Chapter 286
“Good job, Raon.”
“You ran really well.”
After finishing the interview and returning to our team’s seats, the other team members greeted me with compliments.
“It’s ‘Again’ as the cheer song this year. That’s great.”
“Oh, thank you.”
I didn’t show much excitement in front of the other seniors who might have secretly hoped for their song to be chosen, like me.
Still, I felt quite pleased that I was the first to hear the Blue Team’s cheer song, and it turned out to be “Again.”
“Hey, I thought you said you weren’t close?”
When we had some time alone, Gyun Seong-ha asked with a sullen face.
Kang Ji-woo, while cautioning us not to speak too loudly since there were other people around, seemed to silently agree with Gyun Seong-ha’s question.
“We’re not close.”
“Then what was that earlier?”
“If anyone saw, they’d think you were completely on the Black Team.”
“I thought we weren’t close, but it seems like he doesn’t think that way.”
I blamed all of Ko Kyung-yoon’s strange behavior on him.
Let him become a weirdo.
Anyway, it wasn’t like these guys would run to the internet to post that On Raon and Ko Kyung-yoon weren’t close, so it should be fine to say it like this.
Then the members looked at me with complex expressions.
“You……”
“What.”
Gyun Seong-ha spoke on behalf of the others.
“Are you a pushover?”
“What?”
A pushover?
A pushover….
A pushover!
Hearing the insult I hated the most in the world, I immediately stiffened.
“That’s the word I hate the most, you know?”
If it were anyone else, I wouldn’t have let it slide, but since it was a member, I let it go once.
“It’s just that he helped me when I was struggling, so I’m helping him once. When I was busy during the activity period, he got a guide for me.”
Additionally, after explaining Ko Kyung-yoon’s current situation, they seemed to somewhat understand the circumstances.
“So, you’re not really close, then.”
“Absolutely not.”
“Didn’t it bother you earlier?”
I replied to Seo Moon-gyeol’s question that I was fine, and when he asked me to be honest if it bothered me, I reassured him again that it was fine.
“Maknae.”
Kang Ji-woo called me seriously.
“What did I say before? Be careful when making friends. In this field, even those who seem good and harmless can be bad.”
Kang Ji-woo reminded me of his previous advice in a low voice, wary that others might hear.
“Even though he’s annoying, he doesn’t seem like a bad person….”
“Not a bad person…!”
Kang Ji-woo clenched his fist.
“Then, leaving his team to mess with the youngest of another team, is that what a good person does? He’s a bad person. From what I see, he’s definitely not someone who’s good to know. Maknae, you trust me, right?”
Kang Ji-woo argued vehemently that Ko Kyung-yoon was a very bad person, using the fastest speech I had heard recently and a brilliant dichotomy of either being good or bad.
As Seo Moon-gyeol quietly observed Kang Ji-woo, he spoke up.
“It’s not that it’s a problem; it’s just that you lost your turn to him….”
The unflinching critique caused a crack in the kind smile Kang Ji-woo had been wearing.
“Moon-gyeol.”
“What?”
“Shh.”
“Okay.”
I listened with a silly smile as Kang Ji-woo patted Seo Moon-gyeol’s shoulder and complained, “Our Moon-gyeol’s sense is improving….”
Then I suddenly noticed that Ban Yo-han had been unusually quiet today.
“Hyung, say something too.”
At Gyun Seong-ha’s urging, still seemingly unsatisfied, Ban Yo-han responded in a monotonous voice.
“Isn’t there no need to worry that much? If he was a real pushover who gave everything he received and gave whatever was asked, he wouldn’t have fought with me.”
I wasn’t sure if that was a compliment or an insult, but at least I was pleased to know that Ban Yo-han didn’t see me as a pushover.
Still, Ban Yo-han, who had finished his words in a loose tone that didn’t sound very serious, telling me to talk if anyone bullied me, shut his mouth again.
Although it wasn’t as serious as what is commonly referred to as bipolar disorder,
Ban Yo-han had a personality that fluctuated significantly between good and bad moods.
‘Come to think of it, didn’t he dislike being in noisy and crowded places like this?’
Even now, Ban Yo-han maintained a relatively gentle expression.
But upon closer inspection, it was clear that he was managing his expression only because he was conscious of the cameras and people’s gazes all around him.
In reality, he was in a very low mood.
It seemed that the chaotic atmosphere, akin to a bustling marketplace filled with cheers and shouts except when the production crew called for silence, didn’t align well with Ban Yo-han’s desire for his own sense of order.
Unlike the previous idol variety show shooting where we had to get close to specific people or stay in designated seats, this chaotic scene required continuous personal interaction with at least dozens of team members in free-roaming team spaces.
Noticing my gaze, Ban Yo-han spoke briefly.
“It’s nothing. It’s just noisy.”
See?
If it was moderate noise at a conversational level, it would be one thing.
But now, the excessive noise and hustle surrounding us, apart from the adrenaline-fueled atmosphere, made me worry about whether the shooting was going well.
With everyone watching, he couldn’t just cover his ears.
It would be a tough time until we finished.
Swish, swish.
“…What are you doing?”
Wouldn’t this make it a bit quieter?
