ONE SHOT: FINAL

As soon as Chanwoo entered his hotel room, he threw himself on the bed. He sighed when he felt his body landed on the soft mattress and how his muscles immediately begun to loosen up after a long day of work. He knew that he should get up and shower; freshen and wash off all the sweat and tiredness of the day, that way he would sleep better but right now, the comfortable bed was hypnotizing making him feel too lazy to get up.

Chanwoo was currently in China; he had been cast as lead actor in a Chinese romantic drama and had been spending about three months shooting it. It was nice to be doing acting again; nice to be back in his familiar zone before he discovered singing and became a part of iKON. At first, he had felt awkward due to the fact that he had been away from the acting world for quite some time and in addition he had to speak and read in Chinese. It was understandably a struggle at first but after some time he was starting to get his footing steady and was soon thoroughly enjoying it. 

Just as he was about to enter the dreamland, ignoring his proper conscious to not to, his phone rang. Groaning inwardly at the sudden interruption, with his eyes closed, he blindly reached for his phone and pressed the green answer button. 

“Yeoboseyo?”

“It’s me.” Ju-ne.

“Eo. Wae?” Chanwoo asked.

“You picked up,” Ju-ne said.

“Should I’ve not picked up?”

“It’s just that I know you’re busy filming and also isn’t international call expensive?”

“I can hang up right now.”

Ju-ne shot upwards in his seat, alarmed. “What? No, no, no! I was just saying!” he rushed.

Chanwoo chuckled, “I was just playing with you.”

“That’s not nice,” Ju-ne pouted.

“I’m sorry,” Chanwoo laughed.

Ju-ne let out a scoff as he stretched himself on the sofa, his long legs easily reaching the other end. “Anyway, what are you doing?”

“Me?” Chanwoo exhaled loudly, “Just got back from the set.”

Ju-ne glanced up at the wall clock above him: it was 2:44AM which means in China right now it’s 1:44AM.

“Don’t overwork yourself, Chanwoo-yah. You know you get sick easily,” Ju-ne reminded him.

When Chanwoo officially joined iKON, they quickly realised that Chanwoo has a low immune system which mean he got ill easily and often, sometimes even twice a month. So, the members set an unwritten rule: that if one of them gets a cold or a flu, they’re to stay away from Chanwoo as much as possible so he doesn’t catch it. But with seven people spending 24/7 with each other and sharing things, it was almost impossible to avoid.

“Hhmm,” Chanwoo hummed.

Ju-ne wasn’t pleased with his response. “You’ve got to learn to take care of yourself properly and stop being so careless about your health. You’re by yourself over there, if you get a fever or a flu, who’s gonna take care of you? There’s no Yunhyeong hyung or Jinhwan hyung to make you soup or buy you medicine,” he lectured.

“I’m not all alone here, manager hyung is with me,” Chanwoo said.

“Then make sure you tell him, you’re ill when you’re ill! Don’t just keep it quiet!” Ju-ne nagged. Chanwoo has the habit of keeping things to himself, a habit that all members found rather annoying.

“Arasso…don’t worry. Anyway, what did you guys do today?” Chanwoo said, changing the subject which didn’t go unnoticed by Ju-ne who decided to go along with it and let the younger slipped by.

“Oh, we went to eat barbeque meat at Yunhyeong hyung’s family restaurant. They closed it early so we had the whole place to ourselves."

“That’s nice,” Chanwoo commented. He knew with the absence of people, there was also the absence of cameras so the members were able to fully enjoy their time together, privately. Something that Yunhyeong’s parents understood very well and were always try to accommodate them with. 

“Yeah, until the alcohol starts flowing in,” Ju-ne scoffed.

“They got drunk?” Chanwoo asked amused.

“It was a complete nightmare!”

Chanwoo laughed out loud. “Nightmare” describing the members’ drunk behavior was not exaggerated. Being the maknae and the last one to reach the drinking age, he had many experiences of dealing with drunk iKON and it’s especially worst when the members have a low level of alcohol tolerance.

“Are you drunk?” Chanwoo asked.

Ju-ne sighed dramatically, “I wish I was.”

Chanwoo rolled his eyes. Of course he wished that, there’s nobody enjoy being drunk than Ju-ne does.

“But, no, I drew a short stick and had to be the sober bodyguard.”

“It must’ve been really boring for you,” Chanwoo chuckled, imagining Ju-ne scowling and being grumpy at not being able to join in the fun.

