Chapter 51 – "A Year Without Her"
"I spent a year making the world scream for me… hoping she'd hear."
— Jaeheon Kang
[One Year Later]
The world has changed.
But Jaeheon Kang is still the same.
Or rather, he is more of everything.
[Media Article – Global Focus]
"THE GOLDEN MONSTER RETURNS: Jaeheon Kang Dominates 5 Charts in 3 Continents"
"It's been exactly one year since the end of Behind the Gold: AUREUS Unfiltered.
Since then, Jaeheon Kang has launched a solo album in six languages, acted in a silent art film that premiered at Cannes, became the youngest composer-in-residence at the Berlin Philharmonic, and ghostwrote the track that just won 'Song of the Century.'"
"What's terrifying is not what he's accomplished—it's that he does it so effortlessly, and then disappears again."
"Jaeheon Kang has made himself the most wanted ghost in the world."
[POV: Hyunjae – AUREUS Member]
"He barely sleeps now.
Just wakes up, works, records something in Russian or Arabic, learns an instrument in two days, and goes quiet again."
He pauses.
"And every time someone asks, 'What are you doing all this for?'
He just says...
'She's not looking, but I want to be visible anyway.'"
[POV: Rin – AUREUS Member]
"We used to laugh more, you know? Before."
"Now, it's like he's building an empire made of noise—hoping silence breaks first."
[Scene: Jaeheon's Apartment – 3:42 A.M.]
The lights are dim.
The piano is untouched—too beautiful to be played by tired hands.
Jaeheon leans over his desk, headphones in, voice low as he records.
"Track 108 – 'Do You Hear the Gold?'"
"For her. She'll never listen to it. But I'll know it exists."
He saves the file. Folder: Songs She'll Never Hear.
There are now 108 songs in that folder.
[Scene: Interview Clip – Behind-The-Scenes of Solo World Tour]
"What drives you, Jaeheon?"
He looks at the camera for a long moment.
Then, quietly:
"Something I was too afraid to reach for.
So now I'm chasing everything."
[POV: Anastasia Celeste Volkov]
A year.
She hasn't seen him since the show.
But she has seen everything.
Her AI tracks every language he learns, every song he writes, every concert he attends without speaking to anyone.
"He's trying to scream through music," she murmurs, watching a silent clip of him on stage.
Her voice remains cold.
"But it's still not enough."
The AI offers the most recent data pattern.
Pattern: Consistency of Emotional Motif
Finding: 94.3% of lyrical content remains centered on unknown female subject
Conclusion: Emotional fixation unresolved
She frowns.
"He thinks he's in love."
"But he never looked at me. Not really. He looked at the crown I wear. Like the rest of them."
Her voice cuts like ice.
"Let's see if he still feels the same… when I take off the throne."
[Final Scene – Invitation Delivered]
A black velvet envelope arrives at the AUREUS agency building.
Stamped in gold. Sealed with a phoenix.
No sender. No signature.
Only one line on the card:
"You're invited to the Ball of Sovereigns."
— Third Meeting
Jaeheon stares at the gold seal.
And for the first time in months…
he smiles.