My Best Friend Is Pregnant
My best friend is pregnant.
That's already a huge deal.
But if that best friend is the most popular idol in the country, the story changes a little.
[Breaking News | Girl Group 'EVIL' Han Seoyun, Ranked No. 1 in Girl Group Personal Brand Reputation for August]
['Nation's First Love' Han Seoyun, Cosmetics Brand Contract Renewed]
[Han Seoyun's Hat Worn at the Airport Sells Out in 3 Minutes]
Even with the TV on.
Even with the phone open.
Even walking down the street.
Han Seoyun's face is everywhere.
She's twenty-three years old.
Center of the girl group EVIL.
2.8 million followers.
Twelve advertising contracts.
Recently, she even got the lead in a drama — undeniably the best female idol in Korea.
And there's a woman lying on my living room sofa, scratching her belly while wearing my t-shirt.
"Hey."
"Why."
"You're on TV right now."
"Oh, right."
Seoyun glanced at the television.
In the screen, Han Seoyun was smiling innocently in a white dress, clutching cosmetics with both hands.
She looked like she had monopolized all the purity in the world.
— The moment it touches the skin, it feels refreshing.
And in reality, Seoyun was lying slanted on the sofa in my t-shirt, eating potato chips.
"Hey, don't drop any crumbs."
"If you clean it up, you can."
"Is this your place?"
"It's more comfortable than the dorm."
Seoyun ignored my words and shook out the potato chip bag.
After pouring the last crumbs into her mouth, she tossed the empty bag onto the table.
"Water."
"Go get it yourself."
"I'm pregnant."
"..."
My hand stopped.
Seoyun smiled mischievously.
"You suddenly want to be nice?"
"Don't use that word."
"Why?"
"It gives me a headache."
"Don't ignore reality, Dad."
"Don't call me Dad!"
Seoyun covered her ears at my scream.
"The baby will get scared."
"You don't even have ears yet!"
"Did you study?"
"You did it because of me!"
I covered my head with both hands.
Where did everything go wrong?
I didn't need to think.
All events started exactly one month ago.
...
One month ago.
2:37 AM.
Someone was knocking on my studio apartment door.
Knock knock knock.
"Minjae-ya."
Knock knock knock knock.
"Kim Minjae."
Knock knock knock knock knock.
"If you don't open the door, I'll enter the password?"
I jolted awake from the bed.
"I don't know the password!"
"My birthday."
"That's an old number!"
"Then your mom's birthday."
"..."
A door lock button was being pressed outside the front door.
Beep beep beep beep.
A moment later.
— The door has opened.
I genuinely got chills.
I need to change the password.
I wanted to ask how this person knew the number I hadn't told even my family, but now wasn't the time.
The front door opened, and a woman wearing a black hat and mask covering her face walked in.
"I'm saved."
The woman kicked off her shoes carelessly right after closing the door.
Then she removed the hat and mask.
Long black hair.
Fair skin.
Features so clear they were unnaturally sharp even without lighting.
It was exactly the face from the TV.
No, slightly different.
The Han Seoyun on TV was smiling, but the Han Seoyun in front of me now had a face like she was about to die at any moment.
"Why are you here?"
"Running away."
"From where?"
"The dorm."
"Why?"
"I have a day off tomorrow afternoon."
"You have a day off, but why run away?"
"Even on days off, they do diet checks."
Seoyun opened my fridge right after answering.
"No meat?"
"Coming to someone else's house at 2 AM and the first words are that?"
"What else can I do."
Seoyun rummaged through the fridge.
Two eggs.
Three bottles of water.
Half a tub of kimchi.
Milk with one day left before expiration.
That's what a student's fridge looks like.
Seoyun sighed.
"How does a person live like this?"
"You live better than me."
"Yeah, my dorm fridge only has salad."
"Then eat the salad."
"Ugh, just looking at greens makes me want to puke."
In the end, I boiled two bowls of ramen at 3 AM.
Seoyun hugged the pot and ate it all.
In the screen, the woman who said even smelling ramen would make her full.
The gap between ads and reality was scary.
"Eat slowly. Who's going to steal it."
