Chapter 190: “taeyeon, Do You Have A Spare Tire?”
2013.
Late-night Seoul was like a quiet but never sleeping giant beast, with sparse people and vehicles on the streets.
The sky was covered with dark clouds, no stars visible, only hazy moonlight filtering through the clouds, casting a few strands of silver glow.
Only occasional wind sounds, the buzzing current of neon lights flashing on distant building exteriors, and the monotonous announcements from night-shift buses looping endlessly echoed in the empty streets.
At this moment, Lin Xiuyuan, who had just returned from the Maldives, was sitting in the car gripping the steering wheel, slowly driving out of the apartment parking lot gate.
Sulli sat upright in the front passenger seat, adjusting her seatbelt while glancing at him, “Oppa, are you sure it’s okay to come straight back from there like this? What if Goo Ri suddenly wakes up and can’t find you?”
As she said this, her voice was light and cheerful with a hint of curiosity.
“Don’t worry, by the time I finish my stuff and go over to rest and wake up, she probably won’t even be awake yet.” Lin Xiuyuan replied with a smile, eyes focused ahead.
“Why?” Sulli grew even more curious.
But Lin Xiuyuan just said, “Kids shouldn’t be so curious.”
“What? Oppa, you’re not that much older than me~” Sulli muttered, a bit depressed, but very obediently didn’t press further.
Lin Xiuyuan, who was driving, actually found it hard to explain. He couldn’t exactly say that from last night until just now, after the two of them had mutually drained each other, he had come out slightly ahead.
The scene was too vivid; he found it a bit hard to speak about.
Lin Xiuyuan chuckled and shook these images from his mind, cleared his throat, and changed the subject, “By the way, I haven’t confirmed yet—we’re going straight to Sulli’s apartment, right? Do you have the key or know the password? Don’t want to show up and find it empty.”
“Oni told me the door access code.” Sulli nodded in reply.
“So bold, not afraid I’ll go sell all her stuff.” Lin Xiuyuan grinned, his voice carrying the lazy tone unique to the night.
Sulli burst out laughing with a “puchi,” tilting her head to look at him, “Oppa, given Oni’s situation, wouldn’t it be faster to just ask her for money? Selling off furniture means moving it around and fencing it, right?”
“You make a good point,” Lin Xiuyuan laughed, nodding seriously on purpose, “Remind me next time, don’t forget.”
“Hahaha, yes, oppa~”
As they chatted, the car passed over a main road, heading toward Jung Soo Yeon’s apartment residential area.
Streetlights stretched their shadows long, the city’s clamor seeming to fade gradually in the rearview mirror.
Meanwhile, not far from Cheongdam-dong at a highway exit, Kim Tae Yeon’s car was quietly speeding along.
Having driven for over three hours straight, she was utterly exhausted. The gentle piano music that had been playing had long been switched to intense dance music, as if using musical notes to forcibly awaken her brain sinking into drowsiness.
“Ah, and I still have work to do. When can I get a few days to really rest?”
Kim Tae Yeon muttered to herself while casually holding the steering wheel with one hand, eyes focused on the road ahead.
And just as she exited the ramp, turned off the highway, prepared to merge onto the main road and into the urban lanes.
Suddenly, a loud “bang—” erupted from one side of the car body.
The car body jolted violently, the steering wheel suddenly veering out of control, and the vehicle swerved to the right.
Kim Tae Yeon’s eyes tightened, instinctively gripping the steering wheel hard, her heart leaping to her throat.
But she didn’t brake immediately; instead, she clenched her teeth, steadied her hands, and forced the car back to the straight path.
Once she sensed the vehicle wasn’t sliding further or out of control, she quickly turned on the right blinker, carefully easing the car to the emergency lane, finally pulling over steadily and activating the hazard lights.
The moment she shifted to P, she seemed to deflate all at once, chest heaving dramatically as she panted heavily.
Her pale face gradually regained a bit of color in the night wind, though her fingertips still trembled slightly.
Silence all around, only the flashing hazard lights blinking lonely in the nightfall, like a frightened little beast silently seeking help in the darkness.
That black Mercedes-Benz now sat quietly roadside, the right rear tire completely flat, the whole car tilted slightly, looking quite battered.
Kim Tae Yeon panted heavily, sitting in the driver’s seat patting her chest to calm the earlier fright, then unbuckled her seatbelt with trembling hands, opened the car door, and got out to check.
The wind was chilly, the night pressing down almost suffocatingly, tousling a few damp strands of hair on her forehead.
After getting out, Kim Tae Yeon squatted down, looked at the completely wrecked right rear tire, and muttered depressedly, “Really… what rotten luck after eight lifetimes.”
