Archive of Our Own

After the manager dropped him off in front of the dorm building, Park Moondae picked up his gifts and headed upstairs. He felt strangely warm as he remembered the Message Book that he found in the pile of gifts earlier. 

In the first place, even as Ryu Gunwoo he had never cared much for birthdays, but having people celebrating his birthday and being genuinely happy and excited that he existed… it filled him with emotions that were difficult to describe.

Those emotions disappeared the moment Park Moondae stepped out of the elevator and smelled something acrid like smoke, coming from the dorm entrance. 

Heart beating fast in fear, he quickly put down the boxes of gifts in the corridor and flung the front door open after opening the fire hydrant cabinet.

He ran towards the kitchen, ready to put out the fire when he heard a panicked voice cry out.

“No! Stop!”

Cha Eugene was closely following Seon Ahyeon who was running from the stove towards the sink in a panic, holding a burnt pot in his hands. Dark smoke drifted out from the gap of the lid that covered it.

Moondae paused when he finally registered the scene in front of him. He blinked owlishly and slowly put down the fire hydrant he was holding.

“...What are you two doing?” He asked them dryly.

Ahyeon flinched slightly as he put the smoking pot in the sink.

“M-Moondae! T-this is…”

“Chicken soup for the soul!” Eugene exclaimed as he opened a storage cabinet to find another pot. “We still have some ingredients! Let’s try again!”

Hurricane Eugene then ran back to the stove with a big pot in hand, leaving him and Ahyeon to stare at each other silently beside the sink.

Ahyeon broke the silence first.

“H-happy b-birthday, Moondae...”

“...Thanks.” 

He appreciated Ahyeon wishing him a happy birthday, but he kind of just wanted to know what was going on.

It was then his phone vibrated, telling him that there was a new notification. Their leader had texted to tell him to help Seon Ahyeon and Cha Eugene if he had arrived at the dorm because apparently, he had seen them almost burning the whole dorm from the W Live stream they were hosting.

He resisted the urge to sigh when he saw the company phone that was set up for the livestream on the dining table. He could just imagine the kind of articles that would be written about Eugene and Ahyeon’s disastrous cooking show.

“Are you and Eugene doing a livestream?” Moondae asked Ahyeon as he went back to the corridor to take the gifts inside, relieved that nothing bad actually happened. 

Ahyeon nodded enthusiastically as he helped him with carrying the boxes and bags.

“Y-yeah! We’re d-doing a cooking stream, but…”

“We burned it! Haha!” Eugene chimed in from the counter where he was assaulting a big chunk of chicken meat on Moondae’s precious cutting board with a cleaver, his fingers dangerously close to where the knife landed.

Moondae had never been faster in his life as he ran towards Eugene to snatch the cleaver from his hand before he could swing it down again.

Eugene had the gall to look confused, not understanding why his knife was taken away.

“You’re going to give me early grey hair,” Moondae gritted out as he set the cleaver down on the hot mess Eugene was making of the chicken. His heart was beating so fast from adrenaline.

Eugene cocked his head in confusion. “But your hair is already all grey…”

Wow, look at this smartass trying to play innocent. I saw your mouth twitching, brat.

“Eugene,” Moondae said, smiling gently at the redhead who was starting to look wary. “No candies for you for a week.”

“What? No!” Eugene gasped, horrified. “I’ll be good!”

“Then go sit at the table with Ahyeon and let me do the cooking instead,” he sighed. “What are you guys making?”

“Chicken soup!” Eugene cried cheerfully, “It’s my mom’s recipe!”

The redhead shoved his phone to Moondae’s face to show him the recipe. 

It was simple, but from the ingredients combination, it seemed like it would turn out delicious. They also had all the ingredients already prepared on their kitchen counter, though only a small amount was left after their disastrous attempt earlier.

“Well… it seems we have just enough ingredients left for everyone to have something to eat , at least,” He asked as he expertly cut the chunk of chicken breast into small pieces. “Who let you two cook anyway?” 

“S-sorry… we were s-supposed to just buy the ingredients and w-wait for the others to come back before starting…” Ahyeon explained apologetically. At least he was sorry, unlike Eugene who was cheerfully reading the live chat.

