Your Photo
Before Baek Yerin sang the final song she had prepared.
She stood under the lights and spoke quietly into the microphone.
“This will probably be the last song. I know many of you are expecting Rewind for the finale. But unfortunately, I won’t be able to perform it tonight.”
Disappointed sighs rippled across the concert hall.
The audience had come remembering her performance of Rewind on Music Save. They had been waiting to hear it again.
But it couldn’t be helped.
Rewind was one of Haon’s songs that demanded an overwhelming amount of emotion. If she poured herself into it now, she wouldn’t be able to do justice to the final number.
Instead…
“I’d like to share a brand-new song I created together with Composer Haon.”
The moment she said “new song,” the entire venue erupted into a buzz of excitement.
A track that hadn’t even been released yet—its world premiere happening right here, on this stage. In a different way, it carried even deeper meaning than Rewind.
“Ah, and before I sing it, there’s someone I’d like to introduce.”
At Baek Yerin’s words, the spotlight that had been fixed on her slowly drifted away. From the shadowed rear of the stage, a man carrying a guitar stepped into view.
The audience recognized him instantly.
The current CEO of RT Entertainment. A legendary figure who had once been a celebrated singer-songwriter.
“Yes! As you all know, it’s Kang Beom-jun. He’s kindly agreed to be our special guest and perform the final song with Yerin, one of our agency’s artists. It’s been ages since I stood on stage like this… What? You want me to leave? Haha. If I walk off now, you won’t get to hear Yerin’s new song. Are you sure that’s what you want?”
The moment Kang Beom-jun appeared, the heavy atmosphere in the hall lightened at once. He continued speaking into the warm energy he had created.
“But I really am only here to play guitar. The star of this stage isn’t me—it’s Yerin.”
His comment only deepened the audience’s curiosity. After going to the trouble of inviting a legend like Kang Beom-jun, they were really only using him for accompaniment?
The seats remained noisy with overlapping questions and shifting expectations.
But none of that mattered.
Baek Yerin slowly closed her eyes and thought to herself:
Once the last song begins, all that noise will vanish in an instant.
Gradually, pure white lights pierced the darkness, illuminating only her.
Beneath that glow, she drew a long, steady breath—her final attempt to steady her emotions before singing.
She thought of her mother’s face. Of all the words she had wanted to say but had never managed to speak.
Why… have I never been able to tell Mom those things until now?
Was it embarrassment? Or the fear of worrying her?
She wasn’t sure.
But one thing was certain.
—I hope you make sure to let Auntie hear this song. At least so no regrets remain inside you.
Yes. Just as he had said.
He had given her this chance.
So—
Let’s pour everything out.
In the darkened space, only Baek Yerin existed on stage. Even Kang Beom-jun, seated nearby with his guitar, melted into the shadows.
That was all the stage direction offered. There were no extravagant effects.
The only other element was the large screen behind her, where a video began to play.
The soft crackle of old film filled the hall, and every eye turned toward the screen.
It showed a photograph of a young couple and a little girl.
The audience slowly understood.
These were Baek Yerin’s family photos—captured moments of pure happiness.
But after a certain point, the images contained only a young woman and a girl.
Just as questions began to form, the sound of an instrument wove through the silence.
Kang Beom-jun’s guitar—gentle, understated, sincere.
Nothing more was needed.
When Haon had composed it, he had decided the first verse needed nothing else.
What mattered here wasn’t the instrumentation.
One day I saw it—
the photo of Mom that was with me.
Baek Yerin’s voice carried a faint tremor. She clenched her fists tightly, fighting to hold her emotions in check.
In truth, Haon hadn’t needed much time to write the song. The chord progression was familiar, the lyrics straightforward.
Obvious, yet the kind of story that touched people’s hearts.
And the protagonist of that obvious story was Baek Yerin herself.
Your Photo was a song that contained her own life.
She had happened to glance at a family picture on the wall and seen her mother’s bright, youthful smile. The lyrics spoke of realizing that her mother had once lived equally beautiful days, had dreams of her own, and had given up every one of them to raise her.
Family songs are always obvious.
Gratitude for their hard work and sacrifice—that’s usually the core.
Yet because they are so obvious, they strike the heart even more deeply.
Everyone gets asked the question at some point in life:
Who is the person you love most?
Most people answer without hesitation—mother or father.
That’s simply what parents are.
We see them every day, so we understand their sacrifices better than anyone. We know how much they love us.
Even when we fight or feel hurt, deep down we cannot help but love them.
Baek Yerin was no different.
She loved her mother more than anyone in the world. She understood better than anyone the sacrifices her mother had made to raise her.
So she wanted to convey those feelings—any way she could.
So that, unlike their previous lives, no regrets would remain.
The guitar was joined by piano, then drums, enriching the sound.
Within that growing melody, Baek Yerin kept singing.
The cameras captured her. The live broadcast carried her image to television screens across the country.
But she had no attention to spare for any of it.
She was using every ounce of strength simply to contain her emotions.
To Baek Yerin, her mother had always been someone she felt sorry toward.
After losing her husband, the burden of raising a daughter alone was something Yerin could barely imagine.
Yet her mother had never once shown her that hardship.
She had simply, naturally, sacrificed her youth and her life for her daughter.
And then, before they knew it, her body had grown ill.
Now even that life was nearing its end.
How could she possibly repay such youth and sacrifice?
How could she ever return such endlessly warm love?
If he hadn’t helped her… she wouldn’t have been able to express any of this.
Knowing that, Baek Yerin sang with desperate intensity.
Even so, this one song could never fully repay the love her mother had given. It was far too vast.
Still, there were words she needed to say.
Thank you.
Thank you for raising me. I was so happy to be your daughter. She wanted to declare all those feelings proudly in front of everyone.
Baek Yerin’s eyes grew red. The audience began to feel the same emotions radiating from her.
The earlier commotion had completely vanished, replaced by deep, shared emotion.
Some cried while remembering parents who had already passed. Others thought of the parents they had taken for granted.
The excited crowd that had filled the hall for Baek Yerin’s first concert was gone.
In their place were only children who, like her, had precious parents.
And the time left to feel those emotions was growing short.
As the song drew closer to its end, as the feeling in Baek Yerin’s voice grew heavier, the audience realized it.
They didn’t want to let go of the lingering resonance they felt through her and Haon’s music.
But a song only becomes complete once it reaches its ending.
Baek Yerin drew one final breath.
She had tried to control her emotions, but a single tear had already slipped down her cheek.
She didn’t wipe it away.
Instead, she looked toward a certain spot in the audience—toward the person most precious to her.
Did it reach you?
My apology. My gratitude. And the secret I couldn’t tell you that day.
Then, as if realizing something, a faint smile touched her lips.
She lifted the microphone with a look of relief and sang the final lines.
The smile in your photo—
may it bloom once more.
Baek Yerin’s mother, Lee Yeon-hui, was smiling as she watched her daughter on stage.
As if the heart behind the song had reached her. As if she had known everything from the very beginning.
Just as she always had—filled with love for her daughter.
That warm, tender smile.