Club Invitation
Club Invitation
The cold weather was gradually warming up, and clothes were getting lighter.
As someone who preferred both wearing and seeing thin, light clothes over thick ones,
it was shaping up to be a season that blessed both my eyes and my heart.
But it seemed A-ra wasn't too pleased about my clothes getting lighter.
'Men should be modest.'
It wasn't that. Since I was physically frail,
no matter how much the weather warmed up and thawed out, she seemed to want me to keep dressing thickly.
"Noona, who wears a padded jacket in mid-March?"
"If I wear one, will you wear one too, Seong-hwan-a?"
"That's not what I meant..."
It wasn't quite overprotectiveness, but for A-ra, who paid great attention to my frail health,
it seemed that going out warmly dressed was a matter of great importance.
It couldn't be helped.
How could I refuse my wife when she was worried?
"Alright. But I'll wear a coat instead of a padded jacket."
"Then I have one more condition. I'll leave a hand warmer at the front door, so put it in your pocket."
"Alright. But isn't it time for you to leave?"
Didn't you say last time you got into a squabble over something similar and ended up having to apologize to the directors and staff for being late?
Whenever it was something related to me, A-ra pushed everything else aside.
"Oh, I can't be late today... What do I do..."
"What do you mean, what do you do! Hurry up and run!"
"Ah... Okay. I'll head out first, so you make sure you bundle up well, okay?"
After checking the time on her wristwatch, A-ra dashed over to the front door.
It was painfully cute how she nagged me every day to dress warmly,
but was about to head out herself without even an extra layer.
'As expected...'
When I went into the master bedroom, I saw an outer jacket lying on the table.
She must have forgotten it again.
"Noona! You have to wear this!"
"Huh?"
When she checked what was in my hand, an exclamation mark practically appeared above A-ra's head.
A-ra only seemed to get cuter with age.
"Geez... Before taking care of me, take care of yourself a little, too."
I draped the jacket over A-ra's shoulders.
We had become so practiced at dressing each other by now that there wasn't the slightest hint of awkwardness in the action.
"Then, I'm off too, Noona!"
"See you later."
I scooped up Lil' One in one arm and waved her little paw like a hand as we saw A-ra off together.
It was really cute that our daughter was also telling her mom to come back from work safely.
Our house was filled with cute things—everyone except me.
"Since I only have afternoon classes today... I should do the laundry and run the vacuum..."
"Woof!"
"Right, right. I should feed Lil' One first."
"Woof woof!"
I put Lil' One down on the floor and headed into the kitchen, yawning widely.
I'd better open a can of Cesar.
***
"You're here, traitors."
As I was sipping hot coffee in the parking lot, the two of them got out of the car.
Maybe it was because Jeong Hwan was getting his own car soon, but lately he'd been driving Lee Min-ho's beloved car quite often.
"How long are you going to keep calling us that?"
"Until the day my heart settles."
Ever since that day, I had been calling the two of them traitors.
It was a perfectly fitting nickname for the two who'd abandoned their precious friend and gone off on their own.
"Anyway, did you see the front gate today?"
"I did. The promotional scale had gotten even bigger than last year."
Our school's Arin Club scene hadn't been that big,
but starting this year, they were massively encouraging recruitment by expanding funding
to increase the scale enormously.
"Did you see there was even a club offering restaurant vouchers just for joining?"
"Wow... how much funding are they giving out?"
"It seemed like it was double last year's."
So that was why.
Even the Arin Club president was going crazy in front of the school, shouting for everyone to join club activities.
Well, if the budget's doubled, president or not,
they'd be busy rushing out to promote it.
"But what about you? Planning to join a club?"
"Come on, a guy who's too busy taking care of his dog to even have coffee with us lately—what club's he gonna join?"
"Ahem..."
Sure, taking care of Lil' One was part of it,
but it was also a protest against the two who ran off and abandoned me.
But if I said that last part out loud, I'd sound petty, so I decided to keep it to myself.
"Then what about you guys? Joining a club?"
"Not really thinking about it... but the restaurant tour club looked kind of fun."
"I'm going for the hiking club."
"Hiking...? Well, Lee Min-ho, you always liked that stuff."
It wasn't surprising, since Lee Min-ho was the type who'd exercise in the park or go hiking for dates.
