Chapter 65
Chapter 65
The Guesthouse Opens
Distracted from his thoughts by Kim I-jun, who was splashing water at him from the side, Yu Yeon-seo looked up at the sky.
‘I don’t know. Whatever happens, happens.’
Although he felt a little uneasy, his first-ever trip to the beach had been quite fun.
“We have three groups of guests scheduled for tomorrow. One night, breakfast included.”
“That many?”
“We set the prices low since it’s a soft opening.”
Producer Lee threw a wet blanket on the cast members who had just come out after having a blast. He then explained an additional rule: the daily operating budget for the guesthouse would vary depending on the guests. And the amount was ridiculously small.
‘Just as I expected.’
Yu Yeon-seo raised one corner of his mouth slightly, and his eyes met Producer Lee’s again. Producer Lee shivered as if he had seen something he shouldn’t have.
“Will this be enough? For now, you two youngest, come with me.”
“Yes.”
In any case, they couldn’t just complain. For dinner and the next day’s preparations, Park Seung-hwan, Kim I-jun, and Yu Yeon-seo headed to the market.
“But will we be okay?”
“About what?”
“You caught that pickpocket, and even the police showed up.”
“Oh, that? You don’t have to worry.”
When he had asked for his things to be brought over, he had given another instruction. There would likely be no more pickpocketing incidents involving Asians while Yu Yeon-seo’s group was on this island.
As expected, a few suspicious individuals were spotted, but after seeing them, they turned away with disappointed looks. What on earth had Im Seung-hyeon said… And was Juseong’s influence this powerful even in a foreign country?
After a pleasant dinner with the cast, Yu Yeon-seo went out to the beach. The Milky Way shone brightly in the clear night sky, its reflection mirrored on the equally clear sea.
“Wow…”
“I’m glad we came here.”
The other cast members who followed him out marveled at the sight. Yu Yeon-seo also stared blankly at the beautiful scene.
‘Maybe I was worried for nothing.’
Contrary to his fears, the vision of Lee Hui-seo did not appear.
And the next day, the guesthouse [O Neul] opened for business.
“Check-in is at three, right?”
“Yeah, we should start getting ready.”
While everyone else had taken on roles and was bustling about, Yu Yeon-seo, who had no assigned task, stood there blankly.
“What about me?”
“Yeon-seo, you just rest.”
“Is that okay?”
“You’ll be going to the market early in the morning anyway. We can’t do without you. There’s no one else to haggle.”
Everyone seemed to agree with Park Seung-hwan’s opinion. He had expected them all to be somewhat arrogant and hot-tempered, being at the top of their respective fields, but they were all easygoing people. Am I the only one here with a bad temper?
‘Or do they think I won’t be able to do it well?’
Used to being treated like a young master, Yu Yeon-seo did as he was told and lay down in the hammock set up between the trees. The weather was a bit hot, but it was fine in the shade.
‘Still, I’m a little bored…’
Feeling restless from doing nothing, Yu Yeon-seo got up and peeked into the kitchen. Park Seung-hwan and Jin Su-ho were prepping ingredients.
“Is there anything for me to do?”
“I told you to go rest.”
“I’m bored.”
Ignoring Park Seung-hwan, Yu Yeon-seo rolled up his sleeves.
“Then can you chop this? Do you know how to use a knife?”
“Let me see.”
Knife work? He knew how to handle a knife in a different sense. Yu Yeon-seo carefully observed what Park Seung-hwan was doing. It looked easy enough…
Jin Su-ho placed a cutting board and a knife in front of Yu Yeon-seo and handed him some green onions, which were relatively easy to chop.
“Chop them like this.”
Jin Su-ho demonstrated. His movements didn’t look much different from Park Seung-hwan’s.
“You’re skilled.”
“Cooking is my hobby.”
“Doesn’t someone cook for you, hyung?”
“I find that more uncomfortable.”
Oh, right. He said he was a neat freak. He must be the type who can’t stand others messing up his space.
“Then wouldn’t you be better off cleaning, hyung?”
“I’d like to, but I’m the only one who can keep up as a kitchen assistant.”
