MCFDS CH 02

Chapter 2

Come to think of it, Ye-in could see it now.

Inside the bag was the coffee Ye-in drank all the time, along with the potato chips she had once said were her favorite snack.

Ye-bom lifted her tear-streaked face and looked at Ye-in, as if she wanted to know what her mother thought of the gifts even now.

Ye-in carefully wiped her wet face. Looking directly into the child’s eyes, she spoke sincerely.

“Thank you so much. But Ye-bom, Mommy only needs you. I’m okay without things like these.”

“The lady next door said it was pitiful that Mommy doesn’t even have a husband, so there’s no one to make you seaweed soup on your birthday.”

“…What?”

“She said you must have a hard time because you’re young and raising a child all by yourself… So Ye-bom wanted to make seaweed soup for Mommy…”

Ye-in was speechless.

Only now did she understand why Ye-bom, who had never disobeyed her mother, had done something like this.

Thinking about how many times the child must have heard such things from the adults around her, and what she must have thought about them, made Ye-in’s heart feel as if it had been hollowed out.

“If Mommy had a dad, you wouldn’t have to work so hard?”

“Huh?”

Ye-in froze.

It was the first time those words had come from Ye-bom’s mouth since the day, two years ago, when she had asked, “Why don’t I have a daddy?”

“I won’t ask for birthday presents anymore. I don’t need Children’s Day presents or Christmas presents either.”

For a child who had just turned six, presents on Children’s Day, her birthday, and Christmas were much more than simple gifts.

It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that she spent the whole year looking forward to those days with excitement.

“But instead, I want a daddy. Then Mommy can work a little less, sleep more, and smile a lot more.”

But even that wish wasn’t for herself.

She didn’t want a father because she wanted one.

She wanted one because she hated seeing her mother suffer.

Ye-in felt complicated.

I’m not raising my child like a child should be raised.

With every word Ye-bom said, Ye-in could see herself.

A mother who did nothing but work, barely slept, and rarely smiled.

She had worked so hard to make sure Ye-bom never felt the absence of a father, but in the process, she had made her daughter feel the absence of her mother.

I’ve been living my life the wrong way.

Perhaps Ye-bom found Ye-in’s silence strange, because she tugged lightly on her mother’s clothes.

Ye-in met the child’s eyes.

“No. I’m sorry. I was just joking. I don’t need a daddy. I only need Mommy.”

Ye-bom opened her mouth into a big smile.

But it wasn’t really a smile.

It was a smile filled with caution and resignation.

Why?

Why would a six-year-old make a smile like that?

Hiding how upset she felt, Ye-in asked gently,

“Should we do that, then? Should we find you a daddy?”

“Really? How?”

“If that’s what Ye-bom wants. Joo-mi, what was that thing you asked me to do? What was it called? I’ll go on it.”

“Where… the dating show?”

Joo-mi looked shocked.

“Yeah. Why not? You said you already got accepted and just needed to find a friend to go with you, right? What do you think? It would be really interesting and fun for Mommy to appear on TV, wouldn’t it?”

Ye-in deliberately gave a playful smile.

“Wow! I like it!”

Ye-bom wrapped her arms around Ye-in’s arm.

Ye-in stared at her daughter’s smiling face.

Over that face, she saw the face of a man.

Her biological father.

The shape of his smiling eyes looked exactly like Ye-bom’s.

…He should be okay, right?

She had heard that he had gone abroad and hadn’t returned in a long time.

Rumor had it that he was already married.

Even if he saw me on TV, he probably wouldn’t care.

He might not even remember that I exist anymore.

So it’ll be okay.

<Couple Village 5> Open Casting for Participants

Can you be more honest about love when you’re with a friend?

<Couple Village 5> is looking for participants who will apply together with one friend.

※ The friend applying with you does not have to be the same age. Anyone who fits the dictionary definition of a “friend,” meaning someone you have been close with for a long time, may apply.

※ Major conditions regarding participation, leaving the show, and other matters will be explained separately when the final contract is signed.

Application Period: 20xx. xx. xx.

How to Apply: Submit through the application link on the official Netflix Korea Instagram.

♥73K 💬4,217 ⇄1,188 ✈210K

al_dos — 6 hours ago

@00lee Hey, let’s go.

@al_dos — 6 hours ago
Damn, I can’t wear a bikini, so I can’t go lol

kimmyyya_ — 6 hours ago

Are they already doing another season? The last season did well, so they’re striking while the iron’s hot.

sojun7_22 — 7 hours ago

Please, this time, choose some genuinely sincere participants instead of people who just want to become influencers.

197.99T — 6 hours ago

You guys wouldn’t watch if they picked ordinary people because you’d call them ugly anyway. If you want ordinary people, go watch “I Am Solo.”

take.jjh_ — 10 minutes ago

I’m seriously so sick of dating shows. People are crazy obsessed with romance.

nvoees — 7 hours ago

@sa_jjin Hey, Couple Village is doing another season! Let’s watch it together again!!!

greeny_day_ — 1 hour ago

My dopamine rush is coming back! And apparently PD Lee Eun-hye is joining this season too. The two biggest sources of dopamine are together, so this is going to be insane!!! I’m so excited!!!

dsfklj1221 — 1 hour ago

I wish they’d start it soon.

sowhat_ — 3 minutes ago

There are already spoilers about the pre-casting, right? They all look pretty disappointing.

