Jongdae was working peacefully in his office, when suddenly his door flew open with a loud bang. He raised his head startled by the noise. Right in front of him was Park Chanyeol, hair sticking everywhere like he had been running, and he probably was.  Jongdae sighed and leaned back into his chair, he knew what was coming.

“Why are they saying that? I am not hiding myself! I am just… improving!” said Chanyeol, hands raised and his eyes open as wide they could go. His phone was clutched tightly on his hand. He entered the office and closed the door behind him.

Jongdae was used to this, he was not only Chanyeol manager, but also his best friend, and sometimes his friend will just come into the office yelling about whatever thing troubled him. It happens more times than Jongdae would like to, and he had learned that the best way to treat Chanyeol sudden outbursts, was to just listen, so Jongdae made himself comfortable.

“I paint, I sing, I compose, I play the guitar, I meditate, I am a capable independent person!” said Chanyeol, counting with his fingers for each thing he said. “How could they say I am hiding?” Chanyeol raised his hands once more.

Jongdae nodded, he knew from where this was coming, Chanyeol was talking about, about the article that had recently make its way to the main headlines: Park Chanyeol, Korea´s bad boy, after one year of absence, where is he now?

The article was dumb, and what was more shocking, was the fact that the writer had called Chanyeol, Korea´s Bad Boy. Jondae found this funny, his best friend was very sentimental, he was not material for a bad boy. But after one year without making any public appearance or take any type of job, it was normal for the media to claim that Chanyeol was, indeed, hiding.

“Sure, capable independent boy. I read the article, it was funny” said Jongdae a smile on his lips.

“They don’t know what they are talking about, I am improving myself, I am not hiding. I can take a job whenever I want” Chanyeol sat on the chair in front of Jongdae desk, a pout on his lips.

“Are you sure you are not hiding? Sometimes I don’t know anymore” said Jongdae playfully, he was smiling. Chanyeol pouting, but teasing him a little would not hurt anyone.

“Jongdae, seriously, you were the one that suggested this! Besides I want my next role to be a baam! Unexpected.”

Jongdae just rolled his eyes “I suggested you to stay away from the media for a few weeks, not for a full year, think is time”

“It’s time for what? You sound so dramatic, I will work on something soon, don’t worry.”

“Why? Why would you say that? Ah, I am your manager of course I will worry, I am the one that is supposed to look for the roles, not you” Jongdae raising his voice with each word.

“okay I got it, but you are also the director of this company so it doesn’t matter, I guess”

Jongdae just laughed out loud at that. “Okay, but you know I have given you some offers that were more than enough to make a baam!”

“Now just let me finish doing this, I was very busy  when you rudely decided to burst into my office”

Chanyeol just laughed at that, he really liked talking to Jongdae, he was a good manager, and above that, he was Chanyeol best friend.  

Park Chanyeol, had known Jongdae since they were young, they had gone together to high school, and becoming best friends was easy.

After many failed attempts at getting any job in acting, Chanyeol was feeling sad, almost defeated, but just as magic, as if his friend knew what was going on, Jongdae contacted him with the news that they were hiring in his company, although Jongdae had a company for modeling, Chanyeol was intrigued and went to the audition.

He got in, and just a week after that, he received his first offer for a commercial. No one could have guessed the success that the commercial was going to have, as it was a huge success. The Korean public felt in love with him, they wanted to know more about the boy from the commercial, and just like that, he became highly demanded. He was interviewed many times after that, and got the opportunity to be guest in some popular variety shows, he graduated a month after that.

He was a good actor and with the help of his best friend, Jongdae, they were able to land some good opportunities for Chanyeol to get more attention and to show his acting skills.  His first official job as an actor, was for a drama, in which he played the second male lead, which was pretty amazing considering that he was a new actor without any previous experience. But he did a great job, and the critics applauded his abilities.

After two months of the drama, he received the offer to participate in the production of big movie, he went to the audition and for the surprise of everyone, Chanyeol got the role for the main character. The movie was a big production, but it was a romantic comedy, a perfect role for Chanyeol. He expend that year working in the movie, acting, doing radio shows, more modeling, that year he had been very busy, and all his hard work was payed, when the movie received very high ratings and his acting was praised. At the end of the year, Chanyeol received the Best New Actor award.

“I am just a bit worried” said Chanyeol after some minutes had passed of just Jongdae typing in his laptop.

“Don’t worry about it” said the boy, raising his head to meet Chanyeol eyes. “people don’t care about it anymore, and if they do we just have to use the haters, and make their money into ours too. You know this, all publicity is good publicity” said Jongdae, he didn’t really believe that about all publicity being good, and Chanyeol didn’t either, but he wanted to make his best friend feel better.

“I hate that.”

“I know you do, but seriously Chanyeol, I think a year is enough absence, you can start with something small. Maybe you will be more comfortable like that, there is no need for a baam. What if I look for a small commercial?”

