Pen and Paper Translations

It goes without saying, but Hyunseung’s “Villain daddy” as doing well.

If you asked exactly how well it was doing….

You could say it was showing the most explosive performance in the shortest time out of all the songs Hyunseung has ever released.

[Villain daddy, No. 1 on every music platform within 30 hours of release!]

[Composer HS and Moon Beomjae sweep the music scene once again…]

Lee Hyoeun saw “Villain daddy” at the top of the charts and rejoiced as if it were her own achievement.

“Hyunseung is really amazing.”

Since she happened to find out that Hyunseung was HS, rather than how the man “Min Hyunseung” had lived, she chased every step the composer “HS” had walked.

The more she learned….

The more she thought, as befit the man she had fallen in love with, that he had walked a truly splendid road.

The public calls him a genius who appears once in tens of thousands of years.

But in her judgment, Hyunseung was not a genius.

He was just a diehard maniac for music.

They say art is done by someone a little mad, and after recording with Hyunseung not long ago, Lee Hyoeun realized that line was true.

“No matter how I think about it, he is so cool….”

Clutching documents in both hands, Lee Hyoeun lay her body down on the hard floor.

They were LS Entertainment’s standard exclusive-artist contract and a jeonse lease contract.

Flap.

Because of the wind slipping through the old window, the papers shook mercilessly. If she relaxed her grip, they looked liable to fly off in an instant.

Yes, like a dream.

Ah. It was a dream. Not only had she gotten her very first place to call her own, but she was under LS Entertainment. What else could be so dreamlike.

In Lee Hyoeun’s life, “dreams” were only the kind you have when you sleep.

She had thought she would spend her life unable to escape the ant-hell, surviving with her mother because she could not die.

But now she had blocked her mother’s number on her phone and was about to set out on her own to pursue her dream.

Knock, knock, knock.

Someone tapped on the door.

“Miss…”

“Ah, yes!”

It was the grandmother who owned the inn where Lee Hyoeun was staying.

“I came to check whether you’re extending the monthly room.”

At her words, Lee Hyoeun hesitated only a moment.

“I was going to tell you. I’ll be moving out tomorrow.”

“Found somewhere to go?”

“Yes, I got a place.”

“Oh my, that’s wonderful!”

The innkeeper clasped both hands and smiled broadly.

“I was worried about a young lady living in a place like this, so this is just wonderful!”

Should a business owner be like this. Is my leaving really something to be this happy about?

“Thank you…”

It was ironic, but the innkeeper congratulated her with the bright smile of a grandmother hearing her granddaughter had gotten into college, then left.

All of this…

Thanks to Hyunseung, she engraved deeply in her heart. She should start packing.

─ ♬ ♬ ♬

With her earphones in, Lee Hyoeun played the playlist she had made called “HS Collection.”

─ ♬ ♬ ♬

Every one of them carried its own meaning and told a story, so no matter how many times she listened, she did not tire of them.

Right.

The songs took after their owner, and they were all good.

It was not a statement loaded with personal feelings, but simply what she would say as a fan.

In truth, Lee Hyoeun had let go of Hyunseung in her heart.

Of course, tidying up feelings is not something done easily, but it had to be done.

Because she had ended up owing Hyunseung too much.

From graduation day.

From the sudden opportunity he handed her to sing on an OST, to even granting her unreasonable wish to debut as a singer.

Most of all, when she hesitated to write her address on the contract, he found out she was living in a monthly room.

Before any royalties began to come in, under the name of an advance, he gave her an amount she had never even been born into, telling her to get a place.

Thanks to that, she had been able to get a place of her own

It was not a semi-basement, not a monthly rent, not her mother’s place.

But it was not purely joyous. The more the debt piled up, the more it felt like the distance between her and Hyunseung grew.

A wall was rising that could not easily be closed.

So Lee Hyoeun had no choice but to put away her feelings for Hyunseung.

Anyway, Hyunseung had never seen, and would never see, her as a woman.

─ ♬ ♬ ♬

Once she had packed the few belongings she had, “Villain daddy” happened to be playing in her earphones.

