Chapter 458: What Should We Do From Now On (22)

“Oh, really?" Bearview asked, taking notice of the brief silence on my end.

I responded with a deep chuckle. “Yeah... that was pretty much what happened back then."

“Hang on a second." Bearview abruptly stood up and took a quick lap around the studio which I watched with amusement. Circling back, Bearview approached me with a mischievous grin.

“You are kind of cute, Hyun-Woo."

“Sorry?"

“You know how to spell ‘friendship’ now, right?"

I sighed dramatically. “Of course. F- R- I- E- N- D- S- H- I- P. I’ve got it down now!"

Satisfied with my response, Bearview giggled and settled back down. He pointed at the old, cringe-worthy photo of me and Goh Yoo-Joon.

“How did you even manage to find this? I thought these were long gone."

“We are pretty thorough with our research here. We legally scour everywhere for anything that could be interesting, and we are pretty famous for pulling out all the stops."

“Wow, really?"

“Let’s dive back into this photo. 'Goh and Woo' obviously refers to Goh Yoo-Joon and Suh Hyun-Woo. Your eternal friendship."

“Yes, we aimed for that meaning at that time."

“I heard you two have been close for a long time."

“We are very close."

Bearview gestured toward himself. “Being a Ring, I know about your bond. But could you share more about those times? Any fun stories?"

“Fun stories... Well, I've already shared how we first met and became friends on broadcasts."

“Then just any story, don’t stress about it. Just think of me as a Ring, your fan. Oh, actually... Call me Bear Ring.”

“Okay, Bear Ring... Pfft.” I couldn’t help but laugh.

Bearview continued unabashed. “I know you are not the best with words."

“...Excuse me?" I burst out laughing and playfully hit Bearview. “No! You can't say I am bad with words!"

“Oh, should I not have said that?" Bearview playfully slapped his own mouth and then tried again. “Let me try that again. Ah, um, a bit tongue-tied, perhaps?" Bearview deliberately mangled his speech. The fact that I was supposedly not good with words hadn’t changed.

I gave up and just laughed. Alright, maybe I did lack a bit in eloquence.

“Anyway, the Rings are well aware of it. So just relax and tell us your stories. Our editors will spice them up nicely."

"Hmm."

There had been plenty of fun events back then, but honestly, there weren’t many that still stood out now. Despite this, there had been a few incidents that stuck.

“Actually, we used to have a lot of fun back then. But a lot of those stories might not seem so interesting to others."

“What kind of stories?"

“There was a period when we really wouldn’t listen to what people told us."

“You were rebelling?"

“Yes, around that time."

I was nearing the end of my training days and feeling quite jaded. Thinking about the burnout toward the end, the middle school blues were nothing in comparison. But I really hated practicing at that time.

Goh Yoo-Joon used to be deeply troubled because his father had gone to prison, so he was questioning whether he could continue as a trainee or pursue an idol life if his father had a criminal record.

We were practicing hopelessly in a small agency while our peers were enjoying their youth. At that time, our frustrations kept piling up until they started hindering our practice sessions.

I explained this to Bearview. “So, at one point, we kind of ran away together."

“Ran away?"

“Yes, not from home, but from the practice room. In our naive minds, we just wanted to hang out instead of practicing."

In retrospect, it sounded silly. But back then, we seriously considered quitting because we detested practicing so much. Despite receiving lots of praise, practices seemed unyielding as the company wasn’t pushing for our debut. Emotions were running high at the time, making it very hard to refocus.

If our end-of-month evaluation scores had been lower, we would have been cut out by the company.

YMM must have been shocked when the two of us, usually competing for the top two spots in monthly evaluations, started skipping practice together.

“But we didn’t really have anywhere to go after we left."

“Hyun-Woo, isn’t your family home in Seoul? Couldn't you have just gone home?"

I shook my head. “I had been a trainee since I was very young."

“Ah, right. You started training at eight, right?"

“Yes, and because I was so young, it was actually my parents who communicated more with the company."

Back then, there wasn’t really a separation of public and private matters at the company. Now, with Sequence having debuted and many trainees hoping to become idols, the company operated under a more formal system, but back then it wasn’t like that. Sometimes trainees would even bring friends along to practice.

The system wasn’t well established, and the end-of-month evaluations were harsh. The company also didn’t maintain a personal boundary between the trainees and itself.

Looking back, perhaps the tough evaluations were the company's way to prevent trainees from becoming complacent if too many personal boundaries were removed.

Anyway...

“As soon as Goh Yoo-Joon and I started skipping practice, the company contacted our parents immediately. They were already alternating in communicating with them."

“Oh my gosh!” Bearview shot up dramatically, rolled his eyes back and smacked his forehead. Despite my bland recounting of the urgent situation, Bearview was elevating the mood with his reactions. “There was nowhere to go! Did the company contact your parents saying, 'Your son has run away?’"

“Haha, yes. If we had gone home, we would have had to return to the dorm immediately. But back then, I just really didn’t want to go back for some reason."

“Sooner or later, you had to go back, right? Whether it was home or the dorm."

“Yes."

“So, where did you two stay? Oh, and how many days did you skip out for?"

“It was about..."

