The Road Home from School
The Road Home from School
All classes had ended, but my head was still aching from the hangover.
So this is why working professionals, whenever possible, hold company dinners on Fridays.
Both psychologically and physically, the day after drinking really is brutal.
"Haa... I didn't know the day after drinking would be this hard."
"What, Seong-hwan, was that your first time drinking?"
"Yeah... I never really had a chance to drink."
Neither A-ra nor I drank at all at home.
Going out to drink was rare as well.
And even when we did, we'd only drink a little,
so you could say we had almost no contact with it.
"Really? Then do you want to drink together next time, just us?"
"...I genuinely can't understand how our conversations manage to drift like that."
"Because the more you drink, the more your tolerance builds."
Was that so?
The reason my memory cut out after just a few glasses yesterday
was because I'd never really had any before.
If so, there'd be no harm in drinking a bit to build up tolerance.
Huh?
But for someone like that, this Lee Min-ho guy
seemed to have absolutely zero alcohol tolerance?
At that moment, Jeong Hwan-yi squeezed in between us.
"You drank that much yesterday and you're already asking to drink again? You're seriously going to die at this rate, you know?"
"I won't die. If we don't go out and drink at home instead, we'll drink moderately and that'll be the end of it."
"Ehyu... Still, at least it's at home this time."
Jeong Hwan-yi had momentarily looked at Lee Min-ho with a horrified expression,
but after hearing what followed, he let out a deep sigh.
Just what in the world had happened?
Seeing how this Lee Min-ho guy had drunk that much
and was already thinking about drinking again, he was clearly a tremendous alcoholic.
Thinking about Jeong Hwan-yi, who'd been dragged around by a guy like Lee Min-ho,
suddenly made him start to seem pitiful.
"Don't even say it. If I hadn't been there, he would've already died on some street by now."
"Hey, that's not true."
"It is, you idiot! It's a good thing I caught you following that woman you didn't even know just a while ago!"
"Well... she didn't seem like a bad noona."
In this world, the chastity of men and women was similar to that of women and men in the other world.
Men who fooled around with their bodies were pointed at and criticized, while women... seemed to even brag about it like a heroic tale.
Well, though people with common sense would
universally condemn both sides regardless.
We continued that conversation as we walked down the stairs.
Should we go out the main gate and take a city bus, or go out the back gate and take the school bus.
That was the dilemma.
City buses cost money but got you there early, while the school bus was free but took a lot of time.
Should I just get back quickly and set up dinner.
A-ra would be home soon as well.
"What the, what's with that crowd."
At Jeong Hwan-yi's one remark, Lee Min-ho and I both became aware of the crowd gathered at the main gate side.
It was always a place where a lot of people gathered, but today of all days, there were so many.
"What, is there some kind of event going on?"
"Let's go get one too."
"Hey, even if they give us something, it'll probably just be campus notebooks or wet wipes."
"Then just don't take one~"
Lee Min-ho said he'd go see what they were handing out and dashed off first.
His build was sturdy, so it seemed his stamina and endurance were good as well.
To sprint that distance in an instant.
"That guy, even though he's a guy, he used to be on the sports team."
"What did he do?"
"Track and field."
Aha.
Then that speed was understandable.
Anyway, it was really unfair.
I'd been physically weak since I was young and had never even properly run before.
At times like this, I felt a resentment toward that person called my mother, whom I'd never seen.
Ah, what good would hating her do now.
I tapped my cheeks with both hands, making a patting sound.
Hadn't I already decided to understand?
That there must have been a reason my mother abandoned me.
And wasn't it because of that, that the current me existed.
"What's this? Is there really something?"
Looking at where Jeong Hwan-yi was pointing, I could see Lee Min-ho, who had dashed off at a fast speed earlier,
running back toward us at an even faster speed.
So fast that it seemed like he shouldn't have come to a place like the Department of Social Welfare, but should have gone into arts and athletics instead.
"Sososososososo..."
"If you're gonna talk, spit it out properly, you punk."
"Song... Song..."
Song?
What, was someone even filing a lawsuit against the dean?
I had no idea what he was trying to say.
Jeong Hwan-yi and I tilted our heads.
"No! Song A-ra is at the front gate!!"
"......"
"......Song A-ra-nim?"
Why was he even using an honorific title.
No, even putting that aside, why would A-ra be here.
I couldn't understand.
A-ra had never, not even once,
treated her private life as anything other than privacy and disclosed it to the media.
Perhaps because of that, she didn't even do the SNS that everyone else commonly used.
But did she really break that unwritten rule to come pick me up?
She had been saying for a while now that she would come pick me up with the car too,
but for it to be today of all days.
