บท 23: Mi Yong (4)
Something Ha-rin never escaped was social media controversy. She had been addicted to Witter, an app of fanwars and aggro, but not for the reason of a local young person. She was addicted to looking up her name, seeing what people had to say about her and the rest of Cheerleader.
Opinions varied about Cheerleader. They had debuted the youngest idols of their time, the company in which they debuted from, was known to invest most of their money in promotion. Paid-views promotion. But their cutesy innocent concept got them support. It got them support because they all fit the image of an innocent school girl, because that's what they were, school girls.
Joon-woo shook his head, opening the app on his less than fast phone. It took about a minute to load. But when it did load, Joon-woo was a bit surprised. He searched 'Producer10' in the search bar.
@miyongs_leftball
–Thread of the Producer10 contestants! ( ˘▽˘)っ♨
-Mi Yong, 24, ex-member of Winner (literally my baby girl)
46 reposts 157 quotes 396 likes
Joon-woo made a face at the Witter thread.
Producer10 was definitely a more known idol survival show, but it definitely wasn't known for being the most fair. It had been accused of vote rigging every season before this one, so Joon-woo was expecting outrage at the Mi-Yong-focused first episode.
And there was, because it was Witter for goodness sake, there was always controversy. Joon-woo clicked on the 157 'quotes' expected fan wars with a frown.
@kpop_junkie69
-girl don't even play…
@woonbinsfavguitar
-Winner flopped for a reason
@miyongs_leftball
-What Winner scandal has Mi Yong's name in it? zero, literally none.
Focus on ur favs mid ass dancing first 💀
Joon-woo raised an eyebrow, but ultimately returned to the thread of contestants. He scrolled until he saw his name.
@miyongs_leftball
-Park Joon-woo, 18, independent trainee (my short king 💪)
12 reposts 5 quotes 204 likes
Joon-woo raised an eyebrow at the title. Short king? He sighed and buried his face in his hands. Kite snickered above him, perched upon his shoulder.
"Is this gonna be my image forever?" Joon-woo jokingly asked.
"I don't think it's a bad thing. Girls like short guys." Kite shrugged.
Joon-woo looked up at Kite with judgy eyes. "What? That's not the issue here…" He shook his head, and continued scrolling through the thread. He looked over Reggie, Ryeo Hyun's fanmade profiles and sighed. It appeared Mi Yong, Jung Hyun-Ok, and Joon-woo had gotten the most attention.
And as it appeared, Joon-woo found it a bit unbelievable. He, in the 1st episode ranked 13th, was the 3rd most popular? Joon-woo examined himself in the mirror, pulling at his features as if to find something worth fanning over.
He was unsuccessful in his search, frowning as truthfully, did he really deserve all the attention? Joon-woo looked like Ha-rin, almost. The sharpness of his nose, the texture of his hair, the almost chubby, but defined jawline. Joon-woo and Ha-rin were similar, as if long lost family. And perhaps it was their similarities that made it hard for the Ha-rin in Joon-woo to find anything in Joon-woo worth swooning over.
Joon-woo shrugged, a message from Reggie occupying his thoughts.
It was a photo, a selfie. It was of two well-packed luggages next to each other and Reggie perched in front of them with his mother's dimpled smile. And it was accompanied by the text, 'do you think this is enough? (Θ︹Θ)ს'
Joon-woo pursed his lips. Ah, the dorms. Today the contestants were moving into the dorms, all the 40 that hadn't been eliminated anyway.
Joon-woo had found it quite cruel, as the eliminations hadn't been recorded yet, so all the eliminated contestants would have to show up the day the 40 others who had made it through moved in, while the 10 eliminated had to watch and walk away empty handed. Joon-woo shivered at the careless cruelty.
'Too much, I think.' Joon-woo typed his reply, sending it with a small smile.
Joon-woo overlooked his possessions. The contestants would stay in the dorms for a week of consistent recording. But a week's worth of clothing is something Park Joon-woo didn't have. In fact in the week or so Ha-rin had lived as Joon-woo, she had to make two trips to the apartment's laundry room. Joon-woo only had three and a half outfits to his name and truthfully, Ha-rin didn't know how this kid survived with so little.
But still, he stood from his seat on the bed and began to stuff basically all of his belongings into a small grey duffle bag. And as he did so, he predicted the looks he would get when he walked into the dorms with so little. Gosh, Park Joon-woo was one to pity, he thought.
