Byeonjun's words that it would be over soon were not wrong. The filming of the video where they simply played their instruments, changing into several different outfits for each instrument, was conducted only three times for each instrument and then it ended.
Son Lin made a request in the middle to take a video once more with their faces covered. When Geon looked anxiously at his watch, Byeonjun whispered to Lin.
"Director. Geon seems a bit anxious because Kiska is waiting at home, maybe we should do the team dinner next time."
Lin nodded and then whispered back.
"I didn't plan to have a team dinner anyway. How could we eat comfortably anywhere when even the Red Mafia following Geon would come? I'll take care of the staff dinner, so Director Byeonjun, please take Geon and go."
"Understood, Director. How long will you be staying in the US?"
"I've brought work that needs to be done before the project is unveiled. I'll be staying at a hotel near Manhattan for a while, so contact me if anything comes up."
"Why don't you just come with us? There's no need to book a hotel, the house is spacious."
"Are you asking me to enter the mafia boss's house? I absolutely won't go."
"Ah... haha, I see. I've been playing with a cute kid in the garden every day, I forgot where I live. Understood, Director. Then, I'll contact you. Geon! Let's go!"
Geon ran over excitedly at Byeonjun's words to leave.
"Brother! Is it all finished? What about the staff dinner? They came from far away, we should have a dinner, how can we just send them off?"
Byeonjun patted Geon on the shoulder and said.
"It's okay, it will be hard to eat if you go. Since the Director will take care of it, let's go."
Geon turned his head and made eye contact with Son Lin.
"Is it okay with the Director?"
Lin smiled beautifully and nodded.
"Knight of the doll? Leave this place to me and go back quickly. There's someone waiting for you, isn't there?"
"What, knight of the doll... haha, okay, I'll see you later, Director!"
Geon, excited that it ended earlier than expected, ran towards where Miroslav was to announce their departure. Soon, large armored vehicles exceeding 6,000cc left the parking lot in a line, and Lin watched them leave with a serious look and crossed arms.
'The daughter of the mafia...'
Geon stopped by the Brooklyn Ice Cream Factory (BICF) located at the Fulton Ferry Landing under the Brooklyn Bridge, a request he made to Miroslav in advance.
The store, which had a long queue last summer, was not very crowded this early winter.
The reason Geon visited this store, which prides itself on not adding sugar, was to give young Kiska something healthy and tasty. As the car stopped, Byeonjun got out of the car and said.
"I'll buy it. Stay in the car. What flavor should I get?"
Geon, detaching his buttocks from the seat, shook his head.
"It's for Kiska, I want to buy it myself, let's go together, brother."
"Really? Then put on a hat and sunglasses."
Geon, with a slightly troubled expression, said.
"Ah... I didn't need to when I was with Mr. Miroslav, so I just came without them."
"Really? Ah... then what should we do? Just wait a moment."
Byeonjun got out of the car and looked around, noticing that people who saw the mafia members were hastily moving away.
Byeonjun, seeing people disappearing from sight, looked into the store through a window and saw employees with pale faces looking out, with no other customers inside, then returned to the car and said.
"Let's go, there's no one."
Geon brightened up and got out of the car to enter the store. A Hispanic female employee, trembling as she saw the mafia members outside, jumped when the store door opened. Geon greeted the employee after looking at the menu above her head.
"Hello? You're still open, right?"
The employee, seeing Geon's bare face, opened her mouth wide in shock.
"Uh... uh? Ke, Kay?"
"Ha, hello. I came to buy ice cream."
The employee, glancing between the mafia and Geon outside, stepped forward hesitantly and said.
"Th-that right? Um, Kay, could you take a picture with me?"
"Ah~ of course, it's okay. Should we take it here?"
The employee, beaming, approached with her phone, attempting to take a selfie with Geon, but unhappy with the light, she changed the camera angle several times.
Byeonjun, seeing this, quietly blocked the view from the outside window, concerned that the angle might include the mafia members looking in. The employee, unaware of Byeonjun's movement, happily took the photo and said,
"Thank you, Kay! I'm really a fan."
"Thank you. I visited this store a few years ago and it was so delicious I had to come back. Do you still have butter pecan flavor?"
"Of course, we do. Have you tried our vanilla chocolate chunk? It's our signature flavor."
"Oh? Is that so? Then, can I get one gallon of each flavor? It's about a 20-minute drive from here."
"Yes, one block of dry ice should be enough for 20 minutes. That'll be 24 dollars. Since you took a picture with me, I'll give it to you for 20 dollars. Hehe."
