Episode 11
“…So money doesn’t work anymore?”
Unlike Ijae, who sighed, Goeun’s face was filled with shock. She had nothing else to bring to the table but money, yet she was being told to boast about her wealth elsewhere. Then what on earth was she supposed to use to win Seo Ijae over?
“There’s no point in bragging about money where Seo Ijae isn’t.”
“I Goeun.”
“I’m desperately trying to win Seo Ijae over. Money is the only thing I have to offer him.”
There were a few more things she had learned while following Seo Ijae around.
First of all, Seo Ijae was an extremely busy person, busy enough that one might wonder if he even slept, shuttling between school and his part-time jobs. And second, Seo Ijae was someone who didn’t have even a single grain of interest in the opposite sex.
Living so busily, he had never even attempted a relationship. The only women he came into contact with were his coworkers and customers at his part-time jobs.
It seemed his interests were limited to the two younger siblings under his care, money, and graduating. Despite being so busy, he never missed a single lecture, and whenever he had even a sliver of free time, he went straight to the library. He was truly an extraordinary person.
“I can match whatever amount Seo Ijae wants.”
“Excuse me, I Goeun. I……”
“I’ll pay you a salary even during Guide making. There are those state-funded classes, right? Think of it like that, except you’d receive ten times as much.”
“……”
“And once you reach at least A-rank and become my pair Guide, I’ll double that annual salary.”
When Goeun took another step closer, Ijae stepped back. Perhaps because they were behind the café building, shade obscured Ijae’s face, making it hard to see.
“I’ll really die if I don’t receive guiding. You know that, Seo Ijae. Female Espers aren’t common, and male Guides aren’t common either. And yet our matching rate is a whopping 97 percent. How could I let someone like you slip away? You haven’t awakened yet, but once you do and are dispatched to a Gate, I’ll make sure you don’t die no matter what.”
She couldn’t guarantee it since she had never used her esper ability even once, but Goeun decided to throw it out there anyway. Besides, with her family running a Guide specialty corporation, would she really let Seo Ijae die?
‘Just in case… should I install a few more safety measures?’
She was so anxious that it seemed better to think of a few more ways to prevent Ijae from dying. For example, giving some weight to Ijae’s character, whose presence was practically zero.
For an extra to gain enough presence to avoid dying in a novel.
‘…The male protagonist?’
Then wouldn’t he be unlikely to die?
‘This is it.’
Let’s make Seo Ijae the male protagonist.
Then the next problem. How to make Seo Ijae the male protagonist of this novel. Truthfully, this might not be such a difficult problem. The male protagonist of a romance novel was, by nature, someone entangled with the female protagonist. So all she had to do was entangle Naeun and Ijae together.
Even if the male protagonist’s job was being her pair Guide, couldn’t a brother-in-law guide his sister-in-law? In a romance fantasy world, what wouldn’t be possible?
The original story would change this way, but wasn’t she already ‘I Goeun,’ who was fated to die? From the moment she possessed this body, the original contents had already essentially changed.
Of course, the scale was somewhat different between a supporting character named ‘I Goeun’ surviving and the male protagonist character changing.
‘And I didn’t like the original male protagonist anyway.’
The original male protagonist entangled with Naeun was an S-rank Esper. And he had the exact personality Goeun hated. She felt that if a filthy rag were to become human, it would be this novel’s male protagonist.
He was so snippy toward Naeun throughout the story that if she ever met him in real life, she’d want to smack him upside the head.
‘…There are quite a few obstacles, though.’
Truthfully, Seo Ijae had quite a few shortcomings that made pushing him as the male protagonist difficult.
His family was poor, he had no financial leeway so his nerves were always on edge, making him an extremely sensitive person, and above all, his appearance. His looks were the biggest problem. Money was no problem at all considering Goeun and Naeun’s families, but Ijae’s looks seemed to require a much bigger overhaul than expected.
‘First, his height passes. His build is good enough. But those glasses and that hair, how to……’
The lenses looked strong, as if his eyesight was bad. His unkempt hair already covered half his face, and with thick frames on top of that, not much of Ijae’s face was visible.
If Ijae accepted Goeun’s proposal, she would immediately get rid of that shabby checkered shirt and those snub-nose glasses. Without fail.
Goeun’s eyes sparkled as her thoughts reached this point.
While Goeun was agonizing alone in her head over how to make Ijae the male protagonist, Ijae watched her with a rather serious expression.
Perhaps deep in thought, Ijae, who had stood silently for a long while, finally parted his lips cautiously.
“…I’ll think about it.”
“You aren’t just going to think about it, right? That would be very troublesome.”
