KFPCA 02

“Ani.” Kwon Jiyong shook his head. “She’s a non-celebrity.”

“Omo, a non-celebrity?” the host pressed. “Is it the person you’ve mentioned before?”

“Na!” Kwon Jiyong nodded.

“Speaking of this friend, she really is a very mysterious existence. Fans all know that GD-xi has such a good friend, and GD-xi often mentions her, both in private and on shows, but it seems you’ve never introduced her to us.” The host asked, “Could you introduce this friend to us today?”

“Na.” When speaking about his friend, the sadness and quietness in Kwon Jiyong’s eyes faded, replaced by a trace of a smile. “She called me before the recording and told me to introduce her properly.”

“So, has it always been that she didn’t want too much exposure?”

“Ani.” Kwon Jiyong shook his head. “Because she rarely stays in the country now, she doesn’t actually have many thoughts on these things. It was me who didn’t want to talk too much about her.”

“Why is that? Is it out of concern that it might affect her life?”

“Yes. For someone who doesn’t work in this industry, excessive exposure brings excessive attention, and that becomes a bother. She is a very precious friend, and I want to protect her well. But, it seems it has always been her protecting me.” Saying this, Kwon Jiyong smiled self-mockingly.

“She has always been the one protecting you? Aside from this time, has there been anything else?”

“Yes.” Kwon Jiyong nodded and, without hiding anything, told the story.

[Friend? Is it that friend? The one he’s always mentioned?] [I’ve really heard of this friend countless times, but I know absolutely nothing about her!] [Wow, is it her again? So it was her who helped Oppa!] [So are we finally going to lift the veil on this friend today?] [She really is a very precious friend; it’s understandable that Oppa wants to protect her well.] [If she isn’t a celebrity but is constantly being watched, that must be terrifying, right?] [But to think she actually suggested he could talk about her…] [At a time like this, having Oppa talk about her voluntarily… she really treats Oppa as a sincere friend.] [True, it feels like a lot of people are just avoiding being associated with him. Even if they know it’s not true, many people are ready to cut ties.] [Calling specifically to say he can talk about her is proof that they really understand each other. The friend knows that GD definitely won’t talk too much to protect her, but she also knows that at this moment, he needs a definite ‘person’ to stand with him in this situation.] [Thinking of the recent news, it’s laughable. Some people actually said this friend was fictional and didn’t exist at all.] [She must have seen those comments and wanted to vindicate GD.] [When Oppa was doing well, she never appeared, but now that Oppa is in trouble, she voluntarily stands with him. They really are friends who cherish each other.]

Jin Shengxi knew exactly what the intention was behind appearing on Healing Camp at this time, which is why Kwon Jiyong received her call yesterday.

“Jiyong-ah, speak well tomorrow—about me. Don’t have any concerns, just answer naturally.”

That is what Jin Shengxi had said. Kwon Jiyong understood her good intentions and did not want to disappoint her.

“Kim Sparkling…”

“Kim Sparkling? So her surname is Kim; is this her name?”

“Her surname is indeed Kim, but ‘Kim Sparkling’ is a nickname I gave her. I like calling her that.”

The host no longer needed to press him; Kwon Jiyong continued on his own: “In my heart, she is glittering and sparkling; she is very dazzling. She gave me a lot of comfort and help during the painful periods of my youth.”

“We were classmates; we sat at the same desk in middle school. After we got close and started talking, I found out that we were actually in the same school during elementary school, too. It’s just that I was already a trainee by then and wasn’t at school very often, so we didn’t know each other.”

“When I first met Kim Sparkling, she gave off a very quiet feeling, always sitting there silently reading books. And because she was an academic genius, there was a bit of a distance between us. I was also quite introverted in front of strangers, so for about the first month of school, we hardly spoke. It happened later on one occasion…”

Thinking of that scene, Kwon Jiyong couldn’t help but smile.

“Because I had been on TV shows from a very young age and then was always a trainee, many people at school were very curious about me. During breaks, I was often surrounded by people asking me many questions about being a trainee, or just gossip about other celebrities. At first, I would pick a few questions I could answer, but later the questions became more and more outrageous. Because I didn’t want to start any conflicts, I chose to try my best to appease them.”

“But since I wasn’t giving them the answers they wanted, they probably thought I was brushing them off. So one day during a break, they surrounded me and said, ‘We heard GD-xi has always been a trainee and often performs on TV. Isn’t it said that for an artist, the stage is the most precious thing? Use the classroom as your stage right now and perform for us!'”

“Wow, that must have been scary at the time, right?” the host sighed. “It’s difficult to neither cause conflict with your classmates nor want to walk away in trouble, right?”