"Haha, thank you."
As Byeonjun reached for his wallet, Geon stopped him, saying,
"It's for Kiska, I want to buy it myself."
"No, we can handle this with the company card."
"It's okay, I want to buy it with my own money, I haven't been able to give anything yet."
Geon handed over 20 dollars with a smile, and soon the packaged ice cream was ready. As Geon smiled at the employees and stepped outside to get in the car, the employees crowded at the window to watch him leave.
Before getting into the car, Byeonjun caught Miroslav's eye, who nodded and then gave orders in Russian to the organization members.
Following his orders, the organization members approached the store window, causing the employees to quickly step back from the window in sweat.
With a signal from Miroslav, Byeonjun quickly pushed Geon into the car and showed a thumbs up with a smile, to which Miroslav responded with a simple, naive laugh.
As Geon's car drove off and completely disappeared from view, the mafia members hurriedly boarded their vehicles and departed, leaving the employees to come out and watch the departing cars.
Behind the ice cream store, a man in his fifties wearing a suit appeared and picked up a walkie-talkie.
"Click, the target is heading towards Red Castle."
"Click, any abnormalities?"
"Click, none. Maintain security and follow."
"Click, understood."
As about ten black cars in a line passed from the Manhattan Bridge towards Red Castle on the city streets, pedestrians looked at the cars with curiosity, wondering if it was the president passing by.
After the line of black cars had passed, cars that had emerged from the alleys began to follow them. As the number of cars increased to over twenty, the pedestrians took out their phones to film, but all they could capture was the back of several cars.
The giant gates of Red Castle opened, and Geon's vehicle entered all the way to the garden.
Looking at the garden reflected outside the window, Geon saw Kiska sitting on a swing in front of the annex, drawing something, even though it was already dark. He opened the window and shouted,
"Kiska!!! I'm here!"
Kiska, who had been focused on her drawing, looked up sharply at Geon's arrival and ran from the swing towards him.
Running so fast that the nanny was left far behind, stumbling after her. Miroslav, who had to abruptly stop the car because of Kiska's dangerous behavior of pounding on the car door, got out of the driver's seat and asked her in a hurried tone,
"Miss! Are you alright? It's dangerous!"
Kiska ignored Miroslav and looked up at Geon with worried eyes through the window.
As Geon opened the car door to get out, Kiska climbed into the car through the open door and sat on Geon's lap. While Kiska quietly made eye contact with Geon and then hugged his neck, Miroslav, with a slight smile, closed the car's back door and drove to the fountain.
Inside the car, Byeonjun, looking at Kiska cuddling up to Geon, said in a pitying tone,
"She must have been waiting all day. It's getting cold now, wasn't she outside all day? She's still wearing the clothes from this morning."
Geon, surprised by Byeonjun's remark, touched Kiska's arm and exclaimed,
"No, Kiska! Have you been outside all this time? Look at this arm. It's cold as ice!"
While Geon was warming Kiska's arms, Byeonjun, holding the bag of ice cream, chuckled helplessly,
'I went all this way to buy it, but if I give it to her now, she'll catch a cold.'
Thinking he might have had a chance to share the ice cream with Kiska, Byeonjun sighed regretfully. As the car stopped, Geon, holding Kiska tightly, ran into the annex, wrapped her in a blanket as if rolling her up, and sat down on the sofa with her.
Geon, kneeling on one knee in front of the sofa to be at eye level with Kiska, gently stroked the girl's hair and said,
"Why were you outside? Next time, you must wait inside, okay?"
Byeonjun, about to say something with the ice cream bag in hand, licked his lips regretfully, placed the ice cream in the refrigerator, and then silently observed Geon engaging in a one-sided conversation with Kiska, who looked up at him with large, attentive eyes. After a moment, he stepped outside to smoke a cigarette.
Before lighting it, Byeonjun glanced back inside, then fully stepped out into the garden and lit his cigarette. As he exhaled a long stream of smoke, his eyes caught the sight of the white, picturesque swing.
Holding the cigarette in his mouth, Byeonjun walked over to the swing, noticing a sketchbook lying on it. Sitting down on the swing, he picked up the sketchbook and commented,
"Oh, Kiska is quite good at drawing, huh?"
Inside the sketchbook, there was a bright, smiling drawing of Geon, turning his body back and extending his hand.
"To think a child would express perspective like this, she's got talent. Look at how she drew the extended hand bigger. That's impressive."
