Chapter 1210: Soaring (10)

I stammered without meaning to.

"You're giving me this house?"

"Hm?"

"I didn't mishear you, did I? Cold. You're really transferring ownership of this house to me?"

"Of course."

Watching Cold answer as if it were the most natural thing in the world, Biju asked with an expression of utter incomprehension.

"But it's a house, Cold. Not something else, but an entire house..."

We all felt the same way.

From our perspective, giving someone a house was difficult to comprehend.

But Cold only looked puzzled by our reaction.

"Hm?"

He blinked for a moment, then snapped his fingers with an "Ah!"

"There was a misunderstanding. I'm not saying I'm giving Sunny my home."

"???"

"To be more precise, I'm saying I'll give him one of the three houses I own in Los Angeles."

He pointed his thumb toward the beautiful fountain, expansive garden, and mansion so enormous that it was difficult to even guess its full size.

"This is more of a secondary residence than my main house. Didn't you already figure that out?"

"We did?"

"Would you want to throw a loud party like yesterday's at your main house? I absolutely hate the thought of all those people at the party dirtying my home before leaving. It just feels wrong."

"...We don't really have the concept of owning multiple houses in the first place."

Still, it did make sense.

I remembered how amazed we had been when Hayley told us that the house we visited was only one of several she owned.

From a Korean perspective, it might seem extravagant, but celebrities had their reasons.

In a country roughly a hundred times larger than Korea, anyone who traveled constantly from east to west and north to south needed a residence in each major area.

The distance between Los Angeles and New York was probably around four thousand kilometers. To put that into perspective from Seoul, it would be like having to travel to India, Singapore, or Malaysia.

"I'm really grateful, but..."

I hesitated.

"Is it really all right for me to accept this?"

Receiving a car as a gift and receiving a gigantic mansion were completely different things.

Cold asked, genuinely puzzled,

"Why wouldn't it be? There isn't much difference in price between a Bugatti and this house. How much did I pay for this place again?"

He called over a white man in a gray suit standing some distance away.

"John! How much did I pay for this house?"

"I believe it was around eight million dollars, Cold."

"See? Not much different from a Bugatti. With houses like this, the upkeep costs more than the purchase price. Maybe two million dollars a year? That should cover it. Ask John if you want the exact figure."

The financial manager in the suit flashed a gleaming smile and nodded.

Cold spread his arms.

"So, what's your answer?"

"Can we hug you?"

"Of course."

We squealed and rushed at Cold.

"Thank you!"

"We'll take really good care of it. This is the best gift we've ever received. Even my dad has never given me anything like this!"

"Thank you. I'll take excellent care of the lawn."

Cold said in confusion,

"Strictly speaking, I'm giving it to Sunny..."

"That's fine! Whatever Brother Wooju owns belongs to all of us!"

I nodded at the rapper looking my way.

"It's true."

"Sometimes I wonder. You guys aren't actually a family related by blood, are you?"

Ri Hyuk said,

"We're tied together by money and contracts."

"Ah. Just like marriage. I understand perfectly now. Though unlike me, you probably won't have to pay money to several ex-wives."

We laughed when he said that having married several times made him an expert.

"Anyway, I have some things to discuss with my financial manager, so go take a look around. Starting tomorrow, this will be your house, Sunny."

"Starting tomorrow...?"

"I hardly have anything here. Like I said, this is mostly a place I use for parties or when I invite guests over."

Cold walked over to the financial manager who had been waiting and waved at us.

"Feel free to look around."

"Okay!"

At that, my underlings and I nodded and began surveying the property.

"Wow..."

"Wooow..."

The moment we were told it would be our home, everything suddenly looked different.

Junghyun gazed admiringly at the beautiful garden.

"We'll get to live here while breathing in the air from all these trees and plants every day... Wouldn't it look nice if we made a little vegetable garden over there?"

"Ugh, I don't like the smell of fertilizer."

"Me neither!"

At the younger members' objections, Junghyun said,

"But what if we used lettuce from the garden for a pork belly party?"

"That does sound tempting."

"Oh?"

We all stared into the distance with blissful smiles.

A vision of life at NewBlack House unfolded before us.

