‘So, silence again this time too.’
Cha Hohyeon was curious, but since Go Yoon didn’t want to talk about it, he didn’t particularly want to pry. He simply looked down together at Go Yoon, who was staring up at him intently with a strange expression.
“Hurry up and sleep.”
Seeing Go Yoon’s eyes slightly bloodshot, he hurriedly covered them with his hand, and Go Yoon’s long eyelashes fluttered, tickling Cha Hohyeon’s knuckles.
“Cha Hohyeon.”
“Yes?”
“Don’t go anywhere.”
What does that mean?
Cha Hohyeon looked down at Go Yoon, tilting his head.
“Just try going somewhere.”
“Hyung?”
“If you really leave, you’ll get hit by me.”
“No, where would I even go…? Wow, and what’s with saying something so scary?”
When he grumbled in an aggrieved voice, Go Yoon chuckled and said,
“Yeah, I know. I know, but still……”
The mumbling gradually faded away. Go Yoon, who had been very tired, fell asleep while talking.
Watching Go Yoon’s face like that, Cha Hohyeon suddenly laughed softly. It was because Go Yoon’s reputation came to mind.
Those who see Go Yoon in person all say the same thing—that he doesn’t seem human. Go Yoon, who looks like a sculpture, isn’t short by any means, but perhaps because of his atmosphere, while he now exudes a distinctly masculine feeling thanks to the effects of working out, in the early days of his debut he had something about him that triggered protective instincts.
Cha Hohyeon, who was taller than Go Yoon, would immediately cling to him whenever he found Go Yoon wandering around the filming site alone. Then Go Yoon would complain, saying ‘Why do you keep clinging annoyingly despite your big size,’ but when Cha Hohyeon actually moved away from him, he would glance over at Cha Hohyeon for no reason.
Then Cha Hohyeon would stick to Go Yoon again like a rice cake, and Go Yoon, while grumbling, would carry Cha Hohyeon, who was bigger than himself, on his back and walk around the filming site. That’s why whenever making-of videos are uploaded, many people in the comments call Go Yoon ‘Hohyeon-mom.’
Of course, there are quite a few people who dislike Go Yoon for his sensitive personality that erupts like seizures sometimes, and there are also quite a few anti-fans, but even so, Cha Hohyeon really liked Go Yoon.
“I love all our members.”
It wasn’t just Go Yoon—Cha Hohyeon loved all the Fort members so very much.
Thinking such thoughts and smiling, Cha Hohyeon noticed Go Yoon breathing regularly under his hand without moving, and slowly removed his hand. Just as he was sitting there, looking fondly at Go Yoon sleeping with his eyes closed, the manager in the driver’s seat spoke.
“Hohyeon-ah. I just got a call, and Juno said he’s getting his award now and heading straight this way.”
“Manager hyung- Shh. Yoon-i hyung just fell asleep.”
At Cha Hohyeon’s words, the manager immediately shut his mouth and carefully watched the sleeping Go Yoon.
The agency staff were particularly afraid of Fort’s members, excluding Cha Hohyeon. Fort’s members not only didn’t listen to the agency and staff, but were also incredibly moody and had secretly nasty personalities, so dealing with all those rumors was too exhausting.
Gathering guys who were lacking as human beings and nicknamed ‘Satan’s children’ into a ragtag group—guys who were joked about as being a group that would soon disappear due to character controversies—those were Fort’s current members, excluding Cha Hohyeon.
However, Fort’s star quality was tremendous enough to cover all of that.
The usual process of people falling for Fort goes like this:
First, they fall for the incredibly handsome Go Yoon. Then they gradually become interested after watching Ha Moon’s lively and funny gags, start looking up and listening to songs after falling for Kang Juno’s mature voice, and by the time they’re swooning over Lee Robi’s sexiness—
“Aigoo, our lucky charm.”
“Yes?”
They see Cha Hohyeon and settle in perfectly while simultaneously opening their wallets wide.
That’s how lovely Cha Hohyeon was, angelic, and his nature was so pure that people said there should be ‘one Cha Hohyeon per household.’ He was an important maknae to Fort, the kind that made you want to take care of him with one more thing when you saw him, and miss him when you didn’t, and Cha Hohyeon was the only one who could control these Satans of Fort.
Cha Hohyeon would probably never know about Go Yoon’s behavior (and also the members’ bad deeds) when he wasn’t around. The manager, who had dealt with all sorts of incidents from the notorious Fort, let out a deep sigh without Cha Hohyeon knowing, then spoke.
“How are you really so attentive for five whole years straight?”
“About what?”
“Honestly, our kids are so sensitive and stubborn that they’re hard to control, so their debut kept getting rejected. But they were definitely kids who would hit it big once they debuted, so we couldn’t let them go either……”
Hearing that story, Cha Hohyeon just smiled.
“What are you talking about? The hyungs are so kind.”
“That’s all thanks to you. The group almost fell apart several times, but you coaxed and soothed the kids through it all. And what’s kind about them? They’re kids who were called Satan by the agency.”
