I decided to seal the Cheongryeo plush doll in my drawer for now. Why was I even stressing over this? I briefly thought about poking thumbtacks all over it out of annoyance, but I held back. I wanted to face him when his body and mind were in perfect shape. It wouldn’t be any fun if I half-killed him beforehand. Either way, using the doll had to wait. TeSTAR’s very first fan signing event had just been scheduled.
Hajun looked at Seon Ahyun, whose face was completely pale with nerves.
“Your face is blue right now,” Hajun said.
“What? Ah… w-well… I don’t think I can do it…”
“Do what?”
“T-talking…”
“Are you entering a public speaking contest or something? I thought we were just meeting fans.”
Hajun looked utterly baffled. They weren’t getting eaten by fans, and they weren’t going into battle, so why was Ahyun shaking like a leaf? After lightly teasing him about being so scared, Hajun suddenly held out a bracelet.
“Here, take this.”
Ahyun instinctively reached out his hands in a fluster. Hajun grabbed his wrist and neatly tied the bracelet on him. Ahyun stared blankly at the thin yellow string bracelet on his wrist, then looked up at Hajun. Why the sudden gift? His face practically screamed the question.
Hajun kindly explained, “I broke your stuff before. This is to make up for it.”
“Ah… t-thank you…”
“Did you make a friendship bracelet?” Cha Eugene chimed in.
“Of course. Yours truly made it by hand.”
Since he had bought the Cheongryeo plushie secondhand instead of making it, he had saved enough time to weave a bracelet. Since he had ruined a handmade item, he had to repay it with another handmade item. An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, a head for a head. While he was at it, he also threw in a protective charm as a bonus for his sweet-souled teammate. He made it hoping it would calm Ahyun’s mind, so it should be better than nothing.
“I want one too!” Eugene whined.
“You don’t need something like this.”
Hajun flicked Eugene’s forehead as he hovered around, eyeing Ahyun’s bracelet. When Eugene tried to retaliate, Hajun neatly dodged him. Soon, a laughing Hajun and a thoroughly annoyed Eugene were running around the dorm, stomping so hard it felt like the place might collapse. Ryu Cheongwoo looked like he was getting an ulcer.
Park Moondae glanced at his face and asked, “Are you okay?”
“Well…” Cheongwoo sighed, unable to bring himself to say he was fine.
The giant troublemaker behind all this chaos suddenly dashed over to Cheongwoo, using him as a human shield.
“Stop chasing me! I’m done!”
[The one who did a surprise attack is a coward!! Come out! Don’t play dirty!]
“Eugene, stop. Hajun, you too. Don’t fight with your younger brother.”
“But he went for the bracelet first. I made that for Sunny.”
“Still. We’re being a nuisance to the neighbors.”
“We should move to a house next time,” Hajun grumbled. Or they could just buy out the entire apartment building—the units above, below, and next to them. Hearing the wealthy young master’s absurd sense of money, Park Moondae clicked his tongue internally. Flexing your wealth has its limits, seriously.
Eventually, to broker a peace treaty, Hajun stepped out from behind Cheongwoo’s back and offered his forehead. A kid who hadn’t even lived for twenty years wanted this so badly, so why not let him have a shot? Hajun was feeling generous.
[I’m not going to hold back.]
“Sure, give it your best shot.”
Hajun took Eugene’s full-force forehead flick. But then he started bragging, asking if that was really the best Eugene could do. It almost sparked round two, but Hajun decided to show off. He brought out an apple and smashed it to pieces with a single flick of his finger. That trick completely crushed Eugene’s fighting spirit.
“He’s not a human… He’s a gorilla…” Eugene muttered.
“No, I’m human,” Hajun replied.
“Wow, hyung, your hand strength is crazy,” Keun Sejin said. “Eugene, is your head okay? You actually took that hit?”
“I controlled my strength,” Hajun muttered. It would be a disaster if he actually used his full power. Watching Hajun talk so casually about it, Park Moondae massaged his throbbing temples. The fan signing was tomorrow. Was it really safe to let this guy out in front of fans? Moondae figured he’d better pay close attention to the seating arrangements just in case.
As it turned out, Moondae had absolutely nothing to worry about.
Watching Hajun treat the fans with total ease and polite manners, Moondae found himself wondering what on earth Hajun’s life in America had been like. What did this guy even do over there? Why is he so smooth around women?
If Hajun—whose prom partner had always been his sister—heard this, he would have been thoroughly confused. To him, it was just basic manners. You naturally pick up social etiquette when you attend business and social parties. Plus, his sister’s intensive tutoring had really paid off.
‘If they get a haircut, or wear earrings you haven’t seen before, or if anything changes, make sure to notice and compliment them!’
‘Why?’
‘Because getting compliments makes people happy! Seriously, Damon, this is basic stuff. Be a little sweeter.’
‘Sounds like a hassle.’
‘If you’re nice, you’ll get a girlfriend in no time. Girls are too scared to approach you. Have you picked a prom partner yet?’
‘You.’
‘Me? Who on earth takes their own sister to prom?!’
‘Right here.’
‘Take one of my friends instead! What about Riley? Stephanie? Chloe? Just say the word, they all like you.’
‘First time hearing that. No thanks.’
…Well, it usually went something like that. In the end, Katy secretly wanted to go to the party anyway, so she agreed to be his partner. Hajun saw no reason to ask anyone else. Almost every single prom he went to was with Katy.
