Daniel’s history had come to an end.
[ Daniel dies at his private villa early this morning, cause of death is… ]
[ Musician Daniel revealed to have been battling cancer for a long time… ]
The moment news of Daniel’s death was reported, famous portal sites were quickly overloaded from the flood of users.
And the New York Times, which first reported the news of his death, had its servers blown out.
And that was not all.
Famous portal sites even temporarily blocked the search engine itself for anything related to “Daniel.”
The news of his death alone was shocking, but all kinds of rumors surrounding it had begun to circulate.
That he had died from alcoholism.
That he had died from an overdose of drugs.
That he had died after contracting AIDS.
And on top of that, baseless gossip was going around saying this was not some nationwide false report for the sake of promoting the documentary.
Thanks to that, or because of that…
The released documentary recorded explosive viewership, to the point that Netflix’s servers went down.
It was as though the world had been struck with paralysis after falling into massive shock over his death.
In the middle of that chaos and paralysis, his funeral did not begin until 36 hours after he had died.
Of course.
Hyunseung did not attend. He only went as far as handing the deceased Daniel over to the funeral director, then shut himself up in his room and did nothing but sleep.
Because in his previous life, he had already seen Daniel’s funeral once.
‘Back then, I couldn’t believe it…’
Maybe Hyuna was worried because he was shut up in his room, not eating and doing nothing but sleeping, because she kept opening the door to check on him, but she did not wake him.
If it went the same way as his previous life, Daniel’s funeral would have been more splendid and grand than any other funeral.
Because it would have been a funeral attended by every famous singer and every person with great influence in the industry.
Like his life, it would have been a magnificent funeral.
Still, if there was one regret….
One day.
Yes.
That was that he had died exactly one day earlier than in his previous life.
Knowing that, Hyunseung had originally asked for the documentary’s release date to be moved up.
But in the end, Daniel died on the day the documentary began streaming.
‘If I had known it would turn out like this…’
I should have at least told him the interview contents myself.
I should have let him drink more comfortably.
I should not have let him force himself onto the stage.
Hyunseung was tormented by guilt, feeling like the fact that Daniel’s death had been moved up by one day was his fault.
And like that…
He kept escaping into sleep.
After several days of sleeping badly, Hyunseung was only able to sleep deeply once Daniel’s funeral was over.
He even had a dream.
A dream where he stood on stage with Daniel once again.
Exchanging glances with him, they put on a mad stage together.
Ting!
Only after the guitar string snapped did the playing come to an end.
And when he raised his head and looked, there was only a microphone left standing in the place where Daniel had been.
“Daniel?”
He was glancing around the stage, looking for Daniel, when.
Knock, knock, knock!
With the sound of knocking, he woke from the dream.
Even so, he felt satisfied. Because at least in the dream, he had been able to play freely on stage with him one more time.
“Oppa, some guests came to see you.”
Hyuna carefully stuck her head through the door and said it.
“Guests?”
At those words, Hyunseung tilted his head. There was not really anyone who would come looking for him.
Vincent, Executive Director Park, and Kim Woohyun had all told him to rest well and come out once he had pulled himself together.
Even though they had said that, had they still been worried?
Hyunseung got up from the bed, roughly straightened his messy hair, and went out to the living room.
But the people waiting for Hyunseung there were not Vincent, nor Executive Director Park, nor Kim Woohyun.
They were people he had never seen in his life.
The men, dressed in such proper suits that his current pajamas felt embarrassing, all bowed at the same time the moment they saw him.
“Hello.”
Even while staring at them with a bewildered face, Hyunseung turned his head quickly, trying to grasp the situation.
‘Did I run some kind of organization?’
He was continuing that absurd line of thought when.
“Please take my card first, and would you like to talk here? Or would you prefer to step outside with us?”
The man standing at the front held out a business card and asked.
“Hmm?”
After checking the card, Hyunseung raised his head and looked at him.
