Broken Phone
Broken Phone
"Drive safe!"
I waved back at Jeong Hwan-yi's farewell and got into the car.
Normally we'd be heading in the same direction, so I'd drop him off somewhere convenient, but today he said he had somewhere to stop by and walked off toward the opposite back gate.
There was a 100% chance he was going on a date.
"Aren't you going on a date?"
"I went two days ago. We watched a movie."
"Think it'll work out?"
"Of course. Who do you think I am?"
Weren't you the forever-alone virgin Lee Min-ho?
I can't quite remember.
I smirked, watching Lee Min-ho, who couldn't contain his overflowing confidence, as if he'd dated hundreds of times.
It was a smile tinged with a hint of mockery, but Lee Min-ho showed no reaction at all.
"Before we head out..."
I patted my pockets here and there, looking for my phone.
Huh, where did I leave my phone?
I'd taken it out of my pocket earlier at the convenience store to buy something to drink...
And I'd been holding it...
As I stood there scratching my head, searching for my phone,
Lee Min-ho sighed and held out the bag he'd put in the back.
"You put it in here."
"Ah, thanks. Totally blanked on that."
I opened the bag Lee Min-ho handed me and reached into the inner compartment where I kept my smartphone and car keys.
Sure enough, my hand closed around a flat smartphone.
I clicked the power button to check for any missed texts or calls,
then pressed A-ra's speed dial number and called her.
- Durururu... click.
Just like always, before the first ringtone had even finished,
I pictured A-ra answering and started speaking.
Calling her after school had become a habit,
so A-ra apparently always waited by her phone around this time.
For reference, if I went home without calling beforehand,
A-ra would worry, but it also meant I might be running late,
so she'd push back her own return home a little and come in slowly.
It seemed A-ra didn't much like being alone at home either.
"Noona, school's finished."
- Finish*d? **come right**...
"Hello? Noona? I can't hear you well."
- *******
There was usually some static,
but today the static was especially loud.
How to describe it... like the sound of cloth being torn by hand?
I couldn't even make out what she was trying to say.
By the end, it sounded like some alien language, which was honestly a bit frightening.
I ended the call for now.
Occasionally, when the phone's condition deteriorated badly, it would become inaudible,
and calling back usually fixed it.
It seemed like it was about time for A-ra to change her phone.
A-ra didn't really pay much attention to things unless they were her hobbies,
so she was still using the same phone from about three or four years ago.
In that sense, she seemed kind of frugal, but...
Was it really frugality?
"Noona? Can you hear me?"
- Ye*, ****.
Apparently A-ra could hear me just fine,
but I couldn't hear her.
That said, it probably wasn't an issue with my phone.
I'd just talked to Jeong Hwan-yi and Lee Min-ho earlier, and there hadn't been any particular static or anything.
Most likely, the microphone on A-ra's phone was broken.
I ended the call again, and this time sent a message instead.
For reference, A-ra and I didn't frequently text or message each other.
Partly because A-ra wanted to hear my voice,
and partly because I also preferred talking over the phone and hearing the other person's voice over texting or messaging.
[Noona, the static is so bad I can't hear you lol]
[Right? I guess it's time to change my phone.]
It was amazing she was still using that phone.
She'd replaced my phone for me, so why hadn't she replaced her own?
[Haven't you been using that one for ages?]
[It's the first phone I bought with my own money after debuting.]
[Ah, that makes sense you'd be attached to it.]
It really was a precious item, worth using for four years.
Still, using a phone for four years wasn't so much frugality
as borderline abuse, wasn't it?
I thought maybe treating it preciously
meant putting it in a drawer to let it rest.
[Then, would you like to go to the store tomorrow to replace it?]
[Tomorrow? Hold on, let me check my schedule.]
And then, since A-ra didn't send any messages for a while,
I started the car and pulled away.
"She not picking up?"
"No, it's not that. I think her phone might just be old and broken."
"Now that you mention it, I think I've heard a rumor that A-ra-nim doesn't really change her phone."
"Fan clubs dig up even stuff like that nowadays?"
"It's not digging things up, she said it herself on a program."
I stared at Lee Min-ho like, what kind of stalkers are these people,
and he started defending himself, telling me not to misunderstand.
A-ra really did seem to talk about all sorts of things on programs.
Should I start catching up on A-ra's shows soon?
