Chapter 98
Even if We Take a Short Break (2)
Should I call it good luck…? Until yesterday, the temperature had slightly subsided.
But as if on a whim today, the sun blazed without a single cloud in the sky, and the daytime high shot up to 34 degrees.
‘What kind of September weather is this.’
Clicking my tongue at the unbelievable heat, I still had to admit that it was perfect weather for playing in the valley, so in that sense, it was fortunate.
“If it were cloudy, the valley water might’ve been a bit cold. It’s a relief the sun’s out today.”
When I heard that he’d never been to a place like this even as a child, it had weighed on my mind a little. But watching Lee Jiwoo enjoying the mountain ridges stretching beyond the highway and the blue sky, I found myself feeling better too.
“Then let’s park here. Should we pitch the tent over there?”
As I parked the car near the campsite facilities and spoke, replies came from the back seat.
“Yes~”
“Sounds good~”
The plan had definitely been a simple camping trip with just Lee Jiwoo and me.
“…….”
Yet including the back seat, there were four people in the car.
I had no idea why two of the members—who had all said they’d be spending their vacations separately—had latched onto us instead.
“Wow, the color of the valley water is really pretty. It’s not too deep either—looks perfect for playing, doesn’t it?”
At Shin Min-gyu’s excited, childlike remark, Seong Heechan agreed.
“Yeah, I want to get in the water already.”
I understood their excitement, but that was out of the question.
“Let’s set up the tent first. There’s no need to compete for spots since there’s no one here, but I don’t want to pitch a tent after we’re tired from playing.”
When I firmly stopped them, they answered at the same time in slightly deflated voices.
“Yeees~”
“Yep.”
The reason these two had suddenly joined us was Lee Jiwoo’s fault.
As soon as we returned to Korea and arrived at the dorm, the members left one by one in cars their families had come to pick them up in, to spend their vacations separately. These two happened to have their family vacations scheduled for later in the break, so they were planning to rest at the dorm for a few more days.
Then they spotted Lee Jiwoo preparing for camping, and because it looked fun, they decided to tag along.
‘Ha….’
At least it was a relief that Lee Jiwoo hadn’t reluctantly brought them along because he couldn’t refuse.
‘Camping is… probably more fun the more people there are…!’
But at the same time, the amount of things to do and the luggage to bring had doubled or tripled.
Since I had already decided to sacrifice myself to create childhood memories for them, I accepted the situation without complaint.
“Wow, the weather’s really nice.”
As we opened the trunk and all carried camping gear and iceboxes together, the one named Min-gyu—the shorter of the two—suddenly asked:
“But when did you start driving, CEO? The car didn’t shake at all. You’re really good at driving.”
At that, I tried to remember when I’d gotten my license—then realized that right now, I wasn’t Yoo Jinhun but Cha Eunyoung.
Legally, I was only twenty, and it hadn’t even been half a year since I’d gotten my license, so my driving might seem unusually stable for my experience.
“Not long ago. About four months?”
I didn’t remember the exact date, so I gave a rough answer, and an almost burdensome reaction came back.
“Wow, so it hasn’t even been half a year and you’re already that good?”
“Yeah, well….”
There was probably no reason to be suspicious, but it felt better to eliminate any potential trouble, so I added:
“I have to drive around a lot for work. If you drive every day, you improve quickly.”
And that was true.
“Oooh.”
Come to think of it, they had only recently become adults.
They’d probably only ever ridden in cars others drove, never driven themselves, so it wasn’t strange for them to find it fascinating.
Just imagining how they must’ve all clamored to be taken along when they heard someone their age would drive them all the way to this mountain area made them seem a little cute.
“Not yet. You two should learn to drive later when you’ve built up more experience and have some free time. It’s much more convenient when you need to travel.”
Of course, if I were their guardian and manager, that’s something I would never say.
‘From the company’s perspective, there’s nothing good about idols driving themselves.’
As if it wouldn’t be enough for them to get into accidents with the brand-new cars the company bought for them—next thing you know, they’d be photographed on dates with the opposite sex.
Better to keep having the company drop them off and pick them up and let them stay pedestrians.
For that reason, most fans also weren’t particularly pleased when idols bought cars or got licenses.
But it didn’t matter to me. If I weren’t in the position of managing them as products and brands, knowing how to drive was obviously helpful in life.
It wasn’t particularly special advice, but to newly-of-age pedestrians, it seemed quite impressive.
“Ah, yes, yes. But it’s kind of scary. What if I get into an accident….”
But rationally speaking, you can get into an accident even in a car you’re not driving. The driver might cause one, or you might get hit out of nowhere.
You can even get into accidents while walking.
“You just have to be careful. Accidents that happen for absurd reasons tend to happen whether it’s your fault or not.”
Then an even more baffling reply came.
“No, no. I’m worried I might be the kind of person who shouldn’t drive.”
Why worry about that without even having held a steering wheel once? I answered simply.
“You usually find that out during the driving test, so it’s fine. It’s not too late to decide after you take the test.”