Why would a man who was something like a vice president at a major corporate law firm….
Could it be something had gone wrong somehow?
Was it because he had been there when Daniel died, and now someone was misunderstanding things? Had they come to defend him at a high price?
All kinds of thoughts chained together for a moment.
“I’ll get ready and come out, so could you wait outside? My family seems a little startled.”
He spoke with his eyes raised sharply. He was worried his father and Hyuna, who were peeking from behind him, might be startled even more.
“Yes, then we will wait outside.”
Fortunately, the man led the others out of the house without protest.
“My son, who are those people?”
The moment they left, his father asked with a face full of worry.
“They’re from the corporate law firm hired in relation to company business.”
“That’s all, right? But the atmosphere didn’t look very good.”
“It’s nothing, so you really don’t need to worry at all.”
Hyunseung soothed his father like that, then hurried to get ready.
Even though he had said that…
He simply could not guess why they had come looking for him.
Hyunseung led them to VINCIS headquarters.
Just in case…
If there really was some problem involving him, it was so he could immediately summon Executive Director Park and Kim Woohyun and hold a meeting.
“Then shall we hear why you suddenly showed up at my house without any appointment like you were barging in?”
Seated at the head seat, Hyunseung calmly opened his mouth.
But hidden inside it were sharp thorns.
“Perhaps… you haven’t watched Daniel-nim’s documentary?”
However, before Hyunseung could even bare those thorns, the man who had introduced himself as the vice president of the law firm asked an unexpected question.
“Why are you asking that all of a sudden?”
Hyunseung narrowed his eyes and asked back.
“It seems you haven’t, so I think it will be easier for both sides if we talk after you watch it.”
As expected of someone who was not vice president of a law firm for nothing, the man kept an unreadable face and signaled to the employee sitting beside him.
Soon, the man who looked like a junior lawyer took out a tablet from his bag, set it down in front of Hyunseung, and played the video.
Maybe because they had prepared an edited version in advance.
The documentary did not start from the opening scene he had received in rough cut form, but from somewhere in the middle.
【 Q. How did you end up working together with composer HS? 】
On the screen, Daniel appeared, along with a single line of subtitles.
It seemed to be his personal interview footage.
—-Now, when I was about to begin work on my final album, at first I contacted Mateo. Since he was the one who handled my first debut album, I thought it would be good if we could do the last one together too.
In the video, Daniel began the interview slowly, eyes lifted upward as if reviewing old memories.
—-But I got rejected. I think I got rejected several times, actually. Then the composer he recommended to me was HS.
Then, as if something came to mind, he held back a laugh for a moment.
—-But do you know what Teacher Matteo said when he recommended HS?
Soon after, he added with a small laugh.
—-That he’s good, but weird.
At those words, Hyunseung’s eyebrow twitched.
—-And sure enough, when I met him, I found out just how weird his personality is. I’m telling you, I’ve never seen anyone like him before.
The words ‘takes one to know one’ rose all the way to Hyunseung’s throat, but because too many people were watching, he swallowed them down.
【 Q. Then, while working together, didn’t you run into difficulties? 】
—-It was very hard. Why were there so many things I wasn’t allowed to do, and so many things I was told to do?
As the second question began, Daniel shook his head with a face full of disgust, and at the same time the scene shifted as if cutting across.
“HS! I can’t take this anymore!”
Daniel’s face, full of anger, filled the screen.
“I can’t stay sane without beer!”
“Why can’t you?”
“Are you seriously asking why? That again, again, again! I’m sick of it! What kind of feeling do you even want?”
“You said it was an album containing your personas, didn’t you? Then you should figure it out yourself. What am I supposed to do if you’re asking me that?”
“What? Can a director say something that irresponsible?”
“Is that my fault? No matter how much I adjust things, what am I supposed to do if I just don’t like the sound the instrument is making?”
That scene was from the last recording day, when he and Daniel had been bickering over one “beer.”
Actually, there had been many moments like that.
