Chapter - 62화 (62/150)
Daesu stopped Dansol when he tried to get up from the table. From the slurred, drunk voice outside, it sounded like Jisu was about to start a drunken rant, and if they stayed quiet and acted like no one was home, maybe he'd get tired and leave on his own. They chose silent hide-and-seek.
"Hey, Jeong Daesu… I know you're in there. I saw all the cars in the parking garage."
"…Ha. Fuck."
But Jisu wasn't that easy to deal with.
Daesu finally stood up and headed into the living room. And since the homeowner had moved, Dansol couldn't just sit there either—he followed him out.
"Open the door… I'm really unsettled today, so I need a drink. Ha… I told Taeohh. I told him I'm an alpha. When they pick the next elimination… I asked him to drop me."
Dansol froze.
Jisu clearly had no idea Dansol was at Daesu's place—no idea he was hearing all of this.
In a penthouse that used the entire rooftop like a private garden, worrying about outsiders overhearing was a luxury, so Jisu didn't hesitate. Words Dansol should never have heard spilled out of him in a stream.
"I never should've signed with that bastard President Kim. I should've just walked away from the contract. Even if I was young… why was I so stupid? I lied to people for years, so I guess I'm finally paying for it… If I'd known I'd meet Dansol, I would've lived a little more decently…"
There had been times Jisu had enjoyed messing with guys like Ha Minseong—guys who came at him convinced he was an omega. Maybe this was the price for those cruel jokes.
Thanks to President Kim—the man who'd gotten him his first step into the industry—Jisu's entertainment career had never been entirely smooth. And he wasn't even attached to this life anymore.
Partly because of President Kim, and partly because Jisu hadn't started with any serious intentions to begin with. He'd thought he could quit quickly and turn away without regrets.
But then he'd met an unexpected landmine, and everything collapsed.
"…This time, I'm really retiring. Don't you try to stop me."
Click.
At Jisu's drunken truth—something he never expected—Dansol didn't know where to look and kept darting his eyes around. Daesu glanced at him.
Then, as if he'd made a decision, he opened the front door. Jisu, who'd been ranting like he was speaking in tongues, stopped and looked at Daesu.
"That's enough. Go back to your place tonight."
"Ah… why? I don't want to be alone on a day like—"
Jisu shoved past Daesu, who was blocking the doorway with his big body, trying to force his way inside. Then he saw Dansol standing there, at a loss.
"D… Dansol… why… are you here?"
"Daesu-sunbae said we should eat together… I'm going to go now. It's late."
Avoiding Jisu's gaze, Dansol hurriedly grabbed his outerwear. Jisu stood there, still frozen, staring at him like he'd seen something he wasn't supposed to see, as Dansol tried to slip out the door.
"Sol, wait."
Jisu grabbed his wrist in a rush—
—and Dansol shook him off.
It wasn't something he did on purpose. It just happened.
Startled, Dansol looked up at Jisu's face.
Jisu stared back with the same stunned expression.
They'd been so close they'd shared a room—shared a bed.
And he was an alpha?
And he'd been hiding it?
If I'd known I'd meet Dansol…
What did that even mean? What had he been planning to do?
What did all the kindness he'd shown him mean? Was it… was he…?
Dansol's head spun.
And then, for reasons he couldn't name, betrayal flooded him.
Was the Jisu he'd known… not the real Jisu?
He was hiding the fact that he'd regressed too, but hiding your secondary gender was on another level.
"Let go. I want to go home."
"Sol… if you leave like this— Ha… I'll take you. No—if you don't want me, then at least have Daesu take you."
"No… please let go. I want to go alone."
From the look of things, Daesu had known Jisu was an alpha too.
So there really wasn't anyone he could trust.
After his regression, when he couldn't trust anyone and sank into numbness, the two people who'd made him feel safe were them.
But now both of them felt like strangers.
They were deceiving not just him, but everyone. And he'd trusted people like that—like an idiot.
In his past life, Dansol had already been betrayed too many times.
And now he slammed his heart shut again.
When Jisu's grip loosened, Dansol slipped away and headed straight for the elevator.
The disappointment on his face was unmistakable.
He didn't even know how he'd managed to take a taxi from Daesu's place back to DinoSoul's dorm.
He trudged toward the basement dorm that was, as always, empty.
But before he could even open the door, his legs gave out. He crouched on the stairs and cried.
The cold seeped through his jeans and chilled his ass. Only then did he force himself up, open the door, and go inside.
His bag—what he'd dropped earlier—was still there.
No members.
In the silent dorm, his mother's voice from earlier still rang clearly in his head.
And then, suddenly, it felt like noise came rushing in through the ear that usually didn't hear well.
