慈禧太后的秘密

Chapter 199

Dowook’s home always smelled of oil, the smell had stayed with them for as long as he could remember. In fact, he’d feel pretty sad if that smell suddenly disappeared one day. Dowook stepped down from the second floor to find his dad reading the newspaper in their study.

“Did you have breakfast, dad?”

“Sure did. It\'s a toasted sandwich. Want it warmed up?”

“I’ll do it. Will you have some coffee?”

“Sure.”

Dad smiled proudly, Dowook nodded as he headed into the kitchen. There were two sandwiches there made by his mom, she must’ve left for work early in the day. He put some water on boil as he poured two packs of instant coffee into a mug.

“Dad, they say black coffee’s better for you.”

“I-I’ll try it some other time.”

Dowook shook his head, he’s been hearing that from his dad several times already. He put the water in and started mixing. He brought the coffee to his dad before taking out two mugs again. One was white, with a striped handle, and the other had a drawing of a cute cat on it. He poured milk into both. He grabbed the cat mug in one hand and the plate with the sandwich on it in the other. He crossed the living room, passing the library in the hallway as well before coming before a room with a doll decorating the door handle.

Dowook took a deep breath. He thought he was used to it by now, but he still got nervous when he was in front of this door. All sorts of complicated feelings swept over him whenever he was here, Dowook smiled bitterly before tapping on the door with his foot.

“Have some breakfast.”

7am. Today was a day dad rested from working at the gas station. The ‘unfamiliar family member’ behind this door always stayed home as well. Dowook just didn’t know what her job was. After waiting a bit, the door creaked open and out came his sister.

“You brought it over for me? Thanks!”

Dowook just couldn’t get used to her smiling face.

“You have a lot to be thankful for.”

Dowook handed over the drink and the sandwich, which was received with careful hands. He could see a bunch of dolls inside through the gap in the door. His sister decided to move back into the house this past February. By the time her relationship with the rest of the family improved, dad said he wanted her to come back. Dowook told him to do whatever. That served as his agreement and Dowook’s sister moved in the very next day. Not fully, of course. She would be moving back and forth between her old house and this one.

His sister was actually a lot richer than he thought, she could leave the home in the first place thanks to her job. As a matter of fact, that house she used to live in was owned by her as well. An impressive feat for a woman in her early thirties, especially since the house in question was in the middle of Seoul.

Dowook wasn’t at all interested in what his sister did for a living before, but now, he started developing a little bit of interest. They were living together, after all. Did she sell dolls? He couldn’t come up with any better ideas.

“Why do you ask?” his sister asked curiously.

“It’s nothing.”

He’d stopped resenting her a long time ago, that didn’t make conversing with her any easier though. Not because he disliked her or anything, but rather their lack of shared interests. They were able to talk a bit during meals, sure. Things got incredibly awkward incredibly quickly outside of it though. His sister stood hesitantly there for a second before turning around. They were getting closer for sure, but not quickly enough.

“Um, Dowook.”

His sister called out to him just before he returned to the kitchen, she quickly went back into her room to find something. He looked inside out of curiosity. She was digging through pile and piles of dolls. She pushed a giant bear to the corner, threw a rabbit mask somewhere, and dug through a few more dolls before grabbing something with a smile. It was a cat doll roughly the size of her palm, she handed it over to Dowook carefully.

“Here, a gift.”

Dowook looked down at the doll, the belly shone when he pressed down on the tail end.

“It’s dangerous to bike at night.”

“Pretty sure it’d be more dangerous to bike with this in one hand.”

“......”

Dowook turned around with a shrug. He wanted to say thanks, he felt too awkward to do it though. He came back to the kitchen and ate as he looked at the cat, he was a fan of its little frown.

“Dad, I might be coming home late starting tomorrow.”

“Why?”

“Because of club activities.”

“Club? Biking?”

“No, acting.”

“Acting?”

Right then, his sister poked her head out from the hallway and asked him a question.

“You’re going to do acting?”

“Yeah, gonna try it.”

“Really?”

She was looking incredibly happy. Dowook looked down ill at ease as he took another bite out of his sandwich. He was only joining to even his debt to Maru, he never had the chance to pay the boy back before. When he heard that the acting club was lacking in members, he jumped at the chance. He still remembered the face Maru made when he told the boy about joining, the boy looked like he saw a ghost.

It wasn’t like Dowook was interested in acting. He never saw it, nor did he ever try it. The school encouraged it when the club went to the nationals last time, but he never cared for it. He didn’t have much interest in being on stage at all, he just wanted to help since they needed members. He was pretty handy with tools, so he might as well make a few props while he was there.

“Acting’s really fun.”

“Dunno. I’m only really going in there to help make props.”

“You should try it if you get the chance.”

“Maybe.”