And now that he was saying it….
He really had been a difficult instrument to play.
Of course.
At the same time, he had also been the instrument that gave the highest satisfaction in performance.
—-Even so, his directing was excellent. He was always right, and always exact. Thanks to that, a good album could be born.
Before long the scene changed again, and Daniel continued the interview.
【 Q. If, just hypothetically, you were to make another album again, would you want to work with HS again? 】
—-It won’t happen, but if it did, I think I probably would work with him again. I’ve released a lot of albums, but the album I worked on this time was the best, and the most fun.
At those words, Hyunseung shot back inwardly, ‘I think I’d need to think about that a little’. If Daniel had been right in front of him now, he would definitely have read that thought and cursed him for being a bastard with no romance in him.
【 Q. Lastly, is there anything you’d like to say to HS? 】
On the screen, Daniel suddenly scratched at his chin as though thinking hard, humming to himself.
Before long.
—-Now you just go and eat it all up on your own.
He answered with a childish grin.
Really.
It was such a childish answer you would doubt the man’s age.
But Hyunseung smiled soundlessly along with him.
“It’s your era now.”
Because he knew what that answer meant.
One day.
It was something Daniel had said to him the day he went to his house.
‘But…’
Hyunseung, who had been lost in the memory, suddenly sensed something strange and turned to the man and asked,
“But what does any of this have to do with why you came looking for me?”
Nowhere in Daniel’s interview did the word law firm come up. There was no connection at all, so why had they told him to watch this?
“Please, calmly watch a little more.”
But the man only calmly urged him on, pointing to the tablet, without adding anything further.
Slowly.
When Hyunseung turned his head back to the screen as told, a video that seemed to have been filmed elsewhere was playing.
And inside that video, Daniel and the very man now sitting in front of him were seated side by side, talking.
—-As for the posthumous copyright, please set it fifty-fifty between the record company I belong to now and the foundation.
—-Yes. Then what should we do about the rest of the real estate, stocks, and private aircraft you own?
—-The things that are better off being turned into cash, sell them and divide them as funds among the several foundations I’m in charge of.
—-For the rest, transfer ownership to HS.
Then Daniel tapped his finger along the documents in front of him and added.
—-Especially this. This, this, and this.
It was not visible on screen what exactly he had been pointing to.
—-It’s not my place to comment, but for a private individual who isn’t even family, to this degree…
Judging by how the man’s face turned to shock, it was clear Daniel had pointed out things far from ordinary.
Soon after, in the video, Daniel continued, trying to persuade the man.
—-If I tell you I became a singer thanks to this person, would that help it make sense?
—-Excuse me?
—-Originally, it felt like I just happened to become a singer because I was good at singing.
After leaving a brief pause.
—-It was only after meeting HS that I felt like I had truly become a singer.
Daniel added that with a bright smile.
—-So please take good care of him.
At that instant… Was it his eyes going strange, or had his father’s face overlapped Daniel’s?
“…”
Hyunseung was staring at the darkened screen without a word, when.
“As you can see, we came to guide you through the inheritance procedure for Daniel-nim’s estate.”
The man continued while holding out a bundle of documents so thick and complicated-looking you could tell at a glance.
“These are the papers for the stocks, real estate, and private aircraft Daniel-nim decided to transfer ownership of to HS-nim.”
“No, wait a second. What is all this supposed to…”
“HS-nim only needs to sign the marked places.”
“Daniel never told me anything like this…”
“Because Daniel-nim earnestly asked us over and over to keep it a secret from HS-nim until after he died.”
Then the man smiled and added.
“Ah, and he also asked us to tell you thank you, because thanks to you he was able to go and have one hell of a good time.”
At those words, Hyunseung finally lowered his head.
“I…”
Before long, Hyunseung’s voice, trembling without restraint, filled the room.
“Thanks to him, I had a really… really good time.”
Words that could no longer be passed on now.
T/N:
MY KOKOROOOOOOO
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