#028
“Yeonwoo?”
“Ah, yes.”
His soul that had briefly wandered returned at his call, and he snapped back to attention.
“Contact me.”
“Contact?”
Without time to interpret the single phrase “contact me,” he hurriedly pulled out his phone from his pocket and stared obediently at Kang Dojun like a dog waiting for its master’s command.
Seeing that, Kang Dojun smiled slightly and wrapped his hands around Yeonwoo’s phone, shaking his head.
“Not now, let’s keep in touch after I go to Seoul too. Not just once a year. Continuously.”
“…Ah.”
“Don’t you want to?”
“No.”
Only then did Yeonwoo show some life. He stuffed his phone into his pants pocket and said worriedly.
“Right, but hyung, you’re busy.”
“I’m not busy.”
Though countless scripts for his next project were waiting after the variety show schedule ended, he spoke somewhat obsessively.
Yeonwoo stared at him intently.
‘No matter how I look at it, he seems busy.’
He was soft beyond kindness. How does he manage entertainment industry life like that?
‘I should take good care of him.’
Contrary to Yeonwoo’s thoughts, Kang Dojun was famous in the entertainment industry for thoroughly separating work and personal life.
Not knowing this fact, Yeonwoo began Kang Dojun-customized education.
“Hyung is too kind. You need to become more ruthless.”
“Really? I never thought about it that way.”
Kang Dojun looked at the mouth that was earnestly chattering away and burst into laughter. Being kind aside, the person in front of him was a pushover. Someone who would smile happily even after signing a strange contract.
“You take care of yourself. Don’t sign random things again.”
“Ah…”
Yeonwoo seemed embarrassed as he rubbed his face dry and hid his face between his knees.
Feeling mischievous, Kang Dojun reached out once more to lightly brush his nape. He could see his body flinch, but he didn’t get startled like before. He just quietly raised his hand to cover his nape.
Perhaps embarrassed about being startled earlier, it was obvious he was deliberately holding back his reaction, which only made him seem more adorable.
Yeonwoo lifted his head diagonally from between his knees and looked up at Kang Dojun with a sullen expression. Then he straightened his upper body and put his hand into his outer jacket pocket, fumbling around before pulling out another can of beer he had brought.
Kang Dojun’s eyes widened slightly. So that’s why his jacket felt heavy.
Whether it had been shaken in his pocket, as soon as he opened the can, carbonation overflowed. Yeonwoo quickly brought his mouth to it to drink it up with a slurp.
Watching this, Kang Dojun snatched the can and took a swig.
Yeonwoo made a devastated expression like someone who had their delicious snack stolen. Kang Dojun personally pressed his nose flat to make it pig-shaped.
“Stop drinking.”
Yeonwoo was about to object to his words but soon closed his mouth after moving it.
His appearance, harmonizing with the moonlight, shone even more brilliantly. Somehow he felt like his weakness had been discovered. Kang Dojun smiled refreshingly as if he knew all of Yeonwoo’s thoughts and asked.
“Do you drink often normally?”
“…Well.”
Yeonwoo avoided his gaze. He would drink whenever anxiety came to him. However, now the problem was that even when he wasn’t anxious, drinking itself had become a habit.
Yeonwoo suddenly felt a complex mix of disappointment, loneliness, and all sad emotions rushing over him, so he pouted his lips.
“Sniff.”
He even sniffled to hold back tears.
“…Are you crying?”
“The beer is spicy.”
“What’s spicy about beer.”
“The carbonation.”
Kang Dojun took a sip of the beer in his hand. Instead of honestly saying it was sad that he was leaving, he stubbornly persisted to the end. Yeonwoo’s profile as he widened his eyes to prevent tears from falling was admirable.
It had only been ten days, yet he had grown too attached too quickly. And deeply at that.
This mutt probably wouldn’t clean his house properly, wouldn’t take care of his meals, would just drink all day, or might carelessly sign another strange contract without him. Worries were already washing over him like waves.
