Bazaar of Talents
After getting the call from So-yeon noona, I quickly threw on some clothes. Just as I opened the dorm door, ready to rush over to her as fast as possible, Taeyoung’s puzzled voice came from behind me.
The door creaked. “Wait, hyung. What’s with the church all of a sudden?”
“I’ll be right back~”
Taeyoung looked completely lost, but I didn’t care. I was already heading out after So-yeon noona’s message.
Her sudden contact caught me off guard. We’d grown a little closer thanks to that quest item before, but I never expected her to actually reach out like this. And the place she wanted to meet? Nuri Church—a location where quests could trigger. There was a real chance a quest might appear.
Letting my imagination run wild, I hurried toward Nuri Church to meet her.
Shin So-yeon. She was one of Lee A-young’s roommates. I first saw her when we were all heading to the auditorium for dorm fire safety training. That day she wore gray leggings that clung tightly to her slim lower body. While walking there, I stole more than a few glances at her legs. In those leggings, So-yeon noona looked like she was strolling around in nothing but pantyhose. Her plump, cute butt and slender leg lines gave off an unmistakably seductive vibe. Every guy heading to that training session must have stolen a look at her ass.
But her beautiful lower body wasn’t her only charm. She had a sharp jawline and slightly upturned eyes that gave her a fox-like face. The raised corners of her eyes made her look a little cold or haughty, yet her tone was surprisingly soft and full of aegyo. Plus, with her round silver-framed glasses, she didn’t come across as sharp as expected. Instead, those slightly lifted eyes carried a faintly lewd atmosphere.
‘Huh?’
While walking lost in thought, the fully bloomed cherry blossoms caught my eye. Rows of cherry trees lined the path, every branch heavy with pink flowers.
‘Pretty.’
Cherry blossom season had already arrived. Whenever the wind blew, pink petals scattered like snow. When they flew, soft light pink filled my vision. Cherry blossoms had no scent, but I felt like I could smell spring in the air. That pink hue signaled the peak of spring.
I paused my other thoughts and walked while admiring the blossoms. Before I knew it, I stood in front of Nuri Church.
But… strangely, there were a lot of young kids around.
‘What the…? Ah!’
Only then did I remember why So-yeon noona had called me. The church bazaar. She’d definitely mentioned there was one today.
‘I haven’t been to a bazaar since I was a kid…’
Thinking back, I used to go to bazaars at church or elementary school sometimes when I was young. But after a while, I never had the chance again. Elementary school bazaars were just about buying tteokbokki and snacks. And church bazaars…
‘Oh, wait. What did we even do at church bazaars?’
I couldn’t remember clearly. All that came to mind was going to church with my childhood friends. My same-age friend and his younger sister. The three of us used to hang out together, including at church.
‘I think we started going because they were giving out cultural gift certificates…’
Now that I thought about it, we probably started going because of the gift certificate lure. Then one day we stopped. Maybe it was natural for a kid who only went for the certificates to lose interest, but there might have been another trigger. The memory was too faint to recall the exact reason.
Recalling those days hanging out with neighborhood friends, I slowly entered the church entrance.
In front was what looked like a pulpit where the pastor preached. The wooden pews that should have been filled were all pushed to one corner. In the open space, several wooden tables had been set up. People sat at each table with their backs to the wall, selling food or toys.
It had been a long time since I’d seen a church bazaar. Kids were bustling around everywhere. While my gaze was briefly stolen by the stalls and children, a voice suddenly called out to me from afar.
“Juwan~! Over here~”
‘Huh?’
Turning toward the voice, I saw So-yeon noona sitting at a wooden table in the one o’clock direction from the center of the church, her back to the wall. She was waving one hand and calling me brightly, her expression as friendly as if she were greeting an old neighborhood friend.
I thought again of my childhood friend and his sister from those old bazaar days, but the thought didn’t linger. I walked straight toward her.
Thud.
Bump.
On the way over, kids running around the bazaar kept bumping into me.
