Chapter 18 – The Ones Who Know Nothing
LIVE BROADCAST – "Behind the Gold: AUREUS Unfiltered" – Episode 1 (Continued)
Current Viewership: 27.8 million
The studio is breathless.
Jeon Mira doesn't say anything for a moment. She doesn't have to. The echo of Jaeheon's last words still hangs in the air, heavy and shattering:
"I've written over a hundred songs for her. One of them is called Her Silence is Louder Than Heaven."
A pause like reverence. A pause like grief.
LIVE CHAT – TRANSLATED IN REAL TIME
@burningconstellations: "Her silence is louder than heaven"??? SIR.
@j_jjjjj_ae: i think I need to lie down
@ghostnote_harmony: this man is bleeding love and we don't even know her NAME
[BACKSTAGE – PRODUCER ROOM]
"She's real."
One of the editors leans forward, pale.
"That kind of answer… that kind of obsession… it's not fake."
Ratings climb again. The control room is silent.
"He's a songwriter," one producer murmurs. "And a dangerous one."
POV – MINJAE
Minjae can't look at him.
He tries.
He really tries.
But he knows if he does, if he looks at Jaeheon now—with that expression, distant and calm and on the verge of devastation—he might ask. He might ask who she is. Might try to understand.
And Minjae knows better than to try to understand the things Jaeheon guards with silence.
Even so, a question scratches at the back of his throat like an old wound.
Does she know?
Does the girl behind those hundred songs know that she lives inside Jaeheon's silence? That she's the reason he writes, breathes, hurts, and hides?
He thinks of Jaeheon scribbling lyrics in their dorm late at night. Of Jaeheon sitting by the window alone. Of Jaeheon smiling—no, not smiling—but that strange, fleeting curve of the mouth that only comes when he's looking at something that's not here.
Minjae swallows.
He doesn't ask.
He never will.
[MEDIA BUZZ – ARTICLE DROP]
Headline: "Who Is She? Jaeheon's Haunting Confession Sends Fans Into Frenzy"
Source: MidnightLine Dispatch
In what might be the most heartbreaking moment in recent idol history, AUREUS' Jaeheon quietly revealed he's written over one hundred songs for someone—someone unknown, someone unseen.
He ended his answer with a title: Her Silence is Louder Than Heaven.
The fandom erupted.
The studio froze.
And still, the identity of this woman remains a mystery.
"There is love," one fan wrote, "and then there is Jaeheon's kind of love. Quiet, obsessive, and made entirely of music no one gets to hear."
Trending Hashtags:
#HerSilenceLouderThanHeaven
#JaeheonMysteryGirl
#100SongsOfLove
#GildedShadowsEp1
FAN POST – @silverlinedshadows (the fan POV returns)
I don't think we understand how unhinged that man is about her.
Most people confess with flowers.
He wrote a hundred songs.
Most people hope they're remembered.
He said he doesn't care, as long as she remembers him.
And now? Her Silence is Louder Than Heaven??
That's not just a title. That's the whole tragedy.
He's in love with a woman who doesn't speak to him.
Maybe can't. Maybe never will.
And he's still writing.
Still loving.
Quietly. Obsessively. Completely.
IN-STUDIO – MOMENTS LATER
Jeon Mira finally finds her voice.
Jeon Mira: "Well… I think that officially destroyed half our viewers."
The audience chuckles nervously. She smiles, but it's softer now—more aware of the room's quiet ache.
Jeon Mira: "We've gone through nine questions, and somehow each one felt like peeling back something sacred. One more left. Then we start the dares."
The screen flashes:
"Coming Up Next: Question 10 – The Final Truth"
Behind the members, the large LED panels shimmer gold. The camera lingers on Jaeheon just a little longer than the rest.
His gaze is still lost in the space between silence and music.
And somewhere—maybe in that silence—the woman he loves is listening.
