“Hyung, what did I tell you? I really am okay.”
“Yeah. That’s a relief…….”
Manager Kim, who had been focused, straightened his posture and widened his eyes as if trying to focus on the doctor’s words again.
“It’s a pheromone patch.”
The doctor handed over a whole box filled with patches the size of two palms put together.
“Usually, it’s not the patient who wears them, but the people around them. However, since this is a special situation, these are patches designed for the patient to wear themselves.”
“Even though I can control my pheromones now, is this measure necessary?”
At Seunghyun’s question, the doctor nodded firmly.
“It might put a strain on your body, but you mentioned showing symptoms of PTSD when faced with aggressive Alpha pheromones. It’s better to use them when visiting crowded places or standing on stage to prevent any unexpected incidents.”
The doctor seemed to already know about the sasaeng fan attack that happened at the hospital in Korea.
“Will there be any side effects?”
Manager Kim’s hand, which was still resting on his shoulder, tightened. When he glanced at him, he had a worried expression.
“If you use them at regular intervals, there are no problems. Use them for less than eight hours a day, every other day.”
The doctor thought deeply for a moment before opening his mouth again.
“It seems the issues related to pheromone control due to late manifestation have been completely resolved. You don’t need to take the suppressants anymore.”
When it came to pheromones—specifically late manifestation—the doctor in front of him was the leading authority.
Seunghyun tried to hide his triumphant feeling, puffed out his chest, and stood up from his seat.
Now, all that was left was to deliver this good news to the members.
After finishing with a simple greeting, he moved with Manager Kim to the lounge where the members were waiting.
Eunwoo, who had been waiting while tapping his feet, stood up and strode toward him the moment he spotted Seunghyun.
He then made a tearful face at the sight of Seunghyun in his hospital gown.
It was their first meeting since parting ways at the airport.
Even though Seunghyun had been in the hospital the entire time in Korea, it seemed Eunwoo still couldn’t get used to the sight of the hospital gown.
“Hyung, let’s sit here first.”
Even though he had clearly seen him walk here on his own two feet, Eunwoo made a fuss and helped support Seunghyun.
“What is this……. Why are Seong-soo hyung’s eyes red? Hyung, did you cry?”
Yooju’s face turned pale after finally noticing Manager Kim’s face while focusing on Seunghyun.
His gaze soon shifted to the medical patches stuffed in Manager Kim’s hand.
“Did you hear some bad news…….”
Yooju couldn’t finish his sentence and lowered his head.
His shoulders began to tremble slightly, as if he were holding back tears.
Only then did Seunghyun realize his mistake. To the eyes of someone who didn’t know anything, it must have looked like some serious medical device.
“It’s not like that.”
He quickly denied it in his embarrassment, but it seemed to have sounded like the opposite.
Chiyoon, who had sat down next to him, pulled him into his arms and hugged him so tightly that he became stuck in that position.
“I’m fine.”
“Be quiet. It was only a few days ago that you said you wouldn’t pretend to be okay.”
He managed to escape and raised his head to speak, but was quickly trapped in his arms again.
And in that short moment, Seunghyun saw it. Every member of HALO had red eyes and was holding back tears.
Even Yijeong had turned his head away and was squeezing his eyes shut.
Seunghyun looked up to find Manager Kim to help resolve the situation, but he was standing in a corner, preoccupied with a phone call.
It looked like he was talking to Director Yoon.
“No, I’m really okay.”
Suddenly, he remembered how the past Joo Seunghyun had said “I’m okay” dozens of times.
Of course, Joo Seunghyun was not okay.
All the members must have known, too.
That it was just pretending to be okay.
They must have thought this time was just like then.
Seunghyun tightened his jaw.
The original Joo Seunghyun was gone, and the rest remained as his burden.
He didn’t want to be seen as his ghost, so he intended to clean up the mess as best as he could.
“It hurts,” Seunghyun muttered, pushing Chiyoon away.
He knew that even if Chiyoon acted infinitely firm, he would react immediately to Seunghyun saying he was in pain.
“I’m not dying.”
Seunghyun lifted the paper he had folded in half and held in his hand, unfolding it.
In an instant, the eyes of HALO focused on the medical report in his hand.
“They said I’m going to get healthy. I’m not going to die.”
Seunghyun calmly read the words written on the paper aloud, then raised his head and gave a slight smile. It was a bright smile.
“I’m really okay.”
“Are they crazy?”
Just like any other holiday, ‘Geukseong’, a fan of HALO who was scrolling through WeTube’s real-time popular videos, shouted, unable to suppress his anger.
▶ WeTube
[Issue TV] The terminally ill idol who finally gave in to money “Ah, I can’t give up on money lol”
Geukseong cursed at the thumbnail of the video uploaded by a creator—so-called ‘cyber wreckers’—who stir up various issues and turn them into controversy.
He didn’t know where they dug it up from, but they had painstakingly cut out the image of Seunghyun leaving the country early this morning and slapped it onto the thumbnail.
He had only just managed to calm down from the rage that hit the ceiling after seeing the news of HALO’s departure this morning, and now a video like this?!
