Pen and Paper Translations

Hyunseung’s vacation was quieter than he expected.

Just…

Like the kind of scene you see in an ordinary household, he spent very simple, everyday time.

“Stop sleeping and come out to eat!”

He slept in luxuriously late, then the whole family sat around the table to eat the meal his sister set out.

“Oh my! What kind of mom is that!”

“Can you please watch quietly?”

“This is how you’re supposed to watch dramas.”

They sat side by side on the sofa and watched a makjang drama.

“Dad, we should buy you some spring clothes.”

“Oppa, you have to go with us. Do not pick them alone.”

“You’re saying that so you can tag along and get me to buy you clothes.”

“No, it’s because your sense of aesthetics makes me nervous…”

To buy clothes for spring, the family went to a big multi-complex mall.

Near the end…

He holed up at home to prepare for the “deal” he had promised with Moon Beomjae.

“Brother dear, go earn lots of money so we can eat hanwoo often.”

“Okay.”

“And sleep at home, and if possible, come home early!”

“Man, you’re so naggy. Who’s the country mouse now?”

And then, the long-awaited release day for “Villain daddy” arrived.

“Villain daddy” was a meaningful song for Hyunseung.

It was the toughest song across both his past life and present life, and it was a song for fathers who always have to be strong.

To Hyunseung…

His own father also had to be someone strong, so as he wrote the song he could not help but assign it meaning without realizing it.

That did not mean Hyunseung would act any differently.

Kim Appa would have made good preparations, so all he had to do was keep working as he always did.

Tap!

As soon as he entered the studio, Hyunseung headed for the console and took his seat.

All of a sudden, a thought came to him.

“I hope it hits.”

Realistically it would hit to some degree, but this time he especially wanted it to.

If possible, he wanted it to hit even bigger than anything so far, to trend overseas too.

So that it would reach Executive Director Park’s daughter, wherever she was.

He just had that thought for a moment.

---

Meanwhile, as the release of “Villain daddy” drew near, the public’s interest was heating up more and more.

[ HS is at it again ] New!

— The title “Villain daddy” is intriguing right off the bat; I can’t even imagine what kind of song it’ll be so I can’t work, I keep imagining it; I’m ready to stream on the dot… I’m not the only one, right?

↳ I cancelled class myself and I’m waiting in reverent silence.

↳ I took a half day so I can wait with a clear head.

↳ I dropped the baby at my parents’ so I can wait in peace.

↳ The replies above are insane lololololololololololololololololol

[Somehow I feel like this HS song will be my tear button too] New!

— Maybe because I was raised by a single dad, I cry as soon as I even hear the word dad… and he straight up put daddy in the title, so I’m sure this is going to be my tear button. HS is such a bad man. He makes me cry too much..

↳ I think he did make it planning to make us cry.

↳ Or plot twist, it could be a super upbeat track that smashes clubs this summer.

↳ Then the title should be something like Dads’ Rebellion, no? lol

↳ That’s not the point, kids, it’s 30 minutes to release dd

Executive Director Park found himself reading the community posts one by one.

Honestly, there was no need to monitor, but since he’d been told the song took him as its motif, it was only human to keep being drawn to it.

Knock, knock, knock.

At the sudden knocking, he hurriedly closed the window and called for them to enter.

“Good day, Executive Director Park.”

The one who opened the door and came in was none other than Manager Oh of Team 1.

“It’s the performance report.”

He set the approvals folder he’d been clutching on the desk and bowed.

As always, he would wait like that until the signature was done.

Glancing at the time on the locked home screen, Executive Director Park quickly flipped through the folder and signed.

Tap!

Closing the folder, he spoke.

“Good work. Take it back.”

Normally, he’d chat a bit and then send him off, but there was no time for that now.

However, Manager Oh, reluctant to leave like this, hugged the folder to his chest and looked like he had something to say.

“Um, Executive Director—”

He called softly, then mimed tossing back a drink.

“How about a drink tonight?”

Executive Director Park shook his head firmly.

“No, let’s do it next time.”

He did want to drink tonight, but he wanted to drink alone, so he refused.

“Then I’ll be going.”

Manager Oh smacked his lips in regret and withdrew.

Tap!

Looking at the closed door, Executive Director Park let out a thin sigh.

“Phew…”

He almost missed release time.

Then.

He took a wired earphone out of his drawer.

The release of “Villain daddy” was almost here.

