Chapter 42 - ✦Billboard✦

The silence in the van was different from the silence in the dorm. In the dorm, the air was thick with the hum of surveillance and the whispered calculations of fourteen boys trying to survive a digital massacre. In the van, the silence was sterile, punctuated only by the rhythmic clicking of the manager's tablet and the muffled roar of Seoul's morning traffic. Gun-woo sat beside Kang Joon, his knuckles bruised and his eyes fixed on the floor. He hadn't spoken since the announcement in the lobby. The "Liquid Lineup" wasn't just a concept anymore; it was a physical shift in the gravity of the room.