‘…Should I just stay a few more days.’
He kept speaking obsessively, or rather possessively, repeating the same words.
“I’m not busy.”
So contact me. Every day.
* * *
On the afternoon of the 10th day, after all filming ended, they exchanged farewell greetings.
“Thank you for everything during this time.”
Yeonwoo looked at the handshake Han Taegu extended. This person had called over a drunk person to make them sign, and the contract was full of toxic clauses.
After glaring at them the whole time, what was the psychology behind suddenly coming to greet them on the last day? He glanced at his expression but couldn’t tell at all.
He stopped being suspicious and gave a half-hearted handshake. However, his eyes glared sharply at him.
“I’ll contact you once more when it airs.”
He planned to immediately block Han Taegu’s phone number.
After greeting each person one by one, his eyes met with Kang Dojun, who was talking with his manager. He gestured.
“Come here.”
When he trotted over and stood beside him, a cool touch wrapped around his nape. It felt awkward to have his nape grabbed rather than having an arm around his shoulders. However, this feeling would also be the last today.
“Thank you for everything during this time.”
“Yes, you’ve worked hard too, manager-nim.”
Kang Dojun’s manager, Park Daeho, greeted them while looking at the two with a strange gaze. When Yeonwoo approached his side, hadn’t he just smiled with satisfaction?
He soon brushed it off thinking he must have seen wrong.
“Tell me if anything in the house is broken or damaged.”
“Hyung, contact me if you need honey too. I’ll make the delivery fee free.”
“If I need it, I can just come visit to see you.”
“Gas money would cost more though.”
“So what.”
Park Daeho frowned slightly. This side of Kang Dojun was something he was seeing for the first time despite being his manager for several years.
“Dojun, we should go now.”
“Yeah, I’m going.”
At his manager’s words, he took heavy steps while turning back to glance at Yeonwoo.
Yeonwoo stood still in that spot like a statue, watching him.
When they came out of the yard, village elders had gathered in front of the gate to give final greetings out of curiosity.
“Our house’s chicks are nutritious too. Different from Seoul!”
It was Grandma Kyeong-i roughly shoving chicken coop eggs at Kang Dojun and village elders handing over kimchi and various side dishes. For the past couple of days, the plan of watching the chicken coop chickens so intensely their eyes might fall out seemed to be to take care of Kang Dojun’s share.
“Thank you. I’ll eat them well.”
He bowed his head and once again turned back to look at Yeonwoo in the yard. He was still standing there.
“Yeonwoo, won’t you come see me off?”
At those words, Yeonwoo quickly went inside the house. The flustered Kang Dojun was about to follow but stopped when Yeonwoo came out again. Yeonwoo placed something in his arms.
With his hands already full, he awkwardly managed to hold it and examined what the contents were.
“Royal jelly?”
There were three small glass bottles.
“You take one, hyung, and give one to Shin Gihyeon too. The idols have many members so I can’t give to everyone, so tell them to share one bottle. Check for allergies and such before eating.”
Since the elders gave him things one by one, it seemed he thought he should give something too. He’s not even a child…, it was good to learn from watching elders’ behavior, but his spending was poor.
‘…Really a pushover.’
He was giving away such expensive things freely.
“Dummy.”
“Yes?”
Royal jelly would be more expensive than honey, yet he was carelessly shoving three bottles at him without concern. At this rate, wouldn’t his honey business go bankrupt?
“Take it back. I can’t accept this.”
“…Why not.”
It was an aggrieved look asking why he wouldn’t take what he had given.
“No. Listen to me.”
Yeonwoo frowned. He had made quite a big decision to give it, but the child-like scolding tone made him feel defiant.
Yeonwoo held up the glass bottle and tried hard to force it into one of the black bags that filled both of Kang Dojun’s hands.
“Yeonwoo, I said it’s fine.”
“Take it!”