“Na! I was thinking about how to solve it at the time too.” Kwon Jiyong nodded, a curve forming at the corner of his mouth. “That was when our Kim Sparkling stood up. Initially, she just said they were too loud and it was affecting her studies. Even though Kim Sparkling wasn’t the type to call friends around her in class, her grades were always excellent and the teachers liked her very much, so she still had some weight when she spoke in class.”

“So, after Kim Sparkling-xi said that, did they leave?”

“Aniyo, it wasn’t that easy.” Kwon Jiyong shook his head. “They were unhappy, but they were afraid of upsetting Sparkling—they would have been in trouble if they did. They tried to drag me out. When I was pulled to stand up, Kim Sparkling sat at her desk and grabbed my wrist, looking at those people with a very cold expression, saying, ‘Where are you taking my desk-mate?'”

“They said, ‘We’re just curious about GD-xi, we want to chat with him.’ Sparkling just kept holding my wrist like that, looking at them and saying, ‘Stop chatting. If you have time for that, spend it on your studies. For our class’s average score, if it’s not number one, it’s at least in the top three, right? It’s really tiring for me to have to work so hard to pull us up every time.'”

“Wow, that’s so cool. Is this the confidence that comes from being an academic genius?”

“Na, that was the first time I saw Sparkling look so sharp.”

“So weren’t they angry? After all, they were being told off like that.”

“They were angry at the time, their faces were red, but before they could even say anything, our Kim Sparkling just glanced at her watch and said dismissively, ‘Omo, it’s already almost ten o’clock.'”

“Ten o’clock?”

“Na, it was the big break, and teachers usually walk around outside in the hallways around ten o’clock. After Kim Sparkling said that, they left.” Kwon Jiyong chuckled and added, “When they were already far away, our Sparkling even added a final word: ‘Don’t come looking for my desk-mate again, he’s very busy!'”

“Did they really not come to find you again after that?”

“No. Maybe it was because Sparkling’s parents were both teachers, and children of that age have an instinctive fear of teachers.”

“Omo, so Sparkling-xi is not only liked by teachers but her parents are also teachers; no wonder those kids didn’t dare to say anything more!” The host continued to ask, “So the turning point for you to get close was when Kim Sparkling-xi helped GD-xi out of that situation?”

“Na, at that time, she really looked like an angel to me, shining with a golden light.” After finishing that, Kwon Jiyong said with a mix of laughter and tears, “But the golden angel wasn’t as mild-tempered as the angels in TV dramas. As soon as those people left, she rolled her eyes at me.”

“Rolled her eyes?” The host laughed too. “Why would she roll her eyes at you?”

“She didn’t understand why I didn’t fight back. She believed that it was precisely because I was always too easygoing that they kept pushing their luck. She thought that standing your ground and letting people know you aren’t someone to be trifled with is the true hard truth.”

“Kim Sparkling-xi isn’t wrong, though. Sometimes, making concessions only encourages bad behavior.”

“Na, but at that time, I was always taught to be mindful of my image, not to have conflicts with people, and not to cause trouble, otherwise, it would affect my debut. So, I always wanted to avoid unnecessary trouble. So, it’s all thanks to her for standing up first.” Kwon Jiyong reminisced. “After we slowly got to know each other, classmate Kim Sparkling began to save me from fire and water countless times.”

“At that time, because I was rushing to get to the company to practice, I didn’t have much time to do my homework, so I was often rushing to finish it at school in the morning. At times like that, our Sparkling would hand me her assignment: ‘Copy it, but you can only copy 80%. After you turn it in, mark the questions you don’t know before the big break.’ It was always like that.”

“Did she explain the questions to you after you marked them?”

“Na, our big break was 30 minutes long, and she would take those 30 minutes to explain the questions I didn’t know clearly to me.”

“Wow, she really was a great desk-mate. So, did GD-xi have pretty good grades in middle school?”

“Na, thanks to her, although I was busy practicing, I didn’t fall behind in my academic subjects. Because not only would she explain problems to me, but if I dozed off during class, she would quietly pinch my arm. It was super painful, so later on, as long as I felt her hand moving near me, I would wake up immediately.”

[Wow, knowing each other since middle school, they really have been friends for many years.] [Omo, our GD-xi really has been shy since he was a kid~] [When two shy people become desk-mates, it creates a situation where they are still not close after a month of school.] [Aigoo, this is really gossipy.] [Although it’s human nature to be curious about celebrities, this degree is too much.] [Wow, they even made Oppa perform in the classroom? What did they take our GD for!] [Kim Sparkling makes a shining entrance.] [Neomu meosida, our Kim Sparkling-xi, so cool!]