“Ex-convict???????? Seriously???!!! No way, Shadow! NO WAY!!!”, Hyomin yelled at Shadow as he gave Hyomin her mission card. Good thing their Sajangnim wasn’t there so she can just make fun of Shadow and boss him around all she wants. “Change it…”
“That’s not how it works…”, he simply replied.
“Well, make it work like that! C’mon Shadow~ You don’t want Jiyeonie to know our little secret, do you?”, Hyomin tried her best not to laugh at Shadow’s priceless expression on his face. She is so… gonna have the best guy ever for her mission.
“Aisshhh… you blackmailing brat!”, he yelled at her annoyingly. “Here!”, he said throwing her a bunch of mission cards.
Hyomin’s eyes glittered as she started going through all of it.
“Hmmm… let’s see… divorced guy? No… Sasaeng fan? No… another company’s CEO??? Oh God, No! Shadow… I can see why my members had a hard time doing their missions… Jiyeon was right! These guys are all defective.”, she complained to Shadow as she kept on going through a lot of mission cards for impossible guys.
“Look at this! A doctor with an IQ higher than Einstein’s… Anti-social guy… A guy with a lot of juvenile records… A Vice President of one of the biggest companies in Kor- Oh my… WHAT A HOT FELLOW! I want this one!”, Hyomin raised a mission card with a guy’s very handsome and hot face printed on it.
“Whatever… just go… get out of my sight…!”, Shadow shooed her out of the office.

“Lalalalala-lalalalal~lalala~LALALA!!!”, Hyomin kept on singing, going around their dorm, making sure everyone had a good long look at her guy. “I’m going on a mission~~!!! Hyomin’s going on a mission~~!!!”, she kept on singing over and over.
“Let me see that!”, Qri grabbed the mission card from her hand.
“Ya! Unnie~ that’s mine~……”, she tried to get it back but Qri was too good.
“Na~~”, she said after having a long look at Hyomin’s guy. “No way that’s a normal person… must be an anti-social guy…”
“What??? NO!”, Hyomin tried to protest. “Impossible. He can’t be like that, No! He’s not like that.”, she thought to herself.
“Uhhhmmmm… how ‘bout a crazy guy that would take you on top of the church and ring the bell yelling ‘THE SKY IS FALLING~~!!!!!’”, Jiyeon suggested.
“Does he look like chicken little to you?”, Hyomin said. “C’mon look at that face… What can be more perfect?”
“I think he’s a single father…”, Eunjung went on.
“Yeah~ Yeah~ That’s probably it…”, Soyeon agreed.
“C’mon guys… Stop that! Can’t I get a little support here?”, Hyomin pleaded.
“Don’t worry Hyomin-ah~ Unnie supports you… Here, I made some soup for you… So you’ll have a good luck on your mission.”, the whole room was surprised as their oldest unnie entered the room with a hot bowl of soup.
For the last weeks, Boram hasn’t been like… you know… existing. She always stared at nothingness and was always weird, and bitter, and all. But today, it’s their old cheerful unnie that stood in front of them. Hyomin felt touched as she gulped up all the soup to its last drop.
“Delicious! Kumawo unnie~”, she hugged Boram before leaving for her fist day of mission.

Boram couldn’t help not to grin as soon as Hyomin was gone. “Traffic light, eh? Let’s see what Mr. Vice President would think of you…”
“Uhhh… unnie? What was in that soup?”, Jiyeon asked her.
“A LOT of STUFF~……”, Boram said before laughing as the rest of T-ara did so too.

