Chapter 389

Side Story (6)

“The first match is between Pantheion and the Trainee Team! Before we get started, shall we hear a few words from each team about their determination? Alright, let’s start with the Trainee Team.”

As the tug-of-war match officially began, Gong Seonghwa smoothly carried on with the hosting and approached the trainee I had noticed earlier, handing him the microphone. It seemed he intended to give more screentime to the trainees likely to make the debut lineup.

‘He’s ridiculously quick to catch on ……. I can’t tell if that means he’s good at socializing or just plain sly.’

I tried my best to ignore Gong Seonghwa, who kept sending those overly passionate gazes toward me, and fixed my gaze on the trainees, pretending to focus on the filming.

“Actually, nothing’s scarier than young blood. I’m sorry, but we’ll be the ones taking the win this time, sunbaenims!”

With their fists tightly clenched, the trainees threw out some rather provocative lines, yet their gaze remained firmly on the camera, refusing to even glance at Pantheion.

“Ohhh! They’re strong.”

“Ahhh, Pantheion sunbaenims, they’re basically saying you guys are past your prime. ‘You’re old‘, that’s the message, right? Kids these days are really bold.”

“N-no, that’s not what we meant! That’s not right!”

As Gong Seonghwa and the other artists playfully teased the trainees to keep the mood going, the trainee I’d been keeping an eye on suddenly dropped to his knees and started rubbing his hands together in apology.

“Please spare us. I beg you. We truly made a mistake.”

Seeing the corners of his mouth twitching as if he were trying not to laugh, it was clear he was only pretending to be scared for the sake of the broadcast.

That was only natural.

At our agency, if someone was disciplining the juniors and got caught by me, I’d hang that guy’s head on the company gate.

‘There are no ranks when it comes to beating someone up.’

YT Entertainment is a place where only the strong survive. Got something to say? Then say it through sales. If they’d tried to butter up their seniors with some weak line like, “Oh, there’s no way we could possibly beat our sunbaenims. We’ll just try our best”, I wouldn’t have tolerated it.

“Yes, we’ve clearly seen the Trainee Team’s fighting spirit. Now, let’s hear what Pantheion has to say.”

Next, when it was Pantheion’s turn, Nagi Zen took the microphone from Gong Seonghwa and strode straight toward the Trainee Team. Then, with a solemn expression, he gave a dramatic thumbs-down and spoke briefly.

“We will crush them.”

“Oooh! Boom down! Boom down!”¹

“Kyaaaaa! That’s the spirit! No need for long speeches. So you’re saying you’ll take care of the chicks with no problem, huh? You’re sounding pretty confident now that the Prism sunbaenims aren’t participating!”

The corners of his mouth lifted dramatically like a comic book character, and the sneer in his voice sent the crowd into a frenzy. It was like watching a troop of monkeys go wild.

“Pantheion, fighting.”

Meanwhile, Woo Kangwon was clapping demurely with a gentle smile on his face. His menacing biceps flexed with every clap, though, which made the match between the remaining Pantheion members and the Trainee Team look almost silly.

“Before we start the match, the representative of each team, please come forward and play rock-paper-scissors. The winning team will get the first chance to bring their desired Prism sunbaenim as a helper. Ready? If you don’t throw, you lose. Rock, paper, scissors!”

“Waaah! We won!”

The winner of rock-paper-scissors was Han Seungbeom.

“Pantheion, please choose your helper!”

The trainees didn’t know which of the Prism members, aside from me, was the strongest, so winning rock-paper-scissors didn’t really mean much for them. But for the Pantheion members, who’d had plenty of interaction with Prism thanks to me, it was a different story.

“Yay! We’ll take Chise-hyung!”

‘Strangely enough, even though Nam Yihwon is bigger than Lee Chise, Lee Chise’s actually the stronger one.’

You know those people who aren’t strong because they’ve worked out, but because they were simply born with that kind of strength and the bone density of a general? Lee Chise was exactly that type.

‘If Lee Chise had ever taken a real interest in martial arts or fighting, he probably would’ve surpassed me.’

The first one to be called, Lee Chise, didn’t seem particularly moved. He casually winked at the camera and said, “Chise-hyung will do his best!”, putting on some ridiculous act of cuteness. Seriously, that guy had no sense of dignity whatsoever.

