After pushing himself hard for almost two days straight, Hyunseung managed to finish the work at lightning speed.
Of course, he had to get scolded by his little sister.
“How can you come back after two whole days are gone!”
“That’s why I hired a tour guide for you.”
“Just because you hired one, that makes it okay? You’re really too much!”
Feeling awkward, Hyunseung gently shoved Hyuna back into the room.
“We’re going to see your favorite Sarah Stewart’s concert tomorrow, so go on in and sleep now.”
At his words, Hyuna seemed to remember something. All of a sudden she started rummaging through her luggage.
“Where did I put it?”
Then she pulled out an envelope stuffed with things.
“Here it is! Ta-da!”
How can she be so simple. The sulky look was gone, and she had the face of an overly excited college girl.
“What is that?”
At her brother’s flat question, Hyuna smirked and shrugged.
“Heh, want me to tell you what it is?”
“No.”
“Just listen for a second.”
He was not particularly curious, but she clearly wanted to brag, so he should at least hear her out.
As if to say fine, Hyunseung gave a small perfunctory nod and looked at what Hyuna was holding.
“This is what you call a modeling pack, and when you do it your skin gets really smooth and moist.”
“So?”
“We might get caught on the big screen at the concert tomorrow, you know?”
“And?”
“So we have to do skin care in advance today.”
What on earth did that mean? What did getting shown on the big screen have to do with skin care?
As if she could not understand why he did not get it, Hyuna stroked her brother’s cheek and asked,
“Goodness, judging by your face, you stayed up all night, didn’t you?”
“How did you know?”
“Your skin is flaky right now like a drought!”
Then she rolled up her sleeves and added,
“I’m in the mood! I’ll do yours for you as a special service!”
“I’m fine…”
“No, you might get caught on camera too.”
“Really, you can just do yours.”
“Nope. Put this on right now and go wash your face.”
Hyunseung took what his sister sternly shoved at him.
It was a pale pink face-washing band with cat ears.
“Do I have to wear this?”
He asked with a horrified face, but…
“I will give you one minute to put it on and wash your face. Begin.”
Hands on her hips like a drill sergeant, she answered at once.
“Ha….”
Hyunseung was more susceptible to his sister’s words than he liked to admit. On top of that, he had unexpectedly stayed up through the night and only just come in near nightfall and was already walking on eggshells, so he should probably just humor her a bit….
“This hurts my cool…”
Grumbling, he jammed the band onto his head any which way.
Click!
A sudden flash smacked his eyes.
“What are you doing?”
“Call it a photo for blackmail.”
Wearing a dubious smile, Hyuna went on,
“If you disappear again and leave just Dad and me, I’ll post this in your fan café with the title ‘HS’s bare face.’”
Meticulous, as always.
“Do that.”
Hyunseung went straight into the bathroom and finished washing up.
Drip, drip, drip.
With droplets still falling from the tip of his chin, he headed toward Hyuna.
“Happy?”
Seeing him, Hyuna flinched and brought a towel to lightly dab the water from his face.
“How can you come out without even drying off!”
“You told me to wash my face.”
“If you washed it, you should dry it too!”
“You should have told me to dry it.”
At that, Hyuna’s words caught in her throat and she let out a long sigh.
‘Who on earth will take this brother?’
She truly wished the whole world knew. Her brother was handsome, tall, and capable, but a hopeless tin robot.
“Now sit here.”
Next, Hyuna guided Hyunseung to sit at the vanity, applied aloe gel, and laid the well-mixed modeling pack on both his cheeks.
“Ah, that’s cold.”
At the cold alien feeling on his face, Hyunseung furrowed his brow.
“What is this?”
“Don’t talk.”
“It feels kind of sketchy… mff.”
As if to say be quiet, Hyuna swept the brush she was holding over his lips.
It really did feel sketchy, but seeing his sister laughing so happily, he decided to endure it.
“I need glass-skin glow, so I need to slather on even more!”
Soon Hyuna plastered it thickly on her own face too, and even summoned their father, who was reading on the sofa.
Swoosh, swoosh.
In the end, she applied that unknown substance to their father’s face as well, and only then set the brush down, looking satisfied.
Just then, while Hyunseung was watching his sister and father with a faint smile,
“Com hewe.”
“Wha’?”
“Com ovah.”
Because she was moving her lips as little as possible while she spoke, he could not tell exactly what she was saying, but from her gestures it looked like she was telling him to come over.
Presently, Hyuna sat down between her father and her brother and raised a Polaroid.
“One, two, three.”
With that, the camera clicked and spat out a film.
Flap, flap.
As Hyuna waved the film, three faces with a curious resemblance appeared side by side.
“It came out well, right! Gasp, I’ll get wrinkles if I talk!”
“Don’t you already have wrinkles?”
“What wrinkles? I’m still 21, you know?”
It was not a photo taken at a beautiful tourist spot, but it was a happy family photo.
When morning broke the next day, a full-scale war began.
Well, only for the little sister.
From the crack of dawn, she said her face was puffy and rubbed it with ice, and rubbed with her fists until her face turned red.
“I even slept a little on purpose so I would not get puffy!”
“That won’t make you any prettier.”
“Shut up, will you? Just finish getting ready!”
“Dad and I finished ages ago.”
Seeing her dad and brother sitting together on the sofa fully dressed, Hyuna gave an embarrassed smile.