Kang Jaehyung is in a dark place, a place that nobody knows about. He is in a place that no regular person gets to see, but he does. He doesn’t like being there, but it’s the only place he knows. It’s the only one he sees for it’s the only place he’s ever been. Will he stay there forever, he doesn’t know.
It used to be a really scary place for Jaehyung, but now he’s already gotten used to it. Growing up, he knew nothing and did nothing but to roam around there. He thought that maybe someday, he’d get to see something new, but nothing ever came.
He grew up playing with pens instead of toy cars. He spent his childhood reading textbooks instead of comics. He got used to going on stage every year to receive a medal, adding it up to the honors and glory he gives to his family. His life is a like a project that’s already planned from the very beginning to the end. He was trapped.
He couldn’t remember the time when he tried to struggle out of that dark scary place. Somehow it became his comfort zone. It was where he played, where he learned, where he lived his life. For some reason, he began to like it, or maybe he just got tired of hating it.
And now, he’s gone too far and there can never be a way out for him. He was lost in the world where nothing existed except for that tall building with lots of windows and lots of people coming around with their suits on, going up and down the elevator, somehow never having a break. He’s part of that world now. And he’ll be taking over it sooner or later, the moment he’s been preparing himself for all his life, running the Kang Company.
“Mr. Kang, sir… the President wants to have a word with you.”, Jaehyung’s secretary snapped him out.
“Okay.”, he simply replied.
Entering the President’s office, Jaehyung bowed before approaching the man behind the desk. “Wae-yo Apeoji?”
“Oh! You’re here! I’ve been waiting for you. Tomorrow is the first day of the ‘Junior Manager Private Class Project’ we’ve been working on all month, you know that don’t you?”, his father asked.
“Yes. It’s the stupidest idea this company has ever come up with.”, Jaehyung’s been it saying since the day his father brought up the topic to all the employees. “You know I’ve always been against that, Apeoji.”
“Yes… yes, I do know that. But… it is already done. We already made a raffle, and we already have winners. You will be meeting your student tomorrow, and you don’t have a choice.”, Jaehyung hated it whenever he loses his power to stand for what he thinks is right and what he thinks is not. He got his father for a boss, and it’s not the easiest thing.
“This is non-sense… I got a lot of paper works to do and a lot of projects to plan, projects with more sense to it! And I do not have time for these… stupid things!”, still… Jaehyung didn’t get why they had to do the stupid project, and why he had to be part of it.
Every person who will spend more than 100000won buying products from their supermarket gets to be part of the raffle, a raffle to have a 10-day private management class with the company’s employees. And Jaehyung happens to be part of it which means he has to teach one of the ‘winners’ too. And that does not make sense to him. Of course, it caused the company to have a better profit this period, but why Jaehyung? He’s the Vice President and he had a lot of things to do.
“Oh, son… Look at yourself! When was the last time you stared at that man in the mirror straight into his eyes, huh? ”, he heard his father say. “You’re lost… you’re trapped… you have to get out of there. The world is a big place and you have to get out and see it! Look at scenes outside even just once. You can be the most successful young man in the world but it’s not worth wasting your life son, believe me. I know!”
“Is that why you’re not letting me take over this company? Because I’m smart and I’m hard working and I’m good at what I do? Because that doesn’t make sense at all!”, he began to raise his voice. “If Eomeoni was alive, she would’ve let me take over this business. It was her dream for me, and this is what I’ve been working hard for all my life!”
“Being smart… and being hard working… and even being the greatest at what you do, will never be enough!”, his father replied in the same tone as his. “Your mother’s dream for you is to be a good man! And if she was alive, she would want her son to have a life!”
“This IS my life!!! And you’re not letting me have it!”, that was the last words that left Jaehyung mouth before leaving the room, slamming the door behind him.

Jaehyung came in to the company the next day, wearing his typical suit, trying to have a typical morning.
“BATH ROOOOOOMM!!!!!!! BATH ROOM!!! BATH ROOM!!!!”, he heard a woman yelling not too far from where he was.
He started towards the screaming lady who seemed to be getting called by nature.
“Are you okay, miss?”, he asked her.
She looked up at him. “Bathroom~”, she cried.
“Bathroom? Oh~ uhhh…… over there. Turn right, first door on your left.”, he said giving her directions to the nearest comfort room.
The lady rushed towards it, letting out some gas on Jaehyung’s face before leaving.

