Indoor Hot Spring (3)
Indoor Hot Spring (3)
After traveling along the national highway for some time, they got onto the expressway past the tollgate.
Nothing but fields, mountains, and factories stretched out around them.
The expressway was a lonelier road than expected.
With only the deolkeong-deolkeong rattle of the car and the occasional honking of horns, there was nothing else to hear.
There was no place as boring and uninteresting as this.
Of course, the drivers using this road probably drove along without giving it much thought.
A-ra was cheerfully singing along to her own song playing from my car.
A small concert, truly just for me.
Anyway, Gyeongsangbuk-do, huh.
I grew up in Gyeonggi Province, so this was my first time heading that way.
"It's my first time going to the Gyeongbuk area."
"I've been there a few times for filming, you know."
"What kind of filming?"
"For sageuk filming. I stopped by a place called Mungyeong Saejae, you know?"
I had heard Mungyeong Saejae was a famous historical drama filming location.
When I looked up what productions had been filmed there, not only works I'd seen but also the names of famous and successful works I hadn't seen were listed one after another.
For some reason...
I always thought the backgrounds in sageuks I watched looked strangely similar...
"Is this your first time going, Seong-hwan?"
"Yes, so I'm feeling a bit excited."
"That's strange. Don't schools in Gyeonggi or Seoul usually go on field trips to Gyeongju?"
A-ra tilted her head, finding it a bit odd.
Should I laugh or give a bitter smile...
I didn't want to say it because A-ra would probably feel sorry for no reason.
"There's a reason for everything~"
"Don't tell me, did you go somewhere else?"
"But you're from Gyeongnam, noona? Where did you go on your school trip? Japan?"
"No? I went to Seoul, though?"
"...What's there to see in Seoul?"
"We saw the National Museum, Gyeongbokgung Palace, the National Assembly building... what else did we see?"
It had been over ten years ago, so she couldn't quite remember.
A-ra had dropped out of high school in her first year because of her debut and took the qualification exam.
So she didn't go on a high school trip, which meant her last field trip was automatically in middle school.
"You must have gone with Hwa-young."
"But we were in different classes. So we secretly swapped rooms at night and slept, you know?"
"You didn't... force the swap or anything, right?"
"Tteok! We exchanged rooms by mutual agreement!"
I knew perfectly well A-ra wasn't the type to bully anyone.
But there were a fair number of cases where former classmates subtly targeted celebrities for money and threatened them.
People with nothing better to do, seriously.
It must seem so easy to freeload off someone else's money.
"You got along well with all your friends, noona."
"That's a line I've heard a lot somewhere~"
"Tch... Seong-hwan, you're my husband and you don't even believe me about that?"
A-ra was on the verge of sulking.
Since I was driving, I just gently stroked her hair.
"Hehe, pet me more."
"I'll do the rest at the rest area."
For now, I really needed the bathroom.
I wished the rest area would appear soon.
*
"Phew... I almost shit my pants."
He came outside saying something that could have been a disaster.
Earlier, while I was holding it in, the sky had looked yellow, but now it stretched out clear and pure, not a single cloud in sight.
If I'd been just a little later, I would have ended up soiling my pants.
To mess myself in the car during a trip— I might have gotten out and walked off from sheer embarrassment.
"I drank too many beverages in the car."
A-ra, who had been waiting for me in front of the restroom hugging Lil' One and Pipsqueak, came over.
Since she looked like she was struggling to hold both, I took Lil' One to carry.
Now that I looked, they already had their leashes on.
As expected, A-ra was the best when it came to being prepared.
"But isn't it a bit... for a boy to say he's about to shit?"
"You heard all that?"
"That's a little embarrassing."
"It's not something a man should say in public."
A-ra pointed out my unconscious remark in a tone that was both scolding and gentle, and stroked my hair.
She'd unconsciously mixed apologizing with scolding, doing both at the same time.
"Noona... this is a little embarrassing..."
Thank goodness I was wearing sunglasses and a mask. The people around us were glancing over and leaving with smiles, as if they'd seen something cute.
I nearly died of embarrassment.
To the point where I might have been better off just wetting myself.
"Um... let's just buy some butter potatoes and get back in the car."
"No drinks~"
"Can't I just buy one Powerade? I'm really thirsty."
"Hmm..."
A-ra suddenly started staring at my lower half.
