The eldest daughter, Lee Euiyeon, was weak when it came to her younger siblings. Not only to her siblings who hadn’t graduated elementary school, but she also acted like she’d die at the slightest word from the grown-up Euiju, and since Euiju resembled Euiyeon as if cast from the same mold, it was an obvious fact that went without saying that Euiju was also weak when it came to his younger siblings.
In Euiju’s eyes, when his baby-like siblings who hadn’t matured anywhere yet threw themselves into his arms, he had no choice but to helplessly pick them up, kiss them, and dote on them, and it wasn’t just once or twice that he rushed home, unwilling to let his young siblings go hungry while he was away.
When his siblings were sick, his insides churned as if his own body was sick, and on days when he played pranks a bit too mischievously and made the children cry, there was nothing he wouldn’t do to lift their mood. Euiju toward his family was quite different from how he was toward others. He was devoted and self-sacrificing. Just like Euiju’s parents.
Was it because the sight of pain on that young face overlapped with his own siblings?
“Should I give you a massage?”
That he let slip such presumptuous words.
Even Euiju, who had spoken the words, seemed surprised as he widened his eyes and firmly shut his mouth. A strange silence enveloped the inside of the waiting room.
Haeseong, who had been lying down without reacting to Euiju’s words, finally turned his head after a long while and stared at Euiju.
He looked both dumbfounded and as if he was seeing something fascinating. Even while in pain, his eyes, tightly packed with arrogant energy, scanned Euiju up and down indulgently.
As those emotionless eyes scanned his body, Euiju felt both his cheeks flush slightly.
It would be fascinating. Even knowing how and why Haeseong’s previous manager was fired, he was trying to do the exact same thing—why wouldn’t that be fascinating? Of course, for Euiju, it was words he had unconsciously blurted out because the young face momentarily overlapped with his siblings. Euiju began making excuses, flustered in a way unlike him.
“I know where to press to make it better. There’s no particular meaning to it. I apologize if I made you uncomfortable.”
Haeseong, who had been lying down, sat up and stared intently at Euiju, who was muttering with a flushed face. Seeing Euiju’s flustered appearance for the first time, Haeseong gazed at his bewildered face as if looking at an interesting object.
A heavy silence enveloped the waiting room. The only sound heard was the small footsteps of staff running around here and there outside the door. Even that sound, as if this waiting room wasn’t the destination, gradually became quieter. When Haeseong stared at him without even blinking, Euiju finally lowered his head. It was embarrassing.
It was none other than Haeseong who broke the heavy silence.
“I heard your noona is disabled.”
At Haeseong’s low voice, Euiju’s body froze in place. Haeseong leaned his head back against the sofa armrest and covered his eyes with his arm. He continued in a plain tone.
“So I guess you know well. Ah, do you have techniques you naturally learn from taking care of people with inconvenient bodies?”
“……”
“I’m in pain simply because of growing pains, not because I have a disability like your noona. If you’re thinking of pretending to be kind while groping me, wake up. It’s fucking disgusting.”
“……”
Silence flowed once again, but it held a different energy than before. In the tightly strung atmosphere, only Euiju stood there unable to manage his expression.
—Literally, you’re cleaning up after a kid going through puberty. Sticking right next to the kid like a mom… No, a mom would at least nag. It’s just like a lackey silently catering to a young kid’s whims. While working, your pride will be hurt and you’ll get angry. Because they can’t control that anger, everyone without exception runs away.
The team leader’s words floated through his head. He said that while working, pride would be hurt and anger would arise. Others said they ran away because they couldn’t stand and endure Haeseong’s rudeness, but he couldn’t do that. He had to endure. His young siblings, his noona whose body had become inconvenient—they were completely relying on him. Euiju was someone who couldn’t waver here like others.
Euiju, who had momentarily lost his words, looked at Haeseong who threw the bomb and closed his eyes as if nothing happened. Soon he released the tension from his tensed-up shoulders.
“…I apologize. I’ll be careful from now on.”
“If you know, then bring a blanket. I’m freezing to death.”
“Understood.”
“Seriously, no sense at all.”
Euiju turned around just like that and left the waiting room.
Jin Haeseong, who started his acting career at age 8, was a successful actor who had never failed since his debut. Haeseong’s peers looked up to Haeseong, who had tremendous popularity, handsome looks, and high-level acting skills, like an idol, and imitated him like a trend. The people around him who helped him, no, everyone who stayed by his side, were either desperate to cater to his mood or wanted to look good to him so they lowered themselves considerably and tried to enter Haeseong’s boundary as if trying to ride on his popularity.
