All over the world, team “DRY”’s final victory at Worlds was being called a “miracle.”
Those who witnessed that miracle shed tears.
The members of team DRY who were there on-site, the audience members who had not even been their fans, and the commentators too.
Thanks to that, the arena became a sea of tears.
Moreover, many people who had been watching the match together through the livestream also shed hot tears over their victory.
[ Weakest team “DRY” wins Worlds for the first time! ]
[ Just as HS prophesied, team DRY wins Worlds! ]
[ Duel says in interview that the secret to victory is “the mindset that what matters is breaking everything in your way”…. ]
[ Duel’s first words after winning: “H-S, are you watching!”… ]
Even in the midst of all that, articles related to their victory poured onto the main pages of portal sites.
With this, the controversy about match-fixing or being a time traveler would quiet down completely.
Because everyone had watched how fiercely team DRY fought, and what kind of intense war they had fought to stand in this place.
How much effort and sweat were contained in their tears.
Sniffle.
At that moment, he heard crying beside him and turned his head.
Hyuna, with the tip of her nose red, was leaning against their father and shedding tears.
“Why are you crying?”
“I don’t know. It’s just somehow moving.”
Hyunseung smiled faintly at those words for a moment.
“Let’s go.”
Looking at Duel, who had raised the trophy high, he left the arena with a refreshed heart.
“Oppa, don’t you like that player called Duel? Since we came all this way, why don’t you at least get his autograph before leaving?”
“That’s true. I think player Duel would also feel good if he knew composer-nim personally came to cheer him on.”
Hyuna and Kang Hajun, who had followed him out, spoke as if urging him.
“No.”
Hyunseung waved his hand in the air and added briefly.
“I’m hungry.”
Then he turned again and walked ahead.
Right.
He had seen them win, so that was enough.
Perhaps because he had been so tense the entire time he watched the match, an enormous hunger rushed over him when they arrived at the restaurant.
“This one, and this one.”
To calm his stomach, Hyunseung hurriedly pointed to various places on the menu and finished ordering from the server.
“Can you eat all that?”
Hyuna wondered if Hyunseung was ordering almost every item on the menu.
There were only four people.
And yet, from what she had heard, wasn’t he ordering dozens of dishes?
“More people are coming, so it’s fine.”
Just as Hyuna was about to ask, “Who’s coming?”
“What’s gotten into you? Calling us out to eat and everything.”
“He must be in a good mood because the team Hyunseung likes won.”
“Ah, that Worlds thing? Honestly, he’s such a kid.”
A large man and an even larger man took the empty seats at the table and chuckled.
“Department Head! Executive Director!”
Right. They were Executive Director Park and Director Kim.
Kang Hajun sprang to his feet and greeted them politely.
“Hey, isn’t this our Hajun? Have you been well?”
“It’s been a while. But why am I still Department Head?”
They welcomed Kang Hajun, whom they had not seen in a long time, for a moment.
Then they greeted Hyunseung’s father, who was sitting beside him, politely and subtly shifted their gaze to Hyuna.
“Was your name Hyuna?”
“Yes. Yes…”
“I feel this every time I see you, but you have the face of an actress.”
“Th-thank you.”
The look in their eyes as they gazed at Hyuna was full of lingering regret.
They were like hyenas unable to approach a tempting prey right in front of them because a sturdy lion was standing beside it.
“She’s not going to be a celebrity.”
Hyunseung drew the line indirectly while filling his stomach with water.
“She’s going to become a doctor.”
At those words, Executive Director Park smacked his lips as if disappointed. Since she was going to become a doctor, it had become awkward to suggest it any further.
“Unlike Hyunseung, she must be really smart.”
“Are you saying my head isn’t good?”
“No, that’s not what I meant.”
Then he played innocent and looked at the menu.
“I wonder what there is that counts as protein…”
“I already ordered everything centered on carbs, protein, and fat.”
“A very excellent choice. As expected of my disciple.”
“I wouldn’t go as far as ‘disciple’. More like just a member?”
“After we finish eating today, should we go taste some hell training for dessert for the first time in a while?”
As the two of them were exchanging idle chatter.
“Ah, did you eat the Poké bread I barely managed to get and send you last time?”
As if he had remembered something, Kang Hajun asked Hyunseung.
“Yeah, but I didn’t like the sticker inside.”
“When I looked into it, they said they had stopped producing Poké bread.”
“Then what was the Poké bread you sent me back then?”
“I asked, and my father acquired it. That was made as a test product, but now they’ve started reproducing it again, so I can send you a lot.”
At those words, Hyunseung said, “Ah,” and nodded slightly.
Right, this kid was born with a silver spoon.
Still, thanks to that, Kang Hajun’s father would end up enjoying even more wealth, so he should not stop him.
“Oppa, you still look for Poké bread?”
“Why are you bothering Hajun looking for bread only little kids eat?”
“You’re still not man enough. As expected, I need to make you exercise more.”
Hyuna, Executive Director Park, and Director Kim, who did not know that Poké bread would soon become a huge trend, added those words as if scolding Hyunseung.
“Just wait and see.”
Hyunseung added, as if declaring war on them.
“How popular that bread will become.”
No one could refute those words. For some reason, it did not feel like a joke.
Right.
Hadn’t DRY ultimately won Worlds exactly as Hyunseung had said?
Gulp.
Just as Executive Director Park began turning the gears in his head, wondering if he should invest in that factory even now.
“Anyway, oppa, are you sure this place is good? There aren’t any customers except us.”
Hyuna asked while scanning the inside of the restaurant. Just as she said, the fairly spacious restaurant interior was completely empty except for a few servers.
“Ah.”
Hyunseung looked at Hyuna and answered.
“I rented it.”
“Huh?”
“The whole restaurant.”
