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# Chapter 35: The Weight of Third Place
Kang Riou’s fingers pressed against the steering wheel. White fingers. Piano fingers. The fingers of someone who placed third.
Se-a watched his face in the silence. Kang Riou closed his eyes. The car’s air conditioning continued its steady hum. The sounds of Gangnam Station filtered through the windows—footsteps, taxi horns, construction noise. It all drowned out the conversation from two hours ago.
“Third place is incredible, isn’t it?”
Se-a asked. It wasn’t a real question. It was an attempt to save him. Without even knowing it.
Kang Riou opened his eyes.
“People remember first and second. The world remembers the winners of international competitions. But third? Third is treated almost like fourth. The prize money was smaller. There were no tour offers. My father couldn’t accept that.”
Kang Riou turned the key. The engine roared to life. But the car didn’t move.
“Do you know what he said to me? ‘You failed. Find another path now.’ This was three weeks after Berlin. I was still in shock, and he was already planning my future. He was going to make me an A&R at JYA. Have me work at his company.”
As Se-a listened, she understood something. That she and Kang Riou were the same kind of person. People living inside someone else’s plans. Puppets moving not for their own desires, but for someone else’s.
“So you quit piano?”
“It wasn’t that I quit… I couldn’t do it anymore.”
Kang Riou’s voice cracked. Se-a heard it break like this for the first time.
“After getting third place, my hands froze. When I sit at the piano, my fingers shake. Like I’m going to fail again. The doctor said it was psychological. Trauma, anxiety disorder, things like that. But it’s all a lie. The real reason is… I lost confidence. In music.”
After those words, the silence in the car became something else. A silence of sadness. A silence of despair. And in that silence, Se-a understood Kang Riou completely for the first time. He wasn’t a villain. He was another victim.
“So you’re trying to…”
Se-a spoke slowly.
“…protect me. So I don’t fall apart like you did.”
“Yes. And…”
Kang Riou turned in his seat to face Se-a. Tears glistened in his eyes. A man crying. Se-a had never seen it before. Her father had died when she was young, and Do-hyun was old enough to hold back his tears. But Kang Riou didn’t hold back.
“I want to create you. Not the kind of musician my father wants. Just… a musician who is yourself. I want to see that.”
When she heard those words, Se-a realized she stood at a crossroads. In this moment—to take his hand or let it go. Knowing both paths were paths of fire.
She didn’t take Kang Riou’s hand.
Instead, she looked out the window.
“What did you write to Do-hyun? In your message?”
“’Let’s meet tomorrow evening at the same time. Don’t meet with anyone else. It’s to protect you.’”
“What did Do-hyun think?”
“I don’t know. But probably he got suspicious. That kind of instinct a seventeen-year-old feels. It’s usually right.”
Kang Riou withdrew his hand. The movement of someone accepting rejection. Se-a knew how much pride it cost him, but she also knew it was a necessary rejection.
“I can’t protect you. No one can ever perfectly protect anyone. And people who try to—they’re really just trying to protect themselves.”
Se-a placed her hand against the car window. The glass was warm. Sunlight poured in.
“I’m tired. Of all of this.”
After those words, they fell silent again. But this was a different kind of silence. A silence of understanding. A silence of despair. And in that despair, both of them wondered when they had become this way.
Kang Riou started the car. They left Gangnam Station. He turned onto Apgujeong-ro. Luxury shops lined the street. Se-a continued to stare out the window. How distant those streets felt.
On the way back to the convenience store, Se-a spoke to Kang Riou.
“Did you see Park So-jin?”
Kang Riou’s hands stiffened on the steering wheel.
“Why?”
“JYA’s new artist. She debuted three weeks ago. She’s singing two songs I wrote.”
“I know.”
“I only saw her in pictures, but her eyes were strange. Like she knows she’s lost something, but doesn’t know what. That kind of look.”
