Chapter 397 |
Side Story (14)
[“Oh, I’m doing it without sedation.”]
“Haa….”
I let out a deep sigh while glancing at Prism Health Checkup, Episode 2 playing on the TV.
Some people choose unsedated endoscopy for various reasons: saving on sedation fees, being able to resume activities immediately after the test, or health-related concerns that make sedation inadvisable. However, from what I’d seen, Jo Inchan didn’t fall into any of those categories.
I’d tried an unsedated endoscopy myself once when my schedule was impossibly tight. It wasn’t a pleasant experience, so whenever possible, I preferred sedation. Knowing he was willing to endure that discomfort made me uneasy.’
‘The guy who gags even when brushing his teeth is talking about doing a conscious endoscopy.’
I had a rough idea why he was insisting on it, which only made it worse.
‘It must be that he’s afraid of being under the influence.’
‘Ha … I did manage to persuade him to go with sedation in the end, but I don’t know if that was the right call.’
As I scratched my head, lost in thought, the self-produced content video moved into full swing, showing us heading into the endoscopy room.
[“Seo Yutae-nim, you’ll go in first.”]
[<Starting With The Eldest>]
Among the members, I was set to go first. Even if the procedure ended quickly, there was anesthesia involved, so I chose to go first in case I needed to take action if an unexpected accident occurred. However, since the production staff said it would be better for footage to send people in two by two or three by three, I went in together with Seo Yuseong.
[“Don’t be nervous. Good luck in there.”]
Cha Woon called out to us as Seo Yuseong and I headed toward the examination room. I gave him a crooked smile and went inside with Seo Yuseong.
Honestly, I was worried too.
[“…….:”]
Not because the check-up scared me, but because I might start cursing once the anesthesia hits…….
People might say it’s fine since fans already know I have a foul mouth and the editors can just cut it out, but then what about the poor medical staff? I just hoped I’d keep my mouth shut and get through it quietly. I also worried about thrashing around unconsciously.
We’d talked among ourselves about how most of the medical staff in the examination room were women and how it would be a problem if we started thrashing around, so we needed to stay as still as possible, but how could that be up to us when we’d be unconscious?
[<zzz>] [<Seo Brothers, finished with their check-ups>]
Other variety shows sometimes air celebrities undergoing endoscopies without cutting anything, but since we were technically idols, the actual procedure itself was skipped, and the footage jumped straight to the recovery room.
‘Why is my hair such a mess?‘
Seeing myself lying on the bed made me recoil. My long hair was tangled messily across the bed and my body, and witnessing that eyesore firsthand was unbearable.
— So holy…— It’s such a shame that Seo Yutae doesn’t act. With his looks, he’d be perfect as a sageuk1 male lead
— Or can you guys please swap songs with Pantheion and give us a Hades-inspired concept? I’m literally on my knees begging for this
My fans always say nice things about me, so I shouldn’t let it go to my head or get too complacent. I was wondering if I should cut my hair when the disheveled-looking me finally opened my eyes.
[“Where’s my younger brother?”]
Usually, when sedation wears off, people slur their words and seem dazed, so why was I speaking so clearly?
[“Oh, the patient is already awake?”] [“Yes.”] [“Hmm, that’s odd. Why did you wake up so quickly?”]
Judging by how the nurse tilted her head while checking my condition, this didn’t seem normal. Still, it wasn’t as though the anesthesia had simply worn off quickly, as I had absolutely no memory of that moment.
[“Yes, could I see my younger brother?”]
See?
At a glance, I looked perfectly fine, but if you paid attention, I was just repeating the same thing.
‘It looks like I at least remembered going in for the examination with Seo Yuseong.’
The examination-room staff, veterans at brushing off patients’ stubbornness, quickly realized I was still under the influence and replied in their usual dry yet kind tone.
[“Yees, Seo Yuseong-nim is right next to you. I’ll open the curtain, so please stay lying down for now.”] [“Thank you.”]
Seo Yuseong was sleeping quietly, just like always. I suppose it’s just like him to not make a single sound while everyone else is babbling nonsense under sedation. Ever since he was little, he’d slept so calmly, without any bad habits, that holding him felt like holding a doll, so this wasn’t particularly surprising.
