#016
“…Did something happen?”
“Huk, heo-eok…, sun… sunbae-nim. It’s nothing, really.”
Kang Dojun, who had come out after washing up, carefully opened his mouth upon seeing the sleeping area that had turned into a complete mess.
For some reason, Shin Gihyeon was lying there with a pale face, panting heavily, while Lee Yeonwoo was organizing the blankets with a perfectly calm face without a hint of dishevelment.
“…Did you two fight?”
“We had a pillow fight. Gihyeon was really weak.”
“You’re, huk, you’re the one with good stamina…”
Though Shin Gihyeon also exercised and maintained his body as a celebrity, he couldn’t beat Lee Yeonwoo, who climbed mountains daily to check his apiary located halfway up the back mountain of the countryside.
‘Damn it, why did I agree to it…’
Forget about getting revenge on Lee Yeonwoo – he couldn’t even break even and had to give up. He was also worried that this scene might be caught on camera and broadcast.
He heard that he was a beekeeper, but he had reasonable suspicions that the guy might be secretly eating royal jelly on the side.
Kang Dojun helped Lee Yeonwoo organize the blankets while harboring slightly unpleasant feelings inside. It seemed like the two had a really fun time playing while he was away. Maybe because they were friends, they became close quickly, and seeing them play well together made his mouth taste bitter for some reason.
He hadn’t been pleased with the suggestion for all three to sleep together in the first place. He had agreed in the moment because Lee Yeonwoo looked at him with expectant eyes.
But then he changed his mind. Wouldn’t it be good for his immature younger brother to make other friends besides his hyung?
That’s right, there was nothing bad about it. To control the negative emotions that were trying to surface unconsciously, he changed the topic of conversation.
“Yeonwoo.”
“Yes?”
“For feasts, does everyone mostly go to the village hall?”
Lee Yeonwoo nodded while looking regretfully at a pillow with its side burst open.
“Yes, we’re probably the only ones here.”
At those words, Kang Dojun gestured with his eyes toward the house across from Lee Yeonwoo’s, Grandma Kyeong-i’s house.
“Then the house across must be empty too?”
Lee Yeonwoo, who couldn’t understand what he meant, soon snapped to attention and jumped up from his seat.
* * *
While Lee Yeonwoo, Kang Dojun, and Shin Gihyeon were chatting in the room, an untimely emergency strategy meeting was taking place among the production crew in the middle of the night.
The subject of the meeting was about the program’s identity.
Lee Yeonwoo, who had been included in filming with light-hearted thoughts of “let’s just show him briefly on screen as the house owner” at first, then “let’s be a bit stubborn and put him in just briefly in the early episodes,” had unexpectedly become a dark horse.
At this rate, it would become not “Kang Dojun’s Rural Conquest” but “Lee Yeonwoo and Kang Dojun’s Rural Life.”
Realizing that it was going differently from their planned concept, they hurriedly held a meeting, but no proper opinions came out. The reason was that including Lee Yeonwoo’s screen time seemed like it would be too much, but excluding it would be a waste since there were many interesting scenes.
Lee Yeonwoo even had several interesting scenes by himself, giving them an ominous premonition that the screen time would concentrate on him.
Writer Minju spoke up.
“These days, there are words like ‘yeonbanin’ targeting ordinary people instead of just celebrities, and YouTubers are also appearing on public broadcasts, so I think it would be fine to proceed like this.”
Another writer countered.
“But DH Entertainment, Kang Dojun-ssi’s agency, might find it uncomfortable. This is ‘Kang Dojun’s Rural Conquest’ after all.”
“If we just get permission, wouldn’t it be fine? I think the agency would be okay with it as long as the broadcast becomes popular…”
“Would the agency need to do that? Since Kang Dojun-ssi appeared, it was already going to be a popular broadcast.”
“Just because a broadcast is popular doesn’t mean it’s all entertaining. I think if Yeonwoo-ssi appears, we can guarantee the entertainment value too.”
