Normal POV

You find yourself sitting on the bus with Yeonjun, who chose to sit beside the window. You invited him to visit Juknokwon, and he immediately accepted the offer. There are only few people in the bus and you two are sitting on the far end. From Dogae station you need to pass five stops and off to Jichimli station, from there you can easily walk towards Juknokwon.

You look at Yeonjun. He was staring blankly out of the window with his airpods on. You look outside the window too to observe the scenery. Damyang is filled with huge bamboo gardens, metasequoia-lined roads, rolling tea fields, grape vineyards, and endless rice fields. The scenery gives off a real K-drama vibes.

Adding Yeonjun’s presence on the side felt like you are really pulled inside a Kdrama scene, with him as the male lead and imagining yourself as a heroine. You were surprised with your own imagination and tried to get it off your mind. Then you decided to start a conversation with Yeonjun.

“Is this also your first time at Damyang-gun?” you asked Yeonjun.

He noticed that you said something and he removed one of his airpods, “What is it, again, sorry.”

“I’m asking if this is also you first-time visiting Damyang-gun?” you repeated.

“I think so. I don’t usually visit much the countryside to be honest,” he responded.

“Oh, I see, you city boy,” you tried to .

“Well, I was born in Seoul and grew up in Seongnam. Both are cities, so, yeah you could really say I am a city boy. How about you?” he retuned the question to me.

“Though I was born in the province, I practically grew up in Metro Manila, so you could say too that I’m a city girl. That’s why I think this is a really nice place to have a vacation, away from the buzzling city. The sceneries here are really relaxing to look at,” you told him.

“Yeah, I can agree with that,” he nodded. “But why in South Korea?”

“To be honest, I need to do a job here after the 5-day vacation. I just took an early flight,” you confessed.

You are a bit nervous on where the conversation is going. Yeonjun might ask about your job and might discover who you really are. It’s not that you want to keep it in secret but the very reason that you took off vacation is to rediscover yourself and take a break from being a celebrity. You just want to be yourself, the normal Y/N not the celebrity Y/N.

You noticed his phone and the music he was listening to. You tried to change the subject by asking what is the song that he is listening for quite a while now.

“I observed that you’re listening to some music for quite a while now,” you changed the subject.

“Oh that. I’m just listening to some random music. You wanna listen?” he offered one of his airpods.

You nodded. You put the airpod on your other ear. A song is playing. It’s a song of Justin Bieber entitled “Off my face”. You easily recognized the song since it was one of your favorites now a days.

“I like this song too,” you told him.

“It is nice, right? I listen to it a lot these days,” he told you.

Both of you just listened to the song until it ended, then suddenly a new song had played. The song started “Remember how I used to be so…Stuck in one place, so cold?...”

You noticed Yeonjun got disconcerted.

“This song is good,” you told him. You continue to listen to the song. This is an English song yet you are not really familiar with it.

“It’s really a nice composition. What’s the title of the song? Who’s the artist?” you asked.

“Uhmmmmmm…the song title is “Magic” and the artist is..” he is responding to your question. When you suddenly read the station name, Jichimli.

“Oh we’re already here. We need to get off now.” You removed the airpod from your ear, thanked him for lending it, grabbed his arm up and ran towards the bus door.

You reached the place and purchased tickets. The ticket booth for the Bamboo Forest is located at the top of the steps at the entrance. Upon ticket purchased, you also receive a brochure which includes a map written in Korean and English language. The map shows you all of the trails and points of interest within the park.

You entered the Bamboo Forest. You remember what your manager said that this bamboo forest is open year-round and one of the great things about bamboo is that it’s green for most of the year too.

“It’s similar to bamboo forest of Arashiyama in Kyoto,” you blurted out.

“You visited Japan as well?” Yeonjun asked.

“Yeah, last year,” you got your phone and started to take videos and pictures.

There are only few people in the forest, maybe because it’s autumn. Bamboo forest is more popular during spring or summer, where the color of the surrounding is lush green.

Because there’s only few people and you are in open space. You decided to remove your mask on.

“It really feels refreshing here…especially without facemask on,” you told while enjoying the autumn breeze under the towering bamboos.

Other people also do not have their mask on. You noticed Yeonjun still keeping his mask on. He noticed you staring at him.

Seems like he understands why you are staring at him. “I’m more comfortable with my mask on,” he explained.

