Chapter 114: Useless Child
TL: Aniea
“Hohoho. As expected of my son. How can he pull off such unfamiliar clothes so well? The kiss scene with the daughter-in-law was also very impressive.”
“It’s all part of the theater. Don’t get too immersed.”
“From what I see, you’re using the play as an excuse to satisfy your personal desires. Well, since you two are living together, I guess you’ve already progressed quite far.”
“...Don’t go around saying dangerous things like that.”
Sigh-
Having come to visit the hospital after a long time, I let out a sigh at my mother’s reckless chatter. I don’t remember her being this lighthearted in the past.
Ever since she laid down the heavy burden on her shoulders, she’s been aging in reverse, and now she’s practically acting like a teenage girl.
“Don’t tell me, you two....”
“Mother.”
I quickly covered her mouth, thinking something ridiculous was about to come out. In response, Mrs. Kim sighed deeply, shaking her head side to side.
“Sigh. You must’ve taken after your father. You’re becoming more boring by the day. Our daughter-in-law must be having a tough time.”
“Ahem. What’s wrong with me?”
My father, who had been quietly sitting nearby, cleared his throat after being hit by unexpected criticism.
After the surgery, my father had been unconscious for nearly two months and had only barely opened his eyes recently.
Thanks to that, the family, who had been extremely worried, were all overjoyed and shed tears, and upon seeing this, my father gave a faint smile and said,
-I’m back.
Fortunately, the surgery had gone extremely well, and the symptoms of paralysis in half his body had miraculously disappeared. His previously slurred speech also returned to normal.
Since then, under the devoted care of the VVIP hospital room, my father had been steadily undergoing rehabilitation and building up his muscles.
Soon, he would be able to go on light walks or perform daily activities for about 1-2 hours.
Of course, for the time being, he still had to stay in the hospital, and recently, he had developed a new hobby...
“Ahem. Looks good.”
None other than OTT viewing.
But at some point, my father became the one who used it the most. Now, he was watching the theater documentary featuring me and Kim Eun-ha.
I had repeatedly told him that it was embarrassing to watch it in front of the people involved, but he only turned up the volume even louder on purpose.
“But son.”
“Yes.”
“Why doesn’t the last kiss scene appear in the documentary?”
“...Kehup!”
Startled by the unexpected question, I let out a choked breath. And right away, my mother joined in with a lecherous smile to provide supporting fire.
“Oh ho, so that was the ‘real’ one?”
“...What are you trying to say now?”
“Don’t play dumb. The internet’s been going wild, you know? They’re all saying that the two of you shared a passionate kiss during the final ball scene of the play. There are even photos.”
“.......”
I did my best to manage it, but realistically, it was impossible to perfectly control over a thousand audience members.
Among them were people secretly filming the play, and thanks to that, the impulsive moment when I collided lips with Kim Eun-ha was leaked online.
‘It wasn’t a big issue at first....’
The problem arose when Kang In-ho’s documentary was released, and that final kiss scene was missing from the footage.
Since the documentary was based on the final rehearsal, it was, in a way, perfectly understandable.
-What the heck? Why is it different from the play?
-It even looked like the goddess was flustered!?
With the high level of interest in the play, related communities and social media platforms were ablaze.
Judging by the current atmosphere, it felt almost scary enough to think maybe we should release a clarification article.
-How dare she touch Woo-ju-nim!!?
└ Anyone can see Kang Woo-ju made the first move?
└ How dare he touch the goddess!!?
└ Anyone can see Kim Eun-ha seduced him first?
└ fr lol
At one point, even the fan clubs of Kang Woo-ju and Kim Eun-ha got into fights with each other. The broadcasting station’s message board was flooded with inquiries demanding explanations.
But this was only a minority. Die-hard fans actually nodded in agreement.
-Weren’t they a couple from the start?
-Why act surprised now?
-So when are they getting married?
Maybe because I’d been frequently seen with Kim Eun-ha even before fully diving into the drama world, most people just took it for granted.
The rest were half-jokingly demanding a re-performance, saying “It makes no sense that the play and documentary are different!”
-Just leave it be.
-Are you sure that’s okay?
-This level is just right. If we say something and mess it up trying to explain, the netizens will pick it apart and things will get more complicated.
As always, Kim Eun-ha coolly brushed it off while watching the situation, and I was also trying not to worry about it too much.
“Is that true?”
“Of course. How could we do such socially sensitive skinship without prior consent? Even Eun-ha ssi’s flustered reaction was all planned acting.”
I lied without even blinking. If I left any opening here, I had no idea how our curious Mrs. Kim would react.
Thankfully, my acting seemed to work, and my mother, who had been looking at me with half-lidded eyes, smacked her lips.
“...Hmm. What a shame.”
“...What is?”
“I thought the two of you had actually become a real couple.”
“......!?”
The comment was so far beyond what I’d expected that I was momentarily thrown off. I managed not to show it on the surface, but a cold sweat trickled down my back.
Trying to calm my startled heart, I adjusted my tone and asked as casually as I could.
“What do you mean by that?”
