After Story 195

The two white dogs followed behind the madam, following her into the kitchen when she did and waiting outside the bathroom door when she went to the bathroom. She clearly seemed experienced in having them around.

“The dogs seem to really like the madam.”

“She raised them personally when they were pups. Right now, I’m sure she likes them more than even her own children that she suffered to give birth to.”

The elder pushed some gang-doenjang over to his side.

“I’m sure it’ll be to your tastes. Geunsoo and Ganghwan liked it as well.”

Maru scooped a spoonful of gang-doenjang and put it on top of his rice.

He mixed a bit of the vegetables, rice, and the gang-doenjang and wrapped it in some lettuce before putting it in his mouth. The taste was first-rate, with just the right saltiness accompanied by that slight doenjang taste.

“Madam! I think you can sell this gang-doenjang and make a fortune.”

The madam, who was peeling garlic in the kitchen, smiled pleasantly.

“Would you like to take some home?”

“I’d be really grateful if you could give me some. Oh, and also, these dried bracken shoots are really nice too.”

"Alright, alright, I’ll pack you some of those as well. Say, dear, where did you find someone so fawning like him?”

Hearing his wife’s joke, the elder just shrugged.

Maru poured some rice wine into the elder’s gla.s.s.

“Drink moderately, dear. You don’t have a good liver.”

“You’re overly worried. I’m just drinking a single gla.s.s. I don’t drink much because you nag at me, so don’t worry about it.”

The elder winked as he drank some of the rice wine. He seemed to hinting to keep the fact that he drank with the teachers at the orphanage a secret.

Maru smiled and nodded.

“Wife, why don’t you come and have some?”

“There’s some for me?”

“Of course there is. Ever seen me not give you any?”

Maru told the madam to come and s.h.i.+fted his seat slightly to the left.

Shaking off the garlic peels, the madam sat at the table. The two dogs each took a place on either side of her like loyal guards.

“I’ll pour you a gla.s.s.”

Maru poured some rice wine for the madam. He poured about halfway before looking at her. The madam looked at the gla.s.s wanting some more.

Maru poured the bottle until the rice wine almost filled the gla.s.s to the brim.

With the combination of late-night snacks, drinks, and conversations, it became midnight in no time.

“You should sleep in the guest room.”

“Not need at all. I can book a nearby motel right now.”

“There’s an empty room here, so why waste money? I’ll lay out the blankets, so get some good rest and go tomorrow.”

“I’ll do that then, madam.”

He received the blankets from the madam and laid them out in a small room. He was originally just going to drink some tea, but he ended up staying the night.

He sent a text message to his wife saying that he was going to sleep over at the elder’s house.

“The floor is quite cold, isn’t it?” the madam asked.

Maru shook his head.

“It’s warm. Don’t worry about me and please go to sleep.”

The madam nodded and closed the door.

Maru looked at the posters on the wall of the room. They were posters of movies in which Geunsoo, Ganghwan, and Suyeon played the main characters. He wondered if they were put up by the madam.

On top of a drawer was a photo that was taken in the front yard of this house.

The elder and his wife were sitting down on the flat platform and president Lee Junmin and his wife were sitting next to them. The two dogs, in their puppy days, were also in the photo.

Actors in JA all probably visited this room at least once.

“Are you asleep?”

The door opened and the elder poked his head inside.

“Not yet, sir.”

“It is a little early to be sleeping. How about it? Can you hang out with this old man a little more?”

The elder was holding a bottle of rice wine in his hand. It was the bottle that the madam put in the fridge, telling him not to touch it.

“Will you be okay? Your wife will be mad if she finds out.”

“I’ll be drinking in secret.”

Perhaps thanks to the existence of his wife, the elder seemed much more relaxed than in Maru’s previous life. He threw around more jokes, and he was also a lot more mischievous.

Maru wanted to thank the whimsical G.o.d for today.

“Just one gla.s.s, okay?”

“If I open the lid, I might as well get to the bottom of it.”

“I don’t think I can handle the madam’s fury. Also, you should look out for your health.”

“Haha, even you are now concerned about my health, huh? It seems everyone around me only thinks about my health.”

“I just want to see you act for a long time.”

While they were talking, one of the dogs started barking. They never even growled within the hot, but it barked like crazy as though it had just seen a thief.

The madam opened the door and came out. The elder tossed the bottle of rice wine over, and Maru quickly caught it and hid it under the blanket.

“What are you doing?”

“I was just going to have a talk with Maru, but that one keeps barking. Hey, don’t cause a fuss.”

“There’s no way he’d bark without reason, is there? He’s so smart.”

The madam looked inside the room. Maru made a faint smile. The mistress looked right at where he hid the rice wine.

“This isn’t my first time. Give me the thing you hid under there.”

“I didn’t hide anything.”

“Geunsoo said that to me once and got chased out in the middle of the night.”

Maru gave the elder a glance. The elder shook his head with his lips firmly sealed. He seemed to want to resist until the end.

He looked back and forth between the elder and the madam before eventually taking out the bottle of rice wine. He didn’t need to think for long to see who was in real charge of this house.

Receiving the rice wine, the madam gave the elder a glare before going over to the dog.

“Good boy.”

The madam stroked the dog on the chin before going back to her room.

When the madam left, the two white dogs came over and lingered around the elder’s feet. They wagged their tails while putting their tongues out.

“You guys didn’t do anything good.”

Even while scolding them, the elder patted their heads.

“The dogs are loyal.”

