Chapter - 37화 (37/150)
At one side of the huge flower field, there was a spot where you could plant flowers yourself with tiny hand trowels. Among the little kids enjoying the activity and planting flowers with fern-like hands, the two people in rabbit suits squatted down as well and started digging.
Ever since joining Alpha-Omega Match Survival, he'd ended up on two dates by coincidence, but somehow, every single date had involved him digging with a shovel. It made him laugh.
Maybe he was destined to be a farmer, not an idol.
"Mr. Rabbit! Help me!"
Daesu was busy getting called over here and there by the kids, holding a watering can. Today, he wasn't top star Jeong Daesu—he was a one-day teacher for children. After letting the kids tug him around for a long while and folding his big body this way and that, Daesu wiped the sweat beading on his forehead and walked over to Dansol.
"You got dirt on you."
Daesu brushed the dirt off Dansol's mascot suit.
"Ah, I didn't know. Pff."
"Why are you laughing?"
When Dansol looked at him and chuckled, Daesu tilted his head as if puzzled and asked again.
"Because it's funny. I feel like I became a kindergarten teacher."
"If you don't like it, should we just leave?"
"No! I like it here, sunbae."
"Get up. I'll show you somewhere else."
When he grabbed the hand Daesu offered and stood, Dansol's body wobbled for a moment. Daesu caught him so he wouldn't fall. With the sudden closeness, Dansol awkwardly creaked and slipped out of his arms.
Thank god he was wearing a mascot suit.
If he wasn't, Daesu would've seen his face turn red.
After dusting off and standing up, the two arrived at a small amusement park. A Viking ship ride, a gyro drop, a roller coaster. It was small, but it had everything. Dansol bounced on his toes, excited.
"Sunbae! Let's ride that!"
After elementary school, he barely had any memory of coming to an amusement park and properly playing. Even if he got living expenses from his parents, he'd had no money as a trainee—and after debut, it wasn't any different. Sometimes he went for event schedules, but that was it: sing briefly on a temporary stage and leave.
"Uh… yeah…"
At Dansol's demand, Daesu moved his feet, but his steps were heavy.
"Is it… not going to collapse?"
Daesu asked the staff member standing in front of the Viking ship ride.
"Our Viking ship is built so that adults can ride it too, so it will absolutely not collapse."
Leaving that kind smile behind, Dansol dragged Daesu toward the very back seat.
"It's definitely made for kids, huh. Even with just two of us sitting, it's full."
He didn't seem to realize Daesu's size alone took up the space of about two adults.
"Hng…!"
As the Viking ride started moving, Daesu felt like the seat under him had sunk.
Already small—and old on top of that—the Viking ride let out a creaking, unpleasant, and vaguely chilling sound. Was it just his imagination, or did the staff member who'd just confidently assured them it was safe turn their head stiffly at that noise and stare at them with a pale face?
"Whoa! It's moving! Sunbae! It's moving!"
"I know…."
"Waaah! Sunbae! Try putting your hands up!"
"No, I'm fine…."
Daesu couldn't let go of the handle until the ride stopped. When the swinging angle grew larger, he even felt the Viking jolt toward the side they were on.
And it wasn't just a feeling—because with a face stiff as a board and only his mouth corners barely lifted, the employee came back holding something. After turning away the people waiting in line, he left Daesu and Dansol still hanging in the air and slapped up a sign that read Under Inspection.
After the machine stopped, Dansol must not have seen the sign—thanks to the mascot head—because he was still chattering in high spirits.
"Sunbae! Are you scared of rides? That's so unexpected…."
"Yeah, so now… we're done with rides."
Unable to say it wasn't that he was scared of rides, but scared he might break the ride, Daesu turned Dansol by the shoulders and hurried them away.
"Should we… go over there?"
As they wandered without direction, they spotted a cheap-looking haunted house. Dansol was scared of ghosts.
No—more precisely, he hated the sudden loud noises meant to startle you. It was because of his parents, who used to fight loudly when he was young. Those loud sounds at home had often left young Dansol terrified.
But thinking Daesu had ridden the Viking for him on purpose, Dansol couldn't refuse his suggestion.
"L… let's go!"
At the haunted house entrance stood a staff member dressed as a gumiho.