How could I, as her husband, not know things that even her fans knew?
No, actually, I probably didn't know less than the fans.
My prediction was, with a 100% probability, she had tried to call Manager Noona to ask about it,
but since her phone was broken and she couldn't get the message across properly, she was probably on her way to see the manager in person.
And with a sulky, hamster-like face at that.
The fans had probably never seen A-ra's hamster-like face.
Because it was a face only I got to see.
"Drive safe."
"You be careful."
"You're a driving newbie, and I'm a walking expert, you know."
"Is that why you slammed your head into a utility pole today?"
I stopped the car at the intersection where I always dropped him off and let Lee Min-ho out.
I wasn't sure why, but Jeong Hwan-yi and Lee Min-ho always fretted over my driving, as if cautioning me every time.
A-ra did too.
Did I really look that worrisome?
"Even when people worry about you... tsk tsk..."
Lee Min-ho shook his head side to side and closed the door.
Around the time he crossed the crosswalk and his silhouette disappeared,
I took out my phone again and checked my messages.
[Tomorrow should be fine.]
[Oh, that's right. You don't have classes tomorrow, right?]
[Seong-hwan-a? Are you driving?]
A string of messages had arrived, like baby chicks looking for me,
and a few texts also had a slightly anxious tone, as if she felt uneasy not being able to reach me.
I sent a quick reply, then this time headed for our home.
***
"Noona, what kind of phone do you like?"
"Hmm..."
Before going to the store, I was showing A-ra pictures of phones and asking questions
to figure out which might be suitable.
A-ra seemed to play games on her phone occasionally...
If she could play them on that phone, they were probably games where specs didn't matter much.
"Noona, I'd like a phone that's pretty durable."
"In what way?"
"Like, it's okay if it gets taken into water? Or it won't break if you drop it hard?"
Did she want something like a rugged phone?
Though those would be hard to find in Korea...
"How about the exterior?"
"As long as it doesn't look tacky, that'd be fine."
Since A-ra didn't show much interest in phones,
anything inoffensive seemed fine by her.
In that case... something with decent enough performance, decent durability, and that didn't look tacky...
"Let's go with the S8 Plus."
"Is that the Saemsung one?"
"It's easier to get after-sales service for Saemsung, and... Noona, you've never used Saemsung Pay, right?"
"Oh right! If I switch to that, I can use Saemsung Pay?!"
A-ra disliked cumbersome things,
so she only ever carried a light card wallet.
The reason she'd stuffed cash into her bag when we went to Japan before
was simply because she only had a card wallet, so there was nowhere proper to put it.
Well, no matter what kind of wallet you carried around,
there wouldn't be a slot to hold 5 million yen anyway.
But still, if A-ra bought a phone that supported Saemsung Pay,
she wouldn't really need to carry a wallet around at all.
"If I can use Saemsung Pay, let's go with that."
"Should we keep your current phone plan as is?"
"Yeah."
A-ra used the most expensive plan.
How much was it... 129,000 won or something?
Considering I was using the 55,000 won plan,
it was more than double.
"You use a lot of data and make a lot of calls, right?"
"I guess so. Then we'll keep the plan and..."
It didn't really matter much since we'd be paying for the phone in full upfront,
but if I sent A-ra alone, it felt like she'd get completely ripped off.
*
"Welcome."
"Hello. Is it possible to activate the S8 Plus right now?"
"Yes, yes. We can activate it today."
I got A-ra's ID and phone ready and sat down in front of the store employee.
The person actually getting a new phone was poking and prodding the smartphones on display, looking fascinated.
"Now, if you activate the S8 Plus, with this affiliated card here..."
"No. I'll pay in full by card."
I handed the Centurion Black Card I'd gotten from A-ra earlier to the employee.
The employee, having failed to hook an easy mark, kept her smile from crumbling
and carried on with the friendly customer service.
"Oh... I see."
She'd probably thought she'd reeled in an easy mark because I was a man,
but I wasn't falling for it.
The fact that you shouldn't sign up for affiliated cards or 36-month installment plans
was something you could learn just by watching a 10-minute video on Qtube.
"Then please fill out these sections here."
"A-ra Noona."
"Yeah, what's up?"
"This is the contract, you need to fill it out."
A-ra, who had been looking all around like a little kid,
came over and sat down beside me.
***
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