Chapter 137

"Woo-Jin hyung, if I'm being honest, I used to be your anti-fan."

The unexpected confession caught Woo-Jin's attention because the boy had spoken in the past tense.

"I really hated how my parents would constantly compare me to you. So I decided to check how good you really were, but... you really were outstanding."

The boy scratched his head before asking the actor to hug him as he didn't need anything else. Although Woo-Jin had been the target of his jealousy, he needed comforting from the person he now looked up to.

Realizing the student was fatigued and burnt out, Woo-Jin hugged him tightly and patted his back. He could see his younger self in the boy. Woo-Jin turned his mic off and quietly consoled him.

"Think only about yourself for now. You need to be happy first before you can help others."

"How do I even do that...? Your parents are fortunate to have you, hyung." It was exhausting because no matter what, the boy couldn't meet his parents' expectations due to his lack of talent. He began to wonder whether everything was his fault for being ungifted, and soon, the self-deprecation constantly gnawed at his mind.

"I'm no different from you. I made my mother cry on so many occasions, and she never wanted me to become an actor. The life she envisioned for her son was never supposed to be like this. But since I'm happy and satisfied with my own life, she isn't saying anything about it."

"But my parents are...." The boy stopped mid-sentence. Sometimes, it felt like they were projecting their own dreams onto him, while other times, it seemed like they wished the best for him but got impatient. But in the end, he simply couldn't understand his parents.

"Your parents have already experienced life and walked down its paths. They simply want to share their mistakes, regrets, know-hows, and many other things with you. It's just that their teaching methods are awkward and clumsy since it's their first time being parents."

Thus, oftentimes, grandparents shower their grandchildren with love and affection to make up for the mistakes they had made as parents. Woo-Jin had been the same in his past lives. He hadn't behaved as a proper father and expressed himself in all the wrong ways. He only knew how to be strict and never openly loved his children, so all the affection he couldn't shower his children with went to his grandchildren instead.

"It's also my first time being a son."

"Yeah, you're right. They really should be more lenient on you since you're also a beginner. Still, now that I've gotten to talk with you, I'm sure they're good people. You're so concerned because you love them and don't want to disappoint them, right?"

The boy hesitated for a bit before shyly nodding. He also knew that he wouldn't be having these worries in the first place if he didn't love his parents.

"Will I be as successful as you if I work myself to the bone?"

"It would be depressing if you worked yourself to the bone but ended up unhappy," Woo-Jin replied.

"These days, people can't achieve anything if they don't go that far."

No, it would be more accurate to say that one had to work oneself to the bone to produce even the tiniest of results in today's society.

"First of all, find the path in life that will make you happy. Don't compare yourself to me. As long as you continue walking forward searching for happiness, success will often find its way to you. Though you may lose your way at times, never give up. Since it's so difficult to be successful in today's society, you should at least live a happy life."

"Is it easy to find happiness?"

"Hmm.... Do you want me to tell you the truth?" Woo-Jin asked.

The boy nodded in response.

"In truth, it's extremely difficult."

"Oh, come on!"

Woo-Jin burst into laughter at the boy's frustration.

"If life is going to be full of hardships no matter what you do, then you should at least aim to be happy. Someone I know is living miserably, but they never gave up on what they love. In fact, they look happy and... beautiful when doing what they love. What's allowed them to endure so far isn't working to the bone but courage. Courage to hold onto what they love and never let go. From what I can see, you're already doing the best you can at your stage in life. But if you feel miserable and think that your parents will be disappointed no matter what you do, then you should at least find the path that leads to your happiness."

Woo-Jin's words appeared to have shocked the boy.

"I'm not saying you should be the only one happy. Just keep in mind that you can make others happy only when you are happy."

The boy's parents were probably hoping for him to be successful according to societal norms, believing that it would make them happy and, in turn, make him happy. Woo-Jin didn't know what kind of happiness the boy wanted, but if he felt miserable with the present situation, then he needed some courage to overcome his circumstances.

Woo-Jin squeezed the boy tightly in his arms once again as he wished for the boy to love and care for himself more. The dumbfounded boy blushed in embarrassment. Woo-Jin couldn't stop himself from tousling the adorable kid's hair mischievously. As the boy relaxed and smiled shyly, Woo-Jin wondered whether having a little brother would be something like this.

***

With the final question and wish-fulfillment, the street date came to an end. Woo-Jin said goodbye to Kim Woo-Hyung and returned to the van, where he found Hwang Yi-Young greeting him with a frown.

"You lost your coat's buttons."

"Oh, you're right! This was lent to us, wasn't it?"

Woo-Jin finished inspecting his coat and exclaimed in concern.

"As I thought, someone tore them away when people were crowding around you earlier. Geez, even though they knew you were wearing sponsored clothes, they went too far. But don't worry, a few buttons shouldn't be a problem," Hwang Yi-Young reassured him.

The clothes Woo-Jin wore often sold out due to his stylish looks, so many clothing brands paid Woo-Jin to have him advertise their products.

They profited just by having Woo-Jin wear their clothes on TV, so they probably wouldn't complain about some lost buttons. In fact, the companies always dry-cleaned the clothes before sending them to Woo-Jin and also paid extra for repair fees if necessary. So Woo-Jin was living a luxurious life compared to other celebrities.

"Still, I'll buy this from them."

