Side Story 5
A holiday to celebrate the new year, Korean New Year.
Even on Korean New Year, each family boasts a different scene.
"Kids, wake up! The rice cake soup is getting cold!"
Heo Yu-bin's house starts with the refreshing voice of his mother waking up the two siblings on Korean New Year morning.
Sigma Entertainment gives the members a short vacation to spend time with their families on big holidays like Chuseok and Korean New Year.
Thanks to this, Heo Yu-bin, who came out of the dorm for the first time in a long while and came back to his parents' house, was finally sleeping soundly on his bed.
"Oh......."
In the past, Heo Yu-bin would have been lying around in bed for about 10 minutes after hearing his mother's wake-up call, twisting his whole body.
However, after leaving home and living in the dorm, this habit began to change little by little, and now the time spent lying around has completely disappeared.
"Oh my. Yubin, why are you waking up right away? I was just going to wake you up again after leaving this."
"I have to wake up so that the rice cake soup doesn't get cold...."
"Then while you're up, would you wake up Yujin?"
"Oh, that's a bit."
His mother looked surprised when she saw Heo Yubin wake up without any fuss.
However, Heo Yubin couldn't possibly accept the quest to wake up his younger sister.
So while his mother went to Heo Yujin's room, Heo Yubin organized the dishes on the table in his mother's place.
"Why did you wake up so early? Were we talking too loud?"
"No, that's not it. I just wake up early these days."
"Are you having trouble sleeping? You're not sick, are you?"
"I'm perfectly fine."
Heo Yubin answered his father's words with a slightly bewildered tone and thought about the direct reason why he woke up so early.
"I guess there's a natural atmosphere in our dorm where you can't oversleep."
"Oh, all the other kids wake up early?"
"Not everyone, but there's a brother who urges me to wake up as early as possible. If I don't wake up, he'll pinch my cheek and throw me on his back."
"They throw you on his back?"
"It doesn't make sense, but it really does."
Chae Eun-gyu, the eldest brother, had also been thrown on Karis' shoulders countless times like a load.
Since seeing Yoo Min-ha suffer the same punishment most recently, Heo Yu-bin felt that he had to wake up early too.
He thought that if he accidentally overslept, he could be the next victim.
Five minutes later, Heo Yu-bin's younger sister, Heo Yu-jin, came out of the room with her hair in a mess and sat down on the dining chair with difficulty.
Heo Yu-bin couldn't hold back laughter at her younger sister's hair.
"How on earth did you sleep so that your hair ended up like that?"
"...... Shut up. My brother is no joke either."
"I'm much better than you."
"Oh, really?"
At that moment, their mother placed a delicious rice cake soup in front of everyone.
It was a food that he ate once a year, but it was a rice cake soup with his mother's wonderful cooking that Heo Yu-bin could not forget.
He really missed it.
"I'll eat well!"
While everyone was devouring the rice cake soup, their parents briefly discussed tomorrow's schedule.
"Then, should I tell Grandma that we'll be arriving around 12 o'clock tomorrow?"
"If we want to arrive by 12 o'clock, we have to leave the house at least by 7 o'clock. Can Yu-jin wake up early?"
"Do we have to leave that early?"
"If we're even a little late, the roads will be even worse. I hate being stuck in the car all the time, and I hate waking up early in the morning."
"...It's more stuffy in the car."
Heo Yu-jin reluctantly agreed with her father's words.
Then, she suddenly looked at Heo Yu-bin's face and became irritated.
"But why don't you ask Oppa if he can wake up well and only ask me? Oppa sleeps in a lot too."
"I'm sorry, Yujin, but I'm on a different level from you now."
"What kind of crazy stuff is this?"
Heo Yujin glared at Heo Yubin, who was arrogantly wiggling his fingers.
"I can wake up on my own even if Mom wakes me up just once."
"Don't lie. How can Oppa wake up so quickly?"
"I told you it's true? Ask Mom or Dad."
When her parents nodded in unison, Heo Yujin shook her head in genuine disbelief.
"It's only once today. If Oppa wakes up properly tomorrow too, that's really wrong."
"No, I told you it's true. Think about the fact that you can get picked on if you sleep in late and go to bed. Don'g t you want to wake up early in the morning?"
"Why are you picking on me here?"
"You're not at my level yet, so you don't understand. Hurry up and eat tteokguk and you'll age a year."
"You'll eat two bowls and you'll age two years?"
"If the number of bowls of tteokguk determines your mental age, you should eat ten more bowls......."
