March 9, 2001
4:00 am
The night at the nightclub had been perfect; Donghwa had made a great amount of money, enough to pay off all of Mirae Entertainment's debts and still have enough left over to buy all the drinks in the world.
"All set, boss." Once finished, Donghwa calmly left the fitting room and the nightclub, then headed to a bar where he took a somewhat low-profile seat. Since a Mirae Boys fan meeting was scheduled for that afternoon, he didn't order a drink and simply asked for a pl
Suddenly, a girl appeared—not a prostitute, but someone Donghwa had been messaging for a while—accompanied by a band (possibly alternative); Donghwa seemed to recognize her. She had very short hair, now dyed a faint blood-red, and met about 74% of the Korean beauty standard; despite this, she was quite rebellious—sporting an "anti-idol" shirt—and was busy on her phone. Coincidentally, Donghwa received a text message reading "I'm here"; there was no longer any doubt that this was Hwang Hyoyoung, and Donghwa recognized her well.
Hwang Hyoyoung was born on January 4, 1980, in Buk District, Ulsan, South Korea, and is 21 years old. Like Donghwa, Hyoyoung came from a staunchly conservative Christian family, but there were two caveats: first, her mother divorced her father when Hyoyoung was five and her brother was seven because she could no longer bear being forced to live within that religion (she now lives with another man and two other children); second, instead of hiding it, Hyoyoung openly embodied everything her father hated—she was a rebel who made no effort to please him, a feminist, and a tomboy who supported causes her father deemed "contrary to moral standards," among other things. It was for these reasons that she was kicked out of her home. On August 1, 1999, she debuted in the trio "Sweetie Sweetie"—Mirae Entertainment's first official group and, to date, its only girl group, whose other members would be Shin Jihye (who still in Mirae Entertainment) and Kwon Gayoon. They had a very "cute" concept (which she disliked), but the group lasted only a month after Gayoon was murdered at 17; Hyoyoung terminated her contract, and the group disbanded. Since then, Hyoyoung has worked as an independent guitarist and has been openly opposed to the idol system.
When she and her band took the stage, Donghwa could hardly believe it was her; they played a few songs by other artists.
5:15 AM
When the performance ended, Hyoyoung walked over—letting the band go on without her—and sat down next to Donghwa. "So, are you taking me to your place?" she asked, her tone a mix of disdain and amusement; that was when Donghwa recognized her. "Wait—Hyoyoung?"
"Congratulations, Sherlock—you managed to find the woman you'd been talking to for years," she laughed. Donghwa couldn't help but laugh too. They kept chatting until Hyoyoung decided to take Donghwa to her apartment, since Donghwa's car had been towed.
5:42 AM
They arrived at Hyoyoung's apartment, where Donghwa sat down and turned on the TV while she took a shower. "Aren't you coming to sleep?" Hyoyoung asked.
"I don't feel like it," he replied. "If you want, you can come watch TV with me." He patted the empty spot on the sofa. Hyoyoung fried up several slices of bacon and grabbed two beers while the two of them watched TV and talked.