The Star's Hidden Child | Bae Hyun-sung

One

Bae Hyun-sung sat on the edge of the sterile hospital bed, the cool, crisp air of the clinic biting at his skin through the thin hospital gown. His hands trembled slightly as he ran them through his dark hair, his mind struggling to grasp what the doctor had just told him.

Pregnant. The word still sounded foreign in his ears, like an echo from a dream he hadn't yet woken from. Pregnant? How could he—how was that even possible? He was a twenty-five-year-old man, an actor, his whole life ahead of him, bursting with opportunity. But right now, none of that seemed to matter.

The doctor sat across from him, her face a mask of professional calm but with a hint of uncertainty in her eyes. It was as if she, too, couldn't fully understand what was happening. Hyun-sung knew this was a situation neither of them had prepared for.

"Mr. Bae," she began softly, "I realize this is an incredibly difficult thing to process, but our tests are accurate. You're about three months along."

Hyun-sung shook his head, feeling the words slip past his comprehension. "But... that's impossible," he finally managed, his voice cracking. "I can't be pregnant. I'm a man."

Dr. Lee sighed, folding her hands in her lap. "I understand how this sounds, but we've run multiple tests. You have a unique physiological condition, something we haven't seen in medical literature before. In short, your body has developed the ability to carry a child. It's rare, but you're not the first case."

"Not the first?" he asked, his voice filled with disbelief. "How—how does something like this even happen?"

She hesitated, choosing her words carefully. "It's an anomaly. There are theories about evolutionary changes, but what matters now is that you're pregnant, Hyun-sung. You're already twelve weeks along."

Hyun-sung's vision blurred, his head spinning. Twelve weeks? He hadn't even noticed any changes, aside from some unusual fatigue and occasional nausea he'd attributed to the intense shooting schedule he'd been on for the new drama. Now, it made sense, but... how could he have missed it?

As his hands subconsciously drifted toward his stomach, fingers pressing lightly against the flat plane, he found it difficult to accept that there was life growing inside him.

The doctor's voice softened further. "Do you want to talk about how this might have happened?"

How had it happened? It was a question that had been gnawing at him ever since Dr. Lee uttered those unbelievable words.

And then, like a dam breaking in his mind, the memories flooded back.

~

It had been a late summer night, three months ago. He was coming off an exhausting day of shooting, feeling relieved yet worn out as the lights of Seoul blurred in the humid air. His friend, Jisoo, had dragged him out to an industry party, promising it would be "just a few drinks," something light to celebrate their most recent success. As much as Hyun-sung had wanted to decline, Jisoo had always been persuasive.

The party had been at an upscale lounge, with a dimly lit atmosphere and flowing drinks. Hyun-sung had felt out of place almost immediately. He wasn't the type to thrive in these environments—too many people, too many eyes. But as the night wore on, the music seemed to dull his senses, and before long, he found himself at the bar, downing a cocktail handed to him by someone he didn't quite know.

That was when things began to blur.

A stranger—a man whose face was hazy in Hyun-sung's mind—had approached him. They'd talked briefly, maybe exchanged a joke or two, and the man had offered him another drink. Hyun-sung hadn't thought much of it at the time. He'd assumed it was just another well-meaning fan or industry professional looking to make small talk. But after that drink, the world around him started to tilt, colors blending into one another as the edges of his vision darkened.

The memory was still fragmented, but there were flashes: the stranger's hand on his wrist, guiding him somewhere quieter. The feeling of his body losing control, as though he were floating just above the surface of his own reality. He had never blacked out before, but that night, he had—completely.

The next morning, he'd woken up in his own apartment, his head pounding as though he'd been hit by a truck. The memories of that night had been so scattered and unclear that he'd pushed them aside, chalking it up to exhaustion and too many drinks. But now, sitting in the doctor's office, it all began to click into place. That was the night.

"Three months ago," he whispered, his voice so low that Dr. Lee had to lean forward to hear him. His heart raced, the realization hitting him like a freight train. "There was... an incident."

The doctor's eyes widened slightly, her professional demeanor cracking just a little. "Do you remember what happened?"

"Not clearly," he admitted, running a hand over his face. "I think... I was drugged. It was a party, and I blacked out. The next morning, I didn't remember much of anything." He swallowed hard, the taste of bile rising in his throat as he thought back to that night. He felt violated, his body having been used in a way he hadn't consented to. "That's when it must have happened."

Dr. Lee nodded sympathetically, her pen resting motionless on her notepad. "I'm so sorry, Hyun-sung. It's a lot to process, but knowing how and when it happened is the first step."

Hyun-sung felt a rush of emotion swell in his chest—anger, confusion, and a sense of betrayal. But beneath all of that, there was something else, something unexpected that confused him even more: a small, fragile connection to the life growing inside him. It was still shocking, still hard to believe, but as his hand rested on his abdomen again, the reality of it became impossible to deny.

He wasn't just a victim of that night. He was carrying a child now. A life. His child.

"What do I do?" he asked, his voice breaking, raw with the weight of uncertainty.

Dr. Lee's expression softened even further, her gaze kind and non-judgmental. "That's up to you, Hyun-sung. There are options, of course. You can choose to continue the pregnancy, or if you feel that it's not something you're ready for, we can discuss alternatives."

Hyun-sung's mind swirled with the enormity of the choice laid before him. Every part of his life was about to change, in ways he could never have anticipated. He hadn't even begun to process the trauma of that night, and now, he had to decide whether he was ready to become a parent—something he'd never imagined, especially not under these circumstances.

Yet, as his hand remained over his stomach, he felt something strange stirring within him. The weight of responsibility, yes, but also an odd sense of protectiveness. This was his child, no matter how they'd come to be. He was an actor, used to playing roles, but this wasn't a role. This was real. His life.

"I..." He paused, trying to find the right words, but none seemed to come. "I don't know yet."

Dr. Lee nodded in understanding. "Take your time. Whatever decision you make, it's important that it's the right one for you."

The room fell into silence as Hyun-sung's thoughts spiraled, his heart pounding against his ribcage. He had always been the kind of person to have his life planned out—scripts, auditions, his rising career. But now, everything was uncertain. The only thing he knew for sure was that his life had changed forever, and nothing would ever be the same.

As he left the hospital that day, the weight of his decision hung heavily on his shoulders. Yet, despite the turmoil raging within him, Hyun-sung couldn't shake the feeling that the future, though terrifying and unknown, held something more precious than he had ever expected.

For the first time in his life, he wasn't just an actor playing someone else's story. He was living his own—one more complex and challenging than any script he'd ever read. And somehow, amidst all the fear and confusion, that thought gave him the slightest glimmer of hope.