Chapter - 63화 (63/150)
"Uh… hyung, you got here early again?"
The one who greeted Dansol in one corner of the yard—when even the staff hadn't fully arrived yet—was Minhyuk.
"Yeah. Because of these guys."
"…You did go home this time, right?"
"Of course. We saw each other in Seoul too."
"Ah, right… we did."
Maybe because he was worried about the cats, Minhyuk had kept coming to the island first ever since last time. The island scenery—and Minhyuk taking care of the cats there—fit him so well it was like he'd lived here from the beginning. He looked like a completely different person from the one he'd seen in Seoul.
"Ha… I'm jealous of Dantangi."
Without meaning to, Dansol muttered to himself while watching the cats run around with no worries.
"Dansol-ssi looks like a puppy, but you're jealous of cats."
"Ah… it's not like that. They get praised just for playing around without thinking. Eating well, pooping well, sleeping well."
"…Mm. If you want, I can praise you too. In front of the bathroom."
"What?! No—no thanks!!"
How did someone like this make such sweet, emotional music? For some reason, whenever Minhyuk came to this island, he acted like he'd lost a screw.
"I'm joking. Haha. But Dansol-ssi… do you have something on your mind?"
"Ah! No! Absolutely not!"
Dansol waved his hands like he was afraid Minhyuk might see straight through him.
"They say a strong denial is a strong affirmation, but… since you don't want to talk about it, I won't ask."
Dansol felt relieved it wasn't Ma Taeohh who'd arrived first. He was grateful for Ma Taeohh's warm personality and how he'd always step in for him and ask questions, but sometimes, having someone like Minhyuk who didn't pry at all felt more comforting.
"Hyung is always so weirdly amazing to me… like you're living your second life. You never get angry, do you? Is there no one you hate?"
"Not sure. I don't really have anything to get angry about."
That made sense. Someone making the best music in the country probably wouldn't have that kind of stormy misery.
Even so, Dansol hesitated for a moment. Since Minhyuk didn't even know this was about Jisu, should he just talk?
But he shook his head. No matter how he looked at it, revealing someone else's secondary gender—especially someone hiding it—without permission was wrong.
"Ah. Now that I think about it… there was a time. When I really got angry and hated someone."
"When?"
"In my early twenties… I got tricked by my closest friend and dragged into a cult. They said we were going to the countryside to eat dakbokkeumtang cooked on a pot lid… but when we got there… there was singing and praying, and I had to pay three million won in 'devotion money' just to get out."
"Whoa… how could they… those shameless—"
"And… they say that even now, inside that religious group, there are videos of me singing still going around…"
"So what happened to that friend?"
Dansol assumed Minhyuk would say he'd cut them off.
But Minhyuk answered something completely unexpected.
"That friend is my manager now."
"…What? Really?"
"Yeah. Later, maybe they came to their senses—they apologized sincerely. At first I was furious, but… when you live life, anyone can make mistakes. And I couldn't turn my back over something like that when that friend had helped me so many times."
Minhyuk's words made Dansol think. Moments when Jisu and Daesu had helped him flashed past like a panorama. Seeing his expression, Minhyuk added quietly.
"But that's my situation, and yours could be different. Think it over slowly. The one who was hurt… needs more time to think than the one who did wrong."
As the filming time got closer, Dansol kept glancing toward the entrance without realizing it. Even when Ha Minseong finally joined the set thirty minutes late, Jisu still hadn't shown up.
What was he supposed to say if he met him? Like a student waiting for punishment, Dansol grew more and more anxious.
But Jisu still didn't appear. Just as he started wondering if they would do the elimination announcement without him—
Jisu, wearing a black cap pulled low, opened the door to Chunmonggak.
"Sorry I'm late."
The moment he walked in, his eyes met Dansol's—and Jisu immediately lowered his head like a guilty man again. Standing in front of the cameras without makeup, his eyes looked tired.
"…Now that everyone's here, we'll start filming soon!"
At the assistant director's shout, everyone gathered in the front yard. Then Ha Minseong deliberately moved up next to Jisu and sneered.
"Must be nice. You're doing whatever you want on TV because you're doing so well, Han Jisu?"
"Don't needle him. Let's keep it quiet today."
"Oh… is that why? Because you're a dominant alpha, you're pretty sharp when you're mad?"
Sensing Jisu wasn't in good condition, Ha Minseong purposely pushed him. With anyone else, it wouldn't have been strange if they'd already started a pheromone standoff. But Jisu, used to not showing his traits, held himself even calmer.
"It's amazing you never got found out. An alpha bastard pretending to be omega."
