📍 Working-Class Mr. Ahn’s Unscheduled Visits to Dr. Yeon’s Clinic continues…
⚠️ Just a casual warning – if you’re following along with Asuka and Jen’s fictional arc and delusion interior series, consider yourself warned. Everything under my fanfiction tab is totally fictional. There’s no need to get overly serious about any of it.
Pure Face
J: Hi Asuka,
Autumn’s in full swing here – the fallen leaves are gorgeous.
Hope you get to visit someday, think of Suho’s windbreaker, and make it all the way up to Namsan Tower.
How’s your energy holding up? Really hoping the workload isn’t crushing you too badly. My job hits its off-season around now, so I’m basically never working late. After clocking out, I head to a nearby cafe with my laptop and just… do all the things I love.
Been putting more energy into my YouTube channel too, and thankfully, my editing skills are levelling up.
Once Twinkling Watermelon drops on Netflix, I’m thinking I’ll review it – probably with a narrative that’s 90% gushing about how impossibly pure Hyunuki looks in it hahaha
In Korean, we say “청순하다/cheong-sun-ha-da”, which usually describes women as “innocent” or “pure” – though honestly, it feels like another way gender stereotypes sneak in.
But watching Hyunuki’s work from his late teens to early twenties, I always got that vibe from him. That purity probably shines brightest in Twinkling Watermelon. Haven’t watched it yet, only saw teasers. Sure, the story’s predictable, but just seeing early-20s Hyunuki’s handsome face? Worth it.
Asuka, remember when you mentioned Achilles’ “puppyism” and I cracked up?
It’s exactly like Suho telling Si-eun:
Si-eun-ssi, isn’t the bathroom light so clean and bright now?
I changed it to that yellow lighting you like today!
… While his imaginary tail is thwap thwap thwapping the ground behind him like “praise me” “pet my head”
But in Archie-language, it’d be telling Pat:
Did you see me skewer three enemies with one spear thrust in battle today? I’m cool, right?? RIGHT??
… While blatantly waiting for head pats.
Perfect parallels ahahaha
The kill point here? They only wag their tails like this for their right person. This context alone could stack our arc-bricks to infinity hahaha – we’d have fluff photo cards for days.
But my sixth sense tells me you’re brewing some thick miyeokguk-flavoured angst hehehe (Jennie can’t hide…devil tail…)
Korean Broth
If Granny passed before Si-eun graduated high school, that’d be less than a year after Suho woke up. How devastated Suho would be… making him emotionally dependent on Si-eun even more (already tastes spicy and delicious)
On my commute home, I stacked some fluff bricks:
You know from the dramas that “guk” (Korean broth) is like soul food for Koreans, right? Near Suho’s place around Anguk Station, there are tons of these soul food guk restaurants. (Oh, I think I mentioned this before.)
When 30-something Suho and Si-eun reunite and have dinner together (Dr Yeon getting picked up after work by Suho), I imagined them ordering “dwaeji-gukbap/돼지국밥” (pork bone broth soup with rice) and munching on “kkakdugi/깍두기” together.
Specifically: Si-eun’s still not much of a foodie at that point, eating just to survive.
Suho fusses at him with that mix of nagging and affection:
Si-eun-ssi, that’s why your face keeps getting thinner – you eat like a disaster.
Then demonstrates proper gukbap consumption:
Auntie! Two bowls of gukbap and a bottle of soju, please!
The steaming soup arrives, Si-eun picks at it, so Suho loads up a spoonful and shoves it in his own mouth:
Ahhh, this is the stuff! Si-eun-ssi, try some!
… And just like in the filmverse scene, tries to stick a meat-loaded spoon straight into Si-eun’s mouth. But unlike before, Si-eun just… obediently accepts it. (Adorable…)
The real kill point here: with hot dwaeji-gukbap, the side dish is usually “kkakdugi” (chunky radish kimchi cubes).
(BTW, Korean side dishes are free refills – one of my foreign coworkers’ favourite things about Korea, some literally didn’t want to leave because of it, plus no tipping culture)
And “kkakdugi” comes cut into big chunks that can be awkward to bite.
So I pictured Suho biting one cube in half with his front teeth, eating half himself, then putting the other half in Si-eun’s mouth. Both of them would have red pepper flakes stuck in their front teeth.
Suho’s Safety
While translating your soup, I reread the previous Michelin courses you served. That fluff bit where Dr Yeon keeps asking Suho to promise never to lock the bathroom door “for Suho’s safety” – I reread that.
