Chapter 388: Red Rouge (7)

Joo-Han shook his lapel with confidence. He looked quite dashing in the glasses with straps and the sleek suit he wore as props for “Red Rouge.”

“We’re finally back with the third Chronos Meeting! Welcome, everyone! Ah, it has become a regular event, hasn’t it?” His voice boomed across the room, filled with unmistakable enthusiasm.

“Indeed.”

“I honestly never imagined that this seemingly pointless meeting would last this long.”

“Tsk! Shh.”

Joo-Han glared and pointed the baton he held at Goh Yoo-Joon. His tone took a mock-serious turn. “Pointless? Mind your words, young man. This is an important gathering, destined to delight us all with lots of topics and super significant agendas."

“Sir, where did that baton come from?"

“Tsk!

Jin-Sung, please keep it down over there," Joo-Han chided gently, yet with a firm undertone.

“Why are you so hyper today, hyung?" I asked, noticing his high spirits.

Joo-Han directed the baton toward me and signaled me to lower my voice with a stern yet playful look. “So... oh, yes. Everyone, aren’t you curious? We are on just the first episode of the Chronos variety show, and yet here we are at our third meeting. Why, you ask? Well..."

He gestured upward, diagonally across the room. “Please check out the link to our very first Chronos meeting right here!" It seemed he was hinting at using the UTube card feature, a modern nod to our tech-savvy audience.

“First, let me inform you that the first and second meetings were held separately. Now, shall we officially start?” Joo-Han flipped his cue card and spoke energetically. “The third Chronos meeting! Our glorious first topic comes from the members' agenda. Reveal the first topic!”

Ta-da!

Just as energetically as Joo-Han, the soundtrack played. A large vertical banner unfurled behind him.

“What’s that?”

“Did they really go this far?”

“Aren’t they overdoing it for our first variety show?”

Did we really need such a flashy topic reveal? It would have been better to unveil it simply by letting Joo-Han do it like in the previous meetings. It seemed like the planning team was overcompensating for our first variety show. The members felt a mix of embarrassment and awkwardness.

But Joo-Han was unfazed, and spread his arms wide before continuing. “The first topic is... ‘Lately, we don't have enough time to talk as a group!’ Everyone, please take your seats and focus on the meeting.”

“We are already seated,” Jin-Sung pointed out.

“We are already focused on the meeting.”

“Alright, then. Who would like to give their opinion on this topic first?” Joo-Han looked around and then pointed at me. “How about you start, Hyun-Woo?”

“Me?”

“Yes, you, Hyun-Woo.”

Although the sudden nomination surprised me, I remembered this wasn’t a serious meeting and that I should just speak comfortably.

I replied without much thought. “Isn’t it unavoidable? Thanks to our Rings, we were able to move into a nicer place. Now that we each have our own rooms, except for one pair, we naturally spend more time alone. I don’t think it’s necessarily bad that we are spending less time together than before.”

Goh Yoo-Joon agreed with my point. “Yeah, that doesn’t mean we’re not getting along.”

“Exactly. We’ve all been really tired from practicing, so I think things are fine.”

Jin-Sung raised his hand. “I disagree with you, hyungs.” His usual bright expression was gone. He firmly opposed what we said with a serious look. “No matter what, we need to gather and talk like we used to. If there are any hard feelings, we can resolve them and become even closer.”

“Do you have any hard feelings toward us, Jin-Sung?” Goh Yoo-Joon teased with a grin, making Jin-Sung blush and shake his head.

“N-no! It’s not that I have hard feelings... Why do you say things like that?! I’m just saying in general.”

“Are you upset?”

“Upset!”

“What’s the conversation about?” Joo-Han muttered, confused by Jin-Sung and Goh Yoo-Joon’s banter.

Jin-Sung eventually sat down after being teased enough by Goh Yoo-Joon. I raised my hand again, and Joo-Han theatrically pointed his baton at me.

“Yes, Suh Hyun-Woo. From now on, please raise your hand if you want to speak.”

“As Jin-Sung said, it’s important to have group discussions. But I think this is being blown out of proportion.”

“Oh, blown out of proportion? What do you mean by that?” Joo-Han asked.

I shrugged. “We eat all our meals together, don’t we? Every single meal.”

“Yeah. Who submitted this topic anyway?” Goh Yoo-Joon burst out laughing.

This topic was weird from the beginning. We had been having more alone time in our rooms, but we still had plenty of conversations over our three daily meals. Even Goh Yoo-Joon, the most social member, spent all his time at home lately due to our busy schedules.

In fact, it was probably more abnormal when we used to live in a cramped place, spending every moment together.

“Honestly, even families don’t spend as much time together as we do, Judge,” Jin-Sung said.

