At night, the whole family and the members gathered together to watch the rerun of Uninhabited Rest Island. Apparently Auntie had missed episode two.

Thanks to that, I suffered twice.

I seriously didn’t understand why this cursed program reran so often. It was humiliating enough having to show my carefully raised nephew rolling around in the sand and getting covered in mango pulp. If the family hadn’t enjoyed it so much, I probably would have been forced to begin a presentation titled 101 Ways to Diversify Park Juu’s Image.

After all the excitement, chatting, and late-night snacks, it was finally time for bed. Once we moved the living room table into the storage room, enough space opened up for all the members to lie down side by side.

“Wait a second. Before everyone washes up, I’d like your attention on Cheonghyeon.”

Lee Cheonghyeon walked into the living room carrying a suitcase with freshly cleaned wheels. The thing was still stuffed to the brim.

“For a cozy bonding time between our members, Cheonghyeon prepared something special.”

“By yourself?”

“With Giyeonss.”

Lee Cheonghyeon pointed at Kang Giyeon with his index finger. Kang Giyeon immediately tried to emphasize that he had merely lent a hand and absolutely had not participated enthusiastically.

“What even is all this?”

Inside Lee Cheonghyeon’s suitcase were six enormous bundles in all kinds of colors. Each plastic-wrapped package was huge.

“Pajama sets! I ordered them to improve team bonding. Very adorable friends, too.”

“I definitely told you to stop spending your own money.”

“I already negotiated with the company to process them as expenses in exchange for taking Polaroid selfies for events.”

The bastard skillfully shut me up. Then he handed each member a thick pajama pack.

The first one back after showering was Park Juu.

“...Is he a mouse?”

...A white mouse, to be exact. The pajama pants were too short, leaving his ankles completely exposed. I looked at Park Juu once, then at the pajama bundle in my own hands. The only thing comforting me was the fact that there didn’t seem to be any octopus suckers attached.

Choi Jeho got tiger pajamas. When I asked why it had to be a tiger when bear pajamas obviously existed, I received the perfectly logical answer that overly fixed character interpretations eventually became boring. Fair enough. Certain animals were probably going to get overused in official merch anyway, so straying from the usual once in a while wasn’t bad.

“And hyungs were born in the Year of the Tiger too. It’s not that unfitting!”

If you ignored the color, maybe. At this point, after reluctantly accepting FF6600 shorts, hadn’t reality now escalated into full-body FF6600? Maybe I should write an essay about this tragic development. Title: The Color of the Center: Vermilion.

Kang Giyeon received green crocodile pajamas, while Jeong Seongbin got beige Jindo dog pajamas. Since there were apparently no snake pajamas, Kang Giyeon had been assigned the closest reptile equivalent. Both he, and Jeong Seongbin—who’d received the Jindo dog set alongside compliments about how dependable he was—accepted their assigned characterizations without complaint.

“What about yours, Cheonghyeon?”

“You’ll see in a minute.”

After thoroughly building anticipation, Lee Cheonghyeon finally appeared dressed as a honeybee with strikingly vivid color contrast.

“Why that of all things?”

“Because it matches flowers!”

He had a point, so I took plenty of pictures. I even thought we should drag him to an arboretum once morning came.

And as for me...

I became a panda again for the first time in a while. Once I picked up the fake bamboo Lee Cheonghyeon had thoughtfully brought along, I genuinely felt like I ought to flop over and lounge around somewhere.

The great animal pajama disaster only came to an end after we took event Polaroids, BubblePop upload photos, individual photos, group photos, reptile-and-mammal unit photos, versions with props, versions without props—

The pajama legs might have been short, but the list of new gallery photos became endlessly long.

Choi Jeho, wrapped in tiger stripes, claimed the farthest corner of the living room floor. Watching him sprawl out, Lee Cheonghyeon walked over carrying a pillow.

“What, we’re not gonna fight over sleeping positions?”