“Well,” June said, cocking his head to the side. “It was quite entertaining watching what each of them became when they’re very drunk.”

“How so?” Chanwoo asked, amused.

Ju-ne sank further into the sofa and tilted his head back against the armrest, and smirked. “Let’s just say that my phone now have a video file called ‘Blackmail’.”

No further explanation were needed for Chanwoo, he understood it perfectly.

“Ah…you have finally come to the dark side,” Chanwoo said, approvingly. “Welcome, Koo Ju-ne. But, let me inform you that as your sunbae, I have a lot more blackmail materials than you do.”

Ju-ne’s eyebrows raised in intrigue. “Really now? Well, then, when you return we should compare notes.”

“We should. We shall.” Chanwoo added, “For life insurance.”

“For life insurance,” Ju-ne agreed.

They both laughed heartily together, sending warmth into their hearts despite the miles between them.

“Anyway, speaking of getting drunk – Chanwoo-yah, when Bobby hyung gets drunk does he get so…so…” Ju-ne trailed off as he wrecked his brain for an adjective.

“Sentimental?” Chanwoo said.

“Yeah!” Ju-ne exclaimed, throwing his left hand up in the air. “He kept on talking about how much we meant to him, how far we’ve come together and how he couldn’t imagine doing it all without the seven of us together…”

Chanwoo nodded, those words were all familiar to him. “Yeah, Bobby hyung gets very sentimental when he’s drunk. He gets sentimental when he’s sleepy as well but it ten times worse when he’s drunk.”

“Really?”

“Of course you would find it weird because you and Bobby hyung are awkward with each other,” Chanwoo teased.

“Shut up!” Ju-ne scowled making Chanwoo laugh. “I should get a blackmail material for you as well.”

“Good luck with that because you’re not going to find any!”

“Why don’t you ever get drunk? And do something stupidly embarrassing or humiliating?” Ju-ne whined.

“‘Cause unlike the rest of you, I have a high level tolerance of alcohol and drink very well!” Chanwoo proudly boasted.

“Hhmm…that’s true,” June huffed, defeatedly.

Once, when Chanwoo turned 20 and were of legal age, they’ve decided to test Chanwoo’s drinking tolerance; and so they planned a wine party at the dorm. Jinhwan being a wine-lover had prepared five different bottles of wine, and they were all excited and confident that their maknae would not have been able to last long. But after two bottles, they were all passed out and the maknae were still standing strong. The planned had completely backfired and it was Chanwoo who put them all to bed. Ju-ne, also, lost a lot of money that night.

“I’ll get something about you, Jung Chanwoo. One day,” Ju-ne said with determination. Infact, he was going to make that his new life goal.

“I’m sure you will,” Chanwoo mocked. “One day.”

Ju-ne tsk at his mocking.

A small, comfortable silence stepped in between them for a while before Ju-ne broke it.

“When are you coming home?”

“Me? I’ve got about another month of shooting,” Chanwoo replied.

“A month?”

“Eo.”

“You’ll be fine – I know you’ll be great. Acting is like a second nature to you,” Ju-ne said.

Chanwoo smiled at his words. “Thanks, Ju-ne-yah.”

Another silence.

“Ju-ne-yah.”

“Eo?”

“I’m sleepy.”

Ju-ne chuckled, “Alright, I guess I better let you go then. It’s late anyway.”

“You better get some sleep as well – you have to deal with five hangover people tomorrow,” Chanwoo said.

“Eurgh…! Don’t remind me!” Ju-ne groaned, closing his eyes and pinching nose bridge.

“Since you can’t cook, you should got out and buy a hangover soup for them tomorrow,” Chanwoo suggested. “They shouldn’t have an empty stomach when they have a hangover.”

“They’re the one who got drunk! Why do I have to do that?” Ju-ne grumbled.

“Because you love them very much.”

He can’t argue against that. “Fine! I’ll buy a hangover soup tomorrow,” Ju-ne sighed.

“Good,” Chanwoo grinned. “Let’s hang up.”

“Eo…”

“Chanwoo-yah…”

“Hhmm?”

“I miss you.”

At Ju-ne's words, a huge smile made its way on Chanwoo’s face, so big that it could actually win against the Cheshire Cat from Alice in Wonderland. He forcibly suppressed the urge to giggle. “Eo. Night,” he said and ended the call.

He let his phone dropped beside him and cackled.

Ju-ne stared at his phone and scowled before throwing it on the coffee table beside him.

“He didn’t say I miss you too.”