“WE’RE DONE~!!!!!!!!!!”, Boram thought her eardrums we’re about to explode when Eunjung screamed as they made their way back to their black van.

“Huh? It’s all done???”, she asked as she grabbed a copy of their schedule from Eunjung.

“Whooaa! It’s true!!!”, it was still 3pm and they just finished their last schedule for the day.
“What a blessed day for T-ara.”, Boram though to herself. Extra time was all they need, especially now that they are about to prepare for a comeback.

“Daebak~! So… where should we eat?!!”, Jiyeon asked, catching up from behind them.

“How ‘bout Sweet Chopstick, huh Qri unnie?”, Soyeon teased.

It’s been a month since Qri finished her mission, and she was never the same again. Not in a bad way, but in a good way. Boram doesn’t know if it was just her, but it seemed like Qri suddenly became more and more blooming as days passed. But even though it’s been a while now, Boram still thought it was a bad idea to be teasing Qri about anything related to Hwangjoo-ssi.

“O-or~ some… other… place…”, Soyeon seemed to realize the same thing.

“No, I think it’s a great idea.”, all the members looked as Qri spoke. “Hwangjoo would like that.”

“Sweet Chopsticks, it is!!”, their personal psychologist/friend, Lee Yeongwon, announced as he walked with them.

Ever since their CEO told them about the missions, Yeongwon had been travelling with T-ara wherever they went. They decided to call him “SHADOW” ‘cause he kept following them around like a shadow.

They were almost at the van now, and some fans have gathered around cheering them up.
They were holding banners that said things like “T-ara jjang!” or “T-ara Fighting!”. Boram had always been thankful for their fans. They were like family to them, never leaving them no matter what.

“T! A! RA! T! A! RA! T! A! RA!”, Boram waved as well as the rest of the girls as their fans chanted their name.

They finally made their way to their van and started to board. Then suddenly, everything just went wrong. It took a little while, maybe a few long seconds, before Boram realized what happened. People gasped as water splashed on her. Her whole body froze and her top was all wet. Boram didn’t know what to do.

The next splash snapped Boram out of her confusion. The next thing she knew, their maknae was soaking in her clothes as much as Boram must have been too. The water balloon literally washed the make-up off Jiyeon’s face. Boram bet she looked even worse. What kind of person would do something like this?


Eunjung definitely had a good long look at the guy. He was wearing a pair of over-used jeans and a navy blue shirt under his black jacket. Despite his cap, Eunjung clearly saw his face. He had nice eyes that matched perfectly with his fair skin. And she had to admit, the guy was quite handsome. Eunjung hated herself immediately for thinking so as she watched their oldest unnie and their maknae sob across the room.

The scene kept repeating in her head as they waited for their CEO in his office. She still couldn’t believe it. After throwing the second water balloon at their maknae, the crazy hater ran away from the scene and was immediately chased after by most of their fans. T-ara boarded their van as fast as possible and went straight to the company instead of having a meal at Sweet Chopsticks.

Everybody jumped off to their feet as their Sajangnim finally arrived. They relayed the story as Boram and Jiyeon kept whipping tears off their faces. The CEO had a grim look on his face as they finished telling the whole story.

“I’ll take care of it.”, he finally said. “You girls should go home now. You all need a good long rest. Mr. Lee and I will discuss about the incident.”

The girls stood up and bowed before starting toward the door.

“No, Eunjung you stay too.”, she waited for her members to leave the room before going back to her seat.

“What is it Sajangnim?”, she asked.

“You’re receiving your first mission today.”, Eunjung took her time to absorb it. It was her turn now.

Eunjung couldn’t believe her eyes as she stared at the card Shadow just handed her. It had all the information she needed to know about her target. Name, age, whereabouts, and all sort of stuff along with a… picture.

“This is him!”, she couldn’t be mistaking. It was him, the guy with the water balloons. That was him.

“Yeah, that’s him.”, their Sajangnim simply replied giving her a meaningful look. Eunjung nodded, understanding what the CEO meant.

She made a bow before taking off to immediately start her mission and hopefully finish it as soon as possible. She knew what she had to do.