Though, clubs like that are usually dominated by women.
"Let's head in soon, we'll be late for class."
We ended up chatting in the parking lot again.
Looking at the time, it was almost time for the professor to enter the lecture hall.
*
"Excuse me... You're Yoo Seong-hwan, right?"
"Huh? Yes... that's me?"
After my major class ended, I was heading out to the parking lot to go home when someone I'd never met spoke to me.
I had gotten used to women approaching me occasionally to talk or give me coffee,
but it was quite rare for a man to strike up a conversation,
so it made me want to run away for no good reason.
"Are you by any chance interested in things like tarot cards?"
'What is this?'
Was he recruiting for some pseudo-religion, like asking 'Do you know the Way?'
I had gone to see tarot cards once before with A-ra,
but it was just for fun—nothing more, nothing less.
"I'm sorry. I'm not interested in religion."
"No! It's not a cult or anything. I'm from the Tarot Card Arin Club."
"Ah... I'm sorry."
He was from a school club. I had said something incredibly rude.
Even so, the person from the Tarot Card Arin Club
laughed it off, saying it happened often.
"But what can I do? I don't have the time, so I can't join a club."
"O-Oh... Is that so... Well, I guess..."
He probably assumed I was busy filming videos or doing other things.
When it came to my business, it was just spending time with my wife and taking care of Lil' One.
"But what kind of conditions were offered to make every Arin Club so desperate to recruit members?"
"You don't know? Depending on relative performance, they're supposedly giving five times the activity budget and even a club room with two attached rooms."
"Wow... they're spending an insane amount of money just to grow the clubs..."
"That's why there are tons of cases where people just borrow names to pad the numbers."
'Isn't that a loophole?'
I felt like if they got caught, it would only blow up with fraud or misuse of funds.
They didn't seem to be thinking about the consequences.
"Anyway, I'll be off then."
"If you're ever interested, please come to our club room in the student hall!"
He kept pushing even after I said I wasn't interested.
I could only manage a bitter smile after the guy, who kept pestering me to remember their Arin Club, was finally out of sight.
***
"Oh... a pet club..."
Just yesterday, it had felt like hagwon street promotions,
but when I arrived at school this morning, the club promotions had transformed into the atmosphere of a job fair.
Since I had plenty of time before my elective class anyway,
I was browsing the clubs and learned about the existence of a pet club that raised animals like dogs, cats, and hamsters.
"What kind of animal is this?"
"It's a chinchilla. A kind of large rodent. Incredibly cute, right?"
"How long do they live?"
"Their lifespan is about 20 to 25 years."
"Wow... a mouse can live that long?"
The hamster we raised back at the orphanage only lived about three years before dying, you know.
How much I cried back then...
It seemed this chinchilla could live well over 20 years.
"Is it okay to raise this one together with a dog?"
"Hmm... it should be fine as long as you don't keep them in the same cage."
Come on, no matter how clueless I am, I wouldn't put a mouse and a dog in the same cage.
Anyone could see the chinchilla would torment our Lil' One.
"If I join the Arin Club, can I learn the know-how for raising animals too?"
"O-Of course! In our club, there are many people who raise not only dogs and cats, but also lizards and fish."
"Oh... fish..."
Maybe it was because I'd been watching a lot of fish-keeping videos on Qtube recently.
I'd been really wanting to raise guppies, and learning about a club like this felt like perfect timing.
"If you join our club, Seong-hwan... I'll support you with a fish tank, a filter, everything!"
"Really? Then maybe I should join..."
"And our club activities are basically conducted through the chat room rather than in-person meetings, so it's optimal for busy people."
A condition I really liked was pulling me in deeper.
Not only would they provide a full fish setup, but the club activities were centered around the chat room.
Well, since they couldn't bring their pets to school,
the main activity was probably chatting online while showing off their animals.
"In that case, can I sign up?"
"Ah...! Thank you!"
There was nothing to thank me for.
Anyway, I was actually joining an Arin Club.
People really were something you could never fully figure out.
"Then, I'll go get the membership application, so please wait a moment!"
"Take your time."
Anyone watching would think she was running away.
Ah...
she fell...
'Honestly, women...'
While I was debating going over to help her up, she sprang to her feet.
She glanced around quickly, then started running again.
By the time she returned with the application, barely five minutes had passed.