36. Survival (2)
In a corner of the training grounds in the survival game field, inside the tent.
The staff who were monitoring the GPS to prevent missing persons and the real-time recorded videos for situational reporting were moving busily.
"Mr. Seol Yi-soo, Mr. Baek Han-gyul, and Mr. Ahn Jung-woo. Three of them were eliminated."
"Mr. Lee A-ram was eliminated just now."
"What? Really? Who shot him?"
"Isn't it Mr. Hyun-seung? He hid here, in this part."
The planning team member who was stuck among the studio staff wiped his face. He had been working overtime all the time, and now that he was working outside, his murderous intent was rising.
'I want to go home......'
The employee sighed deeply and turned his head. The planning team usually doesn't follow to the filming set, but they had no choice but to come out after Director Kwak In-hyuk said, 'There was almost an accident, so go and check the situation yourself.' So it was natural that he was not happy with this situation.
'Isn't this the management team's job in the first place?'
Manager Ji Young-heon followed along, but the team was struggling due to a lack of manpower, so they couldn't complain.
The staff's conversation caught the attention of the planning team employee who was reciting the after-work prayer.
"Wow, Grandma's movements... are amazing."
"That's right. We were expecting a situation where they failed to recruit and had to take out one person as a joker."
"That's right, we tried to get some of the members' parts by interfering like spies. Who did you really think they'd bring?"
The planning team employee, who became curious about the staff's conversation, tilted his head. On the screen, Grandma Kim Bok-hee was handling a gun with familiar hands.
On the other side, Yoo Young was seen catching his breath and hiding behind a tree.
"Ah......."
The employee couldn't help but feel goosebumps when he saw Yoo Young. He used to say that 'Yoo Young is either a genius or a crazy person', but after working with him, he realized that he was both a genius and a crazy person.
After the album preparations began, he never saw a day when he didn't work all night and took it for granted; it's a given that the employees had to work overtime as if it were nothing. And then he said he was weak physically, so he went jogging in the morning, and he doubted if he was a real person.
Even now, look at him. Even though it's just a simple game, he throws himself into it and immerses himself in it, saying it's filming.
'But it seems like he's managing his condition since the start of the activity period. That level of workaholic is a disease.'
During the activity period, there were so many things outside the company, such as filming or events, that he left most of the work to the employees.
If he hadn't done that, he would have died from overwork...….
"Uh, uh. He's moving."
While the employee was lost in thought, Yoo Young moved.
At the same time, Hwang Bo-kyun, who was nearby, stopped and looked around. He heard the sound, but it seemed like he hadn't found Yoo Young yet. Amid the tension, Yoo Young's walkie-talkie made a sound.
[...... Young-ah, where are you?]
"Hyung, the place where we decided to meet up when we dispersed earlier."
[I'll be there soon...… soon.]
That's how Yoo Young and Ryu Hyunseung try to contact each other.
This time, Grandma Kim Bok-hee's walkie-talkie rings.
[Nuna, I think there's one on my side. Should I push them to the corner?]
"Why are you struggling? Leave them alone~ There will be a time for everything, wait."
[Yes, nuna.]
The radio cut off, and a chilling wind rang out beyond the microphone. The leaves swayed without a will.
Yoo Young hid himself and carved a mark on the tree. It was a dangerous thing that could easily reveal his location, but he didn't care.
After carving the mark, he turned off the radio and held his breath.
Thump, thump. He heard something that he could tell was footsteps. When his concentration reached its peak, silence flowed as if a cassette tape had suddenly cut off. The smell of grass tickled his nose.
"....."
Just when he felt like his heart had gone still, he heard two sounds of footsteps dragging from the right side. It was in the direction of the tree with the markings.
As soon as he heard the sound, Yoo Young ran to the opposite side.
"Huh!"
For a moment, Hwang Bo-kyun looked flustered, but soon he quickly grasped the situation and raised his gun.
Three shots.