“What do you mean, what do I mean? You two... what was it called again? Oh, right! A show-window couple. I’ve been waiting to hear when you’d tell us.”
“...Mom. I told you to stop reading stuff online. Who comes up with such nonsense? If someone who didn’t know heard that, they’d seriously misunderstand.”
“.......”
I denied it more firmly than ever before, but I couldn’t see a single hint of doubt in my mother’s eyes. That wasn’t something she said just to test me.
The lighthearted mood of the hospital room, which had been full of jokes just moments ago, suddenly turned into a quiet bamboo forest.
It felt like I might be forced to confess every secret I’d been keeping at any moment.
‘...Since when?’
That question popped into my mind. You’d have to be a fool not to notice the flow of things.
It seemed our parents had been sensing something about our relationship for quite some time now.
‘...But I’ve never slipped up.’
That, I could say with confidence.
Kim Eun-ha had only met my parents a handful of times, and even then, I made sure to avoid mentioning her as much as possible in front of them.
If she came up in conversation, I’d steer it away quickly, and even then, we had a perfectly airtight scenario prearranged between us that we followed flawlessly.
Then where did we get caught?
My head was a mess.
“Dear.”
The one who rescued me was none other than my father. Still not taking his eyes off the documentary, he said,
“The jokes are going too far.”
“Oh my, were they?”
“Mm.”
“Oh dear, I guess I got a bit too excited after seeing our son’s face for the first time in a while. Sorry for talking nonsense, son?”
Hoho-
Before I knew it, my mother had returned to her usual self. I couldn’t even tell which one was the real her.
Of course, I knew better than anyone that you didn’t mean anything bad, but I couldn’t help feeling a bit guilty deep down.
“...It’s fine. But please be careful from now on. Especially in front of other people. If you say something like that in front of Eun-ha ssi, I’ll seriously get angry.”
“Okay, I’ll be careful.”
Mother nodded with a rather serious expression. That made me feel a bit reassured.
She’s not the type to run her mouth lightly in front of others, unless it’s with family like me. So I guess I don’t have to worry about any secrets leaking.
“Then I’ll get going now.”
“Already?”
“I’m starting a movie shoot soon. I also have to prepare for the department store’s main advertisement shoot. I barely managed to carve out time for this today.”
Truthfully, I had cleared my schedule completely to visit the hospital today, but if I kept sitting here, who knows what else would come up in conversation.
“Our son’s doing so well, huh?”
“You’re just realizing that now?”
“No wonder you’re an actor. That shamelessness suits you. But don’t get too full of yourself. I hope things keep going well for you. Okay?”
“Ahaha... I’ll try my best.”
I stretched out both arms and exchanged a quick hug with my parents, then left the hospital room almost like I was running away.
***
After Kang Woo-ju left.
The couple, Kang Nam-woo and Kim Ji-hye, remained in the hospital room, watching the back of their grown-up son for a long while.
They had a mountain of things they wanted to say to him right away, but as they’d gotten older, they knew better than anyone that silence could be more valuable than a hundred words.
“...Why’d you have to say something unnecessary?”
“I just assumed they were already dating. They've been living in the same house for months now. Honestly, it wouldn’t even be strange if they’d already had a kid.”
“Geez, are you trying to get us in trouble?”
“They’re both adults.”
Kim Ji-hye furrowed her brows as if something didn’t sit right with her, then clicked her tongue while staring at the door Woo-ju had left through.
“Tsk tsk. He had to take after you in those pointless ways. Watching from the sidelines is so frustrating I feel like I’m going to explode.”
“What did I do?”
“You’re really asking that? It took you over a week just to say something to me. You’d come near me every day and just hover around awkwardly.”
“Well, that’s because...”
As Kang Nam-woo tried to add an excuse, Kim Ji-hye cut him off, eyes wide.
“Do you even remember that I was the one who spoke to you first? I asked if you had something to say to me, and what did you say? You said, ‘Please marry me,’ didn’t you?”
“.......”
“My god. I was so dumbfounded back then. We didn’t even know each other’s names or ages. And you suddenly popped the question. Where did you get the nerve?”
“Ugh... Suddenly I have a headache...”
“See? I told you. You should’ve been the actor, not our son.”
“.......”
Left alone with her, Kang Nam-woo couldn’t collect himself under the barrage of cold hard truths that Kim Ji-hye unleashed.
“Ahem. But it all worked out in the end, didn’t it?”
“You think that’s something to brush off like that? You’ll never understand how frustrated I was trying to woo you. And our daughter-in-law probably feels the same....”
“W-wait! What do you mean by that? You wooed me?”
“You’re just figuring that out now?”
“......!?”
Kang Nam-woo stood there, jaw dropped, realizing a truth he hadn’t known for decades, while Kim Ji-hye let out another deep sigh as she looked at him.
“Oh dear, I feel so sorry for our daughter-in-law. As a mother of a useless son, the only thing I can do is give her a push like this.”
“.......”
For a while, the VVIP room was filled with Kim Ji-hye’s lamenting, and Kang Nam-woo, overwhelmed and dizzy, lay back on the bed with a pounding headache.
*****
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