Chapter 809. Sequence 8

“How about we drink some soju over the weekend?”

“As much as I want to drink with you, I have a prior engagement.”

“What engagement? Is it a woman? If it is, let me in too.”

“It’s not a place you can butt in.”

“Don’t tell me it’s Yoonseo? You aren’t going to a place like that without me, are you?”

Maru pushed Hyungseok, who was sitting on the passenger seat, with his arm. This fellow was quite consistent in how he spouted nonsense. Hyungseok got his bag before getting out of the car.

“Call me up if your engagement goes bust. I’ll be waiting.”

“Hey, you seem like you aren’t going out as much ever since you started taking this job seriously, huh? I don’t think you’re going to nightclubs either.”

“You can only play around for so long. I have played ever since I got discharged. I thought about it, but it looks like I’m the type of guy who would feel less tired the more I work. When I was running a business, I would have given anything to sleep for two more hours, but now that I actually live a leisurely life without any work, life isn’t as interesting. I want to work instead of playing around. I want to shoot throughout the night too.”

Hyungseok closed the door along with the words ‘see you next time.’ After returning home, Maru didn’t go to the bathroom and sat down on the sofa and made a phone call instead.

“Are you okay with taking a call right now?”

-Yeah. Sounds like work ended early today from how you’re calling me?

“I just came back after finishing.”

-Me too. I thought today’s shoot was going to be long, but it ended unexpectedly early. I think it’s thanks to the director being stricter than usual.

“Your first episode airs next Wednesday, doesn’t it?”

-Yeah. Yours is in two weeks, right?

“From how there isn’t any mention of extension of special episodes, we’ll probably start airing in two weeks. So you’re going to watch the first episode with the team?”

-Probably. There’s already an appointment too. Why, wanna come?

“Do you think someone like me has a place there? Not only that, although I’m a minor actor, I am supposed to be in a competing medical drama for the same time slot.”

-I think it should be fine since there’s no one who would recognize you?

“Wow, you can hurt someone so nonchalantly.”

-Who told you to give up on the drama and go to the military?

“There you go again. I should stop talking about this.”

Maru took out a can of beer from the refrigerator. Calling her after the shoot became a part of his normal life. It had only been three days since they got back together, but everything seemed natural as though they had been doing this for a very long time. It was true that he was calling her because he wanted to hear her voice, but he also pressed the call button out of a sense of duty because he wanted to check that she was safe and sound. Although he had hypothesized that the rabbit cannot exert physical influence, there was nothing wrong with being cautious.

-What are you drinking?

“Beer. It’s a habit of mine.”

-Don’t you think you should drink less?

“It’s just one can, and it’s a small one too. This much will actually help boost my health.”

-Says who?

“The news?”

-Are you sure?

“Probably.”

-I don’t want my future husband to be an alcoholic though.

“That future husband wants me to tell you that he’s strong with alcohol and that you don’t need to worry.”

He could hear her laugh over the phone. Wait – she said before putting down her phone. When she returned, he could hear the faint sound of a can opening over the phone.

-I should drink some too.

“You can’t. It hasn’t even been that long since you got discharged from the hospital.”

-You don’t sound persuasive at all. You drink every day.

She exclaimed, saying that it was good.

-Actually, it’s coke, not beer. It's zerocal too. Even then, I would regret it if I drank all of it, so I should leave some for tomorrow.

“So it’s a battle of weight huh. But are you really going to come to my house over the weekend?”

-Of course. I’m going to call some people over and play around to my heart’s content. If I go outside, I would have to be concerned about other people, and renting a party room seems like a bother. Your house was pretty big. Some food on the island table, and a can of beer in one hand. It makes me happy just by thinking about it.

“So you got a plan already, huh. Who are you calling?”

-Well, if you ask me that, no one really comes to mind. It’s tomorrow too.

He waited for her words as he put the beer against his mouth. She was probably jumping around like a little child prior to a field trip. Perhaps she had planned everything out except for the list of invitations. When it came to playing, she was pretty thorough.

-Since we’re at it, should we go invite someone?

“Go? At this hour?”

-Yeah. Do you have time right now?

Maru looked at the clock. It was just past 9 p.m. For actors, it wasn’t a big deal since they would often have their days and nights switched around, but for people who were working or focusing on their studies, it was time to rest.

“Don’t you think it’s quite rude to visit at this hour?”n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

-Don’t worry. The store should still be open.

“The store?”

-I’ll go over to your house. Wait a bit.

The call ended. Maru waited as he sipped on the rest of the beer. Not even 30 minutes later, he could hear a knock on the door. When he opened the door, he saw her, wearing a baggy t-shirt, pajama pants, and a cap.

“You’re supposed to be an actress, so don’t you think you need to think about the fan’s eyes?”

“If I do this, no one recognizes me.”

“I guess that’s true.”

“Why? Do I look ugly?”

“It’s definitely not something I would want to show others. Such a defenseless side of you.”