No matter how many times she listened…

It was such a good song. No, such good lyrics.

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

It said “Villain daddy,” but to Lee Hyoeun’s ears it sounded like a super dad’s vow.

The fervent confession of some unnamed someone inserted in the outro.

─ Looking at my sleeping daughter, I suddenly had that thought. I could even die in her place for this child.

─ I think it was the first time I held my sleeping daughter and told her I loved her. It was nothing else, that is exactly what love is.

It was surely a voice she was hearing for the first time, but it felt like her own dad speaking to her, and strangely it comforted her.

“If only I had had a father like this—.”

Lee Hyoeun followed that futile thought only a moment.

“Dad, Dad….”

And at last burst into tears.

“I miss you….”

They say this song has been making the fathers of Korea weep.

Why it was making the chest of someone without a father weep, she did not know.

---

Lately the company, especially Team 2, was in a festival mood.

Of course.

Because Hyunseung’s “Villain daddy” was not just a huge hit, but a mega-mega hit.

“Coffee and snacks, at your service.”

As promised, Dad Kim had been setting aside time every day to show up with coffee and snacks once a day without fail….

“Is there anything else you want more of?”

Rather than looking like he was doing it because he had to, he somehow looked excited.

“Pace yourself a bit, Eastie.”

At his soft words as he gently kneaded her shoulders, goosebumps ran up her spine.

“Why are you like this.”

“Hm? What is—?”

Staring at Dad Kim’s department-store-counter smile, she shook her head.

Well, he was now the head of all management.

In a way, a song had come out that would fill half their annual revenue target, so it was understandable he looked over the moon.

But Hyunseung was not simply glad. Because he had not heard any news from Executive Director Park.

This song….

Was made in the hope that Executive Park’s heart would reach his children.

Until he knew whether his intent had been properly delivered, he did not think he could be at ease and rejoice.

Even if it had been delivered, Executive Park would not trot over and tell him about it.

“I should go pay him a visit sometime soon.”

So thought Hyunseung, as he set his hands back on the master keyboard.

“Hyunseung.”

Dad Kim checked his scheduler and his watch, then asked,

“Shall we go have lunch together, it’s been a while?”

But Hyunseung refused firmly.

“No.”

“Why?”

“I’m busy.”

“Busy doing what this time!”

When Dad Kim grumbled, Hyunseung pointed with his chin at the copy of Lee Hyoeun’s standard contract on his worktable and spoke.

“I brought her in. I can’t just leave her parked.”

“Once the drama starts airing soon, we can circulate the promo materials and debut her then.”

“Rather than having the drama OST be her debut, I should debut her under her own name. I was the one who brought her.”

Then he tapped the console lightly with his fingertip and added,

“I’ve got some ideas bubbling too.”

With that, Hyunseung motioned for him to go out.

“Stingy. Fine, I’m going!”

Yet for some reason, Dad Kim’s face showed none of the sulkiness his words suggested.

No.

If anything, his eyes were busy scanning the chords Hyunseung had marked down with something like anticipation in them.

“Go on, work your heart out!”

His drawling tone was at odds with the way his hand patted Hyunseung’s back warmly.

---

Executive Director Park was showing signs of impatience in a meeting that dragged on.

“…in line with that concept, we have completed preparations together with the consulting master.”

None of the reports reached his ears.

Because of the missed call that had blinked with a brief vibration.

[1 missed call from My Treasure]

On the dimmed screen he had sneaked a glance at, there was no text or chat, only a single missed call.

Was it a misdial?

For the last two or three years, they had not had even a single call. He would hear about the kids’ news now and then through their mother.

Should I call back?

Executive Park was gnawing his thumbnail with his gaze fixed beneath the table when—

“Executive Director Park?”

“Hm?”

“Is something the matter? You do not look well.”

“There is nothing. Do not worry.”

“Then, we will continue the briefing.”

At that, Executive Park raised his palm.

“Let us continue this meeting tomorrow.”

The people in the room glanced at one another, hesitant to speak.