“I see,” you nodded.

According to your previous research Juknokwon is a cultivated bamboo forest that is 310,000 square meters and was opened in 2005. It is one of the northernmost bamboo forests on the peninsula. There are 8 trails that can be followed and they are intertwined.

It seems that getting lost is not in the vocabulary of this place. There are information boards posted throughout the forest which direct you around easily.

From the main entrance, Unsudaetong Road (Good Luck Road) is the first path that you and Yeonjun went on that leads to the Bonghwangru Observatory. On this road, it is said that if you can toss a coin into the Unsudaetong, or Box of Good Charm, you’ll have 10 years good luck so you both decided to give it a try.

You pulled out a coin from your pocket, “I’ll try first”. You tossed the coin and it successfully went in to the box!

“Yes! 10 years of good luck!” you are so happy and gave Yeonjun a sudden big hug.

You suddenly snapped into reality and realized what you did. You immediately moved away.

 “Y-your turn,” you told Yeonjun feeling warmth in your cheeks.

“O-Okay.” Yeonjun also toss the coin and it also went in to the box!

“Nice!” Yeonjun put his hand is the air.

You gave him two thumbs up, “Nice! 10 years of good luck for us!”

The bamboo forest has a lot of unique art installations and traditional Korean pavilions. Many rest areas are placed along the hiking paths where people can sit down, enjoy the shade, and relax their feet for a while. There are numerous different sculptures, statues, and photo ops throughout the trails.

You continue to take some photos of the surrounding.

“Don’t you want to take some photos with you on it? I can take photos of you,” Yeonjun offered.

Indeed, you want that for souvenir. You immediately responded, “yes please, I’ll also take photos of you after.””

You are going to take Yeonjun’s photo. “Yeonjun, can you remove your mask?” you asked him.

Yeonjun seems hesitant and looked around then he took off the mask.

You two take turn in taking photos. “You are really good at posing Yeonjun. It feels like I’m doing a photoshoot,” you told Yeonjun as you scroll on the photos of him you’ve taken.

“Says who? Look at your photos too here,” Yeonjun shows the photos of you that he had taken.

You indeed posed too as if you are in a photoshoot. This maybe came off naturally since you had been doing photoshoots in a long time.

Then you reached another trail, you observed that there are people walking hand-in-hand. You read the signage “Lover’s Lane”.

 “Oh, that’s why,” you talked to yourself.

Yeonjun observed you reading the signage. “A lot of couples here, huh?” he spoke.

“Jealous? If you feel lonely. Here. You can hold my hand,” you grinned at Yeonjun, teasing him on purpose.

But then suddenly you felt something warm enveloped your hand. Yeonjun had wrapped his hand on your hand tightly.

“I do feel lonely, will you make me happy then?” he flashed you a seductive smirked.

“H-hey, I w-was just joking,” you told him frantically.

But his hand seemed impossible to let go, “You started this,” his smirked became wider.

“That reminds me, we don’t have a photo together yet,” Yeonjun stopped on walking and looked at you.

“Y-yeah, so let my hand go and I’ll get my phone. Let’s take a selfie, “you told him trying to find away to let him go of your hand.

“Not possible,” he pulled his phone with his free hand. “I have another hand, see? We can take selfie with this. Okay…now smile…3,2,1 cheese!”

Yeonjun snapped a number of selfies where he tried to pose sweetly on purpose to annoy you. You definitely thought that you don’t have a good shot with those selfies he’d taken.

He was continuously teasing you, when you heard someone.

“Is that Choi Yeonjun?!” some female said.

“He really looks like Choi Yeonjun of TXT!” another female said loudly.

Yeonjun seemed in a huge panic and immediately put back his mask on. He started walking faster pulling you in the process.

You are confused. Choi Yeonjun of TXT? Yeonjun who are you really? You thought.

You both walked so fast as if you are already running. You reached the back of the forest where no one is except the two of you, there was a small clearing with a few small ponds and hanok-style buildings.

You took a break here to sit on the “daecheong maru” (wooden flooring).

“What was that, Yeonjun?” you pulled your hand away.

“Nothing,” he responded.

“Really? It seems like they know you. They even call for your name. Choi Yeonjun of TXT. That’s what they said. You seemed to panic and run away,” you were confused.

“I’ll tell you later. Let’s just go back first. It will not be safe here,” he looked at you seriously.