Chapter 10 : Second Vlog (4)

“……”

A moment of silence passed.

An awkward and embarrassing silence, so heavy that neither of us could be the first to speak.

Chaeryeong fiddled with the collar of her t-shirt, her gaze wandering, while I stared only at the back of my hand, trying not to look in her direction.

This scene is definitely going to feel incredibly awkward if it makes it into the edit…

Meanwhile, the camera on the table kept rolling.

Anyway, it wouldn’t be good if her wet t-shirt appeared in the footage.

So, I took off the slightly thick shirt I was wearing and handed it to her.

“…Here, wear this. Your shirt’s see-through.”

“Ah… uh… thanks… but I could just wear my cardigan…”

“Your cardigan’s too thin. It probably won’t cover much.”

“…Oh. Right.”

The material of her cardigan had tiny holes in it from the start, making it slightly see-through.

On the other hand, my shirt was dark-colored and relatively thick for spring, making it perfect for covering her upper body.

She accepted the shirt and buttoned it up at the front, completely covering the wet t-shirt underneath.

Her outfit looked a bit awkward now, but it was certainly better than having her wet shirt cling transparently to her body.

“Th-then I’m going to the bathroom for a bit!”

“Huh?”

“I wiped it off a little, but since it’s alcohol, I feel gross. I want to rinse off a bit.”

“Oh, okay. Go ahead. I’ll tidy things up here.”

She must’ve found the awkward mood unbearable.

When I awkwardly motioned to the table, Chaeryeong rushed off to the bathroom like she was fleeing from something.

I let out a sigh of relief as I watched her go.

“Whew, thanks, Yoo Chaeryeong. Thanks to you, I’m saved too.”

I wiped the spilled makgeolli off the table with tissues, grateful to her.

Grateful that she gave me a moment’s escape from this unbearable atmosphere.

***

The sharp scent of makgeolli stung my nose.

The shirt was way too big for my frame, and I could feel how loose it was on me.

Taeo’s familiar scent lingered on the shirt he gave me, mixing with the smell of the makgeolli.

Thump thump thump thump thump.

My heart pounded rapidly, and I couldn’t tell whether it was because of the scent of his shirt or the smell of the alcohol.

Or maybe… it was just because I’d been drinking.

My face was even redder than before, and my head was full of shame—and a strange kind of excitement I couldn’t explain.

So different from my usual lively self.

So awkward.

…Why am I like this over something so minor? Seriously.

I entered the women’s restroom, turned on the tap, and splashed water on my face in a hurry.

Sure, I needed to wash the makgeolli off my face, but more than that, I was frustrated with how strangely I kept reacting to Taeo.

“Yoo Chaeryeong, are you seriously crazy? What’s wrong with you? Since earlier?”

It was really nothing.

He was just wiping me down and accidentally brushed against my chest.

It’s not like he did it on purpose.

You can usually sense when someone has a clear intention behind their actions.

That’s how I knew.

That it was just a genuine accident.

“…It’s not even a big deal. Just a little see-through because my shirt got wet. You show your underwear at home all the time—what’s there to be embarrassed about?”

Whenever he visited my place, like last time, he’d sometimes see my underwear lying around.

And honestly?

I wasn’t embarrassed at all back then.

It was no different than him seeing any other clothes I left out.

So why am I so embarrassed now?

…Because Yoon Taeo touched my chest?

Even then, his hand just slightly brushed against it.

It’s not like he groped me, and there wasn’t anything sexual about it.

“Ugh… this is so embarrassing…”

Still, I was embarrassed.

The weird little sound I made, the sensation of his hand on my chest—they kept replaying in my head.

I had just told myself not to overthink this, and yet here I was again.

If I kept going like this, it would seem like I was starting to see Yoon Taeo as a man.

Which wasn’t true.

“This isn’t something to be this embarrassed about. We’re just friends, right? I should just let it go.”

Yeah, like always.

It’s not like we’ve never had physical contact before.

When we hang out, we touch all the time, even doing things like back hugs without hesitation.

It’d be weird to get embarrassed over something like this now.

“Yeah, that’s right. That’s all it is.”

My face, more pink than cherry blossoms, stared back at me from the mirror.

Saying those words aloud, I tried not to dwell on what happened between us.

“Yeah, it’s nothing at all…”

But with those final words,

I couldn’t help but feel like I wasn’t as sure anymore.

…It must’ve just been my imagination.

Chaeryeong, who came back from the bathroom, was completely recovered.

How should I put it?

It was like she had mentally prepared herself and come back.

It looked to me as if nothing had happened just moments ago.

Or maybe she was trying hard to make it seem that way.

“I cleaned everything up here for now.”

“Thanks for the hard work. We still have some left, so should we try drinking a bit together?”

“Yeah, we bought it after all. We should at least review it, especially since we even ate the cherry blossoms.”

“Right. Heh.”

Maybe it was thanks to her effort, but the atmosphere quickly returned to normal.

We were no longer that awkward pair from earlier—we were back to our usual bickering selves.

It felt almost like that earlier moment had been a dream.

Because the shy expression Chaeryeong had shown for just a moment was something she had never shown me before.

But even that was probably just my illusion—my wishful thinking.

She was just embarrassed because of the situation, that’s all.

Even if it hadn’t been me, she would’ve still been embarrassed.

The only reason I’m reading into it so much is because I like her.

I pushed down my unreasonable expectations once again and acted like my usual self.

Trickle.

We poured the makgeolli, now flat and foamless, into paper cups and drank together.

