Sixteen Again

15

Replying to comments is not a strange thing. Many celebrities will do this. Some do it out of anger, others do it to increase their fame.

However, very few people will be bold about it and even fewer will try to use this method to increase their fame. That is because no matter what the comments say, no matter how reasonable or unreasonable they are, if the celebrity replies incorrectly then they will leave an unfavorable impression on the public. Then when they become more famous, when they have to be more conscious of their image as a public figures, their dark past would be dug up as evidence of being a bad influence on society.

Dayoung nervously negotiated a deal to manipulate the media. On the other side, when Hyunjung saw Jiyeon's reply, she couldn’t help but let out a chuckle.

Jiyeon was confused, “Why are you laughing?”

The smile on Hyunjung's lips didn’t disappear as she leaned against the wide armrest of the sofa.

Hyunjung propped her chin in one hand and she tilted her head as she looked at Jiyeon, “I’m laughing at how cute you are.”

Jiyeon pursed the corners of her lips and said nothing.

She was acting bashful.

Jiyeon found it strange. Jiyeon only showed her this ‘young maiden’ attitude when she first met her. After they filmed movies and dated for a while, Jiyeon became more open about her feelings. Then these last two years she was very open about her dislike and hate for Hyunjung. So for her, she hasn’t seen this side of Jiyeon for a long time.

When Hyunjung's beautiful eyes stared at her, Jiyeon felt like her skin was burning.

She quickly picked up her phone to read the latest comments to shrug off the other’s attention.

What she saw made her even more puzzled.

After scrolling through many comments, she frowned. She flipped her phone around to show the screen to Hyunjung, “Why are they all saying ‘hahaha’?”

After reading all the comments, Jiyeon has seen the word ‘ha’ so many times that she almost didn’t recognize it anymore, “And what does ‘are you trying to make me laugh to death?’ mean? Is this some sort of meme?” 

That’s right, she now knows what a meme is too = =

The more comments Hyunjung read the more she wanted to laugh. She straightened up and then asked Jiyeon, “In 2008, did high schoolers use the word ‘rebound’ when cursing each other? I’m older than you, but when I went to high school I don’t remember ever hearing that word being used. But I do remember that elementary school students liked to use it often…..”

Jiyeon stayed silent for a while, “Based on what I know, the usage of this word was very high when I was young and it’s not as terrible sounding as other insults, so I used it.”

Although Jiyeon had replied to a comment, she had only done so after taking her public image into account. After she repeatedly reminded herself not to swear, she was able to restrain herself from using some of the more colorful swear words she knew. So she picked something milder. Thus, the word ‘rebound’ was used.

It was then that Hyunjung understood. She remembered that she didn’t go to school very often due to her traveling around for orchestra performances. She had only gone to school seriously in elementary school and then afterward would rarely go to school anymore. She never really had a ‘childhood’ in the strictest sense. She had only one good friend and she studied under a bunch of old musicians who did not keep up with the times. Even if she knew how to curse someone, she wouldn’t do it due to the strict discipline she received from these old musicians.