Cherry Blossoms and Hidden Realities
At that moment, Yuyeon was walking out of school with her friends, violin case slung over her shoulder.
After her brother Namhun had grilled her about how expensive the violin she used was, costing a whopping ten million won.
Yuyeon had no choice but to tense up every single day after school.
If she learned that the price would jump even higher once she entered high school, she might just faint on the spot.
‘It feels like five hundred pieces of seasoned chicken are weighing down her shoulders.’
Thankfully, chicken prices had skyrocketed in recent years, or else it would have been even worse.
Back when she first started using this full-size violin in fifth grade, it had topped six hundred.
‘At the time, I only used it when I went to lessons with Unni Sera, but…’
Now thinking back, I remember how carefully Oppa Namhun handled it.
Only in middle school, when he handed it to me, did he say just one thing.
—It’s the one Mom used, so be careful not to lose it.
At first, I thought that single line was enough to make me manage it properly.
But after I found out about the family situation, and saw how my other friends treasured their instruments, I finally realized.
That Oppa had been trying so hard not to burden me.
Right then, the most lively one among the friends, Seonhwa, shouted loudly.
“Wow~ Look! Cherry blossoms are blooming!”
The other friends immediately burst into excited squeals.
“For real? Let’s take a photo over there!”
A row of cherry trees lined the street in front of the school, and they were in full, beautiful bloom.
“My sister said all that’s left is the photos.”
“My mom too. Even though she’s a bit plump now, old photos show she looks so much like me. I never believed her when she said she was skinny back then.”
“Cherry blossoms bloom and fall so fast. We have to take pictures right away.”
“Uh…”
Yuyeon had never taken a photo like this.
That was because when she was little, Namhun’s mental state had been terrible.
He had still been struggling with the shock and wasn’t even good with household chores.
With twin toddlers and him sick on top of it, he couldn’t leave them at daycare.
Of course, he never even dreamed of going out for fun.
Only after Yuyeon grew older did she start working to earn money, and they hardly ever saw each other’s faces.
The few family photos she had were those taken when Yoo Sera visited the house and those where she was dragged to the photo studio.
That was all they had—complete family photos together.
Because of that, the very act of taking photos felt awkward to Yuyeon.
“I have lessons, though…”
“Today the teacher is coming to the house, right? We have a little time.”
Yuyeon tried to slip away from the awkward situation, but her friends grabbed her.
In truth, the walk to Sera’s studio in Gangnam took longer than going home from school.
“Even so, it’s only about ten minutes.”
“Ten minutes is plenty of time for taking photos.”
“Haa…”
Yuyeon knew it wouldn’t end in ten minutes, but she had no strength to shake off the three hyper puberty girls.
Anyway, visiting Sera was basically just playing around when she came to the house.
‘Maybe a little late is fine?’
The friends dragged Yuyeon around, searching for spots where photos would turn out pretty.
“This spot is perfect.”
“This tree is the biggest.”
“Let’s take turns, one at a time, and then a group shot. Mine’s an iPhone, so… who has an Apple phone? It makes the photo prettier, right?”
“Mine’s a mini iPhone, so let’s use Seonhwa’s. You have an iPhone Pro, don’t you?”
“Yeah.”
They started taking photos, circling around Seonhwa’s phone.
Click, click.
Finally, they asked another passing friend for a group shot.
“Post the group one on Instagram and the individual ones on Apple Drop… No, you have an iPhone Flip, right? I’ll send it to KakaoTalk.”
“Sure.”
“Oh, don’t forget to send the original quality.”
“Got it.”
Watching them quietly, Yuyeon suddenly felt left out.
Among them, she was the only one without a smartphone.
Actually, several months after entering middle school, almost no students at the whole school had one.
Thanks to the arts school, parents and kids talked a lot.
“Hey… how much does a cheap smartphone cost?”
“Cheap one? Seonhwa should know better than anyone.”
The friends’ gazes turned to Seonhwa, who answered carefully.
“Um… even the regular iPhone is expensive for this generation. The mini one she’s using is over eight hundred thousand won.”
“My mom bought it and I didn’t know it cost eight hundred thousand? What kind of rice cakes is that?”
“Is there anything cheaper?”
“The cheapest Galaxy model is a little over two hundred thousand. But it’s a bit inconvenient to use… something around five hundred thousand would be fine, I think?”
“Even the basic one has KakaoTalk and internet?”
“That’s standard these days.”
“Then even the cheaper one is okay!”
All Yuyeon wanted was to talk with her friends.
At that, the friends exchanged awkward glances.
Among the four who walked together, Yuyeon was the only one carrying a five-million-won violin.
That was why no one had ever thought her family situation was bad.
But after months of experience and hearing today’s story, it was clear her pocket money was tight.
The first to notice was Seonhwa, who quickly changed the subject.
“Ugh. Anyway, we took all the photos. Let’s go.”
“Aaa~ I don’t want to practice.”
“We have to, though.”
They all grumbled as they walked, but a man’s voice suddenly came from beside them.
“Kids, I’ll give you a ride to the station.”
It was none other than Yuyeon’s brother Namhun.
* * *
It was the morning arrival at Yeohyeon Middle School, but today was the first time he came specifically for pickup after school.
Namhun arrived a bit early and parked his car in the nearby Minyoung lot, then hid nearby to watch for Yuyeon coming out.
“Mom, I’m out of school! Where are you?”
As soon as the other kids left the gate, they all pulled out their smartphones.
Art middle school kids, after all, had many parents who picked them up.
But shockingly, every single one of them held the latest model.
When Yuyeon was still elementary, there weren’t many kids with phones.
