DWWWB Ch 1 part 2

“I heard that after you quit, Chief Cho fell ill.”

PD Han, who was driving, made this remark as he turned on the left-turn signal. Our car was now passing the National Cemetery and heading towards Seorae Village.

“When you say it like that, it makes me sound like a very bad person.”

I murmured back as I gazed at the beautiful maple trees inside the National Cemetery that were now beginning to sprout leaves.

“You know how he is. He’s just being too temperamental as always. But you usually don’t speak up like that. Why’d you do it? Why do you think I even trained you to become a tank? You were always smiling, so it made me worry.”

I wasn’t sure why he thought he had the right to say something like that. PD Han was the one who was always smiling as well.

PD Han seemed to be very suspicious of the incident where I fought back against Chief Cho.

“I guess it all just piled up.”

“Hey, I also have a lot of things that have piled up, but I never did anything like what you did. What happened to you?”

I didn’t want to answer him with things like, ‘Why are you following an incompetent producer?’ or ‘Did you sleep with PD Han?’

“I must have wanted to act tough now that I was quitting. But anyways, where are we going?”

It has been a week since I started working at Minerva. The week passed quickly as I greeted people and checked out the company atmosphere. PD Han must have thought it was about time to talk about the program because he dragged me out of the office and told me that we should have a planning meeting.

“We’re on our way to meet the main star of our educational variety program.”

“Whaaat?”

I straightened up in my seat.

“Without any prior information… You’re taking me to meet with our main star? Who is it?”

PD Han paused for a moment.

“Aigoo, why is this neighborhood so complicated?”

The car drove up the Isu overpass. PD Han kept muttering under his breath as if to keep me from asking more questions as he was driving this complicated road.

There are so many cars. Driving in Seoul is unbearable. Why is it so congested? Look at the way that idiot is driving.

“Sunbae, tell me. Who is it? Is he a dangerous person? Is it a security issue or something?”

“He’s not a dangerous person, but… Maybe I’d call him a star who refuses to star in our program?”

“Why are you casting someone who refuses to participate?”

“We first discussed it with his agency and the higher-ups, you know? I presented several proposals, but the guy kept criticizing them. I think he thought they were a bit cliche. I was curious to know what kind of ideas you might come up with when you met the guy without any prior information.”

“Going blind and making up the plan on the spot?”

PD Han nodded and turned the steering wheel.

Who on earth is this mysterious guy living in Seorae Village?

“And you don’t have any concept in mind?”

“I did come up with a concept. But it was rejected.”

“Shouldn’t you at least let me know what that concept was? And if there was a discussion between the higher-ups and the agency, there must be a direction the agency wants us to go.”

PD Han also seemed frustrated with this fact.

“Direction…”

He nodded as he mulled over that single word.

“Is this a program where we want to change the image of a celebrity who caused an accident and disappeared from public view?”

“No, not at all. This guy has a reputation for being a great guy.”

“A great… guy…?”

It sounded like this person was not someone who normally came on TV.

“Then is he a businessman?”

“No, not that either.”

“Then who is it?!”

The moment I raised my voice in frustration, the car entered a residential alley. PD Han was familiar with this area as if he had been here many times before. He turned on the car’s emergency flashers and stopped the car. A parking attendant leaned forward towards the driver-side window.

“I came here to visit the Juniper House.”

“Alright, please hand me your car keys and get out.”

I was confused as to whether it meant that the house had many juniper trees or whether it was a restaurant or cafe called the Juniper House. I got out of the car and looked around, but I couldn’t see anything that looked like a restaurant or a cafe.

“The Juniper House?”

“Oh, they call it that because there are a lot of juniper trees in the garden. It’s the guy’s house. What was its original name again? ‘Milhaewon’?”

“Milhaewon?”

“The ‘Mil’ comes from the character for juniper tree, and where did the ‘Hae’ come from again…? Either way, I heard that it was called that because there were a lot of juniper trees.”

The house was surrounded by high, white walls, and the front gate was dark green. I quietly muttered under my breath as I watched PD Han ring the doorbell.

“My name also uses the ‘Mil’ from juniper tree.”

“Really? What about the ‘Hee’?”

“It’s the ‘Hee’ for beauty.”

I noticed someone walking briskly towards the front gate.

