Why am I stranded in this shitty Island again? chapter 50

Left alone at Chunmong Pavilion, Minhyuk stood staring blankly where Dansol had disappeared. When he heard the group’s van speeding away, he smiled wistfully.

“It’s been a while since we were alone… Such a pity, right?”

Minhyuk, who had been absentmindedly petting Dantanji, finally stood up and called his manager, who had been waiting for over two hours. The voice on the other end sounded like they had just woken up.

“Uh… Hyung!”

“Were you sleeping? Let’s get going too.”

“Huh? Joo Dansol left?”

“Yeah, he left.”

***

“Don’t be shocked, Sol. We… are performing at the Asian Games opening ceremony!”

“Hyung… Is that true? Are we being scammed? Was it a phone call? Are you sure it’s not voice phishing?”

Dansol couldn’t believe Gilsung’s words. Of course, the company wouldn’t have booked such a big event without checking, but DinoSoul on such a grand stage seemed too far-fetched.

It was more believable that naive Gilsung had fallen for a phishing scam. Gilsung was furious at Dansol’s reaction.

“Hey! What do you think of me?”

“No… We just came back from the autumn mackerel festival yesterday… It’s hard to believe we’re suddenly performing at the Asian Games…”

“We worked hard too. We went to the mackerel festival, the autumn foliage festival, and even the bullfighting competition.”

“Huh?”

From the very back seat, Woohyun, who seemed to be sleeping, spoke up.

“It wasn’t just hyung who worked hard. We all did.”

“I didn’t mean it like that…”

The car’s atmosphere grew cold as Woohyun’s sharp response made the members’ gazes towards Dansol subtly hostile.

Before his return, his younger members would have been happy for his schedule.

Usually, this would be the time for voices of criticism towards Dansol to start.

Had the group already begun to face backlash because of him?

“Ah! Why are you like this, Woohyun? Dansol worked hard, and so did you. Actually, we’re just standing as backups on Zeus’ stage, but hey! Who knows? If we practice harder than Zeus, we might catch someone’s eye and rise again.”

Gilsung’s attempt to lighten the mood backfired, only upsetting the members more.

“What? So that’s what it is? Hyung! Zeus is at least 10 cm taller on average… Even if I stretch all my limbs, I won’t stand out dancing next to them.”

Minjae, always honest about his shortcomings, made a self-deprecating remark. Dansol bit his lip and stayed silent. Seeing this, Gilsung tried to intervene.

“Ah… Why! Woohyun is tall! Isn’t Woohyun a bit taller than Ma Taeoh, Dansol?”

“I don’t know…”

Even at a glance, Ma Taeoh was much taller than Woohyun. Dansol knew Gilsung’s comment was a signal to reconcile, but he didn’t want to respond first this time.

When Woohyun suddenly got angry, Dansol saw the old Woohyun from before his regression.

Minjae, sitting beside him, was all bright-eyed, but Dansol wasn’t in the mood to join in their antics.

He wondered why Taeoh hadn’t told him about the joint performance with Zeus.

“Why? You’re close with Ma Taeoh! I saw you two sticking together in the last broadcast!”

“Hyung, when will we arrive? We’re going to the practice room, right? Then, I’ll take a nap.”

Though Dansol, who had overslept, wasn’t feeling sleepy anymore, he pretended to sleep because he didn’t want to talk. Gilsung also seemed to give up, just smacking his lips in frustration.

***

“This is the choreography draft from the choreographim. The ones in orange vests are your parts. We’ll practice among ourselves first and then practice with the Zeus members in a day or two.”

“It’s a pair choreography, so how are we supposed to practice by ourselves?”

As soon as they entered the practice room reeking of mold, Dansol realized he was no longer in Chunmong Island. Woohyun had been grumbling non-stop about something since earlier.

“Zeus is busy, you know. We’re not going to brainstorm with them, so it’s better to learn the choreography in advance to avoid embarrassing ourselves.”

“That’s right! Hyung, did you see that? Ma Taeoh supposedly learns the choreography right on the spot. He’s a genius…”

Dansol wasn’t the only one uncomfortable with Woohyun. While Jiwoong and Minjae diverted the conversation, Dansol checked the community of “RO Match Survival in Island” on his old phone.

Just then, his phone vibrated, startling him so much he nearly dropped it.

The caller was Jisoo . Dansol glanced at the members who still seemed unready to start practice and moved to a corner to take the call.

“Hello?”

—Hey, Sol, how have you been?

“Hyung… we saw each other this morning?”

—It’s already lunchtime. Have you had lunch, Sol?

“Uh… no. I’m here to practice dancing…”

—What?! You’re practicing without eating?!

Jisoo shouted as if something terrible had happened, loud enough for the members, who were chatting, to look over at Dansol.

