JOOHYUN couldn't help but to shake her head when she saw Seungwan, Minjoo and Minjeong hiding behind the wall by the fire exit. They had the fire exit's door slightly open so that they could hear whatever Seulgi and Yujin were talking about. 

Surprise was an understatement. Joohyun was shocked with Seulgi's sudden change in behaviour. She wouldn't be surprised if there was alcohol involved but it wasn't the case at all. 

Seulgi only had a sip of the black bubble milk tea that Minjoo bought.

Seungwan was surprised when Joohyun came and even asked them to move so she can have the best eavesdropping spot. She was about to ask the young director but Joohyun just gestured to her to stay quiet.

"Ahn Yujin!" They heard Seulgi shout. "What do you think are you doing!? Do you know what day today is!?"

They heard no response from Yujin which made Seulgi shout louder. 

"I am asking you what day today is!"

Yujin flinched in her place. "M-Monday..." She answered, almost whispering.

"And do you know what Monday is for me!?" Seulgi asked again. “The only day that I don’t work overtime! And the reason is?”

Yujin sobbed. "...Weekly boss fight—"

"That's right! It's weekly boss fight! And what do you think is the reason why I am stuck here and practising with you all? What do you think is the reason why my resin is full-capped and can't be used?"

"Oh my goodness, Seulgi..." Seungwan's shoulder dropped. 

"What the hell are they even talking about?" Joohyun whispered. "

Minjeong then started hitting the invisible keyboard. "Games."

"Games?" Joohyun repeated in disbelief.

Minjeong and Seungwan just nodded. Joohyun felt her head ache for a moment. 'She got angry because she couldn't play games?'

"I am asking, Ahn Yujin. Who is the reason why I am stuck in this band thing? Aren't you the one who said that you won't be joining without me? It's because of you that the others thought the same. Now that I agreed to participate you're ruining everything by spoiling the mood? What's up with you, really?"

"I'm sorry, Unnie..." Yujin bit her lower lip.

"I know... I know you're hurt. Everyone knows you're hurt." Seulgi sat on the ground. Her right arm was placed on top of her right knee. "You are hurt but that doesn't mean you also have the right to hurt others..."

And this is where the mellow BGM comes in.

Seulgi's rage about not being able to game already subsided. Yujin just remained standing, her back on the wall with her head down low. She was even fidgeting with her fingers. 

"Don't get me wrong, Yujin. I know how much it hurts. I am not invalidating your feelings as well. It's just not right. If you're like this, you'd not just keep hurting yourself but also hurt others too."

Seulgi took off her glasses and started wiping them. "If you're going to keep disrupting the practice then just quit. It'll be better to stay away for a while than hurting the people around you. But at the very least, just survive this one week. Director Bae is really putting a lot of effort in this project."

Joohyun hugged her knees. She suddenly felt guilty for blackmailing Seulgi. She hasn’t even done anything at all.

After making sure that her glasses were clean, Seulgi wore it and looked back at Yujin. "I'm going to say it once and for all—Please don't mistake Seungwan as a cheater. She never did anything wrong."

Minjeong looked at Seungwan whose eyes were wide open after hearing what Seulgi said.

"But, Unnie... She stole—"

"She didn't steal anyone from me." Seulgi said with a faint smile. "Although I admit that I was really hurt that she wasn't honest about her feelings when she knew how much I treasured her, Seungwan didn't cheat. She..." Seulgi pressed her lips together as she looked away. "She was never mine in the first place. I wasn't even able to confess to her, remember?"

"But you'll be confessing to her, right? You were all set to confess to her the moment she came home from that 'overseas trip' but all of the sudden she's married to your best friend!" Yujin's fists balled. One could sense how angry she really was for Seulgi. "I was there helping you with all the preparation... I was there wishing that all things would work on your way but then..."

Yujin's voice trailed off as tears suddenly fell from her eyes. 

"When she came back she's already married. Not just to anyone but to your best friend. The person who knew how much you were in love with her. Seungwan-unnie didn't even tell you about them dating. It was the marriage news that slapped you across the face! And you're telling me she didn't do you wrong?"

Seulgi laughed. "I know. You cried first before me. I didn't even know how to react at that time. But try to look at the situation from someone else's perspective."

The older girl patted the ground beside her, telling Yujin to sit down. The younger girl immediately did what she was told to.

"Look, what if you like someone but you have a friend who's so in love with that person? But then your friend was a huge coward and couldn't even confess at all. All that friend did was tell you how much she loves that person but there was no work at all. You want to tell her about your feelings as well but since you are her friend, it was not easy to tell her right away."

Seulgi snickered while picturing the scene. "Do you understand how hard it was for Seungwan? She probably felt so stuffy. I wasn't the only one who got hurt, I believe Seungwan carried the pain longer than me."

"Kang Seulgi..." Seungwan immediately wiped the drop of tear that rolled down from her eyes. 

"Of course, I was really hurt at first and I also know what kind of things could come out of my mouth whenever I am angry so I chose to just go away."

Seulgi leaned her head on the wall and took in a deep breath. "While I was away, I realised a lot of things. When I tried to look at it from their point of view, I realised how I became too much of a burden to Seungwan. I also came to the conclusion that as long as she is happy, I'll be happy for her. Her happiness is the main priority anyway and since being with Seungwan is what makes her happy, then I won't have anything against it."

The girl smiled but it fainted as soon as she did. "But yeah... When I play the bass, I still get reminded of her... of how much I love her... That's why I stopped playing. I am still trying to kill the romantic feelings I have for her. She's already with my best friend. I want to be genuinely happy for them.”