“Who are you?”

It was the voice of an older woman.

“I’m from Minerva. I am PD Han Jihoo.”

The gate slowly opened electronically.

“Hello, how have you been, ma’am?”

A pleasant-looking lady was wearing a dark gray dress and a plain apron. Anyone who saw her could tell that she was someone who did the housework.

“Come in. He still hasn’t come back from his workout.”

She wasn’t friendly, but she wasn’t being unfriendly either.”

“This person will be working on the program with me.”

PD Han introduced me in a friendly voice.

“Hello, my name is Oh Milhee.”

I stepped through the gate and greeted her. The woman’s gaze, which had been focused on PD Han this whole time, finally shifted to me. She tilted her head and narrowed her eyes. It was as if she recognized me but couldn’t remember who I was.

But for me, she was clearly a woman I had never met before.

“Nice to meet you, ma’am.”

Despite my clear greeting, the woman merely kept her narrowed eyes on me and seemed to be observing me.

“Have we met before?”

I smiled politely and answered back.

“I think it’s the first time we’re meeting, ma’am.”

“You look familiar. I feel like I’ve seen you somewhere… Do you come out on TV? Are you a celebrity? I don’t really know much about idols or actors these days.”

“Our PD Oh Milhee is as pretty as the idols on TV, right? But she’s the PD I will be working with.”

“Ah, you’re a PD-nim. How old are you?”

The woman naturally began to ask questions.

“I will be turning thirty this year, ma’am.”

“Aigoo, what a great age to be. My nephew is thirty-two. To become a PD, you have to study a lot, right? You must be quite smart. This agassi¹ has a pretty face and the smarts to match?”

It seemed like she was checking to see if I was truly an agassi. I laughed awkwardly.

“Of course. Our PD Oh is very smart. She was a senior employee at EBC, but I brought her here. I wanted to make this program a hit for your nephew, ma’am.”

“That rascal can be quite picky. Please understand, PD-nim. He’s a kid who has been hurt too many times. He doesn’t know how to open up.”

I didn’t know who this person was, but our star was presumed to be a thirty-two-year-old man with many emotional scars. And he doesn’t know how to open up his heart very well.

The wide garden that was spread out inside the main gate was filled with juniper trees, just as PD Han had said. The evergreen trees with their splendid branches looked like they had been well cared for.

“What did you say your name was? Oh… Miri? Miri like in ‘Mirinae’?”

“It’s Milhee. Oh Milhee.”

The old lady suddenly stopped as she entered through the front door. She slowly turned her head and looked at me with narrowed eyes.

“Does the ‘Mil’ in your name happen to be the same ‘Mil’ for juniper trees?”

“Yes, ma’am.”

When I nodded at her with a faint smile, the woman tilted her head as if she found it strange. Her eyes, which had been staring off into the distance, suddenly widened.

“So our PD Oh Milhee is smart, right? Where did you go to college? Somewhere around here?”

“She went to a national university that was surrounded by Mount Gwanak.”

PD Han gently intervened. When she heard PD Han’s answer, the woman nodded her head vigorously and said, ‘Ah!’

“Anyway, come in. Dear, me. We have guests. I should be serving you both some tea instead of dilly-dallying.”

After the lady disappeared, PD Han and I managed to make our way to the living room and rested our bottoms on the couch.

“I was told that she is not related to our star by blood. She must have known him for a long time. And she was like that when she first met me, but she’s very affectionate. Please understand.”

I looked around the house as I listened to what Sunbae was saying. The sunlight was dazzling as it streamed in through the glass windows facing the yard. The smell of new furniture still lingered inside this house that was decorated entirely in white.

“It seems that it hasn’t been long since the owner of this house moved in?”

“Ah, I guess there isn’t a lot of stuff around here because he spends most of his time abroad.”

That’s why I couldn’t find any trace of who this person was in this house.

“You’re really not going to tell me who it is?”

“You’ll see him soon enough.”

“If you’re going to be like this, I don’t want to do this.”

As I pretended to stand up from the sofa, PD Han smiled and grabbed my wrist to sit me back down.

“You tell me first. What did Chief Cho say to make you fight back like that? So many rumors have spread all the way from Ilsan to Sangam.”

“Um, what are the rumors saying?”