“Ye-bom, always be polite to Grandma. Don’t eat too much jelly. Wash your hands properly whenever you come back from outside. Okay?”

“Yes.”

“Brush your teeth three times a day, and do your homework ahead of time.”

“You’re going to be late.”

Joo-mi urged Ye-in to hurry.

Ye-in had already been lecturing Ye-bom for quite some time.

“I’ll call you often.”

She hugged Ye-bom tightly.

There was no need to worry because Joo-mi’s mother would be taking care of her.

Even so, this was the first time Ye-in would be apart from Ye-bom for this long.

She couldn’t bring herself to leave easily.

“Ye-bom is being so mature, but her mommy isn’t. You’re going to cry, aren’t you?”

“I’m not going to cry.”

Ye-in stood up.

Her eyes were filled with tears, but she couldn’t cry in front of her child.

“Mommy, have a safe trip.”

Ye-in nodded and got into the waiting taxi with Joo-mi.

When she rolled down the window, she saw Ye-bom standing beside Joo-mi’s mother and waving.

“Call me anytime you miss me, okay? Even if it’s in the middle of the trip, Mommy will come to you.”

“Yes.”

The taxi started moving.

Ye-in leaned her head out of the window and watched Ye-bom grow smaller in the distance.

Only after Ye-bom disappeared completely from sight did Ye-in collapse against the backrest.

Joo-mi, who had been watching Ye-in carefully, cautiously spoke.

“They said they’ll let you meet her in the middle if you want. She’ll be fine.”

“I’m fine.”

“Huh?”

“Ye-bom will be fine too. If I didn’t think everything would be okay, I wouldn’t have agreed to go in the first place.”

The filming period was ten days.

It was a short period, if you thought about it that way.

Since she had decided to leave her child behind and go, Ye-in wanted to accomplish what she had set out to do within those ten days.

“Hong Joo-mi, are you really going to wear that?”

“Yeah. It’s pretty, isn’t it?”

“No. You can’t wear that. Change it. You have that light green dress, right? Wear that.”

“Why?”

“If you want to get attention during your first appearance, you need to wear a bright color. Bright colors look better on camera, so they tend to give you more screen time.”

“…How do you even know that?”

“I studied.”

“Studied? What?”

“Couple Village.”

Seon Ye-in was the kind of person who did things properly once she decided to do them.

She knew that dating shows were popular.

But she had never watched one because she had never understood the appeal.

Why would I watch other people date? What exactly is supposed to be fun about it?

But now that she had become a participant, she had a clear reason to watch dating shows.

After deciding to appear on Couple Village, Ye-in began organizing her tightly packed tutoring schedule one by one.

She used the free time she created to analyze the program.

Once Ye-in decided to appear on Couple Village, she watched every previous season.

Not only that, she also binge-watched five other dating shows, watching a total of nine series from beginning to end.

Ye-in reviewed everything she had analyzed.

Couple Village.

New dating shows continued to appear one after another, but Couple Village had remained popular enough to reach its fifth season.

Ye-in identified two major reasons for its popularity.

First, every participant on Couple Village appeared together with a friend.

There were plenty of opportunities to create the kind of raw, exciting drama viewers loved.

Someone might get misunderstood while trying to help their friend with their romance.

Or two friends might fall for the same person and end up turning against each other.

There were countless ways to create that addictive kind of excitement.

The second reason was its fast editing and quick broadcast schedule.

Starting from Season 1, Couple Village had always aired its first episode just three days after filming began.

After the first episode, the show switched to airing once or twice a week.

But compared to other dating shows, which usually had a gap of around six months between filming and broadcasting, this was an extremely unusual system.

The fact that viewers didn’t know what would happen next, and that the final choices hadn’t even been made yet, made them even more immersed in the show.

Of course, countless staff members must have been worked to the bone to make that possible.

Either way, since I’m going, I want to make Hong Joo-mi the main character of this season.

That way, she could turn her bakery into a whole bakery department store instead of just running one small bakery.

And then Ye-in planned to demand a lifetime discount on bread.

And Ye-in herself, too.

She had never had a proper romantic relationship in her life.

She wondered whether she really had no romantic instincts at all, or whether they were simply hiding somewhere inside her.

She had never even had the opportunity to meet people properly, let alone date a man.

This was the perfect place to find out.

A place specifically designed for romance.

And she was doing it for Ye-bom more than anyone else.

Of course, the fact that she had a child would be a major obstacle.

“Don’t worry. Couple Village has always had all kinds of people on it. There have been participants with children before. The male participant who was extremely popular last season was also divorced, and now he’s practically a celebrity.”

Joo-mi had spoken optimistically like that, but of course, it wouldn’t be easy.

Who would want to have a serious relationship with someone who already has a child after just casually dating?

Still, Ye-in had to try.

Our Ye-bom says she needs a daddy, after all.