We would wake up in the morning, drink a glass of milk with toast while enjoying the wonderful scenery, take a walk, and then report to the indoor practice room in the mansion to rehearse.

We would eat lunch and go to the practice room, then hold a barbecue party in the evening before going back to the practice room. Once we finished practicing, we could shower right away and go to bed...

Uh...

"Hah."

I ruffled my hair.

"All I can think about is the practice room."

"Me too."

The only things we could imagine doing in an enormous mansion were practicing and working.

It made me realize all over again just how boring we were.

Then Junghyun spoke.

"Ah. Come to think of it, this house really does have one incredible advantage."

"What is it?"

"It's close enough to Ri Hyuk's mother's house to walk there. If we ran, I think we could make it in under a minute."

"Oh!"

All of us lit up.

"You're right."

"Wow, then whenever we come here, we can visit his mother all the time. Ri Hyuk can see his family too."

"We're neighbors with his mother now. Wow."

While all of us clapped and talked about how wonderful it was, Ri Hyuk himself stood there with a pale face.

"What's wrong?"

"If we can move in tomorrow, that means Mom and I will be next-door neighbors starting tomorrow."

"Right! Isn't that wonderful?"

"..."

But Ri Hyuk ignored us and merely stared at his smartwatch.

Jiho asked,

"Are you checking how much your heart rate went up because you're so happy?"

"No..."

Ri Hyuk grabbed his coat and started running.

Biju shouted,

"Ri Hyuk! Where are you going? You're going to trip!"

"I have to get back the letter I gave Mom! I'm going to see her starting tomorrow, so she can't open that thing!"

"Ri Hyuk!"

"Nyeaaahhh!"

We burst into laughter as we watched the mayfly sprint madly across the garden.

Cold watched him go, whistling with his eyebrows raised, while Jiho tilted his head.

"But instead of running, couldn't he just call his mother first? He could tell her not to take the letter out."

"Oh. That's true."

"And he calls me stupid all the time. Sheesh."

Once he said it, we realized he was right and burst out laughing again.

Watching Ri Hyuk run like a crane on legs far too thin for his body, Biju asked thoughtfully,

"Should we tell him now?"

"Leave him. I laugh every time I see him run. He looks like a pair of chopsticks sprinting."

"Honestly, I think it's funny too. I kind of want to keep watching."

Biju giggled and nodded.

We cupped our hands around our mouths and shouted.

"Go, Ri Hyuk!"

"You can make it in under a minute! You can do it!"

"Radiant Ri Hyuk! Look at him run!"

His answering cry of "Shut up!" rang back toward us, and we all dissolved into laughter.

The next day, we moved into NewBlack House with the task force team.

"Wow."

"Wooow. Is this a house or a palace?"

Our staff stood with their hands on the handles of their suitcases, staring in shock as they looked from the chandelier-lit dining room to the unbelievably spacious living room.

Mingi stared in amazement.

"I heard they held a Grammy after-party here, so I wondered how big it was, but this place really never ends."

"Having a huge country definitely has its advantages. A house like this in Seoul would probably cost a hundred billion won."

"That's because we're on the outskirts of Los Angeles. An American friend told me Manhattan is even more expensive than Seoul."

The staff chatted among themselves as they each went to find a guest room.

This would be our accommodation from now on, as well as a place where the staff could live with us.

The task force team bowed to me.

"Wooju, thank you for bestowing such grace upon us."

"It's nothing."

A house that required fifteen employees just to maintain it could easily accommodate a team of this size.

Seokhwan, standing beside me, stared around the living room in a daze.

"This really belongs to you?"

"Yeah."

"Wow..."

"Though I think I'll have to pay quite a lot in taxes. Ri Hyuk said we have to be careful not to violate the Foreign Exchange Transactions Act or something."

"I'll make sure everything is handled properly."

Between the taxes and upkeep, it seemed like it would cost an enormous amount of money, but it was still an incredible house.

Mrs. Kim Deoksun, Ri Hyuk's mother, and Yaein, who had come for the housewarming, reacted similarly.

"Oh my goodness. This is really your house?"

"Oh."

"Wow!"

The mansion was several times larger than the house where Ri Hyuk's family lived.

