There Are Four Top Idol Uncles - Chapter 175

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Part 2, Episode 1
A few days before the opening ceremony.
[…Every February, the Berlin International Film Festival fills with the fervent passion of filmmakers from around the world.]
“Hey, hey. Here it comes, here it comes. Everyone quiet down, okay?”
Jeongyun flailed her hands excitedly at the two friends sitting beside her, making a fuss.
“Without exaggeration, you’re the loudest one here.”
“I didn’t ask you.”
Baek Yun looked at his twin with eyes that screamed pure exasperation.
And Harin, impartial to both of them, kept her gaze fixed solely on the television screen, offering neither attention nor comment.
Three children who had met at age seven and become each other’s closest friends—
“Wow.”
“Insane.”
…….
Had somehow become fourteen-year-olds standing on the threshold of middle school.
[One of tonight’s hottest subjects on this red carpet is none other than a fourteen-year-old girl from South Korea!]
But these still-childlike youths, closer to children than true teenagers, were currently
[actress Yewon.]
watching their friend’s moment of glory.
“Wow. Yewon really is incredibly beautiful!”
At Jeongyun’s heartfelt admiration, Harin immediately nodded in agreement.
Yewon, dressed in a lovely green satin mini dress and offering a soft smile toward the cameras, looked like nothing less than an angel made flesh.
“Our country’s youngest child actor invited to the Berlin Film Festival, and she’s my friend. I’m not making this up.”
“…?”
Harin looked at Jeongyun with a puzzled expression.
“But it’s not a lie—it’s real.”
“Oh… yeah… right….”
At Harin’s serious tone, Jeongyun nodded sheepishly. It was far too risky to argue with her; she was too terrifying a friend.
And….
…….
While the two girls freely showered praise on Yewon’s blooming beauty, there sat a boy who could only blush, his mouth hanging open uselessly.
‘…She really is… so beautiful….’
Baek Yun gazed at Yewon shining on the screen with eyes utterly besotted by love.
It had been a full year since he’d seen Yewon’s face in person.
His first love had already seemed like the most radiant fairy in the world.
Now she looked less like a fairy and more like a goddess from mythology itself.
“Wow. Yoo Baekwoon, that’s genuinely disgusting. What’s with that look? Totally gross.”
“…I told you to be quiet, didn’t I, Yujeongyun?!”
“Your eyes are louder. You’ve gone past the point of no return—you’re broadcasting lust all the way to the back row. Absolutely revolting. I’d appreciate it if you’d refrain from making such eyes at my friend.”
“…But Yewon is my friend too, you know?!”
“Who looks at a friend with eyes like that? Gross.”
“Agreed. If you ever look at me that way, I’ll stab out your eyes. They’re deeply unclean.”
“…Isn’t that a bit harsh to say…?”
But Baek Yun couldn’t entirely deny what Jeongyun and Harin had said last.
The truth was, from the very first moment he’d seen Yewon until now….
He had never once looked at her as merely a ‘friend.’
[Caption: Actress Yewon, age 14, makes triumphant entry into Berlin International Film Festival]
[Caption: Lead role in <Very Another Day>, Official Competition selection by Director Kuroki Ari]
“This film already won an award at the Sundance Film Festival, didn’t it?”
“Yeah. Won the directing prize.”
“Yewon really does have a different eye for scripts.”
Jeongyun let out an impressed whistle.
“And I heard that <Very Another Day> is the director’s debut film. Yewon saw the script and immediately wanted to do it, so she just showed up at the director’s place unannounced, auditioned, and landed the role.”
Baek Yun, who had rewound every interview video of Yewon from the past few months at least a hundred times, rattled off information about the film with practiced ease.
“But the script must have been in English—how on earth did Yewon even…?”
“Don’t know. From what I heard, the film was so close to being lost due to lack of investment, but Director Yeon’s production company stepped in to fund it.”
“…So how did Yewon even find out about such a script in the first place…?”
“That’s exactly why it’s a mystery.”
While the two siblings shook their heads in genuine wonder,
…….
Harin couldn’t take her eyes off her most proud friend in the world.
Yet something strangely wistful lingered across her face.
She understood how crucial this film was for Yewon’s career, and she was genuinely thrilled to see her friend’s efforts bear such bright fruit—but still.
‘I haven’t seen Yewon in a whole year. It’s breaking my heart.’
At an age when friendship was everything.
Harin, who adored Yewon more than anyone else in the world, simply felt a little hurt by the situation.
She’d thought the filming would wrap in three or four months at most.
But the shoot had stretched to seven months, and then Yewon had spent another four months abroad auditioning for other international films and traveling the globe for promotions, unable to return to Korea.
Of course, she’d managed to fly back occasionally for middle school practical exams or family matters.
The problem was that she’d only stayed a day or two each time—never long enough to see her friends.
“But.”
At Jeongyun’s resolute tone, both Harin and Baek Yun turned toward her simultaneously.
