06

susurrus

(a low soft sound made by wind)

17th June, 2019

THE tumultuous breeze, lifted the glistening strands of Ju Ho's hair and positioned them irregularly on his head, forming a tousled mess. The sun was high up in the sky, cascading its mellow warmth over his skin.

Ju Ho could almost swear that the quality of the air was diminishing rapidly. There was a suffocating mixture of negative energy running around. He had been delaying the date of filtration for quite a while because of the lack of time.

There was some serious construction and drilling work being carried out on the road, near his place. Seeing how it blocked the road to his bakery, he had calculated and concluded that most customers wouldn't come for the day. Less customers meant an almost useless day.

Taking the chance, he had set out for the canola flower field of Mount Sanbang. Before Jung Woo acted on a whim again, he needed to set things right. Or atleast pretend to do so. That's what he could do beside consoling him and talking it out. Evidently, the other things were not working on him. He seemed so desperate to live a normal life. He wanted acceptance from everyone. Why was this so tough?

Ju Ho had Jung Woo since childhood. He had always been the subject of scrutiny and mockery. Ju Ho would try his best to shield him from everyone. A desperation to exclude himself from the outside world grew inside Jung Woo's heart with the passage of time.

A vulnerable heart was always prone to being mined by others. Jung Woo struggled with some minor speech disorders which made him a hot topic for every class he had been in. Supposedly, no one had seen someone as 'hideous' as him. Little children with poison oozing out from their tongues never realised how their words affected their schoolmate. Those scabs that formed inside his mind was all because of them.

Were children really like flowers who couldn't hurt others? Or were they just disguised thorns? How much was another person expected to endure it? Ju Ho could feel a sense of guilt engulfing him as he remembered how he had lashed out on his best friend for being sensitive. It was not even his fault. He was just asking for the bare minimum.

As the yellow petals and dancing stems of the glistening field came into view, Ju Ho slowed down. Being here brought make nostalgic memories. His parents used to bring him for picnics and holidays. They were such a loving and normal middle class family. What more would a child want than a shelter with enough food and vigilant parents?

Maybe, he asked for something more. Maybe, it was his greed. He was the reason he was alone now. Sometimes, he wondered how his mother was doing. Was she alive? Did she end up building another family? Did he deserve to know or look for her?

He got down from his vehicle with a determined face. He would set things right. He needed to. On the gigantic body of a nearby tree, he quickly parked his cycle and untied the table fan that was kept just behind his seat.

Carefully holding the body of his fan, he marched off to the distant corner of the field.

With some application of much needed physical strength and the resultant river of sweat on his body, Ju Ho prepared his fan for the filtration of the air. He had remembered to get extra batteries just in case it runs out of energy in the middle.

As his body relaxed on the green grass, he could feel his clothes feeling wetter than before. The current weather was suddenly facing a sharp rise of temperature after all the shower of rain. The ground had no sign of being showered on, due to the sun's radiance.

He bent down to fix his shoelaces before moving his eyes towards the landscape infront of him again. Surprisingly, he was the one only in the area.

Ju Ho noticed a dour faced man, walking towards him while watching his actions closely, with a sharp frown. His stocky build, resting in tight black clothes kind of put him off-guard. He couldn't help but study his insane proportions with avid interest. How much dedication for the gym and protein intake resulted into that?

Ju Ho casually imagined the muscular body of the man vibing to 'Hype Boy' while running on a treadmill and filming an unusual reel or a TikTok.

Very unrealistic.

It wasn't until the man towered over Ju Ho that he realised that he was dwelling in a world, that wasn't really unsullied to exist in. He had to crane his neck upwards to meet the eyes of the intruder. He wasn't expecting someone to approach him during the filtration.

"It would be better if you keep yourself and your fan away from this area." the man stated tartly as he briefly looked at his fan. "We are using this land for shooting today. Onlookers are going to be a menace. The shooting team would be arriving shortly."

"There's no way I can do so." condemned Ju Ho, crossing his arms and tried to meet his eyes firmly. He could feel a rush of panic inside him. "I have already cleared my schedule for today to be here."

"Aye, do you think you are going to catch a glimpse of celebrities, if you continue being persistent?" a sinister grin played on his Bratz doll look-alike lips. "How do y'all get the news of shooting dates? Enough with the drama already. Go away or else I would be transporting you, from here to some remote place."