–+–
The facility waiting room was filled with contestants and some family. Parents, siblings, looked upon their contestant with proud eyes while spewing encouraging words. Joon-woo found it sappy and stupid. The familial contestants also seemed to have more belongings, a luggage or two like they would even need that much. It almost annoyed Joon-woo, the idea of having to share a room with these familial contestants and listen in to their goodnight and morning calls.
As Ha-rin, he had heard it far too many times. As Ha-rin was the only orphan in Cheerleader. Ha-rin was the one who had no family show up to concerts. Ha-rin was the one that had no congratulatory calls after award shows. Perhaps she was jealous at one point, but now as Joon-woo it was nothing short of annoying.
But his annoyance faded away when he spotted Reggie. A two-luggage mama's boy, talking in sap to his mother. Perhaps there was an exception to his annoyance. He strutted over to the son-mother pair, sending waves Reggie's way so he wouldn't come off as ruining the mood.
"Good morning Ajumoni." Joon-woo greeted Reggie's mother with a bow.
Her cheeks grew a bit red as she looked down upon Joon-woo. "Good morning to you too, Joon-woo." She replied with a smile.
Reggie gave Joon-woo a questionable look, "Is that all you've packed?" He asked, more curious than insulting.
Still, his mother lightly hit him on the arm at the question, "Reggie-ah!" She scolded.
Joon-woo waved his hands, "No, no– It's okay" He reassured Reggie's mother before turning to Reggie. "I just– I don't need much else." He replied, the rich radiating off of Reggie and his mother blinding him.
Reggie shrugged, receiving the answer without much care as he rubbed at his arm his mother had just hit.
Reggie's mother looked around Joon-woo as if looking for someone, "Are your parents not here to see you off?" She asked, an innocent smile creeping upon Joon-woo's spine.
Joon-woo shifted, penetrated by the questioning looks of the too-tall people above him. He frowned, should he just get on and reveal it? If it was only to Reggie…
"Ah– My parents…" He began, "They were in an accident a while ago." Joon-woo admitted, looking away from Reggie and his mother. He really, really didn't want to see their faces upon hearing the reveal.
"Oh." Reggie's mother replied, "Oh, I'm so– so sorry…" She began to spiel.
Joon-woo waved his hands, "It was a while ago– I'm fine now." He tried to reassure, but before he could fully clarify Reggie's mother pulled him into a tight hug.
"You're only 18 and– Oh honey, you don't deserve to be all alone." She began to mutter incoherently into his ear.
"No– I'm okay–" He insisted, trying to break out of her grip. He hated it. He hated touch. He hated how he couldn't break him off of her. "Please let go of me…" He quietly requested.
She let go, looking at Joon-woo too closely. Joon-woo regretted telling the truth, as Reggie looked at him with his face pale, like the reveal had almost broken him. This is why Joon-woo even as Ha-rin hated revealing the truth about her parents. Because people were weird, stupid. They acted like they were the most pitiful people in the whole world, orphans.
Joon-woo looked to Reggie and brought Reggie's arms to Joon-woo's shoulders, so Reggie could look nowhere else but at Joon-woo.
"I'm over it." Joon-woo insisted, "I'm all good."
Reggie slowly nodded in reply.
'Please don't look at me differently.' Joon-woo wanted to say. But the room, too crowded and too loud, he couldn't say anything. He just nodded at Reggie and shifted out of grip. "I'm… I'm gonna use the bathroom." Joon-woo said.
He shifted past Reggie and speed walked to the bathroom. Regret written on his face.
–+–
When he walked into the bathroom and placed his hands on the vanity. He looked up to the mirror and heard it. He heard rustling in one of the stalls. He gulped. 'How could he have a panic attack with someone else in close proximity?' He cried.
Suddenly, a stall door opened, and out came a familiar figure with familiar heavy footsteps. Mi Yong. Mi Yong, with concealer in his left hand, and his right covering at his neck.
Joon-woo looked Mi Yong up and down with an awkward nod, recalling Ryeo Hyun's words to Joon-woo in the infirmary. 'He's upset at himself for letting you get hurt.' Joon-woo patted at his own cheek, where he just an hour before had covered the bruise he had gotten from 27th's punch. He thought back to Mi Yong's words of encouragement, his confidence and surety. Joon-woo thought back to everything Mi Yong had done for Team One, how Mi Yong was like Ha-rin. Mi Yong at that moment, looked like Ha-rin.
And then he examined Mi Yong's face. It was flushed, as if sick. His eyes were red and puffy from, only what Joon-woo could assume, a night of crying. 'He's upset at himself for letting you get hurt.' Joon-woo recalled again.
"Hey… Hyung." Joon-woo called, breaking the awkward silence. "Are you– are you okay?"
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