A Peaceful Day.
A Peaceful Day.
I was at a cafe, chatting away with Da-yeon over a yogurt smoothie and a chocolate tart, while Park Ji-hoon wolfed down a meal beside us.
Watching him order and devour every edible thing on the menu, I couldn't help but think...
Sorry, but honestly, it's embarrassing to be seen with him.
Da-yeon watched Ji-hoon eat for a while too, then turned back and started chattering with me again.
That was when someone in a crisp suit approached from a distance, and Kim Tae-oh blocked his path.
"Ah, I'm just someone who..."
The man offering his business card smiled awkwardly at Kim Tae-oh.
"Doesn't look like a trainee... doesn't seem interested in this sort of thing either..."
I looked at the card, and it said JSM Entertainment.
Then the man spotted me.
"Oh?! It's Si-yoon? Fancy seeing you here... ahaha..."
A face I'd occasionally seen when I was with Uncle Jang Seong-man.
"Hello."
"Oh? You recognize me? I'm flattered, haha... well, I'll be off now, have fun~"
"Yes, goodbye~"
Da-yeon looked at the business card and beamed brightly.
Watching Da-yeon, I took a long sip of my drink and said,
"Guess he didn't notice my face. Wow... our Da-yeon almost got scouted."
"No way... he might've... seen Tae-oh and..."
"Could be, but he gave the card to you, Da-yeon~"
"Mmm..."
Pleased by my words, Da-yeon turned red and slipped the card into her wallet.
Da-yeon wanted to head to the department store quickly, so we made our way there.
Would anyone look at us and think we're fourteen?
Inside the department store, we were practically demonstrating the phrase "I'll take everything from here to there."
That's an exaggeration, but the clothes Da-yeon, Tae-oh, Ji-hoon, and I had already bought exceeded thirty pieces.
We kept moving as we filled out delivery forms to have everything sent straight to each of our homes on the spot.
As expected... the daughter of Hanseong... my little Da-yeon who usually looks so innocent.
Whenever she found clothes she liked, or clothes we were satisfied with, the way she swiped her card without even checking the price was truly... worthy of a chaebol.
I can buy without lacking anything too, but I check the price out of habit.
When a single piece of clothing goes over a million won, my eyelids twitch involuntarily.
Before I knew it, an employee was following us around and had naturally glued herself to Da-yeon's side.
She'd recognized Da-yeon and was escorting her completely naturally.
Along with Da-yeon, I tried on this and that as if we were at a fashion show, while Park Ji-hoon and Tae-oh clapped mechanically at about ninety beats per minute.
Gradually, Da-yeon's expression soured, and when she went back in to change again, I said quietly,
"Fix your reactions..."
"".....""
And when Da-yeon came out, they cheered with shining eyes and clapped like seals.
A little smile tugged at the corner of Da-yeon's mouth.
This time, I started a fashion show as I changed, and Park Ji-hoon, as if seizing the moment, sent jeers my way.
"Booo~"
I smirked, went back in, and started putting on the outfit I'd already thought out beforehand.
A style Jae-hyeong had liked in the past...
When it took me a while, Da-yeon cracked the door open and came in.
"Si-yoon, what's going... gasp! No!!!"
Da-yeon rushed in and stopped me.
I was wearing black high heels and fishnet stockings, a garter belt, and a skirt so short it barely covered my panties.
My legs, stretched out beautifully as if flaunting their proportions, were emphasized.
"Are you crazy!!?"
Da-yeon smacked me on the back—whap, whap—so I had no choice but to start taking everything off piece by piece.
I hadn't put a top on yet, so my back stung from Da-yeon's touch.
"I'm still buying it."
"Why!?"
"I have to show Dad~"
".....If you do that, Si-yoon, you'll get hit again..."
When I changed into other clothes nearby, Da-yeon went back outside, and I followed her out.
Every time I came out, Kim Tae-oh kept sneaking glances with sparkling eyes, and Park Ji-hoon went quiet too.
When we finished shopping, we changed into our favorite outfits and started moving; Park Ji-hoon said in a low voice,
"We've already... been walking around for four hours..."
Da-yeon narrowed her big eyes and stared at Park Ji-hoon.
"So?"
"No, I mean... just saying."
I pulled Da-yeon by the waist and whispered in her ear.
"Wanna hit a karaoke room?"
"Yeah!"
Maybe because we'd been shopping for so long, hunger hit me, and as we stepped out of the building onto the street, a street food stall caught my eye.
"Wanna eat tteokbokki?"
I asked Da-yeon, but.
Park Ji-hoon, who was beside us, nodded fiercely.
"Can you stop eating so much...?"
"Fish cakes, fish cakes."
"...You dumb fuck."
In the end, at the street food stall, Ji-hoon crammed forty fish cakes into his mouth by himself.
