Rebirth: King to Superstar

*A few Minutes Earlier* 

Yun-hee stared at the strange woman in front of her and then the phone she shoved into her hand. She wanted to shout back what she was doing but stopped at her stare. 

She kept the phone at her ear and tried to sound intimidating. "Ah! What? Hello, who is this?" She was a little scared seeing the woman in front of her stare down at her. 

"Yun-hee, it's me. Now start explaining yourself. Why the hell are you in a place like that working? You better come up with a good explanation." She heard his brother speaking in a low but very intimidating voice on the phone. She felt her body tremble to hear him. She was never scared of him, but now she felt like she had to submit.

"What do you mean by explanation? And who is this lady in front of me? Are you making people follow me? You know that is a crime, right. And what right do you think you have to talk to me like that?" She took a deep breath, suppressed her fear, and tried to show a strong front. 

"Don't you dare talk to me like that, Yun-hee. Just because I made a few mistakes this past year does not mean you can start raising your voice in situations like this. So you better move away from that place and start explaining why you are in that place working. Dad is very worried about your future. You are the smartest person in our family and if your explanation is idiotic, I will come down there and deal with this myself." His voice turned completely cold, and she felt the urge to cry. She never thought her brother, who was aloof and easy-going, had a side like that. 

She looked around before moving to a silent corner and started to slowly cry while explaining.

"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry to talk like that. I shouldn't have started working without telling you and dad. Please do not be angry." She started bawling at the end. The sudden change caught the little girl off guard, and she couldn't keep the strong front anymore. She was a very smart yet soft girl and in front of Joon-won, she couldn't hold on. 

She could hear Joon-won take a deep breath on the other side as his voice returned to normal and his reply came, "Do not cry, Yun-hee. You are a strong girl. Brother was just angry. Why are you working there? What made you do that? Are you in any problems? Tell me. I'll understand." As she wiped her tears away, she started to explain. 

"For money. I started working for money. Dad started to stress out more after you went to university. The financial situation became tighter and tighter because of more expenses on your side and he couldn't say no when you asked for money. I knew my university might be online if this continued."

"So I tried to find jobs. No one would hire me because of the laws and be scared to get caught hiring a high schooler. So I asked around in school and a girl reached out. She told me about this place and that they would hire high school girls. I came here and then understood that the boss would be willing to hire because it was an illegal pub maintained by the underground."

"I got scared, but I couldn't back away. The boss looked at me and gave me a waitress position after contemplating for a while. It's been about a month since I started." She finished explaining the whole situation. She was calmer than before but still held the phone tightly as the other side went silent. 

She couldn't help but call out, "Brother?" 

She heard him sigh and reply, "Yes, I'm still here. I never thought my actions would drive the situation back at home like this. The city changed me immediately when I came here. Everything is so much better and it took me a while to snap out of it."

"If the situation is this bad, why did you not call or text me about it? We both know dad would not talk about things like this with both of us. You should have just called me and tried explaining that my actions were having an inverse situation back at home. I would have snapped out of this city's colorful life sooner."

"What can I talk to you about? You are always on your own. Stopped lifting dad's calls or my messages the past year. Do you still think I'll find you reliable after that? It was like you detached yourself from us and didn't want people to even know you have a family. There was no way I could talk to you about stuff like this. You weren't there to understand." 

Joon-won sighed again and replied, "Well, let's leave this here. Leave that job and don't go there ever again. Dad has more hopes for your intelligence and smarts than my passion for acting. Just start studying harder for the exams. There is only a month away. Do well and try to get into a good university." 

"What about the money? Our family doesn't have enough money to send both of us to university at the same time." 

"Do not worry about the money. That should not be your concern when you are still at high school. Just study harder and leave the money issues to me. It's mostly because of me that we are in this situation. I'll get enough money to make you get into a university of your liking as long as you have the marks to get in." 

"Now don't tell dad about any of this. He will blame himself for this. Just go home from school and study, try to spend more time with him, and get good marks. That will make him happy." And cut the call. She looked at the phone before going back and giving it to Jung-hwa with a stunned expression.

'Maybe he really changed.' she thought as she woke up from her stupor while looking up before running towards home to start studying for exams.