Hearing the manager hyung’s words, Cha Hohyeon was about to say something.
“Hyung. You know, actually I—?!”
That moment. Cha Hohyeon found himself facing a motorcycle charging at high speed toward their van the instant it entered the intersection.
In that moment, the world seemed to move extremely slowly for Cha Hohyeon. The flustered motorcycle driver moved the brakes several times, but the motorcycle didn’t stop.
The manager seemed to realize the situation belatedly and was horrified, but the motorcycle was already charging toward Cha Hohyeon, who was sitting in the back seat behind the passenger seat.
And before Cha Hohyeon could even think properly, he reflexively turned his back to the car door, then buried Go Yoon’s head, who was trying to open his eyes, in his chest and hugged him tightly.
However, Go Yoon, still unaware of the situation, opened his eyes slightly and frowned, and Cha Hohyeon, making eye contact with Go Yoon, reflexively raised the corners of his mouth even in the midst of this. And watching Go Yoon’s face gradually change to one of horror as he belatedly understood the situation, Cha Hohyeon thought:
‘Really, I’ve been smiling so much in front of the hyungs all the time that even in this situation, I’m reflexively smiling.’
CRASH!! SCREEEECH—-!!
Even under the excruciating pain of his whole body shattering, his vision covered in blood, Cha Hohyeon didn’t let go of Go Yoon.
And…… blackout.
[Entertainment Breaking News] Group ‘Fort’s’ ChaChya (Late Cha Hohyeon), dies instantly at scene in traffic accident, ‘Fort’s’ Yoon (Go Yoon) and manager currently in surgery
Famous group ‘Fort’s’ Late Cha Hohyeon and Go Yoon were in an accident when their vehicle collided with a motorcycle while heading to an awards ceremony.
The van in the third lane collided with a vehicle going straight in the second lane after being hit by the motorcycle, and only then came to a stop. The cause of the accident appears to be a brake failure of the motorcycle so far, and the motorcycle driver died instantly at the scene after crashing into the back seat behind the passenger seat of the van.
Late Cha Hohyeon, who was sitting in the back seat behind the passenger seat, tragically died instantly at the scene. Go Yoon and the manager are seriously injured but fortunately, it was revealed that their lives are not in grave danger.
Meanwhile, though ‘Fort’ was entirely absent from the OMA Awards due to this accident, the fact that they were scheduled to receive the grand prize in the OMA Artist category was belatedly revealed, adding to the fans’ sorrow.
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* * *
It was a black space with nothing in it.
Did I exist there, or did I not exist? I had just died, so was this place hell?
Thoughts kept leading to more thoughts, but I couldn’t understand anything about why I was here or what this space was. I simply existed here, and did not exist.
And I walked for a long time. Actually, it didn’t even feel like walking—I just vaguely thought of ‘walking.’
That’s when something like a straw rope caught at the edge of my vision.
‘A straw rope?’
Why is that here?
When I approached with a tilt of my head and grabbed it, painful emotions suddenly rushed in like fierce waves, piercing through my body. Abruptly, painful emotions that weren’t mine, someone else’s entirely, dug into me in an instant, and I froze while clutching the rope.
In the image in my head, a man hung this rope.
And hanged himself.
This rope wasn’t just any straw rope. Realizing it was a rope meant for someone to hang themselves in suicide, chills ran through my whole body and I tried to let go of the rope, but I couldn’t because of the man’s voice that followed.
[I won’t make it. It’s better to die than to live like this. That bastard—I hate that bastard too. No one will know I’m dying, right? Should I really die? If I die? I’m scared. Do I want to live a little longer? No……]
His confused heart was transmitted to me. I didn’t know why he was trying to die, but he was suffering tremendously, and his self-deprecation that came out like a scream sounded to me like a cry for help to save him.
So I simply thought I wanted him to live.
“Please don’t die.”
I flinched at the words that came out of my mouth without my knowledge. I had only meant to think it, but the moment my voice went outside my lips, I made eye contact with the man who had hanged himself.
In that instant, the straw rope I was clinging to began to break with a ‘snap’ sound.
[Help me.]
I called out to the man with a belatedly panicked face, but the man shed tears from his face like pouring rain. Crying like a child and continuously asking for help, I nodded my head reflexively, and the man, looking at me—
‘Is he smiling?’
Smiled brightly. A bizarre smile that seemed to have not a speck of attachment to life.
I tried to speak to him again urgently, but couldn’t open my mouth as another blackout arrived.
* * *
The me beyond the mirror—no, this body—was skinny and gaunt.
The cheeks were hollow, and the overall frame was thin and skeletal itself. The skin was deathly pale, reminiscent of a sick person, and the eyes were sunken, looking depressed.
I’ve been unable to leave in front of the mirror for 30 minutes now.
The first 10 minutes, I denied reality. The next 10 minutes, I recalled that moment of my death. And the remaining 10 minutes, I remembered that incredibly bizarre dream.