Maru hugged her and patted her back. Her life, his life, the repeated lives – he put those things aside for now and focused on feeling her warmth.

“It’s good,” she said.

Maru also replied ‘yeah’ in a small voice.

“Let’s go now. I’ll give you a ride.”

“Where are we going?”

“You’ll see when we go there. It’s someone you know too.”

He got in her car. The black mid-sized vehicle went on the road. She kept repeating that he should wait to see who it was before parking her car on the side of the high street of Banpo-dong. Her destination seemed to be a dessert café on the other side of the road.

“Are there many people inside?”

“I don’t see any.”

“Really?”

“Who’s there?”

“You’ll see once we get there.”

Maru got out of the car. She walked with her hands locked above her head and didn’t seem flustered even when a couple approached her from the front. She walked amongst the crowd with confidence that people wouldn’t recognize her. There was not a single person who looked back at her among the people who walked past. He found it puzzling. How could they not recognize her when she was so pretty?

They entered the café. A sweet scent that drowned the thick scent of coffee filled the store.

“Sorry, but we’re closed for the day,” said a woman wearing oven mitts.

The moment Maru heard that voice, he squinted and checked the face of the woman. A familiar set of facial features could be seen below the white cooking hat that pressed down on her hair so that it didn’t drape down. It was Chaerim.

“Unni, it’s me.”

“What, it was you? I didn’t recognize you because your eyes were covered by the cap.”

“It’s a pretty good disguise, isn’t it?”

“Yeah, I didn’t recognize you at all. Who’s the one next to you?”

“Unni, don’t you recognize him?”

She pointed at Maru with an exaggerated gesture as though she was a magician introducing the beauty next to her. He smiled awkwardly and took a step forward. Chaerim, who tilted her head, eventually widened her eyes. The eyes that contained surprise changed into puzzlement and ultimately into an unrefined rage.

“That’s the guy you’re meeting?”

“Yep.”

“He’s the green frog on a white horse?”

“Yep.”

“You need to talk with me. And you over there! You stay right where you are.”

Maybe it was a good thing that he wasn’t booted out of the store? Maru watched as Chaerim took Gaeul’s hands and went to the corner of the store. He could predict what they were talking about. Are you crazy?; why are you dating him again?; what do you like so much about the guy who dumped you?; he felt his neck straining from the occasional high-pitched, sharp voice. He even felt that it would be better if she said that straight to his face instead.

A long sigh followed. Chaerim brought Gaeul back like she was dragging a lost child to the lost child center.

“Hey, did you really get back together?”

“I told you, yes,” she replied.

Chaerin widened her eyes. Her already big eyes became even bigger.

“Han Gaeul, I didn’t ask you.”

Gaeul would not lose out to anyone when it comes to audacity, but it seemed that she wasn’t able to win against Chaerim’s frosty gaze. Maru gulped when the eyes of the two women landed on him. He felt like he was being given a pressure interview. One was urging him to speak, and the other was saying that she didn’t want to listen to it. He heaved a sigh before speaking,

“I don’t plan to let her go now.”

“Really?”

“Yes.”

“Can I trust you on that?”

“You can trust me on this.”

Chaerim twitched her lips before laughing in vain. That was her expression of this absurd situation as well as her way of showing that she was doing her best to understand.

“It’s been a long time,” Maru said.

He was worried whether she would actually reply, but fortunately, Chaerim reached out her hand.

“I swore I would hit you when I saw you again.”

“You can if you want.”

“Then can you clench your teeth?”

From how her small but solid-looking fist looked tense, she seemed pretty serious about it. If Gaeul didn’t intervene midway and told her to stop, she would probably have punched him for real.

“Unni.”

“Okay, fine. I really can’t do anything about you, can I?”

Chaerim took off the cooking hat and smiled.

“It’s been a long time, Han Maru.”

“I’ve been doing well other than the fact that your current and ex-girlfriend over there came crying to me all the time. Anyway, you definitely did change after you went to the military. You look even more vicious than before.”

“It’s better than looking docile.”

“That way of speaking hasn’t changed though.”

Chaerim locked the door. She also flipped the sign.

“Sit down for now. I need to finish up.”

“I’ll help.”

Gaeul followed Chaerim behind the counter. Maru docilely sat at a table. He even locked his hands together and neatly placed them on his knees. He felt like he had to.

“Hey, don’t stay still and mop the floor or something.”

“Of course, of course.”

Maru quickly got up and grabbed a mop. He mopped with the mindset that he would not leave a speck of dust behind. After a while, Chaerim took off her apron and came from behind the counter. It seemed that she had finished.

“Well then. Let’s have a listen, shall we? Just what happened between the two of you that made you two get back together after not contacting each other even once over these five years.”

She also added that she would shove him in the heated oven if it was nothing surprising. It gave Maru the chills since it didn’t sound like a joke at all. He looked at Gaeul once before starting to speak while thinking that he should speak slowly so that the oven had enough time to cool.