Daniel lived a busy life, no different from usual.
It was not because he was busy with broadcasts or performance schedules.
Only there were more things to sort out than he had expected.
A wife, children, parents…
He had no blood relatives, so he thought it would be fairly simple, but he had been mistaken.
First of all.
The very first thing he sorted out was the hospital.
“Take care.”
He said goodbye to the doctor who had kept looking after him.
The doctor urged chemotherapy again, but when Daniel refused stubbornly, he finally declared surrender and accepted his farewell.
“The only thing I can give you now is pain medication.”
The doctor was a good man. In order to keep Daniel’s request to keep it secret, he had extended him all sorts of conveniences.
Thanks to that, even after months of going in and out of the hospital, not even the nurses knew he had cancer.
That was how he said a permanent goodbye to the hospital.
After that…
He met with friends he had long forgotten.
To be honest, there were so few of them that it was embarrassing to even call them “friends.”
Since he had debuted young and lived as a celebrity all his life, he had never been able to get close to people.
Even the few friends he did have, once they got married one by one, he had almost no contact with them.
No.
To be exact, it was because their wives were not pleased with them meeting him.
He was unmarried, and he liked alcohol and women, so it was understandable.
“I really wanted to go to the concert, but that was the day I promised to spend with the kids.”
“But when I saw the video, it really was amazing. That’s Daniel for you.”
Maybe because they had not seen each other in such a long time….
“See you later, Daniel.”
“No.”
“What do you mean, no?”
In the end, without even bringing up the first syllable of cancer.
“Just…”
Without even managing to say a proper goodbye.
“Everyone, take care.”
He gave the farewell alone.
And then returning to reality, he began sorting out all the wealth he owned.
The real estate, stocks, and assets he had entrusted to his asset manager, and even the gold bars and jewels he separately possessed.
In addition, he sorted out everything, including all future royalties that would arise after his death.
He was not giving it back to society.
He had no such plan.
He was not that kindhearted.
He simply intended to divide it up among the people he wanted to give it to before he left.
So that in place of him.
When they bought expensive alcohol,
When they hit on women,
When they shopped extravagantly,
They could spend it comfortably.
After finishing all his errands and returning home, Daniel immediately turned his gaze to the calendar in the living room.
Slowly.
The day he had promised with Hyunseung was already only a week away.
[ Not fiction? ]
[ Not an illusion? ]
[ Not made up? ]
Since Hyunseung sent him texts once a day, teasing him like that, there was no way he could forget even if he tried.
“Seriously.”
Daniel sent back a short reply to today’s message too: “Just wait,” then sat down on the sofa.
“Haa….”
But unlike that bold reply, Daniel let out a sigh sunk deep in thought.
The sigh was so deep.
That it was as if a single sigh had aged him three years, leaving him looking haggard.
‘Damn it.’
Then he glared at his own pitifully dried-up thigh and punched it with his fist.
He had clearly put all the strength he currently had into it, but it did not hurt.
That was the problem.
The private helicopter was ready, and he had already told the staff, so the preparations at the private villa on the island were done too.
If he had his way, he wanted to go right now….
But he did not have the strength to go.
And the biggest problem was that it felt like he would not have it in the future either.
His stamina changed with each day. It felt as though he was aging a year every time a single day passed.
He had boasted so much that he was not afraid of death at all.
But now that he was standing at death’s threshold, he was afraid.
He did not want to die. No, he did not want to hurt.
Today of all days, the trophies he never even looked at while he was alive sparkled in the light. As if speaking in place of his life, they gave off a brilliant glow.
‘Even if I die tomorrow, that’s fine, so…’
Please let me die shining, like those trophies.
Please, please, please!
So that I can give even one memory to the young man I envied so terribly for a little while, trapped in lingering attachment.
And also respected without end.
‘Please.’
Daniel had collapsed down in place and, calling on a God he did not even believe in, had been praying for a long while when.
Ding-dong!
At the sudden sound of the doorbell, he startled and opened his eyes.
‘Who could it be?’
Lions had said he was in England for work right now, and Daniel had not ordered any deliveries recently either…
‘That’s strange.’
No matter how he thought about it, there was no one who should be coming. Was it because he had been too deep in thought? Daniel even had the absurd thought that maybe the Grim Reaper had come.
Carefully, he looked outside through the intercom.
“Hhk!”
There really was a black figure in a robe standing there.
Tremble, tremble, tremble.
They say when it is time for a person to die, even their mind grows weak….
Right now, to Daniel’s eyes, the figure on the intercom screen looked like a reaper who had come to harvest his life.
“Open the door.”
Before long, a low, gloomy voice came through the intercom.
‘He really came to take me.’
