February 6, 2001
15:34 PM
Youngwon was in the last seat of the bullet train from Seoul to Gwacheon As he looked at Woohyun's extremely adult 18th birthday photos, his bile rose with each comment he saw.
"Now that you're 18... wow."
"These photos are on another level."
"The company definitely knew what they were doing with this concept."
"He's legal now. That's all I'm going to say."
"I've been waiting for this birthday."
"Those photos are... bold."
"I can't stop looking at these pictures."
"The styling is way more mature than before."
And it seemed that the more he scrolled, the worse the comments got.
"That's enough..." Youngwon hung up the phone and started looking out the window, where it was still raining heavily "Rain, rain go away, come again another day, daddy wants to play, rain, rain go away..." Youngwon started singing softly to pass the time.
"Next stop: Gwacheon. Please, everyone going to Gwacheon, proceed to the exits," the woman announced on the intercom. Youngwon straightened his coat, grabbed his umbrella, He walked to the exit of the bullet train, where he opened his umbrella, as there was a strong wind and intense rain that was knocking down trees, houses, and roofs, even including microbursts and hail
"Hyungoo!" Youngwon's mother, a woman named Lee Hyorah, called Youngwon by his birth name while desperately asking, "Are you coming?" Youngwon grabbed the bags very quickly. "Yes, yes, I'm going," Youngwon said, grabbing all the bags as he left the supermarket when some people started yelling at him. "I asked you for permission to pass, you didn't give it to me because you didn't want to," Youngwon put his phone down to briefly argue with a customer as he walked by, then put the phone back to his ear, "Yes, Mom, I'm coming."
16:00 PM
After practically racing against time, Youngwon finally arrived at the hospital, where he saw his grandfather—still battling ALS—in his hospital bed, alongside his mother, his father (who had recently fallen down the stairs), and his younger brother Lee Hyunjin; the boy, who was about to turn eleven, ran to hug Youngwon, nearly knocking him over.
After a conversation, Youngwon's father asked him to check a webpage on the computer—which was already open to a page titled "Kangwon National University – Courses"—so Youngwon sat down and browsed through the courses until he found Psychology. "Don't forget, grandson, the only thing that CEO can't take away from you is your education," Youngwon's grandfather said.
16:31
Youngwon left the hospital and rode back into the heavy rain on his way back to Seoul. As he sat in the last car of the bullet train, he thought a lot about what his grandfather had said. Youngwon had always been passionate about music, but he also always wanted to take care of those around him, and his parents knew this, so balancing the stage with studying psychology wasn't such a bad thing. But he knew it was very dangerous.
Youngwon looked out the window again as the train headed toward Seoul; he gazed out, thinking about that entire encounter.