Kyungsam just got out of his small apartment after hiding for almost two hours. Though he didn’t own a watch, he guessed it must be nearly 5 in the afternoon. He checked the cake inside the small box he was holding before started walking down the narrow alley. He felt like a rat living in Seoul as he saw his reflection in some house’s window. But, he just ignored the thought and kept walking knowing that today was a special day.

He stopped for a moment to look at the sky and slowly closed his eyes. He heard a familiar voice of a young girl in the back of his head. “Oppa~”, it called out to him. He could feel his lips forming a slight smile as his thoughts wondered in the past.

He slowly opened his eyes almost wishing to see a different place, hoping he lived in a different world, a better one. Going back to reality, he resumed his walk, one slow step after another. His head was bowed down, his free hand tucked in his jacket’s pocket.

Suddenly, out of nowhere, a girl on high heels stood in front of him, blocking his way. He stopped as the girl spoke.

“Going somewhere Han.Kyung.Sam-ssi?”, she said in an arrogant way.
Kungsam looked up ready to argue with the stranger. And he realized it was no stranger in front of him. He tried to hide the shock in his eyes. He’d never seen her this much close before. It was one of those entertainment clowns of their country.

He took a step back away from Ham Eunjung, ready to flee as he always did.

“Oh what’s wrong Han.Kyung.Sam-ssi? Surprised to see me, are you?”, and there she goes again, saying his name like it was another term for sh*t.

As much as he wanted to fight for his pride, he was scared of what she might do. At that second, he turned to run but she grabbed his jacket.

“Let go of me!”, he tried to take off his jacket and just run off, but she was too good.

“What do you want?!”, he yelled, finally giving in.

“Shouldn’t I be the one asking you that, Han.Kyung.Sam-ssi? What do you want?”, she said still not losing her grip.

“I want you to LET.GO.OF.ME!”, he struggled one more time, shaking of her hand off of him.

“What? Are you gonna throw that cake on me too?”, she said not failing to keep her gaze on him.

“What do you want from me?”, he asked again, ignoring her words.

“Oh I don’t know… Where should I start? Answers… Explanation... Reason... APOLOGY…”, Kyungsam got her point.

“NO.”, he simply said. “I gave them what they deserved and I don’t think there’s anything I should be sorry about. You should be thankful that I decided to run away instead of throwing the rest of my little babies at the rest of you, you know?”

He waited for Eunjung to get extremely mad and kick him on the face with her fatal high heels, but she just looked at him blankly. Kyungsam thought some cops were gonna come out of their hiding spots and start putting handcuffs on him, but nothing like that happened.

“That wasn’t a very nice thing, what you did, you know?”, her voice was surprisingly kind and gentle, but a little bit sad. “Whatever it was that made you hate us so much, it wasn’t Boram unnie or our Jiyeonie or any of my members’ fault. So, next time you feel like throwing water balloons at T-ara, you go aim at me, okay?”

He found himself lost for words. She caught him off-guard, and he didn’t know how to react. He saw her turning her back and started walking away. He couldn’t move his feet neither could he take his eyes off of her. He just watched as she went farther and farther.

In Kyungsam’s surprise, she turned to face him again with a weird look on her face that confused him a lot.

“What do you think you’re doing over there?!”, she called out.

“What?”, he didn’t know what she was talking about.

“Come over here, you babo!”, Kyungsam didn’t think he heard the idol right.

“What?!!”, he asked again, now completely lost in confusion.

Eunjung started making her way back to him. “I said let’s go and have a coffee!!”, she grabbed his arm pulled him as they made their way out of the alley.


Soyeon lied on her bed after spending the rest of the afternoon helping Qri comfort Boram while Hyomin comforted Jiyeon. It wasn’t a very typical day for T-ara at all. Idols may have a lot of haters as much as they have fans, but it’s not every day that some guy randomly throws stinkin’ water balloons at your members.

She felt bad seeing cheerful Boram in tears, and also their maknae, Jiyeon. She was still young to be experiencing this kind of stuff. Soyeon was a second away to dreamland when Eunjung came in to their room.

“Hey! Where have you been?”, Soyeon asked. It was already 8pm.

“mmmm.. sleepy~…”, she managed to mutter as she dropped dead asleep on her own bed.

“Hey! Aren’t you even gonna wash first?”, Soyeon hated it when Eunjung falls asleep while talking to her.