In truth, Jin Su-ho would also have preferred cleaning over being a kitchen assistant. The dusty spots around the guesthouse were getting on his nerves.
“Is that so?”
Yu Yeon-seo nonchalantly picked up the knife placed before him and sized it up. Seeing a flicker of killing intent in his eyes, Park Seung-hwan, who was watching, let out a dry laugh.
“Aren’t you being a bit too dramatic?”
“It’s a knife. I have to be careful.”
“It looked less like being careful and more like you were about to slice someone up.”
Oops, old habits die hard. Yu Yeon-seo blinked a couple of times and then set the knife on the cutting board.
“How finely should I chop them?”
“Julienne them to about this size.”
“I’ll give it a try.”
He chopped the green onion a couple of times. His posture was decent, but since it was his first time, his movements were clumsy. Just as I thought… Just as Park Seung-hwan gave up his expectations and was about to prep the ingredients in front of him, Jin Su-ho called out to him.
“Oh… Hyung, look.”
Yu Yeon-seo’s clumsy knife work grew skillful and then began to speed up. The rhythmic sound of the knife hitting the cutting board echoed as the ingredients were sliced into uniform pieces.
“What the, he’s good?”
“Doesn’t he look like a chef at a Chinese restaurant?”
“He does.”
Having gotten the hang of it instantly, Yu Yeon-seo finished prepping the green onions in less than a minute.
“That was easy.”
“Yeon-seo, want to try chopping this too?”
Yu Yeon-seo skillfully chopped the carrot Jin Su-ho handed him. Despite it being a hard vegetable, he had no trouble. In fact, he was faster and more precise than when he was chopping the green onions.
“…Su-ho. You can go rest.”
“Then I’ll go and do some cleaning.”
At this speed, they didn’t need Jin Su-ho. Yu Yeon-seo alone was doing the work of a hundred men… Park Seung-hwan watched him with a satisfied expression.
“How about learning to cook while you’re at it?”
“Cooking?”
“Yeah, you seem to be good with a knife… Fire can be a bit dangerous, but it’s fine once you get used to it.”
Cooking… It wasn’t particularly interesting. Yu Yeon-seo methodically chopped the ingredients Park Seung-hwan handed him as instructed.
“Yeon-seo, do you have any hobbies?”
“Hobbies?”
Yu Yeon-seo’s hand paused for a moment. Hobbies, hobbies… In the year 2207, Kang Jin-hu had been a shut-in, watching videos from the past. But since coming here, he hadn’t watched anything other than his own acting.
He couldn’t remember precisely due to the butterfly effect prevention, but because he had memories of seeing them in the future, no video felt as fresh as watching it for the first time.
“Reading scripts?”
“That’s work.”
“Then, spending money?”
“That’s a bit… hard to call a hobby.”
“Staring into space at home?”
Park Seung-hwan let out a dry laugh. How had this kid lived his life to not have a single proper hobby?
“Don’t overthink it. Just find something you think would be fun to do. I guess cooking isn’t much fun for you?”
“Not really.”
“Then you must prefer eating over making it. I know someone whose hobby is going on food tours.”
“That sounds nice.”
Yu Yeon-seo gave a slight nod. He had lived such a bleak life. Of course, since he had so much, he was materially well-off and lacked for nothing.
“Yeon-seo! The guests are here. Can you interpret for us?”
“Yes.”
Yu Yeon-seo put down the knife and headed outside. Park Seung-hwan muttered to himself as he looked at the mountain of prepped ingredients.
“Wow… I guess I don’t have to prep ingredients anymore.”
When he came outside, a man and a woman who looked like a couple were looking around the guesthouse in admiration.
“Where are you from?”
They looked at Yu Yeon-seo and paused for a moment. It seemed they were surprised by his face.
Have they never seen a handsome person before? Yu Yeon-seo spoke to them, feigning nonchalance.
Even on the flight from Korea, there were frequent instances of flight attendants giving him extra attention or being overly friendly when he asked for something. So their reaction wasn’t particularly new to him.
“Germany.”
“Then German must be more comfortable for you. Please come this way.”
