Are You Happy? (Seong Taehoon and Ji Yeonwoo)

Are You Happy?

"Hey!"

"Time's sure gone by quickly."

It was Lee Dowoon's third death anniversary. The last two times, he hadn't said a word, too busy staring at the photo and drowning in guilt. This time, he had an urge just to talk. So he told Dowoon everything. This year was much more eventful than the last. He'd met Yoo Hobin and his dorky friends. Even joined his out-of-the-blue company to promote Taekwondo. Amidst all the chaos of NewTube culture, the war with XJ Company, and his normal school life, Taehoon had stumbled upon something... a bit itchier. And a whole lot more painful.   

"I met another bastard, just like you. Another doll."

Appearance-wise, Ji Yeonwoo looked nothing like Lee Dowoon. Personality-wise, they were not the same either. Dowoon was meek and socially awkward, while Yeonwoo was charming and handled fangirls like a pro. The only thing they had in common, was how they'd easily succumbed to parental abuse.

Hell, no one except him could have seen through those innocent, cheerful facades meticulously built up over years of lost childhood and stolen dreams.

Taehoon had always wanted to kick some sense out of those miserable nerds. He'd also wanted to protect them at all costs. Ha, such weirdos! (Wait, no, he was the weird one!)

"I was selfish. I came and provoked him out of nowhere. Kept calling out your name. Kept beating him like how I'd beaten you."

"Haha... Good thing he fought back. Dude's strong as fuck. Kyokushin Karate, ya know."

"In the end, I saved him. And he... he saved me, sorta. There were some repercussions, of course, but we handled them. I guess I feel less like a piece of trash now."

Taehoon glanced up. He could almost see Dowoon's bright smile as he'd occasionally asked, "Are you happy, Taehoon?"

Instead, he answered Dowoon with another question, "Lee Dowoon, do you think... I'll be able to forgive myself?"

***

An hour later and Seong Taehoon wasn't going home. Not yet. He'd wandered around Songjung-dong, Gangbuk-gu, got some snacks from the convenience store before the headache started. It was time for a nicotine rush.

Just his luck he'd brought the vaping stick. Before Max FC, Taehoon had only smoked the average-branded cigarettes stolen from his classmates. Despite his father's reprimand, he couldn't just quit. Besides, Taehoon had no reason to stop distracting himself while being alone. And he'd been by himself most of the time. 

Now, he had other things to do, other people to meet. Hobin and the gang never mentioned his vaping habit in the office, but if one of them complained, well, he'd make sure to vape outside in their presence.

Thinking about Hobin brought him back to his own NewTube channel. TaehoonTaekwonTV was doing well these days. Recently, he'd reached 200K subs from his fourth video, much to Hobin's indignation. Yeo Rumi had taught him the art of social influence (with finger hearts and pouty lips and all those cringy poses), which resulted in a healthy boost of fangirls. Taehoon couldn't care less about those thirsty girls, but if they asked him questions about Taekwondo in the chats, he wouldn't mind answering all of them.

Maybe he should ask Hobin for a collab in his fifth video. For some unknown reasons, the number of viewers increased drastically when Hobin was there. His money-grabbing student had demanded a fair share of ultra-chat donations in his second livestream. After Jiksae's explanation about Hobin taking advantage of his fangirls in previous livestreams, Taehoon hadn't given him a single won. 

Heavy footsteps cut off his train of thoughts. Under the artificial street lights, a familiar figure was approaching. A glint of round glasses, stupid haircut and standard school uniform. His nerdiness could radiate all the way from the end of this street to Taehoon's hidden corner.