Chapter 5: A Lens in the Lobby

The red dot was a smoke sensor.

Seung-ho found that out at seven the next morning, standing on a chair in the empty practice room with a screwdriver.

Ha-jun stood in the doorway with two coffees and watched him.

"It blinks when the room gets warm," Seung-ho said, and climbed down. "Facilities installed it last week."

"So nobody saw us."

"Nobody saw us. Next time, I check the ceiling before I take my glasses off."

"Next time?"

Seung-ho took a coffee from his hand and did not answer.

That afternoon was the fan sign.

It was held in a mall hall in Gangnam, with four hundred fans lined up around the escalators holding albums and light sticks.

Ha-jun sat at a long table with the other four members and signed, smiled, and said every name he was given.

He was good at it, and for the first time in a month it didn't feel like work.

Seung-ho stood against the back wall, watching the room, and every time Ha-jun glanced up, the black-framed glasses were already pointed at him.

Min-seok leaned over from the next seat.

He was the leader, twenty-six, with light brown hair and a sleepy grin.

"You're glowing," Min-seok murmured, and signed an album without looking.

"It's the stage lights."

"There are no stage lights. It's a mall."

"It's the fluorescent lights."

"You've been humming since this morning. You never hum."

"I'm in a good mood."

"Is it the new manager?" Min-seok said. "He's scary. I like him."

"Sign your album."

Min-seok laughed, and for a moment Ha-jun was sure he knew.

Then a fan stepped up with a sign-in sheet, and he had to smile again.

Halfway through, Seung-ho's hand landed on his shoulder from behind.

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