Only for the Two of Them (3)
What Seol Soyoung wanted to say had clearly reached Lee Hwayang.
Clearly enough that Hwayang's resolve was already beginning to shake.
Lee Hwayang had asked her daughter for just a little time to think.
…And so Lee Hwayang was left alone in the hospital room.
You don't have to worry so much.
She recalled Soyoung's earnest words and expression from moments ago and smiled a bitter smile.
Perhaps that had been her daughter's timid first act of rebellion. Of course, some boy had filled her daughter's head with ideas until the scale of that first rebellion had swollen to enormous proportions.
Anyway.
So she had known…
About her condition. About the choice she had made.
And for quite some time, too.
At least since before that drama was ever made.
And the only person who had known about it at that time was her husband, Seol Hanyong.
The picture was roughly coming together.
Her husband was a man who became endlessly small in front of their daughter, so he would have explained her condition to her straightforwardly, without any varnish.
"Hah… this is hard."
Lee Hwayang let out a deep sigh.
It seemed she had been treating Soyoung like too much of a child all this time.
Enduring the pain to stay by her side, trying to watch even a little more of Soyoung's growth in the little time she had left—it had all been nothing more than her own selfish thinking.
Yes. Soyoung wanted her to have the surgery as soon as possible.
She didn't want her mother to suffer any longer, and even if the surgery went wrong, as her mother's daughter she would overcome it well enough—so please don't worry so much…
But even after understanding what her daughter wanted to say, Lee Hwayang was still anxious.
Parents were like that by nature. When it came to their children, their eyes automatically spun, and they always worried. Especially when they couldn't see them, the worry doubled.
Knock, knock.
Just then.
"Ma'am. I have a message for you."
Her attending nurse knocked on the door of the hospital room Lee Hwayang was using.
Something felt off.
She had already received her painkillers… and there shouldn't have been any remaining appointments today.
"What is it?"
"Ah, someone called saying they wanted to meet you, ma'am."
Someone who wanted to meet her?
If it had been family, they came and went often enough that they would have had a free pass.
Meaning it was an outsider.
But Lee Hwayang had been refusing all meetings except with family recently.
Her mind and body were too exhausted for work-related conversations.
Especially today, after one storm had already passed.
Lee Hwayang intended to refuse flatly if it was a work-related meeting, and asked the nurse beyond the door who it was.
But…
"Well… Studio NMIX called the hospital and asked if we could put the call through to you, ma'am. They said you'd know who it is as soon as we transfer the call…"
Studio NMIX?
How could she not know—both of her daughter's works had been produced there.
She even knew some of the people there.
Na Yeongjin PD, for example. She had spoken with him several times about her daughter's filming and casting.
So it was probably him. She had heard that calls from Studio NMIX to this side were handled by PD Na Yeongjin.
"Hello, Mrs. Lee Hwayang. This is PD Na Yeongjin, whom you've spoken with before. If it's not too much of an imposition, would you be able to talk right now?"
Just as she thought…
Her prediction was spot on.
"What is this about?"
Lee Hwayang asked.
Na Yeongjin took a deep breath as if steeling himself for something major, then explained why he had called.
Today Lee Hwayang had already been greatly surprised once by hearing her daughter's true feelings.
But…
"Writer 927 has a request. He would like to arrange a meeting with you, ma'am, for a brief conversation. Would you… be willing to accept?"
This one was even more surprising.
The sun had set, and silence settled with the darkness.
Thud— thud—
Currently, Seo Eunwoo was walking down the corridor of Cheil Hospital.
To visit Mrs. Lee Hwayang's hospital room and speak with her.
On the day the final episode of Fly High aired, Seo Eunwoo had texted Seol Soyoung asking how things had gone with her mother.
She had replied:
For Seo Eunwoo, that was a somewhat unexpected answer.
Honestly, he had thought things would resolve easily.
If Soyoung conveyed her true feelings along with the message contained in episode 16's finale, he had believed Mrs. Lee Hwayang would have no choice but to raise the white flag.
Well…
He admitted it.
If she had been someone who would raise the white flag that easily, she wouldn't have chosen the extreme option of giving up surgery to spend her remaining time with her family in the first place.
Clearly, he had been a bit shortsighted on this one.
Ah, but what did that have to do with meeting Mrs. Lee Hwayang?
How could it not be related?
He had proposed the plan of making Fly High to change Mrs. Lee Hwayang's mind to Seol Soyoung, and she had trusted him and willingly invested her time. And for the filming, Soyoung had worked herself not just a little hard, but a lot.
He had started this whole thing, and the results weren't that satisfactory. But he was just going to shrug and run away?
Soyoung would probably be legally justified if she came after him with a knife.
Come to think of it, he had been too arrogant lately.
