[Photo]
Hello
‘……!’
A photo, a photo! It was a photo of Seunghyun.
Although only half of his face was visible, it was, at the very least, an update Seunghyun had personally provided for the first time in months!
He was alone, so Geukseong didn’t bother holding back.
With tears streaming down his face, he grabbed his phone and started typing a message.
Seunghyun must have still been in the chat room, as the “read” indicator appeared immediately.
‘This is it. He’s coming back. He really is!’
Geukseong quickly sent a flood of “I love you” messages and hearts.
He hoped that if there were any malicious people sending bad messages to Seunghyun, they would be buried by his own heartfelt, presence-heavy messages.
And at that moment.
In the only chat room where the hearts of everyone who cherished Joo Seunghyun gathered, the screen of the one person who mattered was beginning to fill entirely with declarations of love and hearts.
The photo showing only half his face was the result of a compromise: it showed that his complexion had improved while avoiding any spoilers about his return.
Fans poured out all sorts of flowery language and affectionate greetings, saying even that sliver of his face was beautiful.
Seunghyun stared at the screen for a moment, then set the phone down and rubbed his face with his hands.
“…….”
After a short, deep breath, Seunghyun picked up the phone again.
This was one part of the process of clearing a debt.
Thinking of it that way made the original Joo Seunghyun’s guilt feel a little less burdensome on his own conscience. It was a relief.
HALO, a group named after the word for “halo,” and their fandom GloWHA—meaning “Glow With HALO,” commonly called “Glo” or “Loha.”
An idol was someone who could only shine because of their fans.
Seunghyun quickly typed the words he had been thinking about into the chat window.
Hello everyone. I’m sorry I’m late. I’m sorry I couldn’t keep my promise.
Immediately, the chat window filled with words of reassurance and questions asking if he was really okay.
These were words of support strong enough to make him want to stand back up, even if he had been ready to give up.
“……Damn it.”
The curse that slipped out inadvertently reflected Seunghyun’s complex state of mind.
‘I will endure, no matter what.’
Expectations had to be met, and love had to be repaid.
Han Kangwoo stared fixedly at the message on his phone.
It was the first and last Cloud Message he had ever received.
He had thought he would never have a reason to install an idol chat app.
A strange feeling kept whispering to Kangwoo to keep his eyes on this “idol” version of Joo Seunghyun.
Hello everyone. I’m sorry I’m late. I’m sorry I couldn’t keep my promise.
‘Sorry you couldn’t keep your promise?’
A vein bulged on the back of Kangwoo’s hand as he held the phone.
Then what about the promise you made to me?
The promise that we wouldn’t leave each other, that we would become each other’s family?
Kangwoo threw his phone away in a fit of irritation, even as he realized how absurd and nonsensical that sounded.
For some reason, he kept overlapping him with Seunghyun.
He couldn’t understand why this Joo Seunghyun, who had no connection to him, felt so much like Seunghyun.
It was rare for two people to have similar scents, but not impossible, and it was plausible that late-manifested individuals who happened to meet at the hospital might have connected and exchanged contact info.
Even if one was an Alpha and the other an Omega.
‘…….’
It would be a lie to say he didn’t suspect a relationship between the two.
No matter how much he was treated as an outsider and not recognized as part of the family, Han Kangwoo was still the son of one of the top ten conglomerates in the country.
Finding one person should have been…
‘It should have been easy.’
He was burning with impatience because he couldn’t find a trace of Seunghyun, who had literally disappeared without a footprint.
Even if he had sprouted wings and flown away, the trail of someone who lived in the heart of Seoul shouldn’t have been cut off so completely.
‘Did you want to run away that badly?’
Kangwoo knew he was abnormal.
He had been born abnormal. While he was family on the family register, the only one he shared blood with was his father; he was practically a stranger to his mother and younger brother.
He was a child born outside the marriage, a terrible adopted son who didn’t share a drop of blood with them, forced to be registered as the eldest son just because of what others might think.
Naturally, he was an unwelcome presence to his mother, and even to his father.
They treated him with smiling faces, but he was clever enough to read all their true intentions.
As a young boy, he wanted to belong to the family.
By the time he was a bit older, his mother’s wariness had become unmistakable.
She couldn’t stand the fact that her husband’s past was living as part of her “perfect” family, and she was on edge, terrified that Kangwoo, who was superior in many ways, would receive what was meant for her own son. It was strange that he hadn’t noticed it sooner.