I pulled the hood over his round head, tucked the stray bangs inside the hood, and tied the hood strings tightly.
Though my initial kind intention was to help him escape the noise, Ban Yo-han ended up looking quite comical.
“Pfft.”
“…Hey.”
“Puhaha! Let’s take a picture.”
It seemed like the perfect time to use the selfie skills I diligently learned from Gyun Seong-ha.
As I took out my phone, opened the camera app, and started taking pictures from various angles, Ban Yo-han, watching me with a sour expression, spoke reluctantly.
“If you’re going to take it like that, give me the phone.”
“Isn’t it fine……”
Meanwhile, Gyun Seong-ha, the selfie master, looked at me with utter disdain.
“Guess it’s not. Right.”
It seemed my skills were not ready to shine just yet.
While Ban Yo-han went off to find his misplaced phone,
I checked the photos I took earlier and burst into laughter, nudging Gyun Seong-ha beside me.
“Ahahahah! Ban Yo-han looks so funny!”
Gyun Seong-ha also clutched his stomach, laughing.
“Ahahahah!”
Soon after, Ban Yo-han returned and silently watched Gyun Seong-ha and me rolling with laughter, then he also laughed heartily and put me in the same ridiculous state.
While I was being messed with, Gyun Seong-ha quickly escaped to the new friends he made during the cheer practice.
What a jerk.
He was so prickly when I first came, but now he’s making friends with other idols just fine.
Of course, I don’t care at all, so don’t misunderstand and think I’m upset or anything.
“…Ah, seriously.”
Ban Yo-han, looking at his face on the phone screen, pulled out his disheveled bangs from the hood and smoothed them down, then suddenly laughed, seemingly finding it absurd.
I turned Ban Yo-han’s body in the direction of the Aeris.
It was a kind gesture to let the fans see this funny look too.
The Aeris, who had been watching us, burst into laughter upon seeing Ban Yo-han’s appearance.
* * *
Watching the Idol Sports Festival could be tedious and lengthy, but it also had its moments of witnessing trivial yet unique scenes that couldn’t be seen anywhere else, like right now.
The Aeris in the cheering section erupted upon seeing Ban Yo-han and On Raon.
‘Aagh…! So cute!’
‘Mom… I feel like I’m going to die because my heart-born kids are so adorable.’
‘Grown men being this cute is a crime. Absolutely guilty.’
But after laughing heartily for a while, they noticed.
‘Did it spread…?’
Even Kang Ji-woo and Seo Moon-gyeol, who had been talking among themselves, put on hoods and tightened the strings, and soon caught the escaping Gyun Seong-ha, making him join in the same appearance.
Gyun Seong-ha resisted fiercely, rolling on the mat, but couldn’t withstand the tickle attack from the three others while being held.
The infiltration didn’t stop there.
‘They multiplied….’
‘They multiplied….’
‘They’re swarming….’
At some point, even other idols from the Blue Team started imitating Orca.
A few minutes later, almost all the Blue Team idols were wearing blue hoods.
If it had only been the Orca members playing around like that, the Aeris might have just found it cute and laughed it off.
However, seeing the entire team wearing hoods tightly cinched, standing shoulder to shoulder as if they were one, and passionately cheering for the women’s dodgeball preliminary match was a spectacular sight.
The distant broadcasting crew took notice, and it even caught the attention of the Red Team, whose primary goal was to be the most entertaining.
– The Blue Team’s cheering is extremely enthusiastic right now!
– The Blue Team members look like characters from a webtoon I read. Pfft, personally, I’m having a really hard time holding back my laughter.
– Oh, is the Red Team on alert? The Red Team’s captain Woo Seon and vice-captain Ji Hwa are glaring intensely in the direction of the Blue Team.
– But the current dodgeball game is between the Blue Team and the Black Team.
– Ah~ Red Team! They’re not backing down! Responding with a crab performance! They really prepared well for these kinds of things!
– Blue Team! The cells are wriggling together, starting to perform the puzzle game Boo×Boo×! That game where matching four or more identical pieces makes them disappear!
– One… Two… Three… Faces have disappeared.
– Oh, why isn’t it disappearing even though there are four over there?
– Ravi Rick Lai, the Blue Team’s captain, is earnestly explaining that the last player, Raon, is too good-looking to be considered the same face, so it’s not disappearing.
– But isn’t a joke that needs to be explained a failure?
– However, I kind of expected it. I found it funny.
– Actually, so did I.
– Yes. Just to reiterate, the current match is between the Blue Team and the Black Team. Not the Blue Team versus the Red Team.
The Aeris, noticing the significant influence the Orca members had, felt proud that the members seemed to have adapted well to the Blue Team.
Of course, popular idols within the Blue Team, like Ravi Rick and Sonetti, who are the captain and vice-captain, encouraged the other team members to join in.
But it was true that Orca had the impact to inspire other teams to follow suit.
Even though the Blue Team idols cheered enthusiastically, the women’s dodgeball preliminary match ended with a narrow victory for the Black Team.
– This year, too, the Black Team is showing an extraordinary momentum. They’re truly strong contenders for the championship.
Finally, it was time for the basketball preliminary match that Ban Yo-han and Seo Moon-gyeol had been practicing diligently for.