Chapter 401 |
Side Story (18)
Rrring! Rrring!
“…….”
I don’t want to answer it.
Because I’m absolutely certain I’m about to get battered by a righteous lecture all over again.
I put my phone down on the table as if it were a hazardous object and stepped back, staring at it with extreme discomfort.
[Young Master 1] [Missed Call (1)] [Young Master 1]
Less than a second after the ringtone stopped, another call came in.
He knew I was deliberately not answering.
‘This is one of those calls he’ll keep making until I pick up. And the more times I don’t answer, the bigger the trouble gets.’
Isn’t a phone call supposed to require mutual consent to work? Right now … yes, I’ve taken a bit of a mental shock, so I’m in no condition to talk. So wouldn’t it be fine to keep pretending I don’t know?
“Who isn’t answering their phone right now … I have a schedule in an hour.”
“Be quiet, this is serious for me.”
‘When did he even get back?’
Nam Yihwon, who had been knocked out cold on the bed like a corpse, stirred and sat up, grumbling. Immediately after, Cha Woon, who had been pinned underneath him, started pounding on Nam Yihwon’s shoulder in irritation.
“If you’re awake, move, you bastard. Your head really does get heavier by the day.”
“How does a person’s head get heavier? Hyung, seriously, age in moderation. My weight’s always the same, what’s wrong with your memory?”
“Hah, anyone watching would think there’s a ten-year age gap between us. To kids these days, you and I are just Uncle 1 and Uncle 2.”
“Where else are you going to find an Uncle this handsome?”
“Wow, have you lost your mind? Go tidy up your hair. It looks like it got hit by a bomb.”
“I have curly hair, so it’s always like this when I wake up. Not like you’d ever understand with your perfectly straight hair, hyung.”
Clutching my head and ignoring the ringing phone, I snapped at the two of them for their pointless bickering.
“If you’re going to keep fighting like that, get out. I already told you I’m in no mood for this.”
When the sparks suddenly flew his way, Nam Yihwon grumbled, “It’s not like you haven’t seen us like this before”, but still slowly walked over to the desk. Then, in a sly voice, coaxing like he was soothing a child, he said,
“Why are you in such a bad mood again today, hmm?”
…I have no idea whose kid he is, but he’s ridiculously good-looking.
Even though his hair is a complete bird’s nest and he’s wearing a stretched-out sleeveless shirt.
“With how persistently the calls are coming, and the fact you haven’t turned your phone off, it must be the CEO.”
I’d been spacing out in blank admiration, but his words dragged me back to reality.
“One hundred percent. If we were the ones being annoying, he’d have switched his phone straight to Do Not Disturb mode.”
“Still, I’m feeling a little betrayed. You ignore our calls but take the CEO’s?”
“Actually, he ignores the CEO’s calls sometimes too. Hyung is probably the only one who dares to treat him like that, Hyung.”
After a smooth back-and-forth with Cha Woon that felt like a comedy skit, Nam Yihwon glanced at the monitor on the desk and shook his head.
“Good grief. Bringing work home every day like that, I knew you’d get caught sooner or later.”
“…….”
Feeling inexplicably guilty, I belatedly turned the monitor away from his line of sight.
Even though it was far too late.
“…I’m just sitting comfortably at home, resting while reviewing things.”
“People call that working. Hyung, could you make your staff work like that too?”
“…….”
“You couldn’t, right? That’s why it’s a problem.”
I had my reasons.
‘The higher-ups should be the ones doing the damn work. If I try to do the same things as the staff, what’s the point?’
If I check and approve edits early, the staff can work more efficiently. It’s just that the same logic applies to concerts, broadcast schedules, new albums, and individual member activities, so the work never stops.
“If you don’t answer that soon, this is going to turn into a huge deal.”
In the end, I cleared my cracked throat with a couple of coughs and, raising my voice slightly higher than usual, answered the call.
“Uh, yeah … you called? No, I couldn’t answer because Cha Woon and Nam Yihwon suddenly started fighting, and I had to break it up.”
It’s not a lie.
…Probably.
I waited with my hearing sharpened to the extreme, and after a long while, a low voice came through.