“Uh, um … then we’ll choose Nam Yihwon sunbaenim.”

Pantheion had already snagged the big catch, so the trainees naturally chose Nam Yihwon, the biggest among the remaining members. Well, it wasn’t a bad choice.

“Step aside and let the kids have their fun, ahjussi. Don’t take it so seriously. It’s embarrassing.”

“What are you on about? Hyung, you’re older than me!”

“Boo! Nam Yihwon, take off your gloves! Fight fair with your bare hands!”

“Wearing gloves is part of the rules, you know? You want your hands all torn up?”

“Didn’t ask. Stop showing off.”

When the helpers, Lee Chise and Nam Yihwon, stepped forward, the Prism members began hurling fierce criticism at one another. They truly were my kids, embarrassing no matter where I put them.

I quietly watched the swarm of Prism members moving around, then called out to Jo Inchan and pulled him aside.

“Don’t bother with the tug-of-war. Go rest in the tent with Seo Yuseong.”

I was worried that he might get hurt if he participated in the match, since his knees weren’t in great condition. Jo Inchan obediently nodded his head and went inside the tent. Judging by his behavior, it seemed that standing for so long had actually put some strain on his knees.

As I followed him into the tent, I saw Jo Inchan squeezed uncomfortably next to Seo Yuseong

He could have just woken Seo Yuseong and asked for a bit of space, but instead, he had made sure Seo Yuseong was lying in the most comfortable place first, and sat there all scrunched up, smiling proudly. He was still a guy whose foolishness knew no bounds.

I clicked my tongue and immediately grabbed his upper arm from above.

“Ugh!”

Jo Inchan almost recoiled as if he were having a fit, trying to shake my hand off while looking around frantically.

Was he startled by the sudden contact? No, it looked more like sheer fear, as if the very situation of someone restricting his movement was terrifying.

I was a little taken aback by the more violent reaction than I had expected, and just stared blankly at Jo Inchan.

“…….”

“…….”

One second, two seconds, three seconds.

The awkward silence dragged on far too slowly.

“Jo Inchan.”

Breaking the silence, I called his name. He finally noticed me and seemed noticeably relieved, then slowly rose to his feet as I led him. With a look that was half embarrassed, half ‘why are you doing this?‘, he stared at me, and I answered curtly, keeping it brief on purpose.

“Don’t crouch down. It’s bad for your knees.”

It was a reprimand, questioning why he was doing that when his knees were already in bad shape. Hearing this, Jo Inchan closed his open mouth, muttered “…Okay”, and smiled in a way that made the ends of his eyebrows droop.

Ahh, that guy, he really is something.

Why does he always smile so vaguely like that, making me constantly worry about him?

If only all of humanity were as simple as Nagi Zen…….

“I, Nagi Zen, son of Ichiro and Minako, swear on the honor of my clan to protect this position.”

“What does your family do? Didn’t you say there weren’t any athletes in your family?”

“Ichiro is a corporate slave, Minako is the Demon Queen of our house, and Poco is Minako’s subordinate.”

“Just say it’s a salaryman, a housewife, and their dog! Besides, your family has nothing to do with sports. Why did you bring it up like that!”

“Because I wanted to.”

“And don’t just go calling your parents by their full names like that! You’ll scare the Koreans!”

“Scared?”²

“Where on earth did you pick up that word this time!”

Never mind.

Seeing Nagi Zen clutching Do Yuda’s head like an ostrich egg and spouting nonsense made my head throb. In the end, I ignored the two fools and turned back to speak to Jo Inchan again.

“How’s your knee?”

Jo Inchan moved his lips for a moment, fiddling with his knee, then soon answered gently, a smile on his face.

“…I suppose it won’t ever go back to how it was.”

The topic was unbearably heavy, yet Jo Inchan remained calm, as if we were having an ordinary conversation. I couldn’t tell whether he was being sincere or just forcing himself to act fine in front of me, so I simply watched him for a while.

“Are you disappointed?”

Seeing that I didn’t react at all, Jo Inchan’s eyes crinkled as he smiled brightly. At the reaction that seemed to say, ‘It’s okay to be disappointed, I understand‘, I frowned and called his name. It was my way of telling him not to say such nonsense.

