Episode 67: The Concert (3)

Healing With Loovely Druid

Episode 67: The Concert (3)

"Go on up first. The boys have to wash off their hair products and makeup before going up. If they don't get this off quickly, their skin breaks out completely."

Manager Woo handed the card key to Sihyeon.

"Okay. I'll do that."

Sihyeon nodded, looking at the state of the Tracker members, who were covered in colorful makeup, dangling jewelry, and even glitter. Fortunately, the setup allowed them to quickly wash off on the third floor of the RV dorm before heading up. Sihyeon carried stacks of bouquets along with the managers up to the dorm.

"The bouquets are incredible."

"There are even more because it's a concert. It's usually not this much."

"What do you normally do with the bouquets? Do you put them in vases?"

One of the road managers shrugged and replied, "We just bring them up. I think they just leave them around for a few days and then throw them out?"

"Ah."

"Well, we'll head back down. It'll take the members about an hour. They have to dry their hair completely, too."

Sihyeon placed the wild rose flowerpot he had gifted on the living room windowsill and began organizing the bouquets. Because they were already cut bouquets, their natural energy was fading, but since Sihyeon's hands had touched them, they would last for a few more weeks.

"There are a lot of roses. This one's a rose, and that one's a rose, too."

In the new world, even the roses were more extravagant. It felt like they possessed every color in the world. There was light green, and even light blue. Sihyeon pulled out a single light blue rose with a darker gradient at the tips and smelled its fragrance for a long time. Perhaps because the petals were dense, it released a unique and wonderful powdery scent.

"……This one is manufactured."

Sihyeon smacked his lips in slight disappointment. This was an artificially dyed rose. It was a bit of a shame that it wasn't a real blue rose, which carried the flower language of 'miracle,' but it was still a rose nonetheless. In exchange, it exuded a beautiful gradient and a deep fragrance.

"Haah."

Sihyeon sat among the bundles of roses, thoroughly intoxicating himself with the rich scent.

It was a time to briefly forget his complicated thoughts and compose his mind without thinking about anything.

Sihyeon closed his eyes and muttered, "Now I can finally breathe."

This was precisely the power of fragrance.

People didn't engage in aromatherapy and spray perfume for no reason.

Fragrance didn't just serve the purpose of masking odors; it also possessed the power of healing.

Only after taking a breather did all the various flowers finally catch his eye.

Sihyeon's eyes sparkled with curiosity as he unraveled all the bouquets. Checking their natural energy, he separated and bundled the flowers by type to provide even a little bit of help to the Tracker members. It wasn't intentional, but the colors turned out to match their hair colors rather well, making for a great fit.

He gathered light green flowers for Siwoo. He bundled large-blossomed gerberas, roses, and baby's breath. For Heesu, who always needed vitality, he chose pink peonies, carnations, white oxypetalum, and shepherd's purse. For Jerome, who needed medicinal properties, he selected purple tulips, roses, and…… with these flimsy petals, it was probably lisianthus.

For Kay, who moved around a lot, he arranged yellow carnations, tulips, ranunculus, and peonies in an oasis basket. Finally, for Leo, he bundled light blue hydrangeas, roses, and white gerberas. It had the effect of calming the mind.

Before he knew it, well over an hour had slipped by.

"The boys should be arriving soon."

Sihyeon lightly moved his hands, beginning to infuse natural energy into the wild rose flowerpot. The moment his fingertips brushed the rose, a fragrance filled the living room as if telling him to leave it to them. With the natural energy contained in the wild rose pot, the flowers would remain blooming freshly for the time being.

After wiping his fingers, which were thick with the scent of grass, Sihyeon threw himself onto the sofa with a satisfied expression.

A delicious smell wafted from somewhere.

Sihyeon sniffed with his eyes half-closed before opening them fully at a touch on his shoulder.

"Hyung. Wake up."

His body felt like a winter duvet soaked in water. While wondering why his physical condition was in this shape, his damn master crossed his mind right along with the concert. Attaching a curse word before his master was something he had never imagined doing, but dammit. Whatever happens, happens. He framed him as a traitor of all things, so what did it matter?