Understandably.

In meetings led by Executive Park, they had to keep on briefing endlessly until an item he liked appeared.

But suddenly saying they would continue tomorrow, they wondered whether this was a roundabout way of telling them none of the proposals were to his liking and they should come back prepared.

“Well then, I will take my leave.”

But Executive Park had no time to read the room.

“See, see you tomorrow!”

He quickly stood up, turning his back on the bowed farewells of the staff who rose with him.

Thud, thud.

His stride lengthened.

In the end, he moved almost at a run down the corridor and reached his office.

“Whew.”

Letting out the breath he had been holding, Executive Park, not even sitting down, pulled out his phone.

He could not tell whether the pounding of his heart was from walking fast or from nerves.

Then his thumb hovered over the “call” button.

Right.

Maybe the call had been after listening to the song that kid made.

If so, one phone call, one chance to hear that voice, should be all right.

Wait.

What time is it over there now? If it is one in the afternoon here, it must be around midnight there.

Too late, then….

Executive Park shook his head. Yes, it is too late.

He did not want to disturb the sleep of a daughter in the middle of her growth spurt.

Another time, there will be another chance.

He was sliding the phone back into his pocket when—

Bzzzzzt.

The phone rang, and on the screen, along with the words [My Treasure], a photo of his daughter smiling brightly appeared.

Gulp.

He swallowed dryly, his body frozen in place.

Even in front of the CEO he had probably never been this nervous.

“Ahem.”

He quickly cleared his throat and brought the phone to his ear.

If it disconnected again right away, he did not have the courage to call back.

“Hello.”

He thought he had answered as calmly as possible, but his voice was shaking mercilessly.

Then a reply came from the other end, which had been quiet.

 ─ Dad?

It was the voice of his daughter, the one he had so longed to hear.

“Yes. Isn’t it late there? Why aren’t you sleeping.”

This is not it.

Contrary to his heart, the nagging typical of fathers came out first.

─ I could not sleep, so I called.

But the daughter went on as if it were nothing, as if they were people who had always chatted on the phone.

─ Dad, did you eat?

“I am about to.”

─ You have to make sure you eat well.

“Yes. You don’t be picky either.”

Contrary to what he had imagined, an utterly ordinary father-daughter phone call unfolded. Enough that one could think they were people who always checked in with each other.

But silence soon fell again. If he opened his mouth first, he felt like he would end up spouting some stale scolding like “Study hard,” so he chose silence.

─ Dad.

It was his daughter who broke the silence first.

─ Mom said this. That you kept hitting her, so she took us and ran away overseas.

“What?”

─ And now you have another woman, and you do not send living expenses, and you have forgotten all about us and are living well, so do not try to find us.

“Wh, what is….”

─ When I was little I was not sure, but thinking about it now, it did not seem right, so I called.

Executive Park was so dumbfounded he could not speak.

What on earth was she saying? He had never, not even once, committed violence against his family, not even verbal abuse.

He had never truly seen another woman, nor stopped sending living expenses, nor forgotten his flesh-and-blood children.

What parent, anywhere under the sky, forgets their children.

But reason came before the rage of betrayal.

“I am sorry, sweetheart. Dad did that.”

Even with the faint humor in his voice, there was no reply from the other end.

She might have hung up.

“But I have never lived forgetting my daughter.”

This was the one thing he wanted to say.

“As for living expenses, I will start sending them again this month.”

With everything on the line, that was not true.

However.

Whether it was factual did not matter.

“So, sleep well, eat well, study hard, and listen to your mom.”

Even if his wife had disappointed him.

He still wanted the children to have a mother they could respect.

“Sweetheart, Dad has to go into a meeting, so let’s talk again later.”

And then.

“Sleep well. I love you.”

With that, he ended the call first. He did not know if she had been listening, but the call had not been disconnected.

“Haa….”

Executive Park thought this was enough. He had heard her voice and managed to say he loved her. That was enough.

It was fine if she hated him.

It was the heart of a father who wanted his daughter to be someone who could respect her mother.