Comeback(3)
Comeback(3)
"Really... for real!? Oppa, are you serious!?"
"I told you I am."
I was on the phone with my younger sister, Minji.
The topic of conversation was A-ra's concert.
Just in case, I hadn't said a word about it until Friday, the day before the concert.
That was because Minji had a pretty shrewd side to her, and I figured she might ask me to get her a ticket.
Why?
Because getting it for her when she asked would make me seem more like a reliable older brother — pretty cool, right?
I had been secretly looking forward to that dramatic scenario.
But in the end, Minji never even tested the waters or asked me.
Which only made her seem all the more admirable. And cute, too.
"You're coming, right?"
"O-of course I'm coming! And it's a VIP seat on top of that..."
When I told her there were only eight seats like this in the entire concert, she was so overjoyed she sounded like she might pass out on the spot.
Anyone would react that way hearing there are only eight such seats in a crowd of sixty thousand.
"Then I'll come pick you up tomorrow."
"Okay! Thanks, oppa!"
"No need to thank me. In exchange, let's go get a health checkup together sometime."
"Health checkup? Whyyy?"
Even though Minji was on the other end of the line, I could vividly picture her tilting her head with a puzzled expression, as if she had no idea what I was talking about.
"Why do you think? I heard that before you reunited with me, you were living on nothing but instant ramen every single day."
"Well... I didn't have any money?"
"Do you really think your body's going to be fine after eating nothing but ramen like that for so long? No arguing — you're coming to the hospital with me."
"Fine... but I'm not sick."
Illness is a lot like a clock.
It runs perfectly fine, and then suddenly the hands just stop moving.
That's why you take care of a clock regularly — protect it from shocks, keep it away from moisture, and get it overhauled on a schedule.
The same goes for people.
I ended the call and let out a sigh.
What was that about selling popcorn at the concert venue?
"Seong-hwan-ah~ Oh? Were you on the phone?"
"No, I just hung up."
Wearing only dolphin pants and a white t-shirt, A-ra came into the master bedroom holding Lil' One and Pipsqueak in her arms.
Maybe because they were in their mom's embrace, the two limp, floppy puppies just looked utterly adorable.
A-ra let out a big yawn, then set the two puppies down on the bed.
She walked over to the chair where I was sitting.
"Seong-hwan-ah, stand up for a second."
"Like this?"
A-ra sat down on the chair I'd been occupying, then pulled me onto her lap.
It wasn't particularly plush, but I figured just being held by A-ra was more than enough reason to sit here.
"Hehe, having my husband in my arms really is the best."
"Are you nervous?"
"About what?"
"The concert tomorrow."
"Nope. I've already done them in other places too, so~"
She'd been acting so clingy that I wondered if she was feeling tense, but apparently not.
A-ra smiled brightly and hugged me even tighter.
"I was just thinking — tomorrow, it's finally the last one~"
"Your activities really are resuming for real now."
"They sure are. I'm excited, but on the other hand, I feel kind of daunted."
"Even a top-tier star like you worries about things, huh."
"Of course I do. I'm not the same as I was before, you know~ I'm scared this album's sales might hit rock bottom too."
So this was the fear of someone standing at the top.
The higher the position someone occupies, the more they tend to fear falling.
A-ra, who had reached number one on the Billboard chart with a solo album, would feel that weight even more heavily.
"It's you we're talking about. You'll do great, no question."
"You think so? It makes me really happy to hear you say that, Seong-hwan-ah."
"I'm always on your side, after all."
I got up from A-ra's lap and turned around to face her.
Then I sat back down on her lap and slowly brought my forehead to rest against hers.
"I love you, A-ra."
"H-heup..."
I launched a surprise attack to shake A-ra's heart, then kissed her on the cheek.
And then... A-ra pushed me down onto the bed.
***
"Oppa! Over here, over here!"
When I pulled up in front of Minji's house, she was standing there holding a very conspicuous object.
That thing she's holding... I'd seen it around a lot...
"Is that..."
"This? My friend gave it to me."
"That's a piece of official merchandise that sold for quite a lot, you know..."
What Minji was holding was a huge light stick.
It was the same one someone had used to decorate the agency office, and that fans had been waving around in droves at the airport.
I'd heard there are even people who collect those light sticks.
So there really are fans who lend those out to friends, huh.
"Minji, you absolutely cannot lose that, got it?"
"I know! If I lose it, I have to be a slave for two years."
"Don't be a slave... I'll give you one later, so just don't lose it."
Since a few of those goods had been distributed to me as well, I could just swing by the agency and grab a couple; that would be the end of it.
Minji seemed to like that kind of thing, so I might as well give her a few.
"Then get in."
"Where should I sit? Can I sit in the passenger seat?"
"Yeah. There's no one else to ride with you."
"What about oppa's friends?"
"They all have their own cars."
A whole crew barely twenty-one years old, and every single one of them owns a car.