"Should we do that, then? The coat does suit you very well. It would be a shame to send it back." Hwang Yi-Young commented that the camel coat went well with Woo-Jin's light-skin tone when she suddenly recalled something. "By the way, don't you think a lot of your belongings have been disappearing lately?"

They weren't particularly important things. It all started with the drinks and snacks Woo-Jin had opened. But these days, pens, umbrellas, glasses, hats, and all kinds of accessories were vanishing.

"It must be the fans taking small souvenirs with them."

It usually happened when crowds gathered around him, so Woo-Jin didn't pay much attention to it. But, unlike the easygoing Woo-Jin, Hwang Yi-Young frowned deeply and recalled the past.

As someone who had worked with idols and experienced all kinds of things, she couldn't overlook even the smallest issues. The diehard fans always began small but later behaved outrageously and went too far.

"We'll need to pay more attention from now on. No matter how small an item, stealing is still stealing. And if we overlook their behavior, they'll think of it as the norm and incite their friends to do the same thing."

Woo-Jin agreed with Hwang Yi-Young about stopping people from getting into thievery. He promised to be more careful in the future when Hwang Yi-Young asked a question she had been pondering about.

"But when are you going to contact Director Rayford?"

Woo-Jin's expression tensed up.

"Ah...."

"Hm?"

"I totally forgot about that."

Even though he had made his decision, Woo-Jin had no idea when and how to reach out to the director. His mind was filled with the video of Lee Hyung-Jin singing and his final bow. The excitement of entering Hollywood had surprisingly vanished. There was currently something much more important to him than that.

<I'm posting this cuz I saw something weird the other day. It's old news that Lee Hyung-Jin has been performing on the streets recently. So I felt like going there to jeer at him as well, but I think I saw Chae Woo-Jin with him. It's Chae Woo-Jin in this picture, right?>

One day, two pictures were uploaded online and raised some doubts. One picture had a man in a hat, glasses, and a scarf hiding his face sitting on the ground, watching Lee Hyung-Jin's performance. In the other, Lee Hyung-Jin had approached the man and was chatting with him.

— I'm not sure. I really can't figure it out with his face hidden! How can anyone recognize him as Chae Woo-Jin with these pictures?

└ Hmm... I immediately recognized him, though. He often wears that hat and scarf, and the only person in our country with that perfect silhouette is Chae Woo-Jin.

└ Bullshit, why would Chae Woo-Jin even go there? He's extremely busy these days because of the movie's release.

— Well, it's not totally unbelievable. Wasn't Lee Hyung-Jin also in TM with Chae Woo-Jin? If they were close, it's possible for them to meet up.

└ But that makes even less sense. Chae Woo-Jin was a victim of bullying, so how could he be friends with a f*cking murderer?

└ Lee Hyung-Jin used to bully a friend from school, so it was a different matter. He could've been nice to Chae Woo-Jin.

└ Even if he was nice to Chae Woo-Jin back then, it's an entirely different issue now that Lee Hyung-Jin's true nature has been revealed. If I were Chae Woo-Jin, I definitely wouldn't want to see him, so why reach out first?

— If it really is Chae Woo-Jin, couldn't he have attended to jeer at him as well?

└ The mood between them seems too good for him to be jeering at him.

The online community was in an uproar. Was the man in the picture Chae Woo-Jin? If yes, why was he there? All kinds of questions were tossed around, but people could only make assumptions without a proper answer.

However, a few days later, new pictures made their way to the internet. This time, several people had taken photos from different angles. As more and more clues proved the mysterious man's identity, it soon became a certainty that he was Chae Woo-Jin.

In fact, Chae Woo-Jin's fans were convinced of it. Many eyewitnesses had seen Chae Woo-Jin together with Lee Hyung-Jin while they were at TM. But no one could figure out why he would reach out to Lee Hyung-Jin now of all time. Thus, his fans worried that Chae Woo-Jin might get involved in some unnecessary trouble.

Generally, few people actually watched Lee Hyung-Jin's performances. Initially, people showed up to heckle and disrupt the show while filming it all, but that was only for the first couple of days. After that, as Lee Hyung-Jin stubbornly sang every single day, people could only begrudgingly walk away. They had realized that ignoring him was the best course of action. Filming him and mocking him online only promoted him even more.

Soon, only a few people attended to cause him trouble and vent their anger. Most simply ignored him and tried to forget him.

But with Chae Woo-Jin's appearance, people began to pay attention to Lee Hyung-Jin's performances once again. As a result, more people than ever attended his gig. Needless to say, some were there to slander him and jeer, but the majority were there to see Chae Woo-Jin instead of Lee Hyung-Jin.

In fact, those who didn't care about Lee Hyung-Jin didn't like it when people created a ruckus because they worried Chae Woo-Jin wouldn't show up. So they stopped the hecklers instead. Before long, the performance progressed smoothly with no interruptions or jeers, and the troublemakers stopped showing up.

As such, people hadn't listened to Lee Hyung-Jin's singing before, but now his singing began to properly register in people's ears. As a former singer-songwriter, Lee Hyung-Jin was an exceptional singer from all standpoints. The songs he wrote while he was stuck for more than a year at home echoed with all kinds of emotions.

The songs that used to be lighthearted were mixed with melancholy and sorrow. Those who listened to his delicate voice enunciate the desolate yet beautiful lyrics naturally shivered as their hearts trembled in grief.