Chapter 111: I’m Lost

The filming set of Boy’s Dream was in the middle of camera setup.

I sat on the circular set, inhaling the cold air deeply.

‘So this is the air of a survival show.’

“It’s cold.”

My trainee period had been relatively short, and I debuted by passing a major agency’s audition in one go.

Compared to others, I had gone through less hardship.

When people pointed out, “You should be grateful, so why are you acting up now?”, I had no real excuse.

Just. I felt like it.

Even though I knew it would be a thorny path, appearing on this season of Boy’s Dream was entirely my decision.

The company had never been on my side.

After what happened with Kang Ji-hyuk, I realized it painfully.

At the very least, KJ wasn’t somewhere I could lean on.

As long as I was tied to a contract, leaving KJ and starting fresh was practically impossible, but even a few months away from that suffocating company sounded worth it.

Controlling the troublemakers in the group—except for Ji Yeojoon—wasn’t easy either, and I had no allies inside or outside.

Until I could feel even a little more at ease, I needed a form of ventilation.

If only I had gone to Starf, how nice would that have been.

I decided to act on that thought I had been holding onto.

Naturally, KJ opposed it.

“If you want to rest, then rest at the dorm. Don’t go around stirring up unnecessary issues.”

But what could they do?

I was the one insisting on going out.

I stood my ground, even prepared to lie down in KJ’s company building if needed.

In the end, the one condition the company threw down after raising both hands in surrender was:

— Right after the second competition, withdraw from the program citing health reasons.

It was a tactic small and mid-sized agencies sometimes used to raise awareness.

They probably hoped to reverse the turbulent fandom mood after Kang Ji-hyuk’s departure and attract new fans. Not the best plan, but a fallback.

So my opportunity lasted only until the second competition.

Strangely enough, I felt excitement rather than pressure.

‘I’m kind of nervous.’

I smiled lightly and took a deep breath.

Watching the camera setup from a step behind, I saw a somewhat familiar face walk over and sit next to me.

“Hello, sunbaenim.”

A mischievous smile spread across his face.

Perhaps because he had already experienced one season of survival shows, he looked rather relaxed.

“I’m a fan of The Core. My name is Lee Dokyung.”

“Ah.”

I took his hand and spoke.

“You were on Starf, right?”

At my words, which suggested I remembered him, Lee Dokyung blinked in surprise.

“Oh, you know? That’s right.”

He was the unfortunate trainee who had made it to the final but lost the debut spot by just one rank.

I hadn’t watched Starf diligently, but I knew his name.

He’d been quite popular.

I thought he would debut without trouble.

I asked with an awkward smile.

“You’re joining another survival show?”

“Oh, me?”

Lee Dokyung plopped down and replied.

“Yes. I became like a duck egg left behind in the Nakdong River, so I have to debut here.”

I didn’t know the details, but it seemed complicated.

He laughed and joked.

“Please call me Nak-Dokyung.”

“Ah, yes. Nak-Dokyung….”

“Life’s so damn tough. Was it always like this?”

Stretching, he began to chatter.

In Starf, he had seemed lighthearted yet surprisingly cautious, but off-camera, he just looked like a typical 20-year-old guy.

“I slipped in Starf, so this is really my last chance.”

“……”

“My real, real, real last chance.”

He glanced up at the ceiling and chuckled.

“If I don’t debut this time, my sister will cry. So I have to debut.”

I nodded faintly at his words.

“I’m the only one in my family who isn’t functioning properly, so my sister worries a lot. I’ve been a trainee for… how many years now….”

“Ah, I see….”

Smiling, Lee Dokyung held out his fist toward me.

“I don’t know your reason, sunbaenim, but let’s debut together.”

I couldn’t respond to that, so I simply bumped his fist.

Someone with something to rely on, and someone without it—they’re different.

I couldn’t gauge the weight of his desperation, so I couldn’t say anything.

For me, it’s over once I withdraw.

The Core might be in decline, but it was still in a state where resuscitation was possible.

I could bet on how the next album would turn out.

But here, there were many trainees from small agencies I had never even heard of, where even placing a bet was impossible.

Young trainees who didn’t even realize the boat they were on was just a dinghy.

Downstairs, trainees from companies no one knew were chatting.

“I’m so nervous I’m going to lose my mind.”

“Hey, should I take a calming pill before going in?”

“Phew… ha… I’m going crazy thinking I might forget the lyrics.”

“No, no. You have to get an A grade on the first evaluation.”

I smirked at the bickering trainees downstairs.

Still, they were fresh. I liked that.

Even when The Core had been rookies, we’d never been that fresh.

“……”

While scanning the whole filming set in thought, my gaze stopped at one person.

On the exact opposite side from me, someone was already smiling brightly even though the camera light wasn’t on yet.

‘Lee Junhyeok?’

He was a Starf participant who had already gained attention from the pre-released audition footage.

On screen, he had looked seriously intimidating, but seeing him smile like that, I wasn’t so sure.

I casually asked Lee Dokyung—

“That person’s also from Starf, right?”

“Huh?”

Lee Dokyung lifted his head and turned his gaze toward where my eyes were pointing.

Lee Junhyeok was smiling brightly in our direction.

For a moment, our eyes met.

“Are you close?”

At that one question, Lee Dokyung’s expression darkened slightly.

“No, that guy’s a total lunatic.”

“…!”

“Don’t get involved with him.”

Somehow, the lunatic was even scarier when he smiled.

Darkness so thick you couldn’t see ahead.