The immature boy who lived receiving all sorts of adulation at a young age when he couldn’t take responsibility didn’t know how the world worked, and thought he was better than anyone else and mistakenly believed this life would last forever. He didn’t know the harshness of the world.
In short, to Euiju, Haeseong was nothing more and nothing less than a cocky brat.
Contrary to his nasty temperament, was it that he felt compassion for the lonely him who had no one to whine to about being sick even when sick in his large house? Although he was shocked by his words, he wasn’t very angry as he had been until now. His siblings who would soon face puberty. It was convenient to think of it as practice in preparation for that.
Euiju, who had brought a blanket, stood in front of the door lost in thought. He stood there lost in thought while holding the doorknob, then soon opened the door and entered. He carefully covered Haeseong, who had fallen into a light sleep in that short time, with the blanket.
He stared blankly at his forehead where cold sweat was beading up, then soon turned around, turned off the lights in the waiting room, and came out. The back of Euiju walking down the silent corridor somehow looked lonely.
***
A week flew by like a shot. In the meantime, Euiyeon was discharged from the hospital and returned home.
—Euiju-ya. Isn’t work hard? Let noona try once…
—It’s not hard. It’s more doable than I thought and kind of fun. I have no intention of quitting so don’t try to persuade me.
Thanks to Euiyeon’s discharge, Euiju, who had one less worry about his siblings, could focus more on work.
While caring for Haeseong alone, there were several facts he learned about him during that time, one of which was that despite Haeseong’s violent and selfish temperament, he had quite a few friends who suited him, and that all those friends came from quite well-off families and their conduct was not very proper.
When Haeseong called for them, they would drop everything and rush to the site. While watching Haeseong’s mood, they couldn’t hide their unfamiliarity and excitement about the filming site.
Among them were people who showed completely different aspects. While there were people who just watched silently and left, there were also people who created absurd situations like now.
“Ah, why? I’m just saying let’s know each other, okay? I’m just saying I’ll have your number. Are my words funny to you?”
While Haeseong briefly left his seat for an interview with a photographer, Seo Jiyul, the partner model for this pictorial, visited Haeseong’s waiting room to say hello.
However, Haeseong, the owner of this place, was absent, and only a cocky-looking boy, a coordinator, a couple of filming staff, and the manager were holding down the fort.
Jang Yeonguk, who proudly introduced himself as Haeseong’s friend, suddenly started hitting on Jiyul.
Jiyul took a few steps back with a frightened face.
“I don’t have a cell phone at all…”
“Ah, fuck, really. I know you all secretly carry one around, you know? Who do you think you are to try to lie in front of me? You’re so fucking unknown.”
“Th-that’s…”
“You know how many female idols I know? If you act expensive like this, you won’t even get the broth. So hurry up and give it.”
His behavior toward a girl younger than himself was truly petty and dirty. Jiyul stood precariously as if about to burst into tears at any moment.
However.
Despite it becoming quite an awkward situation, all the staff except Euiju pretended not to know and left the waiting room while looking away. It would be correct to say they deliberately avoided the situation to not get involved.
“Fuck. Why do you keep playing hard to get? You know who I am?!”
Jang Yeonguk spat saliva while asserting which district’s National Assembly member’s son he was, how great a person’s son he was.
That’s right. He was the only son of a National Assembly member in charge of a district in Seoul, and the precious 4th-generation only son of that family. He revealed that fact with his own mouth.
“Be honest. You’re lying about not having a cell phone, right?”
It was obvious he found Jiyul, who was rejecting him, offensive. Jang Yeonguk, filled with excitement, was pointing his finger at a girl younger than himself, displaying typical teenage old-fart behavior. It was a very unseemly sight.
“N-no. It’s not like that…”
Seo Jiyul was going to appear in a drama as a child actor soon, so she had just lightly visited to greet her senior. She wasn’t quite an unknown idol but she also wasn’t from a group that received much attention. Among the group members, she received the most attention at best, and she was only sixteen years old. Moisture gradually filled the eyes of her who was flustered at encountering a sudden situation.
“Don’t be like that and just give it to me. What am I going to do to you? Why are you being like this over just a number? Do you think you’ll even get to see me if not at a time like this?”
“Hic, I-I really don’t have a cell phone…”
“Wow… what did I even do that you’re crying now?”
Jang Yeonguk reached his hand toward the sobbing Seo Jiyul. Then Euiju, who had been silently watching the situation from one side of the waiting room, approached in one step. He blocked between the two and grabbed Jang Yeonguk’s hand.
“Filming is about to start. You shouldn’t be causing disruptions.”
Euiju’s expression was extremely cold.
