NOVEL WEB Chapter 309
Chapter 309. Until Spring Comes (1)
“Why are you all hanging out here instead of staying at our comfortable dorm?”
As I asked in sheer bewilderment, the members eagerly responded as if they had been waiting for this question.
“It’s more comfortable here than at the dorm. No sasaengs, no reporters.”
“It kind of feels like Eunchan-hyung’s old apartment….”
“Yugeon and Haru were coming here, so I came along as their guardian.”
“When someone’s sick, it’s best to stay by their side.”
Listening to the various reasons from the members, Joo Eunchan, who didn’t seem the type but had a surprisingly emotional side, shyly added with a slightly touched expression.
“Well… I like having the hyungs around too.”
Right. In a world that’s falling apart, it’s good to hear that at least one of you is happy.
I was a bit surprised by the unexpected scene, but having the members here wasn’t going to make the already chaotic world any worse.
Like Yugeon said, this place might be more comforting than the dorm, where sasaengs and reporters had recently been staking out, so I quickly accepted the situation.
I neatly arranged the juices I had brought in the fridge and found a seat, settling into the single-seater sofa next to Jung Siwoo. Without missing a beat, Jung Siwoo, with his still inexplicable ponytail, casually pushed a stack of comic books toward me.
“Wanna read? Doha brought them so Eunchan wouldn’t get bored. They’re pretty good.”
“I already finished them…. But seriously, what’s with your bangs, hyung?”
“They were getting in the way, so Haru tied them up. Don’t I look handsome?”
How can he say something so shamelessly self-confident without even batting an eye?
But looking at Jung Siwoo’s undeniably handsome face, I found myself unable to argue, which made me realize just how hopeless I already was.
“You’ll probably still be like this at forty.”
“If I’m still handsome at forty, then probably, yeah.”
“Alright. Let’s just not talk anymore.”
As I gave up on further conversation and turned away, I saw the three troublemakers on the bed still struggling with their LEGO, while the bear-like guardian beside them was still absorbed in the instruction manual.
At first, I thought maybe Lee Doha was looking at a different set of LEGO instructions, but upon closer inspection, it turned out that he was indeed studying the same instruction manual that the trio was supposed to be following.
“……?”
If he’s reading that, what are they using to build?
Realizing something was off, I quickly checked the LEGO model the trio was assembling and saw that it looked nothing like the completed model on the back of the manual. Instead, it was a bizarre creation of its own.
“What the heck are you guys building without even looking at the manual…?”
“LEGO is all about creativity, hyung!”
“We’re just trying to go by feel.”
“Well, it’s an admirable idea, but….”
At that point, it’s not even LEGO, just block play, isn’t it?
But that thought was quickly silenced by Yugeon’s pointed glare, which seemed to say, “Let them do what they want.” I left Dan Haru, who was enthusiastically building a makeshift tank out of an airplane LEGO set, and approached Joo Eunchan, who was earnestly constructing an airplane terminal next to him. Seeing me, Joo Eunchan, who had been deeply focused on his LEGO, looked up and proudly handed me one of the legs of his terminal.
“How is it? Doesn’t it look similar, hyung?”
“…It does. You did well. Where did you get this LEGO?”
“It was a gift. From a Desty, at a fan signing.”
His face, when he mentioned receiving the gift from a Desty, seemed unexpectedly calm. In fact, he looked somewhat happy to be saying that name, which surprised me.
Perhaps sensing something from my silence, Joo Eunchan, despite his bandaged face, flashed a bashful smile, exuding the boyish charm that fans adored.
“I mentioned that I like assembling things with my hands, so they gave me a lot of these at the Ikea fan signing. I hadn’t had the time to work on them, but when Siwoo-hyung said he’d bring something from the dorm, this was the first thing I thought of.”
“Why do something that requires so much focus as soon as you wake up? You should be resting.”
“I’m not that sick. The doctor even gave me the okay. Sometimes I feel a bit of muscle pain, but… maybe because we went through so much during the year-end stage prep, this doesn’t feel all that bad.”
“…That’s nothing to brag about, kid.”
Seeing Joo Eunchan doing better than I expected made me feel a bit more at ease.
‘I was worried he might relapse into panic attacks or social anxiety like before… but it seems that’s not the case.’
It seemed the effect of the time barrier that Dolja had set up was indeed working. The upcoming quests would likely involve gradually breaking down the walls of time that Dolja had built, weakening his influence while stabilizing this timeline.
“Hyung, I’m really okay.”
Lost in thought as I calculated this and that, Joo Eunchan must have misunderstood my silence as worry. He repeated his assurance, speaking clearly. I nodded to show I understood, and as I looked down at him, he continued in a determined tone while fitting another LEGO piece.
“Sometimes, even when it’s not your fault, you can get hurt. Just like how knowing the reason doesn’t always make it easier.”
– It’s hard even when you know the reason.
– It’s hard knowing that it’s your fault.
– So, it’s natural for you to feel wronged and hurt.
“And anyway, the hyungs have already gotten an apology for me….”
– Should I make them apologize? Get it for you? Just say the word.
As he spoke with a smile, my words from that day at the gamjatang restaurant overlapped perfectly with his. At that moment, the system interface updated.
**[System Alarm: The response rate of the companion ‘Joo Eunchan’ is high. (Response rate: 94%)]**
**[System Alarm: ‘A Reliable Community’ positively influences the companion ‘Joo Eunchan’.]**
**[System Alarm: The companion ‘Joo Eunchan’s Appeal Point (On My Own) has been activated.]**
**[System Alarm: The companion ‘Joo Eunchan’s condition is stabilizing.]**
‘Appeal Point…?’