“That you’re foaming at the mouth. Judging from how Chief Cho is sick in bed, they’re saying people need to be careful around you or you will rip them to shreds.”

Due to the immense shock, I scoffed so hard that my bangs flew up in the resulting breeze.

“Listen. There were only two people inside that room. Me and Chief Cho. I kept my mouth shut and have been quiet, so who the hell is spreading these rumors?”

“Think about it, Oh Milhee. There were only you and Chief Cho in that room. If you kept your mouth shut and stayed quiet, then who could it be?”

I never knew people could be so shameless.

“Chief Cho is saying that with his own mouth?”

“Yeah. I heard that you were being incredibly rude and were attacking him out of nowhere. He said that he was very grateful to receive your resignation. That if you had been fired instead, you’d have received unemployment benefits from the government. That it’s a waste to take care of someone like you with taxpayer money. He said that he’s glad the company managed to save on severance pay.”

I burst into laughter.

“What did Chief Cho say, hm? That I just attacked him out of nowhere? Why would I do that for no reason?”

Now that it had come to this, it felt unfair to continue to keep things hidden.

“He asked me if I slept with you, Sunbae.”

“What?”

PD Han’s face immediately filled with a chilling rage.

“He said that it has been a while since you went to Minerva, but you haven’t achieved anything. He asked me why I was following an incompetent bastard like you. Did I sleep with PD Han? Is that why I’m following you…”

While we were talking, PD Han’s gaze shifted to something behind me. I naturally turned my head to follow his gaze.

I met the eyes of a thirty-two-year-old man who seemed to be the star of the show. The man who had a difficult time opening up because he had been hurt too many times.

Gong Mujin?

His eyes seemed to be asking a chilling question.

Oh Milhee?

For a split second, Gong Mujin seemed flustered. However, he skillfully hid his expression and walked away. I couldn’t take my eyes off him and stared blankly. He was wearing a black tracksuit as he strode to the sofa opposite us with his long legs.

Daehak-ro², Naksan Park, Death of a Salesman, he was wearing a similar black tracksuit that he wore that day.

“You came early. Or is it that I am late?”

His voice sounded soulful, and it was still as thick as it had always been. PD Han and I quickly stood up from our seats.

“No, we arrived ten minutes early.”

PD Han let go of my hand that he had been tightly holding. Gong Mujin glanced at the hand that PD Han had been holding and then quickly looked away without any emotion.

My heart was pounding like crazy as if I’d been caught making a fool of myself in someone else’s living room.

“And who is this?”

The tone of his voice as he asked the question was sharp and cold like an ice pick chipping away at a block of ice. The three of us stood in front of the glass table as it shone brightly under the sunlight. It all felt so unreal.

“Ah, this is the PD who joined our production team.”

“Hello, my name is Oh Milhee.”

I greeted him as if I were seeing him for the very first time. I couldn’t pretend I didn’t know who he was since he was the world-famous road cyclist Gong Mujin who had a very public career.

And then he greeted me as if he were seeing me for the first time in his life.

“Nice to meet you. My name is Gong Mujin.”

A gentle breeze blew through the narrow gap in the living room window. The familiar scent of green tangerines that I had smelled long ago penetrated my defenseless lungs. My heart ached as if it were being crushed by my suddenly expanding lungs.

“We didn’t tell PD Oh who the focus of this show was. She probably wouldn’t have guessed that it was Athlete Gong Mujin. That’s why she seems a bit surprised. She’s so flustered that her ears have turned red.”

He probably said it to lighten the mood, but I wish PD Han would keep his mouth shut right now.

“Because you’re someone who doesn’t go on TV much in Korea.”

I quickly blurted out an excuse.

My first love, whom I had encountered so unexpectedly in a place as beautiful as the juniper trees that bore my name, was cold enough to make me lose my composure.

“Do you have a new proposal for me?”

His voice was cold, but his tone was appropriately polite. He gestured for me to sit down, and I sat down a little distance away from PD Han. Gong Mujin’s cold eyes lingered on the hand’s width of space between me and PD Han.

“I’m going to put my trust in our PD Oh’s intuition this time.”

Gong Mujin’s gaze quietly traveled to my face.

“You’re going to trust her intuition? Doesn’t that sound a bit reckless?”