With just three gunshots, paint bullets rained down in front of his eyes.
No matter how young and athletic Yoo Young was, he wasn't a soldier who had received professional training. No, even if he was a soldier, he wouldn't be able to avoid this distance.
It would have been easier to avoid if it was closer. Yoo Young thought about that for a moment and let go of his strength.
The paint bullets hit his helmet and torso, blocking his vision, and his body tilted forward.
"Whoa~ what a surprise...?"
Hwang Bo-kyun straightened his upper body after seeing Yoo Young fall. Then he felt pain in his chest.
Blue paint flowed down his safety vest like blood.
"What is this... Seung-ah?"
Hwang Bo-kyun looked around to find the person who had shot him. However, he had to give up looking. Ryu Hyun-seung, who knew Yoo Young would fall, sniped from outside his field of vision.
The staff who saw that couldn't help but be amazed.
'No, aren't you all too serious as idols? With the code, the operation signal... And why is he sniping from a tree?'
There, the cameraman couldn't go up, so if it weren't for the pre-prepared, installed camera, they wouldn't have been able to film. But no one except the planning team staff pointed this out.
Breathing sounds that you don't know are mixed into the air.
"Huh..."
Ryu Hyun-seung fired a deterrent shot at a place where someone might be hiding. He didn't get a response, but he didn't care.
Even though she was old, his opponent was a former special forces soldier. There was no way she would fall for such a shallow trick.
He finally sighed and came down from the tree. Then he picked up the radio that Hwang Bo-kyun had dropped.
"......Nuna."
[How did you notice?]
From afar, Grandma Kim Bok-hee appeared. She stood and stared at Ryu Hyun-seung without any disturbance.
"At once?" [Dialect]
"..... Yes."
"Don't regret it."
"...I won't."
The two stand still, aiming at each other. After a while, the winner is decided, and the survival filming ends.
***
"Wow~ It was fun."
"I was sad that I was eliminated too quickly."
After the survival game, after filming the interview cuts, it was already dinner time.
Bok-hee nuna said she had fun and disappeared with her son. She was cool until the end.
I patted my shoulder.
'I'm tired because I moved my body so much.'
I didn't feel tired, even though I danced so hard on stage. But I couldn't show my condition in front of the camera.
We gathered in the yard of the pension and grilled the Korean beef we received as a prize. There were also various cooking ingredients prepared, so we were able to prepare a hearty meal.
Hwang Bo-kyun, who was standing up and grilling meat, asked me.
"By the way, how did Young-i and Seung-i do the combo at the very end of the survival?"
"Oh. That......…."
Ryu Hyun-seung blinked and smiled shyly. Looking back, it seemed like he realized that he had been too immersed in the game.
I answered for him.
"We decided on a password before we started the game and dispersed. So when I was hiding alone, I carved the password on the tree where we were supposed to gather. It said, 'There are two, trying to bait.'"
"Yeah, dragging your feet twice on the floor means... 'Confirmed, agreed.'"
Lee A-ram frowned as if questioning Ryu Hyun-seung, who nodded.
"How did you know there were two of them?"
"Uh... I felt eyes on me."
"Eyes?"
"Huh, I didn't notice Young-i at that time?"
Hwang Bo-kyun looked at me with a bewildered face. Even his hand that was grilling the meat stopped.
I quickly turned the meat over with another pair of tongs, thinking I might get off.
"Hyung, you didn't notice, but didn't you catch me on camera? At least part of it. I had that feeling."
"...Excuse me, PD?"
"I'll check it out."
They looked back at the footage they had shot with the PD's consent. And found Yoo Young on the camera that was filming Hwang Bo-kyun and Grandma Kim Bok-hee. As expected, as expected.
'I've always liked this feeling.'
When I was young, I wasn't like that, but as I got used to life in the entertainment industry, I became sensitive to gaze. Whether it was people or cameras.
