Lee Jongsuk (25 years old)
That Strange New Friend
Woobin’s POV
“Woobin-ah~” My umma rushed over to me.
“Oh umma.” I smiled and welcomed her hug.
“How was your trip my son? Was everything okay?” She asked me worried like usual.
“Yes everything went well.” I gave her a smile.
“Does that mean that you have found what you were looking for?” She asked me.
“Uhh, yeah” I chuckled.
‘I even brought him back and now taking care of him’ I said in my head and chuckled.
“Have you eaten yet my son?” She treated me as if I was a child.
“Yes I just ate.” I said as we walked into the living room.
‘Wait since I’m here I should get some food for Ducky.’ I thought about it.
“What are you suddenly moving out? It makes me sad.” She said making me think of what to say.
“Ummm… I just want to live independently for a while. It’s not like I haven’t moved out before.” I said and sat down on the couch beside my umma.
“You’re right, you always come back home after a while.” She said making me a bit embarrassed. Yes I’ve moved out in the past but things never go right and so I moved back in and still live with my parents.
“Umma, I should just leave the house for good then.” I joked with her but I was determined.
“Why would you do that? You should first get a girlfriend and then move into a new house her.” She said.
“Again with getting a girlfriend. I’m fine being single.” I said back carefree.
“You say that but you can’t even take care of yourself properly.” She said making me think about it. She is true but it can change.
“So where are you moving this time?” She asked me.
‘Huh? She doesn’t know yet? Well that’s even better! She wouldn’t go visit me whenever she wants.’ I said in my head.
“I’m just moving in with a friend that lives near the campus.” I lied.
“What’s the address?” She asked.
“Umma, I’m not going to tell you. If I do then you’ll come by everyday with a bunch of things. I don’t want that happening again.” I said to her.
“You don’t like it that I buy things for you? I just want you to live there comfortably.”
“It’s okay. I can take care of myself.”
“Can you?” She raised a brow.
“Well for the most part I can.” I said back.
‘She right… I’ve lived on my own let alone take care of another person…’ I said in my head.
“Umma, I’m going to use the bathroom.” I said and got up. I didn’t really had to use the bathroom though. I wanted to go to the kitchen and see if I can steal some food.
“Umm ex...cuse me…” I said awkwardly. As I peered into the kitchen. All of the workers glanced at me and one of then walked over.
“Yes young master?”
“Umm I was wondering… I can I take some food with me?” I said and scratched my head
“Of course. What is it that you want to take?” She asked me but I wasn’t sure.
“Just a bit of everything. Maybe a lot of everything.” I changed it.
“Okay, we will pack it for you.”
“Would you like to have a look at the food?” She asked me.
“Oh sure.” I said and walked in.
“This, this, oh and that.” I pointed around. There was so much food and I have the feeling that Ducky would enjoy eating all of this.
“Yes.” They started packing everything.
“When I don’t finish it I can put it in the fridge right?”
“Oh yes but it wouldn’t be as good. Do you not have a cook at your place?”
“Oh, uh yeah not yet.” I said. I wasn’t sure what I would do about it. I mean I doubt I can learn how to cook anytime soon nor do I think Ducky would like another person in the house. And ordering food for every meal seems really annoying.
“Would you like me to find you one?” She asked me.
“Umm not now. Don’t worry I’ll take care of it myself soon.” I said back.
“Oh my son, what are you doing here?” Umma walked in.
“Huh? Oh uh I’m just…”
“The young master wants to take some food back to his place.” The worker answered.
“Take it home?” She seemed surprise.
“But why? There aren’t any workers at your new place?” She was shocked that I was actually taking food back home. I’ve never done this before so she’s probably worried.
“Umm I’m in the process of hiring.”
“Oh my poor baby. Why don’t you stay here for a few days until someone is hired?”
“No it’s fine. I can just take some of this for now. Tomorrow! Tomorrow I’ll hire someone” I made something up. I need to hire a worker no matter what because I doubt that one of us would be able to take care of the entire house.