We’ve discussed Si-eun’s paranoia about Suho’s safety and Dr Yeon’s control issues regarding Mr Ahn from multiple angles, subtly seasoning our soups with it… But I think eventually, after making Suho promise repeatedly, one late night, Dr Yeon would just wake up, shuffle to the bathroom, and straight-up remove the pin from the door latch. If his paranoia’s getting that bad.
Then shuffle back to the bedroom in his slippers… making that skff skff sound… Suho’s passed out, snoring in bed. Si-eun would gently brush the bangs off his forehead, kiss him there, then curl up beside him under the same blanket and drift back to sleep.
Next day? Suho wouldn’t even notice the bathroom pin’s gone.
A year later, he’d finally realise. Then think:
Guess I’ll need to fix that when we sell the place…
… And immediately pivot to: what should we have for dinner tonight with Si-eun-ssi?
If you overworked today, hope this brings you the tiniest comfort.
Yours,
Jen
p.s. (sorry for the long tail)
Friend, the thing is… a lot of the bricks I’m stacking have Dr Yeon giving off some serious Suho-mom vibes hahahaha
So I’ve been thinking about what kind of bricks could bring out Si-eun’s more… manly side, you know? Would going inside Suho be the most effective approach? huhuhu And Suho would pretend to resist but gladly let himself lose…
‘Fine, if it’s Si-eun’s… anything’s good.’
The peak moment when Suho’s face turns into a flaming ‘potato’ at that Akihabara toy cafe? When Si-eun casually picks up that club-shaped thing from the display shelf, strolls over all nonchalant, and asks the cashier to ring it up hahahaha
Si-eun-ssi, tell them to put it in an opaque bag!
Si-eun: Of course. I don’t want people staring at us on the street.
Suho: Si-eun-ssi… but is mine not enough…? Am I no good?
Si-eun: No. I just want to make you feel good tonight.
Jen
Dear, sorry for spamming you with back-to-back emails, distracting you, omg
I keep hitting send and then going ‘wait, why didn’t I mention that?!’ haha
Zero pressure to reply, seriously.
After my shower, laptop open, I finally found the perfect site to show you a vignette of the neighbourhood around Anguk Station, where 30-something Suho and Si-eun built their new nest.
Nest for Two
It’s called ‘Seochon’ – technically closer to Gyeongbok Palace than Anguk Station, an old quarter in northern Seoul. Shabby restaurants serving the spicy hot “guk” Suho loves.
The stone walls along Gyeongbok Palace, where they walk on weekends, playing at being ‘suspicious friends’ (holding hands when no one’s around, then yanking apart in synchronised panic when sharp-eyed high school girls start whispering). The photos I’m sending separately, that’s Suho’s two-story place I’ve been imagining.
Looks run-down, but Seoul real estate prices are insane – this is prime land, definitely not cheap. Without Fairy Godmother’s behind-the-scenes help, a guy in his late twenties could never have bought this place.
The blue first floor is Suho’s interior design office/workshop. Above that, the second floor, where two otters have made their nest. Hope you like it.
The fancier option would be the modern officetel right next to Si-eun’s clinic – but Si-eun barely goes there anymore, already sublet it. Why would he? Suho is his home…
Jen going to bed
Suho is his home
Hahaha Jennie,
Oh my god, aahhhh, I swear I added in a variant of this line, “Suho is his home”, before I read your mail last night.
I just had to sneak out of work to tell you this, haha!
It’s like we stumbled upon the same patch of premium pine mushrooms at different times, and we happily plucked them all out and added them to the same soup pot (it started as an elegant porcelain bowl and is now indeed becoming a pot… but it has been terribly fun filling in the missing bits)
Have a great autumn evening,
Yours,
Asuka
Package ABC
On the night of the defibrillator lesson, a firm rubber ring insulated Suho from an early release. This way, the sweet punishment from his adorably mechanical torturer went on till the next morning, when the cock crowed at last.
By the power of concentrated caffeine and sheer will, Dr Yeon dragged himself out of bed and still went to work as usual with dark circles under his eyes, having slept for only half an hour after unloading himself. But he had the faintest smile. He looked a bit like a happy zombie, so the nurses couldn’t tell if it was a good mood day or a bad mood day.
Mr Ahn, on the other hand, snoozed till one in the afternoon, restocked his reserves, showered and dabbed cologne, skipped down the road, his head light without breakfast or lunch, and with the charming confidence unique to him, pushed past the clinic doors and embraced a stunned Dr Yeon, who sputtered,
“I thought you’d be too tired to visit.”
