Lunch Box (2)
Lunch Box (2)
"Huh?"
When I reached the basement level where the underground mart was always open,
it was pitch dark. None of the lights around were on.
Even though the mart occupied the entire floor on B1,
the lights normally stayed on even after it closed past 11 p.m., so I was a little puzzled.
Should I go a bit further inside to check?
It was a little scary to do that, though.
"Mm?"
I sensed someone nearby and turned around.
There was another couple, different from the one I'd signed an autograph for earlier.
Both of them were in simple casual clothes,
so I could tell at a glance that they were residents.
"Honey, I think the mart isn't open today?"
"Is it their day off?"
Seeing the man with his arm linked with the woman and calling her 'honey' —
they seemed like a genuinely close, 'real' couple.
I tend to assume any man and woman together are a couple the moment I spot them,
and this time it looked like I wasn't wrong.
The woman, who had been scratching her head,
pressed the button for the elevator that had already gone up.
I cautiously approached the two of them as they seemed ready to accept the situation and head to another mart.
In nearly four months, I'd never once seen it closed.
Was this a common occurrence?
They looked more accustomed to it than I expected.
"Excuse me."
"Yes?"
"Does this mart have days when it's closed?"
After peering to make out my face in the dark,
the woman smiled.
When I initiate conversation with a woman like this, the pattern I see is either a smile or embarrassment, and this time it seemed to be the former.
I couldn't state it definitively — I hadn't gathered enough data yet —
but women who had a husband or partner smiled, while those who didn't would get flustered and stammer.
For now, asking about the mart was the priority,
so I set aside idle thoughts and asked what I was curious about.
"Sometimes they close if stock runs short. You haven't been living here long, have you?"
"Yes... it's only been about four months."
"Ah, that explains why you wouldn't know. I think the last time they closed was the year before last."
Listening to her,
normally stock was managed well without shortages,
but as the days piled up and piled up, things would eventually go wrong one day.
And coincidentally, today was that day.
"We were thinking of going to a nearby mart ourselves. Would you like to come with us? We'll give you a ride."
"Are you sure it's okay?"
"Of course it's okay. Even though it's the closest one, it's quite far away —
too far for a man to carry groceries back and forth alone."
The nearest mart was a five-minute drive away.
On foot, it seemed to take about twenty minutes.
No matter how much a little muscle had developed lately,
my stamina was garbage-level, not even close to the male average.
I decided to quietly accept their kindness.
"Mm... then, I'm imposing on you, but I'd appreciate it."
"Imposing? Not at all. Someone as cute as Seong-hwan-ssi, I'd be happy to give you a ride anytime."
"Does that mean you won't give me a ride?"
The man who had been quietly watching from the side seemed to have gotten sulky.
Even though she'd been smiling just moments before,
she was now trying to placate her husband or boyfriend's temper.
"Sorry. My husband gets jealous pretty easily."
"No, I get very jealous too, so I understand."
When I said that with a wry smile,
she stroked her husband's head, and the whole dynamic reminded me so much of A-ra.
That's probably how A-ra and I looked to other people.
After that, I followed the couple to the underground parking lot,
and caught a ride in their car.
Was it a Mercedes-Benz S-Class?
As expected, the apartment complex where rich people live was different.
While I was making 'ooh' sounds of admiration,
the woman who owned the car gave a little chuckle.
"A-ra-ssi said on her show that she's buying a Bugatti Chiron this time — and you still find a Benz that fascinating?"
"It's my first time riding in a Benz. A-ra Noona likes sports cars, so..."
"Ah~, that's true."
After hearing my words, she nodded and shifted gears,
starting the car moving.
The interior was so quiet and vibration-free that it felt peaceful enough to doze off at any moment.
In a Porsche, the pung-pung sound jolts you wide awake.
Personally, I think sleek, shiny sedans are much prettier than sports cars.
A-ra would pout if I said that, right?
After that, we entered a big mart,
briefly split up, and started buying what we each needed.
This time my goal was to make A-ra's Dosirak,
but there were some nice-looking side dish ingredients, so I put this and that into my cart —
the result was a load of groceries that looked impossible to carry for even one minute, let alone five.
There didn't seem to be any delivery service here,
so if I hadn't gotten a ride, something awful could've happened.
I would've had to wake A-ra from her deep sleep...
