Ability Wielders

Pointing to the two-story Executive Hangout, Eun-ha explained to Hayden all about the Celebrity Hub. "Don"t worry, you"ll get in, your famous all over South Korea with your Streamlink."

Nodding his head, Hayden observed that this was indeed the case. During his trips around Seoul, though there were no one that approached him, he could see that there were many people that were whispering all around him, pointing in his direction, intently staring at him. In fact, he saw some people taking pictures of him. Needless to say, Hayden ignored every single one of these as he was in South Korea to take a vacation.

After all, War of Honor was created by a South Korean game development company. War of Honor naturally had a higher fan base in South Korea. Actually, it was so popular that even some idols and actors do livestreams on War of Honor. Hence, it was not strange that people would notice him, one of the rising stars in the War of Honor community.

"You go park, you follow me downstairs, okay?" Eun-ha smiled at him prior to alighting the car. Finding a parking spot nearby, Hayden exited the car, locked it, then went inside. The Executive Hangout was deserving of its reputation, its internal decorations were impeccable, giving off a calming vibe.

Looking around for a little while, he saw the staircase leading up and down. Following Kim Eun-ha"s instruction he went down. Going down, he was met with a black door, Eun-ha standing on the side, and a huge burly man in front of the door wearing a black suit.

Clearly, the man was a guard. Seeing the two of them, he was unfazed, obviously numb from seeing so much celebrities. "Can we go inside? I believe we don"t need any identification?"

"Mhm…" Grunting, the man turned to Hayden, this time, his eyes went wide-eyed. It was clear that he did not recognize Hayden at first "Supremacy? Bro, my son and I are big fans."

"I"m flattered," Hayden nodded, sporting an amicable smile, and shook the guard"s hands. Subconsciously, he looked at Eun-ha, who had a similar smile. Returning his gaze to the guard, he asked, "Do you want a picture?"

"Well, I would," contrary to the guard"s happy tone, his face was disappointed. "Unfortunately, it"s a rule I can"t take pictures with celebrities, otherwise I"d be fired. You can go in though."

Opening the door, the guard let the two in. Closing it back, the guard whispered to himself, "Are those two dating?"

…..

Inside, Hayden was shocked of the sight that unfolded before him. The inside was extraordinarily beautiful, having two floors, with simplistic white walls with black ink murals of various animals and nature on it.

"Come." Eun-ha was staring at Hayden with a smile, appearing as if a G.o.ddess… no, more than that, the G.o.ddess of G.o.ddesses. "Let"s order something."

Walking to the counter, they were met by a single man behind the counter. Eun-ha was the one who ordered first, "I"ll have hot chocolate, please!"

"Got it, ma"am!" Taking Eun-ha"s order, the man turned to Hayden. "How about you, sir?"

"I"ll also order hot chocolate then!" Hayden read the menu before ordering hot chocolate. A few minutes later, the hot chocolate was served in a cup. "Do you want anything to eat?"

"I"m good." Eun-ha responded. "Let"s find a place to seat downstairs?"

With that, the two went down to the lower floor of the place. When Hayden eyed his surroundings, he was shocked to see that the place had big names all around!

There was one member of t.i.tANIUM in the corner, reading a magazine silently, there were two members of Challenger, Hayden"s favorite variety show, conversing, members of other famous girl groups in one table, talking all about things, and other stuff.

When they entered, all the girls stared at Hayden"s direction, yet when they saw him following Eun-ha, they returned to what they were doing. It was as if there was some kind of rule in this area… Some kind of hierarchy…

Sitting down in an empty seat, the two started to chat. Eun-ha was the first one who talked, "Let me give you this…"

Opening her purse, she took out a small picture roughly the size of a hand and handed it to Hayden. Grinning from ear to ear, she mischievously spoke, "There"s your fan sign, personally signed by me!"

Hayden was fl.u.s.tered of this, taking the picture from her hand. It was a picture of her in an animal-pattern dress from their most recent era, You and Me. Rotating it, Hayden saw the message Eun-ha wrote.

