#003
For Lee Yeonwoo, the bedroom was a sacred place. Not in a sexual sense, but literally a sacred place.
After washing his dirty body squeaky clean, he would end his grueling day by going to bed, and when the sun rose, he would start a new day afresh in that place.
Lying on the bed in outdoor clothes? Getting on the blanket with socks on? These were absolutely unthinkable and unacceptable things.
No matter how dirty the house was like a pigsty, he kept only the bedroom clean enough to shine. He swept and wiped daily so that not a speck of dust was visible, and if he saw even a strand of hair on the floor, it was straight to the vacuum cleaner.
It was really fortunate. That Lee Yeonwoo still had a conscience. Because even he would feel guilty about shoving a guest into a dirty room.
“Hyung can stay here. If you need anything else, please feel free to tell me.”
“Yes, thank you.”
While Kang Dojun unpacked his luggage in the bedroom, Lee Yeonwoo hurriedly cleaned up the living room. The staff seemed to be coming into the house with several small cameras to install them, but he didn’t have time to care about that.
He neatly collected the dishes and soaked them in the sink, and gathered all the scattered clothes and unnecessarily rolling around objects and moved them to the workshop that would be his sleeping place for a while. It was closer to hiding rather than cleaning, but he was quite satisfied with the result.
Right on time, Kang Dojun finished unpacking and came out. Lee Yeonwoo asked with sparkling eyes.
“Hyung! Have you had lunch?”
Whether he was sociable or had a way with words, if Lee Yeonwoo had had a puppy tail, he would definitely be wagging it mercilessly.
For an ordinary person, the cameras that had barged in would be unfamiliar, but Lee Yeonwoo showed no such signs.
During his deep-sea fishing vessel days, his YouTube friend had shoved cameras at Lee Yeonwoo at all times—when sleeping, eating, and such—so he was already accustomed to cameras.
“Not yet.”
“I’ll prepare it for you, just a moment.”
At Lee Yeonwoo’s words, Kang Dojun glanced at PD Han Taegu who was standing far away. Han Taegu seemed to like the current scenes and nodded his head without imposing any particular restrictions.
Lee Yeonwoo, who said he’d prepare food right away, didn’t go to the kitchen but was somehow putting on his shoes.
“Where are you going?”
“To get side dishes from Grandma Suni’s place. She said she was making stir-fried pork today. What kind of soup do you like? Beef bone soup? Bean sprout soup? Seaweed soup?”
Lee Yeonwoo knew all the lunch menus of the village residents. Kang Dojun said reluctantly.
“Anything is fine.”
“Yes, I’ll be right back. Please sit comfortably and rest.”
Before Kang Dojun could stop him, Lee Yeonwoo had completely disappeared.
Right after Lee Yeonwoo disappeared, it wasn’t only Kang Dojun who was dumbfounded. All the staff present were bewildered.
Kang Dojun, who had been active as an actor since high school, became famous starting with a drama when he was twenty, and had been so busy with activities in various fields like dramas and movies that he had no time to spare.
Needing rest, he had agonized over his manager’s suggestion of a ten-day healing variety show in the countryside before agreeing, but somehow he had an ominous feeling.
When he first saw inside the house, he had thought, “Does a dog live here? Did it turn the house into a mess while the owner was away?”
But seeing the liquor bottles rolling around on the floor, he retracted that judgment. Obviously, because dogs don’t drink alcohol.
Fortunately, the room where he would stay looked clean, so he felt relieved.
After Lee Yeonwoo left, he slowly looked around the inside of the house. Unlike the scene he’d first witnessed, it seemed to have been neatly cleaned up while he was in the room.
He’d heard he was twenty-five years old, but he couldn’t know how he’d ended up living in this countryside during the prime of his youth when he should be dating.
Looking at how he had a job at a young age and was living hard by himself, he didn’t seem to be just purely innocent…
Whether he was sociable or not, calling him “hyung, hyung” from their first meeting and looking at how he didn’t clean his house well, it seemed like he just lived without thinking about anything.
“Haah…”
Kang Dojun sighed inwardly. It looked like a storm had swept through. If he’d known it would be like this, he regretted that it would have been much better to just rest at his own house for ten days without any schedule.
Even while thinking that, his feet were steadily moving toward the kitchen.
Since becoming an adult, excluding his military service days, he’d been living alone for about 5 years now. Kang Dojun could rightfully be called a professional solo dweller and housekeeper.
Since this was a place where he’d be indebted for the next ten days, he couldn’t just mooch off the prepared meals.
While Lee Yeonwoo was getting side dishes and soup ingredients, he planned to at least set the table. Having entered the kitchen with that intention, Kang Dojun was at a loss for words.
Dishes were piled up like a mountain in the sink.
‘First… I need to wash the dishes.’
Kang Dojun put on the rubber gloves placed beside him, but they were small size and fit tightly on his hands. Eventually, he threw off the rubber gloves and silently started washing dishes with his bare hands. The camera didn’t miss capturing his actions thoroughly.
After Kang Dojun finished washing dishes for a long time and was cleanly wiping the water around the sink,
“Baby! Grandma’s here.”
Hearing sounds from outside, he went out to see a grandmother taking off her shoes at the front door.
Kang Dojun’s head filled with question marks.