“When I see your face I’m not,”
came the reply, short and sure.
Despite the little starburst of warmth in his chest, Si-eun could barely shift the curve of his lips—he was exhausted—but he blushed, and that was enough of a signal for Suho to start.
With practised hands as deft as a surgeon’s, he unfastened the buckle of Si-eun’s pants and reached under the waistband of his briefs. Suho grasped at the warm softness, moving his fingers over secret shapes and textures as pleasure half-closed Si-eun’s eyes.
“Please Suho, I… I’m really tired today,”
Si-eun said in a low moan.
“Oh are you?”
Suho smiled softly.
Si-eun’s enjoyment nudged firmly against his palm. But he could indeed see the fatigue Si-eun’s eye bags held. “It’s ok, Dr Ahn is here.”
He took his hand out, awash with clean musk. The elastic waistband snapped lightly against Si-eun’s lower belly. Then swiftly, before he could react, Suho swooped low and lifted him off his feet.
“Hey! What are you…?”
Si-eun’s voice cracked weakly as he was carried to the cushioned examination table, like a helpless bride to her marriage bed.
Suho placed him down carefully.
“Just close your eyes. You don’t have to do anything. Dr Ahn will refresh you with Massage Package A.”
“Package ‘A’?”
“Yes. ‘A’ stands for ‘Aaaaahhhh’, which is what you’ll be singing when I’m done.”
“And is there a package B?”
“Yes. ‘B’ is for ‘begging’ because I’ll be using my teeth.”
“You’re just making this crap up aren’t you?” asked Si-eun.
Miraculously, the torpor had begun to fade as his curiosity spiked. It was pure, boyish silliness, but he loved it when Suho improvised like this.
“I suppose there’s also a package C?”
“You have no strength for C,” Suho warned.
“Why not?”
“I’ll be using my Cock.”
The bright shock of the word, articulated and accented for drama, chased off the last of Si-eun’s exhaustion. He thought to himself for a while, then whispered his choice meekly to Suho.
Ears pressed to the door and all around the walls, the nurses could not make out Dr Yeon’s hushed selection. But from the sweet sounds that vibrated out of the consultation room, they figured he must have picked all three options.
It was a good mood day.
Friend! Since it’s Friday, I left work right on time and have been at a cafe translating the part above. I was really struggling with how to translate Suho’s ‘wordplay/puns’ into Korean. I’ll send you my rich, hearty thoughts on that fluff soon!
P.S. The fact that Suho is Sieun’s ‘home’ seems to be a global protocol hahaha
Jen
Archetypes
A: Hi Jennie,
And how did this translation go? Hahahaha
Puns can be notoriously difficult to translate, yes. I think as long as Mr Ahn’s spontaneous cheekiness comes out, feel free to rewrite this bit, haha.
Got a little busy this week, so I haven’t finished boiling my stock yet. I realise it has gone past the 5k word count, and is likely to get to 7…I might ladle out half the pot first for sharing.
It’s a large-ass pot, but I’m trying to see if I can balance the structure and tone of bigger servings, just for personal artistic interest. So it might be a while before it’s fully cooked.
Anyway, while boiling, it got me thinking: these two delulubirds, they never ask each other ‘are you gay?’, or stuff like that. I mean, they’re guys and they like each other, so it is obvious, but I sense unexplored subtleties here: I feel Dr Yeon doesn’t actually look at other guys.
It’s not that he’s tempted and is exercising self-control out of faithfulness. It’s that he simply isn’t interested. He looks at no one except Mr Ahn.
And Mr Ahn? Mr Ahn is in a loving relationship with Dr Yeon, but if he does look around, it seems to me that he is more likely to look at girls than guys. Do you think so?
Once again, there are some parallels here with the three-millennia-old couple.
Archie clearly doesn’t like girls. But he never says he likes guys either. He only loves Pat, and never looks at any other person.
Pat never looks around at other guys, either. It seems he’s just not turned on by them (and why should he when he is next to a bloody Greek supermodel, haha), but before he met Archie, there’s no trace of attraction to other boys in his inner monologues. But he does entertain thoughts like having another life with Briseis and sacrificing himself for her.