‘I want to be a model.’
In the end, he had to express it with all his might.
That he had no intention of fully belonging to them, and that he would not threaten her son’s position.
He had already surpassed the proportions of an adult by the time he was in middle school.
Receiving business cards while walking down the street was a daily occurrence.
Becoming an “entertainer”—a profession looked down upon by the elite—was his own choice.
He could have lived off his father’s money his whole life, but he hated being dependent on parents who denied his existence.
And one more thing.
If he consistently showed them that he didn’t crave even one of their possessions, and that he had no intention of taking anything away from them……
Maybe he could be recognized as family, too. It was that kind of childish hope.
After he became an adult, he pursued an acting career.
He walked the path of an entertainer with intent, and perhaps they finally judged he wasn’t a threat, as the icy atmosphere in the house softened.
His mother even called him by his name sometimes.
Yet, he knew the truth. He knew there was never going to be a place for him there.
Kangwoo’s family was, then and now, only Seunghyun.
And Seunghyun’s family…… was now only him.
Kangwoo also knew of Seunghyun’s scars.
The only difference was that Kangwoo had never had it from the beginning, while Seunghyun had lost it along the way.
‘Only I can understand Joo Seunghyun.’
Wasn’t that enough? He didn’t want to be understood by him as someone born in such an illegitimate way. He just… just……
It felt like the only place where his existence wasn’t denied was by his side.
By the time he realized it was a twisted relationship, it was too late.
He knew Seunghyun felt suffocated by his one-sided obsession, but he didn’t know how to fix it, and besides, Kangwoo wasn’t looking for a “healthy relationship” where they could easily walk away from each other for the sake of the other’s happiness.
So, Kangwoo had to find Seunghyun.
“You promised…… that you’d stay by my side.”
The panoramic view of New York spread out at a glance from the suite, which occupied the entire top floor of the hotel.
It was the accommodation provided by the organizers every year for the headline artist of the performance.
Time flew by in a blur, and soon it was the day of the performance.
December 31st.
The year was coming to an end. And throughout this year, HALO had……
‘A lot of things happened.’
The first half of this year could be said to have been turned upside down by HALO.
It had reached the point where people were asking if they shouldn’t shorten the military service period for the Alpha members as a national service.
By now, there was no one in the world, wherever there was a TV or smartphone, who didn’t know HALO.
After achieving such monster-like success, they had suddenly halted activities.
And four months had passed just like that.
HALO’s return was grander than anyone else’s, enough to lead to jokes that the hiatus was an intentional strategy to generate buzz.
The streets were filled with the year-end atmosphere and the excitement of looking forward to the new year.
A stage was built amidst the crowds that were growing at a tremendous speed, various celebrities were taking photos, and reporters were busy grabbing interviews here and there.
In that pleasant commotion, the name HALO popped up every now and then.
HALO had finished their final rehearsal and returned to the hotel to prepare to go out to the stage.
While getting his hair styled, Seunghyun continued his mental training.
Even though the industry’s best sound directors and AR were prepared to handle any unexpected situations, he felt even more nervous because they had decided to perform 100% live, excluding the performance segments.
“Seunghyun hyung.”
Yijeong, who had finished his styling first, approached him.
He was the youngest, but he was unnecessarily tall and unnecessarily mature.
Seunghyun looked up at him, thinking his neck was going to snap.
“Are you done?”
“Yes. The other hyungs are almost done, too.”
“I think I’ll be done soon, too. You should have waited comfortably.”
Yijeong shook his head and sat down next to Seunghyun.
“I wanted to go out with you. I can see that you’ve been pushing yourself too hard for the last few days…….”
Yijeong spoke worriedly, then trailed off, perhaps thinking it was an overstepping remark for a younger brother to make.
He quickly added,
“Of course, you probably know how to handle yourself well.”
He had certainly been pushing himself for the past few days.
He hadn’t even been conscious of the behind-the-scenes cameras that followed them around while they were rehearsing and building the stage, collapsing and sleeping anywhere.
In reality, he was in a state where it wouldn’t have been strange if he had collapsed at any moment.
It was as if his body was running on the high of the surging dopamine.
Knock, knock.
As soon as they removed the last hair clip fixing his bangs, the door opened with a knock.
“HALO, it’s time to move!”
A Korean staff member provided by the agency opened the door and called for HALO.
It was time to go.
And so, the stage began.
