* * *

“Uh… Hyung, you’re early again?”

The one who greeted Dansol in the yard, where not all the staff had arrived yet, was Minhyuk.

“Yeah, because of these guys.”

“You’re going home, right?”

“Of course, we met in Seoul too.”

“Ah, right…”

Minhyuk had been the first to arrive on the island, seemingly concerned about the cats.

The scenery of the island and Minhyuk’s care for the cats made him look like he belonged there, completely different from his image in Seoul.

“Ha… Dantanji must be so lucky.”

Dansol muttered to himself, watching the carefree cats.

“You look like a dog person, but you envy cats.”

“Ah, it’s not that. They get praised just for playing well, eating well, and sleeping well.”

“Hmm… if you want, I can praise you in front of the bathroom.”

“What?! No, thank you!”

How could someone like him make such sweet, emotional music?

On the island, Minhyuk seemed to lose a screw.

“Just kidding, haha. But do you have something on your mind?”

“Ah! No! Absolutely not!”

Dansol shook his head, afraid Minhyuk might see right through him.

“They say strong denial means strong affirmation… but since you don’t want to talk about it, I won’t ask.”

Dansol was relieved that the person waiting wasn’t Taeoh.

Taeoh’s caring nature meant he would dig into anything about Dansol, but sometimes, like now, Minhyuk’s quiet support was more comforting.

“Hyung, you’re like a mystery. It’s like you’ve lived two lives. You never get angry, right? Don’t you dislike anyone?”

“I don’t really have a reason to get angry.”

That made sense.

Someone who created the most beautiful music in the country wouldn’t have such stormy misfortunes.

Nonetheless, Dansol hesitated for a moment.

After all, Minhyuk didn’t know this was about Jisoo, so should he just tell him everything?

But he quickly shook his head.

Revealing someone else’s nature, especially one they were hiding, without permission was unthinkable no matter how much he pondered it.

“Oh! Now that I think about it, there was a time when I got really angry and hated someone.”

“When was that?”

“In my early twenties… I got tricked by my closest friend and dragged into a cult. They said we were going to eat dakbokkeumtang (spicy chicken stew) in the countryside… but we ended up singing, praying, and I had to pay 3 million won to get out.”

“Wow… How could someone be so… shameless…”

“On top of that… there are still videos of me singing circulating within that cult.”

“So what happened to that friend?”

Dansol naturally expected Minhyuk to say he had cut ties with that friend.

But Minhyuk gave an unexpected answer.

“That friend is my manager now.”

“What?… Really?”

“Yeah. Later on, he sincerely apologized when he came to his senses. At first, I was furious… but in life, everyone makes mistakes. He had helped me so much that I couldn’t just abandon him over that incident.”

Minhyuk’s words made Dansol think deeply.

Moments when Jisoo and Daesoo had helped his flashed through his mind like a panorama.

Seeing this, Minhyuk added,

“But that’s my situation, and yours might be different. Take your time to think it over. The one who was wronged always needs more time to process things.”

*

As the filming time approached, Dansol found herself glancing at the door repeatedly.

Even when Minseong joined the set 30 minutes late, Jisoo still hadn’t arrived.

Thinking about what to say to Jisoo when they met, Dansol became increasingly anxious, like a student waiting to be punished.

But Jisoo still didn’t appear.

Just as they were about to start the elimination announcement without him, Jisoo, wearing a black hat pulled down low, entered the Chunmong Pavilion.

“Sorry I’m late.”

Coincidentally, as soon as he walked in, he made eye contact with Dansol and immediately hung his head like a guilty person.

He stood in front of the camera without any makeup, looking tired.

“…Everyone’s here now, so we’ll start filming soon!”

As the assistant director’s shout gathered everyone in the front yard, Minseong approached Jisoo and sneered.

“Must be nice, doing whatever you want because you’re so popular, Han Jisoo.”

“Don’t be sarcastic, let’s just get through today quietly.”

“Oh… As expected of a top alpha. Your anger stings quite a bit, huh?”

Sensing Jisoo’s poor condition, Minseong deliberately provoked him.

Normally, it wouldn’t have been surprising for an alpha to unleash their sharp pheromones in a situation like this.

But Jisoo, accustomed to concealing his nature, maintained his calm.

“It’s amazing you haven’t been caught yet. An alpha pretending to be an omega.”

As if ignoring Minseong’s whispered taunts, Jisoo’s gaze turned sharp as soon as Dansol moved away to fix a microphone issue.

