44. Production Announcement (4)
Kim Ji-rok thought while holding back his rising anger.
'Ha On-ha, what on earth is this jerk thinking?'
He seemed to be friendly, but he couldn't figure out what was the cause of him suddenly provoking him like this.
Kim Ji-rok basically hated people who were suspicious. Even when he was reading a comic book, whenever he saw a smiling face or a squinty character, he would make a shit-eating expression.
'Those guys always hit the back of the head.'
Ha On-ha wasn't squinting, he was smiling brightly.
'Well, whatever.'
He didn't want to talk to him for long, but in order to achieve his goal, Kim Ji-rok barely managed to smile while hiding his tightly clenched fists behind his back.
"I'm going to quit smoking soon. It's hard for me, too. I learned a lot of bad things while serving in the military."
"Wow, you've already served in the military~ You're a man, hyung! Hyung, when you debut, you won't have to go to the military, so your fans will like it."
"Oh, well. I guess so."
"I'm really jealous. Wasn't it hard?"
It wasn't hard at all. It was like a dog. When he asked his friends from middle school to talk about their experiences after serving in the military, they gave him minus 50,000 points and hurled all the arrogant curses that were in their frontal lobes.
But Kim Ji-rok answered with a little bravado.
"It was worth it."
"Wow, you're amazing!"
"No, what's amazing with that."
"It's amazing! When I go to the military later, I'll ask for some advice~"
Ha On-ha spoke to Kim Ji-rok in a friendly manner, praising him.
Kim Ji-rok was confused.
'What? Wasn't what you said earlier intentionally trying to tease me?'
Was it just something he blurted out without any ill intention?
Is he just a clueless guy?
"Yeah. What's difficult? Then call him? Dial the number. Send him my home address."
"I'm fine~"
That's right. He was caught.
Kim Ji-rok quickly held out his smartphone. It was easier than he thought. But Ha On-ha, who took the smartphone, dialed 010 and stopped abruptly.
"But."
"Huh?"
"Why don't you just tell him yourself, hyung?"
"Huh? Why, all of a sudden? No, if I tell him, of course he'll get angry and refuse to come."
"I don't like lying at all~"
Ah. You inflexible brat.
Kim Ji-rok tried to suppress the heat that was rising in his head again.
"Why?"
"Just because~ I personally don't like lying that much. It makes me feel uncomfortable. It's like deceiving others."
Ha. You acted like you were going to help, but now you're joking.
I thought you were a loose and easygoing person, but you were honest on unnecessary points, making people angry. My insides were boiling.
"Let me ask you a favor just this once. Huh? I'm not doing anything bad, I'm just trying to make up for it. Is it hard to just help me out? It's not that hard."
Ha On-ha opened his eyes wide as if he was genuinely curious about those words.
"Why isn't it hard?"
"What?"
"It's hard for me~ I told you, it makes me feel uncomfortable."
"No, what...."
"The first thing I hate the most is being uncomfortable and the second is lying, but hyung, you asked me to do the two things I hate the most. If you ask me to do two things I hate, it's bound to be difficult because my heart won't follow."
Ha On-ha sighed exaggeratedly and slumped his shoulders. Then he made a face as if he realized something.
"Ah."
"What?"
That was when the words 'I'm sorry for making you do something you don't like, but you should have told me to do it, why are you talking so much?' rose to the top of Kim Ji-rok's throat.
Ha On Ha suddenly raised the corners of his eyes.
If you only look at his expression, it was refreshing and peaceful, as if he was talking about what he ate for breakfast and what he ate for lunch.
However, there was a grain of truth in his words.
"I guess you usually enjoy lying as much as you breathe, hyung? Since you said it wasn't that difficult."
Kim Ji Rok finally couldn't hold it in and ground his teeth.
Wow, I've been wondering since a while ago, but this brat is giving me shit right now, right? Are you saying we should fight?
He had held it in as long as he could. His patience was already at its limit.
"Hey. What are you trying to do?"
"Huh?"
"Let's see, let's see, you're talking so strangely. It pisses me off."
"Me? I was just saying what I thought."
