Life, Once Again!

Chapter 855. Sequence 12

Neither Mijoo nor Chanwoo picked up their phones. They told her they were going to drink back when she was at the sandwich store, so they should be at the bar. Those two were the type who never cared about other things when they were drinking. It was her who said that they could do so too. Her manager, Chanwoo, would react to the sound of a text message even during his sleep if it was working hours, but on days like this when work ended early, he would be surprisingly ignorant of his phone. As for Mijoo, there was no way she would receive an urgent work call, so she would act on her own once work was over.

She had already texted them five times and made an innumerable number of calls. She wished for them to pick up when they went to the bathroom or something, but there had been no news for over 40 minutes. She left the bedroom and went out to the veranda. She could see Maru’s car leaving the parking lot. She was going to drive them back, but it seemed that Maru noticed and acted first.

She took out some cold water to soothe herself before calling again. The idol song that she had heard to death entered her ear once again. This was supposed to be a song she had heard for the first time today, but she could recite the lyrics already. Was she not going to pick up this time as well? She clutched her forehead and was about to press the hang-up button when another person picked up.

“Mijoo, why didn’t you pick up? Are you drunk?”

The instant while waiting for her answer felt like an incredibly long time. Was she drunk to the point that she couldn’t handle herself? She was about to speak to her in a slightly rebuking tone when,

-Gaeul, Mijoo left for a bit. It looks like she’s getting some fresh air.

“Kang Giwoo?”

-Yeah, it’s me.

“Why are you there?”

-Things happened. I was just about to go home after doing my last scene, but I got a call from Mijoo saying that she’s drinking with Mr. Chanwoo over here. I didn’t have anything to do so I came. I thought you’d be here, but you weren’t, huh.

“I went home early. Is Chanwoo next to you?”

-He is. Should I hand the phone over to him?

“Yeah, please.”

Mr. Chanwoo, take the phone – Kang Giwoo’s small voice could be heard.

-Hello?

“Chanwoo, it’s me, Gaeul.”

-So it’s our actress. I thought it was about work again.

“Are you drunk?”

-A little. Not that much. But what’s up? You don’t usually call us while we’re resting.

“I had something to ask. Is Mijoo drunk?”

-Yep, she was drinking without stopping today. Maybe it’s because Mr. Giwoo is here.

At that moment, Giwoo spoke with a laugh,

-Chanwoo, we decided to be friends.

-Right, right. Giwoo, we decided to be friends. Alright, wait a sec, I’ll finish up my call with my actress here. Oh, Gaeul, do you want to talk to Mijoo?

“She came back? I heard Giwoo say she just left.”

-She’s coming in right now. Anyway, this place is really good. Thanks to Giwoo, I got to come to a really high-class place like this. A single shrimp tempura in this Izakaya is a whopping 5,000 won. As for sushi, the minimum price is a hundred thousand. That’s crazy.

“Drink with moderation.”

-Alright, I’ll hand you to Mijoo now.

Mijoo picked up the phone.

-Unniiiii.

Her tongue was half-loose. Still, this was for the better. When she was really drunk, Mijoo would not be able to say anything and would just laugh. Right now, she could still talk.

“Mijoo, I have something to talk to you about.”

-Yes, unni. I love you too, unni. A lot.

“I’m being serious. Tell the other two that you need to make a call and go outside.”

-I just came back in though.

“Mijoo, I just told you that I’m serious, didn’t I? I hope you don’t make me say it twice.”

* * *

She felt like she dipped her feet into cold water. She sobered up instantly to the point that she felt like she had never drank at all. Mijoo retracted her hand that was reaching out for some snacks and stood up. Hearing Chanwoo ask where she was going, she said that she was going to be on the phone. To Giwoo, she just smiled. She walked with quick steps while loosening her arm that held the phone. While she walked down the stairs leading outside the building, Mijoo licked her lips several times.

