| Episode 56. Chuseok Holiday (3)
“Hello……?”
Before Park Juwoo could even ask who was calling, the voice of someone presumed to be his aunt burst through the phone.
— Juwoo! Have you eaten?
“Yes, I’ve eaten—”
— With who! Seongbin went back to his parents’ place, didn’t he!
“I’m eating with a hyung who stayed behind at the dorm.”
— Then bring that hyung with you! The galbijjim turned out delicious.
— Juwoo, have you eaten songpyeon, songpyeon? Should Dad pack some and send them to the dorm?
— Could you be quiet for a moment! And a courier would be faster than you going there.
Once the man presumed to be his uncle-in-law intervened as well, the call became chaotic.
In the brief moment he lost track of the conversation, the topic had drifted to whether to send the songpyeon with the pine needles detached or attached.
It was a completely different atmosphere from Jeong Seongbin’s family.
‘Park Juwoo can’t even… get a word in.’
They hadn’t even started running yet, but Park Juwoo already looked a bit worn out.
After a few more exchanges back and forth, his aunt spoke.
— Can you come for Seollal? Or should Mom come up to Seoul?
Park Juwoo flinched at those words.
But he hid it well and spoke in a calm tone.
“I’m fine. I’m doing well.”
And I saw it clearly. The slight upturn of Park Juwoo’s lips.
They already called themselves “Mom” and “Dad” to him. They were already family. As if he could keep his distance.
Thus, Park Juwoo barely managed to stop the songpyeon’s trip to Seoul before ending the call.
“Park Juwoo.”
“Yes, hyung. I’m sorry. You waited so long……”
“Go visit your aunt’s place for Seollal.”
“Huh?”
Park Juwoo looked at me as if he didn’t understand what I meant.
“What do you mean, ‘huh?’ I’m telling you to go.”
“But it’s the holiday……”
Park Juwoo hesitated and put his phone in his pocket.
I didn’t really know what it meant to have multiple families gathered together.
“I’m telling you to go because it’s the holiday.”
Because if you don’t see them even then, you might regret it.
* * *
We ran for a full hour.
The cool weather and the quiet riverfront. Weren’t these the optimal conditions for exercise?
But that was just my opinion.
Next to me, Park Juwoo was gradually wilting. He didn’t complain that it was hard, but he was almost pitiful to look at.
Before Park Juwoo’s breathing grew even rougher, I stopped and looked for a bench.
‘With such poor stamina, how does he plan to do concerts…….’
The moment I thought that, the system flashed. It meant the additional overtime support service was activating.
I wasn’t in a position to talk about others, was I?
It wasn’t even my business in the first place. It wasn’t like I was the one doing concerts.
Since we were taking a break anyway, I was about to catch my breath and drink some water I’d brought from the dorm when I heard loud voices from below. Even at a glance, they were cursing.
‘Drunks?’
I raised myself slightly and looked down to see two men sitting on stone steps further below. Fortunately, they didn’t seem to be fighting with each other.
“……Are they fighting?”
Park Juwoo asked in a small voice.
“I don’t think so.”
I too spoke at a volume close to a whisper.
However, making my answer meaningless, the man at my feet lashed out again.
“Ah, fuck.”
This time the cursing came out very clearly. It was a tone that made it impossible not to recognize the unpleasant atmosphere.
“He seems angry at least……”
Park Juwoo muttered. This was awkward.
Just as I was about to suggest moving if it was uncomfortable, the man’s companion restrained him as he vented his anger.
“Hyung, what if someone hears you?”
“Let them hear, damn it. So I kept my mouth shut and now I can’t say a word? Fuck, this is fucking ridiculous.”
The man’s cursing showed no signs of stopping.
I cursed people out in my head too, but usually once you grew up, you didn’t spew profanity out loud like that, right?
If you grew up only seeing family members curse, you might be left with nothing but profanity in your head, but once you recognized how filthy it was, you tended to try not to curse out loud.
‘He must have had something to be pretty angry about,’ I thought as I closed the water bottle. I was about to get up now.
But something was strange. The man’s voice sounded familiar.
‘Where have I heard it before?’
It definitely wasn’t one of the Spark guys.
They had each sent photos they’d found in albums at their parents’ homes to prove they’d arrived. — I had them do it because we might use them on a variety show. —
If it was someone I’d spoken to even once, I’d usually remember their voice, so we probably weren’t close.
‘Someone I ran into at UA?’
Unable to step away rashly, I froze as the man shot up from his seat first.
“Don’t bother me, you bastard! Are you trying to piss me off? Those worthless bastards are nothing without me!”
‘Gaun-ah, you don’t like it because hyung’s being annoying? Then I’m hurt. Hyung would die without Gaun and our members!’
I remembered.
The group I’d been monitoring until recently — the one that would become Spark’s biggest obstacle in the future. Parte.
It was the voice of Song Minil, a rookie idol who was the center of that team and boasted the largest individual fandom.
It went without saying, but our lives always came with preconditions.
1. Anyone can curse.
2. Idols are people.
3. Idols can curse too.
Of course, while anyone could curse, there were times when they shouldn’t.
Idols were held to stricter standards than ordinary people.
Therefore it was better to be careful when cursing.
‘Though it seems some people aren’t.’
I looked down at Song Minil spewing his grievances and thought.
When had he ever said he was upset that Gaun wasn’t paying him attention? He was dying to tear Gaun apart.
I’d been about to overlook it, thinking he probably had personal circumstances or hardships, but…….
“I got one sasaeng number and both the company and my private account are totally fucked, fuck.”