Only the sound of rough wind echoed in my ears,

and Kang Siwoo slowly lifted his grayish eyelids.

“…….”

It felt as if suffocating fear was pressing down on his lungs.

With faint fear in his eyes, Kang Siwoo carefully rose to his feet.

Then, he took a step forward.

Whoooosh—

Waiting for him were collapsed buildings and debris reduced to fragments.

Kang Siwoo stepped onto a pile of rubble and looked up at the blazing red sun.

The sun looked ready to crumble at any moment.

On the once beautifully blue planet, life had withered away.

Just then—

A person appeared in his vision.

Step, step.

Standing in the empty street, wearing clothes worn down by an unknowable length of wandering.

Seo Han stopped in his tracks, looking uneasy, his jet-black hair framing his face.

But only for a moment.

Seo Han’s face went pale.

The instant he saw Kang Siwoo, he turned his back and started running.

In a world where everything had already ended, an unexpected chase began.

Thud, thud, thud.

With a chest-tightening melody, the two of them sprinted.

As the sunset-stained street grew distant, a single lyric hit my ears.

— I’m lost

Stardust:CometTeaser1

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KangSiwoo’sHuskyVibesOfftheCharts

Fans kept calling him a husky, so he just went and dyed his hair ash gray.

Was he always this good at catering to Doubles fans?

The outfit is insane.

— All-black outfit, and the concept fits Kang Siwoo so well.

└ For real, I’m so excited.

└ My all-black-obsessed heart is pounding.

— No, how do they think dropping a spicy apocalypse teaser right after showing Dusty Corp. and Dusty Campus in self-content is gonna go? … It’s amazing.

└ LOLLLLLL

└ The beat is fire, though?

└ Seems like they nailed the title track again.

└ Just hearing the melody makes my heart burst, what do I do, should I write a review?

└ Cha Seongbin participated in composing again this time…

└ Are you serious?!

└ No wonder my heart was racing.

└ Seongbin, if you keep this up, you’re gonna end up as the world’s strongest K-pop idol.

CenterDo−HamjjiServinganElectrifyingApocalypse

That black hair is insane, seriously.

The baby came back all grown up.

That heartbreaking gaze completely pulled me in.

I can’t analyze the music video, so talented folks, please explain it to me, haha.

I’m gonna go back to appreciating Do Seohan’s face.

— Do Seohan with black hair? That’s crazy.

└ Black-haired Seohan’s allure is insane.

└ ?

└ ???

└ This is actually happening.

— Just one outfit change and my boy looks completely different; I had to bow in Doubles’ direction first.

└ Do Seohan in black hair? That’s undeniable.

└ I love it so much I keep replaying it. How can my baby look like that???

└ When the official music video drops, I might just faint on the spot lol.

└ Right now, Do-Hamjji’s fans on my feed are going crazy. They’re ready to save gifs down to the nanosecond.

└ Seo Han, you’re seriously, seriously, seriously handsome—are you insane???

— I’m really looking forward to this promotion. Do Seohan serving us a power apocalypse.

└ I didn’t think they’d go with such an intense concept starting from the second album.

└ Exactly lol. In the first album, it was all refreshing, refreshing, space refreshing, “I came all the way here to meet you in space!!” — and now the teaser shows Earth destroyed lololol.

└ Honestly, it’s tasty no matter what, so I don’t care.

└ I think Seohan will pull off this intense concept really well.

└ Our Seohan can do everything except sexy.

└ I’m rewatching his Starf-era videos, and wow, he dances so well.

└ He’s the main dancer of Universe Dust~~~

└ Our hamster dances really well, please give him lots of love.

Following that, two more video teasers dropped.

This time, they featured the other members.

[Cha Seongbin Looks Like a Real Man….]

[What’s with Sundubu’s vocals?]

[Does the Maknae Line have a pair choreography?]

[I Want to Become the Byeoldol at Ha Junseo’s House]

While Dustys were left dazed by the storm of teasers the day before the comeback,

some Dustys began posting Stardust music video teaser interpretation threads on the community.

[Stardust Universe Theory]

This is pure speculation based only on the teasers released so far, so nothing’s certain yet!

But judging from the concept photos Doubles has uploaded and the members’ comments, I think the main theme of the Universe Dust universe is “Time and Meeting.”

If the first album Spacewalk’s basic story was about meeting “you” on the planet Earth,

the second album seems to be about coming back to Earth to meet “you,” only to find a ruined Earth waiting.

From the hourglass in the first album’s concept photo to the alarm clock in the second album’s concept photo—

the recurring clock imagery suggests that either a parallel universe or time itself is the main keyword.

The most important part is the final lyric at the end of the teaser!

“I’m lost” is interpreted as “I’m wandering, trying to find the time zone where you are.”

When the official music video drops, I’ll be back to analyze it down to the nanosecond. Bye.

— This seems right?? The first album outright stamped “parallel universe” in its title, after all.

└ Yeah, they’re wandering through a parallel universe trying to find the time zone where you are.

└ So that’s why the first album’s title was Spacewalk?

└ Wow, genius. Honestly, I don’t get what any of this means.

└ lololololololol

└ I’m just gonna go enjoy the boys’ faces.

└ Same.

— Hey! Hey! Let me ask just one thing! Then why does Mam-Seohan get startled and run the moment he sees Kang Siwoo?

└ Because Kang Siwoo’s insanely handsome.

└ Ah.

└ ?????

└ Are you serious?

└ Do you really think that’s it?

└ omg lolololololololol

And so, amid the fans’ endless theories, the launch date for the second album drew right around the corner.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep