* * *

Daesoo stopped Dansol from getting up from the table.

It was clear from the drunken voice that Jisoo was likely here to rant, so he decided to play a game of silent hide-and-seek, hoping Jisoo would leave if he thought no one was home.

“Hey, Jung Daesoo… I know you’re in there. I saw your car in the parking lot.”

“Ah, shit.”

But Jisoo was not one to give up easily.

Daesoo eventually got up from the table and headed to the living room.

Seeing the homeowner leave, Dansol followed suit.

“Open the door… I need a drink tonight because I’m really upset. I told Taeo I’m an Alpha. I asked him to eliminate me in the next round.”

Daesoo froze in the middle of the living room.

Jisoo probably never imagined that Dansol would be in Daesoo’s house, hearing his words.

Since it was a penthouse with a whole rooftop garden, worrying about unexpected outsiders listening was a luxury, and without hesitation, Jisoo spilled out words that Dansol shouldn’t hear.

“We shouldn’t have signed a contract with that bastard Kim in the first place. We should have just given up on the contract. Even though I was young, why was I so foolish?! Going around lying to people, I guess I’m finally paying for it now… If I had known I would meet Dansol, I would’ve lived a better life…”

Jisoo had once enjoyed teasing those who approached her, believing firmly like Minseong that she was an omega.

Was this the price of those cruel pranks?

Thanks to President Kim, who first got her into the entertainment industry, Jisoo’s career had not been smooth, and she had no lingering attachment to it anymore.

It was partly because of President Kim, but she had never started with serious intentions in the first place, so she thought she could give it up easily without regrets.

But then, an unexpected obstacle shattered everything.

“…This time, I’m really going to retire, don’t try to stop me.”

Click.

Dansol, unsure of where to look at Jisoo’s unexpected drunken confession, darted his eyes around. Daesoo glanced at him.

Then, as if making up his mind, Daesoo opened the front door.

Jisoo, who had been ranting like a dialect, stopped and looked at Daesoo.

“Stop it and go home today.”

“Ah… Why! I don’t want to be alone on a day like this…”

Jisoo tried to push past Daesoo, who was blocking the entrance with his large frame, to force his way into the house, and saw Dansol standing there, unsure of what to do.

“Da… Dansol… why are you here?”

“Senior Daesoo invited me for a meal… I’ll be going now, it’s getting late.”

Dansol avoided Jisoo’s gaze and quickly gathered his outerwear.

Just as he was about to step out, trying to avoid the sight of Jisoo standing there, he was stopped.

“Sol, wait a minute.”

Tak. Jisoo grabbed Dansol’s wrist urgently, but Dansol shook it off coldly.

It wasn’t something Dansol did consciously.

Startled, Dansol looked up at Jisoo’s face.

Jisoo also looked at Dansol with a surprised expression.

Hadn’t they been so close, sharing the same room, even the same bed?

And now he finds out that his brother is an alpha?

And that he hid this fact?

If he knew they would meet again…

What did that mean, what was he planning to do?

What had been the meaning of all the kindness Jisoo had shown him?

Was it possible… he was trying to…?

Dansol was confused.

And at that moment, he felt an inexplicable sense of betrayal.

Was the Jisoo he knew different from the real Jisoo?

Though he too was hiding the fact that he had regressed, concealing one’s nature was a different level of deceit.

“Let me go, I want to go home.”

“Sol… if you leave like this… I’ll… I’ll take you home. If you don’t want me, ask Daesoo to take you.”

“No… Please let me go. I want to go alone.”

Judging from the situation, it was clear that Daesoo also knew that Jisoo was an alpha.

He said there was no one to trust.

After regressing, the two people who had comforted Dansol, who had fallen into lethargy, now felt unfamiliar.

He was deceiving not just him, but everyone in the world. How foolish to trust such people.

Before regressing, Dansol had already been betrayed by people several times, and once again, he closed his heart tightly.

Taking advantage of the moment when Jisoo’s grip loosened, Dansol headed straight for the elevator, his face clearly showing his disappointment.

*

He didn’t even know how he managed to get from Daesoo’s house to the DinoSoul’s dormitory by taxi.

Dansol trudged into the empty underground dormitory.

But before he could open the front door, he collapsed onto the stairs and cried.

The coldness of the stairs seeped through his jeans, chilling his buttocks.

Only then did Dansol get up, open the door, and go inside.

What greeted him was the luggage bag he had left earlier.

As expected, none of the members had returned.

In the quiet dormitory, his mother’s voice still lingered vividly.

At that moment, a sudden rush of noise overwhelmed the ear that had been hard of hearing.

