Alpaca
Alpaca
I finished the lecture and rushed out as if someone was chasing me.
The reason was that the air conditioner in the lecture hall had broken down.
Honestly, an air conditioner breaking down at a university wasn't a huge deal.
There were plenty of other lecture halls, and you could just move to another one for a day.
But today, for some reason, every lecture hall was packed, and all of them were holding classes.
It was mid-September, so why was it so hot?
I diligently endured and endured, and after two hours passed, I was now in my beloved car parked in the parking lot, running the air conditioner
and drinking a cold coffee.
Lee Min-ho's and Jeong Hwan-yi's cars were parked neatly on either side, and inside each, the two of them were also drinking coffee and basking in the cold air, just like me.
"If the AC is still broken during the next class, I'm just gonna bail."
It wasn't like missing attendance for a day was the end of the world.
Not having AC in this weather was the real problem.
I'd gotten enough of the AC breeze by now.
I opened the Discord app and joined the server I'd made with Jeong Hwan-yi and Lee Min-ho.
We could chat via text, but getting three people on a simultaneous call was a hassle,
so we usually used the Discord app when all three of us talked.
I heard it was originally a gaming chat app...
But I didn't really play games, so I wasn't sure.
"You two feel like you're gonna live now?"
- I think I barely survived.
- Same.
The voices of the two, who'd seemed like they might keel over at any moment, were now much better.
Those two were guys who felt the heat way more than I did, so they were the type to blast the AC directly on themselves while drinking iced coffee.
You could almost compare them to penguins.
"So? Are we going there today?"
I asked again, just in case.
I'd been looking forward to today alone, so it would be troublesome if they suddenly said they weren't going.
- Of course we're going. I've been looking forward to this so much.
- They blast the AC there, right?
"Well, if the AC isn't on there, it'd be a huge problem."
All the cute Alpacas would die.
The place we were heading to in this hot weather was a farm that had Alpacas, which had oddly become super popular among guys recently.
It was an animal rarely seen in the Republic of Korea, and I didn't know why it was so popular, either.
They were cute-looking.
There was a similar-looking creature called a llama, but honestly, I didn't know what the difference was.
- Someone in the community said llamas look sturdy, and Alpacas look cute.
"So are you saying llamas aren't cute?"
- I guess that's how it turns out?
Personally, I liked the name Alpaca better than llama.
And when it came to fluffiness, Alpacas were definitely cuter...
- Hey, so are we going or not?
Jeong Hwan-yi, who had been listening to our utterly idiotic conversation, spoke up.
If he'd been next to me, I would've smacked him on the head.
- Of course we're going. Right?
"Obviously. I've been waiting so long for today."
And with that, I started the car's engine.
***
The reason we were going to an Alpaca farm out of the blue was, as I said before, because we wanted to see something cute.
To be precise, back when the Director had come to my house to apologize,
I had hinted that I would participate in animal-related programs.
The Director, who felt sorry toward me, had said I didn't have to do it,
but I had told her not to misunderstand—that I was doing animal-related work because I wanted to.
Maybe that was why, because less than three days after I said that, a shoot for an animal-related program was scheduled.
It was the first shoot, but the PD, the directors, and even the MCs treated me well, so it ended nicely. However, there was one thing lacking.
I hadn't been able to touch the animals.
The way I saw it, going on an animal program and not being able to touch the animals was like being a victim of fraud.
So when I half-playfully pestered the Director about it...
'Then, shall I tell you a place where you can touch Alpacas?'
'Yes!!'
The Director, who felt very sorry toward me, had found out that an acquaintance who ran a farm raised Alpacas and told me about it.
She said she had paid for it so that the farm owner and I wouldn't feel uncomfortable, and that I could just go and enjoy myself with peace of mind.
- To think that noona would spend money like this...
"Why, is it weird?"
- When we were kids, she was a cheapskate who never even bought me a slushie.
It didn't seem like she had changed that much.
I'd once seen her not buy coffee for an employee despite the employee pestering and nagging her to.
Strangely, though, when I asked her to buy something for me, she'd hand over her card...
It felt like I was getting special treatment.
"You guys don't get that?"
- Oh man, you know how much of a cheapskate the Director is. The drinks in the break room still come in paper cartons.
"Can't you stop going on and on about those damn glass bottles?"
