Chapter 216 : Met on the Family Register
Chapter 216: Met on the Family Register
“Huk. The pillow exploded.”
Seo Ian let out a low gasp, covering his mouth.
Something like cotton had been floating around since earlier—turns out it wasn’t fine dust.
It really burst. I’d have to buy a new one.
“Uwaaaaah!”
“Gyaaaaaah!”
Meanwhile, chaos was erupting in the background.
The hyungs were usually full of energy, but… today, they seemed just a little out of their minds.
Cha Seongbin and Seo Haim clashed in the center, letting out war cries that could’ve been from an actual battlefield.
A pillow sliced through the air with a whoosh.
Thud.
And then came the dull sound of Seo Haim’s head hitting the back of the bed.
Cha Seongbin flinched and jumped in place.
“…You okay?”
“Gkk.”
Thinking back on how this pillow fight started….
Honestly.
There was no need to take it this seriously!
“Please stop going so hard at this!”
—I was the one who shouted that.
Because, really.
“I’m not giving up the single room.”
“Same here.”
“Wow… That sounded like something from Magic Chinese Characters Adventure or something.”
“Everyone’s lost it!”
All of this madness….
Was just for the sake of securing the single room.
We had a week-long overseas schedule lined up.
Elson Telmore had expressed his intention to come to Korea for producing, but because it overlapped with the music video shoot, we ended up heading to New York instead.
The plan was to record there and also complete several overseas radio appearances aside from the music video shoot.
Because of that, our stay in the U.S. became longer than expected.
“So, the lodging’s been arranged….”
Kang Siwoo swallowed dryly as he glanced around at the members.
His nervousness was written all over his face—he clearly knew the weight of the words he was about to say.
Kang Siwoo shut his eyes tightly.
“There’s one single room.”
“…Hold on.”
“You mean Doubles booked four rooms for us?”
“No way.”
Murmurs.
Seo Haim whispered into my ear with wide, round eyes.
“Whoa, this is insane….”
“What’s going on?”
Last time we went overseas, we only had three rooms, but this time, Doubles generously added one more.
It was an incredible chance: two members per room, and one person could have a single room all to themselves.
Maybe it was because Stardust had been doing well lately, or maybe because the stay was longer than last time.
Either way….
Beaming, Seo Haim raised one hand straight up.
“I want the single room!”
“Haim-ah, you don’t want to room with the hyungs~?”
“They say even the closest bonds need some distance sometimes.”
Seo Haim cheerfully shut down Cha Seongbin’s comment.
He wasn’t wrong….
I nodded and added on.
“I think we’re a little too close, too.”
“Guys, I’m disappointed!”
“Mm, right. So Seongbin-hyung’s off the single room list, right?”
“…Huh?”
Kang Siwoo struck through Cha Seongbin’s name with a firm line. Cha Seongbin hurriedly waved his hands in protest.
“I was wrong, hyung.”
Every time, I’m amazed how the word ‘hyung’ comes out of his mouth with zero awkwardness….
Calmly, Kang Siwoo wrote Cha Seongbin’s name back onto the paper.
“I’ll spare you this once.”
“Thank you, teacher. I promise to live a better life from now on.”
Cha Seongbin bowed and shuffled back in retreat.
Kang Siwoo chuckled and brushed the list aside. Asking for the members’ opinions had just been a formality.
“Everyone’s going to fight for the single anyway.”
“Yes.”
“True.”
It’s not that dorm life was bad, but there was no reason to turn down a single room either.
Kang Siwoo turned to ask for suggestions.
“How should we decide? Anyone have ideas?”
“Me!”
Actually, the camera had been rolling since earlier.
This footage was going to be uploaded on Stardust’s official YouTube as a roommate matching behind-the-scenes, so a boring selection method wouldn’t do.
We had to get at least a little fun out of it.
Seo Haim blurted out a line with variety show flair.
“Pillow fight…?”
That was the beginning of all this madness.
.
.
.
So how did my single-room battle turn out…?
“We’ll draw lots to determine matchups. First up, Kang Siwoo… Do Seohan….”
“Huh?”
“Wow, Seohan’s up?”
Was this matchup even real?
Faced with an unbelievable opponent, my eyelid twitched.
If it had been anyone else, I might’ve had a shot—but to go up against Kang Siwoo right off the bat?
It felt unfair.
It’s not like I had been slacking while he worked out, but….
For the past week, with the music video coming up, Kang Siwoo had become fully committed to working out again.
Ever since I was born, I’ve had a body that builds muscle easily, and with effort on top of that, there’s no one who can stop me.
If my opponent is the pumped-up Kang Siwoo, it’ll be over in ten seconds.
Ha Junseo’s sentimental voice added on.
“Seohan-ah, farewell….”
“No, but I’m telling you, Siwoo-hyung is secretly weak to Seohan.”
“True. He might go easy on him.”
Yeah, no such thing.
Kang Siwoo smiled faintly and opened his mouth.
“Don’t worry. I’ll make it quick.”
“That’s even scarier….”
Wasn’t that basically, I’ll end you fast and painless?
A chill ran down my spine.
And as far as I knew, Siwoo-hyung was the type who kept his word.
Cha Seongbin, who had taken on the role of one-day MC, stepped forward to time the match.
