“Well, to marry into this rough-and-tumble chaebol family, she would at least need to have done her military service to be the lady of Yeonggyeong, right?”
“What? What is that supposed to mean?”
“As far as I know, the great heir of Yeonggyeong is desperately clinging to a boy.”
“No, no. What? What is she even saying now?”
He wanted to dismiss it as nonsense and move on, but since Seogyeong said nothing more, the mood began to change.
Chairman Kim snapped his head around with a fierce look and stared at Chief Park. Chief Park flinched yet continued speaking.
“Th-the young master has recently only shown interest in that person….”
“Chief Park. Choose your words properly. Not recently, for six years. And do you know why Seoan did not finish his doctoral course abroad and came back to Korea? The father of the kid that Kim Seoan is desperately chasing is now Seoan’s supervising professor. He even crawled in there to get permission to date the man’s son. Is that not hilarious? It seems our Seoan really is the heir of Yeonggyeong after all. Seeing how he takes after his romantic grandfather.”
Seeing the vein bulge at the temple and Chairman Kim’s fist tremble while he had not even managed to swallow the food he was chewing, Seogyeong felt thoroughly relieved.
Well, it is not all lies, so Seoan will understand this much, right? Chief Park hurriedly brought water to the chairman’s lips, and the chairman gulped it down.
He could not tell whether the feeling of something stuck in his chest was from hastily swallowing unchewed food or from that bolt-from-the-blue news.
“Grandfather. Unless it is from me or big sister, you will never see a great-grandchild your whole life. As for whether anything will even stand with a woman for Seoan… who knows.”
Leaving behind Chairman Kim, who now seemed on the verge of tears, Seogyeong rose in a good mood.
See, you should have needled people only so far. If you had, I was going to package it neatly and say your grandson is just crazy about idols and has no thoughts of marriage.
Yet she did not feel like she had won even though she had won. Drawing in a bitter breath, Seogyeong left the family home. Pyeongchang-dong, which she always came to with discomfort and left with discomfort. Today again the same blocked-up uneasiness rose inside her.
“I should have packed up some of the galbi-jjim Jang Heung-daek made.”
Smacking her lips, Seogyeong got into the car.
Just you die, old man. I will bring Jang Heung-daek to my house immediately.
Even after Seogyeong left, Chairman Kim, who had been trembling for a long time, spoke in a low voice.
“Chief Park. At least you must be honest with me.”
“Yes, Mr. Chairman. Please speak.”
“Is that brat really a gay bastard? Tell me clearly. I know that since Seoan has no interest in management you have been watching Seogyeong and Seojin’s mood. But how can you tell lies about something like this.”
“Sir?”
“When he was a child, did he play with dolls like a girl? Did he run around lightly like a girl? There is no way he is a gay bastard. I got too worked up earlier, but thinking again, that is not it. This is also a problem with Seogyeong. No matter how much I pass Yeonggyeong to Seoan, would she really throw me away. They are the same grandchildren. I have always thought I would at least set aside a prime affiliate or two for her. Yet as his elder sister she is smearing her younger brother now, afraid her position will be taken.”
As the chairman grumbled, Chief Park felt sweat pouring down his back. He, too, was a pot-bellied middle-aged man who did not know young people well, but he at least knew that playing with dolls or running lightly like a girl does not make someone gay. Even so, for the sake of the chairman, whose mood was unsettled, he carefully chose his words.
“Uh, but it is true the young master likes that idol. Still, it could be simple admiration, so shall I look into it in detail?”
“Do it. Look into it properly again. Without letting Seogyeong or Seojin know. Since he looks like a girl and is a bookish weakling always reading, he could admire a boy who is popular with girls. Weak kids usually feel admiration for fellows built like farmhands. He does not even know his own seat is better. Find out for sure and report back.”
However, two days later, Chief Park could not muster the courage to report to the chairman.
There was solid documentation that Seoan had been consistently writing letters for six years, and the nickname was even [Hyeonbaragi].
Does it mean he is happy just to gaze like a sunflower? What is more, phrases from the letters that Seoan had written were even famous across various social media. If one exaggerated a bit, it would not be an overstatement to say that the whole nation knew of Hyeonbaragi’s love for Gi Cheonghyeon. How on earth was he supposed to tell the chairman this?
“Sis. What did you do? Chief Park said there will be no more blind dates.”
— I just… told Grandfather that you are a crazy fan gay bastard.
“What?”
— That is a thing… Do your fangirling with all your might. I am hanging up.
It was a phrase that made him doubt his ears. He had thought he would be summoned to Pyeongchang-dong and scolded, but both his sister, who should have explained the situation in detail, and Chief Park seemed utterly drained.
Meanwhile, once he had gotten a taste of shopping again after a long time, he could not stop. It was almost a pity that “Chance Love” was a Lunar New Year special pilot program.
If it had been a regular series, every episode he could have used the pretext of support to shower this adorable research subject with gifts.