Even those who had them mostly had kids’ phones or basic cheap models.
‘Is that because this is an arts school?’
It made sense since more kids with well-off families came here.
But searching confirmed it wasn’t.
—The middle school daughter asked me to buy her an iPhone. It seems too expensive for the kids to use. What should I do?
└ These days most girls use iPhones. If I buy a cheap one, they get upset.
└ But iPhones are harder for kids to manage than Galaxy. So I bought the new Galaxy Flip. Luckily she likes it because it’s pretty.
Even regular middle school students all carried flagship smartphones.
Those who didn’t had no choice but to feel relative deprivation.
“Raising one child drains the parents’ backs completely. That’s why people aren’t having kids these days?”
Namhun couldn’t help sighing.
But he had no right to say that.
In his childhood, he had been a money-sucking ghost.
Before he seriously chose singing, he even competed in violin contests.
In fact, if you looked at their head-to-head records from the time they competed together, he still beat Sera.
Because he switched to singing as his career and quit violin.
Now he still used their forever-fixed defeat as a laughingstock whenever the chance came.
* * *
After Yuyeon’s friends got out, the three of them piled into the back seat while Yuyeon sat in the front.
The three friends kept glancing at Namhun’s face in the rearview mirror.
Namhun knew exactly what their reaction meant.
‘Still, my condition isn’t that bad, I guess.’
The former idol Namhun was used to such girl glances.
It was a relief.
Since he had started preparing to be a singer again, he had to pay attention to his looks.
“You’re Yuyeon’s friends, right?”
“Ye-yes.”
“Seonhwa, Sehee, and Yowon from left to right, right?”
When the unfamiliar man called their names, all three’s eyes widened.
“You know our names?”
“Of course. Yuyeon’s close friend, right? I hear your names every day. I even saw your faces from a distance every morning.”
“Ah.”
Only then did they remember that Namhun drove Yuyeon to school every morning.
“We thought you were a handsome bodyguard.”
“Haha. Handsome? Just a normal uncle. Anyway, thanks for taking care of Yuyeon. I’m a guy, and Mom’s not here, so I’m lacking in some ways.”
“Oh, no.”
Even after that, Namhun kept talking to them, but the three friends only rolled their eyes, answered in one word, or forced awkward smiles.
“Um… they’re all quiet types?”
At that, Yuyeon let out a huge sigh.
“Why are you like this? Just a second ago, you were…”
Yowon, sitting in the back, reached out and pinched Yuyeon’s side.
“Ow!”
Yuyeon yelped, surprising Namhun.
“What’s wrong?”
“Oh, nothing. Suddenly a bug stuck to the side window and I got startled.”
“Really?”
After that, Namhun kept talking to the three friends, but they gave almost no replies.
“If you all get off at the station on the fifth line, is that okay?”
Just as Yuyeon was about to answer, Seonhwa opened her mouth.
“Oh, no! If possible, could you drop us off at the second line station?”
“Sure, it’s only five minutes. Okay.”
“Thank you, Oppa.”
“Thank you, Oppa.”
“Thank you, Oppa.”
Suddenly three middle school girls gave robot-like greetings over a nothing, and Namhun was taken aback.
“Uh… sure.”
The three middle school girls deliberately circled around and got off at the second line station.
Only after the Ekus left did they return to normal.
“I didn’t know because she was wearing a mask, but Yuyeon’s Oppa is a real handsome guy.”
“Handsome? No, total fake.”
“So that’s what ‘mahaeja’ means…”
“Probably just hiding her face so she doesn’t get noticed if she goes out without it.”
“I’m glad I asked for the second line stop.”
“Yeah. You did great.”
“But Yuyeon’s Oppa said he was much older, right?”
“Yeah? He said there was a difference of over ten years.”
“So late twenties? To me he looks about the same age as JTC’s Je-hun Oppa.”
“That’s impossible. Je-hun Oppa is twenty-one. Let’s ask again tomorrow.”
“Anyway, I’m jealous. If only I had an Oppa.”
“You’d regret saying that the second you saw our mom’s son.”
Yuyeon had no idea her friends were talking about Namhun and just looked confused.
‘Why are they acting like this all of a sudden?’
* * *
After Yuyeon’s friends got off, Namhun drove home in silence.
He had been watching the entire time since the four of them left the gate.
—Hey… how much is the cheap smartphone?
—Well, there is a cheap one, right?
—KakaoTalk and internet work on it?
The moment he remembered what his sister had said, strength gripped the steering wheel.
He had worked hard so Yuyeon wouldn’t feel deprived, but reality was reality.
‘I had no idea Yuyeon wanted a smartphone this badly.’
After all, it was said that without a smartphone these days you got bullied.
It was true that kids were more sensitive to trends.
Namhun had no choice but to blame himself for neglecting Yuyeon because he was too busy.
‘Yeah. Since money’s coming in, I should buy Yuyeon a smartphone soon.’
Seeing everyone else with them, he decided he had to buy one.
He was already worried because he stayed out late alone after lessons, unlike elementary school.
‘Good timing.’
Thanks to Sera, he had earned a lot of money. He was already considering a gift, but.
Deciding to buy both of them a smartphone felt right.
* * *
The gratitude Yuyeon felt toward Sera vanished the moment she stepped into the house.
Because the inside was a mess.
The twins’ toys were scattered everywhere, the dishes piled like a mountain.
Even the leftovers from delivery food.
Sera, who had been lying on the floor playing with the twins and staring at the cracked-screen smartphone, waved her hand as she lay on her side.
“Huh, you’re back?”