Chapter 1155: The Warmest Season, Winter (27)

Back in middle school and high school...

There was one joke that teachers who liked corny humor always made at least once.

-"Giving up" is something you only do when counting cabbages~ Hahahaha!

That's right.

Nothing was over until it was over.

"I still haven't given up."

"Yes, Wooju. The sight of you refusing to give up until the very end is truly beautiful."

The announcer smiled.

"But you're eliminated in Round Three~!"

"No...!"

I ended up being eliminated in the round that decided who would advance to the finals.

The audience burst into wild laughter.

The scoreboard appeared on the electronic display.

[Rankings]

Hanbyeol was second, and the Korean literature major was first.

I'd clawed together every point I possibly could to catch up to them, but in the end, I fell short by twenty-five points.

Mr. Zat Miller spoke.

"Even I feel terrible about it. If you'd only trusted Junghyun on that thirty-point question earlier, you would have advanced to the finals...."

"Exactly."

I sighed.

"It seems I'm being punished for failing to trust my member when I should have. From now on, I'll take today's lesson to heart and Junghyun... I'll, uh...."

Everyone's attention focused on me as I hesitated.

"Junghyun... Yes. Well. I'll do that."

"You absolutely refuse to say you'll trust him."

Everyone burst out laughing at Hanbyeol's comment while I pretended not to notice and stared into space.

Separate from reflecting on my earlier judgment, I still couldn't help feeling disappointed.

Twenty-five points.

If only I'd had those thirty points, I could have made the finals.

"All right. We'll take a short break and continue recording afterward!"

"Good work, everyone~"

As the staff began moving busily and the audience started chatting among themselves, I spotted someone hopping toward me.

"Hyung~!"

Hanbyeol's face was flushed red.

"I made the finals~!"

"Good job."

I smiled at his delighted expression.

I was disappointed that I hadn't advanced, but even if my score had been higher, I probably wouldn't have gone through anyway.

If I'd been second and Hanbyeol third, I'd planned to deliberately miss one or two questions and send Hanbyeol ahead of me.

Today wasn't supposed to be my day in the spotlight.

Hanbyeol stuck close to my side and chattered like an excited chick.

"How was I? It's been so long since I've been on Korean TV, so I was kind of nervous. I didn't make any mistakes, right? My hair still looks okay, doesn't it?? I didn't get too excited and say something stupid or act obnoxious, did I? How are people reacting?"

"First, breathe before you talk. Here, deep breath. Hoo."

"Hooo...."

Hanbyeol placed a hand over his chest and took several deep breaths before speaking again.

"I'm calm now."

"That's a relief. I thought you were about to stop breathing."

"I was seriously nervous, okay? It's practically my first time appearing on Korean TV alone."

"You did well, considering."

I hadn't been worried in the first place.

He was only a little tense. This was someone who could smoothly handle enormous programs like Chinese New Year specials in China.

After I calmed Hanbyeol down and praised him for doing well, his shoulders quickly rose again with pride.

Apparently, even he could tell the response had been good.

"Ahh, does this mean I'll get some kind of nickname now too? I've always really wanted one of those."

"What kind of nickname?"

"You know how fans put Kim in front of foreign members' names? Like Kim Patrick or Kim Sasha."

"You're already Hanbyeol."

"You're right.... Even if they add Kim, I'd just be Kim Hanbyeol."

Hanbyeol smacked his lips in disappointment.

Then I suddenly froze and raised a hand toward empty space.

"Huh? Wait. But if you write Kim Hanbyeol in Chinese characters...."

"Stop right there unless you want to bid farewell to this mortal world."

"Okay."

I immediately accepted that and went back to encouraging Hanbyeol.

"Anyway, you did well today. Don't put any pressure on yourself in the finals. You've already accomplished everything you wanted."

"Yeah."

"Winning would be nice, but it's fine if you don't. There'd be nothing wrong with losing to the person currently in first."

The student named Kim Yuin, who was currently leading.

