PNB Chapter 15 The Little Sun from Busan
Chapter 15 The Little Sun from Busan
Jiang Yan sat up abruptly, rubbing his messy hair. "Come on? Aren't you supposed to arrive at two o'clock? It's still early."
"It's already 11:40! Oppa, hurry up and get up, wash your hair, take a shower, and shave!" The rumbling of suitcase wheels came from Kim Min-jung's end. "I'm going through the ticket check at Busan Station soon! Two and a half hours to Seoul!"
"Okay, okay, there's an announcement on the KTX. They'll call out when we get to Seoul Station." Jiang Yan walked barefoot on the cool wooden floor to the restroom to squeeze toothpaste. "Don't just get excited, listen carefully. I'm not coming to pick you up if you get to Incheon Station."
"How could I have sat there? My hearing is perfectly fine!"
As soon as she finished speaking, there was a moment of silence on the other end of the phone. The girl's voice immediately lowered, filled with barely concealed trepidation: "Oppa... do you think people at SM are easy to get along with? When I went out, my neighbor Soon-hee unnie told me that the competition among trainees is extremely fierce, it's common for seniors to bully juniors, and the debut group members are all arrogant and don't pay any attention to newcomers..."
"She came back after being eliminated by JYP, so of course all she can see is this." Jiang Yan put a toothbrush in his mouth, his voice muffled. "Don't listen to her nonsense, there's nothing to be afraid of in Seoul."
"Oppa, you've never worked at SM, how do you know?"
Jiang Yan gave a muffled "hmm," spat out the foam from his mouth, and rinsed it. "You'll know when you get here. By the way, have you had breakfast?"
"I ate! Mom got up at four o'clock to make dumplings for me, and I ate a whole big bowl of them. My belly is still round and full!"
"And another thing, I only realized after I got in the car that Mom secretly stuffed a whole jar of your favorite kimchi in there! It was a huge jar! There was also the soybean paste she made last winter, the radish strips she pickled for three months, and that dried squid you said was delicious when you went back to Busan last time! Half of my suitcase was filled with these things, it's so heavy!"
The little girl rattled off a long string of words. Jiang Yan leaned against the kitchen counter, listening to her crisp voice, and the corners of his mouth unconsciously turned up.
Sunlight streamed through the window and fell on the back of his hand, warm and comforting, easing most of the fatigue from not sleeping well the night before.
……
At 1:50 PM, at the West Exit of Seoul Station.
Jiang Yan leaned against the railing, wearing a newly bought dark blue denim jacket and black ripped jeans, with a black baseball cap backwards, and holding a cup of hot Americano in his hand.
The station's huge glass dome cut the sunlight into countless bright spots, and crowds surged out of the exit like a tide. The sounds of suitcase wheels, voices, and announcements mingled together, giving people a headache.
He glanced down at his phone; the screen displayed a message from Kim Minjung sent two minutes earlier, followed by eight exclamation marks.
[Oppa, I'm getting off the bus!! There are so many people!! Don't move!! I'll find you!!]
Jiang Yan couldn't help but smile, put his phone back in his pocket, and looked up to search through the crowd.
He found her almost immediately.
It wasn't because he had good eyesight, it was because Kim Minjung was just too conspicuous.
A fifteen-year-old girl, dragging a silver suitcase taller than half her own height, carrying a bulging red backpack, and holding a glass jar wrapped in three layers of foam paper in her arms, was tiptoeing through the crowd, looking left and right.
She wore a high ponytail, the ends of which swayed with her movements. The sleeves of her white printed sweatshirt were rolled up to her elbows, revealing her slender wrists.
Because he was too short, he was completely blocked by taller passengers and could only occasionally stand on tiptoe to look out.
Looking at her like this, Jiang Yan couldn't suppress the smile on his lips.
"Kim Minjung!"
The little girl turned her head at the sound, her round eyes accurately locking onto him in the crowd.
The next second, she untied the handle of her suitcase, grabbed the kimchi jar, and charged at him.
"Oppa!!!"
She crashed into his arms like a small cannonball, the glass jar in her arms digging hard between them, causing Jiang Yan to stagger back a step, spilling some of his iced Americano onto the back of his hand.
"Slow down, slow down!" Jiang Yan quickly steadied himself, freeing one hand to support her shoulder, both amused and exasperated. "The can will break if you squeeze it."
"It won't break! Mom wrapped it in three layers of bubble wrap!" Kim Minjung lifted her head from his arms, looked him up and down, and exclaimed, "Oppa, you've become so handsome! This denim jacket looks amazing! Didn't you always wear that faded gray hoodie?"
"I made some money and bought a few new clothes." Jiang Yan smiled and pulled her aside to avoid the crowd surging behind them. He reached out and took the heavy jar from her arms. "You said it wasn't heavy, but your arms were shaking."
"It's not heavy at all!" Kim Minjung stubbornly shook his arm, but honestly took off his backpack and handed it to him. "Mom said that if you live alone, you must be eating instant noodles and rice balls every day, so she asked me to make sure you eat properly."
Jiang Yan held the kimchi jar in one hand and rubbed her head with the other, messing up her neatly tied high ponytail.
"Understood, our little housekeeper."
Kim Minjung broke free from his grasp, took a step back, and tilted his head back to examine him closely.
From his hair to his shoes, her gaze finally settled on his face. She wrinkled her nose and said earnestly, "Oppa, you really seem to have changed."
"What has changed?"
I can't quite explain it.
She tilted her head and thought for a long time, "It's just... you used to always look very tired, like you were carrying a mountain on your back, but now you seem much lighter, and your smile looks better."
Jiang Yan's smile paused slightly.
He looked at the fifteen-year-old girl in front of him, and in the vision of his golden eyes, a bright, tender yellow mist was floating above her head.
It is adorned with countless tiny golden specks, like rapeseed fields blooming all over the hillsides of Busan in March.
Clean and pure, carrying the freshness and anticipation of someone untouched by the world.
"Yes, things have changed." Jiang Yan smiled, picked up the suitcase from the ground, slung the backpack over his shoulder, and handed it to her with one hand free. "Let's go, I'll take you back to our new home."
He said "we" so naturally, but Kim Minjung suddenly froze, standing still.
Jiang Yan took two steps before realizing that the girl hadn't followed. He turned around and saw the girl with her head down, her hands tightly clasped together, and her shoulders trembling slightly.
"wei?"
"It's nothing." Kim Minjung sniffed hard, her eyes were red when she looked up, but she grinned and gave him a big smile. She ran up and hugged his arm. "It's just that... it feels so good to have a home in Seoul and an oppa."
Jiang reached out and flicked her forehead. "Stop being so sentimental. If we don't leave now, we won't be able to get on the subway."
Kim Minjung chuckled twice, rubbing his forehead, and clung to his arm, chattering away the whole way.
She talked about the cherry blossom trees she saw outside the KTX window, the dance she performed at the Liangshan Dance Festival, and how she almost thought an SM talent scout was a scammer when he handed her his business card. She also mentioned that her mother secretly cried before she arrived, saying that if it was too hard, she should go home.
"But I'm not going home!" Kim Minjung raised her chin, her eyes shining with determination. "I'll definitely debut! I'll make sure my mom sees me on TV, and I'll show everyone who looked down on us just how amazing Kim Minjung is!"
Jiang Yan turned his head to look at her profile illuminated by the sunlight. He gripped the handle of his suitcase tightly and walked steadily toward the subway station.
"Yes, our Minjung will definitely become the most dazzling star."