“Euiju-ssi… What? Don’t tell me, is that your son?!”
It seemed Roun’s crying and making a fuss caused his voice to echo all the way through the phone. At the question from the somewhat older coordinator, Euiju answered with a much stiffer face than before.
“It’s my youngest sibling. There’s quite an age gap.”
“Oh my. I’m only finding out today how affectionate Euiju-ssi is. How old is the child that you act like a father like that?”
“Still seven years old.”
The eyes of colleagues who had been watching Euiju for about a month sparkled as if seeing something fascinating. It was a natural reaction since they were seeing Euiju’s affectionate side for the first time after seeing his blunt and silent appearance every day.
The female staff approached Euiju and asked this and that. Euiju was receiving a baptism of questions pouring out frantically, then turned his head at the gaze he somehow felt burning from behind.
His eyes met with Haeseong, who was looking at him with a strange expression.
It was an ambiguous expression as if squinting his eyes, or angry somewhere, or contorting his brow. Haeseong, who had been staring at Euiju for a moment, turned his head sharply and said.
“Buy mine too.”
“Pardon? What…”
“Cheesecake. If you have time to buy for your sibling, buy mine too.”
Haeseong turned his eyes back to the new script the team leader had brought. However, his face looked somewhat sulky.
“…Understood.”
Although his sudden behavior was suspicious, Euiju didn’t add more words.
After delivering the outfit the coordinator requested to the shop, Euiju was going back outside to buy the cheesecake Haeseong told him to buy and leave.
He had to hurry and buy it before filming ended, but it got delayed because the coordinator asked him to do personal errands too. He had to wait nearby before Haeseong’s filming ended, and since it was unclear when filming would end, Euiju, who became anxious, quickened his steps.
Haeseong rarely looked for dairy products except for milk. Which store’s which product should he buy? Since he had no idea of his preferences, he was racking his brain even while walking.
As he was walking down the corridor at a fast pace, Euiju was roughly pushed back by reaction due to someone bumping into him strongly from behind.
“Eek!”
A scream similar to a bird’s cry was heard from behind. Surprised, when he turned around, a very pretty and flashily dressed female idol had fallen down covering the corner of her mouth with one hand.
“Are you alright?”
Flustered, Euiju reached out his hand and helped her up. Somehow the gesture of her grabbing Euiju’s arm looked desperate.
The girl was crying profusely with tears hanging in her big eyes. Her face looked familiar so when he looked closely, would you believe it, it was a face he knew.
“I-I’m sorry. Hic…!”
“…By any chance, aren’t you Seo Jiyul-ssi?”
She was Seo Jiyul, who had suffered at the hands of Jang Yeonguk at the school uniform pictorial shoot the other day.
Somehow recognizing the masked Euiju, Seo Jiyul noticed it was Euiju and opened her eyes wide as if surprised. Then, didn’t she burst into fierce sobbing like someone whose insides had festered and burst?
“H-huaaang—!”
Flustered, Euiju was surprised and couldn’t say anything, only blinking. Wondering if she had been hurt bumping into him, he carefully asked.
“Where are you hurt?”
She shook her head as if to say no. Since she seemed to have been crying even before bumping into him in the first place, Euiju, who quickly scanned the surroundings, guided Jiyul to a nearby waiting room.
“I’ll call someone, so please wait here for a moment.”
She was crying as if the country had fallen, so if he took her as she was, she would attract attention. He tried to leave the waiting room to call someone.
Then. His sleeve was grabbed tightly.
“Wh-what should I do? I, I…”
It was Jiyul who couldn’t continue speaking properly while trembling after barely grabbing on. Like someone who wanted to say something but didn’t have the courage, the desperation of someone who wanted to vomit something out but had something holding them back grabbed Euiju. Euiju checked his watch and let out a long sigh.
He carefully took Jiyul to a chair and sat her down. He brought a nearby water bottle and calmed her down.
“What’s the matter?”
“Well, our members… Hic…!”
She buried her face in both hands and burst into tears. She mumbled and said words that couldn’t be understood properly.
“You see. So…”
Jiyul began to say something. However, since she was pouring out words while almost wailing, it was difficult to figure out what she was saying.
As a result of Euiju tactfully combining and interpreting, it was content that one of the members of the same group started treating her differently after she blew up with some fancam or whatever, and now even other members were incited to bully and ignore her.
It seemed there had been a big fight with the members just now while coming down after finishing the stage. Jiyul, who had been hiccupping for a while expressing her upset feelings, wiped her tears and continued speaking.
“Whatever I say, they pretend to vomit saying it’s disgusting. If I happen to stand in the center, they say I’m being greedy because I’ve become popular. If I go to the practice room every day to work hard, they curse at me saying I’m trying to succeed alone. But I’m so scared of that situation that I can’t even get angry. When I talk back, they keep yelling while cursing with ridiculous insults…”
Euiju, who was seriously listening to the story, asked.
“Haven’t you told an adult around you?”
“Even when I told the president and manager, nothing changed. Rather, they told me to be grateful I’m not a guy. They said those kids even commit physical violence… They said words can be heard in one ear and let out the other anyway. They told me to try to get close to them.”
“Ha. What kind of…”
Euiju let out a dumbfounded scoff.
