Outer space
Title: Outer space
Pairing: Mino/Seunghoon
Length: 6,422 words
Rating: PG-13
Warning: some swearing, annoying boss, office humor-ish (sighs)
Summary: Mino is an investment banker whose life is about to be topsy turvied by his short Christmas vacation to a remote town.
Note: Cross-posted from winderland
“Send me a forecast of our dealings for next month in 30 minutes,” said Mr Park with a straight cold face, at the precise moment Mino was lifting his right leg to leave his cubicle.
It was a minute to midnight, but the day was just about to get 30 minutes longer for Song Minho.
Before he became an investment banker, Mino had heard about the notoriously long work of an investment banker and the more-than-occasional weekends at the office - but he had always thought that the insanely high pay would more than compensate the hard work. Besides, he’d been accepted at one of the most coveted firms in the country, what kind of a silly person would say no?
Two years later though, he revised that last question. What kind of a silly person would say yes
Even though the extremely long working hours did not surprise Mino a bit, Mino didn’t really think about what investment bankers would do throughout the day. It turns out that his workdays were almost entirely robotic - absolutely mundane yet incredibly tiring. And let’s not get started about Mr Park, Mino’s seemingly omnipresent, heartless machine of a boss. No matter how early Mino comes to the office, Mr Park would be there first, and no matter how late Mino comes home, Mr Park would still be there. Mino wonders if Mr Park could possibly be living in the office.
Mr Park’s latest request might sound brief, but in reality, what Mino needed to do was read through a couple hundred spreadsheets of raw data that had just finished - literally just finished as Mino was packing his stuff - being exported from his office’s systems. And Mr Park expects Mino to crunch all that data and come up with a nice fancy PowerPoint in just 30 minutes. And let’s not forget the miles of tasks in Mino’s backlog, all from yours truly, Mr Park.
Tonight wasn’t too far off from the other nights Mino had at work. But tonight Mino came to a resolve from a thought he’s been having for the past few weeks. From the 10 people that were hired together with Mino under Mr Park’s auspices, nine of them had quit. Two of them had to go through intensive psychiatric therapy before moving on with their lives. One of them became a hit singer with his take on the song “Instinctively” and is now famously known as the “Nation’s Boy Next Door”. Yet Mino still stayed with Mr Park, unwilling to leave his (admittedly not so comfortable) comfort zone to venture into the unknown.
Mino’s resolve was to quit. He doesn’t know where he’s going to go next - he figured he’d rather not be an investment banker at all but he’d never thought about another career path - but now he knows that he can’t stand Mr Park any more.
So he quit
(or maybe not, he actually just applied for leave for Christmas, because, you know, last year he bought a roasted chicken sandwich and had a little Christmas party for himself on his desk).
---
He woke up the next day at 6 AM, to the mega-hit-star Taeyang’s Ringa Linga alarm tone. He rolled on his bed, buried his face on the pillow, and let out a long deep sigh for he’s going to face yet another day with the lovely Mr Park and his “can-you-send-me-something-in-30-minutes” catchphrase.
Unwillingly, he dragged his lazy feet to the bathroom, spent his daily 20-minutes “what am I going to do with my life” cold shower routine, shaved, and did his magic tricks with his hair so that it looks like an awesomely, perfectly slicked back hair that would stay in shape even if a hurricane hits the town.
The thing he hates the most about his office (besides Mr Park and the shitty actual work and the often-broken coffee machine) is the jam-packed elevator ride up in the morning. Mino’s cubicle is located on the 49th floor of the 50-story building, and in the morning there would be at least one person getting off on every floor before him. Mino would usually fill the time in the elevator by playing Neko Atsume on his iPhone. The last time he checked he had a full yard, and a big fat white cat he had named Bibo was munching on a very expensive cat food which Mino had bought with his real-life hard-earned cash, but he had forgotten to charge his phone after last night’s brouhaha. In dire need of entertainment before the banality of his work day, Mino decided to watch the in-elevator TV, which he had never done before.
Mino was struck by what, or rather who he saw on the screen. Kang Seungyoon, his ex-colleague of “Instinctively” fame, was being interviewed on the morning news.
“So, drop us a hint or two on how this next album of yours will be like,” the overly cheerful interviewer with the standard issue salem pink blazer and pearl necklace outfit asked Seungyoon.
“Well, it’s going to be great, of course.” A synthetic, orchestrated studio laugh. “In all seriousness, I never really thought of producing music for fame or for sales. I created my music to channel my feelings, for the people. I want them to be inspired when they listen to my music.”
Oh my god, Kang Seungyoon is so cheesy and in another life he’d make an awfully great and convincing politician.
“Whoa, that was a very inspiring answer. Okay, now for the last question, can you give a final message to the viewers?”
The camera pans and zooms to Seungyoon.
“So… For me, I would say just one quick message, but it rings very near to my heart. Do what you love. Do what you love, really, it will save your life.”
Mino snorted, rolled his eyes, and vowed he would spam Seungyoon’s personal Kakao Talk with “shut up” “last year you said you love investment banking” “your face is handsome in this morning’s interview it inspires me” “do what you love Kang Seungyoon oppa” “oppa I love you” messages later tonight.
Mino arrives on the forty-ninth floor and begrudgingly drags his feet to his cubicle and logs into his computer.
Eyes on his screen, before launching Excel and PowerPoint a.k.a. his life saviors, Mino googled “vacation destination Korea winter” to plan out his long-overdue leave. A storm of search results came in with travel blogs and travel agents and clichéd ads.
Mino is feeling a bit rebellious today, so he opened page 2 of the search results and clicked whatever was on top.
The page he clicked was nothing but a default WordPress template sort of travel blog, with suggestions on how to travel on a budget or the top ten things to do in Seoul or Jeju. But what caught his attention was the small text on the right that says “Gieoga - the hidden gem of the central highlands”. He clicked the link, read through the promising description of this small, off-the-beaten-path town and impulsively bought the bus tickets to Gieoga, before opening “proposal_Telecom_v13_CC_edit.xlsx” and starts his long day at work.
---
First hour in, Mino could see Gieoga is as how the blog had promised - small (en route, Mino saw there couldn’t be more than fifty houses and there is only one main street), authentic (amazing how they don’t even have any fast food or supermarket chains here how am I going to survive, Mino thought), and quiet (Mino swore he could just sing in the shower and have the entire village know the next day the playlist of his songs and which of his notes were off-beat).
Well. You want adventure, here goes adventure. He thought. Although I would prefer small, authentic, and quiet in a positive light instead of a bleak and grim city whose atmosphere feels like there is going to be a funeral held every morning before the activities start.
Phone reception failed him, so Mino had to rely on the old-fashioned foldable paper maps and the town’s directory located in the middle of the high street to pinpoint where Le Petit Prince Bed & Breakfast is located.
Surely, the B&B’s lovely and promising description of “Enjoy your stay with us in our classic wooden lodge, surrounded by lush and vast greeneries so far as the eyes can see, giving you a guaranteed escape from the hustle and bustle of your fast-paced lives” could help, except that every single building in this town is made of wood and large-cut rocks and the town is surrounded by tall pine trees such that each house could might as well claim they have a forest in their backyard.
After spending ten minutes matching, rotating, and scribbling on his foldable paper map, he was certain that all he needed to do was to follow the high street until he found a pottery ware workshop on his left, turn right and the B&B should be the sixth house on the right about 600 meters away from the pottery ware workshop.
The high street (more like the only street, Mino thought) is enchanting - wooden lodges with makeshift stores in the space where it should be terraces and living rooms and alternating them were a number of hanok, or traditional Korean houses, occasionally with elders sitting on the porch sipping from fine jade and cream colored ceramic cups, their soft chatters almost audible to Mino’s ears. The cool and frosty winter air gently tingles Mino’s face; the smell of burning firewood in the air warms Mino in the inside; and he can hear the faint whispers of the pine trees greeting and chatting their distant brothers in the warmer south. Slowly but surely, he appreciates the serenity of the town.
