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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 26
Chapter Title: A New Chapter
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Superstar From Age 0 Chapter 26
After finishing their schedule, Brown Black and Seo Eunchan headed to Seojun's house. They were still dazed, startled by the unexpected applause and the barrage of camera flashes on their way out.
The front door opened, and Pop! Pop! The reality of it all finally sank in when they saw Seo Eunhye and Lee Minjun setting off party poppers.
Without a word, they all burst into tears. Seojun, nestled among the Brown Black members again, didn't cry this time.
Feeling a little grumpy, he kept pushing away the faces of his hyungs who were clinging to him.
"Seojun seems a bit cold today, don't you think?"
"I think so too."
After quickly washing up, the Brown Black members gathered around Seojun. To appease him, they quickly picked up his dolls.
"Whoa. Seojun had dolls like these?"
"Wow, this one is a total skeleton."
Although Brown Black was momentarily surprised to see the monster dolls for the first time, they soon started playing earnestly with Seojun, reading from the 'script for playing with Seojun' that Kim Heesang, who had joined the celebration, handed them. Seojun's mood brightened in no time.
Before long, the living room table was filled with delicious food. As they were happily chatting and looking at their names trending in real-time searches, Lee Minjun spoke up.
"We're going to America."
"What?"
"We're going to America. Probably in a month."
"America?!"
Brown Black shouted in surprise. Kim Heesang and their manager, Seo Eunchan, who had grown close to the group over the past month, seemed to already know, as they just kept drinking their beer.
"Yeah. Minjun got transferred to the American branch. We'll probably be back in two or three years."
"We all decided to go together since he'd be lonely by himself."
Brown Black nodded with dumbfounded expressions. Then they looked at Seojun, who was chewing on the Lich King's hand. Two or three years. It felt like such a long time.
"But where in America are you going?"
Kevin asked amidst the silence, and Lee Minjun answered.
"LA. Los Angeles."
"If it's LA, my family has a house there. Everyone else moved away, so only my older sister lives there now…"
Kevin showed them a photo on his phone. It was a family picture. It showed a younger-looking Kevin with a man and a woman.
"This is my older brother, and this is my older sister."
The photo showed a man with a stern face and a woman with a hearty laugh. Lee Minjun and Seo Eunhye looked at the picture.
"I'll contact my nuna. If you have any trouble or questions, just give her a call. Here's her number."
"It'd be great for us to know someone in America, but is it okay for you to just give this to us?"
"Ahahaha."
Kevin laughed at Lee Minjun's question.
"It's fine. My nuna is a total social butterfly. She'll be thrilled to have made a new acquaintance. Seriously, even if you call her because you're bored, she'll come right out to hang out with you. Ah, provided she doesn't have work, of course."
"Really? Thank you. I'll be sure to call her."
Seo Eunhye clutched the contact information tightly.
Although they had decided to go since they had no one to be conscious of, paradoxically, they were also a little scared because they didn't know anyone. It was a relief to have someone they could ask about life in America.
* * *
Seo Eunhye stroked the hair of a sleeping Seojun. Lee Minjun also quietly gazed at Seojun's face. Seojun's mouth moved as if he were eating something in his dream.
"You know, I always thought I was someone without any prejudices…"
Lee Minjun smiled at Seo Eunhye's self-reproaching words. He had felt the same.
"We can't help it. We're parents."
"Still, it felt wrong."
When Seo Eunhye saw Seojun hugging each of his monster dolls after they returned from the shoot, her heart ached for a moment. Moreover, in the footage of [48 Hours], Seojun hadn't touched the dolls at all.
When she asked Seo Eunchan, he confirmed that throughout the entire 48 hours, not just in the edited version, Seojun hadn't touched them after the first time.
"Our Seojun is so good and smart. I think he's too perceptive of our feelings."
"…We're the ones who made him that way, aren't we?"
Seo Eunhye, whose father passed away when she was young, had been hurt by the thoughtless words of others throughout her life and even now, but she never despaired and lived steadfastly.
Having overcome such prejudice, she thought she was living a happy life, unconcerned with the opinions of others.
But she was wrong.
A stranger's comment she had heard long ago, one Seojun couldn't have heard—"That baby's doll is weird"—had been stuck in Eunhye's heart.
The comment about the doll being weird morphed into the idea that the baby was weird, and it echoed in her mind. Lee Minjun, who heard the story from Eunhye, also became a little sensitive.
Without them realizing it, it had become their trauma.
"We thought it would be one thing if it were us, but Seojun shouldn't have to hear things like that."
"Right. What if Seojun gets hurt?"
So, at home, the couple played with Seojun using the monster dolls he loved.
They didn't hide them from the other mothers, who were good people, but they never took the dolls outside. They only brought along a normal-looking teddy bear.
It was only while washing the dolls that they realized even that teddy bear wasn't so ordinary.
They realized it had been a thoughtful gesture from Kim Heesang, who understood the couple's feelings and had Seojun in mind as well.
But their efforts, like a silent pressure, had ironically made Seojun more self-conscious. It made this little baby worry.
Just as they were pondering how to make Seojun play comfortably with his dolls without worrying about his parents' reactions, Lee Minjun was transferred to the American branch at the perfect time.
America.
