Chapter 304: “can I Join Your Inner Circle?”
After a while, the wooden door of the small tavern with the wind chime was pushed open from outside, making a crisp “dingling” sound.
Sulli wearing a hat, with Goo Hara following one after the other, walked in.
And Goo Hara, who was coming to this small tavern for the first time, couldn’t help but curiously look around as soon as she entered.
Although Sulli had said when they came that the internal space of the tavern wasn’t large, now after Goo Hara simply scanned around, she found that compared to the even smaller izakayas she had seen in Japan, it was actually quite spacious.
However, although the small tavern itself wasn’t particularly unique, the people inside at this moment truly brightened Goo Hara’s eyes, even making her feel a bit amazed.
Besides Little Dragon Cub Park Ji-yeon, who was at the peak of her appearance and had a sharp prettiness, what attracted her gaze even more was the girl quietly standing behind the bar counter: Lee So-hee.
Don’t be fooled by Lee So-hee being just high school graduated at this time, still carrying a bit of youthful greenness that hadn’t fully faded.
But that face with delicate features and clear lines was already slowly maturing.
Especially when she wasn’t speaking, that cool temperament that didn’t fit with the lively atmosphere around her seemed to come with its own filter, making even Goo Hara, who had seen all kinds of beauties, secretly praise it in her heart.
But this wasn’t anything special; after all, in the future, Lee So-hee would stand firm in the film and television industry with almost no plastic surgery, just relying on minor adjustments.
The superiority of her natural face, placed in the idol circle at the bottom of the Korean entertainment pyramid’s disdain chain, was absolutely crushing.
（High school old photo）
So when Goo Hara’s gaze quickly swept between Lee So-hee and Sulli, finally landing back on the girl behind the bar counter, she immediately leaned close to Sulli, lowered her voice, and asked in an incredulous tone.
“Jinjin, didn’t you say this shop belongs to Xiuyuan? Then this one… is he the one who hired her as an employee?”
Sulli, who had already simply greeted Park Ji-yeon and Lee So-hee at this time, just mysteriously smiled upon hearing this question, waved her hand to indicate it wasn’t time to explain, “Older sister, we’ll talk about this later.”
Then she pulled the still full of curiosity Goo Hara to the bar counter and formally introduced both sides.
Or rather, let the people meeting for the first time get to know each other.
“Hara older sister, you definitely know Ji-yeon. And this is Soo Hee, temporarily Ji-yeon’s capable assistant.”
Sulli first introduced to Goo Hara, then turned to Park Ji-yeon and Lee So-hee with a smile, “Ji-yeon, Soo Hee, this is KARA’s Hara older sister.”
“Older sister, long time no see.”
“Goo Hara senior, hello.”
Unlike Park Ji-yeon’s intimacy, Lee So-hee, meeting Goo Hara for the first time, greeted very politely.
“Long time no see, Ji-yeon. Hello, Soo Hee xi.” Goo Hara also hurriedly returned the greeting, her gaze lingering especially on Lee So-hee’s face for a few seconds.
After the few exchanged pleasantries and got acquainted, Goo Hara looked around again but didn’t see the figure she wanted to see, “Where’s Xiuyuan? Where did he go?”
Seeing this, Park Ji-yeon pointed to the doorway, “Older sister, oppa went to the neighboring barbecue restaurant to order food, he should be back soon.”
Hearing this, Goo Hara nodded, but looking at this environment full of bottles and glass cups, she couldn’t help but confirm once more, “Okay, but can we really barbecue here? No space, no stove, and won’t the oil smoke…”
Before her words finished, Lee So-hee standing inside the bar counter smiled and pointed to the corner of the tavern.
There was a portable cassette stove and a small grill pan.
This was something Lin Xiuyuan had bought earlier thinking to occasionally boil tea by the stove here or simply grill some things, but unfortunately it had been idle until now.
At this moment, with another “dingling” sound, the small tavern’s door was pushed open again.
Lin Xiuyuan carrying two large food bags printed with the barbecue restaurant logo walked in, saw that Sulli and Goo Hara had arrived, and immediately smiled and greeted, “Oh, you’re here, perfect timing, get ready to eat barbecue. Soo Hee, help bring over that grill in the corner.”
With his order, the small tavern immediately became lively.
Lee So-hee immediately walked out from behind the bar counter and skillfully went to the corner to carry the portable grill and the matching small gas canister.
Lin Xiuyuan who came in placed the two large bags on the coffee table in the middle of the sofa, and successively took out various barbecue ingredients packed in fresh-keeping boxes.
Pork belly, Korean beef, marinated pork neck meat, mushrooms, onions, kimchi…
All kinds, dazzling array.
