BY the time Haneul and his teammates returned to the waiting area, the last performance had just begun. That meant he got to watch Robin’s team perform. As he watched Robin move across the stage, clearly enjoying himself, Haneul let go of his own worries for a while and just had fun watching.

But once the performance ended and Lily began her closing speech, Haneul’s worry crept back in. And this time, it wasn’t even about the possibility of being eliminated. It was about another contestant and how uncomfortable he made him feel.

He thought about telling a staff member or even the PD. But what could he even say? That he didn’t like the way Jeon Hyunsik looked at him? That the way the other spoke and acted made him feel uncomfortable? All of that was subjective. Jeon Hyunsik could deny everything easily. Because no matter how creepy the other had been, he’d never actually done anything that clearly crossed a line. So if Haneul spoke up, it would just look like he was making a big deal out of nothing.

And what if the production team turned it into a storyline? He didn’t want to be the focus of that kind of narrative. The one where an Alpha harasses an Omega. He could already see how viewers would label him as the victim first, before remembering anything else he’d done on the show. Even his talent would become secondary. People would think of the harassment before they thought of his singing or his performances. And even if that was partly true, he didn’t want to be known as the Omega who got harassed on an idol survival show. That’s why, as much as he could, he didn’t want things to get to that point.

Well, at least they weren’t on the same team anymore after this. After this, he would just do his best to avoid interacting with him. But if Jeon Hyunsik kept trying, then he would talk to the PD and ask him not to use any of it as content for the show. Just have the staff monitor him to make sure nothing happened. Still, not wanting to complicate matters further, he would focus on avoiding being alone with him.

With that thought in mind, Haneul did his best to push away the worries and just focus on calming himself down.

***

Lily stood at the center of the stage while the ten teams lined up in rows in front of her. She smiled at the contestants and spoke.

"Congratulations to all of you for a successful dance performance today. You’ve all worked very hard, and it showed."

She paused before continuing, "Now, let me go over the benefits for the winning teams. The team that wins their match will receive an additional 50,000 votes for each member in the next elimination round. On top of that, the contestant with the highest individual votes from the winning team will receive another 30,000 votes. And finally, the team with the highest overall score among all ten teams will receive an additional 70,000 votes per member."

Haneul was surprised to hear that. In the vocal mission, the winning team had received 100,000 bonus votes. This time, the total was 150,000. That was 50,000 more than before. With the votes he’d already secured, he had 80,000 in the bag for the next elimination. Even if their team didn’t win the overall highest score, he wouldn’t be too disappointed about it.

"Now," Lily said, turning to face the large screen behind her, "Let’s take a look at the final ranking of all five teams."

The screen then flickered to life.

The screen showed the fifth ranked team first. It was Park Mirae’s team. Then the fourth ranked appeared, which was Seojun’s team. Haneul couldn’t help glancing at Park Mirae after that. The other still had that gentle smile on his face, but something about the way he held himself seemed off, like he was forcing his posture to stay relaxed. It was probably annoying for him, especially since his team had won during the vocal performance last time. Losing to Seojun’s team, which was clearly weaker in technical skill, had to sting even more.

He shrugged. Not that he really cared. In Haneul’s opinion, it wouldn’t hurt for Park Mirae to be knocked down a level. Not that Park Mirae would agree with him, of course. He was sure the other would hate being anywhere but at the top.

Then the third ranked team appeared. It was Robin’s team. By that point, Haneul had actually been expecting their own team to show up on the screen. So seeing Robin’s team instead caught him off guard.

"Wow. Is there actually a chance for us to win?"

When he heard Suho whisper that, Haneul suddenly felt nervous. He hadn’t really been expecting anything before. Based on the performances alone, Taeyang’s team was clearly the best. So he’d already assumed they would get the most votes. Taeyang was also one of the most popular contestants, so that made sense. But now that their team’s name hadn’t appeared yet, Haneul couldn’t help but start to hope.

Of course, it wouldn’t really matter either way. If Taeyang’s team won, he’d be happy for them. They had performed the best, and they deserved it. But if their own team won, he’d be happy too. That was only natural.

Haneul stared at the screen, his heart beating a little faster. The space where the final rankings would appear stayed blank for what felt like too long. He held his breath. Then, the names of the two remaining teams appeared at the same time. His team was second. Taeyang’s team was first.

He didn’t feel disappointed with this result. He was genuinely happy for Taeyang and Haru. They deserved the win.

He glanced over at where the two were standing. Haru was practically bouncing, his excitement plain to see. Even Taeyang had a small smile on his face. Then Taeyang’s eyes shifted in his direction. Haneul smiled and mouthed "congrats." The smile on Taeyang’s face grew wider, and he mouthed "thanks" in return.