The Malicious Member is Back! - Chapter 217

[Room 812]

I pressed my ear against the door and listened, but no voices came from inside.

Five guys were surely crammed in there together, but the apartment was eerily devoid of any sign of life.

If they were close, I’d chalk it up to comfortable silence, but our members weren’t that close yet.

A small but telling sign that something was off.

Beep, beep, beep… click.

I put on a light smile and slowly punched in the passcode Logan had forwarded me yesterday.

With a clunk, the familiar entryway welcomed me back to reality.

I had my family’s support, I’d sharpened my focus, and I was ready. So obviously….

It’s time to get to work, right?

* * *

The dorm where the members of ToZ would be living together had four rooms.

Two off the living room, one by the kitchen, and one across from the bathroom.

However, since one of the rooms off the living room was a wardrobe room, AG’s original intent was for the other three rooms to be shared two to a room.

A reality show practically required roommates. It was an unwritten law of idol broadcasting and it was easier for the still-awkward members to bond that way.

So before Kim Chunyong moved in, there should have been only one person sleeping alone, and yet…

“Oh? Chunyong hyung, you’re here early?”

Hold on.

‘Well, well.’

Kim Chunyong set his suitcase down with a thud in the entryway, clicked his tongue, and scratched his head.

“…Hwa Sung. Did you sleep in there? That room wasn’t a bedroom, last I checked.”

“Oh, um. Well.”

Ji Hwa Sung, who’d just emerged from the wardrobe room, clamped his mouth shut with a sheepish expression.

His blond hair, freshly touched up at the roots, was thoroughly disheveled in a way that screamed just woke up.

“…Well, once the reality show starts, we’ll be sharing rooms anyway. If I can have one to myself until then, that’s better, right?”

“What are you talking about? During your Targeting Star interview, you said you liked sleeping in a room with lots of people—”

“Ah, I’m just being considerate, considerate! Si Woo and Jae… Ha hyung are light sleepers. This way, during the little downtime we have, I’m helping them get proper rest, yes I am.”

“—God, Chunyong? You’re here already.”

“Hey, Logan.”

Kim Chunyong patted the shoulder of Logan, who’d come dashing out of the kitchen, while keeping a watchful eye on Hwa Sung’s subtly peculiar demeanor.

Hwa Sung acted unfazed as he ducked into the kitchen and started gulping water, but….

“Water’s dripping everywhere, dude.”

“Pwah! Ah, crap—ah. Towel, towel….”

Judging by how he could hardly tell whether the water was going into his mouth or onto the floor, well.

No matter how charitably you looked at it, this was not a person in a normal state.

“Logan, are you sleeping alone too?”

“No. I’m sharing with Yu Chan right now! He’s probably still asleep. Should I go in and tell him you’re here?”

“Nah. He must be exhausted. Let him sleep. Once we debut, we won’t even have time to sleep….”

“But you should still get at least four hours a day for your health! That’s worrying.”

Kim Chunyong let Logan’s concern flow past him and ran his eyes across the closed doors, rubbing his chin.

With this, the layout of the other rooms was easy enough to picture.

One room for Son Jae Ha, one room for Jang Si Woo, one room for Logan and Bang Yu Chan.

And Ji Hwa Sung, who’d voluntarily relocated to the wardrobe room.

‘He didn’t want the picture to look weird by suddenly asking to room with Si Woo instead of Jae Ha hyung, who he was supposed to look up to most, so he chose the wardrobe room as the path of least suspicion.’

It was a result of significant thought, for sure.

But the problem was, opting for the wardrobe room of all places wasn’t exactly a convincing choice either.

In the case of Bang Yu Chan or Logan, it was understandable for now.

They hadn’t been particularly close throughout the survival show, and their roommates during the Targeting Star filming had been different people altogether.

But what about Jang Si Woo, who’d spent ages under the same roof, or Son Jae Ha, the person directly involved?

Hwa Sung claimed they were “light sleepers” but if they were perceptive enough to be called that, there was no way they wouldn’t pick up on this subtle undercurrent.

Once these three, who were supposed to be close, started acting distant with each other, the other two noticing was only a matter of time.

‘This is bad.’

In other words, this was a problem that Kim Chunyong—who’d regressed and now straddled that delicate boundary—needed to step in and address.