Chapter 231: Holidays are for Spending with Loved Ones (1)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 231: Holidays are for Spending with Loved Ones (1)
Spark’s schedule was packed tight.
I had no intention of repeating UA’s past mistake of missing the window to row when the tide was in by having long hiatuses. Besides, the Spark brats didn't have enough of an ego to resist my opinions.
And so, not only did Spark finish filming for the Chuseok special Idol Unity Sports Day, but we also decided to film an extra special self-produced content. Everyone was dressed in brightly colored Hanboks for the occasion. The goal? To make holiday food.
‘Making holiday food?’
‘Will it be okay?’
It hadn't been that long since they struggled just to make cookies. Choi Je-ho and Lee Cheong-hyeon, who usually solved everything with their forearm muscles, expressed their concerns.
The one who silenced everyone’s worries was Park Ju-woo.
‘I-wol hyung is really good at making holiday food...!’
It seems my efforts to feed him well last holiday had paid off. I thought about making Songpyeon, but I figured we’d end up spending the whole episode just making a single bowl of rice cakes and eating them, so I scrapped that idea.
With the members more or less agreeing with my opinion, the proposal for the ‘Spark Makes Holiday Food’ special passed easily.
Since just frying pancakes would be boring, I decided to add a bit of a concept.
The theme: ‘Six brothers living in the city who have gathered for the first time in six months for the holidays.’
Based on age and birthdays, I became the eldest brother. I wondered if I really had to be brothers with these guys on top of being an idol with them, but I decided to do my best like a professional.
However, there was one guy who didn't have a lick of professional spirit.
“Hey, do I take the meat and vegetable patties out now?”
That was the third time Choi Je-ho had called me ‘Hey.’ At first, he looked like he’d realized his mistake, but now it seemed he’d just completely forgotten the concept.
“Where do you get off calling your hyung ‘Hey’? Do you have no respect for the hierarchy?”
I didn't want to be obsessed with seniority, but what could I do when that was the concept? I could practically hear the family discipline crumbling because of him.
As my nagging poured down like a storm, Choi Je-ho frowned.
“Can’t we just say we’re twins?”
“We have to look alike to be twins.”
“We could be fraternal.”
Oh, look at him talking back now.
“If we go by that logic, this house would need three sets of twins. There’d have to be a twin-producing vein of water running under this land.”
“It could happen. Why not?”
“If you keep talking nonsense, I’ll make you spend the whole day cracking eggs by yourself.”
At my words, Choi Je-ho’s gaze drifted to the stacks of egg cartons in the living room.
The food we were making today was roughly for twenty people. Naturally, there was a mountain of eggs.
“...Hyung, should I take the patties out?”
And just like that, Choi Je-ho submissively accepted the concept. He didn't even shy away from the rough work of pulling out bags of frozen meat and vegetable patties from the freezer on behalf of his younger brothers. He was the picture of a true older brother.
The eggs Choi Je-ho avoided were passed to Jeong Seong-bin. Seong-bin sat with Lee Cheong-hyeon, a small spare phone between them, and began whisking the eggs while looking at a recipe.
Whenever Jeong Seong-bin cracked an egg, Lee Cheong-hyeon would immediately take the shell, put it in a trash bag, and pick up his chopsticks.
“Cheong-hyeon, what are you doing over there?”
“I’m performing the role of throwing away the eggshells and quickly fishing out any bits of shell that might fall into the egg wash.”
Lee Cheong-hyeon was dead serious. He was so committed to his role that I couldn't even bring myself to say anything.
Kang Gi-yeon, who was slicing ham for the skewered pancakes, snapped at him.
“Hyung, Seong-bin hyung knows how to use chopsticks too, so come over here and help assemble the skewers. Can’t you see the ingredients piling up?”
Just as Kang Gi-yeon said, the ingredients for the skewered meat and vegetables were piled high on a tray. When did that kid get so good at knife work?
In the end, Lee Cheong-hyeon was dragged away by Kang Gi-yeon and had his role changed to assembling the skewers.