A place where diverse people gathered. A place with people of all inclinations, where even peculiarity could be a strength.
Wouldn't America, where they knew no one, be better than Korea, where they knew too many people and couldn't help but be conscious of them, even if things were improving?
If they changed their environment and met a variety of people, wouldn't Eunhye and Minjun's trauma also get better?
With these thoughts, Seo Eunhye and Lee Minjun decided to go to America with Seojun.
They had enough money.
Looking at the account linked to N-tube for the first time in a while, Seo Eunhye and Lee Minjun clutched their wildly beating hearts at the parade of unbelievable numbers.
After setting aside a portion for Seojun, they donated to several organizations.
"While I'm in America, I can study more, too."
"And Seojun can see a bigger world."
For their own sake and for Seojun's, his mom and dad decided to go to America.
* * *
Seojun was out in a stroller with his mom at a park not far from their apartment. The weather was chilly, but he was warm in his thick clothes.
As he sat on a bench with his mom, basking in the warm sunlight, he heard the sound of whispers. It was a couple sitting on the bench opposite them.
"That baby, he's the one who was on that show with Brown Black, right? The one on WNET."
"Is he? I'm not sure."
"What do you mean? I can tell just by looking."
"Aren't all kids that age pretty much the same?"
At the man's hesitant words, the woman tilted her head and nodded. True, it was hard to tell babies' faces apart.
"Anyway, did you watch 48 Hours?"
"Yeah. It was fun. Taking care of a baby looks incredibly hard."
Seo Eunhye cautiously relaxed her tense body and stood up. Making sure not to look like she was fleeing, she positioned herself in front of Seojun's stroller and slowly moved away from the bench.
Once they were a short distance from the couple, in a spot with fewer people, Seo Eunhye's legs gave out, and she crouched on the ground.
"Omma?"
"Wow. People are starting to recognize you outside."
It had already been a month since Brown Black's debut.
Having left a strong impression as a talented idol group with their debut stage, Brown Black was still busy a month later, being called to broadcasts and events.
They barely had time to call, and Seo Eunchan was home even less than before their debut. Seo Eunhye and her mother had already thrown in the towel.
As Brown Black's popularity soared, the number of people looking up [48 Hours] on N-tube grew as well.
When it became a hot topic online, WNET sent a proposal through Seo Eunchan to re-edit and broadcast [48 Hours].
"It's a late-night show, so not many people watch it anyway. Besides, you're going to America soon. Kids grow so fast at this age that no one will recognize him when you get back."
At the words of his uncle, Seo Eunchan, who was willing to use his own nephew for Brown Black's success, the couple agreed, figuring it wouldn't matter since it was already on N-tube.
WNET accepted Seo Eunhye and Lee Minjun's input and edited the video for television. This time, the edit focused more on Brown Black than on Seojun.
"I think it's okay to include it this time."
It was footage that hadn't been uploaded to N-tube. Seo Eunchan decided to include the video of the man they met at the playground in this broadcast.
Seo Eunchan had gone to Seojun's apartment to get the man's consent and heard the full story from him. *Damn. How did I not know?* Manager Seo Eunchan reflected on his oversight.
"I'm so sorry!"
"It's alright. It turned into good publicity, so it's fine."
"It really wasn't for publicity!"
After getting the man's permission, the cable station edited together the post the man had uploaded, the comments on the message board, and the video from the playground.
-Really?
-It really wasn't for publicity?
-Why didn't they upload it to the N-tube version?
-They would've been accused of it being staged. People would've gone crazy, asking who would go out of their way to get an autograph from an unknown idol group just because they liked their song.
-True.
The man on the screen smiled brightly.
"This is autograph number one!"
It was the officially recognized first autograph, certified by broadcast.
-When BB gets famous later, this is going to be worth a fortune.
-Yeah, the story behind it is great, too.
-So jealous…
…
-But the baby is cute too.
-I know, right? He seems smarter than other kids. And he doesn't seem shy around strangers. He doesn't even cry.
-Isn't that kid the one from that legendary mukbang video of kids eating?
-Oh, I think so. I saw him in an N-tube ad recently. The one with the elephant.
* * *
"We should get home before more people recognize you."
"Eung!"
Seojun was thrilled. Not as much as his hyungs, but people were already starting to recognize him. Although they were still a bit unsure.
His heart pounded.
The feeling of getting attention from others! It's the best!
The house they returned to was a complete mess. Only the bedroom was tidy. The living room and kitchen were filled with half-packed boxes.
"Eunchan decided to use the house. This is how much stuff we have, even after only packing the essentials."
"Eukyang!"
Seojun lifted his Lich King doll. Seo Eunhye smiled.
"We packed all of Seojun's dolls safely."
"Eung!"
Seojun hugged the Lich King doll tightly and grinned brightly. The way his mom and dad looked at the dolls was different now. It seemed like they were a little more at ease. Seojun was happy too.
In one week, Seojun would be leaving for America.
* * *
"Seojun. Auntie Nara is here!"
"Imo!"
Seojun, who had been looking out the window and waving enthusiastically at passersby, turned his head.
Kevin's older sister, Nara, stood at the entrance, waving. Seojun scampered over and gave Nara Kim a high-five. Slap!
It had already been four years since they came to America.
Lee Seojun was now 58 months old.
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