7. Ten Million Won?
Whoosh!
He turned his head toward where he felt a gaze, but he couldn't find anyone particularly looking his way.
'Was it my imagination?'
Jinha shook his head, slapped his cheeks a few times with his palm, and came to his senses.
Taking your eyes off while tightrope walking was insane.
"Alright then, let's go again!"
Festive music began to play.
Jinha started walking the rope once more.
Eolssu!
As time passed, the number of people watching the tightrope walking gradually increased.
The performance, which lasted thirty minutes, ended with the crowd's cheers.
"This is really incredible."
Normally, he should have been completely exhausted.
But thanks to the Essence of Stamina, he was only slightly out of breath and could endure well enough.
"No macarons, huh."
Drinks and bread given by people were piled high in front of Jinha, who sat leaning against the fountain.
He had planned to take them to Ayeong if there were any macarons, but all that caught his eye was yakgwa, which Jinha liked.
He put a piece of yakgwa in his mouth, went into a nearby thicket, and stowed the wooden poles and remaining food in his bag.
This bag was excellent for storing food as well.
He had tried putting bean sprout soup rice into it a few times in the past, and it seemed to have both heat-retaining and refrigeration functions, so it was very useful.
"It came out better than I thought? As expected, since my looks carry me, it comes out well even if I just film roughly."
After finishing all cleanup, he sat on a bench and checked the recorded video on the camera.
It wasn't filmed extremely well, but it wasn't that bad either.
He thought it would be better if someone filmed for him.
"This should be enough. She said she'd take care of the editing as long as I just filmed it."
Ayeong had said she would edit it herself if he brought the camera to her.
She had a somewhat prickly side, but she knew how to do this and that and was a useful kid.
'If only she'd fix her personality, she'd be fine.'
Jinha shook his head after thinking of Ayeong and looked at the camera again.
Whoosh!
He felt a strong gaze again and turned around. Sure enough, there was no one.
'Is it because I haven't eaten?'
Was he seeing things because the performance was so grueling?
He figured it would be better to raise his stamina more.
The original owner of this body didn't seem to have exercised much.
* * *
It was the third day of tightrope walking in the park.
Today, far more people had gathered than usual.
Doing alone what twenty-seven members of the Cheongmaepae had originally done was difficult, but the applause people gave when the performance ended washed away the hard fatigue all at once.
"Excuse me."
When the tightrope performance ended and he was checking the camera, someone approached and spoke to Jinha.
She was a woman with long hair, fair skin, and wearing luxurious, neat clothes.
Her age seemed to be roughly mid-twenties, around Jinha's age.
A name and brief information appeared above the woman's head.
'An unemployed person is just an unemployed person. What the hell is a wealthy unemployed person?'
He was confused for a moment, but there had been many such idlers where he lived before, so he accepted it quickly.
"Yes?"
"Do you happen to have a contracted company?"
"A company? I don't have anything like that."
"Then did you just come out busking alone? Or are you a YouTuber, judging by the fact that you're filming?"
Yujin asked, seeing the camera Jinha was holding.
"I'm not quite a YouTuber. I just need some video."
"Ah, are you trying to send in an audition video somewhere?"
"Something like that. But who are you to keep asking such things?"
"Ah, I was late with introductions. I'm sorry. I'm Baek Yujin."
Yujin took out a business card from her card case and held it out.
Only Yujin's name and number were written on the business card.
'So she's unemployed, yet she has a business card? Well, a wealthy unemployed person is different from an ordinary one. They'd better be.'
He glanced at Yujin. She had looks that anyone would call beautiful.
Yujin smiled brightly about something and then spoke.
"You're done with the performance, right? Then let's go down and have a cup of coffee."
* * * 'Is this poison?'
Coffee was the worst-tasting thing he had tried since coming to this world.
All kinds of food in this place were delicious, so he had expectations for this too.
He couldn't understand why people would pay money to drink this.
"I'll get straight to the point without beating around the bush. Could you do a performance for me?"
"A performance?"
"Yes. I'll pay you sufficiently."
"If by pay... you mean you'll give me money?"
"Ah... well, it means the same thing."
"What kind of performance, and how much will you give me?"
When Jinha asked, Yujin leisurely rummaged through her bag.
"Huh...? Huh? Huuh?"
After a moment, Yujin emptied everything in her bag onto the table and her expression turned to one of embarrassment.
"Ah... well... it's a performance at nursing homes and orphanages across the country... You only have to do it four times a month? Ah, and... um... I'll tell you the rest in detail later. The tablet with the documents has disappeared. I'm sorry."
Clumsy.
It wasn't even about whether to believe her or not; her credibility plummeted instantly.
"Ah, and would it be alright if I paid you around ten million won?"
"Ten million won?"
"Yes. Ten million won."
Credibility dropped once again.
Was ten million won a sum that could be thrown around so easily?
