Bab 79: New Beginnings (7)

MAJOR TW!!!!! ( 🛑 will mark the start and the end for it.)

IMPLIED SEXUAL ASSAULT

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It was quiet in the practice room. It was quiet and it was the morning, Ha-rin could tell from the birds congregating at the window. Next to her was the t-shirt she had worn while practicing. It was off and she felt the cold polished wood floor against the bare of her back. She only wore a sports bra and grey sweatpants that smelt only of sweat. Her practice sneakers were off to the side, scattered in different directions of the room.

She couldn't see her face, but she knew she had a black eye. It stung in the back of her mind and all she could imagine was how ugly she looked like this. Her hair was oily and in need of a wash. Her face felt dirty. Her arms felt dirty. Her legs felt dirty. Her breasts felt dirty. And her eye was probably bad too. Didn't she have a photoshoot sometime today? She cursed internally.

She was supposed to return to the dorm after getting some extra practice last night. She was supposed to. She only imagined how annoyed Gim Mi-Cha and the others were right now. She had promised them, she really had.

She was gonna make fried chicken for dinner. And they would all cheer and gather around the kitchen island and munch down with happy faces. And they would talk as they never did. About external stuff, about cute fan art or fan mail they'd received or family relations, friends, new hobbies, maybe an idea for their next comeback. They would've talked and they would've been close like every other K-Pop group was.

She tried to sit up, but she couldn't. There was a sharp pain in her lower half. Ow, she thought, f*ck. Part of Ha-rin never wanted to dance again. Maybe if she wasn't such a workaholic that wanted to perfect dances, their dance instructor wouldn't've offered to help her out. Maybe he wouldn't've locked the practice room door behind him. Maybe he wouldn't've. Maybe. Maybe. Maybe he wouldn't've slowly approached her and block her swings of self-defense. Maybe he wouldn't've pinned her to the wall, the floor, against the door– with his hands traveling wherever they wanted.

If she wasn't such a practice bug. If she wasn't–

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Joon-woo awoke in a fit of gasps and sweat. He swore and cursed in short mutters. He had known recalling such memories to evoke acting emotion would lead to this. He felt his face and his eye didn't sting to the touch. There was a dark room before him.

He wasn't in that practice room. He wasn't. He heard Reggie's quiet snoring a few yards away. Ryeo Hyun was also in his own bed, sleeping. He was in the dorm. He was safe. He was away.

He scratched at his wrists, trying to gain control over the overhaul of emotions. His skin hurt and in light, would be revealed to have red scratch marks.

He kicked at his blanket. It was heavy. It was heavy and it felt similar to that of a clothed man toppling him. The blanket hit the floor with a quiet thud and revealed Joon-woo's legs in grey sweatpants. Hadn't he worn such pants that day? That night?

Perhaps it was the sound of the AC and the plumbing systems and the clock that combined to be so loud, that Joon-wo didn't hear the flapping of wings. So loud Joon-woo didn't feel the feet of birds grabbing at him, trying to get him to calm.

"-woo, Joon-woo!" Kite pecked at Joon-woo's cheek.

Ow. Joon-woo thought, going to hit the bird off his shoulder. He didn't want to be touched by anything. He didn't. He didn't. But then he stopped, his vision adjusting to the dark and by proxy, Kite.

"Kite." Joon-woo recognized.

"Did you– y'know– have another dream?" Kite cautiously asked, looking frazzled.

Joon-woo didn't reply because his brain was frankly exhausted. He felt that if he talked, he might burst into real tears. But Kite knew.

"I'm– I'm sorry." Kite weakly comforted. His otherworldly nature was always clear in the face of comforting a human.

Joon-woo didn't reply. He couldn't reply. But if he was to, he would've told Kite he didn't want anyone to be sorry.

Maybe it was Joon-woo that frazzled the bird, but Joon-woo noticed just how on alert Kite continued. Kite bit in the air, as if looking for something to take his anxiety out on. Kite's wings were pinned to its sides and there was a feather missing from his back.

Joon-woo nodded the oddity in his clouded mind.

"You're being weird, Kite." Joon-woo pointed out, "Why're you being weird?" His voice was frantic, yet interrogative all the same.

Kite shook it's head, "You scared me, is all." It replied.

Joon-woo eyed Kite suspiciously, but only for a moment. "I'm sorry." He replied. Perhaps he was being paranoid and his nightmare was still taking effect. "I really am, Kite."

"Don't be." Kite replied, looking away from Joon-woo.

