Kwon had been Min Yoongi's manager for thirteen years. In that time, he had learned to notice everything.
That was why he knew something was wrong.
It started four months ago. Yoongi went to Diamond Bar alone. Kwon had told him many times not to go out without a bodyguard. Yoongi did it anyway. The next day, he came back looking tired. Kwon gave him a lecture, and Yoongi said, "I'm sorry, Hyung." Then he stayed quiet for the whole week.
Kwon thought it was stress. The group was working on a new album and everyone was tired.
But Yoongi did not get better.
He did not joke around anymore. He did not finish his meals. During rehearsals, he stared at the mirror like he was thinking about something else. When Kwon asked what was wrong, he always gave the same answer.
"Nothing, Hyung."
Kwon did not believe him.
---
Two months later, the group had a meeting with an event planning company. Kwon could not go because of an emergency at the agency. He sent Yoongi and Namjoon instead.
They came back in a bad mood. Yoongi's shirt was half untucked and he was out of breath. Namjoon looked worried.
"How was the meeting?" Kwon asked.
"Fine," Yoongi said.
"Did they agree to the schedule?"
"Yes."
"Did you sign anything?"
"No."
"Then why did it take so long?"
"The traffic."
Kwon looked at Namjoon. "Is that true?"
Namjoon said nothing. He looked at the floor.
That was strange. Namjoon was quiet, but he had never refused to answer a question.
That evening, Kwon called the event company. The director apologized and said one of her staff had resigned that morning. She also said Mr. Min had left the meeting suddenly and had not come back.
Kwon wrote the date in his notebook. He did not know why.
For the next two months, nothing happened. Yoongi went to work. He did his schedule. He smiled at fans. But Kwon noticed the small things.
He noticed that Yoongi checked his phone every few minutes. He noticed that Yoongi sometimes opened the browser, typed a name and closed it. He noticed that on his days off, Yoongi went out alone and came back late.
Then, a week ago, everything changed.
Yoongi started smiling. Not the smile he used for cameras. A real one. He smiled at his phone. He smiled in the van. He smiled when he thought nobody was looking.
He also started asking for favors. He asked Kwon to move a radio interview. He asked for one afternoon off. Then he asked for a back entrance at Seoul National Hospital and called it a "personal appointment."
Kwon arranged it himself. He called Dr. Park, the hospital director, who was an old friend, and asked him to keep it quiet. He did not ask whose appointment it was.
He thought Yoongi was sick.
But Yoongi did not look sick. He looked happy.
That was what worried Kwon the most.
On Monday night, Kwon stayed at the office until eleven. He sat at his desk and opened the schedule records for the past four months. He went through every day, line by line.
He found a pattern.
On the days Yoongi had no schedule, he left his phone at the dorm and took a taxi. The taxi receipts were filed with the agency, and Kwon checked them one by one. Most of them went to the same neighborhood near the Han River. There was a bookstore there. And a park.
He looked up the neighborhood on his computer. The address of one receipt was a small café. He called the number.
"Hello, this is Kwon from..." He stopped. He did not want to say the agency's name. "Hello. I'm calling about a customer who may have visited last week. A tall man in a mask and a cap."
"We get a lot of those," the woman said. "Why?"
"He is a friend. He left something here."
"I don't remember anyone like that. But there was a man last week who came with a pregnant woman. They sat by the window for an hour. He ordered everything on the menu."
Kwon went completely still.
"A pregnant woman?"
"Yes. Young. Very pretty. He kept pouring her tea. They were so cute together." The woman laughed. "Is he the one you're looking for?"
"Thank you," Kwon said. "I think I have the wrong place."
He hung up and sat there for a long time.
It can't be, he thought.
He told himself it was a coincidence. A different man. A different couple.
Then he thought about the back entrance at the hospital.
The next morning, Kwon decided to check one more thing. He called the van driver and asked him to come early.
"Mr. Lee. Last Friday, did you take Yoongi anywhere alone?"
"Not alone, sir. But I dropped him at the corner of a hospital. The back street. He said he'd walk from there."