Unni’s voice sounded very serious. Gaeul-unni was someone who never got angry. When she first met her at a field experience arranged by her styling school, she made so many mistakes that she clenched her eyes shut with the resolve to get rebuked, but unni patted her on the back telling her not to be too nervous. Even after they signed an official contract, her attitude did not change. She looked out for her wherever they went, and even when she made a big mistake, she only scolded her until she reflected on it. Ever since she found out how hard the life of a stylist is under an entertainer with a terrible personality, she resolved to do anything if it was her unni’s words. She didn’t want to get fired as she wanted to work with her for a long time.

Yet, such a person had a frighteningly heavy voice right now. This was not ordinary. Even when Chanwoo-oppa went to the wrong shooting set by mistake which made them end up being 3 hours late, unni blamed herself for her tardiness in front of her senior actors. Although she told him to be careful later, she was definitely not saying that emotionally. Right now, she was very emotional, and those emotions definitely weren’t positive.

As soon as Mijoo left the building, she put her phone against her ear.

“Hello?”

-Are you outside?

“Yes, unni.”

-Did you run? You sound out of breath.

“No, I didn’t run.”

She ran as hard as possible. She half-flew down the stairs. That was how serious unni’s voice was. A warning siren ran off inside her head.

“But unni, what is happening?”

She spoke in a formal tone subconsciously. They would usually talk like ‘hey, you’ when they were drunk, but she felt like she should kneel right now.

-Is Giwoo next to you?

“He’s not here. I’m by myself right now, save for some passersby.”

-You sure Giwoo is not next to you?

“Yes.”

-That’s fine then. Mijoo, let me ask you something. I hope you answer me honestly.

“Okay.”

-Are you hiding something from me?

That question stifled her. Her grip on the phone tightened. She started going over the mistakes she made in the past three months, starting from todays. She quickly narrowed down the mistakes that she hadn’t mentioned to her yet.

“Are you talking about how I tried on your clothes behind your back?”

-I know about that one. And I don’t care about that either.

“Then are you talking about how I was late last time?”

-Have I ever scolded you harshly for being late?

“No.”

-It’s something recent. I want to hear it from you before I have to ask.

Her lips went dry. She was sure that unni had become angry. No, it wasn’t on the level of being angry. Her intuition told her that their relationship might shatter depending on the answer she gave. Mijoo stomped her feet as she thought about what kind of mistake she made that made the kind unni enraged like this until she thought about what she said just now. Just a moment ago, unni asked to confirm if Giwoo was next to her. Among the myriad of mistakes she made, she remembered the one related to Kang Giwoo.

“Is it because I kept it a secret that I fought with Lee Miyoon’s stylist?”

-Are you sure that you fought with Lee Miyoon’s stylist?

She asked for confirmation yet again. Mijoo sighed for now. She now knew the problem, so she just had to explain.

“Sorry, unni. I thought you’d be worried, so I didn’t tell you about it. But you don’t have to worry that much. Giwoo-oppa handled it for me. He stopped that stylist from tattling to Lee Miyoon about it. So there’s no problem at all.”

-Mijoo. Hiding it from me will make me more worried instead. I don’t recall ever making your life hard just because you made a mistake.

“You never did. I know better than anyone how well you treat me.”

-Don’t ever hide things like that in the future, especially if it’s related to Lee Miyoon. You should’ve just gone to see me and ask for my help.

“Sorry. Giwoo-oppa helped me out before I could even tell you about it. He told me that he handled it well, so I decided to forget about it too. Unni, are you angry? I’m really sorry. I will never do that again.”

-Is that it? Nothing else happened?

“Yes, that’s it.”

She should have been honest back then without trying to gloss things over. It would’ve been much easier to get scolded a little since it had been resolved already. Because she had hidden it, she ended up upsetting her unni. No matter how hard she thought about it, it was her fault.

Mijoo waited for an answer in nervousness when she suddenly felt something off. This was a sensitive topic, so it was plausible that she had to take the call in a place without any people, but why did she ask if Giwoo wasn’t around? She even asked twice about it.