“At this hour?”

“Sleeping sure isn’t easy.”

Because of that single comment from Lee Cheonghyeon, the first-ever Spark “Best Selfie” competition was held at midnight. Earlier we’d been taking photos for fan service. This time, it was pure competition.

First place went to Choi Jeho. Kang Giyeon, me, and Park Juu followed in second, third, and fourth. Lee Cheonghyeon ended up in fifth because, according to the judges, the camera failed to capture his real-life visuals properly.

“Hyung, your photos lack desperation.”

“I was desperate!”

Jeong Seongbin couldn’t easily accept coming in last place. In my opinion, the member with the worst aesthetic sense in Spark was undeniably Jeong Seongbin. The brutal trainee-era conditioning was the only reason he’d improved at all. Otherwise, the fans whose bias was Jeong Seongbin would probably have cried tears of blood.

Once we finally lined up to sleep, we started discussing tomorrow’s schedule. I strongly insisted on squeezing in an arboretum visit.

“We need pictures of Cheonghyeon surrounded by flowers. Add the arboretum.”

“Won’t there still not be that many flowers yet?”

Kang Giyeon asked uneasily. Park Juu, who had been searching on his phone for a while, read aloud from a blog post.

“In April, you can see the spring flower festival...”

“Let’s go.”

“Yeah. Everyone can take turns wearing the bee costume!”

Lee Cheonghyeon immediately declared that every single member would have to rotate through the honeybee pajamas. Only after they finished planning a schedule that required waking up at seven in the morning did the idiots finally fall asleep.

‘The whole day disappeared in the blink of an eye.’

I stared up at the dark ceiling. Even breathing came from both sides of me. The bastards had gone hard from day one and fallen straight into dreamland without even tossing once.

That was when one of the bedroom doors opened.

Not long after I closed my eyes and pretended to be asleep, I heard movement from far away. The refrigerator door opened, dishes clinked briefly, then everything quieted again. When I opened my eyes, I could see light spilling out from beneath one of the room doors.

‘Are they still awake?’

My first thought was that we must have stayed up talking far too late. I resolved that tomorrow, no matter what, I’d force these idiots into bed before ten.

I lay there holding my breath while quiet conversation drifted over. I pulled the blanket over my head to avoid eavesdropping, and the surroundings became muffled and silent. After lying there like that for a long while, I finally lowered the blanket again and saw the light was still on.

Meanwhile, Kang Giyeon had somehow rolled all the way onto the bare floor beyond the yoga mat. Whether he’d been pushed away because the population density was too high or had developed new sleeping habits overnight was impossible to tell.

I sighed and pushed myself upright. As I rolled the peacefully sleeping idiot back under the blanket, the bedroom door suddenly burst open behind me.

“Oh my, who’s still awake?”

“Ah... I was just about to sleep!”

The one still awake was Auntie.

“Oh dear, did Giyeon not have enough blankets?”

“No, not at all. I think he just rolled over in his sleep.”

“Wait here. I’ll bring another blanket.”

I hurried after her. I’d only intended to carry the blanket myself, but the moment I stepped into the room, my eyes met Uncle’s. He was having drinks inside.

“Iwol, you’re still awake? Is it uncomfortable sleeping there?”

“Not at all! I was literally just going to sleep!”

While I frantically waved my hands and denied it, Auntie moved faster than anyone and tucked another blanket over Kang Giyeon.

“Iwol, do you want something to drink too?”

“Huh?”

“Wait a moment. I’ll make you a nice hot ginger tea.”

Then she invited me to join them.

I obediently knelt down at the empty spot beside the table.

Two cans of beer. A simple fruit salad. Roasted peanuts. Ginger tea.

Around that utterly mismatched little table sat me and Auntie and Uncle.

“Iwol, you barely ate any snacks earlier, right? Should I make you some ramen?”

“I’m really okay! Seongbin and I already ate two meals earlier.”

