We're Just Here on Vacation
Our house was bustling for the first time in a long while.
There weren't enough chairs at the table, so we sat around in the living room grilling pork belly.
I couldn't help wondering why they'd come all the way to America to eat something as common as dirt back in Korea — but at least they were enjoying it, so I counted that as a win.
"I was worried since it was American pork belly, but it's better than I expected."
"Right? The meat's good too."
Mother and my mother-in-law were having a fairly serious discussion about the quality of the meat.
Father and my father-in-law, on the other hand… it almost seemed like the two of them had come to America just to drink soju. The way they were pouring it down from the very start…
I waited for the right moment, reading the room, and when the atmosphere settled a little, I decided to ask what I'd been dying to know.
Why on earth!
Why hadn't anyone said a single word to me!
Four people coming from Korea to America together wasn't exactly an everyday thing — so why keep it a secret!
Mother, who had been smirking, started speaking on everyone's behalf.
"…What? You've been here for several days already?"
"Yeah. We even watched your game."
"Excuse me?"
"Your first start. We were at the stadium then too."
"……What? What did you just say?"
I'd been using formal speech with Mother because Father-in-law and Mother-in-law were present… but I was so stunned that my usual way of talking slipped out without thinking.
But that wasn't the important part…
"But why didn't you say anything?"
"If we told you we were coming, you'd just get all worked up about it."
"……"
"Ugh… but tickets were so hard to get. We almost didn't get to see you."
"If you'd told me, I could have gotten you good seats."
"Come on, that's not right. It's still our son's first game — we should pay for tickets properly."
"……Still, how did you manage to get tickets? There shouldn't have been any."
"We didn't. We couldn't get any."
Wait, what was she talking about now?
Hadn't she just said they watched the game?
"We couldn't get them, but our Song-yi got them for us right away. We still paid her, though?"
"Ah… how did you…"
"I asked Jack."
"Ah…"
Jack… right. There was Jack.
So Jack hadn't told me either…
"But why isn't Ho-min here?"
"No idea. He's probably off somewhere getting himself kill— I mean, he must have something to do."
"That's strange. He said he'd come with you."
He ran because he was guilty.
Pretty impressive, right? Running away twice in one day.
"But if you watched my start, where have you been staying all this time?"
"A hotel~ We've been busy sightseeing all over the place."
"With a perfectly good house sitting here…"
"We're on vacation — a hotel's better. Easier to coordinate with our next schedule too."
I see.
I hadn't known that.
"We didn't come to watch your games. We're here on vacation. Watching the games was just a bonus."
Yes, yes.
If that's what they say, what am I supposed to argue?
"You'll stay at the house starting today, right?"
"Us? Uh… we have another schedule tomorrow?"
"……"
Had they really come for vacation and not to see me?
Thinking about it carefully, that did sound like something my parents would do.
They really should have raised me a little less free-range.
The fact that Father-in-law and Mother-in-law went along with it was a bit surprising, but Han Song-yi had known from the start, so…
But wait a second.
They didn't tell me because they thought I'd be distracted during my games?
"Even when we were in Korea, you never came to watch a single game… was that also because you thought I'd get distracted?"
"Huh? Uh, uh? Y-yeah, that's right~"
"……"
Should I believe that…
I was about to open my mouth again when a buzzing sound came through.
Someone had arrived.
"Looks like Ho-min's here."
Mother jumped up to check the screen, then tilted her head.
When I looked, the outdoor camera showed a dark face standing there with bright white eyes gleaming.
"Jack? At this hour?"
"Mother-in-law said she wanted to thank him for helping last time, so I told him to come."
"Ah~ is that so?"
I figured that made sense and opened the door.
Jack strode in through the open doorway.
But behind him, I heard a clinking, rattling sound.
"That damn dog…"
It was something in Ho-min's hand as he snuck in hidden behind Jack's broad back.
The moment Ho-min came in, he avoided my gaze and ran straight to my parents.
"Mom~ Dad~"
"Oh my~ Our Ho-min's here? What did you go and buy this time?"
"Wine. For you and Dad to drink."
So that's how you're playing it?
Trying to just get through this moment somehow.
Doesn't matter — you're dead tomorrow.
"This is Ho-min. He's been friends with our Hajin since they were little. He's Hajin's manager now."
"Ah~ Hello~"
"Hello, Mother. Please speak comfortably."
Ho-min buttered up Mother-in-law with his greeting.
That shameless bastard…
"You have no idea how much this kid has helped our Hajin since they were little. Following his friend around, taking care of him…"
When?
Mother?
When has that guy ever taken care of me?
He just liked baseball and used that as an excuse to tag along, Mother.