“I told you the hard ingredients have to go on the sides.”
“But doesn't that make the colors look bad?”
“Are you the one who’s going to fry them, hyung?”
Aside from the fact that the way he addressed Lee Cheong-hyeon was getting weirder by the second, Kang Gi-yeon led the skewered pancake project with quite a bit of efficiency.
And while everyone was busy, Park Ju-woo actually started seasoning the pollack fillets all by himself!
“Ju-woo, you didn't sprinkle sugar on them, did you?”
“No...!”
Park Ju-woo shook his head, his face turning pale. Even so, he took a tiny taste of the seasoning from the container he’d pulled out, just to be sure. Fortunately, we avoided the catastrophe of making ‘pollack dalgona.’
“You even finished the pepper.”
“Since I made it with you last time... this part isn't hard.”
What a proud little guy. As the eldest brother, I... uh... which one is he... there are too many brothers. Anyway, I was so proud of my third or fourth brother I could hardly stand it.
On the other hand, there was another brother I wanted to kick out into the moonlight for the sake of a peaceful Chuseok.
“When you shake off the flour, why do you have to make it fly everywhere?!”
“You told me to shake it off well! Hey, Kang Gi-yeon, do you think I’m a joke? Am I a joke to you?!”
“I’d have to be laughing for you to be a joke! Look at the state of the living room floor, does it look like I’m laughing?!”
There was Lee Cheong-hyeon, who was getting scolded even more now that he was playing the older brother, and Kang Gi-yeon, who acted just like a friend before but was now snapping back at his ‘hyung’ the moment he was cast as the younger brother.
At this point, I was starting to suspect that bristling at his hyungs was just part of Kang Gi-yeon’s nature.
“We can just lay down some newspaper. Don't get so worked up.”
At least we had Jeong Seong-bin. What would you guys do without him?
Compared to him, Choi Je-ho, who was lifting a tray of flour and asking for newspaper to be put under his spot too... I had a lot to say, but I’d keep it to myself.
After finishing the prep for the seasoned vegetables, I rolled up my sleeves and spoke.
“Let’s start frying the pancakes soon. The smell of oil is going to stick to everything, so let’s close all the room doors. Open the veranda window, though.”
“Yes, hyung.”
Jeong Seong-bin jumped up and closed the doors. Watching him, Lee Cheong-hyeon spoke up.
“Sigh... back in my day, if the youngest was just sitting around while the older brothers were doing this kind of work, lightning would have struck... Our Gi-yeon is so lucky to have such good hyungs, isn't he?”
“Are your hyungs and my hyungs perhaps different people?”
Kang Gi-yeon looked at him with an incredulous expression. Regardless, Lee Cheong-hyeon’s eyes were misty.
“My second brother too... back when we cooked over a furnace, there was no better worker for chopping wood, and people called for him from all over... but now that technology has advanced, he’s treated like a nuisance... It breaks my heart to look at my brother, really.”
Jeong Seong-bin desperately suppressed his laughter. He bit his lip so hard it looked painful. Park Ju-woo and I, who were near the kitchen, managed to avoid the same fate by turning our heads away.
Lee Cheong-hyeon patted the trembling shoulder of Jeong Seong-bin and continued.
“I knew from the start that our third brother would be the most successful.”
“What did I become?”
“Hyung, you became the Village Chief. Do you know how much respect I get outside just for being the Village Chief’s brother? These days, I really enjoy strolling around the neighborhood~!”
By now, Park Ju-woo was hiding behind my back, practically sobbing. He must have been so proud to be the Village Chief’s brother that he was moved to tears. What touching brotherly love.
“Uh, what does the fourth brother do?”
Kang Gi-yeon asked, barely holding back his laughter.
“You don't know? Hey, how can you have so little interest in your brothers? Even if life is hard and we don't see each other often, we should keep each other in our hearts, huh? We shouldn't forget each other!”
“Oh, please.”
