Chapter 156
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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 156
Chapter Title: Goodbye, My Home
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November.
The day to move to the new house was approaching.
After several weeks of remodeling, Lee Minjun, who had gone to check on the new house, gave a thumbs-up. Seojun and Seo Eunhye's eyes sparkled.
“What about my practice room?”
“It turned out amazing!”
“I'm so curious.”
Seo Eunhye had visited occasionally during the construction, but Seojun hadn't been allowed to go, for fear it would be dangerous. His father's words only heightened Seojun's anticipation.
“The furniture and electronics are all set to arrive this week. After everything's installed, we'll move our things next Monday.”
“You need to start packing your things too, Seojun. The movers will come while you're at school, so you need to pack carefully so you don't lose anything.”
“Okay!”
They decided to donate any usable furniture and electronics and throw the rest away.
Furniture like Seojun's desk and bed had been replaced as he grew, but the couple's furniture had been with them for a long time. They never hesitated to spend money on their child, but they were reluctant to spend on themselves.
Seeing his parents consider taking the old furniture with them, a pouting Seojun said.
“I'll buy it! For Mom and Dad!”
The investor in Cocoa Entertainment and Monster Inc., the Hollywood superstar, had spoken. At the sight of Seojun showing them his bank account, the couple decided to buy everything new for the move.
New furniture and electronics. Lee Minjun and Seo Eunhye excitedly picked them out.
“They say this brand doesn't break down easily.”
“This one looks pretty sturdy. Should we get this?”
The couple's selection criteria remained the same.
Seojun and his parents began to pack. Seojun packed his own things. Seojun neatly folded his clothes and placed them into the prepared boxes.
He had no clothes to throw away, as all the outgrown ones had been donated or given away, but he still had many clothes that acquaintances had gifted him.
“Most of these are from Aunt Nara.”
With a strange look in his eyes, Seojun neatly folded a clean navy shirt and placed it in a box. Being winter clothes, they were quite bulky. It seemed like it would take a while to unpack these clothes and organize them in the new closet.
Next were the Monster Inc. dolls.
“This one is the most worn out.”
Seojun picked up a faded blue slime doll. It was the slime doll from the first box of dolls that Uncle Heesang had brought over.
It was so fluffy that he used to lie on his stomach on top of it when he was learning to crawl. It was also nice to place on his belly and fiddle with using both hands. The stuffing had flattened out now, but the memories remained.
“This is the Lich King.”
The Lich King's green eyes, which had frightened the children, were still gleaming.
“There are a lot of dragons, too.”
Red, blue, yellow, black, and more. A colorful collection of fearsome dragon dolls was gathered.
Besides those, there were many other monster dolls. A doppelgänger teddy bear, a two-headed ogre, trolls, orcs, werewolves, griffins, and more.
“I haven't really played with them much lately.”
The only times were when he played with Subin and Eunsu. Both Subin and Eunsu loved the monster dolls, so it was fun to play with them. *Kyaaaa!* Seojun smiled, recalling the two younger kids shouting with joy.
Now, even without the dolls, there was no danger of him forgetting "himself." The fact that Seojun still liked monster dolls and monster-shaped accessories was simply a matter of taste.
“Still, it'd be a shame not to have them.”
After eyeing the dolls and the box for a moment, Seojun began to carefully pack them in, fitting them together like blocks. Each doll held a memory, so he didn't want to leave a single one behind.
After packing the dolls, next came accessories like hats, belts, and badges. These were less bulky, so they were quick to pack.
“This is another huge task….”
Items he wanted to keep just as much as the dolls. The scripts and DVDs filling his bookshelf. The scripts and DVDs for the projects Seojun had appeared in were few, so they were packed quickly, but there were still many left.
Looking at the scripts crammed onto the bookshelf, Seojun steeled his resolve.
“Oh. This one was fun.”