When my senses were tense and my body felt like it was going to burst, it was almost always right.
'It's good for visiting home theater or performing on stage, but other than that, well, sometimes it's annoying.'
It's not a good feeling to feel eyes looking at me from places I don't recognize. Especially after becoming Yoo Young, my senses became sharper, and when I entered the filming set, I felt like there were countless eyes watching me from all sides.
I'm somehow adjusting to it now, but if I hadn't realized that I was an idol, I might have gone crazy.
"Then when Jungwoo was eliminated? You didn't know who was there, right?"
"Hmm... That's right."
Come to think of it, I didn't notice until I was sniped.
At the time, it was such an urgent situation that I didn't think much of it, but looking back, it was amazing.
As I was trying to figure out the reason, the writer continued.
"When I watched the video, when Grandma Kim Bokhee was sniping Ahn Jungwoo, the camera was only filming Grandma and Jungwoo. Yoo Young was off the screen."
"...That's creepy in its own way."
Lee Aram got goosebumps, and even the staff started gossiping. Baek Han-gyul was deep in thought with a serious face.
"If we hadn't been filming, would I have been able to avoid being caught?"
"No, that's not true. You really stood out."
"Hmph."
When I cut off Baek Hangyul's opinion at once, he ate the meat sullenly. Seol Yi-soo, who saw him, poured a lot of the cooked meat onto Baek Han-gyul's plate.
"Eat a lot."
"Oh, thank you!"
He stuffed his cheeks with meat and ate it well. He seemed like he would be happy to do a mukbang.
"Let's take a short break!"
After finishing the meal, we all went into the pension and lay down in the living room. It was a short break when the camera was off.
After the near-accident, we had to stay in front of the camera, and even when the camera was off, we had to do various checks, so this break felt like gold.
"Does anyone have any pain? If you have a headache, nausea, dizziness, or hearing problems, you should tell us right away."
"Yes!"
Ji Young-heon carefully checked the members' conditions and disappeared to work.
Baek Han-gyul, who was full, rubbed his eyes and yawned. Hwang Bo-kyun checked the cell phone he had received while he was resting.
"Wow, guys, the Planet seniors are coming back soon!"
"Huh?"
The guys who had been slumping got up at the news that Hwang Bo-kyun brought. Even Lee Aram opened his mouth and asked.
"When?"
"Last week of March."
"One month left."
When I searched, I found a picture posted on Planet's official account. It was a comeback teaser image that I'd never seen before.
'Oh...... This is different.'
I never thought I'd see a Planet I didn't produce. They couldn't just spend their time on hiatus, so I knew in my head that this was right, but my stomach was churning.
"It's been almost a year since Planet seniors made a comeback, right?"
"Oh, oh. It's been a little over a year."
I tried to calmly get the rice cake while listening to the Intro members' conversation.
Well, if they hadn't made a comeback in a year, they must have endured a lot.
'Since they're coming out, I hope they prepare properly.'
If this album falls short of the standard... I was going to go back and tease them for a long time.
Well, considering our leader's personality, that wouldn't be the case.
While Hwang Bo-kyun is socially savvy and has a friendly image... Planet's leader Tak Seung-min, looks easygoing and has a good personality, but in reality, he's a strict and control freak.
'Sometimes, I think it's obsessive-compulsive disorder.'
I guess it's fortunate that he's on the safe side for those within his own line.
I thought that Tak Seung-min must be having a hard time coordinating opinions with the company and taking care of the remaining three members without me. As I thought seriously, Ahn Jung-woo came over and tapped my arm.
"What are you thinking?"
"Um, looking forward to the Planet seniors' new album?"
"You don't look like you're looking forward to it......."
Ahn Jung-woo mumbled and shrugged his shoulders. Then he pointed behind him.
"They're starting filming again. Get ready."
"Huh? Oh, thank you."
I pulled myself together and wiped my forehead. When Ji Young-heon put the phone away, my mind became much more at ease.
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