Reading it, Hayden"s face froze. "To the fan who courageously asked me on a date yet didn"t know that we"re going on a date, Hayden. –Kim Eun-ha."

There was a winking face beside the "Hayden," and a signature atop her name. Shaking his head, Hayden began to chuckle. "Are we really going to make that a running joke?"

"Why not?" Eun-ha giggled. Witnessing Eun-ha"s giggle up-close, Hayden needed to activate Divine Perception to keep his calm. Seeing Hayden just staring at her, Eun-ha laughed harder and waved her hands in front of Hayden, "You okay?"

"Yeah, I"m okay!" Regaining his composure, Hayden started to check his surroundings. "I"m curious, what exactly are the rules here?"

"Oh, there are several rules in Celebrity Hubs, common knowledge amongst us when the fourth Korean Wave occurred and the celebrities couldn"t find a place to hang out without being followed by the paparazzi, or fans still approached them regardless of the situation. This was when the so-called Celebrity Hubs established by celebrities themselves came to take place." Eun-ha kindly explained to Hayden. "The first rule in here is that those that have a higher rank in the Popularity Index should not be bothered by those that are lower in rank, forming a hierarchy system. This doesn"t apply both ways as a celebrity higher in rank can approach a celebrity lower in rank in the Popularity Index anytime. Of course, this only applies for the local Popularity Index, not the global one. Needless to say, this is not that much of an important rule as long as the lower ranked one would have an eligible reason to approach the higher ranked one."

Hayden nodded. This rule made sense as celebrities with higher ranks has higher job offers, salary, prestige, and can perhaps recommend other people jobs. Befriending someone that has a higher rank than you would give you benefits, but it does not work the other way around as the lower ranked one would have nothing to offer at all. This was also likely the reason why the girls displayed dismayed expressions when they saw Eun-ha walking along with Hayden.

"Second, what happens inside the Celebrity Hub, stays inside the celebrity hub. This is the most stringent and most important rule in the Korean celebrity circle. Anybody that breaks this rule, spreading events inside the Celebrity Hub as rumors, and they are found out, other celebrities would gang up on the person taht spread the rumor, destroying their reputation, and essentially crippling them of their careers, removing them in the celebrity industry for good. No one is exempted to this, no matter your ranking in the Popularity Index, you"ll be smitten and taken down by the celebrities, especially those with higher ranks and the owner of the Celebrity Hub that the incident took place." Eun-ha a.s.severated.

When Hayden heard of this, he stared at Eun-ha with incredulity present in his eyes. Thinking it over, however, it does make sense. "Pretty harsh, yet also just and proper. I guess rumors can destroy a celebrity"s life. These Celebrity Hubs are created to protect people like you, and allowing you to have a good time, n.o.body would be stupid enough to break this rule, right?"

Hearing this question, Eun-ha thought for a moment. "Oh, there are multiple events. You know of LUNARIS" member, King?"

"That guy who abruptly… disappeared…?" Hayden glared at Eun-ha with seriousness and a tinge of fear in his eyes. "Holy… What happened to him?"

"Well, he spread a rumor about a lady in the celebrity circle he liked, saying she was making out with someone in a Celebrity Hub, even to the point he posted pictures. This gave her huge headaches," Eun-ha sipped on her hot chocolate prior to continuing. "Consequently, he was bashed by people, celebrities inciting their fans to stand with the lady, he was basically boycotted by the entirety of the celebrity industry. He thought that as a big name, he wouldn"t be met with this punishment, little did he know…"

Seeing Eun-ha shaking her head, Hayden shivered involuntarily. Thinking to himself, "What an idiot! It is the iron-clad unspoken rule yet he dares to break it? If you can"t get the girl, why not simply move on!"

Hayden couldn"t understand why would King risk his career over some girl. Sucking in a deep breath, he started to also shake his head.

