A Peaceful Day (2)
A Peaceful Day (2)
Dad wasn't around for once, so I hopped straight into the bathroom, washed up, then turned off every light in the house and watched a movie while petting Alpha and Beta.
Just watching movies was enough to see how far the world had come.
"Whoa..."
The new TV Lee Jin-seok had sent over as a gift, telling me to give it a try, made me feel like I had stepped right into the film.
As I was mindlessly petting Beta with my left arm, Alpha gave my right hand a little bite.
If I'd had three cats, I might've had to start using my feet.
Dad still wasn't back even after the movie ended, so I put on an Alien movie for the first time in a while.
The chestburster scene never gets old, no matter how many times I watch it.
I was snuggling the cats and deep into the movie when Dad came home.
"Si-yoon~"
"Oh? You're back?"
"I brought your favorite sushi, tee-hee~"
Come to think of it, I hadn't eaten dinner.
I casually called out to him, picking up the remote with one hand and turning off the Alien movie.
A drunk Dad nagging at you? The most horrific thing on earth.
I could already picture him repeating the same story hundreds of times.
I got up from the couch and took the bag of takeout sushi from Dad.
He'd been drinking, but unlike last time, he wasn't completely plastered, so I figured he'd had about two bottles.
Dad hummed to himself, then seemed to get a sudden flash of inspiration and went into his studio, coming back out ten minutes later.
And then Dad went and washed up.
I was looking at my phone, nibbling slowly at the sushi, when Dad came over with his hair dried.
"Si-yoon."
"Yeah?"
"A drama offer came in..."
"What drama?"
"My Love Was a Gumiho 2!"
My fans are genuinely, seriously incapable of forgetting the gumiho meme even now.
"Haven't heard that one in a while."
"Yeah! They said if you agree to do it, they'd start production right away."
I'd seen some pretty wild terms and conditions before, but it was still interesting that the entire production hinged on whether I signed on to film.
"Probably, if I do it... when did they say? They said about two to three years before filming starts."
"Would you like it if I did it, Dad?"
"Yeah!"
"You came without thinking about my appearance fee again, didn't you?"
"Didn't they say Notflix is covering almost the whole production budget?"
That was all I needed to hear.
Once the script and story were done and approved, they'd dump every last won into it.
Especially since they said they'd center it around me... my per-episode fee was clearly going to be a massive jump from before.
Dad's high profile meant my looks, as his daughter, inevitably got an enormous amount of spotlight too.
"I do kinda want to, though. It's been a while."
"Right?!"
I had a peaceful chat with Dad, eating sushi alongside the smell of alcohol.
I went to school, and when lunchtime came around, Min-ji came looking for me in a panic.
"Si-yoon! Si-yoon! Si-yoon!"
"What? I'm not dead."
"What do I do... Jun-su..."
"Jun-su? What's going on?"
Jun-su had started working out after summer break and had slimmed down a ton.
"Jun-su got into a fight with some guys..."
I had been dozing off in our peaceful club room, but at the sudden prospect of entertainment, I stretched and got up.
I'd been bored anyway, and whoa... this was prime popcorn material.
"Where?"
"The recycling area!"
"Should I swing by the snack bar and grab some popcorn?"
"What are you saying! Hurry up!"
"Tch."
I followed Min-ji's frantic, antsy lead at a perfectly leisurely pace.
Apparently, Jun-su was getting beaten up by four guys at the recycling area.
I approached from a distance, filming the whole thing on my phone.
The guys throwing the punches noticed us and stopped hitting Jun-su, puffing themselves up.
"What, why? Not gonna keep going?"
"...This was a mutual fight. Put the phone away."
"Four-on-one is a mutual fight?"
One of the punks nudged Jun-su with his foot as he spoke.
"Hey, tell 'em, you fucking moron."
Oh... these guys have some solid backup, it seemed, since they were bold even while I was recording.
Min-ji ran over to Jun-su, on the verge of tears.
"Stop it!"
"Well, look at that. The otaku loser's got his girlfriend shielding him."
When he tried to put his hands on Min-ji, I lightly fed him a taste of "the left-hand stun gun."
With a thud, the punk crumpled as the strength left his legs.
Thump.
"".....""
"Really went and laid hands on a girl now. Hey, was that part of the 'mutual agreement' too?"
The three remaining punks stared at their snoozing buddy, trying to process the situation.
More than anything, both Min-ji's and Jun-su's eyes had gone perfectly round.
"Or... you wanna mutually agree to fight me?"
Even though we were outside, I could hear them gulp.
Just then, the punk who'd briefly slipped into a groggy daze woke up.
"What the..."
He sized up the situation for a moment, then scrunched up his face and glared at me.
"Unbelievable... You started that?"
Bold words for a guy who just took a pathetic little nap.