When Sihyeon showed no signs of getting up, Siwoo stared at him again. A worried face. Perhaps because he had just washed up, the kid looked clear-skinned and even younger.

"Why? Are you hurting somewhere?"

"No."

If he were home, he would have closed his eyes again and slept until tomorrow morning. But this was the boys' dorm.

Not wanting to cause any more worry, he forced his stiff body up.

"Did you not sleep last night? You have dark circles under your eyes."

"I'm just a bit tired."

Heesu, who had pushed his bangs back with a headband, pointed at the bouquets and asked, "You bundled these up to give to us, right?"

"Yeah. I actually took photos of each bouquet and message and uploaded them to the group chat. Just in case you guys needed proof shots or something."

"I saw them. Thank you. Honestly, bouquets were always a pain to deal with every time we had a concert."

Siwoo nodded.

"The bouquets are so beautiful, but it's a shame we can only look at them for a few days. It feels weird when they wither into an eyesore and we have to throw them out."

"That's because you attach meaning to flowers. Still, they'll last a few days longer this time."

Because he had personally trimmed them.

Sihyeon muttered, rolling his neck from side to side.

"It wasn't on purpose, but they ended up bundled by hair color. Take one to your rooms."

"Huh?"

It really was true. Siwoo laughed, looking back and forth between the bouquets and the members.

"Our hair colors must be pretty loud. Heheh."

Heesu chimed in.

"My scalp hurts so much. I practically cried when I bleached it this time."

"Let's take a group photo holding these. I think the fans will love it."

Leo came walking over with his large hands full of beer, then took a step back. Because there were underage fans, alcohol was a no-go in photos. The five Tracker members held the five bouquets that resembled each of them. The phone naturally ended up in Sihyeon's hands.

"Hyung-nim! Take a hundred photos in burst mode."

"A hundred??"

Seeing Sihyeon's surprise, Heesu laughed. It was hard for everyone to look good at the same time, so they had to choose from a large pool of photos. Since retaking them would be annoying, they just took a ton at once.

"Okay. One, two, three."

The flash blinked, and the phone snapped photos relentlessly. The boys naturally shifted poses and beamed brightly. It was a look so vibrant it was hard to believe these were the same guys who had been slumped over just a moment ago. Is that what a professional idol is?

Handing the phone back, Heesu huddled with Leo and Kay to pick out a few photos. Apparently, Siwoo and Jerome had faces that didn't care about angles, so they looked good no matter how they were shot. With quite serious expressions, the boys carefully uploaded the photos and immediately checked the comments. In an instant, hearts started stacking up rapidly.

"Okay. Everyone's enjoying it."

"These turned out way better than expected. Let's upload our individual shots too."

The boys uploaded a ton of solo photos like that before finally sitting down. Leo brought the beer back out, and Sihyeon opened the bag containing the jokbal (braised pig's trottters). Hot steam billowed up.

"I think it's a good thing we don't have personal social media accounts. Just uploading as a group takes this long, so imagine how much longer it would take if we all did it separately."

"Right. And if we manage them ourselves, we're bound to make a mistake. Imagine if you accidentally hit 'like' on a real-life friend's account."

Ugh. Don't say such horrific things. The Tracker members collectively held their heads.

Kay narrowed his eyes and said, "More than that, the problem is the hyungs' unusual tastes getting exposed. Gacha is one thing, but secretly buying your own plush dolls……"

Jerome raised his head.

"Why? What's so unusual about that?"

"It would be fine if it were one or two, but you're even secretly buying the ones fans make. Who owns thirty of their own dolls?!"

"That's because you've never tried collecting. Once you buy one, you end up buying them in rows, you know?"

"Forget it. I don't want to understand, you narcissist."

The members seemed to agree with Heesu's stance. Siwoo muttered, "I even turned the ones I received as gifts face down..." Heesu shook his head with a fed-up look and rummaged through the plastic bags.

"Wow. The jokbal smells great. But where did the chicken go?"

Kay brought several large boxes out from the kitchen.

"This is the chicken, and the one underneath is the pizza. It's half pepperoni, half combination."

Leo shot a sharp look from behind his glasses.