[“Yutae-ya, what are you doing?”]
Out of the past several days, this very moment was the most nerve-racking.
For some reason, I had a gut feeling that he wasn’t in a very good mood. His voice and manner were as neat and composed as always, so other people would have noticed, but I just knew.
It wasn’t ‘What are you up to?’ but a blunt ‘What are you doing?’ out of nowhere1. I desperately hoped that question really was just curiosity about what I was doing right now. Not a jab.
“Me? I’m resting……”
When I I spun that lie like someone who’d just been caught cheating, Nam Yihwon rolled his eyes upward aand let out a huge “pfft” through his lips. A silent protest that said, what kind of bullshit is that. I thought about how I wouldn’t let that brat off easy, but then again, seeing how he kept quiet so Choi Jeokhyeon wouldn’t hear him, I wondered if he really was on my side after all.
[“Really?”]
“…….”
I hated how he was giving me a chance to correct myself like that.
Did he already know the truth, or didn’t he? There shouldn’t be any CCTV in my house. Should I just put on a brave face and bluff my way through this, or should I just confess my sins now while I still could?
When I hurriedly looked at Cha Woon and Nam Yihwon, they were both staring at a food delivery app on their phones.
“Who’s down for some pork gukbap?”
“Bean sprouts instead of pork. A non-spicy one.”
“Look at my body. You think I can run on just grass? Your fuel efficiency might be good, hyung, but mine isn’t. Besides, I drank yesterday, so I want something spicy and hearty.”
“You eat hangover cure and drinking snacks every meal. Is there no place that has both?”
“Yoo Jay should be here soon too. Should I ask him what he wants?”
“Just order him something with a clear broth.”
“Okay. What about Yutae-hyung?”
“He said earlier he was busy and not going to eat.”
They were ignoring my situation like me getting hounded by Choi Jeokhyeon was an everyday occurrence.
‘What do you mean, who’s down for gukbap. Your leader is about to get skinned alive by Choi Jeokhyeon.’
Please. Someone give me the right answer.
Help!
As I spread my hand and waved it with that desperate feeling, the two of them finally looked away from their phones and beamed at me. Then they gave me a thumbs-up and said,
“Fighting.”
You bastards.
“I was just … doing a little work … and then I was about to eat. Not fast food, but a proper meal……”
In the end, after hesitating, I admitted, like a child being pushed into doing homework, that I’d been working all along.
That judgment came from my assumption that Choi Jeokhyeon already knew everything. If it were like usual, he would’ve contacted me the moment he checked the original footage. The fact that he hadn’t probably meant he’d decided to turn a blind eye and wait. After all, I’d already been warned by a doctor.
And there was no doubt about it: I had completely blown that last chance today.
‘I’m trash.’
Choi Jeokhyeon interfered in my daily life far less than the other members thought, and less than I’d expected. It felt like he wasn’t quite sure how far he should step in, or where I’d start feeling uncomfortable, so he stayed cautious.
And without realizing he was holding himself back to avoid crossing the line, I’d been going, ‘Oops, work is just too fun.’
Sure enough, when I confessed the truth, the calm reply I got was a short “Okay.“
From his tone, it seemed like he already knew what I’d been doing. If I’d denied it to the end, I would’ve been completely screwed.
‘No, but how does he know what I’m doing right now?’
Every one of these guys, what do they think my privacy is?
Sure, I didn’t really have grounds to complain, considering I’d basically handed over everything from my door lock password to my bank password to the Prism members and Choi Jeokhyeon. Still, since I was at a disadvantage right now, that thought suddenly crossed my mind.
[“I’m pretty sure I told you to stop working once you clock out.”]
“You did……”
[“Most people get off at six. I understand that work is important to you, so I even compromised at seven. Then why do your entry and exit records look like this this month?”]
“I don’t think I stayed that late……”
[“You’ve been staying until 9:00 every single day. And last Thursday, there isn’t even a record of you leaving the building at all.”]
“…Maybe I forgot to scan my ID card when I left?”
[“I checked the CCTV. You stayed overnight at the office alone.”]
