On the other end of the line, a suffocating silence flowed.
“Then, I’ll hang up first.”
Just like when he’d paused the video, Hyunseung couldn’t hold out long and hung up with a “click.”
“….”
Silence flowed through the room as well.
The one who broke it first was Hyunseung.
“Lee Hyoeun.”
His voice dropped so heavily it was almost oppressive.
“Uh…?”
Hyoeun flinched so much she couldn’t even properly meet his gaze.
“You’re meddlesome.”
Then Hyunseung stepped toward Hyoeun and added,
“You’re bad at turning people down.”
One step.
“You can’t bring yourself to say things people don’t want to hear.”
One step.
“I can more or less tell why.”
He came right up to her, looked down, and appended,
“But not anymore.”
It was both a command and advice for a friend who was kind to the point of foolishness.
“That’s an illness you have.”
“Huh?”
“An illness. An illness.”
Yeah.
In a way, this is an illness too. The one commonly called the “good child complex” among modern people.
Usually, when in childhood you feel a fear of abandonment from your primary caregiver, a syndrome arises as a defense mechanism for surviving in that environment.
As a child, the only blood relative and protector she had was her mother, and for fear of being abandoned by her, Lee Hyoeun hid herself and lived matching others. That habit has continued up to now.
“…”
When Hyoeun couldn’t say a word and lowered her head, at the same time, tears fell toward the floor.
“S-sorry.”
And then she apologized again.
I was the one who spoke harshly, calling it an illness, yet she’s the one apologizing.
Looking at Hyoeun, Hyunseung spoke, sounding exasperated.
“You haven’t done anything wrong enough to apologize for.”
“No. Because of my nosiness I caused you trouble again…”
“I didn’t suffer a single bit, so stop beating yourself up.”
He hadn’t lived the same life and environment as Hyoeun, so he couldn’t claim to truly empathize.
He could roughly now understand at least why she was like that.
“From now on, say the hard things to people sometimes, say no, and instead of sticking your nose into things, try thinking selfishly about protecting your own bowl.”
So he intended to speak even more bluntly now. It would by no means be easy for Hyoeun.
“Live tough.”
It was something she had to do now.
“For yourself, not for others.”
Of course, what he was saying now didn’t apply only to Hyoeun.
Contrary to what you might think, there are many second “Lee Hyoeuns” in this world.
“From now on, don’t take her calls, and if anything happens, contact the company right away and ask for help.”
“Okay.”
“Don’t try to solve everything by yourself. Besides, you can’t solve everything alone anyway.”
“Y-yeah….”
And the soon-to-be-released song “Look at me” would become a song for those second “Lee Hyoeuns.”
Meanwhile, Chae Yoojin stared blankly at the darkened phone screen.
‘What was that?’
She blinked her round eyes for a moment.
“S-son of a….”
Only now coming to her senses, Chae Yoojin crumpled her face, flushed with humiliation.
Then she began chewing over the words she’d heard on the call just now.
“Keep your dreams for when you’re asleep.”
He up and calls and tells her to keep dreams for bedtime?
“I’m politely telling you to give it up because there’s no potential.”
Deciding someone else’s potential as he pleases.
What part of that was polite?
“Just because he’s a hotshot songwriter he can do anything?”
Yoojin immediately tapped the screen with an angry finger.
[ Hyoeun, was the person who just called really H… ]
Then her finger stopped short.
‘Wait a second…’
With a strange sense of déjà vu, Yoojin furrowed her brow.
She was sure she’d heard the man’s voice from the call somewhere before; where had she heard it?
‘Think of it, think of it….’
Yoojin shoved her hand into her hair, then clenched tight.
Just when it was about to surface and wouldn’t—
“Feels like Lee Hyoeun is beneath you, doesn’t it?”
One face flashed through her mind.
“And if you’re going to brag you threw a celebration party, isn’t that banner and that villa way too shabby?”
Handsome, but with one corner of his mouth curled up, unbearably arrogant…
“If someone heard you, they’d think you rented a banquet hall for the party.”
Suddenly, the face she’d seen at the reunion not long ago came to mind.
“Lee Hyoeun, are you staying longer?”
Right, he’d looked very close with Hyoeun then too.
Ah.
So the man who’d just said rude things to her on the phone wasn’t HS, but was Hyoeun’s boyfriend?
“Wait, then did Lee Hyoeun scheme to play me?”
Honestly, she hogs the act of being nice and then stabs you in the back like this.
Right.
If it were HS, he would’ve surely recognized my value….
“Is there really no bridge other than Lee Hyoeun…?”
Rather than being angry at Hyoeun right away, Yoojin’s desire to get a song from HS came first.
Belonging to a small agency was embarrassing, but the title of “trainee” was even more mortifying.
“Tsk.”
If she could say she’d received a song from HS, the company would debut her immediately.
Ah.
When she checked the clock on the wall, it was already almost time to go to vocal class.
“Sigh…”
With an annoyed grimace, Chae Yoojin got to her feet.
With AR so advanced these days anyway, she wondered why she had to take vocal lessons every single day.
But.
Because it was an agency run by her father’s friend, she had no choice but to attend diligently.
