Chapter 21:

Hyun Seng’s father was seventy five, old, grey, and dying slowly. He knew his struggle was nearly over, that the path of nails he'd walked all his adult life would soon come to an end. His time was fading, and he could feel it. And to a man who had suffered like he had, who had lived the pitiful excuse for a life he had been dealt, it felt good to fade.

Next to him, sat the one person he had not expected to see at his death bed. The cruelty of the real world had turned hatred to alliance, suspicion to reluctant trust, but when Yang Yoseob had appeared at the hospital, none of that seemed to matter. Yang Yoseob had not been seen in the entertainment world ever since Hyun Seng death but yet there he was, sitting at the bedside of the man who was a father of his dead band mate.

Yang Yoseob had said nothing when he had arrived, had taken the one chair in the room and made himself comfortable. Both were surprised when Hyun Seng’s father had broken the silence.

Hyun Seng’s father talked without hope of reply, without need of conversation. Yang Yoseob understood why, there were times when Yang Yoseob wished he had someone to pour his soul out to. Maybe in another twenty years, when Yang Yoseob was the one dying, he too would have an unlikely outlet for his fears and guilt.

Hyun Seng’s father did not speak about how he tried to find out the truth of his son’s death. It was a fact universally acknowledged by Yang Yoseob that Hyun Seng’s father had been doing that over the years.

Instead, Hyun Seng’s father began instead with a memory that was similar to Yang Yoseob. The day Hyun Seng entered their life.

While Hyun Seng’s father talked about the day his son was born, Yang Yoseob thought about the days when both, Hyun Seng and him, were working as dancers for a show performance team which eventually made them entered CUBE Entertainment and started off their career as a boy band, Beast.

 The image of Hyun Seng grinning during the success of his debut remained in his mind. At first it comforted him, but suddenly he felt the pain of his band mate's death wash over him as it never had. His eyes began to burn with ferocity and he felt his shoulders begin to shake, even as Hyun Seng’s grinning face faded into a frown.

Why?

 Why was Hyun Seng the one who have to suffer from such a fate?

Despite all his hard work, despite all his sacrifices he had made to make his dream as a top singer, he could never be one of them.

 Hyun Seng could never share in the victory that he wanted to secure even though Hyun Seng vowed that he will become one of them when he was cut from the group formation of Big Bang in a final elimination round with Seungri. 

Yang Yoseob closed his eyes and took a deep breath to calm himself as he sat silently listening to Hyun Seng’s father.

This time, Hyun Seng’s father spoke next of his decision to allow Hyun Seng to be an entertainer. Not his motives, not his desires, not his aims of what he wanted Hyun Seng to be, but his mistakes.

He spoke solemnly about the consequences of his decision. He told the now interested Yang Yoseob of how soon after his decision to allow Hyun Seng to be an entertainer, he had realised the error of his choice and how he had realised exactly what his decision had landed his son into.

Hyun Seng’s father talked about how he wished he had the power to turn back time as he told Yang Yoseob how he envisioned himself drinking with his son, his first soju on his eighteenth birthday.

He even imagined Hyun Seng falling in love and learning life's lessons and he, the father would be there to bear witness to every moment. Now he grieved not only for his own loss, but for the life that had been stolen from Hyun Seng.

 It seemed so unfair for other people to have years, endless time, so much time that they got bored and his son had had only just stepped into adulthood and already it had been ripped from him.

When Hyun Seng’s father continued to talk about Hyun Seng, there was a raw emotion in his voice, a sadness that Hyun Seng’s father had to force himself to accept the fact that his son was dead. Hyun Seng was dead. He would never fall in love, nor have children of his own. He would never know the happiness Hyun Seng’s father, himself had known for the past decades.

Just then, Hyun Seng’s father gasped for breath, death's icy grip tightening on him. He longed to embrace it, to welcome it's harsh, cruel helping hand out of this life. But his story was not finished, and he needed to explain himself before he died, even if it was to Yang Yoseob.

He had not got much more to say. All he needed was to say about the fake will that Doo Joon had suggested him to create.

However, time was not at his side. Hyun Seng’s father only managed to utter a few words, before he gasped at, mid-sentence, death took hold of him. But it seemed to Yang Yoseob that his eyes were calm, accepting. It seemed he welcomed it, and Yang Yoseob understood why.

Hyun Seng’s father could now be with his son for eternally.

Hyun Seng’s father was dead, killed by a final fatal heart attack at the age of seventy five.

Yang Yoseob didn't know how long he sat there. Maybe minutes, maybe hours, but next thing he knew, he felt a hand on his shoulder.

"Even till his death,” Doo Joon said in a calm voice causing Yang Yoseob to jerk his head up. "He has been thinking about Hyun Seng…”

Yang Yoseob closed his eyes briefly, the corners of his mouth crimping in silent agony. Composed again, Yang Yoseob fixed his gaze on the dead body in front of him.

“I'm sure it's all right,” Yang Yoseob said softly as a soft smile appeared on his face. “Both father and son finally gets to reunite with each other in heaven.”

Doo Joon was silent for a few minutes before he spoke again.

“Yang Yoseob, come back to CUBE Entertainment. After all, both father and son finally get to reunite with each other in heaven….”

"Come back to CUBE Entertainment?” Yang Yoseob gave a humorless laugh. “If I did not persuade Hyun Seng to join CUBE Entertainment back then, he won’t be dead!”

Yang Yoseob continued to open his mouth to give an angry retort, but Doo Joon cut him off.

"Don't be foolish, Yoseob….”

"I am not going back to CUBE Entertainment and that’s final!" Yang Yoseob said fiercely as he stood up from the chair.

"Perhaps not," Doo Joon whispered to himself, sending a quiet message in the room.

“Yoseob, would you still refuse to come back to CUBE Entertainment if I told you that Seungri is back in YG Entertainment?” Doo Joon said at last, his eyes never leaving Yang Yoseob's face.

This time, Yang Yoseob’s control snapped.

Before Yang Yoseob was conscious of his actions, he had already slammed Doo Joon against the nearest wall and his fingers were wrapped around his neck.

Yang Yoseob growled, his eyes filled with an angry fire.

How dare the person who disrupted Hyun Seng’s dream to be a top singer return back into the entertainment industry!

Yang Yoseob wrapped his hand around Doo Joon's throat and squeezed. Doo Joon choked and pulled at Yang Yoseob's hand, trying to breathe.

“What did you just say?!” Yang Yoseob tightened his hand on Doo Joon's throat to confirm what he just heard as Doo Joon turned a dangerous shade of purple.

"Seungri, he’s back into the entertainment industry as a CEO in YG Entertainment." Doo Joon hissed as he took hold of Yang Yoseob’s wrist, trying to pull Yang Yoseob’s hand away from his throat.

Yang Yoseob stared into Doo Joon’s eyes, lingering for a few moments to let the words sink in. Then, Yang Yoseob pushed Doo Joon away and before he left the room, Yang Yoseob turned a light degree, enough to watch Doo Joon from the corner of his eyes.

 "I will join CUBE Entertainment if you could assist me in revenge.”

"No problem." Yang Yoseob heard Doo Joon chuckled maliciously as he left the room.