***
There are several images that come to mind when you think of Yoo Min-ha.
A member who always lightens the mood in Seleste.
A highly sociable person who is very close to his older and younger siblings.
Once he starts talking, his mouth keeps turning.
Because of this, the members naturally feel a sense of energy draining when they talk to Yoo Min-ha.
However, there was one place where Yoo Min-ha, who exudes overwhelming energy in the Seleste dorm, was a little behind.
"Min-ha! Why didn't you tell me that you ate all the kimchi that mom sent you? I told you to tell me when it's all gone."
"Oh, I haven't been able to check because my schedule has been busy lately."
"By the way, didn't Si-yoon say that he likes braised short ribs? Mom bought some meat for braised short ribs, so I'll give it to you when you go back to the dorm. Mom might forget, so tell her again, okay?"
"I understand."
"And since all the relatives are coming tomorrow, you shouldn't sleep in late?"
"I've gotten into the habit of waking up early these days, so it's okay."
"You said your roommate was Karis? I'm glad that thanks to Karis, our Min-ha is becoming more and more of a human."
".....I wasn't human until now?"
"You and your father sleep in late, how much do you look alike? Oh my, why do we resemble each other in everything else but like to sleep the same as your father? How does Karis wake you up? Teach your father how to wake up."
It was right at his parents' house.
Yoo Min-ha smiled awkwardly at his mother's rapid-fire words since the morning of New Year's Day.
He always knew that she liked to chat and spoke very quickly, but it felt different when he talked to his mother after such a long time.
No matter how old he gets, he doesn't think he can beat his mother.
"I don't think I can use the method that Karis taught on my father."
"Why? Is there a specific method?"
"Um....... First of all, I don't have the strength to lift my father."
Chapter 1 of the method to wake up members created by Karis, carrying him on his shoulders.
To do that to my father who is 180cm tall....
I guess I'll have to go to the gym for another 5 years.
"But didn't Dad wake up early today? Didn't he go out with sister just now?"
"He woke up because his daughter woke him up. Now he doesn't listen to me and don't react at all. I can't just kick his butt."
They say even a tiger will come when you call it, and just then, their father and older sister, who had just returned from shopping, opened the front door and came in.
Yoo Min-ha and mother stepped forward to help carry the luggage that looked quite heavy.
"Oh, what's wrong? My son woke up?"
"Mom and dad, why are you all surprised that I woke up?"
"Hmm....."
After handing Yoo Min-ha a box of apples, his father stared at Yoo Min-ha's face for a moment without saying anything.
"Huh? Why?"
"No, maybe because it's been a while since I've seen you, but you look even more handsome. I don't know whose son you are, but you're really handsome."
"Dad, why are you acting so embarrassing?"
"Come here. Let me hug my son for the first time in a while."
"H-hands! Wipe your hands! Ah! Ah! Your beard tickles!"
While his father was hugging Yu Min-ha and rubbing his face, Yu Min-ha's older sister, who had just come out of the bathroom after wiping her hands, suddenly threw a punch at them from behind.
"Mudamudamudamudamuda!"
"Ah! It hurts! No, why did you hit me so seriously all of a sudden!"
"Huh? Just like that."
"Huh?"
When Yu Min-ha looked at his older sister with a dumbfounded look, Yu Min-young just laughed heartily.
"Should I say this is a punch to celebrate Yu Min-ha's return to hometown?"
"Don't give me a weird title for hitting me for no reason."
"You asked why, so I just gave you a plausible reason?"
"How is it that you're becoming more and more savage?"
"Oh, you've grown up a bit while I wasn't watching you? Do you know how to receive it?"
"When I spend time with my brothers, this is what happens."
Yoo Min-ha suddenly thought of his brothers' faces.
After returning to his parents' house and talking freely with his family, he had this thought in his mind.
'Just like my older sister and dad suck my energy right now, maybe my older brothers are the same.'
Originally, Yu Min-ha, who takes energy from others, inevitably becomes the opposite when he comes to his parents' house.
Well, it's like there are three more of him.
If they don't suck energy, then it doesn't make sense.
"Anyway, Mom! Make me some rice cake soup quickly! I'm hungry!"
"Hey, you and Dad just got home, so what should I make rice cake soup with?"
"Mom should've gone shopping in advance. She's so slow for our mom?"
"I'll make it quickly, so go play with Min-ha."
"Should I?"
When Yu Min-ha turned his gaze toward Yu Min-young, who was licking her lips, his spine went cold.