END OF CHAPTER 18
Would you like Chapter 19 to feature Question 10 now? Or should we shift briefly to another POV before closing out Episode 1?
The Ones Who Know Nothing
LIVE BROADCAST – "Behind the Gold: AUREUS Unfiltered" – Episode 1 (Continued)
Current Viewership: 27.8 million
The studio is breathless.
Jeon Mira doesn't say anything for a moment. She doesn't have to. The echo of Jaeheon's last words still hangs in the air, heavy and shattering:
"I've written over a hundred songs for her. One of them is called Her Silence is Louder Than Heaven."
A pause like reverence. A pause like grief.
LIVE CHAT – TRANSLATED IN REAL TIME
@burningconstellations: "Her silence is louder than heaven"??? SIR.
@j_jjjjj_ae: i think I need to lie down
@ghostnote_harmony: this man is bleeding love and we don't even know her NAME
[BACKSTAGE – PRODUCER ROOM]
"She's real."
One of the editors leans forward, pale.
"That kind of answer… that kind of obsession… it's not fake."
Ratings climb again. The control room is silent.
"He's a songwriter," one producer murmurs. "And a dangerous one."
POV – MINJAE
Minjae can't look at him.
He tries.
He really tries.
But he knows if he does, if he looks at Jaeheon now—with that expression, distant and calm and on the verge of devastation—he might ask. He might ask who she is. Might try to understand.
And Minjae knows better than to try to understand the things Jaeheon guards with silence.
Even so, a question scratches at the back of his throat like an old wound.
Does she know?
Does the girl behind those hundred songs know that she lives inside Jaeheon's silence? That she's the reason he writes, breathes, hurts, and hides?
He thinks of Jaeheon scribbling lyrics in their dorm late at night. Of Jaeheon sitting by the window alone. Of Jaeheon smiling—no, not smiling—but that strange, fleeting curve of the mouth that only comes when he's looking at something that's not here.
Minjae swallows.
He doesn't ask.
He never will.
[MEDIA BUZZ – ARTICLE DROP]
Headline: "Who Is She? Jaeheon's Haunting Confession Sends Fans Into Frenzy"
Source: MidnightLine Dispatch
In what might be the most heartbreaking moment in recent idol history, AUREUS' Jaeheon quietly revealed he's written over one hundred songs for someone—someone unknown, someone unseen.
He ended his answer with a title: Her Silence is Louder Than Heaven.
The fandom erupted.
The studio froze.
And still, the identity of this woman remains a mystery.
"There is love," one fan wrote, "and then there is Jaeheon's kind of love. Quiet, obsessive, and made entirely of music no one gets to hear."
Trending Hashtags:
#HerSilenceLouderThanHeaven
#JaeheonMysteryGirl
#100SongsOfLove
#GildedShadowsEp1
FAN POST – @silverlinedshadows (the fan POV returns)
I don't think we understand how unhinged that man is about her.
Most people confess with flowers.
He wrote a hundred songs.
Most people hope they're remembered.
He said he doesn't care, as long as she remembers him.
And now? Her Silence is Louder Than Heaven??
That's not just a title. That's the whole tragedy.
He's in love with a woman who doesn't speak to him.
Maybe can't. Maybe never will.
And he's still writing.
Still loving.
Quietly. Obsessively. Completely.
IN-STUDIO – MOMENTS LATER
Jeon Mira finally finds her voice.
Jeon Mira: "Well… I think that officially destroyed half our viewers."
The audience chuckles nervously. She smiles, but it's softer now—more aware of the room's quiet ache.
Jeon Mira: "We've gone through nine questions, and somehow each one felt like peeling back something sacred. One more left. Then we start the dares."
The screen flashes:
"Coming Up Next: Question 10 – The Final Truth"
Behind the members, the large LED panels shimmer gold. The camera lingers on Jaeheon just a little longer than the rest.
His gaze is still lost in the space between silence and music.
And somewhere—maybe in that silence—the woman he loves is listening.