Escape
Escape
After A-ra left with her fishing bag, I decided it was time for a long-overdue deep cleaning.
No matter how diligently you clean every week, a house inevitably gets dirty.
Besides, how much of a nearly 200-pyeong penthouse could A-ra and I realistically clean ourselves?
So, I figured this was a good opportunity to call in a cleaning service for a deep clean.
Honestly, deep-cleaning our house alone was just impossible.
Having made up my mind, I changed clothes and went down to the front desk.
That was because the apartment complex operated its own cleaning service.
"Um... could I arrange for a cleaning service to be sent?"
"If you request same-day service, there will be an additional charge. Is that alright?"
"Ah, that's fine."
I handed over the apartment ID card.
Residents and desk staff did not discuss apartment floor numbers or unit numbers in open areas.
I heard it was a security issue.
"Your request has been processed."
"Thank you. So, should I just go up and wait?"
"When the staff arrive later, you just need to open the door for them."
"Ah, also... are the staff members women...?"
I asked, meaning that having women in the house while I, a man, was alone felt a bit uncomfortable, so could they send male staff instead.
As expected, the desk attendant, who caught on instantly as if we were of one mind, smiled and nodded.
"I'll contact them additionally and request that they send male staff."
"Thank you."
Since they said payment could be made later, I went back up to the room.
That was because there were things to do before the cleaning crew arrived.
First, I put all the valuables into the large safe on the duplex floor.
Well, by valuables, I meant things like cash, cards, and seals, and most important items were already inside this safe.
"And next..."
I couldn't remember what I was going to do, so I pondered it as I came down the stairs.
As I reached the living room, the intercom chimed with perfect timing.
I seemed to have finished most of the preparations, and it looked like it was okay to let the cleaning staff in.
"Hello, we're BQ Cleaning."
"Thank you for today."
"It's our pleasure. Your home is quite spacious."
Maybe it was a service industry trait, but their friendly approach didn't make me uncomfortable at all.
I should definitely call them again the next time I do a deep clean.
***
"Then, we'll be heading off now."
"Take care."
"Make sure you lock the door securely. I've heard things have been unsettling lately."
I had thought a cleaning service would just be ordinary cleaning, but it was a little different from what I'd expected.
The equipment they brought wasn't just ordinary cleaning supplies.
Maybe because of that, our house, now as clean as when we first moved in, felt so pure and immaculate with the air purifier running that I almost felt like I was in a forest.
"Phew..."
With that, intent on fully enjoying the clean house, I lay down spread-eagled in the middle of the living room.
The chill rising from the cold marble floor doubled the loneliness of being left home alone, so I turned on the boiler.
"The cleaning's done... what should I do now?"
It was only lunchtime, so what was there to do?
There was nothing to watch on TV...
Maybe I should call Jeong Hwan-yi or Lee Min-ho.
I could suggest we talk over a cup of coffee at a cafe.
"No... they'll both be tired, too."
They'd been out having fun to their heart's content; where would they find the energy to hang out again today?
Since I was alone anyway, I needed to find a way to entertain myself.
Should I turn on the computer?
Or maybe the Switch?
"Haa... I really do have nothing to do."
I let out a sigh, got up from my spot, and stretched my arms wide.
"At times like this, I have to use the chance offered by my internet friends."
The plan was to post on community forums and SNS to get recommendations on what to do.
That sort of thing seemed to be pretty popular these days.
Well, it only seemed to be popular among women, though.
*
"Ahh... I really was tired after all..."
After posting on SNS and the community, my eyelids got heavy and drowsiness washed over me, so I decided to rest my eyes for just a moment... but when I looked at the clock, it was already pointing to 4 o'clock.
I'd thought I was bored to death with nothing to do, but time passed well enough.
Wasn't the true ultimate move simply taking a nap?
"In any case... the comments are no joke as usual..."
I scrolled through the comments on my phone. People were recommending many things that actually seemed pretty interesting.
Of course, among them were comments asking when the next Qtube video would be uploaded and sexually harassing comments.
This was definitely one of those times when I could feel that I had grown mentally more mature.
At first, when I saw posts like that, they would stay in my head all night and cause me pain, but now they were just funny.
"But anyway... eating chicken while watching Qtube..."
There was a post recommending a very specific set of actions.
It said to put a Qtube video on the big TV, order half fried, half seasoned chicken from a certain brand, and eat it together with cola. That, they said, was pure bliss.