Regardless of my will, my jaw dropped wide open.
"S-Seong-hwan, you're a fan of A-ra-nim too, right? Right? Am I right? That's why you're surprised, yeah?"
"Th-that's..."
"Tsk, pretending you're not. Let's go quickly and get an autograph too!"
"Come to think of it, this bastard even had Song A-ra's fan club number."
"Hey... don't just casually use A-ra-nim's name like that... I'll kill you."
Lee Min-ho's expression turned dead serious as he glared at Jeong Hwan-yi.
This is that thing.
The reaction a fan shows when someone teases or badmouths the idol they like.
Back in high school, I'd had quite a few otaku friends with that kind of taste.
There had been an incident once where there was talk about some idol's album sales being manipulated.
At that time, some kids called that friend's idol a 'manipulated idol' and stuff,
and in the end, the friend apparently couldn't take it anymore and beat them beyond recognition, even their own parents couldn't tell.
If that gentle friend had resorted to violence, then I suddenly started to find
Lee Min-ho's behavior understandable.
"......Sorry."
Jeong Hwan-yi, who'd just called a name and got asked if he wanted to die,
had every right to feel wronged, but as if it was something he'd experienced many times already, he just shrugged his shoulders and apologized.
"Yeah you bastard, as long as you know! Seong-hwan, let's go quickly."
"Uh...huh? Me... I'm... f-fine... Guaaaagh!!"
Lee Min-ho grabbed my wrist with incredible grip strength
and started running toward the place where the crowd had gathered.
In order not to fall, I used all my strength
and poured my effort into keeping my balance.
We arrived at the front gate, which had been quite a distance away, in an instant.
I gulped down a single deep breath
that surged up from beneath my chest,
while breaking out into a sort of cold sweat.
"Huk... huk..."
'Tsk, even for a guy, what's with that stamina.'
"Huck... keuk... I'm, physically... weak..."
"Really? That was insensitive of me. Sorry."
Lee Min-ho apologized to me, then took a slightly
expensive-looking case and a marker out of his bag.
And he handed one case to me.
"Here, get an autograph on this."
"What's this?"
"Seeing it for the first time? Well, I guess it is hard to see unless you're a true fan."
From his rough explanation, it was a frame-shaped case made specifically for autographs.
You open the case, get the autograph, and close it to store it neatly, he said...
I didn't need this kind of thing though.
"I'm giving it to you because we're friends. Just take it."
"......."
After that, Lee Min-ho went and got in line at the very back where the crowd had gathered and formed a line.
He gestured for me to come over, so I had no choice but to head that way.
A husband lining up to get his wife's autograph.
Who on earth could understand this situation, which anyone could see was practically a comedy skit?
The line in front gradually shrank, and finally, Lee Min-ho's turn came.
Because A-ra was leaning against her beloved car, the Porsche Boxster GTS, and looking downwards,
she hadn't noticed that I was behind Lee Min-ho.
"Ah... A-ra-nim. Would it, be... possible to also have a name... perhaps."
"Huh, that voice sounds somehow familiar...?"
"Yes.... Before you debuted, at the music cafe... I've been a f-fan since then."
"I've met a grateful person who has loved me for a long time. Your name?"
"Lee Min-ho...."
A-ra provided the name engraving(?) service that she didn't give to other people,
and even shook his hand.
Fans like Lee Min-ho seemed to be quite rare.
Come to think of it, before the group was formed, A-ra had just been a student who sang and posted her own music on sites like blogs or cafes.
After Lee Min-ho finished getting his autograph, he stepped aside.
I also held out my autograph paper.
Just because I wanted to play a little prank.
Without even realizing it was me who held it out, A-ra took the paper
and smoothly signed it for me.
Then, as if she was going to give me the same service she'd only given Lee Min-ho,
she abruptly asked my name.
"Your name?"
"Yoo Seong-hwan."
"Yoo... Seong-hwan..... Seong-hwan-a?"
Only then did A-ra take off her sunglasses and look this way.
A-ra was momentarily so flustered she almost dropped her pen, but thanks to her quick
reflexes, she snatched the pen that was in mid-free-fall.
Seeing that sight, I could only let out a bitter smile.
"Noona, what are you doing here."
"You startled me. If it was you, you should have told me it was you."
A-ra stroked my cheek, and I stroked A-ra's hand in return, the one stroking my cheek.
Looking behind A-ra, I saw Jeong Hwan-yi finally walking over this way.
Then he walked up to Lee Min-ho, whose mouth was still hanging open, placed a hand on his shoulder,
and gave him something akin to consolation.
"Hello, A-ra-ssi."
