He was truly worthy of the nickname “face genius.” Yijeong possessed the face of a classic, textbook handsome man.
‘Actually, all of HALO is handsome. And tall, too.’
From there, it was just a matter of personal taste.
“Yijeong…….”
Nanhwa pulled out a gift she had prepared, saying she was envious of her friend.
In the process, she habitually called him by his name, dropping the honorifics.
“Yes, nuna.”
She froze in embarrassment, but Yijeong simply smiled as if it were fine.
He took Nanhwa’s hand, placed it on the desk, and patted the back of her hand.
Unlike Nanhwa’s hand, which had turned cold from nerves, Yijeong’s large hand was warm.
“It’s okay. I like it when you call me by my name.”
“Ah, ahhh…….”
“Is that a gift for me?”
Having finally come to her senses, Nanhwa nodded quickly.
Since she had already blown it by speaking informally, and had even been called nuna, she decided to keep it up!
“Yeah! My friend is your long-time fan. O-of course, I’m your long-time fan, too.”
“I know, nuna. By the way, your hands are cold. Are you okay?”
Yijeong asked with concern, stroking the back of her hand with his fingertips.
After Yijeong finished signing and checked the post-it, he lifted the gift Nanhwa had given him and shook it.
Just then, a staff member shouted, softly but firmly.
“Please move along~”
“Tell her I’m grateful, nuna. Thank you for coming, too.”
She hadn’t even met her ultimate bias yet, but she felt like her soul had been snatched away.
Nanhwa moved to the next seat, half-dazed.
Seunghyun was the last in line, and Chiyoon was sitting in front of Nanhwa now.
Nanhwa caught herself peeking at Seunghyun talking to the person in front of him before meeting Chiyoon’s eyes.
He was jokingly furrowing his brows, pretending to be displeased.
“Tsk. I guess Seunghyun is your ultimate bias? Your eyes only go to him. I’m hurt.”
“N-no! No, it’s not! I like all of you!”
Because her soul had already left her body in the previous conversations, her time with Chiyoon was spent being led around until it ended.
They say being an idol is a business of selling fake relationships; she wondered if this was what it felt like to date a smooth, bold man.
And finally!
Nanhwa’s ultimate bias!
“Seunghyun!”
She had blurted it out informally again……!
But Nanhwa was too exhausted to care about such things.
She just wanted to focus on the fact that she was meeting her bias right in front of her.
Seunghyun, hearing his name, smiled slightly and greeted her.
“Hello, it’s nice to meet you.”
Nanhwa forgot everything she meant to say and stumbled over her words.
“A-are you okay?”
As soon as she said it, she realized it was a mistake.
He must have heard it until he was sick of it, and even if he wasn’t okay, he’d have to say he was.
Fans had even strictly agreed among themselves to refrain from asking about health!
But her regret lasted only a split second.
Because Seunghyun answered immediately with a smile!
“Of course. I’m fine. Sorry for making you worry.”
Why are you apologizing!
Everyone here knew that the patch covering the back of Seunghyun’s neck was a medical product that temporarily stopped the pheromone effect.
Holding back the tears that threatened to spill over, Nanhwa handed him the album with trembling hands.
“Name?”
“Na-Nanhwa. Kim Nanhwa.”
“Your name is pretty.”
Seunghyun, who had complimented her name, saw the question written on the post-it and burst into laughter.
Nanhwa, watching him from right up close, knew.
She knew Seunghyun was in a good mood right now.
Q. What gives Seunghyun the most strength?
I want to give you whatever I can! (^▽^)
- Fans’ love
- Members’ support
- Delicious food
- Complete rest
- Other( )
Seeing how particularly nervous she was in front of him, Seunghyun smiled softly at Nanhwa, as if to ease her tension.
“How do I look in person?”
“Good. It’s like a dream, Seunghyun. I’m glad I’m alive.”
Though she babbled in her overwhelming emotion, Nanhwa poured out everything she wanted to say.
Every second was precious and fleeting.
She felt like she wouldn’t regret spending millions of won if she could just look into Seunghyun’s kind eyes again.
The dream-like time ended with Seunghyun interlocking his fingers with hers as a final act.
“Please move along~.”
“I hope you’re happy. Seunghyun, I love you!”
Nanhwa shouted “I love you” one last time and stood up.
Back in her seat, Nanhwa checked the post-its one by one.
Chiyoon said the variety show he had the most fun filming was the escape-room style mystery show he won last year, and Yooju said his favorite hair color was his current one.
Eunwoo said the most difficult song he recorded was the movie OST released recently, and Yijeong wrote that among the activities he hadn’t tried yet, he wanted to host a radio show.