Finally, I get to hear it.

Because of his pride, he had not been able to bring himself to tell Hyunseung he wanted to hear it early.

Nor could he, for face’s sake, get the track in advance from the distribution team, so all he could do was wait for release.

“Tsk.”

Before listening, Executive Director Park fetched a bottle of whiskey and a glass from his cabinet.

He was oddly tense, so he planned to have a drink first.

He hurriedly filled the glass to the brim like a thirsty man and downed it in gulps.

“Ahh.”

At the burn down his throat he frowned and let out an inarticulate exclamation, then set the glass down.

Right.

Life is swallowing something bitter to forget what hurts.

Beep, beep, beep!

At the tone for exactly six o’clock, Executive Director Park immediately opened the music platform app.

“What’s wrong with this thing?”

A weird loading screen appeared and refused to move on.

Tap, tap, tap!

He smacked the phone with his palm. Miraculously, the main home screen popped up.

Machines listen when you hit them.

Tap, tap-tap, tap-tap-tap.

He worked his thick fingers, hurrying to find the letters HS.

[ Villain daddy – Moon Beomjae ]

Even without searching, it was plastered huge in the “Real-time New Releases” tab on the main home screen.

Then he lifted the glass again and downed the remaining liquor.

Gulp.

And he pressed play.

─ ♬ ♬ ♬

A gentle figure announced the beginning of the track.

“Come on.”

He snorted at the intro, more ordinary than he expected.

He talked big like he was going to make something colossal.

—I wasn’t like that from the start, either.

But the moment Moon Beomjae started singing, he shoved the earphones deeper into his ears as if bewitched.

—I think it started back when I held those tiny soles in my hand.

With no needlessly complex sounds, Moon Beomjae’s voice felt even more powerful.

—Because those little feet will have to walk a harsh world.

Executive Director Park finally began to listen to the lyrics more than the sound.

—I have to grow stonger. I absolutely must.

The lyrics felt like they had copied down the very words he muttered to himself alone, pricking his heart like needles.

—I have to walk ahead.

Then a fierce guitar sound shifted the song’s mood.

—Villain daddy, if there are times you hate me, hate me all you want.

Moon Beomjae unleashed his vocal without restraint.

—I’ll accept even that.

But to Executive Director Park, that had long since lost meaning.

—If only you don’t hurt, if only you don’t have to cry.

All that filled his head was the thought of setting back up the family photo lying face-down on his desk.

—I’ll gladly play the villain as much as it takes.

Had he not lived knowing only family.

Yes, family…

From the moment he flipped the photo down, his resolve to live for his family had already become distorted.

He had just… endured.

He forced himself upright on that thin strand called responsibility and endured.

Otherwise, it felt like the word “family” would be torn apart into scattered consonants and vowels.

“I should have said it more.”

Dad loves you so much.

—I’m only now saying I’m sorry.

Even I didn’t grow up hearing words like that, so I was far too stingy about saying them.

—Because it was my first time.

If it was not too late even now, he wanted to hold his children tight and say it. Dad exists for you, Dad loves you so much.

Could you, just once, hug Dad with those tiny hands again?

However, there was no way a song alone could convey a heart like this.

He had only told himself to do it with the desperation of clutching at straws.

“Haa…”

Thinking the song had ended, he was about to pull the earphones out when—

—When I looked at my sleeping daughter, a thought suddenly came to me.

All of a sudden he heard his own voice.

—I figured I could even die in her place.

He truly had not expected him to use that straight in the track.

—I think I held my sleeping daughter and told her I loved her for the first time.

Could this be what the kid meant by helping him convey his heart to his children?

If, by some tiny chance, his daughter were to hear this song, his story…

Maybe.

She would call him with the same lively, cute voice as before, saying “Dad.”

—It wasn’t anything else, that right there was love.

Just imagining it filled him with such joy that his eyes burned hot behind his pupils, as if tears would spill.

But expectations only ever grew the size of that beast called disappointment.

He filled the glass and drained it in one go.

A resolute act, like a vow not to get his hopes up.

In the end, as soon as the song ended, he slumped face-down onto his desk.

Soon his ocean-broad shoulders trembled in small shudders.

“Hup, huhh…”

On the phone screen, his children’s beaming faces glowed.

Today as well.

He would not be able to call any of his family.

He would just hold out alone, leaning on drink.

Executive Director Park—no, Park Taemuk—

was a father stronger than anyone.