shinsen high school | yeonbin

fifty-five (epilogue)

the cameras flashed straight into yeonjun's eyes but he didn't even flinch. he found it hard to move amongst all the reporters in front of him. with shoving mics in his face, and a whole lot of yelling around him, yeonjun was still able to keep his calm. 

his thoughts was elsewhere. as he was walking towards his car, he could feel all the noise and all the chaos slowly fading away. and he got into the car. 

maybe he wasn't annoyed at the reporters because it was proof. this media, the frenzy, the absolute chaos the nation was in, was the proof. 

proof of everyone's hard work paying. 

proof of soobin's justice. 

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yeonjun tapped the mic twice, checking if it was on. two taps resonated across the hall, indicating that the mic was indeed on. 

a few years back, yeonjun would've been absolutely terrified to stand in front of so many people. curious faces, confused faces, happy faces, angry faces. sometimes it really fascinated yeonjun to see the multitude of emotion a person could go through. 

and today he just wasn't addressing this crowd, he was addressing the entire nation. he was addressing soobin. 

"good morning to everyone present here." said yeonjun, clearing his throat. his eyes diverted towards the front row where beomgyu and taehyun were sitting together. they both gave yeonjun an encouraging smile.

"i'm choi yeonjun, current CEO of shinsen labels." 

whispers and hushed voices were instantly heard across the crowd. 

"as the representative of the company, i am obliged to answer questions related to the former CEO's arrest, choi minseok and hence this press conference has been held. as of today, the new official president of the company is me, choi yeonjun. as mentioned earlier, the entire board of directors has also been...arrested on account of multiple crimes committed over the past couple of years. shinsen labels will be relaunching with a new name and a new board of directors starting from the next year. you may ask any questions."

"is it true that you helped facilitate the arrest of your father?"

yeonjun's eyes turned stone cold. "that man is a criminal. as a law-abiding citizen, i placed a criminal in their right place. blood relations aren't always the strongest relations in the world."

"aren't you worried about taking over such a big company?"

"it's something i've been prepared for my entire life. i hope not to disappoint the public and hence i will try to run this company to the best of my abilities."

"you have been aware of your fa...the former CEO's crimes for a long time. what prompted you to take action now?"

yeonjun chuckled. "what prompted me to take action now? who said i'm taking action now? i started taken action years ago. i started when i was 18 and now i'm 29. you can't possibly say i'm taking action now."

"ah, forgive me for my ignorance. let me rephrase the question," said the reporter, adjusting her glasses. "what prompted you to take action at that point?"

yeonjun looked at the empty spot at the back of the conference room. he could see someone standing there. he squinted his eyes and his eyes widened. 

yeonjun looked at soobin and smiled, "you."

"it's because of you, soobin." 

in that moment, for yeonjun, the entire hall was silent and empty. it just him and soobin in the room. 

soobin smiled back at yeonjun.

"you took so much time to come back, soobin."

"i'm so proud of you, you know that right?"

"i love you" and soobin turned. "i'll be waiting for you, come for me when you're ready, okay?"

and he disappeared. 

"hyung!" yeonjun heard a familiar voice, snap him back into reality. he looked at that spot again but soobin was seen nowhere in sight. 

yeonjun looked at beomgyu in the front row. beomgyu looked at yeonjun, worried. 

"me?" repeated the reporter. 

yeonjun cleared his throat. "i meant, there was this case in 2018. a killing of a young high school boy. choi soobin...my lover. he's the reason i got the courage to gather evidence for 11 years and finally present it to you. there's a lot of people who helped me in this process. mr.officer, my brother beomgyu, his lover taehyun, soobin's parents...and soobin. they all helped me become who i am today and stand up against the former CEO."

yeonjun looked at his manager who was pointing at her watch. yeonjun nodded. "thank you. i will not be taking any questions. i thank all of you for your patience."

and yeonjun walked off of the stage with a burst of outcry from the audience. yeonjun once again looked at the empty spot in the distance. 

soobin waved back at him. 

yeonjun smiled and looked up. 

it was time for him to go back to soobin. 

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and that's officially the end, see yall in the afternote :)) 

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pixiedust ^^