One month later, at Echo, Jun, and the other seven were practicing the ch.o.r.eography taught by the dancing coach, Shin, for the group performance they will perform at yearly evaluation, next month, along with other batches."Ok, guys, it"s lunchtime. Let"s finish here. We will continue the rest, tomorrow. Sungjun, Minsu, after finishing lunch, go and meet Executive director Min JiYoung," said Shin before left the training room.
Hearing her name made every one of them including Minsu, except Jun, was taken aback in surprise, and the five of them surrounded Jun and Minsu, "Congratulations, Jun, Minsu" "Minsu, you finally made it" "Man, I knew you won"t be suffering here for too long, Jun."
As Jun was confused while 18-year-old Minsu was smiling with excitement, the eldest one, Hyonu said, "don"t you know who is Director Min Jiyoung?" Jun shook his head, "no, I don"t."
Hyonu then said, "she oversees the idol debuts, which means, my friend, Jun, congratulations, you are going to debut soon enough." Hearing that he was about to debut, an excited expression appeared on his face as he tightly made a fist to control his emotions.
After eating lunch, both of them went together to her office and waited until she finished her lunch and then, entered the room. As both of them bowed and greeted her, she asked, "oh, you two. Kang Minsu and Han Sungjun, right? come and take your seats."
As they sat down, she said, "you two might have already guessed it but let me say it. Congratulations, you two are going to debut in our new group. Taehee and Woojin repeatedly mentioned that Sungjun is the most talented vocalist they have seen and Minsu is the best dancer. After looking at your videos, Chairman has approved and decided to go with you two." While the smile didn"t disappear on Minsu"s face, Jun asked, "if I may ask, how many are there in our group?" Hearing his question, even Minsu became curious about it since although trainees like to debut, they still hope for groups to be between 5 to 7 or 8, normally and they consider themselves lucky if the number in their group is less than 10."
Director Min Jiyoung then replied, "I can"t say anything about it. I was only told to inform you two in advance, unofficially, so that you will give your best performance, next month. They will announce after the group, who were currently recording their alb.u.m, debut first. So, I guess, you will be informed everything at the same time, within a month or two."
At first, Jun thought of telling his mother and sister, but then, he thought it would be better to keep it as a secret from his sister until it is confirmed officially and will only inform his mother for now. After completing his daily training, he took the metro and went to his home with excitement. After reaching the apartment, Jun pressed his thumb on the biometric lock and opened the door.
As he entered his home and switched on the lights, Jun mumbled, "did mom slept already? Strange. She never sleeps before I return?" He slowly walked towards her room and tried to open the door and found it was unlocked. As he opened the door and walked inside the pitch dark room as the bedlamp turned off and curtains were closed, he switched on the lights in a worry that his mother might be sick and was surprised to find the room empty.
"Where is she?" Jun then checked other rooms and found his mother nowhere. "She isn"t at home? Where did she go without informing me? Let"s call her." As he put his hands inside his jacket, Jun found there was no mobile. Only then he remembered, "Ah, dammit. I forgot to take back my mobile while returning. She might have called to inform me. Since our mobiles are confiscated and I put it on silent mode, I guess she went without informing me. Hmm, what to do. Oh, right. Where is my laptop?"
Jun immediately went to his room and took out his laptop and opened it. As it was connected to the internet, Jun tried calling her through the internet. But when he tried, he found her mobile was switched off. Then, Jun immediately called his sister, who was busy and when he tried again, Yungja cut his call and when he called again, he found it was busy. But, Jun kept on trying to call her without giving up. After cutting his call a few times, Yungja finally lifted his call and spoke irritatingly, "h.e.l.lo, who are you and what do you want?"
Jun immediately answered, "Yungja, it"s me, Jun." "Oppa, what is this number? Where are you? I tried calling you several times but you didn"t lift my call. I even called your company but they said you already left half an hour ago inform. Why haven"t you called back?" As she began to cry on the phone, Jun asked her while he was panicking, "Yungja, I forgot to take back my mobile while returning. Tell me, what happened? Why are you crying? Even mom wasn"t at home and her mobile is switched off. Did something happen? Don"t tell me..."
Yungja interrupted and replied, "Oppa, mom was admitted into the hospital. I"m currently at Kyung hee Medical center." "What! I"ll be there soon. Don"t panic, okay." Jun immediately took the cab and within half n hour, he arrived at the Hospital. After going to the reception, he said, "The patient"s name is Nang Sanghee. I only know that she was admitted here, today, probably a few hours ago. Can you please check it and tell me where she was admitted? I"m her son."
After checking for a while, she replied, "2nd floor, private ward, room number B-203. It will be on the right side." "Thank you." As he went away, another receptionist, Boyun commented, "is he an idol? Looking very handsome." "Boyun, didn"t I warn you to stop saying such things in a hospital?" Boyun apologized, "I"m sorry, sunbae."
As Jun reached the room, he found his sister, and another girl, in masks to hide their ident.i.ty from the public, along with their manager. Looking at him, Yungja looked at him with tear marks on her face, "Oppa, mom..." as she pointed the room, Jun replied, "don"t worry. Everything will be alright."
He looked at the manager and asked, "what is the situation?" Their manager replied, "its just a mild heart attack. Nothing to worry. She was currently resting. Ah, by the way, I"m Sa SeongGi, their manager."
Jun then looked at her friend and bowed a little, "thank you for coming here and looking after my sister. You three can return, now. I"ll stay here." "But Oppa..." Jun smiled at her, "you already have a very busy schedule. It"s fine. I"m telling you that I"ll be here to look after her, alright?" As Yungja nodded, the manager dropped the two of them at their dorm before going his way.
The next day, Jun called the company from his mother"s mobile and informed them that he"ll be absent for today and told them about his mother"s condition. Since it wasn"t serious, they discharged her quickly. After returning home, Jun said, "the doctor said it because of too much stress. Don"t tell me that dad left debts behind." His mother replied, "don"t joke around like that, Jun." "yes, I"m sorry." Then, Jun didn"t ask her the reason for her stress after she dodged the topic in front of him, as he realized it might be mostly because of both of them since Kpop industry is filled with hardships and without anyone accompanying her, naturally, all she was able to think and worry about them.
Meanwhile, at a certain Villa in Incheon, a 16-year-old was shouting at his father, "Dad, what do you mean by I need to wait for more time? It"s already been four years since I became a trainee. I can"t wait any longer. Use whatever connections you have and debut me or else I"ll terminate my contract. You can just pay the debt to them in return, then."