Seeing me hesitate, Bearview stood up again, his eyes widening as he pointed at me. “Wow, it wasn’t just one day! A middle-schooler making such a decision, and not just for a day! Wasn’t it a rule that teenage rebellion usually ends in a day or two?"

“It didn’t seem long, maybe about three days?"

“Three days? Where did you guys stay for that long?"

“On the first day, we hid at school."

Hiding at school turned out to be easier than expected. We were afraid that once the school doors were locked, we couldn’t get out until they were opened the next day. But we managed to spend the night unnoticed in a classroom.

Bearview grimaced and asked, “Weren’t you scared? Isn’t a school at night really spooky?"

“Actually, I’m not usually scared of those things."

“Aha!" Bearview clapped his hands as if he knew that very well. “Right. Hyun-Woo. You don’t really believe in paranormal stuff, do you?"

“How did you know?"

“Oh, why do you ask? I told you I’m a Ring! This Bear Ring knows everything." Bearview strutted as he spoke. “You will see it in a bit, but if you watch things like

Chronos History

or the behind-the-scenes of the ‘Joy’ music video—"

“You’ve really watched everything."

“Don’t take my love lightly, Hyun-Woo," Bearview said gravely. If this were an edited UTube video, a dramatic sound effect would probably play. I couldn’t help but laugh and lower my head.

“Yes, sorry."

“Anyway, if you watch those two clips, you will see that Jin-Sung is the most scared and you are the least scared."

“No, that’s not true."

“No?"

“Nah, the one who’s the least scared of ghosts in our team is Joo-Han hyung."

“Oh, really?" Bearview responded with interest. I gave a slightly exasperated look when I mentioned Joo-Han.

“I’m simply not scared, but Joo-Han is the one who always hopes something will happen every time we release an album."

𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝙬𝙚𝓫𝒏𝓸𝓿𝓮𝒍.𝓬𝙤𝓶

“Huh? Why?"

“You know the saying, if you experience paranormal activities while preparing an album, it’s going to be a hit?"

“Ah, yes! There is such a superstition. During album preparations or movie shootings, we say among ourselves, 'Oh? This one’s going to be a hit.'"

“Yes, Joo-Han hyung always looks forward to that during every album preparations, even during ‘Joy.’"

We briefly digressed to talk about what Joo-Han did during "Joy", how he genuinely hoped something paranormal would happen, and how he would ask Jin-Sung if he saw anything whenever he got the chance.

Hearing this story, Bearview clapped for the absent Joo-Han to acknowledge his character. “We’ve gone off-topic, but after spending the first day at school, what happened next?"

“Starting the second day, staying at school didn’t seem right anymore."

“Why didn’t it seem right? Isn't school the safest place?"

“It is, but by the next day, Han Jun from Sequence...”

“Oh, he used to be your classmate, right?”

“Yes, he told the company that we had spent the night at school."

“Probably because Han Jun was so worried about you guys..."

I nodded. “So then, the older trainees who are now part of Sequence came looking for us at the school. The students and teachers at our school spread the rumor that we had run away. So, with nowhere else to go, we ended up calling Da-Win hyung from Allure."

“Da-Win from Allure?" Bearview was surprised but then nodded in understanding since he knew the strong bond between me and Da-Win.

“We spent one night at Da-Win’s place."

“That would have been around the time Allure debuted."

“Yes, but Da-Win was the only one we could ask for help. He thoroughly scolded us, but we spent the night there."

I couldn’t remember how much we were scolded. Looking back, it felt like bravado that caused trouble for many teams. At the time, whether we were talking about the debuted Allure or future Sequence trainees, we thought of them all as our fellow trainees. That was why we did it, but now that everyone had debuted, speaking on a broadcast made it seem like a major incident involving several teams.

“And then Da-Win called the company, and we were caught at his house."

“That sounds quite serious when you talk about it now."

“Yes, it was serious. But fortunately, we weren’t fired, just severely scolded. That was quite an incident."

“Truly monumental." Bearview wrapped up this story and moved on to the next topic. “Listening to this, it seems like you and everyone in Chronos, actually all the idols at YMM, seem to have deep connections."

“Yes, that’s right."

Chronos and Sequence were contemporaries as trainees, and when it came to Allure, Joo-Han and I acted as bridges. Therefore, we were quite close to Allure.

Bearview nodded and continued the discussion. “Seems like you had a happy time as a trainee among such good seniors. During your trainee days, I've managed to obtain another photo through YMM. Ta-da!"

Another photo appeared on the monitor. Ah, I sighed without meaning to. It was another picture from a period that was a serious part of my dark history. It was from a group lesson in the practice room.

At that time, the trainees of Chronos and Sequence were practicing together. There I was, right in the middle of the room. Just thinking about that time made a part of my heart feel heavy.

Bearview cheerfully intended to pull a reaction out of me, seemingly excavating it from my chest. “Here is the photo of a YMM trainee group practice session. Look, Hyun-Woo. You seem quite rebellious and sulky while dancing. You are a member known for good dancing, but your posture is very passive." Bearview tilted his head and asked, "Why is that?"

Why? Because I was going through my most apathetic time period back then.

The photo Bearview had brought out was from when I was seventeen or eighteen, just before I went back to the past. It was a time when I was so lethargic and passive about practicing. I had been consistently among the top two in the monthly evaluations, but my performance had drastically dropped to barely making it into the top six back then.