Chapter 76

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Author POV

Sungyeol quietly sit at the corner of the studio and practice his vocalization using the technique that Changmin teach him. That tall guy had keep pushing him to sing while biting on a bottle cork or with a marble in his mouth and sometime with cotton in his mouth. He said that it can help him to fix his pronunciation and his vocal strength. Changmin even asked him to scream while biting on pillow. Although it sound weird, Sungyeol didn’t complaint at all although those things make him drooled a lot of time. Actually he supposed to have a dance and vocal practice this morning with TVXQ, but seeing the gloomy aura from Changmin and Yunho make him scare to ask anything.

Yunho looks a bit stern and didn’t smile like he used to while reading some document of the stage arrangement that their director just hand it to him. Meanwhile Changmin just plays with his phone without caring about anything. So Sungyeol just do his own business without asking both of the senior anything. He thought maybe those guys were stress about the collaboration or having an argument between them since Yunho didn’t even reply when Changmin asked him something. After all, after their morning schedule, INFINITE’s members will join for practice any minutes. So, it’s better not to stirs more of their mood, thought Sungyeol.

“Do you really have to do this?”

Both Changmin and Sungyeol lift his head toward the TVXQ’s leader. Sungyeol then shift his eyes toward the confused Changmin because he doesn’t know whose Yunho directed that question to.

“This……this collaboration, do you really have to join?”

Sungyeol widen his eyes when Yunho look at him. He then snaps his head toward Changmin and that guy just sigh heavily. Sungyeol instantly knew that Changmin must have told Yunho everything about his health condition.

“Hyung, I told you already that this stage might be my……..”

“YOUR FINAL STAGE!!!!!! I KNOW, DAMN IT!!!! I KNOW THAT ALREADY!!!!! ”

“HYUNG~~~~~”

Changmin quickly walk to Sungyeol when he saw that boy look so surprised and scared by Yunho’s sudden yell. The TVXQ’s leader also sighs heavily and rubs his face in frustrated manner. He had been stressed out since last night. When Changmin told him about his plan, Yunho still calmly hear and nod here and there, but when it’s about Sungyeol’s health condition, he almost goes berserk. If not because of Changmin made an emergency call to Jaejoong to console his leader, Yunho might call Lee Soo Man and curse that old man non-stop.

“You are still young, Sungyeol ah~~~maybe you should take care of your health first……..this…..this collaboration is not worth it~~~~compare to your body condition…….”

Sungyeol sigh softly and smile warmly at Yunho. So, that’s why the leader of TVXQ looks so stressed out this whole morning. Yunho just worried about him. The way that guy look at him is same as how Sungyu look at him this morning when he said that he will be okay to leave the group.

That caring and concern eyes.

At the same time, Sungyeol feel bad that he might be the reason that why Yunho looks a bit upset toward Changmin. That’s because, Sungyeol knows that Changmin hide a lot of thing about him from Yunho. Changmin didn’t even let him tell Yunho about how he trained Sungyeol for vocal practice.

He slowly walks to frustrated Yunho and hold his hand. Changmin were amazed at how bold Sungyeol is. That’s because, no one ever dare to go and hold the hand of Jung Yunho when he was frustrated and upset. Even Changmin will wait for his leader to calm down a bit to have a talk with Yunho. That’s why he just keeps his words for only important thing since yesterday. Sungyeol is the second person after Jaejoong that can do that.

“For the pills that I took……..I already stop consume it and began my treatment for my condition……..it’s still on early stage and it’s curable if I take a good care of my body…….and for this collaboration, I’m already too far to stop right now, hyung~~~~~I told you before.……that I don’t want to regret anything~~~~ I’ll do my best for this collaboration stage……not just for myself…..it’s also for my members and INSPIRITs who supported me since debuted………you told me before, that I can lean on you and Changmin hyung……..so, now…..can I lean on you hyung?”

Yunho sighs heavily and study Sungyeol’s honest expression. Then he shifts his eyes to Sungyeol’s swollen ankle and leg. That looks painful to Yunho. He doesn’t even know how Sungyeol withstand the pain on his own without complaint.

When Kris asked him to find out what is the reason that make this boy as Lee Soo Man’s target, he doesn’t know how to find that information without making Lee Soo Man suspicious on them. But being together with Sungyeol, he comes to realized that this boy is the key that hold the strong bond and teamwork in INFINITE.