Amazed by the drawing, Byeonjun noticed a small written note on the upper right corner of the drawing.
Where are you, knight in shining armor.
Byeonjun removed the cigarette from his lips and turned his head towards the annex lit by lights. Watching the light leaking out through the windows, he exhaled a long stream of smoke and leaned back on the swing.
"Sigh... Maybe it's not just simple affection from a child..."
Tokyo's Shibuya Scramble Crossing at 7 PM.
Featured in "Resident Evil 5" and "The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift," this crossing was crowded with office workers heading home as the sun began to set.
Thousands of people waiting for the traffic light to change at the crossing, which one must pass through to get to the Shibuya subway station, included two high school girls having a loud conversation.
"Hoshino, is there any new article on Fantagio?"
The girl, neatly tying her ponytail and wearing a navy blue school uniform, asked Hoshino, who was looking at her phone screen. Hoshino shook her head in response.
"Nothing. It's been 8 days since the first video about the angel's return was posted, and there's been no follow-up news. I'm dying to know. Aren't you curious, Hikari?"
Hikari stomped her feet in frustration.
"I'm dying of curiosity too! Why doesn't Kay come to Japan? It's just next door, but he's always in the US, and after returning to Korea from Nepal, he just left again. It'd be nice if he could stop by."
Hoshino, with a dreamy expression, interlocked her fingers and said,
"Ah... Kay. If I could see him in person, I'd do anything."
"Me too! Ever since I saw that fundraiser broadcast, he's even appeared in my dreams."
As Hoshino looked at Hikari, she let out a strange laugh.
"Isn't it because you watch weird videos at night?"
Hikari, terrified, waved her hands in denial.
"Yikes! Don't say such things in a crowded place! I don't watch that stuff!"
Hoshino, revealing her teeth, said,
"Last time, your sister told me you keep watching weird stuff, hehe."
Hikari quickly covered Hoshino's mouth, looking around cautiously before whispering,
"Keep it down! People can hear!"
Hoshino, with a playful glint in her eye, noticed the traffic light change and shook off Hikari's hand.
"Let go. The light's changed. Let's go!"
Hoshino, stepping onto the pedestrian crossing ahead, turned back to Hikari with a playful smile and shouted as she ran forward,
"It's okay for a spirited high school girl to see such things!"
"Hey!! Will you keep it down!"
Chasing after Hoshino, Hikari swung her fist. Embarrassed, Hikari continued to chase Hoshino but paused when she suddenly stopped and bumped into her, falling backward.
"Kyah! What, Hoshino!"
As Hikari, with scraped elbows, looked up at Hoshino, she saw Hoshino pointing at something with a dazed expression.
"Kay?"
On the large TV screen, Kay was seen sitting with a smile, placing a J-200 on his lap, nodding his head to the beat before starting to play.
The performance, not meant for a song from the start, showcased an intricate acoustic guitar solo by Kay. The camera then switched to a man in a black hat sitting with a blue bass guitar.
The sound of Kay's guitar continued, overlaid with the groovy sound of the bass guitar. The man in the black hat had long, pretty fingers, though his face was not visible.
As the guitar and bass began playing, another guitar sound entered, this time from an electric guitar. Shortly after, the camera zoomed in on the moving hands playing the guitar. Hikari, lying down, murmured,
"That's a White Falcon... Is someone else playing Kay's guitar?"
Hoshino, standing still and staring blankly at the screen, covered her mouth with her hand and said,
"Shh! Listen to the music."
The performance evoked a sense of nostalgia, but it was a beautifully hopeful song. More than depicting longing, Hikari felt the hidden hope in the music as she took a deep breath.
Another guitar sound joined the performance, as if three Kays were playing in unison. The guitars, in harmony with the drum sounds, reached a climax. The screen only showed the drummer's foot pedaling, with a rhythmic bass drum play adding a groovy feel.
The screen switched again, showing Kay in front of a microphone screen with headphones, smiling with his eyes closed as he began to sing.
"If I could change the world. (If I could change the world.)
Back in time, I'll be back then. (If I could turn back time, I'd go back to that time.)
When I had to hide in a place where no one knew. (When I had to hide and could only watch from a place unknown to anyone.)
If you can go back then and save you. (If I could go back and save you.)
Kay's voice, moving between falsetto and chest voice, captivated the listeners. Many people passing through Shibuya Scramble Crossing stopped in their tracks, fixing their gaze on the large TV screen, familiar with the segment already released through the video.
The screen transitioned to black and white, showing Kay blowing a kiss to the camera with a smile.