Goo Hara on the side also quickly rolled up her sleeves, proactively stepped forward to help, and together with Lee So-hee neatly placed those ingredient boxes on the coffee table.
Park Ji-yeon on the other side, together with Sulli, brought over several colorful cocktails prepared earlier from the bar counter.
Immediately after, Sulli very skillfully opened the cabinet under the bar counter and took out a very large transparent water jug.
First poured in most of a jug of ice cubes, then nimbly selected several base liquors and juice, syrup, poured them into the jug in certain proportions, finally filled it “whooshing” with soda water, capped it, and shook it vigorously.
This set of flowing operations left Goo Hara next to her dumbfounded.
“Wow! Jinjin!” Goo Hara exclaimed, “When did you learn such professional bartending? Your moves are too cool.”
The praised Sulli giggled, placed the large jug of beautifully colored mixed drink on the coffee table, then proudly grinned, “Learned from oppa. He said this kind of party drink looks complicated, but once you remember the ratios it’s actually very simple, you can mix it casually.”
“Xiuyuan, you can bartend too?” Now Goo Hara was even more surprised, turned her head to look at Lin Xiuyuan who was debugging the grill flame size with Lee So-hee.
But she was fine not saying it, once she did Lin Xiu amusingly raised his head, stretched his finger to point at the dazzling wine cabinet and bar counter around, “No, Hara, are you silly? If I couldn’t bartend, why would I open this tavern? As decoration?”
After saying that, he seemed to remember something and added, “And I remember last time staying at the hotel in Tokyo, I think I tried mixing a couple cups too, you and Jinjin were there at the time, don’t you remember?”
Now Goo Hara was a bit embarrassed and chuckled sheepishly, touched her nose, “Ah~ Did I? Maybe I was busy chatting at the time, forgot, forgot.”
Soon, the gas flame in the grill became stable and vigorous, the grill pan was also properly placed by Lee So-hee with tongs, and brushed with a thin layer of oil.
When Lin Xiuyuan placed the first thick-cut pork belly slice on the sizzling hot grill pan, making a pleasant “sizzle” sound, accompanied by rising tempting oil smoke and meat aroma…
Tonight’s late-night meal gathering in the small tavern, fusing barbecue, fine wine, and subtle atmosphere, officially began.
……
……
Inside the tavern’s sofa.
As the only male here, Lin Xiuyuan was very comfortably leaning on the sofa at this time, holding a glass of mixed drink with fine bubbles that Sulli had just poured for him.
Originally he wanted to pick up the grill tongs to help grill the meat, but as soon as he moved, it was snatched away very tacitly by Sulli and Lee So-hee.
“Oppa, just sit and wait to eat.” Sulli smiled and pressed him back to the sofa, taking over the main grilling duty herself.
Lee So-hee on the side also silently placed the ingredients needing grilling one by one on the grill pan, her movements gentle and focused.
Seeing this scene, Goo Hara and Park Ji-yeon were also happy to relax, after all too many people crowding around the grill pan would just cause chaos, so the two naturally sat on the sofas on either side of Lin Xiuyuan, proactively starting casual chat topics.
The first to speak was Goo Hara whose curiosity had already exploded.
She really wanted to know how Lin Xiuyuan, this outsider seemingly distant from the entertainment industry, had established such familiar even intimate relationships with Park Ji-yeon, Sulli, and the others.
So she asked directly, throwing this question to Park Ji-yeon beside her.
After hearing this question, Park Ji-yeon instinctively first glanced at Lin Xiuyuan, saw him leisurely drinking from his glass, with a half-smiling expression on his face, no intention of stopping or hinting, which meant she could speak freely.
So Little Dragon Cub’s face immediately showed a smile mixing memories and a bit of teasing, and her first sentence was earth-shattering, “How I met oppa? Looking back now, the process was pretty wondrous, I’d say I was drawn in by oppa’s that ‘church fate theory’?”
“Church?!!”
As soon as this word came out, Goo Hara’s heart instinctively skipped a beat.
After all, on the peninsula, there were probably more churches of various kinds than idol groups.
Among them, no lack of groups acting strangely and highly controversial.
So Goo Hara almost immediately thought of some bad rumors.
Subconsciously, with scrutinizing intent, she looked at Lin Xiuyuan, various scenes of him getting along with Lin Xiaolu, Sulli, Ham Eun-jung and others quickly flashing in her mind.
A terrifying thought instantly seized her mind.
Could it be some cult organization that requires “dedicating oneself”?!
This wild thought made Goo Hara’s pupils slightly contract, her gaze tightly fixed on Lin Xiuyuan, eyes full of vigilance and inquiry.
If there wasn’t a reasonable explanation next, she might really categorize Lin Xiuyuan as some kind of “cult leader” exploiting idols’ psychological weaknesses.
