Hyuna’s best friend Yoon-jeong was one of the winners for this HS fan meeting.
“Ha, what should I wear?”
Her face was already as bright as a spring day, as if she were at the HS fan meeting venue right now.
“First off, I should buy clothes.”
Right away, Yoon-jeong shut the wardrobe and bustled out of the house.
She headed for downtown, the place currently called the “hottest place” among people in their twenties.
Right, there’s bound to be at least one pretty outfit!
She combed through clothing shops like she was going to war, and even in the cool weather the nape of her neck was drenched with sweat.
Why go this far?
Isn’t this HS fan meeting possibly the first and last of her life! She decided this level of investment was worth it.
“Ah, that’s refreshing.”
Exhausted from fervent shopping, she stepped into the café right in front of her.
“Iced americano, please.”
She’d only started drinking iced americanos since turning twenty, but now she could more or less appreciate the taste of coffee.
Sluuurp..
In fact, she had started drinking coffee because of an interview where HS said he often drank coffee to fight off drowsiness.
Right.
To create even one point of commonality with HS, Yoon-jeong drank three cups of that bitter coffee every day.
She hadn’t told her friends about these petty little things….
Truly.
She had loved HS with all her heart, and even now there was only HS inside her heart.
It was probably from the day she first heard “Dear my Beethoven.” From that song, which soothed and comforted the deep, dark sea of her heart, she came to like HS. Surely, anyone who could make a song like that must be a good person.
Sure enough.
He kept making her think he was an even cooler person.
Of course.
Partly because of the rumors that he was handsome!
But that wasn’t all.
After learning that he made meaningful songs and donated and supported single-parent families and children, she liked him even more.
She herself, too….
Had been from a single-parent family.
Sluuurrp, sluuurrp—!
Yoon-jeong sucked hard on the straw and downed the coffee in one go. Right, since she was going to meet that kind of person, not someone else, she had to dress up in a pretty outfit.
Besides.
Didn’t HS, who had been extremely reluctant to expose anything personal, decide to hold a fan meeting and even announce a new song for the fans on the day?
He was a man you truly couldn’t help but love.
Shall I hurry up and finish the shopping?
Just as Yoon-jeong was about to stand up with her empty cup—
“I heard you got into the HS fan meeting?”
At the sudden word “HS,” she whipped her head around. It was the chatter of a group of women at the table right nearby.
“They say over a hundred thousand people entered. I guess you were born under a lucky star.”
“I knew from the start I wouldn’t make it, so I didn’t even watch the live draw.”
“I wasn’t expecting much either, but I guess I got lucky.”
The ease radiated from the woman’s raised shoulders and high, rounded cheekbones.
The other friends looked at her like they were dying of envy, groaning.
Well, even just looking at the forums these days, HS’s fan meeting was a huge topic.
Those who didn’t win asked the winners what great karmic deeds they’d done in a previous life to get selected, full of envy.
Even for herself…
Friends were constantly begging her to sell them her winning ticket if she had one.
“Heh.”
Yoon-jeong unconsciously let out a sound and shrugged her shoulders.
The higher HS’s popularity rose, heedless of the sky, the more it felt like her shoulders rose with it.
“You have to give us a report when you get back, okay?”
“But he won’t be wearing the helmet even at the fan meeting, right?”
“Oh, come on, no way! It’s a fan meeting, for goodness’ sake!”
So then…
At the fan meeting, would HS come out wearing the helmet, or with it off?
On this point, even after thought upon thought upon thought, Yoon-jeong couldn’t arrive at a clear answer.
More than anything.
She couldn’t say she knew everything about HS, but from a fan’s perspective….
Given his personality, the chances are pretty high he’ll come out without it….
Honestly, in her current state of mind, it didn’t matter either way. She just wanted, as a true fan, to face him up close even once.
“By the way, is it true his name is Geum-dong?”
“He slipped and called him Geum-dong on the live, didn’t he? So it must be, right?”
“Ugh, but with that height and that insane visual, Geum-dong is a bit….”
Hey, what’s wrong with Geum-dong!?
Yoon-jeong wriggled in her seat, about ready to march over and argue. Whether it was Geum-dong or Eun-dong, what did it matter.
HS was just HS….
While she was fuming by herself over something silly—
“Ah, the fan meeting gift arrived today too.”
“No way! They send gifts ahead of time?”
“Yup. HS is definitely bold.”
“So, what’s the gift?”
“I-It’s a secret—”
“Ugh, stingy! It’s because you were the one who got into the fan meeting, huh?”
A gift? They had said a fan meeting gift would be sent….
It had already arrived? Then why hadn’t she gotten hers?
[[Web message] CM Courier_Dispatch Started
Hello, customer. Your precious item is scheduled for delivery.
▶ Product name: HS
▶ Estimated delivery time: 18:00–20:00
※ For choosing a drop-off location and real-time delivery info, see the link below…]
When Yoon-jeong pulled her phone from her pocket, there was a text saying a delivery was coming to her as well.
“Oh, it’s almost the scheduled time….”
Given that the product name said “HS,” it seemed to be the gift for the fan meeting winners….
What could the gift he prepared for the fans be?
Unable to contain her growing curiosity, Yoon-jeong sprang to her feet. Right, she decided to ditch the shopping and head home.
