The fan club’s official name was “4ever east,” but no one actually called it by that formal name.
The meaning of liking the four members forever was nice, but it was too long, and if you searched with just “forever,” it was far too hard, so fans would call each other “Fobi.”
So when the members themselves said “our Fobi,” the fans looked like they were about to faint from happiness.
Yoonwoo also wanted to talk more, since it had been quite a while since he had met fans this close, but they were filming, and the crowd was steadily growing, so he quickly gave the fans a final farewell.
“I have to go now. Another member is going to show up next, so this time, you can all pretend you don’t know, right?”
“Yes! Of course!”
At Yoonwoo’s words, the fans nodded, but also made disappointed sounds, telling him not to go.
Still, at the news that another member was coming, they held their anticipation and made their eyes sparkle. Of course, there was also someone at that moment who widened their eyes at Yoonwoo’s comment.
“Huh? You can’t do that, can you? That’s cheating!”
The PD, who had been watching the back and forth with fans the whole time, yelled at Yoonwoo’s bomb of a comment, but the members brushed it off lightly.
It was a relief that Yoonwoo had found quite a good move in that short time. If the fans really did pretend not to recognize Sikyung, there was a chance.
Since Yoonwoo got caught the moment the supermarket doors opened, the countdown had not even been able to start. With the fans’ help, grocery shopping within thirty minutes was not that difficult.
The supermarket was huge, though, so they had to plan their route well.
While the PD grumbled and Sikyung worked his head, Yoonwoo said goodbye to the fans and headed for the bus. The fans were still waiting at the entrance for the next member to come.
Watching the situation move quickly, Cheonghyeon smiled too.
Two cameras were stationed at the entrance and kept broadcasting the feed, and it seemed the fans had caught on to the mission, because they started telling each other to keep their mouths shut. Even the supermarket employees watching nearby were united with the fans.
“Miss, so who’s coming later? Is that one East too, or what?”
“Yes! But later, if a really handsome guy comes again with cameras, you absolutely can’t ask if he’s East. I think this is a mission!”
“Of course, of course. I won’t say a word. Me, I hate it most when citizens on TV mess up missions. I’ll keep my mouth shut.”
Watching the laptop screen connected to the scene, Cheonghyeon grinned. Thirty minutes was not that short a time. But the PD was not just going to sit back and watch this situation.
“Alright, by PD authority, I’ll subtract ten minutes from the time limit.”
“What?”
“What kind of thing is that! Wow, this isn’t even cheating anymore!”
Yoonwoo, who was just coming in, protested the strongest, but the PD was firm.
“Not telling the mission details is the most basic of basics, right? Minus ten minutes.”
And the PD added one more condition. He demanded even the ingredients for the main dishes Hando had made, like the braised short ribs and the garlic bossam.
“Thinking about it, there weren’t any main dishes at all. It’s fine if you mess this up, so just buy the ingredients and try making them once.”
Sikyung gave up arguing and simply nodded. Twenty minutes was still enough anyway. It was weekday daytime, so the supermarket was not crowded, and if he ran around hard, it was definitely doable.
“Then I’ll head out right away.”
With half worry and half anticipation, Cheonghyeon signaled for Sikyung to go and come back safely.
“I’ll go do two servings, including Yoonwoo’s share!”
As Sikyung drew close to the entrance, cheers burst out from the crowd that had gathered. But it was only cheering. The fans kept the people next to them in check, worried someone might slip and make Sikyung fail the mission.
As the situation calmed quickly, Sikyung smiled happily, took the cart that had been prepared, and stood at the entrance.
“Alright, I’m starting now. Could you please move to the side for a moment? And it’s dangerous, so you can’t follow me. Understood?”
What could possibly be dangerous? Leaving the puzzled fans behind, the moment Sikyung crossed the boundary line at the entrance, he ran with all his strength. Only then did the fans understand what he meant.
If this many people ran after Sikyung, it could become a dangerous situation. Also, during filming, it was the last thing they wanted to do, to follow around and invite danger, or to have Sikyung’s mission fail and get “a thoughtless fan” permanently labeled and pinned.
Since Sikyung’s mission, unlike Yoonwoo’s, was sprinting the moment he entered, it might be something different, so the fans settled to one side of the entrance and quietly cheered him on.
In the meantime, Sikyung quickly loaded heavy rice and water into the cart first. Then he went straight to the seasonings aisle.
As the cameraman watched Sikyung rapidly load things like brewed soy sauce, dark soy sauce, soup soy sauce, gochujang, doenjang, sugar, corn syrup, and so on, an impressed “Oooh” came out on its own.
Only then did Sikyung finally breathe a little, looked at the camera sending the feed to headquarters, and smiled.
“Cheonghyeon, hyung will make it so you don’t have to hold even one leaf of lettuce!”
When he repeated exactly what Yoonwoo had said before, laughter burst out at headquarters too.
It was the same line, but unlike Yoonwoo, whose delivery had overflowed with swagger, after watching Sikyung move so fast, it felt even more reliable.
But was that line some kind of out flag? No sooner had Sikyung finished speaking, while he was grabbing unseasoned dried squid strips in the dried goods section, than a voice came from beside him.
