Peninsula: From a supporting actor to the best actor in Chungmuro

Chapter 33 Happy Birthday
The automatic door of the convenience store dinged, and the calico cat jumped down from the air conditioner outdoor unit and rubbed against Jiang Zaixun's trouser leg to beg for canned food.

As he tore open the can of tuna, the corner of his eye caught sight of the neon-lit soju advertisement - Bae Suzy's smiling face holding the soju bottle was particularly dazzling in the twilight.

Jiang Jae-hoon stared at the slightly raised lips in the poster for two seconds, then turned around and went back to the cashier.

Four bottles of Churaku Soju in the plastic bag made crisp sounds as they collided with each step.

After arriving at the door of his house, Jiang Zaixun used his knees to support the soju bottle, and freed his hands to hold the cake box tightly in his arms.

"Click."

The sensor light came on as the door opened.

Jiang Zaixun stuffed the dumbbell gift box under the coffee table and hid the soju in the deepest shadow of the cupboard.

The six-inch cake box was placed upright in the refrigerator's freezer, and the celery juice that Li Sheng often drank was moved to the corner in the compartment.

After dealing with all this, Jiang Jae-hoon began to clean up.

Nine o'clock.

Jiang Jae-hoon collapsed on the sofa and watched TV.

The weather forecast anchor was gesturing the typhoon's path, and Kang Jae-hoon switched the remote control from SBS to MBC and then back to mute.

The shadow of the clothes rack on the balcony swayed to the floor with the night wind, and the Kakao prompt sound suddenly rang.

Kang Jae-hoon took out his phone - it was a weightlifting video posted by Kang Ha-neul, with the caption [Hyung-sik said he can knock Kim Woo-bin away with one punch after training].

Jiang Zaixun paused for a moment with his thumb hovering over the dialog box, and finally replied with a rabbit emoticon saying "Come on" in the group.

Ten seven.

When Jiang Zaixun was wiping the already shiny surface of the coffee table for the sixth time, the unique rhythm of high heels tapping on the floor finally came from the corridor. He hurriedly grabbed the remote control and turned up the volume.

The sweet voice of the SBS evening news anchor just drowned out the sound of the key inserting into the lock.

"Is the commercial finished?"

He heard the soft click of metal hooks in the hallway.

"Ah."

Lee Sung-kyung took off her high heels and hung her bag chain on the hook in the entrance.

"Have you had dinner?"

"The company ordered a light meal."

"The bathroom water heater is already heated."

"Thanks."

The moment the shower sounded in the bathroom, Jiang Jae-hoon jumped up, opened the refrigerator, and carefully took out the cake.

The digital candle "24" is firmly inserted between the two words "roommate" decorated with cream.

The moment he heard the sound of the hair dryer in the bathroom, he quickly pressed the lighter to light the candle and turned off the ceiling light in the living room.

In the darkness, the only sound was the hum of the refrigerator and the hair dryer, and the flickering candlelight cast tiny shadows on the surface of the cream.

After a while.

Lee Sung-kyung opened the bathroom door with half-wet hair and suddenly stopped at the intersection of light and shadow - Kang Jae-hoon's shadow was cast on the wall by the candlelight, and it swayed into a distorted exclamation mark as the flames swayed.

His birthday song got stuck at the word "wish" and ended without any further progress - the candles were blown out by the wind created by him holding up the cake.

"..."

The moment the flames rekindled, Lee Sung-kyung's eyelashes cast a fine shadow under her eyes. She leaned against the door frame with her arms folded.
"The process is as old-fashioned as a supermarket promotion."

Jiang Zaixun was in a dilemma holding the cake:

"The birthday boy now has two choices: make a wish or destroy the show."

The tip of Lee Sung-kyung's slippers rolled through the cracks in the floor and finally stopped at the edge of the coffee table. She closed her eyes and blew out the candle so quickly that Kang Jae-hoon didn't even see if she put her hands together.

"What wish did you make?"

"Speaking out would—"

"It won't work, I know."

When Jiang Zaixun was groping in the dark to turn on the ceiling light, Li Jingjing suddenly kicked his ankle and said, "Don't turn it on."

“Eating cake in the dark?”

"I threw it when I turned on the light."

As Jiang Zaixun fumbled his way back to the sofa, his knee banged hard on the edge of the coffee table. In the darkness, the sound of a plastic knife cutting into butter could be heard, mixed with Li Jingjing's suppressed laughter.

