Our strategy was as follows.

#Take 1.

Midway through Jeong Seongbin and Kang Giyeon’s walk home, Lee Cheonghyeon joins them, and the two youngest press the leader hyung about what happened.

Cheonghyeon: “Hyung, has something been going on lately?”

Giyeon: “We weren’t going to say anything because it felt like you were trying not to show it to us, but we couldn’t stop worrying...”

Like that—speaking as if they’d been tiptoeing around the older members lately and finally worked up the courage to ask.

Then soft-hearted Jeong Seongbin would surely give some kind of answer. He’s not the type to treat others less kindly just because he’s unsettled.

#Take 2.

At the same time, in front of the water dispenser in the practice-room hallway, Choi Jeho awkwardly speaks to Park Juu.

Jeho: “You, uh... did you... fight with Jeong Seongbin?”

Let’s say Jeho’s line delivery isn’t smooth on purpose—to make him sound more hesitant.

First, Park Juu will be surprised. One-on-one conversations between Choi Jeho and Park Juu are close to zero.

Even though Park Juu will hesitate for a long while, he’ll still answer.

The more info the better, but even if Choi Jeho brings back just one key factor, that’s a win.

I never expected the mute punk and the mute sweetheart to hand us the A to Z of the incident anyway. So just go fetch what matters. 𝑓𝑟ℯ𝘦𝓌𝘦𝘣𝑛𝑜𝓋𝑒𝓁.𝑐ℴ𝓂

#Take 3.

When Jeong Seongbin gets called in by the manager and Park Juu goes into the vocal practice room, everyone except those two gathers to share results.

“So? Did you find out anything?”

The first to answer was Lee Cheonghyeon.

“Wow, Seongbin hyung kept his mouth shut way more than I expected.”

Great. Off to a bad start already.

“You should’ve shaken his heart with a tearful performance if you had to. Are you kidding me?”

“I was going to poke my own eyes if it came to that, just to squeeze out tears, you know? But Seongbin hyung kept turning the topic so plaintively!”

“Honestly, I felt too sorry to press him more.”

At Cheonghyeon’s frustrated cry, even Kang Giyeon—arms folded—nodded along.

“Fine, then at least tell us what you did hear. You first, Cheonghyeon.”

“They didn’t have some huge fight or anything with Juu hyung. He said it was just a bit of a difference in opinion.”

“Then what do you think, Giyeon? You share a room with both of them.”

“For ‘didn’t fight’... they hardly talk in the room.”

With his back torn up by the elders’ cold war, Kang Giyeon shrugged.

“But it’s ambiguous to say they fought, too.”

“In what way?”

“It’s closer to them avoiding each other. Usually if you fight, you’re angry at the other person, right?”

That part is odd, for sure. There’s an obvious difference between leaving because you can’t stand the sight of someone and avoiding them because you feel you can’t face them.

Kang Giyeon continued.

“Seongbin hyung also said he thinks he slipped up and said the wrong thing.”

Then Lee Cheonghyeon chimed in to back Giyeon.

“That hyung isn’t the type to make a careless remark. Maybe a misunderstanding popped up between them?”

“Right.”

I agreed with Cheonghyeon.

Then, from the side we weren’t even counting on, an unexpected line dropped.

None other than Choi Jeho brought back a useful answer.

“They are feeling awkward with each other.”

“What?”

“They said their words came out a bit strong when they were talking.”

I was so thrown that I forgot to ask “What do you mean by that?” and just blinked.

They spoke strongly? Not anybody else—Jeong Seongbin and Park Juu? Those two, whose hearts are basically soft tofu?

When we pounced, Choi Jeho began recounting what he’d talked about with Park Juu.

“‘They fought over whether to tell the company about Kim Iwol?’”

“...Yeah.”

“‘Wasn’t that settled because Kim Iwol asked to drop it?’”

“‘I guess it kept weighing on Seongbin.’”

Apparently, Jeong Seongbin had tried to persuade me one more time no matter what.

And Park Juu stopped him.

“He said, ‘I don’t know what circumstances you’ve got, but let’s not dig too hard.’”

“...”

I’m grateful he kept Seongbin from bringing it up again.

But it’s unclear why Park Juu suddenly spoke considering my position.

If anything comes to mind, it’s just that he’s the member who inadvertently overheard the most when my family situation slipped out—but.

Whether it was the part about not going to college because of money (that’s his misunderstanding) or the bit about me not getting along with my family, I had no idea how far Park Juu’s imagination ran with that.

Oddly enough, right now I could understand Seongbin’s position.

I don’t agree with his suggestion to report Yu Hansu.

But when a friend you get along with takes a firm stand against what he believes is right, it’s more than enough to rattle you, isn’t it?

“Seongbin must’ve felt hurt.”

“Is that really something to feel hurt about?”

“He was already distressed, and then his friend tried to hold him back right beside him. His heart wouldn’t be at ease.”

When teammates you thought you could lean on betray you to side with Manager Nam, the emptiness is unreal.

Anyway, having found the cause of the problem, the emergency countermeasures committee neatly disbanded before Jeong Seongbin and Park Juu came back.

And since I accidentally became the seed of discord, I used the gap when they returned to practice to activate the Stick Function.

It’s similar to peeking into someone else’s heart, so I’d held back on using it, but this didn’t arise from a purely private issue between just the two of them, so this time I decided to use it for the public good.