The whirring sound Mino heard to his left was a cue that he reaches the end of the high street. The pottery ware workshop was a lovely small hanok where inside, there were some young men crafting round and curvy earth on the rotating pottery disk. They were the same age, if not slightly older than Mino. He envied them and the looks in their eyes - there is a sense of satisfaction and calmness imprinted on their gaze and smile, contrasting the worn out and hollowness of the familiar boys back in the City rushing to the nearest café for a cup of Americano and a club sandwich.
He turned right, as his foldable map told him to do, and immediately thought that the “sixth house on the right” might be a little bit more than 600 meters away. The road is uphill and each of the houses has a spacious backyard, typical of countryside housing.
Ten minutes in and finally Mino arrived at the sixth-house-on-the-right - and the house really is pretty. There is no fancy signboard and onlookers could easily pass the B&B if they are not keen enough to see the small wooden “room vacant” board on the porch. Le Petit Prince is a one-story lodge all made from wood, the kind that you often see in ski resorts, complete with the chimney and piles of wooden logs in the front yard.
“Hi, hello, um, is this Le Petit Prince?” unsureness was thick on his voice as he stood in the doorway looking at the receptionist who’s reading a novel behind the wooden counter.
“Ah yes, of course. Welcome, please enter,” she said as she stood from her chair and bowed a little. She is wearing a maroon knitwear, her shoulder-length hair tied back to a high ponytail, her front bangs accentuating her tiny oval face, her petite figure indicated she couldn’t have been older than Mino - he guessed she must have been in her high school years.
“Ah thank you,” Mino bowed back. “I’ve made a reservation? The name is Song Minho,” he said as he flashed his perfectly white smile.
“Let me see, ah okay. You’ve booked for two nights, right? And you’ve made online payment, that’s great… Your room is all prepared, wait, let me grab your key… Perfect. Mr. Song? We’ve prepared you our best room! It’s the one at the back - it’s most spacious, your view is our backyard, a glimpse of the forest and it overlooks the city. It’s constantly chosen as the favorite room among our many guests, you’ll enjoy your stay there.”
The girl was gleeful and agile, and her cheerfulness was contagious.
“Great! Thanks a lot!”
“There aren’t a lot of guests this time around, since it’s nearing Christmas, but I can assure you, it won’t be an eerily quiet and sad stay. The town is especially pretty in the evening, or if you prefer to stay in just lounge around our common room. If it gets a little bit too quiet and you long for some company to chat, my brothers and I are always around - we don’t bite so don’t hesitate to approach us!”
“Ah, of course, thank you very much! So I assume this is a family-ran lodging?”
“That’s right! And for that right answer you deserve a pack of cookies!”
Mino loves this place already.
---
“No shit! My favorite is the fifth one, too, of course. I mean there is no line as iconic as Han and Leia’s I love you/I know line.”
“I beg to disagree - it’s definitely Vader’s I am your father line,” Jihoo argued as he took the chocolate covered cherry truffle from the common room’s table.
“Well,” Mino munches on the almond-rum chocolate truffles, “anything but the first episode. It was seriously bad that up to this day I regretted wasting two hours of my time watching old men talking about politics but promoted it as an intergalactic movie!”
The night is still young and Mino, Seungjoo, and Jihoo were indulging themselves in chocolate truffles and roasted chestnuts they bought in the town’s Christmas market.
Seungjoo, the oldest of the Kim siblings, let out a small laugh as he stood up, “Anyone else fancy a sundubu jjigae? I assure you, Mino, that my mother makes the best soup you’ll ever taste your whole life.”
Mino nods aggressively (his first love is, after all, food) as his mouth was too full with chewy chocolate.
Amidst the young men’s talk, the weather outside had gone a little bit extreme - temperature drops to the negatives, the wind stronger that the plum tree branches insistently taps on the lodge’s windows, and the children and adults alike were silently hoping that they would have a white Christmas tomorrow. Luckily, the lodge was warm from the fireplace and the laughter and chats of the people inside.
Mino didn’t plan to spend his awaited leave with strangers he barely know, nor being a part of someone else’s family. But he thought to himself: he couldn’t have asked for any better company for his quick escape from the City life.
However, that was before the three hard knocks on the front door and a loud “Hello, excuse me!” that follows.
“Yes, coming,” Jihoo shouted back, reaching for the front door.
The door was opened and the chill wind whooshes the inside of the lodge, and there stood a tall and slender man with a black winter parka and tan boots, rubbing his gloved hands. The man bowed to Jihoo as Jihoo allowed him to enter the lodge.
“Really sorry to disturb your evening,” he bows, “my car broke down about 500 meters from here and my phone has the most terrible reception, so if I may, could I kindly borrow your phone? I’m really sorry,” he bows again.
“Ah sure, of course, no need to apologize. Phone reception could be awfully weak sometimes, totally understandable. Here is your phone and here is the list of towing trucks and automobile workshops nearby - in case you need more references.”
“Ah, thank you,” he bows again.
If Mino is allowed to judge a person so quickly, to him the stranded stranger was polite, a bit reserved and timid, and he looks somewhat frail. He looks like someone you would want to approach - but at the end of the day you didn’t because of his unintended intimidation.
It seems like his efforts to call for assistance are fruitless, as he keeps on hanging up the phone and redialed the same number, only to hang up in less than twenty seconds later.
“Here you go, the world’s best sundubu jjigae!” said Hyeryun as she brought a large black pot with a bubbling, sizzling hot red soup in the inside. Mino had had a lot of delicious foods the past twenty-two years of his life - but he was not lying when he said that the soup was one of the most appetizing soup he had ever seen his whole life.
One can smell the invigorating spiciness of the gochujang in the air, the radiating warmth from the black pot, and the slightly sour yet appetizing smell of the accompanying kimchi.
We are sorry, our service is now closed for Christmas. We will resume operation on the 26th of December starting from 09.00 am. Thank you for your understanding and we wish you a merry Christmas.
He can’t believe it - the seventh call to the third car-towing company and still no luck.
Slurrrrrrp.
He can’t believe it either how this tan stranger eats his meal - with full-fledged passion that can easily qualify as a commercial advert for a newly opened restaurant. It doesn’t help either that his last meal was his to-go chicken katsu curry five hours ago in a rest area somewhere on the Gyeongbu Expressway that connects Seoul and Busan.
And it certainly doesn’t help either when the stranded stranger’s stomach lets out a loud growl.
He stood dead on his track as everyone looked at him - quick-wittedly he grabbed the cat plushie sitting on the reception table and said,
“I swear it was him.”
And just like that, there is no more “the stranded stranger” as they shared a hearty dinner, tons of laughter, and endless stories.
---
The citizen’s wishes were granted when they woke up to a town fully covered in white, amplifying the already beautiful city of Gieoga. Children were already throwing snowballs to each other, countless of snowmen were built in the matter of an hour or so, and giggles were everywhere as little kids spread their hands to make snow angels.
Mino was sitting on the backyard patio and sipping on his hot chocolate when Lee Seunghoon, the stranded stranger from yesterday, sat on the empty chair next to Mino and put a plate full of warm bread and accompanying jams and butter.
“Hey, thank you!”
“Don’t mention it - thanks for lending me this t-shirt! I didn’t plan to stopover so I didn’t pack extra clothes.”
“Nah, it’s not a problem.”
“So you work in an investment bank? You know, judging from this ‘Banker Charity Run 2015’ logo printed on your t-shirt.”
“Uh huh,” said Mino nonchalantly, munching on his now strawberry-jam filled rolls. Silence ensued - a combination of the awkward kind and the movie-standard-comfortable-silence kind. The metal wind chimes let out a soothing sound and distant sounds of the town waking up and getting more lively set the festive yet solemn morning.
“What brings you here, by the way?” Seunghoon broke the silence.
“Well, vacation, I guess? How about you? I heard you were heading somewhere else before your car broke down?”
“I’m heading to my family in Busan.”
“Ah, I’m sorry to hear that, must have been annoying now that you can’t spend Christmas with them.”