‘Can’t they watch where they’re going?’
The kids who bumped into me just passed by like nothing happened. I ignored them and kept walking toward So-yeon noona.
“Hehe. Welcome~ I was dying of boredom~ Hehe.”
So-yeon noona greeted me and tapped the empty chair to her right.
“Sit here. I saved it because I knew you were coming.”
I took the seat she’d prepared. She looked quite pleased.
“Normally I’d be stuck here alone~ But I remembered you were in the dorm and called you. Hope I didn’t drag you out when you’re busy?”
“No, nothing much. But…”
I glanced around the bustling church interior and asked.
“Why are you participating in the church bazaar, noona?”
Now that I thought about it, I was curious. Why was So-yeon noona at the church bazaar on a sunny Sunday?
“Oh my. I’m a church noona~ Didn’t you know? I’m a cradle Christian, you know~”
“Ah…”
And…
‘What is that?’
The items piled on the table in front of her. Things I hadn’t noticed earlier because I’d been focused on her. From behind, they looked like white blocks wrapped in plastic.
“What is that…?”
“Hm? Baekseolgi. I told you in the chat earlier that I was selling rice cakes~ You should try some too.”
Tap.
So-yeon noona tapped my shoulder and answered with a bright smile. Unlike her sharp eyes and jawline, her round silver-framed glasses and aegyo-filled tone softened her image. How to put it… she had a cute desert fox vibe. But even so, I couldn’t erase that faintly lewd feeling she gave off. Was it because of her suggestive gaze that even glasses couldn’t hide? Or because of my first impression of her slim lower body in those leggings? I didn’t know.
I glanced at her outfit today. She wore a pink knit sweater and a white long skirt. The skirt had a slight slit at the bottom, revealing her slender calves. Below that, she wore white sneakers. How to put it… her look gave off a strong spring vibe. Dressed like she could go on a date with her boyfriend at any moment, she was selling rice cakes at church.
I asked her one more thing I was curious about.
“Do they usually sell baekseolgi at church bazaars?”
“No, usually not. Hehe.”
So-yeon noona’s sharp eyes looked incredibly cute when she smiled. Her eyes felt deep yet slightly cloudy, with a hazy gaze like she was drunk. And her voice—her tone was cute and full of laughter, but it sounded moist, like she’d just woken up. It seemed her unique eye expression and voice created a lewd atmosphere that even her aegyo and laughter couldn’t hide.
“But why sell baekseolgi?”
“Because I wanted to sell it~”
“…Why?”
“I really like baekseolgi~ Hehe.”
So-yeon noona looked at the baekseolgi piled on the table with great satisfaction. It was quite an affectionate gaze for rice cakes. Baekseolgi was tasty, but did little kids even like rice cakes?
“Do kids buy baekseolgi?”
“Of course~ It’s delicious, and it’s only 5 talents. Of course they’d buy it~”
‘…Talents?’
Only then did I remember that church bazaars generally didn’t use money. I shifted my gaze to look at the items being sold around me.
Baekseolgi: 5 talents
Tteokbokki: 5 talents
Toy car: 20 talents
Fairy tale book: 15 talents
Snacks: 1 talent
And so on—all priced in talents. Talents. Currency used only at the church bazaar. Now that I thought about it, I recalled collecting talents diligently when I used to go to church as a kid. Attending morning service, cleaning, Bible study… the pastor would give out talents as rewards. Then you’d use them to buy what you wanted at the bazaar.
‘I think I collected quite a lot back then…’
Memories resurfaced. Hanging out with my neighborhood friend and his younger sister, diligently collecting talents. The three of us were quite enthusiastic back then. I couldn’t understand now why we’d been so diligent. Was it just fun to collect something?
At that moment, So-yeon noona sitting to my left grabbed my right arm and pointed at the church pulpit with her left hand.
“Juwan, look at that~ My baekseolgi is a much more reasonable price than that, right?”
