Jo Narae felt that this drama project was extremely fun.
On top of the fact that she’d been given the assistant role to Ahn So-jeong, a music director she’d admired on the regular.
The soundtrack HS had sent in sounded wildly fun to her ears.
“How in the world did he make it like this?”
From work calls they’d exchanged, HS had seemed like a flat, taciturn person.
But the songs he sent were brimming with vitality and deeply emotional. Tracks each with their own color.
Especially soundtrack 01….
No.
Only After the Flower Has Faded.
This song was unbelievably good. No, how was it that every time she listened, a new narrative could unfold before her eyes?
She became intensely curious what kind of person the vocalist was who had handled a song like this so excellently with just a voice.
Squeeze.
“I just want to meet them in person once.”
Whirr.
Suddenly the multifunction printer sounded to life and spat out a few sheets of paper.
“Ah, the LS Entertainment contracts.”
As she stacked the incoming documents neatly in order, she cocked her head. She couldn’t find a copyright contract for soundtrack 02.
“Hm? Did they miss it?”
Flipping through the papers to keep checking, Jo Narae clicked her tongue and made a fuss.
“Oh my, oh my! It says Lee Young-ah and Park Shin-hu are going to sing them?”
Because above the artist names for tracks 03 and 04 were names called Korea’s top vocalists.
“Wow….”
Well, even if I were a singer, if it’s an HS song I’d make time somehow to sing it. Don’t they call his songs a guaranteed check for success?
“I am curious what kind of person HS is, too….”
Now Jo Narae was curious about the in-person HS. But he absolutely wouldn’t come to the set, right?
Well.
They say he even wore a helmet to official press conferences.
‘There’s no way I could see him.’
Clicking her lips in lingering regret, Jo Narae picked up the last document the printer spat out.
It was the contract for “Only After the Flower Has Faded,” the song inserted in the drama’s opening credits and the main soundtrack.
“Let’s see here….”
Wanting to at least know the name of the guide vocalist who sang this song, Jo Narae wet her fingertip and turned a page.
Rustle.
Artist name, artist name, artist name….
“Ah! Here it is!”
No sooner had Jo Narae begun following the letters at her fingertip and reading the artist name—
“Aaagh!!!!!!”
She screamed as if she’d suddenly seen a name she shouldn’t see.
“What’s going on!”
Hearing the shout, Ahn So-jeong, who’d been working in the next room, came running in with a start.
“D-Director.”
“Uh, why?”
“HS.”
“HS? They say the recording’s already finished?”
“N-no, that’s not it.”
“Hey, speak clearly!”
Lips trembling like an aspen leaf, Jo Narae cautiously continued.
“Th-this is, it just doesn’t make any sense, yuh.”
It was the dialect she’d gritted her teeth to correct when she came up to Seoul because she hated being called rustic.
But now, Jo Narae….
“Really, it just doesn’t make any sense, yuh….”
So shocked, she didn’t even realize she was speaking in dialect.
“Why are you messing up over and over today when you were doing fine? Did you pick today on purpose? Are you bored today or what?”
In front of the scolding manager, Lee Hyo-eun kept bowing her head again and again.
“I’m sorry, I’m really sorry.”
“Is ‘sorry’ all you’ve got?”
Unable to contain her anger, the manager snorted and slammed out of the staff break room.
Silence left behind.
With a deep sigh, Lee Hyo-eun plopped down into a chair.
“Ha….”
From outside came the sound of people talking along with music.
But right now, nothing was reaching Lee Hyo-eun’s ears.
And with good reason.
The things Hyunseung had said to her kept jumbling up her head.
“Then, want a part-time job?”
Min Hyunseung was….
Her first love whom she’d captured only with her eyes until it burned her up as a child, and a memory she kept alone, leaving only thick regret.
“You’ll be able to make way more than a part-time wage.”
She’d had such a dramatic reunion with a person like that, but….
Somehow, she should’ve realized it from when he, who didn’t even remember her, asked to have a meal.
Not knowing any better and getting ahead of herself alone… shame welled up over that.
“Mm, if you just trust me and follow my lead, it’ll be fine.”
And in the midst of that, why was her heart beating so childishly again.
Honestly, she almost answered that she would trust and follow him.
“Just think about what I proposed and get back to me.”
As expected, she should state clearly that she couldn’t.
Tap, tap—.
So deciding, Lee Hyo-eun brushed off her uniform and stood up.
‘First, let’s just work right now.’
She decided to ignore for the moment the lock-screen pop-up [ New messages from Hyunseung +2 ].
After that….
To avoid bringing “Hyunseung” to mind, she ran around even harder. If her body was exhausted, her head wouldn’t think of other things.
“One dolce oatmeal latte you ordered is ready.”
“Didn’t you ask for whipped cream on top?”
“Just a moment, I’ll come clear the table right away.”
As if she’d never messed up, Lee Hyo-eun briskly handled the floor and the counter, back and forth.
Closing time finally arrived.
The churning crowd of customers all filed out, and inside the empty shop only the closing crew remained.
“Whew….”
She cleaned the shop to the song flowing out for a moment.
“Aigoo, my back.”
Straightening her stiffened back, Lee Hyo-eun caught her breath.
“Isn’t the voice really so good?”
Just then she heard the voices of the part-timers wiping the hall tables nearby.
“Just from the voice you can tell he’s a certified handsome guy.”
“What if it’s a twist and he’s ugly?”
“Hey, didn’t you see the fan-meeting reviews from people who went?”