When the punk rushed me, I planted a left jab on him at a speed even Park Ji-hoon couldn't dodge.
Then, as his legs gave out and he collapsed again, I flicked my right hand and drove a straight into him, pulling the punch as much as I could—
his head snapped around with a jolt, and this time he went into a deep sleep.
"Can't fight for shit but runs his fucking mouth... you moron. Yeah, I started it, you little shit. Mess around and die, you prick."
"".....""
I spoke while looking at the punks, their pupils shaking.
"So, what's the reason?"
"Uh... well..."
"Guess you don't wanna say. Then let's all have a nice chat with both sets of parents involved."
"You're misunderstanding. He really did ask to fight first."
"...? And the reason?"
"It's kind of hard for us to say... but we used to bully him back in the day... then he suddenly got kind of built, and..."
"...? Ohhh shit, I fucked up."
I quickly woke up the unconscious punk.
"Hey, sleep well? Ah, no, that's not it—you okay? I feel like a real asshole now. Hey, Heo Jun-su."
"...Yes."
"Is it true you just picked a fight 'cause you felt like you'd gotten stronger?"
"...Yes."
"Even a third-rate punk wouldn't beat someone up just to test his strength. And Min-ji, you... haa..."
"No, it's not like that! They were asking Jun-su... saying how great it must be to be around girls... telling him to get them Si-yoon and Da-yeon's phone numbers, the two prettiest girls in school... they were pressuring him..."
Looking at the punks' expressions as they heard this, Min-ji's story seemed to be true.
"B...bullshit? This is ridiculous. When did we ever do that?"
I stopped trying to wake the sleeping punk.
I was starting to get swayed back and forth here.
I stood up from my crouch.
"Wow, shit... almost got myself in trouble with Dad. Just looking at your faces, I can tell Min-ji's telling the truth."
""...You don't have proof, though?""
"Hey, you know just like you've got your backup, we've got ours too, right?"
Suddenly, the punks grinned and pulled out a voice recorder.
"Can you take responsibility for those words?"
"You idiots, I've got one too, you know."
I pulled the phone that had been recording video out of my pocket.
"Oh, your faces are in perfect focus, too."
"".....""
"Little punks trying to threaten me. I'll make sure your school life is real fun from now on."
I draped an arm over Min-ji's shoulder and called Park Ji-hoon.
-"Hello?"
"You're never around when you're actually needed, you dumb fuck. Get your ass to the recycling area."
-"Why? Something happen?"
"Jun-su got his ass kicked."
-"Hey, Jun-su's getting beat up, he says."
The call ended naturally.
And the punk who'd been knocked out woke up and sat there quietly.
Park Ji-hoon came sprinting from the direction of the snack bar.
"Jun-suuuuu~"
I tossed my phone to Park Ji-hoon, and he caught it and watched the video.
"Just from the sound alone, I can tell you're the one who hit that kid with the dirt on him."
-"Can you take responsibility for those words?"
"Who's this?"
I pointed at the punk in the black undershirt, and the kid flinched at the increasingly serious situation.
"Oh... you know Byeong-jae? He's a friend of mine. Should I have a word with...?"
The punks' reaction was so severe it made me wonder just who this Byeong-jae was to make them recoil like that.
""We're sorry!!""
"It's fine. I'll just tell him to play nice with you, don't worry... Mind giving me your phone numbers? I'd be even more pissed if I had to run around looking for you guys."
It was strange watching the punks suddenly bow their heads so low to hide their name tags.
The fact that there was a punk they were more scared of than Park Ji-hoon.
When I glanced at Min-ji as if asking if she knew him, she explained.
"There's a friend whose dad is... a gangster..."
That seemed to be news to Park Ji-hoon, too.
"Really? Didn't know that. He's just a junior who trains at our gym."
Park Ji-hoon nodded, snapping photos of their name tags with my phone.
"Enjoy school life~"
"".....""
"No answer...?"
""Yes!""
"Good, good. See you around~"
I left Ji-hoon behind and headed to the club room with just Min-ji and Jun-su.
Then, I smacked the back of Jun-su's drooping head—whap!
"Didn't you read the rules?"
"Huh?!"
"It should've been written there. Tell someone if something like this happens."
"I'm sorry."
"Loyalty? Pride? None of that crap matters. The person who reports it first wins."
"...Okay."
"Your face is all torn up. There's a first-aid kit in the club room, so let's treat you first."
"Okay."
Jun-su might like 2D girls a little too much, but he's a genuinely good kid.
And since he has Min-ji as his girlfriend, he'd never once cast his eyes on me or Da-yeon, who both have looks that are hard to look away from.
I'm fully aware of my own appearance, so I hold back on physical contact with others as much as possible.
Because if I so much as accidentally touch someone's hand, the other person gets an expression like they've been blessed by a living saint and starts thinking about marriage.