The bespectacled college student had an intellectual air about him and was so skilled in Korean that he'd revealed himself to be an avid viewer of Korean Language Showdown.

Honestly, Hanbyeol was good, but I didn't think he could beat that Korean literature major.

"Hyung."

Then I heard a serious voice.

Perhaps because of the backlighting, Hanbyeol's back somehow looked unusually solemn.

He had the bearing of a sheltered young master who had finally decided to join a revolution.

"If I win Korean Language Showdown today, it'll generate more buzz than coming second, right? A foreign idol singer who beat a Korean literature major."

"Right."

"I'll win."

"!"

Hanbyeol turned his back to me and spoke.

"I know how hard you and the people at the company have been working for me. So I'm going to do my absolute best today."

"Hanbyeol...."

"Trust me."

Hanbyeol hurried back toward the set with quick little steps.

I reached a hand toward his departing figure and muttered.

"Put that energy into performing.... You're a singer, not a Korean literature scholar...."

"Hohohohoho!"

I could only stare after Hanbyeol with the eyes of a Tibetan fox as he disappeared into the distance, letting out an ambitious laugh.

I wasn't sure whether he'd always been like this... but I truly had no idea why there wasn't a single normal singer in our company.

-The Earth revolves around the sun, hyung.

Be quiet, Junghyun.

Do you have any idea I lost thirty points because of you?

-That's because you didn't listen to what I....

It felt like I was hearing an auditory hallucination from somewhere, but I ignored it and returned to the set.

To give you the result first...

"Congratulations! Today's winner is Jang Hanbyeol!"

"Waaaaaaaaah-!"

Hanbyeol did it.

At first, he'd been pushed behind by the Korean literature student's pace, but he managed a clean comeback on the final question.

It was in the interjection section.

-They say that if you shout this sound after sneezing, you won't catch a cold. What is this four-syllable interjection?

-Hanbyeol! Gaechinesswe!

-Correct!

As glittering gold foil rained down, the Korean literature student applauded as if acknowledging Hanbyeol's victory, and Hanbyeol waved toward me.

It's thanks to you, hyung!

As long as you know.

I truly did deserve some credit for this part.

On the way to the broadcasting station for the Korean Language Showdown recording, I'd taught Hanbyeol various things in the car.

-Gaechinesswe~ Eotteumureocha~ Yallacha~

-What are those?

-A collection of unique Korean interjections.

Quiz shows like this had to raise the difficulty of their questions as they moved into the later rounds.

The problem was that this program had been running for quite a long time, which meant even the writers had limits to how much material they could research.

Eventually, they were bound to start digging around while asking, "Isn't there something that seriously nobody would know?"

Those kinds of obscure interjections I'd mentioned fell perfectly into that category.

-That's why it's useful to know them. If they don't come up, nothing you can do. But if you get lucky and one does, it's huge. Especially this one, "gaechinesswe." It's appeared on another Korean language quiz show before.

-Oho. Teach me more.

-Yeotdansoe is the sound a taffy seller makes to tell people to buy taffy, and then....

I'd prepared those things just in case, and apparently, the effort hadn't been wasted.

I'd wondered whether I was going too far, but seeing Hanbyeol beam over his victory made me smile.

"Please look forward to my album coming out soon!"

I applauded as Hanbyeol raised the championship trophy, and the recording came to an end.

I took commemorative photos with the other guests for social media, greeted the producer and staff, and even had a short tea meeting with the head of the Educational Programming Department, who had personally come over after hearing I was there.

It had been a productive day.

At this point, I'd done everything I could for Hanbyeol.

"All that's left is practice, Hanbyeol."

"I'm going to work really hard, hyung."

If it had been Jihyuk or one of the other trainees, I would have said, "Sure," while continuing to monitor every step of their practice process.

But with Hanbyeol, there was nothing I needed to pay special attention to.

He was already a professional who had once reached the very top.

After encouraging Hanbyeol, whose album release was just around the corner, I climbed into the car heading back to the dorm.

"Ugh...."