“mmmmm.. mmmmmm~”, was all she got as a reply.

“Eunjung-ah! Eunjung-ah! Ya!”, she yelled on Eunjung’s ears. “Fine! Talk to the pillow, Soyeon!”, she continued annoyingly.

“Where did she say she went?”, Hyomin asked, entering the room.

“I dunno~ all she said was ‘mmmm.. sleepy~’”, Soyeon said, imitating Eunjung.

“Oh my… is that far????”, asked Hyomin.

“Oh Hyomin~…”, she thought. “Gooooood Night Hyomin!!!”, Soyeon said as she went back to sleep.

“What? What did I say?!”, she could hear Hyomin say, but it was too late. Soyeon was off to dreamland.


“YOU WENT ON A DATE WITH HIM???!!!”, their maknae, Jiyeon, shouted on Eunjung’s face as she told them what happened the other day.

“It was just coffee.”, she replied.

“Coffee for three hours?”, Boram asked suspiciously.

“No… just an hour. Then, he left. Then, I tried to catch him again. Then, I lost him. I checked his house but he wasn’t there. So, I just went back to the dorm, and I don’t remember anything after that.”, Eunjung said trying to recite everything that happened.

“Yeah… You really don’t…”, Soyeon said, though Eunjung had no idea what she was talking about.

“Eunjung-ah~ it’s your turn now.”, Qri called as got back from the recording room.

They’ve been in the studio all morning, recording a new song for their next comeback. Trying to
push the thoughts about her mission away from her head, Eunjung made her way to the recording room. They had a comeback ahead of them and she had to get her head straight. But that doesn’t mean she would give handsome-hater Han Kyungsam a break.


“HAN!!! KYUNG!!! SAM!!!”, for the third time in a row, Eunjung’s voice woke Kyungsam out of his slumber, not mentioning 5 days ago she also dragged him to have a cup of coffee and talk non-sense for a whole hour.

“HAN!!! KYUNG!!! SAAAAM!!!”, Kyungsam pulled his pillow and covered it to his ears trying to block Eunjung’s voice from outside as she kept on calling him.

“HAN! KYUNG! SAM!!! COME OUT HAN KYUNG SAM-SSI~!!!!!!!! LET’S PLAY KYUNGSAM-AH!!”, the pillows failed Kyungsam.

“AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!”, Kyungsam couldn’t take it anymore and opened up the door for the loud lady. “WHAT DO YOU WANT???!!!”

“Oh good, you’re awake. It took a little longer yesterday.”, she said as she casually entered his small place.

“I brought breakfast!”, she announced happily and brought out some cooked ramyun, good for five people.

Kyungsam could feel his stomach rumbling. So he sat down with her to dig in.

“Why are you doing this?”, he asked as he finished up his third bowl of Eunjung ramyun.
It took her a while before answering. She simply looked at him as if searching something on his face.

“Doing what?”, she finally said.

“All this… you keep following me around…”, he realized it was the first time he talked to her without being angry.

“I’m not following you around! I’m just waiting for you to give me that apology I’m asking for.”, she said, trying to explain herself. He found it cute the way she struggles to come up with something to say every time his questions catches her off-guard.

“Really?! You even showed up yesterday while I was at work.”, he teased her playfully.

“W-what? No I didn’t. I had schedules yesterday and what would I be doing at a construction site, anyway.”, and there she goes again. Struggles… struggles… struggles…
Kyungsam could almost imagine little Eunjungs inside of her head running around carrying ideas of what she should say.

He smiled, knowing he got her. “First of, a pair of sunglasses and some random coat is never the best disguise for an idol such as yourself. And… Eunjung-ah… I never told you I worked at a construction site.”

“Fine! So what?! C’mon I’ll clean up now, and you go take a bath. We have a long day ahead, you said your free during Saturdays, right?”, she said, annoyed that she got caught.
And again, it’s something he found cute. Kyungsam suddenly realized the way he’d been thinking about her and hated himself immediately for it.

“No, I didn’t! I said I don’t have work on Saturdays but that doesn’t mean I’m free and I’m gonna come go to someplace with you!”, he managed to get his tone back to normal.