“Well, you’ve got to make the most out of what you got. The lodge is very cozy anyways, and the city looks so simple yet very inviting. And I’ve got company, too! Couldn’t ask for any better,” he flashed a smile as he rose from his chair. His smile was so sincere and warm it might as well melt the layers of snow in the backyard. “Care to accompany this stranger to visit the town?”
They pack up their plates, take their coats and boots, and head off to explore Gieoga. Mino decided that Seunghoon is harmless and definitely not some psychopathic killer like those you saw in crime series last evening when yesterday he shrieked like your neighborhood’s ahjumma and hid himself under the sofa pillows when the Kim siblings told them local urban legends and ghost stories - apparently, he’s a grade A scaredy cat and it’s amusing that way.
The town was indeed very white from snowfall the previous night, but otherwise the sun was up with a few patches of clouds. It was a very pleasant morning. Not twenty steps away from the lodge, Seunghoon said, “you know what this kind of morning makes me want to do, Mino?”
“Huh? What is it?”
“Jog. And it is destiny when you lend me this Charity Run t-shirt. So be it!”
Just like that, Seunghoon took off without much warning. It wasn’t much of a sports kind of jogging as he was in his tan boots and denim pants, yet his long legs still stride gracefully like a cheetah and Mino had a slight delay before he actually got the idea that Seunghoon was actually serious and caught up with him.
I swear to God I’m not going to judge someone so quickly ever again, Mino thought. Shy and timid and intimidating my ass. And he runs up to him.
The two explored Gieoga starting from the high street to just outside the town borders. There’s a walking trail that goes around town and they decided - or rather, Seunghoon suddenly took a turn - and went on the trail. The trail was slightly elevated so they can see the scenery of the snow-covered town but also the mountains in the background. It was beautiful.
Mino was admiring the scenery when he suddenly crashed into Seunghoon, who had suddenly stopped. They had just reached a park with a few kids running around, throwing snowballs and making snow angels.
“Hey Mr Banker,” Seunghoon said, “have you ever made snow angels before? It’s fun you know!” Apparently, he thought that he’s a six-year old kid too as he joins the kids lying on their back and making snow angels.
“Ya! What are you doing!” Seunghoon caused enough embarrassment for Mino’s lifetime within fifteen hours after their meeting. “Get back here!”
“Mr Banker-ssi, you’re no fun,” as he throws a snowball directly into Mino’s face and laughed the evilest of laughter.
“YA! YOU SCOUNDREL!”
“Everyone, attack that grizzly bear!” Seunghoon instructed the kids who have joined him in attacking the Mino-bear. The snowball fight ensues for ten minutes, with Mino launching the failed retaliation towards Seunghoon-giraffe (because the kids thought “giraffes are friendly animals, ahjussi”).
He was having fun - the last time Mino had a snowball fight was almost half a decade ago, and he certainly didn’t have a chance to initiate any when he was spending winter weekdays at his cubicle and weekends in his bed recovering from the weekdays.
Enjoying his newfound friend having fun, Seunghoon smiled at Mino. Mino smiled back.
“Tell you what. Let’s try to grab a free lunch,” Seunghoon said, gesturing his hands to invite Mino to walk back to town as the clock strikes twelve.
---
The Noodle House proudly claims itself as serving the best noodles in all of Gieoga. As far as Mino could remember, it was the only one he saw, so the claim is probably valid. Jihoo works there, so Seunghoon thought that his acquaintance of half a day would be able to sneak two bowls of noodles to the starving travelers (Mino was about to strongly object, but this is food, and nothing gets in the way between Mino and food).
The restaurant was almost full but luckily there was still a table for two available. They sat, chatted like they’re regulars, ordered the house special and waited for Jihoo to notice them to start roll out their devious plan.
Forty five minutes later, they walked out of the restaurant with a full tummy and an intact wallet. They waved gleefully to Jihoo and Mrs. Go, the owner and cook, and walked away.
“THAT WAS GENIUS!” exclaimed Seunghoon as he high-fived Mino and pats him eagerly on his back.
“Hey, don’t underestimate this resident charmer! How else do you think I could land a job in my office?”
“You mean you rapped about noodles and warm broths and radish kimchi in your job interview? Who was your backdancer then?”
“Pfft. The point is, Mister, I am charming.”
Gieoga is the kind of town where everybody seems to know everybody else, the townspeople so kind they would greet you on the streets and not make you feel like you’re just a stranger passing by the town. Mino misses such warmth - he let out a smile at the thought of how lovely his Christmas trip has been and the memories of his childhood when all he had to worry about was what’s underneath the Christmas tree and whether it will snow tomorrow.
“Stop smiling from nothing like that, you look mental,” Seunghoon teased.
“Stop looking at me then,” Mino teased back, looking at the slightly taller guy on his left.
“Who says I’m looking at you?”
“How do you know I was smiling, then?” Mino grins to Seunghoon who replied Mino’s question with a sly smile on his face.
They walked to the town square, right at the other end of the high street. The town was holding their annual Christmas fair - complete with pretty orange lights, wooden stalls, wreaths, and red and green decorations galore. The show stealer, however, was the Christmas tree located in the center of the square with its glistening decorations and a majestic silver star located on top. Gieoga might be a small town, but they sure do take Christmas seriously.
“PRIORITIES. I’m going for the Glühwein first, and then caramel apple, and then -”
“You just ate.”
“There is always room for desserts and shush, rule number one for befriending me is to never remind me how many meals I’ve eaten a day. Come on, tag along, yesterday’s truffles and chestnuts were good too!”
Seunghoon obeys Mino’s wishes as they tour around the small but complete Christmas fair, stuffing his stomach with all sorts of Christmas treats (“No more! I said NO MORE!”). He understood from there that Mino is a year younger than him (followed by Mino’s excessive and unnecessary apologies for not calling him more politely all this time), but Mino is actually really just a five-year old trapped in a twenty-something-year old body (this realization was when they were approached by a magician (all the magician did was a simple card trick, really)).
Conversely, Mino now understands that Seunghoon is a freelance choreographer slash designer (he still couldn’t understand, though, how Seunghoon manages the uncertain nature of his jobs) and he too, is a five-year old trapped in a twenty-something-year old body (this realization was when he foolishly danced to a Jingle Bells music box (although he had to admit that he was embarrassingly cute doing that)).
“Do you think the Jingle Bells one is better than the We Wish You A Merry Christmas one?” Mino couldn’t choose which of the various wooden music boxes he wanted to buy (this led to Seunghoon’s impromptu dancing to Jingle Bell and We Wish You A Merry Christmas, and because the Jingle Bells dance involved a Santa hat snatching from an adjacent stall, he bought the Jingle Bells one).
Three stalls later, Seunghoon found himself waiting for Mino to decide which of the wooden Nutcracker soldiers he’s buying.
“Oh my God do you have six girlfriends and three sisters and seven mothers to give souvenirs to back home?”
“I have zero girlfriend, one sister, and one mother, thank you for asking, and no, these are all for myself,” answered Mino indifferently as he studies the spear-wielding soldier in red suit closely.
“Then how do you explain all these random things you’re buying? You bought a music box, scented candles, potpourri, snow globes, wooden carvings already and what, you’re buying this too?”
“I collect things, okay. Stop nagging me.”
“Well the collectors I know collect specific things - snow globe collector, Nutcracker collector. What are you collecting?”
“Memories. I collect memories. That’s all.”
Seunghoon stared blankly at him, which Mino replied with a stare back and a smile.
---
The town closes earlier today (by earlier, it means at 05.00 PM because in normal days stores close at 07.00 PM) as the shopkeepers and the shoppers alike went home earlier to their children’s hugs and parents’ stories for Christmas Eve. They decided that it is only appropriate for them to let the Kim family to enjoy the Christmas Eve by themselves and not let the two wanderers disturb the supposedly intimate evening.
The restaurants closing early means Seunghoon and Mino had to figure out their dinner by themselves. Luckily, Mino had bought bags and bags of Christmas treats enough to supply a starving family for a week, except that they would end up having a significant increase in blood sugar level.
The night is solemn. The sun has set and the moon has risen. The sky stays clear and the temperature is just right. Having nowhere to go and not wanting to waste the beautiful setting the universe has gifted to them, Seunghoon and Mino decided to continue walking the path from the morning jog.