Jinha smiled bitterly at the memory of being deceived by a rascal in the village who said he'd give a large sum of money for setting up a performance stage, which ended in humiliation for the entire Cheongmaepae.
"Is there perhaps something else you want?"
"Something else? Uh... I don't want anything like that."
Too clumsy.
At this point, he thought it might be a scam targeting the psychology of "Would a scammer be this clumsy?"
"I'm sorry. You must be wondering if I'm not a scammer, right? I would think the same. But the tablet suddenly disappeared and my mind went blank..."
Yujin kept apologizing and explaining at length.
It was an immutable truth that money taken blindly without proper verification would bring trouble later.
It wasn't as if a quest to earn money had appeared, and it didn't seem right to jump at a suspicious contract on the spot.
"Honestly, I am suspicious, but I understand your situation too. People can make mistakes. It's not urgent, so I think it would be better to talk again after the materials for the performance are prepared. Then I'll be going now."
"Ah, wait a moment!"
Yujin grabbed Jinha as he tried to get up.
"It's really not a scam. Please believe me. The performance date is so urgent, but could we meet again later after I find the documents?"
Why was she going this far?
Begging while offering money... His suspicion deepened.
Jinha postponed his answer, took out a Pill of Discernment, and tossed it into his mouth along with the poison-like coffee.
"Cough! C-cough."
Along with the hellish taste of coffee, the words floating above Yujin's head were engraved in his mind.
A very good relationship to know?
How would you know that?
He wanted to ask, but it was obvious the words wouldn't answer even if he asked.
Just then, a woman quickly approached from afar toward where Jinha and Yujin were sitting.
"Excuse me, but may I sit with you?"
Short hair, in a high-quality suit.
Doeun, who had a cold impression, asked as she handed over a business card.
When Jinha nodded, Doeun sat beside Yujin.
"I'm sorry for intruding suddenly. It seems she couldn't give you a proper explanation because I failed to deliver the materials, so I interfered."
Doeun handed over the tablet PC from her bag.
The tablet contained detailed information about where Jinha would perform.
'Gaon Group Volunteer Project?'
Jinha slowly scrolled through the tablet PC.
"We plan to tour orphanages and nursing facilities across the country for volunteer purposes this time. We are looking for someone who has skill and can spare some time to perform."
The tablet had the materials organized in a way that made it immediately clear that this was what Yujin had been stumbling over earlier.
Yujin beside her seemed to raise her shoulders as if a reliable ally had appeared.
"I would appreciate it if you considered this positively. You would bring joy to the children and elderly, and Jinha-sshi would earn money. Isn't that good for everyone?"
Yujin beside her also nodded repeatedly as if to say this was exactly what she had been trying to say.
"By performance, you mean my tightrope walking, correct?"
"Yes. If you accept, we will prepare the stage for you."
Jinha stroked his beard-less chin with his palm and pondered.
"So if I perform just four times a month, you'll give me ten million won?"
"That's possible. If you have a desired amount, we can review it and let you know as well."
The value of ten million won seemed different to these people than to ordinary folks.
Good heavens. To think they'd really give ten million won just for walking a tightrope a bit.
"I understand for now. But I'll think about it until tonight and then tell you."
"Think? Didn't you say you don't have an agency yet?"
"I don't have an agency; I just want to think about it alone."
"Ah, it would be rather much to decide right here on the spot. Then please think about it and contact us. We'll be waiting for a quick response."
As Jinha greeted them and left, Yujin turned her body toward Doeun.
"How about it? You heard too, right? I was right, right? He's good, right? Huh?"
"He's quite different from what I expected. I thought he'd obviously jump at the contract without asking or questioning anything. But still, you can't know a person just by seeing them briefly."
Doeun received Yujin's words with a calm tone.
"I know that too."
"Then why did someone who knows that make such a rash decision?"
Yujin couldn't answer.
It wasn't that she had nothing to say.
Rather, she had too much to say and didn't know where to begin.
"I just got a feeling."
At Yujin's immature words, Doeun's expression crumpled for a moment before returning to normal.
"Miss. Normally, people don't offer ten million won just because they got a feeling. And someone who jumps at such money couldn't be a proper person either."
"That's true... but he didn't jump at it."
"That's probably because anyone could see he thought you were a scammer."
"..."
"Still, ten million won matches exactly the amount the Chairman proposed. It's far too insufficient to cast ordinary singers."
"Right? And with that level of performance, people will react well too."
"We'll know that once we try. Miss, as I always tell you, you know you must pass the conditions the Chairman mentioned to be recognized, right?"
"I know."
"Then don't forget to carry this around with you. I clearly gave it to you earlier; when did you drop it?"
When Doeun pointed at the tablet PC and spoke, Yujin couldn't say anything and hung her head.
Doeun let out a small sigh and spoke.
"Shall I look into him a bit more?"
"Into what?"
"That man who didn't bite."