"Are you all right, Wooju?"

"My neck feels stiff."

As I massaged the back of my neck, my manager, Jongwan, asked with a worried expression.

"Should we stop by a hospital?"

"No. I'm just a little tired."

It had been fun, but considering my current physical condition, this schedule might have been pushing things.

My whole body felt heavy and limp.

I put artificial tears into my dry eyes and massaged my shoulders.

"I think I'm reaching the point where I need a break. I'm incredibly busy right now, but things should ease up after the end of the year."

It had been a nonstop forced march ever since the movie premiere.

Soon, the award-show stages would be waiting for us too.

But the news coming in from around me was what kept me going without collapsing.

-Sound of the Sun Nears Ten Million Admissions... "Will It Become the Fastest Film Ever to Reach Ten Million?"

The movie starring my parents had become a nationwide sensation in Korea.

-Sound of the Sun Climbs Back Up the Charts to No. 1 at the U.S. Box Office

After a weak response during its first week in the United States, Sound of the Sun had spread its brilliant wings as though to prove everyone wrong.

The people who had once subjected Dad to discriminatory treatment were now either apologizing in real time or fleeing by deleting their social media accounts.

And then...

[Give Our Sun an Award.]

People who had seen the movie were posting messages on social media demanding that Dad receive an award.

It wasn't only ordinary moviegoers.

Veteran musicians had begun speaking up one after another.

People like Winston Ross, who had attended the U.S. premiere, and others who carried a debt of guilt toward Dad.

[It is already late. But it is not yet too late.]

The musician who had told me, "I like your music," at the premiere that day was giving an interview with tears in his eyes.

[I would dare to make a proposal. I believe that even now, an award should be given to the sun who once illuminated the jazz world with such greatness. Whatever form it takes, all of us should honor his accomplishments.]

Then Paul Laurent and others known as the Sun Myungju Kids, people who now dominated the global classical music world, began speaking one by one, and the atmosphere started to shift.

[Without Sun, I probably would have continued growing up as a poor child in the slums. Back then, it wasn't an NGO, a government, or a charity organization that helped me develop my musical talent. It was an astonishingly beautiful married couple.]

The music world, which had pretended not to notice when the movie first began succeeding, was gradually feeling the pressure.

The media was also publishing columns calling for reflection, essentially saying, "We've been far too discriminatory all this time!"

I had no idea where all of this would lead...

But I hoped Dad would finally receive something worthy of everything he'd accomplished.

As I read those articles, I looked out the car window.

The moon glittered in the sky above Olympic-daero.

Wasn't it said that the moon shone by reflecting the light of the sun?

"I told you, didn't I?"

I murmured quietly and tapped the car window with my fingers.

"That everyone would know."

I'd declared that I would make it happen.

And I had.

The movie had yet to open in Japan, so the reactions there hadn't started coming in yet, but they soon would.

And all the news about my actual career was good too.

-"October Christmas" Overtakes Overcook to Claim Billboard No. 1... "A November Miracle"

The carol we'd released this time had beaten Overcook and reached number one on the North American chart.

It had so much momentum that it even reached number one on the singles chart in the United Kingdom, where Overcook had struggled.

-[Column] Ordinary Viewers Who Aren't Even Fans Are Watching an Idol Reality Show? Three Reasons Behind the Success of NewBlack's Travel Diary 3

The travel diary from our trip to Alaska was also performing well, with solid ratings.

How should I put it?

Between that and the other dramas currently airing, it felt like NBS, still a relatively new channel, was gradually establishing itself.

Once the episode we'd filmed with Moonlight aired, it would probably get a pretty big reaction in more ways than one.

"Ta- ta- tata-."

I hummed the carol while tapping my fingers against my phone screen.

It was winter, with cold winds blowing outside, yet somehow, every piece of news reaching me felt warm.

These days could probably be called the warmest winter of my entire life.

"Good work today, Wooju. Should I pick you up at three in the morning as scheduled?"

"Yes. See you then."