- lmaoo the knife got snatched instantly (skull emoji)
- moondae saved the day! and eugene's fingers (laugh emoji)
- fr i was so scared that boy is gonna chop off all his fingers
- lolol he made momdae mad (crying emoji) 
- where's the others? i wanna see chungwoo!!

“Boo, I was not doing that badly! My fingers are fine!” He pouted.

“Almost burning down the dorm wasn’t ‘doing that badly’ to you?” Big Sejin chimed in from the entrance, seemingly amused by what Eugene and Ahyeon did. It seemed the others had come back too as he also heard their voices from the living room.

“Welcome back,” Moondae greeted them as he diced some onions, carrots, and celery.

Big Sejin grinned at him and hugged him from behind.

“Honey, I’m home!”

Moondae glared at the taller man and jabbed his elbow into Big Sejin’s stomach.

“Let go or I’ll reduce your already meager portion to just a few spoonfuls.”

“Pfft! You’re such a tsundere .” Big Sejin laughed as he let go of him. He turned towards Ahyeon to tease him instead. “Geez, what were you and Eugene thinking, trying to cook on your own?”

Ahyeon was so embarrassed he covered his blushing face with his hands.

“...E-Eugene talked me into it… H-he said he’s g-good at cooking…”

Eugene nodded proudly.

“The recipe is simple, we could do it!”

“Clearly you couldn’t, since you almost caused a fire,” Ryu Chungwoo said dryly as he entered the kitchen with Bae Sejin and Kim Raebin. All of them were holding paper bags in their hands. “And you even ignored my calls, hmm? Eugene?”

Eugene pouted again. “Sorry…”

“As long as you know not to do it again.”

“Wow, that pot is totally ruined.” Big Sejin whistled. “Didn’t you say you were good at cooking, Eugene?”

“I’m good at grilling stuff. I’ve never boiled anything before...”

“Oh my gosh,” Raebin muttered in exasperation as he smacked his face with his palm.

Big Sejin cackled.

“Why do you guys decide to cook suddenly anyway? You could have waited for me if you want to eat chicken soup,” Moondae asked as he sautéed the onions with butter. The scent quickly filled the kitchen.

“It's Moondae-hyung’s birthday! This is our present for you!”

“Yes! We w-want to make you a birthday dinner!" 

- MOONDAE HAPPY BIRTHDAY
- hbd!! did you get your presents?
- ugh, it’s moondog’s birthday?
- my puppy!! i hope you’re having a great birthday!

“Hyung, the Loviewers are wishing you a happy birthday!” 

Eugene beamed at him as he read the chat from the table.

“Oh! Wait a second,” Moondae gasped softly when he remembered that he hadn’t greeted the Loviewers. 

He poured some water into the sautéed onion and dumped all the ingredients into it, setting the stove to medium heat before quickly washing his hands and running towards the camera to give them a little bow in greeting.

“Good evening, Loviewers. I hope everyone is having a good time with us. Sorry for the late greeting, I was preoccupied with making sure Eugene didn't chop off his fingers earlier.” 

Moondae smiled softly at the camera. “Actually, I just came back from the agency. Thank you for your well wishes and the gifts. I… especially like the Message Book. I will treasure it, always.”

“Aww.”

“Shut it, Lee Sejin.”

“Speaking of gifts,” Chungwoo interrupted before they could continue their usual bickering. " I bought this for you earlier. Sorry that I can’t give you anything better, we only just found out that it’s your birthday a few hours ago…”

Their leader handed him a paper bag, looking apologetic. 

“Oh… you shouldn't have to, hyung,” he said out of politeness, but he gratefully accepted the bag because rejecting it would have Chungwoo’s personal fans out for his blood for being ungrateful.

Moondae couldn’t help but smile a bit seeing the cute white and yellow beanie with dog ears inside the bag. There was also a pair of black leather gloves. Practical gifts for winter, as expected of the former Olympic medalist. 

“Thank you. I’ll use them well.”

Moondae suddenly heard the text notification sound from his phone in his pocket. He caught Big Sejin’s eyes and the latter grinned at him as he waved his phone in the air.

“That’s my gift! I sent you a mobile voucher.”

