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However, Chayeon was not an easy opponent. Even with Bunhong’s desperate pleading, he didn’t hand over his luggage until the end.
“……This much is fine.”
‘It’s fine’—knowing that this was like Han Chayeon’s usual verbal habit, Kim Bunhong made one last plea for a chance to help, but Chayeon refused until the end. Kim Bunhong thought that rejection was because he was still turning away from him, but Han Chayeon’s actual circumstances were like this. Chayeon, who had been seriously looking at Bunhong’s white, slender forearms, sighed briefly and thought.
‘His wrists are really thin.’
He’d rather have a bit of trouble himself than let his luggage be taken away.
‘And I hate relying on others.’
Han Chayeon was the type who had to return exactly the same amount if he received help from someone. You could call it a personality that couldn’t live with debt—if he received even small help from Kim Bunhong here, he felt like he would definitely have to repay it someday, and worrying about that itself was tiresome for him. Even though his debut had been decided and he had relieved one worry for now, there was still a long way to go.
Once again, Han Chayeon firmly said his farewell.
“Let’s part ways here.”
Bunhong cried out regretfully in his heart.
‘Today is the last day, I can’t end it like this!’
Having failed for two days without any results, he couldn’t give up today. Although he appeared fragile at first glance and everyone misunderstood Kim Bunhong based on his appearance, he was actually someone with the tenacity of a diligent model student who had to see things through to the end once he took them on. Watching Chayeon move away, just before his retreating figure completely disappeared, Bunhong carefully followed his steps.
Thus began what could be called Kim Bunhong’s surveillance. Kim Bunhong, who had entered Han Chayeon’s neighborhood for the first time, stopped in place for a moment as if bewildered.
‘……It’s a hillside slum.’
The musty smell, winding roads here and there where asphalt wasn’t properly laid, and endless stairs that you couldn’t even guess where they led—it was like another world, to the extent that no one could imagine such a place existed in downtown Seoul.
‘I had no idea hyung had such circumstances.’
Never in his wildest dreams had he imagined that Han Chayeon, who seemed more diligent and perfect than anyone in the world, would have such background circumstances. Bunhong lowered his head and picked at his lips with his hand, then quickly moved his steps before Chayeon’s footsteps got further away from him.
Then Chayeon’s voice grew closer, as if he was having a gentle conversation with someone.
“I’ll help you.”
The bag Chayeon always carried and the two heavy plastic bags in both hands were easily abandoned on the roadside when he discovered an elderly woman collecting recyclables who was pulling a cart up an uphill road.
“Oh my, I’m sorry to trouble you like this.”
“Should I push from behind?”
Really, without the slightest hesitation, Chayeon approached her, and soon he began pushing with force, causing the cart that had been stopped to gradually start moving forward.
“Young man. Thank you as always.”
At least he had captured the scene he had hoped for, Bunhong sighed in relief and patted his chest.
The lens that had been trapped inside the dark camera bag and finally saw the light of the world sparkled and shone under the sunlight.
Watching the two who had been having a gentle conversation move away with the cart, Bunhong turned his steps and thought.
‘Why do I feel lonely?’
Even though he had achieved his purpose, somehow one corner of his heart felt desolate for no reason. Eavesdropping on the conversation between Han Chayeon and the grandmother, he could guess several facts.
First, the grandmother collected recyclables at the same time every day.
Second, after finishing collecting, she would pull the cart full of recyclables up the uphill road, and right around that time was when Chayeon left the practice room to go home, so they always encountered each other.
‘Always encountering each other… can you call that coincidence?’
Somehow recalling how Chayeon would come to the practice room early every day but leave the practice room precisely on time to go home, Bunhong realized.
‘……It must be thanks to hyung’s efforts.’
Coming out to the same time and same place every day to help the grandmother had become part of Chayeon’s usual ‘daily routine,’ that is, part of Han Chayeon’s plan. Even on days when special tasks like grocery shopping were added, like today.
‘Come to think of it, even after debut, he would sometimes go somewhere when he had free time.’
Thinking that Han Chayeon might have had his own circumstances, Bunhong’s phone began ringing just as he was walking for a while after leaving the unfamiliar neighborhood.
“Hello?”
