Chapter 897: You’ve waited a long time, haven’t you? (26)

Ri Hyuk burned with humiliation as he got smacked around by a carp.

‘Me, losing to a carp?!’

When wild animals and modern humans fight, the human usually loses.

But this was a carp!

Getting hit by something no bigger than his forearm made his blood boil.

The others, watching from a distance with grins, began whispering.

"Hey! Just give up and come out! Looks like the hook already came loose anyway."

"Wow. Even carp have anger management issues."

"We should bring Junghyun hyung. If it still can’t control its anger, maybe it’s serious?"

"Ri Hyuk. Just come back."

But Ri Hyuk couldn’t go back like this.

‘At this rate, dozens of posts like “Main Vocal Who Lost to a Carp.jpg” are going to go up.’

Lose—he becomes a joke.

Win—he still becomes a joke.

There was a quote he always heard from Teen Spirit.

-If you’re a fool whether you win or lose, then become the fool who wins!

To become “Main Vocal Who Beat a Carp.jpg,” Ri Hyuk reached out to grab it.

The carp immediately used an evasive move.

The cast gasped in admiration.

"It dodged!"

"The carp’s eyes were faster than his hands."

At this point, both the staff and cast watched with intense interest, like it was a UFC match.

[Seo Ri Hyuk vs Carp]

Producer Lee Junhee shouted into a megaphone.

"Everyone! Let’s cheer for Ri Hyuk!"

"Seo Ri Hyuk!"

"Seo Ri Hyuk!"

As the staff chanted his name, Ri Hyuk’s ears turned red.

Meanwhile, Producer Lee Junhee’s eyes trembled with joy.

‘This is footage!’

When you work in variety shows long enough, you develop a sense.

Some moments feel like you’ll film for an hour and only use one minute.

Others feel like everything you shoot will make it in.

This felt like the latter.

It overlapped like déjà vu with the time Junghyun caught a shark.

Subtitles, BGM, CG—he could already picture the edit in his head.

"I— I got it!"

The moment Ri Hyuk grabbed the enraged carp—

Boing!

The carp shot up like a rocket and slapped Ri Hyuk across the cheek with its fin.

"Ow!"

In Producer Lee Junhee’s mind, captions appeared.

"The enemy Carp King used Bounce!"

"It was super effective!"

With a sharp smack sound, it felt like a graphic of Ri Hyuk’s HP dropping appeared.

Ri Hyuk ♂: Lv.21

HP [25/25] → [17/25]

After getting slapped in the face, Ri Hyuk let out a frustrated scream, and everyone burst into laughter.

"Why won’t it get caught?!"

Meanwhile, Jiho smiled brightly at the camera.

"You’re currently watching the premium fishing show, ‘Honey, I’ll Go Fishing.’"

"It reminds me of history Ri Hyuk taught us. I heard people fished like that in prehistoric times."

As Biju and Jiho teased him, the carp circling Ri Hyuk launched another attack.

Jiho said with a popcorn-eating expression,

"Wow! The boss monster’s Phase 2 has started!"

The carp repeatedly bonked its head against Ri Hyuk.

Thunk! Thunk!

But it seemed tired, its movements noticeably slowing.

‘Oh!’

The cast’s eyes widened.

‘He might be able to catch it now?’

As if unleashing its final move, the carp charged at Ri Hyuk.

Ri Hyuk countered.

But—

Splash!

Ri Hyuk slipped on the slick ground and fell again, causing the carp’s attack to miss.

The carp slammed its head into a rock.

"...Did the carp just faint?"

"Wow. The rock won."

The carp floated up.

"..."

"..."

Everyone looked at Ri Hyuk.

He brushed his wet hair back with the most empty expression imaginable.

"Kh—"

As everyone turned away to hold in their laughter, Ri Hyuk let out a scream toward the sky.

Trot singer Baek Sanggyo crossed his arms and said,

"If you look at it positively, you did catch one. With how much you struggled, we should count it."

"Right."

"Ri Hyuk! Good job!"

The staff waved flowers.

"Seo Ri Hyuk! Seo Ri Hyuk!"

"Milky-white Seo Ri Hyuk!"

Still feeling hollow, Ri Hyuk waved back at the cheering staff.

As he waded through the water and reached out toward the carp—

"Hm?"

