Chapter 367: The Heart-Pounding Balance Game
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 367: The Heart-Pounding Balance Game
Through the conversation with my parents, I learned that my sister, unlike before, had left their hands a long time ago. They didn't know where she had been abandoned, nor did they know her subsequent whereabouts.
If that was the case, could I even call this 'Sister (blood relative)' the sister I knew?
The fact that she was my only family remained unchanged. Even if she didn't remember me, I had no intention of giving up on achieving the KPI for that reason alone.
However, since it was nonsensical to think I would reunite with a sister who had been abandoned before I was even born, the 'Sister' indicated by the system had to refer to the sister who had been with me.
'After putting me through all this hell, if they tell me it was a fraudulent contract...'
As I reached a certain resolution, the system sent a signal of clarification.
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[SYSTEM] A work order from the 'Person in Charge' has arrived.
▶ Why are you sounding so scary? Did you think there wouldn't even be a handover manual? Our company isn't some tiny mom-and-pop shop, you know.
+
A handover.
'Don't tell me that means you're going to shove memories into her head?'
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[SYSTEM] A work order from the 'Person in Charge' has arrived.
▶ Don't worry. We have all the data. With this, she'll be able to master the job perfectly.
+
You crazy bastard.
I didn't know how my sister was living now. But I also didn't know if she would even want the memories of her previous life.
There must have been good things she experienced in this life, too. There might be precious connections she wouldn't want to forget.
Would those memories be precious enough for her to endure all the wounds of the past? Was that something I was allowed to decide?
I thought of the closest example. If I were to shove the memories of the old five-member Spark into one of the current Spark members, would these guys even want that?
'I can't be sure.'
Everyone was already living lives so different from the past. Even if their memories returned, they might not even be acquainted with someone who was once a close friend.
Relying solely on this uncertainty and returning her memories just because I missed her felt like a cruel thing to do.
'I thought that even if it wasn't humane, it didn't want to torment me.'
Ever since the negative emotion perception rate disappeared, I had consistently thought this way.
Seeing how the functions I hadn't touched—fearing I'd become useless if I relied on them too much—existed only until they were needed and then vanished, I thought the system wanted me to lead a somewhat normal life. Though I regret losing my cool during that process.
Still...
'I can't just decide on my own without knowing her opinion, just for my own sake.'
Perhaps I should be satisfied with the fact that she is alive.
I realized then that greed has no end. I had completely forgotten the days when I thought just her being alive would be enough, and now that an opportunity was given, I found myself wanting more.
Seeing how I wanted the sister from back then to return exactly as she was, it seemed my heart had never truly been able to let her go.
The members staying late for practice today were myself and Park Ju-woo. When I said I wanted to stay and practice a bit more, Jeong Seong-bin stuck Park Ju-woo with me. It was an order based on the calculation that with Ju-woo's stamina, he wouldn't last long and would head back to the dorm soon.
Then, Seong-bin himself left the practice room without a trace of lingering regret, along with Choi Je-ho, saying he had to get Lee Cheong-hyeon and Kang Gi-yeon to sleep early. It’s a problem that our leader is getting tougher by the day.
Regardless, Ju-woo and I filled the time by practicing our singing quite diligently. Perhaps Park Ju-woo's total energy capacity was greater when it came to singing, because I had to be the one to lead the cleanup of the practice room while he was still full of energy.
I quietly watched Park Ju-woo as he sluggishly prepared to leave.
"Ju-woo."
"Yeah?"
"Do you like philosophical conversations?"
"Uh...?"
Park Ju-woo, who was drinking the remaining water in his bottle, sputtered as if it had gone down the wrong pipe.
"I like... talking. But I'm not confident if it's a difficult topic."
"Then I'll lower the barrier for you. Let's play a Balance Game."
"I think you lowered it too much...?"
Despite the jab, Ju-woo sat down obediently beside me.
"What is it?"
"It's a simple question."
After opening my mouth first, I hesitated for a long time.
"Let's say, for example, there's a really delicious cake."
"Okay."
"But to eat that cake, you have to eat a spoonful of gochujang made from Cheongyang chili peppers."
"Huh...?"
"Then, Ju-woo, would you eat the cake?"
"This is on the premise that the cake is that delicious, right...?"
"Maybe not. I think I used a bad metaphor. Let me think again."
I hadn't considered the possibility that, from my sister's perspective, her memories with me might not be precious. I quickly changed the phrasing.
"Imagine someone is making a photo album for you. Filled with photos taken with precious people. It could be friends, or family."
"Yeah."
"But the album also contains photos of someone you hate. You can't take just those photos out. You have to keep the album as a whole."
"Aha... so you have to endure the parts you dislike."
Fortunately, Park Ju-woo understood exactly what I was trying to say.