"Animal cream?"

"You said the trans fatty acid content of vegetable butter exceeded the limit."

"Memory is used in strange places."

The sweet feeling of the cream melting on his tongue reminded Kang Jae-hoon of Bae Suzy's smile on the convenience store poster, but the sight of Lee Sung-kyung's lips tightened in the moonlight made him even more nervous.

"I almost forgot—" He suddenly remembered something and reached out to pull out a beautifully wrapped gift box from under the coffee table.

Amidst the crisp sound of the gift box's ribbon being torn, Li Jingjing's voice suddenly changed: "What is this?"

In the light of the reignited candle, Jiang Jae-hoon saw the corners of her mouth twitch.

"You said pink dumbbells were too girly."

".Thanks."

"I knew you'd like it."

Li Jingcheng stared at the bow on the dumbbell, his Adam's apple moved but he didn't say anything.

"Want a drink? Buy three soju, get one free."

Jiang Jae-hoon stood up and put the Chule Soju hidden in the cupboard on the coffee table.

"It will cause swelling."

"But Biblical edema is also very beautiful, and the birthday boy has special privileges~"

"This won't happen again."

Moonlight leaked in through the balcony screen, casting diamond-shaped spots of light on the wooden floor.

The induction light under the door flickered with the footsteps of the upstairs residents returning home, casting a fence-like light and shadow on the skirting board.

The soju slid over the edge of the glass. Li Jingjing pinched the handle of the glass and turned it twice. Suddenly, he knocked the bottom of the glass against the spokesperson portrait of Bae Suzy:
"The spokesperson is much more pleasing to the eye than your female costume in the play."

Jiang Zaixun paused while holding the soju cup.

"You just said...dressing for a play?"

"There was a news segment on the convenience store TV last month."

“I didn’t perform at all last month.”

"Maybe I remembered it wrongly."

"Have you ever seen my play—"

“The cake is too sweet.”

Li Jingjing suddenly grabbed the bottle of wine and took a big gulp. The dumbbell gift box hit his waist with a dull sound. "I'm going back to my room."

"Hey, the wine isn't yet—"

"It tastes bad."

When the door was two-thirds closed, Jiang Zaixun suddenly said to the crack in the door: "The Bible."

"Ok?"

"Happy birthday."

The moonlight perfectly illuminated Lee Sung-kyung's hand as she gripped the doorknob. The nude nail polish on her fingertips shone with a pearlescent sheen, ten times more appealing than the diamond manicures worn by some actresses at award ceremonies.

The sharp edges of the dumbbell box hurt my waist through my pajamas.

Li Shengjing stared at the silver thread on the ground that was cut in half by the moonlight, and a "thank you" came out of his throat lighter than the burst of sparkling wine.

The door closed half a beat slower than usual.

When Jiang Zaixun turned on the light and cleaned up the cake boxes, he found that the cream decoration on his "roommate" was scooped out the cleanest.

In the bedroom.

Li Sheng gently stuffed the dumbbell box into the bottom layer of the wardrobe, but when he turned around, he caught a glimpse of the corner of a card sticking out from the gap in the gift box. The gold-stamped "To" signature shimmered in the moonlight.

To the future supermodels of Korea:

May this touch of Roland Purple be your spiritual support when lifting weights, and let every squat remind you that someone once shared the weight of life with you.

From. Jiang Jae-hoon. 】

Li Shengjing stroked the gold-plated patterns on the card with his fingertips and understood the hidden meaning in just a few words.

This man is clearly saying: Think of me when you lift weights, just like I once carried the weight of life with you.

"Fool."

She spat softly, but her cheeks flushed coral in the darkness.

I just couldn't tell whether it was the aftereffect of the sip of liquor or the throbbing sensation of having my heart touched.

The Samsung phone on the bedside suddenly lit up with a breathing light, and a photo of the sunset they took on the balcony last year appeared on the lock screen - he was holding up the phone, and she was reaching for her sun hat that was blown away by the wind, and the setting sun stretched her shadow very long.

There was a rustling sound of someone packing up cake boxes from the crack in the door, and Jiang Zaixun's footsteps wandered in the living room.

She pulled the thin blanket over her head, the blue light of her sports bracelet flickering on her wrist:

The heart rate monitor showed 112bpm.

(End of this chapter)