The Rumor That Crossed the Line

‘Should I save the number?’

After pondering, Hanbyeol pressed the hold button.
It seemed there was no real need to.

School lunchtime would be over soon, so he could probably sleep a bit more until dismissal time.
As Hanbyeol was about to close his eyes again, his body flinched at the sudden sound of the doorbell.

“…….”

……Can’t I just get some rest now, seriously?

No one should be visiting at this hour.
If it were Yuseong, he would have just opened the door and come in; the same went for his parents.

Letting out a deep sigh, Hanbyeol dragged his heavy body and opened the front door.
A box was placed in front of it.

“……?”

A delivery?

No, is it not a delivery?
Looking at the recipient’s name, it was indeed addressed to Hanbyeol, but it wasn’t from a delivery company.

Having no memory of ordering anything recently, Hanbyeol, with a head full of question marks, hesitantly stepped back and came inside.

“Quick service…?”

His eyes wavered at the three letters spelling ‘Jeong Yunsoo’ in the sender’s name.
Why the second-oldest of Cha.N?
I just got off the phone with the oldest.

Hanbyeol was left speechless by the feast of sweet snacks filling the box.

“Should I… contact him to say thank you?”

Confusion was written all over Hanbyeol’s face.

****

“Are your CSAT preparations going well?”

“Yes.”

“Are you feeling alright?”

His parents had returned home for the first time in a while.

Hanbyeol answered his parents’ questions with an awkward smile, evading them.
However, perhaps not sensing anything strange, his mother spoke up, saying she had to return to the company.

It was a weekday, so a student should be at school, not home.
She really hadn’t changed.

His mother held out a card to Hanbyeol, who was smiling.

“I still have allowance left, Mom.”

“Is that so? Let me know if you run short.”
“I’ll deposit some into your account, just in case.”

“Yes, I understand.”

His father was the same.
Mentioning that the research he was in charge of was in full swing, he was hurriedly looking for clothes to change into before returning to the on-campus faculty housing.

Hanbyeol stared at his father.

“Are you looking for a shirt?”

“Huh? Yeah. I thought I washed it and put it away last time.”

Hanbyeol familiarly opened a different closet and took out a neatly folded shirt.

“Do you need underwear?”

“I bought some new ones in a hurry, so underwear is fine. Thanks.”

“Honey, it’s time to leave.”

“I’ll be right out. Hanbyeol-ah, contact us immediately if anything happens.”

Hanbyeol nodded at his parents’ words.
However, neither Yuseong nor Hanbyeol ever properly informed their parents about any ‘something’.

Smiling, Hanbyeol saw his parents off.

“Yes. I understand. Have a safe trip.”

The house, which had been a bit bustling, grew quiet again.

It was a familiar routine.
Waving goodbye to his parents, who rushed out of the house, Hanbyeol blankly lifted his head.

His heat cycle wasn’t over yet.
Since he was on suppressants and wasn’t in as bad a state as Yuseong, it wasn’t a situation where pheromones were leaking.

Still, since the heat cycle was gradually ending, he needed to prepare to go out.
Because the cycle hadn’t occurred on its originally scheduled date, his clothes were imbued with pheromones.

Since he couldn’t properly disperse the pheromones when he wasn’t feeling well, he needed to start preparing now to be able to go to school immediately after the heat cycle ended.

Hanbyeol opened the window and washed the clothes he needed to wear first.
His school uniform too.

Even though Yuseong had stopped by briefly yesterday, he hadn’t even been allowed inside the house, just in case, so it was impossible for Yuseong’s pheromones to be on them.

Hanbyeol let out a deep sigh and held his throbbing head.
Is it the medication’s effect?
Feeling slightly dazed, as he was tidying up the house, which had become a bit messy, he suddenly lifted his head.

But he felt strange.
He was moving about as usual, yet his surroundings felt eerily quiet.

“Am I dreaming?”

Maybe it feels quiet because my parents just came and went?
He thought that too, but it was still weird.

His heart pounded fiercely.

Arrhythmia… maybe?
The house was quiet to an unsettling degree.
As Hanbyeol pondered what was different from usual, he soon realized it was because of his phone.

Whenever school break time came, the group chat would blow up.
Even if not, personal messages tended to pile up.
Taeha was on the quieter side, but Jaehwi and Eunhan were always spouting nonsense.

Perhaps because he wasn’t feeling well, Yuseong also contacted him frequently.
Using the excuse that he was studying composition because he had no schedule, he would call and message him often, asking him to listen once.

Thus, his phone, which had been ringing nonstop without a moment’s rest, was strangely quiet all morning today.

Hanbyeol brushed it off, thinking quiet is good.
After his parents left, in the quiet place where even the sound of his own clothes rustling seemed loud, Hanbyeol felt an inexplicable anxiety.

People tend to feel a sense of foreboding when they encounter something they never expected.

Buzz, buzz.

