Chapter Three

Early in the morning, Hyejin was already on Wattpad, looking through her never-ending notifications. Days later, her story Highlight was finally published and was spreading around like wildfire. You have to be living under a rock to not know about that story, they have said on several online news sites. 

Her phone that was placed nearby her laptop vibrated and Hyejin picked it up. There was a message coming in from her best friend. 

After reading the message, Hyejin felt her lips curl into a smile. Dae Jung wasn't wrong. Ever since her fanfiction has been put on bookshelves in bookstores, everyone seems to be getting themselves a copy. Not only did the fan girls of the Carat fandom get them, there were fan girls of different fandoms getting themselves a copy as well. 

EXO-Ls. IGOT7s. ARMYs. V.I.Ps. Shawols. BANAs. Babys. SONEs. IUNAs. Monbebes. AROHAS. 

There were more, but Hyejin couldn't remember everyone. She just know that there was a large number of people getting themselves a copy of her story, Highlight. She was thankful, but the large number of people made her dizzy and scared. 

Hyejin gave up trying to check all of her notifications and immediately tapped on Dae Jung's contact to give him a ring. 

"Hyejin!" His voice was cheery on the other end. "How's my famous best friend doing?"

"Hey, Dae Jung," Hyejin greeted, letting out a yawn. She wanted to go out of her small balcony, but she was afraid of getting spotted. Not only was her name all over just anywhere in South Korea, her pictures were going around as well. "How are you doing?"

"You still haven't told me how it happened!" Dae Jung said, sounding disappointed on the other line. 

"What? How I became famous?" Hyejin teased. 

"Yes!" Dae Jung replied. 

"It's all over the news. You have to be living under a rock to not have heard of it," she repeated the words that kept on replaying on the news. "And I expected you to be the first person to have known about it, Cho Dae Jung."

"I know it's all over the news. It's all they ever play," Dae Jung said in response. "I just wanted to hear the original one from you. Hello? You're famous. You should be the one who knew the best, unlike the reporters out there that might have added a few details or deleted some. I don't know."

Hyejin felt her lips curl into a smile at her best friend's words. "Okay, you're right. But let me warn you. I don't know it that well, either. I don't have a detailed report. It's mostly vague, unlike the ones on TV or the newspaper. Or, you know, there's online sites too. Those are helpful."

"If you're just going to be lazy about it, let me just tell you that it's not going to work," Dae Jung said after a moment. 

"You've been warned," Hyejin said with a spooky voice. 

"Very childish for a girl who's older than me by months," remarked Dae Jung.

"Oh, hush. You know nothing," Hyejin said in response as she clicked her inbox on Wattpad. She had just received a new message from a fan of hers. "I don't how it happened, really. One day, Highlight was a Wattpad book that was barely receiving any love. The next, it's hitting 1M views and a bunch of people love it. Then came something I would have never imagined—the book being published and created into a real book with real pages."

"This all happened... last week, I'm guessing?" Dae Jung smartly calculated. He was always smarter than Hyejin. He shared the same passion of writing as Hyejin but he never could avoid the dreadful writer's block. Sometimes—or most of the times—he would be salty about it but it never showed. Not always, at least. Most of the times, he was happy for her. 

"Yes," Hyejin answered. "My face is everywhere, so is my name. Whenever I'm out shopping with my parents, people would walk up to me and ask for a photo. With me. Crazy, right? And some fan girls even approach me to talk about SEVENTEEN with. It's nice to have people to fan girl with sometimes."

"Woah, a photo with you? What, is there a hashtag that's going around on Instagram? Care to tell me about it so I can search it?" Dae Jung asked. 

Hyejin snapped her fingers as she tried to remember what exactly the hashtag was. "I think it was #hyejin_highlight or something like that. I don't know, just search that. It's somewhere there."

"I knew you'd make it big one day. I didn't think it'd be this early!" Dae Jung said, excited. 