“So when did you start dancing?” Mino asked.
“In the baby incubator.”
“Not funny.”
“Jokes aside, I think I’ve danced my whole life. I taught myself how to dance. I started a small dance crew when I was in school. We joined some competitions here and there, snatched trophies here and there. I choreographed for a flash mob, too! It was quite successful. I danced wherever I can, really. It’s my passion, and I know for a fact I couldn’t settle for a life that does not involve dancing. Which explains what I do for a living!”
“Why?”
“Why what?”
“Why can’t you work work?”
“What do you mean work work?”
“As in… Work work? Like, actual job work?”
“Ah, I see. Because choreographer is not a work work, right?”
Mino let out a nervous chant of “no”s and “that’s not what I mean”s, to which Seunghoon calmly responds, “Ah, shush. You’re not the first person who asked me that. I don’t know why either. I think it’s just that I’d rather live on an endless survival mode but have the freedom to do whatever I like than be a part of someone else’s clockwork. Not that I question your choice, though. You live far better off than me.”
The faintly illuminated footpath led them to a slope that overlooks the town. If you squint your eyes enough you can even see the mothers of the town, slicing roasted chickens and sharing baked potatoes over the table.
“How do you live like that,” Mino mutters. The night was silent except for the rustling leaves and their footsteps on the snowy ground, but the baritone voice was so soft that Seunghoon could barely hear him.
“Hm?”
“I mean, you know,” Mino let out a nervous laugh. “My life is an exact opposite of yours.”
“Which is good?”
“Which is not good. I envy how you could be so carefree and such a happy-go-lucky man. I wouldn’t be able to live like that, full of joie de vivre.”
“Why not?”
“Why not what?”
“Wait I’m feeling déjà vu here. We need to work on our communication skills in the future!”
In the future. Mino hopes so, too. Mino hopes that he could have more of Seunghoon in his life, more fun, more laughter, more sunshine, more joy.
“Ahh, come on, this is a heartfelt talk, don’t ruin it!”
“Okay, okay, chill. I mean, why can’t you live like this, full of passion?”
It took them a minute or so in silence, following the footpath that’s gradually dimmer as the lamp posts stood further away from another. The town is getting smaller and smaller from here as they go further away up the hill.
“I don’t know. Life happens, I guess? Adulting happens and all that shit.”
“Wait, let’s stop and sit here,” Seunghoon approaches a bench when they reached a flatter ground with a wooden bench, overlooking the mountains. “We’d be lost if we continue, it’s not so much lighting, and since you’ve seen how I react to the stories yesterday, you know I wouldn’t entertain your requests to continue even if you bribe me with a couple of million wons.”
They sat on the bench and spent two minutes arguing about which of the sugar-laden treats they should eat first (the candy canes win). They bickered over the fact that none of them decided to buy a hot drink, but eventually Mino settled for a can of beer and Seunghoon settled for a can of lemonade.
You see, the perks of having a vacation in an uncharted, off-the-beaten-path destination located in a highland in the middle of nowhere is that instead of overly bright city lights and shopping-inducing billboards, you get the spectacular showcase of a thousand stars and the purplish, dark blue hue of the Milky Way.
“What do you want to do when you were a child?” Seunghoon continues.
“Shh,” Mino put his forefinger on his lips while gazing up to the sky. He pointed upwards and said no more. They spent a minute, or maybe two, or maybe five in silence - the movie-standard-comfortable kind of silence.
“When I was a child, I went camping with my family. It was one of my most favorite childhood memories, because it was the first time I saw a clear night sky with a multitude of stars, just like tonight. I’m always a sucker for space ever since. So to answer your question, I would want to be an astronaut.”
They exchanged glances.
“Don’t laugh!!!!”
Seunghood laughed, “why would I? And what made you change your mind then?”
“For a start, I flunk at physics so that sort of explains. I still like outer space though. At one point in life, I also wanted to be a rapper, and an artist. My drawings are not that bad, you know.”
“So?”
“So I thought it was just a childish dream. It’s hard to get by being an artist, let alone a mediocre rapper,- ”
“who sings about noodles and warm broths and radish kimchi”
“- exactly. And less about the money, I also feel it’s my obligation as a son. I wanted to make my parents happy and proud of me; and they are proud of me now, by the way. And you can’t lie, to get comfortable things in life you need some money in the bank, too.”
“Yeah, that’s always the thing for me. I am much too selfish for my own good. Anyhow, I don’t find anything is wrong with your work, don’t get me wrong. It’s all a matter of perspective whether you want to do what you love or love what you do.”
Seunghoon sips on his lemonade.
“You said your drawing isn’t bad, right? Which artist do you like the most?”
“I can’t pick one because I respect and appreciate each artist. It’s their own story and their life you see on the canvas. It’s only evil to choose only one.”
“Okie dokie. Then, what is it about outer space that you like the most?”
“You’re going to regret asking that because I will never stop.”
“Try me.”
“First thing first, I think it’s full of mystery waiting to be solved and wonders waiting to be discovered. Is there life outside earth? What about wormholes? Can we colonize Mars? Should we? And then you have the ethereal colors of nebula and supernova. Isn’t it ironic that you get to see such majestic burst of colors from the death of a star? You couldn’t have a more majestic death, honestly. If there is life outside earth, how advanced are they? Why haven’t they contacted us? Is the fact that they haven’t contacted us a good or a bad thing? Or are we really alone in the universe? What about the Fermi Paradox? The outer space is a duality and it blows your mind, really. Geez, I’m having goosebumps all over,” Mino halted his impassioned speech.
Seunghoon smiled and suddenly stood up, walked to the nearest tree, and picked a small, fallen twig, brushed the snow off and returned to sit on the bench.
“Here you go.”
“What’s that?”
“A twig.”
“And I’m supposed to?”
“Keep it. You said you collect memories. This is for the memory where you share your innocent child, your joie de vivre to a stranger on a Christmas Eve in a remote small town.”
The small twig sits nicely on Seunghoon’s right hand.
Mino looked at Seunghoon. He has only known him for about twenty four hours by now, but Seunghoon has this certain charm that draws Mino in like a magnet. He could be so intimidating yet so inviting. So selfish yet so selfless. He is very unpredictable, full of paradoxes, surprises waiting to be unboxed. With him Mino feels freer, almost like a different person. Seunghoon lives his life to the fullest with such gaiety that seems to radiate from him, spreading to people around him like a contagious virus. He, like the outer space, is a duality.
“Thank you.”
Mino took the twig and put it in the inner pocket of his coat.
“Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you.”
Seunghoon smiled at Mino. They spent the next thirty minutes with Mino’s fiery talk on how he bought his first telescope (and broke it the next month), his plan to visit the NASA Headquarters, his extensive research to look which investment bank is used by the Korea Aerospace Research Institute (to his disappointment, not his), and albeit distantly relevant one of his favorite songs happen to be called “Champagne Supernova” by Oasis (Seunghoon did an impromptu freestyle dance to this song and with the starry sky on his back, it was nothing short of magical) and the song was so impactful that an actual supernova is named after the song. The night was getting colder and Seunghoon is getting a bit scared, so they decided to walk back to the lodge.
On the way back, Mino said, “I’m glad your car broke down.”
Seunghoon looked back at him and replied, “I’m glad your boss is an asshole,” and took Mino’s hands into his own.
Mino cannot be happier for he now holds the galaxies, comets, planets, and supernovas in his hand.
--
Note:
1. When writing this, I am inspired by the couple enacted by Kate Winslet and Jack Black in the movie “The Holiday” and the characters The Aviator and The Little Prince from the movie adaptation of “Le Petit Prince” by Antoine St. Exupery (hint: Mino is the grown up Prince)
2. “Champagne Supernova” is an actual song by the English band Oasis! The supernova SN 2003fg is nicknamed after this song. Listen to the song here: (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tI-5uv4wryI)
3. If you’re interested in learning what the Fermi Paradox is about, I suggest you to read this incredibly amusing and provoking visual explanation: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sNhhvQGsMEc J
Pairing: Mino/Seunghoon
Length: 6,422 words
Rating: PG-13
Warning: some swearing, annoying boss, office humor-ish (sighs)
Summary: Mino is an investment banker whose life is about to be topsy turvied by his short Christmas vacation to a remote town.
