“Make sure you get there safely. If anything happens, call me right away. And are you sure you don’t need to take a bodyguard with you?”
Kim Woohyun’s face as he asked was weighed down with worry.
“Whew…”
Hyunseung shoved his laptop deep into his bag and tossed out a jab.
“Why are you talking like a mom sending someone off to Boy Scouts?”
Then he asked, looking thoroughly unimpressed.
“Also, what’s with those horn-rimmed glasses all of a sudden?”
At the question, Kim Woohyun adjusted his glasses and answered.
“Ah, these? How are they? They suit me, right?”
“Well, they do suit you, but….”
“Don’t I look smart and younger?”
“Did your eyesight get worse?”
“No, not that. More like… an image makeover?”
Hyunseung had no idea what kind of change of heart “Mom Kim” had gone through, but after one failed unrequited love after another, he seemed to want to change something.
“Do I look cool?”
“Yes…”
With a lukewarm expression, Hyunseung gave a small nod.
“I’m going to get going.”
“Yeah. I’d walk you out, but I have to head straight to a meeting.”
“Mom, I’m not a kid.”
He decided to swallow the rest of it, that if they went together he’d look like someone escorted by bodyguards.
He had already used up his daily quota of teasing Mom.
But Kim Woohyun, unaware of how Hyunseung felt, came toward him with his arms spread wide.
“Come on, give me a hug before you go.”
At this point, it was impossible not to mess with him.
Poke.
Hyunseung jabbed his fingers deep into Kim Woohyun’s armpit.
“Why did you spray mist on your armpits?”
Startled by the touch, Kim Woohyun flinched and shuddered, but he quickly put on a composed face again.
“Ha ha, you little punk.”
Then he pushed his slipping glasses back up with his index finger and added,
“When are you going to start acting grown-up?”
“Huh?”
“How old are you, really….”
Hyunseung shook his head as he watched Kim Woohyun laugh like an old man.
Apparently…
Mom had chosen the wrong concept this time.
Hyunseung wanted to head to the United States quietly, without anyone knowing.
But a feeling brushed past him that it would not be as quiet as before.
Right.
Just a few days ago, hadn’t Hyuna’s friend fainted the moment she saw him?
Squeeze.
Before entering the airport, Hyunseung pulled his cap down low.
Of course, even if he covered his face completely, he could not hide his tall 184-centimeter frame.
Click, click.
Even as he headed toward the VIP gate for private-jet passengers, the curious shutter sounds never stopped.
Before long, posts titled “I think I saw HS at the airport!” would probably start popping up across communities all at once.
Well….
Still, the good thing was, no one came up to bother him.
After all, Hyunseung was walking through the airport alone, without a single bodyguard, so it would look strange.
Normally, if you were a celebrity, you would have a manager beside you and a dozen bodyguards in tow.
Step, step.
But Hyunseung was not a “celebrity,” and he was even less “normal.”
If he brought bodyguards, it would feel like he was practically begging people to look this way, so he rejected every suggestion Kim Woohyun made and came to the airport alone.
Right. If he did that, people would hesitate to approach—
Tap tap!
—but there were always exceptions.
“Excuse me!”
A voice calling him from behind, and a hand tapping his shoulder. In that moment, Hyunseung fell into deep consideration.
Normally, he would have simply turned around once with a sharp look and kept walking, or ignored it, but he could not do that.
“Are you… HS…?”
Because it was a familiar voice.
Yes.
Going by the crowd behind her that looked like a filming crew no matter how you looked at it, and the voice calling from behind…
The person standing behind him was the assistant music director from the drama Red Thread….
“I was the person in charge of the Red Thread OST!”
Jo Narae. Right… her, from his previous life.
“Yes, I remember.”
Hyunseung turned calmly and answered.
“I’m finally meeting you! I could tell even from far away!”
“Ah, yes…”
“You’re seriously so handsome!”
He knew she was blunt from before, but to say someone was handsome right to their face like that…
Then and now, she was a completely transparent person.
“When do you think you’ll have time for a meal?”
“Ah, I’ve still been a bit busy these days….”
“Did you go into another project again?”
Without saying much, Hyunseung simply nodded. But not a single crease appeared on Jo Narae’s face.
“Well, it can’t be helped. Once you finish your busy work, please contact me!”
Then, as she kept talking with an even brighter face,
“Honestly, the directors have been riding me hard.”
She went up on tiptoe, whispered quietly, then grinned.
“Ah….”
Even under the brim of his cap as he glanced down, Jo Narae’s face was still pale like a peach with a rosy blush.
Hyunseung stared blankly at her face, then looked away and nodded.
Soon, when her group called for her, Jo Narae said, “Just a second!” to excuse herself, then added a parting greeting to him.
“I decided to follow along for overseas filming too, so I should go join them now. It was nice meeting you, and I hope we can see each other again soon! It looked like you were on your way overseas too, so travel safely!”
As soon as she finished, her wavy hair rustled as she moved farther away.
Hyunseung watched Jo Narae’s back quietly, then started walking again.
Right…
They were memories only he carried, anyway.
Hyuna swallowed dryly and glanced at her wristwatch.
Tick, tick.
She had come out and sat down a full hour early, but time had still slipped by mercilessly.