I clenched my teeth and gripped the pillow tightly in my hands.
Ah. Even if I get launched, getting finished in ten seconds is too much.
I planned to just hold out however I could.
Cha Seongbin’s voice started the countdown.
“Okay, I’ll count. 3, 2, 1….”
And then.
“St—”
Thwack—.
Whoosh.
“Seohan-ack!”
…Off I flew, nice and clean.
[Lowest rank in the Universe Dust food chain really is Do Seohan]
If you disagree, go watch this week’s roommate matching behind-the-scenes
—Ah lololol how could a hamster beat a husky….
└Right, Seohan-ah, it’s the law of nature, so try not to take it too hard
└Dead lolololol this is too much lololol
└Oh no Do Hamster lololol
—“I’ll make it quick.”
└Kang Siwoo-teacher, you’re terrifying
└lololol fr Do Hamjji got 10-second KO’d ㅠㅠ
└Seohan didn’t even scream “ack!” It was more like “huh!” as he flew away, I lost it
└Frick lol he went “huh” lolololol
└Why do I know exactly what kind of face that was…? He crumpled like what just happened…?
└Guess it was stronger than expected….
└Ah this is crazy, so cute
—Do Hamdo’s been all proud lately about working out hard, what do we do
└Sorry, but the opponent is a dump truck
└lololol honestly it was a compact vs. dump truck class matchup
└Kang Siwoo’s pillow is flying at you? That’s just a natural disaster
└Same, even Jin Sehyun would’ve gotten launched by that….
[I thought Haim and Seongbin’s pillow fight was the funniest]
They’re both all talk, you know
“I’m gonna hit you, okay? Really hit you, okay?”
They went on like that for ten minutes lolololol
Are you two fighting with your mouths????
—It would’ve been more fun to see whose mouth would float first if they fell in water
└Ah lolololol if they fell in, it’d be just their mouths bobbing lolol
└Are you insane lolololol
└So harsh but weirdly true
—Battle of the century, my heart is swelling….
—They’re basically competing on who can yell louder lolol threatening each other but not scary at all
—After all that struggling, Seongbin barely won, but then faced Kang Siwoo in the next round—funnier than the fight
└What happened?
└?
└Sorry, that question wasn’t even worth asking
└lololololololololololol
.
.
.
“Mr. Seojun, have you thought about it?”
Producer Do Seojun looked up at the voice coming from above his head.
Team Leader Han Jiyoon from the Variety Department was smiling down at him.
Her straight hair seemed extra glossy today—probably because she was just back from leave and looked full of life.
In contrast, Do Seojun’s desk was stacked with backed-up paperwork.
There had been so much to do overnight that he hadn’t been able to finish thinking about the matter.
“Hmm….”
Do Seojun stalled his response.
“You mean the broadcast appearance.”
“Yes!”
He hadn’t meant to, but he’d maintained an air of mystery at work.
He’d never mentioned that he was brothers with Stardust’s Do Seohan, but Assistant Manager Yoo from another team had apparently binge-watched Starf and seen the video letter he’d sent to his younger brother right before the finale.
‘No wonder they looked alike~.’
‘Wow. Can you get me Do Seohan’s autograph?’
‘You must feel proud your brother’s doing so well.’
Yeah. That was a mistake.
He forgot that TV appearances stay around forever.
Anyway, because that Assistant Manager Yoo happened to be preparing a family variety show titled Met on the Family Register, Do Seojun had shot straight to the top of the casting list.
The concept of the show was to take time for siblings who’d been too busy to connect, and let them do things they’d missed out on together.
Assistant Manager Yoo had good instincts, and Seojun had a hunch this could be a decent program.
Team Leader Han Jiyoon added on excitedly.
She must’ve wanted to help her friend Yoo with the casting—she just kept talking.
“Seojun-ssi, you’ve got a great face. And your brother’s doing so well. PD Yoo says the buzz would be guaranteed if you two were on together.”
“Haha… Is that so.”
Do Seojun laughed awkwardly and let her words wash over him.
Sure, PDs were public-facing to a degree, but at heart, they were still regular people.
He hadn’t even become a main PD yet, so the idea of standing in front of a camera felt all kinds of awkward.
Team Leader Han smiled knowingly and added one more thing.
“But don’t feel too pressured—just think about it comfortably.”
“Yes, understood.”
“If you blow up and quit to go freelance, then that’s a whole other problem~. So pick the chill option!”
As she cheerfully tossed out that last line, PD Do Seojun sank into thought.
“…….”
The moment the offer came in, he’d automatically researched the program.
Met on the Family Register. It was going for a heartwarming angle, so the risk of being edited badly was low, and Yoo didn’t seem like the type to stab a coworker in the back.
Plus, it was a seasonal variety show, which helped take the pressure off.
“It’s tricky….”
What he could gain was recognition.
The consequences of that recognition would be clear in both light and shadow.
There were PDs in broadcasting stations known as “star PDs” because their faces frequently showed up on camera.
In the end, PDs also lived off public interest, so having a higher profile wasn’t a bad thing.
It might even help him land his next project.
Do Seojun finished weighing his options internally.
What mattered most….
“I need to ask Do Seohan what he thinks.”