A struggle ensued between the one trying to give it somehow and the one trying to stop it somehow, and there was a pop! sound from one bag, then the bag became mushy.
Both froze their actions and quietly looked inside the bag that made the sound.
“…It broke.”
Two pairs of eyes turned toward Grandma Kyeong-i. She had somehow noticed and was approaching them with a very angry expression, taking big strides.
“Pay me back for my babies!”
“It wasn’t me. Hyung broke them.”
Yeonwoo shook his head for survival and hid behind Kang Dojun. There was no quiet moment even on the last day.
“Well… this happened by accident.”
“By accident?!”
“Still, only 2 broke.”
Grandma Kyeong-i’s eyes shot up as she shouted.
“Only 2 broke? Is that something to brag about? You should have carried them carefully!”
“It would have been better if you had put them somewhere safe other than a bag so they wouldn’t break in the first place.”
Yeonwoo shouted that it was unfair. He had hidden behind Kang Dojun as a shield, but somehow his heart ached seeing him get scolded.
Finally, they could escape only after getting hit on the back by Grandma Kyeong-i.
Well, this much was fortunate.
Kang Dojun was too busy worrying about the broken eggs to notice that three bottles of royal jelly had gone into another bag.
Yeonwoo looked at him struggling in front of him and said brightly.
“It hurts.”
It was a look expecting something.
“I see.”
At the lukewarm response, Yeonwoo’s shining eyes quickly dimmed. Kang Dojun thought for a moment and opened his mouth again.
“Are you okay?”
This time it was the right answer. Yeonwoo shrugged as if it was nothing and replied.
“It’s bearable.”
Having someone else worry about him was a very pleasant thing.
Growing up under his grandmother’s care, and when he got a bit older, taking care of his grandmother himself – it was hard to easily share such relationships with others. Embracing all of that was his share, and receiving worry was a luxury.
Still, he thought he had become accustomed to worrying about and receiving worry from others through many human relationships after becoming an adult, but the concern Kang Dojun sent felt somehow different and joyful.
Was it because someone he hadn’t known long was caring for him? He unconsciously tried to suppress the corners of his mouth from rising by tensing his face. Because of that, he made a slightly strange expression.
“Should I not go?”
Kang Dojun continued, thinking Yeonwoo was holding back tears.
“I don’t have any immediate schedule anyway. Should I stay a bit longer?”
Yeonwoo almost unconsciously nodded, but they had already grandly finished their farewell greetings, and saying he wouldn’t go now would seem a bit ridiculous to Kang Dojun.
“It’s okay. We can meet again next time.”
“…Right, contact me if anything happens.”
Kang Dojun answered while looking at Han Taegu standing far away. It had been quiet for the past couple of days, but he worried whether he might be plotting something behind the scenes.
He was touching his phone with wireless earphones in his ears, smiling ominously.
‘Why is he like that?’
“I’ll contact you when I go to Seoul.”
But with Yeonwoo’s following words, thoughts about Han Taegu ended briefly.
“Seoul? When? Are you coming?”
“…Someday?”
Seeing Yeonwoo answer with a questioning tone by raising the end of his words, Kang Dojun, who had been secretly hopeful, nodded. It was just something to say.
Park Daeho, who had started the car, called Kang Dojun.
“We really have to go now.”
“Yeah, I’m going now. I’m leaving, Yeonwoo.”
“It was fun. Drive safely.”
Yeonwoo reached out and firmly grabbed Kang Dojun’s sleeve. Contrary to his words telling him to go, his actions seemed to say don’t go.
“I’ll come again.”
At Kang Dojun’s comfort, he released the hand he had been holding.
* * *
The stormy ten days ended and everyone left. The yard that had been bustling for ten days was now just Yeonwoo alone.
The daily routine of going to the apiary, patrolling, and catching hornets with a net had returned as usual, but it felt strangely unfamiliar.
Yeonwoo sat quietly in the now desolate place and quietly sighed alone.
“Should I have a drink.”
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
