LIGHTNOVELWORLD Chapter 181
Chapter 181
I struggled to calm my pounding heart as I quietly tiptoed into the room on my toes.
Inside, Muk Hye-sung was sleeping completely defenseless, oblivious to the world.
“The subtitles will probably say something like, ‘Flawless beauty from the morning…’ I know it all.”
Ah, I had a feeling that my muttering just now would end up exactly as subtitles.
I kindly pointed out with my hand where the subtitles should go.
Anyway, having unintentionally used that large, spacious bed meant for one, I felt sorry for making the owner of the bed sleep on the sofa just because I was feeling a bit unwell. The bed was so comfortable that I wanted to buy one for myself if I got the chance.
So, I looked it up on the internet and found out that the bed costs 45 million won.
Not 4.5 million, but 45 million won.
It showed just how much Muk Hye-sung cared about his sleeping environment.
If I were to take something from Muk Hye-sung’s house, it wouldn’t be the expensive-looking speakers, but this bed.
‘Phew… I’m getting nervous now that it’s time to act…’
If you thought that I, who was known for being calm and intellectual, seemed to be more scatterbrained than usual, you weren’t mistaken.
“No, let’s not get scared. Damien Raon On.”
Later, when asked in an interview why I said that, I explained that using ‘Damien Raon On’ instead of ‘On Raon’ felt twice as powerful.
Anyway, after psyching myself up by recalling my full name, I carefully, and I mean on all fours, climbed onto the high bed.
By the way, I had washed my feet earlier, so hygiene wasn’t an issue.
In case someone might misunderstand and think it’s rude to climb onto someone else’s 45 million won bed with socks on, I needed to ask the production team to include a small scene of me washing my feet in the corner of the screen.
Despite being a wide, good-quality bed, it didn’t shake at all when a high school student climbed on it.
Successfully docked, I carefully and cautiously moved on my knees.
“……”
How much time had passed?
I made eye contact with the two production team members, including Director Yoo Jae-man, who were holding cameras and holding their breaths by the door.
Both had an indescribably subtle expression.
“Ah, I can’t do it…”
I naturally uttered a weak sound.
Having boldly said on camera that I would wake him up myself, I had to show something, but I couldn’t wake Muk Hye-sung in a way that viewers would expect.
No, there’s a saying not to pluck a sleeping lion’s whiskers.
I would rather pluck the eyebrow hairs of an awake Muk Hye-sung than touch even his toes while he was sleeping.
It would have been better if he woke up on his own, but he had turned off the alarm, which started ringing right at 10, in 0.38 seconds, so he was still sleeping without a twitch.
With his eyes closed like that, he looked twice as serene as when he was awake.
Eventually, after aimlessly wandering around the unnecessarily large bed, I boldly abandoned Plan A.
“This is a two-step retreat for a one-step advance. I know the opposite is correct, but what’s important is that we’re advancing…”
Feeling it sounded too pitiful, I added a few more words.
“You might feel at times that you’re retreating in life, but don’t worry too much. We’re all cool beings who can take a bigger step forward than two steps back.”
Great. That sounded like a nice quote.
The hissing sound coming from the direction of the production team’s location must be my imagination.
10:03 AM.
Having climbed back down from the bed, I immediately moved on to Plan B.
First, I connected my phone to the Bluetooth speaker I found while exploring Muk Hye-sung’s house with the camera.
He wouldn’t sever ties over something like this. After all, it’s not like it’s something trivial, but a blood relationship, which is the top among academic, regional, and blood ties.
“I’m really going to wake him up now… Really.”
Taking a deep breath, I opened the music player app and pressed play.
The intro of our new song ‘Dream’ started playing at maximum volume.
The performance of the Bluetooth speaker was superb, more effective than most alarms.
By the time I was doing the choreography for the first chorus, Muk Hye-sung, unable to endure the noise level of the music any longer, opened his eyes.
“What are you doing…”
“Teacher, the director said the mission fails if you don’t dance with me for more than 30 seconds until the song ends!”
“?”
“Hurry! The song’s almost over!”
As expected of someone with 20 years of broadcasting experience, Muk Hye-sung seemed to grasp (misunderstand) the situation to some extent quickly.
“Wait, let me wash my face first…”
“This is not the time to worry about washing your face! You look handsome even without it. You’re the most handsome person I’ve seen today. But are you really going to let me dance alone? I feel like I’m going to die of embarrassment right now.”
[You don’t look embarrassed at all… But Muk Hye-sung is still half asleep.]