Smacking his lips, he opened his thesis again. It was time to work hard again.
- Wow hahaha what is with Cheongrangdan’s firepower. I fainted
└ Is it real that they completed ten million won of fundraising in four minutes. Lol
└ They say it was not even four minutes, it was two. They thought it was not full because of lag lol
- I have never seen a major fandom like this before… The East really is top tier
└ Same same… totally high on Cheong
└ Do I need to put in my donation like I am ticketing.
└ The parentheses are killing me hahaha
- Seriously amazing. I put in only ten thousand won because I am a Strawberry, and I worried it was too little and whether it would fill, but is this for real? Cheongrangdan, are you trying to move me to tears like this.
└ Unnies will handle this on our side S2
└ Strawberries, use that money to watch the broadcast live and buy chicken S2
- I am a fan of another group but Gi Cheonghyeon’s fans are so cute. Are Strawberries the young fans?
└ Yep yep lol we decided to call the babies Strawberries ^_^
└ Thank you for moe-ifying us, Unnies S2
└ Then what are the oldies called.
└ Just… just Gi Cheonghyeon’s fans.
└ Lmao
└ Are you crazy lol give us older ones a nickname too
- At this point I am curious how insanely much GIDIAN will put in
└ Is GIDIAN a gold spoon?
└ Yes. Unless you are a journalist, it is hard to get info like that and shoot celebs all day… and she has attended all East fansigns and all events for six years
└ The Sotheby’s Jungwoo photo she posted two years ago was from a Louis Vuitton event with only insiders and VIPs… that day even Jungwoo’s other hommas1 could not get in and gave up and only shot arrivals and departures lol
└ From the start, homma work is impossible without time, money, and passion… if you lack even one of the three, you have to grind the other two to dust
└ And the cut for an East fansign is at least 3 to 5 million won, and even that is luck based, so half the fans write that and still cannot go lol. If she attended all, that says it all
- Check the notice… No excessive demands for or uploads of private info about ordinary people.
└ Right, this is skirting the line
└ Whether gold spoon or not, it does not matter. Let us stop doxxing
└ Right, and you do not have to participate in the support. We are just grateful that you keep stanning Cheonghyeon
- Did the Cheongrangdan all have pent-up feelings or what. They filled ten million won in two minutes, and there are even bastards pretending not to notice and still trying to put in more
└ The Twitter lead is hilarious lol they are screaming please stop putting money in
Going back a week. GIDIAN, that is, Kwon Ihwa, had her head buried in her household ledger, just as Seoan had expected. If she could have had her way, she would have climbed into the ledger, raised her monthly pay to infinity, and climbed back out. It was a situation with no answer in sight.
The situation began with one post that went up ahead of the “Chance Love” shoot.
[AKA Ko Yeonhee Gallery] We are starting fundraising for Chance Love support.
Anon (175.223) Ammo ready
Anon (39.7) We cannot lose to the in-laws lol
Anon (110.70) But is it true that Gi Cheonghyeon will even buy the meal? It really feels like being treated like a son-in-law
Anon (211.36) Damn why does this support make my heart hurt. It feels like a formal meeting between families
Anon (223.32) What are you talking about a formal meeting. Look at the mood. This is a funeral
Seeing this, Cheonghyeon’s fandom also scrambled to prepare a support, and a lead and a fundraising account were opened centered on Twitter. In addition, several new hommas contacted GIDIAN saying they would prepare a support together.
“Ha. I am really not drawn to this.”
Ihwa scrolled straight past the DMs without even reading them. She knew the fandom subtly expected hommas to do supports. But she could not, and had never, made any profit selling photos like other hommas.
That was her situation. Judging by the mood alone, the fans were all expecting to see how she would contribute to the support, and if she did nothing for so big an event, it would be the perfect setup for gossip.
“Ugh, what do I do?”
What the fans believed about her attending every fansign was also not true. Cheonghyeon, knowing that she could not keep going to fansigns, always sent her a separately signed album, and Ihwa simply posted it on Twitter.
Sometimes, to promote Cheonghyeon, she would write questions that were trending among fans on sticky notes and make it look like she had asked them at a fansign. She had not expected that to come back as a boomerang like this.
Among the hommas who contacted her, many had run other homes before, and many looked like gold spoons. Yet she just did not feel like it.
If they had been debut fans like herself, she might have gladly agreed.
Now that Cheonghyeon was finally getting hot, they were all flocking like moths to a flame.
Before, she had wished at least one person would stan Cheonghyeon along with her, but now that homes were springing up like mushrooms after rain, she had to admit it felt a little annoying.
Seeing bios that said things like “Forever Gi Cheonghyeon” and “You are my universe,” an inexplicable tightness filled her chest.
- A Homma is commonly defined as a fan who actively posts photos and videos of beloved stars on online “homepages” (More info here) ↩︎
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