Daesoo and Jisoo’s voices, the radio DJ’s voice, the members fighting—it all flooded in suddenly, making Dansol dizzy.

He was already exhausted enough.

‘Even after going through regression, I got deceived by people again!’

‘Should I have run away the moment I fell into this new life!’

‘With my face known nationwide, can I live better than before the regression!’

The helplessness he felt before his death wrapped around Dansol’s entire body again.

Reflecting on the past, pondering over what ifs, countless times.

Eventually, he realized there was nothing he could change.

“It’s all… my fault. So please, stop it.”

Staggering, Dansol entered his room to avoid falling.

He tried to get on his bed, but it seemed it had been used as a storage space in his absence, with various items scattered on it.

Too exhausted to clear it, Dansol simply knocked the items off onto the floor and got into bed, covering himself with the blanket.

The musty smell, the damp blanket, the narrow, rusty bunk bed with no room to toss and turn, and the basement room with no sunlight. Yes, this is my place.

“I just want it all to end quickly…”

No matter how many times he started over, no matter how much he struggled, his life always seemed to be a mess.

If regression had made life easier, it wouldn’t have happened in the first place.

Like a failed drama with no anticipated ending, Dansol had no expectations for his future.

*

When I was engulfed by sleep like that, I felt someone shaking me awake.

“Sol! Sol, wake up. We need to go to the shoot today.”

“Uh… Gilsung hyung?”

“Yeah, are you not feeling well today?”

“No… I’m fine.”

Dansol’s head felt like it was going to split open, but he couldn’t complain in front of Gilsung, who had been discharged early from the hospital despite his injuries for the sake of his schedule.

None of the other members had returned to the dorm yet.

He wanted to talk about something and then return to the island.

Today, the feeling of being alone was particularly strong.

Dansol smacked his lips regretfully and got up to head to the bathroom.

---

“You’re dropping me off and then going back, right?”

“Yeah, it seems I have to. Sol… I’m sorry I can’t stay near the set like the other managers. But if anything happens, call me. If you can’t reach me, call the president.”

Knowing that it was common for Gilsung to be late or not wait at the set, Dansol nodded nonchalantly as he looked out the window.

However, he reacted sharply at the mention of the president.

“Why would I call the president…!”

“Why? In case something happens and you can’t get off the island by yourself.”

“That won’t happen. And if it does, I’ll just catch a ride with someone else to the nearest subway station.”

“Hey… you’re a celebrity; that’s a bit…”

Despite Gilsung’s cheerful words, Dansol’s stern expression didn’t change.

A mere two months ago, Dansol couldn’t even afford subway fare and had to walk everywhere.

“It’s not inconvenient! It’s a hundred times more inconvenient if the president comes!”

How had he lived his life to end up surrounded by people he had to avoid?

Dansol pressed his throbbing head.

Meeting the company president was more unnerving than seeing Lee Yeon or Yoo Doohyun.

The president, someone who would summon DinoSoul to a reunion or some personal event even with major schedules ahead, was an inconsiderate person.

As a leader and elder brother, Dansol thought he would have to confront him someday, but now, with his mind in turmoil, he wanted to avoid it as much as possible.

Before his regression, the president had faced a huge crisis when DinoSoul disbanded while he was raising investment for a new girl group.

That day, after returning from a meeting with an investor who had turned him down, the president had lashed out at Dansol, who had just dropped by the company, without any reason.

Due to the injury sustained then, Dansol still had hearing issues, so seeing the president was never a comfortable experience.

“The PD contacted me. If they film the elimination scene today, you’ll have to wait for two days. The outdoor set got blown away by strong winds… I wish I had scheduled one more thing. Right?”

Lost in thought about Jisoo’s words last night, Dansol didn’t respond to Gilsung’s question about the elimination shoot.

Would Taeo really choose Jisoo as the one to be eliminated?

He was so angry about Jisoo lying to him that he hadn’t considered it.

Maybe it was for the best.

It would be awkward for Jisoo to keep seeing him, knowing his secret, and continue filming.

“Hyung, does that mean I can rest for two days?”

“Uh… yeah, but…”

“Then I’ll handle it. Whether I catch a ride or stay on the island, I’ll manage, so don’t call the president. Promise me!”

“Uh, okay…”

Gilsung nodded reluctantly, unaccustomed to Dansol’s unusually firm attitude.

By then, the car had arrived at the entrance to Chunmongdo.

Before getting out, Dansol reminded Gilsung not to contact the president and then opened the door to Chunmong Pavilion.

* * *