At those words, everyone was shocked and looked at Hyunseung.
No wonder the inside of the restaurant had seemed too quiet.
“Don’t tell me it’s because someone might recognize you?”
“No. It’s a company dinner, but the family members were missing.”
Just as Kim Woohyun was startled by Hyunseung’s unexpected answer and was looking around.
“Huh?”
The firmly closed restaurant door opened, and familiar people entered.
“Don’t tell me…”
Starting with Hyunseung’s secretary Michelle, then the security guards, the internal office staff, and even the employees who ran the café terrace.
All of them were employees belonging to VINCIS Label.
“When you said company dinner, you meant an actual group company dinner?”
Kim Woohyun grabbed Hyunseung and asked, his eyes looking as if they would pop out at any moment.
“Yes. Vincent will come soon too. Ah, Jayble said he wanted to come, so I invited him too. That’s okay, right?”
“Y-yeah….”
At Hyunseung’s reply, as if it were obvious, Kim Woohyun nodded like a broken wooden doll.
Had Hyunseung ever led a company dinner before?
Ah.
There had been exactly one time. After the fan meeting.
But that had been a meal held because some familiarity had already built up, and they had helped with the fan meeting.
This was a completely different situation from then.
Considering Hyunseung’s personality, he did not seem like the type to carefully look after the employees, so Kim Woohyun had no choice but to be surprised that he had arranged a group company dinner like this.
‘Is he that happy Duel won?’
Just as he was thinking that.
“Thank you, CEO!”
“We’ll eat well, CEO!”
The employees took turns greeting Hyunseung.
“Everyone, sit comfortably wherever there’s an empty seat and eat. If it isn’t enough, you can order more.”
Hyunseung accepted their greetings in a fairly dignified tone.
His father and Hyuna looked at Hyunseung as if proud of him.
And it was not only them.
Kim Woohyun and Executive Director Park also wore pleased smiles at Hyunseung, who looked quite like a CEO.
They had thought he was only good at making songs, but he seemed to be developing the qualities of a CEO.
One who knew how to take care of his own people.
A true CEO like that.
‘This guy…’
As Kim Woohyun watched Hyunseung like that, past events flashed through his mind.
Now, had he finally, truly escaped being a problem child?
Just as he held that hope.
“Michelle!”
Jayble, who had entered noisily, ran straight toward Michelle.
“Today as well, you are as beautiful as if measured with a ruler.”
Michelle, whose expression rarely changed, twitched an eyebrow at Jayble’s words and spoke firmly.
“There are many eyes watching, so please refrain from saying things like that.”
It was a very Michelle-like answer.
Even so, Jayble did not yield. He took the seat beside Michelle and kept chattering to her.
As if the two of them were the only ones there, he did not even look for Hyunseung.
“What?”
Hyunseung looked at Jayble with startled eyes.
Jayble liked Michelle? Since when?
Ahh.
No wonder when he asked if Jayble would come watch the match, he said he would not.
He should have noticed when Jayble suddenly asked whether Michelle would also come after hearing there would be a group company dinner afterward.
“What are those two?”
“Jayble likes Michelle.”
“Since when…”
“Everyone in the company knows except you.”
Come to think of it, the employees sitting nearby were only giggling as if they were used to it.
No one showed any sign of surprise.
‘That’s shocking.’
Just as Hyunseung clicked his tongue and shook his head.
Kim Woohyun looked at Hyunseung and opened his mouth.
“Seriously, when I see things like this, I understand why you can’t date even with that amazing face of yours.”
“Why?”
“Because you have no awareness. You don’t have any interest in the people around you either.”
“Me?”
At Hyunseung’s surprised question, everyone sitting at the same table nodded at the same time.
“You are rather like that.”
“Still, he’s a good kid.”
“God is fair, you know?”
At their identical reactions, Hyunseung seemed quite shocked.
He had no awareness and had no interest in the people around him…
He had thought he was rather quick-witted and lived with much more interest in other people than in his previous life.
Was that not the case?
At that moment, Hyuna opened her mouth as if defending Hyunseung.
“That’s not true.”
As expected, was his little sister the only one?
“My brother doesn’t lack awareness. He just doesn’t care about reading the room. And especially when it comes to dating or women, he has even less awareness!”
No, that seemed to be insulting him even more…
“And it’s not that he has no interest in the people around him. It’s just that he concentrates his interest on his own people, so he doesn’t give attention to anyone else!”
“Then what about Michelle…”
“Ah, I’ll say it once more. My brother has no awareness when it comes to women or dating.”
Right. No matter how he looked at it, it was clearly an insult.
“Be quiet and eat.”
Hyunseung took one of the crispy-looking baguettes placed on the table and shoved it into Hyuna’s mouth, then let out a small laugh.
Well, what did it matter?
If he had no awareness and was a little dull when it came to interest in the people around him.
It was fortunate that there were many people like this who stayed beside him.
“Are you eating first while leaving someone hungry after coming from a performance?”
Vincent, who arrived late and grumbled, had also offered him this opportunity.
“You’re the one who was late.”
Hyunseung scolded him instead, but still filled the water glass at the empty seat and added.
“We were just about to start the company dinner. Alcohol is a little much, so should we at least make a toast with water?”
“A toast? Sounds good. All right, everyone, please raise your glasses once.”
At Vincent’s words, all the employees rose from their seats at once and lifted their water glasses high.
“Cheers!”
Everyone smiled brightly and clinked their glasses in the air.
‘This problem child is even suggesting a toast first…’
Just as Kim Woohyun thought that and clinked his own glass against Hyunseung’s water glass.
Heh.
Their eyes met, and the two of them smiled at the same time.
‘He’s all grown up.’
Hyunseung simply looked to be in an extremely good mood.
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