Kapitel 43: Roomies (19)

If Joon-woo hadn't long finished digesting the food he had eaten earlier, he would've thrown it up. The editors, the producers, included Joon-woo being hit. All the yelling that happened before it and after. They included Team One's downfall without missing a beat of drama.

"What do you mean, Yong-ah? We did all we could, just look at the rest of us!"

Rank 27 yelled just as angry as Joon-woo had remembered him, maybe even more.

"Yes– we practiced, but alone. We didn't do enough team practices…"

Edited upon leader Mi Yong's words was the lettering, 'leader taking accountability…'

"That's still saying we didn't do enough…"

At Rank 27's reply they included clips of the other contestants noticing the scene.

Then, they zoomed in on Joon-woo from a week or so ago, who had bystanded the fighting while slightly glued to Mi Yong's side. The editors had made it seem like they were discussing, Mi Yong and Joon-woo.

They zoomed in on Joon-woo trying to slip away from the scene, at least away from the center. And they ran through a montage of worried and shocked reactions whenever Rank 27 snatched Joon-woo by his arm, roughly.

Joon-woo flinched at the reply of the assault. He still remembered how it stung, how his arm was slightly bruised after. Really, why did he bruise so easily?

"And where do you think you're going? You're the one that prompted this… You put those thoughts of not doing enough in Mi Yong's mind, he would never discredit us if it weren't for you–"

"Hey, hey– isn't this too much?" Mi Yong spook up, face flushed as he had just downed a second can of beer.

Jung Hyun-Ok seemed to be a bit uncomfortable with the heavy inclusion of the drama. As did Reggie, Ryeo Hyun, Bo Jaesang, and especially Reggie's mother.

"Are you crazy?"

On screen, Mi Yong shoved Rank 27 off of Joon-woo with a grimace. 'Hyung defending his Dongsaeng…' was played over the screen. Really, were they using this situation to make them seem closer?

"When you see our name at the bottom, start packing your bags…"

At on-screen Mi Yong's words, exclamation points were placed around Rank 27's fist as it came flying in Mi Yong's direction. More contestant reactions followed. Specifically, Reggie and Jung Hyun-Ok, who on screen, watched the scene with wide panic in their eyes.

Hell– and as on-screen Joon-woo jumped in front of Mi Yong to take the punch, they replayed Joon-woo falling into Mi Yong's arms three f*cking times. Three f*cking times, and Joon-woo sat. He sat and watched as he flinched and collapsed into Mi Yong's arms.

His cheeks got a bit red.

"Ahh– they really had to include all of that?" Joon-woo quietly muttered, rubbing at his red cheeks.

"Really, are they crazy?" Ryeo Hyun spoke, for the first time in a while.

Reggie rubbed at Joon-woo's shoulder, as if to comfort. Joon-woo looked up at Reggie and sent him a look before knocking his hand off.

Reggie's mother, however, cried from where she was sitting, "Aish, how cruel of that person to hit you…" Tears ran from her eyes. "Really, are you okay? Does it still hurt?"

Joon-woo waved his hands, "No– I'm okay, it's okay!" He spoke frantically. He hadn't meant to make her cry. Reggie, after a few moments, stood and rubbed his mom on the back as she dried her tears.

But the episode continued. In fact, as soon as Joon-woo was escorted to the infirmary and Rank 27 taken to be scolded, they edited the rest of the episode like nothing had happened at all.

They had the rankings of each team added, the choices of elimination, and hell– they didn't even dramatize the first round of eliminations! They focused on Mi Yong's troubled, two-person-down team the most during it all. Editing 'regretful leader' into the captions.

Joon-woo wasn't even that mad at the Mi Yong focus, but rather, the lack of focus on Reggie. Reggie's team had won that round and Reggie was the contestant-proclaimed MVP of it all. But even with that, all he got was a single scene of his team cheering at their win.

Mi Yong, in the midst of the rest of the episode, drank two more cans. His face was as red as a rose at this point and Jung Hyun-Ok's expression worsened.