"Yeah. If my manager sister finds out, she'll confiscate it."
"It's not here."
"So eat it fast. It's a habit."
"Poor kid."
"Don't scold someone who's eating."
After finishing the ramen, Seoyun went straight to the bathroom.
"I'm taking a shower."
"When are you going home?"
"Tomorrow."
"To the dorm."
"Reporters are following me."
"..."
"Why?"
"I don't know. Maybe they want to create a love scandal."
Seoyun casually closed the bathroom door.
I stared at the closed door for a long time.
The country's top popular idol is showering in my house.
The moment someone finds out, my ordinary life ends.
Being killed by a malicious fan, dragged away by the agency and gagged, or forever branded as 'that suspicious general man with Han Seoyun' on the internet.
Yet the reason I couldn't throw Seoyun out was...
We had been friends since elementary school.
We lived next door.
Went to the same school.
Even after Seoyun became a trainee, we still contacted occasionally.
After debut, the number of meetings decreased, but...
She was still the only male friend I could visit without any burden.
At least until then.
"Minjae-ya!"
Seoyun's voice came from the bathroom.
"Why!"
"Give me clothes!"
"Put on your own clothes!"
"The clothes I came in are soaked from the rain!"
Looking at the entrance, Seoyun's hoodie and pants were wet.
"Put on anything!"
"Where are they?"
"The bedroom!"
A moment later
The bathroom door opened. She didn't even turn around out of manners.
The sound of wet footsteps walking to the bedroom echoed.
Isn't it embarrassing? Well, with me, I wouldn't even look like a man.
There were handsome men around.
Seoyun came out to the living room, drying her hair with a towel.
My white t-shirt.
And gray training pants.
"Comfy."
"..."
"Why?"
I silently stared at the pants Seoyun was wearing.
Gray training pants.
But clearly, those pants from last night...
It was screwed up.
"Where did you get those?"
"By the bed."
My heart sank.
"Why?"
"I thought they looked comfortable."
"Take them off."
"I don't want to."
"Take them off right now!"
Seoyun looked at me as if I was weird.
"Why all of a sudden?"
"Those pants can't be worn."
"Why?"
"Because..."
I couldn't say it.
To be precise, I didn't want to say it.
A single adult male living alone.
Pants casually thrown by the bed.
And if I explain what I did alone that morning...
Fifteen years of friendship might end right there.
"Dirty."
I barely opened my mouth.
"I didn't wash them."
"So?"
"So what?"
"We rolled in mud during elementary school, what now."
"That's different from this!"
"What's different?"
"Anyway, it's different!"
Seoyun shrugged her shoulders.
"I'm tired. I'll take them off tomorrow."
"I'll give you new pants, so change."
"I don't want to."
"Why!"
"I already put them on."
Insane logic.
Since I already took the poison, I'd drink all the remaining poison.
"Hey, but still..."
"I'm going to sleep."
Seoyun yawned and walked to my bed.
"You sleep on the sofa."
"Is this your house?"
"I'm a guest."
"If you didn't invite me, I'd be a trespasser?"
"Go sleep well."
He pulled the blanket over his body.
I stood by the bed, mouth agape.
Should I say something?
Why these pants are dirty.
How exactly are they dirty.
But Seoyun lying on the bed fell asleep in just thirty seconds after closing her eyes.
Deeply, like someone who hadn't slept properly in days.
In the end, I couldn't say anything.
'I guess something happened.'
At that time, I didn't know.
The most forbidden thought in the world.
That 'I guess something happened' was the fact.
...
And a month later.
Seoyun came to my house again.
This time, it wasn't early morning.
Sunday morning at 9 AM.
Perfectly disguised with hat, mask, and sunglasses.
When I opened the door, Seoyun walked in without a word.
It was different from usual.
She didn't open the fridge
Nor did she throw herself on my bed.
She sat quietly in front of the dining table.
"Is something wrong?"
"Yeah."
Seoyun took something out of her bag.
A long white stick.
At first, I thought it was a thermometer.
It took about ten seconds to realize what it was.
A pregnancy test kit.
Two clear lines.
I stared at it for a moment.