“Really?” She was doubting me.
“Yes.” I said back.
“Okay. Ajumma pack everything for Woobin.”
“Oh umma~” I was happy. If it was just me then I would have said no but it’s for Ducky so I should just accept her gratitude.
“I don’t want my only son to starve.” He said worried for me. Right after I just wanted to go back to Ducky with all the food so I told her that I had to take care of something a.k.a. Ducky. We loaded all the food containers into the truck in which they had barely fit. Once everything was done I bid my goodbye and darted right off. I kept on glancing back to make sure my umma wasn’t following me. Once she was inside I turned the car around and headed to the other directions to the back house. I drove up to the house and was excited to go inside. I went into the trunk and took out all of the food containers. It was a bit too much but hey Ducky is a big eater. I grabbed two of the bundles and then went to open the door. When opening the door I was kind of expecting Ducky to rush towards me but no one was in sight.
‘Where is he?’ I wondered.
‘Ah~ maybe he doesn’t know that its me.’ I thought.
“Ducky!” I called out to him but there was nothing.
“Where are you?” I asked out loud as I went into the kitchen. I set the things on the counter before going to look for him. I was a bit worried since I didn’t see him or hear him. I walked out of the kitchen and glanced around the house.
“Where is he? Is he sleeping?” I wondered. I walked down the hallway and opened each door to check if he was inside one of the rooms. I then opened the door to the cinema room and saw that there was a movie playing on the screen. I noticed that Ducky was sitting on one of the seats staring up to the screen.
‘How did you know to turn it on?’ I wondered.
“Oh, Woobin!” He rushed over to me. I smiled immediately when I saw him.
“What are you doing?” I asked him as I looked at the big screen. I believe it was the movie Cinderella.
“I made it show up.” He pointed to the screen excited.
“Yes, I can see that.” I chuckled.
“How did you figure it out?” I asked him.
“I just pressed these.” He pointed to the control box.
“You’re so smart.” I said and patted his head.
“Woobin the humans up there have yellow hair and blue eyes. They are Westerners right?” He asked excited.
“Yes, you know about Westerners?” I was surprise.
“Yes! I haven’t seen any in real life but some merfolks have. The rest only see them in paintings.” He said so excited.
“Well you can go see some blonde hair and blue eyed people in the future. I’ll help you.” I said with a smile.
“Really?” He was so happy.
“Yeah, speaking of helping. Can you come help me?” I asked him.
“Oh, yes! What can I help you with?” He asked me.
“Let’s turn this off first.” I said as I walked over to the control box. My sister must have been the last person to watch a movie here, which explains why Cinderella was on.
“Woobin, is that a television?” He pointed to the screen.
“Yeah, sort of. Do you know what it does?” I chuckled.
“I was told that moving images show up like magic. I’ve never seen a television that worked. It really is like magic.” He said back.
“It is pretty amazing.” I agreed with him. Humans are becoming so innovated that it’s almost unbelievable.
“It’s so big! It’s like many many time bigger then the one out there and that one is already really big!” I think he meant the one in the living room.
“There are even bigger ones.” I said as I walked over to him.
“Really? Why is it so big?” He asked me.
“Ummm, well people believe the bigger the better.” I explained it simply.
“Ohhh~” He nodded. We then walked out to the kitchen.
“I brought a lot of food back. Can you help me put it in the fridge?” I asked him
“Uh, okay.” He nodded. We went back into the kitchen and I showed him what to do.
“First you untie the fabric.” I said trying to untie it. It was tied pretty tight so I was struggling a bit.
“It’s hard?” He looked at me a smile.
“A bit.” I said and finally got it.
“Afterwards you put this into the fridge.” I turned to the fridge.
“Ahh~ this stores food right?” He cocked his head.
“Yeah.” I said and opened the door to the fridge. I placed the container inside and Ducky immediately pooped his head close to it.