The episode ended with a cut off of FYP announcing the concept of roommates and the games they would play. The group just sat and watched the outro play. Really, weren't they an odd group?

Bo Jaesang got about 0.2 seconds of screentime, Ryeo Hyun only when it involved Joon-woo.

Mi Yong and Jung Hyun-Ok got edited to be some sort of rivals. They were from the same company, of similar skill levels and look levels. Really, didn't they look like the perfect rivals?

And Reggie was essentially treated as a black horse. And Joon-woo? He really didn't know where he stood with these producers… He was either getting beaten on camera or being a cute little dongsaeng to whatever Hyungs they decided. Mi Yong, Reggie, Ryeo Hyun, it depended on the day, Joon-woo joked.

He slightly looked forward to seeing the chaos on Witter later.

–+–

@notj2harmony

Oh my god??????? did we all just watch the same episode????

58 reposts 16 quotes 1,002 likes

@w0m3n_4_J1n

He literally just straight up hit Joon-woo, rlly hope our baby is okay

The singular clip of Joon-woo getting absolutely winded went viral.

@hearts4winner

I don't even watch survival shows anymore, but with drama like that? Sign me up 👏👏👏

3,889 reposts 889 quotes 20.4k likes

Included with the tweet was the same clip Joon-woo had seen about a hundred times already.

Hell– Joon-woo had even seen an article about it from some K-Pop news outlet…

@kpopbreakingnews

Producer10: Contestants already getting violent with each other? Read more at kpopnew.com…

10.3k reposts 1.6k quotes 54k likes

@soovinslargestlefttoe

Help the kid that guy hit is literally half his height 😭😭😭😭

@miyongsleft_ball replying to @soovinslargestlefttoe

Their actually the same age, our Joon-woo is just smol

@soovinslargestlefttoe replying to @miyongsleft_ball

they're*

Joon-woo scoffed and Kite snickered at the interaction.

"Really, isn't this good for you?" Kite asked, genuinely curious.

Joon-woo shrugged, drying his hair with a towel as he had just recently showered after getting back from Reggie's place. "Short term, I guess. But I don't really want being punched to be what I'm known for…"

Kite hummed, before it's eyes lit up at a weet that appeared on Joon-woo's phone screen. "Hey, hey– that Miyong's ball fan girl tweeted!" Kite broke into a laughing fit, as if his semi-serious question it had just asked ceased to exist.

Joon-woo followed Kite's laughing figure.

@miyongsleft_ball

Omg how Mi Yong looked at Joon-woo when he fell into his arms 🥺

126 reposts 14 quotes 567 likes

@jkookarchives

Mi Yong is 24 and Joon-woo 18. freak

@miyongsleft_ball replying to @jkookarchives

yk damn well I don't mean it like that…

Joon-woo raised an eyebrow at that. He lingered on the thought. Him and Mi Yong? Yeah– hell no. He flicked Kite's forehead, sending the laughing bird tumbling away.

"Not funny." He huffed, as Kite continued to die laughing at the weet.

They were elicited a two days off from recording after the seven days of consecutive recording and practice. Joon-woo had felt it in his bones, as they ached with the constant dance sessions. Surprisingly, though, his vocal cords had held up with little to no struggle, despite the daily practice.

But still, he had things to do and they couldn't be ignored. He had to busk to make some more money, as rent would be due soon. He had to go out and buy groceries because this kid had nothing in this house, and that wasn't an exaggeration. He also thought he should get to working out more, as it would be the only way his body could keep up with the vigorous dance lessons.

He sighed, he would need money to do both things. Really, he missed living as Ha-rin… She had money– not a lot, but enough to live. This kid seemed to be living with nothing but a dime and a death wish.

So he stood, interrupting Kite from it's still teary-eyed and laughing figure, and slipping his shoes. Busking it was, again…

Luckily, he had gotten quite popular with some of the city folk for his thrice-a-week busking performances and had made both his rent and bills with it just barely. If he continued like this, maybe he would have enough to actually treat himself to something other than ramen.

But still, even that seemed like a faraway dream he figured, slipping out the door to his apartment with a now familiar ease.