Ju Ho rolled his eyes. He needed to stretch time and distract this new problem. However, there was a high chance that the intimidating man wasn't throwing empty threats on his face considering the fact that he was built sturdily.

He took a quick glance at the fan. The blades of the fan were still rotating rapidly, indicating how it hadn't even filtered one tenth of the Jeju air. It had just got started and was going to take a couple of hours atleast.

"Very rude of you to threaten me without even introducing yourself." Ju Ho placed his left hand on on the edge of his waist, challenging the person standing infront of him. "I am here to enjoy a day off from work. Why are you assuming that I'm some crazy fan?"

"The name is Ji Chang Min. I am a rented guard for today." a frown formed on Chang Min's face. "It's my job to ensure that the celebrities are safe. Please refrain from trying to act smart. I don't like to repeat myself. Leave if you don't want to feel yourself flying from here."

"I am just trying to use my human rights. What's wrong in doing that?" scoffed Ju Ho, glibly. There was nothing that was coming to his mind.

"This is South Korea, idiot!" scolded Chang Min.

"What's with the commotion?" a foreign voice entered the scene. Both of the grown up men were so engrossed in their conversation that they barely noticed the short stature of another bald man, watching them intently some ten centimetres away, with a cup of warm coffee in his hand.

"Good morning, director sir." Chang Min immediately bowed right after a gasp of realisation left his lips. Following him, Ju Ho presented his greetings too, in the same way. He was quite sure that he would have no room for argument now.

"That's some beautiful face we have here." the director's eyes moved on Ju Ho's lean frame, from top to bottom. "Who is he?"

"Sir, I have been trying to persuade him to leave this place. He's been arguing with me since the last ten minutes. He keeps on insisting to be present here. He's some random man wanting to celebrate his holiday by enjoying this scenery."

"Well, having divergent views will just create arguments. Why do you want to stay here? You seem to be local."

"I am indeed, a local. Sir, all I want is to spend my holiday here. Why did our schedules have to overlap?" complained Ju Ho. "I can't cancel my plans."

An audible sigh of anguish left the guard's mouth as he scratched his scalp. He looked at the director with a raised eyebrow. Clear dislike about Ju Ho's presence, circulated in his body language. The director just smiled back and motioned with his hands to say that it was alright.

"Do you want to play a role in my drama?"

"Huh?" blinked Ju Ho, surprise colouring the contours of his face.

"The only solution we have right now is this. You can just show your face in this episode for a few minutes and thus, can stay here. It's just a simple small role."

"But he can be a stalker or someone dange -"

"I'm talking." the director faced Chang Min with a big frown before returning back to Ju Ho's face. "Have you never been casted before? It's a surprise that someone so beautiful never joined our industry."

"No. I don't know how to act -" Ju Ho started.

"You don't need to." the director interrupted immediately. "Your job is to display your flower like face in a delicate way. I am quite disappointed. Jeju surely needs a building of casting directors."

"I am very good at acting cute." Ju Ho proceeded to be hold his face as if it was a flower and winked.

"It's a revenge drama."

His hands automatically shifted from his face to his back. A brief silence reigned before he found his voice again. "Oh."

"I hope that you haven't been a bully in your remote past, boy. Just don't bring scandals when this episode airs." resonated the director, looking away. He looked like he was having intense flashbacks of his previous show's scandals.

Ju Ho pursed his lips. "Definitely. I have a clean history. You don't need to worry."

"It better be." the director looked at him with a playful grin and patted his shoulders. "How much you would like to be paid? I can't spend millions on you."

"I wouldn't ask for that. I can do it for free if you would like me to."

The director laughed as if he had cracked the joke of the century. "I am not a miser. I appreciate art with how much I can afford to pay. Follow me."

The man retreated as Ju Ho followed his closely with light steps. Chang Min was still standing where he had been. He turned around to meet his eyes and motioned that his fan should remain there without any external disturbance.

He could see the flicker of displeasure run through Chang Min's face before he gave him a thumbs up. There was no way he would ever get along with him.

Ju Ho was tempted to blow a flying kiss and wink towards the guard's direction but refrained from acting that way. What's the point of boasting off his victory? He could still end up in a dumpster later, if he tried to piss him off.

Without wasting his time, he focused on the random job offer he had stumbled across for the moment. Who knew? He could end up enjoying his time and later catch this episode playing on the telivision. It would probably feel surreal later.

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