“I have five part-time jobs right now. Quitting suddenly without even time to hire replacements isn’t proper.”
“Ah. Right. Handover is important.”
“Please give me a month. I’ll contact you once I’ve sorted out all my jobs.”
Whether it was her sincerity or her wallet that got through, a smile full of hope formed on Goeun’s face at the promising answer.
“But Seo Ijae. Do you know my contact?”
“The ten missed calls that show up on my phone every single day. Isn’t that I Goeun’s number?”
“So you knew it was me and deliberately didn’t answer. And yet you surprisingly didn’t block me?”
“I saw it so much that I memorized it all before I could block it.”
He memorized the number already? As expected of a science major, he must have a good head.
Thinking so internally, Goeun looked up at Ijae with fascinated eyes.
“But a month is too long. I’ll die waiting. One week. I’ll give you one week.”
“One week?”
Confusion laced Ijae’s voice at the period that had abruptly shrunk to one-fourth.
“If it’s really hard to find replacements, you could solve it with money……”
“I Goeun, I’m truly envious.”
“Pardon?”
“That you can solve anything with money.”
“What are you talking about? I barely managed to persuade Seo Ijae. If I didn’t even have money, would I have gotten even this far?”
Could she have won Seo Ijae over if she didn’t even have money? Goeun truly thought so.
“…Two weeks.”
“Pardon?”
“One week is too short. Please give me two weeks.”
“Hmm, two weeks……”
Goeun quickly began calculating dates in her head. Even if Ijae agreed to become her Guide right away, the Guide making period was basically one month, so time was already a bit tight.
It wouldn’t end with just Guide making either. There was a limit to how high a rank could be raised through Guide making alone, and to raise it above a certain rank, gate dispatch was essential. Considering various circumstances, it would have to be at least December before Ijae could do proper guiding.
December. A sad Christmas.
Goeun shuddered slightly as she recalled the subtitle of 『Sugayeon』. She hoped it wouldn’t become the anniversary of her future death.
“Alright. Two weeks.”
Goeun nodded gravely, like someone who had made a momentous decision. An expression of puzzlement rose on Ijae’s face, who couldn’t possibly know the circumstances.
“If there’s anything you can’t resolve on your own, make sure to contact me. You must!”
* * *
“Seo Ijae!”
“Huh? Ijae didn’t come in today. Didn’t you get the message?”
Ijae had asked her not to come to his workplaces for at least a week since he needed time to think. Goeun had readily accepted. She needed that much time to contact Yeorye and Naeun in America and prepare Guide making lessons for Ijae.
She had spent several days following only Ijae around, so she had had no time to handle personal matters; Goeun had truly spent a busy week.
She had roughly wrapped up her affairs as well, and feeling that by now Ijae must have thought things through and reached a conclusion, she came to the café after ten days, but Ijae was nowhere to be seen.
“Seo Ijae didn’t come? Why? Did you already hire someone else?”
Contrary to her worry, she asked in surprise if the staffing had been filled quickly, but the employee working with Ijae shook his head.
“No, he contacted us saying he was sick today.”
“…Seo Ijae is sick?”
Goeun recalled the last time she had seen Ijae. She had thought his complexion looked terrible, and it had finally come to a head. With a face that said it was only a matter of time, she pressed herself further against the drink pick-up counter.
“He’s only absent today, right?”
“Yes, he contacted us in the morning. He asked in the group chat if anyone could cover his shift today. So I came in, but he called sounding so apologetic, almost like he was crying, so I told him it was fine since today isn’t a busy day.”
“Seo Ijae… cried?”
“I don’t think he actually cried, but his voice was so hoarse that it sounded like he was. Hmm, but I think he’s really very sick?”
Just how sick was he for Seo Ijae, the part-time king, to miss work? Moreover, since Ijae didn’t have parents, he was surely groaning in pain alone. His only family was his two young siblings.
She felt sorry for the sick Ijae, but for some reason, this seemed like an opportunity to Goeun. If she took good care of sick Ijae, wouldn’t he be moved by her sincerity and effort?
Goeun’s body moved immediately along with the thought.
* * *
Goeun immediately bought porridge for Ijae and a meal for his siblings, stopped by a mart to pack daily necessities and snacks in armfuls, and headed to Ijae’s house.
It was her second visit, so the sight of Ijae’s house was no longer unfamiliar.
“Seo Ijae.”
Just like last time, Goeun knocked loudly on the door and called for Ijae. There was no doorbell, so she had to knock quite hard to call to the person inside.
‘What, is no one inside?’
After knocking this much, even a sick Seo Ijae should have come out, but the door didn’t budge an inch.