The fish cakes the owner had to sell today—that bastard definitely ate them all.
Be that as it may, the thug who had transformed into a polished figure in the clothes Da-yeon bought him was wolfing them down like a beast.
Like Ji-hoon, I was digging into the fish cakes too, and as I ate them with the hot broth, a pile of skewers stacked up in one spot.
Before I knew it, Kim Tae-oh had finished eating too and set down his toothpick; Park Ji-hoon saw that and shoved everything into his own mouth.
"You gonna leave that?"
"That's fucking disgusting, you idiot. Talk after you swallow, or just shut up and keep stuffing your face..."
Park Ji-hoon opened his mouth at me...
"Nyam nyam"
For a second, I considered whether to jab a fish cake skewer into Park Ji-hoon's face... I mulled it over briefly, then ultimately ignored him, paid the bill, and slipped out with Da-yeon in tow.
Because of our curfew, Da-yeon and I had to be home before seven; in front of the karaoke place, Kim Tae-oh made a call and had a car brought around in advance.
Da-yeon liked singing herself, but she especially wanted to hear me sing.
When you type Si-yoon into the karaoke search bar, thirty-three songs come up.
Most of them are duets with Dad, but five are songs I sang solo.
We sang for a long while, and Kim Tae-oh's eyes sparkled as if he was hearing me sing for the first time.
Park Ji-hoon took the mic from me and immediately launched into a hip-hop track,
and he was shit at it.
You could say my ears have gotten picky from listening to my dad Kim Ji-ho's rapping.
But Park Ji-hoon's rap was acknowledged by all as tone-deaf and rhythm-deaf, so we burst out laughing.
Next, Kim Tae-oh did a ballad, and he was even worse.
And then Da-yeon's song selection was one of my songs.
I took Dad's part and sang along with her; after a fun time, we headed home.
I kicked my shoes off roughly and walked into the house.
"I'm back."
"You're back? Did you eat?"
"I ate."
"Yeah? Go put your shoes away properly."
Dad said that without even looking.
How did he know how I'd taken them off? I felt a bit hurt and miffed at Dad for speaking without looking,
but since I had, just as he'd predicted, kicked them off carelessly, I quietly straightened my shoes.
Alpha and Beta were meowing at the door, looking up at me, and kept following me around.
"Dad!"
"Yeah?"
"Clothes are coming tomorrow. I'll put on a fashion show for you."
"Oh~ can I look forward to it?"
"Yeah, I picked them out with Da-yeon."
Curious about what Dad was doing that he wasn't coming out and only calling back, I headed to the game room.
When I saw Dad fighting a boss in the Maple Leaf Game, I put on a stern face.
"....."
The moment I stood there silently, Dad started glancing at me nervously.
The longer I watched him fidget, the more I wanted to tease him.
"It'll be over... soon..."
"Your daughter comes home and you're busy with something important... well, I guess that means nothing I do from now on matters, right?"
"No, Si-yoon..."
"If this is how it is, why make a curfew? Okay, let's just not care what each other does from now on."
Dad sensed the gravity and turned off the computer immediately.
"Si-yoon!"
And from behind me, as I was already heading to my room, he tried to grab my shoulder, so I quickly and lightly smacked—tap!—his hand away.
At that, Dad scooped me up in a princess carry.
"I'm sorry. I thought it was a really important boss, but of course my daughter is more important!"
Because of the prank I'd pulled on Dad, I had to endure a prolonged tickle attack for a while.
The next morning, the deliveries arrived, so I opened a fashion show right away,
and when Dad saw my R-rated outfit, complete with cat ears, he was horrified and, without hesitation, shoved every piece straight into the trash can.
Before I knew it, the school sports meet was approaching, and with it, midterms were right around the corner.
To me, exam periods didn't mean much,
but everyone else seemed to be focusing on their studies and started hitting the books.
Park Ji-hoon and Kim Tae-oh were no different.
During self-study time, I was drawing by myself, and Park Ji-hoon, who was sitting next to me, looked over.
"I'm so fucking jealous..."
"Of what."
"What's it feel like to remember everything you see?"
"Hmm... I can still picture it vividly."
"What?"
"Shrimp."
Cough!
In the quiet classroom, Park Ji-hoon started hacking.
"Jesus... I told you not to bring that up."
"What, has your shrimp grown a bit?"
"Fuck... yeah, it's grown. Turned into a crayfish or whatever. Wanna see?"
"Crayfish my ass. You'd be lucky if it hasn't shrunk like shrimp paste."
"...Fuck... you nasty bastard."
Da-yeon and Kim Tae-oh, sitting beside us, got curious about what we were talking about, but when I tried to tell them, Park Ji-hoon covered my mouth.
"Mmph!"
Park Ji-hoon's hand was bigger than I thought—his hand was larger than my face.
