Chapter - 50화 (50/150)
"I'm sorry. I was the one who asked them to put you in center, Dansol."
"...Huh⁈"
At Dansol's shocked expression, Minhyeok started explaining, saying Dansol shouldn't misunderstand.
"I built this concept thinking of you. It might feel a little offensive... but the Dansol I see has this energy that enchants people, yet doesn't have the knack to deceive... like a good, innocent fox."
Dansol's face flushed bright red at Minhyeok's explanation.
"Me...?"
When Minhyeok first saw Dansol, he wondered if he'd been bewitched by a fox. Even among all those famous people, Dansol shone brightly. Like a gumiho determined to enchant Minhyeok.
But his impression changed once he got closer. Dansol was innocent—someone who didn't even realize he enchanted people. That contrast—someone who could enchant but couldn't deceive—was what inspired the music.
And from that image, Minhyeok thought of an innocent fox born with a gumiho's fate, but with only one tail.
"You just need to prepare it the way you feel it when you listen to the music. No need to feel pressured. Your interpretation will be the completion of this song."
"Hyung... are you sure you're telling me not to feel pressured?"
"Ah... did that come out like that?"
Instead of relaxing, Dansol looked even more frozen than before. Jisu, who had just seen Dansol crying, didn't like how stiff Dansol was under that pressure.
"Today, I'm Joo Dansol's manager. Before practice starts, eat first."
"Hyung! I'll eat later—"
Dansol usually only drank water before dance practice because he hated feeling heavy, but Jisu thrust chopsticks at him like he wasn't going to move unless Dansol ate.
"No. Eat now. Stamina matters. Look at that guy. No one even told him to eat, and he's already eating like his life depends on it."
Where Jisu pointed, Taeohh was devouring his lunch like he was about to chew the lid too.
"Dansol, eat fast! Once practice starts, you won't have time to eat!"
Taeohh mumbled with his mouth stuffed. Jisu's face twisted.
"What are you even saying. Hey! Don't eat it all! Our Sol needs to eat!"
When Dansol weakly picked up his chopsticks, Jisu even snatched the soup bowl Taeohh had been eating from and shoved it into Dansol's hands.
"Hurry up and eat. You said you live with mold in your dorm every day."
"No... I don't eat mold. I just live with it...."
"Same thing. If you live with it, you eat it too."
With Jisu watching him like a mom, Dansol forced a piece of sushi into his mouth. The taste was on a completely different level from the tteokbokki he used to eat at the snack shop in front of his company, and Dansol's eyes went wide. Only then did he realize his habit of not eating before dance practice had formed simply because the food had been bad.
"Sola, how is it? Does it suit your taste?"
"This isn't just 'suits my taste'...."
"Huh?"
"It tastes like success... it's so good...! Taeohh, hurry up and eat and let's practice!"
Jisu smiled too as he watched Dansol brighten up after eating good food.
"The reason they said 'fluttering' and 'scattering' are different there is probably because your isolation isn't clean. Okay, follow me. One, two, three, four."
Unlike his usual playful self, Taeohh in his element was dead serious. He caught every place Dansol stumbled like he had a sixth sense and coached him, and Dansol could feel the gap between Zeus and Dino Soul in that.
"Man... feels like we set up the board wrong."
Once practice started, Jisu, Daesu, and Minhyeok—complete dance amateurs—had nothing to do but sit off to the side and watch Taeohh and Dansol.
And the closer Taeohh and Dansol got as they matched partner choreography, the more the expressions of the three sitting men hardened.
"You've basically memorized the choreography now, so should we try matching it with the music?"
"...Yes!"
Replaying the choreography in his head, Dansol took a deep breath. The others seemed tense with him as they watched. But unlike their worried gazes, the moment the music started, Dansol's eyes changed.
Dansol moved as if seducing Taeohh, and even Taeohh—who had been helping him practice—was shocked inside. He still needed more work on details, but Dansol had improved in such a short time that even Yoonseong and Woo Hyun, who had snapped at him, would have been stunned.
It made sense. Taeohh, who had been trained from the basics by specialists at a major agency, led the practice in a way that was a whole new world to Dansol.
