Hyung, are you okay?

Sejin, lets see your ankle.

Lee Sejin looked at his ankle with a pale face, and eventually clenched his teeth and pulled his pants to check its condition.

His ankle was swollen.

This isnt good.

The injury was confirmed.

!

I-Its all right! I-Its a little swollen, but I-If you go straight to the hospital

Seon Ahyeon looked at the ankle and shouted urgently. As a dance major, he seemed to have some knowledge of ankle injuries.

Yes, Sejin, sit down for now. Lets call our manager and go to the emergency room right away.

Yes.

Lee Sejin sat down in a chair in the corner of the dance room with Ryu Chungwoos stable support.

And shortly afterward, he left for the hospital with the manager who had been contacted.

G-Go together

No!! You cant delay the practice because of me. Ill be back.

Lee Sejin strongly refused to be accompanied and left the dance practice room with the help of the two managers.

I hope its not a big deal.

I hope so too.

I-Its not that swollen I-It will be fine.

Since it was just a fall, everyone resumed practice again, thinking that it wouldnt be a major injury.

However, it was only after the dance practice was over that Lee Sejin returned.

Besides, he wasnt alone.

Ah~ Is this our Sejins dorm? Its nice!

Yeah? Ill come often.

Because of my schedule, Im rarely at the dorm.

Is that so~? Then this dad can come in and take care of it. You dont have to refuse.

Its fine.

Lee Sejin was being supported by a middle-aged man, but looking at the mans face, it seemed he was his father.

However, the conversation smelled like a convenience store part-timer and drunken Karen.

(TL note: I feel the need to explain. The real word used here is Korean slang for a rude customer. I figured I should use the English equivalent to fit the context more.)

?

Ah, our Sejins friends~ I am Sejins dad!

Ah, sir. Hello.

Hello!

What do you mean with sir~ When I go out with Sejin, people think Im his eldest brother.

Haha, you look young.

Keun Sejin cut him off while receiving the conversation.

Then Ryu Chungwoo continued with a smile.

Thank you for taking Sejin home. We have to film the dorm now

Ah, Ill sit there quietly! Keep filming~

Ryu Chungwoo looked a little at loss.

I checked Lee Sejins expression.

It wasnt embarrassment or bashfulness for introducing rude parents, but more like fatigue and shame that appeared and disappeared quickly.

It seems hes really a Karen?

Keun Sejin waved his hand to Lee Sejins father.

Ei~ Sejins father, well have to formally invite you next time. Is it okay to treat a members parents like this? We will prepare and get back to you!

You dont have to do that~ Ill be gone after a while. Its because Im having a hard time supporting him.

In other words, there was only one way to get rid of him.

I hurriedly went into my room and returned with something.

Sejins father, you must have worked hard, so come in and eat comfortably.

It was a red ginseng set that I received as a holiday gift from the company.

! Aigoo~ Im not the kind of person who accepts things like this. Hmm? I didnt mean to ask for something like this.

The middle-aged man quickly took the red ginseng while saying obvious things. I nodded obediently.

Of course. You want to see the dorm where your son is staying. I am glad and sorry that you cant do that due to our schedule.

Okay~ Hn? Youre the friend who won first place, right? The friend Sejin picked. Yeah, very reliable. Sejin, hurry up and say thank you.

Oh, its time for our manager to come because of our filming. Get home safe.

Mm, yes, Im off~ Ill be back soon.

Lee Sejins father glanced at Lee Sejin, then slowly opened the door and left.

Lee Sejin lowered his head.

That, y-you have to sit down

When Seon Ahyeon approached, Lee Sejin reflexively waved his hand and swung it away.

!

Fortunately, Seon Ahyeon avoided his hand. And Lee Sejin was horrified.

I Im sorry!!!

I-Its all right!

What a mess.

In any case, Lee Sejin glanced at his room and looked as though he wanted to want to run away, but instead of running away, as if recalling past experiences, he went to the sofa in the living room and sat down.

It could be that its just difficult getting to his room because of his legs.

Because he was wearing a half-cast.

Anyway, thanks to that, an atmosphere to talk was created.

Is that your father?

Yeah.

In the heavy atmosphere, Kim Raebin carefully raised his hand.

Then, where did the manager hyung go and your parents come from?

There was a problem, and it seemed the manager contacted him on the way in a hurry.

Originally, the manager would rather have contacted someone from another company, but it seemed he contacted the parents because the second manager who came in later was a newcomer.

And in the slightly heavy atmosphere, Cha Eugene asked the most important thing.

Is your ankle okay?

-! T-Thats right, ankle!

How long do you think it will take to recover?

It wasnt a big deal. I just have to be careful for a few weeks.

Hmm, they fixed it a little too well for that.

I overdid it on purpose. because I want to get better soon.

A few members raised their thumbs.

Mostly the minors.

Hyung

So cool!

Only then did Lee Sejins expression loosen.

And, as if a little embarrassed, he spoke with a faint smile.

Ill make sure I dont bother the group.

Ei~

Lee Sejins smile darkened slightly.

I wont let Father come either. Dont worry.