“Is it any different from you hiding your erectile dysfunction?”

“What the hell, erectile dysfunction? Are you out of your mind, Han Jisoo?”

“Oh, right. It wasn’t that! You got aroused by an alpha and got it up, didn’t you?”

“This crazy bastard…!”

Instead of using pheromones to intimidate Minseong, Jisoo embarrassed him by bringing up their dark past.

Meanwhile, Dansol, who had replaced the microphone, returned to his seat.

Jisoo, glancing in Dansol’s direction, murmured to Minseong in a low voice,

“If you’re going to attack, do it right. I have nothing to lose anyway.”

The look of someone with nothing left to lose.

In hindsight, Han Jisoo had always been like that.

Despite his stellar career and extensive filmography, he always acted carefree, as if it didn’t matter if he lost it all at any moment.

For Minseong, who struggled not just to maintain but to climb higher, Jisoo’s attitude felt like a mockery directed at him.

*

-Good evening, everyone. As much as we’ve grown attached over time, some of you might have hoped this day would never come. Unfortunately, it has. Today is the day an elimination will take place.

Today, Taeoh looked like a different person, wearing a solemn expression.

Because he held all eight elimination votes from the haunted house mission, not just the contestants but even the staff were looking to Taeo, who held the decision in his hands.

-This time, all eight votes unanimously pointed to one person.

Would Taeoh really eliminate Jisoo?

As the filming time approached, Dansol, who hadn’t had a chance to speak with Jisoo since arriving on the island, stared at the ground, trying to hide his unease.

Despite his immense disappointment in Jisoo, part of his didn’t want him to be eliminated, while another part of him, finding it hard to pretend everything was normal while hiding his secret, wished he would just leave.

-The person eliminated this week is… Han Jisoo.

There were no surprises.

All of Taeoh’s votes went to Jisoo.

As soon as the elimination was announced, Jisoo wore a bitter smile, as if he had expected it, but all the other contestants and staff, unaware of the situation, were left in shock.

Not knowing the full story, they must have wondered why Taeoh suddenly targeted Jisoo.

Right after the announcement, Dansol looked for a chance to talk to Jisoo alone, but while he was giving a personal interview, Jisoo left Chunmong Pavilion without a word.

After the short filming ended, PD Choi asked for their understanding first.

“As you might have heard, the outdoor set we had prepared was blown away this morning. The island’s weather is so unpredictable. We’ll do our best to restore it, but one piece of equipment is completely damaged and will take about two days to fix.”

---

Two days later, Producer Choi left, ending with a promise to start filming no matter what.

The staff busily disappeared somewhere, preparing for the outdoor shoot.

Using the noise from outside as ASMR, Dansol went to his room and lay down.

Anyway, Gilsung wouldn’t be able to pick his up, and even if he hurried, he’d just end up calling the director who didn’t want to be bothered.

“Taking a break here is better than staying at that moldy accommodation.”

There was nothing to do if he went back to the dark house where there were no members.

Dansol lay on the soft bed, staring blankly at his phone.

Should he contact Jisoo first?

But even Dansol didn’t understand why he was so regretful about Jisoo’s elimination.

Jisoo’s elimination was quite shocking for both those who knew it in advance, like Dansol, and those who didn’t.

Realizing they were really in a survival game, the cast members gradually left the island without speaking to each other.

“Don’t pretend to be close, Joo Dansol. We were strangers anyway. Once the program ends, we’ll all be strangers again.”

In the end, giving up on contacting Jisoo, Dansol pulled the blanket over his head and fell asleep.

Hours passed, his phone battery died, and pitch-black darkness surrounded him.

“Everyone’s really gone.”

A sense of liberation mixed with a bit of sadness crept in.

Rrrr. Rrrr.

A strange noise came from outside, presumably the first floor.

The noise continued until Dansol went downstairs.

Rrrr. Rrrr.

The sound was coming from the kitchen.

As he approached, he heard someone sobbing.

Dansol, who thought it might be the sound of wind through a poorly closed window, felt like he was about to faint.

Was it the ghost that Taeoh claimed to have seen during the haunted house experience?

Should he have faced the embarrassment and hitchhiked out with someone’s car?

As tears filled his eyes in the pitch-black darkness, he saw Inyoung sitting at the dining table.

“Who… who are you?”

“Aaaah-!!”

“Kyaaa-!!”

* * *