Chapter 421

Side Story (38)

[Next, Cha Woon-ssi, please begin.]

“I think this every time I see Woon-hyung’s bag, but it’s seriously huge.”

“Isn’t it uncomfortable? It looks really heavy.”

If you had to pick the Prism member who carried the most belongings, it would probably be Cha Woon.

For starters, even the size of his bag was on another level. While the other members carried bags that were at most around 14 inches, Cha Woon’s bag was always at least 16 inches. Sixteen inches was even a size that suitcases came in.

“It is heavy and a bit of a hassle. But I have a lot of stuff, so I just put up with it and carry it around.”

Most celebrities tended to prefer larger bags than usual while they were working because they had long waiting periods and their schedules were prone to unexpected changes. But even taking that into consideration, Cha Woon carried way too much.

‘It’s so heavy that if you swung it around, it’d practically count as a weapon.’

‘Just what on earth is inside that huge bag?’ was something Seras always wondered whenever they saw photos of Cha Woon arriving at work.

Cha Woon opened his bag and took out a laptop, tablet, headphones, and in-ear monitors first.

Even just those already looked like twice as much as what I carried.

[Why do you carry so many electronic devices with you?]

“Yutae-hyung is so busy that even when I have something I want to ask him about my work or something I want him to listen to, it’s not easy for him to make time for me. Hyung says he can always make time, but I feel bad about that, so I tend to bring my laptop with me and ask for his advice during little bits of spare time that would otherwise be wasted. I still have a lot to learn.”

‘How can he be so thoughtful?’

He was so damn admirable that I wanted to squeeze him until he burst.

Since laptops were heavy and inconvenient to carry around, I usually kept one in my personal car and another in the agency car, taking them out whenever I needed them. But Cha Woon seemed to carry all of that around in his bag simply because he didn’t want to miss any brief spare moment that wouldn’t intrude on my schedule.

“And if I want to work hard during waiting time, I need my laptop. I’m also sensitive to sound, so there are certain things that bother me when I use regular earphones. That’s why I like to use high-performance headphones when I work.”

[Given how busy your schedule is, you really seem to value making every minute count!]

From what I’d heard, other idol groups sometimes spent their waiting time fooling around noisily in the waiting room.

Pantheion in particular had those two chaotic ones running wild and yelling to the point where I thought, ‘Is this Kids Land?’

But Prism was usually so quiet during waiting time that it was practically like being in a study room, with everyone busy doing their own thing. Whether it was working like Cha Woon or me, catching up on lost sleep, memorizing scripts, taking care of things for their personal businesses, or reading books.

‘…No way, is that why the juniors look so extra terrified every time they come to our waiting room? If their seniors who look like this just stare at them in dead silence the second they open the door…….’

The possibility briefly crossed my mind, but I decided to pretend I hadn’t thought of it.

“This is my in-ear monitor. Our official color is matte black. Most of our merchandise has glitter that sparkles against a black background like the night sky, with a gradient effect. We customized our in-ears and microphones the same way.”

[The design is so pretty. Prism is famous for having great merchandise. What’s the secret?]

“The secret is … the members participate from the merchandise planning stage, and we prioritize Seras’ opinions above everything else. Within our team, Yutae-hyung and Yoo Jay absolutely hate anything that looks ugly, so the staff have to go through a lot of trouble because of us…….”

[Out of all the merch that’s been released, which one is your favorite?]

“That one. The phone Yutae-hyung is using. It was released as a special Prism Edition in collaboration with Sanghwa Electronics, along with wireless earbuds. In particular, the wireless earbuds were customized with the exact same design as our in-ear monitors.”

After finishing his explanation of the electronic devices, Cha Woon pulled out another pouch containing a power bank the size of a brick and a phone charger.

“It’s a weapon. A deadly weapon.”

“Be quiet!”

[That power bank is quite large.]

“There might not be an outlet at the filming location, so I always carry a power bank with at least 30,000 mAh. Smaller capacities aren’t enough to charge a laptop or tablet, and the other members need to use it too, so I carry one with a large capacity even though it’s heavy. Guys like Lee Chise always forget their batteries, come to set empty-handed, and whine about it.”