Yaein said,

"This is the biggest house in the neighborhood. I always wondered who lived here, and now it belongs to Wooju."

Ri Hyuk's mother looked around the living room and dining area, then said to Ri Hyuk,

"Wooju received a house in a good location. It faces south, so it's warm, gets plenty of sunlight, and hasn't been standing for very long. It's an excellent house. Did you properly thank Wooju for letting you stay here?"

"Of course I did."

"Also, considering how close it is to my house, running over yesterday to retrieve your letter seems to have been the best decision you could possibly have made."

"So I wrote a new one."

"Shall we exchange them?"

"Yes."

The two of them smoothly traded letters.

As I listened to a conversation that somehow seemed both warm and cold at the same time, I sidled up to Grandma.

"Grandma. Are you going to keep staying at Ri Hyuk's mother's house?"

"What are you talking about? Of course I'm moving here."

"Your grandson investment really paid off, huh?"

"Kyahahaha!"

"Kyahaha!"

While our strange cackling made everyone around us look as though they had goosebumps,

"Hello!"

Mr. D'Angelo, the agent in charge of our activities in America, entered through the front door with a broad smile.

His arms were laden with gifts.

"Are those presents?"

"Yes. I brought champagne to celebrate both your Grammy win and your move. I chose a very expensive one. It's a vintage Dom Pérignon."

Judging by the way everyone who liked alcohol exclaimed in awe, it must have been expensive champagne.

The American manager who followed behind him set a pile of gifts down on the table.

"And these were sent by your neighbors."

"Oh."

There were cakes and flowers with cards welcoming us to the neighborhood, sent by people including famous actor Alec West, who lived next door, and Larry Gordon, considered one of the best talk-show hosts on the West Coast.

Mr. D'Angelo chuckled.

"Welcoming you as neighbors is merely an excuse. What they really mean is that they want to establish a relationship with the winner of the top Grammy award. In other words, my artist is the hottest name in the business right now! Ha ha!"

We all laughed at how delighted he looked, as though he had won the Grammy himself.

He had supported us with everything he had from the moment we began working in America.

Still laughing heartily, he spotted Grandma and greeted her.

"Oh, so this is the famous Lady Kim Deoksun. It is truly an honor to meet you."

"I don't understand what he's saying, but he has such a lovely smile."

"Ha ha! I don't understand what you're saying either, but thank you!"

"You're welcome."

Grandma smiled primly and nodded.

Mr. D'Angelo looked around the house.

"I came here several times when Cold Brown held parties. I used to visit often to lure celebrities who didn't have agents, and now I'm here under entirely different circumstances. You truly never know what life has in store."

He then busily checked his calendar and began briefing us on our schedule in America.

We said to him,

"We should probably send return gifts..."

Whenever someone moved into a new neighborhood, it was traditional to visit and introduce themselves, no matter the country.

Even if we did not hand out rice cakes, we felt we should at least send something.

"Ah, I'll prepare something appropriate and send it on your behalf. Agents and managers usually handle things like that for their artists anyway. Alec West probably doesn't even know what gift he sent you."

Then he added,

"Besides, every celebrity's house in this area is probably empty right now. Even if you went to visit, no one would be home. Every private jet carrying North American celebrities is likely heading to Atlanta."

"Is something happening in Atlanta?"

At our question, Mr. D'Angelo burst into incredulous laughter.

"What do you mean, is something happening? The Super Bowl is being held there!"

Life in the new house settled into an ordinary rhythm.

We ate the delicious food Biju cooked, practiced in Cold's old rehearsal room, and took walks through the garden when we rested.

"Wow."

Jiho spoke with a blissful expression.

"I'm seriously so happy, guys."

"Me too. It feels like when we first moved into the new company building."

I felt like bowing every day in the direction of wherever Cold happened to be.

"Atlanta is east of here, right?"

"Then let's bow toward the sunrise."

He had probably gone to Atlanta to watch the Super Bowl.

American media was currently in an uproar over the game.

And it was not entirely unrelated to us.

-Super Bowl advertising wars as fierce as the game itself... Who will emerge victorious?