"Did he say why?"
"No, sir."
"Did you see anyone with him?"
"There was a gray car parked there. I think it was his own car. A young woman was getting out of it. She had a big bag." The driver rubbed his neck. "She looked tired. He helped her carry the bag."
Kwon thanked him and told him to forget the conversation.
He walked to the car wash by himself. He did not need to clean the van. He needed to be somewhere nobody would find him.
The car wash was almost empty. He pulled into the first bay, got out and opened the sliding door.
The back seats were a mess. There were empty bottles, a bag of chips, a phone charger and one sock. Kwon picked up the trash and put it in a bag.
Then he checked the seat pocket behind the driver's seat. That was where Yoongi sat.
There was a book inside.
He pulled it out. It was a thick paperback with a pale blue cover. He read the title.
What to Expect When You're Expecting Twins.
Kwon stood very still.
He looked at the back cover. There was a price sticker from a bookstore near the Han River. He opened the book. One page was folded at the corner, and someone had underlined a sentence in pencil.
At week sixteen, your babies can hear sounds from outside the womb.
There was a bookmark at chapter four. A small gray photo was tucked next to it.
He took it out.
It was an ultrasound picture. Two small shapes lay side by side. At the top, in white letters, there was a hospital name, a date and a line of text.
PATIENT: HAN SEO-YEON.
Twin pregnancy, approx. 16 wks.
Kwon read it twice. Then he sat down on the floor of the van.
Han Seo-yeon.
He knew that name.
He took out his notebook and flipped back to the page with the date of the meeting at the event company. One of her staff had resigned that morning. He remembered what the director had said. The colleague who was handling your project. Han Seo-yeon.
He looked at the date on the ultrasound. It matched the day of the "personal appointment."
Kwon closed his eyes.
Sixteen weeks. Four months.
He counted back. The night at Diamond Bar was four months ago. The week Yoongi stayed silent. The meeting at the event company, where he ran out. The smile he had worn all week.
Everything fit.
He opened his eyes and took out his phone. He took pictures of the ultrasound, the book cover and the bookmark. Then he put the photo back in the book, closed it and held it against his chest.
He did not call Yoongi. He did not call the agency.
He called Dr. Park.
"Kwon!" Park said. "Good morning. What can I do for you?"
"I need to ask about the appointment last week."
"The one you arranged?"
"Yes."
"What about it?"
"Who was the patient?"
Park paused. "You know I can't tell you that."
"I'm the one who asked for the back door."
"For a personal appointment."
"Park, listen to me." Kwon rubbed his forehead. "I'm not asking as a manager. I'm asking as someone who has known that boy since he was nineteen. I only need to know if I'm right."
"What name do you have?"
"Han Seo-yeon."
There was a long silence.
"Kwon," Park said quietly. "I think you should sit down."
"I'm already sitting."
"Good."
That was all Park said. It was enough.
Kwon drove back to the agency. He parked in the underground lot and sat in the car for ten minutes without moving.
He was not angry yet. That would come later. Right now he was only thinking.
He thought about the six members. He thought about how Namjoon went quiet. He thought about how Jungkook smiled at nothing and then stopped when Kwon looked at him. He thought about Taehyung, who could not keep a secret to save his life, walking around all week with a strained face like he was holding his breath.
They all know, he thought. All six of them. And none of them told me.
That hurt more than he expected.
He opened the book again and looked at the photo. Two small shapes, turned toward each other.
Then he thought about the agency. The chairman. The PR team. The reporters who waited outside every day, looking for a story. He thought about what they would do if they found this book before he did.
He closed the book and put it in his bag.
I have to handle this carefully, he thought. If I tell the wrong person, they will destroy him.
He took out his phone and opened the notes app. He typed one line.
Tomorrow, 8 a.m. Practice room. Alone.
Then he got out of the car and went upstairs to work.
At ten o'clock, the members arrived for rehearsal. Yoongi walked in last. He had his phone in his hand and a small smile on his face.
Kwon watched him from the corner of the room. He said nothing.
He would wait until tomorrow.