Something dark suddenly flashed out.

Snap!

Something bit down on the unconscious carp and disappeared leisurely.

The camera director went, “Oh,” and said,

"That’s a snakehead fish."

"Snakehead..."

As everyone gasped, they all turned to look at Ri Hyuk.

He trembled like a soaked baby mouse, and they struggled to hold it in.

Then—

They burst out laughing.

"Hahahahaha!"

"Don’t laugh!"

"Hahahah!"

"Ugh...!"

Having gained nothing but variety show footage, Ri Hyuk wailed.

"Aaaaaaah!"

His sorrowful cry echoed across the lake.

Blub blub.

Under the lake, bubbles rose.

Nom nom.

The snakehead that had easily caught its floating prey was munching on the carp.

Meanwhile, fish swimming leisurely in the lake suddenly panicked.

‘?’

Fish generally have excellent hearing.

In water, where sound travels five times faster than in air, they sensed something strange.

-Aaaaaaaah!

A terrifying predator’s presence rippled through the water as sound waves.

The fish rapidly fled away from the lakeshore.

Ri Hyuk, after falling into the water, returned in a fresh set of clothes.

Baek Sanggyo chuckled.

"Ri Hyuk, fishing is like this. All kinds of things happen. Back in my day, I even wrestled a fish in the water. Hahaha!"

"You were so cute, honey."

Receiving compliments from Oh Hyunsuk and the others, Ri Hyuk forced a sad smile.

"...Thank you."

Entertainer Kang Manho said,

"Still, thanks to you, we got about 15 minutes of footage. Better than nothing happening."

"...Thank you."

"You did well."

The atmosphere turned encouraging.

Biju gently dried Ri Hyuk’s hair with a portable dryer.

"You did well, Ri Hyuk. Wooju hyung and Junghyun couldn’t have pulled footage like this."

Ri Hyuk looked up at him.

"Right? They couldn’t do this, right?"

"Yeah. Because they would’ve caught it."

"..."

"Th— well, um... actually, not catching it like that isn’t something just anyone can do either."

"..."

"Uh...!"

"Just dry my hair, hyung..."

As Biju awkwardly continued drying his hair, Jiho approached and held out his palm.

Thinking he was being helped up, Ri Hyuk tried to grab it, but Jiho waved him off.

"It means don’t come closer. You smell like water right now."

"..."

"Haha! This is so fun. You always tell me not to come near you if I haven’t washed my hair once, or not to lie on your bed."

Declaring it was time for revenge, Ri Hyuk lunged at him and rubbed against him.

"Hehe. I’ve lived as the youngest my whole life, so I love hugs."

Hearing the creepy whisper in his ear, Ri Hyuk immediately backed away.

‘Damn it!’

Frustrated, sad, lonely—feeling like the world was unfair.

But he decided to think positively.

‘I got footage.’

He sacrificed his dignity to summon screen time.

A certain older member who became a viral hot guy through a dark past came to mind.

-If you abandon your pride, ratings go up. But if you abandon your dignity, ratings explode!

It fit perfectly.

And—

There were reactions he liked besides the footage.

"Wow..."

"Ri Hyuk, you’re so pretty!"

"Seriously, you look so delicate and pretty."

With his makeup slightly washed off and his hairstyle softened from being soaked—

Hearing the staff’s compliments, Ri Hyuk looked at his reflection.

Pale face. Fine features.

Being called delicate and pure made him feel secretly pleased.

The only downside—

‘Ugh!’

With his makeup faded, the redness in his face showed clearly.

"Seo Ri Hyuk! Seo Ri Hyuk!"

"Waaah!"

As the staff squealed over his flushed face—

The youngest, who had been holding his fishing rod, stood up and approached the water.

Biju asked,

"What’s wrong?"

"I’m thinking about how to fall into the water in the most natural way possible."

He poked the water to check the temperature.

Seeing him envy the praise Ri Hyuk was getting, Biju chuckled and turned back to his rod.

‘This is fun.’

Even just sitting leisurely and fishing with the others felt great.

If Wooju hyung and Kim Junghyun were here, it would be even better.

Catch or not—it didn’t feel bad.

‘Is this why Wooju hyung said fishing was fun?’

Biju said to the others,

"This must be the charm of fishing."

"Huh?"