Don’t they say a woman’s heart is like reeds, swaying?
Tap, tap—!
Filled with anticipation, Yoon-jeong hurried her steps toward home.
“Oh!”
Right then, there was a parcel sitting at her front door.
“The gift’s hereee!”
Humming a tune, Yoon-jeong cradled the box in her arms and sauntered into the house.
“Hey, ho—!”
Her little song she sang when excited echoed through the living room.
Buzzz—
Then, using a box cutter, she carefully opened the parcel.
Judging by the weight, it wasn’t heavy….
A slogan with the HS logo? A tumbler? Or maybe a light stick?
“What could it beee—?”
When she tore open the enclosed black envelope with hands full of expectation, Yoon-jeong’s face stiffened in a subtle way.
“Huh…?”
Then—
Thud.
As her trembling hands lifted the gift out, a sheet of paper fluttered down onto the table.
On that sheet….
『Mandatory to wear at the fan meeting』 The end was printed.
“Ahhh….”
Now she could understand a hundred times over why the winner she’d met at the café earlier had said it was a secret.
Truly.
The more you knew HS, the more mysterious he seemed to be.
Preparation for the fan meeting was proceeding smoothly.
“Hmmm….”
The gifts to be handed out to everyone had already been shipped in batches.
Special merch to be sold at the fan meeting had gone into production.
The venue was booked, of course.
Even all the staff to help run the event had been secured.
Most of all, preparation for the solo album to be unveiled for the first time at the fan meeting was finished.
Of course, he’d need to line up some stage rehearsal as well.
At this rate….
A lot had been prepared in a very short period.
Memories from my previous life come in handy at times like this.
Hyunseung spent the night making invitation cards for people he personally wanted to invite to the fan meeting.
The novelist who said he resolved to live again because of him, and the Japanese fan who was a game-streaming streamer.
And Dohee and Hyuna as well.
Ah.
As for Manager Kim, well, obviously he’d be there, so there was no need to make him an invitation. Still, for form’s sake, he’d bought a meal ticket, so that was fine.
To clear his head, Hyunseung lay down on the sofa for a moment. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d let himself relax like this.
Soon.
He let out a stale breath and turned his head.
Winter’s already at the doorstep.
Time flies. In the blink of an eye, he’d probably be holding the fan meeting.
Wait, wait….
Winter’s already approaching?
As if remembering something he’d forgotten, Hyunseung sprang upright.
Then he hurried over and sat at the console.
Right.
There was one thing Hyunseung had resolved to do this year like a bucket-list item.
Namely to make a seasonal track.
“Good grief.”
Only now, with autumn nearly over, did he realize he hadn’t released a fall seasonal song.
No.
Better to say it was fortunate he realized it now, at least.
Starting with the Etchis Challenge….
He’d kept busy with totally unplanned things like producing “Peekaboo Family” and the fan meeting.
At this point, when it would be difficult even to make a fall seasonal song, Hyunseung picked up his phone instead of the master keyboard.
Sss– sss.
He scrolled through the short list of contacts.
Then, as if he’d found something, a gleam flashed in his eyes.
Hmm.
It’d be great to make an autumn song with this guy’s voice, wouldn’t it? Hyunseung’s deliberation didn’t last long.
Tock, tock—
You can decide on the instrument first and then choose what to play.
Tock, tock—
Right.
For Hyunseung, that wasn’t all that hard.
Ahn Jiho received a message from HS asking him to feature on “Villain,” Track 3 of the Jayble collab solo album UnM.
He was in the middle of a busy run of promotions, but he paused all his personal schedules and plunged into practice.
Honestly.
Even so, he only had two days to practice.
Even if it was only two days, he dove into fierce drilling, promising himself he’d make it perfect….
“That’s not it.”
“Again.”
“Let’s go one more.”
As he’d more or less expected, it wasn’t enough to satisfy HS.
In the end, recording the “Villain” track set a record of 37 hours and 29 minutes before it finished.
Well….
He ended up catching the flu.
“This? This is nothing.”
The tough talk had good reasons behind it, so he had no regrets.
And without a drop of bluff, it truly hadn’t been hard during the recording.
He didn’t even have time to think it was hard. He wanted to repay HS for trusting him again and giving him the feature.
More than anything, with Jayble sitting right there, he didn’t want to show any weakness. He wanted to show that an artist trained by HS was this strong.
Maybe… If it had been only HS there, the moment he heard “we’re done,” he would have collapsed like a puppet with the strings cut.
For some reason, I didn’t want to show that in front of Jayble.
Just as Ahn Jiho pulled the blanket up over his head—
Bzzz!
A phone alert rang.
[Hey, Eungheon-Ji-ho, come help me out.]
Ah, I told you I’m not Eungheon-Ji-ho.
[Are you not replying because you’re crying?]
Also no.
[Oh, right. You were Mang-a-Ji-ho. This time did the strength leave your hands?]
Feeling heat rise to the crown of his head, Ahn Jiho threw the blanket back and typed a reply.
[What can I help you with? Should I head to the studio now?
Then he hefted his heavy body and climbed out of bed.
Ding—!
Sheesh, seriously.
[Did your legs give out—can you even make it here?]
He really left you no choice but to act tough.
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