“Uhm, unni. Why did you ask if Giwoo-oppa was next to me?”

It wasn’t something that she had to hide from Giwoo-oppa. He knew about it after all.

-I can’t tell you the details, but Giwoo and I don't get along that well. To be precise, I don’t think well of Giwoo. That’s why I told you to leave. I wanted him to not listen to what we’re talking about.

“What? Weren’t you friends with Giwoo-oppa?”

-Until a while ago, we were. But not now. Giwoo seems to think of me as a friend, though. No, he might be suspecting me right now. The way we talk has changed recently.

“Unni, I don’t get what you are saying right now. Did you two get into a fight? If it’s like that, I’ll try to mediate between you two.”

-This is not something you can do anything about. I will never treat Giwoo wholeheartedly in the future.

“Just what happened? On the day I fought with Lee Miyoon’s stylist, Giwoo-oppa told me that you three were close enough to drink together.”

-Three?

“Yes, you, Giwoo-oppa, and Maru-oppa. These three.”

-Giwoo told you that? That the three of us are close?

“Yes. He even told me you were old friends. If he knows that you two are dating, I thought you’d be really close.”

-Wait.

Gaeul-unni spoke in urgency. She was practically shouting at this point. Mijoo was startled and grabbed her phone with both her hands.

“Unni, what is it?”

-What did you say just now? Giwoo knows that Maru and I are dating?

“Yes.”

-That can’t be true.

“But he does. I definitely….”

Mijoo stopped talking. Her mind went back to the day she fought with Lee Miyoon’s stylist. After she managed to escape that evil stylist and was heaving a sigh of relief, Giwoo approached her and they started talking. She thanked him again and they eventually talked about having a drink together. Mijoo focused. She had to remember this precisely. They tried to schedule a drinking occasion, but she told him that Gaeul-unni had a prior engagement, and when asked what it was, she told him that she was drinking with Maru. She was flustered because she uttered something private, but she was relieved to know that Giwoo knew Maru. After that, she ended up talking about it – that they shouldn’t interfere with the couple. It was her who spoke first.

“Unni, what do I do? I spoke about it first that you two are a couple.”

-What did Giwoo say after that?

“He looked like he knew about it. Now that I think about it though, it seemed a little strange. He was smiling brightly as though he was overjoyed. I just thought something good happened to him… so Giwoo-oppa didn’t know that the two of you were dating?”

-We haven’t told him. Also when he said that we’re old friends, that’s just his own interpretation. Maru has known him for a long time, but he told me that he has never treated Kang Giwoo as a friend.

“Unni, then I… what do I do, unni? I ended up telling him that you were dating without knowing that.”

She said they weren’t old friends and that they weren’t close at all. There was no way that unni would have lied, so it would mean that Giwoo, who was drinking with her, had been lying. Why though? She suddenly felt the chills. Extending this conversation would change the meaning of what Giwoo said after that. Unni might get angry so you should keep it a secret – was that a scheme to hide the fact that he had gotten to know a secret? Mijoo spoke about it immediately,

“Giwoo-oppa told me not to say it. He said I would get scolded if you found out I made a mistake and that there’s no need for me to talk about it since it was all taken care of. But now that I heard everything you said, it doesn’t feel like it was advice. Maybe….”

-He must have made you stay quiet because I might find out like this.

“Giwoo-oppa, no, Kang Giwoo, why does that man act like that? He acted like he knew everything.”

-Mijoo, you know I trust you, right?

“Yes, I trust you too, unni.”

-Then go up first and wrap up for the day. Forget about the conversation we just had, and don’t give him any hints. If Giwoo acts suspicious, then just pretend like you’re drunk, okay?

“Yes.”

-And bring Chanwoo out with you as well. After separating from Giwoo, give me a call again.

“Okay.”

Mijoo ended the call and looked at the entrance of the building. It looked like a golden castle when she first came here, but it felt like abandoned ruins right now.