His sister approached him slowly, Dowook started chewing faster out of nervousness. His sister was sometimes too energetic for him. He tried to stuff the rest of the sandwich into his mouth to leave, but his sister was a bit faster.

“Tell me if you take it up. S-sis’ll try to help.”

Dowook couldn’t even remember the last time his sister called herself ‘sister’, he looked at her dumbly before nodding. They were still awkward around each other, but slowly and surely they were getting closer.

“If I do it.”

“Yup.”

His sister smiled with relief.

* * *

“I’m Kang Dowook, a second year. I like riding bikes and being alone.”

Dowook sat down with a bored look. Maru scratched his eyebrows as he looked at Bangjoo and Jiyoon on the other side. Bangjoo was laughing happily at the new addition to the club, but Jiyoon was shivering like a wet puppy.

“I’m Jeon Aram, a first-year. I like martial arts and running. Knitting too. I came here after beating up everyone who bullied Jiyoon, over.”

This one was even more troublesome than Dowook. It was nice that they got two new members, but they both had strong personalities.

“Feels like they’d jump into a fight if you leave them alone together,” Daemyung noted quietly.

Dowook improved a lot over the past year, but his temper was still there. Aram was the type that picked a fight the instant she saw something she didn’t like. She was someone who would even throw a slipper at someone bigger than herself, like the time with Geunseok.

“Mm, well, let’s do well together.”

“Senior!”

Aram raised her hand.

“Hm?”

“We aren’t going to have a party?”

Aram twisted around with a big grin, Jiyoon tried to stop the girl with a troubled face. Of course, that didn’t work.

“Of course we are,” Maru said with a smile.

In the end, the acting club managed to reach their quota of six members. They got a container as a pseudo-clubroom as well, which definitely deserved a celebration of its own.

“Let’s drink beer!”

“What, you want to try it?”

“Yes!”

Jiyoon shook her head violently at her. She clearly wanted her friend to stop.

“Well, if everyone wants to, we might as well.”

Sorry Jiyoon, but the other five in the club all want to drink. In the end, the club decided upon a drinking party. Maru didn’t want things getting out of hand, thus no more than one can per person.

“I-I can’t drink.”

“Just drink juice, then.”

“What? I don’t have to…?”

“Nothing of the sort. Just a little bit for the ones that want to try. Anyway, where should we go...”

He couldn’t really think of a place. He wanted to just sit around a convenience store and relax under a parasol, but at his age… He’d have a very interesting one-on-one with a teacher. A place for them to drink and converse easily… It’d be best to go into a friend’s place, but there was no way a high schooler would…

“Why don’t we go to my place, senior?!” Bangjoo said.

“Your place?”

“Yes. I live by myself.”

“What about your parents?”

“They both live at Jeju island. They only occasionally come back up.”

“Wait, do you really live by yourself? What about housework?”

“I take care of it. Well… sometimes my sister comes to help.”

Living by yourself since freshman year in high school… Maru would understand it if the parents were living nearby. But Jeju? How bold were Bangjoo’s parents? Living alone was a difficult task, especially for a student.

‘Maybe his parents had confidence since he’s a good kid.’

Perhaps Bangjoo was an even better person than Maru first made him out to be. It was nice that they had someone like this in the club.

“Alright, we can go to Bangjoo’s place.”

“Senior! What about the beer?”

“I’ll take care of it.”

“Ohhh!”

Aram raised her hands in glee.

* * *

“How is it? Think you’ll have the time?”

Taesik took his phone off his ear for a second, he could hear a person’s screams from the other side.

- Eh? Say that again?

“Can you be their instructor again?”

- Ah.

Miso stayed silent for a while after hearing the question, Taesik rolled a pen in his hand as he waited. She’d probably refuse, he felt sorry for asking despite knowing the answer already.

- Sorry. I really don’t have the time. I could check on them every once in a while though.

“It’s fine. Sorry for asking. I knew you were busy too.”

It was three weeks ago when Miso told him that she’d be going into a play with a fellow named Ganghwan. She told him that the play was set to run for quite some time, meaning that she wouldn’t be able to help out the club at all.

“How’s acting, by the way?”

- So fun. I like teaching, but… This has more life to it, I guess?

“Good to hear. Don’t overwork yourself though.”

- Hey hey, Mr. Taesik. I’m not your student anymore, you know? Don’t worry. I know my body better than anyone else. Speaking of which, you really need to start exercising. Your beer belly is starting to show!

“Just a natural consequence of the job. Can’t help it. Alright, I’ll be hanging up now.”

- Love you.

“Hm, humph. Love you too.”

He hung up with a little sigh. The gym teacher patted Taesik’s shoulder as he passed by. Taesik sighed as he looked at the calendar, it was April. Time for actual practice. They were good kids, but they still needed a good instructor nonetheless. Without Miso, Taesik was a bit troubled on who he should find.

“What do I do?”

Just as he started thinking, a text message window popped up on his phone.