Then stared at Seoyun again.
"What is this?"
"You don't know?"
"I don't."
"A pregnancy test kit."
"No, I know that."
I pointed at the two lines with trembling fingers.
"Why two lines?"
"Because I'm pregnant."
"Who?"
"Me."
"Why are you?"
"I don't know either."
My mind went blank.
"Wait."
I pulled a chair and sat opposite Seoyun.
"Calm down and tell me from the beginning."
"I didn't have my period."
"Then."
"My stomach has been feeling bad lately."
"Then."
"I took a test in the morning and two lines came out."
"Have you been to the hospital?"
"I went."
Seoyun took out another paper from her bag.
A pregnancy test result from the obstetrics clinic.
I took it.
I read the written sentences three times.
Initial pregnancy estimate.
Additional tests needed.
Patient name.
Han Seoyun.
"Is this real?"
"The hospital wouldn't joke about this, would they?"
"But you..."
I hesitated, lowering my voice.
"You don't have a boyfriend, right."
"Yeah."
"Is there someone you're secretly seeing?"
"No."
"Maybe you drank and lost your memory."
"I haven't been drinking lately."
"Then who..."
"No one."
"How can you get pregnant if no one is there!"
"So I thought about it."
Seoyun crossed her arms with a serious expression.
"What unusual thing happened recently."
"So?"
"You slept at my house."
"Why?"
"You wore my pants too."
The memory of one month ago flashed.
By the bed.
Gray training pants.
The me who shouted 'you can't wear those'.
Seoyun who fell asleep without taking them off.
"..."
Seoyun stared at me.
"Those pants."
"No."
"What was on them?"
"No."
"You haven't said anything yet?"
"Absolutely not!"
I stood up abruptly.
"It's impossible to get pregnant that way! This is basic biology!"
"I thought the same."
Seoyun looked at her own belly.
It was still flat with no changes.
"You are actually pregnant."
"There must be another reason."
"I haven't been with any other man."
"..."
"Nor with you."
"I know that too."
"Then the only thing left is those pants."
"Why does the elimination method work like that!"
Seoyun propped her chin and looked at me.
No sign of embarrassment or confusion.
Rather, she was calm as usual.
Only I was sweating profusely.
"Have you told your agency?"
"No."
"Why?"
"If I tell them, it'll be a mess."
Of course.
The pregnancy of the country's top popular idol.
Not even married, let alone officially dating, the nation's first love's pregnancy.
The moment it becomes known, internet servers will explode.
Advertising contracts.
Group activities.
Drama filming.
World tour.
A schedule worth hundreds of billions could vanish in an instant.
"First, get the test again."
"I'll get it."
"And tell the agency quickly..."
At that moment, Seoyun's phone rang.
Seoyun's expression hardened upon checking the screen.
[Park Mijin, Director]
"Answer it."
"I don't want to."
"Why?"
"It seems they caught me going to the hospital."
"What?"
The call ended.
It rang again immediately.
Seoyun didn't answer this time either.
Then my phone rang.
An unfamiliar number.
Seoyun and I looked at the screen at the same time.
"Could it be..."
I didn't answer.
The call ended.
And a text arrived.
[Starway Entertainment Director Park Mijin.]
[I know you are with Han Seoyun.]
My spine turned cold.
Soon, a second text arrived.
[In front of the front door.]
Ding dong.
The doorbell rang.
Seoyun and I looked at the front door at the same time.
Silence flowed.
Ding dong.
The doorbell rang again.
Seoyun jumped up from her seat and hid behind me.
"You handle it."
"What can I do!"
"You're the dad."
"No way!"
A calm woman's voice came from beyond the front door.
"Han Seoyun."
Seoyun's shoulders twitched.
"Open the door."
The voice was calm, but it sounded like she would break down the door if not opened.
I swallowed dryly.
Behind me, the country's top idol hiding.
A pregnancy test kit on the table.
And me, suspected to be the father of that child.
Until an hour ago,
I was just an ordinary unemployed person.
But now,
I was standing in the middle of the pregnancy scandal of the most famous woman in Korea.
Because of a pair of pants.