After confirming that Seo Yuseong was safely beside me, I followed the doctors’ instructions and lay down quietly. Then, with my head turned toward Seo Yuseong, I blinked a few times and softly called out to him.
[“Seo Yuseong”.] [“………”] [“Your brother’s calling you, but you don’t even answer. So rude.”]
Why am I even talking like that to a kid who’s asleep?
Judging by how foolish I was acting, I was definitely still high on the anesthesia.
[“Seo Yuseong.”]
When I kept calling him, Seo Yuseong finally woke up and calmly turned to look at me. I’d woken him up even though he was sleeping soundly, yet he didn’t get annoyed at all. Whose younger brother is this gentle, I wonder.
“Hyung, go in with Yuseong. If he wakes up and finds himself next to us, he might start acting up again.”
I never quite understood why the Prism members were so fed up with him.
[“Are you dizzy?”]
When I asked while quietly looking at him, Seo Yuseong shook his head. I asked again if he was really okay, and when he shook his head once more, the caption showed me muttering “Thank goodness” in a tiny voice.
[<An older brother is always worried about his younger brother>]
‘What is this editing.’
For some reason, between the atmosphere in the chat and the way it was edited, the whole thing felt oddly soft and heartwarming. It was just one of those quiet, boring moments between us brothers that’s usually hard to make entertaining for broadcast, yet the fans seemed to love it way more than I expected
— ㅜㅜㅜㅜ Yutae loves Yuseong so, so much…— Look at Byul’s expression, he looks so at ease the moment he sees Yutae
— I am offering my mother’s son for sale
Strangely, my face felt like it was getting hotter and hotter, but let’s set that aside.
Soon after Yuseong and I had recovered, the footage showed Cha Woon and Yoo Jay being wheeled in side by side on their beds. Of the two, Cha Woon was the first to open his eyes.
[“Ch-Chise? Where’s Chise?”] [“Uh, he’s still being examined.”] [“What about Yuseong?”] [“He’s sitting right up there. Let go of my pants first.”] [“What about Yihwon?”] [“Waiting for his examination. Relax your grip. That’s it, good boy.”]
He could barely open his eyes, yet it seemed he was determined to check on every single member in turn. If he was going to ask one by one like that, it would’ve been far more efficient to just ask, “Where is everyone?”, but what could I do. The person I was dealing with was Cha Woon with half his intelligence gone.
There was no obligation to carefully answer the nonsense of someone whose anesthesia hadn’t fully worn off, but it felt like he wouldn’t release his tight grip on my waistband until he got the answers he wanted.
[“What about Inchan?”] [“Uh, he’s going in together with Nam Yihwon.”]
As I answered each of Cha Woon’s questions, I pressed my palm firmly against his forehead, pushing him back down onto the bed when he kept trying to lift himself up, as if he wanted to personally confirm everyone’s whereabouts.
[“No, stay still. Behave.”] [“Yees.”]
If nothing else, at least he listened to me well. Maybe that was something to be grateful for.
The guy, who was obediently lying on the bed zoning out just as I’d told him to, finally asked for Yoo Jay last.
[“What about our youngest?”] [“He’s right next to you, but he hasn’t woken up yet. I guess the anesthesia hasn’t worn off.”]
I glanced over at Yoo Jay, who was lying there fast asleep, and told him as much. At my answer, Cha Woon scowled deeply and started mumbling,
[“It’s because his lungs are rotten…….”]
[<??>]
It looked like even the captions were taken aback by Cha Woon’s baseless claim.
Well, as everyone knows, you can’t expect logic from someone coming out of sedation.
[“I told him to quit smoking, didn’t I. That stubborn rascal never listens…….”] [“You’re to blame too, hyung. It’s because you’re always smoking that Yoo Jay is following your lead.”] [“Uh, yeah, I’m sorry…….”]
‘Why am I the one apologizing all of a sudden?’
Like how people dream about being late for the CSAT right before the exam, your subconscious tends to reflect what you are currently worried or stressed about. Last time he had an endoscopy, he fretted so much about accidentally deleting a file, but this time, maybe because of the questionnaire he had checked earlier, he kept worrying about Yoo Jay’s lungs and mine.
Just then, Yoo Jay opened his eyes.
[“Oh, it’s the leader.”]