Daniel was so startled he fell flat onto his backside.
“Open the door.”
That chilly voice sent goosebumps racing down his spine.
“You’re not opening it?”
The reaper, presumably, kept urging him to open the door.
And Daniel pressed one arm against the ground and backed away.
“G-go away! No!”
They say when people are terribly frightened, they actually become brave.
“Not yet!”
Daniel shouted with eyes sharpened like blades.
“What do you mean, not yet?”
That was when it happened.
“I really need the bathroom, so hurry up and open it.”
The figure on the intercom slowly took off the robe, revealing the outline of his face.
“Huh?”
Daniel jumped up right away and ran over to the intercom.
Then, narrowing his eyes, he carefully examined the man standing outside.
Deeply shadowed eyes.
A sharply raised nose.
Lips that were just the right amount full.
And even that small face that looked like it might disappear at any moment.
No matter how he looked at it, it was Hyunseung.
The moment Daniel realized it was Hyunseung, he summoned superhuman strength and sprinted all the way to the front door, even though it was quite a distance.
Creak!
And the moment he opened the door, Hyunseung pushed right in as if it were his own house and demanded to know where the bathroom was.
“O-over there.”
Hyunseung looked so urgent that Daniel reflexively pointed toward the bathroom.
Before long, Hyunseung came back out after finishing his business, looking much more at ease.
“What were you doing that it took you so long?”
Hyunseung asked, casually shaking the water off his hands.
“It’s not like I was really doing anything…”
“From the look of it, you must’ve been drinking.”
“No, I wasn’t drinking…”
“Was I interrupting you while you were with a woman?”
“I wish that were the case…”
Daniel obediently answered the questions for a moment.
“More importantly, how did you even find my house?”
Then he narrowed his eyes and asked.
“I asked Lions, and he kindly sent me the address.”
“Ah…”
“He was even going to tell me the passcode too, but I told him I didn’t need that.”
Daniel pressed a hand to his forehead and shook his head.
‘That bastard Lions…’
Ever since he met Hyunseung, the man had completely fallen for him, praising him and lifting him up until his mouth went dry.
So that was why he had sold Daniel’s information to him.
Yes.
Saying not only was his composing skill great, but his handling ability as a businessman was also bold and outstanding, or something like that….
And that he was absolutely not the kind of great man you should ever cross.
‘Anyway, now I know the culprit.’
Now it was time to confirm the motive.
“Anyway, why are you here? It’s not even the day we promised.”
Daniel stepped closer and asked him like he was interrogating him.
“Just because.”
Meeting Daniel’s gaze, Hyunseung added.
“I came to do a pre-check, in case you changed your tune when the day came.”
“Seriously, tsk.”
Daniel muttered sarcastically.
“You don’t seem like the type to get fooled and live that way, but you’re awfully suspicious.”
“I’ve been fooled too. No, a lot.”
“You?”
“Yeah. I’ve even been ruined badly from getting fooled.”
It had only been something Daniel said as a joke, but for just a moment, a dark shadow fell over Hyunseung’s face.
Come to think of it, Hyunseung was not the type to talk about himself.
No, he did not talk about himself at all.
So Daniel had only thought of him as some prince who had grown up fine and clean without a speck of darkness.
Because he did nothing bad for his body, he did not put on false modesty, and he always carried himself loftily.
More than anything.
Because he seemed not to care about other people’s eyes at all, Daniel had been certain he would be the type to deceive and wound others rather than the type to be deceived and hurt.
But that too, in its own way, must have been a narrow-minded thought.
Yes.
You never know what a person is carrying inside until you pry it open.
Did not Daniel himself get misunderstood a lot for that reason too?
‘Maybe I shouldn’t have said that.’
Just then, while Daniel was gauging Hyunseung’s mood.
“Since I came all this way, I can get a drink out of you, right?”
Hyunseung asked with an unreadable face.
“You really are shameless, barging into somebody else’s house like this…”
Daniel muttered grumpily, but his feet were already heading toward the liquor storage room.
Clink.
Soon, he brought out one of his favorite bottles of liquor, some on-the-rocks glasses, and ice, and came back into the living room.
Pour, pour, pour.
Into a glass already holding one large cocktail ice cube, he poured the strong liquor until it was full and gave it a light swirl.
With that snap of the wrist, a small whirlpool formed inside the glass for a moment, then calmed like a still lake.
“Here.”
He had not wanted to drink lately.
But now, thinking that someone else…
No.
That he was sharing a drink with Hyunseung, his mouth watered.
Soon.
Hyunseung turned the glass in his hand in circles and opened his mouth.
“The smell is….”
“Good, right?”
“Strong.”
But after smelling it, he furrowed his brow hard and set the glass down.
