#092
“Why?”
– You’ve got a dating scandal.
Kang Dojun pressed his temples firmly as if applying acupressure to his throbbing head.
What kind of fresh nonsense is this now?
It seemed like incidents kept erupting one after another lately.
“You handle it your…”
Kang Dojun was about to say “You handle it yourself” but clamped his mouth shut.
Hah, of all things to break out, it had to be a dating scandal. It would have been a hundred times better when he was caught up in that character controversy. How am I supposed to face Yeonwoo now…
– You know Han Huiyeon-ssi, who you lent your clothes to last time…
“I didn’t lend them to her. They got stolen while I wasn’t paying attention. By the staff.”
– …Right. The stolen clothes. Han Huiyeon-ssi posted some behind-the-scenes photos on Star Star, and apparently there was a photo of her wearing your jacket in there.
“Why did she post that?”
– She probably didn’t know it would cause controversy. She posted it before the show aired.
Kang Dojun let out a deep sigh. I should buy some headache medicine too. Another medication to add to his pharmacy shopping list.
He really needed to quit this damn entertainment industry as soon as possible.
“Can’t you just say it’s not true?”
Yeonwoo was sick, and Uncle Cheolsu would be going on his trip soon, and when the furniture he ordered arrived by delivery, there needed to be someone home to receive it.
For various reasons, Kang Dojun didn’t want to go up to Seoul. The whole process of going to the company, receiving various materials, and putting out clarification articles was utterly tiresome.
– Saying it’s not true would work, but… it’s still better if you come and resolve it yourself. And the director contacted me asking to have dinner together.
“…The director? When?”
Kang Dojun leaned against the car seat, not having started driving yet, and raised an eyebrow.
– Tomorrow evening. Come up to Seoul briefly to resolve the dating scandal and have dinner.
He probably hadn’t been caught thinking about quitting acting. He couldn’t get a sense of what the director wanted to discuss.
“I’ll hang up for now.”
– Dojun-ah. Are you coming to Seoul? Hm? You’re coming, right?
“I’ll go, so let’s talk later. I’m busy right now.”
At Park Daeho’s wheedling tone, Kang Dojun quickly hung up without listening to the rest. Suddenly he had more things to do. First, he needed to buy medicine for Yeonwoo, then head up to Seoul even if it was late. He drove toward the pharmacy.
He should be able to come back by tomorrow night or the day after at the latest, right?
As he checked the date and thought about the schedule of things he needed to do in Seoul, he became concerned about Lee Yeonwoo, who would be left alone in the countryside.
Since they’d been constantly together lately, the times when they’d have to be apart felt unpleasant.
Tomorrow was the weekend, so Cheolsu would come too. Stopped at a red light, Kang Dojun was lost in thought for a while before making a firm decision.
Right, it’s only two days at most, and it would be better for him to spend time with Cheolsu than to be alone. Cheolsu’s college entrance exam is coming up soon too. He probably won’t have much time to play.
As soon as he arrived at the pharmacy, Kang Dojun moved hurriedly. Unfortunately, the pharmacy was in the next village over, which delayed him.
There weren’t really any proper medicines at home, so while he was at it, he bought a household first aid kit and ointment to apply for bee stings.
When Kang Dojun arrived home, he saw Lee Yeonwoo fast asleep without even turning off the lights. He carefully approached and patted Yeonwoo’s back.
“Yeonwoo-ya, Yeonwoo-ya.”
It was an extremely careful and gentle touch, as if he couldn’t decide whether to wake him up or send him into deeper sleep.
Yeonwoo rolled over once and settled snugly into Kang Dojun’s embrace. Rubbing his eyelids, he stretched his arms like he was stretching and hugged his waist. He nuzzled his cheek against the hand that was stroking his forehead.
“Your fever went down.”
“Did you buy medicine?”
“Yeah, and…”
Kang Dojun moved his lips as if he was about to say something important.
