8. She Was Quite the Big Shot
The moment he returned home, he searched for Baek Yujin.
“She was quite the big shot.”
The results on the internet screen were completely unexpected.
Only daughter of the Gaon Group.
Whether it was due to his lacking search skills or because there simply wasn’t any, he couldn’t find any more detailed information.
‘Anyway, she doesn’t seem like a scammer. But would someone of her caliber chase me around personally to sign a contract without sending an employee?’
She was too high-status to be a scammer, yet too clumsy not to be one.
Could she really be doing this like a child’s play, just for fun?
He could understand if she had so much money it was rotting away, but it still didn’t quite make sense.
“Oppa! Dinner’s ready!”
Ayeong’s voice called out from downstairs.
Jinha immediately dashed down and sat at the table.
“Ayeong, do you know Gaon Group?”
“Gaon? Who doesn’t know them? They have department stores, home shopping, hotels, convenience stores… why? Having trouble remembering again?”
“No, that’s not it. Ah, how’s the footage you took today? Is it usable?”
Seeing Ayeong’s worried gaze, Jinha changed the subject.
As expected, Gaon was quite a famous place.
“It’s not too bad. But it feels too far and the angle is just not… tsk! Next time, come with me no matter what.”
Having watched the footage Jinha brought back, Ayeong stroked her chin, acting like a picky expert.
“Then come with me and film it properly.”
“I want to, but then who’s going to help at the shop?”
He almost said, “Just hire a part-timer,” but stopped himself.
Unless he was going to pay the part-timer’s wages himself, it wasn’t his place to comment on the shop’s work.
“Let’s go film together when we have time. Dad said he’s taking one day off this week.”
“Yeah, let’s go together. I’ll buy you macarons again.”
“No macarons this time, I want tteokbokki. You know that SSS-rank tteokbokki place that opened next to the intersection? It’s insanely good.”
He had no idea what she was talking about, but Jinha just kept nodding his head.
Most things were resolved by simply nodding along to whatever Ayeong said.
‘Let’s sign the contract.’
Jinha made his decision while eating gukbap.
Even after considering every variable, there was nothing to lose.
After finishing his meal and washing the dishes, Jinha returned to his room and sent a text to the number on the business card, and -9,670,000 KRW was deposited.
Before he could even draft the contract, the deposit notification arrived.
* * *
Even though a senior center performance had suddenly been scheduled, nothing changed about Jinha’s life.
As he did every day, he walked in the park, performed, and repeated dance and song practice.
“Ten million won? Isn’t that a scam?”
After making sure it wasn’t some shady money, Jinha told Ayeong and Gitae about the contract.
Both rejoiced as if it were their own matter, yet seriously asked Jinha about the contract.
“If she were a scammer, she wouldn’t have deposited ten million won.”
“That’s true, but ten million won isn’t exactly the neighbor’s dog’s name…”
“Is ten million won anything to the truly rich? She’s the only daughter of Gaon Group. To someone like that, ten million won must feel like a thousand won to us? No, maybe a hundred won?”
The three of them heatedly discussed the contract over a meal at the closed shop.
The conclusion they reached shortly after was simple.
The conclusion was: ‘You can’t scam someone who has nothing to scam.’
Though he had received the deposit now, what kind of scam could anyone pull on Jinha, who didn’t even have 200,000 won?
“As long as I don’t go to the senior center and get put on a shrimp fishing boat, I don’t think it’s a scam.”
“Yeah, oppa, be careful. Don’t eat anything they give you. You might pass out and wake up missing a few organs.”
“…I think that’s a curse, but thank you anyway.”
“But did you decide what you’re going to perform?”
“I haven’t decided yet, but I think I can just do what I usually do—walking the tightrope, singing, and dancing.”
“Ha, but you can’t be sloppy when you’re getting paid ten million won. I’ll roughly put something together, so watch this.”
Ayeong grabbed the laptop she had kept near the counter and showed him a video.