What kind of incompetent teacher-like line for dealing with bullying was this? As much as teenagers were tied up in business, it was something that adults and officials should actively intervene and resolve. To turn such a serious problem into an individual’s fault telling her to try harder, it couldn’t help but be deplorable.
“Because of that kid, now I want to quit too. I thought I wanted to die. But since that kid even curses at my parents… Yesterday I even thought I wanted to get rid of that kid. But, but I shouldn’t think like that…”
Jiyul burst into tears again. It seemed she had been very upset since there had been no one to understand her difficulties until now.
“…Don’t cry.”
Euiju carefully patted her shoulder.
If someone dislikes me, I dislike that person too, and if they hate me enough to want to kill me, I naturally think defensively too—it was a natural principle.
However, the still young girl seemed to feel like she was a bad and terrible person for even having such wicked thoughts.
Euiju replaced her soaked tissue with a new one. Since he had already listened to her story, he wanted to comfort her.
“It’s not wrong. I also have someone I hate enough to want to kill them.”
“…What? Really?”
Jiyul’s eyes became round like chestnuts as if surprised.
To know that the cool and kind ahjussi who had saved her from crisis also had such a person, she somehow felt reassured and happy feeling a sense of kinship. Jiyul rubbed her big eyes and stared at Euiju.
“Just thinking about that person makes my chest feel stuffy and painful. But what’s harder is, since they’re a famous person, news about them comes from here and there even when I don’t want to hear it. Sometimes they even appear in nightmares and ruin my mood all day.”
Euiju’s face, with his gaze lowered, became even darker.
No matter how affectionately and kindly his parents raised him, in a life with many twists and turns, there was bound to be at least one person he hated to death.
As a face he didn’t even want to think about came to mind, a bitter smile hung on Euiju’s lips.
“It’s natural to dislike the person bullying Jiyul-ssi. You shouldn’t feel guilty. If that person hates me, I can hate them back the same way. Of course, it’s right that you have to resolve it well because of various circumstances, but it’s not something Jiyul-ssi alone should sacrifice and struggle with.”
“…Then, is there a way to solve it?”
“If you really can’t endure it, borrow your parents’ strength. If you don’t tell them because you’re worried they’ll worry, your parents won’t know anything. Think carefully because they’ll be more upset later when everything explodes and they find out everything.”
When Euiju spoke firmly, Jiyul timidly nodded her head.
“……”
“……”
A moment of silence continued. Jiyul now seemed embarrassed about the fact that she had whined and cried in front of Euiju. Jiyul, who was fidgeting with her hands and watching Euiju’s mood, broke the long silence and asked Euiju.
“I’m asking because I’m really curious…”
“Please speak.”
“By any chance… is the person ahjussi hates someone I know too?”
At her unexpected question, Euiju’s eyes narrowed as if doubting his ears. Soon, laughter burst out as if he couldn’t hold it back.
“Hahahaha.”
Jiyul’s face instantly turned red. Even in the midst of being upset and struggling, since Euiju said the person he hates is famous, she seemed curious. As if she didn’t know Euiju would laugh, her neck instantly flushed red.
Euiju wiped away the pooled tears and said.
“Haha… Probably, Jiyul-ssi would know too.”
Jiyul opened her eyes wide in surprise. The tears remaining in her eyes rolled down and fell to the waiting room floor.
“R-really? Who is it?”
“Well…”
Who could that person be? Is it someone I know too? Excited, Jiyul grabbed Euiju’s arm and shook it.
“Tell only me who it is! I can’t sleep when I get curious about something!”
At that sight, Euiju turned his gaze as if playing dumb and continued teasingly.
“I won’t tell you. If you hear, you might really faint from surprise.”
“Ah, that’s so mean, really…”
Thanks to Euiju’s mischievous teasing, the gloomy atmosphere softened considerably. Jiyul, who was looking at Euiju’s lips with a faint smile, also smiled along with Euiju.
In the relaxed atmosphere, deep conversation went back and forth. Jiyul began to reveal all the upsetting things to Euiju.
“I thought I was the bad one. Because everyone only said things to me…”
“Jealousy is unavoidable. But that doesn’t mean you should drive a fellow colleague like that. Jiyul-ssi isn’t bad.”
“Then… when it’s really, really hard and I want to quit, how do you endure? Is there a method of enduring or something?”
“It’s different for each person. In my case, I tend to think of my family inside. No matter how hard and painful it is now, I have a home to return to, and there are always people at that home who welcome me. Actually, it’s an environment where I have no choice but to endure.”
Although Euiju himself was also young, since he was talking with a sibling much younger than him, family stories he usually didn’t talk about came out smoothly. Finding Jiyul’s behavior of listening attentively to his story cute and laughing, something suddenly caught the edge of Euiju’s gaze and he turned his head.
“Uh…”
Euiju stood up from his seat as if surprised. Jiyul, who also turned her gaze following Euiju, was flustered and bowed deeply.
“H-hello, sunbae-nim!”
At the end of Euiju and Jiyul’s gaze, one person’s silhouette stood with a demon-like appearance.
Jin Haeseong.
He was staring at Euiju through the gap in the open door.
With eyes that didn’t contain any emotion at all. Faint bloodshot veins were spreading in his whites.