"You can enjoy it even without catching anything. Wooju hyung said that before—I think this is what he meant."

The others laughed.

"Wooju said that? He suffered here a lot."

"That’s what people who can’t catch fish say. Is there any sport that’s fun without scoring?"

"It’s too early to say that, Biju."

Biju tilted his head.

‘But it’s fun?’ ℴ

Just relaxing, passing time, fishing—it felt like a perfect break.

Why did everyone else look bored?

Why did people get so angry about not catching fish?

He didn’t understand.

For the first hour.

"..."

"..."

After one hour.

After two hours.

At two and a half hours—

It felt like the good-natured part of his mind was cracking.

"How..."

Biju said,

"How is it possible that we haven’t caught a single fish? There were so many earlier..."

Even the nearby cast had bloodshot eyes.

"Seriously, how is this possible?"

"PD! Did you even pick the right spot?"

"Isn’t this because Ri Hyuk screamed earlier? The fish probably got scared and ran away!"

Ri Hyuk flinched and pretended not to hear.

After two and a half hours without catching anything, Biju let out a hollow laugh.

"Hahaha..."

"Ha..."

Now they understood why Wooju and Junghyun had bloodshot eyes during their video call.

NewBlack—known for achieving anything through effort—

Was now being challenged by fishing.

Ri Hyuk approached the KAIST graduate students checking the fishing robots.

"Excuse me."

"Yes?"

"Do you have something like sonar? Something to detect underwater?"

"Uh... no."

Ri Hyuk began searching for advanced technology or fishing theory books with madness in his eyes.

Biju spun around casting like he was dancing.

Jiho clasped his hands and prayed to listen better to his hyungs.

And yet—

‘Nothing is biting!’

Seeing the achievement-driven idols near tears, everyone laughed.

Baek Sanggyo hummed,

"What does it matter this way or that~ Oh~ the one who won’t recognize me~~ That’s fishing, kids."

"We should change spots."

At that, the three raised their hands.

"Ten minutes!"

"Just ten more minutes!"

They couldn’t accept that luck determined fishing.

‘If we move now, it feels like losing!’

Their competitive spirits flared.

Then—

"We prepared a video message for a situation like this."

Producer Lee Junhee played a clip.

Wooju and Junghyun appeared on screen.

"Guys, hi."

Tired, they nodded.

"Fishing’s tough, right?"

Nod nod.

"How long has it been?"

"Over two hours."

"I see. Suffer a bit more then. Bye~"

"Fighting~"

With a cute heart gesture, the call ended.

"...Huh?"

"That’s it?"

"Yes."

"Why...?"

"Because Wooju said you’d try harder after seeing this."

"...!"

"You have five more minutes, then we move."

The trio trembled.

"Guys. Let’s do fishing properly today."

"I won’t let this slide, Wooju..."

"Seriously, after everything I’ve done for him!"

They burned with determination.

Ding dong.

Messages flooded in.

Biju: [Hyung, I’m a little disappointed]

Biju: [But I miss you]

Ri Hyuk: [Bad people]

Ri Hyuk: [You use me for high notes and now you betray me???]

Ri Hyuk: [Give me a good part next song]

Jiho: [🖕]

Jiho: [🖕🖕🖕🖕🖕🖕🖕🖕🖕🖕🖕]

Jiho: [That wasn’t me, the carp did it]

Watching the nonstop messages, Junghyun yawned.

"Seems like fishing isn’t going well."

"Yeah."

Then—

The final five minutes.

As they prepared to leave—

"Wait..."

Jiho’s bait caught something.

‘An eel!’

But—

"That’s not an eel. That’s a snake!"

"What?!"

Jiho frantically reeled in.

The small snake slithered closer.

"Junghyun hyung!"

But he was in Seoul.

As everyone backed away—

Splash.

Someone walked into the water.

A farmer calmly grabbed the snake.

"Oh, it’s a viper."

Then casually tossed it away—

It flew far across the lake.

Everyone stared.

‘Who is that?’

A towering old man.

Nearly 190 cm.

Thick calves.

A white beard like a warrior from a historical epic.

He turned.

"...Oh?"

Everyone froze.

"Grandfather!"

The staff blinked.

"Grandfather?"

The old man smiled.

"Nice to meet you. I’m Junghyun’s grandfather."

!

The most legendary passerby ever.