“Yewon’s really coming back to Korea for good this time, right?”
“Yeah.”
Harin pulled out her phone and opened the calendar app.
Beneath the date March 1st, a red line was drawn.
“She said she’d arrive on March 1st. She has to be there for the entrance ceremony on March 2nd without fail.”
“All three of us are starting at the same middle school. From March on, we’ll see each other every day!”
At Harin’s words, Jeongyun and Baek Yun’s faces brightened immediately.
During a phone call they’d managed only days before,
‘Are you going to go abroad again after entering middle school?’
‘Um, yeah. I wasn’t sure if there were plans…’
‘No! I have to be in Korea when I’m fourteen. No matter what. I’m not leaving Korea, absolutely not.’
Yewon’s reaction had been far more intense than the friends expected, which left them puzzled.
‘But we’re thrilled about it!’
That’s what they’d decided.
“Though Mun Hyeok’s already in third year. It’s a shame we’ll only get to spend one year together with him.”
“I know, right.”
Mun Hyeok, who had a schedule conflict today, was already in his third year at the Hyunbong Arts Middle School Drama and Film Department.
“Mun Hyeok told me the kids at Hyunbong are super strict. There’s this senior-junior hierarchy thing going on. The seniors are really watchful of the juniors. He said they give subtle signals to kids who stand out. So he said it was hard for him to adjust at first.”
“It’s not the military—why would there even be this kind of hierarchy…”
At Jeongyun’s remark, Baek Yun murmured in agreement.
“Honestly, I hate it too, but what do we have to show off about? We just keep our heads down and we’re fine.”
“Stand out?”
Harin asked, clearly not quite understanding.
“Yeah. Like, being noticeable, you know? Going out of your way to get attention, making a fuss. Stuff like that.”
…
Was something like that really such a serious offense that it deserved scorn?
Harin’s brow furrowed slightly.
“Aw, don’t worry. Your personality’s really no problem at all. You barely talk to anyone else, so what. Just Yoo Baekwoon needs to watch himself.”
“Why me?!”
“You’re just kind of unlucky.”
“!!?!”
‘Stand out…’
As Harin turned over Jeongyun’s words in her mind, she looked up and saw Yewon being interviewed by foreign journalists.
[Yewon: An award at the Berlin Film Festival? Haha. I’m incredibly honored by those words, but it still feels like a dream to me. Just being cast in such a wonderful film is enough for me right now.]
[Yewon: My heart is already racing just from walking the same red carpet as such amazing actors.]
If you had to name the most eye-catching fourteen-year-old in South Korea at this very moment… there was no question it was—
‘Yewon, wasn’t it?’
Harin’s frown deepened.
* * *
Several days later, aboard Haion’s private jet bound for Korea.
“Yewon. Put the script down and get some sleep if you want to adjust to the time zone quickly. It’s already night in Korea.”
At Lee Doha’s words, Yewon set down the script she’d been holding.
“Yeah, but Uncle—why aren’t you asleep yet?”
“I stayed up to keep watch. I had a feeling you wouldn’t sleep otherwise.”
Lee Doha chuckled warmly and handed her a warmed glass of milk.
“The flight attendant asked me to give this to you. You’ll sleep better after drinking it.”
“Milk? Do you still think I’m a baby, Uncle?”
Yewon let out a short, hollow laugh.
She wasn’t seven anymore—she was fourteen—and yet here he was, warming milk for her just because she’d gone to bed a little late!
‘If I add up all the years I’ve lived, I’m already a whopping twenty-six years old….’
Though honestly, it didn’t feel that way—my heart still felt like an ordinary fourteen-year-old’s.
But I was definitely not a child. Absolutely not!
“What? If Yewon isn’t a child, then what is she?”
“An. Ado. Les. Cent. From fourteen, you’re an adolescent.”
Yewon deliberately punched out each syllable with exaggerated force.
Lee Doha couldn’t help himself—he burst out laughing.
“Why are you laughing?!”
“It’s just… every time you insist you’re not a child, I just… I can’t help it.”
Lee Doha shook his head with a smile, clearly finding the whole thing amusing all over again.
He murmured softly to himself, ‘My dear girl, what on earth are you saying? You’ll always be your uncle’s little one… yes, always…’
He gazed at his niece with tender eyes—a niece so precious he’d never tire of looking at her.
It had been more than seven years since he’d started raising her, yet time seemed to slip away so swiftly it felt like only seven days had passed.
When did you grow up so much, my dear?
At this rate, soon enough….
“Uncle?”
“Mm?”
“You’re doing it again. Stop feeling sad on your own. I’m going to live by your side and Dad’s forever, you know.”
As Yewon raised her eyebrows at him, warmth bloomed across Lee Doha’s heart.
Ah.
“Right, right. If I’m going to feed our Yewon until she’s a hundred, I’d better work even harder. Ha.”
Even after seven years, I can’t hide a single thread of my heart before you.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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