#101
“Come on, take it! My arm’s about to fall off!”
“Ah… I’m sorry.”
Lee Yeonwoo received the bottle of alcohol that Grandpa Beom handed him and carefully cradled it in his arms. The cool bottle pressed coldly against his chest, settling him down. He took a deep breath in and out. It felt like his restraint might snap.
If he drank it right here and now, everything he’d done with Kang Dojun to quit drinking would shatter into pieces.
Suppressing his itching hands, he walked with Grandpa Beom to the village community center.
Yeonwoo hesitated to enter when they finally arrived at the community center.
“Grandpa.”
“Come on in. Let’s eat dinner and have a drink.”
He gnawed at his soft lips. There would definitely be a drinking party, and it would be hard not to drink. In the end, he placed the bottles he was carrying into Grandpa Beom’s arms.
“I just remembered something urgent, so I don’t think I can go. I’m sorry. Enjoy your meal.”
“What? Yeonseok! Hey, you brat, where are you going! Come back!”
He could hear Grandpa Beom calling for him from behind, but he ran with all his might.
He ran and ran and ran until his breath was ragged. If he exhausted his energy like this, he’d be able to sleep well at night and wouldn’t think about alcohol anymore.
“Huff, huff.”
He ran without stopping until he reached home. Barely standing with his hands on his knees for support, he staggered across the yard and entered the house.
He started by taking off his sweat-soaked clothes and began showering with cold water. …Hyung told me not to wash with cold water. I forgot to turn on the boiler. One day should be fine, right?
After washing up, he draped a towel around his neck and called Kang Dojun. It connected right away without much waiting.
“Hyung.”
– Is something wrong?
He immediately picked up on the slightly dejected voice and asked.
I want to drink. I think I’d be fine if only hyung were next to me. But he didn’t want to whine to someone who was working hard in Seoul.
“Just. My cold isn’t completely gone yet.”
– You said it was all better this morning.
…Did I say that?
– When we talked earlier, you said you took three days’ worth of medicine and recovered completely in three days.
“Ahem, I guess I was mistaken.”
He forced out phlegm that wasn’t even there as he spoke. He thought it would definitely be obvious, but Kang Dojun had surprisingly careless moments and was easily fooled.
– That’s what happens when you go around saying you’re all better. I told you to be careful for a while. Are you okay? Does it hurt a lot?
Yeonwoo felt guilty about deceiving him and subtly changed the subject.
“I’m sorry. It’s not that bad… But what are you doing, hyung?”
– I came to a restaurant to eat with Daeho. Did you have dinner?
“I just showered. I should eat now.”
– Don’t eat alone, call the elderly folks and eat together.
I was going to do that, but there’s a feast at the community center today. If I brought alcohol, there would definitely be a party. Grandma Kyeong-i from the house across, Grandpa Jongsu, Grandma Suni – all the residents would have headed to the community center like Grandpa Beom.
“Okay.”
– Yeah, I’ll call you again later. Make sure to take your medicine.
After hanging up, Yeonwoo set the dinner table by himself. Thanks to the side dishes Kang Dojun had prepared for him, the table was generous, but somehow it felt impoverished.
He forced rice down his throat bite by bite. Whether it was because of the food or tears, his throat kept choking up.
Could he really be this lonely after being apart for just a few days? Hyung seemed to be living well, going to restaurants with his manager and all. He shouldn’t be a nuisance by pestering him about missing him.
‘He said he’ll come in a week.’
Damn bees had him tied down so he couldn’t even go to Seoul. Uncle Cheolsu, who went on a trip, would return in two weeks.
…What’s the big deal about a week? It’ll pass quickly. Quickly, quickly… quickly.
***
“What CF? Cancel it.”
“We already signed the contract.”
“That was supposed to be filmed next month. Why are you moving up the schedule? No way.”
Kang Dojun waved his hands dismissively. He should have caught on and escaped when Daeho lured him to the restaurant saying they’d eat something delicious.
Drama filming this week, CF next week? That’s ridiculous.
It felt like they kept moving up his schedule…
Actually, the advertising company had already finished their preparations, but they had decided to postpone the filming schedule because they only had eyes for the actor Kang Dojun and felt he absolutely had to be their model.
But when the director put in a word to move up Kang Dojun’s filming schedule, the advertiser had no reason to refuse.
“The director is friends with this CF director. They said they could film right away, and the director said you’d be okay with it too. It’s already been set, so we can’t back out.”
“Fuck, why is he setting schedules on his own?”
Kang Dojun rarely cursed, but he muttered profanities under his breath. With his personality of focusing on one thing at a time, he used to have tightly packed schedules and worked diligently when told to do so. But now the situation was different.
They say you become like the person you love – Kang Dojun popped a throat lozenge he bought at a convenience store into his mouth and crunched it like Yeonwoo while muttering.
“They keep trying to use me like a contract worker…”
Once they found out he was quitting acting, they immediately tried to work their celebrity to the bone, and what little loyalty he had left was evaporating.
Kang Dojun’s agency was a well-known company, and even if he stopped acting, they were more than willing to renew his contract. But if they kept treating him like this, he might switch agencies before Shin Gihyeon did.
“Can’t be helped… The schedule’s already been set. But a CF only takes a day, right?”
“That’s not the point.”
