The Second Chance of A Suicidal Idol

PR (2)

Joon-woo watched as Ryeo Hyun, blank-faced, opened a small sheet of paper. His blank face shifted into a small smile. Joon-woo looked around.

Every contestant had a piece of paper, handed to them by staff. In character of the staff, they had practically shoved it into Reggie's hands, barely letting Reggie process the paper before handing it, a larger smile on their staff-snobby faces for the next contestant.

On the piece of papers, per Producer Jang-soo's direction, were their peer-picked topics for the PR videos. The cameras blinked in multiple directions, more pinned on their little group more than usual. Really, was the public reaction to them that good? Last time he checked Witter there had been many people fawning over interactions between them.

Joon-woo had already seen some more... implication heavy thirst tweets. Weirdly enough, despite only two episodes in... ship tweets? Hell– even the fights between Mi Yong fans and Jung Hyun-Ok fans were almost overshadowed by the talks of edited chemistry.

"I got... cooking?" Ryeo Hyun said, showing off his paper with his head tilted.

Bo Jaesang and Reggie jumped to Ryeo Hyun's side, opening their own papers. Reggie's lips slightly pursed as he read his paper, his expression saddening as if a puppy refused a treat.

"Reggie-ssi, what is it?" Bo Jaesang asked, standing on the top of his toes to peer over Reggie's shoulder and at the paper. His face tilted and he looked confuzzled at Reggie. "Ehh? That's a good one..."

"Karaoke." Reggie said, lowering his arms to show Joon-woo the small slip of paper. "They picked karaoke for me..." He sulked.

Joon-woo patted at Reggie's shoulder, with a small smile escaping his lips. "That's a good one, though. Why are you sad?"

Reggie, recognizing the fact that cameras were near and could here, leaned and whispered into Joon-woo's ear, "My singing– I still haven't–"

Joon-woo's mouth formed into an 'O' shape at the realization. Reggie still wasn't confident in his voice, not yet at least. He sighed, really, didn't Reggie have reason to be more confident now? Joon-woo had watched in live time, Reggie growing and learning like the sponge he was.

"Your singing is fine." Joon-woo reassured, "Did you see or hear anyone say otherwise?"

Reggie paused, thinking over Joon-woo's question for a moment. "No..." He replied, keeping his hands nervously intertwined.

"Did people compliment you afterwards?" Joon-woo continued, knowing he hit the mark when Reggie's cheeks began to grow red.

Reggie nodded and looked away. "Yeah..."

Joon-woo folded his arms across his chest, "So what are you so worried about?"

Reggie sighed, stuffing the paper into his pocket, he hummed and thought for a moment. Bo Jaesang, who had watched the scene with heart eyes jumped at the opportunity to butt in.

"Joon-woo, Joon-woo, I got baking! I can't bake... comfort me too!" Bo Jaesang cried, jumping at Joon-woo who only looked at him with disgust.

Joon-woo narrowed his gaze at Bo Jaesang. He and Reggie had picked baking for Bo Jaesang. Really, could this guy not bake? He felt a little bad, as he had reassured Reggie that Bo Jaesang would like it.

"...You really can't bake?" Joon-woo asked, after actually considering the idea of comforting words for Bo Jaesang for a few moments.

Bo Jaesang, surprised by Joon-woo's reply, shook his head, "I can't, I really can't!"

Joon-woo sighed, before patting Bo Jaesang lightly on the shoulder, "Good... luck?" He spoke with hesitation.

Bo Jaesang looked at Joon-woo with a joking helplessness. "That's it?" He cried.

Joon-woo nodded, turning his attention back to his own paper that he hadn't yet read. Bo Jaesang had been snatched away by Ryeo Hyun and thankfully stopped pestering Joon-woo, so he was now a little more at peace.

He slowly unfolded at the paper, the cameras trickling down on his expression, his body language, his eyes. He paused, reading the text below him.

He looked up to the less-crowded stage room, still full of other contestants and staff. He looked at the other contestants who read at their papers, looking for a face so familiar.

After a moment, his eyes widened as he found his eyes landing on a guilty-looking Baek Du-Ho, just a few yards away. He was staring at Joon-woo, his hands clasped together as if praying, begging him not to be mad.

Joon-woo crumpled the paper in his hands, his cheeks went red.

"Ehh? Joon-woo-ssi what did you get?" Bo Jaesang who had escaped Ryeo Hyun's grasp asked, noticing how red Joon-woo had gotten.

Joon-woo looked at the ground, really, he was thankful Kite agreed to stay back at Joon-woo's apartment for these sessions. He couldn't handle more teasing than he would already get for this.

'Cosplay' was written down on his paper. And of course, his teammate who had picked on Joon-woo, called him names, then randomly did some 180 degree turn and began to compliment him. Baek Du-Ho picked this...

Granted, Joon-woo didn't pick the best prompt for the other... He recalled when he had circled 'Yoga' for Baek Du-Ho with a grimace. But really, wasn't this much worse?

Mi Yong, of all other people to verbally express his curiosity, spoke up, "What did you get? I got mukbang–"

Joon-woo wanted to curl up in a ball and die. His face felt hot. "I don't wanna say..."

"Ehh? Come on! I shared mine with you. So did Reggie and the rest of them..." Mi Yong teased, trying to sling his arm around Joon-woo's shoulders. to which, Joon-woo swatted away.

"I'm not saying." Joon-woo insisted.

Jung Hyun-Ok, who had stayed silent the whole time, stepped forward scratching his cheek with a just slightly disappointed expression. "I mean, I don't think it would be worse than mine..." He said, holding out his own piece of paper that read, to Joon-woo's greatest surprise, 'Cosplay' too.

Joon-woo looked up at Jung Hyun-Ok with a pained expression, "Ahh, Hyung–" he said, pointing to the paper. He looked towards the floor with his ears lit up a rose red and said, "Me too..." He revealed.

Mi Yong's mouth hung open at the double reveal of live topics. He and Bo Jaesang looked way too happy at Jung Hyun-Ok and Joon-woo's prompts. Ryeo Hyun and Reggie stood next to each other watching the scene as bystanders with beads of sweat rolling down their cheeks.

Jung Hyun-Ok nodded at Joon-woo's reply, not making fun of him, but instead pulling Joon-woo aside and whispering. "We'll get through this together..."

Joon-woo nodded in reply, his cheeks still red as could be. Really, did the other contestants dislike them so much?