Among the many commercials, a special Super Bowl trailer would air for the movie starring Jiho and me.

That was why we invited a large number of guests over, both for the trailer and for our housewarming.

A large portion of our guests were Americans, after all.

"Is the grill ready, Junghyun?"

"Yes. Almost!"

We turned the living room's giant television screen to the channel broadcasting the Super Bowl and prepared to welcome everyone.

Guests soon began arriving one after another.

"Hi."

"Hello!"

Lee Gyeonwoo, Director Kim Bora, and the rest of the Sound of the Sun team arrived carrying food.

It had been a while since we had seen them, so we hugged and exchanged greetings.

"I heard you went to Antarctica! Everyone was talking about it. You're doing some kind of campaign with the UN too, right?"

"That's right."

"That must have been amazing!"

"Y-yeah."

The conversation began there, but every topic eventually led to the same place.

"I actually cried when Seon Myeongju won that award. At last, our Sun..."

"I was so happy."

"My parents cried when they saw it too."

I smiled as the Korean Americans spoke with expressions of pure happiness.

The reason I had been able to win an award for Answer, and the reason Dad had received a lifetime achievement award, was because of these people.

I asked with a smile,

"Would you like to see the Grammy trophy?"

"R-really?"

"It's right here."

"Wooow."

Everyone brought their faces close to the Grammy trophy, staring in amazement without daring to touch it.

"Would you like to hold it?"

"Uh—oh!"

Director of Photography Han Giyoung panicked when I handed him the trophy.

Everyone burst out laughing.

I asked the others,

"Would you like to hold it too?"

"No, that's okay. What if I touch it and that gramophone suddenly snaps off?"

"Everyone should hold it. How could I have won this award without all of you?"

"..."

They looked embarrassed but happy as they carefully touched the trophy.

Meanwhile, someone pointed at the television, and the conversation shifted.

"Oh, looks like it's about to start."

"Who do you think will win today? The Patriots or the Rams?"

"I think the Patriots probably will, but I'm rooting for the Rams."

The staff were already holding bottles of beer, their faces full of anticipation.

Director Kim Bora said,

"Men are all like this when the Super Bowl comes around. Their eyes go wide and everything. One of my ex-boyfriends used to go completely crazy whenever it was Super Bowl season."

"I see."

"Wooju, do you watch American football?"

"No. I don't even know the rules."

After saying that, I walked over to Lee Gyeonwoo, who was quietly grilling meat with Junghyun.

"Senior, you should rest."

"I'm fine."

"You look exhausted."

"The Academy campaign has been driving me crazy lately. Every day, I attend parties, shake hands, greet people..."

The actor groaned as though all the life had been drained out of him, then looked at us with a relaxed expression.

"Compared to that, being with you guys is fine."

"Because you feel so comfortable around us!"

"No. I just realized I'd rather have my energy drained in Korean than in English..."

When we glared at him, Lee Gyeonwoo quietly returned to grilling the meat.

While we talked, loud cheers continued to erupt around us.

Whenever the enormous men on the green field crashed into one another with a bang or went flying, the guests cheered. Whenever they disliked a referee's decision, they cried out in outrage and clutched their heads.

Ri Hyuk, who had lived in America, tried to explain the rules, but I understood only about half of what he said.

Then the first quarter ended.

During the break, we asked Ri Hyuk excitedly,

"Is it time now? The halftime show?"

"No. That's after the second quarter. There are four quarters."

"Oh."

We did not know much about the Super Bowl, but we did know about its famous halftime show, so we had been looking forward to it.

My heart pounded at the thought of watching a world-class performance live in just a little while.

Meanwhile, commercials began playing on the television.

"They're impressive again this year."

"Wow."

"The cinematography on that one is incredible. Who made it?"

The film industry professionals evaluated the countless commercials created by America's finest experts.

Whenever a trailer aired for one of the year's most anticipated films, they discussed what they thought of it.

Amid all that, Jiho and I swallowed nervously.

"Hm?"

"Wait! It's on!"

Hayley Blue's husband, Chris Kyle, appeared on the television dressed as an agent.

It was the trailer for Secret Agent 3, one of the most anticipated movies of the year, in which Jiho played a supporting role.