After being quiet for a while, his phone vibrated loudly.

Hanbyeol gulped, approached, and picked up his phone.

Kang Jaehwi
Am I seeing things wrong right now? I’m contacting you because I’m a bit panicked, okay?

Do Eunhan
From what I can see, it looks like a baseless rumor no matter how I look at it.
Choi Hanbyeol-ah, just turn off your phone.

Kang Jaehwi
Kids keep asking, and I can’t give them an answer, seriously;
http://www.starstorynewsch.kr/…
Hey;; Can you check this out, Hanbyeol-ah;;
Are you really debuting?

The chat room was in chaos with all sorts of nonsense.

****

‘–Cha.N member ‘Yuseong’s’ younger brother. Debut imminent?’
‘–Cha.N’s Yuseong, is his younger brother debuting?’
‘–Regarding rumors about Cha.N’s Yuseong’s younger brother’s debut’

The baseless rumors about Hanbyeol’s debut were difficult to substantiate from the start.

Excluding the unique point of being a current idol’s brother, Hanbyeol was nothing special.
He wasn’t good at singing, nor was he a good dancer.

To the point that the Cha.N members were left speechless upon seeing Hanbyeol’s skills; he was tone-deaf and had two left feet.

Of course, when he was very young, he briefly harbored a longing for the stage, but Hanbyeol, having objectively confirmed his own abilities early on, personally shattered that childhood dream like cracking an egg, breaking it in half and extinguishing it.

After that, his phone blew up.
Messages from middle school classmates he hadn’t been in contact with since graduation and younger siblings he had casually exchanged numbers with at academies piled up, asking if it was true.

Yuna Yoon
Were you Yuseong’s younger brother?

Seo Jinhan
Hyung, are you an idol?

Messages confirming Hanbyeol’s sibling relationship were also plentiful.

It was hard to determine where the rumor had even started.
It was practically impossible to answer each one.
It was an even more tremendous reaction than when Yuseong suddenly appeared on [Pick, My Dol!].

As Hanbyeol tapped his phone, the name [Arch-nemesis bastard] appeared on the screen.
Along with Yuseong’s number, the dial tone rang for a long time before abruptly cutting off.

If he was in the middle of a schedule like recording or a self-cam, he couldn’t answer the phone.
If it was right before practice, he turned off his phone for practice.
The same went for recording sessions.

But the fact that the dial tone was ringing meant that at least he wasn’t in the middle of a schedule and had his phone on.

Feeling like he was about to go crazy, Hanbyeol opened the internet browser again.
He had just checked the news headlines earlier, panicked, and closed it.

He felt incredibly frustrated.

He had tried hard to ignore it since Yuseong debuted, but it was a sensation he often felt back when Yuseong was appearing on [Pick, My Dol!] before his debut.

All sorts of criticism and absurd rumors directed at Yuseong, even vicious curses aimed at him and his parents.

Although it had died down these days, opening an internet browser still required a lot of mental energy for Hanbyeol.

“Sigh….”

Should I search?

No, is it okay to?

As soon as Hanbyeol swallowed and tapped the blank search bar, a notification popped up on his phone.

Ji Taeha
Hanbyeol-ah
Hanbyeol-ah, are you okay?
Hanbyeol-ah
Can you contact me if you’re okay?

As if trying to stop his action, the message arrived.
Hanbyeol immediately moved his hand to check Taeha’s message.

Yeah, I can check it a little later.

I’m fine, I think I can go to school tomorrow.

Ji Taeha
That’s a relief.
Is school noisy because of me right now?

There was no reply for a moment.
He could picture his kind friend carefully choosing his words even for such a short question.

Ji Taeha
It’s just that a rumor is spreading intensely. It’ll die down soon.
The story going around school is that you’re not coming because of this issue, not because you’re really sick, so since the rumor seems true, it got a bit noisy… but it’s okay now.
I also told Jaehwi and Eunhan it’s definitely not true.

How did you know it wasn’t me?

Ji Taeha
It didn’t seem like you, who’s been preparing to be a composer until now, would suddenly change your mind and want to be an idol. More than anything, you would’ve told us first if it were true, wouldn’t you?

Hanbyeol let out a sigh of relief.

It seemed Taeha, who knew his situation well, hadn’t been swayed by the rumor and had persuaded their friends well.

I don’t know why such a rumor is spreading.

Hanbyeol replied to Taeha as if lamenting.

It was something he should say to his brother Yuseong, but since he couldn’t reach him, it seemed he had to vent his frustration somewhere.

Taeha didn’t reply for a while to Hanbyeol’s complaint-like complaint.
Did I complain too much to my friend?
And to someone who has nothing to do with it…

Ji Taeha
Hanbyeol-ah, are you at home right now?

Huh? Yeah, why?

Ji Taeha
Can I come over for a bit?

Suddenly?
Hanbyeol’s eyes widened.