“Thank youuu.”

“Hmph.”

When Lee Chise gave a little bow of his head, Cha Woon turned his head away with an aloof expression again.

The other members exchanged glances and giggled among themselves as if they found him cute, but Cha Woon seemed not to notice and quietly continued talking about me.

“Yutae-hyung doesn’t care even if his phone dies because he runs out of battery, so if we don’t want to be anxious because we suddenly can’t get in touch with him, we have to charge Yutae-hyung’s phone from time to time too.”

“…Wow, I had no idea.”

No wonder my battery never seemed to run out even though I never charged it.

The truth I’d learned after all these years was quite shocking.

“Thanks?”

When I said that while lightly tapping his arm, Cha Woon couldn’t keep the corners of his mouth from curling upward and lowered his head shyly.

Even though he’d been so prickly with Lee Chise earlier, I was sure he’d secretly feel lonely if the other members all consistently carried their own power banks and never needed to borrow his. That was just the kind of person Cha Woon was. A little handful, sure, but pretty cute in his own way, isn’t he?

“This is my car key. I worry that I might scratch someone else’s car if I drive it, and I get nervous because it feels awkward driving someone else’s car. So I just prefer picking the members up in my own car.”

And judging by how he quietly added, “I’m not actually that bad at driving my own car either…….”, he must have been holding on to what I’d said earlier.

‘Handful and cute, part two.’

Now that I thought about it, I wondered if comparing him to Choi Jeokhyeon was a little too cruel.

But what could I do? I most often got rides in Choi Jeokhyeon’s car, after all.

Come to think of it, Choi Jeokhyeon had a chauffeur, so he probably hardly ever drove himself. I had no idea why he was such a skilled driver. Maybe driving really was a matter of talent. If so, it made sense why I could never quite develop an interest in driving.

…And that also explained Seo Yuseong’s bumper-car-style driving.

‘It’s a miracle that guy managed to get his license driving like that.’

[Which members do you often give rides to?]

“Usually, I go pick up Yutae-hyung after his schedules, or … Nam Yihwon often calls me when he’s drunk and asks me to come get him. Usually in the middle of the night.”

[Doesn’t Nam Yihwon-ssi use a taxi or a designated driver?]

“He says he’ll just take a taxi himself. But if it gets too late, it can be dangerous, and sometimes it’s hard to get a taxi. And since he’s a celebrity, I worry that he might make a mistake while drunk, so I usually just go pick him up myself.”

As Cha Woon said this while glaring at him, Nam Yihwon suddenly shouted, “Thank you!” and linked his arm through Cha Woon’s, resting his head on his shoulder. It was an attempt to smooth things over with some aegyo before Cha Woon could start nagging him to stop drinking so much.

“Ah, why are you doing this? I’m not letting you off just because you do this.”

Cha Woon frowned in disgust and irritably pushed Nam Yihwon’s head away, but there wasn’t the slightest bit of force in his fingertips. Far from not letting him off the hook, he was being so indulgent that he was secretly pleased by it, yet he got embarrassed for no reason and acted all prickly instead.

“Next … is my medicine pouch. I have a weak stomach, so I regularly take honey and cabbage pills. These days, they come individually portioned in sticks like this, so they’re easy to carry around. I recommend them to anyone with a sensitive stomach…….”

Since Cha Woon had pulled out a pouch stuffed to the brim only to introduce a surprisingly small handful of items, the production team tilted their heads in confusion.

[You’re known as the member of Prism who has the most health issues and tends to suffer from minor ailments, but you don’t actually take as many supplements as we expected.]

“Yes. My gastritis has already become chronic, so whenever I get stressed or my lifestyle gets unhealthy, I immediately start having problems no matter how well I take care of myself. So, honestly, there are many times when I need actual prescription medicine rather than supplements.”

As Cha Woon answered the staff’s question, he dumped the contents of his pouch onto the desk.