Hikari clasped her hands to her chest, her eyes turning into hearts. The screen then showed a black and white scene of a parking lot, with Kay lying on the hood of a Mercedes-Benz C-Class, holding the White Falcon and singing.
In front of the parking lot flowed a massive river, and Kay, looking at the river from the car, had a deep sadness in his eyes.
"I would be the sunlight in your universe. (I will be the light in your world.)
Sweetheart, if I could change the world. (My dear, if I could change the world.)
And I Know there'll be no more tears in heaven. (And I know, there will be no more tears in heaven.)
The bass guitarist, sitting with his legs hanging off the embankment and nodding his head to the beat, gradually moved away until he appeared small in the distance.
"If I could be Your child even for a day. (If I could be your child, even for just one day.)
I'd take you as my queen. (I would make you my queen.)
But for now I find. (But now I've realized.)
It's only in my dreams. (It's only in my dreams.)
The screen shifted to Kay standing in the river, his arms spread wide and bending backwards as he sang against the backdrop of the river and wearing black pants and a white shirt, blending beautifully with the scenery behind him.
"But I'm different. (But I've changed.)
Everything is different. Me and you, and now the person next to me. (Everything has changed. Me, you, and now the person next to me.)
I will not miss you anymore. (I will not miss you anymore.)
Because now everything is precious. (Because now, everything is precious.)
As soon as the lyrics ended, the screen split into four parts, showing eight hands playing four guitars.
On the top left was the hand playing the White Falcon, next to it was the J-200, on the bottom left another acoustic guitar, and on the bottom right a hand playing the bass guitar.
Although the song was medium tempo, the hands moved intricately, playing different notes but coming together as a cohesive performance.
The seamless play by the hands, as if one person had eight hands, continued without a break in the solo parts, each guitar taking its turn in a perfectly coordinated performance. Hikari, watching with a stunned expression, muttered,
"Amazing... even the bass is playing solos."
As she said, the bass guitar, usually providing rhythm and support, added harmony with its heavy notes.
After the bass played its final note, a dazzling drum solo entered. This time, the person twirling the sticks and playing the drums was shown, but only their head, wearing a red hat and bowed, was visible, concealing their face.
"If I could change the world. (If I could change the world.)
I would be the sunlight in your universe. (I would be the sunlight in your universe.)
Sweetheart, if I could change the world. (Sweetheart, if I could change the world.)
And I Know there'll be no more tears in heaven. (And I know, there will be no more tears in heaven.)
The song ended with the same lyrics as the beginning, but if the first song conveyed a feeling of distant longing, this version was filled with hope.
As the last lyrics were sung, all the instruments stopped at once, leaving a lasting impression.
Kay, sitting on the car playing the White Falcon, closed his eyes to feel the music, then opened them and smiled in one direction. The camera moved to show a bass guitarist sitting alone by the riverbank, who threw his hat into the river and turned around with a laugh. People watching the screen pointed and exclaimed,
"Kay! It's Kay! Kay was the bassist!"
Kay, having removed his hat, walked over and extended his hand to the guitarist holding the J-200, helping him up. The screen showed two Kays smiling at each other.
"Goodness! The J-200 was also Kay!"
As the two looked in one direction and laughed, another guitarist sitting on a fishing chair stood up and joined them, laughing.
"The other one was Kay too! Cough!"
The three stood side by side, walking to the drum set and giving a thumbs up to the drummer, who raised his head and grinned. Hoshino, still sitting next to the fallen Hikari, muttered,
"The... the drummer was Kay too..."
The screen showed all five Kays in front of the drum set, each holding their instrument and smiling. The camera then zoomed out rapidly, moving away to show the Hudson River next to the parking lot from a bird's-eye view, until the image was far enough to reveal the entire scene. As the camera pulled back, elegant script appeared on the screen:
If I could change the world... (If I could change the world.)
Then, in a slightly smaller font at the bottom right of the screen, the credits appeared:
Composition by Kay.
Lyrics by Kiska Miocic.
The screen faded to black, but the people standing at Shibuya Scramble Crossing remained frozen in place, unable to move, their eyes fixed on the now-dark screen.
Even though the traffic light had changed, the drivers, noticing that everyone outside was still looking in the same direction, craned their necks to see the screen too, and no one honked their horns.
On that day, thousands of people on the streets of Shibuya were as if time had stopped, fixated on the blackened screen, sharing a moment of collective awe and wonder at the spectacle they had just witnessed.