“I saw just the sketch before.”
“They say he’s handsome enough to make you stop breathing.”
It seemed clear they were talking about HS, the composer who made “letter,” which was playing now, and who sang it himself.
They’re all such girls.
Lee Hyo-eun originally had no interest in celebrities, and since her life was tight just making money, she quickly dropped her interest and went back to cleaning.
‘Even so, he can’t be better than Hyunseung.’
No.
You said you weren’t going to think about Hyunseung.
Whip, whip—!
Shaking her head left and right, just as she tried to erase the face of Hyunseung that sprang up out of nowhere—
“Hyo-eun!”
The two part-timers who’d been chattering among themselves—at some point they’d come up to her, encircling her with eyes sparkling.
With faces that clearly wanted something….
“By any chance, do you know HS?”
“Hey, how could she not?”
At the question, Lee Hyo-eun nodded awkwardly as she answered.
“I mean, I do know him?”
At that, one of the two shouted “Nice!” and bounced.
“Knew it! No way you wouldn’t know!”
What on earth?
“It’s just, since you never talk about that kind of thing, we made a bet among ourselves on whether you know HS or not.”
“Yeah!”
“Loser has to do the end-of-day cleaning!”
I’m telling you, they’re all such girls.
Then the part-timer who seemed to have lost the bet stuck out her lips and raised an objection.
“Wait, but saying you ‘do know him’ actually means you don’t, doesn’t it?”
“Hey, the bet wasn’t about how well you know him. No more backtalk!”
“Aw, I hate sorting boxes….”
Then, eyes shining like someone pinning their last hope, she asked,
“Hold on! Hyo-eun, what’s HS’s job?”
“Composer.”
“Ah, so you do know….”
“The song playing right now is by him too. Practically every track we put on is made by him—how would I not know?”
“Well, since you also work the hall, you’d know just from hearing customers chat.”
“Yeah, there’s that too….”
Calling herself an idiot, that part-timer rapped her own head, and then, like a split-personality, shouted, “No!”
And then with a very grave face, she added,
“Doesn’t this mean HS’s fame and popularity are so high that even people who aren’t interested know him? That’s a good thing! Of course it is!”
As if self-hypnotizing, she spared no self-Q&A.
Thinking the sight was a little cute, Lee Hyo-eun spoke.
“Seon-a, you must be a fan of HS.”
The woman named Seon-a once more widened her eyes brightly and replied, “Of course!” then pulled out her phone.
“I mean, how could you not like a face this handsome?”
Was she telling her to look or not?
“W-wait….”
She pulled the phone away from the tip of her own nose for a second.
“Huh?”
Eyes wide as lanterns, she blinked and stared blankly at the screen.
“He’s seriously insanely handsome, right? It’s a face drawn by a fan, but people who saw him in person at the fan meeting said he’s like 1.5 times more handsome than this drawing!”
“Hyo-eun, you fell for him at first sight too, huh. You can’t even close your mouth, right?”
The part-timers seemed to think she was spacing out, admiring HS’s face.
Of course. It was true the face was aesthetic and beautiful like a work hanging in an art museum.
But the reason Lee Hyo-eun was surprised now wasn’t that.
“N-no…”
Just then, as if she’d seen a ghost, face gone white, Lee Hyo-eun reeled back.
— I couldn’t say the words; it felt cheesy to put the word “undeserved” in my mouth.
The song brushing the rim of her ear struck straight into it.
— But I figured you’d know.
A voice far too familiar came through.
— That I’m grateful to you.
Even mixed in a duet of voices, one person’s voice came through for certain.
Yes, the voice she’d savored even in her dreams.
“I’ll pretend I don’t see it.”
For some reason, the voice that had made her heart flutter and HS’s voice playing now sounded far too alike.
Why?
Why did HS’s face look like Hyunseung’s? Why was the voice similar?
Calm down, calm down.
Soothing her confused heart and chewing her memories over, only now did she understand the things Hyunseung had said.
“You just have to sing one song. In that sense, are you good at singing?”
Why had he suddenly asked something like that?
So that was the reason.
Clack!
Flinging away the mop she was holding, Lee Hyo-eun bolted out of the shop.
From behind came shouts of “Where are you going!”—
But none of that reached her now.
Then she pulled out the phone she’d stuffed deep in her pocket.
[ New messages from Hyunseung +2 ]
[ New messages from Mom +12 ]
[ Missed calls from Mom +5 ]
She skipped the messages and missed calls from Mom.
Tap!
First she checked the contacts from Hyunseung.
[ Still thinking it over? ]
[ What’s the building name of that café? ]
Short, one-word messages in a very rough tone.
Even so, the gladness that he’d reached out to her first.
And then.
The apology for having misunderstood piled in together.
— ♬ ♬ ♬
Without even time to think, without deciding what to say, Lee Hyo-eun called right away.
It felt like that’s what she had to do.
— ♬ ♬ ♬
If it really was HS, his ringback tone was “letter.”
‘Is he asleep?’
It was close to 11 p.m. Maybe he’d already fallen asleep, so she was about to hang up.
— Hello.
A low voice came, flowing on from the song.
“H-hello?”
— Uh, why?
Maybe woken from sleep, the voice asking back was settled low.
“Are you free tomorrow, by any chance?”
No answer came from the other end.
“…”
It was a silence without even the sound of breathing.
Gulp.
Just as Lee Hyo-eun swallowed to wet her parched throat from the surge of tension…
— Uh, let’s see each other tomorrow.
A short answer came back.
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