after a scandal, wooyoung, a defunct k-pop idol, runs away to his sister's hometown. he craves anonymity, yet his quiet routine is disrupted by a chance encounter- a local with a warm presence, who offers him a glimpse of a life beyond the spotlight...
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"because i'll be the only person who knows you are."
it had been seven years since the incident. wooyoung was no longer 16 approaching 17— even then, he was right where he stood back then, just one step behind.
his career had skyrocketed and come back down before he knew it like a paper plane with a blunt tip, and to make matters worse, it hadn't even been ten years. wooyoung had screwed up the good reputation he worked so hard to earn, all in less than ten years. in a twisted way, it was some kind of feat. at least it wasn't over a matter as petty as underage drinking.
no, it was something much worse.
and that was why wooyoung couldn't help but be curious as to why jongho hadn't tried his luck at prying yet. he'd had plenty of opportunities and time was on his side, too. but he never asked; he didn't even slightly brush upon the topic.
at the moment, he was showing wooyoung around the neighborhood, even though wooyoung had protested against it so passionately. firstly, if anyone even noticed him, he was done for. jongho had told him over and over again that the townspeople knew very well how to mind their own businesses, but the anxiety stayed. it followed him all the way out the door and down the street like a fruit fly.
outside, the sun was gentle, and the wind blew quietly. children rode down the sloped road on their cycles, laughing and overflowing with the joy of being unaware. wooyoung almost found himself craving the feeling. surprisingly, once they made their way past the cluster of houses, there were plenty of little shops wedged between spaces on the sidewalks, each one unique and artsy.
"you see?" jongho spoke. he was clearly unhappy about wooyoung and his tendency to roam around with a cap and a mask at all times, but he probably understood why he behaved that way. maybe that's why he was trying to be nice about it.
"everyone here is busy doing their own thing. even if they run into you, i'm sure they wouldn't treat you any differently. sounds crazy, but nice people exist," jongho laughed, and he sounded like he meant every single word. "it's what surprised me the most when i first moved here."
apparently, jongho had moved to the town almost immediately after their friendship came to a pause. a pause that the two of them had perceived to be an end.
"i can see that," wooyoung responded, eyes landing on a group of middle aged ladies that were sitting at a table by the large window of what seemed to be a library. the looks on the faces of the people he passed by made him feel... strange, to say the least. there was kindness in their eyes and comfort in the way they carried themselves. it was something you would almost never see in a restless place like seoul, where people were too busy running about trying to make a living, and they fail to realise that they too, deserve to sit down and rest for a while. for the longest time, wooyoung had been one of those people. of course, now that he was technically unemployed, he didn't have to worry about that.
