Rebirth: King to Superstar

Joon-won knew he had to quickly land a few roles so that he could help the family financially and take some burden off the old man. Both continued to talk for a while until Min-seok had to go out for groceries. Keeping the phone to the side, Joon-won leaned back and closed his eyes thinking about the conversation.

He never had such a light-hearted talk with anyone. He now understood why children would talk and depend on their parents during their toughest times. Even though he doesn't know him in person. From the memories he had, he got a sense of comfort.

He noticed the sun was setting from the orange sky and got up. He went inside the room, took out a hoody, grabbed the phone, and walked out of the house. He wanted to go for a run after that conversation. The conversation and the feelings he got after it was a bit heavy for an orphan like him and exercise was the best way to let some steam out.

He slowly got out of the apartment and looked left and right. He decided to go to the left as there was a park just up ahead. He started jogging to the park at a slow rate. The body was too weak for sudden fast jogs. His goal was to build up this body and add at least a few pounds of muscle.

Slowly going through the street, he finally stopped before the park as his breathing was heavy. Keeping his hands on his waist, he slowly walked into the clean park and sat down on a bench in front of the water fountain inside.

"This body, huff, huff, is so weak. That jog wasn't even 2km long, and I'm out of breath. Here I thought I was weak back then. Looks like Zen Quin's decision to make me strong by physical exercise was the right thing or else i would have been in the same situation even back then" thinking about all the work he had to put into when he became the princess's fiancee.

The first thing his wife, Zen Quin, made him do was to build his body. She was the strongest magician in the kingdom, but he didn't even have a magical root that was necessary to perform magic. So she had him build his body so that he wouldn't fall sick easily.

He slowly did a small breathing exercise he learnt from her and it got him to calm down. Standing up once again, he did a few stretches and walked out of the park. He reached home jogging back once again and took off the hoodie to see his sweat-drenched shirt. He went straight into the bathroom and got another bath.

Walking out with fresh clothes on, he took out his phone and opened the chatting app before clicking on Kim Yin-hee's number. He looked at the blank chat and opened the keyboard but stopped. He didn't know what to say. He can't go straight to the topic, it would make her more closed out from him.

After a few more minutes of contemplating, he typed in: [Yun-hee, how are you?] And kept the phone back into his pockets. He walked into the kitchen and started to cook some healthy dinner for himself.

As he cooked, he felt his phone vibrate and took it out to see it was a reply from Yun-hee.

[I am ok. How are you doing there? Is the big city life good?]

[I am good too. Yes, it's been ok. Home is still better. How are your studies going on? Did you decide on which University you want to go to? Because depending on that you need to prepare for the national exam.]

[Don't nag me now. My studies are ok. I am still deciding where to go and what to study.]

[Well, take your time. You still have a few weeks before you have your exam. Think about it slowly and you know both me and dad will support your decision. So think about it.] Trying to be as smooth as possible.

[Don't worry too much about it. Trust me, I'll make the right decision. Was it dad who asked you to text me?] Taking him back. She figured it out.

[Does it matter? You know the old man is worried about you. You know we are his everything right and the hard work he is putting in even when he is at an age where he should sit back and rest a little. To keep our family afloat. That's why he is worried about you. The last thing we can do is make it seem like we don't see his hard work and affection.] And as soon as he clicked on send, he regretted it. The complete message looked like he was lecturing her, and that isn't something you should do on a teenager.

There wasn't a reply even after a few seconds, so he kept the phone aside and continued to cook. As he finished, his phone vibrated once again. He didn't check it immediately and walked over to the couch with the plate. Taking a seat and keeping the plate on the tabletop, he took out the phone.

[Joon-won don't act hypocritically. After going to the big city you never came back and it's almost a year now. You don't call dad or me unless we do it. So don't come now and say all these words. It sickens me a little. I know what I am doing, so don't try to school me.] The message was very straightforward. It looked like the little sister was the complete opposite of the big brother.

She wasn't wrong and he couldn't say anything. He simply replied [Yun-hee, just remember what I said. I'm not telling you to listen and do what I say. I'm just asking you to be a bit considerate. I'll come back home if I have time this summer.] And kept the phone away.

He slowly had his dinner, washed the dishes, and jumped onto the bed. A reply from Yun-hee never came, and he wasn't waiting for it.