Hyeonwoo stood in front of a newly opened shopping center in his neighborhood with his mother, Gu Seon-young.
Inside the shopping center, a convenience store, a billiards hall, and various facilities were already in operation, and the most eye-catching spot on the first floor was a neatly arranged fruit store.
Inside, the voices of girls filled the air.
A girl with long black hair and a black outfit impressively lifted heavy furniture with one hand. Next to her, a prickly-looking blonde girl was grumbling, while a brown-haired girl with glasses was directing them all.
The girl with long hair pushed back and the girl in a kimono just watched from a corner of the store.
“Hayeon, put that further inside! Damn, not everyone is as strong as you!”
“Got it.”
“Emily, why aren’t you doing anything?”
“Hehe, Fatima. Smart people are supposed to see the big picture from the back.”
“Oh~ I see now…”
“Fuh, silly Fatima. How long do you plan to play around with Emily?”
“Why are you laughing at Anna when she can’t move on Emily’s words?”
“……”
Amina chuckled at Anna’s crumpled expression.
Their conversation flowed in English flavored with various accents.
Emily
Lee Hayeon
Fatima
Amina
Anna
Inside the fruit store where time had completely stopped, the five girls were busily moving items around. Initially, this wasn’t even their responsibility, and Seon-young was shocked and tried to stop them, but they wouldn’t listen.
“Is this your building too?”
“Yes, but I plan to transfer it soon.”
“Oh dear, looks like you can’t handle all these buildings pouring out of your pockets?”
“I just held onto them; I need to hand them over to someone who can manage them well.”
“What about the girls? They can’t handle it either; what will you do about that?”
“…….”
“I lose track of which daughter-in-law is which when it goes past five… just let Dawn and Hyeonwoo handle it.”
“…Yes.”
Seon-young glanced at the fruit store and marveled once more.
Even though no items had arrived yet, the fruit store had an elegant display, and when all sorts of fruits were brought in, it would look even better.
“I feel a bit regretful. I once dreamed of running a fruit store as well.”
“I’ll make that dream come true.”
“Huh?”
Hyeonwoo playfully pointed at the fruit store and said.
“Please take good care of the building’s guardian, boss.”
“…Puh.”
Seeing Hyeonwoo’s playful eyes, Seon-young seemed to guess the situation. Initially, she showed a look of admiration, but it slowly turned cold. Since elementary school, she had been amazed by his genius, so she knew he was getting into trouble again.
But it didn’t seem like he was using the girls for that.
After all, who among them might become a daughter-in-law?
“Are you making the girls work to be filial?”
“No, Mother. They offered to help anyway.”
Tap tap
A lively pace.
As Emily was directing the four girls in the store while adjusting her glasses, she confidently spoke.
Fluent Korean.
Born and raised in England, Emily mastered the language in just a month and started conversing with Hyeonwoo’s family frequently. From Hyeonwoo’s first visit to England, she felt an attraction, following him all the way to Korea with just a travel bag, and soon she became the advisor to the Shim family.
‘Maybe Hyeonwoo can show me a world I haven’t seen.’
Emily, who hoped that the boy could show her something beyond victory and defeat, especially the feelings of love that exist in between.
“Hyeonwoo said he would make my heart race.”
With her hands on her chest, Emily wore a nostalgic expression recalling precious memories. The face of the boy who shared words no one had spoken to her in front of the subway station with the evening glow. It was Emily’s first thrill, the first noise in a life that always ticked like a clock.
Crash
Boom
Bang
The girl was captivated by that noise, always looking at the clock of life while waiting for the next noise.
A girl obviously in love.
Seeing that face, Seon-young asked her son blankly.
“Hyeonwoo, was Dawn’s face not glowing when you said that?”
“……”
Hyeonwoo had no words.
Strangely, every time he went abroad, it was like having a magnet on a needle, he encountered girls with worries. And every time, Hyeonwoo would come up with a way to help them.
‘My first meeting with Dawn also started with that kind of feeling.’