Yu Yeon-seo gestured with his head.
“Noona, where are they going?”
“The room at the end of the hall upstairs.”
As he led the guests up the stairs, the woman spoke to him.
“Did you learn German?”
“It’s basic.”
“But… what do you do?”
“I’m an actor in Korea.”
“Oh! No wonder.”
The couple whispered something to each other, then, before entering their room, waved their phone at Yu Yeon-seo.
“Can we take a picture together?”
“…If you’d like.”
Yu Yeon-seo stood between the couple for a photo. Kim I-jun whispered from the side, “Don’t they need me?” but that wasn’t going to happen.
The next two groups that arrived reacted to Yu Yeon-seo in much the same way as the couple. The other cast members watching from behind whispered among themselves.
“Why don’t they ask to take a picture with me…?”
“He’s in a league of his own.”
“True, when I first saw him, I thought he wasn’t of this world.”
Despite their worries, they managed to host and see off the first day’s guests without any trouble.
“Take this and hang it up over there. I’m going to run another load.”
“Okay.”
Running the guesthouse was surprisingly easy. For one, many of the gifts Yu Yeon-seo had received were useful, so much so that Producer Lee had grabbed the back of his neck in frustration after inspecting them.
Still, isn’t this better than having the cast struggle and frustrate the viewers?
‘It’s so peaceful.’
They began cleaning up right after the guests left. He trudged outside, carrying a laundry basket he’d received from Lee Yun-jeong. The laundry already hung up by Jin Su-ho was swaying gently in the breeze.
‘It wouldn’t be a bad idea to come here for a personal vacation…’
Since the visions weren’t appearing anyway, it might not be a bad idea to visit that place from his memories.
But had he let his guard down too much? As he hung a blanket on the clothesline, he glanced across, and there…
“Gasp…!”
Yu Yeon-seo inhaled sharply. His heart seemed to drop with a thud. He hung his head low and covered his mouth.
‘…Again?’
Why now, of all times?
A piercing ring echoed in his ears, and his head suddenly throbbed as if being stabbed with an awl. He mustered the courage to lift his head and look that way again. Lee Hui-seo’s two feet, still suspended in mid-air, were swaying limply.
“You son of a…”
A curse rose to his lips, but something else threatened to surge up. He forced his eyes open and scanned his surroundings. Fortunately, the blanket hid him from the camera’s blind spot. But he couldn’t stay here… He tried to ignore the vision by forcing himself to think of something else.
“This way.”
Jin Su-ho, who had been hanging blankets on the other side, led Yu Yeon-seo to the back of the house.
“Cough!”
Crouching down, Yu Yeon-seo coughed repeatedly toward the ground. Blood spattered down.
Even as he coughed up blood, his mind raced, thinking about where the cameras were and how much he’d have to pay Producer Lee to delete the footage if it was caught on tape. Otherwise, he felt like he would lose his mind because of the vision of Lee Hui-seo.
Fortunately, the place Jin Su-ho had brought him to was something like an unused storage shed, so there were no cameras. How did he find a place like this?
“…Thank you.”
He looked at Jin Su-ho’s stern face as he was handed a bottle of water, then drank from it and wiped his mouth with his sleeve. He thought it would be a nuisance to be found out, but he never expected it to be this helpful.
“Is it really nothing?”
Having spent a few days with Yu Yeon-seo, Jin Su-ho had a grasp of his personality. He knew that no matter how he pressed, he wouldn’t get the answer he wanted.
“We all had a health checkup before coming here.”
“Ah, right.”
If he had a health problem, he wouldn’t have been able to come. So is it an illness with an unknown cause? An incurable disease?
“Still, wouldn’t it be better to get a detailed examination? At the hospital…”
The hospital, he says…
‘That’s what I’d like to know.’
Yu Yeon-seo’s recent medical records only showed the health checkup; there was nothing else.
‘If he’s been seeing these visions for a long time, it would be a psychological issue… Why didn’t he go to the hospital?’
Because of this, he couldn’t stop thinking about it, no matter how hard he tried to ignore it. He pressed his fingers against his throbbing forehead.