“It’s cold in here.” He said as he looked around.
“It’s cold so that the food wouldn’t go bad.” I explained. He then got the other container and placed it right beside the one in the fridge.
“There are more in the car. I’ll go get it.” I said and went to the front door.
“I’ll help open the door.” He said making me smile.
“Yes, thanks.” I went to the trunk of the car and took out two more before walking back to the door.
“Here you go.” I handed it to me.
“There is a lot of food.” He said excited.
“Yeah, be sure to finish it all up.” I chuckled. We did a few trips from the car and back into the house since there was so much. After grabbing the last container I closed the trunk and went back inside tiredly.
“We’re done~” I sighed as I dragged my feet into the kitchen. Ducky was diligently untying the clothes and putting the containers into the fridge.
“Are you tired?” He asked me.
“A bit.” I sneered. When we were done I just wanted to sit down so I went into the living room and collapsed onto the couch. Ducky followed me and sat down beside me. He just seems so gentle or maybe it's because I’m naturally a rough person. Even just sitting down he seems like a little cat claiming his spot.
“So what are the questions you have fore me?” I smiled and looked at him. I knew that he had a lot on his mind after exploring the house.
“Hmmm, I have a lot.” He giggled.
“Just ask me then.”
“What is this?” He patted the couch.
“It’s like a big chair but also a bed.” He said confused.
“Yes it’s a bit of both. It’s a couch. People just sit on it but you can lie down on it too.” I explained. He then continued pointing around and asked questions. Occasionally I would ask back at him since I was curious as to what it was like under the sea where the merfolks live.
“Ah that’s right I can use the Internet right now.” I took my phone out and turned the screen on.
“What’s the internet?” Ducky asked me.
“It’s…” I didn’t know how to explain it.
“Something really hard to explain” I chuckled.
“But it’s really useful. It has everything that want to know.” I said as I went into the Internet browser.
“It knows everything?” Ducky was surprise.
“Yeah just about everything. “ I said. What I wanted to do was to figure out Ducky’s age.
“What’s your age again?” I asked him.
“12 merlives.” He said as he stared at the screen of my phone.
“And you said it was when the moon is covered?”
“Mmhm~ The moon also turns red.”
“Ohh~ Isn’t that called Blood Moon?” I asked myself. I then started looking around and went on different websites.
“What are you doing?” He asked me as he made himself comfortable against my shoulder.
“I’m looking up the dates of the blood years in the past.”
“Ohhh… So if you count 12 of the Blood Moons then you can find my human age?” He asked me cutely.
“Yeah I suppose so. I doubt you’re older then me.” I sneered.
“Why?” He asked.
“Umm, you look younger then me.” I said.
‘I don’t think I would be fine with calling you hyung…’ I said in my head and chuckled. I continued looking it up. After figuring out which area to look up I started counting the amount of total lunar eclipse going backwards to 12.
“Let’s see... there was one this year… One last year…” I started counting all of the total lunar eclipse.
“February 10, 1990… would be the twelfth.” I finished.
“Oh we’re similar in age then” I was surprised. I was born in 1989, which is just one year earlier.
“Really? That’s interesting!” His eyes lit up.
“I was born like right in the middle of the two blood moons.” He said as he continued staring at the screen.
“In between?... So it’s February of 1989 and February of 1990. In between is…Well that’s an entire year and half a year is 6 months. February plus 6 or 7 months…”
“That’s around August and September. Woah~ we were born were close to each other.” I was surprise.
“Really? Oh, when was Woobin born?” He asked me
“July 16, 1989. So I’m a bit older then you.” I said proudly.
“Ohh~ That’s good.” He said making me wonder.
“Why is it good?”
“Huh?... Umm that means Woobin can help me like a younger sibling.” He said shyly.
“Even if you were older I still would need to take care of you.” I chuckled and ruffled his hair.
“Hmm but you still need an exact birthday.”