Note: Cross-posted from winderland
“Send me a forecast of our dealings for next month in 30 minutes,” said Mr Park with a straight cold face, at the precise moment Mino was lifting his right leg to leave his cubicle.
It was a minute to midnight, but the day was just about to get 30 minutes longer for Song Minho.
Before he became an investment banker, Mino had heard about the notoriously long work of an investment banker and the more-than-occasional weekends at the office - but he had always thought that the insanely high pay would more than compensate the hard work. Besides, he’d been accepted at one of the most coveted firms in the country, what kind of a silly person would say no?
Two years later though, he revised that last question. What kind of a silly person would say yes
Even though the extremely long working hours did not surprise Mino a bit, Mino didn’t really think about what investment bankers would do throughout the day. It turns out that his workdays were almost entirely robotic - absolutely mundane yet incredibly tiring. And let’s not get started about Mr Park, Mino’s seemingly omnipresent, heartless machine of a boss. No matter how early Mino comes to the office, Mr Park would be there first, and no matter how late Mino comes home, Mr Park would still be there. Mino wonders if Mr Park could possibly be living in the office.
Mr Park’s latest request might sound brief, but in reality, what Mino needed to do was read through a couple hundred spreadsheets of raw data that had just finished - literally just finished as Mino was packing his stuff - being exported from his office’s systems. And Mr Park expects Mino to crunch all that data and come up with a nice fancy PowerPoint in just 30 minutes. And let’s not forget the miles of tasks in Mino’s backlog, all from yours truly, Mr Park.
Tonight wasn’t too far off from the other nights Mino had at work. But tonight Mino came to a resolve from a thought he’s been having for the past few weeks. From the 10 people that were hired together with Mino under Mr Park’s auspices, nine of them had quit. Two of them had to go through intensive psychiatric therapy before moving on with their lives. One of them became a hit singer with his take on the song “Instinctively” and is now famously known as the “Nation’s Boy Next Door”. Yet Mino still stayed with Mr Park, unwilling to leave his (admittedly not so comfortable) comfort zone to venture into the unknown.
Mino’s resolve was to quit. He doesn’t know where he’s going to go next - he figured he’d rather not be an investment banker at all but he’d never thought about another career path - but now he knows that he can’t stand Mr Park any more.
So he quit
(or maybe not, he actually just applied for leave for Christmas, because, you know, last year he bought a roasted chicken sandwich and had a little Christmas party for himself on his desk).
---
He woke up the next day at 6 AM, to the mega-hit-star Taeyang’s Ringa Linga alarm tone. He rolled on his bed, buried his face on the pillow, and let out a long deep sigh for he’s going to face yet another day with the lovely Mr Park and his “can-you-send-me-something-in-30-minutes” catchphrase.
Unwillingly, he dragged his lazy feet to the bathroom, spent his daily 20-minutes “what am I going to do with my life” cold shower routine, shaved, and did his magic tricks with his hair so that it looks like an awesomely, perfectly slicked back hair that would stay in shape even if a hurricane hits the town.
The thing he hates the most about his office (besides Mr Park and the shitty actual work and the often-broken coffee machine) is the jam-packed elevator ride up in the morning. Mino’s cubicle is located on the 49th floor of the 50-story building, and in the morning there would be at least one person getting off on every floor before him. Mino would usually fill the time in the elevator by playing Neko Atsume on his iPhone. The last time he checked he had a full yard, and a big fat white cat he had named Bibo was munching on a very expensive cat food which Mino had bought with his real-life hard-earned cash, but he had forgotten to charge his phone after last night’s brouhaha. In dire need of entertainment before the banality of his work day, Mino decided to watch the in-elevator TV, which he had never done before.
Mino was struck by what, or rather who he saw on the screen. Kang Seungyoon, his ex-colleague of “Instinctively” fame, was being interviewed on the morning news.
“So, drop us a hint or two on how this next album of yours will be like,” the overly cheerful interviewer with the standard issue salem pink blazer and pearl necklace outfit asked Seungyoon.
“Well, it’s going to be great, of course.” A synthetic, orchestrated studio laugh. “In all seriousness, I never really thought of producing music for fame or for sales. I created my music to channel my feelings, for the people. I want them to be inspired when they listen to my music.”
Oh my god, Kang Seungyoon is so cheesy and in another life he’d make an awfully great and convincing politician.
“Whoa, that was a very inspiring answer. Okay, now for the last question, can you give a final message to the viewers?”
The camera pans and zooms to Seungyoon.
“So… For me, I would say just one quick message, but it rings very near to my heart. Do what you love. Do what you love, really, it will save your life.”
Mino snorted, rolled his eyes, and vowed he would spam Seungyoon’s personal Kakao Talk with “shut up” “last year you said you love investment banking” “your face is handsome in this morning’s interview it inspires me” “do what you love Kang Seungyoon oppa” “oppa I love you” messages later tonight.
Mino arrives on the forty-ninth floor and begrudgingly drags his feet to his cubicle and logs into his computer.
Eyes on his screen, before launching Excel and PowerPoint a.k.a. his life saviors, Mino googled “vacation destination Korea winter” to plan out his long-overdue leave. A storm of search results came in with travel blogs and travel agents and clichéd ads.
Mino is feeling a bit rebellious today, so he opened page 2 of the search results and clicked whatever was on top.
The page he clicked was nothing but a default WordPress template sort of travel blog, with suggestions on how to travel on a budget or the top ten things to do in Seoul or Jeju. But what caught his attention was the small text on the right that says “Gieoga - the hidden gem of the central highlands”. He clicked the link, read through the promising description of this small, off-the-beaten-path town and impulsively bought the bus tickets to Gieoga, before opening “proposal_Telecom_v13_CC_edit.xlsx” and starts his long day at work.
---
First hour in, Mino could see Gieoga is as how the blog had promised - small (en route, Mino saw there couldn’t be more than fifty houses and there is only one main street), authentic (amazing how they don’t even have any fast food or supermarket chains here how am I going to survive, Mino thought), and quiet (Mino swore he could just sing in the shower and have the entire village know the next day the playlist of his songs and which of his notes were off-beat).
Well. You want adventure, here goes adventure. He thought. Although I would prefer small, authentic, and quiet in a positive light instead of a bleak and grim city whose atmosphere feels like there is going to be a funeral held every morning before the activities start.
Phone reception failed him, so Mino had to rely on the old-fashioned foldable paper maps and the town’s directory located in the middle of the high street to pinpoint where Le Petit Prince Bed & Breakfast is located.
Surely, the B&B’s lovely and promising description of “Enjoy your stay with us in our classic wooden lodge, surrounded by lush and vast greeneries so far as the eyes can see, giving you a guaranteed escape from the hustle and bustle of your fast-paced lives” could help, except that every single building in this town is made of wood and large-cut rocks and the town is surrounded by tall pine trees such that each house could might as well claim they have a forest in their backyard.
After spending ten minutes matching, rotating, and scribbling on his foldable paper map, he was certain that all he needed to do was to follow the high street until he found a pottery ware workshop on his left, turn right and the B&B should be the sixth house on the right about 600 meters away from the pottery ware workshop.
The high street (more like the only street, Mino thought) is enchanting - wooden lodges with makeshift stores in the space where it should be terraces and living rooms and alternating them were a number of hanok, or traditional Korean houses, occasionally with elders sitting on the porch sipping from fine jade and cream colored ceramic cups, their soft chatters almost audible to Mino’s ears. The cool and frosty winter air gently tingles Mino’s face; the smell of burning firewood in the air warms Mino in the inside; and he can hear the faint whispers of the pine trees greeting and chatting their distant brothers in the warmer south. Slowly but surely, he appreciates the serenity of the town.
