Chapter 197
I stepped toward center stage for the dance break, recalling what Liu Wei had said to me right before we went on.
‘Hey, bro! Do your best!’
‘Son!’
Beyond the dizzying blur of stage lights assaulting my vision, I could barely make out my family in the VIP section far away.
Somehow, even from that distance, if I wanted to see them, I could.
“I have no intention of apologizing to you.”
“Yeah, figures. I don’t plan on accepting one either, you punk.”
“…And this isn’t something I’m saying to pick a fight.”
“……”
“What I’m saying is… I decided this on my own judgment. Without considering… other people’s positions.”
Liu Wei said something more after that, but honestly, I couldn’t hear it clearly.
At that moment Choi Gaon Seonbae’s voice boomed out as the live broadcast began, and my thundering heartbeat had muffled my hearing.
If I could know exactly what he’d said, I think I’d feel a little more at ease.
But for now. Setting that aside.
Right now, as I had to perform the dance break for “Aiming”…
I planted my toes on the ground, swung my upper body in a wide arc.
Quick steps. Left foot first, then right. Twice in succession.
Then, during the brief breathing window that followed, I looked at my family watching me.
Mom, Dad. Bomi. Nari.
Hmm, had Liu Wei been talking about his family earlier? Maybe he had.
But still, it didn’t matter.
Amidst the thunderous waves of fan cheers, the dance break wasn’t over yet.
I brushed my shoulder lightly with one hand. Head roll, then isolation.
Before my dyed-red hair could settle back into place, I extended my upper body in the opposite direction of my lower half.
Even while bending my body, I didn’t lose the detail in my fingertips. Found my center, one turn.
I swept the floor with my knee in a long glide, and as the momentum carried me smoothly back to my feet…
This time, I looked at my Arrows members, spread out in every direction.
And finally, I locked eyes with Liu Wei, who had just finished the dance break alongside me.
It was only later that I noticed Liu Wei’s arm, which should have been extended at the same height as mine, was hanging just a little lower.
—BOOM!!
The fireworks, which the production crew had sourced with reckless abandon for this live broadcast, exploded in a blinding blaze, and the final chorus followed.
– Aim at the world
It’s time to target their hearts
Aiming, Aiming
Watch who takes the shot
Aiming, Aiming
In my widely dilated pupils, the shape of Liu Wei’s lips was clearly visible.
“——.”
…What was he saying?
I blinked, trying to figure out whether it was Korean or Chinese.
– That is surely
Us (Me).
WAAAAAAAAH!!
“…Huh.”
After the final lyrics flowed out in everyone’s pre-recorded voices…
I could tell exactly what Liu Wei had mouthed, and what he’d said to me before the stage.
“Please give a warm round of applause for the trainees who worked so hard to prepare today’s performance!”
Choi Gaon Seonbae, who had quickly approached for the live broadcast transition, tried to move the show along, but his attempt was stopped by Liu Wei shaking his head at him.
“Uh, huh? Trainee Liu Wei, just a moment…”
“……”
One step.
Liu Wei stepped forward to the front of the stage and blinked slowly, just as he had done to me.
“If I lose to you on stage again this time…”
Then.
‘I’ll say what I’m thinking right now.’
Before the other trainees could even catch their breath, before Choi Gaon Seonbae could intervene…
Liu Wei’s faintly trembling lips opened slowly.
I…
“After this performance, I’m returning to China.”
——.
It was only natural that gasps of surprise erupted from all around.
Even though everyone here already knew the facts, the man himself was bringing it up the moment the first performance ended?
Without any graceful farewell, without even exchanging hugs with the other trainees?
‘This is really too much!’
The main writer’s silent scream seemed to reach all the way to the stage. She’d been on standby in case of emergencies.
But spilled water can’t be scooped back up.
The six thousand people in the audience. And the countless viewers watching on laptops, tablets, or at movie theaters.
They had all already heard his matter-of-fact yet earth-shaking words.
“No, L-Liu Wei? Your emotions must be running high! Ha ha, but perhaps you could save your final words for later…”
“No. I won’t be doing the backstage segment. This is my last appearance.”
That’s what I decided.
“I decided it myself.”
As everyone floundered in confusion, Liu Wei’s gaze was fixed on me.
I could tell clearly through the flickering crimson hue beyond his brown irises.
What Liu Wei wanted to say to me was simple.
No matter what I said to him, what he could do, what he had to do, was right to do.
This time, it was a decision he’d made on his own.
“Whew…”
Even as I caught my breath, still reeling from from the dance break’s exertion, I could only click my tongue in anger.
Until the very end, Liu Wei was truly an awful bastard.
No apology, pushing his stubbornness to the absolute limit.
“……”
I tried to unclench my fists, which had balled up on their own, and stared at him with the coldest gaze I could muster.
Regardless, Liu Wei was leaving this time without getting what he’d come for.
He couldn’t obtain a single thing.
Because that was the price for his own cruelty.
Because it was the result of what I’d done to protect my family and my members.
“…Yes, yes. So it has come to this! While trainee Liu Wei departs the stage with a heavy heart, we hope everyone will cheer for his bright future ahead!”
Ohhh, waaaaah…
Choi Gaon Seonbae’s professional damage control continued, and Liu Wei walked straight off the stage.
Still, it was true that watching the retreating figure of someone who had once debuted in the same group as me stirred a strange feeling…
But I couldn’t afford to devote my attention to someone who had already left, someone going back having lost everything he’d sought.
“After a brief VCR, we’ll continue with the next group stage from our trainees!”
Arrows, my family, and the live broadcast stage.
“And we’ll also be revealing the name of the team that will debut through Targeting Star!”
The answer to whether the first Objective of my contract with X would succeed or fail…
…It was approaching me at a terrifying speed.
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