FLASHBACK~

“What? But I didn’t sign up for a raffle~”, Hyomin said to Shadow in her confusion.
“Yeah~ But Kim Ghiedo did~”, Shadow told her.
“Kim-who?????”, Hyomin asked even more confused.
“Kim Ghiedo… he’s one of the winners in the raffle and I already bargained with him. He agreed to let you have his spot for the Junior Manager class thing.”, Hyomin tried to absorb Shadow’s explanation.
“Okay~ but… what does he get in return?”, she asked.
“Well… I told him that instead of having a 10-day Junior Manager Private Class, he can just spend those 10 days living with T-ara!”, Shadow announced.
“What???!! Omo~ You’re soooo on everybody’s Death Note right now! You’re really trying to get yourself killed! Oh well… As long as it would do good for my mission then fine… when do I start this class?”, she said not thinking of what the girls would say about the situation.
“Today… Kang Jaehyung would be waiting for you at Kang Company right now.”, Hyomin got all exited when Shadow said it.
After the small meeting with Shadow, Hyomin thought everything was going to be fine. She totally forgot about the soup Boram gave her, until her stomach started to ache. She reached the company before everything got worse. Nature was definitely calling her now, and she was yelling the word ‘BATHROOM’ all over the lobby.
Thankfully some guy gave her directions to where the comfort room was. Too bad… it looked like the guy was Kang Jaehyung. “Boram unnie~ Why does it have to be like this~~~”, she thought as she got rid of the soup out of her digestive system.

END OF FLASHBACK~

“Look at me Han Biseo…”, Jaehyung said to his secretary, Han Hyungwoon, as they waited for his ‘student’ in the lobby. “Do you seriously think that I look like a guy who would agree to do something this… stupid?”
“Mr. Kang… it’s the President’s order… there’s nothing we can do. And it’s for your own good too, sir.”, his secretary replied.
“Ya, Han Hyungwoon! Whose side are you really on, huh?!”, Han Hyungwoon was the closest Jaehyung had to a friend.
“Yours, sir… but-”, he was cut off by something Jaehyung doesn’t know what. “She’s here sir…”, he continued, gazing behind Jaehyung.
“Who?”, he asked, turning around.
“Park Hyomin, your student.”, he said as a girl walked toward them.
“Annyeonghaseyo~ Park Hyomin-imnida…”, she introduced herself “Sorry… I’m late.”
“You??!! Miss Bathroom? You’re my student?!”, it was her, the girl he met earlier, the one who farted on his face.
“Uhhh~ Kinda……”, she said.
“Sir, this is Park Hyomin. She’s one of the winners and she’s the one assigned to you.”, Han Biseo told him. “She’s an idol…”, he whispered.
“A WHAT?”, Jaehyung didn’t know what his secretary was talking about.
“She’s a singer, sir. A celebrity… member of the popular girl group T-ara…”, he explained to him.
“Seriously? Well, whatever…”, Jaehyung simply said, not caring even if the girl was a Hollywood star. “Here! First things first…”, he went on throwing Miss Bathroom some books. “Read the first chapters of those books… That’s what you’ll do today. We start the lessons tomorrow.”