The whirring sound Mino heard to his left was a cue that he reaches the end of the high street. The pottery ware workshop was a lovely small hanok where inside, there were some young men crafting round and curvy earth on the rotating pottery disk. They were the same age, if not slightly older than Mino. He envied them and the looks in their eyes - there is a sense of satisfaction and calmness imprinted on their gaze and smile, contrasting the worn out and hollowness of the familiar boys back in the City rushing to the nearest café for a cup of Americano and a club sandwich.
He turned right, as his foldable map told him to do, and immediately thought that the “sixth house on the right” might be a little bit more than 600 meters away. The road is uphill and each of the houses has a spacious backyard, typical of countryside housing.
Ten minutes in and finally Mino arrived at the sixth-house-on-the-right - and the house really is pretty. There is no fancy signboard and onlookers could easily pass the B&B if they are not keen enough to see the small wooden “room vacant” board on the porch. Le Petit Prince is a one-story lodge all made from wood, the kind that you often see in ski resorts, complete with the chimney and piles of wooden logs in the front yard.
“Hi, hello, um, is this Le Petit Prince?” unsureness was thick on his voice as he stood in the doorway looking at the receptionist who’s reading a novel behind the wooden counter.
“Ah yes, of course. Welcome, please enter,” she said as she stood from her chair and bowed a little. She is wearing a maroon knitwear, her shoulder-length hair tied back to a high ponytail, her front bangs accentuating her tiny oval face, her petite figure indicated she couldn’t have been older than Mino - he guessed she must have been in her high school years.
“Ah thank you,” Mino bowed back. “I’ve made a reservation? The name is Song Minho,” he said as he flashed his perfectly white smile.
“Let me see, ah okay. You’ve booked for two nights, right? And you’ve made online payment, that’s great… Your room is all prepared, wait, let me grab your key… Perfect. Mr. Song? We’ve prepared you our best room! It’s the one at the back - it’s most spacious, your view is our backyard, a glimpse of the forest and it overlooks the city. It’s constantly chosen as the favorite room among our many guests, you’ll enjoy your stay there.”
The girl was gleeful and agile, and her cheerfulness was contagious.
“Great! Thanks a lot!”
“There aren’t a lot of guests this time around, since it’s nearing Christmas, but I can assure you, it won’t be an eerily quiet and sad stay. The town is especially pretty in the evening, or if you prefer to stay in just lounge around our common room. If it gets a little bit too quiet and you long for some company to chat, my brothers and I are always around - we don’t bite so don’t hesitate to approach us!”
“Ah, of course, thank you very much! So I assume this is a family-ran lodging?”
“That’s right! And for that right answer you deserve a pack of cookies!”
Mino loves this place already.
---
“No shit! My favorite is the fifth one, too, of course. I mean there is no line as iconic as Han and Leia’s I love you/I know line.”
“I beg to disagree - it’s definitely Vader’s I am your father line,” Jihoo argued as he took the chocolate covered cherry truffle from the common room’s table.
“Well,” Mino munches on the almond-rum chocolate truffles, “anything but the first episode. It was seriously bad that up to this day I regretted wasting two hours of my time watching old men talking about politics but promoted it as an intergalactic movie!”
The night is still young and Mino, Seungjoo, and Jihoo were indulging themselves in chocolate truffles and roasted chestnuts they bought in the town’s Christmas market.
Seungjoo, the oldest of the Kim siblings, let out a small laugh as he stood up, “Anyone else fancy a sundubu jjigae? I assure you, Mino, that my mother makes the best soup you’ll ever taste your whole life.”
Mino nods aggressively (his first love is, after all, food) as his mouth was too full with chewy chocolate.
Amidst the young men’s talk, the weather outside had gone a little bit extreme - temperature drops to the negatives, the wind stronger that the plum tree branches insistently taps on the lodge’s windows, and the children and adults alike were silently hoping that they would have a white Christmas tomorrow. Luckily, the lodge was warm from the fireplace and the laughter and chats of the people inside.
Mino didn’t plan to spend his awaited leave with strangers he barely know, nor being a part of someone else’s family. But he thought to himself: he couldn’t have asked for any better company for his quick escape from the City life.
However, that was before the three hard knocks on the front door and a loud “Hello, excuse me!” that follows.
“Yes, coming,” Jihoo shouted back, reaching for the front door.
The door was opened and the chill wind whooshes the inside of the lodge, and there stood a tall and slender man with a black winter parka and tan boots, rubbing his gloved hands. The man bowed to Jihoo as Jihoo allowed him to enter the lodge.
“Really sorry to disturb your evening,” he bows, “my car broke down about 500 meters from here and my phone has the most terrible reception, so if I may, could I kindly borrow your phone? I’m really sorry,” he bows again.
“Ah sure, of course, no need to apologize. Phone reception could be awfully weak sometimes, totally understandable. Here is your phone and here is the list of towing trucks and automobile workshops nearby - in case you need more references.”
“Ah, thank you,” he bows again.
If Mino is allowed to judge a person so quickly, to him the stranded stranger was polite, a bit reserved and timid, and he looks somewhat frail. He looks like someone you would want to approach - but at the end of the day you didn’t because of his unintended intimidation.
It seems like his efforts to call for assistance are fruitless, as he keeps on hanging up the phone and redialed the same number, only to hang up in less than twenty seconds later.
“Here you go, the world’s best sundubu jjigae!” said Hyeryun as she brought a large black pot with a bubbling, sizzling hot red soup in the inside. Mino had had a lot of delicious foods the past twenty-two years of his life - but he was not lying when he said that the soup was one of the most appetizing soup he had ever seen his whole life.
One can smell the invigorating spiciness of the gochujang in the air, the radiating warmth from the black pot, and the slightly sour yet appetizing smell of the accompanying kimchi.
We are sorry, our service is now closed for Christmas. We will resume operation on the 26th of December starting from 09.00 am. Thank you for your understanding and we wish you a merry Christmas.
He can’t believe it - the seventh call to the third car-towing company and still no luck.
Slurrrrrrp.
He can’t believe it either how this tan stranger eats his meal - with full-fledged passion that can easily qualify as a commercial advert for a newly opened restaurant. It doesn’t help either that his last meal was his to-go chicken katsu curry five hours ago in a rest area somewhere on the Gyeongbu Expressway that connects Seoul and Busan.
And it certainly doesn’t help either when the stranded stranger’s stomach lets out a loud growl.
He stood dead on his track as everyone looked at him - quick-wittedly he grabbed the cat plushie sitting on the reception table and said,
“I swear it was him.”
And just like that, there is no more “the stranded stranger” as they shared a hearty dinner, tons of laughter, and endless stories.
---
The citizen’s wishes were granted when they woke up to a town fully covered in white, amplifying the already beautiful city of Gieoga. Children were already throwing snowballs to each other, countless of snowmen were built in the matter of an hour or so, and giggles were everywhere as little kids spread their hands to make snow angels.
Mino was sitting on the backyard patio and sipping on his hot chocolate when Lee Seunghoon, the stranded stranger from yesterday, sat on the empty chair next to Mino and put a plate full of warm bread and accompanying jams and butter.
“Hey, thank you!”
“Don’t mention it - thanks for lending me this t-shirt! I didn’t plan to stopover so I didn’t pack extra clothes.”
“Nah, it’s not a problem.”
“So you work in an investment bank? You know, judging from this ‘Banker Charity Run 2015’ logo printed on your t-shirt.”
“Uh huh,” said Mino nonchalantly, munching on his now strawberry-jam filled rolls. Silence ensued - a combination of the awkward kind and the movie-standard-comfortable-silence kind. The metal wind chimes let out a soothing sound and distant sounds of the town waking up and getting more lively set the festive yet solemn morning.
“What brings you here, by the way?” Seunghoon broke the silence.
“Well, vacation, I guess? How about you? I heard you were heading somewhere else before your car broke down?”
“I’m heading to my family in Busan.”
“Ah, I’m sorry to hear that, must have been annoying now that you can’t spend Christmas with them.”