Auntie lamented how there wasn’t an ounce of flesh on my face. I practically begged her to let it go. I had to manage myself—I was an idol.

“Don’t feel too pressured. He’s just grateful.”

Uncle pushed the bowl of peanuts toward me as he spoke.

“He watches ‘My Singer’ every single day. Right?”

“It’s ‘My Singer’s Genre Deviation.’ I’ve corrected you how many times already and you still can’t remember? And it’s the show our youngest appeared on, too.”

For Park Juu, My Singer’s Genre Deviation had been the stage where he said goodbye to his mom and dad. At the same time, for Auntie, it had probably been a stage where she sent off her younger sibling.

“The one who did well was Juu, though. I don’t know if I deserve this kind of treatment...”

Feeling awkward, I scratched the back of my neck. For My Singer’s Genre Deviation, Park Juu had handled everything from beginning to end himself.

While I desperately tried to insist I’d really done nothing, Auntie reached out and held my hand.

“Ever since you came along, Juu has changed a lot.”

“...”

“In a good way. I never imagined he’d smile so brightly, so often.”

I remembered Uncle saying he’d once asked when Park Juu would finally grow up enough to drink soju with him. Back then, neither Jeong Seongbin nor Park Juu could have been at ease. Their future had been uncertain, and the team hadn’t solidified yet.

“You’re already busy and exhausted just promoting together, but you still practice instruments with him and always look after him... Juu talks about it all the time. He says there aren’t any people kinder than the members.”

Maybe because there were so many things around him trying to wear him down, and nowhere he could truly relax, he’d curled inward even more. Just like I had when I first came to UA.

Compared to then, everyone had changed a lot. All of us.

“When Juu said he wanted to go see the family, I can’t even tell you how shocked I was.”

“...”

“As long as my child’s heart doesn’t hurt anymore, that’s all I need. And you and the members gave him that. That’s why I’m grateful.”

Warm fingers gently stroked the back of my hand.

“How could I ever repay this kindness?”

The emotions packed into that small voice were impossibly deep.

“We’re the ones who still have repaying to do. We can’t promote without our Juu. Even if you say you’re taking him back because you want to keep him by your side, we can’t hand him over.”

At my words, Auntie beamed.

“Really?”

“Even if you offered us a termination fee, it’d be difficult. We’ve already gone through all sorts of trouble trying to tie Juu down these days. Unless Juu himself says he wants to run away, I’ll be chasing him down with a rope in my hand.”

I’d even managed to catch Lee Cheonghyeon before. There was no way Park Juu would be beyond me. No matter where these idiots ran, I was confident I could drag every last one of them back.

I pulled out my phone and scrolled through the gallery. Then I enlarged a group selfie someone had shared and showed it to the two of them.

“Have you ever gotten this picture from Juu? It was taken on the way home after work, so it came out dark and we never uploaded it anywhere. This was after band practice.”

“Oh, you’re right. They’re carrying instruments. Was this around ‘Hideout’ promotions?”

“They really all go home together like this. It’s nice to see. Juu hardly ever sends pictures of himself.”

Knowing how much Park Juu loved the band, Auntie looked delighted from the photo alone. To the two of them, it didn’t matter whether everyone looked good in the picture. What mattered was that Park Juu had members by his side and was doing something he loved.

“Look at him smiling. He’s exactly the same as when he was little.”

Auntie gently stroked Park Juu’s face on the screen.

I showed them several more photos. I talked endlessly about Park Juu too—about how often Jeong Seongbin bragged, practically nonstop, about what a good friend Park Juu was, and how affectionate Choi Jeho was toward his roommate.

“Now I’ve got six more sons besides the one at home. I feel completely reassured.”

Auntie wiped tears from laughing so hard at the brand-new animal pajama photos as she spoke.

Well, it wasn’t like I could deny the comfort this kind of relationship brought. I’d received more than enough help myself from other mothers and fathers along the way.