7. Han Ji-hyuk (1)
“Ugh… today was seriously exhausting.”
“I’m starving. Let’s go eat, fast.”
Darkness had already begun to fall.
After an unusually intense afternoon dance training session, the Willow-is headed out of the office in small groups to return to the dorm. But then:
“Long time no see, Ji-hyuk!”
“?”
A bright voice calling out to Han Ji-hyuk—a Willow-i who had debuted with me in Hexad Carmit—stopped the trainees in their tracks. Turning around, we saw a man with a striking fashion sense: yellow bleached hair styled in an undercut pompadour, wearing a khaki blouson over a leopard-print knit sweater.
“…Who are you?”
Ji-hyuk stopped and tilted his head at the mention of his name. The man took off his sunglasses and approached with a radiant smile.
“Hey, you don’t recognize me? I’m hurt. It’s me, Jong-woo.”
“Ah… Hwang Jong-woo, maybe?”
“It’s been since middle school graduation. It’s so hard to get a hold of you. If you changed your number, you should’ve let people know. I had to ask around a lot to find you.”
A ‘friend’ who came looking for him despite not even knowing his new number…
Did something like this happen in the past?
Watching this, I felt a bit uneasy and looked back and forth between Han Ji-hyuk and this guy named Jong-woo.
Han Ji-hyuk was nineteen now, more than two years since graduating middle school. For students this age, two years is a huge gap. In other words, this guy hadn’t been in touch with Ji-hyuk for a long time.
Even just watching from the side, something felt suspicious.
Han Ji-hyuk’s eyes weren’t particularly warm as he looked at the guy laughing and chatterring away.
“You guys go ahead. I’ll talk with this friend for a bit before I go.”
Ji-hyuk spoke with a smile, but for some reason, the Willow-is couldn’t move easily. Even Ga Du-in, who usually didn’t care about others, sensed the strange atmosphere and asked first.
“Is he someone you know?”
“Yeah, a middle school classmate.”
After Ji-hyuk’s brief introduction, Hwang Jong-woo stepped forward to introduce himself.
“You’re the Willow Ent trainees, right? I’m Hwang Jong-woo. I was in the same dance club as Ji-hyuk back in middle school.”
“Oh, hello…”
As the Willow-is awkwardly greeted him, Hwang Jong-woo seemed to get even more excited and continued.
“I’m a trainee at Aden Ent, and I’m scheduled to debut next month. When you guys debut, I guess I’ll see you at the broadcasting stations!”
The moment he finished speaking, I realized exactly where that slick attitude was coming from.
‘Ah, he came here to brag…’
It was Han Ji-hyuk who stopped the friend from chattering further.
“Go ahead and eat first. I’ll join you after we talk.”
“Ji-hyuk, won’t you be hungry?”
“It’s fine. I’ll eat later.”
As if it were no big deal, Han Ji-hyuk went into the cafe on the first floor with Jong-woo. The lingering Willow-is then resumed their walk to the dorm. His appearance seemed to end naturally, but… I couldn’t just let it go.
‘Who is that exactly? No matter how I look at it, it feels off. There was nothing written about this in the diary.’
I quickly searched my memory.
‘Oh, right.’
A faint memory flashed by.
Before the regression, I didn’t care about the other Willow-is at all, so I had just passed by indifferently.
“Hyung, go eat first. I forgot something.”
I pushed away Kang Su-woo, who was excitedly talking about the dinner menu next to me. I did this because I could clearly see the numbers above Han Ji-hyuk’s head.
‘It looks like it’s not “no big deal.”‘
I quietly slipped into the cafe.
From a distance, I saw Han Ji-hyuk and his classmate sitting down with drinks. As I had confirmed earlier, a very high number was floating above Ji-hyuk’s head.
‘His worry level started rising the moment he ran into that classmate.’
Han Ji-hyuk had a considerate personality and took good care of the members. To put it nicely, he was caring; to put it bluntly, he was a bit of a meddler.
Because of that personality, his worry level was usually on the higher side. Unlike his always-bright attitude, he constantly had many things on his mind. While Kang Su-woo’s level never went over 10, my observations showed that Han Ji-hyuk’s never dropped below 15.
But…
Even for someone like him, a worry level over 25 was unusual. There had to be a reason why his worry level shot up just because of one person’s appearance.
— Ding!
[Quest: Tell Me Your Worries!! (3)]
A member’s worry level has increased!
Let’s solve the worry together!
▶ Solve the worry together with the member who has a high worry level.
Deadline: By midnight, December 19, 20XX
Reward: Mother’s Hand is a Healing Hand (lv. 1)
Right, I have to solve it together.
Now that I’ve caught Ji-hyuk’s worry, I can’t just ignore it.
I quickly ordered an iced tea and sat at a nearby table where I could overhear them.
Ji-hyuk seemed to notice me sitting down, but he pretended not to see me and continued talking to his classmate.
“Didn’t you hear I joined Aden Ent? All the club kids know.”