“Well, you’ve got to make the most out of what you got. The lodge is very cozy anyways, and the city looks so simple yet very inviting. And I’ve got company, too! Couldn’t ask for any better,” he flashed a smile as he rose from his chair. His smile was so sincere and warm it might as well melt the layers of snow in the backyard. “Care to accompany this stranger to visit the town?”
They pack up their plates, take their coats and boots, and head off to explore Gieoga. Mino decided that Seunghoon is harmless and definitely not some psychopathic killer like those you saw in crime series last evening when yesterday he shrieked like your neighborhood’s ahjumma and hid himself under the sofa pillows when the Kim siblings told them local urban legends and ghost stories - apparently, he’s a grade A scaredy cat and it’s amusing that way.
The town was indeed very white from snowfall the previous night, but otherwise the sun was up with a few patches of clouds. It was a very pleasant morning. Not twenty steps away from the lodge, Seunghoon said, “you know what this kind of morning makes me want to do, Mino?”
“Huh? What is it?”
“Jog. And it is destiny when you lend me this Charity Run t-shirt. So be it!”
Just like that, Seunghoon took off without much warning. It wasn’t much of a sports kind of jogging as he was in his tan boots and denim pants, yet his long legs still stride gracefully like a cheetah and Mino had a slight delay before he actually got the idea that Seunghoon was actually serious and caught up with him.
I swear to God I’m not going to judge someone so quickly ever again, Mino thought. Shy and timid and intimidating my ass. And he runs up to him.
The two explored Gieoga starting from the high street to just outside the town borders. There’s a walking trail that goes around town and they decided - or rather, Seunghoon suddenly took a turn - and went on the trail. The trail was slightly elevated so they can see the scenery of the snow-covered town but also the mountains in the background. It was beautiful.
Mino was admiring the scenery when he suddenly crashed into Seunghoon, who had suddenly stopped. They had just reached a park with a few kids running around, throwing snowballs and making snow angels.
“Hey Mr Banker,” Seunghoon said, “have you ever made snow angels before? It’s fun you know!” Apparently, he thought that he’s a six-year old kid too as he joins the kids lying on their back and making snow angels.
“Ya! What are you doing!” Seunghoon caused enough embarrassment for Mino’s lifetime within fifteen hours after their meeting. “Get back here!”
“Mr Banker-ssi, you’re no fun,” as he throws a snowball directly into Mino’s face and laughed the evilest of laughter.
“YA! YOU SCOUNDREL!”
“Everyone, attack that grizzly bear!” Seunghoon instructed the kids who have joined him in attacking the Mino-bear. The snowball fight ensues for ten minutes, with Mino launching the failed retaliation towards Seunghoon-giraffe (because the kids thought “giraffes are friendly animals, ahjussi”).
He was having fun - the last time Mino had a snowball fight was almost half a decade ago, and he certainly didn’t have a chance to initiate any when he was spending winter weekdays at his cubicle and weekends in his bed recovering from the weekdays.
Enjoying his newfound friend having fun, Seunghoon smiled at Mino. Mino smiled back.
“Tell you what. Let’s try to grab a free lunch,” Seunghoon said, gesturing his hands to invite Mino to walk back to town as the clock strikes twelve.
---
The Noodle House proudly claims itself as serving the best noodles in all of Gieoga. As far as Mino could remember, it was the only one he saw, so the claim is probably valid. Jihoo works there, so Seunghoon thought that his acquaintance of half a day would be able to sneak two bowls of noodles to the starving travelers (Mino was about to strongly object, but this is food, and nothing gets in the way between Mino and food).
The restaurant was almost full but luckily there was still a table for two available. They sat, chatted like they’re regulars, ordered the house special and waited for Jihoo to notice them to start roll out their devious plan.
Forty five minutes later, they walked out of the restaurant with a full tummy and an intact wallet. They waved gleefully to Jihoo and Mrs. Go, the owner and cook, and walked away.
“THAT WAS GENIUS!” exclaimed Seunghoon as he high-fived Mino and pats him eagerly on his back.
“Hey, don’t underestimate this resident charmer! How else do you think I could land a job in my office?”
“You mean you rapped about noodles and warm broths and radish kimchi in your job interview? Who was your backdancer then?”
“Pfft. The point is, Mister, I am charming.”
Gieoga is the kind of town where everybody seems to know everybody else, the townspeople so kind they would greet you on the streets and not make you feel like you’re just a stranger passing by the town. Mino misses such warmth - he let out a smile at the thought of how lovely his Christmas trip has been and the memories of his childhood when all he had to worry about was what’s underneath the Christmas tree and whether it will snow tomorrow.
“Stop smiling from nothing like that, you look mental,” Seunghoon teased.
“Stop looking at me then,” Mino teased back, looking at the slightly taller guy on his left.
“Who says I’m looking at you?”
“How do you know I was smiling, then?” Mino grins to Seunghoon who replied Mino’s question with a sly smile on his face.
They walked to the town square, right at the other end of the high street. The town was holding their annual Christmas fair - complete with pretty orange lights, wooden stalls, wreaths, and red and green decorations galore. The show stealer, however, was the Christmas tree located in the center of the square with its glistening decorations and a majestic silver star located on top. Gieoga might be a small town, but they sure do take Christmas seriously.
“PRIORITIES. I’m going for the Glühwein first, and then caramel apple, and then -”
“You just ate.”
“There is always room for desserts and shush, rule number one for befriending me is to never remind me how many meals I’ve eaten a day. Come on, tag along, yesterday’s truffles and chestnuts were good too!”
Seunghoon obeys Mino’s wishes as they tour around the small but complete Christmas fair, stuffing his stomach with all sorts of Christmas treats (“No more! I said NO MORE!”). He understood from there that Mino is a year younger than him (followed by Mino’s excessive and unnecessary apologies for not calling him more politely all this time), but Mino is actually really just a five-year old trapped in a twenty-something-year old body (this realization was when they were approached by a magician (all the magician did was a simple card trick, really)).
Conversely, Mino now understands that Seunghoon is a freelance choreographer slash designer (he still couldn’t understand, though, how Seunghoon manages the uncertain nature of his jobs) and he too, is a five-year old trapped in a twenty-something-year old body (this realization was when he foolishly danced to a Jingle Bells music box (although he had to admit that he was embarrassingly cute doing that)).
“Do you think the Jingle Bells one is better than the We Wish You A Merry Christmas one?” Mino couldn’t choose which of the various wooden music boxes he wanted to buy (this led to Seunghoon’s impromptu dancing to Jingle Bell and We Wish You A Merry Christmas, and because the Jingle Bells dance involved a Santa hat snatching from an adjacent stall, he bought the Jingle Bells one).
Three stalls later, Seunghoon found himself waiting for Mino to decide which of the wooden Nutcracker soldiers he’s buying.
“Oh my God do you have six girlfriends and three sisters and seven mothers to give souvenirs to back home?”
“I have zero girlfriend, one sister, and one mother, thank you for asking, and no, these are all for myself,” answered Mino indifferently as he studies the spear-wielding soldier in red suit closely.
“Then how do you explain all these random things you’re buying? You bought a music box, scented candles, potpourri, snow globes, wooden carvings already and what, you’re buying this too?”
“I collect things, okay. Stop nagging me.”
“Well the collectors I know collect specific things - snow globe collector, Nutcracker collector. What are you collecting?”
“Memories. I collect memories. That’s all.”
Seunghoon stared blankly at him, which Mino replied with a stare back and a smile.
---
The town closes earlier today (by earlier, it means at 05.00 PM because in normal days stores close at 07.00 PM) as the shopkeepers and the shoppers alike went home earlier to their children’s hugs and parents’ stories for Christmas Eve. They decided that it is only appropriate for them to let the Kim family to enjoy the Christmas Eve by themselves and not let the two wanderers disturb the supposedly intimate evening.
The restaurants closing early means Seunghoon and Mino had to figure out their dinner by themselves. Luckily, Mino had bought bags and bags of Christmas treats enough to supply a starving family for a week, except that they would end up having a significant increase in blood sugar level.
The night is solemn. The sun has set and the moon has risen. The sky stays clear and the temperature is just right. Having nowhere to go and not wanting to waste the beautiful setting the universe has gifted to them, Seunghoon and Mino decided to continue walking the path from the morning jog.
