Comeback (2)
Comeback (2)
How busy would she get...
Of course, she had said she wasn't thinking about returning to solo activities yet, so it might take a little while.
But since she would return someday, it wasn't wrong to call it a reality that was approaching.
Maybe that was why my sighs had been growing more frequent lately.
"Hey, don't cry when you see A-ra-nim."
"I'm not crying. What do you take me for..."
"An early-twenties guy struggling because he can't see his wife for about a week?"
The only correct parts of that answer were "not seeing his wife for about a week" and "early-twenties."
Everything else was wrong.
Just then, the door opened with a creak.
Louder sounds than before poured in from outside, sounding like a troop of chimpanzees about to erupt at any moment.
Idol fandoms really were incredible.
They seemed scarier than my own fans.
"The members will be arriving soon, so family members, please come out and follow me."
I sprang up at those words.
The plane A-ra was on had apparently landed.
The other family members chatted among themselves, looking forward to meeting their daughters, older sisters, and noonas, and headed outside.
Watching that, we slowly followed them out.
***
"How many people here today came through the lottery?"
"I understand it's close to 500 people."
"...That's a huge number."
Was it just an illusion that it seemed like more than 500?
It probably looked that way because of the light sticks and banners those people were holding.
Making those must cost a lot of money...
Apparently, being an idol fan required having a lot of money.
"So that's why that bastard Lee Min-ho is an idol otaku!"
"Why are you picking a fight all of a sudden?"
"It's not a fight. I was just wondering if rich people tended to be idol otakus."
It was quitting time, after all.
Weren't the people over there, young as they looked, people who could get off work or didn't need to work at all?
Which automatically meant they were people with a lot of money.
"Will the concert draw a crowd like this too?"
"Considering the domestic concert will be held at Sangam World Cup Stadium, this is a small number."
"That place... how many people can it even..."
"The number of tickets sold this time is about 60,000."
I'd heard they sold out in one second, so I thought it would be something like 500 people. But not 5,000, yet 60,000?
Were idol concerts originally such large-scale events?
"Nah, other groups could never pull it off. It's possible because it's Queens."
"For reference, the price of one ticket..."
"C-seat was 100,000 won, and up to A-seat it gets 50,000 won more expensive each step. S-seat was 450,000 won, and R-seat was 750,000 won, was it?"
"...Expensive."
"Scalped tickets are even worse. A C-seat with guaranteed entry would probably go for around 7 million won."
"What? Scalped tickets? They clearly said they'd check before entry..."
"There are still people who manage to get in somehow. Of course, we're all aware of it, but..."
He explained that because the law hasn't been able to regulate it properly yet, they sometimes have no choice but to let them in.
For example, cases where the person who bought the scalped ticket also brought the seller's ID card.
It was somewhat astonishing that people went to such lengths to buy and sell scalped tickets.
"Wait, I received four VIP seats from A-ra Noona. How much do those cost?"
"Well, they aren't sold to begin with, they're given to industry people, so I don't know for sure, but..."
The agency employee thought for a moment.
Having finished his rough calculation, he slowly opened his mouth.
"As a sale price, maybe around 5 million won? Since scalping is impossible, the price can't be measured."
"Wow... our seats are worth five million won?"
"Seong-hwan, you are my friend for life."
Jeong Hwan-yi was dumbfounded, but Lee Min-ho was cheering.
It was something A-ra gave us anyway, and its actual value... well, it must have value.
Since it was an item not for sale, I wished he wouldn't worry about it.
"Alright, then you can wait here."
"This place is..."
It was something like a concert hall, located right in front of where the invited guests were sitting earlier.
Who knew there was a space like this back here?
It was a bit dim, though.
"Hoo... I'm nervous."
"Because you're seeing your wife for the first time in a while?"
"There's that, and... earlier I saw a ton of reporters had come too."
Broadcasting station cameras were set up here and there, and internet news reporters were packed in.
My face was inevitably going to end up all over the internet, so how could I not be nervous?
"Lee Min-ho, aren't you nervous?"
"Why would I be?"
"I'm telling you, a ton of reporters are here?"
"Not really? I've appeared on Lee Min-ho's channel a ton, and on your channel a ton too, so my face has been exposed to death. Whatever."
Jeong Hwan-yi didn't care at all.
He actually looked confident.
Could I be the only one who was nervous?
After that, the atmosphere in the hall heated up quite a bit when the members arrived.