Daesu and Jisu's voices. The radio DJ's voice. The members fighting.
The flood of sound made him dizzy.
He was already exhausted.
I went through regression and still got fooled again!
Should I have run the moment I got dropped into this new life?
My face is already known nationwide—can I even live better than before?
The helplessness he'd felt before dying wrapped around him again.
He rewound the past over and over—if only I'd done this, if only I'd done that—until he finally understood.
There was nothing he could change.
"I… I'm sorry. So… please, stop…"
Staggering so he wouldn't fall, Dansol went into his room.
He tried to climb onto his bed, but it looked like someone had been using it as storage while he was gone—junk was scattered across it.
He didn't even have the strength to clear it properly. He just shoved it off the bed, letting things drop under it, climbed up, pulled the blanket over himself, and lay there.
Stale smell. Damp blanket. A rusted bunk bed so narrow he couldn't even turn over properly. A basement room without a sliver of sunlight.
Yeah. Right.
This was his place.
"I just want everything to end… already…"
No matter how many times he restarted his life, no matter how hard he struggled, he still fit best in a mess like this.
If regression could make life easy, he never would've ended up regressing in the first place.
Like a failed drama with no ending worth looking forward to, Dansol couldn't feel any anticipation for the future waiting for him.
That was when it happened—when he fell into sleep like he'd collapsed.
Someone was shaking him awake.
"Sol! Sol, wake up. You have to go to the shoot today."
"Mmm… Gilseong-hyung?"
"Yeah. You feeling sick today?"
"Ah… no."
His head felt like it was splitting, but he couldn't complain in front of Gilseong, who'd discharged early and dragged his injured body around just to keep his schedule moving after the accident.
The dorm was still empty. Not a single member had come back.
He'd wanted to talk to them—say something—before going back to the island.
But today, the feeling of being alone was painfully sharp.
Smacking his lips like he regretted something, Dansol got up and headed to the bathroom.
"After you drop me off, you're going back, right?"
"Yeah. I probably have to. Hey, Sol… sorry I can't wait near the set like other managers. But if something happens, call me. If I can't, then at least call the CEO."
Dansol had been nodding calmly while looking out the window—because Gilseong being late or unable to stay on set was practically routine—but at the word "CEO," he jolted like he'd been shocked.
"Why would I ever call the CEO…!"
"Why do you think? In case something happens and you're the only one who can't get off the island."
"That won't happen. And even if it does, I'll just catch a ride with someone else and ask them to drop me at the nearest subway station."
"Come on… you're an entertainer. That's a bit—"
"Entertainer my ass. Two months ago I didn't even have subway money, so I walked everywhere."
Even with Gilseong laughing easily, Dansol's expression didn't soften.
"Whatever's uncomfortable—calling the CEO directly is way more uncomfortable. Twice—no, a hundred times worse!"
What kind of life did he live to end up surrounded by people he had to avoid like this? Dansol pressed a hand to his throbbing head.
Seeing Lee Yiyeon or Yoo Dohyeon was less disgusting than seeing the agency CEO.
He was clueless enough to call DinoSoul—right before a major schedule—down to his personal reunion event.
As the leader, he'd always known he'd have to confront him at least once.
But with his head this tangled, he wanted to avoid him for as long as he could.
In his past life, when he was taking investments to launch a new girl group, DinoSoul entering the disbandment process triggered a major crisis for him.
That day, Dansol happened to stop by the company and ran into him right after he'd been rejected by an investor.
He didn't even know why, but he'd cursed him out and beat him.
The injury from that still affected his hearing.
There was no way he could see him and feel nothing.
"The PD contacted me. If we film the elimination scene today, we'll be stuck out there waiting two days. Something they prepped for the outdoor shoot got blown away by strong winds… If I'd known, I would've booked at least one more schedule. Right?"
At the mention of elimination filming, Dansol couldn't answer. He was thinking about what Jisu had said last night.
Would Ma Taeohh really pick Jisu as the eliminated one?
He'd been so angry about Jisu lying to him that he hadn't even considered it.
Maybe it would be better.
Jisu wouldn't want to keep filming while having to look at someone who knew his secret.
"Hyung, then I can rest for two days?"
"Uh… yeah, but…"
"Then I'll handle it. Whether I catch a ride out, or stay on the island—I'll figure it out. But absolutely—absolutely—don't call the CEO. Hyung. Promise me!"
"Well… okay. Fine…"
Dansol almost never got stubborn, so Gilseong nodded reluctantly at his insistence.
By then the car had reached the entrance of Chunmonggak.
Before getting out, Dansol told him one more time not to contact the CEO, then opened the door to Chunmonggak.
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