“What is it?” Moondae asked.

“Go see it for yourself.”

Moondae took out his phone and opened his messaging app. A handful of text messages from Big Sejin appeared at the top of his chat logs. 

[You got a gift from Big Sejin]

: Orim Homegrown Chicken (Raw, 1.5 kg)

Moondae stared at his phone blankly. A bunch of laughing emojis appeared after. He turned towards the grinning Big Sejin who gave him his best attempt at aegyo.

“Make something delicious with it for us, Moondae Moondae!” Their tallest member winked at him.

Wow…

“I deserve to choke you,” he deadpanned, looking straight at Big Sejin's eyes. “It is my god-given right, right now, to pick you up by the scruff, wrap my hand around your neck, shake you around like a gerbil, and just squeeze the life out of you.”

Big Sejin, the bastard, burst into laughter at his words. He was laughing so hard that he was wheezing and had to clutch his stomach. Tears even came out of the corner of his eyes. 

The others also couldn’t help but giggle at his words, even Bae Sejin was struggling to keep his mouth from quirking up! He felt betrayed. His words were supposed to be threatening, dammit.

“Ha… Moondae, oh my god. You're hilarious,” Big Sejin wheezed out as he wiped his tears with his fingers. “Did you forget that we’re live right now?”

He huffed.

“No. The Loviewers just need to know that if I gave in to the urge to choke you, I wasn't at fault because you were the one who asked for it.”

Big Sejin grinned at him. “Wow, I didn’t know you were into choking.”

Moondae gave him an unimpressed stare.

“I’m not taking any more photos for you.”

Big Sejin immediately stood and gave him a 90° bow. 

“I deeply apologize. Please keep taking my photos, Moondae-nim.”

Moondae just ignored the taller man and turned away despite his pleas while the others hurriedly covered their mouths and ducked to hide their amusement.

- big sejin lolol (laughing crying emoji)
- moondae really know how to make the troublemakers behave lolol
- what did he send you? show us! (pleading emoji)
- i feel like i'm seeing an old married couple playfully trolling each other 
- ↑↑↑ you're delusional
- no no i see it too

“He sent me a voucher to buy 1.5 kg of raw chicken.”

The chat burst into laughter at Moondae's flat tone, agreeing with him that the tall dancer was asking for it.

“Hey! That’s just a joke! The real one is still on the way,” Big Sejin told the Loviewers with a laugh. “Actually, I commissioned someone for a crochet cardigan last month for your gift but it only got finished last night. The seller said it's definitely going to be delivered tonight at the latest though so look forward to it, Moondae!”

“Oh… that sounds nice! It fits Moondae-hyung's usual fashion too!” Raebin nodded.

“Yep! I designed and chose the material for it myself since I know Moondae's taste very well~ right, Moondae Moondae?”

Big Sejin sent him a big smile and nudged his shoulder with his own.

“Well, I suppose I can continue taking your photos,” Moondae conceded begrudgingly. “There’s no sense in punishing your fans for your smartassery.”

“W-wait, I have something for y-you too! O-one moment...” Ahyeon also jumped to his feet and stumbled toward his room. He brought back a small, neatly wrapped gift and held it out to him. “H-happy birthday!”

“Uh... thanks. Can I open it?”

“Y-yeah!”

There was a department store voucher inside. Unlike Big Sejin’s joke gift, the extremely high monetary value of this little slip of paper made him feel a little lightheaded. Somehow he felt like he just scammed a friend…

Ahyeon seemed proud of himself though. “I-it’s also a voucher like Sejin because I had no time to actually go buy you a gift there, but... I think it’s b-better if you can choose what you want yourself!”

“...Thanks. I’ll go shopping when I have some free time.”

“Yeah!”

They continued to give him birthday presents. Eugene proudly gave him a huge container of gummies. It felt like a joke gift too, but knowing Eugene he was dead serious about the gift. He must have been the type of person who gifted people something that he’d personally love to receive since he loved sweets a lot. 

Eugene would end up eating half of this though, he was sure of it. There were so many gummies in the container, that there was no way Moondae would be able to eat them all alone.