[SYSTEM] Please enter a combo name.

▶ [ ]

‘Fans used to call them “meboz”... but with something like that, I’ll probably get rejected for being trite.’

This system is a nasty piece of work.

It rejected my combo names again and again—until it was the one that bundled none other than Choi Jeho and Kang Giyeon as “Sandpaper Twins.”

Sure enough, this time too I had to face countless “Inappropriate combo name.” windows.

The only combo name that barely passed sounded like one of those goofy in-game nicknames my classmates sometimes shared from the internet.

[SYSTEM] The combo name is confirmed as “Omoknun2.”

They’re the only two in this team with mostly mild features, so I named them like that... I just hope no one ever learns about my naming skills.

The stick I barely pried open was, as expected, radiating “I’m hurt!” vibes.

[Jeong Seongbin → Park Juu — I wish you’d treat me more like a comfortable friend.]

[Park Juu → Jeong Seongbin — I wish you’d put down the pressure a little.]

Touching friendship.

As expected of friends who’ve stayed by each other’s side for over seven years. This time it almost all went to hell because I wedged myself in.

If I were a person who felt moral responsibility, I had to smooth this out even if it had nothing to do with KPIs.

Thinking I needed to convene an emergency meeting—one that’s been held who knows how many times already and will probably be held who knows how many more times before debut—I joined the practice formation.

The next day, after practice, I called all the members into the dorm living room.

“Today’s agenda... I didn’t tee it up beforehand, but I think you all know.”

At my words, Jeong Seongbin visibly flinched. Park Juu glanced at him and then immediately looked the other way.

“Before that, there’s something I want to say.”

Everyone looked at my face.

“A few days ago, I should’ve thanked you first for worrying about me, but I didn’t. I’m sorry.”

First, I apologized to prevent the mood from shifting toward scolding Jeong Seongbin for worrying too much. Today’s goal wasn’t to tell any one person they were wrong.

Maybe because it was an opening they hadn’t expected, they looked a bit flustered, but I didn’t stop and moved on to the next step.

“My opinion hasn’t changed that it’s better not to tell the company. But I didn’t mean for my decision to make you uncomfortable. That’s why I brought everyone together to talk.”

“...”

“It’s been days now, so your heads have cooled, right? First, let’s discuss whether we want to tell the company about PD Yu Hansu.”

My plan was to put “stab Yu Hansu or not” to a vote, then if the votes split, we’d unify the opinion through discussion and talk about how to proceed.

But the vote was practically meaningless.

Because all five, except me, agreed we should report Yu Hansu.

If I’d known they’d come out like this, I should’ve taken a photo the day I got hit. All that nagging I did at Jeong Seongbin to leave evidence went to waste.

As I clicked my tongue, Park Juu asked:

“Do we absolutely need evidence? We all saw hyung’s face that day...”

“He’s the kind of guy who’d brazen it out. Best case, he won’t say we’re a bunch of trainees conspiring to oust him.”

At that, Park Juu’s face went white.

It’s unfortunate, but it can’t be helped. What can I do when that jerk Yu Hansu shrewdly called me into a meeting room with no CCTV.

“Still, it’s not like we’ve got nothing.”

I took out the bundle of scraps I’d prepared from my pants pocket.

The remains of the MP3 I’d bought secondhand—the one Yu Hansu smashed.

If possible, I’d kept it to at least connect the main board and use it.

But the battery and memory were both snapped in half; reviving it was no longer possible.

“This was my MP3, and the PD broke it. I picked up the pieces separately so no one would step on them and get hurt.”

Staring at the MP3 shards, ❀ Nоvеlігht ❀ (Don’t copy, read here) Jeong Seongbin asked, his face gone pale:

“The PD broke this?”

“Yeah. It didn’t cost much since I got it used, but the company should know that someone who breaks other people’s stuff isn’t normal.”

Looking at the pieces—now so shattered it felt wrong to even call it an MP3—their expressions darkened.

Lee Cheonghyeon frowned and asked:

“How do you even do this to an electronic device?”

“Step on it a few times and that’s what happens. Also, didn’t I tell you not to wrinkle your face?”

“Is a wrinkle what matters right now?”

Isn’t it obvious? In idol history nothing’s more important than that.

“Anyway, if that’s your opinion... I’ll take care of it with this.”

As I gathered the MP3 pieces back up, Kang Giyeon shrugged.

“Will that be okay? From what we’ve heard, that PD sounds like a real piece of work.”

“Then I just have to be worse.”

Guess they don’t know how sharp an office worker can get after being power-harassed at work.

“Then, Seongbin, sorry to cut into practice, but I’ll be right back.”

“Where?”

“Where else. Artist Management Team.”

At that, Choi Jeho’s eyes widened.

“You’re going right now?”

“Yeah. Didn’t you say the sooner the better?”

Hearing me, Lee Cheonghyeon looked uneasy.

“Is it okay to go without some kind of plan?”

“I’ve thought it all through, so don’t worry.”

Because we can’t keep practicing with our teamwork this frayed and the mood this depressed.

Now that we’ve decided, it’s time to move. I stood up.

“Wait, hyung. How are you going to say it?”

With a worried face, Jeong Seongbin asked.

I smiled brightly so he could sleep easy tonight.

“How else? I’ll make it so the folks at the company can’t listen to my story without tears.”