is that all you wanted to say?"
"Yes, that's it."
"Really? Nothing else?"
Admin-nim made a confused sound, as if I had no right to ask for more intelligence right now.
I was tempted to rage about how she didn't tell me the details of the current round, but gave up on the idea. It's not like I would have been able to make use of it anyway.
"Wait, I have a question," I asked as I suddenly remembered another key aspect about this round.
"My team's current theme; is it good?"
And the damn answer to that really wasn't what I expected.
.
"Chan, you took a while! Was it a big dump or something?"
I ended up going to the cafeteria after washing my hands, pretending like I just came out of the bathroom.
No need to serve myself a meal, since there was clearly an untouched plate of food next to Dojun, who was already sitting with Mahesha and Daniel, along with some other guys I don't entirely know.
That's great. That means he made some friends.
"Haha, there was a long line. I spoke with some staff for a bit, too." The lie came off easily, perhaps a bit too fast when I didn't even think of it beforehand.
They believed me, of course. In the others' minds, there was no reason I would be lying. And it wasn't wrong to hear that I wasted time holding conversations.
After all, I typically listen to the main yapper, Kim Dojun, all the time.
Just like now, as we all eat together, I'm the one giving a word or two to Dojun's unending stories, while the other participants listen with sweat running down their necks.
Still, it was harder to focus on his talking right now because of what Admin-nim said before.
More precisely, how she reacted.
"What was that?" and "Oh- uhm, yeah. It's really up to the fans." were the responses I got after asking something related to today's filming, which made me rethink of Admin-nim as a whole.
At first, I thought she was part of the planning team. Then I remembered that wasn't how PD Bang Inho worked and she seemed to not know much, so I scratched the idea.
Then there was the filming crew. An assistant, perhaps? Or someone along the lines of that, since they would have some information about filming plans, but not everything.
But I was wrong, too.
Admin-nim was aware of the time I finished filming, yet she didn't know whatwas going on during filming.
To me, this could only mean one thing: Admin-nim isn't a crew member at all.
She still had to be somewhat related to the show in order to give me a pass into it, but still needs an insider to pass along information.
Then what could she possibly be?
.
Had it not been for Dojun's rapid talking, I would have fully zoned out at dinner.
Fortunately, I managed to take some food in and greet the other participants good night like normal.
Then, after returning to the dorms, I arranged my thoughts in the shower before calling out all the people with the title of grade one into one dorm.
Thankfully, I had on this diva persona and the vibes of a person who liked to gossip, so no one found it weird that I exchanged a few words with a "staff."
I told them about what Admin-nim had said, and that we should lay easy on the last day of practice and keep it calm during the filming of the bonus episode, too.
"—that staff wouldn't tell me what the extra episode is exactly about, but he said it would last a whole day or more."
"It's just an extra episode, there's no need to try so hard..."
"Right? Let's just keep practicing as we film then."
They were plenty surprised, but followed along my plan in hushed voices.
To the camera, we just looked like we were gossiping. That was exactly what I wanted.
"Remember not to tell anyone else, not even another staff member. Got that?"
Everyone nodded, and just to be the cherry on top, we started to actually talking about useless stuff for the sake of it.
But of course, I broke off my own advice and told someone else.
"Woah, Chan!! How could that staff be such a blabbermouth?"
I had the feeling yesterday, too, that meeting Dojun every night might become a routine. It's just like how we call each other before sleeping every day before this.
Anyway, since he was part of the lineup, I wanted him to do well and spoke about it once we got to the hidden spot we where at yesterday.
"I know. Keep it to yourself, though. I'm not telling anyone else either, after all."
"Of course, whatever you say!"
"Anyways–how are you doing? Your grade was split to two, right?"
"It's been great. I made many friends like you told me to, more than the people at dinner!"
"Good, good job." Dojun was almost grinning ear to ear at my compliment until i gave the follow-up question, "How did filming go?"
Oh, was the boy upset.
.
I returned to my now messy dorm room without much of a heavy heart.
Honestly, the trouble Dojun went wasn't really that big of a thing.
It's just that he had figured out what to do about the mission, yet no one listened to him and they had to follow the hints from the wheel spin, which meant wasting much longer of a time by trying to finish every challenge.
I had a feeling something like that would happen, and I had a reason in mind, too.
To be frank, Kim Dojun's English was...
yeah, just yeah.
It was probably easy to make friends even without understanding much of the language, but for them to take you seriously was a whole other thing.
There wasn't much I could do except say it bluntly and advise Dojun to speak English with me from now on, even in private.
We had to do this at least until he was fluent, which might take until show ends. That jab wasn't on purpose, though.
Anyway, of course he listened well, and we held a long about the same thing Dojun talked about back at dinner, except in English, and I occasionally corrected him.
We spoke until there was nothing left to talk about and went back along our ways, him upstairs while I went to room 4.
"These guys are seriously an odd bunch..."
It wasn't even decided then, but Daniel, Mahesha, and Akira remained in my dorm room, so it was now 6 guys sleeping in one not-so-spacious room.
Just what exactly were they doing, and how come the other two rooms left and they stayed?
"And this guy too..."
While the other two shared the big bed with Kato, Daniel was sleeping on the floor, precisely the spot I slept on last night.
I sighed, to tired to think, and lay myself next to Daniel.
I seriously considered sleeping in the bathroom, but then realized it might be too much of an overreaction and ended up curling up with the tall blond man.
Despite being tired, I couldn't rest immediately and instead had my eyes open for a while.
In the dark, all I could squint out eas Daniel's face.
He had this solemn expression as he slept, his hair fallen while he lay straight on his side, facing me.
As I finally, slowly, drifted to the land of dreams, I could only remember one last thought I had up to the next morning.
'He really looks like a fresh french fry...'
And when I came to be, it was once again seven in the morning.