Chapter 15: The Barking Is Annoying

Lee Junhyeok clutched the microphone with trembling hands.

After finishing the vocal lesson, he tried to practice again in the practice room, but it didn’t go well.

A string of emotional curses burst out.

“Shit.”

It was hard to believe that it was Do Seohan, of all people, who had outshined him in vocals.

Lee Junhyeok muttered in a voice full of rage.

“Since when was that punk so full of himself?”

In his memory, Do Seohan had never stood out.

Of course, it might have been because Seohan had spent a relatively short time at Doubles Entertainment.

But it was true that he suddenly soared after the audition.

That was unpleasant.

How dare he.

How dare he step over me to rise up.

Lee Junhyeok simply couldn’t accept that fact.

He had always been the best, and he had to continue being the best.

Before the Stardust Project began, according to the original monthly rankings, Lee Junhyeok should have debuted.

Before the audition, according to the original rankings, Do Seohan shouldn’t have even been noticed.

But then, this variable called the audition.

It was pushing the situation in the wrong direction.

Lee Junhyeok mumbled in a voice full of inferiority.

“He’s not even that good.”

The team members were indulging that kid, who was just a fresh-faced rookie, listening to whatever he said.

Even that Yoo Minseo teacher praised that not-so-perfect vocal.

Those little things kept scratching at Lee Junhyeok’s nerves.

“Phew… just endure for a few more months.”

After all, it would be him who debuted.

Though he lost the center position in this evaluation, he could take it in the next one regardless of which team he landed in.

He was confident in both performance and vocals, so as long as he endured, he could debut.

He had, after all, been in the debut lineup at Doubles.

Just as Lee Junhyeok tried to steady his rough breath—

A dark shadow peeked in from behind.

“Hyung, did something happen?”

The trainee who always greeted him with a bright smile.

The only person he truly trusted in this program. From Lee Junhyeok’s perspective, he was more like a right-hand man. Thanks to his quick wits, he was useful in many ways.

“It’s nothing.”

Lee Junhyeok shook his head irritably, but the dark shadow seemed to have a rough idea of the situation.

“Something happened in your team again, right? That kid you’re bothered by pissed you off again?”

“…Get out.”

He didn’t want to lash out at an innocent person just because he was in a bad mood.

Lee Junhyeok knew better than anyone how foul-tempered he was, so he spoke bluntly.

“Ayy, I figured this might happen, so I didn’t just sit still.”

“What?”

But the next words were enough to captivate Lee Junhyeok.

“I looked into it a bit.”

“You looked into what?”

“Do Seohan.”

The dark shadow let out a sly smile again.

“You told me to dig into him, right?”

“Ah, I really dug through everything.”

“Yeah?”

Lee Junhyeok nodded eagerly, his eyes shining.

“And absolutely nothing—seriously, nothing came out.”

“……”

Lee Junhyeok cursed again.

This wasn’t the kind of information he had wanted.

“He went to middle school normally, then after getting into an arts high school, he took a leave of absence and joined Doubles. That’s probably because of the agency. Nothing really special, right?”

“Right.”

“I don’t know if he ever fought with anyone. Oh, oh. My friend is a genius at this kind of thing, so they combed through Stargram.”

“What did they find?”

“Seems like he deleted everything when he joined Doubles.”

He deleted it.

That meant there could be something worth hiding.

Lee Junhyeok’s eyes lit up as he asked again.

“Did you find anything?”

“Yeah. Found something. Want to see?”

Swoosh. Swipe.

The dark shadow showed Lee Junhyeok a screenshot of what was assumed to be Do Seohan’s SNS.

Maybe there would be fights with other trainees, curse words, or photos of drinking or smoking.

With high expectations, he looked at the screen…

“What, what is this?”

“Seems like he likes photography.”

“……”

Not just any photos—landscape shots.

Pictures of clouds, flowers, and even sentimental captions.

If there was anything remotely resembling a cringey past—

Underneath a softly lit streetlamp photo was a caption that made you want to bury your head in embarrassment.

[The path I walk. R=VD. I can do it!]

Seriously wondering why he posted that, the date said 2014.

That must have been when he was in his second year of middle school.

“He had a textbook case of second-year syndrome. At this level, it’s harmless.”

Meanwhile, not a single photo showed his own face.

“Oh, and he seems to like animals. There were a lot of hamster and rabbit pictures.”

“……”

“He likes stuff like himself.”

Muttering something that could barely be distinguished as a compliment or insult, he snatched the phone away from Lee Junhyeok.

“That’s all for SNS. Even after digging, there’s nothing else.”

“Comments! He must have left some comments somewhere.”

It’s quite common for old malicious comments to come back and bite someone.

Even if it wouldn’t significantly affect the audition, it could still damage an image.

If there were no clear faults, even weak dirt like that would be worth digging up.

At Lee Junhyeok’s words, the guy scratched his head and shrugged.