“At this point, isn’t this practically a pharmacy?”

“That’s kind of heartbreaking……”

They were all different kinds of stomach medicine.

There were also medicines for other symptoms, but the sheer number of stomach-related medicines was overwhelming.

“In my case, whenever I have problems with my digestive system, it also leads to headaches, so I always carry stomach medicine and headache medicine together.”

“You really need to eat properly. At this rate, your stomach’s gonna be full from medicine alone.”

When I frowned at the absurd amount of medication and said that, Cha Woon looked at me with a vague expression that seemed to say, ‘Are you really the one to talk, hyung?’ before quietly replying,

“If your stomach is bad … you can’t eat properly.”

Ah.

So it was a repeating vicious cycle.

“Sorry…….”

Cha Woon silently nodded at my apology before rummaging through his bag again.

Then, when he pulled out another item, the entire filming set erupted.

“Huh?”

“Ahahahahaha!”

It was instant porridge.

Yes, that stuff you can conveniently eat after popping it into the microwave.

“Ah, I was seriously so shocked when I first saw that.”

“No wonder your bag is so heavy!”

Who in the world carried instant porridge around with them at all times?

No wonder I kept seeing him sitting in a corner eating porridge. I thought he bought it from the convenience store every time, but he was actually pulling it out of his own bag.

“I eat it when I’m not feeling well and the group meal happens to be something too spicy or greasy, or when I’m too busy to have a proper meal.”

“You know, you could just buy one whenever you need it.”

“If I go too long on an empty stomach, my stomach starts hurting again. Buying it takes time, so I just carry it around.”

“I’m losing my mind, seriously…….”

“I’m not going to say anything. There was a day when I almost died from a hangover, and that saved me. I’ll support Woon-hyung no matter what anyone says.”

The reason Cha Woon carried such an excessive amount of luggage was his inherently anxious nature.

An umbrella in case it rained. Cash in case the card terminals shut down. A blanket in case it got cold. A handheld fan in case it got hot. A hat, sunglasses, and mask in case he needed to go outside. His usual skincare products in case he suddenly needed to remove his makeup. A book to read in case his work got stuck and he became stressed. Refreshing artificial tears and candies to keep himself awake in case he needed to work but got sleepy. A small notebook and pen in case he needed to take handwritten notes. His own tumbler and cutlery set because he didn’t want to use disposable products.

There was no need to even mention things that ordinary people carried around too, like perfume, lip balm, tissues, and wet wipes.

‘I’m honestly more amazed that he can fit all of that into that bag.’

It wasn’t as though he actually used all those things every single day.

Still, the fact that someone in the group ended up needing something from his bag at least once a week made it impossible for him to give any of it up. It also didn’t help that his standards were too particular for him to use the emergency products sold at convenience stores.

“Honestly, we’ve all had at least one experience where we were saved thanks to our peddler¹, so none of us can really complain.”

I remembered being stunned the last time Lee Chise was knocked out by the heat and Cha Woon had casually rummaged through his bag and pulled out a cooling sheet. He’d looked so proud of himself. Even while worrying about Lee Chise’s condition, his eyes had been practically sparkling.

Those kinds of experiences must have been turning the guy into a monster…….

As I was muttering that to myself, I felt a faint prick of pain in my finger.

I’d gotten a paper cut while flipping through Cha Woon’s notebook.

It was super minor and barely bleeding, so I just balled my hand into a fist to keep it out of sight. But in that brief moment, Cha Woon must have noticed it too, because he suddenly started rummaging through his bag again.

And what he soon quietly held out in front of me was a bandage and an alcohol swab.

“…….”

P-Please, stop already…….

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Translator’s Corner:

1. 보부상 (bobusang). Historically, this word refers to itinerant peddlers in traditional Korea who carried large packs of goods on their backs. In modern slang, it affectionately someone who carries an unnaturally huge, packed bag full of emergency supplies for every situation. ↩︎

I can relate to the sick part but not preparedness … I just refuse to take medicines and suffer in silence….