“But I asked my boss to move my schedule so I’ll get to hang out with you today.”, she said in a sad way that made Kyungsam feel guilty for yelling at her.

“Well, it’s not gonna happen even if you do an aegyo overload on me.”, he said, knowing what was about to come.


No one can resist Eunjung’s aegyo, and she knew it wouldn’t take a while before handsome-hater Kyungsam gives in. And so he did. But Eunjung had to face his conditions in return for wasting a day of his life. He demanded to be the one to decided where they go and he made her promise that she would never bother him again.

Eunjung wasn’t anywhere near to having confidence that she would finish the mission in a day, but she had no choice. It’s now or never.

“Where are we going?”, Eunjung asked Kyungsam as they found a sit in a public bus.

“Just trust me, you’ll see.”, he said looking excited like he had great plans to spend the day.
Eungjung kept her head low as people passed by their sit. Kyungsam asked her to wear a simple shirt, a simple jacket, and the cap that he wore at the water balloon incident.

“They wouldn’t recognize you.”, he promised her as if reading her mind. “Eunjung-ah… the best way to hide is not to hide at all.”

“I’ll take note of that”, she replied as she looked outside.


“Eunjung-ah~ we’re here.”, Eunjung opened her eyes to see Kyungsam looking down at her. And again, she saw how nice his eyes were.

She looked out the window and saw a place she’d never seen before. “Where are we?”, she asked him.

“Stop asking and let’s go.”, she looked around and realized that all the people were getting off of the bus.

Eunjung checked her phone for messages and she noticed that there wasn’t any signal.

“Kyungsam-ah~ were still in Korea, right?”, she asked as they got off the bus.

“Why? Do you remember getting on a plane?”, she almost forgot how annoying he was.

“Just making sure… My phone isn’t getting any signal”, she raised her phone but still no luck.

“It’s because there IS no signal here. C’mon, there’s still a long way to go.”, though she was alone in the middle of nowhere with a guy whom she barely knew, not having any way to communicate with her family, members, nor her company, she didn’t feel even a bit of panic. She trusted him somehow with her life.


It was almost noon. Kyungsam and Eunjung have been hiking for about 20 minutes now. Kyungsam kept walking while Eunjung followed behind him.

“You need a break?”, he asked, looking back.

“Noooo~ I’m alright.”, she said, though her eyes were obviously telling the opposite. Her forehead was all sweaty and her legs looked like they were gonna give in any moment now.

“Whatever you say.”, he said before turning to keep on walking.
Kyungsam took a few more steps ‘till he couldn’t take it anymore. “Alright, that’s it. Get on.”, he said as he kneeled on one knee.

“Huh?”, he was sure it wasn’t her first time to see a guy offering his back for a ride, but Eunjung sure was surprised.

“I said get on my back, and I’ll carry you!”, he hated her so much, but it didn’t feel right for Kyungsam to see her suffer and just do nothing, though the thought was so ironic because that was exactly what he does. He makes them suffer like the way they made him.

Hesitating for a moment, Eunjung finally gave in. He comfortably carried her on his back, like he’d been doing it all his life. The only thing he was worried about was the way he smelled.
Though Eunjung was sweating a lot too, she still smelled good to Kyungsam. He shifted her feeling suddenly uncomfortable.

“Am I that heavy?”, she asked from behind him. “You don’t have to do this, you know?”

“No, it’s okay. I’m fine.”, she really wasn’t that heavy. In fact, Kyungsam liked it that he gets to carry her. He really wasn’t acting like himself today, that’s for sure. He didn’t know why he was
being so nice to her or why he seemed to… like her.

“Just hang on for a few more minutes, okay? We’re almost there.”, he assured her.

“Kyungsam-ah~ where are we going?”, she asked for like the hundredth time now. He couldn’t blame her. She was in a strange place alone with a hater carrying her on his back, he was thankful that she’s not freaking out.

“My most favorite place in the world.”, he said knowing that he meant it. He promised himself that if he would ever take a girl on a date, he would bring her there.

“That sounds nice~”, he heard her reply in a very faint voice, like falling asleep.

“Yeah~ I’m sure you’ll like it”, he said anyway, knowing he wasn’t talking to anyone anymore.
Kyungsam walked silently on the rest of the trip while Eunjung slept soundly on his back. He didn’t understand how she could sleep like that while talking to someone.