When I hurriedly opened Joo Eunchan’s status window, which I had momentarily forgotten about, the familiar stats appeared beside his name.
**[Joo Eunchan (Affiliation: Kairos)]**
– **Vocals:** B+
– **Rap:** B+ (▲)
– **Dance:** B+
– **Expression:** A- (▲)
– **Charm:** A+
– **Special:** ※Not yet manifested※
**Appeal Point:**
‘On My Own’
– Self-assurance, decisiveness, performance accuracy
Joo Eunchan’s Appeal Point was ‘On My Own,’ reflecting self-assurance and decisiveness.
In the previous timeline, Joo Eunchan had crumbled without being able to reveal his strengths, trapped in a dark, lonely room. But in this timeline, he had used that strength as a weapon to protect himself.
And the reason he could do that was…
“It’s something hyung told me before. It was memorable, so I remembered it.”
It was me.
The me who had been so embarrassed at the time.
“…Why remember something like that and make me feel embarrassed, you punk.”
“You don’t look embarrassed at all.”
“Sorry, but I’m naturally embarrassed like this.”
Feeling a sudden lump in my throat, I turned away, pretending to clear it, and walked to the fridge to grab one of the juices I had stored there. As I guzzled it down, I could still hear the younger members chattering loudly behind me, along with Jung Siwoo’s teasing voice asking, “Is Hajin crying?” Although I wanted to turn around and retort, asking who would cry at a time like this, the emotions swirling up inside me like waves crashing against the shore made it impossible to do so.
What was this feeling?
After pondering the name of the emotion for a while, I concluded it was ‘relief.’
‘I’m protecting us.’
Still, without losing anything.
I was protecting us.
The realization of this hit me so hard that I had to clench the juice bottle tightly to stop the tears that were welling up.
‘Hold it together, Kang Hajin. If you cry here, you’ll really be known as the leader of crybabies.’
I couldn’t deny that I had already become the group’s official crybaby, but there was no need to create another embarrassing moment in history!
If I cried now, it was obvious that during our next comeback, stories about “Kang Hajin crying again” would spread like wildfire across all the broadcast shows. Desperate to prevent that, I forced myself to swallow my emotions and turned around.
But then…
“……?”
“…Uh….”
Why are all of you staring at me…?
“Are you seriously crying?”
Yugeon asked in a tone that didn’t match his highly concerned expression.
I quickly shook my head and tried to deny it, saying, “Me? No way! I’m not crying,” but what came out of my mouth was something entirely different.
“…Oh, ugh….”
“Oh? Oh? He’s really crying?”
“E-Eunchan-h
yung…! Why did you make Hajin-hyung cry!?”
“W-Was it me? Did I make him cry?”
“Doha, get some tissues for Hajin. He’s going to cry for a while.”
“Oh… Okay.”
Please, stop this.
More than the fact that my tear ducts had burst open again, it was the way the members were so accustomed to this sight that left me dumbfounded.
Have I really cried that much until now?
“Hajin-ah, here.”
“Hicc, hic… Darn, this is embarrassing… darn it….”
This cursed 20-year-old self. I cry at the drop of a hat.
At this point, I just gave up trying to stop the tears.
It seemed that all the tension and stress I’d been bottling up had finally burst out, leaving my legs shaky and my body beyond my control.
‘I can’t believe I’ve become this weak. What a waste of my military service, Kang Hajin.’
…Not that I had even the slightest desire to go through military service three times.
“Yesterday it was Wook-hyung, and today it’s you, Hajin? Should we make Taehyun cry tomorrow?”
“Well, at least this is a VIP room. If it were a regular ward, someone would have taken a photo of him crying by now, and it’d be all over the place.”
Jung Siwoo and Yugeon exchanged cynical jokes, but I didn’t find them funny at all.
From Dan Haru’s personality fusion to Ji Suho’s accident, I thought I had everything under control, but it seemed the internal pressure had been building up more than I realized. As my tears showed no signs of stopping, even Dan Haru came over to comfort me when suddenly, the hospital door opened.
“I’m here to change Joo Eunchan’s bandages….”
A nurse with a kind voice entered the room, only to freeze in place when she made eye contact with me. Even without looking, I knew my eyes were bright red as I sat there, surrounded by Lee Doha and Dan Haru, who were trying to comfort me. The nurse must have been thinking something as she nodded understandingly, giving me a compassionate look.
“Oh dear…. I’ll come back later~”
“No, no…! No, it’s not like that! Nurse! Nurse!?”
Sensing disaster, I called out urgently, but the nurse had already closed the door and left. As she walked away, the door didn’t close properly, and I could hear her chatting with her colleagues in the hallway, saying, “He was crying his eyes out…. Let’s come back later.”
Then, as Jung Siwoo cheerfully grabbed the next comic book and opened a bag of snacks, he chirped, “You think that’ll spread around?”
“It better. He cried so hard, after all.”
“…Sorry, but can you all just go away? I’d like to be alone.”
“This is my room, hyung.”
The seemingly endless flow of tears suddenly dried up. The mere thought of rumors like “Kang Hajin cried his heart out in Joo Eunchan’s hospital room” circulating and fueling the fandom’s belief that I was the “Crybaby Leader” made my head throb.
‘I really just want to log out of life.’
How does this keep happening every time I cry!?
Just thinking about how my image was utterly destroyed in this lifetime made me feel like crying again.