It was a scene of Jinha walking the tightrope in the park.
“Oh, did you edit this?”
“Yeah. It’s much better than before, right?”
All the unnecessary scenes were cut, and witty subtitles were inserted throughout.
“No one’s going to watch the full footage you took from start to finish, oppa. I focused only on the scenes where you dance on the tightrope.”
This should be decent enough to submit as the first preliminary round video for Idol Star.
It wasn’t incredibly entertaining, but it definitely had character and was neat compared to other videos.
“If it’s okay, I’ll upload it. The first preliminary round for the audition you’re applying to requires uploading to your own YouTube channel, right? It’s still far off, but it’s good to upload it early.”
He decided on a simple and clear YouTube channel name: ‘Woo Jinha.’
He had considered names like ‘Eoreumsani Woo Jinha’ or ‘Tightrope Master TV,’ but these days people barely knew what eoreumsan was, and it just looked old-fashioned.
“Thank you.”
He wanted to express deeper gratitude, but Jinha, who had rarely received such kindness, simply said it briefly and pulled out an envelope.
“What’s this?”
Gitae opened the envelope.
Inside were two crisp checks.
“Hey, what is this…”
Two million won.
Actually, he had tried to purchase travel tickets, but the previous owner of this body had apparently never traveled, so there was nothing in his memory, making it difficult to book.
“This is for the days the shop will be closed, rent, and the meals I’ve eaten until now. It’s far too little, but I’ll continue to pay it back.”
“Wow, amazing, how much is this?”
Unlike Ayeong, who was excited seeing the money, Gitae wore a cautious expression and didn’t open his mouth.
“Put it away. I’ll accept your heart only.”
Gitae returned the envelope.
“You have to accept it for my peace of mind. Please take it first, and at least go on a trip with Ayeong.”
“Aigoo. A trip in this lifetime of mine? I know your heart well enough, so that’s enough. And if I rest for a few days, this shop I’m barely holding onto will go bankrupt right away. Use this money to buy our Ayeong some macarons or macao or whatever occasionally.”
“Dad, why are you like this? Just accept it? Oppa says he earned the money to give it to us.”
Looking into Gitae’s eyes, Jinha didn’t insist further and put the envelope back in his pocket.
“Ayeong, bring a bottle of soju.”
When Gitae spoke softly, the dinner table suddenly turned into a drinking table.
He never brought up the money he had just handed over again.
Drinks were exchanged, and the three filled the table with small talk like an ordinary family.
‘It’s a bit different from what I expected.’
Thinking it would be heartless to mention it just once and drop it, Jinha subtly brought it up again, but Gitae’s mind did not change.
In less than an hour, Gitae, who had been pouring soju under the pretense of being happy, was completely wasted.
“Come on, you take money when it’s given. Why wouldn’t you take it? He’s really my dad, but he’s weird.”
Ayeong shook her head seeing Gitae collapsed on the table.
Not long after, Ayeong also seemed to pass her limit, her eyes unfocusing as she slumped over the table.
Ayeong had been putting on airs about being a good drinker, but she was no match for Jinha.
After all, Jinha was someone who would empty the village’s liquor every time he held a feast after a performance.
Jinha cleared the table and carried the dishes to the kitchen.
“Was I too hasty?”
He thought deeply while washing the dishes.
He didn’t need to belittle himself. He hadn’t done anything wrong.
As various thoughts came to mind, while he couldn’t say he perfectly understood Gitae’s heart, he felt he could understand it to some extent.
Before coming to this world, he had once saved a child abandoned on the road who was starving to death and brought him into the Cheongmaepae troupe.
A few months later, when that child had taken off his cherished ring and handed it to Jinha in gratitude.
Hadn’t his own feelings at that time been somewhat similar?
“Ugh… oh, my dear. Did I… hic… burden Jinha? Ugh.”
“Huh? What’re you saying. Who is this old man. Annoying.”
When he finished washing the dishes and came out, Gitae and Ayeong were sprawled over the table, drunkenly rambling at each other.
