Chapter 21: I Am Going to LOEN

"Unnie, what did the company want with you?"

"Nothing much, just a small collaboration. I have to head out tomorrow."

"Where to?"

"LOEN."

Sitting by the window, Karina crossed her beautiful, fair legs and sipped on some lukewarm water for her health. This was a habit Lin Shou-xia had taught her to protect her voice. Outside the window, snow was falling, and the howling wind made the surrounding trees sway rhythmically. Inside, the heater was humming warmly, and the four girls were dressed in a way that didn’t look like winter at all.

"LOEN wants me to collaborate with one of their artists."

"LOEN?"

Winter furrowed her brows. It was a name that felt both familiar and strange to her. It was familiar because the company managed an artist like IU, and strange because, at the moment, it seemed like IU was the only artist they had. If Karina was going to LOEN to collaborate with a rookie, had that company finally decided to go all-in on grooming new talent?

"If it’s that company’s new artist, I have indeed heard his name mentioned through various channels recently."

"Lin Shou-xia, that’s his name, right?"

Giselle bit her lip, recalling the news and variety shows she had seen lately. She had to admit, when LOEN put their full weight behind a promotional campaign, the sheer scale of it was something only the top-tier entertainment companies could rival.

"Yes," Karina nodded. She paused, then decided to spill a bit of what she knew. "He’s the singer we saw at the restaurant the other day."

"Daebak! What a coincidence!"

Seeing her friend’s excited expression, Karina instantly regretted it. If she were to explain Lin Shou-xia’s family background, Giselle would probably be able to write a piece of fan fiction on the spot.

However...

The girl pulled out her phone and opened the chat room with that boy. Looking at the message that had been read but not yet replied to, she felt an indescribable emotion. She wasn't a slow-witted person, and her intuition was sharp, but she simply wasn't ready to reply to the message Lin Shou-xia had sent.

To her, Lin Shou-xia was Lin Ying-lu’s younger brother, or at most, someone who could become her own younger brother. There would be no deeper relationship—at least not now.

But as their interactions grew more frequent, her understanding of Lin Shou-xia deepened. Beneath that cold, aloof exterior, there actually lay a burning, gentle heart. She had seen the comments from fans online and noticed the small group of fans who had evaluated him.

A cold, urban man with a delicate and gentle heart.

He might be slow to react, and he might seem difficult to approach. But when you stood in front of him, that gentleness would overflow from his eyes, like the autumn sun, warming you as it shone down. She now felt that Lin Ying-lu’s assessment of her brother wasn't objective; it was too subjective.

He wasn't a fool, nor was he as clumsy as his own sister claimed. On the contrary, he was actually quite smart and sentimental. He would sit with you in a convenience store, watching you finish two bowls of ramen. He would stand in the cold wind with you, take off his warm coat to drape over your shoulders, and then stubbornly insist that he wasn't cold at all.

Her good friend didn't really understand her own brother.

"But shouldn't a LOEN artist be doing promotions and collaborations with IU-sunbaenim first?"

"How did they end up coming to our company?"

Amidst the excitement, Giselle found a point that puzzled her. Why would a LOEN artist pass up the ready-made influence of their senior and specifically ask to collaborate with their leader? Was he trying to stir up a scandal? Or was he trying to capitalize on some negative attention?

"They’ve probably already finished filming the collaboration video with IU-sunbaenim," Karina replied vaguely. She didn't want to give anyone a chance to pry into her little secrets, nor did she want her teammates to know that the two of them had been in contact for a while.

"It won't take long anyway. The year-end music festival is coming up soon, and everyone’s attention is on the lineups for the various TV stations. They might not even notice us."

Whenever that event was mentioned, Karina felt a sense of regret. With the music festival drawing closer, tradition dictated that music shows would be suspended for the last two weeks of the year. This meant that the promotional window Lin Shou-xia would get was only one week long. For a debut song with such exceptional data, a lack of proper promotion would be a real pity.

"The song is quite good, though. I wonder if the person is..."

"The person is actually quite nice, too." Facing the gazes of her teammates, Karina realized she had said too much. She let out a yawn, trying to move away from the topic. "I’m a bit tired. I have work tomorrow, so I’m going to sleep. Everyone should get some rest, too."

Karina finished the warm water in her cup, washed it, placed it upside down on the rack, stretched theatrically, and, under the watchful eyes of her teammates, lazily ducked into her room.

Tomorrow, she would have to face Lin Shou-xia. What should she say in response to that message she didn't know how to answer?

Under the cover of night, she tossed and turned. Tonight, someone was destined to stay awake.

Lin Shou-xia pulled back his blanket, glanced at the time on his phone, and then at the air conditioner that was still running. He turned the temperature up a bit, took a can of cola from the fridge, and sat by the windowsill.

He lit up his phone screen once more, only to be met with disappointment again. That message still hadn't received a reply.

He didn't really know what he should be feeling right now. Should he feel embarrassed and regretful, or relieved?

The man sighed, the cola in his hand shaking violently with his body.

"Tell me... what do you think she meant, Noona?"

Lin Shou-xia reached out to take the baseball cap from the desk, straightened it, and muttered to it.

In truth, many people didn't understand him. People like Kim Ryu-yeon or Lin Ying-lu only had a one-sided understanding of him. But there was that one person—the one who would grab your hand, tease you, and tell you to smile more because your career had just started and you couldn't always keep a straight face.

There was that one person who, when the night grew late and many had drifted off to sleep, would call you, listen to you sing over and over, and tirelessly help you identify problems from the perspective of a listener.

He was a lonely singer. But that person wasn't necessarily a lonely listener.

She had held onto you, forcing you to look into those deep, beautiful eyes, and then smiled, saying, "You aren't really like this, are you? Ying-lu doesn't really understand you either, right?"

In fact... only she, relatively speaking, understood him.

A lonely heart was looking for a place to dock. A lonely singer couldn't find a listener willing to hear his inner thoughts.

Lin Shou-xia looked at Seoul under the night sky and cracked open the cold cola in his hand...

"The cola spilled."