"Buying bread for our Hajin so he wouldn't go hungry. Fetching water whenever he said he was thirsty…"
"Ghk. M-Mom?"
What was this?
Was Mother roasting him?
Mother… if you put it that way… bread shuttle…
"Our Hajin had a hot temper from a young age, so I was always worried he'd get into trouble, but with Ho-min by his side I could rest easy."
Uh, Mother… please stop…
While Mother was roasting everyone, Father-in-law's full attention was locked on Jack.
And of course it was — a Black man the size of a mountain was sitting cross-legged, dunking garlic deep into ssamjang and eating it. How could you not stare?
And on top of that.
"Allow me to offer a drink."
That polite Korean, too.
"A-are you Korean?"
"No. I'm American."
Maybe put down the chili pepper dipped in ssamjang before claiming to be American.
"So this gentleman is our son-in-law's agent?"
"Yes. Jack here negotiated my salary."
"Ah~"
After chatting a bit, Father-in-law seemed to warm up to Jack and started a proper conversation, trading drinks back and forth.
Father joined in too…
"……Am I a loner?"
Ho-min, who was determined not to meet my eyes even if it killed him, had wedged himself into the conversation between Mother, Mother-in-law, and Han Song-yi.
Father and Father-in-law were busy trading drinks with Jack.
And me — who couldn't drink during the season and had already eaten enough meat — was left sitting there completely abandoned…
"There's a game tomorrow — should I just go to bed?"
"You're playing again tomorrow? Why does a pitcher have games all year round?"
"……Yeah, well."
It's not all year round. Uh… your son also bats, Mother. You know that.
"Then hurry up and go to sleep. You can't have anything affecting tomorrow's game."
"……"
Father and Mother waved me off, telling me to go to bed.
Why had my presence in my own house become like this?
I felt a little… hurt…
When I opened my eyes in the morning, Han Song-yi was stroking my hair.
"You awake?"
"Yeah."
Han Song-yi nestled into my arms and started chattering about everything that had happened after I went to bed last night.
"Ho-min said that?"
"Yeah. About how well he's treated on the team. How much the team trusts him. He was practically bragging?"
"……Is that bastard trying not to get hit?"
"Huh?"
"Ah, nothing."
It was clear.
That guy definitely said those things knowing they'd reach my ears.
There's no way he'd talk that nicely otherwise.
Apparently Mother and Mother-in-law had gone to their rooms not long after I left.
Then Ho-min and Han Song-yi joined Father's drinking party.
"Ah~ so Ho-min drank? A lot?"
"Yeah. Drinking with your dad and my dad, he ended up having quite a bit?"
"I see… so he won't be able to come to work with me today…"
Once that guy drinks, he's a wreck for a whole day.
"Ah! That's why he was talking to Jack yesterday. Asking Jack to come with him today. Once Jack said okay, that's when he really started drinking."
"Ha…"
Look at this guy?
He set up a double layer of protection?
On one side, saying nice things so they'd reach my ears, and on the other, planning his escape just in case?
"Hehe. Go easy on him. He was fretting about it while drinking last night."
"Huh?"
"He said he forgot to tell you?"
"What?"
"I heard everything~"
So he went and said that too…
"He said he was going to tell you on the way home after the game yesterday."
"Then he should have."
"Apparently he told you to wrap things up and leave early? But he said you were late?"
"Huh?"
Yesterday Ho-min did tell me to leave a bit early… well, he did.
But that's something he says every day… right?
And I wasn't dawdling. I washed up, said goodbye, and left pretty much right away?
"He was in a hurry because he was waiting for your parents, but you weren't coming, and then on the way home he got distracted talking about some interview and forgot."
"……"
This was one of those weird situations where something felt off but nothing was actually wrong.
He does pester me to leave early every day, and he did say it yesterday, so that wasn't wrong. And we did stop the car on the way home to talk about the interview and all that — that was true too.
"He said you already hit him?"
No, that wasn't because of that — it was because that guy had run off before that too… so he snitched about that as well?
"So just go easy on him. Seeing how worried he was made me feel bad for him."
"……"
How do people see Ho-min so positively?
My parents, Han Song-yi, the players I used to hang out with on the Sabres, the people I was close with back in school. Everyone thinks Ho-min is such a good guy.
That shameless bastard.
"He came all the way to America alone to help you, living by himself. So we should treat him a little better. Okay?"
You're too kind. He's not that kind of guy… lonely my ass.
"Ah, fine."
"Aww, such a good husband~"
Yeah. I'm good.
As long as nobody scrapes at my insides.
"But what about that?"
"What?"
"The flowers he bought."
"Huh?"
Flowers? What flowers?
"Ho-min confessed!"
Ohh… is that so?