There were less than ten minutes left until the promised time.
“Whew…”
All she had done was set up plans the way she always did with an old friend, but today, Hyuna was tense to the bone.
Because the friend she was meeting today was a true diehard fan of HS.
And she was the friend who had found out a few days ago that Hyuna’s older brother was HS.
That day, her friend had suddenly fainted, so everything was chaos, and Hyuna had told her they would meet properly later and she would explain…
And at last, today was that day.
“Hyuna.”
The room café door opened, and her friend’s face appeared with no expression at all.
“Oh, you’re here…?”
Hyuna studied her friend, Yoonjeong’s face and gestured for her to sit.
“You don’t really drink coffee, so I ordered a green tea latte ahead of time. Is that okay? Do you want something else?”
Yoonjeong sat down across from her and shook her head side to side.
“It’s fine.”
Then, calmly, she asked.
“Hyuna, you know I’m a hardcore HS fan, right?”
“Yeah, I know.”
“So when I first went to your house, and I saw that framed photo with HS’s preview shot, I thought you were just as hardcore a fan as me.”
Ah, right. Back then she could not put the frame away, so she had gone through hell trying to make excuses.
“I watch him dozens of times a day, I meet him in my imagination, I see him in that frame, so… I recognized him instantly the moment I saw him.”
“Yeah… I guess my brother’s face stands out…”
“So I’m asking again just to be sure. Your brother is really Composer HS, right?”
Even then, Yoonjeong lowered her voice, as if worried it might leak outside.
“Yeah, he is.”
Hyuna nodded and answered with no room for excuses.
“My brother is HS. He’s active as HS, taking the initials from Min Hyunseung.”
“I see. But why didn’t you tell me until now?”
Yoonjeong asked again, saying that if it were her, she would have bragged to everyone, so how had Hyuna not shown a hint even once.
“Um…”
Hyuna hesitated over what to say, then spoke.
“You know my brother only revealed his face recently, right?”
“Yeah, I know.”
“My brother hated being exposed to the outside that much. So I was careful too.”
Then, out of nowhere, the things her brother had said offhand came back to her.
“If my face gets revealed, you’ll get bothered, that’s why.”
“So let’s both live quietly, protecting ourselves.”
“Do you know how annoying it is to live under people’s eyes?”
Whenever he said those things, he looked bitter in a way she could not explain.
Like someone who had already lived through every storm the world could throw at him, and was resolving to endure even the storms that would hit his family.
His eyes were unsettled, yet burning with determination.
And inside them, there was always worry for her.
That was why she could not say it.
Of course, she did worry sometimes because it was obvious things would get annoying if people found out she was HS’s younger sister.
But more than that, she did not want to make her brother worry.
“More than anything, my brother absolutely hates the idea of me and Dad being tied up in the title of ‘a celebrity’s family’ and becoming something people talk about. That’s why he deliberately moved us somewhere with good security.”
Just as Hyuna finished speaking calmly and was taking a sip of her drink to soothe her thirst—
“Jackpot!”
All of a sudden, Yoonjeong beamed, her whole face filling with a bright smile, and clapped her hands together.
“How can someone be that perfect?”
What was this reaction? Hyuna tilted her head with a bewildered face, but Yoonjeong went on praising HS like it did not matter.
“How can someone have visuals and talent and everything, and still be a family man too? Does that even make sense?”
“That, um, he’s not really a family man—”
“No wonder I thought he was the real deal. I told you I’ve got an eye for people! Of course God HS is God HS.”
She had come here thinking that even if her longtime friend felt hurt that she had not told her, Hyuna would have nothing to say.
Honestly.
She never expected this kind of reaction….
“Hyuna, you said you were especially pretty, and it turns out you take after your brother!”
“I take after Dad—”
“Seriously, jackpot! Total jackpot! You’re God HS’s little sister!”
Well, anyway, since it seemed like the explanation got through, it was time to get to the point.
“Yoonjeong, can you keep it a secret? Same with the other friends too.”
At her words, Yoonjeong stiffened her expression and answered immediately.
“Why are you asking something that obvious!”
Hyuna knew her friend was not the type to run around spreading it, but she still felt an anxious caution.
That was why she meant to make it clear again properly today.
“Did you forget I’m the diehard fan who even wrote a secret pledge for God HS?”
“Ha ha, of course I didn’t forget!”
“So… could you get me just one autograph…? I don’t want anything else, seriously! Just! One autograph….”
Hyuna looked at Yoonjeong’s desperate face, then nodded firmly.
“Of course!”
“Wow, thank you! Seriously, then I’ll pass it down as a family heirloom for generations!”
Not a photo, not asking to meet him—just one autograph, and she was that happy.
“Th-that’s a bit much….”
It was bewildering, but she felt even more overwhelmed with happiness knowing her brother had such a good fan.
My brother… he’s really loved.
Then with a dazed look, Yoonjeong clasped her hands together and murmured.
“God HS should be designated as a National Intangible Cultural Heritage and preserved. Yes, absolutely.”
“Huh?”
“No, wait. He should be designated as National Treasure No. 1 so the whole country protects him.”
Watching Yoonjeong like that, Hyuna felt so creeped out her hair stood on end.
A diehard fan….
You really had to be at that level.
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