What the drinking session with the ‘Journey’ members left behind was a terrible hangover and plums. Seeing himself dressed only with his socks and belt removed, Siwoo staggered out to the living room. And what he encountered was a single memo placed on the dining table.
A memo saying he’d bought the hangover soup he liked again today and put it in the refrigerator. And seeing that there were no plums because he got drunk alone, Siwoo was laughing. He bit his lips to stop the corners of his mouth from creeping up, but it was useless.
[Thanks. I’ll eat well.]
[The cat was cute.]
[Its name is Ongi. I’ll introduce you next time.]
The tips of Siwoo’s ears were red as he exchanged trivial messages.
* * *
Waking up with a disheveled appearance, Siwoo staggered down from the bed and picked up the camera the agency gave him. He put on a hoodie to cover his hair sticking out in all directions and turned on the camera. Today was the day to film the vlog he’d planned in advance.
“Hello.”
He opened the water bottle he’d left beside the bed, took a sip, and spoke, but his voice was hoarse from just waking up, making it awkward, so he laughed softly.
“So. Since I’m not appearing on broadcasts, I heard there are many people curious about me. Today, I’ll try challenging a vlog. I’ll try my best to film my entire schedule for today. Ah, this is really awkward.”
Siwoo, who fixed the camera so he could be seen well sitting on the carpeted floor beside the bed, covered his face with both hands and shook his body a little.
Then he slowly stretched his body as he always did.
“If you stretch in the morning…… Ah, that’s good.”
Groaning sounds came out unfiltered from Siwoo’s mouth as he spread his legs wide and stretched his body.
“Like this, rotate your neck a bit too. Forward, heave-ho. Stretchhhh……”
Normally he would have stretched quietly, but thinking it would be strange if no sound went in, Siwoo explained the poses in between. The stretching that would finish in 10 minutes took 15 minutes. Finally, as he lay sprawled randomly on the floor, Ongi walked over to his side.
“Ongi. Look at the camera over there and say hello. Ongi isn’t my cat, it’s a cat my noona raises, but I’m keeping it for a while.”
Siwoo, who wrapped both hands around Ongi approaching beside his face while lying down and rubbing its small body against his face, buried his face in the small body.
“It’s still a baby, so it’s this small. That’s why I have to be careful not to step on it when it’s walking around.”
Ongi’s small front paw pushed away Siwoo’s face, but regardless, Siwoo showered Ongi’s body with kisses for a while.
“Today’s schedule doesn’t really have anything. First, I’ll give Ongi food, clean Ongi’s bathroom too. I should have a cup of coffee, right? Then I’ll go grocery shopping and make brunch. Now I need to get up and wash, but I don’t want to budge.”
Still rolling around on the floor, Siwoo let go of the hands holding Ongi. Watching Ongi hopping away after gaining freedom, he sat up.
“It’s totally like a rabbit, right? But the reason its name is Ongi is because noona calls it Ya-ongi. So the last name is Ya, and the name is Ongi.”
Getting up from his spot, Siwoo diligently took the camera as the agency instructed and placed it on the living room table. Then he busily prepared Ongi’s food and cleaned the bathroom. Even while going back and forth, he didn’t stop the pranks of waving his hand in front of the camera or sticking his face close to it.
“I came out after washing. Before, some Coco-mom asked what shampoo I use. I just use whatever’s there. Something safe. These days I like baby powder scent, so after washing and shaking my hair like this, the fragrance……”
Having just washed in warm water with flushed cheeks, Siwoo shook his hair with a towel. And in front of it, he applied skin care and lotion, and lastly applied sunscreen.
“Sunscreen. Everyone, please apply it for your skin too. People say I’m pale, but this is all thanks to sunscreen.”
Going into the dressing room, changing clothes, and coming out, Siwoo held the camera in one hand and prepared a shopping basket. He patted the head of Ongi who followed him and played around as he walked, and went outside the house.
He’d done lives often, but this was his first vlog, so it was awkward yet fun. First, it seemed like he needed to film a lot of things, so he felt needlessly anxious.
Siwoo, who fixed the camera in the car, also selected and played music.
“I’m going to shop at a nearby mart, what menu should I make?”
Humming the lyrics of the flowing song, when he got caught at a signal, Siwoo reached out and adjusted the camera angle a bit. They told him to show as normal a life as possible. Recently, Siwoo’s life consisted entirely of spending the whole day languidly at home.
What came back to him when he whined about what to film was to go grocery shopping and make food to eat.
“Steak? Spaghetti? Should I go in that direction? Or would sizzling doenjang-jjigae with grilled mackerel be good? Korean food or Western food. This is always the dilemma of the century, right? Or bake cookies and have them with coffee? It depends on how you think about it, but making bread or cookies is easier than you think.”