‘I’m sure I heard he lives alone…’
The grandmother who was taking off her shoes was also startled by the cameras and unfamiliar people throughout the house and said.
“Oh my, I heard filming came from Seoul, but it was at our baby’s house.”
“Hello. I’m Kang Dojun.”
“I see, I see. Oh my, you’re so handsome. But where did that Yeonwoo rascal go, leaving a guest behind?”
The grumbling grandmother naturally headed into the house.
Kang Dojun looked at PD Han Taegu. Han Taegu, who had heard that Lee Yeonwoo lived alone, also seemed a bit flustered by the grandmother’s sudden appearance.
“Is there anything you want to eat?”
The grandmother who entered the living room asked Kang Dojun. No matter how he thought about it, she seemed to be Lee Yeonwoo’s grandmother.
“Ah, I’m fine.”
“Really? Then never mind.”
The grandmother who headed straight to the kitchen naturally opened the refrigerator door and took out the displayed liquor bottles, neatly packing them into a black bag.
It wasn’t just one or two bottles—as she reached out, various types of liquor came out.
“This damn kid, he thinks this is a mart, a mart!”
The grandmother spoke gruffly while accelerating her movements of sweeping the liquor into the bag. After putting everything into the black bag, her eyes widened at the sparkling sink.
“Oh my? How come the sink is empty for once? Did he wash the dishes because a guest was coming? Still, our baby isn’t completely hopeless. Right?”
“…Yes.”
Looking at the grandmother smiling contentedly about her grandchild, Kang Dojun couldn’t bring himself to say he had done it.
“Well, I’ll be going then. Have fun. Oh right, don’t tell that Yeonwoo bastard that I came by. The little thing has such a nasty temper that whenever grandma comes, he throws a fit just like a damn dog.”
“Won’t you have lunch together?”
“No, I have to eat at my own house. And I’m going to the village hall now. Go ahead and eat first.”
The grandmother leisurely left carrying the black bag full of liquor.
‘They live in the same village but in separate houses?’
Still, to prevent his own grandmother from coming to the house—he seemed to be still immature.
Since he had to eat lunch anyway, Kang Dojun headed back to the kitchen.
Fortunately, there was rice in the rice cooker, so he scooped out plenty, took out the dining table, and set the meal in the living room. Wondering if there might be other side dishes, he opened the refrigerator, but it was completely empty. The liquor bottles that the grandmother had taken seemed to have been the only items in the refrigerator.
He took out the utensils and was almost finished setting up when Lee Yeonwoo arrived with the side dishes, perfectly timed.
“Hyung! I’m back. Oh… I was going to set it up.”
“It’s fine. And I used the sink for a bit.”
Lee Yeonwoo couldn’t hide his surprise at seeing the neatly organized sink.
“I’m sorry, hyung. I should have cleaned it up, but I troubled you.”
“Since I’ll be indebted for a while, I should at least help with housework.”
“Still, I’m so sorry.”
As Lee Yeonwoo said this, he simultaneously threw the bags of side dishes carelessly on the floor. Kang Dojun watched all his actions without missing anything.
“This is Grandma Suni’s stir-fried pork, and here’s Uncle Cheolsu’s wife’s rolled omelet and stir-fried anchovies, and here’s Grandpa Beom’s seaweed soup. Why are you staring at me like that?”
“No, …let’s eat.”
“Wow, you’re speaking casually now? Are you getting comfortable with me?”
“…A little.”
It felt like he’d gained a younger brother he never had. Kang Dojun picked up the bags thrown on the floor and silently organized them.
“I’ll eat well.”
As the meal began and Kang Dojun was eating the food, Lee Yeonwoo cheerfully spoke to him.
“Hyung, isn’t the stir-fried pork a bit salty?”
“It’s fine though?”
“That’s weird, is it just my taste… This is perfect as drinking snacks.”
Having said that, Lee Yeonwoo suddenly got up from his seat. All of this was a build-up constructed to drink alcohol.
Lee Yeonwoo, who went straight to the kitchen, opened the refrigerator door and screamed in surprise.
“Where did they all go!?”
Kang Dojun finished swallowing the food in his mouth, got up from his seat, and headed to the kitchen, the source of the sound.
“Hyung! Where did the liquor that was here go? It was definitely here!”
“The grandmother came earlier and took it?”
The grandmother’s request not to tell that she came and went couldn’t be fulfilled in the current situation.
“What did you say?”
At Kang Dojun’s words, Lee Yeonwoo lit up with fury and searched every corner of the house. After thoroughly checking the ceiling drawers, the drawers under the sink, the refrigerator and freezer compartments, he vented his frustration.
“Ahhh! That senile old hag, she took even the ones I had hidden!”
“The little thing has such a nasty temper that whenever grandma comes, he throws a fit just like a damn dog.” Those words were certainly not wrong.
Lee Yeonwoo couldn’t control his anger and threw a tantrum.
Watching such Lee Yeonwoo, Kang Dojun decided he should give some harsh words, even though it was in front of cameras, and opened his mouth.
“Still, you shouldn’t call your grandmother senile. Especially since she’s your real grandmother.”
At Kang Dojun’s lecture, Lee Yeonwoo shouted with half-crazed eyes.
“My real grandmother already passed away long ago!”
“…Huh?”
Then, who was that grandmother just now?
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
