Chapter 82
“Thank you.”
Since he didn’t particularly feel like refusing, Juha accepted the face mask and carefully applied it to his face. He had tried face masks before when Lee Yunha forcibly stuck them on his face, but Juha had only applied face masks by himself a few times. Even though he did his best to apply it, the mask was wrinkled here and there.
Youngin, who had been looking at him pitifully through the mirror, couldn’t stand it anymore and shot up from his seat.
“Ah, you really need a lot of help, don’t you? How can you put on a face mask without pushing back your bangs?”
“Ah…”
Only then did Juha realize why applying the face mask was so annoying. His hair kept falling forward and sticking to the sticky mask.
Youngin, who had a face mask on himself, couldn’t bring himself to frown and rummaged through his bag to pull out a headband.
“…”
What Youngin held in his hand was a green trumpet-shaped Shrek ear headband. Before Juha could think ‘He’s not really going to make me wear that, is he?’, Youngin put it on Juha’s head and pushed back his bangs completely.
‘I don’t know anymore.’
Since he couldn’t ask for a different headband at this point, Juha quietly let Youngin tend to his face. Youngin’s touch as he stood right in front of him adjusting the face mask was quite skillful.
“Take it off in twenty minutes. Don’t sleep with it on.”
“Yes.”
After finishing his words, Youngin returned to his own bed. Juha checked the camera while wearing the light green Shrek headband over his ash blonde hair with the mask pack on. Before he knew it, it was past 10 o’clock and the camera had turned off.
“Did hyung’s team practice well? You picked a children’s facility, right? What kind of place is it?”
Unable to bear the awkwardness, Juha spoke first.
“Well, it’s apparently a place with about 60 people from babies to teenagers. Anyway, those kids will be mosaic-processed so their reactions won’t show much on the broadcast.”
“I see. How’s the atmosphere in hyung’s team?”
At Juha’s trivial question, Youngin went “Ah, um, um” and suddenly started stuttering out of nowhere.
“Well, it’s fine, fine. It’s the first day. Still, what about… Your team is Taeri’s hospital, right?”
Youngin mumbled and then hastily changed the subject. He had the expression of someone who didn’t want to talk about a particular topic.
“Yes.”
“Taeri’s going to have a hard time this time.”
Having smoothly changed the conversation topic, Youngin muttered to himself while stroking his chin and neck area with the essence left on the mask. Juha glanced at him sideways and imitated him similarly. It seemed better than having the cosmetics drip down his neck.
“Do you know something about it, hyung?”
At Juha’s question, Yoo Youngin pondered for a moment and then opened his mouth as if he was being very generous.
“Taeri’s father is Professor Choi Junghyeok, the top pediatric authority in our country. Even when kids are crying and wailing, they stop crying immediately when they see that doctor.”
“Why is that? Is he scary?”
Juha asked as if talking to himself. It was a reasonable guess based on Juha’s background knowledge of Taeri’s father.
“If he were scary, they’d cry more. This bastard doesn’t know anything about kids.”
At Youngin’s scolding, Juha shut his mouth.
“Anyway, that person is famous for being very gentle and kind and good at handling young patients, but he’s the worst, absolutely the worst with his own child.”
“Why?”
Juha asked, pretending not to know.
“That family has been a family of doctors for generations. He treated Taeri like trash for not preparing for medical school and doing foolish things, then kicked him out of the house as soon as he became an adult. There was even a rumor that the Fandom CEO couldn’t debut Taeri immediately because he was worried about getting into a dispute with Taeri’s father.”
“Really?”
“I don’t know. It’s a rumor. But it’s certain that the family atmosphere is bad.”
As Juha listened intently with enthusiastic reactions, Youngin spilled out his story smoothly.
The rumor that Taeri couldn’t debut because of his father was likely just a rumor, but it wasn’t impossible either. This was because Taeri’s father opposed his idol preparations to the point of contempt.
However, in Juha’s estimation, Taeri’s father wasn’t idle enough to intervene to that extent. He could at least guess that Taeri’s situation had secretly spread throughout the industry.
Hearing it through someone else’s mouth made Taeri’s reality of having to perform on the Semun Hospital stage feel even more bleak.
“I see. How do you know all this so well, hyung?”
“There’s an employee at our company who used to work at Fandom and recently quit to join us. That person told me. You little bastard, you say you’re close with Taeri but you don’t even know that? You’re not close with Taeri – you’re the one chasing after him, aren’t you?”
“How many times do I have to tell you? Taeri is the one chasing after me.”
“Tsk. Lucky bastard. Oh right, Nam Suchang is giving you shit, right?”
Youngin clicked his tongue and suddenly asked as if he just remembered.
“How did you know about that too?”
“Munseok told me. Nam Suchang is really pitiful too. Of all people, he had to mess with the guy with the shittiest personality in My Idol. He doesn’t know you’re a fucking bastard. After the auditions are over, we should do something like ‘Lee Juha Victims 101’. We’ll probably get about ten people?”
Youngin ground his teeth as if he was still bitter about being beaten by Juha in the last competition. But looking at his expression, it seemed like there was no lingering resentment, which was secretly a relief.
“But hyung, are you okay with Munseok hyung?”
Juha recalled Jo Munseok’s face from earlier. People who didn’t know him would find him menacing, but Jo Munseok was surprisingly simple-minded and easy to handle.
Unlike Youngin, who had given up his lips for a can of beer, Jo Munseok seemed like he would be quite pure-hearted when it came to romantic feelings, which made Juha worry.