Dawn, who needed a friend who could empathize with her different feelings,
Meilin, who needed someone to protect her beliefs from the storms of the world,
Hayeon, who wanted to see the world from a corner of an old stamp,
Fatima, who was abused by a soldier named Alex in a refugee camp,
Amina, discriminated against for being an orphan in a traveling puppet troupe,
Anna, who needed a place to live with her family abroad,
And Emily, who sincerely wanted to understand human emotions.
Girls who always reached out their hands for help appeared on Hyeonwoo’s path, and he always had a solution to help them. Thus, the girls gathered around Hyeonwoo, living together in the apartment he owned, helping him with his work for already a year.
– Six is too much!!! You bad guy!!!
– D-Dawn, I can explain it all… Ugh?!
Tink
Tink
Tink
Tink
On the first day he brought them, Hyeonwoo was shot at with a model gun by Dawn.
When exactly six magazines were emptied, Dawn faced Emily, the strongest among the unexpected guests, with a cold gaze. The brown eyes shining beyond her glasses seemed to emit a reddish aura.
Emily also thought that she saw a pink wave of intense emotions in Dawn’s gaze.
Red and Pink
The two girls spoke in low voices, gazing into each other’s eyes.
“You came from far away.”
“Yeah, I came from far away. Following Hyeonwoo.”
“It must be tough going back.”
“Huh? Why? Traveling with Hyeonwoo is super comfy.”
“Oh right.”
Emily smiled and clapped her hands.
“Dawn said she never traveled alone with Hyeonwoo, right?”
“Hmm.”
“Heheh.”
Dawn’s fiery gaze
Emily’s calm and subtle glow in her eyes
“Ohhh… Why did you shoot me…”
In that moment where their gazes clashed, Meilin had already been defeated by Dawn and was trembling in a corner of the living room. Fatima stood awkwardly, not understanding the atmosphere, while Amina and Anna assessed who had the upper hand between the two.
Lee Hayeon walked straight into Hyeonwoo’s room and ended up falling asleep next to him.
Thud
Hyeonwoo’s thoughts vanished far away due to a finger that landed on his nose.
“Hyeonwoo, aren’t you thinking of me?”
“Huh? Uh-huh.”
“Hehe, the way you’re rolling your eyes while worrying… you must have thought of what I said with Dawn, right?”
“…Yeah.”
“That’s strange… shouldn’t Dawn, who has known you longer, side with you? In battles of emotions, time spent together is overwhelmingly advantageous.”
“Stop having that bad habit of categorizing human feelings so precisely.”
“Hehe.”
Although Emily expected the answer, she was glad to hear it directly from Hyeonwoo.
She still hadn’t won over Dawn.
But with every glance, every sound of his voice, she found that winning or losing didn’t matter anymore.
‘Why is it? This irrational and illogical emotional change feels like…’
At that moment, a black figure appeared behind Emily, quickly taking Hyeonwoo’s side.
“Hyeonwoo!”
Whoosh
With her mysterious movements emerging from her slender body hidden under her uniform, she made Hyeonwoo wrap his arms around her in an instant. It looked like a snake completely wrapped around a pine tree.
“Hayeon?!”
“Yeah, Hyeonwoo.”
Slither
Responding to her flustered voice, her soft body tightened around him.
Their hips were entwined
Her legs stuck to him tightly
The power emanating from her hands was strong, yet there was not a single part that was rough to the touch.
Hyeonwoo was startled by the sudden sensation and the refreshing scent of the girl that filled his nostrils.
“Wait, let’s talk about this first!”
“Hyeonwoo, I did everything Emily told me to.”
“Huh?! Uh… good job, Hayeon.”
“Hyeonwoo.”
“Huh?”
“Hyeonwoo.”
“Why?”
“I’m coming.”
Squish
Hyeonwoo became completely bound, and as Hayeon pouted while approaching, he grew more flustered. He couldn’t understand why such an odd action was taking place right now.
“Wait, all of a sudden?!”
“Hyeonwoo…”
“Oh dear, I’m too embarrassed to look any longer.”
Seon-young waved her hands at the scene and quickly walked towards home, while Emily followed her, saying “Mother” in a sweet tone.
Initially, Seon-young didn’t respond well to Emily, who threatened Dawn’s status, but she was slowly opening her heart thanks to Emily’s bright and decisive behavior.
