Perhaps I Underestimated It Too Much
I might have thought too lightly of it.
A park located about a twenty-minute walk from the KBB broadcasting station.
On one of the benches there, a girl was sitting.
A girl whose face would let anyone in Korea instantly recognize her identity right now.
......Baek Yerin.
For some reason, she was sitting in that very spot.
Fortunately she hadn’t changed into her stage outfit yet, and the way she kept her head bowed low had kept her from being recognized.
Well… at least so far.
There was no reason for Baek Yerin to take such a risk by being here.
If she returned to the set right now, the whole thing might still blow over as a minor mishap.
“What should I do…”
Yet even though she knew that, Baek Yerin couldn’t make herself go back.
She knew she had to return, but her feet simply refused to move.
Was something physically wrong with her body? In a sense that was only half true.
Ever since earlier her chest had felt tight, her hands wouldn’t stop trembling, and she couldn’t take a single step…
All of it came entirely from her heart.
Something that had taken root in a corner of Baek Yerin’s mind even before her debut.
It had slowly grown larger until now, when it finally gripped her ankles and held her in place.
And that something was…
Burden… isn’t it.
Baek Yerin carried the weight of countless people’s expectations on her shoulders.
It was no exaggeration to say those expectations had already far surpassed a certain level.
People had begun watching her every move and action, and even fellow celebrities treated her as special, calling her the “genius singer.”
Even so, Baek Yerin had lived up to those expectations perfectly until now.
She had continued to show the kind of performance worthy of the title “genius singer,” and in response to the endless expectations pouring toward her she had made a firm resolution.
I won’t let them down. No matter what, I will succeed.
But that very resolution might have become a shackle instead.
No matter how much of a genius someone was, the obsession that they must succeed could only become a burden.
Besides, Baek Yerin was sixteen years old and still a middle-school student.
She was too young to carry and endure all of it alone.
In truth, even this much might have been manageable.
Because there was a specific person at the root of the burden Baek Yerin felt now.
Baek Yerin slowly closed her eyes.
Even now, if she closed her eyes, that person’s voice came to her clearly…
“Found you.”
“?”
For a moment Baek Yerin doubted her own ears.
Because the voice had sounded so vivid it went beyond a memory playing in her head. It was his voice.
Telling herself there was no way, Baek Yerin slowly lifted her head.
And their eyes met.
......Ryu Won.
The person who had no reason to be here was looking down at her.
With a flustered expression, Baek Yerin couldn’t help but ask him.
“How…?”
“You’re asking how I found where you were? Hmm. I guess I just got lucky.”
Ryu Won let out a small laugh.
But Baek Yerin didn’t have the courage to face that smile.
No matter what magic he had used, the reason he had come looking for her was obvious.
Kang Beom-jun or her manager Lee Ha-ri must have asked him.
To help find the girl who had run away from the filming set.
That was why she felt ashamed.
Of all people, she had shown an ugly side to the person who believed in her as a singer more than anyone else—the one person she never wanted to show it to.
With that bitter thought, Baek Yerin lowered her head again.
And then.
Plop—
Suddenly something was placed on her head.
This was…
“A hat…?”
“If you walk around with your face completely exposed, it’s basically advertising ‘I’m Baek Yerin!’ to everyone, right? In that spirit, let’s use these too.”
Ryu Won bent his knees so he could meet the eyes of Baek Yerin, who was still sitting on the bench.
Then he slowly reached out with both hands and placed something else on her.
Thanks to that, the world inside Baek Yerin’s vision gradually grew darker.
Because Ryu Won had put sunglasses on her.
Indeed. To anyone looking, Baek Yerin’s current appearance was clearly someone trying to hide their identity with a disguise.
And then.
“All right, preparations are complete. Shall we get going?”
“W-what?!”
Ryu Won casually took Baek Yerin’s hand and began pulling her somewhere.
Just moments ago she had been so weighed down by burden that she couldn’t take a single step, but…
Now, led by someone’s hand, her footsteps felt strangely light.
This was an event that happened exactly two hours and thirty minutes before the final stage of Music Save.
Honestly, Baek Yerin was anxious.
What if he kept leading her by the hand and they actually went back to the broadcasting station?
But that worry turned out to be completely off the mark.
“Between mango and strawberry…”
Leaving behind Ryu Won, who was staring at the menu with a serious expression, Baek Yerin looked around.
It was the interior of an ordinary shaved-ice café that anyone would recognize.
“Yerin.”
