Lim Hyunjin, an ordinary housewife, had to fight a war from early this morning again.
“Honey, at least drink this before you go!”
She supported her husband’s frantic rush to get out the door for work.
“At this rate you’ll be late. Up, up!”
She somehow dragged her child, gasping from sleep, out of bed and sent them off to school.
Then came the time left alone.
While “watching” the morning drama with her ears like a radio, she cleaned a kitchen that looked bombed out, ran the laundry, ran the vacuum and before she knew it, lunch had just passed.
Normally, she’d be heading back to the office with a coffee in hand alongside her coworkers, bad-mouthing the boss.
She hadn’t wanted to quit.
But with her husband’s continued urging, she had quit when their child entered middle school.
What was it he said?
During important times, a mother must be right there by their side?
Tick, tick.
It really felt like she hadn’t done much of anything, yet time flew by just fine.
On TV, one trashy drama after another with similar plots kept airing in a row.
“Honestly, that family’s a problem too, a problem.”
As she scarfed down some rice wrapped in dried laver for a late lunch and cursed at the characters for a moment—
Clatter, clatter.
No sooner had Lim Hyunjin cleared away her own rice bowl than she headed to the supermarket.
It was to buy ingredients to feed the family dinner this very evening.
“Goodness, vegetables are as pricey as gold.”
Complaints still poured from her mouth.
A harsh, tight life had made her this way.
Being a stay-at-home housewife…
Honestly, no matter how much you do, it doesn’t show, and there’s no one who appreciates it, is there?
My mother…
How on earth did she do it all her life?
For a moment, she thought such thoughts, but the words “special sale” at the mart bewitched her, and she soon forgot.
Back home, while folding the laundry she’d hung and preparing dinner, evening drew near.
Today, her daughter came home first.
Lately, she’d been coming home late, and once home, spending time on the phone with friends, so her daughter’s early return felt only welcome.
“What’s the occasion? Our young lady’s home before calling, for once.”
However, even to her one little joke, her puberty-stricken daughter snapped back, sensitive.
“Mom, you always talk like that, don’t you?”
“What? What did I…?”
“Forget it. I’m showering first, so don’t you dare fling the door open and come in.”
With that, her daughter dumped her backpack and uniform any which way and slammed the bathroom door shut.
“Sigh.”
Too drained to engage, Lim Hyunjin sighed as she tidied up the uniform her daughter had thrown off.
She’s like this already. How much worse will it get when puberty really kicks in?
Bubble, bubble.
Since her daughter was home, she put the stew back on to boil to set the table, when the door lock sounded.
“Honey, good work today,”
And in through the front door came no one else but her husband.
But the very first question he tossed out, as he peeled off his socks and turned them inside out, was…
“What’s for dinner?”
That was all.
“Doenjang stew and I grilled a Spanish mackerel.”
“Doenjang stew again? Isn’t there something different?”
“What do you want to eat that’s different?”
“Ah, no. I’ll go wash up first.”
Soon the husband, too, dumped his suit wherever and slipped straight into the master bath.
Whoooosh!
Though the whole family was home, the only sound was running water.
Ah. The sound from the music program on the TV she’d left on mixed in, too.
Clatter, clatter.
After setting the table, she sat on the sofa to wait for the family and watched the music show only to see a bunch of young boys she didn’t recognize.
Watching the flashy stage of idols who looked her daughter’s age, or a bit older, her husband came out to the living room toweling his hair.
She’d told him the drips would fall and to go dry his hair in the dressing room.
Saying anything was a waste of breath.
Lim Hyunjin didn’t bother nagging. She didn’t even say she was hurt that he offered no greeting and only complained about the side dishes.
“Is dinner ready?”
She decided on a tiny protest, pretending not to see her freshly washed husband.
“Can’t you hear me?”
“Um, can’t you tell by looking at the table? It’s all set.”
“I see it. I do.”