Ha On Ha's attitude was shameless, as if he had never heard of it before.
Kim Ji Rok felt his head boiling with heat. He wanted to punch that shiny face right now and turn his jaw.
Forgetting where they were for a moment, he clenched his fist and took a threatening step forward.
Yeo Do-bin quickly stepped in between the two and blocked Kim Ji-rok.
As if trying to prevent the distance from getting too close and developing into a melee, he spread out his palms and placed one hand in front of Kim Ji-rok and the other in front of Ha On-ha, keeping an appropriate distance.
'What the hell, you punk.'
As he was about to brush it aside, his eyes met with a cold gaze that seemed to warn him.
The stiff expression on his face was just like the cold wind that blew so hard that it was so cold it sent shivers down his spine. Kim Ji-rok almost looked away and lowered his head.
"You shouldn't fight...!"
Contrary to his appearance, his tone was bland and frigid.
'Oh, sheez. I was nervous for nothing!"
Thanks to that, Kim Ji-rok came to his senses with a bang.
"Ha.."
Right. He can't lose his temper here and ruin everything. He had been trying so hard to act cool to clean up his image.
"Hey, that's enough. Just leave it alone."
Kim Ji-rok glared at Ha On-ha once and turned around.
After a while, when Kim Ji-rok moved away, Yeo Do-bin spoke softly with a pale face.
"Ha On-ha. Why, why did you do that...?"
"Huh? What~?"
"You just called Kim Ji-rok a liar who lies as if he's breathing, and you said he smells earlier too...! What should I do then?"
Yeo Do-bin blamed Ha On-ha in a panic.
Ha On-ha smiled cynically.
'Hmm~ Is this something I did wrong?'
In the first place, isn't it the person who made a suspicious request and got angry and left because it didn't go his way?
Ha On-ha only told the truth.
If he had to point out a mistake, it would be that he didn't have any intention of provoking Kim Ji-rok at all.
In fact, until now, Ha On-ha had no sense of caution or prejudice toward Kim Ji-rok. It was just that, although his words and actions are sometimes aggressive, he is the type who doesn't cross the line, that was Ha On-ha's assessment of Kim Ji-rok.
However, this morning, when Neoul harshly evaluated Gye Tae-seok, saying, "He's messy," "His eyes are crazy," and "He's just like a dolphin that harasses a pufferfish."
And when Ha On-ha's innocence toward dolphins was shattered because of that, his assessment changed a little.
Ha On-ha searched and carefully read terms like "drug side effects" and "drug withdrawal symptoms," and observed Gye Tae-seok closely.
He didn't know before, but now that he looked back, isn't Gye Tae-seok showing behaviors similar to drug withdrawal symptoms?
'I'm not a doctor, so I can't jump to conclusions...'
At that moment, a memory suddenly flashed through Ha On-ha's mind.
During the open evaluation for the Signal Song Center selection, Gye Tae-seok gave up on the evaluation. He fidgeted and complained of stomachache and muscle pain, and even when the production team suggested he go to the hospital, he refused several times and locked himself in his dorm.
He was sick enough to give up on such an important evaluation, but he didn't want to go to the hospital? Doesn't anyone think it's suspicious?
Wasn't what he showed at that time withdrawal symptoms?
So Ha On-ha thought about what Gal Neoul said on the bus again.
'At that time... he said that 'the soul' smelled bad.'
Why did he say that 'the soul' smelled bad, and not bad breath, cigarette smell, or odor of the head or feet?
After much thought, he came to the conclusion.
'Gal Neoul, is there something...? Is there something strange?'
There are people in the world who have exceptional intuition. They can't be explained scientifically, but when they sense something and look closely, their intuition is always right.
Ha On-ha thought that Gal Neoul was one of those people.
'Gal Neoul felt something bad from Gye Tae-seok and Kim Ji-rok.'
Ha On-ha had one person around him who had exceptional intuition. In his experience, it wouldn't hurt to listen to what those people said. Especially if he was a guy who was honest and had no plans.
But then Kim Ji-rok came up with a strange request. He told him to bring Gal Neoul, but not to tell him that it was his house.