For 16 years he knew Lee Soo Man, it’s a matter of pride and profit for that old man. INFINITE debuted around the same time as EXO. That old man never thinks big and even laughed at Mr. Choi for trying to debuted a new boy’s group with limited money resources, less members and low cost MV production and promotion. INFINITE even face the risked of being disbanded 1 year after they debuted, but “Be Mine” and solid teamwork among the members change it all. They swipe the first place one after another every time they released a new song and portrayed the amazing knife-cut choreography and synchronized performance. Being the sub-company of SM Entertainment, everyone saw that as achievement for both SM and Woollim but not for Lee Soo Man. That old man sees that as a threat that trampled on his pride when INFINITE climbed up higher than he expected, even sometime higher than EXO that he spend triple compared to Woollim on INFINITE. That’s why he tried to find the source of strength that holds the bond for the solid teamwork of INFINITE that even INFINITE’s members didn’t realized it. He targeted the member that he thought was the strength of the group, but after 3 members of INFINITE that he targeted, no result fulfilled his expectation. So that old man observed quietly to find the main strength that hold the bond.

And he found it.

Lee Sungyeol.

“But Sungyeol ah~~~this collaboration might literally be your final stage, not just as INFINITE’S member but also as a performer……….do you know how serious your condition is?”

Sungyeol flash a warm smile and nod.

“I know that, hyung……”

“Then why? If you keep doing this, you might regret it more than you think……you are still young, Sungyeol ah~~~”

Sungyeol sigh softly.

“You know that better than me hyung…….if I let this chance slip by…….I might lose the opportunity to perform on stage forever……..I might be young, but I know how strong the power that SM Entertainment had……..they can control everything if they wanted to……and you know right? How SM control the drama that I’m working on right now………..and how they sabotage the filming safety equipment that almost killed me and get away with it easily without any risen issue…….”

Yunho lower down his head because he feels guilty and ashamed toward Sungyeol because of his own company director.

Seeing the dejected looks on the strong TVXQ’s leader, Sungyeol tighten his hold on Yunho’s hand to comfort him.

“So…..in order to protect my member from any threat…….I need to make sure that Mr. Lee focus is on me and make sure that I’ll fulfill his expectation…….I don’t want any of my members become his next target……..and at the same time I have to protect my little brother, Daeyeol…….”

“Your little brother?”

“Yes, in 6 month…….Woollim will debut another new boy group……my little brother is the leader of the group of 11 members……they need to debut after years of training……I don’t want to be their obstacle…..with INFINITE’s influence right now, Mr. Lee might be able to target me as I’m the weakest in the group…….but our juniors, GOLDEN CHILD is still building up their image and talent for their debut…….LOVELYZ too, they are still working hard to make their own stand……so I don’t want to see their dream get trample on…….and Mr. Choi already done a lot for INFINITE’s sake…….he spend his money, his time and even mortgaged his house for us……so, I don’t want to make him worried or getting on a fight with Mr. Lee just because of a small thing like me……”

Yunho feel like he just swallowed a stone when he saw ‘Hope’ written all over Sungyeol’s smiling face. So, this boy is not only sacrificing himself for his group members, but also for his little brother, juniors and his director.

Simply say, for everyone.

Yunho pull away his hand and put it of Sungyeol’s shoulder gently. Changmin also put his hand on Sungyeol’s back.

“I will talk to Sungyu about the song arrangement and stage’s gimmick…….so that you won’t push your body too much in dancing…….maybe we should plan for acoustic and acapella performance for cover song and group performance that uses a strong choreography…….”

Sungyeol smile faintly. Once again, he feel like he become the burden toward others. Changmin ruffle Sungyeol’s hair when he saw the expression on him to comfort the boy.

“Don’t worry about anything……we’ll help you……we'll be your wings......just promise us that you go for your treatment regularly and take your medicine on time……..kidney failure is not something that can be taken lightly even it’s still on early stage ……so, be careful on what kind of food you consume and take care of your health…….or I’ll put my kidney for donation on your name and make your tummy upset until you die~~~~”

Sungyeol chuckle when Yunho smack the back of Changmin’s head for his dark humor.

“What……..what does…..what does that mean?????”

Sungyeol snap his head toward the door and widen his eyes in horror. While Yunho and Changmin frown instantly. Sungyeol quickly walk toward the guy and hold his hand. Among all the peoples around him, this guy is the last person that Sungyeol would want him to know about his health condition.

“Nothing~~~It’s nothing…….we are just joking around~~~~”

A/N : Yeah~~~~~Another update for you guys~~~

Sungyeol stubbornly want to continue his involvement in the collaboration despite his condition….

Will he be okay?

Who actually that guy that make Sungyeol so panic?

Is it Sungyu? Or Myungsoo? or any of INFINITE’s members?

Will that guy take Sungyeol’s excuse easily?

Or will he explode?

Wait for my next update~~