……I’d ended up hearing his dogshit reason for getting scolded by the agency after obtaining a sasaeng’s number.
More than that, a sasaeng? There’s no room for leniency for you, you bastard.
It sounded like Park Juwoo’s ears would get dirty just listening, so I was about to deliberately make a noise and get up when Han Gaun’s piteous voice caught me by the ankle.
“Hyung…… if someone hears, we’re really in trouble……”
Damn, I can’t even get up now.
Fortunately, it was especially dark under the bridge, and since they were below us, they didn’t seem to have noticed us but…….
If we moved and got caught here, Han Gaun would grab onto us and beg us not to post anything on the internet.
No, who knows, we might even get threatened by Song Minil.
Park Juwoo seemed to be thinking the same thing, not making a sound.
I was at least going to cover my ears out of courtesy when I felt a vibration against my thigh.
And about 0.02 seconds later, my ringtone filled the quiet Han River park.
At the same time, the endless profanity medley playing below stopped as if by a lie.
‘I’m fucked.’
At this rate, we were about to become trainees on the verge of debut who had secretly overheard an industry senior’s disgrace.
Park Juwoo’s pupils were already shaking like aspen leaves.
I had no intention of letting this harm Park Juwoo too. This was my fault for choosing the wrong place to rest.
But I couldn’t exactly turn myself in while telling Park Juwoo to keep holding his breath here, so I answered the phone grimly.
— Hello. Iwori hyung?
“Huk…… Hey, what time is it?”
— Huh?
“I’m fucked, man. I think I fell asleep drinking by the Han River.”
This was the so-called “I didn’t hear your conversation because I was asleep drunk!” strategy.
This time the Parte side was quiet. Naturally, since I was acting like someone who absolutely didn’t want to get involved.
Whether their hearts were pounding was none of my business. They were probably holding their breath hard, whatever.
I recalled the countless drunks I’d seen working the night shift at a convenience store during college and put on a reenactment show with my entire body.
“Fuck, my mouth is going to twist. Hey, sorry. If I leave from here, it’ll take…… about 30 minutes?”
I was so immersed in being a common twenty-something drunkard, rambling to myself, that Jeong Seongbin asked again.
— Hyung, is something wrong?
“Gihun is next to me too. This bastard is completely hammered. Can I just leave Park Gihun behind?”
Park Juwoo, who had been rechristened Mr. Park Gihun on the spot, swallowed.
Please understand. If I said your real name here, Parte might recall their Han River memories once we debut.
Besides, Park Juwoo’s voice was quite unique. Later on, even the general public who weren’t fans would be able to distinguish Park Juwoo just by his voice.
If Park Juwoo opened his mouth here, there was no ruling out the possibility that those two might recognize him.
So it couldn’t be helped. Park Juwoo had to go with the setting of being blackout drunk and senseless.
“Yeah. I’ll head over now. I’ll call when I get a taxi.”
With that, I hung up.
And I sent Jeong Seongbin a text message saying, ‘Seongbin, sorry. I’ll call back in 5 minutes,’ then scratched my head exaggeratedly and muttered as if to myself.
“Ah, fuck……. This is bullshit…….”
Then I hoisted Park Juwoo onto my back.
Park Juwoo pushed off unobtrusively to help. I could have cried.
Like that, I took Mr. Park Gihun to catch a taxi and moved away from their sight.
* * *
— You ran into Parte sunbaenims?
“Yeah. They probably didn’t see us.”
— What does that have to do with acting like a drunk……?
Jeong Seongbin asked, but Park Juwoo and I couldn’t answer.
Because when we escaped from under the bridge, we’d promised to keep everything we heard this time a secret.
Whether they made a fuss in a public place or we heard it unintentionally, it wasn’t right to go around blabbing about things others didn’t want exposed.
Besides, Park Juwoo had to continue his activities as an idol.
It wasn’t a bad idea to get into the habit of not talking about others.
“It just happened that way.”
— If you say it’s nothing, hyung, then it really must be nothing but……
“Don’t worry. More importantly, why did you call?”
— To see if you were doing well. Same with Juwoo.
This kid Jeong Seongbin, he must be quite worried about the people left in the dorm.
Wouldn’t it be better to forget about trainee life during the twice-a-year vacation?
‘Should I be thankful that I wasn’t going around cursing at some river?’
For a moment, I imagined Choi Jeho and Gang Giyeong cursing by a stream, saying, ‘You fucking UA bastards!’ My eyes squeezed shut.
“We’re doing fine. We ate properly too, so you rest easy.”
— Yes, I will. Is there anything you want to eat? I was thinking of packing something.
“We have plenty of food here, so come empty-handed.”
I urged Jeong Seongbin earnestly and hung up.
With all of them returning home, we’d be in a situation where we’d only eat three-color namul bibimbap, so what was the point of bringing anything?
“What did Seongbin say?”
“He asked if there’s anything we want to eat?”
“……I’ll send a text saying there’s lots of food in the refrigerator.”
The moment he finished speaking, Park Juwoo left to send Jeong Seongbin a reminder. Then the surroundings grew quiet.
‘Yeah, this is what holidays are like.’
I’d never dreamed I’d spend such a raucous Chuseok with the taciturn Park Juwoo.
With this long-unfamiliar comfort finally settling in, my heart eased.
‘Experiencing this kind of holiday once in a while isn’t bad.’
Thinking of it as a good experience, I lay down comfortably on the bed.
But at this point, I still didn’t know.
That a holiday isn’t over until it’s over.