After muttering, she stood by the car, the late-night cold wind making her hug her arms instinctively, but her mood was even icier than the temperature.
She glanced once more at the lifeless flat tire, then looked up at the desolate night road around her, with sparse traffic.
Helpless, Kim Tae Yeon frowned, took out her mobile phone from the car, was about to call the insurance company, but hesitated.
It was so late and near a highway exit—not only might she wait half the night, worst was the risk of her identity being exposed.
Then a photo of “Girls’ Generation’s Kim Tae Yeon waiting roadside for a tow truck late at night” would blow up online, enough to trend for three days.
“Oh man, so annoying.”
After cursing softly, as Kim Tae Yeon pondered whether to call a teammate or acquaintance for help, headlights suddenly appeared in the distance, a beam sweeping over from the rear lane.
At that moment, Lin Xiuyuan in that car was leisurely driving toward Jung Soo Yeon’s apartment, soft music playing inside, the atmosphere serene.
Passing a ramp exit, his peripheral vision caught a vehicle with hazard lights on in the right emergency lane; out of innate curiosity, Lin Xiuyuan eased off the accelerator and called Sulli to look too.
“Sulli, quick look, there’s a car up ahead, hey, probably broken down.” Lin Xiuyuan laughed gleefully, delighted at the misfortune.
Sulli looked in the direction of his finger, just as the car’s hazard lights flashed conspicuously in the darkness.
But in the instant they passed, she suddenly widened her eyes, surprised, turning to look back, and moments later said, “Oppa~ the figure by that car just now… seems like Taeyeon oni.”
Lin Xiuyuan froze, then turned to her, “You sure?”
“Not 100%, but 60-70% like her. And the car looks familiar too, seems like oni’s Mercedes-Benz.”
“Then let’s turn back and check?”
They exchanged a glance, then nodded in unison.
Before the words settled, he braked, looped the car around at the turnaround ahead, drove back the way they came, and soon slowly approached the Mercedes-Benz parked roadside.
Before the car fully stopped, Sulli excitedly leaned out from the front passenger seat to confirm, “It really is Taeyeon oni!”
With that, she unbuckled her seatbelt, pushed the door open, and got out.
Kim Tae Yeon heard the noise and noticed the approaching SUV, squinting warily, but froze completely upon seeing the figure jumping out from the passenger side.
“Little Snowball? How are you here?”
The next second, Lin Xiuyuan also got out from the driver’s seat, walked around the front of the car, and approached her.
After a moment of surprise, Kim Tae Yeon reacted, quickly pocketed her mobile phone, and hurried toward them, “What are you two doing here?”
As she spoke, her tone held some surprise and a bit of embarrassment.
“We should be asking you that, Taeyeon oni.” Sulli smiled as she came to her side, then asked curiously, “Are you alone? It’s so late—why are you still driving around?”
Kim Tae Yeon sighed, shrugged, as if finally shedding some emotional burden, “Coming back from Jeonju, almost to Seoul, and then, well, you saw—tire blew.”
By now Lin Xiuyuan had gone to the back of the car, squatted to check the tire, then looked around the area, “Yeah, blown tire, and in a tricky spot. Right at the ramp mouth—not everyone could control it.”
“I almost went flying off just now…” Kim Tae Yeon gave a bitter smile, still showing some lingering fear, “Lucky I was going slow, or it could’ve been bad.”
“Taeyeon, do you have a spare tire?” Lin Xiuyuan stood up, brushed off his pants, and asked.
“Probably…” Kim Tae Yeon hesitated slightly, went to the trunk, opened it, rummaged while muttering, “Didn’t think it’d actually be there… original one, with toolkit too.”
“But I don’t know how to change it.”
She glanced at the heavy iron thing, then turned helplessly to Lin Xiuyuan.
Lin Xiuyuan suddenly laughed out loud, his tone teasing, “Yo, didn’t expect our Girls’ Generation’s Taeyeon lady to be a girl sea king who keeps spares too.”
At these words, Sulli couldn’t hold it in, bursting out with a “puchi” laugh, nearly doubling over.
But this ‘spare tire gag’ + ‘sea king gag’ only became popular in China years later; even Sulli learned about it in ’25 from videos.
So compared to Lin Xiuyuan and her, Kim Tae Yeon didn’t get it at all, but she caught the mocking tone.
Her gaze said “I don’t get it but I know you’re roasting me” as she looked at Lin Xiuyuan.
“What? What’s a spare tire, what’s a girl sea king.”