“Hey! Hey...” As soon as Jin-Sung opened his mouth, Joo-Han waved his baton even more dramatically and pointed at Jin-Sung. “Raise your hand first.”

𝐟𝚛𝕖𝚎𝕨𝗲𝐛𝚗𝐨𝐯𝐞𝕝.𝐜𝗼𝗺

“Oh, right.” Jin-Sung raised his hand high and was granted permission to speak. “Sure, we need rest and personal time, but isn’t it better to have some lively group fun? I want to spend more time with the hyungs.”

Yoon-Chan, who had been quiet until now, raised his hand slightly. “Me too...”

“Go ahead, Yoon-Chan.”

“I agree with Jin-Sung. Even if we’re tired, it’s nice to chat together, maybe while soaking our feet in ice water or something. Both Jin-Sung and I want to spend more time with the hyungs...”

“Alright, since Jin-Sung and Yoon-Chan want to spend more time together, how about we try to hang out more?” Joo-Han decided on his own with a smile spreading across his face. He always had a soft spot for Jin-Sung and Yoon-Chan, especially when they looked disappointed.

Come to think of it, we had all been so exhausted lately that there had been hardly any conversation even during the meal. Sometimes we’d eat in complete silence, clean up, and then head straight to bed.

I raised my hand. “How about this?”

“How about what?” Joo-Han asked.

“When we get home every day, let’s spend thirty minutes in the living room. We can monitor our performances, play games, or just chat.”

Honestly, I wasn’t sure if scheduling playtime was the right approach. However, once we started hanging out, we always ended up having fun.

“Oh, that sounds good. Let’s do that,” Goh Yoo-Joon replied nonchalantly as if it didn’t matter either way.

Joo-Han nodded and asked the members, “Does everyone agree with Hyun-Woo’s idea?”

“Yes, we agree,” they chorused.

“Alright, then it’s decided. Kang Joo-Han, Goh Yoo-Joon, and Suh Hyun-Woo will spend thirty minutes every day with their younger members Park Yoon-Chan and Lee Jin-Sung.”

“Spend time with...?” Jin-Sung’s puzzled voice was drowned out by the sound of Joo-Han banging the gavel with a loud thud.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Joo-Han seamlessly moved on to the next item. “Next agenda is... Ta-da!" He stretched his arms wide, looking like someone reveling in self-admiration. Another banner descended from the ceiling. It read, ‘Is our current practice schedule acceptable?’

“Oh, by the way, this is my agenda item.” Joo-Han casually mentioned as he picked up his cue card. “The second agenda item for Chronos... Is our current practice schedule acceptable? With our recent comeback, the number of dancers we are working with has increased significantly, right?”

“It sure has,” I agreed.

“As a result, we have more parts to synchronize, which naturally extended our practice hours. Do you all agree?” Joo-Han looked pointedly at Jin-Sung, who pointed at himself in surprise and looked around at the members before reluctantly nodding.

“I agree. Yes.”

“Do you think this practice schedule is reasonable, Jin-Sung? We practice until dawn after the dancers leave. Isn’t practicing for twelve hours a day too much?”

Goh Yoo-Joon said, “Yes, definitely!!”

“Of course!” I exclaimed, standing up with Goh Yoo-Joon to support Joo-Han’s statement.

Practicing a lot was good since we were still developing our skills and needed to work hard, but basic human needs for rest and recovery couldn’t be ignored. Non-stop practice until we eliminated all mistakes in a single day seemed unsustainable, especially after our comeback. We never considered our condition for the next day.

Because "Red Rouge" and "Ario 愛" had particularly tricky choreography, Jin-Sung pushed us to practice excessively. However, now that we had made our comeback, maintaining such a schedule was impossible, especially when preparing for future albums. Living with constant muscle pain, back issues, and poor condition was the worst. That was why Joo-Han raised this agenda.

Despite Joo-Han’s arguments, Jin-Sung folded his arms and shook his head firmly. It was rare for Jin-Sung to be so adamant against the opinions of his hyungs, but he was clearly resolute on this matter. “Agenda rejected. No way. Wouldn’t it be better to push ourselves during practice than to make mistakes on stage? Honestly, we made too many mistakes. Isn’t that right? Especially you, Joo-Han and Yoo-Joon hyung.”

With Jin-Sung’s pointed criticism, Joo-Han clamped his mouth shut.

“You two shouldn’t be complaining about practice hours.”

“Sir, that’s...”

Watching the exchange, I couldn’t help but mutter. “Wow, what a rare sight.”

It was indeed a rare sight to see Jin-Sung scolding Joo-Han, who was now looking at Jin-Sung with a nervous expression.