Kang Riou didn’t answer. But his silence was an answer.
“You know her, don’t you?”
“I don’t.”
“Don’t lie. You’re a bad liar. Your voice changes.”
Kang Riou sighed. A sigh of surrender.
“Fine. Park So-jin is a woman I met two years ago. A woman who really loves music. But the moment music became money, the moment that money became someone else’s—everything fell apart.”
“And?”
“What could I have done? JYA is my father’s company. Park So-jin already signed the contract. That contract can’t be changed…”
Kang Riou’s voice grew smaller.
“So you were trying to protect me. So I wouldn’t become like Park So-jin.”
Se-a spoke slowly. It wasn’t a question. It was a realization.
Kang Riou continued driving. A red light. They stopped.
“You’re Kang Min-jun’s son. And I’m Kang Min-jun’s musician. That means you can’t protect me. Not in front of your father.”
Se-a’s voice wasn’t cold. It was cold but honest.
“Yes.”
Kang Riou’s answer was a single syllable. But that syllable contained all the despair in the world.
The light turned green. The car moved.
Se-a arrived at the convenience store at 3:15 PM. From 3 PM to 9 PM was So-yoon Lee’s shift—the part-time worker. So-yoon was a university student. Business major. Someone from a different world than Se-a.
“Oh, Se-a noona! Where have you been?”
So-yoon asked brightly. Se-a didn’t answer.
“Is something wrong?”
“No, I just… you’ve been going out and coming back a lot lately. Are you okay?”
Se-a drank water. From the convenience store’s water dispenser. It was lukewarm. But that was fine today. She couldn’t handle anything hot or cold.
“I’m fine.”
Se-a answered. It was a lie. But the real skill was making a lie sound like the truth.
So-yoon wasn’t satisfied, but she didn’t ask further. That was courtesy. The courtesy shared between people working in a convenience store. An unspoken agreement not to dig too deep into each other’s lives.
Se-a went to the back office. It was behind the store. A small space. A refrigerator, a desk, a chair, and several filing cabinets. Se-a turned on the laptop on the desk.
An email had arrived. From JYA Entertainment.
From: Park In-cheol
Subject: Music Project – Urgent Meeting
The message was simple. Come to JYA headquarters tomorrow at 10 AM. A meeting about a new project. Along with Park In-cheol’s signature was the name Kang Min-jun.
Se-a read the email again and again. Three times. Four times. But the words didn’t change. And what they meant was clear. What Kang Min-jun wanted. This email was it.
Her phone rang. A KakaoTalk message. From Hae-neul.
“Hey, Se-a. What are you doing?”
Se-a replied.
“Convenience store.”
“Again? You’re basically living at that convenience store these days. Anyway, I have something to tell you. When can you meet?”
Se-a thought. She had to work from 11 PM to 7 AM. When could she meet in between?
“1 AM? Hongdae?”
“Got it. I’ll see you in front of the club at that time.”
The chat ended. Se-a turned the laptop back on. She needed to reply to the email.
“Understood. I’ll be there at 10 AM tomorrow. – Se-a Na”
She pressed send. The email was sent. And in that moment, Se-a realized something. She had just handed something over. Her tomorrow. Her choices.
The fluorescent light in the office painted Se-a’s face white. Her reflection in the laptop screen, like a mirror. Whose face was that?
11 PM to 7 AM. Eight hours of convenience store time passed. Customers came and went. People staying up all night. People avoiding the night. People wanting the night. Se-a saw all of them. But no one saw her.
1:15 AM. Se-a asked So-yoon for a thirty-minute break. A privilege of convenience store part-time work. You could take up to thirty minutes off at a time. Those thirty minutes were hers.
Hongdae’s club district. A street that became more lively the deeper the night got. Hae-neul was waiting in front of the club entrance. She was smoking. So-yoon didn’t know Hae-neul smoked.
“How long?”
Se-a asked.