'Everyone knows that they don't get along. It's suspicious.'
Ha On-ha thought it was a good idea and gently scratched Kim Ji-rok's nerve.
'He'd get angry if he got stabbed. But he'd have to endure it. What can I do? If he doesn't have the patience to endure even this much scratching, shouldn't he not debut? If he's that hot-tempered, who knows where he'll go and cause trouble later on?'
Ha On-ha smiled and began to secretly tease Kim Ji-rok. If he didn't get caught, he would gradually increase the intensity and test it.
But Kim Ji-rok started to get annoyed before he could properly tease him.
-ɪꜱ ɪᴛ ʜᴀʀᴅ ᴛᴏ ᴊᴜꜱᴛ ʜᴇʟᴘ ᴏᴜᴛ?
If he had to choose the most unacceptable thing to say to someone asking for help, Ha On-ha would choose this sentence without a second of hesitation.
'You're right.'
There was nothing more to see.
But Ha On-ha deliberately went a step further. It's better to make everything clear.
-ᴅᴏ ʏᴏᴜ ᴜꜱᴜᴀʟʟʏ ᴇɴᴊᴏʏ ʟʏɪɴɢ ᴀꜱ ᴍᴜᴄʜ ᴀꜱ ʏᴏᴜ ʙʀᴇᴀᴛʜᴇ? ᴊᴜᴅɢɪɴɢ ꜰʀᴏᴍ ᴛʜᴇ ꜰᴀᴄᴛ ᴛʜᴀᴛ ʏᴏᴜ ꜱᴀɪᴅ ɪᴛ ᴡᴀꜱɴ'ᴛ ᴛʜᴀᴛ ᴅɪꜰꜰɪᴄᴜʟᴛ.
An ordinary person would try to brush off such words as lightly as possible.
Even though the production presentation was over, the staff who hadn't finished work were still busy cleaning up the set, and there were many other eyes watching.
'No, that's not true.'
'I misspoke. I'm sorry for asking you for something.'
'Not like breathing~ It's just a white lie.'
This was the answer Ha On-ha had expected.
However, Kim Ji-rok showed a reaction that was beyond his expectations.
-ʜᴇʏ, ᴡʜᴀᴛ ᴀʀᴇ ʏᴏᴜ ᴛʀʏɪɴɢ ᴛᴏ ᴅᴏ?
'Oh my~ You're being too much.'
After verifying that Kim Ji-rok was the one who should be filtered out, Ha On-ha, who had slammed the stamp, secretly gave this honor to Gal Neoul and vowed to himself that he would somehow prevent Kim Ji-rok from making it to the debut group.
In the midst of all this, Kim Ji-rok, who had become enraged, tried to swing his sword at the right time.
'I'll just hit him once and kick him out.'
He had thought of avoiding his face and getting hit safely but still being hit well. He had even thought of doing an over-action by getting hit lightly and pretending to fly far away.
It was surprising that Yeo Do-bin, who seemed timid and scared, stepped forward to stop the fight.
'Oh, that's a shame.....'
Ha On-ha was feeling sorry for missing his chance, but Yeo Do-bin pressed him in a low voice.
"You shouldn't say that!"
Ha On-ha felt frustrated. Who is he defending right now? You're still protecting Kim Ji-rok after seeing him almost get punched?
Was this guy really that bad?
For a moment, he was about to feel disappointed, thinking he had misjudged him.
"What if you openly make an enemy like that...!"
..... Eh?
"You could just say sorry that you can't and cut ties quietly and naturally...! What if you get retaliated later?"
Yeo Do-bin looked around, checked his surroundings, and lowered his voice even further as he argued.
"That hyung is really weird...! Did you see him raise his fist? He was going to hit you! I don't get it!"
Yeo Dobin warned Ha Onha that it's best to avoid weird people and that he shouldn't deal with them in the future. Then he ran, saying that he didn't know why but that he seemed to be aiming for Neoul, so he had to tell him.
Ha Onha couldn't believe who was warning whom, so he laughed in vain and followed.
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