Meanwhile, in a similar theme to the younger Sejin, Bae Sejin gave him a hoodie. From the careful wrapping and ribbons, it seemed that he had this prepared for a while. Surprisingly, despite being socially awkward he seemed to be good at remembering people’s birthdays.

“Thank you, hyung. I’ll use this a lot,” Moondae said.

“Yeah, well… it’s good that you like it.”

And then lastly, Raebin shouted in a grim tone. “Moondae-hyung, I’m sorry I wasn’t aware that today is your birthday! I wasn’t able to prepare a gift!”

“It’s fine, Raebin–” He tried to assure their youngest, but Raebin was determined to be remorseful.

“I only had time to buy a cake in a hurry earlier, but I recently made a beat. You can use it for your solo song...”

“Raebin, you shouldn’t be offering your music to other people so carelessly. You’re going to get taken advantage of by a bad person if you’re not careful.” Moondae couldn’t help but lecture him a little. “But thank you, I’ll bet it’s really good. Let’s take a look at it together later.”

“All right!” Raebin looked deeply relieved. 

“Cake!! I want to eat it!” Eugene exclaimed. “I’ll get the plates!”

“Is this your birthday?” Bae Sejin muttered.

Chungwoo raised an eyebrow. “Right now? You don’t want it for later after dinner?”

Eugene shook his head. “The person who decide cakes are just for dessert is dumb! Cakes can be ate anytime, even as appetizer!” He insisted.

Moondae couldn't help but laugh a little at his attempt to convince everyone to eat the cake now.

“Fine. We can do that. The soup will take a while to cook anyway.”

Everyone looked amused as they sat at the dining table while Eugene distributed the plates and forks. Raebin, determined to let Moondae relax because it was his birthday, didn’t let him touch anything.

He opened the cake box, revealing a simple-looking cake covered with white and pale pink cream. There were pinkish fruit circles on top for decoration. It was really… cute. Like a cartoon cake.

“White peaches are in season, so the bakery is selling a lot of ready-made peach cakes! It’s the only one I can buy immediately without placing an order beforehand. I hope everyone will like it,” Raebin told them apologetically as he took out some candles from the cake bag. 

The number [21] candles were placed on top of the cake and Chungwoo helped Raebin in lighting the candles… and the birthday cake was finally complete. Bae Sejin went to quickly turn off the big light so that the room was only dimly lit by the candlelight.

“Make a wish and blow the candle, Moondae~”

Big Sejin teased him in a sing-song voice. Everyone nodded encouragingly at him, agreeing with Big Sejin’s words.

“M-make a wish!”

Somehow, Moondae’s cheeks felt warm.

He hadn’t celebrated his birthdays like this since he was in high school with his parents when they were still alive. Seeing the expectant faces of his friends waiting for him to blow the candle was a bit embarrassing, especially considering his actual age.

And yet, he was also happy.

“Fine…” he mumbled, trying to hide his shyness.

He stared at the burning candles and closed his eyes as he blew on the flames, wishing in his heart that he would be able to safely complete his missions so that he could stay together with TeSTAR for a long, long time.

“W-what did you wish for, Moondae?” Ahyeon asked him after they turned the light back on and he only smiled.

“Secret.”

- happy 21st birthday, my puppy!! (party popper emoji x2)
- he’s blushing aaaa he’s seriously so cute! (heart eyes emoji)
- i hope you’ll always be happy and healthy, moondae! (red heart emoji)
- nooo tell us! this noona wanna know what your wish is so she can make it come true!! (determined emoji)
- take a lot of pictures and post them on inheart, please!!

He chuckled as he read the chat. The Loviewer’s enthusiasm and happiness was contagious.

At Big Sejin’s and the Loviewers’ urging, they took a lot of pictures before cutting the cake to upload to TeSTAR’s social media later. Moondae took their group shots as always, while his solo photos with the cake were taken by Chungwoo since he was the best out of everyone else after Moondae.

“Then, I will cut it into 8 equal pieces now!” Raebin declared once they were done with the pictures, brandishing a knife from the drawer.

“The extra slice–”

“–is for Moondae-hyung, because it’s his birthday so he deserves the extra slice, Eugene!” Raebin shot down Eugene’s hope instantly.