“I see……”
[“I got rid of overtime at our company specifically because of you, Director-nim, so who exactly is it that keeps breaking the rules?”]
“Yeah. Who could it be…….”
This wasn’t the time to argue. I needed to shut up.
I knew he was saying it for my own good, and I wasn’t exactly innocent either, so I felt myself shrinking. It was like when you can’t say a single word back to your parents, or your wife.
“I’ve been busy preparing for the comeback, so I got a bit carried away lately. I’ll admit that much.”
[“That’s why I told you to do the self-produced content seasonally. You’ve been trying to keep it going every single week for years now without a break, so when things get busy like this, it becomes unmanageable. The other members only show up to film, but you’re not satisfied unless you’re involved in everything from planning to video editing.”]
Somehow, as the conversation went on, the topic we’d raised our voices over before came back up again.
To be fair, I was the one who got angry first. Choi Jeokhyeon had said we should reduce how often we uploaded content so my health wouldn’t suffer, but I’d refused to budge, saying I wanted to do more for the fans even if it meant pushing myself.
‘Seras have waited way too long for Prism return as a full group. To repay that, I want to do as much as I possibly can.’
When he was just saying things like, ‘It seems you’re working too much lately’, I didn’t have much to say because I knew I was in the wrong and felt I had no right to talk back. But once concrete things like the number of self-produced videos were mentioned, and I started to sense that this was being used as a pretext to adjust things again, I started getting defensive.
“I appreciate you looking out for me, but I’m not that weak. I feel like you’re the only one who doesn’t know how sturdy I am. It’s not like I’ve been rushed to the ER or anything’s seriously wrong …… The doctor said my test results were fine.”
[“You don’t have to wait until something goes wrong to be careful. I think you’re overestimating your body. You also rejected the idea of shortening this promotion period, didn’t you.”]
“I’m not overestimating it. I’m saying this is exactly how much I can handle. In the entertainment industry, handling schedules like this is actually really common.”
[“I’ve already seen you say you’re fine and then suddenly collapse more times than I can count, so of course I’m not going to feel at ease, Yutae-ya. If it were someone close to you pushing themselves the way you do, could you really just let it go?”]
“That was when RH was overworking me, or when other problems piled up at the same time. It’s different now … and you stay out late too, don’t you? The other day you came home at dawn and jut kept drinking.”
As the atmosphere kept getting worse, Cha Woon looked up at me with an anxious expression that said, ‘Uh-oh, I don’t think this is going to end well.’. Nam Yihwon muttered loud enough for everyone to hear, “As expected, gukbap is best served in a stone bowl. We should eat at a restaurant.”, then grabbed Cha Woon and ran away to avoid the situation.
‘It’s strange. Why am I in such a bad mood today?’
I roughly ran a hand through my hair and let out a sigh.
This wasn’t how I wanted things to go. It felt like I was losing control.
Beep beep beep beep beep beep.
Just then, the sound of someone entering the door lock password came from the front door.
“Oh my, hello. We’ll be heading out to eat now.”
“Go ahead.”
Since Nam Yihwon and Cha Woon were leaving around then, I thought that must be the sound, but a beat later, I realized you didn’t need to enter the password to go out.
My head felt a bit fuzzy, like my brain was moving a little slower than usual.
As I came out of the room and slowly closed and opened my heavy eyelids, I saw someone standing by the entrance. It was someone I hadn’t expected.
“Choi Jeokhyeon?”
After seeing my face, he spoke in a slightly softened voice.
“…For now, get some sleep, Yutae-ya.”
…Ah.
Was I tired?
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Translator’s Corner:
- 뭐 해? (What are you up to [like “What’s up?”]?) vs 뭐 하고 있어? (What are you doing?) ↩︎
GUYSSSS I’M SOOOO SAD T_____T it’s been such a long time (months) since I ate fried chicken, and today I FINALLY bought it, but when I was going to eat, I went to bathroom for a minute to wash my head, and during that time A STRAY CAT SNATCHED MY FRIEND CHICKEN AND RAN AWAY WITH IT WTFFF I’M DEVASTATED T___T