“Oh ,can it be the day that I got my legs? I felt like I was born again as a human.” He said cutely as he raised his feet up and wiggled his toes.
“Sure, so the day before yesterday?” I said and check the calendar.
“That would be September 14. Oh I think that’s actually close to your real birthday. What a coincidence.” I smiled widely.
What’s September?” He asked me.
“September is the name of the month.”
“Ah! I think I know what it is.” He smiled.
“September 14… Haha~ my birthday.” He giggled.
“Yeah, your birthday is September 14, 1989. You had just turned 25 just like me”
“So I’m 25 umm human age?” He asked me.
“It’s 25 years old.” I explained to him.
“Ahh~ years old. What’s a year?” He asked me.
“Ummm a year is 365 days. And a day is when you wake up when the sun is up and then it becomes nighttime when the moon comes up. Understand?”
“Yes~ 365 days! Is 1989 the year number?” He asked. I was actually getting a bit confused and frustrated since it was hard to explain from nothing. I mean humans created it and so we just follow it. As for the reasons, I don’t really know.
“Yeah sort of. 1989 is the year when you and I were born and the year right now is 2015.”
“Ahh~ There’s a lot of numbers.” He smiled sheepishly.
“Yeah, I’ll teach you more about it when we have the time.” I said as I looked at him hugging onto my arm.
“So how old are you?” I asked him to see if he could answer it properly.
“25 years old!” He answered happily.
“When is your birthday?”
“Ummm September 15, 1989!” He answered correctly.
‘Oh then his birthday just passed… He didn’t even have a birthday celebration.’ I thought about it.
‘I should buy him a cake. His first birthday cake.’ I said in my head and smiled. I then stick with the plan and was going to go buy a cake for him later.
“Since I’m older… call me hyung.” I said feeling a bit cocky now that I know I’m older.
“Hyung?” He was confused.
“Yes.”
“It means older brother?” He asked me with pout.
“Yes” I nodded.
“Oh, hyung~” He said with a smile.
“That’s right, my bro.” I smirked as I placed my arm over his shoulder.
‘So for is birthday I would buy a cake that says ‘Happy Birthday Duck-…. That’s kind of an awkward name…’ I just realized it
‘He needs a real name. We should figure it out right now as well’ I decided.
“Now that we know your age you need a name.”
“A Name? For me?” He was confused.
“Yeah” I nodded
“Ducky!” He said happily.
“No, a real proper name.” I said back and giggled.
“I like Ducky though.” He pouted.
‘I’m glad that you like it.’ I smirked.
“Really? I just made that name up for you on the spot.” I chuckled.
“That’s why! Woobin gave me that name.” He said with a big smile.
“That can be your nickname but for now you need a proper name.” I said as I looked up different Korean name generators. I decided to download and app and see how it chooses.
“What are you doing?” He peered over to me.
“This thing helps me choose a name for you.” I explained as I waited for it to finish downloading. When I opened it, it told me to put my original name.
‘I guess I’ll put my own name and see what pops up.’ I said and I typed in my name.
‘You’re a male, Kim Woobin, and then generate!” I clicked the button and waited.
“Okay! We have a name here for you.” I said excited as I looked at his facial expression. He probably has no idea what’s on the screen right now and was really anxious.
“What is it?” He asked me.
“Your ‘family name’ would be Lee and ‘last name’ Jongsuk. Your name is Lee Jongsuk!” I read to him. I looked over to see his expression and he seems happy about it.
“Lee Jongsuk~” He said out loud.
“You like it?” I asked him.
“Mmhm~ Woobin likes it?” he asked me.
“Yeah. It sounds nice.” I answered him. It did sound nice and it’s a name that suits him.
“So my name is Lee Jongsuk?” He asked me happily.
“Yes. Jongsuk-ah” I said and ruffled his hair.
“Woobi-no~ hyung~!” He chuckled as he tried to stop me from teasing him.
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