The Sofa Ritual
Working-Class Mr. Ahn's Unscheduled Visits to Dr. Yeon's Clinic continues...
Missed Part 1? Start here → PART 1
Warning: this post deals with some heavier psychological topics and dark fictional elements. Everything here is totally fictional.
Grandmother's Old House
J: The brick crafting seems to be going deep, I find myself funny too, but if I were to send you my crafted bricks to lightly amuse you before Monday comes...
Suho would have had to receive rehabilitation at the hospital for about 2 years after waking up, so returning to Byeoksan High immediately after waking would've been realistically impossible. And after 2 years of rehabilitation, he'd already be 21, and at 21, Si-eun would be in his 2nd year of medical school.
So rather than returning to Byeoksan High, I thought he would have taken the 'qualification exam' — an exam that gives graduation qualifications equivalent to high school graduation even for people like Suho who have circumstances and didn't graduate high school. Suho would have taken that qualification exam and kept his long-standing promise with grandmother.
And at the point when the rehabilitation ended, grandma who used to press her cheek against Suho's cheek once a day, giving him the unconditional love he should have received from his parents, would have closed her eyes. Seeing her grandson running around energetically even if not as much as before, she would have closed her eyes peacefully and happily...
That would have been exactly 2 years after Suho's post-coma, after the seal was broken from being Sleeping Beauty, in 'spring.' And at this time I hope Suho inherited that old house grandmother left behind and went to see it.
The house would need repair work to sell or rent out, but an extremely old house left as is because there's no big money for construction. So I imagined in detail Suho getting help from Young-i, starting part-time work that could accumulate large sums relatively quickly, fixing things one by one from broken boilers to rusted water pipes.
After it becomes a 'livable' space for people to enter, Suho asking Si-eun 'want to live together?' That would have happened when the two puppies turned 21, in summer, when Si-eun's 2nd year medical school summer vacation started. Wouldn't that be the beginning of them living together for the next 5 years...
Asuka! I hope you enjoy the approaching Monday holiday with a glass of single malt. I hope you successfully completed your remaining relatively light projects too. I'll email again after boogeyman Mon-Tuesday passes.
Your wireless bricklayer Jen.
P.S. The photo is from a movie called 'Architecture 101.' This is exactly what I pictured for grandma's only inheritance, that 'old house.'
The Sofa Ritual
Asuka: Here is a light fluff piece for you, based on a lovely, lovely scene you drafted.
The two pups squeezed on one sofa, blue light from the tv casting patterns and shadows all around them as their eyes dulled. The sound had long been dimmed into the barest hum, weaving the fist pumps of ecstatic baseballers, the roars of their fans and the practiced excitement of the commentators into a tapestry of white noise.
Suho went out first, his cheek compressed against Si-eun's thigh like a warm hotteok. On occasion he drooled, a sure sign he was asleep and not pretending as he sometimes did for his own unknowable, Suhoesque reasons, but Si-eun didn't mind. He had tasted Suho straight from his lips; a small patch of moisture on his thigh was nothing.
Si-eun often hugged a small pillow while watching tv with Suho. This was to facilitate the tricky bit, which came next: shifting Suho's head off his thigh and placing it as gently as possible onto the pillow, his thigh substitute. Si-eun took this as seriously as surgery. When done, he would then shift Suho in towards the backrest of the sofa, also as gently as possible; he didn't want Suho to fall out somewhere in the night. The ritual ended with Si-eun squeezing by Suho's side.
Despite Si-eun's best efforts, Suho always woke up during the shifting. But he had perfect control of his sleep face, and Si-eun had not yet suspected anything. For Suho, the magic happened right after Si-eun tucked him to the back, and just before he lay by his side. Within this little sliver of twilight were some of the most tender moments he had ever experienced. And they only came when Si-eun thought he was asleep. Sometimes he's still so shy… Alas there was no other way to archive them but to lock them in his heart.
Often, Si-eun traced Suho's eyebrows. Sometimes he very lightly touched the tip of Suho's nose with his own. Sometimes he kissed Suho's forehead. Occasionally he traced Suho's lips. This was ticklish as hell and Suho had to pretend to twitch to get Si-eun to stop — it was either that or exploding with laughter in Si-eun's face and possibly losing all this exclusive sleep therapy.
But it was whenever Si-eun started whispering in his ear that Suho had to remind himself to breathe. His favourites?
