Even after a week, all the network kept saying was to wait.
Unlike the others, who sensed right away that things wouldn't be resolved easily the moment they left the island and started moving on with their own activities, Dansol's agency had been waiting for the program to resume. But when the filming suspension dragged on past a week, they started sending Dansol to music shows.
"If I'd known this would happen, I would've booked your schedule solid. We're the only suckers left."
Gilseong grumbled as he watched Jegal Minhyuk, who'd risen to a No. 1 nominee spot, and Ma Taeoh, who was showing up in a mid-roll ad. But it wasn't the same situation.
Jegal Minhyuk wasn't even promoting an album—he'd become a No. 1 nominee purely off digital performance. And Ma Taeoh's commercial had been filmed before the survival show.
Gilseong kept lumping Dansol in with them. But Dansol knew his place. The people he thought he'd grown close to were, in truth, still far above where he could even dare to look.
The entertainment industry was a place with a clear caste system.
Dinosoul, with eight members, had to share one waiting room with two other teams—eleven people total.
"Hyung! Zeus gets to use two waiting rooms!"
Minjae, always fast with other people's news, whispered into Dansol's ear.
"When did you go over there? Don't hover around other people's waiting rooms. You'll just get misunderstood."
"I saw it on the way to the bathroom. Hyung, but aren't you close with Zeus's leader? Can't we go say hi?"
"I'm not close."
"Why not? You would've eaten together and slept together!"
"Hey, Seo Minjae. Stop bothering hyung."
At Woohyeon's sharp rebuke, the younger Minjae bristled, fuming.
"So Zeus's leader won't even be friends with the leader of a flop-idol group?"
"Hey! Cut it out! Hyung's already stressed because the program's about to fall apart—!"
"Our hyung turning into an unemployed person like this… We don't even get unemployment benefits…"
Jiwoong joined in too. Dansol, who'd had his eyes closed while getting his makeup done, finally realized his younger members were just messing with him.
"You little punks…!"
"Aaaah!"
Knock knock.
"Dinosoul, get ready for rehearsal."
"Yes!"
A quiet tremble ran through him at the thought of being on stage again after so long. Nervous, Dansol kept fidgeting with the name tag in the hallway leading to the stage. It was made to make it easier to tell routes apart, and it was so big it covered nearly half his upper body.
"Hyung, doesn't it feel like there are more people than usual?"
Rehearsals were usually done facing empty seats. Really popular idols sometimes let fans in early, but that wasn't an option for Dinosoul, whose fandom was about the size of a college club.
"Are they our fans?"
"I don't think so… Whoa. Hyung, look—Haven's Seorin."
In the seats were other singers.
Dansol knew that when a rookie started gaining traction, other idols sometimes came out with their dancers to watch from below the stage. It was both a way to gauge whether the newcomer was enough of a threat—and a way to crush their nerve.
Rookies without much stage experience often cracked just from knowing senior idols were watching.
"Don't think about anything else. Just do what you always do. It's the same as the basement practice room."
Dansol said it to the other members, but he was saying it to himself too. Having to sing live with one ear not working properly made every nerve in his body feel on edge.
Then Dinosoul's music started.
As if his face had never stiffened at all, Dansol smiled brightly and carried the stage through.
Meanwhile, Taeoh was watching Dansol from the seats as well. With Zeus's members and even other idols coming out to watch Dansol, his anxiety kept building.
It wasn't just him whose gaze kept being pulled to Dansol dancing in a white boxy T-shirt.
"I'm getting his number later. He looks fucking sexy."
"Hey, hey, didn't you see all the alphas clinging to him? After Jeong Daesu and Jegal Minhyuk, if they look at you, they'll think you're a squid."
"Hey, still—am I not better than Ma Taeoh?"
"I beat him."
The ones sitting in front, casually tossing out sexual harassment about Dansol, didn't seem to realize Taeoh was sitting right behind them.
"Dinosoul!"
Just then, Dansol's stage ended. Taeoh waved at him.
"Wooo—Joo Dansol, you're awesome!"
Hearing his name, Dansol turned toward the sound and gave Taeoh a small smile.
The ones who'd been talking about Dansol went pale when they realized Taeoh was standing right behind them. It was obvious they were wondering whether he'd heard everything.
Looking down at them, Taeoh smiled lightly.
"You think you're better than me? You really think that?"
Under the oppressive pheromones of a dominant alpha, they couldn't even move.
Taeoh leaned down until he met the eyes of the one who'd mocked Dansol—a junior singer so far below him Taeoh didn't even know his name.
"But who were you again?"
Maybe he'd already wasted too much time on something not worth responding to.
Leaving them stiff as stone, Taeoh turned toward backstage, where Dansol had gone.
"Hyung! What the hell! You said you weren't close with Zeus's leader!"
"I'm not close. Minjae, your pitch was really unstable. Don't do that on the main stage."
Dansol deliberately nagged Minjae, who was buzzing with excitement. At the firm tone, Minjae stomped off into the waiting room, sulking. The other members hurried in too, afraid they'd get caught in the splash.
Just as Dansol, left alone in the hallway, was letting out a sigh at how childish his younger members were, a familiar voice came from behind.
"Dansol-ssi."
"Ah… Taeoh-ssi."
"It's been a while."
"Yes…"
It was an awkward greeting. They'd even lived under the same roof once, but a week of settling back into reality had created an awkward air between them.
"I DMed you, but you didn't respond."
"I don't really use SNS. I don't even look at my phone much. Sorry."
Come to think of it, after regressing, Dansol had barely looked at his phone at all. To a regressor, this phone felt like an old model—staring at it made his eyes go blurry.
If nothing else, Dansol needed distance from the world to break his habit of searching for malicious comments even though he knew it would hurt.
Like picking at a scab even when you know it'll make the wound worse—if he wanted to stop, the fastest way was to tie his own hands.
"I didn't say it so you'd apologize…"
"…"
"Um… could you give me your phone number?"
Taeoh, looking shy, held out his phone. Seeing Dansol hesitate, Taeoh hurriedly added,
"Jisu hyung was asking for your number too… Is it okay if I give it to him?"
But Dansol quickly pulled back the hand that had been reaching for Taeoh's phone.
"I… don't think I can. The company… doesn't like it."
"Ah, I didn't think of that. Sorry. But, Dansol-ssi… are you still uncomfortable because of what happened that day? Don't take it too much to heart. He said it because he was sensitive from being sick. He asked for your number because he wants to apologize."
"Sick…? Who?"
"Jisu hyung. Don't tell me you didn't know he was hospitalized? That day he collapsed, and… he should be discharged by now, maybe."
"…"
It was news Dansol had never heard.
At Dansol's shocked expression, Taeoh was the one who looked even more thrown.
"The RO Match Survival in Island community's going crazy right now too. People are saying PD Choi overworked him… Don't tell me you didn't know that either?"
"Community…?"
"Wait… does your company not let you see that stuff either?"
Taeoh genuinely started worrying that Dansol might be under the kind of slave contract he'd only ever heard about.
"That's not it…"
'I regressed, and my phone is tiny. The internet is slow and it drives me insane,' was something Dansol couldn't exactly say. He rolled his big eyes around, searching for an excuse.
"I don't have data. The dorm Wi-Fi doesn't really work either…"
And just like that, Taeoh's suspicion turned into certainty.
Continue reading up to chapter 40+ at Novelshub.org