“I, I’ll be quick!”
Peeking into the room where his sister had dashed in to paint her face, Hyunseung figured it would take at least another hour and pulled out staff paper.
There is nothing better for killing time.
He was drawing notes only he could read on the staff when
“Hm?”
He felt a gaze from somewhere and turned his head. He met his father’s eyes peeking at him from behind.
─ Want me to show you?
Hyunseung immediately held out the score and signed in Korean Sign Language. He felt a bit embarrassed for having lost himself in work and forgotten his father was there.
─ May I have a look?
His father, happy with anything, took the score.
Flip, flip.
After quietly taking it in with his eyes for a moment,
─ My son, you are truly amazing.
He smiled proudly.
Seeing that smile…
He felt that he had been working hard all this time just to see that smile, and at the same time a strange sadness surged up.
Right. Because he could not possibly fathom the heart of a father who could only take in his son’s music with his eyes, not hear it with his ears.
‘They say the research on regenerating auditory cells still has not progressed…’
Every time he received an email saying it seemed close yet had not been achieved, Hyunseung’s heart collapsed.
Just then, as if he knew what was in his son’s heart, his father slowly raised his hands and signed.
─ They say to truly enjoy music is to hold it in your heart. I always hold the songs my son made in my heart.
While Hyunseung could not find words to answer,
“I’m all ready!”
Hyuna burst out, shouting.
“Let’s go!”
In an instant both Hyunseung’s and his father’s eyes turned to Hyuna.
“Hey, that skirt is way too short!”
“But it’s pretty!”
“It’s not pretty. Go change right now.”
Hyuna turned her eyes to her father for help.
─ Dad, is it not pretty?
But her father also shook his head, looking none too pleased.
“Change into pants this instant and come out.”
“I bought this new to wear today…”
In the end, Hyuna…
“If you don’t change, we’re not taking you to the concert.”
“Fossil! Boomer! Joseon person!”
“Whatever, Samsung OLED 85-inch TV.”
Had to go and change her clothes again.
Meanwhile, Kim Woohyun woke from sleep with a shout.
“No!”
Panting, he wiped the sweat from his brow and only then realized it had been a dream.
“Phew, it was a dream.”
After checking the time on his phone, he finally let out a sigh of relief. The dream had been so vivid that from thrashing around so much the blanket had already fallen to the floor.
“Heave-ho.”
He got up at once, put the blanket back in order, and headed to the bathroom.
Then, to wet his stuffy dry mouth, he pushed in a toothbrush.
Scrub, scrub.
He scrubbed his teeth hard while looking in the mirror for a moment.
“Whew…”
Gripping the sink, he let out another deep sigh.
The reason Kim Woohyun was losing sleep before dawn and sighing as if the ground would sink was none other than his precious one…
No, it was because of the “nightmare” just now.
It was a dream that Hyunseung debuted in America with Executive Director Park under the group name “Health Boy.”
He had helped in every way so that Hyunseung could establish himself in the United States, and then the guy suddenly packed a full suitcase and spoke with a cold face.
“I don’t need Mom anymore.”
It was not even something heard from a real child, but it hurt so much.
“From now on I only need Dad.”
“What are you talking about all of a sudden?”
“I’m just going to live in America with Dad.”
“W-wait a minute!”
“Let go of me. New instruments are waiting for me in America with Dad.”
“N-no—!”
He had grabbed Hyunseung’s pants leg so hard in the dream that his grip still ached.
“What kind of dream is that….”
Probably, because Hyunseung had only said he would be going to America and then there had been no contact, his worry had shown up in his dream.
“That kid, is it so hard to send one text….”
Just then, after he rinsed his mouth and returned to his room,
Bzzzz.
Even though it was early morning, a call was coming in.
“Oh!”
Seeing the words “Geumdong” on the screen, Kim Woohyun hastily picked up.
The kid is a tiger when you look at him.
“Hello?”
─ Mom.
“You little brat! You go to America and not even one text!”
─ But the release was fast, wasn’t it?
Judging from the playful tone, it sounded like something good had happened.
Release, all of a sudden….
Had he done additional work with Sarah Stewart?
“Release? What are you talking about?”
─ I finished the work and handed it off for distribution, and I put the audio files in an email too.
“Explain it in a way I can understand.”
From the receiver came Hyunseung’s voice sounding exasperated.
─ I told you last time.
“Last time?”
─ Vincent Mah.
“Huh? That was supposed to be if Sarah Stewart’s title track held number one for three months as a condition….”
─ One way or another, that’s how it turned out.
“R-really, then you worked with Vincent Mah?”
─ Would it have been only Vincent Mah?
“T-then?”
A subtle silence passed for a moment.
─ We did it together with the New York Philharmonic too.
“Huh….”
At the wholly unexpected answer, a deflated sound escaped from Kim Woohyun without his realizing it.
But as if it was still too soon to be surprised, Hyunseung promptly added,
─ In that sense, we decided to put this track out under Choi Jihyun, so please note that.
Then with a lot of background noise he said they would talk later and hung up.
“Huh…”
Even long after the call ended, sighs kept leaking from between Kim Woohyun’s lips.
Because Vincent Mah, the New York Philharmonic, and Choi Jihyun.
That combination was an image he simply could not form in his head.
With a grim face, Kim Woohyun got dressed and headed to the office.
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