"You're starting to sound like my friend, Dae Jung. Imagine the benefits... She picked the wrong words and it ended up being a meme between the three of us—Sua and Ayeon. We always discussing about me being an idol, which is honestly far from happening." Hyejin felt like she was ranting. "Sorry, I must be babbling. I don't know who else to talk this about with."

"And that's where I come in. My existence must be a gift to you, don't you think, Hwan Hyejin?" Dae Jung asked in a playful and arrogant voice. "For the record, you're probably even more popular than idols out there currently."

"And that's suppose to be a good thing?" Hyejin asked, clueless. 

"Yes?" Dae Jung answered, unsure. "In fanfictions—since you seem to be a master in it—how do the main character and idol usually meet?"

"It depends, though," Hyejin smartly answered. "Some are through some coincidence on the street. Some have a really bad first impression with each other. Others are at some concert like they magically make eye contact in a stadium that's completely pitch black—for the crowd, at least."

"Okay," Dae Jung said, "then how did your characters meet?"

"Dino was on a holiday. She was the local that helped him find his way around, knowing who he really was," Hyejin explained. 

"Fanfictions," Dae Jung repeated, letting out a sigh, "the magical things that happen in them."

"It's a fanfiction, Dae Jung. Not non-fiction. All the ideas come from a fan's mind and imagination. It's up to them to decide what happens," Hyejin told him, replying to a few more fan messages left for her. 

@svt17love: Hi there, Hwanji-sshi! I just read your story 'Highlight' and I just LOVED IT! You're officially my favourite author! I'm so glad that your story has been published! I can't wait to order it and read it! I'm sure it'll be just as great as the first draft :) SEVENTEEN's lucky to have a Carat like you! ^^ 

Reply to @svt17love: 

@hwan_ji: Hello there! ^^ Thank you for enjoying my story! You're so sweet to tell me that I'm your favourite author! That really means the world to me <333 I hope you'll enjoy the published story of 'Highlight' as much as you enjoyed the one published on Wattpad! Thank you and have a nice day! 

"Okay, okay. You're the master here," Dae Jung said, defeated. "So, are you going to have a fan meeting? I'd want to see my friend and how famous she has grown."

"Not fan meeting, but a fan signing," Hyejin corrected. 

"What's the difference?"

"You're the smarter one here, Cho Dae Jung," Hyejin pointed out.

"I don't get myself involved with fans and their, well, everything," Dae Jung pointed out as well. 

"Fan meeting is where you get to interact with your fans with a few things planned out like games or something. If you watch SEVENTEEN's fan meetings, you'd understand. Fan signing is just me signing my fans's copies of my book, Highlight," Hyejin explained, just like the way her manager had. 

"Should I go?" Dae Jung asked while snickering on the other line. "It sounds interesting enough to watch."

"You don't even have a copy," Hyejin stated. 

"Must I have a copy to see you? Wow, my best friend has changed," Dae Jung teased. 

"Shut up, Cho Dae Jung." 

Dae Jung snickered on the other end. "I already have a copy, you pabo. Why wouldn't I have one? After all, my best friend wrote it. I should at least show my support. I'll come to that fan signing. When is it?"

"I'll need to ask my manager about it later," Hyejin answered, going to YouTube to watch a few SEVENTEEN crack videos. 

"Manager?" Dae Jung repeated.

"Believe it or not, I have one." Hyejin pressed on the YouTube account she loved watching her SEVENTEEN cracks from—Loli Kitty. "She mostly arranges the fan signings for me. And other things, like if I ever want to make a guest appearance on TV."

"How many fan signing did you have, exactly?" Dae Jung asked. Hyejin could imagine him squinting his eyes on the other line.

"Zero. This fan signing is going to be the first," Hyejin replied. "Oh, my manager just texted me the details. She says it'll be held in this mall near Pledis Entertainment. You know E-Cube Mall?"

"That big mall?" Dae Jung clarified. 

"Yes, that mall. There's a huge bookstore there and that's where I'll be having my fan signing. I'm both nervous and excited at the same time," Hyejin confessed, fiddling with her mouth that was clasped in her right hand. 

"Don't be nervous. Remember, this is something fun so just remember it's a fun thing and you'll be fine," Dae Jung advised. 