"What about the cheese crust?"

"I got it, and I added double toppings and sweet potato mousse mousse too."

Leo smiled warmly with satisfaction and said, "Our youngest. You're getting good at ordering now, huh?"

"I was always better than you, Hyung."

Kay handed a slice of pizza to Sihyeon first. A polite kid. He had sharp, exotic features, but the way he poured a zero-sugar cola for Sihyeon with one hand over his chest made him look like a quintessential Korean office worker.

"Eat up quickly. This place is delicious."

"Yeah. Thanks for the food."

The food packing the living room table was devoured within seconds. A large size jokbal, buckwheat cold noodles, two chickens, a large pizza, and drinks. The boys licked their fingers, clearing out every bit of food.

"Is it not enough? Should I order more?"

As Sihyeon, who had just swallowed the last piece of pizza, looked at the empty plates and pulled out his phone, Siwoo waved his hand.

"The manager and staff are going to come with more food."

"Huh?"

Heesu giggled, holding a beer.

"This is just round one. Round one. Round two starts in a bit. The manager went to pick up food. He's sweeping up all the famous restaurants around here."

"Oh."

"We're going to play until dawn today. We don't get days like this very often."

As soon as Heesu finished speaking, the doorbell rang. Yujin, the leader of the dance team, brought his entire crew, followed by Manager Woo arriving with the makeup team. The table was filled with food once again, and someone played a slow, smooth jazz track, only to receive loud boos.

When Yujin frowned and switched it to a light chanson, the crowd quieted down—not because the song was good, but likely because Yujin was intimidating.

He opened the veranda door and stepped outside.

Once his stomach was reasonably full, things that hadn't bothered him before began to grate on him slightly. Things he wouldn't normally care about at all—the large crowd, the noisy conversations, the stuffy indoor air—felt like they were repeatedly tugging at his nerves.

When his condition was good, everything felt fine.

Sihyeon let out a bitter smile and inhaled. There was a small park behind the dorm, so the air wasn't half bad.

Click.

The veranda door opened and closed. It seemed Siwoo had followed him out.

"Hyung, why are you out here? Is it because it's too loud?"

Sihyeon admitted it with a slight nod.

"A little bit. Why did you come out? You looked excited. Go play with them."

"We're going to stay up all night anyway."

The two stared out toward the forest of buildings for a moment. Feeling the silence grow needlessly awkward, Sihyeon muttered whatever came to mind.

"During the concert... everyone looked so happy."

A smile spread across the corners of Siwoo's mouth.

"……It's when I'm happiest. It feels like a dream. We have music shows and other stages, but a concert is different. Because it's just us and the fans who only love us. It makes you feel like... 'Wow, I have this many people on my side in the world.'"

Sihyeon fell silent for a moment. He couldn't quite imagine it.

Siwoo hesitated before muttering in a small voice, "It gives you a feeling of being warm, cozy, and safe."

"……Hmm?"

Did he mean he usually feels unsafe? Are there more anti-fans and malicious commenters than I thought? Is RV not managing them properly?

Something was strange.

"Siwoo. Did something happen by any chance?"

The kid's natural energy fluctuated unstably.

Sihyeon grabbed Siwoo's arm and looked into his eyes.

"Siwoo. If there's something I need to remember, you have to tell me. I need to know what's going on to take revenge... I mean, to deal with it. Especially if it's something related to your safety, don't ever hide it from me. Understand?"

"……Actually, there is something that's been on my mind."

"Tell me, quickly."

Siwoo hesitated for a long time before finally letting out a single name.

"Kang Seunghyun."

Sihyeon furrowed his brow and asked. The similarity to his own name made him feel unpleasant.

"Kang Seunghyun? What kind of guy is he? What do you want me to do to him?"

Siwoo's eyes went wide, and his expression turned utterly dumbfounded.

"Woah. Relax your face. You look like you're about to go track him down and beat him up."

Sihyeon snorted. Would I really just stop at beating him up? Looking at Sihyeon's face, Siwoo placed a hand on his forehead.

"Wow, you really don't remember."

"What?"

"Kang Seunghyun. He's our cousin. Our oldest uncle's son."