It was so ambiguous.

Thats what family affairs are like.

It wasnt the kind of thing to ask for it in a group situation like this.

? Wouldnt it be fine if he comes?

I forgot that Kim Raebin was here. It seemed he didnt notice the strange atmosphere that had flowed earlier.

At Raebin Kims question, Lee Sejin became embarrassed and began to stutter like a sea cucumber spitting out its intestines.

That This dorm is spacious, he might insist on staying here.

Then tell the company and get permission

Dont! He has bad hand habits Anyway, hes not a good person to be with.

Lee Sejin looked like he didnt even know why he was talking about this.

And he quickly finished talking.

Anyway, I wont let him come, so you dont have to worry about it. T-Thats it.

Then he quickly got up from the sofa and waddled into the room.

The remaining members in the living room looked back at each other blankly.

Hmm, well His ankle seems to be okay, shall we go to bed now?

Lets do that for now.

Idling around, everyone got up from their seats at Keun Sejins arrangement.

Eugene, dont watch Netfler and go to sleep.

I dont want to

Cha Eugene, who was playing Netfler in the living room, turned off the TV depressedly at Ryu Chungwoos words and trudged into his room.

Um.

Netfler. It reminded me of Lee Sejin crying in his bed a while ago.

It wasnt Netfler No way, was it because of his father?

I hoped it wasnt an issue.

Not only was it difficult to solve, but I also didnt know what would happen to Lee Sejins paper-like mentality.

I headed to the room feeling uncomfortable.

Then I made eye contact with Lee Sejin, who was struggling to put his half-cast leg on top of the hamster body pillow.

Lee Sejin looked embarrassed and averted his gaze.

Ill pretend I didnt see it.

I went to bed pretending to look at my smartphone and sat down.

Then, Lee Sejin started talking.

Im sorry. Take my red ginseng.

Oh, its about that. I nodded.

Yes. I will eat well.

Alright.

As soon as the room was about to sink into a peaceful silence, Lee Sejin, who was checking something, hurriedly continued.

B-But I already opened it and ate one or two. Ill buy you a new one, so take this.

? Its all right. Ill just eat it. Well.

Huft.

I heard Lee Sejin let out a long sigh. It sounded more like embarrassment or emptiness than relief.

.

Lee Sejin muttered as he looked at his cast pressing down on the hamster.

Why do I keep being a burden?

Theres no such thing.

Anyway, Ill pull myself together this time, so you dont have to worry about it.

Yes.

Turning his head, Lee Sejin looked at his smartphone. His eyes seemed to be burning with determination.

Are you watching the dance video?

Well, passion is good.

Its good to have motivation. Just dont ask me for it.

I turned off my smartphone and put on earplugs.

The last thing I checked was Lee Sejin, who was staring at his smartphone with a serious face.

Somehow, the scene of him holding his smartphone and crying overlapped.

Could it be that hes trying to solve the issue regarding his father?

It was often seen on the Internet bulletin board looking for cider, but in reality, family-related problems were not likely to be solved so easily.

Well Its even funnier coming from me.

Isnt it strange for a person without a family to give advice? I just decided to go to sleep.

However, Lee Sejin seemed to be looking at his smartphone for quite a while this time as well.

* * *

A few days later, I was on my way back from the last meeting with the collab game <127 Section>.

I heard that the game production team was so excited to see the trailer that projected their own work.

Consequently I received this result.

Wow, they modified it to make them look like us.

This is totally me!

I have a mole on my cheek

Some of the external characteristics of Testar members were lightly reflected in the appearance of the initial characters.

No, I didnt fix everything, I just tweaked it a little in the materials we had.

What do you think? It totally reminds me of the trailer! Especially, Lee Sejins rimless glasses! We unanimously revised it right away

Well, it was mostly like that.

By the way, I heard that my character had changed from double eyelids to inner double eyelids, Im sorry, butI dont know the difference.

Huft~ Its fun and difficult.

We can do it!

Lets do our best!

The music video was released a few days later. The schedule became busier, but even with the heavy workload, the feeling of doing well was definitely addictive.

Thanks to this, all of Testar members had happy faces. And this included Lee Sejin.

Looking somewhat relieved, Lee Sejin exchanged conversations with Ryu Chungwoo with a fairly relaxed face.

His leg injury seemed to be recovering well, and I thought it would be nice for things to go smoothly until the comeback like this

The incident happened on the way out of the company.

Lee Sejin! Come here, huh?!

!

A familiar middle-aged man was sitting in front of the lobby at the back door of the company and jumped up when he saw Lee Sejin.

Of course, it was Lee Sejins father.

Lee Sejins face turned blue.

F*ck.

Fortunately, the two managers blocked him right away.

Sejins father, you cant do this!

Calm down!

Let go! People these days are f*cking rude! Oh! Youre so oppressing!!!

Lee Sejins father faltered when the bulky manager blocked him, but he pointed his finger until the end as he was dragged away.

I wont leave you alone! This unfilial child will receive retribution!

The noisy lobby soon became quiet as Lee Sejins father was dragged away.

But after a while, a more tumultuous situation occurred.