In the midst of people shouting that they loved them, all I could hear for a while was the sound of camera flashes going off.
"Now! Next up! We have planned a special event for our Queens members! Give them a hand!"
As soon as we heard the MC's words, we gulped.
Because it would soon be our time to go out and hand over the bouquets we were holding.
"Okay, everyone waiting in the back, please come out!"
Spurred on by that somewhat corny line, we started scurrying out as if possessed by ghosts.
Who on earth was that MC?
***
All the events ended, and we returned to the car.
The other members also left to spend time with their families, and since I was A-ra's family, she followed me, holding my hand.
A-ra, trotting along holding my hand, was so cute that I stroked her head, but we hadn't had a proper conversation yet.
Was it because of that?
A-ra wore a slightly tense expression, and I could even feel a slight trembling in her hand.
A-ra and I sat in silence for a while after getting into the car.
And it was I who broke it.
"Noona, did you stay well during the week?"
"Yeah... Seong-hwan-ah, more importantly, did you stay well?"
"I stayed well. Come here."
We weren't sitting in the driver's seat and passenger seat right now.
I'd taken the back seat so I could pull her into a tight hug.
A-ra's embrace, the first in a long while, was cozy and smelled nice.
It smelled like she had sprayed perfume, but it was a mild, natural scent, not a strong one.
So, under the pretense of smelling that perfume, I buried my face in A-ra's cleavage.
A-ra, finding that cute, stroked my head.
"Soft and squishy, right?"
"Yeah, your chest got a little bigger, noona."
"This? It's padding."
A-ra gently lifted my face up and then put her hand inside her chest area.
And what came out of there was some slightly thick-looking padding.
I took the padding she was holding in both hands.
To think this had been inside her chest.
"Are you disappoin-ted?"
"Why would I be disappointed? They're already big."
Grinning widely, I reached out and placed my hands on A-ra's chest.
The breasts I was touching for the first time in a while were big, heavy, and soft.
This was possible because we were underground and the car had good tinting, so no one could see inside.
If we'd done this outside, it would have been a disaster.
"What, nothing would happen if I touched a woman's chest outside?"
"No, I don't want to let other people see this kind of sight."
"Hehe, so Seong-hwan-ie secretly has a possessive side?"
Why ask something so obvious.
It was only natural for a man to feel possessive of a woman.
And conversely, it was only natural for a woman to feel possessive of a man.
"Noona, don't you?"
"Of course I'm possessive~"
"And that's the person who abandoned her husband for a whole week!"
"Haung!"
But I really had felt lonely, so she had to put up with my childishness.
First, I squeezed A-ra's large breasts tightly with my hands.
A-ra's face turned red.
Unable to hold back for a moment longer, I kissed her lips.
Since it was a kiss after a whole week, it was even sweeter than usual.
***
"Please eat a lot."
"Wow! Korean food!"
Since she must have only eaten other countries' food abroad, I made doenjang jjigae with lots of shrimp and grilled some samgyeopsal.
Along with that, well-fermented green onion kimchi, napa cabbage kimchi, and seasoned raw crab.
For anyone else, it would be an amount they could easily eat two or three helpings of, but for A-ra, it barely added up to one meal.
"Thank you for the meal~! Oh, right! I brought a present, so open my bag and check!"
"A present?"
"I bought it in Japan, thought you'd like it, so I brought it!"
What could there be that I would like?
First, I nodded and said okay, then came out to the living room.
Come to think of it, I needed to unpack her bag too.
She must have worn various clothes over the week, so they all needed to go in the laundry...
Busy, busy.
"But what kind of present..."
With a zzi-ick! sound, the bag opened.
There were worn clothes and a mix of odds and ends, but one single item caught my eye, shining as if it were glowing brightly.
"Th-this is..."
"You said you tried to reserve it recently but couldn't get it, right? Noona managed to procure it somehow."
"N-Noona...."
It was a Sony smartphone.
To think of my hobby and get me such a precious thing... I felt like I could fall for A-ra over and over again.
Happiness overflowed abundantly in my heart, while the hearts of Lil' One and Pipsqueak, who were sitting next to me huffing and complaining that there was nothing for them, were clouded over with envy.
You couldn't reserve it, couldn't buy it directly from overseas, and the proxy service wouldn't accept it either.
How much had I been drooling, wanting this.
Ahh... as expected, A-ra was a god.
A single ray of light that saved my life!