It was a call from an agency employee, and it was about Han Chayeon’s younger sister having disappeared. It turned out that since both parents worked and Chayeon was a trainee, agency employees would sometimes take care of his younger sister when she came back from kindergarten. Today too, they were on their way back from taking her home as usual according to the daily routine, but when Han Chayeon arrived home, the child wasn’t there. So they were calling the trainees as a group like this.
‘Was there a similar incident like this before regression?’
After finishing the call, Bunhong, who had become dizzy, stood there blankly holding his phone before suddenly starting to run somewhere urgently.
He somehow had a feeling he knew where that five-year-old child might be.
As Bunhong had expected, Nayeon was sitting alone on the playground right next to the agency, swinging on the swing.
“Yawn.”
She yawned sleepily and rubbed her face with the small hands that had been holding the swing chains. Bunhong, who had easily found Nayeon, patted his chest and sighed in relief.
‘Phew. Thank goodness.’
Bunhong, who didn’t know Chayeon’s number yet, immediately called back the agency employee’s number that had called earlier. Then he carefully approached the child who was kicking her feet on the sand.
It was extremely fortunate that Bunhong remembered Chayeon’s interview that he had briefly heard when they did a radio schedule together before regression.
‘My younger sister really likes playgrounds. Sigh. Back when I was a trainee, she suddenly disappeared and I searched the entire neighborhood like hunting for mice, but what do you know, the child was at the playground right next to the agency building.’
Bunhong tried his best to smile warmly and waved his hand in front of Nayeon.
“Hello?”
His posture was with bent knees and Nayeon was on the swing, so their eye levels were roughly similar.
The child, who had been wary for a moment, looked at Bunhong’s face and smiled brightly. The reason was… as far as Bunhong knew, Nayeon was what you’d call a ‘face-obsessed’ person. She especially liked Kim Bunhong the most among BLACK’s members and followed him around. Even much more than her own brother. Bunhong, looking down at Nayeon, opened his mouth.
“What are you doing here?”
“Nayeon is waiting for oppa.”
Nayeon answered spiritedly to Bunhong’s question. The swing swayed.
“Your name is Nayeon. That’s pretty.”
“Hehe.”
“But oppa?”
“Yes……”
“Did oppa promise to meet Nayeon here?”
At those words, Nayeon closed her mouth. Her large eyes that filled half her face were filled with worries unbecoming of a child.
“No.”
“Then why is Nayeon swinging here?”
“To wait for oppa……”
No matter how many times Bunhong asked, the answer stayed the same. But he patiently waited until the child opened her mouth on her own.
“Right next to here, over there, oppa is in the building. It’s a place where he can do what he likes and play. Oppa is always droopy like this, but when he goes there, he becomes happy.”
Finally, Nayeon began whispering as if telling a secret story, and Bunhong listened intently.
“Really? That sounds fun. It’s like a playground where Nayeon is now.”
Nod nod. When Bunhong spread his arms toward Nayeon who was shyly nodding, he felt the body temperature of a small, warm body naturally nestling into his embrace. At the same time, he heard an anxious voice calling Nayeon’s name.
“Nayeon!! Han Nayeon!!!”
“Oppa!”
His breathing was quite rough, as if he had run the long distance without stopping. Chayeon, who had been standing for a moment with his hands on both knees catching his breath, quickly approached Nayeon and tried to pick up the child, but,
“……?”
He was somehow rejected. That’s right. Nayeon, who had somehow become Kim Bunhong’s little shadow, struggled desperately not to fall from his embrace.
Seeing Nayeon refuse to come into his arms, Chayeon felt an enormous sense of ‘betrayal’ for the first time in his life! The thought that occurred simultaneously in both Kim Bunhong and Han Chayeon’s minds was this:
‘They say there’s no point in raising children.’
To be precise, it was a younger sister, not a child, but still. Chayeon clasped his hands together almost pleadingly under his chin and whispered in a desperate voice.
“I’m sorry.”
The child, who had only been shaking her head, reacted to those words for the first time.
“You’re always late……”
It turned out that rather than just liking Bunhong, she was thoroughly sulking at her brother. As if she didn’t even want to see her brother’s face, she buried her face even deeper into Bunhong’s embrace.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