“Ah?!”
“Do you want one or the other?”
“I’ll have… um… the mango shaved ice…”
“Oh, that’s exactly what I wanted too. Perfect. One mango shaved ice, please.”
And so the two of them sat across from each other at a table and shared a shaved ice.
“You’ve been on standby all day, so you must be tired. I figured you might be craving something sweet.”
“……”
“You’re not seriously thinking of not eating it when I’m the one buying, right? That would be pretty disappointing.”
Ryu Won wore a genuinely hurt expression.
Originally it was usually Ryu Won who was flustered around Baek Yerin, but right now their roles were completely reversed.
So Baek Yerin made a very flustered face and hurriedly picked up her spoon.
She took a bite of the shaved ice he had bought for her and her eyes widened.
…It was delicious.
In truth she hadn’t eaten anything since morning, so from her empty stomach’s perspective it couldn’t have tasted anything but good.
Especially because it was a sweet snack.
After the two of them finished the shaved ice in the blink of an eye, they immediately headed to the next place.
“Um, Yerin. I’ll pick the first song. That’s okay, right?”
…It was a coin karaoke room.
Leaving behind Baek Yerin, who wore a dazed expression, Ryu Won checked the popularity chart on the remote.
As expected, the top ranks were completely dominated by Baek Yerin’s songs—or, to be precise, their songs.
Ryu Won chose one of them and began to sing.
A short while later, after he finished the song, silence fell over the room for a moment.
That silence was broken once Ryu Won handed the remote to Baek Yerin.
“Here, it’s your turn.”
“…?”
“The proper rule for this kind of thing is to take turns, right?”
At Ryu Won’s words, Baek Yerin looked down at the remote in her hand.
Just as he had done, she checked the popularity chart, then—as if possessed—chose one of their songs and began to sing.
It was perhaps a special song-selection method that only the two of them in the entire world could do.
“……!”
Baek Yerin was startled.
Because they had taken turns singing, an entire hour had flown by before she realized it.
But unlike the flustered Baek Yerin, Ryu Won’s expression remained perfectly calm.
As if he weren’t pressed for time at all.
After the karaoke they stopped by a claw machine, where he even won her a rabbit doll as a gift.
Then, after leaving the shop, he naturally turned around and asked her.
“Where should we go next? Is there anywhere you want to visit?”
Baek Yerin didn’t answer right away. Instead she looked up at the sky for a moment.
At some point the sun had begun to set.
“…Is this really okay?”
“What is?”
“I’m not sure if it’s all right for me to be doing this right now.”
Baek Yerin hugged the rabbit doll he had given her tightly and answered in a slightly trembling voice.
The current time was 5:20 p.m.
The live broadcast of Music Save had already begun, and only forty minutes remained until her stage.
In simple terms, if she intended to stand on that stage, this was her last chance.
However…
“If you don’t want to appear on Music Save, then you don’t have to.”
“What…?”
“Of course you’ll get scolded a lot in many ways. But you know, I’m your accomplice now too.”
As he spoke, Ryu Won smiled for some reason.
“Since we caused trouble together, we can get scolded together, right? So don’t worry too much.”
“W-wait! Why should you take damage because of me?! There’s no need for that at all!”
“Hmm? There is, though. At the regular meeting at the end of last year, you said it yourself.”
“Then you can help lighten that burden for me. How about it?”
Baek Yerin’s eyes widened.
The regular meeting at the end of last year.
He had said he was a little worried that things had grown bigger because of his greed and that it might place a heavy burden on her.
And in response to that question, Baek Yerin had answered like this.
Now she finally understood why Ryu Won had dragged her around to all these places today.
He had simply done his best to lighten even a little of the burden she was feeling right now.
At the same time, a new question rose inside her.
“There’s something I want to ask you. I’d like you to answer as seriously as possible.”
“What is it?”
“If I keep not wanting to stand on stage because of this burden… and if I say I can’t sing your songs anymore because of it, what will you do?”
Baek Yerin knew.
She knew that the composer named Ryu Won truly loved the songs she sang.
So it was quite a malicious question, yet she had no choice but to ask it.
Because she felt she no longer had the right to sing his songs in her current state.
He had probably already noticed that her question carried her true feelings.
He must be disappointed…
Now that he realized the singer he liked was only capable of this much.
With that thought, Baek Yerin gave a bitter smile.
But perhaps…
She had underestimated him too much.
“Then I’ll quit being a composer.”
The true heart of the composer named Ryu Won.