Out of the 50 million people in the Republic of Korea, how many get their birthday celebrated through a billboard in New York Times Square?
First, someone would think it is something impossible.
However, that impossible thing was now happening.
[ Happy birthday, HS ]
The moment Hyunseung got into the car, he checked the Times Square billboard photos being uploaded to the community in real time.
In a way, it was like he was getting a flashy initiation through a New York billboard before even making a proper entry.
Truly, it was something that did not exist even in his previous life, which had been so glamorous.
Slide, slide.
Soon, Hyunseung moved his finger, condensed with sighs, and checked the post uploaded on the community.
[ I’m traveling in New York right now and it says ‘Happy birthday, HS’ on Times Square. It can’t be self celebration.. Did the company do it for him? Or no way, did Sarah Stewart really celebrate it as her boyfriend’s birthday? Wow, but the scale is insane. How much money did they pour into this?]
Slide, slide.
⤷ Is Sarah dating HS?
⤷ It’s just hearsay.
⤷ Please refrain from posts like this that are just speculation ㅠ
⤷ What if it ends up being self-celebration?
⤷ Why would HS do that?
⤷ But seriously, how much does it cost to run an ad on New York Times Square?
⤷ If it’s that time slot in the main spot, you’d have to pay a typical K office worker’s annual salary, I bet?
⤷ They say the U.S. communities are going crazy too lol. HS never has anything normal lol.
⤷ Godchis, birthday, memo.
⤷ Thanks for the good info..
News about it spread quickly in Korea too.
“Haa.”
Because it was obvious it would get noisy once again, Hyunseung set his phone down with a sigh.
There was a very strong chance it was MisutSarah, but just in case, he decided he would check later.
First, right now.
He promised Hyuna, so let’s just go home.
Vroooom!
Hyunseung started the car once, and then moved his gaze to the passenger seat.
Today’s gifts were piled up there in heaps.
How they found out, even people from A and R came to the studio afterward and delivered small gifts and left.
Heh.
Hyunseung looked at the gifts and, without realizing it, let out a laugh.
It was not simply because the gifts were expensive, or good things.
It was just each and every item was either something he liked, or something he needed.
Yeah.
If you interpret that differently, it means they chose gifts while thinking of him.
Truly.
Things like this were things he had never once felt in his previous life.
Usually, to look good to him somehow, they gave expensive and cumbersome gifts.
For example, from high priced sports cars to luxury whiskey they said was hard to get.
They were not things that would satisfy his interest or his desire.
Moreover, the people who delivered those gifts always added a request at the end, the demands they wanted.
But today, the people who were giving him gifts while congratulating him looked happier than he, the person receiving the congratulations.
He did not know why.
He just conveyed thanks inside and urged the accelerator.
“Idiots.”
Soon, Hyunseung’s low mutter drifted around inside the car.
Hyunseung had to break into a sweat bringing up the gifts, both hands full, no, an entire armful full.
“Hoo.”
Only after setting them down in front of the door could he catch his breath.
“Oppa!”
Then Hyuna, having heard him, ran out in her socks.
“You came back fast?”
“You told me to come.”
“So blunt.”
Hyuna glared at him once, and then pulled him by the hand.
“First wash your hands and let’s eat.”
Hyunseung obediently got pulled into the bathroom, and smiled at the food smell filling the house.
What, how much did you make again?
Thinking that, he dried his hands and came out to the kitchen, and the moment he checked the table, he could not hold it in and burst out laughing.
“Why are you laughing the moment you see the table I worked hard to set?”
Hyuna, wearing a pink apron and scooping rice, asked as she narrowed her eyes.
“Because you look like an ajumma when you’re like that.”
“Oppa, you don’t want to eat, do you?”
“No, I’ll shut up and eat.”
Hyunseung spoke jokingly, then greeted his father and sat down in the seat across.
Clink, thud.
Before long, when a steaming bowl of rice was placed in front of him, the table became something that made him feel full just from looking.
Seaweed soup and galbi, from japchae to jeon.
A table that would not be enough even if you prepared all day.
At that moment, his father spoke to him in sign language. It was not some grand “happy birthday” line, but one warm check in, so it hit his chest even more.
Thank you.
Like that, father and son met each other’s eyes and smiled once, then picked up their utensils.
Slide.
Hyunseung shifted his gaze to Hyuna, who still looked busy.
Even after laying all this out, maybe there was still more left, because she had no intention of coming out of the kitchen.
“Come quickly and eat with us.”
Even at those words, Hyuna only said, “Eat first.”
Without even giving the table a glance, she moved around busily.
Clink, clink.
Even while taking a big spoonful of glossy rice, Hyunseung kept his eyes fixed on Hyuna.
What is she doing, seriously?
As he followed Hyuna’s back with curious eyes…
“Let’s live like strangers from now on.”