Having put the twentieth script into the box, Seojun's face lit up as he saw the title of the one in his hand. Even though he remembered the whole plot, it felt different reading it again.
It was the script for a historical film that Kim Jongho had been in. It was a story about King Jeongjo of the Joseon Dynasty, and Uncle Jongho had played the villain in this one, too.
“Heh….”
Seojun sat on the floor and opened the first page of the script. Even for a superstar, distractions were more fun than the task at hand.
As he was reading the script, he heard his mother's voice.
“Seojun. Are you done packing?”
“Aah, I'm about halfway done!”
Snapping back to reality, Seojun quickly put the script he was reading into the box. *Right, I was in the middle of packing.*
“Make sure you pack everything you need to take. Put your clothes in the boxes and pack the scripts carefully.”
“Okay.”
Seojun got up again and put scripts into the box. And before long, he started reading the script for an independent film made by director Ryan Will.
Seo Eunhye, wondering about the quiet in Seojun's room, burst out laughing when she saw him absorbed in a script.
Day by day, Seojun and his parents packed up the house they had grown so fond of.
“I bought some bubble wrap.”
“Then let's pack up the trophies and picture frames.”
Seojun and his parents carefully wrapped the WTV Film Festival, KBC Rookie Award, Academy Award, and Golden Globe Award trophies, which had been displayed on one side of the living room, in bubble wrap and placed them in a box.
Then, they carefully wrapped the picture frames containing photos with family, actors, friends, and acquaintances in bubble wrap and put them in a box.
They planned to move these themselves, not in the moving truck.
“We bought a new display case for the trophies, too. It'll look great when we set them up, right?”
“Yeah!”
“Let's invite everyone over for dinner the day after tomorrow.”
“Let's do that.”
Seojun and Lee Minjun nodded in agreement with Seo Eunhye's suggestion. When she sent a message on BananaTalk, everyone happily made time.
Sunday evening, the day before the move.
One by one, people arrived at Seojun's house.
The children, who remembered Seojun's house with its monster dolls and sparkling trophies, were shocked by the empty living room.
“…You're really leaving.”
Finally realizing that Seojun was truly moving away, the children's eyes filled with tears.
“I'm still going to the same school.”
Seojun quickly said, seeing his friends on the verge of tears. Even though he was moving, it was an awkward time to transfer schools, so he planned to attend Maesil Elementary until graduation. Though, unlike before when he walked to school, he would have to take a car.
“Still….”
Still, they wouldn't be able to walk to and from school together or play at each other's houses late into the evening like they used to. Seojun comforted his gloomy friends.
Unlike the children, the parents were talking with happy faces.
“It's great that you're moving to a bigger place.”
“I looked into Yeoul Arts Middle School, and it seems like a good school.”
The last dinner at Seojun's house was as boisterous as a feast.
Jiyoon's parents, Mina's parents, Jiyo and Jihu's parents. It had already been 10 years since they'd known each other.
‘We kept in touch even when we were in the US, so we'll be able to keep in touch in the future, too.’
Seo Eunhye and Lee Minjun were so fond of these friends who hadn't changed, even after Seojun became famous.
“I don't know how grateful I was back then. Our Jiyoon wouldn't eat…”
“Seojun's mukbang was the perfect remedy.”
From stories of long ago to things that happened just a few days prior. The old neighbors' trip down memory lane continued all evening.
After the lively dinner ended, all the friends went back to their homes. With the house now empty of people, it looked much larger and lonelier.
“This is our last time in this house.”
“Yeah.”
Seojun's house sold quickly. It was already in high demand due to its proximity to the elementary school, but a buyer appeared quickly because it was near Maesil Elementary, which had become famous by word of mouth since Seojun started attending.
After cleaning up, Seojun and his parents looked around the house.
When Seo Eunhye and Lee Minjun first moved into this house, they were renting. They had taken out a loan, too. Still, they were so happy to have a home of their own. They were even happier and more joyful when they soon became a family of three.