“I don’t know, I just… I want to act…but...” Chanyeol put his head in his hands and tried to calm himself, he was nervous. “Just fetch me a nice drama role” he had said that many time already. But Jongdae didn’t push.

“Okay, Kim Chae Won´s drama is coming soon” said Jondae as he took some papers in his hands, looking for the information about the drama.

“Not her, I don’t like her style, I want something more… acting oriented… something more mature, or a role that will mean something”

“You know her last drama had the highest ratings of the year? Everyone is looking to secure a role for her works”

“I know she is good, but I don’t want to start again as just another male lead.  I think I would prefer a movie, then we can go back to dramas if you want” Said Chanyeol.

“Sure, there are some rumors that Kim Jinwoo will direct a new movie. I will look more into it.”

A role for a movie was not easy to obtain, since the production for a movie cost way more than for a drama, directors liked to choose only the best of the best in their team.  But if getting one of this role will make Chanyeol finally decide to start acting again, then Jongdae was going to do his best.

“Yeah, I liked his last work”

 “Alright, I know his casting assistance, so I will ask him about it, maybe we can get you an audition, just let me look more into it” he took out his phone, he was going to need to make some calls.

“Sure, I trust you”

Chanyeol was grinning, although he was still a bit unsure about all this, the possibility of making his comeback to the acting world made him happy. Besides, he had always trusted Jongdae, he was, after all, the one that had given him the audition for the commercial that made him famous. And then he was the one that had helped Chanyeol when everything went downhill.

Chanyeol still remembered.

It all started almost one year ago, when a photo was published on a SNS account of someone that claimed to be Chanyeol´s classmate. The picture was blurry but you could still see a table full of soju bottles, beer, vodka, every type of alcohol, and a grinning Park Chanyeol seated at one end. The photo went viral overnight, and just like that everyone in Korea saw the damn picture.

The rumors that came after, didn’t help, people were starting to say that Chanyeol used to skip classes to go drinking, that every single day you could see him at a different club, how he made parties every weekend at his house, all while he was still in college. And even some wild ones stating that he was a playboy, Chanyeol had always found these ones, the funniest. And even if the rumors were far from the truth, the media had believed it, and that was all it took for the public to label him as rebellious Park Chanyeol, Bad Influence Park Chanyeol, Bad Boy Park Chanyeol, and many more.

It was normal for people to drink and maybe for any other person, it would not have caused such a big scandal, but Chanyeol was still new in the industry, his rise had been a bit too sudden, and people liked scandals. 

For the first days after the scandal broke out, he could not show his face on public, every time he went out even for the most trivial of things, such as buying a new toothbrush, the media will always play him dirty, saying that he was probably on his way to a club, or buying alcohol.

Jongdae, and his agency decided that it would be for the best for Chanyeol to stay out of the public eye for a couple of months, just to let the rumors die out. They waited, and then just as magic, after 3 weeks, the agency started to receive numerous offers for the young actor to star in dramas, host in radio, and even for some variety shows. Apparently, all the rumors had also been beneficial to draw attention into the young actor, but no matter how good the deal was, Chanyeol refused to make any public appearance. He claimed that he wanted to be recognize for his acting techniques and not just for rumors.

And just like that, Chanyeol retired himself form the public scene, he didn’t make any public appearance or went into any show, he didn’t even take any job, which was weird since he was always doing something new.

After 6 months, the media started to say that the young actor was hiding out of shame, or maybe he had an even bigger secret, there were times in which some ridiculous rumors will surface on why the once promising star had not made any public appearance.

The rumors did influence in Chanyeol taking a leave, hiding, as the media had said, but those where not the only problem.

Chanyeol was brought back to reality when his phone started vibrating in his hand.   Someone was calling, the ID on the screen read Don’t answer. He had not received a call from this number in a very long time. It was a big surprise, and at first, he thought that maybe he had read the name wrong, but after squinting at the screen several times, he convinced himself that that person was indeed calling.

He glanced up to see what Jongdae was doing, but his manager was still talking on the phone. Chanyeol didn’t know what to do, he wanted to answer but he just stared at the phone until it stopped ringing. He stayed there, maybe he had dreamed that, it was not possible.

A minute passed and the phone started to vibrate again, but Chanyeol could not convince himself to answer, he was nervous.

The phone went silent once more. Chanyeol was having an internal dilemma, if this person had called after so long, maybe it was something important, but at the same time, he should not care anymore. He glanced again at Jongdae, maybe his friend would know what to do, but Jongdae was still on the call.

He thought about it for a few more seconds and then he impulsively dialed the number back. The phone rang and went to voicemail. Chanyeol felt dumb, how could this person called him and then not answer back, Chanyeol rolled his eyes, even though that person could not see him.

A minute passed and the phone started to vibrate again, he breath once and then picked the call right away. Chanyeol raised his phone to his ear and forced himself to answer with a very confident Hello, determined to not let his nervousness evident in his voice. He was greeted by a deep and very familiar voice, memories that he had tried so hard to forget, came flooding back to his head.