"You're both adults, right? Since you might get startled and swing your fists, sit down, or lose your sense of direction, could you hold the waist of the person in front of you tightly?"
Despite how sloppy the costume was, Dansol was already shaking with fear. Following the staff member's guidance, he tightly grabbed Daesu at the waist. Even through the clothing, he could feel the solid muscles beneath the fabric. Just that made him feel strangely secure.
"Alright, you're ready. Follow the arrows marked in glow paint and you'll reach the exit. Okay, go—."
Hiss—
"Waaah! I can't see!"
The moment they started and the entrance door opened, white smoke poured out. With the mascot head shifting, Dansol's vision turned pitch-black. Startled, he wrapped his arms around Daesu's waist right from the entrance.
"Uh…"
"Waaah! Sunbae, I'm sorry! But can I hold on for just a second? It's so dark, I can't see in front of me!"
"That's not it…."
"WAAAH‼ Wait, wait! Don't leave me behind!"
When Daesu tried to peel his arms off, Dansol clung even harder to his thick upper body.
"That's not it. I'm saying you can take it off now."
With a deep sigh, Daesu pulled off the pink rabbit mascot head that was dangling at Dansol's waist. Static made Dansol's hair float like dandelion fluff.
"Waaah! A ghost! It's a ghost, sunbae!"
The moment his vision cleared, the grotesque props in front of him made Dansol jump and bury his face into Daesu's chest.
"Joo Dansol."
"Yeeeah…?"
"Open your eyes."
Daesu cupped Dansol's face in both hands and met his gaze.
"Uh…"
With Daesu's face so close, Dansol forgot how to breathe.
"Breathe."
"Yes…."
"Slowly. And hold my waist and follow me."
Daesu gripped the limp rabbit ears of the two mascot heads in one hand, then wrapped his other arm around Dansol.
At some point, Dansol was clinging to Daesu's waist like a cicada stuck to a tree. Seeing how much they looked like lovers, Daesu smiled in satisfaction—but Dansol was too busy flinching at the ghost dolls that kept popping out.
"Waaah! Sunbae! A skull! There's a skull!"
"A mummy! It's a mummy!"
"Waaah! A ghost bride!"
Every time Dansol screamed at a ghost popping out of a coffin lid, Daesu physically subdued it.
Whenever he made eye contact with a part-timer ghost about to jump out and scare them, Daesu quietly made them sit back down. The part-timers, fascinated that a celebrity had come into this old haunted house, still wilted under Daesu's stare and silently shut the coffin lid again.
"We're here. Open your eyes."
Squinting and practically crawling, Dansol stumbled out of the haunted house. Only when he saw the bright light outside did he finally straighten his hunched back.
His soft forehead was drenched in cold sweat. Daesu naturally wiped the sweat beading there with his hand.
"Ah… it wasn't scary at all."
The moment he saw the camera in the brightness, Dansol tried to put on a front. Finding it cute, Daesu snorted a laugh. When Dansol realized and his face reddened, Daesu put the pink mascot head back on him and patted the crown of his head a couple of times.
"Now we go play some more."
Now they were naturally walking around holding hands. Ahead of them were rows of old game stalls. Out of all of them, Dansol's eyes got stuck on the huge rabbit plush hanging at the shooting game booth.
"Sunbae! Look at that! It looks just like us!"
"You want it?"
Not really. Dansol wasn't the type to collect plushies. He did make space by his bedside for the ones fans gave him, since they were special—but that rabbit plush was so big it would be a burden in a cramped room. If he wanted to make space for it anywhere, he'd have to sleep on the floor and let the plush sleep on his bed.
"Uh… I just meant it was interesting…"
But Daesu had already picked up the toy gun and was adjusting the aim. Like the rabbit suit was in the way, he took his mascot head off and set it aside, and the stall owner's indifferent gaze drifted to him.
Then the man's eyes widened at Daesu's face, and he started to stammer like he was about to blurt out Daesu's name.
"Huh— I… Jeo—"
"Shh."
If the man yelled Daesu's name here, this wouldn't be a "kindergarten teacher experience"—it would become a "fan signing event experience."
Knowing that, Daesu pressed his index finger to his lips and stared the owner down.
Did Daesu's eyes have some special power or magic?
Under Daesu's firm gaze, the loud-voiced middle-aged man clamped his mouth shut and nodded.
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