Chapter 15: CHAPTER FOURTEEN

Jun stared at Po, blocking the door. Po stood frozen, his mind racing with questions. Where had he slipped up? How had Thame’s plan failed? Before Po could process further, Jun pulled out his phone and called Thame.

“I’ve figured it out, you know. I know who’s helping you,” Jun said smugly.

“Did you really think that fake interview clip would fool me? I’ve worked here long enough to know that every interview has a consistent length.

Mine was two and a half minutes. Yours? Barely a minute.”

Po’s stomach dropped. Jun had spotted something he hadn’t even considered. The discrepancy in video lengths was glaring. Jun wasn’t analyzing the content of Thame’s clip - just the timestamps.

“That means your little interview wasn’t finished, but you two must’ve had plenty to talk about off-camera.”

Po couldn’t hear Thame’s reply, but Jun laughed mockingly.

“Oh, and one more thing. The file sequence,” Jun added, referring to the file numbers. “Two files are missing, meaning there were extra interviews, but they were deleted or moved off the camera.”

Jun had unraveled everything. Thame had anticipated Jun’s moves, but not entirely. Jun was sharper than either of them had expected.

“You’re coming here?” Jun continued, his tone dripping with mockery.

“Too bad you’ve been banned from the building. Guess you won’t make it in time.” He paused, smirking. “Oh, and just imagine how much Pemika will love me for catching the culprit. I’ll make sure she knows I’m the one who kept everything in line and got you on that plane to Korea.”

He ended the call with a drawn-out, “Baaaaiii,” then turned his attention to Po, his smug smile unwavering.

“Wait, Jun,” Po interjected. “This isn’t what you think.”

“Isn’t it?” Jun replied, crossing his arms.

“You’re the last person who spoke to Thame before he changed his mind. If it wasn’t you, who else could it have been? Mick? No way. Ming or Tae? Never disobey orders. You’re the wildcard here, and this mess started the moment you showed up.”

Po struggled to form an excuse, finally blurting out the truth. “Jun, listen.

Thame doesn’t want to go to Korea.”

“This isn’t about what he wants. It’s about what he has to do!” Jun snapped, his voice laced with frustration.

“Why? So you can become an actor? From what I’ve heard, you’re not even the lead in the movie. Wouldn’t continuing Mars be better for you? It’d give you more exposure, and...”

“You don’t understand anything!” Jun cut him off. “This has nothing to do with me being an actor. It’s about Thame. If he doesn’t go, this band will destroy him.”

Po froze.

Destroy him?

“What do you mean?” Po asked hesitantly.

Jun’s voice dropped, heavy with emotion. “Did Thame ever tell you about the contracts he signed for this band? Did he ever tell you what would happen if he didn’t go to Korea?”

Po shook his head. Thame had never mentioned anything.

“Of course he didn’t,” Jun scoffed. “He didn’t even tell us. Not one of his bandmates knew back then. None of us questioned why he agreed to debut solo. But I did. I checked his contract. Thame signed away everything.

Every penny he earned went into keeping this band afloat. He carried all of us - four freeloaders who couldn’t pull our weight.”

Jun’s words were harsh, but Po could see the pain behind them.

“I told him not to do it, but he wouldn’t listen. He thought he could shoulder everyone’s dreams. But look at him now. He’s exhausted. That’s why, when the Korea deal came up and freed him from the old contract, I was relieved. For once, he had a chance to put himself first.” Jun stepped closer to Po. “And then you came along. What did you say to him? What made him change his mind? Instead of taking the only way out, he’s back to carrying everyone else’s weight.”

Jun’s frustration was palpable, and Po finally understood why Thame had said Jun was his closest friend. Despite the teasing and the arguments, Jun’s anger was rooted in a deep care for Thame.

Po couldn’t help but smile slightly, which only angered Jun further.

“What are you smiling about? Have you lost your mind?”

“No,” Po replied, shaking his head. “I just realized how much you love Thame. That’s why he said you’re so important to him.”

“What?” Jun recoiled, visibly flustered.

“All of this - your anger, your frustration - it’s because you care about him. You want him to be okay.”

“I don’t care about him!” Jun denied vehemently, though his actions said otherwise.

“Just stop interfering. Make him go to Korea. Otherwise, none of us will survive this.”

“But didn’t you say you wanted him to be selfish?” Po countered. “Not going to Korea is the most selfish thing he’s ever done.”

“How is this selfish? He’s doing it for others.”

“No, Jun,” Po said firmly. “He’s doing it for himself. Thame wants to bring the band back together, not for anyone else, but because it’s what he truly wants. He’s trying to make up for what he feels he failed to do as a leader. This is his dream.”

Jun hesitated, his expression softening as Po’s words sank in.

“Your friend is being selfish, Jun. Aren’t you going to help him? Besides,” Po added with a small smile, “you love causing trouble anyway.

Going against the company is your kind of game, isn’t it?”

Jun didn’t respond immediately, his eyes narrowing as he considered Po’s words.

—

The game center was the first place Thame and Jun’s bond had truly formed. Neither could remember the first game they played, but they both remembered racing games as their favorite.

Jun was waiting at one of the machines when Thame walked in and sat beside him.

“You figured it out, huh?” Thame asked as the game loaded.

“Did you really think you were smarter than me?” Jun shot back, grinning.

“You’ve got guts, I’ll give you that.”

“I thought I was being careful.”

“If you were careful, you wouldn’t have brought someone as obvious as Po into this.”

“Don’t blame him. If you’re mad, be mad at me.”

“Why didn’t you just go to Korea?”

“Because I don’t want to,” Thame replied bluntly. “Are you going to help me? Are you coming back so we can finish what we started?”

Jun didn’t answer immediately. His car in the game swerved dangerously close to crashing.

“Even if I do help you, you know it won’t be easy, right?” he finally said. “Pepper might be easy. Nano… not too hard. But Dylan…”

“I’ve already talked to Pepper,” Thame said.

“Not Nano yet.”

“Then let’s talk to Nano...”

“No, Jun,” Thame interrupted. “The first person we need to convince is Dylan.”

Jun’s car crashed. He turned to stare at Thame, incredulous. “Are you insane? Dylan first? You do know no one even knows where he is or what he’s doing, right?”

TO BE CONTINUED.