“Woo-Jin, are you okay?”
“Yes?”
“Your hand!”
When the red light on the machine went off, the electric current would flow through and shock the user if they were lying. Considering the lit-up red light, the machine was already shocking Woo-Jin non-stop, but he was just staring blankly at A-Ra. Finally, he snapped out of his thoughts and came to his senses after hearing people call out to him and hurriedly removed his hand from the machine. When they asked if he was okay, he responded with an expressionless face, as though he had lost his soul.
“Hey! What am I going to do? How can you tell everyone my name! It’s so embarrassing!” As soon as the recording was over, Chae Woo-Ra entered the waiting room and grabbed anything she could get her hands on before throwing them at Da-Young. At first, she threw a tissue box. And then, when she threw a leftover boxed lunch at Da-Young, the latter quickly dodged it.
“I don’t know what’s so embarrassing about the precious name that your parents gave you.” Da-Young calmly dodged the incoming objects both times. Chae Woo-Ra was the first to run out of energy. She gasped for breath as she gave Da-Young a hostile glare.
“My name must have been so old-fashioned that it gave Woo-Jin oppa such a huge shock! If my oppa hurt his hand, you’ll have to take responsibility for it!” Even though Da-Young was the eldest sister in their group and was three years older than her, Chae Woo-Ra dropped honorifics and spoke to her casually. It didn’t bother Da-Young at all either.
“Your oppa, my ass! He didn’t even want to give you his phone number.”
“As long as I like him, he’s my oppa!”
“If you like him that much, why don’t you just join his Fancafe and take part in those fan activities?” Da-Young pointed out that even though Chae Woo-Ra herself claimed to be a fan of Chae Woo-Jin and was always thirsty for more information about him, she didn’t even sign up for his Fancafe.
“Fancafes are for losers who will never get a chance to meet Woo-Jin oppa in their entire lives, so why should I sign up for it? You make me laugh! Are you telling me right now that you think I’m on the same level as those lowly beings?”
“Yeah, you’re so great that you lied about having a sore throat and didn’t sing, right?” Even though Chae Woo-Ra was a sub-vocalist, she was the best singer in Berry Rose. Initially, when they wanted to make her the main vocalist, she said it was too much work and threw a tantrum. And so, her agency’s CEO calmed her down and made her a sub-vocalist.
“Am I a clown? Why would I sing in front of old people.”
“So what does that make Chae Woo-Jin? He sang three songs today.”
“I know! In any case, he’s too nice of a person.” Da-Young found it amusing how a person like Chae Woo-Ra had someone she liked.
“Well, you do have the same last name, and your names start with ‘Woo.’ Perhaps it’s a hangryeol[1].”
Seeing as Chae Woo-Ra didn’t know about it, even though they might not be close relatives, they might be from the same clan. So even though they weren’t exactly blood-related, she might be fond of him because he felt like family.
“Hwang what? What’s that?”
“Go search it up. Do I have to teach you even that?” Chae Woo-Ra snorted in response to Da-Young’s cold reply and ran a search on her phone. Shortly after, she cursed at Da-Young. Her face was burning with rage.
“F*ck, you called me an infectious disease?”
“What did you search for this time around?” Perhaps, incidents like this happened often; Da-Young sighed and walked towards Chae Woo-Ra, and took a look at the search results on her phone. Chae Woo-Ra showed her the search results for ‘yellow fever’ in a dignified manner.[2]
“Mosquito-transmitted…malignant, infectious disease…ha….”
Da-Young shook her head and said, “What was I even expecting from you!” Initially, she had wondered why a girl like Chae Woo-Ra would become an idol when she didn’t lack anything. But now, Da-Young had a better understanding to a certain extent. With Chae Woo-Ra’s level of intellect, it would have been hard for her to get into a good college. To enter any college, she had no choice but to resort to illicit admissions or make a considerable donation to the school to get enrolled. Perhaps, Chae Woo-Ra’s parents weren’t a fan of these methods. Instead, they seemed to have aimed for her to get a special admission to a university as a celebrity. Regardless of her choice, she’d still be receiving similar insults, but at least she was dumb enough to be proud of getting special admission as a celebrity.