Lin Xiuyuan just smiled, didn’t explain further, rolled up his sleeves, bent down to inspect the tire, “No worries, I’ll swap the spare for you, then you can drive it back to the parking lot, get someone to handle it tomorrow.”
Changing a spare tire isn’t hard—just needs strength and know-how.
After Sulli handed him a few tools, he had her take Kim Tae Yeon to his car to rest, to avoid passersby spotting them and making news.
Seeing this, Sulli didn’t dawdle, pulling Kim Tae Yeon into the back of the Land Rover.
The moment they sat down, Kim Tae Yeon asked Sulli what those two gags meant.
Facing the question, Sulli smiled first, then explained without holding back.
After hearing the explanation, Kim Tae Yeon felt it was both funny and a bit depressed, then turned to look at the figure squatting in front of the car, diligently tightening screws.
She wanted to get mad but couldn’t, instead feeling a complex warmth well up inside.
Changing the tire didn’t take long; soon Lin Xiuyuan finished up, tossed the stuff into the Mercedes-Benz trunk, clapped his hands, and came to his own car.
Looking at the two girls in the back—or rather at Kim Tae Yeon, “So, how we doing? Dare ride in the spare tire car?”
Facing the boy still teasing her, Kim Tae Yeon smirked, rolled her eyes at him, “I’ll ride in a car with the spare changed, but if the spare’s driving… no thanks.”
Hearing this, Lin Xiuyuan immediately looked at Sulli—definitely this little peach who snitched.
Sure enough, Sulli grinned cheekily right away.
“Should be fine.” Kim Tae Yeon walked to the Mercedes-Benz, kicked the newly changed tire lightly, “As long as you tightened the screws, I can take it slow back, no problem.”
“Tightened down solid.”
Lin Xiuyuan nodded, then paused, seriously saying, “But how about I drive this car for you? You take mine and follow; we’ll swap back at the Girls’ Generation dorm.”
“No need to go to that trouble, I can really do it.”
Having just watched Lin Xiuyuan change her tire, Kim Tae Yeon didn’t want to bother him more, her tone a bit stubborn.
But Sulli grabbed her arm right then, “Oni, just listen to oppa—safety first.”
“Xiuyuan driving or me driving, what’s the difference? Someone’s still at risk.”
“My driving’s way better than yours.”
“That I won’t concede.” Kim Tae Yeon laughed in retort.
They bantered back and forth a few lines like that, ultimately Lin Xiuyuan got into the Mercedes-Benz, with Kim Tae Yeon driving the Land Rover close behind.
Standing by the driver’s seat, after telling Lin Xiuyuan about the gears, Kim Tae Yeon looked at him deeply, smiled slightly, “Thanks, Xiuyuan.”
Lin Xiuyuan, restarting the car, looked up at her, seeming to think of something, grinned playfully, “Don’t just say it—hope next time you don’t complain to Yoona that I’m a pervert.”
“Huh?”
Kim Tae Yeon didn’t react at first, eyes widening.
Before she could reply, the Mercedes-Benz beside her slid off the shoulder, slowly merging onto the main road.
Leaving her standing there stunned for two seconds, then her cheeks flushed red, she spat, “That guy…”
But she quickly snapped out of it, jogged to the Land Rover driver’s seat, shifted gears, and caught up to the Mercedes-Benz ambling ahead.
At this point, Sulli in the front passenger seat looked out the window, then turned to ask her, “Oni, what were you two just talking about?”
“Nothing, just thanking Xiuyuan.”
Kim Tae Yeon gripping the steering wheel smiled faintly, too embarrassed to tell Sulli the exchange.
At the same time, she finally had a moment to get curious about these two being out late, “Right, Snowball, why are you out driving with Xiuyuan in the middle of the night? Just finished a date?”
Using the word “date” showed Kim Tae Yeon was really curious.
But Sulli tugged at her pajamas, “Oni, who goes on dates in pajamas?”
But this was even more explosive, so next second Kim Tae Yeon’s voice jumped up, “Pajamas? I thought those were just home clothes. So Snowball, you and Xiuyuan…”
Indeed, Sulli’s pajamas had a homey style, not revealing; without close inspection, hard to tell they were pajamas.
“No, oni, you’re overthinking. We just went for a drive, grabbed a late-night snack.”
“What else is that but a date?”
“Oni, this is called a food date.”
“Good thing it’s not a booty call.”
“…”
Just one chapter today—consider it a day off. Tendonitis hurts bad; burned out 15k yesterday.
Even though just one chapter, still cheekily asking all you godfathers for votes, for subscriptions.
That’s all, goodnight everyone.