"The third rule is that regular people can enter only with the accompaniment of a celebrity, merely one person can only be brought with the exception of family members of said celebrity." Eun-ha moved on to the other rules. "Fourth, taking pictures inside the Celebrity Hub is not forbidden, but it is not allowed to be posted on any social media platform as all Celebrity Hubs are a secret existence. This fourth one is not that stringent though as accidents happen, for example, drunk celebrities accidentally posting pictures are met with lighter punishments. Fifth…"

Hayden listened to all of the rules imposed by the Korean celebrities upon themselves. He reminded himself to respect these rules in the future, though he doubted that he"d ever need to break it anyways.

"Well, those are the rules in Celebrity Hubs," Eun-ha said with a sweet smile. "It"s not that hard following it, it literally can be boiled down into two parts: Keep your distance and don"t publicize anything!"

"Indeed." Hayden agreed with the phrase. That was basically all the rules summarized in a single sentence. "Enough of that, I have to thank you for this fan sign. It"s really a privilege to meet you, Kim Eun-hssi."

"Call me noona!" Eun-ha mischievously grinned towards Hayden. Caught off-guard, even his Divine Perception was nearly broken down. "I"ll call you Hayden-ah!"

"Are you sure?" Hayden nervously stared at Eun-ha. Noona is usually used in situations where you"re close with the girl and she"s older than you, that meant dropping the formalities with Kim Eun-ha! In addition, it is sometimes used to refer to your girlfriend!

Meanwhile, while the suffix "ah" can refer to a younger sibling or younger friend, it still dropped formalities with each other as it was solely used when you"re close with the other party! The two of them met each other hours ago, and they"re already dropping honorifics? Is this really how it was supposed to go?

"You don"t want to? Hayden-ah~?" Eun-ha enticingly leaned forward with a teasing smile. Hayden breathed in deeply as his mind stopped functioning at this moment. His wall of protection, Divine Perception, was utterly broken to smithereens and deactivated by itself. Seeing Hayden reddening, Eun-ha laughed. "You really don"t have experience with girls, oh my G.o.d!"

"I-I told you, I"ve never considered pursuing anyone until I met you…" Hayden mindlessly gazed at Eun-ha as he said honestly. "I mean, I"ve never met anyone that made me this nervous in my entire life! Every single time, I am so calm, but when I"m in your presence, my heart rate starts to become erratic, my breathing is in a disarray, my mind blanks out…"

Not expecting this from Hayden, Eun-ha was astounded. She knew he was simply saying the truth, yet, why were those truths sounded as if they"re pick-up lines? To make it worse, it was working, her heart was fluttering! Her playful personality hid itself as her face flushed. The two then proceeded to stare at the ground, not wanting to talk anymore.

"d.a.m.n, Divine Perception deactivated itself, f.u.c.king useless!" Hayden was seething with embarra.s.sment internally, scolding Divine Perception as he turned it back on. "I wouldn"t have uttered those if you just stayed on! Jeez…"

Observing Eun-ha"s face, he was astounded. Was the woman in front of him actually blushing? What is up with this world? "No way, those words worked? No, it"s definitely not this easy, there really must be something wrong with the world! I knew it, it"s trying to f.u.c.king kill me off! Or wait, maybe I"m in a dream?"

With this little skit inside his head, Hayden calmed down greatly. Gathering himself, he checked the time and spoke softly, "What time are you supposed to go back?"

"Well, I have to be back by dinner, I guess at eight?" Alike Hayden, she also regained her composure. "You?"

"Well, I said I"ll be back by ten, so…" Hayden shrugged. "We still have a lot of time, noona."

Hayden called Eun-ha noona without hesitation. At the receiving end, Eun-ha smiled, this was the first time anyone called her noona with this kind of affection.

With that, the two talked again, being informal with each other, asking each other personal questions and all that. From this conversation, Hayden learnt that behind her playful and cheerful personality, Eun-ha was actually a calm and collected person.

He learned of her interests, favorite food, closest friend in CHORUS, her likes in a man, which was someone who"s strong, filial, and overall kind, and many other things. Soon, it was already 7:00.

Hayden was the first one to exit as he had to open the car. A while later, Eun-ha followed behind him, entering his car. Driving for a few seconds, put the car in automatic-driving mode.