Suddenly, his younger sister’s back, the last time he saw it in his previous life, came to mind.
“I’m sick of everything.”
It was the day she was sorting their late father’s belongings, and it was his birthday.
He was not someone who celebrated birthdays to begin with.
And that day was so hard he did not even want to acknowledge it was his birthday.
Yeah.
After losing money, fame, and honor, even his father, whom he had pretended not to know, had finally passed away.
“Oppa, you’re just getting everything back.”
And then his one remaining younger sister left.
“Keep living selfishly from now on too.”
Leaving words so painful they could not be compared to criticisms.
“If possible, live better than everyone else.”
Bursting out the resentment she had held back.
“Throw away family and everything, and live.”
Like that, his younger sister also left his side.
“At least you should live better than other people.”
Those words tormented him for a long time.
After that… from the day he came back again, he tried not to acknowledge birthdays. Because that day would suddenly come to mind.
But now, it is okay.
“Here, a special cake I made myself!”
Because his people, his instruments, and his family were celebrating his birthday, even though he never said anything.
“What is this?”
Hyunseung asked, teasingly, as he looked at the pancake placed in the center of the table.
“It’s a pancake!”
“No, I mean the writing.”
Then he laughed, pointing at the words “Happy birthday” drawn on the pancake like a worm crawling.
“What! I wrote it really carefully in my own way!”
“Bad handwriting.”
“Oppa, you try. Do you think that’s easy?”
Even while huffing with her face bright and flushed, Hyuna swapped out the seaweed soup that had gone lukewarm.
“Enough, just eat!”
Then, the moment she sat down, she held out a small case box and added.
“It’s a gift Dad and I prepared.”
At the unexpected gift, Hyunseung opened the case right away. Inside it was a fountain pen with a luxurious presence even at a glance.
Hyunseung, as if possessed by something, picked up the fountain pen.
Not just a plain fountain pen, but one with a clear engraving.
Min hyun seung
Instead of saying thank you, Hyunseung looked at Hyuna and his father once each, and smiled silently.
Yeah.
This is enough. At this level, he really is living a different life than before, like the vow he made at the threshold of death.
Very well.
Hyunseung became sure.
“Feels like soon there’ll be something I have to sign with this fountain pen…”
Hyunseung continued, speaking at the same time as signing.
“Do you want to come to America together and see it?”
At his question, Hyuna answered without hesitation, nodding.
“Yeah! I want to!”
Of course, his father also nodded with a pleased smile.
Wow.
Birthdays are something good.
Sarah Stewart rode in her car all day, circling Times Square over and over, and over again.
All of this repetitive behavior was to check whether the main billboard was properly broadcasting HS’s birthday message.
[ Happy birthday, HS ]
Only after confirming several times that it was showing well did Sarah Stewart turn her car, wearing a satisfied smile.
Bzz, bzz, bzz.
Her phone had been ringing repeatedly since earlier, but she lightly ignored it.
Because she could already guess what kind of messages they were.
Probably.
Austin, or Andrew, or her manager.
Or if not them, her father, Mateo.
It would be contact from one of those four.
To confirm whether it was really her who left the birthday message on the Times Square billboard.
Even just looking at the SNS reaction, it seemed like people were inferring it was her.
She had ties with HS, and she recently posted something on SNS tagging HS, so it was easy to infer.
No, in fact, it was true.
She had received a message from a Korean singer, asking if she could come because they wanted to celebrate HS’s birthday together.
Maybe.
She also got a message saying that if someone sent a gift, they would deliver it for her.
When she got that, she thought about it.
Should I go?
But schedule wise, she was not in a situation where she could go to Korea.
So Sarah thought she should at least give a grand gift.
Not just material things.
HS was not someone with strong material desire anyway.
Not a one dimensional gift, but a gift that would remain deeply in memory and in the mind.
And after thinking, what came out was this, celebrating his birthday through a Times Square billboard.
“This should stay in his memory, right?”
A smile bloomed at Sarah Stewart’s lips.
Even though the dating rumors would definitely heat up even more.
It was then.
The phone that had quieted down vibrated violently again.
Bzzzz!
A message arrived from the HS she had been waiting for.
[ I think I’ll be going to America soon, and this initiation is way too grand. ]
It looked like he knew that she was the one who broadcast the birthday message. You have to do at least this much to get contact.
But putting that aside, he is coming to America soon?
At those words, Sarah Stewart immediately pulled the car over.
Just as she was about to send a reply while extremely excited,
Bzzzz!
Another message arrived.
[ I have misutgaru hostage. If you don’t take down the billboard right now, I’ll drink it all. ]
Sarah immediately had to contact the advertising company.
“Take it down right now, please.”
T/N:
- In Korean, Ajumma (아줌마) is a term used to address middle-aged, typically married women, but it also describes a distinct cultural archetype known for resilience and hard work (Source).
Leave a Reply