The moment Yoo Jay spotted me, he broke into a bright smile. The screen added a soft-focus glow, and pink flowers bloomed across it, like a scene straight out of a shoujo manga.
‘Was that really a moment that deserved that much emphasis?’
— Thump thump— Wow……
— Yoo Jay legendary screenshot updated
— Whoever marries Yoo Jay gets to see that face every morning. Just imagining it makes me cry tears of blood
After scrolling through the completely overturned chat window, I looked closely at Yoo Jay on the screen. His bare face, without a trace of makeup, stood out, glowing clean and bright.
Let’s see.
His skin was clear, and the corners of his eyes, which seemed to droop slightly before flicking upward at the ends, gave him a mysterious look. His lashes weren’t as long as Choi Jeokhyeon’s, but they were thick and lovely, which, along with his deep double eyelids, made his eyes worth staring at. His nose was so straight and high that he was constantly accused of having had plastic surgery, and thanks to his neatly shaped eyebrows, his features felt perfectly and harmoniously placed.
‘Looking at him objectively, he’s actually pretty decent.’
Which was just another way of saying he was handsome.
I nodded in satisfaction and came to that conclusion.
‘Yeah. He’s the face of our group, so he should look at least this good.’
When someone who looks like that smiles so defenselessly, most people are bound to melt. As for me, I woke up every day at the dorm to nothing but Prism’s faces, so I’d honestly grown a bit desensitized to it. Our kids had godawful personalities and behavior that was anything but idol-like, so at least their faces had to be good enough to carry them.
[“Heh.”]
Oh, for heaven’s sake.
Yoo Jay was smiling so happily that he even let out a stupid little sound.
‘He doesn’t usually smile like that when he’s in his right mind.’
Looking back on that moment, it felt as if he’d suddenly turned into a child. He did act cute now and then to get what he wanted, but from an older person’s perspective, you could always tell when a smile was something he’d put on to be liked. That kind of gentle, childlike grin, though, was something I hadn’t seen since his little chick, school days.
[“Why?”]
When I answered with a small snort of laughter, indulging him, he glanced at me once more before letting out an even louder ‘Hehehe‘.
[“What. If you’ve got something to say, say it. What’s so funny?”] [“Ju-u-ust, ’cause I’m happy.”]
Well, since he’s laughing, I guess it’s safe to say he’s feeling good rather than bad. I didn’t exactly need him to say it to know that.
[“Cause we’re … togedder……”] [“Huh? Because we’re together?”] [“Mmm……”]
[<Unintelligible>]
What I’d wanted was an answer about what exactly he was so happy about, but I guess that was asking too much. Honestly, he was so out of it that his tongue was all tied up, making him hard to understand. Even drunk, he wasn’t usually this bad.
‘…Fool.’
As the scene aired of me muttering to myself while briskly pulling the blanket over him, the live chat started blowing up.
— Leader Seo, put your hand on your chest and tell us honestly, you thought Yoo Jay was cute just now, didn’t you?— (smiling like he thinks he’s cute)
— Yutae-nim, don’t smile like such a big brother unless you want to turn fangirls into beasts;;
— No matter how old Jay gets, he’s still the maknae in Prism. My heart feels insanely warm, like I just had a bowl of gukbap2…
No.
No, no, no.
When did I ever find him cute?
No matter how much Seras thought they knew about me, that was a misunderstanding.
[<Cute>]
Even the captions were ganging up on me and making me out to be some kind of weirdo, which was really a problem. Just as it seemed like Cha Woon’s and Yoo Jay’s turn was passing by without incident, a sudden, chilling mechanical beep cut in, along with ominously serious background music. The doctors in the examination room were heard shouting sharply.
[Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep.]
[“Doctors, could you come over here for a moment!”]
Then the screen showed the other Prism members wearing anxious expressions, and immediately after, a commercial started playing.
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Translator’s Corner:
- A Korean genre of film and television set before the Japanese annexation of Korea. Historical drama. ↩︎
- 국밥 (Gukbap) is a Korean dish made by putting cooked rice into hot soup or boiling rice in soup. It is commonly served in a ttukbaegi. Whereas soup and rice is generally eaten separately in Korea, in gukbap, rice is expected to be mixed into the soup. ↩︎