[ Cho Seungmin's POV ]
I could hear people screaming my name.
Walking off stage, I glanced back once more. On stage, it was hard to see the audience, but I could see silhouettes of people cupping their faces in hopes of carrying their voices farther to us.
Cha Eugene suddenly hugged me.
"That was so exciting!" he shouted passionately, jumping up and down.
My shoulder blade still hurt. I winced.
But I could feel the adrenaline still coursing through my veins, and it made me feel good.
"Yeah," I grinned back. "It really was."
"Your flip was so cool!" he rambled on. "You really looked like a villain!"
I complimented him for his own performance with almost the same enthusiasm.
I felt like a normal nineteen-year-old then.
I continued to listen to the others' confidence in our stage as we walked to our waiting room. The staff clapped for us momentarily before giving us instructions to wait for the audience to finish voting.
I sat down in a chair for the make-up artists to redo my hair.
Moondae hyung was in the chair next to me, holding a small fan in his hand.
"Moondae hyung," I called out. "You sang so well."
He turned to me and blew the fan in my direction. There was a nice breeze.
"You too. We all did good."
There was a small smile on his face.
I was confident that we would be first. We had most of the top 10 in the same team.
Everyone waited in high spirits until we were back onto the stage. All participants were lined up in teams, waiting for the MC to announce who was first. Instead, he called the rankings starting from 7th place.
"And in third place of audience votes...<Burning Like the Sun> by Heroes Clan team!"
"No way," I could hear people whisper.
I bowed with the rest of the team, who answered to our ranking a beat late.
This was a competition, I remembered. People wouldn't vote for us simply because we were good.
"Listen," B had told me. "Having fans is more important this time. Unlike the first team match, people will have a bias now. They'll give their vote to that person. And if they think you're too good, they'll vote for another random team with their second vote, just so you won't overcome their own bias' team."
"Now all that's left is Gigantic vs. Stockholders General Assembly! The team that takes 1st place during this second team match..."
There was a long pause.
"Will be announced next week during the second individual ranking announcement! Then, shareholders, we'll see you next time!"
The Gigantic team consisted of all the other October 31 members. Sejin hyung answered, "Thank you!" to the MC as others clapped.
Our team was gloomy compared to his.
"Thank you for your hard work," Raebin murmured sadly.
"Oh my," Chungwoo hyung exhaled. He pat the others on their backs and replied, "Don't worry too much. We've done our best, so our performance will look amazing in the episode."
"The voting system just wasn't in our favor," I added with a hum.
Beside me, Cha Eugene exclaimed, "That's right! We were so good! Everyone will come to know that."
Despite his wrong use of grammar, his confidence boosted the mood a little.
We were sent back to our dorms to pack up.
"Seungmin," I heard Moondae hyung say. I turned to see him in his casual clothes. "Let's leave together."
Everyone else was still packing up or putting on more layers of clothes. It was supposed to be a little cold today. While looking out the window, I could see the tree outside sway in the breeze.
I took my attention off the window and looked at Moondae hyung again with a smile.
"Okay."
The two of us went to get our phones, and then we walked down the hall of the broadcasting center.
"Wait, excuse me hyungs." I peeked over my shoulder to see Raebin speedwalking toward us.
"Yeah, what's up?" Moondae hyung asked.
"Thank you for a lot of things. Is it okay if we exchange numbers?"
I nodded my head. He was fun to think about music with.
I pulled up my ID while Moondae hyung seemed lost in thought.
Then Moondae hyung also showed his ID.
Once the purple-haired boy added us, he bowed and took his leave.
"Guys!" Next was Ahyun hyung. His eyebrows were scrunched, and he was biting his lower lip.
"Hmm?" Moondae hyung hummed.
Leaning close to our ears, Ahyun whispered, "A-about Choi Wongil...he's a-a real bad p-person!"
"..."
"Did something happen?" I asked cautiously. To make Ahyun hyung say something like that, he must have done something really bad.
"Yeah! A-at first, he was asking us...to give him more parts. And h-he kept talking sarc-castically about Moondae...in his interview!"
Ahyun hyung was roused, furrowing his eyebrows further.
"S-sejin managed almost everything. But t-that's why you...have to b-be careful!"
I stared at Ahyun hyung as he continued to worry Moondae hyung.
He really was too kind. His first thought wasn't to badmouth but to warn a friend.
Next to me, Moondae hyung also seemed stunned. But his expression relaxed to a calmer one, as he said, "Yeah, thanks."
Suddenly, Sejin hyung popped out from the corner and jumped into our conversation. Ahyun hyung explained what they were talking about, but then my phone rang.
[ Incoming call from Dear Deer. Pick up? ]
It was from B.
I excused myself from the conversation and answered far down the hall.
"What is it Gaeul?" I sighed.
"I'm here to pick you up. I couldn't talk to you for a long time because you were so busy, so hurry up."
"You could have just texted me for this," I muttered, about to hang up the phone.
"Hey, I know you're about to hang up," B groaned. "Just listen to this first. I planted the seeds you wanted. You and moon are viral now."
I hung up after a curt goodbye.
"Oh, Min," Sejin hyung waved. "Are you leaving? Let's go together~"
I waited for them to get to where I was, and then the four of us left the building together.
B was waiting for me in her car with her window rolled down. When she saw me, she waved.
"Min, over here~"
"Oh, who's that?" Sejin smirked playfully.
"My...cousin," I replied. The four of us walked closer, and the hyungs bowed in greeting.
"Gosh, you all are so handsome!" B gushed, flapping her hand up and down like a fan. "Lee Sejin, Seon Ahyun, and Park Moondae, right?"
"Y-yes!" Ahyun hyung nodded.
"You already know about our names!" Sejin hyung grinned.
"Why of course. I'm rooting for you guys to debut together...You guys take such good care of Min," B teased.
I rolled my eyes and muttered, "Stop Gaeul."
She pouted childishly.
"See? He's so mean to me. Thank you for putting up with him."
"M-min is very n-nice!" Ahyun hyung vouched innocently for me
B paused. Then she laughed.
"Min, you made some good friends," she grinned to me. Then she turned to them and said, "Min actually doesn't let anyone except me call him that~ He must really like you guys."
"Gaeul, I'm not paying for your drink."
She put her hands up defensively.
"Okay, okay, I'm sorry," she whined, turning to roll her eyes exaggeratedly at the hyungs. "Anyways, it was nice meeting you guys! I hope you have a good break!"
I opened the back door of the car and got inside.
"Hey, you're not sitting in the passenger's seat? Way to make your kind cousin a chauffeur," Sejin hyung chuckled.
B made some other mocking comments directed at me before she drove off.
"Ha, you almost got caught," she joked.
I guess I'll be sitting in the front seat next time.