Everything he did worked out, so it was inevitable. Honestly, the dramas in this drama-world were of such low quality that he had just luckily robbed an empty house…
Anyway.
He felt responsible for this situation, and intended to resolve it somehow in his own way.
Lee Hwayang
Seo Eunwoo carefully knocked on the door of the hospital room belonging to the owner of this name.
"Come in."
With the voice of permission, he opened the door and entered the hospital room.
Lee Hwayang sat elegantly on the bed in the center of the room. And she looked at Seo Eunwoo with slightly surprised eyes.
For someone who had realized his identity, that was a distinctly mild reaction.
This was thanks to what Na Yeongjin had told her beforehand.
To Mrs. Lee Hwayang, who had agreed to the meeting, Na Yeongjin had said:
"Well… I'm telling you this in advance since the meeting has been arranged. When you first meet the writer, please don't be too shocked or suspicious. In terms of age, he is definitely the same age as your daughter Soyoung."
At first Lee Hwayang had thought What kind of nonsense is this? upon hearing those words, but upon seeing the boy who opened the door and came in, she immediately understood what Na Yeongjin meant.
Who would have imagined that the genius writer shaking up the drama industry was a middle school student the same age as her daughter…
Who would dare even imagine such a thing?
She was beginning to understand a little why the boy had adopted a mystique concept.
"I'm sorry for asking to meet so late. Given the circumstances, it's more convenient to move when there are fewer eyes around…"
Seo Eunwoo bowed his head and apologized first.
Lee Hwayang shook her head, indicating it was fine. That sort of thing wasn't important to her right now. What mattered was why this boy had come to find her even while revealing the identity he had so carefully hidden.
To that question, the boy answered with a small smile.
"I just thought you might have a lot of questions for me."
Lee Hwayang answered with a bewildered expression.
"That almost sounds like you're saying you'll answer anything I ask."
"That's right. That's the mindset I came here with. After all, Fly High is a drama for you and Soyoung."
There was no falsehood in those words.
As Seo Eunwoo said, Fly High was a drama born from inspiration drawn from Seol Soyoung and Lee Hwayang. He believed the woman before him had the right to know all the truth.
Understanding his intent, Lee Hwayang thought for a moment, then asked about something she had been curious about.
"Why did you make the dance practice making film?"
The making film that made her proud every time she saw her daughter's dancing improve, yet also made her chest feel tight.
It could have simply been for drama promotion, but if it was the boy in front of her, there was surely another purpose.
"Ah, so you watched it! I'm glad."
"…?"
Lee Hwayang tilted her head at Seo Eunwoo's satisfied expression.
"Honestly, Soyoung's dancing skills could coldly be described as the worst. But she's different now from the beginning. She's grown tremendously. You acknowledge that, right?"
Lee Hwayang nodded.
Even in her eyes, her daughter's dancing skills had grown brilliantly. As a mother it was a bit embarrassing, but she hadn't expected anything from the dancing side at all, after all.
"Watching Soyoung's dancing gradually improve made me feel proud somehow too. Looking at the comment reactions, it doesn't seem like I'm the only one who felt that way…"
Seo Eunwoo looked at Lee Hwayang with a meaningful smile.
If even strangers felt that much pride, Mrs. Lee Hwayang as Seol Soyoung's mother would feel even more, not less.
And so…
"It might be a bit cruel to think this way, but I wanted to introduce you to the emotion called regret, ma'am."
The moment she witnessed with her own two eyes her daughter overcoming her weakness and achieving brilliant growth, she would have thought this:
As a mother, she wanted to stay by Soyoung's side and watch her keep moving forward.
Not just for a moment, but continuously.
The reason her chest felt tight was because she herself had given up that precious right.
"Well… Soyoung is so good at everything that it might be a bit hard to find, but she probably has immature points besides dancing. Discovering and overcoming those together with you might have its own meaning."
The boy said this with an innocent face.
But to Lee Hwayang right now, those words were terrifying.
Because that was the future she would have to give up if she chose not to have the surgery.
She opened her mouth with a sad expression.
"But I'm anxious. If the surgery goes wrong and I suddenly face death, it will surely leave Soyoung with an enormous wound. Even if Soyoung says not to worry, that's just something she said before experiencing the wound."
To some extent, she was right.
Even Seol Soyoung herself couldn't be certain about this.
If the surgery failed, no one could guarantee how great the shock would be.
However…
"No."
Seo Eunwoo strongly denied Lee Hwayang's words.
Lee Hwayang couldn't understand the boy's denial.
So she tried to ask why.
"Why…"
But when her eyes naturally met the boy's, Lee Hwayang couldn't bring herself to open her mouth.
Because those eyes held not a shred of falsehood—only pure conviction.
Seo Eunwoo firmly believed.
That she…
"If it's Soyoung, she will definitely overcome that wound."