“Something urgent came up and I think I need to go to Seoul.”
“Seoul? When?”
He answered while kneading Yeonwoo’s soft cheeks like glutinous rice cake.
“Now.”
“Yes, I’ll get ready now.”
At those words, Yeonwoo started to lift his heavy body but paused as a thought suddenly occurred to him.
Uncle Cheolsu would need to prepare various things for his trip, and it felt bad to ask him to take care of the beekeeping until the day of his departure.
Moreover, he had boasted confidently that he would handle the work starting tomorrow, telling him to go have fun.
“But I have beekeeping tomorrow…”
Kang Dojun grabbed his arm and pulled him into his embrace, planting dense kisses all over his face.
“Sorry, I’ll be back soon.”
“No, it’s fine. I’d rather ask Cheolsu… Oh, his college entrance exam is coming up.”
Cheolsu had messed up his early admission, so he was currently working hard studying to get into college through regular admission. On weekends, he studied with Choi Seongwoo at Yeonwoo’s house – their workbooks had been found in the house before.
It felt bad to ask such a kid to help with beekeeping work.
“When are you coming back? Soon?”
Yeonwoo drooped his non-existent tail like an abandoned puppy.
“Yeah. I’ll definitely come back by tomorrow or the day after.”
“Do you really have to go? What’s it about?”
Kang Dojun fell silent. He was going to resolve the dating scandal that broke out, but should he tell him this…? Soon he decided it was better to tell him first rather than let him hear the news from someone else.
“It’s nothing big, a dating scandal broke out…”
“A dating scandal?”
“Yeah, it’s really nothing.”
As soon as Yeonwoo heard the words “dating scandal,” he opened his drowsy, half-closed eyes wide and searched for his phone to look it up. His expression gradually hardened as he stared at the screen.
It was an incident that happened on the filming day Kang Dojun had told him about. When Kang Dojun’s outer garment went to another female cast member due to a staff mistake, the problem arose when that cast member posted a photo on Star Star of herself wearing that jacket.
“You don’t need to worry. I’ll resolve it well.”
Kang Dojun covered Yeonwoo’s face with his palm, telling him to stop looking. Since his face was originally small, one hand covered his eyes, nose, and mouth completely.
Under his palm, Yeonwoo mumbled.
“No, why is this person… Can’t you just say it’s not true? Do you really have to go to Seoul to resolve it?”
“More than that, the director asked to have dinner… I don’t think I can refuse.”
“……”
After a long silence, Yeonwoo told him to go and come back. Go safely, goodbye, farewell. Why do words for parting even exist? He quietly expressed his anger toward those words.
“I’ll call you every day.”
“Morning, lunch, dinner, when sleeping, when waking up too.”
“Yeah.”
Even though they’d only be apart for two days, it felt regretful and disappointing. Yeonwoo wrapped the thick blanket he’d been covering himself with even on hot days around his body like a cloak and went out to the living room.
“I’ll see you off.”
“You’re sick, so lie down.”
“I’m not sick anymore. I guess I was just hot from waking up after sleeping briefly.”
“You said your throat was scratchy too.”
“Maybe it was just hoarse.”
Heading toward the front door, Yeonwoo discovered a pile of medicine bags that looked like Kang Dojun had swept up everything as if he was going to open a general hospital. He still wasn’t used to Kang Dojun’s large hands. Yeonwoo picked up a handful of medicine.
“This one?”
“Yeah, there weren’t many medicines at home. It’s good to buy them in advance.”
Pointing to the medicines he’d bought in abundance, Kang Dojun recited word-for-word everything the pharmacist had explained to him.
“Take two of these when you have a stomachache…”
Yeonwoo looked over the medicines he’d bought.
Even though the back had instructions for how to take them, Kang Dojun had written in large letters with a name pen what symptoms each was for, when to take them, and how many pills to take.
It was perfect for Yeonwoo, who didn’t read dosage instructions.