“Forget it. I’m going back to the dorm to comfort the crying Cho-Hee.”
“So what if she couldn’t make it? What’s the big deal?”
“Who kicked up a huge fuss because she wanted to go on the show?”
“I only did it because I wanted to see Woo-Jin oppa. So what’s the issue?”
Da-Young shook her head; her expression suggested she was getting tired of her exchange with Chae Woo-Ra. Besides, both of them took separate vans to the venue, so Da-Young left the waiting room first without hesitation.
“In any case, nobodies tend to be bitter people, so they have a bad personality.” Chae Woo-Ra wiped her eyes with a handkerchief. She turned around and asked her personal assistant standing behind her.
“Right! Have you delivered the present to Woo-Jin oppa?”
“He turned it down.”
“Why? Did he say he didn’t like it?”
“No. He turned it down because accepting it would make him feel uncomfortable.”
“Why would it make him feel uncomfortable? Everything about Woo-Jin oppa is great, except that I think he’s acting too much like an ordinary person instead of a celebrity.”
Chae Woo-Ra was depressed and pouted as Woo-Jin turned down a five thousand dollar watch that she had gotten for him.
“Miss, it’s getting very late. You should make your way home now.”
The recording session took longer than expected. As soon as her personal assistant started becoming antsy and informed her that it was already past 11 p.m. now, Chae Woo-Ra laughed mockingly.
“No one’s going to be home even if I go back now, so what’s the point of monitoring the time? Even if he knew I’d be home late, he wouldn’t say anything about it. All my dad cares about is a son, not a daughter like me!”
Chae Woo-Ra’s father only cared about his son and having a son. After their golden son died in an accident last year, her father was eager to have another son. Even though she was his only child right now, he didn’t care or give her any attention, while Chae Woo-Ra’s mother got angry with her, telling her things like, ‘You should have been born as a son!’ and ‘If you had been a little smarter, I wouldn’t have been disregarded like this!’
“Everyone hates me!”
“Miss.” Her personal assistant felt sorry for her and wanted to comfort her somehow, but Chae Woo-Ra turned it down.
She could barely remember it, but when she was little, her mom had clearly pointed to a boy and said, “From today onwards, he’s your oppa!” However, the oppa had a fierce look on his face when he looked at Chae Woo-Ra and stuck up for the little girl hiding behind him. She envied and hated that girl so much that she forcefully took away the cat that the girl loved dearly. That cat was Peanut. She thought that if she had Peanut, the oppa would like her too.
“I just…I just wanted an oppa like that.”
It was such a vague memory that it made her wonder if it actually happened. Peanut was the only evidence that proved it had clearly happened. Hence, she loved Peanut in her own way. However, in a moment of folly, Peanut ended up running away. Being an arrogant person, she wasn’t the type to go after other people. And as Peanut got older, it wasn’t as cute as it used to be, so she didn’t bother looking for it. More importantly, there was no need to cling to the past that she could no longer remember anymore. Also, it was because she had found the person who perfectly matched her idea of an ‘oppa’ she had always imagined. It didn’t matter what happened to her actual oppa. She didn’t know if he even existed in the first place.
However, the person she wanted to be her oppa was Chae Woo-Jin. And he already had a younger sister.
“How annoying!”
***
It was Sunday, and it was almost time for The King of the Masked Singers to be on air. Woo-Jin was heading down to the first floor when he ran into Woo-Hee on the stairs as she was heading up.
“Why are you heading up? Aren’t you going to watch The King of Masked Singers?”
“No, I’m not watching it.” Just last week, Woo-Hee was watching The King of the Masked Singers with her eyes glued to the TV screen, but she refused to watch it today. Instead, she had a sour look on her face. It was only natural for her to be upset, considering that she had seen ‘Commander of the Universe’ win four rounds.
“They’re only showing round one today, so they’ll probably show his fifth win next week. Just relax and watch today’s episode.”
“I don’t want to raise the viewership ratings of the show.”
“We aren’t part of the representative sampling anyway, so that’s not going to work.”.