Glancing back and forth between her and the TV screen, he added,
“Is the ajumma so slack-jawed watching idols she can ignore her husband now?”
At that, Lim Hyunjin sprang up, bristling.
“When was I slack-jawed?”
“You were sitting there like a perfect little lady watching, you were.”
“I don’t have the strength to fight with you. Just go eat.”
“I wonder if you’ll be off going to idol concerts with our daughter on the money I earn.”
“Honestly, I’m not interested in idols, okay?”
With that, she changed the channel and put on the serial drama that always aired at this time.
“Figures. You’re such an ajumma.”
Muttering with a sneer, her husband headed to the table.
Her daughter, somehow done showering, dashed out in pajamas.
“Aren’t you eating dinner?”
“No, I’m not.”
“Why? You should eat.”
“I’ve got a drama to watch.”
Then she snatched the remote from her mother’s hand and plopped herself in the center of the sofa.
Seeing this, her husband, as always, started teasing their daughter in a smarmy tone.
“What’s with our girl watching a drama instead of her oppas for once?”
“I’m going to watch the drama my oppa is in, okay?”
But their daughter was a second-year middle schooler (said to be scarier than a high school senior). She shot back at her dad in a prim tone and flipped channels fast.
Lim Hyunjin suddenly felt, along with hurt, a nameless anger boil up.
‘Am I… the maid of this house?’
This was the brief time before clearing the dinner table when she could afford to watch TV at ease. A time to watch a real drama, not just listen like a radio.
Once she cleared the table after everyone had eaten and then washed up, it would be night, and she wouldn’t even be able to watch TV as she pleased.
But now that even that had been taken by her daughter, a strange desolation swept over her.
And yet all she could do was press it down inside.
Right. As a mom, she couldn’t get into a shouting match over the remote with a daughter in puberty.
“So, what drama is it?”
“A drama’s just a drama.”
“No, I mean, there are genres and stuff.”
“It’s just a historical drama.”
“Historical? Sounds fun! Which era…”
“Ah, quiet! It’s starting!”
Thinking she’d at least try to chat, she kept asking, but her daughter snapped and cut off the conversation.
Fine, watch TV, go on!
Just as Lim Hyunjin was swallowing her flare-up and blankly shifting her gaze to the TV.
— ♬ ♬ ♬
With clear piano notes, the faces of a young man and woman, presumably the leads, slowly rose and scattered.
Maybe because it was a drama for young people, even the feel of the insert song was different from the trashy serials she watched.
— If I leave, please don’t weep.
Somehow, listening to the insert song blending with the images made her desperately want to watch the drama right away.
“Who’s singing this?”
“It’s HS.”
“HS? Who’s HS again?”
“Ugh, Mom, you don’t even know HS? You’re home watching TV all the time. How do you not know HS?”
At that, deflated, Lim Hyun-jin muttered, “I know H.O.T….”
Soon, the drama started, and “Episode 2” appeared.
“Huh? Isn’t that Ahn Hoji, the one you really like?”
“No, Mom! How many times do I have to say it’s Ahn Jiho?”
“Ah, right.” Lim Hyunjin pressed her lips shut. The more she tried to talk, the more it seemed to just raise her daughter’s annoyance.
After a brief awkward silence…
“Wow….”
She hadn’t watched Episode 1, so she didn’t fully understand, but before she knew it, she found herself engrossed.
The drama itself was fun, and the acting was good, but within it, the flowing soundtrack seemed to pull her deeper in.
— I have too many words left unsaid, but please, don’t choke back your tears.
For some reason, the male voice singing the OST sounded heartbreakingly sorrowful to her.
— Flowers are meant to wither, are they not?
A voice rough-hewn yet gentle.
— Let’s not say we are not bound by fate.
That voice soothed this day… no, soothed the mother, Lim Hyunjin.
— For we will meet again someday.
By chance, the scene was the male lead recalling the lover who left first in the past, and her emotions peaked.