“Hey! We’re here!”, he announced as he slowly put her down.


Eunjung couldn’t believe her eyes. It was so beautiful. There were trees all over the place. Almost like a normal forest scene she sees in movies, except for the small peaceful lake in front of her.

“Uuuwwwaaaahhh~ Dae~bak~!!!”, she didn’t know what else to say. It was just so cool.

“It feels so peaceful here, Kyungsam-ah~”, she said as she went to take a closer look at the lake. “Are we gonna go swimming?”

He laughed at her question, which reminded her again how annoying he was. “What’s so funny?!”

“This is a lake Eunjung-ah. Water here isn’t flowing. It means… it’s stinky and dirty.”, he explained like she was a stupid little kid.

“Awww~”, she said disappointedly.

“Oh don’t be sad. There’s still a lot of fun things we can do here.”, he said with a smile on his face.


Eungjung can’t remember the last time she felt that happy. Kyungsam was right. Eunjung really liked the place and she had so much fun. After eating a little lunch under a tree near the lake that almost felt like a picnic, Kyungsam thought her how to climb a tree. Eunjung was so afraid of heights so she thought it was a really bad idea, but Kyungsam promised her that he wouldn’t let her fall. And again, she trusted him.

It was her first time to hear of the game called “Dragonfly Beauty Pageant”. You’d catch as much dragonfly as you can, then who ever catches the prettiest dragonfly, wins. It was a really weird game and Eunjung guessed Kyungsam just made it up.

Eunjung didn’t know what it was called, but Kyungsam also thought her how to throw a stone at the lake and make it jump in the water lots of times. She had some really hard times learning, but when she successfully threw one that made three jumps, she decided she’d mastered how to do it.

Kyungsam also showed her how to catch a frog which Eunjung thought was really disgusting. They did a lot of weird things that Eunjung never thought she would ever do. They spent the day doing a lot of little fun things that didn’t make any sense at all, but it was worth it.

They lay under a tree extremely exhausted. They kept laughing as they exchanged the corniest jokes Eunjung has ever heard. But she was happy to see him laughing more often. It went like that until they ran out of anything to say. They just laid there and rested. For the moment, she’d forgotten who he was. He didn’t seem like the guy with the water balloons anymore.

“Kumawo Kyungsam-ah~”, she said, breaking the silence.

“Huh? For what?”, he asked.

“For everything about today~ For making me have the time of my life. I really need a break from my idol life, you know?”, she told him.

He didn’t say anything. Instead, he stood up and kept his gaze at the lake. Eunjung followed him and did the same.

“Why did you do it, Kyungsam-ah?”, she began, knowing it was time to ask. “Why did you throw those balloons?”

Instead of saying anything, he took a sit and patted the ground beside him, telling Eunjung to sit beside him. So she did.

“I had a sister.”, he said taking out a photo from his wallet. “Her name’s Kyungmi. I used to hang out here with her a lot, and the cake I had when we first met was to celebrate her birthday.”

He handed Eunjung a photograph of a little girl in her school uniform. She was maybe about thirteen of fourteen years old, as Eunjung guessed. “She’s so pretty.”

“Yeah, she was.”, he kept saying everything in past tense.

“Where is she now?”, she asked though she already knew the answer.

“She loved Kpop.”, he said, instead of answering her question. “T-ara was her favorite.”
His words shocked Eunjung. And she didn’t know what to say. She just waited for him say more.

“She asked me to buy albums. We went to all of your concerts in Seoul. She knew all your names and everything about you guys.”, she could see tears forming in his eyes as he spoke. “Our parents died when she was little and she was all I had left ever since. She was a sweet little girl with her whole life ahead of her. She was the only one who kept me going.”

Eunjung could feel her own tears falling as she listened.

“One day, when I picked her up from school, I gave her a new album. She loved it so much. We were fooling around as we crossed the street. But when we reached the other side, she lost the album. I saw it lying in the middle of the road. I knew how important it was for Kyungmi. I told her to stay behind as I went back to save it. When reached it and I thought everything was gonna be alright. But some guy was driving his car too fast. My whole life flashed across my eyes and I was so scared. I thought I was gonna die… but I didn’t. I wish I did but I didn’t, Eunjung-ah~”, his tears kept falling from his eyes as Eunjung’s did as well.

