Due to the unique circumstances, Halo’s Season’s Greetings for this year were released without a pre-order period.
‘Geukseong,’ a prominent fan who runs a personal fan page and SNS account for Halo’s Seunghyun, clicked her mouse in a state of intense excitement the moment the purchase button went live.
It was a shame there were no pre-order benefits, but instead, distributed at random…
‘There are signed postcard sets included!’
She had to have it.
Because rumors were swirling underground that it was practically first-come, first-served, she had set everything else aside to focus on this.
As soon as the payment was complete, Geukseong logged onto her SNS.
-Joo_Geukseong @chxx_polar · Just now
-Ordered the SG ◡̎ෆ
-Let’s all have a ‘Halo’ 20X4 too.
As she scrolled down to look at her past posts, she noticed some words she’d written in a fit of joy that were a bit too harsh for a public account.
Geukseong began picking out posts to delete.
-Joo_Geukseong @chxx_polar · 3 weeks ago
-Crazy Joo Seung.
-Joo_Geukseong @chxx_polar · 3 weeks ago
-Seunghyun-ah ㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠ fuck ㅠㅠㅠ
-Joo_Geukseong @chxx_polar · 4 weeks ago
-Ah, fuck, my baby.
-Joo_Geukseong @chxx_polar · 5 weeks ago
-Seunghyun-ah, just thank you… thank you for everything.
Scrolling back even further, there were even harsher words. This was from about two months ago.
-Joo_Geukseong @chxx_polar · 2 months ago
-DW, do your job. No matter how many mass-email protests we do, there’s no response;
-Joo_Geukseong @chxx_polar · 2 months ago
-Looking for people to go burn down DW^^ (1/n). Is it enough for you guys to just sleep comfortably? Because of your one-sided notifications and announcements, the kids are getting all the ridicule? Ha.
-Joo_Geukseong @chxx_polar · 2 months ago
-They need to be beaten.
On her private account, she didn’t hesitate to use even rougher language, but she felt a sense of duty to maintain some dignity on an account with over 10k followers.
She was also worried that a fan’s harsh words might damage Halo’s image.
Once she finished deleting, Geukseong began chatting actively with her SNS friends about the Season’s Greetings components while waiting for the news of Halo’s departure.
-Joo_Geukseong @chxx_polar
-Seriously, the quality of this SG is insane ㅜㅜㅜㅜ Honestly, I would’ve bought it even if it was 70k won, but this generous set is only 40k won lol.
-ZooooH @ghui_dls
-Agreed ㅠ Plus, thinking about how we might never have seen Seunghyun again… I just… I just clicked the pay button like I was possessed.
-Joo_Geukseong @chxx_polar
-But will Seunghyun be okay? There was another notice about sasaengs earlier ㅠ Saying the departure will be private…
-ZooooH @ghui_dls
-Is Seunghyun going to the U.S. too?????
-Joo_Geukseong @chxx_polar
-Yeah, no articles yet, but seeing them leave this early… it’s probably because of Seunghyun.
-ZooooH @ghui_dls
-Haaa… how far is ‘that man’ going to go with this genius idol behavior; just stay an idol forever, Seunghyun-ah.
The first flight of his life was nothing special.
‘How disappointing.’
Even though he hadn’t shown it, it was his first time flying, so he had been somewhat expectant.
And the American airport he was visiting for the first time in his life…
‘This is actually something.’
He thought it would be different, and it truly was.
Though he had slept most of the way, the long-distance flight was apparently too much, as his entire body was screaming.
It was Yijeong who practically carried Seunghyun off the plane when he struggled to get up from his seat.
It was vast, and being overseas, the atmosphere itself felt alien.
He wasn’t the fearful type, but he needed time to adjust to new environments, so Seunghyun couldn’t respond much to the fans’ cheers; he remained stiff as he was led out of the airport by Yijeong.
There were two weeks left until the performance.
Two weeks sounded like a lot, but the actual time remaining was short.
This was because he had to spend about a week in the hospital.
The members headed straight to their accommodation from the airport, but Seunghyun went separately to a pre-arranged hospital with Manager Kim.
“Do you want to eat something?”
Manager Kim asked as soon as the examination was over.
He had thought he was fine until a moment ago, but hearing those words made him hungry immediately.
Seunghyun nodded.
He wanted something warm.
Whether it was the aftermath of the all-night filming or the shock at the airport, he was just tired despite having slept for over ten hours. His stamina was beyond depleted.