- No, glass bottles taste way better, I'm telling you? And this guy here calls himself a cooking Qtuber but doesn't even know that?
"Ugh... Fine, fine. Let's get moving again, shall we?"
Even if it was a place with no people and no traffic lights, pulling over into an empty lot just to have a chat for a moment was a bit...
Besides, the farm was only a little further now.
"Should've brought the dogs."
- Lil' One Pipsqueak?
"Got to bring Cloud, too."
- That Cloud kid is a bundle of curiosity, so no way. I'm scared to let him outside when I don't need to, in case he causes an accident.
"Sounds like he went on a rampage?"
- Ugh, just talking about it makes my mouth hurt...
After saying that, Lee Min-ho ended the Discord call, started his engine, and began to lead the way.
We also chuckled, ended the Discord call, and followed behind.
*
"Welcome. You're Seong-hwan, Jeong-hwan, and Lee Min-ho, right?"
"Hello. We'll be in your care today."
When we arrived at the farm, a young hyung-nim, much younger than I expected, was waiting for us.
From what I'd heard, he was a university classmate of the Director's.
Maybe because he was a business administration major, he had a lot of connections everywhere...
You really couldn't ignore the network of a chaebol.
"We'd kept in touch normally, but this time she suddenly said she had an urgent matter, so I was surprised."
"There's no way the Director could be that desperate."
"Haha, how could a chaebol's daughter be short on money?"
Well, that's true...
I had no idea where or how our Director generated her money.
It didn't seem like her salary was that high.
Did she make that much from stocks?
"I understand you said you wanted to see the Alpacas today, is that right?"
"Alpacas, and also I heard you have rabbits and ducks."
"Chickens, ducks, rabbits, quails—I raise a variety. But I keep the Alpacas as companion animals."
"Ah... then I guess I can't adopt one."
So he wasn't raising them for commercial reasons but as pets.
That was a bit of a shame.
Well, it would be hard to raise one in an ordinary household, so only people with a farm or a wide yard could probably keep them.
"That's not necessarily the case. Alpacas just need space to run around."
"...Ordinary households don't have space to run around, though?"
Even our house, a penthouse that was almost 200 pyeong, was nowhere near enough for running around.
Well, the dogs happily ran here and there, though.
"Ah, is that so? Hahahahaha."
What in the world was up with this guy?
I'd thought since he was the Director's friend, he wouldn't be an ordinary person, but this man seemed to have considerable hidden depths, too.
"Um, boss, are you by any chance from a chaebol family?"
"Oh? How did you know? I haven't told anyone."
It took one to know one.
It was practically written on his forehead that he grew up sheltered from the ways of the world, but he didn't seem to realize it.
"No, you just look it."
Should I call it a stereotype?
It just seems like people from chaebol families don't really know about ordinary commoner life.
"Huh?"
"No, nothing."
I brushed it off with a mumble.
Then, as if recalling the past, he started to stroke his chin and think.
"Well, I am from a chaebol family, but after my father passed away, I cut off all relationships due to inheritance issues and have been living on my own."
"Then you're completely self-made?"
"Well, considering I worked on deep-sea fishing boats, did manual labor, and all sorts of things to build this farm... yes, I guess I am self-made."
As I thought, self-made people were cool.
And on top of that, such a young man making his own fortune with farm work—that was seriously impressive.
"Hey, Seong-hwan."
"Huh? What's up?"
"That guy, I just faintly remembered thinking I'd seen him somewhere, but he's a bigger deal than I thought."
"A bigger deal?"
Just how impressive was he for Lee Min-ho, a chaebol family son himself, to call him a big deal?
I thought Lee Min-ho, who practically worshipped the Queens as gods, considered the Queens members to be everything.
"That person... is the grandson of the chairman of Japan's Hard Bank."
"......What?"
Was he talking about that mammoth corporation with a market cap of 100 trillion won?
Since the story of the Hard Bank chairman was covered by several Qtube channels, I knew about it to some extent, too.
Starting a business with a pachinko parlor and becoming the chairman of Japan's largest IT company—wasn't he an amazing person?
And he was definitely a Korean-Japanese...
"We might have met someone way more incredible than we thought."
No, I came to meet Alpacas, so why did I end up meeting a big shot like that?
Could this also be a trap set by the Director?
I didn't know.
Ever since that incident, it felt like everything would end with the conclusion that it was all part of the Director's strategy.