"In a situation like this, Ju-woo, would you choose to receive the album?"
Even though I knew this wasn't a matter to be decided as a joke, my heart raced.
After a long silence, Ju-woo gave his answer.
"I'd take it."
"Really?"
"I don't want to give up good memories because of a fleeting memory."
Ju-woo spoke his opinion softly, with clear pronunciation. It was an answer typical of someone as warm-hearted and people-loving as him.
"I should... make you an album when I have time."
"Really?"
"Excluding the people you hate, and filling it only with people you like. How about it?"
"Using a printing service?"
"I can just edit the pages and print it as a photo book. I know how to use Outdesign."
"I don't want to give you extra work, Hyung..."
Ju-woo, whose eyes had been sparkling, declined my offer to make it by hand from start to finish with a sad face.
Then, after glancing at me, he tossed out a question.
"Can I... do one Balance Game too?"
"What is it?"
Park Ju-woo said, fidgeting with his fingers.
"Hyung, you have a very precious friend. You like that friend very, very much... but other people say that friend is a bad person, so it's better not to stay close to them."
"What would you do then, Hyung?"
It was similar to my question, yet had a different nuance.
In the first place, I wouldn't have a reason to maintain a connection with someone others would call human trash, but such a hypothetical would be meaningless.
"That's a tough question. It would require a lot of thought."
"...Right?"
"Still, if I had to choose one, I'd want to follow the words of the people around me."
"Why?"
"My desire to protect a problematic friend is for that friend's sake, but the people telling me to keep my distance are likely giving me advice for my sake."
At my words, Park Ju-woo blinked his eyes.
"There might be people who do that on purpose because they want to drive a wedge between me and my friend! But that makes the story complicated... People who know he's my only friend wouldn't go... that far just to isolate me, right?"
"Ahaha."
Park Ju-woo laughed softly. He seemed to realize that I wanted to do my best to answer his question.
Living one day as a musical novice, one day as a chaebol heir, and another as a monitoring agent for a total maniac, even having seven bodies wouldn't have been enough.
On top of that, dividing my daily routine into a diligent member of society by day and a non-stop nagging machine by night, even fourteen brains would have been insufficient.
I was so out of it that I seriously considered using the Time Stop the system gave me. I barely held back, as it was far too powerful a force to waste on something like this.
The current time was 10:00 AM. On this 'chaebol heir day,' I had to act as a polite youngest staff member on set when the cameras were off, and as a young master who feared nothing in the world when they were on.
During the few days I was away, there had been much progress in Ham I-seo and Gong Ji-chan's secret investigation.
They had discovered everything: that when a problem arose internally, Cheonju Group would pick a civilian completely unrelated to the group, cut off their livelihood, or threaten them by mentioning their family. They would force them to do the dirty work needed to solve the problem and then induce them to take their own lives.
[Ham I-seo: Why would they do such things to people who aren't even part of the group...!]
[Gong Ji-chan: It's probably because they aren't part of the group. They need to remain flawless themselves.]
They didn't even make sweet offers like those in common dramas, saying, 'If only you sacrifice yourself, your family will live without worrying about money for the rest of their lives.'
Instead, it was a warning that if they didn't listen, they wouldn't be able to set foot anywhere in South Korea. And the power to turn that threat into reality came as a terror to people who had no experience in such fights. Because they targeted only the weak who could hardly find a way to refuse.
At the center of all these actions was Cheon Yun-seong. Choosing the method to wither a person to death and ordering its execution all depended on Cheon Yun-seong.
Based on the story so far, it seemed Mr. Cheon Yun-seong was destined for an ending where he gets murdered in the work. His crimes were too severe for him to have an ending where he sleeps soundly. If it was going to be like this, they should have warned me sooner that he couldn't die peacefully.
'It's going to be hard to rehabilitate his image, isn't it?'
I wailed inwardly, picturing a future where I die as an unparalleled piece of trash. I heard that once you take on a villain role, your image often gets fixed. I don't think my villainous acting will be etched that impressively, but I only hope it doesn't negatively affect Spark's activities.
"I-wol, you have a lot of lines today, don't you?"
So Sae-young approached and struck up a conversation. Indeed, today was almost a one-man show for me. An entire page of the script was a scene where I talked all by myself. Thanks to that, I had stayed up all night.
"It looked like it would be tough with so many emotional scenes. You ate well before coming, right?"
"I will do my best..."
"I feel a sense of cognitive dissonance every time I see you like this, I-wol. You're so different from the screen..."
The actor playing Gong Ji-chan gave me some undeserved praise.
Since I'd heard such things, I had to work hard. I burned with enthusiasm, drawing even on the calories from the jjolmyeon I ate this morning. Fortunately, the filming ended without a hitch.