Chapter 13

With a loud bang, the door was slammed shut. Woon Jeong Woo hugged his knees and leaned against the corner of the wall. The room was very quiet, with only his breathing and the ticking of the clock on the wall. The date displayed was February 5, 2003, Wednesday. Suddenly, the phone rang, and Woon Jeong Woo's body trembled. He slowly lifted his head and looked at the phone on the bedside table. He picked it up, glanced at it, and smiled slightly before answering with a hoarse voice, "Brother..."

"Happy birthday." A voice full of magnetism came through, not low but rather sunny. Woon Jeong Woo leaned against the wall, curling up into a ball. "I'm not happy right now." "Did Dad scold you?" Woon Jeong Woo looked at the door. "He locked me up." Before the other side could speak, Woon Jeong Woo suddenly said, "Brother, was I wrong?"

There was a moment of silence on the other end, only the sound of breathing. Just as Woon Jeong Woo was about to ask again, a light sigh came through. "How can doing what you want be wrong?" Woon Jeong Woo laughed, a happy laugh. "I knew it, Brother, you would definitely support me." The person on the other end was Woon Seung Woo, his older brother by seven years, who was far away in America.

He would never forget that day, his tenth birthday. When his brother gave him a new guitar, and when Woon Jeong Woo, holding a hidden CD of HOT, said he wanted to be an idol like them, his brother's face turned pale. Right in front of him and the entire family, his brother knelt on the ground and was whipped severely with a cane.

Woon Jeong Woo was too scared to speak, crying in his mother's arms. His young heart, with an IQ of 160, vaguely realized that his unintentional actions had caused his brother such harm. But when he went to apologize to his brother the next day with a nervous heart, the last image he saw of his brother was his smile as he turned to get into the car to go to the airport to study in America. Woon Jeong Woo never even got a chance to say sorry to his brother.

He didn't want to be a star. At ten years old, he didn't even know what an idol or a star was. In a country where entertainment was highly valued, this was hard to believe. But for this family, he realized that day that many things were kept separate from their world because of this family and that person.

Looking at Lee Soon Kye's innocent face, eagerly waiting to hear the story, Woon Jeong Woo smiled slightly and continued telling her. But his thoughts were not on the story; they wandered wherever they pleased. It seemed that today was also his birthday, the day his brother left.

He didn't know why the moments that changed his thinking always came on his birthday. After that, he could only talk to his brother on the phone, not even during holidays. He didn't ask that person, only his mother why his brother hadn't come back in years. His mother just said he needed to focus on his studies.

Lies, all lies. But Woon Jeong Woo didn't say it out loud and never asked again. From then on, he used various channels to bypass the restrictions and gather information about stars and entertainment. It wasn't difficult, even with a normal IQ. It was from that time that he started to put into action the casual words he had spoken on his birthday.

He learned English and Chinese, piano and guitar. He studied all kinds of knowledge and ranked in the top three in the so-called aristocratic school at the top of South Korea. He had a red-black belt in Taekwondo and was proficient in martial arts and free fighting. But what was the point of all this? Everything he knew, his brother did better. But if you said to kneel, he had to kneel; if you said to beat him, he had to be beaten. Even if you sent him to America and didn't let him come back, he still couldn't come back.

I want to be a star, for my brother. Because of my casual words, his dreams were exposed early and shattered by that person. I owe you an apology, and you say it's okay, but I remember. I once thought that having skills that my classmates couldn't master was something to be proud of. But if these skills can't even let me do what I want, and I have to follow a predetermined path in life, what's the point of these skills?

Every day had a fixed menu, every day had fixed classes. No snacks after dinner. Only one pillow when sleeping. I can't even eat a fish cake, so what's the point of knowing Chinese and English? What's the point of playing the piano and guitar well? What's the point of having a red-black belt in Taekwondo? Can they let me do what I want without being restrained or confined?

"Jeong Woo." A call brought Woon Jeong Woo back to his senses. He spoke softly into the phone, "Brother." He cleared his throat, and his tone suddenly became low. "Jeong Woo, Father is doing this for your own good. When you grow up, you can do what you like." Woon Jeong Woo's lips curved. "Brother." "What?" "Do you believe that yourself?"

There was silence on the other end. Woon Jeong Woo's mood seemed to improve. "Brother, many of my skills were taught by you. But there's one thing you can never surpass me in." "What?" "My IQ is 164, yours... is 163." "Oh no! Ah!" "Hahaha" Woon Jeong Woo laughed happily, leaning against the wall, but he didn't know that his laughter was heard by someone at the door.

A middle-aged man in traditional Korean clothing stood at the door for a while, then turned and left. He quietly came to a room and knocked lightly. A low voice came from inside, "Come in." The man paused, pushed the door open, and closed it behind him. He bowed deeply to the tall figure facing away from him, "Head of the household."

"Be practical, Jeong Woo." After the laughter, the atmosphere slowly returned to seriousness. Both understood each other's situations. For the same reason, one was sent to America and not allowed to return, and the other was locked in a room and not allowed to go out. The brothers could only talk to each other through invisible waves. A few jokes couldn't solve anything.

"Jeong Woo, I think you understand now, right?" With high IQs, they didn't need to say everything clearly. Woon Jeong Woo spoke softly, "No matter how many skills I learn, I can only follow the path Father has set for me. I can't even rebel." He smiled slightly and shook his head. "Brother, you understood this at seventeen, right? I'm thirteen, and I already understand."

Woon Seung Woo laughed. "You're wrong there. If I only understood at seventeen, I wouldn't have hidden the HOT album from Dad. Seventeen was just the age when he found out. It wasn't the age when I woke up." Woon Jeong Woo was stunned, about to speak, but Woon Seung Woo suddenly became serious. "Jeong Woo, answer my question."

Woon Jeong Woo paused, nodded, and spoke. "Yes, Brother, I will." "Jeong Woo, do you really want to be an entertainer, or is it just because of your guilt, hoping to fulfill my dreams and wishes?" Woon Jeong Woo thought for a while and laughed lightly. "What if it's the former? What if it's the latter?" Woon Seung Woo said, "If it's the latter, I hope you give up. I no longer want to be a star. At least now, it's not my dream."

Woon Jeong Woo pursed his lips and hugged his knees. "I know, Brother, you haven't had that thought for a long time. But now, I want to be an entertainer." Woon Seung Woo paused, not asking how he knew, but said, "Why? I don't believe I made you interested in this. You always tease me about your higher IQ, but don't forget, your emotional intelligence is half of mine. You shouldn't be interested in this."

Woon Jeong Woo curled up tighter, pressing against the wall, but his words were unusually calm. "Using the skills we were trained by Father, we can either go into finance, become scholars, doctors, lawyers, or enter politics. Any profession respected by society... what do these skills mean to us?"

"Tools." Woon Seung Woo said the word without hesitation. This was what their father had instilled in them. Woon Jeong Woo suddenly laughed, a happy laugh. "Brother, I hate that word. So I want to be a star." Woon Seung Woo also laughed. "Jeong Woo, my IQ is a bit lower than yours, so just say it directly. I can't understand the logic here."

Woon Jeong Woo slowly stood up and came to a glass display case. Various certificates and trophies were displayed there. His fingers lightly traced over them, feeling the cold, which made him realize they were not his honors but cold like that word. "We didn't learn much. There are many talented people. But with Father's ideology, every new thing I encounter and absorb makes me feel like I'm just learning how to use a tool. I hate this version of myself, hate this cold way of life. Only by being a star, what I've learned won't just be tools, but something that can resonate, make people cheer, admire, and love... charm."