But why was I even persuading him about this? By the time that thought occurred to me, we had already moved all the luggage to the campsite.
“Let’s set up the tent first.”
Fortunately, thanks to the detailed manual included, we were able to set up the newly bought tent without much difficulty.
“All done. Now if we take out the tubes and inflate them—”
Just as I was about to relax, a tent came rolling over from somewhere nearby. It seemed someone hadn’t secured the stakes into the ground.
‘Did someone else arrive already?’
What kind of beginner wouldn’t even hammer in the stakes and let something like that happen…?
I was aghast at what seemed like a rare mistake—then realized the tent looked familiar.
Of course it did. It had been loaded in my car just moments ago.
I hurriedly shouted at Shin Min-gyu and Seong Heechan.
“The tent! Grab the tent!”
“Huh? Yes, yes!”
“Ahh, it’s flying away!”
They scrambled after it, but it rolled faster and faster, making them look like fools straight out of an animation or a movie.
“Ha….”
It was so absurd that I wasn’t even angry—just amused.
“Min-gyu, you might want to reconsider that driver’s license.”
I quickly revised my opinion. Maybe some people didn’t even need to go to the driving test center to know they shouldn’t get a license.
While I swallowed a sigh, the two dragged the tent back to our spot.
“You didn’t hammer in the stakes?”
“Ah, no…. I thought it’d be fine if we just put stuff inside.”
“It’s better to secure it for safety. What if it shakes while you’re sleeping? That’d be a disaster.”
“Yes….”
In the end, we could only start playing in the water after I personally checked everything one by one.
Watching the three kids jump into the water, I finally felt at ease.
‘The current isn’t that strong and there aren’t any deep spots, so it should be fine.’
As I sat under the shade watching them float around in their tubes, I soon had to get up again.
Lee Jiwoo, who had been dozing while floating, had drifted quite far downstream.
“Jiwoo! You’re drifting away—play up front, not over there!”
“Ah, okay!”
‘I can’t let my guard down for even a moment.’
I should think of today not as coming to rest, but as coming to work.
At least he listens.
Soon they dragged their tubes ashore and started a water-gun fight among themselves, and watching them made me feel like a parent chaperoning a field trip.
‘Glad the three of them are getting along.’
I was watching over them in a heartwarming atmosphere when—
“Won’t you get hot just watching from there? Hurry and come in!”
Seong Heechan aimed his water gun at me, and a stream of water shot straight at my face.
“Ugh. Puh—puh.”
It hit me squarely, and I made a foolish sound.
“Hurry! I’ll give you one!”
Laughing as he ran far away, I found it impossible to just sit still anymore.
I gladly grabbed one of the water guns they offered me. Then I quickly filled it with water and decided to target just one of them.
I deliberately aimed only for the back of Seong Heechan’s neck, and when the stream tickled him, he let out a scream.
“Ahh, wait, wait! Ahahaha—eek, hahaha…!”
As if there were such a thing as “wait.” The stream aimed at me didn’t weaken at all, so I kept targeting the same spot, tickling him relentlessly.
“Ugh—ha…!”
Eventually, Seong Heechan surrendered and dove underwater to escape. The valley, which had been quiet with only us around, instantly became noisy.
When Seong Heechan charged back after briefly retreating, I used Lee Jiwoo as a shield.
“Ah, that’s not fair!”
Not fair? From behind Lee Jiwoo, who stood there stunned after taking the water stream for me, I fired again. Once more, my victory.
Even if it was petty to go all out against kids young enough to be my sons, it couldn’t be helped. The world was cruel by nature.
After a while, when we came out from a round of playing in the water, evening was already approaching.
“Everyone eating?”
They were at an age where they were still growing, but since they were idols, I asked just in case someone was eating lightly for management reasons. They all nodded vigorously.
“Ah, I’ll have two bowls!”
At that confident shout, the thought “What about managing your weight?” naturally came to mind—but if he was eating, it must be fine.
When they had changed out of their wet clothes earlier, I’d caught a glimpse and they didn’t seem to have neglected their physiques, so I wasn’t too worried.
“Okay, then put these in the boiling water to heat them up.”
It would’ve been delicious to cook rice ourselves, but for convenience, I handed out instant rice, and Lee Jiwoo obediently accepted it and turned on the burner.
Meanwhile, I lit the barbecue grill the facility had prepared and placed meat on the wire rack.
‘There are a lot of boys, so I bought a lot—but can they really eat all this…?’
The pile of meat was so high it almost looked like we were throwing a feast, and it seemed like it would take quite some time just to grill it all.
‘Still, better too much than too little.’
With a sizzling sound, the smell of cooking meat rose with the heat from the charcoal.
“Wow, it smells so good!”
“Looks delicious.”
Watching the three not-small boys huddle together waiting, they were still cute rather than overwhelming.
For a moment, while the meat was cooking, I put down the tongs and picked up my phone.
It was a scene too good to miss.