If I get caught once by that older sister, I'll really get caught in a never-ending game.
For some reason, I feel like today will be a very long day.
***
Unlike the other members' noisy atmosphere, Ji Yoon-chul's home was somewhat quiet and still.
"Yoon-chul, let's eat~."
Unlike the others, Ji Yoon-chul's mother's voice waking him up because he was very sleepy was also very quiet.
Since Ji Yoon-chul was an only child, there were no blood relatives to talk to.
His father, who sat down at the table first, was eating tteokguk while watching the news on his phone.
"...Good."
"Did he sleep well? I think he went to bed early yesterday."
"He slept well without waking up."
His father smiled faintly as he looked at his son, who still looked sleepy.
This house wasn't always this quiet.
After Ji Yoon-chul was cast and joined the agency, there were fewer opportunities to talk.
After school, he would often stop by the company building to take lessons and return late at night.
At first, his parents often asked Ji Yoon-chul how his day was and whether he had a good lesson.
However, as time passed, Ji Yoon-chul stopped talking about what happened at the agency.
The reason was simple.
There was really nothing to talk about.
Should he say that he had been living alone due to the pressure of his older brothers?
Should he say that he had been bullied without knowing it?
Should he say that he had been living with people who constantly undermined his confidence?
Should he just say outright that there were many people who talked rudely toward him?
The influence of bad seniors like Go Yoon-seok also contributed to his being quiet because he was concerned about what other people thought, but Ji Yoon-chul, who didn't want to worry his parents even though he was young, became extremely reserved.
His parents gradually felt that their son was becoming quiet, so they didn't want to ask him questions.
They also knew that being an idol trainee was bound to be very stressful.
They didn't want to burden their son any more.
Especially not at home, where everyone should be comfortable.
But after Ji Yoon-chul finally achieved his dream and became a member of Seleste, various changes began to occur.
"......Mom, you don't put any seasoning in your food either, right?"
"Huh? Oh, of course I don't put any seasoning in. It's bad for your health. Why are you suddenly adding seasoning?"
"Oh....... Siyoon-hyung often cooks at the dorm, and he hates seasoning like Mom, saying it's the worst thing in the world."
"Is there anyone who's good at cooking?"
"Yes. Siyoon-hyung is good at all kinds of food."
Ji Yoon-chul's father also raised his eyebrows as if he was slightly surprised.
"That's unexpected. I thought you guys always eat out or order things."
"That's pretty much it, but sometimes Siyoon-hyung makes things for me when he's in a good mood."
While Ji Yoon-chul was eating a few spoonfuls of tteokguk after saying that, his parents were thinking the same thing inside.
It was very new to see their son talking about his fellow members to his family with such a relaxed expression.
Ji Yoon-chul, who had never told anyone who was in the agency or how they were doing, for the past few years.
Who would have thought that the day would come when he would be the first to say this without anyone asking?
"......I wonder if Karis hyung is eating tteokguk too."
"Oh, I know Karis. He's that handsome foreign friend, right?"
"Yes. That hyung is....... He's definitely a foreigner, but he eats Korean food better than us. He's also really good at Korean."
Ji Yoon-chul nodded vigorously to his mother's words.
"My hyung's family is all in Estonia. That's why he said he'd stay at the dorm because he had nowhere to go for the Lunar New Year, but....... Since we are eating tteokguk, I thought Karis hyung would like it too."
Ji Yoon-chul's parents exchanged glances.
They don't know how long it's been since Ji Yoon-chul talked about someone else with a bright expression.
But one thing seemed certain.
'The people he is with right now are all good people.'
Ji Yoon-chul, who was like a wounded cat, who was always watching what others thought, who had difficulty approaching others, and who walked around with his head down, now had someone he could talk to in such a bright tone.
Ji Yoon-chul's parents smiled without realizing it.
"That friend must be really lonely during the holidays. Next year, Yoon-chul can bring him to our house. We can eat rice cake soup together."
"....... Is that really okay? I think Mom and Dad will have a hard time—"
"Yoon-chul likes his older brother, so why are we having a hard time?"
"If there's one more person, the house will be more lively."
Ji Yoon-chul quietly looked at his parents, who nodded with a faint smile.
Then he soon smiled bashfully like a child.
"...I'll definitely ask my hyung next year."
At that moment, Karis, who was eating breakfast with Owen, scratched his ear for no reason because it felt itchy. He thought that this year's holiday was particularly peaceful.
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