#087
The day finally came for Lee Yeonwoo to take the wheel. He had confidence because he had some sense from when he learned before, and lately he had been watching a lot of driving practice videos on YouTube.
However, it was nerve-wracking that just pressing the accelerator could produce speeds that humans couldn’t naturally achieve.
“First, it’ll move slowly even without pressing, so try starting it. If anything happens, make sure to step on the brake.”
“Yes.”
Kang Dojun sat in the passenger seat and looked around. Was backing out of a parking space too difficult for the first practice? There were no cars around, and if he scratched anything it would be the wall, so it didn’t matter.
Whether his car got scratched or not was an unnecessary worry for Kang Dojun. He thought it would be charming to consider any scratch marks as something Yeonwoo had left for him.
“Move forward a little first, then back out to the right.”
“Yes.”
Yeonwoo was unusually nervous and followed Kang Dojun’s instructions without saying much. Then, when the car had moved forward to some degree, he gently turned the steering wheel to the right. He knew well from riding bicycles since childhood that even a slight turn would cause big movements.
“You’re doing well.”
Encouraged by Kang Dojun’s praise, he pressed the accelerator smoothly. The car was smoothly exiting the underground parking garage.
Kang Dojun picked up Yeonwoo’s phone, played the meditation music he had saved, and connected it to the Bluetooth speaker.
“Hyung, you don’t need to play it.”
“…Why?”
“It’s better to be a little nervous when driving.”
…You seem too nervous though. In Kang Dojun’s judgment, the music wasn’t stopped, but the volume was lowered instead.
He opened the glove box and unwrapped the chocolate that was always stocked there, feeding it to Yeonwoo. Yeonwoo had always unwrapped it for him when he was driving, but having their roles reversed felt refreshing.
Yeonwoo stared straight ahead without blinking once and crunched the chocolate that entered his mouth.
“Don’t just look ahead, you need to check the side mirrors too. There’s a car coming from the right.”
“It looks like it wants to cut in. Should I stop for a moment? Should I step on the brake?”
Yeonwoo asked Kang Dojun for help in a slightly nervous voice. He was glad they had departed early in the morning before rush hour when there weren’t many cars.
“Slow down a little.”
Kang Dojun glanced at Yeonwoo in the driver’s seat. Apart from being nervous, he drove well, not like it was his first time. His driving skills were praiseworthy enough to boast about getting high scores on road driving.
He had heard that he was a third mate on a deep-sea fishing vessel… do navigating officers also drive boats and such? As he was lost in thought, Yeonwoo called out to Kang Dojun, perhaps feeling anxious about the silence.
“Hyung, you’re not sleeping, are you?”
“Yeah. I’m watching the whole time.”
“Can’t you say anything?”
“Anything?”
“Yes, I’m nervous.”
The meditation music was nice, but hearing a familiar and gentle voice with low resonance brought much more peace of mind.
Kang Dojun thought for a moment and asked,
“What should I talk about? Is there something you want to hear?”
“Tell me about when you went to that variety show filming last time. You said some staff member made a mistake.”
“Ah.”
Kang Dojun recalled the events of that day.
***
“Isn’t that my jacket?”
Kang Dojun asked the female cast member who was sitting with his outer jacket covering her legs like a blanket. She looked flustered and then looked at the staff member who had brought her the jacket.
A chain reaction began. Even the people who had been continuing with filming preparations murmured among themselves, curious about what had happened.
The staff member who had handed over the jacket scratched his head and answered.
“Ah… Huiyeon-ssi seemed cold, so I brought it for her.”
The female cast member Han Huiyeon got up from her seat, neatly folded the jacket, and brought it to Kang Dojun.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t know it was your jacket, Dojun-ssi. The staff just brought it to me…”
Kang Dojun received the jacket while looking at her with incredulous eyes.
It wasn’t even a blanket prepared by the production team – would you just accept someone else’s outer jacket? Of course, she probably accepted it without thinking, but it could have become controversial later.
She was a rising rookie, so she probably wasn’t familiar with this industry yet, and he decided to let it go since he had received an apology.
But… he questioned the staff member who had given the jacket to Han Huiyeon.
“Why did you give away my jacket without permission?”
“…I’m sorry. I did it without thinking…”
He showed his displeasure a little. Since it was the staff’s fault, he figured this much anger wouldn’t be a problem. The PD, sensing Kang Dojun’s mood, gently appeased him.
“I’m sorry. She’s new to the company, so she must have made a mistake. I’ll scold her separately, so shall we start filming now?”
“……”
The staff member just kept gripping and releasing her own clothes.
Instead of having the staff do it, Kang Dojun had Park Daeho bring him the jacket directly. That small action implied that he couldn’t trust the staff.
