Chapter 274 : For Success (2)
Chapter 274: For Success (2)
“I’m weak at math.”
Seo Haim muttered quietly with a serious face.
Jin Sehyun unconsciously replied in a low voice,
“You should at least be able to do arithmetic.”
“…That’s true.”
Our squirrel.
Looks like his shy image management was about to go down the drain.
Unable to suppress his instinctive brutal honesty, Jin Sehyun raised his hand first.
“I think it’s ten shots.”
“What’s your reasoning?”
“He definitely had three shots in the morning, three at lunch, and four in the evening.”
“You’re seriously underestimating Junseo-hyung with that.”
“Right. Ha Junseo isn’t that weak.”
The person in question, Ha Junseo, wasn’t allowed to answer.
He simply sat there smiling brightly at the camera.
Meanwhile, the Japanese fans reacted like they couldn’t believe it.
* My god, that cute face drinks that much caffeine??
* Korea is the land of iced Americanos
* Do all Korean people drink coffee like that?
Of course not!
That person’s the weird one!
“Junseo-hyung is really weird.”
Right when I was about to say something, Seo Haim beat me to it.
Waving his hands, Seo Haim quietly added,
“That hyung is seriously… really weird. I’m not like that.”
The eldest-hyung cutoff.
“He even raises weird dolls. Like Byeoldori.”
“Why are you attacking Byeoldori?”
“…Oh dear.”
“Ten shots! Wrong! It’s higher.”
In the meantime, Jin Sehyun’s first guess had failed.
I rubbed my chin and seriously thought about it myself.
That hyung constantly poured caffeine into himself like an IV drip anyway….
Hmm.
Let’s just throw out a guess.
“I’ll… go with 12 shots.”
“Oh!”
Itsuki’s eyes widened.
“Correct! Correct! But seriously, he drinks that much?”
“I think it was five shots in the morning, three at lunch, and four in the evening. That hyung starts chugging coffee first thing in the morning.”
“Ahem.”
Ha Junseo slowly avoided Jin Sehyun’s gaze.
The caffeine crackdown period had barely passed, and he’d already gotten caught overdosing on caffeine during a broadcast.
* The teddy bear is scared of the cute baby squirrel!
* Ahhh the babies’ power struggle is adorable!!!
Squirrels tear apart bears.
That’s just how our group works.
“Moving on to the second question.”
That put me in first place with 50 points.
And the second question was aimed directly at me.
[Do Seohan purchased strawberry-flavored KitKat at a Japanese convenience store yesterday. However, the snack later disappeared from the dorm. Who stole and ate it?]
“Huh?”
Wait a second.
The faint smile that had lingered on my lips disappeared instantly.
“Who ate it?”
“How would I know…?”
“When did it disappear?!”
This was absurd.
“Ah, that flavor’s only sold in Japan….”
“My goodness. That’s awful.”
“Jin Sehyun’s tone just now sounded completely soulless. Wasn’t he the one who stole it?”
“I’m a pure baby squirrel.”
“Huh? The body wash should stay quiet.”
“Mm?”
Itsuki grinned mischievously as he added,
“Seohan-san can answer too.”
“I absolutely have to get this right.”
Clenching my fist, I bit down on my lower lip.
No wonder I’d felt strangely empty inside this morning when I left….
“Who could’ve stolen it?”
What kind of person even does that?!
.
.
.
…The culprit was Ha Junseo.
“Junseo-hyung’s a bad person.”
“I… seriously didn’t know! Seo Ian told me he bought it himself! He said I could eat it!”
“It’s true that he bought it! But it wasn’t the strawberry flavor!”
“My goodness. You didn’t even check the flavor and just grabbed it.”
Nope, I’m not listening to excuses.
“The betrayal is insane….”
“Please don’t steal the daily food supply of the hamster in our house.”
“Sorry. Seohan-ah, hyung will buy you another one.”
“Just drink your coffee, hyung!”
* ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ chaotic Stardust
* “Just drink your coffee”ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ not even “go drink,” just “drink coffee”ㅋㅋㅋㅋ
* Seohan getting worked up is too cutewww
* Am I the only one who thinks Jin Sehyun’s comment is funnierㅋㅋㅋㅋ “daily food supply”ㅋㅋㅋ
* Do Hamjji please buy him another KitKat, his expression literally looks like an angry hamster whose food stash got robbed
If it hadn’t been for the quiz, I might never have found out for the rest of my life….
“I’ll buy you every flavor.”
“Mmm~.”
“How about it?”
“Sentence reduced.”
In the end, after extorting three bags of KitKats from Ha Junseo, the chaotic second question finally ended.
The atmosphere at the filming site was so warm that even the members, who had been nervous at first, looked much brighter now.
There was none of the bitterness from the vinegar soy sauce incident.
In the end, Ha Junseo took first place in the quiz show.
“The KitKat thief… even stole the prize too.”
“Whisper whisper! Whisper whisper!”
Jin Sehyun and Seo Haim booed loudly while clapping.