So I took out the first-aid kit and handed it to Min-ji.
Next period was music, and the ones who came to get me—
"Si-yoon~ Let's go to the music room!"
"Time flew by already, huh."
I looked at Park Ji-hoon and spoke.
"You handle it well?"
"I've always been killer at cleaning up messes."
"Yeah, you're a real big shot."
I looked at Jun-su and Min-ji and spoke.
"You did good, running straight to me without hesitation."
"Okay!"
"Just for today, I'll allow you two to act all couple-y in the club room."
""...What?""
Leaving Min-ji and Jun-su looking at me with flustered eyes, I closed the club room door and left.
Probably because we'd come early, there weren't many students in the music room yet.
"Hey, play the piano for us."
"Piss off."
Suddenly, Park Ji-hoon whispered something into Da-yeon's ear.
I didn't need to see to know what he'd said.
"No way. Si-yoon doesn't like it."
I looked at Da-yeon and smiled brightly.
"If our Da-yeon wants it~ I could play it for her over a hundred times~"
"Then of course I want to hear it!"
The moment Da-yeon finished speaking, I sat down at the piano.
The kids' eyes all focused on me—word had gotten around about the piano I'd played for a performance assessment in music class not long ago.
Plink, plunk~
I sat at the piano and gently pressed the keys.
Having short fingers left a lot to be desired, but even so, I could play quite a few pieces comfortably.
And right now, I was about to play a piece I'd arranged for fun with Dad.
Mozart's Turkish March.
The familiar melody flowed out through my hands.
Then, as the tempo picked up just a bit lighter and faster than the original, the whole classroom went quiet.
Da-yeon's eyes sparkled even brighter at my touch, as careful as if I were handling a child.
When the performance ended, applause came from the entrance.
It was the music teacher.
"Hah... that was a perfect arrangement."
"Ah, hello. Thank you for the compliment."
I gave a polite greeting, then went to my seat and sat down.
Time passed, and summer break drew near.
Min-ji proposed a club trip to a valley.
For me, all I had to do was convince Dad, but getting Da-yeon to move meant at least five people tailing along with her.
As Tae-oh improved through frequent sparring with Park Ji-hoon, Da-yeon had the number of bodyguards around him drastically reduced.
Though it was still a lot.
Da-yeon was incredibly excited about it, so I had to go through the pain of convincing Lee Jin-seok.
While picking out a swimsuit, I decided to check—just in case—and went looking through the swimsuits in Mom's room.
"Whoa..."
I'd been wrong to think my flat-chested mom would have worn cute styles.
And... ahem... now that I was older and digging through Mom's closet, I could finally see it.
Clothes that were surprisingly lewd...
I stared blankly at the pieces that looked like they'd fail to perform any actual function as underwear.
I felt more of my own lingering innocence than I'd expected...
I brought out Mom's swimsuits and showed them to Dad.
"How about this!"
"You... said you wouldn't do that until you were seventeen..."
"Tch."
Disappointed by Dad's better-than-expected memory, I put the clothes back.
"I packed everything you'll need. Check it over once."
I opened the suitcase Dad had packed.
The suitcase was stuffed with everything, including things that made me wonder if I'd even need them.
"What'd we decide for transport?"
"Come to think of it, is this my first time on a bus or subway?"
Dad thought for a moment, then nodded.
"I guess so...?"
"This is why rich people get a bad rap, I guess~ don't even know the bus fare. Anyway, Ji-hoon or Tae-oh will be stuck right by me, so don't worry."
"Okay."
"And honestly, even if both of them jumped me at once, I'd still win."
"Ahahaha."
I meant it sincerely, but Dad must have taken it as a joke.
When I started working out for tomorrow, Dad sat on the couch and watched me.
"...You'd look pretty even with just a flat stomach... a six-pack is... way too much, Si-yoon..."
My slender waist was etched with visible abdominal muscles—not super sharp, but clean and pretty.
"Hmm... it's not that excessive, though?"
"That's because you're trying to go further..."
"No, I'm not planning to make it all gross-looking or anything. And it'd be a waste to shower without working up a sweat first."
As I did squats on the yoga mat and gradually moved into more intense motions, Dad fell silent.
"...I bought that for you to do yoga..."
"If it's good, it's good... ngh. And I finish with... hoo... like this, you know?"
I split my workout into sets and chatted with Dad while exercising.
After I finished the workout, I started into yoga next.
To help loosen up the tight muscles too.
"Dad."
"Yeah?"
"Give me a massage."
Dad got up right away and started working out the knots in my muscles.
"Nngh... haah... hrk... it hurts... easy..."
"Si-yoon... the sounds... Dad's tired..."
When I let out exaggerated moans, Dad's face suddenly took on an extremely tired expression.
"Ahahaha."