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“I went to see Joo Won.”
“What?” Tae Hyun pushed Jason’s head back and pointed it at his face. “I thought he was–”
“At the ossuary,” Jason added. “His ashes.” He sighed. “It’s his birthday.”
“Oh.” Tae Hyun sighed and pulled Jason’s head back against his chest. “I’m sorry, hyung. Why didn’t you tell me? Why did you go alone?”
“I didn’t exactly plan on going. It just worked out like that. I’m sorry I didn’t tell you first.” Jason leaned back. “This is uncomfortable. Can you–”
“Sorry. Of course.” Tae Hyun climbed off Jason’s lap, sat beside him, and took his hand. “Better?” Jason nodded. “Okay. Do you want to tell me about it?”
Jason nodded again as he grabbed his bourbon and took a drink. “His mother was there.”
“What? Oh, no.”
“Yeah.” Jason related the story of his unlikely encounter. It hardly seemed real at the time and even less so as he described it. But he couldn’t have imagined it. His mind just didn’t work like that. “So, I told her I forgive her.”
Tae Hyun nodded. “Do you?”
“Fuck no. What she did is beyond forgiveness.” Jason huffed. “And it’s not my place to forgive her, anyway. That can only come from Joo Won, and it’s too fucking late for him.” He sighed before sipping his Kingston again. “But she was so broken. And I know she kept showing up there hoping that one day I’d come, too, so she can apologize and let me see how much she’s suffered. So, I said it anyway. She’s punished herself enough. She doesn’t need any more shit from me.”
Tae Hyun leaned in and kissed Jason’s cheek. “Well, I’m proud of you, hyung. That was very noble of you.”
“Noble?” Jason snorted. “I don’t know about that. I just didn’t want her shadow at my back, always hoping that one day she could tell me she’s sorry. It was selfish.”
“No.” Tae Hyun squeezed Jason’s hand. “You could’ve yelled at her or ignored her and walked away. She deserved as much. Or you could’ve told her the truth–that she’s beyond forgiveness. But you didn’t. I think that’s pretty noble.”
“Maybe.” Jason sighed. “And I called my mom.”
Tae Hyun’s eyebrows carefully rose. “Oh. I–”
“I didn’t forgive her or anything. I just wanted to know why she hugged me that night.” Jason huffed. “She never fucking hugged me. She hardly ever touched me except to smack me when I talked back to her.”
Jason wanted to still be angry at her. But, between the visit to Eunpyeong-gu, seeing Joo Won’s mother, and all the Kingston, he’d hit his feelings limit. He yawned instead.
“Oh, hyung.” Tae Hyun lifted the glass from Jason’s hand and set it on the table on his side of the couch. Then he gently pulled Jason’s head into his lap. “Our parents really suck, don’t they?” Jason closed his eyes as Tae Hyun started running his fingers through his hair. “But at least we have each other. And I’ll hug you as much as you want.”
17
KBR released a statement the day after theChart Mastersbroadcast reinforcing the narrative thatCherry Squadhad suffered from technical difficulties. And the segment had been completely cut from the streaming versions online. But anyone who’d seen it live, especially those in the studio audience, knew better. There’d been no audio issues.Cherry Squadhad refused to sing. The rebellion had begun.
Tae Hyun could easily imagine how tense the atmosphere in the KBR building must’ve been. Their social media teams had probably been working through the night getting any photos and video from the taping pulled every time they were posted. But there wasn’t much they could do about the small but steadily growing group ofU4s who’d started protesting outside their front doors. And that protest had drawn a smaller but just as vocal group of counter-protestors from a homophobic, right-wing religious group. The move to giveCherry Squadone ofXTC’s top songs had seriously backfired on KBR. Instead of drawing attention away from Tae Hyun and his history withXTC, it had only shined a spotlight on it. That was a rare misstep by CEO Pak, and Tae Hyun had no doubt that several people probably lost their jobs over it. But none of that was his problem anymore.
Instead, it was an opportunity. So Tae Hyun and Jason had gone to the Vital offices that morning and started taking advantage of it. After they confirmed that they were still a Vital client, that is.
“Of course, you are, Mr. Park, sir.” Min Ji had flown in from Los Angeles that morning, which lent some weight to her argument. “We’re under contract. Whatever may happen in your personal relationship with Mr. Cho wouldn’t affect that.”
Jason’s frown seemed to suggest he needed more convincing. “But you work for him. He owns this company.”
“Sir.” Min Ji’s deadpan delivery made Tae Hyun embarrassed by association. “Big Hammer Entertainment is the only reason Vital established a Los Angeles office. And it’s the only reason I’m in Seoul right now.”
Jason chuckled. “Alright, alright. If that’s how things really are, then let’s get to work.”
So Vital quickly wrote up and released a statement from Tae Hyun claiming he’d been in the audience during the taping to dispute KBR’s version of events. They followed that up with a mostly scripted live stream where Tae Hyun directly addressed theU4s and answered some of their questions. And that led to a rushed series of interviews with the American media amid their evening news broadcasts. Of course, they didn’t get any interview requests from the Korean media. But a producer for KTN’s weekly K-pop showAfternoon Music Partysaid they’d consider including part of Tae Hyun’s statement in their story on the incident. Considering KBR’s pressure on all the networks and other media outlets, that was something. But that pressure could only do so much. At some point, something had to give.
After completing the interviews, Tae Hyun returned to his makeshift dressing room with Jason to remove his heavy camera makeup. Tae Hyun sat at the dressing table, grabbed a wipe from the box beside him, and began to clean his face.
Jason stood behind Tae Hyun’s chair and put his hands on his shoulders. “I love watching you do that.”