“So when did you start dancing?” Mino asked.
“In the baby incubator.”
“Not funny.”
“Jokes aside, I think I’ve danced my whole life. I taught myself how to dance. I started a small dance crew when I was in school. We joined some competitions here and there, snatched trophies here and there. I choreographed for a flash mob, too! It was quite successful. I danced wherever I can, really. It’s my passion, and I know for a fact I couldn’t settle for a life that does not involve dancing. Which explains what I do for a living!”
“Why?”
“Why what?”
“Why can’t you work work?”
“What do you mean work work?”
“As in… Work work? Like, actual job work?”
“Ah, I see. Because choreographer is not a work work, right?”
Mino let out a nervous chant of “no”s and “that’s not what I mean”s, to which Seunghoon calmly responds, “Ah, shush. You’re not the first person who asked me that. I don’t know why either. I think it’s just that I’d rather live on an endless survival mode but have the freedom to do whatever I like than be a part of someone else’s clockwork. Not that I question your choice, though. You live far better off than me.”
The faintly illuminated footpath led them to a slope that overlooks the town. If you squint your eyes enough you can even see the mothers of the town, slicing roasted chickens and sharing baked potatoes over the table.
“How do you live like that,” Mino mutters. The night was silent except for the rustling leaves and their footsteps on the snowy ground, but the baritone voice was so soft that Seunghoon could barely hear him.
“Hm?”
“I mean, you know,” Mino let out a nervous laugh. “My life is an exact opposite of yours.”
“Which is good?”
“Which is not good. I envy how you could be so carefree and such a happy-go-lucky man. I wouldn’t be able to live like that, full of joie de vivre.”
“Why not?”
“Why not what?”
“Wait I’m feeling déjà vu here. We need to work on our communication skills in the future!”
In the future. Mino hopes so, too. Mino hopes that he could have more of Seunghoon in his life, more fun, more laughter, more sunshine, more joy.
“Ahh, come on, this is a heartfelt talk, don’t ruin it!”
“Okay, okay, chill. I mean, why can’t you live like this, full of passion?”
It took them a minute or so in silence, following the footpath that’s gradually dimmer as the lamp posts stood further away from another. The town is getting smaller and smaller from here as they go further away up the hill.
“I don’t know. Life happens, I guess? Adulting happens and all that shit.”
“Wait, let’s stop and sit here,” Seunghoon approaches a bench when they reached a flatter ground with a wooden bench, overlooking the mountains. “We’d be lost if we continue, it’s not so much lighting, and since you’ve seen how I react to the stories yesterday, you know I wouldn’t entertain your requests to continue even if you bribe me with a couple of million wons.”
They sat on the bench and spent two minutes arguing about which of the sugar-laden treats they should eat first (the candy canes win). They bickered over the fact that none of them decided to buy a hot drink, but eventually Mino settled for a can of beer and Seunghoon settled for a can of lemonade.
You see, the perks of having a vacation in an uncharted, off-the-beaten-path destination located in a highland in the middle of nowhere is that instead of overly bright city lights and shopping-inducing billboards, you get the spectacular showcase of a thousand stars and the purplish, dark blue hue of the Milky Way.
“What do you want to do when you were a child?” Seunghoon continues.
“Shh,” Mino put his forefinger on his lips while gazing up to the sky. He pointed upwards and said no more. They spent a minute, or maybe two, or maybe five in silence - the movie-standard-comfortable kind of silence.
“When I was a child, I went camping with my family. It was one of my most favorite childhood memories, because it was the first time I saw a clear night sky with a multitude of stars, just like tonight. I’m always a sucker for space ever since. So to answer your question, I would want to be an astronaut.”
They exchanged glances.
“Don’t laugh!!!!”
Seunghood laughed, “why would I? And what made you change your mind then?”
“For a start, I flunk at physics so that sort of explains. I still like outer space though. At one point in life, I also wanted to be a rapper, and an artist. My drawings are not that bad, you know.”
“So?”
“So I thought it was just a childish dream. It’s hard to get by being an artist, let alone a mediocre rapper,- ”
“who sings about noodles and warm broths and radish kimchi”
“- exactly. And less about the money, I also feel it’s my obligation as a son. I wanted to make my parents happy and proud of me; and they are proud of me now, by the way. And you can’t lie, to get comfortable things in life you need some money in the bank, too.”
“Yeah, that’s always the thing for me. I am much too selfish for my own good. Anyhow, I don’t find anything is wrong with your work, don’t get me wrong. It’s all a matter of perspective whether you want to do what you love or love what you do.”
Seunghoon sips on his lemonade.
“You said your drawing isn’t bad, right? Which artist do you like the most?”
“I can’t pick one because I respect and appreciate each artist. It’s their own story and their life you see on the canvas. It’s only evil to choose only one.”
“Okie dokie. Then, what is it about outer space that you like the most?”
“You’re going to regret asking that because I will never stop.”
“Try me.”
“First thing first, I think it’s full of mystery waiting to be solved and wonders waiting to be discovered. Is there life outside earth? What about wormholes? Can we colonize Mars? Should we? And then you have the ethereal colors of nebula and supernova. Isn’t it ironic that you get to see such majestic burst of colors from the death of a star? You couldn’t have a more majestic death, honestly. If there is life outside earth, how advanced are they? Why haven’t they contacted us? Is the fact that they haven’t contacted us a good or a bad thing? Or are we really alone in the universe? What about the Fermi Paradox? The outer space is a duality and it blows your mind, really. Geez, I’m having goosebumps all over,” Mino halted his impassioned speech.
Seunghoon smiled and suddenly stood up, walked to the nearest tree, and picked a small, fallen twig, brushed the snow off and returned to sit on the bench.
“Here you go.”
“What’s that?”
“A twig.”
“And I’m supposed to?”
“Keep it. You said you collect memories. This is for the memory where you share your innocent child, your joie de vivre to a stranger on a Christmas Eve in a remote small town.”
The small twig sits nicely on Seunghoon’s right hand.
Mino looked at Seunghoon. He has only known him for about twenty four hours by now, but Seunghoon has this certain charm that draws Mino in like a magnet. He could be so intimidating yet so inviting. So selfish yet so selfless. He is very unpredictable, full of paradoxes, surprises waiting to be unboxed. With him Mino feels freer, almost like a different person. Seunghoon lives his life to the fullest with such gaiety that seems to radiate from him, spreading to people around him like a contagious virus. He, like the outer space, is a duality.
“Thank you.”
Mino took the twig and put it in the inner pocket of his coat.
“Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you.”
Seunghoon smiled at Mino. They spent the next thirty minutes with Mino’s fiery talk on how he bought his first telescope (and broke it the next month), his plan to visit the NASA Headquarters, his extensive research to look which investment bank is used by the Korea Aerospace Research Institute (to his disappointment, not his), and albeit distantly relevant one of his favorite songs happen to be called “Champagne Supernova” by Oasis (Seunghoon did an impromptu freestyle dance to this song and with the starry sky on his back, it was nothing short of magical) and the song was so impactful that an actual supernova is named after the song. The night was getting colder and Seunghoon is getting a bit scared, so they decided to walk back to the lodge.
On the way back, Mino said, “I’m glad your car broke down.”
Seunghoon looked back at him and replied, “I’m glad your boss is an asshole,” and took Mino’s hands into his own.
Mino cannot be happier for he now holds the galaxies, comets, planets, and supernovas in his hand.
--
Note:
1. When writing this, I am inspired by the couple enacted by Kate Winslet and Jack Black in the movie “The Holiday” and the characters The Aviator and The Little Prince from the movie adaptation of “Le Petit Prince” by Antoine St. Exupery (hint: Mino is the grown up Prince)
2. “Champagne Supernova” is an actual song by the English band Oasis! The supernova SN 2003fg is nicknamed after this song. Listen to the song here: (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tI-5uv4wryI)
3. If you’re interested in learning what the Fermi Paradox is about, I suggest you to read this incredibly amusing and provoking visual explanation: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sNhhvQGsMEc J