Chapter 113. Things Will Explode (13)
The production team, determined to prevent Hajin from escaping, even went as far as digging up the verification photos circulating online and displaying them on the screen.
‘Seriously, please…’
Wearing familiar clothes, in a familiar pose, holding a familiar phone, and crouching in front of the subway station while sobbing—yes, it was indeed Kang Hajin. Confronted with an unexpected embarrassing moment from his past, Hajin was so overwhelmed by the *emotion(?)* that he covered his mouth.
Seo Taeil, who was watching with a smile, nodded as if he had expected this.
“Wasn’t Trainee Hajin always a bit of a crybaby?”
‘Me?’
However, there was no room for rebuttal. It wasn’t a disaster he’d brought upon himself, but rather a disaster brought on by the ‘system.’
From the first audition, to the times they met at the company afterward, to the first and second missions—didn’t he cry buckets each time? Of course, during ‘A Word to You,’ he wasn’t really crying, just delivering a greeting.
Already feeling uneasy and thinking about how to handle the situation, a clueless guy appeared next to him, offering uninvited support.
“Yeah, Kang-ha hyung really cries a lot. He even bawled in front of me before…!”
“Quiet, quiet. I said, keep quiet.”
Wonho abruptly exposed Hajin’s crying incident. Desperately, Hajin dragged Wonho backstage to silence him, but it was useless. The audience was already in an uproar.
“WHO!!!! MADE YOU CRY, WHO!!!!!!!”
Hajin, who returned to the stage at the booming voice, covered his face with his notably large hands.
‘Alright. At this point, I’ll just brazen it out.’
And when he lowered his hands again, his usual brazenness had returned.
“To be honest, I…”
Hajin slightly bowed his head before raising it again, his eyes glistening as much as Seo Taehyun’s.
“…have a rich emotional sensitivity.”
“…You?”
Doha, who had been listening quietly, tilted his head in genuine confusion, unable to understand. But there were others who resonated with Hajin’s words.
“But honestly, Hajin-hyung is really kind. Kind of a tsundere?”
“He’s got a really soft heart, this hyung.”
It was Eunchan and Yugeon.
He hadn’t said it to garner sympathy, but it was a bit embarrassing to have them agree with something that was, in fact, true.
Hajin gave a small cough and grabbed the mic again.
“Anyway… that’s me. The subway story guy.”
“Oh my. Why? What made you cry like that?”
Now that he was about to tell the truth, he felt a mix of embarrassment and an odd ticklish feeling.
Hajin scratched his cheek for a moment before deciding to convey something he’d wanted to tell the Desties for a long time, now that things had come to this.
“That was around… the time when the performance video was first released.”
Already, there were sounds of sobbing from the audience. Hajin shook his head, smiling as if to say he was fine. He chose his words carefully, one by one. Somehow, he was more nervous than when he had his university interview.
“I, actually, had quit being a trainee once when I was with another agency. Then I ended up coming to Miro, and while doing Miro Maze, it was the first time in a really long time that… I got to perform on stage again.”
Thinking back to before he regressed, it had indeed been a very long time.
Maybe that’s why he had been even more nervous? Hajin suddenly found himself understanding his own mental state.
“But, um… The fact that I got to show my performance to Desties for the very first time was kind of amazing. Um…”
“Wow, this is the first time I’ve heard Hajin-hyung stutter.”
“Kang-ha hyung, are you nervous right now? Oh no, he must really be nervous.”
“Shut up, you guys.”
The trainees were all busy whispering to each other, fascinated by the side of Hajin they were seeing for the first time.
Lightly scolding the trainees in a playful manner, Hajin took a short breath and continued.
“I think it was tears of joy, because you all appreciated the stage we worked hard on. Don’t worry.”
“…Hyuuung….”
“Since we’re on the topic, I really wanted to say this. I truly came this far thanks to you, Desties.”
Hajin’s heartfelt words filled the room with a warm and tender atmosphere.
Although he couldn’t share everything, Hajin genuinely believed that everything was because of these people in front of him. Though he was still just a trainee who hadn’t even debuted yet, Hajin felt compelled to convey this sentiment.
“I can’t tell you how fortunate I feel to be able to meet you all like this today.”
Today’s stage was something he wouldn’t regret, even if he had to live again multiple times.
He really wanted to convey that this stage was something they had protected.
“…Huh? Kang-ha hyung, are you crying?”
“What’s this, is he really crying?”
Before they knew it, Hajin’s eyes and voice had become genuinely tearful, not just acting. The entire Blue Flare team turned to Hajin in surprise.
As Seo Taeil urgently signaled backstage for tissues, Hajin, embarrassed, covered his eyes with a laugh. As he spoke, he really became overwhelmed, and his nose turned red and his vision blurred.
This wasn’t because of the system, nor was it a penalty, nor was it the fault of the mental care system.
“Hyuuung…. Don’t cry….”
“Oh no, I’m weak to this kind of thing….”
“No, seriously, why are you guys crying now?”
Seeing Hajin like that, Wonho and Eunchan, who were extremely prone to tears, began to tear up as well. When Eunchan suddenly embraced Hajin, who had just received tissues from Taeil, Hajin found the situation amusing and laughed as he wiped his eyes.