Kang Jaehyung just walked away with his secretary following behind him after giving Hyomin a bunch of books. She had to carry them all. Though she was still embarrassed, she was thankful of him for only mentioning the bathroom thing once.
She can’t imagine what kind of conversation they might’ve had if they talked about it more. Kang Jaehyung is HOT, Hyomin can’t deny that. His handsome face and tall, manly structure was all she thought of.
Before Hyomin went back to their dorm, she decided to conduct some survey about Han Jaehyung. She would need to know as much as possible about the guy if she wants to make him fall for her, right? Having a small talk with a lot of employees at the Kang Company, Hyomin was ready to call it a day.
She opened the door to find their dorm in chaos. Shadow was on the floor and her members were beating him up with pillows. Hyomin panicked and didn’t know what to do. She somehow had the urge to stop them, but she ended up grabbing her own pillow to join the party.
“Ouch! Ouch! Hey! Hey Aww! That hurt! Aww! Okay, stop it! STOP IT!!!!”, Shadow struggled to get on his feet. “Stop it, okay? I’m sorry! Hyomin needed it, okay? I had to do it for her mission.”
“Hey!”, he yelled at Hyomin when he saw her holding a pillow too. “You hit me?!”
“Well…… The girls looked like they were having fun and I didn’t know what to do so… I just joined in.”, she explained as she picked up the book Kang Jaehyung gave her. “Why are you getting beaten up, anyway?”
“Didn’t you say it yourself? I’m now on everybody’s death note.”, Shadow said before the door burst open.
“Annyeonghaseyo! I’m Kim Ghiedo~ I’ll be living with you for 10 days~ I hope to have a good relationship with you all!”, a guy with pale skin announced as he entered their dorm.
“Omo~ Ghiedo-ya… You’re here! Okay, I’m gonna get going now, play nice girls… Bye!”, Shadow left even before any of them could protest. Kim Ghiedo looked harmless enough to let him stay with them for 10 days, but still, what worried Hyomin is how on earth she’s gonna read all these books.
She went straight to their room ignoring everybody else. She sat in front of her desk and started reading the first book, the thinnest one. “Business Organization and Management”, it says in the front. “Hmmm… sounds interesting enough…”, she thought trying to motivate herself.
Hyomin hated studying. She always did and still does. But what choice does she have? Kang Jaehyung got the body, the face, the brains, the money, the power, and the aura… the guy’s basically perfect.
She was trying to understand the definition of business when Jiyeon came in. “What’s that?”, she asked, peeking at what Hyomin’s reading.
“Jiyeon-ah~ Don’t bother me. Just go check if Namhae’s written a new article, okay?”, she said even before the maknae could say a word.
The night went by like that. Jiyeon spent her time in front of her laptop like most of the time ‘till she fell asleep.
Hyomin just finished Chapter one of “Principles of Marketing” this time, without comprehension. She made her way to her bed and fell asleep in an instant.