[Muk Hye-sung (status abnormality: drowsiness) is failing to make rational decisions.]
[Even without the drowsiness, he would have likely failed to make rational decisions.]
[Because your very existence is a state of abnormality.]
[You are an abnormality!]
[
He must have thought I was crazy in the morning.
However, since he finally stretched his long legs out of the blanket covering him and got out of bed, I postponed cursing Larry.
And then we started dancing together.
Turning my head slightly so that Muk Hye-sung couldn’t see, I bit my lip until it hurt.
Hold it. Hold it no matter what.
If he caught me laughing now, it would be a disaster.
Today might turn into hell.
If he caught me, it should be after the broadcast airs.
* * *
It was only after covering not only ‘Dream’ but also ‘Liberation,’ Chronicle’s new song, past hits, and the latest songs from other groups that the dance time of the two dancers came to an end.
“But you know all our choreographies?”
In response to On Raon’s question, clearly filled with amazement, Muk Hye-sung, who had finally washed his face and was now drying it with a towel, answered concisely.
“Because we did music shows together.”
Although it was an unsurprising answer, On Raon nonchalantly pointed out the flaw in Muk Hye-sung’s statement.
“But you danced ‘Liberation’ earlier too. That didn’t overlap with our comeback.”
“You…”
Muk Hye-sung was momentarily speechless at the sharp observation.
“You don’t let anything slide, do you.”
Thanks to his appearance, which resembled a cold wind blowing, Muk Hye-sung’s words sounded cold, even if they weren’t meant to be.
“Sorr…”
On Raon, who was about to reflexively apologize to Muk Hye-sung despite always talking as if they were close relatives for the show, suddenly remembered an anecdote from about a year ago that now seemed like a distant memory.
– Haven’t I done anything well?
– What?
– Uh… Could you sometimes give compliments instead of criticism? I want to get better at what I’m not good at, and I want to improve even more at what I’m already good at. I think everyone feels the same.
– …
– …
– You did well in memorizing the choreography till the end. Learning it from start to finish in a day is harder than it looks. Your moves are smoother than yesterday. It’s one of your strengths; it’s clear that the more you practice, the more the choreography becomes your own. Also, Jun-woo told me you helped the others a lot both yesterday and today. That was good too.
– !
– Today, due to limited time, I focused on what needed improvement. Thinking I was considering you guys, it turns out I was only considering myself.
This was a conversation between On Raon and Muk Hye-sung during the early days of Pick Heart, recently highlighted among fans while filming Ten to Ten.
Muk Hye-sung had shown an unexpectedly gentle and generous reaction that no one had anticipated.
And he recalled the series of events that followed.
There was a comforting phone call that came unexpectedly when he had taken a chance, a warm hug on stage on a day he thought no one would come, and the subsequent comfort, stability, and support…
The tolerance and kindness Muk Hye-sung had shown finally grew into a small courage within On Raon.
“Teacher, you should also be honest at least once.”
“……”
[Muk Hye-sung’s favorability +10, current favorability +35]
Only after seeing the clear proof of the notification did On Raon feel another wall crumble.
He didn’t know if it was his own wall or Muk Hye-sung’s wall, or both.
But On Raon knew.
This wouldn’t end as a momentary whim.
Thus, the two started their day with a morning exercise that would be memorable in many ways for a long 40 minutes.
* * *
Muk Hye-sung, having learned the whole truth (i.e., there was no production team mission that would cause big trouble if not completed; he had just been tricked by a young and brazen rookie who blatantly planned to sneakily promote his new song on a national TV show), mercilessly shoved a piece of freshly cut celery from the fridge into my mouth…
“I apologize.”
“Eat it all.”
“All of this…?”
“There’s more. Keep eating.”
Muk Hye-sung, knowing I didn’t particularly like green vegetables, was slicing an unusual amount of celery into similar sizes right in front of me.
Was he threatening to cut me up if I didn’t eat it obediently?
“Yes, sir…”
But if eating this would get me forgiven for what happened earlier, it was a cheap price to pay, so I chewed and swallowed the tasteless celery obediently.
Then, like a scene from an educational video played by a teacher in an elementary school classroom, I winked at the camera.
“Chronicle fans, if you want to conquer the seemingly impregnable fortress that is Teacher Muk, aim for early… well, not exactly early, but anyway, aim for the time when he has just woken up. You’ll see a lot of new, cute, and clumsy sides of him.”
Ah, there would surely be comments questioning my Korean identity again for using the word ‘impregnable.’
I decided to just enjoy my ambiguous identity from now on.