“This is something you don’t know about me… I’m dating someone.”
Hae-neul said. Se-a’s eyes widened.
“That tattoo artist?”
“No. That was three years ago. Now it’s… complicated.”
Hae-neul looked up at the sky while smoking. The Hongdae sky was orange from city lights. No stars were visible.
“What’s complicated about it?”
“An actor. An indie film actor. What was their name… anyway, I’ve been with them for about three months now. But lately it’s weird. I don’t know if I really like them, or if I like them because they like me… I can’t tell the difference.”
Se-a didn’t answer. It was her problem too.
“Is it the same for you? Because of Kang Riou?”
“Huh?”
“No, just… you have no expression, so I can’t tell. But your eyes are strange. Like you’re not yourself.”
Hae-neul dropped her cigarette and stepped on it.
“What are you doing tomorrow?”
“A meeting. JYA called me.”
“What kind of meeting?”
“I don’t know.”
Hae-neul looked at Se-a. Genuinely looked at her.
“Do you regret signing that contract?”
Se-a thought. Regret? It wasn’t a simple emotion. It was a question about existence itself.
“I don’t know.”
Se-a answered. And it was the most honest answer she could give.
1:45 AM. Se-a had to go back to the convenience store. Five hours and fifteen minutes left. She had to endure it until 7 AM. Then wait until 10 AM and go to JYA.
In the taxi from Hongdae to Hapjeong, Se-a looked at her fingers. Still black. When would they fade? Or would they stay forever? They had seeped in as deep as her identity.
When Se-a arrived at the convenience store, So-yoon was alone at the register. There was one customer. A person who looked homeless was buying a carton of milk. 4,500 won. Counting out coins. One by one.
Se-a took So-yoon’s place. And she looked at the homeless man. His fingers were also black. Se-a understood then. Everyone was burning in the same way.
When 7 AM came, Se-a left the convenience store. The sunlight was strong. Like midday sun. But it was 7 AM. Time couldn’t be wrong. Her senses were just broken.
She went home. A semi-basement room in a gosiwon. Jangpan was waiting at the door. The cat knew time. Feeding time. Se-a gave the cat food. Then she lay on her bed.
It was 8:30 AM. She had to get ready and leave within an hour and a half.
But Se-a didn’t move. She stared at the ceiling. Semi-basement windows. People’s legs passing by above. Someone’s sneakers, someone’s heels, someone’s slippers. Everyone was going somewhere. But Se-a remained here.
9:45 AM. Se-a got up. She changed clothes without washing. Black jeans. Gray hoodie. Without looking at her face.
The subway to Gangnam Station. Line 2. Line 6. Transfer at Gyeongdae Station. Get off at Sinnonhyeon Station. The JYA Entertainment building came into view. A 30-story building. Built of glass. Se-a looked up at it.
She entered the building.
She took the elevator.
She went up to the 25th floor.
And Se-a understood. She no longer controlled her own life. Everything was already decided. In the contract. In the copyright transfer agreement. In Kang Min-jun’s eyes.
The elevator doors opened.
Kang Min-jun was waiting. Park In-cheol too. And one more person. A woman. Se-a saw her.
Park So-jin.
Park So-jin saw Se-a. Their eyes met. In that moment, Se-a understood. Park So-jin was burning too. And that flame was for someone.
Kang Min-jun opened his mouth.
“Ms. Na Se-a. We finally meet. Let’s talk about our project.”
Se-a didn’t answer.
“This is Park So-jin. Our new artist. And your… music partner.”
Park So-jin and Se-a continued to look at each other. In their eyes was the same thing. Understanding. Betrayal. And a very small hope. That hope could become a flame.
Kang Min-jun smiled.
“We’ve prepared many things for you. Really many things.”
After those words, Se-a made a decision.
She would no longer be Kang Min-jun’s flame, but her own.
No matter the cost.
End of Chapter. Look forward to the next episode.