"Oh my, Jeong Hwan-ssi! Hello. You got home well yesterday?"
"Yes, thanks to you."
The expression on Lee Min-ho's face as he watched A-ra and Jeong Hwan-yi greet each other
was truly a sight to behold.
How should I describe it.
The feeling of a boy who survived alone in a world about to be destroyed, who climbed to the top of a mountain to plant an apple tree, and suddenly witnessed a meteor falling?
The shock of his married male friend he'd met for the first time yesterday suddenly hugging his idol,
and the shock of his Forever Alone friend amicably chatting with his idol, mixed together,
and his face had shifted from one of further surprise to one of sheer bewilderment.
"Noona, let me introduce you. This is the friend I made yesterday, 'Lee Min-ho.'"
"Hello, Lee Min-ho-ssi. Ah, is it alright if I call you Lee Min-ho-ssi?"
"Yes?! Ah... of... of course. A-ra-nim."
"I am Yoo Seong-hwan's wife, Song A-ra. Please continue to be close with Seong-hwan from now on too?"
"W-Wife... Ah...! Of... of course! I'll get along with him so well I'll even throw away my best friend."
"What?"
Jeong Hwan-yi, looking dumbfounded, grabbed Lee Min-ho's shoulder tightly and put his weight into it.
Lee Min-ho cried out in pain, but A-ra let out a small laugh, saying she saw something funny.
"Well then, I'll be going now."
"Oh, get home safe~"
"Ah... A-ra-nim, please be careful going home too. Seong-hwan, you get home safe too."
After finishing our goodbyes with the two of them, I boarded the passenger seat that A-ra had opened for me.
A-ra also circled around to the other side, opened the driver's side door, and got in.
"Really... did you come straight here right after you finished?"
"Yeah. Because I missed you so much, I couldn't help it."
She really only picked out the things I'd love to hear and said them.
I gently stroked A-ra's hair upward.
It really was soft.
"Anyway, how are we going to handle this incident."
"Handle?"
"The aftermath of today's event seems like it'll be pretty severe... You originally never revealed your private life and such, noona."
"Right, but I decided to stop doing that."
"Pardon?"
"The CEO noona said that if I keep not doing SNS and stuff, I'll fall behind? I made a Qtube channel today too."
"That's... that's pretty full-scale."
Even without A-ra doing that kind of thing,
she was already a superstar.
Yeji and Eun-ji had said she didn't even put the CEO's words into one ear...
but it seemed she did listen to advice surprisingly.
"Faceboook? Told me to post selfies and stuff there once in a while too."
"That certainly would give off the feeling of communicating with fans."
"Now that things have turned out this way, I'm thinking of posting ones I took with you too, Seong-hwan."
"Hm... wouldn't hate comments and stuff get posted?"
"The Director told me not to worry about that kind of thing! Said they have an American lawyer and will just sue them right away."
Since Qtube and Faceboook were overseas companies,
they didn't follow the laws regarding defamation and insult that existed in domestic law.
So no matter how much the domestic police sent warrants, they'd be ignored as a rule.
However, the situation was different if an American lawyer got involved.
It seemed there was a federal law that stated if an American lawyer requested a disclosure of personal information order from a US court
and sent it to Qtube or Faceboook, they would have no choice but to identify and send the specific person.
"Really? Then I'm fine with it too."
"Really? You're fine with it?"
"Rather than my private life, I was more concerned about whether you would be fine, noona."
I had worried for nothing that someone like me appearing might drive A-ra's fans away
or cause hate comments to be posted.
In any case, once this main gate incident spread, my personal information would spread on the communities, and broadcast stations might approach us because they'd become curious about A-ra's husband.
Well... I was the husband of a superstar, so I had to endure it.
"Seong-hwan-a... I love you."
A-ra embraced me as I sat in the passenger seat,
and pressed her lips to mine.
Then she slipped her tongue inside
and thoroughly stirred up my oral cavity.
Once again, my mouth, invaded by A-ra's tongue,
was thrown into a flurry.
At first, I tried to defend, but once defeat was certain, I shifted to meeting her in kind.
And finally, my tongue and A-ra's tongue intertwined,
each coveting the other's mouth.
A-ra started stroking from my chest down toward my lower body,
and the switch for my desire was nearly flipped on, but I barely managed to hold it back.
As a form of counterattack, I also stroked A-ra
from her chest down to her lower body.
"Ha-ung...."
"Churp.... Jjuyup.... Pooh-ha... Noona, we shouldn't do this in the car."
"It's fine. You can't see inside from the outside because of the tinting."
"That's... not it... Mmm.... Chuyup..."
A-ra and I had a brief kissing time in the parking lot.