"Eun-ha noona," Hayden said meekly. Gathering his courage, Hayden spoke, "Umm… Are you free tomorrow night?"

"Are you seriously asking me out again?" Laughing, Eun-ha rotated to face Hayden. "Two dates in a row?"

"I mean, I"ve got to repay you for the fan sign, right?" Hayden cleverly made up an excuse. "That is a priceless item that cannot be bought by money!"

"Oh, really?" Eun-ha"s impish personality shined through once more. "You just want to go on a date with me, don"t you?"

"What if I said yes?" As Hayden knew there was no going back, his personality took a 180-degree turn, to the point that he became daring. "I mean, I can pursue you, right?"

"You really want to date me?" Eun-ha"s wide smile transformed into that of a gentle one. "Are you sure about that? Aren"t you afraid of your fellow fans?"

"Fellow fans…?" Hayden was speechless. He couldn"t believe his ears. Somebody can actually say such a joke with such a gentle smile!? Rapidly blinking his eyes in confusion, Hayden responded with a tender tone, "If I"m scared, would I ask you out?"

"You…" Eun-ha was incredibly astonished with Hayden"s att.i.tude. Where did the shy Hayden she met earlier go? This time, although she was wearing a calm smile, her tone was serious, "You"re five years younger than me, I"m a world-cla.s.s idol. You"re the one who said you worry about us… Plus, we met just this day, already having one date, you want to go to a second one immediately?"

"I really like you… Usually, I am a patient person," Hayden explained himself, staring directly into Eun-ha"s eyes, spouting flowery words with no shame. "But… This time, my heart is itching to spend more time with you, desiring to get to know you deeper. I really, I mean really, like you, ever since I became a fan of CHORUS, I focused on you, your beauty, unique personality, that smile, everything… And meeting you in real life was the best thing that ever happened to me, I wouldn"t let this chance pa.s.s by, because if I do, when will I ever be able to get such a chance again?"

From this, Eun-ha saw another side of Hayden. He was serious in building up a relationship with her! This was also the first time that she was truly considering whether she should date someone… "I mean, it wouldn"t hurt to try, right?"

The intense compelling stare of the youth before her put her in a trance. She experienced that hypnotic gaze again. One last time, she questioned, "Are you sure?"

"Absolutely sure," Hayden"s mild expression was wiped off, in place, a determined countenance appeared. "Nothing can change my mind."

"Okay," finally, Eun-ha relented. t.i.ttering, she uttered, "I can"t possibly say no to those eyes, can I now?"

With this, Hayden"s resolute appearance changed from being determined, to blank, to disbelief, before becoming joyful. If not for him suppressing his joy to extremes, Hayden would have shouted in his elation right then and there. Witnessing this, Eun-ha couldn"t hold back her laughter.

A few seconds later, Hayden"s expression showed relief. "Thank you for granting me this chance, noona."

"Sure," Eun-ha responded. "I have to warn you though, if we do end up dating, I can"t see you all that much as my schedule is packed…"

"That"s fine, I can make time when your schedule opens." Hayden proposed a solution to that immediately. "The real problem here is us seen in public. You would, without a doubt, suffer the brunt if we"re seen together in public. In fact, I should be the one asking you if it"s okay to date me."

"Well, I have no qualms about it," Eun-ha stated. "But, you"re right. Is it acceptable if we hide this relation in the public?"

"Hey, I"m good with anything as long as I get to date you!" Hayden said candidly. "I mean, it"s not like it"s a rare occurrence for an idol to date privately... Now, may I ask, where do you plan to eat dinner tomorrow?"

Hayden posed this question as he didn"t know of any other Celebrity Hubs other than Executive Hangout.

"Well, there are three Celebrity Hubs that are restaurants…" Eun-ha said with a wondering expression. "It"s just that all three of them are… expensive."

"Tell me the most expensive one!" Hayden said. "No matter what, the picture you gave me is simply invaluable, allow me to treat you this once!"