Chapter 63

Right. He needed something like this to fill the empty spaces somehow.

As the sand swallowed around his feet, Gyeol pressed his soles harder into the ground. Then Jun Shin suddenly dropped down onto the beach with a heavy thud.

“Let’s sit while we talk. Your legs have to hurt.”

“......”

They don’t hurt.

Instead of giving that sulky answer out loud, Gyeol sat down beside him in the sand.

With their eye level lower, the sea felt even closer. For a while, the two of them sat silently, staring out at the water. The enormous sea submerged in the middle of the night surged darkly like a hopeless past.

“Do you remember when we went to see the sea together?”

Keeping his eyes fixed somewhere far away, Jun was the one who finally opened the conversation.

“...We didn’t go there to see the sea. We went there to work. For an event.”

There was no way he could possibly forget that day. Instead of saying he remembered, Gyeol corrected the distorted version of it.

Jun let out a quiet laugh. Bracing himself with his arms behind him as if he might collapse flat onto the beach at any moment, he leaned back lazily.

“I still dream about that day, you know?”

He skipped over all the details, but Gyeol understood immediately without needing to ask.

“Must’ve been pretty traumatic.”

“Yeah. I don’t think I’ll ever forget it.”

Silently, Gyeol agreed.

That unforgettable time had been SAVE ME’s first outside event schedule. Not long after their debut.

They had barely finished a few thrilling music-show appearances when they received an offer to perform at the K-Water Festival. The K-Water Festival was, in a way, the origin of the giant outdoor summer music festivals that were wildly popular now. The fresh concept of enjoying performances while getting drenched head to toe quickly captured the public’s attention, and every summer it became a festival everyone wanted to attend.

It wasn’t only the public that wanted to participate in the K-Water Festival. Artists from all kinds of genres desperately wanted the chance to stand on that stage as well. As its popularity and prestige grew, the festival lineup became more and more glamorous alongside it. By the time SAVE ME debuted, it had reached the point where people believed any truly famous artist absolutely had to appear in the K-Water Festival lineup.

Then a spot suddenly opened due to a famous singer’s health problems. When SAVE ME was given the opportunity to fill that empty slot, every single member—including Gyeol and Jun—had screamed in joy.

Late at night, hearts swollen with excitement, the van carrying the members headed toward the sea through the darkness before dawn the moment their Seoul schedule ended.

“Gyeol.”

Maybe he had dozed off leaning against Jun Shin’s shoulder after being exhausted by the nonstop schedules. When he opened his eyes to the gentle hand patting his shoulder and Jun’s low voice calling him, the first sea he had ever seen in his life stretched beyond the car window.

Dawn was breaking beyond the horizon. Gyeol stared at the dreamlike sea with shining eyes as all the sleep instantly vanished from him. Then Jun quietly slipped his hand beneath the jumper draped over Gyeol and overlapped their fingers together. The brushing fingertips tickled. And when Jun tightly intertwined their hands, it felt like the ticklish sensation spread all the way down into the center of his chest.

Up until then, it had been good.

But after dawn broke and they arrived at the venue, the sky darkened almost immediately and rain began falling steadily.

Like many outdoor events in Korea, the waiting area conditions were absolutely miserable. The proper container waiting rooms naturally belonged to the senior artists, while SAVE ME—rookies among rookies—was assigned a worn-out temporary tent.

It was such a cramped space that once the five members and their manager Kisoo Yang squeezed inside, it was completely full. The asphalt floor was cracked in several places with dirt pushing through, and even the seams of the tent ceiling were torn, letting rainwater drip inside. There were only six plastic chairs, so the stylists and hair-and-makeup team decided to wait in the car instead.

“Kisoo, this sucks. Can’t we wait in the car too? It’s hot as hell in here, and humid too. At least let us feel some air conditioning.”

“We’re probably the youngest artists here today. We need to stay at our spot. We still have to go around greeting people later.”

Leader Gyeol was the one who disciplined the grumbling youngest member, Park Kyungwoo.

“No, but the chair I got is literally broken underneath, so it keeps wobbling.”

“Switch with me.”

The moment Jun immediately stood up to offer his seat, Kyungwoo protested even harder.

“No, the ground itself is slanted, so changing chairs won’t fix anything. My back’s getting destroyed.”

“Then come sit here. I’ll sit there.”

At Jun’s gesture, the youngest made a face like he was sick of them. Letting out a long sigh, he shoved the handheld fan right against his face.

“Forget it. There’s no way I can beat the Gyeol Go–Jun Shin combo.”

Unfortunately, the rain only grew heavier as time passed. SAVE ME’s performance order was third from the end. Which meant they had to wait nearly twelve hours inside the humid tent.

“Our turn’s ages away, so why do we have to be here this early...? The senior artists after us probably haven’t even arrived yet.”