"It's almost dinner time... should I try it...?"
I skipped the rest of the comments because they were mostly things that were hard to actually do.
And seeing the comment about chicken made me feel a slight craving for it.
***
"Unnie! The rod!"
"Hit!"
At Eun-ji's signal, A-ra jerked the fishing rod upward.
The sight of her standing up from her seat and reeling in the line was a tough and charismatic scene — unimaginable at the fishing cafe she'd visited with her husband.
After reeling for quite a while, the shape of a fish began to appear in the distant water.
It was a fish with striking black and white stripes.
"A black porgy right from the start? A-ra won this bet."
Letting out a sigh, Hwa-young began to regret it. She thought she shouldn't have even started a bet like this.
"Don't be ridiculous, we've only just started."
"Just looking, that one's easily 40cm. Can you beat that?"
"Of course."
Yeji gave a confident reply and then took her stance to cast.
Her form was so perfect you could easily call her a legendary fishing master.
"Yeji... don't tell me you go fishing regularly?"
"I go out every single weekend?"
"Every weekend!?"
Hwa-young was genuinely shocked. She'd always wondered where Yeji went every weekend, guessing it might be church, but it turned out she'd been going fishing while keeping it a secret from them.
"Hey, if you were going to go, why didn't you take me with you instead of going alone?"
"Sorry, sorry. I just like enjoying it alone. Wanna go together starting this weekend?"
"Yeah, please let's go together. I'm bored to death on weekends."
For Hwa-young, who mainly worked as a movie or drama actress rather than filming variety shows, winter was practically an off-season. This was because her slender figure shone the most during summer shoots.
"What, Hwa-young, you liked fishing too?"
"Is there any woman who hates fishing?"
"Well, they'd be hard to find for sure."
Even just among the members gathered here, everyone liked fishing.
And that wasn't all. In Eun-ji's case, she was even sticking her fingers into the mouth of the fish A-ra caught to remove the hook.
"That Eun-ji, there doesn't seem to be anything she can't do."
"Right, and she's only twenty."
She was the cute youngest of the group, but her actions felt... a little mature, perhaps?
"Eun-ji! How many centimeters is that one?"
"41cm!"
"Wow... we're really in trouble..."
Was it because the very first catch of the day was already a size big enough to practically guarantee first place?
Yeji and Hwa-young gulped and refocused their attention on their fishing rods.
***
"Hello?"
- Seong-hwan-a, what are you doing?
I was eating chicken with the boiler turned on and watching Qtube on the TV when a call came from A-ra.
I couldn't tell if the fishing was going well, or if she was just happy to be out with the members, but her voice sounded so cheerful that a bitter smile automatically appeared on my face.
"I was just eating. Noona, have you had a meal?"
- Not yet. More importantly, do you know what I caught?
"How would I know? Did you catch a shark or something?"
- Huh? How did you know?
What were the odds that my completely random guess turned out to be real?
More than that, did sharks even live in the western sea?
- Ahaha, just kidding. It was a prank.
"Right? There's no way you'd just casually catch a shark. So what did you catch?"
- I caught a black porgy and a big mullet.
Just like a child bragging to their parents, she started listing the fish she'd caught that day, one by one.
From what I heard, she'd made some kind of bet with the members, but she caught a 40cm black porgy in just 10 minutes, winning right from the start.
- I'll keep these alive and bring them tomorrow, so please make spicy fish stew.
"Black porgy spicy fish stew?"
- Yep!
Wasn't black porgy a pretty expensive fish meant for sashimi?
Was it really okay to use that to make stew instead of slicing it into sashimi?
I was a little scared the Dragon King might curse us for it.
I should take a picture and post it on the community later when I make it into stew.
"Alright. And if you bring other fish too, I'll make you lots of tasty things."
- Okay, thank you. Then I'm going to go back to fishing now.
"Don't stay out too late."
- Got it!
I should call Eun-ji later and tell her that if they're going to do night fishing, they should do it in a well-lit area. Accidents could happen if they fished in places with poor visibility.
For example, on tetrapods, or cliffs... While the coastal areas might not seem that way, there were actually quite a few scary and dangerous spots.
I'd heard there were dozens of fatal falls from tetrapods every year, so they had to be extra careful.
I couldn't understand how fishermen managed to walk and climb on those terrifying things.