— ♬ ♬ ♬
Lee Hyoeun immediately put wireless earbuds in her ears and stepped out the door.
— ♬ ♬ ♬
Might as well go listening to HS’s songs.
— ♬ ♬ ♬
He really does turn out a solid track.
— ♬ ♬ ♬
I could sing insanely well too.
— ♬ ♬ ♬
She had barely been walking with those thoughts when—
“Huh?”
Chae Yoojin suddenly stopped in her tracks.
Because the voice in the song flowing into her ears sounded familiar.
The song’s title was….
“letter.”
The title track of the HS × Jayble collaboration album and a song that made a splash because HS and Jayble themselves sang it.
Right.
The voice playing now was definitely HS’s….
“I’m politely telling you to give it up because there’s no potential.”
Why did it sound like the voice on the phone earlier—
“Lee Hyoeun, are you staying longer?”
and like the voice she’d heard at the reunion?
“T-that can’t be.”
A swirl of complex emotions began to churn.
So then, the one who told her she had no potential really was HS….
Which means HS is the “Sleeping Prince of Class 8” who came to the reunion, and he really is close with Lee Hyoeun?
Tremble, tremble.
Forcing her shaking hand to steady, Yoojin pulled out her phone.
Brrrr—
Then she immediately called the head of Q&N, the agency she belonged to.
Simply.
Because it felt like she had to.
— Oh, Yoojin.
Soon the CEO’s voice came through the receiver.
“C-CEO.”
— Yeah, is something up?
“It’s not certain, but….”
— Okay, what is it?
“I think HS might be my classmate.”
— What are you talking about all of a sudden.
In a more serious tone, the CEO asked again.
— Yoojin, tell me in detail.
For an agency head, the name “HS” was something that sharpened your senses. His “songs” were, in movie terms, a box-office guarantee.
“There’s a classmate whose voice is exactly the same as HS’s.”
At that, the CEO snorted in disbelief and added, “A voice?”
— A voice could just be similar, you know.
“N-no. Not just similar—exactly the same.”
— Really?
“Yes, and more than anything, he’s handsome too.”
— What?
“They say HS is really handsome, right? This guy is really handsome too.”
— You’re not joking with me, are you?
At the CEO’s scoffing question, Chae Yoojin pleaded for him to believe her.
“Why would I bother a busy CEO with a prank like that!”
— But if he’s a classmate, couldn’t you just directly ask him for a song?
“We’re not close enough for that….”
At that, the CEO let out a thoughtful “Hmm,” as if sinking into deep contemplation.
— So the reason you called me is to use that as leverage to get a song?
“Rather than that, I wanted to ask how you think I should proceed.”
— LS also protects HS’s identity very strictly, so if we do it right, it might be possible. A song is just a matter of giving one.
“R-really?”
— Yeah. If we can use personal information to draw out a song, Yoojin, you’d debut immediately and our company would hit the jackpot….
Then, in a meaningful tone, he added,
— If it’s not him, you might not only fail to become a singer—you might not be able to set foot in this industry at all. I’d end up out on the street.
“Huh? N-no way….”
— If LS Entertainment puts its mind to it, ruining one kid is nothing. Same goes for a small agency like ours.
Yoojin bit her lower lip. She was, in truth, a bit scared. She was too young to have the worldly experience to handle something like this.
But she didn’t want to let this great opportunity just pass by.
“Whatever else, I’m sure HS is my classmate.”
Through the receiver came the rustling sound of the CEO flipping a notebook.
— Okay, got it for now. I’ll try to approach it, so don’t post anything on any SNS or forums—just sit tight and wait.
He seemed to have reached a conclusion and ended the call in a solemn tone.
“The Sleeping Prince of Class 8….”
Clutching her phone tight, Chae Yoojin smiled with a vicious glint in her eyes.
“Min… you said Hyunseung?”
Right now, this very moment, it occurred to her that maybe all of this wasn’t coincidence but fate.
“No wonder I felt unusually glad to see him at the reunion.”
Yoojin felt as if the world were revolving around her.
Only after a final review of the track “Look at me,” the song he worked on with Sarah Stewart, did Hyunseung lie down on the sofa.
The time now was 5 a.m.
‘I’m tired.’
Naturally.
With the ongoing work with Sarah Stewart and also worrying about Lee Hyoeun, it felt like double the fatigue.
‘I have to go work out…’
Even though his body felt like lead, the workout time promised with Executive Director Park was only thirty minutes away.
‘Today I really don’t want to go.’
For some reason he was unusually sluggish today, and Hyunseung burrowed deeper into the sofa.
Just as his heavy eyelids were sliding shut—
Ding—!
At the dead of night, his phone suddenly chimed.
“Who is it?”
Frowning, Hyunseung picked up his phone.
Before long, he covered his face with a big hand and his shoulders shook.
[ Son. today. not coming home? that young lady.? I asked Hyuna. to buy. lots of. misutgaru. ]
He burst out laughing at his father’s clumsy text.
Right.
Today he’d go home and drink misutgaru with his dad.
Ah.
If Trainer Park found out, he’d blow his top.
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