Idol of the Heavenly One - Chapter 82.1
When the lie detector registered a lie, the room erupted in laughter. Kwon Ji-hak shouted, “This thing is broken!” and jumped around, while the production staff had no choice but to count it as a lie. In the end, Kwon Ji-hak received the ice water punishment. He accepted it reluctantly but, while doing so, made a cute threat to the staff, claiming he would not forgive them.
Baek Jae-heon and I flinched momentarily, but considering that the device had sometimes malfunctioned even when we used it, and the fact that Kwon Ji-hak was supposedly on his second lifetime, we both thought it was just a funny incident.
It made sense. There was no evidence at all suggesting Kwon Ji-hak’s case should be suspicious. According to Baek Jae-heon, Kwon Ji-hak had been present in every lifetime, following the same patterns and using the same lines each time. He said they had even done this lie detector game in a previous life, and although the question “You’re on your second lifetime, right?” was new because I had made that meme, Kwon Ji-hak had still ended up receiving punishment.
This reminded me once again of the incident at Arena. Whether small or large, what is meant to happen, happens. Perhaps the lie detector malfunctioned at that moment, causing Kwon Ji-hak’s answer to register as false, and he received the punishment as a result.
So now I had to ask Baek Jae-heon properly. It was an unpleasant and scary memory, but I needed to know exactly what had happened, when, and where.
“This way, the others won’t hear. Now, tell me.”
As soon as we arrived at the hotel where we would stay for four days for our Japanese activities, Baek Jae-heon and I locked the hotel room door and sat on the bed to begin the conversation. We could have talked in the dorm, but our schedule had been too busy, and any leftover time would have been during the day when other members could overhear.
Baek Jae-heon hesitated slightly at first, but when I pressed him, he finally began.
“It was after we released our full album. We were all twenty-one years old.”
“Full album? When is it coming out?”
“Next October.”
“So, still a year away?”
“Yes. But it’s strange. That gray hoodie always appeared around that time before, but this time it showed up in the New Year.”
Things that are meant to happen will happen, but the timing may not match perfectly. Why is that? Still, don’t events usually occur roughly around the same period? Did something change because I joined this group?
“Do you know her face or any other features?”
“No.”
“Hmm…”
“Still, every time the accident happened, that woman was wearing a gray hoodie.”
All I knew was her build, clothing, and that creepy laugh. Since I couldn’t predict why the timing had shifted, I had no way to know when or where she would strike. The only options were to always have security accompany us or to never let Baek Jae-heon be alone.
Ding-
[Manager: The Japanese variety MC scandal we planned to film tomorrow caused the schedule to be cleared for two days. So you can have two days of free time, but you must report any outings.]
Then came some welcome news. Even though we were in Japan, the schedule was canceled. Two days were free. I had been worried about the gray hoodie just moments ago, but now my eyes lit up as I looked at Baek Jae-heon.
I had never traveled abroad before, so I wanted to go out with Baek Jae-heon, eat delicious food, and have fun. If other members came along, it would be slightly disappointing, but anything would have been fine. I was filled with excitement.
“H-Huh? Hm—!”
Perhaps Baek Jae-heon misread my gaze. He saw the message and, without hesitation, approached me, grabbed the back of my head, and pressed his lips to mine. I tried to push him lightly, saying we should just go outside for a bit first, but that didn’t work. Baek Jae-heon, who usually agreed with everything I said, now acted as if he could swallow me whole, paying no attention to my words.
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