3. Could It Be Because of This?
Inside the bag were the clothes and tools Jinha used when setting up his performance grounds.
"This is truly enough to make a ghost fall over."
It wasn't the clothes or small tools that surprised him.
That a large wooden pillar used for tightrope walking was inside this small bag.
With something that shattered common sense unfolding right before his eyes, he felt like a fool.
He had opened his eyes to a new world, and with text floating before his eyes, this much might be considered a walk in the park, but...
No matter how many astonishing things he had experienced, astonishing things were still astonishing.
Jinha took out and put back the items in the bag several times, then steeled his heart.
'Anyway, as long as I have this.'
When he concentrated with the thought of turning the bag back into an icon, the bag emitted light and changed back into an icon.
'Let's go back for now.'
Jinha moved his feet back toward the shop.
It wasn't difficult since he had checked his surroundings thoroughly on the way here.
"I'm back."
"Huh? Where'd those clothes come from?"
Ayeong's eyes widened at the jester clothes Jinha had changed into in an alley before arriving at the shop.
"I picked them up on the way."
"No, that line only sounds cool if you toss me a macaron or something while saying it. What is this?"
"What on earth is a macaron... no, that's not important. Do you have time right now?"
"Time? Why?"
"I'll show you something fun. Uncle, if you have a moment, please come too. I have something to show you."
"For me, just looking at your sorry face right now seems entertaining enough."
"I'll show you something much more fun than this. Ah, Ayeong, sorry, but could you bring me a bowl of soup when you come?"
Ayeong, who had been blankly watching Jinha say only what he needed to say before darting off, soon let out a deep sigh.
"At my prime age, instead of dates, I have to serve soup and deal with drunken antics. Sigh... if only he'd drink nicely, why's he rambling like that when he wasn't even drinking?"
"We don't have any customers anyway, so let's bring him a bowl. If it looks like he can't handle his liquor, pour him a bowl."
Jinha went around the alley outside the shop to a large vacant lot and stood before the tightrope he had taken out from the bag and set up in advance.
"Wait, when did this get here?"
"What on earth is this?"
"To earn my keep."
"Your keep?"
Ayeong and Gitae's expressions darkened as they watched Jinha answer irrelevantly.
It seemed not like drunken antics, but as if his mind itself had gone strange.
"What on earth is he doing right now?"
"I told you he seemed a bit off."
Jinha ignored the two looking at him with anxious expressions, received the soup from Ayeong, and placed it before the rope.
Performing a ritual for the rope before walking it was essential.
Many called it superstition, but those who worked with their lives on the line had no choice but to rely on it.
"Hoo."
Having finished the simple rope rite, Jinha slowly climbed onto the rope.
Whether in the place Jinha originally lived or here, the air felt the same above the rope.
The only slightly lonely thing was the absence of a jester below to trade banter with.
"It's a bit hazy~, but the air up here isn't so bad!"
Jinha, standing on the rope, suddenly shouted, drawing the gazes of passersby.
"Is he really going to do it? This seems pretty serious."
"Shouldn't we stop him?"
"Does he look like he'd stop if we tried? Search up the number for a mental hospital."
Jinha swiftly looked around at the people gathered below.
Four people total.
Three of them were elders who had been watching with interest since he was setting up the rope earlier.
"Oh my, some of you have already come. I'm grateful, but I have nothing to offer you, so I must at least give you a deep bow!"
As Jinha bent his waist in half on the rope as if bowing, he seemed precariously about to tumble forward.
"Woaaah!"
"He's falling!"
People's hearts dropped.
They had come to watch tightrope walking, not a horrible spectacle.
Swish!
Jinha spun once around the rope in the very motion of falling, then stepped back onto the rope as if nothing had happened.
It was as if his feet were stuck to the rope.
"He almost fell. What was that just now?"
"Puhaha, he's good, he's good."
The crowd's reaction was favorable.
As expected, tightrope walking was the best for attracting attention in any world.
"Look over there, is that some kind of performance?"
"Oh, looks like tightrope walking. Shall we watch?"
"I've never seen that in real life. Let's watch and go."
The footsteps of people walking down the street stopped, and they began to surround the rope.
From elderly people of advanced age to young people. Everyone focused on Jinha standing above the rope.
As the crowd grew, the number floating before his eyes rapidly increased.
[Gather people's attention. 30/30 target value complete.]
The moment the exclamation mark icon became a question mark, Jinha focused on the question mark.
- You have acquired the 'Essence of Healing.'
- The next quest has been activated.
▶Essence of Healing [Stage 1]
-Immediately heals small wounds.
-Cooldown: 10 days
-Next stage: Gather people's attention (0/100)
As expected, gathering people's attention was far too easy.
Having confirmed the floating text, Jinha smiled and leaped high from the rope.
* * *
The quiet street was soon filled with buzzing voices.
Most people were filming Jinha bouncing around on the rope with their phones, and there were people cheering him on from below.
Even if it was lunchtime, it was the first time so many people had gathered in front of the shop.
Drum and pipe sounds would have been nice, but it didn't matter much.
The street atmosphere heated up with just Jinha's movements on the rope alone.
People who had been walking lifelessly also stopped and squeezed into the crowd.
"Eolssu!"
At first, only one or two people were cheering, but as time passed, more and more joined. Each time Jinha jumped on the rope, more than half the gathered crowd began to cheer.
"He looks young, but he's amazing."
"Isn't he some kind of intangible cultural asset? Search it up."
◈Third Quest
[Save a life. 0/1]
-Your neighbor will die in a fire a month from now. If a disaster is going to happen anyway, having it happen sooner won't change anything. Rather, wouldn't it be better if you saved them?
