The Birthday I Forgot
"Hyung, now—"
I stopped mid-sentence as I stepped out of the CEO's office.
"...? Hyung?"
I'd been about to suggest we head home, but the words wouldn't come. Because Manager Ahn Jinbae, the very person I'd been about to talk to, wasn't there. He'd said he'd wait right outside — so where had he gone?
As I stood there frozen in the doorway, Chief Han looked up from the documents she was reviewing at the secretarial desk and spoke to me.
"What's wrong? Need something?"
"Do you know where Jinbae-hyung might be? He said he'd wait for me here."
"He didn't say anything to me. Try calling him."
I pulled out my phone and found that during the ten minutes I'd spent talking with the CEO, Noh Bihyuk had left me over thirty messages.
What is it with him this time.
I ignored them for now and contacted Manager Ahn Jinbae first. He replied asking if I could come to Meeting Room 8. Since I'd been there plenty of times before, I texted back that I was on my way — and just as I was about to move—
Chief Han, still busily reviewing her paperwork, said it casually, like it was nothing.
"Oh, right. Yeonjae, today's your birthday, isn't it? Happy birthday."
"...I'm sorry?"
Her words shattered the ice I'd been prodding at, snapping me back to my senses. Oh, right. It's my birthday today.
I'd been so buried in practice that it had completely slipped my mind. Honestly, back at the orphanage, it was usually the teachers who reminded me first anyway.
I thanked her in a daze and started toward the meeting room, my thoughts churning the whole way there. Hmm... I'm not exactly the most perceptive guy, but...
'They're preparing a surprise party, aren't they?'
It had been strange from the moment he sent me in alone — the man who, whenever we were out together, refused to leave my side for even a second. And come to think of it, breakfast had been seaweed soup this morning. How did I not catch that?
With pretty high odds, the moment I opened that meeting room door, party poppers were going to go off in my face.
'What do I do?'
The problem was, I had no idea what expression to make. I shouldn't react flatly, right? But forcing a fake look of shock would be its own kind of awkward.
Having no clue how to handle it, I hesitated in front of the meeting room door for a long while.
'...Whatever. I'll just act surprised.'
Before I could change my mind, I threw the door open the instant my knock landed.
The meeting room I entered, armed with what I believed was flawless preparation, was...
"Anyway, what I'm saying is— oh, Yeonjae's here."
"Hey, Yeonjae~!"
"Oh, you're here! Give us just a minute, we're almost done."
A meeting was in progress.
"So should we cap the press release requests at this level?"
"Yeah. And don't forget to contact the Hales team about getting us an exclusive. Then the targeting—"
Watching Manager Ahn Jinbae and the Team 1 staff huddled together, deep in an impassioned discussion, I slowly closed the door behind me.
Then I slipped into the pile of stacked chairs behind the table and sat down quietly.
"......"
How embarrassing.
Good grief. It was so mortifying that a hollow laugh was threatening to escape me.
'At this point I haven't just jumped the gun — I've taken out a loan on it and swallowed it whole.'
I sat meekly still, doing my best not to let it show, but my body twisted with embarrassment all the same. Was this another symptom of that so-called Celebrity Sickness?
It was pure luck that An-gae couldn't read my thoughts even now.
I was lost in a whirlwind of private thoughts when I suddenly realized how quiet the room had become.
"...?"
I looked up to find the very people who'd been hard at work just moments ago standing frozen solid. They were staring at something behind me with grave expressions, like they'd seen a ghost — and before I knew it, I'd turned around too.
"Surprise~!"
Pop! With a burst of sound, confetti rained down over my head. Another group of Team 1 staff stood there grinning, holding a cake.
While I stood there blankly stunned, the seated staff abandoned their whole "in a meeting" act and came rushing over.
"Happy birthday, Yeonjae!"
"First birthday since you joined us, huh?"
Birthday wishes rained down around me in a happy chaos. Then the lights went out.
The only thing glowing before my eyes was the candlelight atop the cake.
"Happy birthday to you~ our beloved Yeonjae—"
And then came a completely mangled rendition of the birthday song, with harmony apparently banned from the premises.
I just stared blankly, showing no reaction at all — until someone frantically slapped my back, worried the wax was dripping, and by the time I'd blown out the candle in a daze, I'd finally snapped out of it.
"Whew, that harmony was a masterpiece."
"Oh my, look how stiff he is! Did we really surprise you?"
"Nailed it. We really should've become actors ourselves."
Through the chortling staff, Manager Ahn Jinbae made his way over. I felt his hands gently brushing the confetti from my hair.
"Were you very surprised, Actor-nim?"
The moment I met his soft, smiling face, the tension at the corners of my mouth slowly melted away. My eyes drifted shut, then opened again — and in that instant, a laugh burst out of me before I could stop it.
"Haha!"
At the sound of my own laughter, the staff's eyes went round.
"Really... you startled me. Thank you, everyone."
"Never seen him laugh that freely before. Wow, I'm proud of us."
"Not exactly the reaction I was expecting, but this works too."
What reaction were you expecting? Crying, obviously. You absolute monsters. The room buzzed as the jokes flew back and forth.
When they asked if I'd actually forgotten my own birthday, I admitted Chief Han had told me only a few minutes ago — and the staff clicked their tongues.
"Honestly, Chief Han.... Can't you two get your timing right for once?"
"Ugh, what a buzzkill. Would've been so much better if he'd gone in completely oblivious."
Watching them grumble, I found I couldn't stop laughing either. I shook my head, flowers of laughter still hanging at the corners of my mouth.
