Chapter 78
The three guys ignored Jiwoo complaining about their meager dinner. They started slowly drinking their coffee and talked.
“You know what? I’m kind of full.”
“Your stomach probably is just numb because you’re too hungry. Or maybe your stomach shrunk so much that it filled up quickly.”
“Oh man, my poor stomach…”
“We will get used to it after a few days, so don’t worry about it.”
“I think we are pretty much okay on our group choreography, so let’s start on our singing.”
“Well, we don’t have that many songs of our own since we only released one album so far. We will have to sing other singers’ songs during the concert. How should we pick them?”
“We just need to pick a theme.”
“We already did, remember? It’s mystery…”
“No, not that one. We need a theme just for song selection. We can pair up and come up with two themes or we can have individual themes too.”
“Yeah, one theme for the four of us might be boring… so why don’t we sing all of our own songs together and then we will do additional songs each?”
“Ok, Hyojun, why don’t you come up with your theme first?”
“Me? Hmm… what should I pick?”
When Hyojun, Kiwook, and Jiwoo all seemed like they didn’t have any good ideas, Hyunsuk suggested, “How about this?”
“What?”
“There are things we want to say to our fans, right?”
“Of course. We are thankful to them… and there are things we regret. We feel apologetic to them too.”
“That’s right. We also want to protect them, and have meaningful and long-term relationships with them.”
Hyunsuk nodded and added, “Those should be our themes.”
When others looked confused, Hyunsuk explained, “We want to protect them. That could be one theme. We want to love them. That could be another. We will be with them forever, and we will be their future. There, four themes. What do you think? It shouldn’t be too hard to come up with appropriate songs for each.”
Jiwoo exclaimed, “Oh, that sounds great. Then… I will be the future!”
“That suits you, Jiwoo. What about you, Hyojun?”
“Well, it sounds like you already decided for me, Hyunsuk. It’s to protect, right?”
“Fine, I guess it was obvious. So Kiwook, you will take…”
“I know, I know. Love, right? Love forever? Fine.”
“Ok, everything is going according to my plan…”
Hyunsuk grinned.
***
The next morning at school, Mikyung didn’t mention anything to Hyoyoung about what happened the day before, but Hyoyoung still felt awkward. She couldn’t wait for school to be over so she could go home.
When the classes were finally over, Mikyung said to Hyoyoung quietly, “It must be so nice for you.”
Mikyung wasn’t being sarcastic or jealous. She was only being envious, yet Hyoyoung felt upset. She was sad.
It was still so hard for her, having to keep such a huge secret from her best friend. The whole situation with Kiwook was also difficult, yet to Mikyung, it must’ve looked like Hyoyoung was having a grand time.
Hyoyoung felt alone; she had to carry this burden all by herself.
With a bitter smile, Hyoyoung replied, “It’s really isn’t.”
“Oh, come on! To have that kind of connection to The M… it’s a dream come true!”
Hyoyoung thought secretly, ‘Not really… You have no idea what is happening in my life, Mikyung…’
It was funny how unexpected your life could be. Only recently, Hyoyoung would’ve given up anything just to get to even meet The M. She used to dream of spending just 10 minutes with the members.
But now… she felt very differently.
Dreams were beautiful because they were dreams. When they become reality, those dreams… were no longer yours.
Hyoyoung would’ve loved to go back to a few weeks ago when she loved and idolized The M as a fan. She missed chatting with her friends about The M and imagining what it would be like to meet them.
That is what she wanted the most… of course, except for one thing.
Kiwook. Meeting and getting to know him.
Every time the burden of her reality hit her, she thought of Kiwook to calm herself down. She knew that the current situation must be much harder for him.
Mikyung said to her once more, “No matter what, I am so envious of you.”
She patted Hyoyoung’s back and left.
Hyoyoung also left the building and was walking across the school field when suddenly, she froze.
Myunghee was standing at the school’s main entrance.
Quickly, she hid behind a nearby tree and watched. Myunghee looked around for a few minutes as if she was looking for someone. When she didn’t find anyone, she left, but Hyoyoung couldn’t stop her heart from pounding. She was so anxious that she couldn’t breathe.
Before Myunghee could spot her, Hyoyoung ran to the school’s back entrance. As soon as she reached home, she screamed, “I saw Myunghee. Myunghee Shin!”
She expected all the members to run out, but no one came. The house was dead quiet. Hyoyoung opened the guys’ bedrooms, but they were all empty.
“Oh, that’s right. The castle!”
Hyoyoung suddenly remembered where they would be. She ran downstairs and opened the door to the basement.
“Oh.”
Inside, what greeted her was a fan’s dream.
The M members were in their costumes including masks and dancing. The concert was coming up soon, so it seemed that the guys were practicing in their costumes.
“Ok! Let’s start from the top again!”
“How long did the whole thing take this time?”
“Umm, not taking into account, chatting with the fans, changing outfits, and prepping the stage?”
“Yeah, just the performances.”
“About an hour.”
“Hmm, that means in total, it would be like an hour and a half?”
“Yeah, something like that.”
“Oh, no. Talking on the stage… I’m so nervous just thinking about it.”
“What are you talking about, Jiwoo? You are the best at it among all of us.”
“So including everything… about an hour and a half…”
“So our individual performances will be about 10 minutes each?”
“Yup. If we include that too, it will be a solid two-hour concert.”
“In what order are we going to perform?”
“Let’s start with our group dance as our opening. Actually, let’s do all three songs in a row at the beginning.”
“Wow, that means we will be dehydrated by the first 20 minutes of the concert.”
“After the three performances, we will all leave. Then, the individual performances will start. Hyunsuk will go first.”
“Hey, why me?”
“You said you are going to sing a ballad, right? That means you won’t have to change your outfit. The rest of us do.”
“Oh, damn… you’re right.”
“And after Hyunsuk’s performance, let’s do two more group dances.”
“Oh my god, that means I will be on the stage for 40 minutes straight?”
“That’s right Hyunsuk, but after that, you can rest for a long time. Next will be Jiwoo.”
“Ok, I got it.”
“And after Jiwoo, it will be my turn. That means the finale will be…”
“Me? You are giving me the ending! Oh!!!”
“Shut up. It just worked out like that, Kiwook. I’m not doing this because I like you.”
“Fine. Anyway, I decided on my individual performance. I think I will do a shadow dance and then do a Michael Jackson song.”
“Not bad. It suits you.”
“So what song will you do? ‘You Are Not Alone?'”
“Yes, that one.”
“That’s my favorite song! Awesome.”
“Hey guys, aren’t you guys hungry? Because I am.”
“Totally. Should we maybe order something? Before Hyoyoung gets home so she doesn’t know?”
“YES! Do it!”
Just then, Hyoyoung cleared her throat and announced, “Hey guys.”
“GYAAA!”
The guys screamed in shock.