“I have to be okay with it. What else can I do? Ah, what? Munseok and I are cool. We can ask about each other’s well-being, right?”
Youngin rambled on by himself about things no one asked, then smacked his lips again. It seemed like Youngin had feelings for Na Junho but couldn’t give up on Jo Munseok either. Juha waited for him to open up on his own.
“Munseok isn’t a bad kid. He’s just a bit simple, so he tries to act tough by talking big and making fierce faces, but he doesn’t even have the heart to kill a single ant.”
“Ah, um…”
Right. Someone whose threatening words amount to nothing more than ‘the democratic principle of majority rule.’
“So don’t try to use him. He thinks anyone who’s nice to him is a good person, so he trusts people easily. Ah, but fuck, why am I talking about this with you? Just take off your face mask quickly. Twenty minutes have passed. Shit, you’re not supposed to talk with a face mask on, but you kept talking to me so I’m going to get wrinkles.”
Youngin grumbled as he peeled off the face mask from his face. It was ridiculous how he got excited and chattered away by himself and now blamed others, so Juha burst into a snicker.
Youngin, who had become smooth like a peeled egg, carefully patted his face along the grain to help the essence absorb into his skin.
“…Yes.”
Juha answered, peeled off his face mask, threw it away, and lay back down on his bed.
Soon the lights went out and everything became pitch black. Unable to bear the awkwardness in the dark silence, Youngin’s breathing became restless.
Juha carefully gauged the atmosphere and quietly opened his mouth.
“Hyung, can I ask you one thing?”
“What now?”
Youngin asked irritably.
“Why are you being nice to me?”
“Crazy bastard, does this look like being nice to you?”
Although every word was filled with profanity, Juha was realizing that Youngin had changed quite a lot from before. Previously, they would just growl at each other whenever they met, with no real conversation, but this Youngin who unpacked his stories and chatted until bedtime as roommates was quite unfamiliar.
“You are being nice. I’m really moved right now.”
“I’m not being nice, you bastard. It’s more like clearly identifying friend from foe. That’s it! Just sleep.”
As soon as Youngin finished speaking, he quickly turned toward the window.
Friend or foe identification. From those words, Juha realized that Youngin no longer considered him an enemy. At Youngin’s transparent attitude, Juha burst into a chuckle. He was quite a trivial hyung after all.
‘But was he always this talkative?’
As Juha reflected on his conversation with Youngin, he suddenly had doubts. He hadn’t noticed while they were talking, but looking back, he had talked a lot like someone who was being chased or anxious. Even though they had gotten closer, it was an unusual phenomenon.
After rustling sounds came from the next bed for a while, finally Youngin’s breathing could be heard with soft snores.
On the other hand, Juha, who had spent a difficult day, couldn’t fall asleep easily.
Cheer songs, sharp angles, choreography formations, Nam Suchang, Jo Munseok, and all sorts of things that happened today complicated his mind.
‘A father who’s an angel to other people’s children but treats his own child like trash.’
Juha tossed and turned as he thought about Taeri’s father. Even though he had never seen him, he could imagine well enough. Taeri, who was always relaxed, would become endlessly tense whenever his father was mentioned. He was now an adult over twenty years old, and given Taeri’s fame, it wouldn’t be difficult for him to achieve financial independence soon. But Taeri still shuddered whenever he thought of his father Choi Junghyeok. It was a strange father-son relationship in many ways.
‘What can I do?’
Taeri’s first impression of being a cold handsome man. Thinking about it again, it wasn’t a cold face but a cynical one. His life up until now, where he had no lingering attachment or expectations about relationships and could only trust himself, had been revealed without filter.
When Juha was struggling with Metabolic in the last competition, Taeri would approach and give him strength. But now that Taeri was in trouble, Juha couldn’t see anything he could do.
‘He’ll have to overcome it well.’
Juha kept worrying and only fell asleep late at night.
* * *
Choi Junghyeok, who finished a 3-day conference in the US and arrived in Korea at 5 AM, went straight to the hospital without even putting down his luggage. After hurriedly finishing his morning rounds and sitting in his office chair, a small sigh escaped.
“Hah…”
Even pressing hard on his brow didn’t relieve the fatigue. He had a tight schedule in the US too, but thinking of the patients waiting in Korea, there was no time to rest. Since he had finished his morning rounds, he now had to prepare for outpatient treatment soon. Choi Junghyeok relieved his fatigue with a cup of strong coffee. As if to interrupt his brief rest, there was a knock.
“Yes.”
At Choi Junghyeok’s answer, a nurse carefully opened the door and entered.
“Department head, I got a call from the social work office.”
“Is it about patient Lee Saetbyeol?”
Choi Junghyeok’s brow furrowed sensitively.
Social work office matters usually involved issues related to patients’ family environments. Especially for pediatric patients, they often received close cooperation from the social work office for surgery or treatment cost issues, so Choi Junghyeok was on edge.
“The treatment cost support review for patient Lee Saetbyeol will go in tomorrow morning. It’s nothing major, but they called because they thought you should know.”
The nurse hesitated in his words while watching Choi Junghyeok’s expression. Even though he knew well that Choi Junghyeok hated when people dragged out their words, the fact that he was still doing so irritated Choi Junghyeok.
“What is it?”
Choi Junghyeok’s voice rose sharply.
“The day after tomorrow, a volunteer team is coming to perform in the central hall, and… Choi Taeri is apparently included in that.”
“…What?”
As soon as the nurse finished speaking, Choi Junghyeok gripped his paper cup tightly.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