“Nothing. None of that. Even after digging… nothing came up.”

Lee Junhyeok’s expression turned cold.

You’d expect to find at least one thing if you dug around, but the fact that nothing turned up—how does that make sense?

It felt like he was getting entangled with that guy, Do Seohan.

At that moment—

“Ah, but. There is one weird thing.”

A statement that sounded like salvation returned to Lee Junhyeok.

“The agency he was at seemed a bit odd?”

“In what way?”

“He moved around a few agencies. Do you know where he was before coming to Doubles Entertainment?”

“Where? YR?”

“No, before that. It’s been a while though.”

“Where was it?”

“KJ.”

KJ Entertainment.

Seemed like the guy had wide connections, he already heard about that too.

When an unexpected company name came up, Lee Junhyeok’s eyes widened.

“He was from KJ? I never heard anything about that.”

He had only heard that Do Seohan had bounced around smaller agencies.

But suddenly, he was from KJ?

Lee Junhyeok couldn’t help but be flustered.

KJ is a major company, no less than Doubles Entertainment.

There were even rumors that they were about to launch a boy group.

If he had come from a company like that, you’d expect him to brag about it, but during his self-introduction, he said nothing.

“I heard he even made it into the debut team? Not sure if he actually got in or almost did…”

“So. You’re saying he’s talented or what.”

“No. That’s not it. I’m saying—why would someone who made it into the debut team quit after just a month?”

“…What?”

Lee Junhyeok frowned and asked again.

“It wasn’t even a small company. It was a major one. And he was in the debut team. Why would he throw that away? Don’t you find that really strange, hyung?”

“You’re right. What kind of lunatic would quit? He should’ve held on.”

Something’s up.

It’s not like he was confirmed for the debut team the moment he came to Doubles Entertainment.

Sure, he had some skill, but he hadn’t really stood out since arriving.

But he left KJ, which offered him debut?

And it’s one of the three major agencies?

“Did he get kicked out of the debut team?”

That was the only conclusion he could come to.

But the guy shook his head immediately.

“If that was the case, he wouldn’t have kept quiet. I heard the manager even tried to stop him.”

Seemed like he had some insider connection at KJ.

What Lee Junhyeok didn’t know, this guy did.

“But why he left… no one knows.”

The mysterious voice whispered to Lee Junhyeok like the devil.

“It’s weird, right? Makes you curious.”

Ah, I get it now.

A rush of possibilities flashed through Lee Junhyeok’s mind in that short moment.

Conflicts among trainees.

There’s no way he left on his own without something happening.

There must’ve been some incident.

If it was something so bad he couldn’t even stay in the same company—there’s no way that story ends well.

Even if we don’t know, some people at KJ surely do.

Lee Junhyeok clapped his hands and added with an excited voice.

“He must’ve caused trouble. Definitely caused some incident.”

“Seems like it, right?”

“If you look at that bastard, he’s got a temper. Even if he doesn’t seem like it, look at how he calculates everything. Something definitely happened, and he bailed because he felt guilty. Isn’t that it?”

If I could just find out what it is—

Then I can grab Do Seohan’s weakness.

Lee Junhyeok’s imagination spun up happily.

Now that he had a rough lead, digging deeper wouldn’t be too hard.

With a twisted smile, Lee Junhyeok started to mutter.

“Should I try poking at him? He’s still young, so if I prod a bit, he’ll spill everything without realizing.”

No matter how smart he pretends to be, he’s still four years younger.

With just a little provocation, he was bound to spill some secrets.

Lee Junhyeok laughed sharply and muttered menacingly.

“Gotcha. Whatever’s there, I’m going to dig it up.”

At the same time—

Do Seohan was practicing choreography with the team members, excluding Lee Junhyeok.

Working on choreography together meant more opportunities to talk.

Each time they matched a move, various opinions would come together to add more detail.

They were working toward a better direction.

Seohan raised his hand and stopped the music briefly.

“Hyung, wouldn’t it be better to change the movement this way?”

“Sounds good.”

“Should we try changing the choreography to how Sehyun-hyung did it earlier?”

“The way Sehyun did it?”

“Oh, that looked good.”

“Alright, let’s go again.”

The practice room had become heated with overflowing passion.

Since it was their first evaluation, they were adjusting the choreography dozens of times to deliver a perfect stage.

But—

Something had been interrupting their deep discussion for a while now.

Woof woof woof.

“Sounds like a dog barking somewhere.”

Woof woof!

A dog had been barking through the open window for a while now.

Guess it really was a countryside dorm—those cries were raw and unfiltered.

No, it wasn’t my imagination.

Woof woof woof!

Seohan scratched his head and clicked his tongue.

“Ugh, why is that dog barking so much?”

“Seohan-ah, try making cicada sounds.”

“Should I chase it off, hyung?”

“Yeah!”

The barking is really annoying.

Grumbling, Do Seohan closed the window.

“…Stop barking already!”

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