Ch.4949. Villain

I let my guard down.

No. Is it even right to say I let my guard down?

Hana entered the club room with a coffee in one hand.

What she witnessed immediately upon entering was two loners stuck closely together.

“Hey. What are you two doing?”

Hana strode over and thrust her face between them.

“Su-Suhyeok was having trouble making calls to the seniors.”

“Why would he have trouble with phone calls?”

“Well… it’s his first time so he’s nervous?”

Suhyeok had called four seniors in total.

One didn’t answer, but the other three did.

Of course, none of the adults were mean to their much younger junior, but Suhyeok could feel his energy being drained.

Especially when unexpected questions not on Juyeon’s cheat sheet popped up, his stammering had become a predictable ritual.

“Really? Should I help you then? I can pass on some pro tips too.”

“No, it’s fine. Juyeon has already helped me a lot.”

Suhyeok smiled.

But his smile wasn’t directed at Hana.

“…I see.”

Hana ran her hand through her hair, embarrassed.

‘Next time I go for coffee, I’m definitely dragging them both along.’

Leave these two homebodies alone, and they stick together like magnets.

Hana turned her back abruptly and sat in a chair, crossing her legs and opening her phone.

Now it was her turn to handle business.

She began making calls without any hesitation.

[Senior! Hello~ 23rd generation guitar! Yoon Hana here!]

[Ah~ Of course~ We’ve been preparing really hard this time too~ Please come see us!]

[Wow! You remember me? Thank you! Oh! Yes! I understand!]

The conversations flowed smoothly.

Hana even exchanged jokes with seniors she was familiar with.

Watching her, Suhyeok felt like he would crumble to dust in the face of Hana’s overwhelming social prowess.

She seemed like someone from another planet.

How could she deal with adults so easily!

Seo-eun beside him was putting on an equal or even better performance.

[Yes! Ah~ Jaejun oppa is doing well~ I’ll tell Jaejun oppa to contact you, senior!]

Suhyeok was honestly curious about how Choi Gang would handle it, but he seemed to be doing better than Suhyeok had worried.

[Yes! Haengim! We’ll be waiting for you!]

As expected, Juyeon was the only comrade he could relate to.

[Ah… Hello… Spirit 23rd generation vocal Park Juyeon here.]

Juyeon was still intimidated by seniors.

Even with last year’s experience, this wasn’t something that got easier with practice.

Perhaps due to her anxiety, she had her notepad open and was continuously drawing circles with her pen.

After about an hour of this torturous phone relay…

“Okay! Good job everyone!”

Seo-eun compiled all the lists they had received from the sophomores.

“The freshmen are coming at 6! Is everyone mentally prepared?”

Everyone knew what they needed to be prepared for without saying it.

“We need to keep straight faces even if they play well, right? You know this, Suhyeok!”

Seo-eun singled out Suhyeok.

“I got it.”

Having received lessons from Hana and practiced with Juyeon, Suhyeok had nothing to fear.

He still felt uneasy about Taeho being the target of their prank, but there was no turning back now.

“Let’s go eat something then~ What should we have?”

The 23rd generation members rushed out together.

Hana grabbed Suhyeok’s wrist.

“Hey. Lee Suhyeok.”

“Yeah?”

“Want me to give you one more lesson on scolding? A final special practical session?”

Hana thought that if he accepted, they could spend ten minutes alone and then go eat together.

“Haha. It’s okay. I already practiced separately with Juyeon. Yeah.”

Park Juyeon.

Park Juyeon.

It’s you again!

Park Juyeoooon!

Her gaze turned slightly fierce.

Juyeon felt a sting on the back of her head.

“Ah~ I see. Well, forget it then. Let’s just go eat!”

Hana forced a smile, trying to hide her embarrassment, and slapped Suhyeok’s back repeatedly.

‘Ow… that hurts!’

Though it hurt, Suhyeok could only smile without showing his pain.

* * *

Spirit 24th generation.

Just a month ago, they couldn’t get a handle on ensemble practice, but now they could play the first three songs with their eyes closed.

This was because they had plenty of time to practice relative to the number of songs.

Typically, if the practice period from joining to the festival was two months, the 24th generation had about two weeks of practice time per song.

It was more than enough time compared to the seniors who had to prepare eight songs.

This allowed Taeho, who had been lacking in guitar skills, to supplement his individual practice time effectively.

“The seniors are coming at 6 today,” said Jiho, the bassist.

“Seems like they’re all coming to watch us practice.”

“Wow! Is Kang oppa coming too?”

Sohye exclaimed with an excited voice.

“I think so? They said everyone’s coming.”

It was rare to see all the seniors in one place; usually, they came in rotation, just a few at a time.

“Oh… are we going to get torn apart?”

“Hey. Don’t say such unlucky things.”

“But seriously, Hana noona is kind of scary…”

“I can never tell what Juyeon unnie is thinking, so I find her even scarier.”

Juyeon always seemed frozen in front of the juniors.

She never said anything mean to them, but she didn’t praise them either.