After saying goodbye to my manager, I returned to the dorm with light, cheerful steps.

The moment I walked inside, my eyes met Junghyun's as he stood on his hands in the living room.

"You're back, hyung?"

"I'm back~"

Junghyun finished his handstand and hopped to his feet.

"You got that question wrong earlier, didn't you?"

"Huh? Oh, the level tone and departing tone thing?"

"Yes."

I'd actually been meaning to bring that up.

"That was weird. I did the opposite of what you guessed."

"I was trying to tell you earlier, but the call got cut off."

"Yeah."

"I learned that in high school."

"...."

Without even realizing it, I grabbed the back of my neck and collapsed onto the sofa.

"You okay, hyung?"

"I'm... I'm fine. Thanks to you, I got plenty of screen time."

The sound of people laughing at me still seemed to echo in my ears.

For some reason, tears welled up in my eyes.

While someone was enjoying the warmest winter of his life...

Tokyo, Japan, which had suffered through brutal summer heat, was now experiencing days full of bitterly cold winds.

People bundled themselves tightly in thick clothes and hunched their bodies against the cold.

Winter had fully settled over the city.

But there were certain places that remained feverishly packed.

Whoa... So this is the movie that's apparently been a massive hit in America too.

The theaters.

Moviegoers took pictures in front of colorful posters showing Sun Myungju passionately playing the piano alongside the film's characters.

Interest in Sound of the Sun, the hottest film of the winter box office, was burning hot.

[Sound of the Sun~! Grand November Release!]

The media was promoting it heavily as well, advertising "Sun Myungju, the superstar raised by Asia!"

Unlike Koreans, Japanese people were quite familiar with the name Sun Myungju.

That was why the faces of the moviegoers entering the theater were filled with excitement and curiosity about the film.

Everyone was in high spirits.

The only person standing among them with a tense air was a middle-aged-to-elderly man wearing a mask.

"...."

Hashimoto Kenji.

Wearing both sunglasses and a mask, he watched the moviegoers entering the theater and spoke to an agency representative.

"Goto."

"Yes, sir."

"Are... all of these people here to see Sound of the Sun?"

"Yes. They say it has the... highest November reservation rate in history."

"...."

Hashimoto Kenji swallowed hard.

This is bad.

Hashimoto Kenji had never imagined that Sound of the Sun would contain such explicit details.

Was the saying 'like father, ❖ Nоvеl𝚒ght ❖ (Exclusive on Nоvеl𝚒ght) like son' wrong? He certainly never seemed petty enough to drag old events back into the light....

At first, Hashimoto Kenji hadn't known what the movie was about.

He found out soon enough.

Because English hate comments had begun appearing on his social media.

After investigating through several different channels, he discovered that the movie described what he and his colleagues had done in the past in striking detail.

From that moment on, he'd felt as though he were losing his mind.

He couldn't sleep.

He had no appetite.

Even now, he felt like he'd go insane if he stayed still, so he'd secretly come to the theater to gauge the mood.

No!

He wanted to grab every person entering the theater by the back of the neck and drag them outside.

Every time another crowd poured into the theater, Hashimoto Kenji felt as though his heart would burst.

"Th-those...."

His heart was pounding so violently that his mind automatically began rejecting reality.

His flower-garden circuitry blazed to life.

My part in the movie must be extremely small. Japanese people normally don't expose the shameful deeds of their own countrymen... Perhaps this will simply pass quietly without anything happening.

That was what he was thinking when the audience from the first morning screening of Sound of the Sun began pouring out.

"...Hashimoto...."

"When Mr. Sun Myungju left, that Hashimoto? That man...."

Clear words reached his ears from the murmured conversations.

Hashimoto Kenji plastered himself against the wall and hid like a fruit fly, his face beginning to turn pale.

The moviegoers burned with heat.

"...."

Perhaps it was the warm air blowing from a heater somewhere.

A very warm winter was arriving for Hashimoto Kenji too.

So warm that it was almost...

A scorching hot season.