No, she wouldn't even wake up, so I would've called Eun-ji or Yeji-noona.
That would've been the definition of trouble.
"Should I get a license and buy a car...?"
I felt like they wouldn't let me, saying it was dangerous.
I'd heard before that for women, a Class 1 ordinary license was essential.
Did that mean it wasn't essential for men to get one?
"Ah, I don't know."
A guy who can't even ride a bicycle properly, talking about a car.
I hoisted my heavy load and headed toward the couple who'd given me a ride.
***
"Cut!! Great work this morning!!"
The voice rang out along with the clapperboard sound.
The celebrities who had been filming next to a valley with cool, cold water flowing through it
scrunched up their faces deeply at that sound, and shambled out like zombies.
"Director, isn't it way too hot today?"
"Hoo... it's definitely hot."
Not just the celebrities filming, but the director and producers,
and all the other filming staff were sweating heavily and fanning themselves with their hands.
Among them, one person was using a rather fascinating item.
World star Song A-ra was holding a portable fan that everyone else was seeing for the first time.
"A-ra-ssi, where did you buy that?"
"This? My husband bought it for me."
Seeing A-ra smile brightly and boast that her husband bought it,
the people sitting around her were envious.
When her husband Yoo Seong-hwan had given it to her, mentioning he'd happened to see it at the mart and picked it up,
she'd pictured one of those toy fans with Styrofoam wings sold at stationery stores,
but after actually using it, this thing was the real deal.
"I'm so jealous... I wish I had a husband like that..."
The director, who was fanning herself with her hand,
looked at her with envy.
If anyone else had been holding that item, she would have snatched it and used it,
but since the person was 'Song A-ra', she couldn't take it and could only watch.
"Instead of this, how about we soak our feet in the valley while we eat?"
"Yes! Director, good idea!"
"Whoa, man... just thinking about it makes my bones tingle."
The valley where they'd dipped their feet earlier,
despite being midsummer, had a water temperature that sent a chill right to the bone.
It was possible because it was a valley in the countryside of Gangwon-do.
"So what's today's Dosirak?"
"Today's Dosirak is....."
Full of anticipation, each cast member collected a Dosirak and came over.
They opened the Styrofoam lids with expressions of great expectation,
but contrary to those expectations, only very simple food was inside.
"Yeah... of course it's gimbap..."
"Haah... it's summer, so I guess it can't be helped."
They'd departed from Seoul and gone deep into the mountains of Gangwon-do to film,
and it wasn't practical to prepare a catering truck, so lunch was inevitably nothing but gimbap.
Still, at the thought of being able to soak their feet in the cool valley water,
the people who'd received their Dosirak headed toward the water with happy expressions.
Song A-ra, who had been cooling off with the breeze from her fan,
also got up to receive her Dosirak and walked toward the filming staff.
As she was about to take the Styrofoam Dosirak containing gimbap,
one of the filming staff stopped her.
"A-ra-ssi, not that one — here, this one."
"Huh?"
The manager who'd suddenly run over handed her something —
an insulated Dosirak container that practically radiated 'I made this myself' to anyone who saw it.
Song A-ra accepted the Dosirak, tilting her head in confusion.
"This morning, Seong-hwan-ssi gave it to me before he left. He said, 'Give it to my A-ra Noona.'"
"Seong-hwan did...?"
Song A-ra unzipped the bag holding the Dosirak.
Inside was a small note written in familiar handwriting, in that familiar tone of his.
Seeing the memo her husband had left, Song A-ra let out a small laugh, then started laughing more and more loudly.
Because what was written there couldn't really be called a letter — it was just a memo.
'For my A-ra Noona!'
Her husband had always been cute, but that note — somehow even cuter, so full of love —
filled Song A-ra's face with a smile that defied description.
If a man were seeing her for the first time and that smile was his first glimpse of her,
it was the kind of captivating, beautiful smile that would make him fall at first sight.
"Worried about his wife eating gimbap, he personally packed her a hearty Dosirak and told her to eat well... I'm so jealous I could die."
"....That's just the kind of man my Seong-hwan is."
Taking in the praise for her husband in a very good mood,
she headed toward the water's edge.
The other celebrities witnessed her walking over with a large Dosirak
and whined that it was favoritism, but A-ra just smiled and savored every bite.
***
This is one of the emoticon storyboards.