Yeonwoo would be waiting for him. His cold didn’t seem to be going away easily either – would he be okay? Kang Dojun fidgeted with the throat lozenge box in his hand for no reason.
“Since it’s already scheduled. You checked the continuity, right?”
He had already received and read the CF continuity script. But if he had known this would happen, he shouldn’t have received it in advance. His thoroughness in preparation had backfired.
Park Daeho patted Kang Dojun’s shoulder consolingly.
“Just bear with it this once. Next time I’ll try to stop them.”
In the end, Kang Dojun had no choice but to sigh and nod his head.
How annoying.
***
Shin Gihyeon had been in such high spirits lately that he was practically flying. Setting aside the contract renewal issue, his steps to the filming set were joyful. Even though it was a special appearance, it was because he was filming with Kang Dojun.
He had decided to just watch from afar and deliberately chose projects that wouldn’t overlap with Kang Dojun, but apparently Kang Dojun had specially decided to appear out of loyalty to him.
Every time Kang Dojun repeatedly told the making-of camera, “I decided to appear because of my friendship with Gihyeon-ssi,” Shin Gihyeon felt a thrill.
The drama hadn’t even aired yet, so naturally the making-of videos hadn’t come out either, but articles about what project Shin Gihyeon was filming and Kang Dojun’s special appearance in it had already spread.
Shin Gihyeon, who never neglected monitoring, knew all the positive reactions in the comments by heart.
[Shin Gihyeon fangirling success story #1 ã…‹ã…‹ã…‹ã…‹ Kang Dojun says “Decided to appear out of loyalty to Shin Gihyeon”]
[So is he part of the Kang Dojun fam?]
-What’s the Kang Dojun fam?
â””Kang Dojun Family (aka: Rural Fam/ Members: Shin Gihyeon, Grace, (civilian) Lee Yeonwoo)
â””Who decided that?
â””Public pick? ã…Žã…Žã…‹ã…‹ã…‹ã…Žã…‹ã…‹
[Currently watching Kang Dojun fan meeting from the front row…]
[Shin Gihyeon should pay to work]
Past midnight, Shin Gihyeon looked up at the sky and clenched his fist like someone who had received a baptismal name from the Lord.
‘Kang Dojun fam!’
It had such a perfect ring to it. Not Yeonwoo fam, not Shin Gihyeon fam, not Grace fam, but the mighty Kang Dojun fam. He belonged to a group where Kang Dojun was the leader. Others might think it was nothing special, but for Shin Gihyeon it held special meaning.
It was even the public’s pick.
He consoled and congratulated himself for getting this far, crossing his arms and stretching them upward to pat his own shoulders.
‘Shin Gihyeon, you bastard. You succeeded.’
He hadn’t been this happy even when the drama he appeared in hit #1 in viewership ratings. Since it was a drama he filmed with Kang Dojun, he attributed it all to Kang Dojun’s influence.
This time it’s a new drama where I’m the lead. Plus Kang Dojun’s special appearance and the public pick Kang Dojun fam! So many good omens.
If this drama hit #1 in ratings, he thought he might actually be a little happy.
Just then, he felt a small vibration from his pocket.
…What, it’s Yeonwoo? Why is he calling at this hour instead of sleeping?
Seeing the name on the screen, he brought his phone to his ear.
“Why?”
– What are you doing?
…If I said I was searching ‘Shin Gihyeon’ on the internet, I’d definitely get teased.
“I was looking at the script.”
– Really? But you used to smoke, right?
Yeonwoo suddenly brought up cigarettes out of nowhere, but this wasn’t surprising anymore.
“I did.”
– How did you quit? Did you have withdrawal symptoms? How did you resist when you wanted to smoke?
“…What?”
What was this kid who doesn’t even smoke talking about? Not understanding, Shin Gihyeon was flustered and moved his lips.
“Um… why?”
– I’m trying to quit drinking, but what do I do when I want to drink?
“Oh, that? Just endure it.”
– Isn’t there another way? Like drinking beer that’s similar to soju, or non-alcoholic beer… something like that.
The voice on the other end of the phone sounded urgent and anxious. But there wasn’t really any other solution.
“Just endure it. I did the same when I quit smoking.”
– …Didn’t you smoke e-cigarettes or something when you were quitting?
“That’s also a type of cigarette.”
Many people are mistaken about this, but e-cigarettes are just another type of cigarette. If you carelessly reach for them thinking you’re quitting smoking, you might end up in the troublesome situation of smoking both e-cigarettes and regular cigarettes.
– …I can’t sleep since I quit drinking.
“Go run around the village once.”
– I did that. I guess I should go run another lap.
When Shin Gihyeon heard the rustling sounds of Yeonwoo getting ready to go out, he hurriedly stopped him.
Come to think of it, where Yeonwoo lived was a countryside area with no lights at night, and he had heard that even the streetlight in front of his house was broken.
“Hey, just do push-ups at home.”
– Push-ups? How many?
“Until you’re exhausted?”
– …Got it!
The call ended with a vigorous answer.
‘He should call sunbae-nim instead.’
If it were Yeonwoo’s question, Kang Dojun would roll up his sleeves to find an answer. Then he could have gotten a better response.
He probably didn’t want to worry him.
It didn’t matter anyway.
Shin Gihyeon put his phone aside and concentrated on practicing the script for tomorrow’s shoot so as not to be a disgrace as a member of the Kang Dojun fam.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