Hyeonwoo reached out for help toward the two disappearing figures.
But they just chatted away, moving further away.
Slowly approaching was Hayeon’s soft lips.
Hyeonwoo felt a sense of dread that if their lips met here, something big would happen.
There would surely be a major change in the stalemate between Dawn and Emily.
Since Hyeonwoo had a lot to do ahead, he wanted to avoid such a tragedy.
“Ughh!! Hayeon!! Let’s talk rationally!!”
“Okay, ‘rationally,’ let’s have a dialogue with our bodies.”
“NO!!”
“Why not go that far?”
Swish
Anna’s kimono sleeve blocked Hayeon’s lips, and Fatima and Amina loosened Hayeon’s limbs, freeing Hyeonwoo. Despite being restrained, Hayeon pouted her lips and struggled against Amina and Fatima.
“Ah, Huh. Hyeonwoo!”
“……”
Suddenly freed, Hyeonwoo leaned slightly forward and patted his back. Amina noticed and chuckled, pretending not to see.
Feeling Amina’s consideration, Hyeonwoo became even more embarrassed, and his pacing for patting his back quickened.
Pat pat pat…
Amina let out a gentle giggle and casually tossed a topic to change the awkward atmosphere.
“Hyeonwoo, didn’t you say you had something to do starting now?”
“Uh, right. I wanted to explain it to you all.”
Anna and Fatima, who stood with somewhat dull faces, paid attention, and Hayeon, who had been causing trouble, settled down. Hyeonwoo showed them a paper outlining his business plan.
“Dream… Star Company?”
“Yes, that’s right.”
“What is this?”
Hyeonwoo had gathered quite a bit of wealth while acting like a ‘genius boy’ up until now. And the methods would increase, all the remaining ways would be easy for him, knowing future knowledge.
He had suppressed his father’s illness in its early stages,
Avoided his mother’s accident and opened a store for her.
All the businesses he touched flourished, and he always met good connections and good people.
It could be said that in ‘Shim Hyeonwoo’s’ life, he had already attained almost all the happiness worth achieving.
‘But could that be all?’
It wasn’t enough to satisfy himself with simply living well alone; he still had a lot of time and strength left.
Hyeonwoo looked at the girls gathered around him.
Girls who were trapped in situations they couldn’t overcome, desperately wanting to close themselves away in the dark with a sharply narrowed view.
“…Do you want to fight?”
“Focus when speaking seriously, Hayeon.”
“I’m hungry.”
“…Why do you keep saying that?”
Hayeon, Amina, Fatima, Anna.
Hyeonwoo realized something by helping these girls, who assigned greater meaning to what he had done. Sometimes, a pair of warm hands reaching out to someone could be a great salvation that could move this world.
A broad road
Hyeonwoo wanted to become a person walking a grand path to help someone.
“I’m going to start a business to help people.”
“How will you do that? Are you thinking of starting a foundation?”
Anna, who had decided to leave Japan due to the tyrannies of her big company uncle, muttered with a cool smile. Except for Hyeonwoo, his family, and the colleagues she traveled with, she still sent scornful looks to most people.
“Hyeonwoo, you don’t have to show kindness to everyone. Not everyone returns kindness with kindness.”
“Even so.”
“……”
“Even so, if you don’t give up and remain steadfast.”
Hyeonwoo clenched his fists and declared in front of the girls.
“If I can become strong enough to show hope to people. Will you follow me?”
“Haah.”
Anna turned around briskly, completely shoving her hands into her kimono sleeves.
But her ears were turning red.
“Do as you please.”
“Thank you, Anna.”
“So, what exactly are you going to do?”
“I think I’ll make an application.”
“An application?”
Turning slightly, Hyeonwoo showed a triumphant smile as he shook his smartphone.
On his smartphone, there was already an application with a transparent star drawn on it. The application was linked to a SNS messenger app that Hyeonwoo had invested in beforehand, displaying various notifications.
“A channel to post and illuminate one’s dreams.”
“A place to share how one wants to live.”
“The first step to achieving your dreams.”
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