I wonder whether we have wandered into the world of archetypes here. These two couples have a lot of sticky business, yes, yes, of course, but there’s a purity to them that we don’t really encounter. Hmm, it’s not easy to put into words, but it’s kind of like: they look very easy to define, but then we find that they don’t map easily onto the messy couple relationships we see in the world. It’s like they exist ‘beyond’ somehow.
Archetypes, like I said.
While researching finely written BL, YouTube’s algorithm brought me two films this week.
Young Hearts (2024), from Belgium, and Monster (2023) by one of the living greats of Japanese films, Palme d’Or winner Kore-eda Hirokazu (this guy’s really amazing, I’ve watched like half his stuff. Song Kang Ho won best actor at Cannes for his work on 브로커, a Kore-eda film).
My god, they were really wonderful, but stand by some tissues. Both films performed with the utmost sensitivity and naturalness. Do catch them if you can, though they are not terribly easy to find.
(I always try to see these legally for their superior quality and also to support artists, as an arts person. But I’m paying for five viewing platforms, and none of them have these films. I can’t even buy the discs or rent a viewing online due to them being “not available in my region”, ugh. You might want to try sites like Dailymotion; I saw both in good quality on VK [this is off-record].
Young Hearts is quite utopian and is a lot brighter than Monster. There is, of course, no sex at all among the lead characters (they are children), but the love is clear and central.
And like Archie-Pat and delulubirds Ahn-Yeon, the love in both films also has this pure, archetypal quality.
Yours,
Asuka, holding on to the last bits of my Monday holiday
Begging
J: Hi Asuka,
How are you?
I had a busy weekend dealing with family stuff, but thankfully, everything wrapped up well.
Work’s been in total off-season mode lately, not much happening, so everyone’s sitting at their desks with deeply furrowed brows staring at their monitors, but we all know we’re each doing our own thing hahahaha
Yes, I really mulled over how to adapt Suho’s ABC joke 😂 for Korean during my commute.
This is kind of a fetish thing, but when a gorgeous guy like Suho, well, more precisely, pretty-sexy-gorgeous haha, who’s also built like that turns out to be… let’s say educationally innocent… here, when we say someone’s “uneducated” – meaning they have almost no knowledge – there’s this slang expression, “pure brain” or “empty brain”
My headcanon is that Suho’s got a pure face and a pure brain, which just multiplies the sexy factor (do you vibe with this context? hahaha).
So my theory (?) is that Suho wouldn’t even know the English word “begging” hahahaha actually, I read this episode on twitter about hyunwookie from his high school days, apparently he couldn’t read English alphabet phonics, so there’s this Korean girl group called Red Velvet, and they have a hit song called “Psycho” but he read it as “Pisyko” instead hahahahahaha
A classmate posted this story, and whether it’s true or not, I’m choosing to believe it’s real because it’s unbearably damn cute 😂 That face with rosy cheeks and braces showing in a pure smile, and unlike Si-eun, that innocent brain…
So when converting to a Korean joke, I wasn’t sure how to handle the B. The A works perfectly, yeah, that’s the sound I’ll make when Suho finishes the massage, and “ah” is an exclamation, so it matches.
But I don’t know what to do with B 😂 I considered using the Korean alphabet system “가ga/나na/다da” instead, but when I post the translation on my blog later, I’m keeping it as is to honour the authenticity of your soup.
(By the way, my blog visitors keep increasing, not huge numbers, but someday you should really consider publishing all these soups in a collection!)
Cologne
And in your fluff, exhausted Dr Yeon is impossibly adorable.
I grinned so hard at that line about “a helpless bride to her marriage bed” – if anyone else (?) tried to lift Dr Yeon like that, he’d strangle them with a stethoscope on the spot… Why does Dr Yeon only turn paper-light in front of Mr Ahn? Hahahaha
We’ve talked about this in our deluluverse before, but Suho being the type who cares about cleanliness, so after showering, he wears this dawn-mist musky cologne. I give that 10 out of 10 points.
Si-eun never cared about cologne or shower perfume until he fell for that musk mixed with Suho’s skin scent, so he started wearing it himself, and the same notes began settling into his body.
The sharp-eyed “Yeonies” unit members hahaha, the nurses, must’ve noticed ages ago that the strapping yet light-footed Mr Ahn and Dr Yeon on his particularly dark-circled days both give off the same musk hahahaha
But he blushed, and that was enough of a signal for Suho to start.
This part is as sweet as pie… They’ve known each other for 13 years now, so Dr Yeon’s blush should’ve faded by now, but it probably has no expiration date, that rising flush on his cheeks (too sweet).