Ha Junseo bowed his head slightly and gave a short acceptance speech.
“A coffee set! A gift… for me. Thank you very much.”
“That’s only enough for ten days. He’s definitely gonna finish it all in one day….”
“Whisper whisper! Whisper whisper!”
Seo Haim’s energy was especially wild today.
* Why are you saying “whisper whisper” out loudㅋㅋㅋㅋ Seo Haim is insane
* Our Choco Haim is having fun
* Now that they’re on a talk show, he seriously put a motor in his mouthㅋㅋㅋ Please send them to stuff like this instead of making them suffer in mudflats
* The kids look way more relaxed today, I like it
* Mm, Mr. Itsuki, please treat our kids well!
The one-hour talk show flew by in chaos.
“Lastly, shall we hear Stardust’s closing thoughts?”
Itsuki smiled as he handed the microphone to Kang Siwoo.
Kang Siwoo grinned and glanced briefly at the comment window.
“Yes, first of all, thank you so much for inviting us to the Itsuki Show today. It feels like we spent the whole time laughing nonstop, but we truly had a lot of fun.”
“Waaaaah! Me too.”
“Ian, do you want to say something too?”
“Yes…!”
Next, Seo Ian began speaking.
“Mr. Itsuki, thank you for welcoming us so warmly. Next time we come back, we’ll return with an even better stage.”
“I’m already looking forward to it. Ahaha!”
Itsuki laughed brightly as he turned toward the camera.
Before anyone realized it, it was already time to wrap up the talk show.
I absentmindedly watched the red ON AIR light blink.
At that moment, Itsuki’s lower lip twitched slightly.
“Mm. I guess it’s my turn to share my thoughts now….”
“Yes!”
For some reason, Itsuki smiled awkwardly.
Soon, his expression became unexpectedly serious.
The lips he had hesitated with slowly parted.
“There’s something I want to say to the members.”
---
For some reason, the atmosphere suddenly felt like we all needed to become serious.
Swallowing hard, I focused on Itsuki’s words.
Kang Siwoo smiled softly and nodded.
Itsuki carefully held the microphone.
“As you all know, our show is pretty chaotic. If you lose focus for even a second, the program just whooshes right past.”
Itsuki smiled gently as he glanced toward the cameras.
He occasionally raised his voice playfully to keep the mood lively, but his eyes were more sincere than ever.
“On top of that, I talk pretty fast, so it must’ve been hard to understand me… sorry about that. I really tried my best to speak slowly!”
The interpreter was beside us, but because the show was broadcast live, there were moments when the members had to immediately understand and answer questions on the spot.
Itsuki acknowledged our efforts.
* That’s right, they did so well!! Proud of them!!
* Our Universe Dust boys are good at Japanese
* They must’ve practiced a lot! They sound native!
Itsuki continued with a pleased smile.
“Thank you so much for following along with my lacking hosting so well. Everything must’ve felt unfamiliar… this studio, the program concept, ah, and even the way I speak too. I use a bit of dialect.”
“Not at all!”
Itsuki’s hosting had been smooth.
When we waved our hands insisting otherwise, he smiled brightly.
“Anyway, thank you for coming onto our program with such great songs and performances. I was deeply impressed by your stage.”
“We’re more thankful that you treated us so comfortably.”
“This is just my personal opinion… but by your next comeback, Stardust will probably become too, how should I put it! Too big of a star for our show.”
Itsuki shrugged as he continued,
“You’re showing an incredible growth rate. And I think there’s a reason for that. I realized it while broadcasting together with you today. Why this group is loved so much—I understood the reason.”
“…….”
“You’re going to become great artists. I’m sure of it.”
A warm, sincere sentence.
At that exact moment, my heart heated up for no reason—
Jin Sehyun’s gaze suddenly shifted to the right.
At the same time, Itsuki also turned his head in surprise.
A suspicious sniffle came from the seat beside us.
No way.
“Hyung, are you crying?”
* Oh my god Sundubu Ian is cryingㅠㅠㅠ
* Who made our rabbit cry!!!
* Huuuuu Seo Ian don’t cry!!!
“I’m not crying.”
Seo Ian’s eyes were slightly red.
It seemed he had become embarrassed when the camera suddenly focused on his face.
Seo Ian hurriedly waved his hands and shook his head.
“It’s just… hearing you say that moved me a little.”
“Ahaha. My goodness. I truly meant it.”
“Yes, and that sincerity made it even more touching.”
The heart that had slowly frozen little by little through all the hardships melted instantly.
And amidst all that, Itsuki’s warm words must have gently struck his emotions.
Ha Junseo laughed as he patted Seo Ian’s back.
Soft, yet stronger than anyone else.
Seo Ian spoke in a gentle voice.
“Mr. Itsuki.”
At those words, Itsuki smiled softly and looked up.
Seo Ian smiled brightly as he spoke.
“I promise. By our next album, we’ll return as an even bigger star.”
“Will you appear on our program again then too?”
“Of course.”