"Don't."
"Ib your fawlt."
Now that I couldn't match Park Ji-hoon in strength, I bent his finger back, and only then did he let go, wincing in pain.
Feeling the eyes on us, and to avoid disturbing those absorbed in their studies, I wrote a note and passed it to Ji-hoon.
When Ji-hoon asked what it was, I pointed at Da-yeon.
He looked dumbfounded, then tossed it over to Da-yeon.
Kim Tae-oh caught the flying note with a straight face, shot Park Ji-hoon a look, and then handed it to Da-yeon.
- I'm going to art academy today, wanna come with me?
Da-yeon flashed a happy smile, looked at me, and nodded.
Then she went right back to focusing on her studies.
I looked at the notebook in front of me.
Drawing's fun the first couple of times, and if there were a lecture, I might at least listen, but self-study is just too tedious for me.
There's nothing more boring than studying something that's already in my head.
In the end, I started to sleep.
Haaaaah..... phewuuuu.....
Inside the quiet classroom, one person's breathing was heard with striking intensity.
Haaaap..... phewuuuuu.....
The rhythm of the breaths was so slow you might think she was dead; a breath was audible about once every five minutes.
Park Ji-hoon looked at Kim Si-yoon with a dumbfounded expression.
When he held his hand up to her nose, Kim Si-yoon wasn't breathing.
"Wow... look at that lung capacity... she should just become a marathon runner..."
Because Ji-hoon spoke in a voice loud enough for anyone to hear, a few people went pfft... and laughed.
Kim Tae-oh was watching that Kim Si-yoon, and Da-yeon watched that Kim Tae-oh, then put on a bitter expression and went back to pretending to study.
Haaaaaaap..... phewuuuuuu.....
"At this rate, she's gonna keep me up tonight begging to play games..."
The classroom was filled with the sound of Si-yoon's breathing and Ji-hoon's grumbling together.
"Hnnngh... I slept well. Time to eat~"
"....."
Ji-hoon looked at me with an exasperated gaze, then spoke to Da-yeon beside him.
"She does that, and then later you see her report card and she's first in the whole school? Isn't that obnoxious?"
"Si-yoon is amazing..."
I was listening to their conversation when I noticed something off in Da-yeon's voice and looked at her.
Da-yeon flinched under my gaze and laughed awkwardly.
When I slowly approached Da-yeon, she flinched again and stepped backward.
Seeing that, Kim Tae-oh, perhaps instinctively trying to stop me from getting closer, tried to grab my arm, but Ji-hoon grabbed Kim Tae-oh's arm.
The situation was practically like two male leads fighting over a single female lead.
"Why are you trying to touch her without permission?"
It was a light grip from Ji-hoon, but Kim Tae-oh, flustered by the incredible grip strength that exceeded all expectations, yanked his arm free.
Staring at his own arm, perhaps his pride was wounded; Kim Tae-oh's gaze toward Park Ji-hoon changed.
Seeing that, Da-yeon held Kim Tae-oh back.
"...Why are you getting angry?"
"Sorry..."
Park Ji-hoon shrugged, laid his open palm on top of my head, and swiveled my head in the direction of the cafeteria.
My body turned with it, naturally.
"Let's go."
Dumbfounded by Park Ji-hoon's stunt, I kicked him in the shin without a second thought, and he dropped to the floor thrashing in pain.
"Why the hell are you touching my head, you little bastard, you wanna die?"
In the hallway, I stepped lightly—and firmly—on Ji-hoon, who was lying on the ground from the pain.
"".....""
In front of the school snack bar, Park Ji-hoon had taken off his dress shirt, now covered in my shoe prints, and was dusting it off.
His form-fitting undershirt revealed a sculpted body, a body that had already surpassed the old Park Gi from his prime.
How is that the body of a fourteen-year-old...
Kim Tae-oh also watched Park Ji-hoon's body with keen interest.
Once he'd shaken all the dust off his dress shirt, Park Ji-hoon put it back on and looked at me.
"What."
"Let's go to the snack bar. There are way too many people."
"Are you buying?"
"I've got no money, though?"
That bastard never has any money, but he's always the one suggesting we go to the snack bar.
Still, it wasn't a burdensome amount, so as usual, I led them toward the snack bar.
Park Ji-hoon was eating bread with his leg arrogantly propped up.
Whack!
Suddenly.
Truly, literally out of nowhere, a passing second-year smacked Park Ji-hoon in the back of the head,
and his pizza bread smeared onto Park Ji-hoon's clothes.
"".....""
In the now-silent snack bar, the big, stocky punk who'd hit Park Ji-hoon spoke.
"Kids these days have no fucking manners, who the hell puts their leg up like that and acts like a jackass."
I silently prayed for the departed's soul.