Jaehyung just finished printing out copies of the new project he came up with, something that can raise their profit for the next period. It was almost midnight but Jaehyung’s already used to working overtime. He’s been doing it since forever. Nothing was more important to Jaehyung than his business.
He felt proud as he browsed his new project. “Here’s something with more sense to it, unlike that stupid Management Class blah blah blah…”, he thought. Jaehyung didn’t understand why he couldn’t get the stupid project out of his head, both the project and that girl… Miss Bathroom. He forgot her name.
He can’t believe she’s a celebrity. What kind of celebrity would fart on people’s face? Only her kind, Jaehyung guessed. Getting occupied by the thought of the girl, Jaehyung decided to accept the fact that he had to do the project and that he’s a teacher now. He brought out a pen and a paper to jot some pop questions he’ll ask Miss Bathroom Celebrity tomorrow. “This is gonna be fun…”, he thought.

“What was your name again?”, Jaehyung asked the girl that sat on his car’s passenger seat.
“Park Hyomin…”, she said. Jaehyung felt bad for forgetting her name. But this time, he made sure that he’ll remember it.
“Okay, Hyomin… Tell me what you’ve learned yesterday. On the books I gave you, I mean.”, he began his pop quiz.
“Uhh… Uhmm… Business… and Economics… and…”, she said with her eyes closed, like she memorized it.
“No… No… I didn’t mean like that.”, Jaehyung said, interrupting her.
Jaehyung spent his life studying and rule number one if you want to learn, is not to stock everything in your head. Things that you put in your head are the things that you won’t need someday.
“Don’t memorize it…”, he said. “You have to know it. You have to believe in it and trust in it like all of it came from you.”, it was true. It was how Jaehyung studied. He didn’t take it as knowledge but as his life, extension of his whole being. “You have to live it. That way, you won’t have to remember it. Because when you know it, believe it, and live it, there’s no way you’ll ever forget it. That, Hyomin, is the true way of learning.”
“Wow… is that why you’re so smart?”, Jaehyung’s heard that a lot, but this time, he felt pleased when this girl complemented his knowledge.
“Smart? Why’d you say so?”, he asked, meeting her eyes. He immediately looked away, pretending to focus on the road. It was the first time he looked at her straight in the eyes. It was the only time he noticed how beautiful she was. Now he had no doubt why she became a celebrity.
“Everyone in your company says so. And they said you’re the youngest one to be positioned as Vice President and they said your next in line to handle the company.”, she explained.
“You talked to my people?”, he didn’t expect that one. Somehow, he felt unease. He knew he didn’t have a very good image with the employees and he didn’t want make a bad first impression. “What else did they say?”
“Stuff…”, she simply replied, which did not answer anything at all. So Jaehyung just decided to drop it.
“Okay… Let’s try again, okay? This time, I’m gonna use my approach.”, he said dropping the ‘school concept approach’. “Which one of the books did you like?”
“Oh… you mean the one that didn’t succeed to put me to sleep?”, she said, smiling at him.
Jaehyung shrugged a little. “Yeah… that one.”, Jaehyung used to hate being around people who weren’t like him. He didn’t want to hang around those who think books are boring and business is a joke. But today, he admits it. School was boring and tiring… but reaching for his dream wasn’t. Jaehyung realized that he’s been looking at it in a wrong way. He didn’t like the road he took, he liked where he was going.
“That would be… ‘Human Behavior in Organization’… I was thinking about you while I was reading it…”, she answered taking out the book.
“Me? Why me?”, he asked though he already knew the answer.
“Those people from yesterday… they said a lot of bad thing about you. You read this book too, didn’t you? You’re smart so I know that you learned from it too. So it doesn’t make sense to me at all why they said you treat your employees so harshly.”, again, Jaehyung’s heard of it a lot of times, but hearing it from this girl, he hated himself because he knows it’s true. He’s not a very nice person.
“And also… according to this book”, she said taking out a different book. “It says, one of the Management Principles is Esprit de Corps. It’s about building harmony with your employees and teamwork and sense of unity, and all. You’re a good manager… you apply this, don’t you?”, she said meeting his eyes.
He felt bad about himself. He can’t deny that he’s not that kind of manager. “Well… maybe Esprit de Corps isn’t my thing. Maybe building harmony isn’t my way of doing things. You know… I’ve watched a movie before. It was about a football team. They had a new coach. And the new coach asked the best player of the team how far can he crawl on the field with a light person on his back.”
Jaehyung glanced at his student as he spoke, making sure that she’s listening. “And the player said he can go up to seventy. Then the coach said that he should prove it. He put a blindfold on the player and he asked another player to get on his back. The best player had a hard time crawling since he hasn’t done it with that much weight on him. But while he was crawling, the coach kept on yelling at him. “Is that the best you can do?”, “You’re already tired?”, “You’re so weak!”, “C’mon… can’t you do better than this?!”, the player hated the coach. He wanted to prove himself so he kept on moving even when his whole body was in pain. He didn’t stop until his coach told him to. And when he took his blind fold off… Do you know what he saw Hyomin-ah?”
“What?”, she asked anticipating the answer.
“He saw himself at the end of the field with his team mates cheering for him all the way from the other side. Even he himself couldn’t believe what he has done. You see Hyomin-ah… People really don’t know how far they can really go on, unless someone pushes them off the edge. And I guess that’s what I’m trying to do.”, Jaehyung said, meaning it all. “I’m trying to show my people what they’re really capable of.”

The trip went on like that with Jaehyung talking and his student beside him listening until they arrived at the meeting place. He brought his student on a field lesson on their very first day. He warned her not to do anything stupid because he’s having a meeting with a VIP client. And he was glad that she was behaved throughout the meeting.
A few days went by, and they spent it all like that. Jaehyung had a lot of things to do so he just brought his student along with him, teaching her random stuff from time to time. Before he knew it, they were already halfway their 10-day class.