He liked this kind of thoughtfulness.
“If I hadn’t met hyung, I would have been sitting on the street dead long ago.”
Kang Dojun was about to stretch Yeonwoo’s mischievous mouth but stopped when he remembered the unhealed wound inside his mouth.
“I’ll be back soon. Take your medicine properly. If it’s hard, don’t do beekeeping and rest well.”
“Beekeeping has no rest days.”
“Your body comes first.”
“What if the bees die?”
“I’ll compensate you.”
At Kang Dojun’s single sentence, Yeonwoo’s eyes crinkled prettily. Even without exchanging many words, everything he said was always pleasant and refreshing.
“I’ll be back.”
After kissing Yeonwoo’s eye area, Kang Dojun left.
A day without him began.
***
“Damn, this is strange.”
Yeonwoo examined the bees in the hive as if he was going to count every single bee. The queen bee that had definitely been there until yesterday was nowhere to be seen.
“Did you go to Seoul with hyung or something?”
While spouting meaningless words, Yeonwoo was absorbed in looking for the missing queen bee. There was no way to know if she had soared to the sky or sunk into the ground.
Since it was a hive that had been attacked by hornets, there was a possibility she had gone to heaven then.
And Yeonwoo’s prediction was exactly right. Before long, he was able to find the queen bee’s corpse in front of the hive. At least it was fortunate that it was a hive with few members.
If the queen bee was dead, it seemed like a good method to merge it with another hive.
To report today’s work, Yeonwoo took a photo of the queen bee’s corpse and sent it to Kang Dojun.
He’d received a text saying he arrived in Seoul at dawn, so he’s probably sleeping or at the company now. Usually replies came right back, but today none came. Is he very tired?
“Achoo!”
The mesh hat he was wearing swayed from the sudden sneeze.
Sniffling, he continued his beekeeping work.
Did the dating scandal get resolved well?
Yeonwoo poured the bees from the hive with the dead queen into another hive.
“Ah, shit.”
A bee that had become extremely sensitive stung Yeonwoo’s forearm. He was wearing rubber gloves, but wearing short sleeves was the problem.
“Should I really quit?”
Remembering Kang Dojun’s words “I’ll compensate you,” he muttered like someone caught in the rain.
“Yeon!”
Cheolsu’s voice could be heard from far away.
“Oh, Cheolsu came? Go study.”
“I don’t have many days left until I change my name. How about getting used to the name Sehyeon starting now?”
“Don’t carelessly change the name your parents gave you hoping you’d do well.”
Cheolsu grumbled while looking at the bee yard Yeonwoo was tending.
“For me to do well, I need to fix my name first. What kind of name is Cheolsu?”
“Old-fashioned names live long. It’s all a path for you to live long and do well.”
“That’s all superstition, superstition. But why are you combining hives? What a waste.”
At Cheolsu’s question, he informed him about the queen bee’s death. Since Cheolsu had often stopped by the apiary with his father while Yeonwoo was in Seoul, he pointed here and there as he spoke.
“There are a lot of hornets over there lately. Try installing a trap there.”
“Tsk, don’t interfere with hyung’s work.”
Even so, Yeonwoo dutifully moved to install a hornet trap there. Cheolsu seemed to have something to say as he followed behind and asked.
“But can I study at hyung’s house?”
“Only at times like this do you call me hyung. No.”
“Why? Anyway, I’m confident I’ll be completely quiet since I’ll be studying. Seongwoo is supposed to come too, so can’t I?”
“No.”
Yeonwoo had a somewhat soft side, so he’d refuse at first but eventually give permission if asked repeatedly. But this time, his firm attitude of not giving in to the end made Cheolsu question him.
“Why? Is someone at your house?”
“That’s not it, but hyung said no.”
Cheolsu stopped walking and stared intently at Yeonwoo. Then he raised his hand and pointed at Yeonwoo.
…Hyung? Which hyung?
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