“Stingy…”

Moondae’s lips quirked upward at their youngest’s pout. “It’s fine, Raebin. He can have it.”

Raebin shook his head.

“Hyung, no! He’ll get fat! We’re still in our promotion period!”

“Then if I eat it, wouldn’t I be the one who gets fat?”

Big Sejin snorted. “Nah, you’ll be fine. Your metabolism is so fast it’s unreal.”

“Yeah…! In fact, I think you s-should eat more, Moondae.” Ahyeon agreed with a nod.

“Right? You’re much better now than when we were still in Idol Inc., but you’re still too skinny!”

“It’s because our activities burn so much energy… I already eat a lot,” Moondae told them exasperatedly. Not to mention, his Energy Drink attribute consumed a lot of calories too. But if he ate more like they wanted, his stomach might seriously explode. He usually already ate enough portions to feed 2 grown men after all.

“That’s true. If I eat like you, I’d already turn into a panda long ago…” Bae Sejin muttered again. He sounded a little jealous.

He quickly diverted the topic from their weights. “Let’s just eat the cake today without thinking about that, this is a special occasion. We can set aside the last slice for our Loviewers. It’s rude to invite them to my birthday party without giving them a slice, right?”

“Moondae-hyung is smart!” Eugene exclaimed. “I’ll get another plate for the Loviewers.”

“Thanks.”

They put the last slice on the plate and presented it to the Loviewers who gave them a lot of hearts and thank you and crying emoji in chat.

“Great! Let’s eat now!” Eugene exclaimed in excitement.

- eat well, puppy~ (dog emoji) (heart emoji)
- i wish i could actually be there with you guys (crying emoji x2) 
- that looks so good, where did you buy the cake, raebin?
- oh gosh, now i’m craving for cake too even though it’s 1 AM here for me

Moondae took a bite of his own cake and he couldn’t help but let out a small surprised sound at the taste. It was… really good. The cake was fragrant and not too sweet so the peach flavor really came through. 

It was a nostalgic taste. If he remembered correctly, the last time he ate peaches was when his–Ryu Gunwoo’s–parents were still alive. After that, he could never afford to buy them again even as Park Moondae, so this was the first time in around 13 years that he ate one, even though this was in the form of a cake filling.

“It’s really good, Raebin,” he repeated out loud as he continued to eat. The others made various sounds of agreement, with Eugene being the most vocal, as always when it involved food.

His mouth and throat felt kind of itchy though. He forced a cough to relieve some of the itch. Perhaps his mouth was too dry, he had to drink more after this.

But as he continued eating, somehow his face got really itchy too. His lips also felt… weird.

“...?” 

Moondae scratched at his face lightly, trying not to scratch too hard so he didn’t damage his skin, but the itchiness wasn’t going away. In fact, it worsened by the second.

He felt someone’s stare on his skin and looked up to see Bae Sejin looking at him with a frown.

“What’s wrong with you?”

Ahyeon looked over as well. “M-Moondae?”

“Are you guys… feeling weird too?” Moondae asked them, somehow feeling short of breath.

“No?” Chungwoo answered him, looking a bit cautious. “Moondae, are you feeling sick?”

Was it just him then? It was getting hard to breathe, not to mention his stomach really hurt. He felt so nauseous–

When his breath started to sound like faint wheezes, everyone realized what was happening at the same time and quickly jumped out of their seats in panic.

“ Oh shit, it’s an allergic reaction! ” Eugene exclaimed in English. He turned to Chungwoo who had already started to get out of his seat. “Moondae-hyung, anaphylaxis… call 911–no, 119! I have medicine, wait!”

Moondae watched Eugene rush toward his room, presumably to go get his meds, as he hunched in a futile effort to relieve the pain in his stomach. Breathing was getting harder and he had to gasp desperately for air. He couldn’t focus, he was getting lightheaded.

“Crap, Moondae!” Big Sejin caught him when his body swayed to the side, almost falling over to the floor.

“Don’t move around so much, okay? You have to keep calm and try to breathe,” Big Sejin told him. He looked really worried. Moondae didn't like seeing that kind of expression on someone who was usually always smiling.