“Huh? Ain’t you East?”
When he turned his gaze, an old man who looked to be in his mid-seventies was smiling with a friendly face. Sikyung turned to ice on the spot. Headquarters did too.
“Uh, uh. Wait a second. Did that gentleman just recognize him? We’ll count it only up to those dried squid strips for now!”
The startled PD quickly threw out a line, then told the assistant director next to the laptop streaming the feed, “Switch to camera six.”
But the cameramen also looked lost, unfocused, as if they were trying to see whether someone else nearby had said it.
As if to put an end to their confusion, the same line came again from the old man with white hair.
“Hey, aren’t you that idol? East. Ain’t you that kid on TV?”
Only for a moment had he been rigid, and then Sikyung soon smiled brightly and offered the old man a handshake. In his head, the PD’s voice, cheerfully shouting, “Sikyung out!” swirled around, but he forced himself to erase the thought and put a smile on his face.
“Hello, sir. Yes, that’s right, I’m East. I’m Im Sikyung, and I’m the leader of East.”
“Ah, that’s it! If there wasn’t anyone around, I’d have thought you were just a handsome young man, but since you’re together with people holding cameras, I figured you were definitely a celebrity. Is this some kind of filming, and I got in the way?”
At the word “got in the way,” Cheonghyeon briefly flashed through his mind, the one who knew nothing and was expecting only Sikyung’s success.
The look that had seemed to say, like a duckling following its mother, “I’m counting on you, hyung,” came to him, but Sikyung answered with an effortful, natural smile.
“Not at all. But if it’s not too forward, may I ask how you know our group? Ah, before that, are you okay with appearing on the broadcast?”
When Sikyung asked carefully, the old man let out a hearty laugh and replied.
“Sure. I don’t mind. My granddaughter really likes you boys. She watches you ten, fifteen times a day, so how could I not know.”
“Ah…”
“When I was raising my kids, I was always out working, so I didn’t even learn what they liked, what was hardest for them. But when you get old, you see it. My kids are busy living too, so they’re doing the same thing to their kids, just like I did. Even if I’m just an old man at home, I thought I ought to study what my grandkids like and use it when I talk with them. Thanks to you boys, I talk with my granddaughter a lot these days. I’m very grateful.”
As the old man firmly held the hand he was shaking with his other hand and patted the back of Sikyung’s hand, Sikyung’s heart tightened too.
“No, sir. We’re the ones who are more grateful that you recognized us like this. What brought you here? Did you come to buy snacks for your granddaughter?”
“Well, hm. That’s right. My granddaughter said some ‘honey,’ what was it? Anyway, she said that peanut looking snack is trending, so I came to the supermarket, but there are too many and I couldn’t tell. I don’t even know what snack it is. I couldn’t just go home empty handed, so I bought a snack for myself at least. I find these roasted peanuts the tastiest, you know. But I guess kids these days don’t like stuff like this, huh?”
Only then did the grains and nuts corner next to the dried goods section come into view. To the old man smiling awkwardly, Sikyung shook his head and bantered that he liked roasted peanuts best too.
What the grandfather was looking for seemed to be the various flavored almonds that were hugely popular at the moment. They were so popular that he had seen other supermarkets fill an entire side of the nuts section with that company’s products.
They were popular as snacks, but since the main ingredient, almonds, were nuts, he remembered they were stocked in the nuts area.
Naturally continuing the conversation, Sikyung escorted the old man to the far end of the nuts section. And there, he pulled out a bag of “Honey Butter Almonds” and handed it to him.
“Sir, it’s probably this snack. It’s popular these days, so I’ve been looking for it and buying it to eat too.”
The old man lit up and hugged the snack bag to his chest like it was precious. Then he headed to the register together with Sikyung.
“Pay for that too, along with it.”
When the old man said that, pointing at Sikyung’s cart, Sikyung hurriedly waved his hands.
“No! Sir, it’s not even my money, the broadcast station is paying for it. It’s really fine. I’m sorry, but could you please pay for everything with this card? Yes. The peanuts and the almonds, please ring all of it up together.”
The old man wanted to pay for him no matter what Sikyung said, but at the words that it was being paid with a corporate card, he finally stepped back. At the comment, “If it’s a corporate card, you should spend a lot. Why don’t you buy more?” Sikyung could only laugh.
“It’s 73,250 won. Do you have a points card or rewards card?”
“No, I don’t. Thank you.”
As Sikyung put the items into the shopping bags the staff had given him in advance, he wore a complicated smile.
He had been so flustered that he had forgotten, but it was because he thought of Cheonghyeon, who would have to shop at the supermarket after him.
If it were just the manager taking Cheonghyeon shopping, he would not worry too much. But if he had to shop under the gaze of fans and multiple cameras like this, there was no telling what could happen.
He could not even remember the title tracks he had practiced thousands, tens of thousands of times, so what if a fan approached and said something?
But only for a moment did those complicated thoughts last, and Sikyung gathered his expression.
‘It’s just grocery shopping. Surely nothing will happen.’
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