“Ah, I haven’t been in touch much since I moved up to Seoul. You’re debuting next month? That’s great.”
“Yeah. Still, if we’re going down the same path, it’s good to know each other. Let’s keep in touch.”
“Knowing each other… sure, that’s good.”
Hwang Jong-woo spent a long time excitedly talking about his debut group members and the company’s active support.
After a while, just as Ji-hyuk’s polite responses were starting to fade, Hwang Jong-woo took a big gulp of his iced Americano and finally got to the point.
“You remember Teacher Yoon Hyun-jae, who taught our club back then?”
“Teacher Hyun-jae? Of course I remember.”
“He just opened a dance studio in Seoul. You didn’t know that, did you?”
“Ah… really?”
Ji-hyuk asked back, genuinely surprised. Hwang Jong-woo’s voice grew even louder with triumph.
“See, that’s why I’m saying we should keep in touch. I bet you didn’t know our middle school juniors are coming to his studio tomorrow either?”
“The juniors?”
“Yeah, all the current members of the school dance club are coming. Since we’re the seniors who made it to Seoul, shouldn’t we make the teacher proud? We should show our faces and buy the juniors some snacks.”
“Hmm… so you want to go together?”
Hwang Jong-woo smirked at Ji-hyuk’s words.
“No, we should go separately. You and I… we’re at different starting points, aren’t we? I’m just telling you to show up at the right time.”
That line had a sting to it. From then on, as if he had some strange grudge, Hwang Jong-woo kept provoking Ji-hyuk.
“I think you started training before me, didn’t you? Just in case, you are coming, right? Unless you’re too embarrassed that you haven’t debuted yet…”
“…Whatever.”
Ji-hyuk, who had been listening quietly, cut him off as if he couldn’t listen anymore.
“What time should I be there tomorrow? And where is it?”
“Here, put in your number.”
Han Ji-hyuk and Hwang Jong-woo exchanged numbers. Having achieved his goal, Hwang Jong-woo stood up. Before leaving the cafe, he turned back to add one last thing.
“And since I’m going with another member who’s debuting with me tomorrow, you should bring a close trainee friend if you can. See you tomorrow!”
After Hwang Jong-woo left:
“This little guy, why are you here without eating?”
Ji-hyuk looked toward me, walked over, and playfully mimicked a light flick to my head. But even though he was smiling, his face was strangely dark. It was likely the influence of his worry level, which was now climbing past 30.
“Because the atmosphere around you seemed serious. Who is that guy?”
“I was the president of the dance club in middle school. He was the vice president. I didn’t know he had become a trainee too.”
“The way he talks, he acts like he’s already debuted, not just a trainee.”
“Haha… he’s debuting soon at Aden Ent. A four-member group, and he says he’s the main dancer.”
“He told you to come somewhere tomorrow. Are you going?”
Instead of an answer, Han Ji-hyuk let out a small sigh. His inner thoughts were reflected clearly above his head.
[That jerk Jong-woo… he’s definitely going there just to brag to the juniors that he’s debuting first. He was always obsessed with trying to beat me back in middle school…]
Regardless of those thoughts, he spoke as if it were nothing.
“I have to go. The teacher who taught us then was famous for b-boying. Thanks to him, I learned a lot of high-level techniques that are hard to learn in a middle school club.”
“Ah, that must be why you’re so good at so many different styles of dance.”
“That’s part of it, but he was really good to us. He helped me a lot. I have to go for the teacher’s sake.”
“But didn’t that guy say he’s bringing a member from his group? Who are you going with?”
“With who?”
A look of distress appeared on Ji-hyuk’s face.
‘It’s my private business, so it’s a bit much to ask other trainees to come… Everyone’s busy and lacks time. Should I go alone? But then won’t that jerk pick on me again, asking if I don’t have any friends? Sigh…’
Ji-hyuk was deep in thought. I felt a bit bad for thinking this while he was worrying, but this was a good opportunity. I met his eyes and gave a bright smile.
“Should I go with you?”
“You?”
Ji-hyuk’s eyes widened in surprise. Since I didn’t usually have an image of taking the lead in things like this, I just shrugged.
“Well, I lived in Daejeon too. I know where your middle school is.”
“Your school and mine were on completely opposite sides… well, okay. It was going to be awkward going alone anyway.”
“Hyung, should we go eat first? I’m hungry, let’s talk while we eat.”
As we left the cafe and walked toward the dorm, we continued discussing tomorrow’s plan.
***
The dance studio that Ji-hyuk’s teacher opened was not far from the Willow Ent office. Ji-hyuk and I arrived five minutes early and waited.
We had planned everything out, and Ji-hyuk was holding an opening-day gift for the teacher. Now, we just had to wait for Hwang Jong-woo and go in together.
However, perhaps because the situation wasn’t set yet, Ji-hyuk’s worry level—which had dropped slightly after hearing my plan yesterday—was hovering around 30 again.
‘He really worries a lot.’
