the manager

Maybe Solar is taunting her, maybe she’s not. Either way, Byulyi still doesn’t know how to respond without making things awkward. So she settles with an almost inaudible “Yes.”

The smile Solar sends her way can be quite confusing for someone who feels something more than a fan should towards a celebrity, pretty much just like her. “My manager told me. Sent me a picture too. It wasn’t too clear but you could tell it’s me.”

At the mention of picture, Byulyi’s mind goes haywire. “Pic…picture. Of me and you. Ki-kis…something like that… oh my…”

Solar’s chuckle interrupts her hysterics. “Please don’t freak out. I’m sorry I did what I did. I had control over my body. Also, your face wasn’t seen. Well, maybe your eye. Literally just an eye. And I hope you don’t think I’m disgusted since I now know you’re a girl. I’m not, so please keep being my fan because I think, and I genuinely mean this, you’re very cute.”

“Cute.” mumbles the still psyched out fan. “Kim Yongsun thinks I’m cute.”

“Exactly what I think.” Downing the last of her hangover soup, Solar sighs in satisfaction. “Thank you for the breakfast. I really liked it.”

“Anything for my princess.” Only when Solar tilts her head does she snap out of her trance and figures that there really is no point in denying. “It’s one of your nicknames.” she admits, fidgeting the hem of her shirt. “I hope you don’t mind me calling you that. If this helps, my followers, although not a lot, like it when I refer to you as that.”

The singer shakes her head, a pretty and kind smile decorating her equally pretty face. “I don’t. It’s sweet. For people to think I’m their princess seems a little too much even for me because I know I’m far from being one. But I let my fans, you guys, spoil me even just through nicknames because it’s one way of saying thank you for all the efforts and hard work just for me. I’m truly garteful for that.”

“Does that mean you’re going to let us send you gifts anytime soon?” A sigh escapes Byulyi’s lips when Solar shakes her head.

“You see… uhh I never really got your name, you know.”

Byulyi almost squeaks. Solar is asking for her name and by the looks of it, she would never forget the name that would come out of . Her own name, of course. She’s not stupid enough to say someone else’s name when it’s a great opportunity for her idol to know that such person exists. “Byulyi. My name is Moon Byulyi.”

“Oh cool!” Solar sounds like she’s gushing, but Byulyi just cannot be too sure. “We’re like a pair. I’m the sun and you’re the moon and the stars. Sun and moon. This is like fate. Us meeting must be meant to be no matter how unconvential it may have been. Wah… this is amazing!”

She nods quite distractedly, Solar’s words still trying to process in her mind. Everything is just too good to be true. It seems real enough to her but if in any case she finds out this is all a dream, she would probably cry for days.

Surely, Solar doesn’t have any interest in her romantically, but her talking about them and destiny is giving her so much self-confidence. That maybe, maybe she has a chance to be a part of her life. Maybe she will be given a chance. And also, maybe she should stop thinking too far ahead and wake up because if none of what she’s fantasising about is true, it will only break her heart.

Her love for the star isn’t just a simple fan to idol kind of love. It’s not the obsessive kind either. She really did fall in love with her through her music.

“Honestly,” she confesses. “I didn’t know you were Solar until I got you home. I thought you were some random stranger, but I couldn’t just leave you there knowing there were paparazzi-like people were coming for you.”

“Oh, those weren’t the paps.”

She blinks. “Don’t tell me…”

“Yeah, those were sasaengs in action. Creepy, huh?” Solar doesn’t even wait for her response before she continues. “I try not to be bothered by them anymore. They didn’t show up until last year. I’m not really popular so I didn’t think I’d have stalker fans. Imagine my shock when I legit found one hiding in my room after a jam packed schedule. I’ve never screamed that much my entire life. I think that moment was recorded and would have been all over the internet if my bodyguards were a second too late. They deleted the video and smashed the camera much to my horror. Cameras like that are expensive, right?”

“You’re wrong. You’re very popular, just humble enough to not think so. Also, cameras are expensive but if it was used for something violating like that, it deserved to be smashed into pieces. The person, too, but that’s going to get you guys in trouble. Ahh, I really should—”

“Calm down and stop the word vomit.” The fansite master agrees silently. “Have I asked for your address already? Because my manager’s on her way here and I’m not really sure she knows where she’s going.”

To avoid embarrassing herself further, Byulyi quickly scribbles her address on a notepad and shows the singer who immediately calls her manager. Admittedly, she’s still quite confused, which explains why she seems to constantly make herself look like a fool who word vomits every chance she gets.

“Solar-nim, you’re probably sick of me rambling but I feel the need to say this so please let me.” When the other girl doesn’t speak, she continues, “You are now in a scandal because of me. I feel like I’ve ruined your life and I have completely no idea how to make things better. If… if there’s any way I can help, please just say so. No matter what it is, I’ll do it.”

The laugh that escapes the singer’s lips feels like ice cold water dumped on her head. Has she humiliated herself to the point of no return? Should she call for whoever diety out there listening to her to just swallow her whole? Thankfully, she does not have to call anyone but her best friend to vent out her bottled up emotions since last night. Solar’s words actually put a smile on her face.