In the endless battle of spear and shield, everyone’s eyes eventually focused on PD Han Taegu, who had the decision-making power.
Han Taegu crossed his arms and furrowed his eyebrows deeply, lost in thought.
Lee Yeonwoo was definitely entertaining and had good pacing. He had the pitiful and cute rural puppy image that appealed well to the public these days.
Of course, the pressure from the major agency DH Entertainment was also scary. But he was also a variety PD who had produced several hit shows, and the agency had entrusted Kang Dojun’s debut variety show to him because they believed in the name Han Taegu.
Han Taegu, who couldn’t disappoint such an agency, thought carefully and came to what he considered the best conclusion. Finally, he carefully opened his mouth.
“Wouldn’t it be good if a big hit became a super big hit? You know… we can persuade the agency well, and above all, Dojun-ssi seems more comfortable when there are two people rather than alone.”
Han Taegu, who had been supporting increasing Lee Yeonwoo’s appearance time, turned his head at the sudden commotion coming from inside the house.
The front door opened and Lee Yeonwoo came out wearing a light hoodie and training clothes, followed by Kang Dojun and Shin Gihyeon showing their faces in succession.
Lee Yeonwoo, who had his hands in his hoodie pockets and was roughly putting on his sneakers, looked at Han Taegu and asked.
“Haven’t you withdrawn yet?”
“We had something to discuss briefly. We were about to withdraw… where are you going?”
“To Grandma Kyeong-i’s house.”
“At this hour?”
“Everyone’s gone to the village feast, so no one’s there.”
Han Taegu, who couldn’t follow Lee Yeonwoo’s conversation, blinked his eyes. No one’s there… so why go?
Sensing something strange, Han Taegu gestured to the VJ. The VJ, who had finished checking all the cameras and was about to withdraw, had no choice but to pick up the camera again.
Han Taegu was curious about what circumstances had brought them out at this hour of the night. However, he felt like he wouldn’t understand what Lee Yeonwoo was saying, it seemed difficult to question Kang Dojun, so he decided to ask Shin Gihyeon, who had a friendly image.
“Gihyeon-ssi, where are you going?”
Shin Gihyeon looked very tired from the aftermath of the pillow fight that had drained his stamina and the continued all-nighter. He answered with hollow eyes.
“I’d like to know too.”
“Ah… yes.”
He couldn’t ask any further. When he looked around for Lee Yeonwoo and Kang Dojun, they were already opening the door to the house across, accompanied by the VJ. It seemed like the door wasn’t locked, probably due to the countryside’s careless approach to security. Shin Gihyeon also hurriedly followed behind them.
Right after entering Grandma Kyeong-i’s house, Kang Dojun went straight to the kitchen, opened the refrigerator door, and thoroughly searched for the ingredients they had been robbed of.
“…Sunbae-nim, what are you doing?”
Shin Gihyeon seemed deeply shocked by the fact that his idol was raiding someone else’s refrigerator.
“Gihyeon, do you want some coffee too?”
Next to him, Lee Yeonwoo was calmly making instant coffee.
“What are you doing?”
Lee Yeonwoo, who didn’t seem tired at night, sipped his coffee and answered.
“It’s okay, this is our grandma’s house.”
“Ah… is that so?”
Just as Grandma Kyeong-i had deceived Kang Dojun on the first day, Lee Yeonwoo also called her his real grandma as if returning the favor.
Shin Gihyeon finally nodded at behavior within an understandable range. But if there was one thing he couldn’t understand, it was Kang Dojun.
Kang Dojun found plastic bags in the drawer, carefully packed all the ingredients they had been robbed of the day before without missing any, and stood up.
“I’ve got everything. Let’s go.”
“Don’t you need to pack more?”
He looked at the coffee Lee Yeonwoo was enjoying and also stuffed a few coffee packets into his pockets.
“…Just this much more.”