“There’s no one on my side in this house. Even you’re on her side.”

“Sir, I did my absolute best. The madam’s gaze was just so intense that I found it hard to endure.”

The elder sighed softly.

“Try hiding it better next time.”

“I’ll try my best.”

“If it’s cold inside, you’ll find the remote control for the boiler in the living room, so raise the temperature.”

“Okay.”

“Good work driving today. Get some good sleep.”

“Get some good rest, sir.”

The elder nodded and closed the door.

Maru thought back to the squabble between the elder and the madam and smiled. They were a pair of sweet lovers.

He imagined his own wife with her hair drained of color. As he had always died before the age of forty-five, it was not easy to imagine his wife getting old.

How would she look? Preparing for their later years together was something he hadn’t experienced even in his numerous lives.

Maru covered himself with the blanket and closed his eyes. The fatigue from driving a long distance overwhelmed him in an instant. There came a moment where his consciousness became faint and the boundary between reality and dream became blurry.

There, he saw his old wife sleeping on the sofa. He was reading a book while listening to the faint and nostalgic breathing sound.

Time seemed to be flowing, and yet also halted.

It was a relaxing and cozy time. Thinking that it was a rather good scenery, he completely fell asleep.

* * *

“Her skills are as good as always.”

That was Haneul’s evaluation of the madam’s gang-doenjang and dried bracket shoots.

“Why can’t I get it to taste the same even if I use the same ingredients and recipe?”

“Isn’t that just the difference in the taste of the hand?” Maru said.

“You’re saying my hands are terrible, huh?”

“I admit to everything else, but honestly, I’m better than you at cooking, aren’t I?”

His wife pouted, expressing her displeasure, but did not retort to his words.

“Right, if I think about it, I don’t need to be that good at cooking. I just need to make use of my husband who is. So starting today, I’m taking my hands off all kitchen work, okay?”

“I thought we were going to equally distribute household cho….”

“You told me I’m bad though.”

“Honey, I never said that you were bad at anything. You have a good memory, so you know that what I’m saying is correct, right?”

“There’s a thing called nuance.”

She emphasized the word ‘nuance.’ Not wanting to make the matter worse, Maru stayed quiet.

“You’re good at cleaning and even cooking. I’ll give you the t.i.tle of housewife, sweetie. Instead, I’ll be earning money. That’s fair, right?”

“But I earn money t….”

His wife put a finger against his mouth. While her gesture was cute, the intent behind it was scary, so he just stayed quiet.

Ever since she started editing the scenario with Daemyung, his wife had gotten a lot more sensitive. Even a knife created by a master blacksmith would be blunt in comparison to her nerves which were on edge.

She was someone who became a perfectionist regarding her writing. Maru could imagine how stressful it must be for her to polish her own writing.

But she couldn’t just give up on it either. The day her scenario is finished would be the day his violent wife would return to normal.

“I’ll get going now.”

“Watch out for cars, and don’t get too much stress.”

“Alright, you have fun at your afterparty too, sweetie.”

He gave his wife a soft hug as a means to encourage her.

Haneul let out a soft sigh and left the house.

Maru immediately texted Daemyung, telling him not to be so strict and to console her a little.

“Yes, hyung. I’m going to the gym and then will attend to some business before going over there.”

After calling Yeonjin, he got ready to go outside.

Today was the day that episode 9 was airing. They decided to hold the afterparty at a barbecue restaurant in Seoul.

They were originally going to hold one earlier than this, but it kept getting delayed because of the schedules of the actors.

“Are you at the gym? I was about to go now.”

-Come quickly. You know there’s a tennis bet afterward, right? We need to get back the coffee that we had to pay for last time.

“I think you just need to do well.”

-You can cover for me.

Ganghwan told him to come as soon as possible. The men that acted in the drama got together and played some ball sports until they were fixated on tennis.

On their break days, the people who had time would meet up and play until sunset.

If they didn’t have the afterparty today, they would probably be playing tennis until they saw the moon.

Maru checked the time before leaving his house with some luggage.

* * *

“Yang Ganghwan’s coming.”

“Han Maru’s there too.”

“Hw.a.n.g Hojoon and Kwon Seokhoon are there too. But their faces are really small.”

Journalist Jung continued muttering while pressing the camera shutter. The male actors walked into the makes.h.i.+ft photo zone in front of the restaurant.

No one present would’ve known that ‘Case Number 0’ would become such a groundbreaking drama when it first aired.

Going by episode 8, the viewing rate had entered a double-digit percentage. It was a ridiculous number compared to other dramas from private-owned channels, which were barely maintaining a single-digit percentage.

However, the ones that received the most damage from Case Number 0 were the public TV channels. YBS, which was airing a drama with a similar genre at a similar time slot, received the most damage.

Their viewing rate didn’t just half, it shattered into pieces. RBS and KBS couldn’t exactly be laughing either.

The advertisers who promoted their products in Case Number 0 were probably laughing by now. They would’ve paid cheap prices to advertise their products compared to public TV channels after all.

If this drama didn’t stop at being successful just once and was a repeated home run, then the advertising business of public TV channels would receive a huge hit as well.

The drama acted as a warning to the TV industry in many ways. After all, everything about broadcasting came down to ads.

“Please look over here once!”

“And here too!”

He could see the entertainment journalists who used to look down on the emergence of private-owned TV channels. The future was really unpredictable.

While he was taking a photo, he saw a female reporter step forward. From how security personnel didn’t budge, it seemed to be an interview that was scheduled beforehand.