"Thanks, Dae Jung. I'll try to remember that. What if SEVENTEEN coincidentally appeared, Dae Jung? Like, when I'm about to leave and I suddenly see them?" Hyejin asked, her fan girl mind taking over. 

"You're being delusional," Dae Jung told her. "What would you have done if you saw them, then?"

"Freaked out?" Hyejin stated the obvious. 

"Let's talk crazy," Dae Jung said. 

"Talking to you is already crazy."

"Yah!" 

Hyejin lightly laughed. "Okay, what's this about talking crazy?"

"Let's say the SEVENTEEN members read your book and want an autograph. Would you have given them an autograph?"

Hearing that, Hyejin started to imagine such an impossible moment happening. Her mind was already thinking of new ideas. They came rushing in without giving her a full break. "Of course! I would be crazy to not have given them an autograph."

"Okay, moving on. What if a fanfiction moment takes place?" Dae Jung continued asking. 

"You're crazy. Whatever happens in the fanfiction world will continue to stay in the fanfiction world. Don't you know that?" 

"Oh, but I do," answered Dae Jung, "but we're talking crazy right now so all things crazy are normal. Let's continue. SEVENTEEN knows your name. They also know that you're the fan girl the entire nation is talking about. What do you do?"

Hyejin didn't seem to have a choice. She thought it was fun, though, to talk about SEVENTEEN with Dae Jung like this. "I say hi?"

"Really? You're just going to say hi?" 

"What else am I supposed to say, then? I love you?" Hyejin skeptically asked him. 

"You could."

"No!" If Hyejin were to say that, she would have embarrassed herself and would probably never show her face to them ever again. "Whatever you're trying to snap me into, I won't fall for."

"But I'm not doing anything, though?" Dae Jung's voice was teasing. "It would be a once-in-a-lifetime chance, Hwan Hyejin. Would you have given it up? Because you didn't know what you would have said?"

"I've read fanfictions, Dae Jung. It always happens. Whenever a fan meets their idol, they completely blank out. And it happens in reality, too! We're just too amazed to face our idols face-to-face that we end up forgetting everything we practiced to say. Much like when you see your crush," Hyejin explained, sighing. "It's no use."

"You say it's no use but you haven't even tried it," Dae Jung smartly pointed out. 

Hyejin grew quiet over his statement. 

"See? I'm right."

Hyejin sighed. "It can't be done. I'd be too nervous."

"Hyejin, SEVENTEEN already knows your name. What's the problem?" 

"I'd be better off knowing that they didn't? It's scary. I don't know what's wrong, really. It's just... having an idol know your name. Wow. It's amazing, don't get me wrong, but if I met them after becoming famous like this? I don't know..." Hyejin looked down at her thighs, unsure about her decision. "Maybe it would have been better if I was just a nobody fan to them."

"I see what this is about," Dae Jung said smartly. 

Hyejin suddenly felt like she was in a therapist session as she asked him, "What? There's a reason to why I'm acting like this?"

Dae Jung laughed before he told her, "You afraid of what SEVENTEEN would think about you. Because of them, you're famous. So it's basically those scenarios where you ride off someone's fame. Am I wrong?"

Was that the real reason to Hyejin's odd behaviour? Even Hyejin wasn't sure, so she couldn't exactly agree to him. "I don't know."

"Well, Hwan Hyejin, I'd stay longer to talk to you but I have to take my dog out for a walk. Chewy is already barking outside my door." In the background of the call, Hyejin could hear whimpering. Dae Jung's voice grew more distant as he said on the other line, "Okay, okay, Chewy. Hyung's almost done. Just wait a while, okay?"

"Sure, go take your dog out for a walk," Hyejin said, slightly hesitant. She wanted to talk about it more. She didn't like being alone, lost in fame. 

Before Dae Jung ended the call, he said, "Well, congratulations, Hwan Hyejin. You're famous now. So famous that SEVENTEEN probably even gets curious about you."

~Author's Notes~

Thanks for reading! See you in the next chapter <3