Asuka, what, 7,000 words??? Did you fall into the cauldron while cooking that soup? Don’t push yourself too hard, okay? 🙂
You can ladle out half the pot first and serve it to me, and when it’s revised, just bring another bowl to the table. This customer with flushed cheeks will cry tears of joy 😂 Do it at your own pace without pressure, we’re just pen pals, you know? I can always add more colour to the local brickwork after reading it.
Speaking of which, I sent you that photo of Suho’s two-story house before… but looking at it again, it seemed too shabby. So I fine-tuned it, they bought the building and redid the exterior, made it more modern, and completely remodelled the interior.
And the house will be bigger too. That way, there’s room for a bedroom with a double bed, and a bathtub where the two otters can warm their bodies and work up a sweat (the sweat isn’t just from the hot water in the tub…), plus a living room where they can set up TV quietly playing Blue Signal…
Responsive
Exactly.
These two delulubirds have never asked each other “are you gay?” or anything about sexual identity, and they never will, I raise both hands in agreement.
Why? They both know they’re heterosexual.
“If it weren’t for Suho…” “If it weren’t for Si-eun…”
Somewhere in the deluluverse, there’s a passage where they talk about whether they had feelings for Yeong-i, and both nod and say “yeah…” casually, like they’re drinking soju and tearing into dried squid.
Actually, looking at Si-eun character interpretations that pop up on my Twitter timeline, or even just in my YouTube channel comments, some people say Si-eun seems “asexual”
I kind of get what they mean… The only “figure” those big eyes have decided to hold is Suho, and this ties into psychological issues a bit. Still, assuming he’s got both feet caught in paranoia (stubborn enough to never seek treatment…). His neurodiversity issues remain untreated, his emotional processing and desire management (?) capacity probably has no room for anyone besides Suho.
Of course, Si-eun’s still a guy, so he’s a slave to testosterone, and occasionally he’s surprisingly “responsive” in ways that shock Mr Ahn (his whole body trembles the moment Suho grasps Si-eun junior with that big hand… or those eyes clearly fevered with ecstasy when he reaches the peak… can’t hide it).
He’s a sensitive boy, but since that testosterone flows clearly toward “Suho” as its destination, he won’t suffer from sexual frustration. Knowing he’ll never meet anyone as beautiful as Suho in his lifetime, he’d rationally conclude there’s no reason to pay attention to any other life form hahaha… besides Suho.
Like you said, “He looks at no one except Mr Ahn.”
As for Mr Ahn… I agree, he’s not interested in men.
I never saw him as gay at all.
But if people, his parents or close friends like Yeong-i, define him as “gay” because he’s dating Si-eun, he’d just shrug and say “yeah” without caring whether others perceive him as gay or hetero, without needing their validation (I think he’s got way higher self-esteem than Si-eun).
Testosterone
But… damn testosterone again 😂
So if they’re walking down the street and a truly gorgeous woman with a large chest passes by, Suho can’t help but glance; he’s a hormonal slave, and Dr Yeon, who knows all about hormones, doesn’t really care. He’s a guy, so he just shrugs it off.
They have a bond no one can easily break… The only fragile villain stirring that up is Oh Beom.
I can’t help but map the parallels with the old couple again, either, hahaha. That’s exactly what I mean… When you’ve got a “fresh” gorgeous beauty like Suho right next to you, loving you abundantly… why would you react to any other life form?
Though… one difference between Suho and Archie,
If it weren’t for Si-eun, Suho might’ve followed society’s flow and married young, to a woman. In the filmverse, he did meet and date girls who contacted him on Insta (but then they’d get obsessed with Suho… needing texts every hour… he’d quickly tire of them).
I’m rambling…
So to conclude,
Both Suho and Si-eun… beyond gender issues… know they’re each other’s most beautiful existence… and of course they’re sexually attracted to each other… Both otters enjoy everything from petting to touching each other’s erogenous zones (in our deluluverse, whenever Si-eun “wants it”, Suho happily goes “face down” in bed, understanding his pleasure…).
Sometimes they look around and wonder, Do other people have a soulmate like this? They realise they don’t… and they’d probably feel this is God’s compensation for the tragedies they suffered at such a young age that others never experience.
Hmm, let me refine these bricks a bit more, hehe
P.S. I’ve heard so much about Monster. I’ll definitely watch it!
Jen
p.s
Suho as seen through Si-eun’s eyes
Want to see where Scheherazade’s tale begins? → Click here to jump to Part
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