Entering into May of that year, Chanyeol and Mackenyu had been pulling all-nighters preparing for their meeting with EXO and SM Entertainment. The group was targeting to release an album by November, and “What If” was a contender for one of the songs to be included in the compilation.

Mackenyu yawned so big that Chanyeol swore he could see the base of the younger one’s brain.

“Mianhaeyo, hyung, but I surrender,” the younger one complained, voice muffled as he tried to hide his incessant yawning with his sleeve. “I’m going home to sleep!”

Chanyeol could understand. It was turning 4 a.m., and he actually had to attend the stockholders’ meeting in 5 hours at Seomse. “Araseo,” he relented, not taking off his headphones as he continued to tweak the more polished demo of “What If” to be presented to SM Entertainment that week. Technically, he only had three more days to perfect this version—not that the richness of Kyungsoo’s voice on the demo was not already flawless. But still, failure was not an option at this point. “Take care. See you tomorrow.”

“You should turn in, too,” Mackenyu reminded him gently, patting his back. As he slung his backpack on his shoulder, something fell off its front pocket on the ground, just a few feet away from Chanyeol.

The older one only waved him off, could foresee that he would be crashing in his couch for a few hours sleep before he called Changmin ahjussi to bring him a suit and then drive him to the office in the morning.

Minutes had passed after Mackenyu had left when Chanyeol’s eyes began to get blurry. He realized that he shouldn’t be abusing his eyesight this way, since he had just regained full functionality of it. Creating music always seemed more important and invigorating to him than sleep ever had been, however. His body was screaming in its tiredness, as he had already spent a full day at Seomse and had gone straight to the studio, only advising his mother way past dinner that he wouldn’t be able to join her.

Mrs. Park already knew that Chanyeol would be in his studio so she didn’t worry.

Feeling defeated as the physical exhaustion slowly took over him, he had no choice but to save the file and shut down his computer in the meantime.

He closed his eyes for a few seconds, which were already watering from the strain, and rested them for a bit. He didn’t want to fall asleep in a sitting position, though, so he reluctantly wobbled over to the couch—mercifully just a couple of meters away from where he was—only, he noticed a white envelope on the floor.

Curious, Chanyeol sleepily picked it up. It was addressed to Mackenyu. Shrugging, he thought to give it to his studio engineer tomorrow when he caught sight of where it was from.

ADACHI TRANSLATIONS, Co.

The envelope had been open already. Was this about Chanyeol’s request? Did Mackenyu intend to give it to him but only forgot about it?

The stamp on the postage stated that it was only received yesterday, and it was sent to Loey Productions.

A piece of paper was sticking out and Chanyeol warily pulled it out. From the get go, he could already tell it was Mackenyu’s messy handwriting.

Chanyeol began to feel a little nervous. What if this was something personal to Mackenyu? Wasn’t it a crime to open mail that wasn’t your own?

He certainly wouldn’t want the same thing done to him, by anyone.

But what if… it was the translation for whatever Kyungsoo had written at the back of the notebook?

He couldn’t stand it, as he went against his better judgment. He decided to check the letter from Adachi first and promised to stop if the letter was indeed for Mackenyu alone and nothing to do with Chanyeol at all.

He would even apologize to his studio engineer tomorrow, but right now…

His heart was pounding as he shakily moved to the couch. He felt like opening Pandora’s box, for some reason.

What was there to be afraid of? He didn’t even know what it was yet.

He bravely unfolded the letter and the transcriptions.

Dear Mr. Arata,

Herewith is the translation you have requested for the letter you sent us. We understand that you have done your own translation, but wished for its verification. We found that your own translation is 98% accurate.

Rest assured that this file has been treated with strict confidentiality and we have sent you the only printed copy in existence. The digital file will remain in our database for 30 days, as per agreement, and will be deleted afterwards.

We thank you for your trust in our services, as we always strive for accuracy and customer satisfaction. We look forward to serving you again.

And just below the signature of the authorized person was a bill for the service.