“Seriously.”
Daniel clicked his tongue at the sight and tossed the liquor back in one shot.
Since it was alcohol he was drinking again for the first time in a while, he had gone into it full of expectation….
But it did not taste all that good.
That was probably because of the young and flourishing bastard sitting in front of him with such a hard frown on his face.
“You’re such a nojam who doesn’t know a thing about the depth or taste of liquor.”
Daniel immediately filled the empty glass in front of him with alcohol again. And then he kept emptying and refilling it over and over.
Hyunseung quietly sipped along after him.
He did not seem to have come because he had something in particular to say, so why had he come?
Daniel was curious, but…
He did not even have the strength to speak, so he just filled his empty stomach with liquor.
Gulp, gulp, gulp.
For a while, the only sound was the alcohol going down their throats.
“This house really does resemble its owner.”
Hyunseung, who had been keeping silent, opened his mouth. He had been slowly taking in every side of the living room with his eyes.
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“It’s flashy.”
“Sure. Because I spent money on it.”
For a moment, Hyunseung slowly shook his head.
“It’s not just because of that.”
Then he slowly shifted his gaze.
“I mean those trophies.”
He added, looking at the trophies packed so tightly into the glass display wall that there was barely room left.
“They show just how dazzling a life the owner of this house has lived.”
“Do they?”
“And on the other hand, how fierce and sorrowful a life he’s lived too.”
At that, Daniel looked toward Hyunseung’s face in surprise.
“In other words… I guess it feels like the house of someone who defined an era.”
When their gazes tangled in midair, Hyunseung gave a grin.
Daniel thought Hyunseung was truly beautiful to look at.
Not simply because his face was beautifully sculpted.
For some reason, the more you looked at him, the more you wanted to dwell on him.
And a vague certainty came over him.
“It’s your era now.”
That bastard would become more successful than he ever had.
“You too will shine bright and clear and sharp, just like those trophies there. But on the back side of them, dark pale dust will pile up too.”
One era? No, over several centuries….
“You’ll live fiercely. It’ll be sorrowful enough to feel like your heart is being torn to shreds.”
Would he not become the kind of person left behind as a legend.
“And one day, trapped in lingering attachment, you’ll find yourself envying some genius far younger than you.”
Like the geniuses I admired and envied.
Yes.
Like Beethoven, Chopin, Mozart, and Czerny.
“But even then, take it easy and enjoy it.”
Instead, may he live longer than them.
“Do everything you want to do, while taking care of everything you need to take care of.”
They say the heavens are always jealous of geniuses and take them away early.
May even the heavens be charmed by this one, and let him keep making songs for a long, long time.
Like that.
May he carve traces of his life and countless footprints all over the world.
“And then come slowly.”
May he follow very, very slowly.
And when that time comes.
May he create music together with Daniel once again.
That was what Daniel came to wish for.
Most earnestly.
“I drank, and now I’m too sleepy, so I should go to bed.”
With those words, Daniel brushed himself off and stood up.
“Daniel.”
Hyunseung opened his mouth quietly toward Daniel’s back.
“I’ll come again tomorrow.”
“Don’t come.”
“You like it though.”
At that, a small laughing sound was heard.
Step, step.
Soon Daniel walked down the long hallway and went into his room.
Creak, thud.
Left alone in the living room, Hyunseung stared at the hallway Daniel had walked down, then tossed the rest of the drink into his mouth.
And then.
Suddenly, one old sijo came to mind.
“Sitting face to face, the two of us drink, and flowers bloom in the mountain.”
Back then, he could not understand how someone had written a sijo about mere alcohol.
It was not that Hyunseung could not drink, but he was the type who disliked it.
“One cup, then another cup, and yet another cup after that.”
So he had assumed Li Bai, who wrote this sijo, must have been a hopeless drunk who loved liquor dearly.
Otherwise, why would there even be a legend that he got drunk, tried to catch the moon in the river, and ended up drowning?
“I am drunk and sleepy, so you should go first.”
But now that he turned it over in his mind…
Perhaps.
The day Li Bai wrote that sijo was the most exhausting and sorrowful day among his many, many days in life.
That thought crossed his mind.
Yes.
Just like Daniel now.
“If you think of it tomorrow morning, come holding your geomungo.”
Before long, promising tomorrow, Hyunseung cleared away the two empty glasses.
T/N: Li Bai (Chinese: 李白; pinyin: Lǐ Bái, 701–762), was a Chinese poet acclaimed as one of the greatest and most important poets of the Tang dynasty and in Chinese history as a whole. Li Bai viewed wine not just as a drink, but as a vehicle for spiritual transcendence and cosmic companionship.
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