Jinha carried Gitae to his room first, then came back downstairs and carried Ayeong as well.
Entering Ayeong’s room, it was neatly organized.
After laying Ayeong down properly, he placed the envelope on the desk.
[Pocket money. Hold onto it and buy Dad something from time to time.]
He took out a colored pencil from his void bag, wrote on the envelope, and went up to the rooftop.
On the empty rooftop, he played YouTube and practiced dancing to the music.
Though he had already learned several songs through the Essence of Replication, it was important to master them with his own body, not through the power of rewards.
No matter how tremendous the reward, there was a limit to it.
“Um… please take this.”
“What? What is this?”
“It’s, it’s the ring Father gave me. I cherished it… but I’ll give it to you.”
This isn’t why I saved you.
He couldn’t remember exactly what words he had said to the child then.
Recalling old memories, he felt the alcohol rising slightly.
“The weather is nice.”
Jinha smiled bitterly and practiced dancing again.
Calisthenics under the moonlight—no, dance practice under the moonlight continued until dawn.
* * *
“You arrived early?”
On the day of the performance at the senior center.
Having arrived two hours ahead of schedule, Jinha was met by Yujin and Doeun.
“Hello. I came early to get a feel for the atmosphere.”
“I told them to prepare the stage perfectly, but I wonder if you’ll like it. But… who is the person beside you?”
Yujin looked at Ayeong standing next to Jinha and asked.
Her voice was the same, but for some reason, he felt the atmosphere cooling.
“She’s someone I live with.”
“Someone… you… live with…”
Upon hearing Ayeong’s words, Yujin’s expression hardened, then,
“I’m his younger sister.”
Instantly returned to a bright, blooming expression.
“Ah, I see. You’re so pretty. You came to watch, right? I’ll reserve the front row seat for you, so please watch from there.”
“It’s fine watching from further back. More importantly, would personal filming be possible?”
“Of course! Ah… by any chance, with that?”
Yujin looked at the old camera Ayeong was holding.
“Yes. Is that not allowed?”
“No, that’s not it, but if you’re going to film, wouldn’t it be better to do it properly? I’ll prepare a better one at the front. We happen to have many spare cameras.”
“Wow. Really? Thank you so much.”
It was a very brief moment, but Jinha definitely saw it.
The hunter’s gleam in Ayeong’s eyes after smelling money.
“I don’t want to take someone else’s seat, so the seat is really fine. But could you prepare a camera on this side?”
When Ayeong showed the ticket with her seat number, Yujin nodded with a kind expression.
“As you know, please do exactly as you did in the park before. We’ll do a simple rehearsal in an hour.”
Since there would be no separate filming, they decided to have a rehearsal matching only the lighting positions and performance order.
“I like it.”
Being able to practice before the performance.
It was a consideration incomparable to the days when, upon receiving permission to set up a performance ground in the village, he would jump straight into the real thing.
He was not nervous.
Because this was Jinha, who had already performed hundreds and thousands of times.
* * *
The main performance was, in a word, pure fervor.
The reactions were heated, and the performance, planned for one hour, extended by thirty minutes.
“Young man, come again next time!”
“How do you walk that rope? I was on the edge of my seat thinking you’d fall!”
After the performance ended, surrounded by the elderly, Jinha sweated buckets and thanked each and every one of them individually.
[Fan Gathering [100/100] target number achieved.]
- Total fans: 102.
- ‘Essence of Dexterity’ acquired.
- Next quest activated.
▶Essence of Dexterity
-Dexterity stat increases by 20%.
-Next step: [Fan Gathering 0/500]
Naturally, the number of fans increased dramatically, clearing the quest as well.
In addition, the Conversation Quest and Gaze Quest rose significantly too.
Earning money and clearing quests. It couldn’t get any better than this.
“Uh…? What’s this.”
However, before he could even feel the joy of the quest clear, tremendous news rose before Jinha’s eyes one after another.