“Silly willy. There’s really no one to blame but myself. You happened to be a victim of mine and that, I’m sorry. If it wasn’t for me, you wouldn’t be involved in this mess.” She sighs. “I should’ve expected something like this to happen when I decided to get drunk alone.”

“Is it alright to ask why?”

Before she could even respond, there are several angry bangs on the door. “That’s my manager.” Solar says with another sigh.

Byulyi gets up from her seat to open the door. She only realises it’s a good thing she stepped aside as soon as she twisted the door knob open because she would have been hit by her own door when Solar’s manager pushed it wide open like she owns the place. She speechlessly watches as the infamous Jung Wheein walks in her house, throwing a couple of photos on her dining table.

“You must be the mystic messenger?” She jumps at the sudden question thrown at her and frowns a little in confusion, all the while closing her abused door. Wheein stares at her with a pokerface from head to toe which gets her cowering a little. She glances at Solar as if asking for her but she’s busy looking at the photos. So she toughens up and opens to speak but Wheein beats her to it. “Kidding! I just finished playing Seven’s route in Mystic Messenger and his tsundere tendencies got me all stressed out.” she says, this time with a huge smile on her face.

Well, alright, she seems friendly enough. “I’ve only heard my brother talk about that but I’ve never really played it.”

“Your brother plays it?! Yah yah yah, I’ve never met a guy who plays it! You should totally introduce me to him someday! Wait, who are you again?”

“The owner of this house so stop abusing her.” Solar rescues her. “She’s Moon Byulyi and she happens to be a fan. A fansite master!” From Wheein’s expression, Byulyi could tell that she’s going to be glomped anytime soon, so she excuses herself to go make them all some tea.





Settled down in the living room, Byulyi sips on her tea as she watched the celebrity and the manager converse. She decides it’s a better idea to be an audience than to participate because she knows her stress levels will shoot high up the roof and she does not really want to take a trip to the hospital.

“You wiped out all of the copies, you said. Are you serious?”

Wheein nods. “As a heart attack. Sasaengs are usually smart, but sometimes they overestimate themselves.”

“So tell us, Ms. Jung Wheein. What have you done to outsmart those creeps?”

Byulyi’s lips curls into a smile against her mug. She has probably got it really bad because everything Solar says, she finds adorable. Somehow, despite all the brain cells she’s constantly losing from the stress and confusion of it all, she feels like she belongs. They might have met formally only a few hours ago, but she has gotten used to their presence after some time. Although she’s not going to lie, Solar still makes her nervous sometimes.

“Easy peasy. I took them all to a coffee shop for their ‘hardwork and support for you’. You know they don’t just sell you their stuff. It’s usually pricey and I’m not dumb to buy anything from them.” She tries to make sense of what Wheein is saying, but to no avail. “Okay, so like, I took them fools to a coffee shop and bought all seven of them a coffee of their choice. By the time we were feeling like the knights of the round table, sitting across each other and all that, I was making a casual conversation and tried to ask for their cameras. One by one, of course. I’m a smooth motherbleeper because, you’re gonna praise me here guys, I actually managed to take memory cards without them knowing!”

“You’re ting on us.” The silent audience agrees, nodding slightly. “You couldn’t possibly do that without anyone finding out.” Wheein giggles and it makes Solar suspicious. She squints. “What did you do?!”

“I might have possibly, even if there’s no proof, gave away the location for your secret schedule yesterday and showed them a video of your secret dream.”

“You… you showed them my secret mukbang sessions with you?!”

Byulyi considers running away to the safety of her bedroom, but that’s most likely not a good idea. Besides, things are getting even more interesting and she does not want to miss any moment. “Well, it was just one video! They were all over it, in all fairness. But hey, that was the reason for my success so you can’t complain!”

“I wouldn’t have minded if they uploaded all the pictures they took of me, Wheenie. You didn’t have to—”

“Oh yeah? Even the ones where you were drowning yourself in cheap alcohol, stumbled out of the backdoor of the bar and almost fell into a pile of filthy trash? I mean, if you want those to spread like a wildfire, which it will, then by all means.” That gets Solar quiet. Evidently, she has no idea it’s that bad. Realising her victory, Wheein breaks out into a wide grin. “I thought so. Well then,” she turns to Byulyi who just stares at her. “Would you be so kind to let this drunkard use your bathroom? I bought her toiletries and clothes so no worries. She just needs to get to her schedule in like three hours.”

Wheein’s revelation seems to have put Solar in a solemn mood. Byulyi isn’t even able to respond when the singer grabs the bag her manager holds out and runs to the bathroom in haste. When the door slams shut, Wheein faces her and clears , sporting a feral grin. “Now, let us get acquainted, Moon Byulyi.”

x

ahh, there will be progress, i swear. does this seem slow paced? but i assure you'll they'll be getting out of byulyi's house soon ajdkasjd i posted late again. i want to post twice a week but i'm gonna try if i'm actually able to do that. also, some people were confused. the kiss did happen in the prologue. they kissed. thanks for reading, i hope you enjoyed it! also, will edit this soon so there may be a notif but no actual update :)

i've also changed my username so i hope you don't get confused :D my love for taeri is just too much lol