With the sharp tang gone, only a bland taste lingered in my mouth.

“How is it? Can you taste the cherry blossoms?”

“Cherry blossoms or whatever, it just tastes like flat soda… So this is what it’s like when carbonation disappears…”

It was our own fault, but still.

Even to me, the flat makgeolli didn’t taste all that great.

Chaeryeong looked slightly disappointed but still composed herself and gave a review.

“There is a slight cherry blossom scent. It’s kind of like… you know? One of those drinks that say ‘contains 0.01% cherry blossom fragrance.’”

“Oh, like those fruit drinks that don’t contain actual fruit, just fruit flavoring?”

“Exactly, like that.”

Coming from someone who actually chewed on the petals, I’m sure that’s accurate.

It was labeled as “cherry blossom makgeolli” and carried a premium price, so it was a bit expensive.

But since it was something we could only experience here, we decided to just go with it.

“…Should we start walking again? I’m full now.”

“Yeah, let’s do that.”

We cleaned up our mess, tidied the table, and stood up.

Then we continued admiring the cherry blossoms together.

As we walked all the way down the path, we saw something hanging in bunches on a string in the distance.

Chaeryeong looked at the strange things hanging like laundry and asked,

“What is that?”

“I think it’s… you know, those wishing charms you see at temples or shrines? Isn’t it something like that?”

“Oh~! That must be it! Look, it even says ‘Wish Fulfillment’ over there.”

At the end of where she pointed, a wooden sign was posted.

[Wish Fulfillment – Love, Money, Career, etc.]

It looked pretty sketchy at first glance, but people were casually buying the papers.

“Looks like you buy them over there.”

“And then you put the slip in that collection box and hang your wish on the string, I guess?”

One slip cost 1,000 won.

It felt like a rip-off, charging 1,000 won for a piece of paper, but compared to couple padlocks at famous tourist spots that cost tens of thousands of won, maybe it was cheap.

“Wanna try it?”

“Let’s do it, let’s do it.”

Of course, Chaeryeong, being who she is, wouldn’t just pass up on something like this.

As someone deeply into superstitions and even feng shui, this was right up her alley.

“You really like superstitions, huh.”

“What do you mean superstitions? They’re all real!”

“So, your house’s bad feng shui is the reason for your insomnia? That’s what’s real?”

“Then explain why I could sleep just fine at home, but can’t sleep at all since moving out!”

“Because you’re on your phone late at night. Seriously, stop watching Shorts.”

“Ugh. Not listening. I don’t wanna hear nagging.”

We put our 1,000 won into the collection box and took slips like everyone else.

“So, what are we supposed to write here? A wish?”

“Yeah, probably. It says ‘wish fulfillment.’”

Using the pen provided, we began writing our wishes.

Chaeryeong must’ve thought of something quickly—she started writing right away.

I tried to sneak a peek at her writing, but—

“Hey, hey, no! If someone else sees it, it won’t come true!”

“Oh, is that so? Got it. I won’t look—so petty.”

I wondered what she wrote.

I was curious.

But I quickly stopped thinking about it and focused on writing my own wish.

After finishing, we both tied our slips onto the string like laundry.

Then we pressed our hands together and made a prayer.

When we were done, she looked at me with a curious smile and asked,

“…So, what did you write?”

“Didn’t you say if someone else sees it, it won’t come true?”

“But we already wrote it, hung it, and even prayed. It’s fine to say it after all that.”

“Who even made that rule?”

Probably something she just made up on the spot. Hmph.

But since I was curious about her wish too, I casually threw it back to her.

“Then you go first. The person who brought it up has to say it first.”

“Me? Of course, mine’s that.”

“That?”

“That my YouTube channel blows up and I become a million-subscriber YouTuber.”

“That’s such a you-type wish.”

Very honest and pure.

A wish that perfectly matched someone like Chaeryeong.

“And what about you, Yoon Taeo?”

I smiled quietly at her question and replied,

“Secret.”

“Secret? Hey, no fair! You heard mine!”

“Too bad. My choice.”

As she followed behind me, yelling all sorts of things, I covered my ears to block her voice.

Because the wish I wrote was one I could never tell her.

My wish was:

Please let me date Yu Chaeryeong this year.

That was it.

***

I uploaded the second vlog with Taeo after shooting and editing it.

Even though we had only uploaded two videos, I felt like I had officially become a YouTuber.

My childhood dream of becoming famous on YouTube, of becoming an influencer—

That dream was really starting to become reality.

I’d wake up in the morning to check comments, then glance at the views again without realizing it.

There were even days I wasted entirely, just feeling satisfied watching the views climb all day long.

I could feel YouTube becoming an inseparable part of my life.

And today too, as soon as we uploaded the video, the flood of comments made me smile without realizing it.

[This is insane? Just watching the two of you makes me smile.]

[I can’t live without this couple anymore ㅠㅠ]

[I really want to see Chaeryeong and Taeo in real life. Should I go to Jeongundae? Will you meet me if I go?]

[You two clearly care for each other so much. You communicate so well, haha.]

Just like the first vlog, the second one got a great response too.

The first video had long since surpassed 100,000 views and was now heading toward 200,000.

With the second video, our subscriber count was also steadily heading toward 20,000.

But I didn’t know back then.

I was too excited about the rapid growth to think clearly.

“…This is a couple vlog, right? So… are you and Yoon Taeo dating?”

I didn’t realize until that day—

That becoming famous too fast wasn’t always a good thing.