Because he was a perfectionist, it seemed his worry level wouldn’t drop until the situation was actually resolved.
A few minutes later:
Hwang Jong-woo appeared, even more “fully styled” than yesterday. He looked like he could walk straight onto a stage. He was with a man who had similar styling, and they were holding a large box.
“What’s that?”
Instead of greeting us, Hwang Jong-woo quickly scanned us from head to toe. Then:
“What’s that? Did you prepare snacks?”
When he saw the gift we prepared, his face twisted into a smirk. Did he mistake the wrapped gift for snacks? When he confirmed that our package was significantly smaller than the box he brought, his face brightened with joy. Feeling good, he introduced the man with him.
“This is Son Ji-wan, who’s debuting with me. His stage name is ‘Tommy.'”
‘A stage name, huh.’
But looking at the two of them, I felt a sense of déjà vu.
Tommy? Tommy. That face looks familiar…
‘Ah, I remember. They’re “Player,” the boy group that debuted at Aden Ent. That one is “Tommy,” and this guy is… “Luke.”‘
The stage name brought back memories from before the regression. I didn’t know this because I hadn’t interacted with Ji-hyuk back then, but I think something happened between us later. I’ll have to check the diary.
“Nice to meet you. I’m Han Ji-hyuk, a Willow Ent trainee and Jong-woo’s middle school classmate. This friend is Song Yeon-oh, also from Willow Ent.”
“Hello, I’m Song Yeon-oh.”
“Ah, yeah. Hello…”
A polite greeting. But ‘Tommy’ just gave a slight nod and moved on. It didn’t seem like he had heard anything good about us from Hwang Jong-woo.
“Alright, let’s go in.”
Hwang Jong-woo walked past us as if I didn’t exist and headed first into the basement dance studio.
“Teacher! Congratulations!”
“It’s been so long. Congratulations on the opening.”
“Hey, look who it is! You both look like celebrities now!”
Yoon Hyun-jae, the teacher who taught Ji-hyuk in the past, welcomed them both with a bright smile. But the reactions of the two were starkly different. To be grouped together as “looking like celebrities”—Hwang Jong-woo in full styling and Han Ji-hyuk in just a plain puffer jacket and hoodie—made Jong-woo visibly upset. He felt that, as someone who had succeeded in debuting, he was on a different level.
“Teacher, this is an opening gift for you.”
Regardless, Ji-hyuk handed the small gift to Hyun-jae. The teacher looked surprised as he took it.
“Oh, you didn’t have to bring something like this. You’re still a student.”
“You were opening a studio, so I wanted to prepare something small. Since the practice room is in a basement, I heard this is good for air purification.”
“Anyway, thanks. This will really brighten the place up.”
Hyun-jae unwrapped the gift and was delighted to see a lush Peace Lily. Ji-hyuk caught my eye, and we shared a grin. All the work of briefing him on the gift type and the reason for choosing it yesterday was worth it. How many plant shopping sites did I have to look through until I satisfied that meticulous Hyung’s standards?
“Ah, Teacher… I…”
It seemed Hwang Jong-woo was so focused on snacks for the juniors that he forgot to prepare an opening gift for the teacher. Well, he was at an age where he wouldn’t know better. I only knew to prepare it because I had ordered so many opening gifts for my father’s business associates before the regression.
“It’s okay, it’s okay. You guys showing your faces is a gift in itself. Thanks for coming, both of you.”
Waving off the embarrassed Jong-woo, Hyun-jae put his hands on the shoulders of Ji-hyuk and Jong-woo and led them toward the juniors.
“Alright, say hello. These are your middle school juniors.”
“Hello, seniors! We are ‘Wings,’ the dance club from Songcheon Middle School.”
There, fifteen middle schoolers were sitting on the practice room floor, looking at us with admiration. In their eyes, we, who were active idol trainees, were surely people they wanted to be like.
In the midst of that, I saw Hwang Jong-woo twitching, wanting to say something. Well, at that age, you want to brag about anything. And it was something to be proud of.
“Since they’re 19, they didn’t go to school at the same time as you, but… this is Han Ji-hyuk and Hwang Jong-woo. You’ve all heard their names at least once, right?”
“Yes!”
“Haha, Teacher. What on earth have you been telling the juniors?”
“I told them all about how you guys used to be lazy and not listen.”
As he joked, Hyun-jae patted their shoulders with affection.
“When I was in Daejeon, I taught many dance clubs besides Songcheon, but among them, these guys were the most talented. They would have succeeded even if they went into professional b-boying.”
“No, it’s because you taught us so well from the basics. It’s almost like we’re debuting because of you.”
“Hahaha! Really? I’m happy just hearing that.”
At Jong-woo’s smooth talk, Teacher Hyun-jae smiled warmly. Han Ji-hyuk and I, whose debuts were not yet decided, could only manage bitter smiles.
“Do you want to see the juniors’ skills? Is Seo-jun the current president? Come out and show us what you’ve got.”