Even when some of them tried to get closer by talking to her, all they got in return were slightly disdainful, uncomfortable responses.

It was only natural for the freshmen to find Juyeon difficult to approach.

Suddenly, the door swung open.

“Hey everyone! Hello!”

Seo-eun greeted the freshmen with a bright smile, raising her hand.

“Hello!”

“Hello, noona.”

Only Seo-eun greeted them.

The rest of the 23rd generation members sat down on sofas and chairs with expressionless faces.

“Are you all ready for practice?”

Seo-eun naturally led the atmosphere like an MC with a microphone.

“The reason we’re here today is, as you know, to evaluate whether you’re ready to stand on stage properly.”

Taeho gulped.

Evaluation.

They weren’t idol trainees preparing for debut—why was there an evaluation system in a club?

“So don’t slack off! I want to see 100% of what you’ve practiced.”

Seo-eun clapped her hands with a sharp sound.

“Everyone to your positions!”

Following the president’s instructions, the 24th generation members stood in front of their respective amplifiers.

“You know you have to stand while playing today, right?”

“What?”

Some of the session members let out surprised exclamations.

This was because they had never practiced playing while standing.

None of the seniors had ever told them to try playing while standing.

“Why? Were you planning to sit during the performance?”

“Guys, we can do this, right?”

Jiyeon, the vocalist for whom there wasn’t much difference between singing sitting or standing, anxiously gauged the members’ reactions.

Taeho was in despair.

Hyejung looked anxious.

Only Jiho seemed to maintain his composure.

“Shall we try?”

When Jiyeon signaled to Sohye, the count-in signal followed: clap clap clap clap.

The first song began with a heavy bassline.

Suhyeok, arms crossed, watched their performance intently.

The quality was quite good.

But Taeho, not used to playing while standing, seemed to be falling behind the beat, similar to how Suhyeok had been.

Since Suhyeok had experienced and overcome this himself, he thought Taeho would be able to get past it quickly too.

The first song ended safely.

The 24th generation looked around, trying to gauge the seniors’ reactions.

Seo-eun gave just one word: ‘Next.’

After listening to all four songs in succession, the 23rd generation members left the practice room together, as if they had planned it beforehand.

“We’ll just talk among ourselves for a bit and come back.”

With just those words, they left, throwing the freshmen into a state of panic.

“Was it that bad?”

“No, you did well. You guys were fine.”

“Then why are the seniors acting like that?”

“Ah… I think we’re screwed…”

“No, they’ll probably just come back and give us feedback.”

Taeho, who had shown the poorest performance, bit his nails.

Five minutes that felt like an eternity passed.

Then, only Hana reappeared.

“Han Geonwoo. Come out.”

With her right hand on her hip, she tilted her head, gesturing for him to come.

The first one called was Geonwoo, the male vocalist!

His eyebrows trembled.

‘What’s going on? Am I being singled out because I did the worst?’

Negative thoughts dominated his mind as he was led to the stairwell.

The place Hana took him was the same stairwell where Suhyeok had been scolded by her.

“Stand there in front.”

Geonwoo stood exactly where Suhyeok had stood, facing five seniors sitting in a row on the dark stairs.

It was pure terror.

Especially Choi Gang’s silhouette, occupying a row by himself at the top, exuded enough presence to intimidate anyone.

“Geonwoo.”

The president, Seo-eun, spoke.

“Why do you think we called you here?”

It had begun.

“Um… I’m not sure…?”

“Hey. Do you really not know?”

Hana pushed him with a sharp voice.

“I’ll ask you one more time. Why do you think we called you?”

“Um… because we didn’t practice well enough?”

“See? You do know, so why pretend you don’t?”

Choi Gang clicked his tongue as if in disbelief.

Suhyeok and Juyeon, sitting side by side, were just watching without saying anything.

“Do you think you can go on stage in this state?”

“…No.”

“Is this how you practice when you’re always out drinking and playing pool with your friends?”

“Sigh… I really… can’t believe this…”

Hana let out a mocking laugh.

Deciding she’d done enough, Hana poked Suhyeok’s back from behind.

It was a signal for him to say something too.

“Geonwoo.”

Suhyeok called his name softly.

“Get your act together. Seriously.”

He repeated exactly what Hana had said to him.

“Okay? Stop drinking so much.”

Geonwoo felt a surge of anger.

He thought the seniors were crossing a line by interfering with his personal life, regardless of their seniority.

“…Don’t you think you’re going too far, seniors?”

The flowing blood of Generation Z refused to accept this unfair treatment.

Geonwoo wasn’t the type to just take this kind of injustice.

This wasn’t right!

“I mean, it’s not like I haven’t been practicing. I’ve been coming to rehearsals on time every day, so why are you doing this? Seriously?”

Geonwoo’s arrow of indignation was aimed at Suhyeok.

Caught off guard by his resistance, Suhyeok instinctively sent out an SOS.

“…What do I do?”

Hana slapped her forehead.

“What do you mean ‘what do I do’? You ruined it! Lee Suhyeok!”

Only then did Geonwoo realize this was all a prank.