83 Epilogue

"YoonJae-ssi, we have also been informed that this is your last on-screen appearance with S.T.A.Y before you go off to the Military." The female anchor we had gotten familiar with after appearing so many times on this prime-time show smiled knowingly at Jaehyeon who immediately scrunched up his brows and sighed. "How do you feel today? Is there anything that you would like to tell your members?"

"Ah." Jaehyeon brought the mic up to his mouth to speak once, then lowered it. He looked unsure about what to say. Nevertheless, he raised the mic again. "I had promised myself that I would not cry so I will keep this short." He paused and looked at us before speaking again. "My Dongsaengs… We have bene together for a really long time and I have watched each and every one of you grow and shine as musicians, as artists and as people. I… don't have much else to say other than that I am proud of you. I am… very proud of you and… I have absolutely no doubts in my mind that you will all do well. I do not need to worry when I am away so… You just need to stay healthy, continue being there for each other and… keep being you." He lowered the mic but before anyone else could say anything, he spoke again. "I will miss you all a lot so… miss me too."

That was such a Jaehyeon thing to say.

"Hyung." Mingyu called and waited till Jaehyeon looked at him. "We will miss you too. A lot."

"Yup." I added. "So, go do your thing, stay healthy and come back to us fast."

"We'll be waiting, Hyung." Yeojun too joined in.

Hanseol did not say anything so the host turned to him. "K-soul-ssi, is there anything you would like to say?"

"Um… Our YoonJae Hyung will probably cry if I say much so… I'm just going to say, 'Fighting, Hyung'." Hanseol said the last bit to Jaehyeon and then lowered his mic.

Jaehyeon simply nodded, visibly too moved to even find the words to respond to all that.

"YoonJae-ssi?" The host urged. It would not have been surprising if they were trying to get him to shed a few tears for the sake of the show too. True would melt at the emotions.

"Yes." Jaehyeon nodded. "I won't cry." That was all he said.

She laughed. "Yes. It is very clear how much you mean to each other. I won't press any further. But you have already announced that you will be starting work on your new album. Could you tell us something about your plans, Mingyu-ssi?"

"True have been showering us with so much love that we do not want to pause even for a moment. That's what this is all about. We always have so much to be grateful about and so much to say that we are almost always ready to start on what we can do next." That, in fact was a spoiler of the concept that we were going for this time but I doubt that anyone would read into it that much unless we hint something further later on. "About the album itself, that's all that I can tell you and… Wait for it~" He aimed a finger-gun at the camera that was rolling and winked.

"As always, we will be doing our best to bring you something new and relatable so, you can look forward to it." Yeojun added.

"You have been delivering on all your promises to date so we will surely be looking forward to this one as well." The host nodded, referring to her cue cards. "You have had so many successful world tours and True have grown a lot internationally. We had actually received a lot of requests for a certain member to say something to all the international True in English."

Oh.

"Jeongwoo-ssi?"

Just as I had thought… The others laughed at that too.

"Of course." I smiled. I had done some proper studying. I was not overly confident yet but I was still better than I had been a few years ago. So, I spoke in my best English. "I… am not surprised that you would ask me to do this." The others cooed in amazement, for added effect. "True, we will always work hard because we have you. You… make us. So… thank you and stay happy. We love you." I sent finger-hearts at the camera.

"Woah! That was actually very good, Jeongwoo-ssi!" The host said in Korean. "I don't think anyone will doubt your English again."

"Our Jeongwoo's been working hard." Jaehyeon clapped me shoulder. "It's starting to show."

"Clearly." She agreed. "It goes to show how hard-working you all are."

S.T.A.Y had renewed our contract with DayBreak Entertainment and there was no end in sight for us just yet. We still had plans for the future, concepts we were yet to try out and stories we were eager to tell. 04:00 am had served as a lesson, if anything- to not take anything for granted and to make the most of everything that we had. We were determined to stay as long as True would have us. In this industry, that meant constant work and continuously bettering ourselves. With each other and our own extended motivations and support though, the pressure no more seemed enough to break us.

"As always, it has been an honour and a lovely experience having you here with us, S.T.A.Y. And there could be no better way to end our 09:00 pm show than with snippets of your new album's title track 'On My Way' with a montage we have prepared from your world tour."

"Oh, you have?" Mingyu asked, just as surprised as the rest of us.

"I'm certain now that you are all trying to make me cry." Jaehyeon spoke at which everyone laughed.

We had come a long way- S.T.A.Y as a whole and each of us personally. We had come far enough to be able to look back without any regrets.

"Everyone," Mingyu looked at us. That was our cue.

I did not need any further reassurance that no matter what happened going forth, as long as I had S.T.A.Y and Changmin by my side, there was nothing that I could not wake up every morning to face.

Mingyu took the lead and the rest of us joined in, bowing where we were seated.

"Always yours. We are S.T.A.Y!"