The Malicious Member is Back! - Chapter 75
Indeed, Kim Joo An’s words were even harsher without the cameras around.
He mocked and sneered, shamelessly using the name of Son Jae Ha, the person he aimed to debut with.
There were no cameras in the break room, and the person he was confronting was his least favorite, Kim Chunyong.
Kim Chunyong closed his mouth slowly, looking at Joo An with cold eyes. Joo An, lost in his own emotions, was missing a lot.
He didn’t realize that he was in the break room consuming propolis because Son Jae Ha often showed up here, or that Chunyong had intentionally left the glass door slightly open when he entered.
“…Are you two having an important conversation?”
“―!”
Both pairs of eyes turned toward the break room door simultaneously.
“Uh… uh….”
Realizing who it was, Kim Joo An stammered, his mouth hanging open.
“I was just thirsty after practice, but… it seems serious.”
Despite being drenched in sweat, his light brown hair still shimmered, and his face showed a slightly awkward expression. In his hand was an AG company water bottle.
Kim Joo An forced his voice out from his throat, muttering,
“Jae… Jae Ha hyung.”
Kim Chunyong glanced at Joo An once before nodding toward Son Jae Ha.
“…Hello.”
“Uh, hey, Chunyong.”
Son Jae Ha, who had been quietly observing the strange standoff between the two, awkwardly scratched his cheek.
“If I leave to get water now… it’ll be weird, right?”
“No! I don’t mind, but Joo An, well, who knows.”
“Ahh…”
Son Jae Ha’s gaze landed on Kim Joo An.
His light-colored pupils still seemed kind, but if you looked closely, there was a hint of coldness.
“If your conversation is going to take a while, I’ll just come back later. Oh, and….”
Kim Joo An tried to avoid Son Jae Ha’s gaze, his shoulders trembling, but it was futile.
“Just because there are no cameras here, don’t say anything too harsh.”
“……”
“…You might get caught on the hallway cameras.”
Thunk―
As Son Jae Ha left the break room, Kim Joo An’s legs gave out, and he collapsed to the floor, covering his mouth with his hand.
A dreadful thought filled Kim Joo An’s mind.
…Did he hear?
“No, no. He came in the middle, he couldn’t have heard…”
My golden ticket is that hyung.
The survival competition is still far from over.
We have to stand on the stage together for the upcoming performance!
“Sh-sh*t. What is this… No. He didn’t hear. Absolutely, absolutely didn’t hear…”
Seeing Kim Joo An trembling and mumbling to himself, Kim Chunyong patted his shoulder with a reluctant expression. His face showed clear pity.
However…
“How could he not have heard, Kim Joo An?”
The voice that followed was as cold as ice.
That icy reaction snapped Kim Joo An back to his senses, and he lunged at Kim Chunyong.
“You, you! You knew all this, didn’t you? You bastard―”
“What are you doing? Let go of me, man.”
However, it looked like Joo An was clinging onto Chunyong, their physical differences glaringly obvious. Kim Chunyong roughly shook off Joo An’s grip on his collar and gave him a shove.
“The break room door isn’t fully closed. What if someone else hears?”
Kim Chunyong’s lips curled into a broad, sly grin as he spoke quietly. His sharp canines gleamed, matching his delinquent appearance perfectly.
He looked truly sinister.
Oddly enough, in moments like this, Kim Chunyong’s experience as a problematic team member shone through.
“Don’t you remember? I told you when we met again after a long time.”
What kind of idol hopeful talks like that?
Kim Chunyong shoved Kim Joo An backward with both hands, his whisper was nearly a growl.
“Stop blaming me. Did I ask you to curse at me? This mess is your doing. You have a tendency to blame me for everything.”
“S**t…”
Completely mentally broken, Kim Joo An staggered and grabbed the edge of the break room table.
Kim Chunyong took in the sight and sighed, shaking his head.
“Who knows? Maybe if you apologize, Jae Ha hyung will forgive you.”
Actually, Jae Ha hyung would definitely forgive Kim Joo An if he sincerely apologized.
The angel that is Son Jae Ha used to console and soothe me even when I was drunk and grabbing his collar, causing chaos.
If Joo An just stopped bragging and dropping his name, Jae Ha hyung would probably just give him a kind, lengthy lecture and pat him on the shoulder, telling him not to do it again.
Kim Chunyong’s words weren’t just meant to rile Kim Joo An up; he was genuinely offering a way out.
“Talking nonsense, you crazy bastard…”
However, as Kim Chunyong saw Kim Joo An’s grip tighten on the table, he shook his head.
Fine.
If he were the type to apologize, he would have returned to the entertainment industry after his abuse of power scandal.
But Kim Joo An sank deeper into the abyss.
“Why should I apologize! Is this my fault? I just did what anyone would do! What the hell did I do wrong, anyway?”
He didn’t want to apologize to that coordinator*. He thought it was all the doing of someone envious of him.
(T/N: Coordinators are essentially like stylists, but what they do is coordinate styles with clothes or accessories.)
Chunyong knew all this and purposely provoked Joo An in the break room, where others might see them.
In the first place—
“Sh-s**t… damn bastard…”
A fight Chunyong could win.
Kim Chunyong jabbed him in the shoulder with his finger, just like Kim Joo An had done to him earlier, and said cheerfully,
“If you don’t watch your mouth, something worse than a coincidence could happen to you.”
Do well if you don’t want to get fired.
“And make sure to nail the performance.”
Bang—
All that remained in the break room was Kim Joo An’s wretched expression and the bottle of propolis he had been holding, now rolling across the table.
Roll…
The bottle rolled from one end of the table to the other before falling to the floor with a grotesque shattering sound.
…Just as Chunyong had said.
The performance day was fast approaching.