There was only one exception. Pushed by the people around him, he had asked a girl out. But when she confessed to him at the end of the party and he rejected her, she threatened self-harm to guilt-trip him. Who behaves like that when they like someone? Girls who had serious romantic interest in him were just too much to deal with. They cried when rejected and got hurt over nothing. He had no interest in hurting young girls, so he naturally kept his distance. This briefly sparked rumors that he might be gay, but Hajun couldn’t care less. His friend Alex, who was the prime suspect for his rumored partner, quickly escaped the rumors by starting to date Angelina. Smart move. Anyway, the rumors died down fast, so it was never a big deal.
Long story short, Hajun didn’t go out of his way to interact with girls, but he could do it perfectly fine when he wanted to. Besides, fans liked him, but they weren’t realistically trying to date him, so he could be a bit more warm and friendly with them.
Hajun spoke to his twelfth fan, a woman in her mid-twenties. She was shaking like crazy from nerves.
“Hello.”
“Ah, h-hello…!”
Seeing the tiger headband clutched tightly in her hands, Hajun asked, “Is that for me?”
“Y-yes!”
“You can speak casually, noona.”
Hajun shrugged when he saw how intimidated she looked. His resting face was already sharp and intimidating, and standing at 189 cm didn’t help. It was understandable that people got shocked seeing him in person.
The fan, screaming internally at the word “noona,” politely handed over the headband with both hands. Hajun put it on his head.
“What’s your name?”
“M-my name.” She stammered her name out.
Hajun coolly signed the album and asked her, “Do you want to hold hands? Interlocking fingers?”
“What?!”
“I heard people do this at fan signings. No?”
Tilting his head, Hajun recalled the fan signing tips he had overheard from Park Moondae and Keun Sejin. Fans talked about “cringe pick-up lines” and stuff, but this was kind of boring. Was it because he looked too scary?
Hajun offered his hand like he was asking for a dance. He softened his eyes on purpose and asked, “Am I scary?”
“…!! No! I’ll hold it! Yes! Please hold my hand…!”
Overwhelmed by his insanely handsome face and towering height, the fan scrambled to place her hand in his. Why is he suddenly making such a puppy-dog face without warning?!
Hajun naturally laced his fingers with her small hand, smiled, and gently shook it. “Anything else you’re curious about?”
“A-anything? Uh… ideal type! What’s your ideal type?!”
“My ideal type… Someone with a pure soul.”
“…?” No, I meant physically…
But her time was up, and she had to move to Lee Sejin next. Ryu Cheongwoo and Lee Sejin, who were sitting next to Hajun, found the “pure soul” comment a bit cult-like, but they tried to ignore it. Surely he just meant “someone kind-hearted,” right?
Since the next fan was still talking to Cheongwoo, Hajun had a brief free moment. He looked around the audience. Making a finger gun with his hand, he shot spiritual energy at the dark mist heavy on the shoulders of a few fans who looked like exhausted office workers. He didn’t forget to wink, either.
Suddenly feeling their exhaustion vanish while simultaneously getting shot by a literal love bullet, the fans clutched their chests. Doing that with a face and body like his was cheating.
As the signing went on, the fans relaxed. Realizing he wasn’t as scary as he looked, they started throwing cheesy pick-up lines at him by the end.
“Oppa, you’re my Berlin…!”
“Huh?”
“A fatal German capital…!”
“Ahahaha!”
Hajun burst into a hearty laugh. By the end of the event, he had mastered the art of bantering with their jokes.
“Hajun, do you remember? We broke into the Louvre together…”
“Did we?”
“Yeah, but as soon as the alarm went off, you pretended to be a statue and left me to get caught…”
“Oh, wow. I’m sorry about that. But hey, didn’t I come back to break you out of prison?”
Waving goodbye to the last fan with a grin, Hajun told her to call him if she ever got caught again. He was already looking forward to the next fan signing.
– Oh my god… Who allowed him to smile like that?! Since it was my first time seeing him, he looked so much bigger and scarier in person than on screen. I was stuttering like crazy, but he was so sweet and smiled the whole time T_T
└ Right? He looks like the type who’d just grab your hand without asking, but he actually asked so politely before holding it. Sigh…
└ Dangerous levels of handsome, seriously. His physical build is crazy, and his hands are so big with veins popping… I’ll stop there.
– It’s normal to use formal language unless asked otherwise, but why does it feel so different when he does it? I feel like I just met Damon Jun Won, not Won Hajun.
– Ah, two distinct flavors in one guy. Delinquent vibe vs. rich young master. Absolutely the best.
– Wait, is it just me, or does anyone else feel physically lighter and sleep better after the fan sign? I usually get sleep paralysis every night, but I slept like a baby. What’s going on?
└ Uh? Me too.
└ No way, me too! My body feels weirdly light and refreshed.
└ Are you guys sure you went to a fan sign? Did you go to an exorcism or something?
└ Well, there was an angel there. Seon Ahyun.
– Review of TeSTAR’s fan signing… I actually have a tiny bit of spiritual sensitivity. I don’t see ghosts, but I can feel vibes. And the members overall have a really strong positive energy (well, maybe not all of them). But maybe that’s why? Fans with dark, heavy vibes walked in but left looking completely clear. It was wild.
└ Wait, is this a ghost story now?
└ A ghost story with a happy ending, though?
└ Oh man, I suffer from sleep paralysis. I need to win a ticket to the next fan sign T_T
└ Lmao, at this rate, it’s not a fan sign, it’s an exorcism clinic.
Won Hajun, what did you do? Monitoring the internet, Park Moondae’s eyes went blank. They were about to become a shaman idol group.
New Terms
- 우정 팔찌 = Friendship bracelet
- 누나 = Noona (honorific for an older sister or an older female)
- 구마예식 = Exorcism / Exorcism ritual