Instead of saying incomprehensible things like "do your popping like skipping stones over calm water" or "wave like heat shimmer rising under a midsummer sun," Taeohh's coaching was simple and clear. It made Dansol almost angry about how he'd been struggling all this time.
"Wow... is Dansol actually a genius? If he's this good, why were his members like that?"
"Yeah, Sola. You did really well."
"I thought you were cool too."
When even Daesu—who normally didn't say much—praised him, Dansol's ears felt like they were going to burst. But he didn't have time to space out over compliments.
"Taeohh, can we match it one more time?"
One more time. And again.
Even Taeohh, who practiced so relentlessly that he'd end up looking hollow by the end even after eating a lot before starting, was worn out by Dansol's obsession—his dark circles looked like they'd dropped to his ankles.
At some point it was pitch-black outside, and Jisu and Minhyeok had long since fallen asleep leaning on Daesu's broad shoulder. Even Daesu, sitting upright with arms crossed, yawned from time to time—it had been that long. But Dansol kept holding onto Taeohh like the performance was tomorrow.
"Huff... Dansol, you know we have practice tomorrow too... right?"
"Uh... sorry...."
Only then did Dansol start noticing the people nodding off. He'd been so focused on learning one more thing that he hadn't considered Taeohh or anyone else.
"Haha, it's okay... let's stop here for today and go eat dinner or something?"
As if to wake the others, Taeohh clapped on purpose and spoke loudly in an exaggerated voice. Taeohh couldn't bring himself to say it, but his thighs were starting to shake.
"Then will you all go ahead? I'll practice a bit more... ah, no. I'll go to our practice room and—"
"Ugh... nope. We need to drag him out."
"W-wait, hyung! Hold on!"
But despite Taeohh's efforts, Dansol insisted on practicing more. Daesu and Minhyeok grabbed Dansol by the arms and legs, and Jisu turned off the practice room lights. Taeohh was already far ahead, holding the elevator.
"Sola, try this."
"Uh... okay. Hyung, you eat too."
The half-awake Jisu led them to a quiet Korean beef omakase. Sushi at lunch, Korean beef at dinner. Jisu looked like someone desperate to feed Dansol.
"Hyung... I'm not a pig. How am I supposed to eat all this?"
"No, you have to eat it all. After watching you practice today, I'm amazed you're even walking around, Sola. You're so small—where does that kind of strength come from?"
"Right. You said you couldn't even memorize the choreography, but you're this good."
Dansol had been desperate to learn from Taeohh partly because he'd stormed out and talked big to his members—but honestly, he also really wanted to teach what he learned to the members.
The company's choreography and vocal instructors weren't professionals. They were acquaintances close to the CEO. So no one said it out loud, but it always felt like something was lacking. The members with talent and sense kept up anyway, but the ones who didn't just brute-memorized every single gesture.
But what Taeohh taught today felt fundamentally like learning how to use his body. If he could, Dansol wanted to get lessons from Taeohh separately.
And because he knew chances like this were rare, he wanted to pass anything he could to the members—so that even when they practiced with Zeus tomorrow, the younger ones could learn even one more thing.
"Honestly... Taeohh taught so well... I want to learn properly and teach my members too."
"You fought, though!"
"Come on... we'll just make up like nothing happened. That's how it's always been."
"True... I used to get into fistfights with my members sometimes too. And we knew we had live broadcast the next day, so we'd avoid each other's faces like—like this! We'd fight while dodging each other. But we were wearing sleeveless tops and crop tees, so all the bruises showed."
Puhahaha—laughter rang through the quiet restaurant at Taeohh's story. Not only Dansol, laughing with his hand over his mouth, but Minhyeok, Jisu, and even Daesu looked more relaxed after a little alcohol. Taeohh's excited voice echoed pleasantly.
"So right after the live broadcast ended, we went live right away and explained we got bruised because we went to get massages together last night, and—fans didn't know that and started saying we were dating, so we had to explain again... it was a whole mess, I'm telling you!"
Jisu slapped the table and laughed. Since there were no other customers anyway, they enjoyed the rowdy mood—never once thinking that a part-timer might be filming them.
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