Jisu stared straight ahead like he hadn't heard Ha Minseong's whisper. But the moment Dansol—whose mic had issues—stepped out to fix it, Jisu's gaze changed completely.
"Not as much as you hiding erectile dysfunction."
"…Hah. Erectile dysfunction? Are you insane, Han Jisu?"
"Ah, right. That's not it. You'd go into heat and get it up for alpha bastards, didn't you?"
"You crazy bastard—!"
Instead of threatening Ha Minseong with pheromones, Jisu humiliated him by dragging up their shared black history.
By then, Dansol came back after switching mics. Jisu glanced toward him, then murmured to Ha Minseong in a low voice.
"If you're going to attack half-assed, don't even start. I don't have a tomorrow anyway."
The look of someone with nothing left to lose.
Looking back, Han Jisu had always been like that. Even after building an insane career and filmography, he always carried himself like he'd be fine even if everything collapsed. That casualness was what Ha Minseong hated most.
For Ha Minseong, who had to claw upward just to protect what he had, Jisu's attitude felt like mockery.
—Hello, everyone. The longer we've been together, the more attached we've become, and some of you may have hoped this moment would never come… but unfortunately, the day has arrived. Today is elimination day.
Today, Ma Taeohh looked like a completely different person—his face was grim. Because Ma Taeohh had ended up holding all eight elimination votes from the abandoned-house mission, not just the cast but even the staff kept watching him, the one holding the choice.
—This week is unusual. All eight votes pointed to a single person.
Is Ma Taeohh really going to drop Jisu?
Dansol—who'd only just arrived on the island and still hadn't exchanged a single word with Jisu—kept his eyes on the ground, trying to hide his anxiety.
Even though he was deeply disappointed in Jisu, half of him didn't want him to be eliminated. The other half thought it might be easier if he left—because acting like he didn't know his secret, or pretending everything was normal, would be hard.
—This week's eliminated contestant is… Han Jisu.
No twist.
All of Ma Taeohh's votes went to Jisu. Jisu gave a bitter smile like he'd expected it, but everyone who didn't know the background—every cast member and staff aside from Dansol, Daesu, and Ma Taeohh—stared with their mouths hanging open.
People who didn't know what was going on would wonder why Ma Taeohh had suddenly targeted Jisu.
Right after the announcement, Dansol tried to find a moment to talk to Jisu alone, but while he was doing his personal interview, Jisu left Chunmonggak without even saying goodbye.
After the short filming ended, PD Choi asked for understanding first.
"As you heard, the outdoor set we prepared got blown away this morning. The island weather really is unpredictable. We'll do our best to restore it, but one piece of equipment was completely ruined, so it'll take about two days to fix."
With a final note that they'd start filming again in two days no matter what, PD Choi left. The staff, following her, scattered somewhere, busy preparing for the outdoor shoot.
Using the noise outside like ASMR, Dansol went into his room and lay down. Gilseong wouldn't be able to pick him up anyway, and if he pushed, he'd probably call the CEO despite how much he'd said he hated it.
"If I'm resting anyway… isn't this better than that mold-smelling dorm?"
Even if he went back, there was nothing to do but lie in the dark house with no members.
Dansol lay under the soft blanket, staring silently at his phone. Should he contact Jisu first? But even he didn't know why he felt so reluctant about his elimination.
Jisu's elimination was shocking to everyone—those who knew beforehand and those who didn't. Maybe now the cast finally felt the reality that this was a survival game; they didn't chat warmly anymore and began leaving the island one by one.
"Don't act like we're close, Joo Dansol. We weren't close to begin with. Once the program ends, we'll all be strangers again."
In the end, Dansol gave up on contacting Jisu. He pulled the blanket over his head and fell asleep.
How many hours passed? His phone battery died, and pitch-black darkness settled around him.
"…Everyone really left."
He felt strangely liberated—and a little sad—when—
Scrape.
Scrape.
A weird sound came from outside, probably the first floor. The sound continued as Dansol headed downstairs, sensing something off.
Scrape.
Scrape.
It was coming from the kitchen. As he got closer, he could hear someone sobbing too. Dansol, who'd expected nothing more than wind from a window left open, felt like he was about to faint.
Was it the ghost Ma Taeohh claimed he'd seen during the abandoned-house experience? Should he have swallowed his embarrassment and gotten a ride out with anyone?
Just as tears filled his eyes in the darkness—
He saw a silhouette sitting at the dining table.
"…Wh-who are you?"
"AAAH—!!"
"Kyaaah—!!"
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