Talking about the menu and parking at a nearby large mart, Siwoo pressed down a ball cap and grabbed a mask too. He used to walk around comfortably before, but these days these were essentials.
“This is more troublesome than I thought. But I can do it.”
Pushing the cart with one hand and holding the camera with the other, Siwoo adjusted the camera so his face would show well.
“There aren’t many people. Honestly, you should come to large marts like this in the evening. They sell the fresh products left over from that day cheaply. I really like that kind of thing.”
Pushing the cart, Siwoo put eggs in the cart.
“I haven’t decided on the menu yet, but eggs should always be in the refrigerator. Is it a bit boring since I’m filming the vlog alone? Should I have invited a friend? Since I’m trying to make something alone, I’m worried about buying ingredients. Looking at the price, bundles are good, but for people living alone like me, it’s better to buy one or two even if it’s expensive.”
One carrot, two potatoes, two onions too. Neatly putting the most basic food ingredients into the cart, Siwoo kept looking around. Should I just grill some pork belly? It seemed like it would lead to cooking and even a mukbang.
“What should I really eat? If this were a live, you’d all answer right away. Vlogs are a bit lonely. What should I make and eat to get a reputation for eating well?”
“How about tteokbokki and fish cake soup?”
Siwoo, who was muttering to himself, stopped in his tracks, surprised by Evan’s voice that suddenly rang out. He blinked at the sight of him standing right next to him, taking the cart he was pushing. What is this right now?
“Evan?”
“Why? Were you surprised that I came? Hello. This is Evan. I heard Siwoo is filming a vlog today, so I came too. From now on, I’ll be appearing together too.”
It was surprising that he suddenly appeared.
Siwoo followed him walking ahead and sneakily looked down at himself. Ripped jeans and a white shirt. He was wearing a navy cardigan over it. And he looked at Evan walking ahead. Jeans and a navy knit were his outfit for today.
Evan appearing here now was absolutely not a coincidence. Although they didn’t tell him, the two agencies clearly coordinated, and he must have agreed to this schedule too. But how should this strange outfit coordination be explained? He just came out wearing what he could see.
“You don’t like tteokbokki and fish cake soup?”
Knowing he wasn’t following, he stopped and turned around.
“No. I don’t mind anything.”
Going to his side, Siwoo also picked up the green onions next to him. Because tteokbokki is delicious when lots of green onions and radish go in.
“Evan suddenly appeared. I really didn’t hear anything.”
“A surprise event where I suddenly appear?”
“Got it. But why are you buying that?”
Siwoo stared at the dried squid he was holding.
“Should I buy beer too? Is drinking not allowed in vlogs?”
At the behavior of suddenly looking for beer and sneakily passing it over, Siwoo shook his head and went to his side, checked the camera, and laughed out loud.
“Ah. Only Evan’s shoulders and neck were showing. If I adjust it like this so both of us can show. Ah, my face is cut off. Then let’s change the camera position a bit.”
Since the two had a height difference, Siwoo chose to move the camera position.
“No. Why is this person doing this? I came looking for fish cakes and the cart is full of snacks.”
“You eat them when you buy them.”
“There’s beer and soju and snacks at home too.”
Evan’s hand grabbed Siwoo’s wrist as he tried to put back the snacks, thinking there were too many.
“That one’s delicious though.”
Siwoo stared at the snacks he was holding. Who’s really going to eat all of this? But looking at Evan’s face, he couldn’t bring himself to put down the snacks and put them back in the cart. And he shrugged his shoulders looking at him whistling as if in a good mood.
“Why are you buying brisket?”
Siwoo, who was choosing meat at the meat section, slightly turned his head at the words coming from above.
“Brisket tteokbokki. As many of you probably already know, Evan isn’t a perfect person either. He’s really bad at cooking.”
Siwoo deliberately whispered to the camera.
“That’s not true. I can cook! It’s because I don’t do it, not because I can’t.”
“Liar.”
“Wow! Coco. Did you just look down on me?”
“It’s not looking down. You clearly said it. That you can’t cook.”
While grumbling, Siwoo put ingredients that caught his eye into the cart as he passed by.
“I can do it!”
“Fine. I’ll make the tteokbokki, so will you make the fish cake soup? Humanly speaking, I’ll take out the vegetable broth I froze in the freezer for you. If I give you that, I’ve given you everything, really.”
“Bet accepted?”
At Evan’s behavior of getting riled up when he said he couldn’t do it, Siwoo made a sign with his hand that he understood. Whatever bet it was, he was confident he’d win anything related to cooking.
“A forehead flick?”
“A forehead flick? Ah! My hands are big though.”
When Evan showed his hand at the mention of a forehead flick, Siwoo playfully high-fived that hand. What does hand size matter and what does the strength of a forehead flick matter? It’s a game he’ll win anyway.