They were in his car again going on another meeting and today they’re discussing about Economics. Hyomin didn’t get tired of it. Lessons with Kang Jaehyung felt more like her rest from all her schedules. They’ve been promoting a lot lately, and getting to spend time with her teacher gives her strength.
She’s learned a lot from him, so far. Not just about business, but also about things in life. Kang Jaehyung didn’t seem like a man who would know a lot about those things but hearing his words of wisdom, Hyomin realized that the world isn’t just how she sees it. She began to see things the way Jaehyung does. He’s made a great influence on her.
“Scarcity is the imbalance between our desires and the means of satisfying those desires. You see… Everything in the world is limited. It only last for so long, but one way or another, someday… It’ll run out. And because everything is limited, not all our wants can be satisfied.”, she listened to him as he spoke while driving like she always did. She kept thinking of how cool he is. “That is why there’s something we call ‘opportunity cost’. What is opportunity cost?”
His question snapped Hyomin back to the real world. “Uhh… Opportunity cost is… uhmmm…”, actually she didn’t know what it was. She was sure she’s read about it somewhere, but sadly it didn’t sink in.
“You didn’t do your homework again, did you? Page 5… ‘Principles of Economics’… Read it out loud.”, he commanded her.
Hyomin turned the book on page 5 to find the definition of the term. “Opportunity cost is the cost of choosing the use resources for one purpose measured by the sacrifice of the next best alternative for using those resources.”, Hyomin didn’t understand a word.
As if reading her mind, Jaehyung explained it to her. “It means… when you want to have more of a good or service, you are actually sacrificing something in exchange. For example… when you have free time, what do you do?”
“Sleep… because I lack in sleep most of the time.”, she answered being sincere about it.
“Yeah… but, of you didn’t sleep, what could you have done during your free time?”, he asked.
“I would’ve gone shopping.”, she answered, again, meaning it.
“Exactly! Now… During your free time, you can either sleep or go shopping. You decided to sleep. But at the same time, you are sacrificing the opportunity to go shopping. Get it? Going shopping is your opportunity cost when you sleep during your free time.”, he finished.
“Oh… so it’s like… if I wasn’t an idol, I would’ve been a photographer or a designer. And that’s the opportunity cost of me being an idol?”, she said realizing the whole concept of it.
“Yeah… that’s right! Very good…”, he praised her with a smile. She loved it when he smiles. It somehow removes the stress off of his face.
“How ‘bout you…?”, she asked him, being curious about it all this time. “What was your opportunity cost?”
“What do you mean?”, he asked.
“I mean… what would you have been if you weren’t what you are now?”, Hyomin’s been wondering about it.
“Nothing… What I am is the only thing that I wanted to be. This was the only choice for me. It never cost me any other opportunity.”, he answered but Hyomin doubted it.
“That can’t be true. According to the concept of opportunity cost, there has to be at least something…”, she said.
“Not in my case…”, he simply said before his phone rang.
“They postponed the meeting.”, he announced after a phone conversation with, Hyomin would guess, his secretary.
“Really? Good… Can I borrow this day?”, she asked him.
“What?”, he asked, obviously confused.
“I said… Can I borrow this day… There are so many of things you haven’t seen, you know? And you’re missing a lot. Today I wanna be you’re teacher.”, she told him.
“What?”, he said again.
“Just trust me! Do you trust me?”, she asked him.
“Yeah?”, he answered, not being so sure about it.
“Okay… first thing first. Wear this.”, she threw him the wristband as he stopped the car.
He tried it on and it pleased Hyomin. “I can’t wear this… This isn’t my style… Look! It doesn’t go well with my suit!”
“Exactly… So turn the car around and we’ll get you something that would go well with it.”, Hyomin winked at him.

“I knew Bad-boy style would look good on you!”, Hyomin said when she dressed Jaehyung up with a black leather jacket with a white sleeveless shirt inside. She paired it with a pair of jeans and a pair of shoes that Jaehyung has never worn before. He’s never worn any of those before or anything close to it.
He told her a lot of times that it wasn’t his style, but she kept insisting. They shopped for the whole morning. Jaehyung never knew time could pass by so slowly. They went from store to store buying stuff that Jaehyung never planned on buying. Hyomin made him carry all the shopping bags.
But it’s not like he had a choice. No, he does have a choice. But he chose to just go along with what she wants to do or where she wants to go. He thought that maybe those employees of his company were right. Maybe his dad was right. Maybe this girl is right. Maybe Jaehyung really needed to get outside. Maybe he did have to at least… try.
Spending time with Hyomin, doing fun things that he never thought was fun, getting away from his life at the office, Jaehyung started to remember. He remembered those times when he was a kid… when his mom made him study all day and when he’s already tired of it, he’d whine. And his mom will get mad at him. And when his mom’s not around, his dad would take him out and they’ll have a lot of fun. They went to malls, they played on arcade rooms. They’ve even gone fishing. But all of those were buried in his memory for quite some time now. And this girl, reminded him of it all.
This girl with him reminded her how to breathe the polluted air, how to run bare-foot, she reminded him how to pick the flowers or step on the grass even if the sign said not to do so. She was the different thing that he’s been waiting for to pull him out of the dark scary place he’s always been.
After lunch, they went back to Kang Company. But this time, Jaehyung didn’t come there to work or to teach his student. He came there to bring his friend to the only place he gets to see the world.