"Hyung. Suho hyung." These were precious nocturnal words that never saw the light of day. Hyung had to try his best not to smile.
Or "Stay with me." And Suho had thought back "Always."
And once, "My Suho my guardian, I love you so much." And he was grateful for his closed eyelids that kept his misty eyes a secret.
Suho would wake first, and usually the tv was still switched on. Then he would rib Si-eun about raising his electricity bill. Si-eun would reply something about 'the price of Yeon Clinic visits.'
One mystery remained for Suho: he had shamelessly given Si-eun full permission to grab him below the waist at all times and all places. And as their closeness deepened, Si-eun had indeed taken the chance to do so some mornings. But he had never done so at night, and this puzzled Suho.
The truth was simple: Si-eun always wanted Suho to have the sort of deep rest that eluded him on many nights. He respected the peace of sleep and wished it upon the other half of his soul.
This was also why he always left the tv on. He worried that a sudden change of ambience would wake his hyung.
And he also wanted to see Suho's face all the way till fatigue tipped him into dreams. He hoped Suho would follow him in. It didn't usually happen.
But Si-eun never stopped trying.
If I Could I'd Kick Monday Away
J: Hey Asuka, if I could I'd kick Monday away! I'm so happy about the side dish bliss cooked by a 5-star hotel chef.
Tomorrow on my way home from work I'll read it word by word and cry all the way home hahaha.
This morning on my way to work... did you see it too? Netflix made a video of Benjamin flirting with Si-eun? Sometimes I think reality's delulu design is bolder than our deluluverse hahaha.
Oh Asuka, in gochu jabchae when 'Little Suho' was holding his head up stiffly, when I was reading this chapter I left you a review saying 'if it was puppy Si-eun in his early twenties, he would've frantically tried to soothe Little Suho somehow' but I don't think I explained the context. If Little Suho stayed stiff like that without anything being done, Suho would've really said 'it hurts' — in Korean it's 'afa/아파.' But I think that word 'it hurts' is Si-eun's real real soft spot. 'Suho's' pain, I mean. So any 'kind' of Suho's pain would make Si-eun overreact, and if it was puppy Si-eun in his early twenties, he would've gotten worried first. Now that he's a full-grown dog, in the gochu jabchae you made, him teasing Suho saying 'I'm going to sleep~' was so cute hahahaha.
I'll translate one or two of those artist's drawings every time I send you an email, my pleasure!
This drawing is my favourite among those fan art pieces:
Suho: (Si-eun-ah) What are you staring at like that? Si-eun-ssi, why are your eyes so wide open? Wait a minute, Si-eun-ah, calm down, huh??? Si-eun: (stares intently at Suho)
Jen hating Monday.
Tonight I'm Coming In
Asuka: I see, so that's the dialogue hahahaha. When I first saw it without translation, it immediately reminded me of chapter 5.5, "The Night He Closed Up The Clinic Himself." Isn't this kind of like when Mr Ahn says "I said come to me, not come on m—" and then Dr Yeon says "Tonight I'm coming in"? Hahaha.
Netflix released a Benjamin + Suho vid?? What?! Shucks! That didn't appear on my YouTube feed. I'm going to find it now.
Asuka, trawling the internet.
Gestating Delusion
Asuka: Ah yes, this version has been very lightly edited (two sentences or so) but is slightly clearer.
The previous incarnation was born during yesterday's long dinner break before our presentation. I didn't want to chat nonsense with seniors and juniors over a meal for 2 hours, I'd rather spend it gestating delusion. So I did.
I have a fiercely individualistic streak myself hahaha.
Who is Jennie? Bricklayer. Local correspondent for the Yeon Clinic deluluverse. A sous chef who checks whether the soup actually tastes like Seoul. A specialist who designs this kitchen to hold more than Suho's coma — philosophy, history, society, culture, stacked one recipe at a time.
Who is Asuka? Head nurse and main chef of the Yeon Clinic. A Scheherazade who sings the Song of Achilles she found shelved next to a book on Zen Buddhist masters. Fluent in several languages, conversant in single malts and the precise emotional damage of Weak Hero Class 1. Signs off as ASL. (Always starch linen.)
This free ebook will ruin you. In the best way. A character analysis of Si-eun, Su-ho and Beom-seok that goes beyond what subtitles can carry. Take it — it's free → DOWNLOAD HERE
This post was originally published on Jennie's blog in the autumn of 2025. The original blog has since moved to Blogger due to hosting changes — welcome to the new home.
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