Kang Gi-yeon groaned and squeezed his eyes shut. I could hear the rough sounds of everyone around us trying to breathe through their laughter. Even so, Lee Cheong-hyeon didn't stop.
“The fourth brother! He’s been trying for years to win a doll by shooting arrows at the Dried Persimmon Festival! And you, his own brother, didn't even know!”
At the shocking update on his younger brother’s life, Choi Je-ho spat out the water he was drinking. Even the great Choi Je-ho probably never imagined his ‘younger brother’ would be working so hard just to win a single doll.
This household must have had a pretty rowdy childhood. Shaking my head, I was about to sit down to start frying the pancakes when Lee Cheong-hyeon locked eyes with me. He gave me a bright, innocent smile.
“Still, now that you, as the eldest, have come back after making such a big decision, I have no more regrets.”
“What decision did I make?”
“Hyung, you retired this time. That’s not an easy thing to decide, is it? I truly respect your... your decisiveness!”
In Lee Cheong-hyeon’s world, what exactly had I retired from? Did I hand over the Village Chief position to Jeong Seong-bin? Or was it a part-time job at the Dried Persimmon Festival arrow game?
I was starting to get scared of what Lee Cheong-hyeon would say next. And as expected, he easily surpassed my imagination.
“Hyung, you used to stand at the village entrance every day as the Jangseung totem pole. Our hearts ached so much seeing you out there in the wind and rain, looking so haggard... Aigo, now that’s finally over.”
Everywhere I looked, people weren't just laughing; they were practically wailing. Jeong Seong-bin, who had a coughing fit from laughing too hard, ended up getting flour all over the floor. Kang Gi-yeon was clutching his stomach and rolling around in it. The house was a mess in more ways than one.
‘It’s so much noisier than last Chuseok.’
I remembered the last holiday, where I’d fried pancakes while barely exchanging a few words with Park Ju-woo, then left the empty dorm to rest at a cafe before returning.
Compared to then, I felt the atmosphere had really, truly changed.
There was plenty to do besides frying pancakes. While I seasoned the vegetables to perfection, Jeong Seong-bin wore a mask—I made him wear it—and grilled the beef skewers, while the maknaes neatly placed the finished pancakes on paper towels to drain the oil.
I gave Park Ju-woo, the cleaning fairy, the heavy responsibility of wiping up any oil that might have splattered on the floor.
And as for Choi Je-ho...
“You want me to peel this whole bag?”
“Yep.”
...I tossed him a bag of chestnuts.
“Why chestnuts of all things? We have apples and pears too.”
“Because chestnuts are the cheapest.”
That was an excuse. The company had provided all the ingredients. But the fans love seeing you do dainty things with hands the size of pot lids, so it can’t be helped.
Though he grumbled, Choi Je-ho sat down and began peeling the raw chestnuts.
“Your form looks pretty practiced.”
“I was the one in charge of fruit at my house.”
That was a surprise. Even for me, Kim I-wol, who prided myself on being an expert on Choi Je-ho and Spark, this was new TMI.
If you had these skills, why did you use your bare hands to crack walnuts in the past?
“Just so you know, I can literally only peel fruit, so don't ask me to do anything else.”
“Don't worry, your inability to do anything else was proven by the kimchi pancake incident last time.”
“Ha, damn it...”
Choi Je-ho turned his head away from me entirely. He seemed to have decided it was better not to talk to me at all.
“If Je-ho hyung is in charge of fruit, what should the other brothers be in charge of? For starters, I can do the dishes.”
Lee Cheong-hyeon raised his hand and stepped forward.
He was immediately stopped by Park Ju-woo.
“Our Cheong-hyeon has to practice the keyboard...”
“I told you about that last time, hyung. I’ll definitely play it at least once before I die! I promise!”
“Just once?”
“...Thirty times!”
At Lee Cheong-hyeon’s counter-offer, Park Ju-woo smiled and let him go. Finally, Lee Cheong-hyeon was allowed to get his hands wet.