Fortunately, before Lin Xiuyuan could explain himself, Sulli who was seriously flipping the pork belly next to him couldn’t help but burst out laughing “pfft”.
She raised her head, looking at Park Ji-yeon somewhat amused.
“Older sister~ The way you said that is so ambiguous, what ‘church’—it sounds just like those weird cults. It’s clearly just a few close friends forming a small circle, occasionally gathering at oppa’s tavern, that’s all.”
After being pointed out by Sulli, Park Ji-yeon also giggled and admitted it, but said.
“No way around it, I was tricked in by oppa using that mysteriously sounding phrase back then, I didn’t get it wrong, right oppa?”
As she spoke, Park Ji-yeon once again cast her gaze to Lin Xiuyuan, even with a look only the two of them understood.
At this time, Lin Xiuyuan finally put down his glass, smiled frankly and nodded, not denying it.
“Yeah, back then it was indeed to spark Ji-yeon’s curiosity, used a bit of rhetoric. But the nature is similar, just treat it as our little group’s internal name. Like you all have 94line, we can call ours… ‘tavern line’?”
Small circle.
After hearing these explanatory answers, Goo Hara’s tense nerves finally relaxed, the big stone in her heart also finally settled.
Yeah, small circles are too common in the entertainment industry, small groups formed based on shared interests, trust, or benefits are everywhere.
If someone doesn’t have a small circle, that would seem abnormal.
But it’s not nonexistent.
Thinking of this, Goo Hara’s face showed a smile again, with a bit of curiosity and probing, half-jokingly half-seriously asked, “Sounds interesting, so Xiuyuan, can an outsider like me apply to join your small circle?”
When Goo Hara said this, perhaps she herself didn’t notice.
When she proactively proposed this, Sulli who was using scissors to cut the meat on the side, her little hand holding the scissors paused slightly, a flash of excitement and relief quickly in her eyes.
Her Hara older sister had finally taken a step in the right direction, and her long-time hints and groundwork weren’t wasted.
And as the core of this jokingly called “cult” small circle, Lin Xiuyuan, upon hearing Goo Hara’s proactive application, didn’t agree immediately, instead with a playful smile counter-asked her.
“Hara, don’t you already have your own small circle? News often showed you gathering with some friends before, looking very close.”
Hearing this, Goo Hara seemed touched by something, self-mockingly shrugged, her tone also fading a bit, “That’s all in the past, now it’s pretty much gone.”
After picking up a piece of meat, she continued, “Xiuyuan, haven’t you noticed? In the circle you mentioned, lately it seems there’s one more younger, more popular female idol, interacting frequently.”
“What’s the situation? Who?”
Lin Xiuyuan who had been running back and forth on the 25-year side lately indeed hadn’t paid much attention to the entertainment scene dynamics here in 13, so he cast an inquiring gaze to the more informed Park Ji-yeon and Sulli.
Meeting his gaze, Sulli placed a piece of grilled crispy pork belly onto the dish in front of Lin Xiuyuan, and softly answered, “Oppa, it’s HyunA.”
Park Ji-yeon beside also remembered the related news, chimed in asking, “Hara older sister, I remember you were with that Yong Jun-hyung before… when did you two officially break up?”
Hearing this, Goo Hara took a sip from her glass, her tone calm with a trace of barely perceptible fatigue.
“Actually broke up at the end of last year, just dragged until the beginning of this year to announce publicly. But even after breaking up, everyone in the circle still hung out together before, after all we’ve known each other so long.”
Saying this, she put down her glass, her gaze somewhat vacant as she looked at the sizzling meat slices on the grill pan.
“Just these past few months, I slowly started not responding to their gathering invites, after reducing contact, he and his friends seemed to feel I had no value. Then naturally they turned to fresher, more topical newcomers.”
Then, Goo Hara’s lips curved into a cold yet somewhat relieved arc, “But looking back now, it doesn’t matter, the people in that circle are pretty awful, full of scheming and fake emotions between everyone.”
Explaining to here, her gaze also shifted from the grill pan, turning to Sulli who was seriously listening, her eyes instantly softening with a smile, “And really have to thank Jinjin, she warned me in advance, told me to keep my guard up, not to get too deep in, it’s great.”
Lee So-hee who had been quietly listening all along opened her mouth wide, the bit of yearning she had for the entertainment industry suddenly extinguished.
And Sulli suddenly named and praised smiled lightly.
Then looked toward Lin Xiuyuan sitting in the main seat, as if expecting something, gazing at him intently.
Beseeching him.
End of month begging for monthly tickets, godfathers, monthly tickets please!!
（PS: Tenosynovitis, resting hand injury, wait till my hand heals, continue ten thousand daily!!!）