The departure was clearly a private schedule.
Despite changing the schedule and making it private for the safety of the members—presumably for Seunghyun—what were these countless articles and preview photos popping up like bamboo shoots?
It was the heart of a fan to want to know about their ‘baby’, even if they didn’t want to consume such content.
There was an announcement that Seunghyun was going to the U.S. together, but it wasn’t known if he would stand on stage.
Perhaps going to the U.S. for treatment happened to coincide with HALO’s schedule, or perhaps they judged that he could no longer stay at the hospital in Korea due to security issues.
Therefore, Seunghyun had not yet returned.
To be exact, he had never once appeared officially.
However, in the photos that reporters and sasaengs had taken and uploaded at will, Seunghyun was wearing a hat and mask to the point where his face wasn’t visible, and to make matters worse, he was hunched over with a large hood pulled over his head.
Even without seeing a single expression, it was heartbreaking to feel Seunghyun’s miserable state of mind.
Geukseong quickly accessed his private social media account and chat room to leave a link to the WeTube video.
In an instant, his phone was covered in notifications.
Of course, they were notifications of anger from people who were cursing at the cyber wrecker with the same feelings as Geukseong.
“Haa…….”
How could there not be a single quiet day?
Geukseong also left a post on his public social media account for Seunghyun, who might search for his own name.
He just hoped that Seunghyun’s heart would be strong.
Joo_Geukseong @chxx_polar · Just now
I hope my super-star baby is happy today too..´▽`
Of course, the subject is our Seunghyunෆ..
“…….”
After looking down at the screen for a moment, Seunghyun pressed the heart button.
The ID generated randomly upon joining had no information, and the account itself was set to private, but the heart count went up by one.
It was Seunghyun’s own way of showing sincerity.
Unlike the members who went to check the stage flow and equipment, Seunghyun remained at the hotel alone to save even a little bit of his stamina.
Left alone, Seunghyun suddenly remembered an app that said he could communicate directly with fans.
Cloud Message, or ‘Cloud-Me’ for short……?
The app, which featured a stylish logo and cloud-shaped speech bubbles against a light blue background, was a chat system that allowed one-on-one messaging between celebrities and fans.
Of course, since HALO also used it as a channel to communicate with fans, the app was installed on his old phone, but he hadn’t even installed it on his new one.
According to Manager Kim, they had offered fans the choice of a full refund or an extension for the three months when the members hadn’t been active, but he was curious if the service for Seunghyun was still ongoing.
“Uh, Seunghyun~. Is something wrong?”
Manager Kim answered the phone as soon as he called.
“Hyung, it’s nothing special.”
Seunghyun calmly asked about ‘Cloud Message’.
“Cloud-Me…… I know the members are doing it again, but is my account still active?”
“It’s active. Why? Are you going to use it?”
“It’s not that I specifically want to, I was just curious.”
“Wait a moment.”
He said he had something to check and hung up the phone.
And a short while later, a message arrived from Manager Kim.
[I checked with the organizers, and that much is fine. If you want to use Cloud-Me, you can go ahead.]
It seemed the clause in the contract specifying ‘return’ on that channel only applied to the stage.
They must have thought that this kind of small fan service was acceptable.
Since he had nothing to do anyway, and he might as well strike while the iron is hot, Seunghyun downloaded the celebrity app via the link Manager Kim sent.
When he accessed the app, an account with a ‘+999’ unread notification count appeared, as if showing that it had been asleep for a long time.
A chat sent by fans.
He had seen his classmates in school write notes busily with white pens on black paper sometimes, saying they were sending fan letters, but he didn’t know that a system for such direct communication had been created.
He realized once again that communicating with fans was included in the duties of an idol.
He felt a little sorry for not fulfilling that duty until now.
From the moment he received the link from Manager Kim, he installed the application and logged into his account without hesitation, but……
At the same time, he suddenly started to feel scared.
Thinking about it, it was a little, no, perhaps a very impulsive action.
Most of the fans he saw on the internet still supported and loved Joo Seunghyun.
What if that wasn’t the case when he actually faced them directly?
The more he thought about it, the more he thought they might be angry at Seunghyun for leaving this paid service neglected for so long.
Even if he was used to being alone, there was no one who liked being hated.
He swallowed dryly and prepared his heart.
In the meantime, the messages visible outside the chat window kept changing, as if chats were still coming in.
Seunghyun, who had been deliberating, was encouraged by the content asking how he was that he had caught a glimpse of, and clicked on the chat window.
The scroll of the chat window, where countless chats had piled up, was so small it was barely visible.
He felt dizzy for a moment from the pouring speech bubbles and quickly pressed the back button, but as if they knew Seunghyun had checked it, the chats began to arrive at an even faster speed.
Most of them had sobbing emojis attached.
His heart thumped.
Fortunately, it seemed most of them were words of support, similar to the reactions he had seen on the internet.
Seunghyun gripped his phone tight and then let go.
The messages still visible in the preview were changing too fast for his eyes to follow.
It was impossible to ignore someone’s heart, especially their goodwill.
Seunghyun gathered his courage and clicked the window again.