The staff member couldn’t say anything since she knew her mistake.
The PD glared at the other staff members with sharp, cold eyes. At the look that said “Do I have to apologize over such a trivial thing because of your mistake?”, the staff members glared at the one who had caused the problem. It was the harm of hierarchical scolding.
Filming began in that awkward atmosphere.
With the uncomfortable variety show recording, his belongings being found elsewhere due to staff mistakes, and thinking of Yeonwoo who was probably playing at Grace’s dorm right now, Kang Dojun’s nerves naturally became sensitive.
Because of that, he just fiddled with the plastic cup containing his drink. The cool moisture from the ice touched his fingerprints.
Now he could barely manage to laugh off the MCs’ questions. He maintained a thin smile and watched the video.
What made it bearable was that Yeonwoo was captured in the video.
‘…Couldn’t sleep.’
In the middle of the night, Yeonwoo had gone out to the terrace alone with a camera. He was showing off the plants he was growing and then showed the Venus flytrap next to them.
“Ah, that startled me.”
Then Yeonwoo in the video almost got his hand caught by the Venus flytrap and stepped back.
Kang Dojun was also startled and opened his eyes wide.
“This one doesn’t eat the bugs it’s supposed to eat… But I guess it’s not dead.”
Soon after, he fearlessly reached out his hand again, and as if frustrated by his own surprise, he poked the Venus flytrap.
The MC reacted with loud laughter at that sight.
“The Venus flytrap in this house is really big.”
Kang Dojun began to gradually concentrate as the video contained things that had happened while he was away.
“Yes, I water it well.”
Like all plants, but especially Venus flytraps that grow in marshes, it’s important not to let the water dry out.
According to him, Yeonwoo, who couldn’t stand to see water dry up, was very suitable for raising this plant. Even now he was watering the garden with a watering can.
If they moved to the countryside, the plants on the terrace would get damaged. Should he repot them and take them along?
It would be a good plan to raise bees on one side and plants on the other. The more things there were to keep Yeonwoo in the countryside, the better.
Then Yeonwoo was humming alone when he shivered.
“If you sing at night… I’m getting sleepy, so I should go to bed.”
He hurriedly turned off the camera and went inside the house.
The camera installed inside the house tracked his movements.
It captured scenes of him washing his hands and feet in the living room bathroom, then heading not to his own room but to Kang Dojun’s room and crawling under the covers.
‘Ah, so that’s why…’
The reason Yeonwoo was next to him when he woke up that morning was finally explained.
He was scared. Kang Dojun, watching the video, pretended to be calm and drank his beverage to suppress his laughter. The Yeonwoo in the video was nice, but he wanted the recording to end quickly so he could see the real Yeonwoo.
***
Anger swirled inside Yeonwoo as he heard Kang Dojun’s story.
“What the hell. Why did they lend out hyung’s clothes without permission?”
“Language.”
Kang Dojun told him to calm down and unwrapped another chocolate to put in his mouth. It seemed like he had been improving his language lately, but this incident was apparently unbearable.
Yeonwoo snorted and crushed the chocolate in his mouth as if pulverizing it.
“Where is that jacket?”
“The stylist probably took it.”
At Kang Dojun’s words, Yeonwoo said there was nothing to consider, gripped the steering wheel tightly and shouted.
“Tell them to throw it away right now.”
A jacket worth hundreds of thousands of won was condemned to be discarded without a single use. Kang Dojun didn’t mind at all. Rather, he smiled languidly at Yeonwoo’s anger.
“I will.”
Only after receiving a definite answer did Yeonwoo seem to calm down and check the navigation.
“Lane 1 from here?”
“Yeah, turn on your signal and merge slowly when there are no cars.”
“Yes.”
The car moved smoothly. He didn’t really need to be taught. He drove well enough that he could drive alone without problems.
“Tell me if it’s hard. I’ll drive.”
“It’s fine. Hyung, quickly contact the stylist and tell them to rip up that jacket.”
Kang Dojun finally burst into clear laughter.
Pretending to be unable to resist Yeonwoo’s nagging, he asked Park Daeho to contact the stylist. When Park Daeho questioned why he was throwing away such an expensive jacket, he just borrowed Yeonwoo’s usual words and said it was because of simple superstition with no scientific basis whatsoever.
“Did they contact you? What did they say? Did they agree? Tell them to burn it completely.”
While saying she was concentrating on driving and looking straight ahead all day, Yeonwoo still questioned the fate of the jacket.
Does he hate other people touching his things? That was understandable. More than understandable, it was even relatable. He wasn’t any different. It couldn’t be good.
His black pupils moved quickly to read the green sign ahead, then settled back to face forward.
“Hyung, turn right here?”
“Yeah.”
As expected, he should tell them to burn the jacket.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