Then he burst out laughing and mumbled, “Sorry, but just how much longer do I have to wait to get back to ‘normal’? I just feel like everyone’s got their eyes glued right on me…….”

“Ahhh! Baek Kiryang and Han Seungbeom have fallen! But they’re holding on! Lee Chise sunbaenim is holding strong! He’s covering for both of them! Is he even human?! Ahhh! Baek Kiryang and Han Seungbeom are back up and holding the rope again! The cloth is tilting!”

And then, after quietly watching the people running the game in a lively commotion, he continued speaking.

“A knee that’s been damaged once can never fully recover, no matter how hard you try. Still, I find it really difficult to talk about. Everyone ends up disappointed. Or exhausted. They try not to show it on the outside, but I can’t help noticing. Because I’ve seen the same reactions over and over again.”

Jo Inchan, who spoke those words, remained completely calm. It was as if calluses had formed over spots that had been pierced many times, dulling the sensation.

Perhaps this wasn’t something that applied only to the knees.

Even after Kang Hyukwoo disappeared and he broke away from RH Entertainment, Jo Inchan still wasn’t truly free.

It wasn’t uncommon to see Jo Inchan wake up in the dorm screaming, with his body curled up and trembling uncontrollably.

“Please, stop ……. I just…….”

What I mostly heard in his screams were desperate pleas of ‘stop‘, and calls of my name. After waking up like that, he would come to my room, make sure I was there, and only then gradually regain his composure.

The Prism members, watching Jo Inchan in that state, never once showed any sign of exhaustion. It seemed there were some bastards who, knowing nothing of the mindset we had while quietly watching over him, dared to spout nonsense at Jo Inchan.

“The more I use my leg, the worse it will become, and I’ll probably keep having nightmares … There are some wounds in this world that never fade, that stay as scars forever. That’s why inflicting trauma on someone is such a terrifying thing.”

Jo Inchan, after saying that, muttered, “It took me a long time to admit that too.”. Seeing the slightly resigned look on his face made me feel really awful. As I hurriedly opened my mouth to say something, Jo Inchan slowly shook his head, as if to say he was fine.

“But you know, hyung? If I keep getting regular treatment on my knee, the pain lessens, and when the weather’s good, sometimes it doesn’t hurt at all. When the members are around, the nightmares happen a lot less. Even if I get anxious while going about daily life, I can calm down quickly if the members are nearby. And by taking care of myself little by little like that, I’ll be able to stand on stage. That’s enough for me.”

Sometimes, life brings a pain that is far too heavy for a person to bear, a pain that can shake one’s entire life. Falling apart under it doesn’t mean the person is weak or careless. That’s why I would at times tell those around me that it’s okay to just run away.

“So, I’m always going to do my very best and live my life carefully tending to my wounds.”

But Jo Inchan didn’t run away.

“Don’t worry, hyung. I’m going to be alright. Even if I end up a little pitiful and not as great as I used to be, I have the members who wait for me and stay by my side.”

Because, for him, paradise was here, with the Prism members. However peaceful life might have been in the place he fled to, paradise didn’t exist there. Even if it meant walking a more painful path, even if it meant getting more wounded, he couldn’t give up on Prism.

“…Alright.”

As I watched Jo Inchan’s face, now looking noticeably more at ease than before, I murmured quietly to myself.

Kang Hyukwoo inflicted countless wounds on Jo Inchan, but he couldn’t break him.

In the end, we won.

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Translator’s Corner:

1. Boom-down (붐따 / Boom tta) is internet slang that means downvote / thumbs-down. ↩︎
2. Zen said “쫄?”. This is kind of slang, you see, a shortened form of 쫄보 that meaning ‘coward’ or ‘scaredy-cat’. This line is like “Are you scared?” (taunting). ↩︎

When I first read this chapter (cant believe that was a year ago … nothing changed except how my eyesight got worse and worse), I was caught off guard because I truly wasn’t expecting that …. like I thought we will only be having comedy genre for the side stories, but alas….. this story main genre is #healing

Thank you so much Jieshika for the lightsticks!

(and it’s really fun reading the comments ….. but it’s also a really scary how fast you are re-reading…… for anyone who also just found this story and started reading from the start, i hope you don’t lose your sleep over binge reading……)