It was a little baffling, but considering the standard of living that both they and I enjoyed, it wasn't really that baffling.
After all, one of them was a chaebol and the other was the son of the owner of a major seafood center.
"Oh right. My friend said he wanted you to introduce him to someone."
"Who?"
"Lee Min-ho. He does Qtube too."
"Ah! That... the review Qtuber!? I heard a rumor that he's a chaebol!"
The internet is so well-developed these days that all sorts of rumors seem to spread.
The fact that my younger sister knew something that I, his friend, hadn't known for a whole year gave me an odd feeling I couldn't quite describe.
"But why would someone like that want to meet me?"
"Because he's a yeomisae."
"Yeomisae? What's that?"
"You don't need to know right now."
I brushed it off vaguely and started the car moving.
Minji pulled her phone out of her pocket, tapped the screen a few times, and started sending a message.
Who was she messaging?
I found myself a little curious for no real reason.
"Minji, do you have a boyfriend?"
"Boyfriend? I don't have one. Why?"
"Oh, no reason... I just wondered if my little sister had already gone and fallen for someone."
"Isn't that a bit rich coming from an oppa who got married the moment he turned twenty?"
"Ahem..."
That remark didn't just hit the nail on the head — it tore my heart clean open. All I could manage was a dry cough.
Well, she wasn't wrong. I was in no position to talk.
"Why? Are you telling me to give it a proper go with your friend?"
"Well, he's not a bad guy."
That guy Lee Min-ho might have some odd quirks, but he wasn't a bad person.
And even though he was a yeomisae, he'd never cycled through women, and he'd only ever been in one relationship.
*
"Ugh... did I make a mistake bringing the car?"
When we arrived at the destination, I went pale at the sight of the cars already packed tightly into every space.
It would've been better to just park somewhere else and take a taxi.
"Oppa, there's a spot over there."
"Where?"
"Waaaaay over there."
I looked in the direction Minji was pointing.
There was indeed an empty spot, so I headed straight for it.
Maybe it had been empty because it was actually a good spot?
"Ugh... next time, bringing the car is definitely a bad idea."
"Are you going to bring me next time too?"
"Who knows? If you listen to your oppa well, I'll think about it."
"Tch..."
Minji clicked her tongue, unbuckled her seatbelt, and opened the door to get out.
Even without saying stuff like that, I was planning to bring her if I got tickets again anyway.
"The doors are all locked... Minji, is your door locked?"
"It's locked!"
Maybe because we'd had a break-in that time we went to the ski resort, I checked thoroughly now.
My hard-earned money...
***
"What, you guys were already here?"
"We got here ages ago and were waiting... Is this your younger sister, by any chance?"
"Hello. I'm oppa's younger sister, Kim Min-ji."
The moment she saw Jeong Hwan-yi and Lee Min-ho, Minji greeted them in a peculiar way.
The two of them stood there dumbfounded for a moment, then cracked a smile and returned the greeting.
"Hello. I'm Kang Jeong-hwan."
"I'm Lee Min-ho. Let's get along well."
"Good grief... right in front of a girl..."
"Hey. You didn't say anything weird, did you?"
No matter how much this was a world where women pursued men, I wasn't sure if that guy Lee Min-ho was really okay.
What if he ended up neglecting Minji the same way he did with his ex-girlfriend...
"Quit talking nonsense and let's head inside."
"Of course, my lord."
"How long are you going to keep up that 'my lord' crap?"
I chuckled and headed toward the ticket distribution desk.
When I gave them my name and phone number, they handed me a ticket that was all glittery and flashy.
"Lee Min-ho, looks like these aren't issued per seat — they come bundled together."
"F-for real?"
Since it was a ticket for A-ra's comeback concert, I wanted to keep it for myself too, so I probably couldn't give it away.
Well, nothing to be done about it!
"Argh... still, just being able to come and watch is something..."
"If it's for your collection, wouldn't they issue you an extra one?"
"Nah, our agency is the type that's most paranoid about that kind of thing, so they won't do it."
What do you think would happen if a ticket got put up for auction in the future, and two of the same ticket surfaced?
Its value would immediately plummet by half.
Personally, I'd love to pass it down to my descendants for generations, but if times got hard for them, they'd probably just sell it off anyway.
Thinking about that, they absolutely must not produce more than two copies.
Though, come to think of it, aside from cash, we actually had an enormous number of valuable collectibles.
Maybe I didn't need to worry about a single ticket like this after all.
"So give it up."
"Ugh... fine..."
Lee Min-ho hung his head low with a regretful expression and climbed the stairs leading to the VIP seats.
Jeong Hwan-yi and I could only watch him go and smile bitterly.
Things like tickets really do get more expensive in the future when they still have their stubs attached.
Unused items are always worth more than used ones — that's the rule.
With electronics, though, would things change as time goes on?
People would probably start by questioning whether unopened or unused items are even genuinely functional.