‘Huh?’ The pulpit she pointed to. There was a lone table with one item on it. Because of the distance, I couldn’t clearly see what it was. It just looked like some kind of box.
I asked her what it was.
“What is that?”
“A console game console.”
‘Oh… they’re selling game consoles at the bazaar too?’
I was a bit surprised. If you attended service well and cleaned diligently to collect talents, you could buy a console?
‘…Nice?’
Seeing my admiring expression, So-yeon noona smiled subtly and asked.
“Juwan. Do you know how many talents that’s selling for?”
“How many talents?”
“300,000 talents.”
“What…?”
For a moment, I thought I’d misheard. Most items were priced between 1-25 talents, but a console game console for 300,000 talents? The price scale was completely different from what I’d expected.
At that moment… a memory surfaced.
‘Ah… right.’
It was the reason I suddenly stopped going to church. When I was young, I always hung out with my same-age friend and his younger sister. I started going because of the cultural gift certificates… and I believed the pastor when he said that if I collected talents diligently, I could buy a game console at the bazaar. From then on, my friend and I collected talents diligently. Back then, collecting 1 or 5 talents was incredibly fun. And on the day of the bazaar—
[Portable Game Console: 250,000 talents]
Maybe because my expectations were too high? Overwhelmed by disappointment, I stopped going to church from then on. Of course, thinking about it now made me chuckle, but back then the disappointment had been crushing.
‘Wow… the church’s methods haven’t changed.’
It was a memory from about ten years ago… Seeing the same scene in a different time and place felt strange.
‘A classic tactic?’
After some time, I saw young kids approaching the pulpit one by one, then leaving with disappointed expressions. They were probably kids like me back then who believed collecting talents would let them buy a game console. Kids who attended morning service, Bible study, helped with cleaning, diligently collecting 1 talent, 5 talents. The scene unfolding before their eyes—
[Console Game Console: 300,000 talents]
It was clearly enough to crush innocent children’s hopes.
I asked So-yeon noona.
“Is there anyone who can buy that?”
“Well… probably not? Why?”
I suddenly became curious. The console game console that served as motivation to lure kids into collecting talents. Then who would end up with it?
“Then who takes it after the bazaar ends?”
“The console game console?”
“Yeah. Well… it doesn’t look like anyone can buy it… I thought maybe the pastor’s son would take it…”
“Ah~ That? No one takes it.”
“…What?”
But So-yeon noona’s answer was beyond my expectations. No one takes the console game console? Then… they just store it? It might become unusable over time…
I heard the answer, but my expression was full of questions. Seeing my face, So-yeon noona grabbed my left arm and pulled me close, whispering in my ear.
—Actually… there’s a brick inside that. The pastor just brought an empty box.
“What?!”
A surprised sound burst from my mouth. Good grief. I’d thought the pastor’s son would take the console. I thought he was the winner… but it was an empty box from the start… no, a box with a brick inside…
‘…So they never intended to sell it in the first place?’
Yeah. If they’d intended to sell it, they never would have priced it at 300,000 talents. The console wasn’t a product for sale. It was just bait to lure kids into attending service diligently and cleaning while collecting talents.
‘But then, why bother pricing it at 300,000 talents?’
To be honest, even if everyone in the church pooled all their talents, it probably wouldn’t reach 100,000. Pricing it at around 150,000 would already make it impossible to buy… So why the ridiculous 300,000? Were they worried they might actually have to give away the console? Looking at that price, I could feel how anxious the pastor must have been about possibly having to buy one for the kids.
I inwardly sympathized with the pastor’s feelings. After all, giving away a console game just for attending service well, praying diligently, and doing a few good deeds would be too much.
Meanwhile, more young kids approached the pulpit, saw the price, and left with disappointed faces. Watching them, I spoke to them in my heart.
‘Kids… that’s what they call a “fake listing”… Learn well so you don’t get scammed when buying used cars later…’
It was then.
Tap. Tap.
‘Huh…?’
While thinking various thoughts while looking at the cute little kids, So-yeon noona poked me from the side.