He was forcing his heavy eyes open, thinking he’d be more tired if he fell asleep only to wake up hungry, when Manager Kim spoke up quietly.
“Don’t push yourself so hard. Seunghyun-ah, I know how you feel… but you’ll ruin your body like that.”
He felt embarrassed. He thought he hadn’t let it show, but apparently, it had.
To fully enjoy this new life, he had to be free of the sense of debt he felt toward the original ‘Joo Seunghyun.’
So, doing his best like this was ultimately for his own peace of mind.
He hadn’t considered how his actions to erase that debt might look to others.
‘It might have looked like I was torturing myself.’
At the sudden realization, Seunghyun’s face stiffened slightly.
Manager Kim must have taken it differently, as he tried his best to comfort him.
“It’s really okay even if you don’t try that hard… your body comes first, always.”
‘Phew…’
Seunghyun swallowed a sigh.
If Manager Kim was saying this much, how must the members feel?
A sudden sense of guilt washed over him.
Publicly, Seunghyun was still a patient.
A patient with a severe medical code, at that.
Though his pheromone levels had completely normalized to the doctor’s surprise, he still needed rehabilitation and was taking pheromone regulators.
So, naturally, everyone treated him like a critically ill patient on death row.
It was Seunghyun who had chosen not to correct the misunderstanding.
At the time, he had no intention of being an idol and didn’t know what the future held.
Only Seunghyun knew that he was now completely free from pheromone-related issues.
Seunghyun clenched his fist.
Since he had lived a life being pushed around by others, he wasn’t used to showing the cards he held.
He was used to going with the flow and clumsy at correcting old misunderstandings.
“…….”
However, he couldn’t live his life running away forever.
Joo Seunghyun wouldn’t be dying from pheromones anymore, and he would only get healthier.
Even if he couldn’t tell the whole truth, he wanted to say at least this:
That he wouldn’t be leaving Halo by dying.
If he could ease the anxiety of the members who cherished Joo Seunghyun even a little bit, it would be good.
And as a bonus, he hoped they’d stop the excessive overprotection.
Then, Seunghyun suddenly remembered he was currently at a famous hospital in the U.S.
He didn’t know much, but… he’d often seen scenes on TV where people go to America to cure rare diseases.
He had stopped by for a pre-performance checkup, but he thought he might be able to use this situation.
The checkup results would surely show nothing was wrong.
Seunghyun allowed a small, triumphant smile to play on his lips.
“I’m really okay. And I’m going to be okay.”
But for some reason, Manager Kim’s face only grew more grim.
“You’re certain there’s no partner you’ve imprinted on?”
The translator, who had accompanied them from Korea, translated the doctor’s words and asked.
Seunghyun could manage simple English, and since it was a sensitive matter, he had been a bit reluctant to have a translator present, but he decided to take the risk for an accurate diagnosis.
Seunghyun nodded.
At that, the doctor raised his eyebrows in disbelief.
“It is unprecedented for an Omega who experienced late manifestation to be able to handle pheromones to this extent alone in such a short period of time…”
The doctor trailed off, sounding unsure.
“To become capable of pheromone regulation in an instant. This is something that could be reported to academic journals. We should look into the regulators you switched to in Korea again here.”
‘Even if you look, you won’t find anything.’
Feeling slightly guilty, he offered an awkward smile, but Manager Kim—who had found it frustrating just to listen—interrupted the conversation.
His face was already bright with the news that Seunghyun’s health was improving.
“In any case, it’s a good thing, right?”
The doctor nodded.
“Yes. However, he is only free from pheromone issues; the body that was damaged is still the same. It will take a very long time to recover his original condition.”
It was a story he already knew.
It wasn’t new to Seunghyun, but for Manager Kim, it seemed to be news moving enough to bring tears.
Manager Kim covered his reddened eyes with his hand and asked in a trembling voice.
“You mean… we won’t have to worry anymore?”
“He’ll have to be careful for the rest of his life, but there won’t be the kind of thing you’re worried about. Sudden cessation of vital functions usually happens because of unregulated pheromones.”
Leaving behind the doctor who was muttering “How strange,” Manager Kim suppressed his surging emotions and placed a hand on Seunghyun’s shoulder, patting it twice.
He had only thought of the members’ struggles, but he hadn’t realized Manager Kim had been worrying this much too.
Feeling apologetic, Seunghyun also reached up and covered Manager Kim’s hand with his own.
“Hyung, what did I tell you? I said I was really okay.”