When he swayed again, he ended up being forced to lean his back on Big Sejin’s chest so he didn’t fall again.

“Stomach… hurts.” He wheezed out weakly. “I can't…”

“I-I’ll go look for s-something in o-our first aid kit!” Ahyeon exclaimed before he, too, ran out to get the first aid kit from their living room.

He could hear Chungwoo on the phone talking with the emergency service operator in a forced calm tone while Bae Sejin was scrolling through his phone. He seemed to be reading something when he suddenly inhaled sharply.

“What? What is it, hyung?” Raebin asked shakily.

Bae Sejin's hand trembled.

“This article… said he might need CPR if his heart stops beating.” 

“W-what? His heart could…”

“Hey, hey. It’s okay, I can do CPR,” Big Sejin told them. He had a comforting smile as he tried to keep everyone calm, but his hands, which were tightly gripping Moondae’s body, were also trembling a little. “Nothing bad will happen to Moondae, okay? Let’s all calm down so we can help him.”

Bae Sejin nodded with a shaky exhale.

“Did the article say anything about anything we can do to help Moondae-hyung?” Raebin asked in a small voice.

“There’s not a lot we can do, but… Lee Sejin, try loosening his collar and lift up his chin. It might help him breathe better,” Bae Sejin said. “We should also elevate his legs too.”

“Got it!”

Moondae felt Big Sejin unbuttoning the top 2 buttons of his shirt and tilting his head up to rest against his shoulder while Bae Sejin moved his legs up to lay on one of the empty chairs before turning to Raebin.

“Raebin, help me clear the table and take the cakes away just to be safe. We still don’t know what he’s allergic to and how he’s getting the reaction.”

“O-okay!”

Raebin and Bae Sejin went to work quickly, taking all the cake plates from the table and moving them to another room.

Ahyeon returned to their kitchen with a strip of medicine and several cans tucked inside his arms just as Raebin and Bae Sejin finished putting everything away.

“H-here! I brought anti-h-histamine, a-and o-oxygen!” Ahyeon gasped out, his stutter getting worse in his anxiety. “M-Moondae can y-you s-swallow this? This m-might help a bit with the s-symptoms…!”

With great effort, Moondae managed to shake his head slightly. His throat was closing up, he couldn't even swallow his saliva that he was drooling a bit, how could he swallow a medicine tablet?

Big Sejin immediately wiped his drool with his sleeve when he noticed it without even a single teasing comment.

“Hand me that, Ahyeon,” Big Sejin motioned for the oxygen canister. It was handed to him and Moondae felt the mask placed over his mouth and the button was pressed to release the oxygen. 

The supplemental oxygen wasn’t meant to be used for medical treatment. They have it on hand only to help them a little when dance practice got too much that they became lightheaded, so Big Sejin had to periodically spray more to help him breathe to mimic the oxygen concentrators used by hospitals. 

Moondae couldn't properly inhale all of it, but hopefully what little he managed to get in his lungs could help him not suffocate until proper help came.

“Hyung, the ambulance?” Big Sejin asked Chungwoo who just returned from his call.

“They said it might take up to 10 minutes as traffic is the worst at this hour,” Chungwoo answered, sounding angry and anxious. “I'd drive him to the hospital myself but we might also get stuck in traffic too, and without medical supplies or training, it’s dangerous. It's best to wait for them to arrive.”

“B-but what if Moondae-hyung’s heart…!” Raebin choked out. 

“He won't, Raebin. Go sit down and keep calm, okay?” Chungwoo said to their second youngest member, guiding him to a chair. 

The kid might be close to hyperventilating, he was so upset. Moondae felt touched that Raebin cared about him so much, but hearing him panicking like that only made it harder for him to breathe.

While Chungwoo was trying to comfort Raebin and Ahyeon who had both started crying, Moondae felt himself slowly falling into unconsciousness. His vision got blurry and everyone felt like they were speaking another language that he couldn’t understand.

Was this his end? Was this because he failed his mission to get the award? But the deadline was still so far away, dammit! Was his effort meaningless, after all? 

What a shitty System, scamming him like this… if it was going to kill him anyway, why set a deadline for him in the first place? To give him false hope? If he actually died because of this, he swore he would become an evil spirit and haunt the System back as payback for playing with his life like this.