Hyomin’s never been to the rooftop of Kang Company. It was high enough to see the view of Seoul. It felt nice being there. Though the heights scared her a bit, Jaehyung’s presence made her feel at ease.
Jaehyung held an umbrella over their heads as they gazed at the view.
“Kumawo~”, he thanked her.
“I was thinking of saying ‘for what?’ but… Your Welcome!”, she beamed at him.
“People told me countless of times that I should get a life. I didn’t know what they meant. All this time, I thought I knew everything, like I had the highest way of living a person can ever have. But today, I think I knew exactly what they meant.”, she listened to him as he talked. “The life I lived today was a life I always wanted to have, but never got to.”
“But you had it today…”, she said.
“And I’m still having it now…”, he said meeting her eyes. He used to look away immediately every time something like that happens. But to Hyomin’s surprise, this time, he didn’t. He just looked at her, and she just looked back at him.
She always knew how handsome he is, how perfectly his every feature match each other.
“I should get back to work now, right? I’ve been such a bad boy today…”, he said still now taking his eyes off of hers.
“Yeah… you have. But what’s the use of cleaning up?”, she replied.
He laughed before meeting her eyes again. “I don’t have to clean up? I can just do as many bad things as I want, and no one would care? And nothing people would say will ever matter?”
She taught of his words as he said it all. Being an idol, ever since she debuted, in Hyomin’s life, all that mattered was what people would say. And maybe, she thought, maybe Jaehyung’s right. Why would it matter? It’s her life. She can do whatever she wants with it. “Yeah…”
“So I can do something really bad?”, he said getting closer to her.
“Even if it’s the worst thing… yes.”, she told him.
Hyomin’s eyed widened as she felt Kang Jaehyung’s lips against hers. It was the warmth that she knew she’s been longing for. She would’ve closed her eyes. She would’ve popped her foot. She would’ve kissed back. But reality is reality… When you’re an idol, you don’t own your life. The moment you stood on that stage on your debut day, you’ve already sold yourself and everything you’ll ever be. All your dreams, desires, and wants won’t matter anymore. It’s Park Sunyoung’s life that she owned. Park Hyomin’s, this isn’t hers.
Hyomin pulled back and stared at the guy in front of her for a second and immediately turned and started walking away. With her eyes all teary and her heart pumping so fast, she made herself as far away from Kang Jaehyung as possible. She kept walking until she felt his arms around her, the first time she felt his body against hers. She would’ve liked it. Sunyoung would’ve liked it. But Hyomin… Hyomin’s not even allowed to feel it.
“Do you love me?”, she asked him frankly, still not turning to face him. She was scared. She knew where this was all going. She knows how weak she is. She can’t… She can’t make Boram’s mistake. She wouldn’t know what to do if it happens to her.
“Love?”, he shrugged before continuing. “You’re asking me that so soon…”
“Just say it!”, she said finally turning around. “Just say it… please.”
Hyomin waited and waited for what felt like years to her. She waited for Kang Jaehyung to answer. But he never spoke a thing. Her eyes closed when Jaehyung hugged her again. She wanted to push him away. But she couldn’t find the strength to. Her tears fell as she hugged him back.
“I care for you… I like it when I’m with you… I’m happy when you’re around… I wanted to teach you because I wanted to show you what I see. I wanted you to understand me. This girl in my arms…”, he said. “This girl is the only one I’ve ever let into my life. I wanted this girl to have what I have. And I want her to do the same for me. Do I love her? You tell me… You go tell me if I love you Park Sunyoung…”
Her whole body froze at the moment. She tightened her hug slowly… She wanted to stay like that. “No…”, she cried out. “You don’t love me… okay? Remember that okay?”, she never wanted him to say otherwise. For one moment, she was honest with herself. She was honest that Park Hyomin is still Park Sunyoung. Whatever this guy feels for her, she honestly admits that Park Hyomin and Park Sunyoung feel the same way towards him.
Days passed and both of them were back to their old routine. Hyomin would come to Kang Company for management lessons with Kang Jaehyung. Then, she would do her schedules afterwards. Jaehyung would teach her and he’d work like he always does afterwards. They never mentioned anything about the moment they shared at the rooftop and just kept everything professional.