“Hmph! I’m boycotting it even if I’m doing it alone, and I’m going to kill the popularity of the show!” Woo-Hee clenched her fist and quickly ran up the stairs before Woo-Jin could even say anything. Even though she had already told her friends not to watch it, she was going up to her room to send them a reminder message to not watch The King of the Masked Singers.
“She didn’t have to do that, though.” Woo-Jin scratched his head and went down to the living room. This time, his mother was sitting on the sofa with a grim look on her face. His father went out for a dinner party, so his mother was alone in the huge living room.
“What are you doing?” Woo-Jin asked.
“I’m about to watch The King of the Masked Singers.”
“You don’t really watch shows like that, though.”
“People have been saying that it’s worth watching….” For some reason, his mother seemed a little aggressive today, so Woo-Jin sat down quietly without asking more. As soon as Woo-Jin sat down, Woo-Sa jumped onto his thigh and sat down. Suddenly, he thought about Chae Woo-Ra’s Peanut that died at the age of 14. He hoped that Peanut wasn’t Woo-Sa, but it was most likely the case.
Chae Woo-Ra told the sad story about how she had dropped by the convenience store on the day of Do You Know Us’ recording, but she didn’t get to meet Woo-Jin. Two days later, Woo-Jin found Woo-Sa in the parking lot near the orthopedic clinic nearby, so he could make a guess that she had brought the cat along with her that day and lost it.
The mood in the living room was tense because of Woo-Jin’s heavy heart and Park Eun-Soo’s heightened aggressiveness. After watching the show in awkward silence without the usual conversations, it was finally the third pair’s turn to sing.
“Hmm?” Woo-Jin pricked up his ears as soon as he heard his mother’s reaction.
The third pair finished their duet, and Gam Sung-Joo called Hanryang Doryeong ‘young master’ after the judges had decided he would be advancing to round two. Then, the caption ‘The young master’s appearance that cannot be concealed’ appeared on the screen. Park Eun-Soo turned to look at Woo-Jin only after the fourth pair went on stage.
While people only heard Woo-Jin’s actual singing voice today, she was very familiar with the tone of her son’s singing voice. Additionally, she had heard him singing in the house a while ago, so there was no way she didn’t know it was him. Seeing his mother’s eyes gleam particularly brightly, Woo-Jin quietly placed his index finger on his lips. His mother followed suit and pointed to the second floor with her left index finger. She asked if he was keeping it a secret even from Woo-Hee, to which Woo-Jin quietly nodded.
“Nevertheless, husband and wife are one in body and soul.” When his mother said she would tell her husband, Woo-Jin burst out laughing, but he didn’t stop her.
“Will I be able to watch this show at ease next week?”
“I’m not sure. But I think you’ll have fun.”
“As long as it’s fun.”
The heavy mood in the living room that was present throughout the episode of The King of the Masked Singers went away instantly. Woo-Jin wondered if it was just a passing feeling and looked around curiously.
“By the way, how did you know that Queen of Lilies was Han Ji-Yeon? I couldn’t tell at all.”
“I could tell just by listening to her voice.” Seeing her son shrug and say it wasn’t a big deal, Park Eun-Soo looked at him with a somewhat spiteful look on her face. Nonetheless, it was nice to see her smiling that brightly. Woo-Jin felt a small wave of emotions upon seeing his mother smile like this. And he realized that the worry that had been bothering him over the past few days wasn’t his problem alone.
“I have something to tell you in secret. And I want you to make a decision.” He brought it up on impulse, but he felt he was doing the right thing. He made up his mind previously that he would discuss the issue with his family now, as he didn’t want them to suddenly find out about the truth without any prior warning when watching the show on TV.
“You don’t want to tell Woo-Hee about it?”
“I’d rather she not know about it.”
They went into the study because The King of the Masked Singers was about to end, and Woo-Hee might come down at any moment.
“I saw that girl a few days ago at TV Star’s recording.
“That girl?”
“Chae Woo-Ra.”
1. Hangryeol (항렬) means generation name – it is one of the characters in a traditional Chinese, Vietnamese and Korean given name. Members of the same generation share that character. ☜
2. Generation name is ‘항렬’, while yellow fever is ‘황열’. Chae Woo-Ra misheard ‘항렬’ for ‘황열’. ☜