-Reward: Essence of Replication
Jinha, who had been performing a dance on the rope for a while, stopped dead in his tracks.
Jinha looked at the text from atop the rope.
'Suddenly saving a life?'
Isn't this too out of the blue?
Come to think of it, the conversation and attention quests were the same, but still.
"Huh? Is it over?"
"Feels like he stopped mid-something."
The sound of people murmuring reached him.
Jinha cleared his throat and assumed his stance on the rope once more.
Jinha rummaged through his pocket, then plopped down to sit on the rope.
People screamed as they saw Jinha's body swaying precariously on the rope.
"Wow, I thought he was falling again."
"Amazing. It's pretty thrilling?"
Jinha let out a deep sigh while perched on the rope.
The tightrope walking had stopped, but the tension hadn't decreased at all.
"Ah, walking the rope has made me hungry and limp! If I could empty a bowl of bean sprout soup rice at the restaurant deep in that alley, I'd have nothing to envy in this world, but I don't have a single copper coin in my pocket!"
Unless they were tactless fools, the people couldn't fail to realize Jinha was asking for performance money.
"For this level, it's worth paying."
"Do you have cash? I only have a card."
"Can I give a coffee coupon?"
Quite a few coins began to pile up under the rope Jinha was walking on. Occasionally bills were mixed in too.
Jinha looked at the money fallen on the ground and roughly counted how much it was.
It hadn't been a long time, but Jinha had made his living with this his whole life.
Even from high up on the rope, grasping how much money had fallen below was no trouble at all.
"Oh my, now I'm getting some energy! But what to do, those things are useless up here? Ah, what the heck. I should be charitable with what I can't eat! Four people in total! Please go have a bowl of soup rice at the restaurant in that alley! It's excellent for clearing the stomach, so I'll select those who look like they drank medicinal liquor yesterday!"
As Jinha shouted, the gazes of the onlookers turned toward the alley.
"Did he take some drugs yesterday? When did he learn stuff like that?"
"There were some drugs in his room... should I go check what kind they are now?"
"No, forget it. Taking drugs doesn't let you walk a tightrope. Let's get ready to receive customers."
As several customers headed toward the alley, Gitae and Ayeong's expressions brightened considerably.
Jinha selected two elderly people and one young couple to go eat bean sprout soup rice.
Jinha intended to pay for the meals with the money fallen below.
Quite a few people who weren't selected also entered the shop, so the meal costs were more than covered.
"O-oh, welcome!"
It wasn't a dramatic increase in customers, but enough to be overwhelming for just two people.
Since it was such a small shop, it didn't take long to fill up.
"Huh? It's delicious? Why didn't we know about this place?"
"We didn't even know a place like this existed. Who would come all the way here?"
As expected, the customers' reactions were favorable.
For the next hour, even until Jinha finished his tightrope walking and came down, customers filled the shop.
* * *
Jinha's greatest strength was his ability to adapt quickly anywhere.
From a young age, there was no harsh, difficult, or life-threatening task he hadn't done.
He had lived without time to question his work or the leisure to lament his fate.
Doing what was before his eyes to the utmost, risking his life. That was Jinha's life.
"...I still don't get it."
After cleaning up the messy room, he sat down and organized the current situation one by one.
Just because he organized it didn't mean these absurd events became immediately acceptable.
He simply repeated to himself that if this really wasn't a dream, he had to adapt as quickly as possible.
Knock knock.
"Jinha."
Gitae's voice came from outside.
"Yes!"
Gitae opened the door slightly, holding a can of beer.
"Let's have a drink."
Jinha hid his surprised expression and followed Gitae out.
When he stepped out of the room, it was the building's rooftop.
It was wide open, but the buildings made the scene feel somewhat suffocating.
Watching Gitae open the can of beer, Jinha followed suit and took a sip.
Aah.
As the bitter liquid went down his throat, an incredible refreshing sensation was felt.
It was a taste he had experienced for the first time since being born into this world.
"Kuh, beer really is the best before bed."
Gitae downed a can of beer in one go, put a cigarette in his mouth, and glanced at Jinha.
The fact that he had been groaning like he was about to die until yesterday but had changed so much in one day was both admirable and pitiful.
"Have you settled your mind a bit now?"
Jinha recalled the suicide note he had seen in the room.
Given the circumstances, the owner of this body had probably been scammed and committed suicide.
Without bringing it up unnecessarily, he just nodded.
"Yeah, good thinking. Forget completely about being scammed and start over. For the time being, rest and do what you want. Prepare for auditions too."
"Audishon?"
"...Audition, you dummy. Anyway, while you're preparing, don't worry about other things and focus only on that. I can't push you hard, but I'll make sure you don't have to worry about three meals a day."
"Thank you."
He couldn't understand why Gitae was feeding and supporting him, but the man was undoubtedly someone to be grateful to.
It was still too much for now, but he was someone Jinha definitely had to repay someday.
"What thanks do we need between us? You really boosted the shop's sales today too."
Gitae tapped Jinha's shoulder once and stubbed out his cigarette.
"Huh? What's that?"
In that moment, Gitae's eyes, which had been looking outside, widened.
Jinha's eyes followed where Gitae was looking.
"Fire!"
Fire!
Gray smoke was rising from a nearby building. People's screams could be heard.
"It's right next door! Oh man, what is going on!"
Gitae hurriedly went down while making a call to someone.
Jinha recalled the text he had seen before.
Making the text appear wasn't difficult.
He simply had to think of bringing it to mind.
[Save a life. 0/1]
-Your neighbor will die in a fire a month from now. If a disaster is going to happen anyway, having it happen sooner won't change anything. Rather, wouldn't it be better if you saved them?
"Could it be...? Because of this?"