On the ninth day of their class, Hyomin approached him after their lesson.
“Jaehyung-ah~…”, he heard her call him.
It took him a moment before responding. She never called him by his first name since the rooftop incident. “Huh?”, he said facing her.
“Tomorrow night’s our goodbye stage for the song we’ve been promoting…”, she said.
“Goodbye stage?”, he asked though knew exactly what it was.
“Yeah, you know… the last time we’ll promote it…”, she said not meeting his eyes. “And I just thought that maybe… maybe you can… you know… be there.”
Hyomin’s invitation caught Jaehyung by surprise. At first he didn’t know if she really wanted him to come. But with the thought that it’ll be their last day tomorrow, he felt like he had to see her for as long as he could.
“Sure… I’ll be there.”, he finally said.
“Promise?”, she asked. For the first time since they left the rooftop, her eyes met his.
“Promise.”, he said making a pinky swear with her.
The next day, Jaehyung and Hyomin had their last lesson. Just the way Jaehyung wanted their last day to be, they spent it treating each other like the way they did on that day they went on shopping. They called each other by their first names like they were high school chingus. They laughed and joked around dropping their professional treatment toward each other.
After the lesson, they didn’t bid each other goodbyes. Instead, they said “See you later.”, knowing that they’ll still see each on T-ara’s goodbye stage.
On his way to watch Hyomin perform for the first time, Jaehyung couldn’t stop the butterflies going crazy in his stomach. He couldn’t keep his hands from sweating with nervousness. He was talking by himself saying “Calm down Jaehyung-ah~”. He did his best to convince himself self that everything will go fine.
Out of the blue, his phone rang. Han Biseo’s calling. “Sir…”, he heard his secretary’s voice from the other line. “Remember that VIP client that postponed the meeting the other day? He’s ready to meet with you now… He said, another company already gave him an offer, but he wants to give you a chance… Sir, you have to come now.”
Jaehyung stopped the car at Han Biseo’s news. He found himself lost for words. He didn’t know what to do and what to say. And he didn’t want to think about it. But that client… it’s an opportunity he can’t miss. Jaehyung can’t remember the last time he stood in front of crossroads. He remembered the concept of opportunity cost… This time… this time whatever his decision may be, it’ll cost him something.
Jaehyung hung up the phone leaving Han Biseo with no answer. He stared at nothingness thinking of that girl he’s about to let go. Jaehyung already know where both roads would end. He knows that no matter which way he goes, no matter what he chooses, he will, and he will let go of Park Hyomin. Someday, one way or another, she will just be an opportunity cost that he had to let go.
Deciding, he started his car.

“Hyomin-ah! Get ready we’re up next!”, Eunjung called out to her.
“Okay… I’ll be there…”, she said, still scanning the crowd for Jaehyung.
“Where are you~? We’re up next…”, she sent him a text message for like the hundredth time. She already tried to call him but he won’t answer the phone.
She couldn’t understand why he’s not there yet. She told him the right time and Kang Jaehyung’s never late. She arrived at the backstage just in time.
Hyomin heard their name being called as the music started. She’s been performing the same song over and over. But this time, without Jaehyung in the crowd, she felt the song. She felt its message. Her tears started to form. They’ve performed half way and she never stopped scanning the crowd for a guy in a suit. But there just wasn’t any.
“Jaehyung-ah~ not like this please… failed or not, I don’t care about the mission. Please… just not like this. Not without goodbye… please.”, she begged him in her thoughts as tears finally fell on her cheeks. The song was over.
Hyomin went straight to their waiting room after the performance, avoiding her members. They didn’t want them to see her like that. She wiped the tear off of her face and tried her best to pull herself together.
“Hyomin-ssi…”, one of their staffs called her.
“Ne?”, she said, hiding her emotions.
“A guy came to me telling me to give this to you. I thought it was a sasaeng fan but he said he knew you personally.”, the staff said, handing her a letter and the wristband.
It was addressed to her. And without doubt, Hyomin knew that’s Jaehyung’s hand-writing. She’s seen it hundreds of times and she can’t be wrong. “Maybe you did leave a goodbye after all…”, she thought, opening the piece of paper on her hands.

Notes