As he was cursing the System in his mind, Eugene came bursting through the door triumphantly, holding something in his hand.

“Sorry! Sorry I'm late, I forget where I put this but I found it!” Eugene exclaimed, out of breath from running. “Get the table away, please!”

Chungwoo and Bae Sejin immediately got up to push their dining table away to make space for Eugene so he could kneel beside Moondae. 

Moondae then heard something pop before something sharp was jabbed into his thigh. He flinched away from the pain because fuck it stings, but several hands were pushing him down to keep him from moving.

“Hyung! Don’t move!” Eugene told him. 

A few seconds passed before the needle was pulled out of his thigh. Moondae opened his eyes to see Eugene looking at him intently as he set whatever it was he used on the floor after putting the cap back on.

“Moondae-hyung, feel better?” The redhead asked him, biting his lower lip. “Is it working? Can you breathe now? Or do you need another dose? But we have to wait 5 minutes before I can give you the next one! ”

Moondae blinked at that, and–wow, it actually did feel better. He was still wheezing, it was still hard to breathe, but he could feel his airways starting to open up again so he could gradually breathe a little easier, especially with the help of the oxygen.

No haunting the System, then. That bastard was lucky he lived.

“Mm… better. Thanks.” Moondae mumbled, closing his eyes again tiredly as he concentrated on his breathing. 

Even with his Energy Drink attribute, he felt exhausted. Who knew that manually trying to breathe was so tiring?

Seeing that he was no longer in danger of dying from suffocation, everyone let out a heavy sigh as the tension and fear finally left them.

“Park Moondae, you…! You scared the crap out of us!” Big Sejin cried out from behind him. “Never do that again, please…!”

Moondae looked up and saw that his friend's eyes were a little red and watery.

“Sorry… I didn’t know… I have an allergy,” he murmured between his wheezes. He pretended not to feel Big Sejin’s breath hitching as he tried not to cry or the way his friend’s arms were trembling as they wrapped around his body in a tight hug.

He glanced at Eugene instead to let Big Sejin to not-cry in peace.

“What was… that thing you used?”

Eugene perked up and grinned at him, though it looked a little dimmer than his usual smile.

“It’s EpiP*n!” Their youngest answered him. “I’m allergic to avocados, so my parents make me have this with me all the time, but I forget about it a lot because I know to avoid avocados. Hyung should also have this with him all the time, I still have 3 more.”

Eugene pulled out 3 more injectors from his back pocket and handed them to Moondae, who didn’t know what to do with them.

“We’re glad that Eugene’s medicine worked,” Chungwoo said grimly as he squeezed Moondae’s shoulder gently. “You were so pale back there. We were really worried.”

Ahyeon sniffled. “T-thank you for s-saving him, Eugene.”

“...I’m glad you’re okay,” Bae Sejin murmured.

Raebin looked scared as he finally approached him. He was kneeling on the floor and bowed his head to him stiffly.

“I… I’m really sorry, hyung,” he whimpered, tears still streaming down his face. “I… I almost killed you…”

Ah… this kid, really. So this was why you looked so terrified back then? Were you having this kind of stupid thought in that little genius head of yours?

Moondae smiled at him weakly and patted his head.

“No need for apologies. Raebin, you… didn’t know. Even I didn’t know that… something like this would happen, so how… would you?” He told Raebin, still wheezing a little as he struggled to get the words out. “The cake was really great. It’s too bad that I couldn’t… finish it.”

Raebin’s eyes overflowed with fresh tears.

“Hyung…!” He hiccuped. “Even though I almost killed you… but you’re still being kind to me…”

He wasn’t being kind, though? It wasn’t just lip service when he said that the cake was great.

Bae Sejin handed a kitchen towel to Raebin who was still crying on the floor to wipe his face with.

“Well, I’m fine now. Thanks for… not letting me die, everyone,” Moondae told them. “So can we skip… the hospital?”

Eugene immediately protested.

“No! Hyung still need to go! It’s important!”

But he didn't have a lot of money left in his account though? They haven't been paid yet so he couldn't pay for hospital treatment?