— I’ll cry for the both of us, so please go with a smile.
In the end…
Drip, drip.
Shamelessly, she shed tears in front of her daughter.
“Mom, what is it? It’s not sad enough to cry, is it?”
As she flustered, wiping her tears at her daughter’s question…
“What, are you really crying?” her husband, belly scratching as he headed to the room after finishing his meal, chimed in.
“Isn’t menopause hitting already?”
Suddenly anger surged from her core, and before she knew it she shouted,
“Thanks to you, depression will hit before menopause!”
Then she went into the dressing room and locked the door.
But embarrassingly, there was no one knocking at the dressing room door she’d locked. Outside, only the sound of the drama and her husband going into the room could be heard.
“Jerk….”
Lim Hyunjin slid down to the floor and turned her head to the full-length mirror beside her.
The image in the mirror was an ajumma to a tee.
“Ah…”
Her stretched T-shirt was splattered with stains from soybean paste soup.
Her hair, tied back tight, had come loose and looked messy.
After marrying and having a child, she’d tried to be not so much a good woman as someone’s good wife, someone’s good mother…
And before she knew it, she’d become a rough, hard-driving ajumma.
She had no room in her life, and she couldn’t even watch a single drama with a generous, easy heart.
But the drama she’d just watched, she could immerse herself in without nitpicking or griping.
No—maybe it’s more accurate to say she’d been listening.
Right then, another OST drifted through the door.
— ♬ ♬ ♬
Somehow, this drama’s songs conveyed the emotions like watching a musical drama.
The OSTs, inserted aptly into each scene, carried the characters’ narratives.
She hadn’t even finished a single episode, but it made her curious what stories and what songs it would show from here on.
Ah, but what did my daughter say that singer’s name was?
Having soon forgotten that she’d gotten angry, Lim Hyunjin started searching for the name of the singer who sang the insert song.
“A-chis? Etchis?”
But on the portal site, only the composer “HS” came up.
Ah, not the composer…
She assumed it had to be a singer. Even if they were an unknown singer.
No wonder.
Even to a layperson, the voice and singing ability were outstanding, and even the delivery of the lyrics was good.
“Huh?”
Then, she found a single line of news on the portal site.
[HS participates as the main OST vocalist for the drama ‘Red Thread’!]
As if possessed, she clicked the article.
[ Composer HS not only composed, wrote, and arranged the opening-credits insert song and main OST ‘Only After the Flower has Faded’ for the hit drama ‘Red Thread,’ but also directly participated as the vocalist…
Not only this drama OST, HS previously showcased his vocal skills by directly singing the title track ‘Letter’ on a collaboration album with Jayble…]
She didn’t stop at reading the article. She went on to listen to other songs said to be sung by HS.
Before she knew it, she had hit play on a video titled “HS Song Collection.”
— ♬ ♬ ♬
With the volume turned low, listening alone in the dressing room, she laughed, cried, and found comfort…
Before long, she had joined a fan café called “Gatchis” and was feverishly leaving comments to get promoted.
[ Nice to meet you ^^ I fell for HS this time and joined as a newbie Gatchis, Haerin’s mom, Please take care of me~! ]
A full ten introduction posts and fifty comments.
At this rate she could get promoted fast, right?
Smiling contentedly as she scrolled through the fan café page…
“Honey! Have you seen my shirt?”
Then came her husband’s voice calling for her, and at the same time, sunlight streamed through the little window of the dressing room.
“I ironed it and hung it up.”
“No, where on earth?”
It was, once again, the start of a war.
“In the wardrobe compartment. Look carefully and it’s there. Sorry, but could you wake Haerin on your way out and just grab some quick breakfast on the way?”
“What?”
“I don’t know if it’s menopause, but I’m so sleepy I need a nap.”
“Ah, okay…”
Lim Hyunjin’s expression had brightened even more.
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