–+–

The morning was normal, as Joon-woo snacked on a protein bar for breakfast. It was normal when Reggie asked to have a bite. It was normal when Mi Yong and Jung Hyun-Ok bickered. It was normal when Baek Du-Ho and Ryeo Hyun awkwardly stood to the side. The morning was normal, so why did Joon-woo feel something was wrong? Perhaps it was his nightmare. He was trying to avoid those thoughts.

Kite awkwardly lingered behind Joon-woo, as if ashamed. Perhaps Kite was still uncomfortable with Joon-woo knowing so much?

Ryeo Hyun was still acting… distant. Joon-woo couldn't tell if it was Bo Jaesang related or something related to yesterday. And everyone was an odd type of calm that they hadn't been yesterday, when they had bombarded him with worry. Joon-woo thought maybe they had finally gotten off his case, and that slightly comforted him. He could finally do things on his own.

Another thing that had kept him slightly giddy, was the knowledge that most if not all remaining contestants hated him. His reputation was semi-saved, with him falsely exposing Producer Jang-Soo as an abuser. There was less chance for him to get evil edited now, and he mentally patted himself on the back.

Though, as a wave of a presence he could barely sense washed over him, he wondered if something would go wrong. Afterall, there were afterlife elements chasing him and Producer Jang-Soo, and everyone else in a different timeline but similar boat.

–+–

They sat in their ranking chairs. 12th place was Ryeo Hyun, 7th was Baek Du-Ho, Reggie was 6th, Jung Hyun-Ok was 3rd, Mi Yong was 2nd, and it was Joon-woo at an awkward 1st. The rank one chair shrunk him more than Reggie did on a daily basis.

What was odd, though, was the way contestants he wasn't close with, looked at Joon-woo with that familiar disdain. Joon-woo had thought he'd shook his PD pick reputation off… But if even the staff returned to looking at him with heart eyes, really, what was going on?

Chang Dae-Jung was the one who instructed them, instructed the cameras for specific people. And the buff producer seemed to be calm and collected like yesterday didn't happen. He didn't even sneak a glance to Joon-woo, and did the jobs that Producer Jang-Soo would do with such ease an outsider would think Chang Dae-Jung was the main producer the whole show.

Joon-woo hid his confusion behind his shy-cold beauty of a persona his fans had dubbed him as. The cameraman did double takes at the looks of the top three: Jung Hyun-Ok, Mi Yong, and Joon-woo. The cameraman even took a few extra shots of them before getting scolded by a coworker.

Patiently, they waited in those seats for about an hour with little to no word from any staff. They were all setting up something on the stage and off stage too. Maybe it was the distrust each contestant had grown for the show, but the contestant's looks were filled with a suspicious gaze.

Blank lined paper? Black pens? Mini versions of instruments? (Joon-woo got excited over seeing a guitar and it showed on his face with the way Mi Yong smiled at his excitement.)

Misa would be the MC today, Joon-woo thought after recognizing the pattern in which the show used. Maybe she and FYP would be the MCs together.

The lights dimmed on those ranked 4th to those ranked 15th, effectively panning a large and blinding white light on the top three. Joon-woo winced at the brightness, Mi Yong and Jung Hyun-Ok too.

The other contestants were instructed to keep their eyes on the stage, to watch in admiration as Misa walked on stage in a black pants suit, FYP in a suit all the same. Their expressions were tense.

And when they stood center stage, they faced the contestants. Their expressions were hard as if they were soldiers.

Joon-woo awkwardly shifted in the dwarfing first place chair. The light still shined on the top three and top three only.

"And then there were 15." FYP hummed into the microphone. "After a dance challenge, a vocal challenge, a live stream, and a performance challenge, a group once of 50 contestants, is now 15. Congratulations for making it this far."

"But don't meddle for long. For the final and deciding challenge, it is to be announced and it is no easy feat." Misa continued

The room was tense, and the top three controlled their expressions with ease. They were to be judged and judged the most. Misa gestured to a table lined on the stage floor. It had a row of mini figurines of instruments. Among the instruments was a guitar, drums, and a piano. Joon-woo eye's gunned for the guitar.

"Contestant Park Joon-woo, your rank one advantage is the assignment of instruments for each 5-person team. The next challenge, yes, is to include your own instrumental segment in an assigned song…" FYP revealed.

Joon-woo paused. He thought he had escaped the evil editing. He thought so, and it confused him. Really, what was going on?