"No, this is perfect. This is the best birthday party I've ever had."
"......"
As I shook off the last of my laughter with my thanks, a strange silence settled over the room. Before I could even wonder why, one of the staff put a hand on my shoulder and spoke with utter seriousness.
"Yeonjae, you are not allowed to go anywhere and laugh like that."
"Sorry?"
"Tsk, I can already see the future.... Manager. Just carry Yeonjae on your back everywhere. Someone might snatch him up."
"Agreed."
After the running jokes died down, everyone shared the cake they'd brought in. It was sweet, but genuinely delicious.
I was hard at work on my slice when Manager Ahn Jinbae appeared from somewhere with an enormous box. My eyes narrowed into a suspicious squint — don't tell me — and before me landed a box big enough to fit a small child inside.
"This is your birthday present, Actor-nim."
"Hyung, I distinctly remember telling you to stop spending money on—"
"No! Mine's in the car. This one's from your fan club."
"...I'm sorry, what?"
At Manager Ahn Jinbae's hasty cry, I went blank for a moment. On the box he'd pushed in front of my dumbly frozen form, written in neat, careful lettering, were the words: from. Lee Yeonjae Fan Club, Biyeon.
"My fans..."
"Yes. They sent it from the fan club. Go on, open it!"
Manager Ahn Jinbae finished the word I couldn't get past my lips and urged me on. With my brain still locked up, I fumbled at the wrapping paper and slowly opened the box.
Inside, it was full of shining things.
"Wow, look at the care that went into this."
"Whoa. I've wanted one of those myself."
The staff crowding behind me let out little gasps as they peered into the box. When they teased me playfully — guess you're really a superstar now — I forced the corners of my mouth up.
By then, every trace of the smile on my lips had vanished. My head was filled with nothing but a question.
'Why?'
Manager Ahn Jinbae and the staff, I could understand. I was an actor at the company they worked for.
But people who didn't know my face, didn't even know my name — why? For no reason at all?
'Am I allowed to accept something like this?'
A discomfort came wriggling up from my toes, freezing me in place. I consciously tried to smile, but it wouldn't come.
Manager Ahn Jinbae studied my expression closely, then smoothly ushered the staff out of the room.
"Did you perhaps not like the gift?"
By the time his careful question reached me, we were already the only two left in the room.
"Sorry? No, it's not that."
"Your expression went dark, that's all. You can tell me honestly."
When I looked at his calm, familiar eyes, the tangled circuits in my head stopped short with a click.
"...I was wondering if I'm really allowed to accept something like this."
Only after hearing my own voice in my ears did I realize I'd spoken without meaning to.
"Why would you think that?"
"They have no reason to give me gifts."
"A reason? Liking you, Actor-nim. That's the reason."
"But something like that—"
That can't possibly be a reason.
I consciously cut the sentence short. An inexplicable unease was blooming inside me. It felt as if the floor I stood on had turned fragile, about to crumble away at any moment.
With only my fists clenched tight, the figure in front of me let out a breath so faint I could barely tell if it was real. And then he smiled, warm and gentle.
"Actor-nim. Did you ever receive sponsorship, back when you were at the orphanage?"
"Ah... yes, I did."
"It's a bit of a stretch to call it the same, but think of this as something like that. Sponsorship is kindness given for no reason, isn't it? A good deed with no strings attached."
I blinked, then slowly nodded. I see.
Truthfully, even the sponsorship had come to me not because of who I was, but because of the people who looked after a pitiful child — but this didn't feel so different, I thought. After all, these were gifts for the actor, not for me.
Yes. Only now did it finally make sense.
"You understand now, right? There's no need to think so hard about it."
"Yes. I get it. Thank you."
When I answered with a voice noticeably clearer, the eyes that had been carefully studying my breathing slowly lifted away.
Once I'd gathered myself, I took out the beautifully wrapped gifts one by one. Someone suggested taking a commemorative photo, and arranging everything this way and that made the time fly by.
In the afternoon, I met briefly with Noh Bihyuk. The guy, grumbling that he would really, truly get angry if I ignored his messages again, tossed an envelope into my arms and was gone.
After returning home, I quietly sorted through the gifts. In one corner of my room, I lined up the presents from the fans alongside those from Noh Bihyuk and Manager Ahn Jinbae, everything in neat order.
Once everything was stacked, I tried to get to practice, but my gaze kept wandering back.
'I can't keep doing this...'
There was so much to be done, yet somehow my body wouldn't move. I stared at the gifts for who knows how long, until a knock sounded and Manager Ahn Jinbae stepped into the room.
"Actor-nim, if you're feeling up to it, would you like to write a post on the fan cafe?"
"...Sorry?"
"We'll be posting the photos we took earlier on the company's official account, but it's not the same as the person himself writing directly. If it's too much, you really don't have to."
"No, I'll do it. What do I need to do?"
I couldn't exactly take people's money and wipe my mouth like a freeloader. Writing a post was nothing.
Over the next few hours, I composed a message on the account Manager Ahn Jinbae had set up for me. Only then could I lie down in bed with a clear conscience.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
At 10 p.m. on January 15th, a new post appeared on Lee Yeonjae's fan cafe.
A post written by Lee Yeonjae himself.
Since it was an account Ahn Jinbae had arranged with the fan club president in advance, a verification badge floated beside the name, and no one doubted it. Even so, the comment section filled up with question marks.
The heated reaction showed no sign of cooling even the next day. And before long, word of this whole affair spread to other communities in the blink of an eye.