Shin Gihyeon couldn’t follow their conversation. Even if it was Lee Yeonwoo’s real grandma’s house, why was Kang Dojun raiding someone else’s grandma’s house?
Hesitating slightly, he pointed to the plastic bag in Kang Dojun’s hand and asked.
“Sunbae-nim, what’s that?”
“Ah…”
Kang Dojun hesitated to answer his question.
“It’s called seori. Hyung, here, please have some coffee.”
Lee Yeonwoo shamelessly and boldly provided a definition for Kang Dojun’s actions.
“Oh, thanks.”
Kang Dojun took a sip of the coffee he received from Lee Yeonwoo and recalled what Grandma Kyeong-i had told him.
‘And seori, you see. It’s daily life, daily life. This is the rural sentiment, so don’t worry too much about it, bachelor.’
He then showed the plastic bag in his hand to Shin Gihyeon and gave a supplementary explanation for his actions.
“Tomorrow morning’s rural sentiment… it is.”
On the night of the 4th day of the variety show “Rural Conquest,” this was Kang Dojun, who had perfectly adapted to this village.
* * *
Early dawn in the morning, Shin Gihyeon woke up earlier than anyone else.
He was tired enough to faint at any moment, but he was sensitive to changing sleeping places, and he couldn’t stand Lee Yeonwoo’s tossing and turning, so he opened his eyes from the crack of dawn.
But he wasn’t the only one awake. When he came out to the yard to get some fresh air, PD Han Taegu was sitting on a folding chair. He was fiddling with a camera with a face deeply lost in thought.
“PD-nim.”
“Oh… you woke up early?”
“Yes, somehow. You woke up early too, PD-nim.”
“Haha, that’s right.”
Although he was positive about Lee Yeonwoo’s screen time, it had been a day full of various concerns.
Shin Gihyeon occasionally let out yawns while pulling over another folding chair to sit next to Han Taegu. He was sleepy but didn’t want to go back into the room. He found it amazing how Kang Dojun was sleeping deeply despite Lee Yeonwoo’s tossing and turning.
Shin Gihyeon casually asked Han Taegu a question.
“What does Lee Yeonwoo do?”
“Huh? You mean Yeonwoo-ssi?”
“Yes.”
Not only did he become friends with Kang Dojun, whom he found so difficult, in just a few days, but he also broke the ice with him and had pillow fights in just one day – at this point, his social skills seemed amazing.
“Well, what do you think he’s like, Gihyeon-ssi?”
“Just…”
Shin Gihyeon trailed off. It was ambiguous to precisely define what kind of person Lee Yeonwoo was.
Of course, it would be difficult to define anyone’s personality, but with Lee Yeonwoo, the degree of difficulty was severe.
At first, he thought Lee Yeonwoo disliked him. But now it didn’t seem like that, and then when he intensified the pillow fight, he didn’t say anything but was really surprised.
‘Wow, he hits this hard? Does he really have ill feelings toward me?’
But in fact, he was the one who had ill feelings. He thought of him as an immature child, a whining brat, but that was actually himself.
No matter how hard I try, it’s not easy to become close with sunbae-nim, so why is it so easy for you?
Thinking about it, it was he himself, not Lee Yeonwoo, who was doing all the jealousy and sulking. In the variety show he had appeared on with a spirited heart, only worries he couldn’t resolve kept increasing.
He took a deep breath and exhaled. His thoughts didn’t scatter quickly into the air like sighs but formed bands that bound him even more.
There was one thing he could guess about why Kang Dojun had quickly become close with Lee Yeonwoo.
Celebrities are a profession where you’re tied up by this and that, unable to move and forced to be conscious of others’ gazes, but in comparison, Lee Yeonwoo was extremely free.
Shin Gihyeon suddenly craved the cigarettes he had quit.
“Just…”
Actually, just like Kang Dojun, he too had been drawn to Lee Yeonwoo’s freedom and had become close enough to be uninhibited in just one day.
“He just seems like a weird kid.”
That’s probably why I’m more irritated.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