What was she thinking?
"No, the mouth of the bottle is narrow."
"What does that have to do with drinks..."
"Ah..."
Was she thinking of using the bottle as a substitute toilet?
Then a Powerade bottle would be way too small— I'd need at least a 50L water jug...
"Or maybe not? Is it just the right size?"
"You're supposed to say it's small at times like that..."
At least I wanted to hear A-ra say it's big...
Her honesty hit me hard!!
"What's wrong? Come on, let's go buy butter potatoes."
"Yes..."
A-ra grinned and held out her hand to me.
I let out a hollow laugh and took her hand too.
But butter potatoes, huh.
They're on the list of must-eat rest stop foods, but shouldn't we be getting those long sausages here?
Or walnut pastries!
Potatoes are just too plain.
*
While A-ra was buying the butter potatoes, I decided to take Lil' One and Pipsqueak for a walk so they wouldn't feel cooped up.
Fortunately, there was a simple walking path behind the rest area.
Maybe because it was a rest area with a lot of foot traffic, the facilities were well maintained, and there were even a few exercise machines to help you wake up before hitting the road again.
They were similar to the ones on the apartment walking path, so I found them pretty fascinating.
"Where on earth do they buy things like this?"
I'd once thought about starting a business, and that made me wonder where they sourced the items they sold.
Don't sellers usually buy in bulk from wholesalers at a cheap price?
But I had no idea where those wholesalers were.
I guess connections really are the most important thing for people.
I should ask Director Jeong Hwan-yi, Lee Min-ho later.
"Meong!"
"Meong."
"Tteok, Lil' One, Pipsqueak!"
While I was thinking that, a person walking from the opposite direction approached, and
the distance between the dog they were walking and our kids got closer.
The other person's dog— whether a Pomeranian or a Spitz— looked cute but seemed very timid.
Because when Lil' One let out a 'Meong!', it stood still and whimpered.
"I'm sorry. It looks like our dog scared yours."
"No, it's okay. Yeoul is a male, so he's a bit scared."
I crouched down in front of the whimpering dog.
Then I looked up and decided to get the owner's permission.
"Is it okay if I pet his head?"
"Yes, go ahead."
"Yeoul, I'm sorry?"
But Yeoul, male or not, you shouldn't be scared of babies only a few months old.
How are you going to get through this difficult world like that?
Aigoo, you cute thing.
I petted his head and patted his bottom a few times.
As expected, the outdoors really is the best.
Like this— meeting other dogs, meeting people, having conversations.
"I should train Lil' One not to bark at dogs he meets for the first time."
"Meong!"
"What are you going to do if you meet a big dog?"
Lil' One, who couldn't do anything but yelp at the Golden Retriever we saw at the Sky Lounge recently.
Honestly, Pipsqueak, who was just a cotton puff, seemed braver.
"Should we start heading back?"
It had been less than five minutes since we started walking, but they'd probably finished eating by now.
We should get going.
***
"Oh... as expected of an expensive pension..."
I came inside the pension and started looking around at the interior layout.
Outside, there was not only an open-air hot spring but also a cold water pool, so it seemed like the kind of pension where you could have fun in any season.
"Seong-hwan, there's firewood here too."
"There's no charcoal?"
"There are clamshell briquettes, though. And also a fire starter."
"It's worth the price. There's a lot more prepared than I thought..."
Plus, there's a large yard, which is nice for the dogs to run around in.
Maybe because they'd been cooped up in their cage for so long, our doggies were happily racing around the yard.
What's more, there was a fence, so no one could come in or go out.
It was also set some distance from the other pensions, making it a layout that definitely ensured privacy.
"First, should we turn on the air conditioner?"
When I pressed the power button on the air conditioner remote lying on the table, the system air conditioner started up.
I liked it.
I'll have to come back again next time.
"Noona, I'll go check out the second floor."
"I'll go turn on the water."
They decided to wash up first before dinner.
And after eating, they'd go into the open-air bath again with A-ra, under the pretext that they smelled of charcoal and briquettes.
"Heuheu..."
Today was the day of revenge.
Revenge for being utterly defeated at the hot spring during last year's honeymoon.
What would be the best way to exact revenge?
At the very least, within limits that don't seem dangerous or likely to cause injury, right?
Back then, she took it to the point where I fainted...
I should think of a way to give her such pleasure that she faints too.