Lastly, with trembling hands, Nanhwa checked Seunghyun’s post-it.
- Other ( Everything! )
+The happiness of the fans who love me♡
Nanhwa finally let her tears flow freely this time.
Her tears smudged the postscript written below it.
The day after the fan signing event, the advertisements and content they had been working on began to be released in earnest.
Yijeong was immediately selected as a global ambassador for a luxury brand and left the country for an event; Chiyoon went to film the “King of Kings” tournament as the winner of last season’s escape variety show.
Eunwoo was in the middle of working on a movie OST, and Yooju was also busy shooting commercials.
And Seunghyun was on the drama set today to adapt to the filming atmosphere.
“Okay, cut!”
Since it was a special appearance, his screen time wasn’t long, but it was a role with some significance.
As it was an OTT original drama that was 100% pre-produced, the schedule wasn’t tight.
Seunghyun played the eldest son who appears at the end of episode 1 and exits at the beginning of episode 2.
It was an action drama about a middle-aged woman who, after losing her husband to a dangerous incident in the past and raising two sons alone, loses both sons and sets out for revenge.
[Fancy Outing]
Seunghyun opened the script again.
Seeing the other actors’ performances made him so nervous his hands were sweating.
He had read it so many times that he had already memorized it all, leaving the paper tattered.
Since acting, like stage performances or fan service, involved using Joo Seunghyun’s abilities, why was it so difficult?
Seunghyun felt great difficulty in the fact that he had to forcibly drag someone else’s emotions and wear them.
The stage was easy because once he truly felt the overwhelming excitement, he could fall into a trance; fan service was easy because the desire to repay the overflowing love arose naturally.
But acting…….
‘At the end of the day, it’s not me.’
He was inherently dull when it came to feeling others’ emotions.
He was the type to be slow in even noticing his own feelings, so it went without saying that paying keen attention to someone else’s feelings and mimicking them was hard.
This time, it didn’t require high-level acting techniques, but since he had to leave an impact in a short moment, immersion was key.
‘And Joo Seunghyun was good at acting.’
He was quick-witted, good at observing others’ moods, and empathetic—and having received professional acting training since he was young, of course he was good at it.
The problem was that the production crew expected that Joo Seunghyun’s acting from him.
He only came to watch today, but wouldn’t he have to act himself next time?
Seunghyun sighed in secret.
Nothing in the world was easy.
It felt like the countdown stage was just the other day, but while he was busy being called to schedules, it had become the Lunar New Year.
Under normal circumstances, he should have spent the Lunar New Year holiday busy working.
But by now, he had accumulated enough seniority, and he had long since passed the level where he needed to make a mark on the public by working live during the holidays.
Naturally, a vacation was given, and everyone was planning to leave to be with their respective families.
“What are you going to do?”
At Chiyoon’s question, everyone’s attention focused on him.
It seemed the members were worried about Seunghyun, who would be left alone in the dorm.
His head throbbed from trying to appease them as they each insisted he go to their houses.
Seunghyun had things to do if he got a vacation, too!
In the end, he had no choice but to say what he didn’t want to say.
“I’m going to visit my parents for a bit, too. So don’t worry about me.”
But the members started worrying even more intensely.
This was why he hadn’t wanted to say anything. Seunghyun swallowed a sigh and shrugged his shoulders as if it were no big deal. In fact, it really wasn’t a big deal.
“I’m going to borrow a car from Manager Seong-soo and go alone quietly.”
“Are you sure? Your body hasn’t fully recovered yet, and you’re even going to drive…….”
Yooju interrupted in a worried voice.
“It’s fine. I can go carefully so no rumors start. I’ve been through a lot, so I should at least pay my respects to my parents.”
“It’s not about the rumors.”
Chiyoon frowned. Still, seeing Seunghyun say it to this extent, it didn’t seem like they would oppose him strongly anymore.
“Whew……. Go carefully. If anything happens, make sure to call.”
Seunghyun nodded quietly.
After seeing the members off, it was time to persuade Section Chief Kim.
Section Chief Kim had also been very worried, but when he gave the same reason, he couldn’t bring himself to tell him not to go.
“Seunghyun, just…… I’ll take you instead.”
“No. It’s okay, hyung. I want to go alone. I have something to tell my parents quietly as well.”
“I see…….”
He pondered for a moment before handing him the car keys.
“You’re just going to stop by the charnel house and come straight back, right? Make sure to contact me when you get back.”
Seunghyun nodded quietly.
While hiding the fact that there was one more place he had to stop by.