He leaned back against the sofa and stared at me with eyes that seemed bored. His irritating attitude grated my nerves.

I opened my mouth as if I were releasing a tense bowstring and shooting an arrow.

“There are many cases where recklessly planned programs become huge hits. Following this trend, there are times when a program made from a completely new perspective is more fascinating to viewers than a program made from the same format as other programs that made it big.”

He smiled faintly. His gaze on me was neither persistent nor hot like in the past. The smile only lingered on the corner of his mouth, but it did not reach his cool eyes. It was almost as if he were sneering at me. But objectively, it could be seen as a polite smile without any emotion behind it.

But Gong Mujin… was not someone I could be objective about. At that moment, I realized that doing this program with him would be incredibly difficult.

PD Han was very observant. If we started a strange fight here, there might come a time when we’d have to reveal our past relationship. PD Han seemed to be trying hard to do a good job with this program. If we revealed our unnecessary past here, it would only make things uncomfortable.

They say that divorced couples can stay friends nowadays, but I am not one of those cool-headed people. As far as I know, Gong Mujin was the same. He also probably thinks that it’s better for us to pretend not to know each other.

“Is that so? Is your intuition telling you anything?”

Gong Mujin’s personality was such that he didn’t beat around the bush. He went straight to the point, like a road cyclist who speeds along the road. I met his apathetic gaze and tried to keep my voice steady.

“During a tough race, they say that cyclists burn more than 5,000 kcal a day. I heard that Gong Mujin enjoys visiting restaurants run by chefs recognized by Michelin and the European and California Restaurant Associations. There is also a map on social media called Map Zin that shows the various European and North American restaurants that Gong Mujin has visited.”

Gong Mujin shrugged his shoulders and opened his mouth.

“The person who developed the app called Map Zin was a close, younger female colleague of mine. We often shared meals together. I don’t think she’s famous in Korea, but you sure know a lot about it.”

It was as if he were asking if I had been watching him all this time. Then he annoyingly added that she was a close, younger female colleague of his and that they often shared meals together.

That’s right. I looked it up.

One day, while I was living my life with nothing special going on, I reminisced on the memories I had forgotten. It was late at night after I had finished work, and I was lying in my bed, exhausted, feeling like I was going to die but feeling empty as if I had forgotten something important. That’s when I checked Gong Mujin’s social media.

This was one of the disadvantages of social media. It’s a system that makes it too easy to follow the movements of an ex-boyfriend. Moreover, if that person is a celebrity, there is an overflowing amount of content. The AI algorithm could even find his medical charts.

“Our PD Oh originally wanted to go into the educational variety field, so she is interested in many areas of society. She also knows a lot.”

When I saw how PD Han took my side, I almost shed tears of gratitude. I looked at PD Han, my eyes full of gratitude, which was unusual for me. PD Han ignored it and frowned.

“Have you worked on any projects I might recognize?”

It was a question a potential variety show star might be curious about.

“There is a program on EBC that just finished. It was a cultural arts audition show.”

“Omo! I know that one! The girl who danced the shamanistic ritual dance won first place. That’s the one, right?”

The old lady suddenly appeared and placed teacups and a plate of fruit on the glass table in front of us.

“Yes, that’s right.”

“Mujin, we watched it together. You said it was really fun, and you even voted with me via text message, right? You praised it for being a well-made program, remember? PD Oh, you’re really a talented young lady.”

The lady smiled and offered me some tea.

“Hurry up and try this. This is homemade Omija tea. Mujin over here also taught me how to vote by text.”

Gong Mujin gracefully picked up the teacup as if this piece of news wasn’t anything important. The teacup and saucer looked like children’s toys in his large, sturdy hands.

“I think it would be a good concept if Gong Mujin were to ride a bicycle around small cities in Korea and discover delicious restaurants. Is there a specific direction you’d like to take?”

“Direction…”

He paused for a moment, mulling over the word.

“I know that you were not originally a cyclist who received much attention. So what if we moved in the direction of a world where people’s hard work is recognized? Instead of going to famous restaurants, we should focus the program on stories of ordinary citizens who quietly run restaurants. Of course, you may not think it’s as appealing as going to high-end restaurants that appear on Map Zin, but if it’s a shabby restaurant that holds a lot of honest sincerity….”