“If you’re worried about the money, don’t. If the agency won’t cover this for you, I’ll do it,” Chungwoo told him as if he had read Moondae's mind. “Let’s get you a full health check-up while we're at the hospital. It’s been long overdue, especially after what you told us about your condition.”

“But–” 

He tried to protest, but Chungwoo wouldn't budge on this.

“I know you don’t like hospitals, but your health is very important,” Chungwoo said firmly, looking at all of them. “In fact, I want everyone to get themselves tested for allergies too to prevent something like this from happening again.”

Everyone made noises of agreement. This incident must have really scared them if no one was protesting despite the hassle they'd have to deal with at the hospital.

Fine, I guess, Moondae thought with a sigh. He could at least do that, after scaring them like this.

“By the way… I've been curious since a while ago. What’s that smell?” Moondae asked.

At his question, all of them took a deep breath with their nose to identify the smell and collectively turned their heads toward the stove, where the pot of soup was still cooking even though the water had long evaporated while they were all busy panicking.

Eugene was the first to react.

“No!! We forget the soup again!!” He cried in dismay.

“It’s burning! Fire came out of the pot!”

Raebin shot up from his kneeling position too quickly and fell over when his feet tripped over a chair.

Ahyeon eeped and immediately moved to turn off the stove, but stepped back in fear when the fire in the pot grew bigger.

“Ryu Chungwoo, put a lid on that pot!!” Bae Sejin shouted as he ran out of the kitchen. “I’m getting the extinguisher!”

Still stuck being Moondae's sofa, Big Sejin could only blink seeing the chaos that was happening in front of them. 

“Should we… call 119 again? This time for the fire department?”

Moondae couldn’t help it. He burst out laughing.

TeSTAR’s W Live went so viral because of all the chaos and dramatic storyline that was straight out of a makjang drama. It was honestly a bit ridiculous how that one single livestream gave birth to countless articles, WeTube videos, forum discussions, and memes. 

Everyone only remembered that the stream was still live after Moondae was taken into the ambulance by the paramedics, so a lot of their clumsy moments were completely bared for the world to see.

Moondae felt so embarrassed to be seen in such a vulnerable state, but at least the fan's reactions were not bad. They were just happy that everything turned out fine and that he survived without any health complications.

Some people tried to bash Big Sejin and Eugene for cursing during the stream, but they were drowned by the waves of defenses from people who understood that it was a high-stress situation.

This incident really reminded people of how young and inexperienced they still were, but, in general, the consensus was that everyone did well trying to keep calm while dealing with the situation.

Moondae saw all of this happening from his hospital bed. He was content to let their agency handle the aftermath and media circus for once as he was still recovering since they wanted to keep him there for another day just to be safe (and also because they didn't want the backlash from not properly taking care of his health).

His lips quirked as he saw another clip of himself laughing as the others were frantically trying to douse the fire in the ruined pot #2.

The caption said: [How did these guys even survive until now… we should petition T1 Stars to hire a babysitter for them (crying emoji x2)]

Everyone also seemed curious about his condition, so he took a few selfies and opened TeSTAR’s social media to write a new post.

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Hello, Loviewers.

This is Moondae (puppy emoji). I apologize for worrying everyone. The test results have come back and it turns out I'm allergic to peaches, but thanks to your well wishes I’ve been recovering well. Please don’t worry about me. I’ll be back soon, better than ever before.

PS: I’ll host another W Live to cook the chicken soup again once I’m allowed home. Please look forward to it, I'll do it properly this time (puppy emoji) (determined emoji)

(photo) (photo)

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…His post was meant to be reassuring, but it unexpectedly triggered the Loviewers' PTSD.

They were still traumatized from his disastrous birthday party and begged him to just take it easy and not do any cooking stream, remembering how he almost died and their dorm almost burned down, twice, when the last one happened.

He chuckled at their reactions and laid back down on his bed. 

It might be disastrous and a little chaotic at the end, but despite everything it was still the best birthday he ever had since his parents’ death.

He was sure that no matter what happened in the future, that day would never be erased from his memory.

His expression softened as he drifted off to sleep. 

What an unforgettable birthday.