Idol of the Heavenly One - Chapter 78.2
“Hey, Ji Myeong-hyeon.”
“Why.”
In the middle of everything, Joo I-rip suddenly approached me with a serious expression. I gave him a sideways glance and he unexpectedly put his arm around my shoulder, dragging me to a corner. Even though the cameras were all recording and the microphones could pick up everything, I wondered what Joo I-rip was trying to do.
“Use the charm tactic.”
“What, what charm tactic?”
“Wink at Baek Jae-heon.”
“No, that won’t… work or anything…”
I tried to push his arm off my shoulder, thinking, Can he really say this knowing the mic is on? But Joo I-rip forcibly hugged me again and whispered,
“Say ‘just look at me’ to Baek Jae-heon.”
“No, that’s not going to help…!”
I tried to push him off once more, and Joo I-rip tapped my back, as if to say he was serious. I glanced at Baek Jae-heon out of curiosity, and my eyes met his as he bounced the ball on the floor. His expression felt colder than before. Was he jealous? Somehow, it made me feel a little relieved.
“Baek Jae-heon…”
“Yeah.”
“…Eh.”
“Yeah?”
“…Just look at me.”
Without thinking, I did exactly what Joo I-rip told me to. Baek Jae-heon’s eyebrows twitched for a moment. Could it really be a reaction? I winked at him again with a little more confidence.
“….”
Baek Jae-heon stared at me with a frozen expression for a few seconds before speaking.
“I’m not going easy.”
“….”
“Finish quickly.”
His harsh words made me flare up inside. What the heck? I just winked and said ‘just look at me,’ and yet he wouldn’t go easy and said that so bluntly? It was really too much.
The sting of disappointment reached my throat, but the game continued immediately. When the whistle blew, Baek Jae-heon practically flew across the court. It was as if he was determined to end this game right away, hitting each ball fast and hard, as though he had held back until now.
Every time the ball brushed past my head, my hair flew, and the wind at my ankles made me dizzy. I could hear members squealing and laughing at how I dodged, but I couldn’t laugh. It was genuinely dizzying. I wondered why Baek Jae-heon was so intense.
Then, Kwon Ji-hak, getting overly excited following Baek Jae-heon, threw a ball with full force straight at my face. As I heard the panicked shouts around me—“Ah, ahhh!”—my vision went white. When the heavy impact hit my face, I fell backward.
Thud.
My back hit the floor, my head went blank, and for a moment I heard nothing.
Then, very fast footsteps approached. Someone ran to me, knelt down, and wrapped my face with warm hands. The familiar warmth and scent made me blink, and I immediately knew. It was Baek Jae-heon.
“Are you okay?”
His voice was more urgent than I expected, as if he wasn’t the same person who had just thrown balls at me like crazy.
His hands carefully brushed my cheeks and lightly touched my eyes, as if to wipe them. His embarrassed expression was somehow cute, and I couldn’t help laughing.
“I’m okay.”
When I smiled and said that, the frozen expressions of the other members began to relax. The atmosphere quickly returned to its usual noise and chatter.
The game ended vaguely after that. Baek Jae-heon’s team won, and our team received a “Well Tried” award. That fact itself wasn’t important.
What mattered was that, even until the filming ended, Baek Jae-heon never left my side. He stuck to me so closely it was almost gross, watching my face.
I snickered. He had been so cold earlier, saying he wasn’t going easy, and now this. After all, he was going to cling to me again.
I shrugged with a smile. Well, I couldn’t help it. This was Baek Jae-heon.
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