“That sounds good.”

He cut me off with a curt answer. Because PD Han had been rejected so many times, I was not expecting a positive answer out of him, so I hesitated for a moment.

“It would be best if you quickly come up with a more detailed plan. Filming must finish by April at the latest.”

When Gong Mujin concluded the discussion in a succinct manner, PD Han burst into laughter.

“We will deliver the plan through your agency as soon as possible.”

“Is there a need to take the trouble of going through my agency? My agent is in Italy right now for the Giro d’Italia previews. There’s no need to waste time going from Korea to Rome and then back to Korea. You can contact me directly.”

“Ah, is that okay?”

Although things were happening so abruptly, PD Han seemed excited because Gong Mujin was responding positively.

“Please contact me with this.”

He handed me and PD Han a business card with a bicycle wheel engraved on it. The wheel was printed in silver foil on light blue cardstock, and only his email address was written on it.

And that email address was his personal email address that I also remembered. It was the address with which we frequently exchanged messages after he left Korea for his European tour…

Suddenly, I wondered if his inbox still held the countless emails I sent him. And why hadn’t he checked the last email I sent him?

“Then we’ll deliver the plan through PD Oh.”

I was quickly pulled out of my trance by PD Han’s businesslike tone.

“If that suits you.”

Gong Mujin nodded indifferently. Our eyes met several times, but there was no emotion behind his gaze. This oddly stabbed at my heart. Rather than feeling grateful to my ex-boyfriend for acting so professionally, a subtle twinge of discomfort dug into my skin.

As I left the Juniper House, I let out a sigh of relief.

“So Oh Milhee can get nervous? Gong Mujin must be an amazing guy, right?”

“He’s the first Asian athlete to have five wins in the Tour de France in a row, the Giro d’Italia three times in a row, and the Vuelta a España twice in a row. He’s the one who coined the term ‘national cyclist’, so he’s truly amazing.”

I recited his accomplishments one by one as I got into PD Han’s car.

“Oooh. Oh Milhee. That’s pretty good. How did you memorize all that?”

“Sunbae, do you know how many times Brazil has won the World Cup?”

“Five times. Brazil is the country with the most wins.”

PD Han acted as if this information was common knowledge.

“You can recite the number of times Brazil, a country on the other side of the world, has won the World Cup, so how is it strange to recite the number of times our national athletes, who are promoting our country’s prestige, have won international competitions?”

“That’s true. But I didn’t think to connect him to Map Zin or anything like that. I thought it was just something European kids made to promote their restaurants. I didn’t know that Gong Mujin was interested in that kind of thing. And let’s say I did some research beforehand. How do you know what the average number of calories burned by a cyclist is?”

PD Han may have been asking because he was genuinely curious. But a guilty conscience needs no accuser. I began to prove my objectivity in regards to Gong Mujin in order to show that I had no special interest in him.

“Sunbae. The Tour de France is watched by 3.5 billion people, which is half the world. Do you know how many spectators there are? Over 9 million. It’s much more than the Olympics or the World Cup. Over 2,000 reporters from 500 media outlets cover it. It’s broadcast in 190 countries. In that kind of competition, a Korean athlete won five consecutive victories. It’s a competition that tests the limits of human beings by running 21 stages and a distance of nearly 3,500 kilometers for three weeks. Half the world is watching, 9 million spectators are going crazy, and a Korean athlete is taking first place. Is there any other nationalism like this in the world?” (Source: French Tourism Office, Everything About the Tour de France)

“Hey, you know quite a lot, don’t you? You’re definitely the Oh Milhee who dreamed of working in the educational division.”

“This kind of thing isn’t even pertinent to education. It’s common knowledge.”

The car exited Seorae-ro and moved towards Sangam.

“Write out a plan.”

“You’ll review it, right?”

“Yeah, but I’m very satisfied. I feel like we figured out what Gong Mujin’s all about through Map Zin… I raised you to be such a good PD.”

I looked out at sunset over the Dongjak Bridge and didn’t say a word.

‘You know quite a lot, don’t you?’

PD Han’s proud voice lingered in my ears.

I do know a lot. I know it too well.

Gong Mujin was a man I knew well, and he was also a man who enlightened me to a world I didn’t know before.