"What I am saying is~" Seulgi patted Yujin's head. "If you're angry at someone else then don't drag the others in the pain. Even if it is the person that made you angry, you don't have to hurt them back to satisfy yourself."

"Then do I have to act like a fool and accept them back in my life?" Yujin asked with a pout as she hugged her knees. 

"Not necessarily like that." Seulgi removed her hand from Yujin's head. "If you think they're bad, you don't have to be bad at them in return. You don't have to stoop down on their level. Block them from your life, act like you don't know them. That's enough. Fighting and hurting them back will only be an endless cycle. Also..."

Seulgi beamed at Yujin. "I know you don't want to hurt Minjoo. There isn't a single cell in your body that wants to hurt her, am I right?"

"Unnie..." Yujin started crying. "...It's just that... It's just...."

Yujin's tears were unstoppable. Seulgi could only lend her her shoulder. 

"I... Everything... I did everything for the sake of a bright future with Minjoo... All of it... There was never a time that I never pictured my future without her... But then... Now..."

Minjoo covered with both hands as she teared up. The others could only look at her. 

"Minjoo... Why did all of this happen? What did I do to lose to the future with the person I love the most?"

Seulgi bit her lower lip as she tried not to tear up. She continued caressing Yujin in the back, hoping that it would ease the pain at the very least. 

“A-Am I a bad person, Unnie?” Yujin asked. “D-Do I deserve whatever happened between us? Do I deserve to be treated like this?”

“No, Yujin…” Seulgi’s voice cracked. “You’re a nice kid. I know how much you love Minjoo… I know how much you cared for her but it’s just that…”

Seulgi hugged the younger girl which made Yujin cry harder. 

“...It's just that everything doesn’t go the way we want to. We don’t have any control of anything…”

Seulgi looked up and noticed the gap made by the open door. A tight lipped smile curved up her face. She hushed Yujin and helped the girl to fix herself. 

“Let’s go back to rehearsals but before that, you have to apologise to Seungwan and Minjeong.”

“To Minjeong? Why should I apologise to her as well—ouch!”

Yujin held her forehead and received a flicking from Seulgi. “Minjeong said she didn’t know but you were insisting that she knew something. You know her symptoms when she’s lying, right?”

“...I’m sorry, Unnie… I was just really angry…”

Seulgi placed a hand on the girl’s shoulder. “You don’t have to say sorry to me. Just go ahead and apologise to them, to Director Bae as well for ruining the practice.”

Finally, Yujin smiled again. “Thank you, Seulgi-unnie. Talking to you made me feel better.”

“Really?” Seulgi asked with a smile but then her grip on Yujin's shoulder tightened. 

“S-Seulgi-u-unnie… I-It hurts—”

Seulgi flashed Yujin her crazy eyes as she continued smiling. “If you’re thankful then buy me some gems, you kid! I need to roll on the current banner!”

IT WAS already 10:30 in the evening but unlike what she was supposed to do (which was killing weekly bosses and gathering materials for her game) Seulgi was left alone in the practice room. After coming back from talking with Yujin, Minjoo was nowhere to be found. Seungwan just simply told them that Minjoo had to go because she was technically drenched by the drink. With that, Seulgi concluded that it was Minjoo who was eavesdropping earlier, not fully aware that the whole gang was there listening.

Thankfully, just like what they talked about, Yujin apologised to Seungwan and Minjeong. Seungwan gave her one big hug while Minjeong, who was feeling all the second-hand guilt of what her sister did to Yujin, could only give Yujin pats on the back while trying to hold her own tears. 

They also managed to run through the songs and Joohyun was amazed at how fast they worked on them. Seungwan explained that they used to practise new songs on a Saturday and play them on the following day while doing ministry so they were kind of trained to this kind of scenario.

But looking at the coverage of the said competition and adding the pressure that the Chairman gives them, they would need more time to perfect things. They called it a day at 9PM but Seulgi chose to stay in the practice room for a while. 

She organised the cables of the amplifiers so that no one will be tripped on them. She also set up the instruments in the way they used to jam in the past. When she’s finally satisfied with the setup, Seulgi sat in front of the bass guitar and stared at it for some time. 

“Such a beauty.” She uttered under her breath. She then took it from the stand and wore the strap around her shoulder. She plugged it in the amplifier and the said equipment as well. 

“Are you finally turning up the volume now?”

Seulgi shrieked when she heard someone speak. She quickly turned to the direction of the door and saw Joohyun taking off her heels before plopping on the couch.

“D-Director Bae?” Seulgi called. “W-Why are you still here? It’s already late!”

“I decided to do some work after the practice.” Joohyun answered with her eyes closed. “I am almost done with the clean up. I guess I can focus more on this project after all the pending cases in the department are settled.”

“I-I-I see… G-Great work for today, Director!” Seulgi turned back to her guitar and let out a silent sigh. “Y-Y-You should go home now. What m-made you come back here?”

Joohyun opened her eyes and looked at Seulgi’s back. “You said you’d be staying so I just want to check if you’re still here.”

“Y-Yes?” Seulgi gulped. “W-Why? D-Do you need something from me? D-Did I forget to do something?”

Joohyun sighed, she sat up and looked out the window. “You forgot to turn on your volume earlier.”

Though they sounded good earlier, no matter how Joohyun tried to find the bass sound that Seulgi introduced to her back then, she couldn’t find it. She also noticed how the other girls were throwing awkward glances at Seulgi during the practice. It was as if they wanted to say something but couldn’t open it up. That’s when she realised that Seulgi actually didn’t even turn on her amplifier at all. 

“What’s wrong?” Joohyun asked. “What’s