FROM HELLO TO HOLLOW

Everything in this world was boring to him, but that didn't mean he didn't have a place where he could entertain himself. He knew of a bar near his company, and it was called "Boom Gloom Night." To him, the name sounded ridiculous, but he shouldn't expect anything when the bar owner was also absurd.

The bar owner was someone he knew, and he was called John. Zhang Hei had known that person for more than two years, but he didn't know his real name. He could only guess that the person was Chinese even though he used a Western name as his alias, but he didn't bother to find out the truth of his guess.

Tonight, he was already sitting at the bar with a glass of liquor in his hand, and he shook it gently before bringing it to his lips. Elegantly, he took a sip of the contents, and the man standing opposite him while using a cloth to wipe a glass grinned at the sight.

"You seem to be in a bad mood," John was standing in front of him, and it was also the yellow-haired man who started a conversation with him.

John looked even goofier with his yellow mohawk, but it was actually not his most ridiculous appearance. Zhang Hei remembered how the bar owner even dyed his hair rainbow colors a few months ago, and he even needed to pretend as if he didn't know the guy.

"I'm always in a bad mood," Zhang Hei replied as he placed his empty glass in front of him.

John had finished wiping the glass, and finally, he sat on the high stool opposite the long-haired man. Sometimes, he was too bored to work as a bar boss, and he often busied himself as a bartender. That was also what he did tonight, and the liquor that Zhang Hei had just drunk was also prepared by him.

"You're right. You're always in a bad mood," John answered, nodding his head to support his statement. "Every time I see you, your forehead is always wrinkled. My mother said that frowning like that would make me age quickly, but I don't think that's the case for you. You are already..." He trailed off, and he suddenly raised his hand before gesturing as if he was counting something. After he finished counting, he spoke again, "You are already thirty-five years old, right? But I don't see any wrinkles on your face, and you don't look old either. I envy you."

Zhang Hei didn't answer this time. When the God of Life gave him the punishment to become immortal, he was thirty years old at that time. He stopped aging that day, and his appearance remained the same even after more than four hundred years had passed.

When he disguised himself as a normal human, he would use the age of twenty-four or twenty-five as a starting point, and then he would fake his death when his fake age reached forty or forty-five. That was because he knew that people would feel suspicious of him if he kept his youthful appearance when his age on paper was already that old.

"Do you know anyone who can dance?" Instead of responding to John's statement, Zhang Hei asked a question, which had absolutely nothing to do with their previous conversation.

"Someone who can dance?" Even so, John still responded to his question. He seemed to be trying to remember something, but then his eyes turned to another direction when they caught something there. Suddenly, he seemed to get excited and spoke again, "I don't know anyone who can dance, but I know someone who can sing very well here!"

The excitement surprised even Zhang Hei, and he furrowed his brows as he continued to stare at the bar owner. The bar owner didn't look at him, and he decided to follow his line of sight.

It turned out that John was looking at the mini stage in the bar. There was a high stool there, and that stool was occupied by a young man who was holding a guitar in his hand.

"Good evening, everyone. You can call me Jun, and this will be my first time singing in this bar. Now, I will let one person request the song I will sing tonight," the brunette young man on stage calmly introduced himself, and his voice was like cotton candy as it entered Zhang Hei's eardrums.

Of course, Zhang Hei had never tried stuffing cotton candy into his ears, but somehow he thought of that silly analogy the moment he heard the young man's gentle voice.

"Me! Me! Please choose me!"

When Zhang Hei was almost lost in thought just because of the young man's gentle voice, someone suddenly shouted at the top of his lungs, and he couldn't help but let out a tired sigh. Of course, it was John who was screaming next to him, and his ears were almost deaf.

"I want you to sing the song 'From Hello to Hollow,' Jun! That's my favorite song because my favorite actress acted in the MV! She even wore a two-piece bikini in the MV! She's so hot!" John continued to act shameless, and Zhang Hei almost used his palms to cover his face because he was too embarrassed by his friend's attitude.

"Okay, boss. I'll sing that song for you," luckily, the young man named Jun obediently complied with the boss's request so the boss wouldn't continue acting embarrassed at the bar.

The young man called Jun then started moving his slender fingers on his guitar, and his lips moved closer to the microphone in front of him as he started singing the lyrics,

♫ "You're not by my side,

Is that why I feel barren in my heart?

I miss your hugs and kisses,

Will I be able to see your beautiful eyes?

From hello to hollow,

Not too fast but not too slow,

I become a lonely man singing solo.

From hello to hollow,

My spirit becomes so low,

After a few drinks, I become very mellow,

Every step I take, you no longer follow." ♫