They had cried with joy at the news of the pregnancy, and had been startled by contractions while sitting on the sofa watching television. They laughed, ate, and slept with a wriggling, grinning baby Seojun.
This house was filled with only happy memories.
Seo Eunhye's and Lee Minjun's eyes grew misty.
“We filmed the mukbangs here….”
Their son's mukbangs, which they had filmed without much thought, had a huge impact on the family. They paid off their loan and were able to buy the house they were renting.
Seojun remembered that time, too. The influence of a top-tier ability was terrifying. Even now, Seojun's mukbangs were having a great impact all over the world.
“We filmed the 48 Hours here, too.”
He had even cried out of jealousy toward the Brown Black hyungs.
‘I was so young back then.’
Seojun chuckled.
“He went to kindergarten, and elementary school….”
The house was filled with memories of Seojun and his parents. Lee Minjun, holding back tears, spoke up.
“Maybe we shouldn't have sold the house?”
“It's not like we were going to keep living here.”
“I know, but it's just a shame.”
“It's okay. We have plenty of photos and videos.”
“That's right, Dad. We can just make lots of new memories in the new house.”
Seo Eunhye nodded at Seojun's words. Somehow, the son seemed wiser than the father. But even as they said that, Seojun's and Seo Eunhye's eyes were also full of wistfulness.
“Should we all sleep in the living room tonight?”
“Yeah. I'd like that.”
Seojun enthusiastically raised his hand at his father's wonderful suggestion.
“Me too.”
With Seo Eunhye's agreement, Lee Minjun and Seojun quickly brought out the bedding they hadn't packed yet. After laying out the blankets in the living room, Seojun and his parents finished getting ready for bed and lay down under the cozy covers.
On the wall of the darkened living room, the glow-in-the-dark stickers they had put up for baby Seojun twinkled faintly. That one thing brought back all sorts of memories. Feeling a lump in their throats, Seo Eunhye and Lee Minjun spoke.
“Let's live happily in the new house, too.”
“And if anything's wrong, make sure to tell us.”
“Okay!”
The couple smiled at Seojun's energetic reply.
‘I'll have to make lots of happy memories in the new house, too.’
And so, the last night in their first home, a place filled with so many memories, passed.
The next morning.
After finishing the last of the packing, Seojun arranged to go to Cocoa Entertainment with An Daho after school.
“Is there anything I can do to help?”
Seo Eunhye and Lee Minjun smiled at Seojun's words. If Seojun showed up, the moving company staff would obviously be surprised. They might get distracted by him, which could lead to an accident.
“The movers will only be moving the boxes, so we'll have to do the cleaning. There will be a ton of cleaning to do when you get back, so you can help then.”
They had hired a service to clean the house before moving in, so it was spotless, but moving boxes would inevitably stir up dust even in a clean new house.
Seojun nodded repeatedly at Seo Eunhye's words. Watching his parents discuss moving things around, Seojun also fell into thought.
There was a mountain of things to do at the new house.
While living in this house, he had inscribed various abilities into it. From small things like insect repellent to big things like accident prevention.
‘Now I'll have to put them in one by one again.’
He had a feeling that a new door in the Library of Life was about to open. The lower and middle-grade doors had been opening continuously, but this time, it felt like a door of an even higher level would open.
‘This time, I should be able to imbue it with more powerful abilities. Of course, it won't be something I can finish in a day or two.’
Seojun thought as he looked at the house he now had to leave. All around the house, patterns visible only to Seojun's eyes were still drawn.
‘They'll disappear anyway if I don't supply them with mana….’
Seojun decided to leave the patterns as they were instead of removing them. The person moving into Seojun's house would be able to live more comfortably than in other houses for a few weeks.
“Seojun. Let's get going to school.”
“Okay!”
At Seo Eunhye's call, Seojun looked at the house one last time and said goodbye.
“Goodbye, my home.”
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