'Will I start every arc in the hospital?' June thought as he opened his eyes, being greeted with the familiar viewpoint.
He was already used to waking up in the hospital with a white cloth over his face, too, so he removed it and turned to the reason for the occlusion.
"Hi, Dr. Oh," he sighed, feeling the aura of the familiar doctor.
He raised one eyebrow in inquiry when he saw he wasn't in his usual white coat and was dressed in a suit instead. June was about to ask him about his get-up but decided not to in the end.
Dr. Oh was just weird.
Simple as that.
"Hey there!" Dr. Oh exclaimed, smiling as he was greeted with June's handsome face.
"Do you even take day-offs?" June asked, sitting from the bed. "You're always here when I get admitted."
"Careful," Dr. Oh said. "Your IV line might get dislodged."
June frowned when he saw the IV fluid attached to him. What even happened?
"And to answer your question—yes. I maximize my day-offs. However, I heard you were here, so I canceled my wife and I's date and went here right away!"
June's frown deepened.
"Are you sure that's okay?" he asked.
"It's alright," Dr. Oh enthusiastically said. "She even urged me to go when she found out it was you."
June shook his head, acting like he didn't just hear Dr. Oh's statement.
Just then, the door burst open, revealing a worried Jay and Jaeyong.
"He's awake?" Jay asked. "Thank goodness! I thought you got shot or stabbed again."
June tried to recall what happened but couldn't remember anything after Haruki said a name—Haruto.
When the first of them met, June thought that Haruki looked familiar. However, his name didn't ring a bell.
On the other hand, June felt like he was transported back to the past once he heard 'Haruto.'
"Do you know what happened?" June asked.
"I don't know," Jaeyong said. "Jisung said you went to the restroom, but you weren't there. We started looking for you, but again, we couldn't find you anywhere. Thankfully, Dr. Oh contacted us that you were here, so Jaeyong and I went right away."
June turned to Dr. Oh. "Who brought me here?"
Dr. Oh pursed his lips. "I wasn't familiar with the man, but he was tall and handsome. He seems to be the same species as you," he responded.
"Haruki," June whispered, certain that it was him who helped him go to the hospital.
"So, what happened to him?" Jay asked Dr. Oh.
June, too, didn't know what happened to him. He felt like he was a reasonably healthy person with an above average stamina.
However, being reminded of his past made him dizzy. Then, before he knew it, he had collapsed.
"Well, based on all the findings, his blood sugar was low. It also seems like his body has signs of fatigue. How much sleep have you been getting in the past month?" Dr. Oh asked.
June pursed his lips. Since the group started producing 'Luster,' he hasn't been getting much sleep at all.
"Around 60?"
"60 hours in the whole month?" Dr. Oh asked. "Oh, that's really bad."
"No," June said. "About sixty minutes a day. Sometimes less."
"What?" the three exclaimed in shock.
June merely pursed his lips. With everything going on, he hadn't been getting much sleep at all.
However, his appearance still seemed okay, so he didn't think much about it.
"Well, that explains it," Dr. Oh said. "I'm surprised your handsome face still remained. A person getting sixty minutes of sleep a day is definitely not normal. You are advised to rest at least eight hours a day from now on."
"Furthermore, I advise you to rest for the rest of the day. You got that?"
"Yeah, sure," June said, knowing he wouldn't be taking the advice seriously.
***
"Advised to sleep eight hours a day?" Mr. Ong scoffed as Jay reported what had happened to June.
"Isn't your music video shoot due tonight?" Mr. Ong asked, spinning around his chair. After taking the blow of June's stalking incident, he was now back to his normal self.
However, he had been warier of June ever since that incident. He had a hunch that the idol was more intelligent than he expected...and that he had something to do with the outcomes of the incident.
He still didn't know in what way, but Mr. Ong knew that his hunches were always right.
"Yes," Jay said through the phone. "However, I'm thinking of letting June rest first beforehand. I could just schedule another shoot tomorrow."
Mr. Ong clicked his tongue. "Is he in any type of physical distress?"
Jay paused for a moment before responding.
"No," he responded hesitantly. "He fainted, though. I think that's already enough of a testament that he needs more rest."
"Is he awake right now?" the CEO asked.
"Yes. We're heading back to the dorms," Jay said.
"Then, he must be alright," Mr. Ong concluded."We have booked this venue beforehand, and we can't afford to book it for another day just because of one member."
"But the doctor said—"
"Doctors are quacks sometimes," Mr. Ong chuckled. "You said it yourself—June is not in any form of distress. He should be okay. Besides, there are still a couple of hours before the evening shoot. He can rest then."
Jay was about to argue once more, but Mr. Ong had already ended the call, making him sigh in frustration.
"He said no, right?" June asked from behind him.
Jay sighed as he glanced behind June, feeling even worse for his situation. Looking at him now, he does look a bit exhausted.
"Yeah," Jay said. "He said that they can't afford to book the venue for another day."
"What a scam," Jaeyong muttered. "I'm sure we brought in a lot of money during our debut. Where are they redirecting that budget?"
"To their pockets, of course," June said, aware of how dirty big corporations were.
"What are we going to do then?" Jay asked, biting his lip.
"It's still in the evening, right?" June asked.
"I can just rest for a bit until the shoot."
"But you have another schedule tomorrow," Jay sighed. "You guys have to film promotional videos for your social media pages."
"I can do it," June said. His head was still aching, but he attributed it to the fact that his past was brought to life once more.
His physical well-being was honestly the least of his worries right now.
Instead, he realized that there were a lot of demons in both his and Choi Joon-ho's past.
He hasn't shown his worries much, but LinZhi and Laohu still haven't left his mind. And with the addition of Haruto, June thought he wouldn't be able to sleep soundly anyway.
June sighed, leaning his head and looking out of the window.
He knew he said it was merely the beginning.
However, he didn't expect to find out that he hadn't come far after all.
"There's still so much to figure out," he whispered.