“No… I usually don’t eat before dancing… it makes me feel heavy. Hyung! I’ll call you back later. Sorry!”

—Wait… wait a minute, Dansol!

Click.

Though Jisoo called out desperately from the other end, Dansol, feeling the members’ gazes, coldly ended the call. But sharp-eared Minjae recognized the voice and approached Dansol.

“Whoa… isn’t that the national actor Han Jisoo ’s voice? Hyung, you’re in personal contact with him? Awesome… you even shared a dorm with him. How was it inside? Can’t you give us some details?”

“No… it’s not like that. Let’s practice!”

“Huh, you didn’t even answer our calls.”

Woohyun’s sarcastic tone stopped Dansol from playing the choreography video. When he was on the island, he couldn’t use his phone to contact the members.

If it had been before his regression, he might have asked the PD to leave a message saying he was doing well, but since regressing, he kept his distance from the members and didn’t even attempt that.

“Playing the choreography video?”

Dansol pretended not to hear Woohyun. It was going to play anyway. No need to waste energy on a conflict, especially with someone he’d eventually part ways with.

Woohyun seemed more surprised by Dansol’s attitude. But soon, he too focused on the choreography video.

With traditional instruments like the gayageum playing in the background, the choreographer performing the Zeus role danced vibrantly.

The choreography, including kicks and tumbling, was more like action fitting a Goguryeo warrior.

The role assigned to DinoSoul was the gumiho. The story was about a warrior seduced by the gumiho but regaining his senses when he meets his true love, a fairy.

“Who will take the center position?”

“Of course, Yoonsung hyung!”

If they were singing, Dansol would naturally be the center, but since it was a dance performance, he nodded in agreement.

Yoonsung was famous even before debut, having a fan club as a former dance team member.

“Well… actually…”

Gilsung, sitting in a corner, scratched his head awkwardly.

“The organizers asked for Dansol to be the center…”

“What? Oh… really? Well…”

“Maybe it’s because the stage requires some acting too. If it were purely for dance skills, Yoonsung would definitely be the center, right?”

Trying not to hurt Yoonsung, who took pride in his dancing, Gilsung exaggerated a bit. Yoonsung, who had been warming up, pretended not to care.

“Hyung has always been the center. I’m fine with it.”

Feeling embarrassed, Dansol bit his lip before speaking.

“Uh… Yoonsung, I…”

“It’s okay, really. Why are you so hesitant, hyung? Let’s just practice.”

Even though he knew the relationship would eventually break, everything seemed to go contrary to his expectations.

Ignoring Woohyun’s sharp gaze and Yoonsung’s embarrassed smile, Dansol felt uncomfortable.

‘I’d rather go back to Chunmong Island…’

The members, once more familiar than home and considered family, now felt unbearably awkward to Dansol.

The practice was led by Yoonsung.

After watching the video about three times, he stood up and said, “We’ve memorized the choreography, right?”

Dansol’s eyes shook with anxiety at his words. He made eye contact with Gilsung through the mirror, but Gilsung pretended not to notice Dansol’s desperate look.

In truth, Dansol was slow to grasp choreography.

‘The dance is too hard… the atmosphere’s already tense, I’m doomed.’

Although he became the leader and main vocalist thanks to his natural singing talent, dancing was purely a result of hard work.

He had to practice two to three times more than others to keep up, but now, with one ear impaired, just standing up made him dizzy, and his leg, injured in a previous shoot, hadn’t fully healed yet.

“One, two, three, four. No, no, Dansol hyung! It’s not just a turn, it’s a snap turn.”

“Left, right, no, ha, Dansol hyung, you’re half a beat late.”

“Get the angles right! Hyung! Your angle is off!”

‘You said it didn’t matter if I lost the center!’

Although Yoonseong usually had high standards for performances, he was particularly harsh on Dansol today, making Dansol scream inwardly.

Dansol, who hadn’t even properly mastered the choreography yet, couldn’t pay attention to the finer details. But Yoonseong, like a fish in water, kept pushing him.

“No, not like that, it’s supposed to flutter in the wind. Like cherry blossoms scattered by the breeze, huh? Can’t you do it? Really?”

In the end, Dansol, who had tried to hold it in, finally pouted.

“Fluttering and… scattering, aren’t they the same?”

“Oh, hyung! How are they the same, like this! Like this! Look, are they the same?”

Through Dansol’s tear-filled eyes, Yoonseong’s gestures looked blurry. To him, it all seemed the same no matter how he looked at it.

“It’s not that…”

As Dansol was about to cry and make excuses, Woohyun’s sarcastic voice came to his ears.

“When you’re seducing the alphas, you do it well enough…”

“What… what did you say?”

At those words, the tears that had been welling up in Dansol’s eyes finally spilled over.