Chapter 35: She Might As Well Kill Me
"Look there's me!" Lee Changhyuk whispered to her ear as he pointed his finger at a huge billboard.
Shizu bite her tongue as she tried to maintain her poker face. She nodded politely. That was the 5th time Lee Changhyuk pointed a picture of himself. She probably shouldn't have answered Hitomi Nakamura when he asked about her favorite singer.
Did he think of her as someone who did not know anything about pop culture? Was it because of the poker face that she put on?? He just had no idea how hard it was to keep herself composed in front of him. In her head she was chanting all kind of mantras non stop to keep herself calm.
She loved GreenEast to death and even now she still couldn't believe that she was actually sitting in a car with Lee Changhyuk.
The superstar wanted to take her home since it was already late, but as soon as he stepped his foot outside people would not stop staring at him. Even though half of that gorgeous face was hidden by the big dark sunglasses- he could not brush off the flashy air that surrounded him. Realizing that people were looking at him he couldn't help but ask Shizu to take taxi with him.
Now it really felt like she was taking a child to a city tour, but instead of pointing at cute animated cafés or Tokyo's enchanting skyscrapers- his eyes were preying on the pictures of himself!
GreenEast might have disappeared one year from the screen but they still dominated the offline advertisement. The numbers did decrease if you compared it with the time when GreenEast was active. Yet, you still could see the 5 of them occupying most of the biggest bilboards in Tokyo. Food, automotive, cosmetic, pharmaceutical, fashion lines; they could sell ANYTHING.
There was one time when Kim Yoonjae made a remark on a korean chicken restaurant off camera. He casually told Baek Woochan that a particular chain restaurant served him with cold chicken even though he had waited for hours. That remark was recorded by a Sasaeng fan (1) and leaked to the internet, resulting massive bashing and boycott to the brand. The average rating for all chains went from 7.5 to 0.5 in less than 5 minutes. Rotten eggs and tomatoes were thrown to all branches. It only took them 1 week to declare bankrupcy. When Kim Yoonjae heard about the news he contacted them immediately and apologized. He held a PR stunt to clear their name and bought 50 percent of the shares to store their position back in the market. It took them less than 6 months to sit firmly on the throne of the Korean brand restaurant.
There were other jaw-dropping srories where GreenEast destroyed and built an empire. All of GreenEast members were equally famous and powerful. They were known as the King Maker.
Shizu stared at Lee Changhyuk who was excitedly looking out the window. He was still wearing sunglasses but Shizu could tell that his eyes were preying on the bilboards to spot his sillhouette.
Did he realize that he held so much power!? Shizu didn't think that Lee Changhyuk realized it. If he did, then there's no way he would be out there with her and showed her all of his visible ads.
She really should have mentioned DazzLing instead of Hitomi Nakamura. DazzLing was a rising South Korean boyband that debuted under StarLord Entertainment, they were basically the junior of GreenEast.
She was not saying that a Korean Boyband was better than a traditional Japanese singer but if she did say DazzLing, she was sure that he would spare her from that childish where's-waldo game.
Lee Changhyuk was having so much fun. He turned his head and caught the milk girl staring at him with a calm expression. Little did he know that as a faithful fan of GreenEast, she felt embarassed whenever he pointed at a GreenEast ad. 'Yes, I know. I really like you guys!'
(Meanwhile)
"The number that you are calling is not active or out of coverage area. Please try again in a few minutes."
He hung up, then dialed the same number for the 20th time.
"The number that you are calling is not active or out of coverage area. Please try again in a few minutes."
A song was played in his head. That number was always in his 1st speed-dial-list but he could also recite it in his sleep. He was always in love with music and had always been bad with numbers, yet he was willing to spend hours to memorize her number. He was only able to remember that number when he made a song out of it. So whenever he dialed that number- a song would be automatically played in his head. 'What if I lost my phone? How would I contact her from a payphone if I didn't know her number?' He didn't even bother to memorize the numbers of his parents.
Moreno turned his head to look at his twin. Kuran was sitting on the velvet sofa and cupped his chin. His eyes were studying Kira who was sitting on the floor, one hand was holding a beer and the other was holding a phone.
"She said she would have nothing to do with me anymore. How could she do that to me? She might as well kill me.." Tears wouldn't stop falling from his eyes.
Moreno scratched his head then turned his head back to his twin.
"Where is Ritsuo?" He asked Kuran.
Kuran shrugged his shoulders indifferently as an answer to his twin. Upon his answer, Moreno snorted then grinned as he joined his twin to sit on the sofa. He opened a bottle of beer then started to drink it.
The 3 of them were currently drinking in a karaoke room. After leaving from RHK, Kira told the twins that he needed to clear his head, so the twins stayed with him and took him to a karaoke bar. The twins invited some girls to keep them company but seeing Kira all drunk and unable to control himself- the twins dismissed all girls and just watched as Kira crying and helplessly trying to call Shizu.
The Yamada Twins were very good at handling their alcohol- you wouldn't want them to compete against you in any drinking games. They enjoyed watching other people's drunk behavior.
*Kumo Bell members' age:
Ritsuo 23 yo
Sano 21 yo
Kuran - Moreno & Kira 19 yo*
Kira was a total mess. He acted as though the twins did not exist and only cried over Shizu. He picked himself up and approched the table before abruptly pouring the liquor to all of the shot glasses.
"Brother, wanna bet?"
"Yeah, 2 more shots and he's out."
"I would say 3 shots, look at him. Sad people normally have higher alcohol tolerance."
Moreno held his bottle up and waited for a toast from his twin. Kuran toasted his beer to Moreno's then giggled. They both chugged the beers. A bet was made.
CLINKED
The liquor bottle slipped from Kira's hand and shattered into pieces as it hit the floor. He paused for a moment then laughed at his own sloppiness. He wiped the tears from his eyes and pulled his thick hair back.
"I need to see her."
He took one shot then stormed out of the karaoke room before slamming the door hard.
Kuran and Moreno raised an eyebrow then looked at each other in disbelief. What did he just say?
"Oh crap."
.....
Sasaeng fan (1) : in South Korean culture it is an obsessive fan who stalks, or engages in other behaviour constituting an invasion of the privacy of a Korean idol or other public figure.
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