Kyungwoo was right. The huge headliner artists handling the finale and the slot before it wouldn’t arrive until midway through rehearsals. According to the schedule they’d received, rehearsals alone lasted five hours, meaning there was realistically no reason for SAVE ME to come this early.

They were only here because they were complete rookies with nerves wound painfully tight.

“Can’t we at least use one of the empty waiting rooms until those seniors show up?”

“Kyungwoo, say something that actually makes sense......”

Completely exhausted from driving all night and running around nonstop, Kisoo answered weakly. But Kyungwoo continued grumbling irritably.

“No, seriously. We’re LM Entertainment’s massive rookie group, we successfully finished our debut stage, and we got invited here as artists, right? So why are we getting treated like this? It’s so hot and humid my makeup’s melting off. Kisoo, can’t you go say something or—”

“Park Kyungwoo.”

The one who cut him off was Gyeol.

Staring coldly at the youngest member, he spoke sharply.

“Get a grip. We debuted less than a month ago. Normally, we wouldn’t even qualify to be here. Like you said, we got handed an opportunity other people might never get in their entire lives because we’re backed by a good company. So we should be saying ‘thank you’ and working even harder and more sincerely. You’re seriously going to keep talking recklessly in a tent with open sides?”

“No, I just—”

“Everything you say carries outside. What if someone hears you? What if an article comes out? You want us to crash and burn right after debut?”

“.......”

Kyungwoo shut his mouth with a resentful expression. Damp silence settled over the chilled atmosphere.

Eventually, Jun pushed himself to his feet.

“I’m gonna go to the bathroom for a minute.”

“Yeah, okay. You know where it is, right?”

“Of course.”

When he returned a long while later, his hands were full of iced coffees and drinks overflowing with ice.

“You said you were going to the bathroom. There’s a café nearby?”

“There is. Over there.”

Casually jerking his head in a vague direction, Jun set the drinks down on the table before immediately handing the whipped-cream-covered strawberry drink to Park Kyungwoo.

“Here, Kyungwoo. Drink up and cheer up.”

“...Thanks.”

Kyungwoo, who had been sulking the whole time, flushed red as he thanked him. Maybe the sugar improved his mood, because not long after, he apologized and admitted he’d been wrong. Gyeol accepted the apology easily, saying there was no reason for them to fight among themselves, and apologized too.

Thanks to the drinks Jun bought, the atmosphere inside the tent brightened immediately. Feeling calmer again, the members started excitedly talking about the stage ahead.

While listening with a smile, Gyeol suddenly realized something.

“Wait. We should buy drinks for the staff in the car too—”

“Already did.”

Jun dramatically brushed back his hair like he was showing off and slung an arm around Gyeol’s shoulders. Glancing at the hand on him, Gyeol shrugged him off mercilessly.

“You carried all those drinks by yourself with one umbrella?”

“I went with Jang-hyung from the start.”

He meant one of the makeup artists.

Only then did Gyeol realize the bathroom excuse had been fake from the beginning. Jun had gone out specifically to buy drinks.

While sipping his sweet drink through the straw, Gyeol thought for a moment before poking Jun’s shoulder repeatedly.

“Jun.”

“Hm? The bathroom’s outside and to the right—”

“It sounds hard to find. Can you come with me?”

Jun raised an eyebrow like he’d just heard something [N O V E L I G H T] ridiculous. Gyeol wasn’t bad with directions. If anything, he was the type who could glance at a map once and instantly find his way.

But Jun didn’t question him, and Gyeol had known from the start that he wouldn’t.

Watching the two leave side by side, the members teased them for “even going to the bathroom together now.”

“Hold the umbrella properly.”

“I am holding it properly.”

“You’re getting soaked.”

Even after Gyeol scolded him, Jun had no intention of adjusting the umbrella he’d tilted heavily toward Gyeol. Staring disapprovingly at Jun’s wet shoulder, Gyeol eventually felt heat rising up the back of his neck and muttered quietly.

“Thanks, Jun.”

Whoosh. Beyond the curtain of rain, the distant sound of waves echoed faintly. From the person standing close beside him beneath the umbrella came a subtle citrus scent.

A scent that slipped easily into Gyeol and coaxed warmth out of him.

“For what?”

Jun answered like it was nothing.

Silence followed for a moment as they walked. Then suddenly, Jun pulled Gyeol behind the building into a grove of thick pine trees.

“Why?”

“Shh. Be quiet for a second.”

The citrus scent drew much closer.

Breathing in, Gyeol clenched his fist tightly.

Smack.

Lips touched his cheek and pulled away.

“Hey, what if someone sees us...?”

“There’s nobody here.”

“Jun Shin.”

This time, lips pressed directly against his.

The soft pressure instantly fueled the heat rushing through him. Without realizing it, Gyeol grabbed tightly onto Jun’s clothes. Jun lightly bit down on his lower lip before whispering softly.

“Gyeol. Stick your tongue out.”