“Kyungmi pushed me… She pushed me and when I looked back… when I looked back…”, Eunjung hugged him before he could finish. “Kyungmi took the hit for me Eunjung-ah~ and it was ALL YOUR FAULT!”

Kyungsam pushed Eunjung away. “IT WAS YOUR FAULT.”, he repeated. His old self was back. The guy with the playful laugh was gone and it was the guy with the water balloons that sat before her.

“If it wasn’t for that STUPID ALBUM!!!”, he cried as he covered his face with his hands.

“My little sister was lying on my arms barely keeping her breath. She died on me. She died for nothing. My life was never the same ever since, and I promised myself that I’ll make you pay for it. You took everything away from me. It was your fault.”, he continued.

“No, it wasn’t”, Eunjung’s tears suddenly stopped falling. “It wasn’t T-ara’s fault.”, she said.

“What do you mean it wasn’t?! You think it’s my fault??!! No!! It was you and that stupid album!!!”, he said, looking up at her.

“NO!!”, she screamed back. “No Kyungsam-ah~ It wasn’t anybody’s fault.”, she said as she started tearing up again. “You went back for that album because you knew how important it was for Kyungmi. And she took that hit because she loved her Oppa so much. She took that hit because you were everything to her as much as she was everything to you.”

“Don’t put the blame on me. Don’t put the blame on my girls. And don’t put the blame on you.”, she said, barely getting the words out. “If you’re gonna keep making your life miserable, wasting it on making us suffer isn’t going to make Kyungmi proud of you.
She didn’t die for nothing, she died for you. She died so you can live for her. She died so you would see the sky that she wouldn’t see anymore. She wanted you to have all the beautiful things that should’ve been hers. And I think if Kyungmi would ever die for nothing, it’s because you wasted your life doing nothing.”

Kyungsam just kept crying and didn’t say a thing. Eunjung hugged him tight and cried with him. She could feel the pain he was feeling.

“I’m sorry.”, she heard him say. “I’m so sorry…”, he repeated as he hugged Eunjung back. They stayed like that for Eunjung didn’t know how long. They cried on each other’s arms.


“Do you know what her last words was to me?”, Kyungsam said as Eunjung rested her head on his shoulder. They were on the bus back to Seoul. It was already dark. Eunjung might’ve guessed it was about 8pm now.

“What did she say?”, she replied as she felt his arms around her. She noticed he was still wearing the wristband she asked him to wear before they left for the trip.

“She said, ‘Oppa~ if you ever meet my unnies, tell them Kyungmi says Hi…’”, Eunjung felt her tears started falling again. “Kyungmi says Hi Eunjung-ah~”, he said, making Eunjung cry even more.

“Do you still hate T-ara?”,she asked him.

She heard him laugh again. “What? I always loved T-ara. Haters are fans too, you know? We’re like fans in disguise, trying to get your attention. You can’t hate someone without loving that person first.”

“So are you saying you love me?”, she asked keeping Kyungsam’s wristband in sight.

“Yeah~ something like that.”, Eunjung’s tears began falling even more, hoping that was enough for the mission.

“Stop crying.”, he whipped her tears with his fingers, and kissed her on her forehead.

“Saranghae Eunjung-ah.”

And that was it. She took back the wristband as they got back to Seoul. Keeping their promise, they made their last goodbyes before going on separate ways. She repeated everything that happened that day in her head. Over and over until she reached their dorm to find her members still awake.

As expected they welcomed her with all their questions of where she’d been all day. Shadow and their Sajangnim also gave her a couple of calls asking if she was alright. After answering all their questions and announcing that she’d finished her mission, Eunjung posted a photo of a girl on the wall of their dorm beside a calendar with all their up-coming schedules.

“Who’s that Eunjung unnie?”, Jiyeon asked as the rest of the girls gathered around to check it out.

“T-ara… This is Han Kyungmi. She says Hi…”

Notes

This chapter was inspired by:
-My relationship with my big brother..
-"Heroes of Olympus: House of Hades" by: Rick Riordan (those who've read it will know what I mean)