Chapter 361
Chapter 361
Walking along a rural rice paddy path in the middle of the night can be quite eerie. Unlike the city, there aren't lights everywhere; only the occasional streetlight flickers here and there.
Then again, for someone who’s used to this sort of thing from the start, it doesn't seem to have much of an effect.
I turned to the guy trudging behind me with a shovel and asked, "Aren't you scared?"
"…! Is there perhaps a reason I should be…?"
Never mind. Let's just get on with it. I pulled out my smartphone and switched it to video mode.
"Is that a camera?"
"I figured I should record what's happening, just in case."
I waved at the front-facing camera. Kim Rae-bin bowed his head instinctively.
"Hello, everyone. The time is currently 3:30 AM. We have successfully made it out of the house."
"T-That is correct."
"I'll explain why we're out here."
I made a calm declaration.
"No more Carrot Economy scams… We’ve decided to start a revolution."
"Pardon??"
"A revolution."
Kim Rae-bin’s pupils began to tremble.
"Um… Hyung. Of course, obtaining Carrot Coins is important, but wouldn't digging up a field belonging to someone else be considered rude behavior…?"
"That would obviously be rude."
"Huh?"
I stopped at the edge of the paddy, near an ambiguous spot where a stream began. This should be far enough.
"Let's leave the shovel here."
"The shovel…?"
Kim Rae-bin looked blank for a moment before his sharp wits returned.
"Um, but if you are going to pull up carrots, wouldn't it be easier to take the shovel with you?"
I let out a short laugh.
"The destination isn't the carrot field."
"…!"
"I only brought it so everyone else would think we were going there."
The house was crawling with unmanned cameras. Naturally, one of the younger members on duty would be watching. If so, our sudden movement would have definitely been reported.
They'll think we're heading for the carrot field.
They probably even predicted it.
Coins and carrots were exchanged at a one-to-one ratio. It was only natural to assume some idiots would go out in the middle of the night to poach actual carrots.
Just look at Kim Rae-bin.
"Were you worried we were going to steal crops from someone's field?"
"I was by no means doubting your morality! I simply thought that since this is a variety show, such a pattern of behavior might be possible, so I spoke up!"
"Right. You worked hard worrying about it. Don't worry anymore."
Because this was bait specifically designed to exploit that expectation.
Go ahead and camp out at the carrot field.
And for those of you who can't follow us, I'm even recording this separately.
I placed the flashlight and the hand hoe on top of the shovel. Then, I started walking again.
"Are—Are you abandoning them?"
"No, I'm just leaving them here for a bit. I'll come back for them. It’d be a bit awkward to walk into a shop carrying a shovel."
"That is true, but… is there a shop open at this hour?"
"There is."
I raised a finger and pointed toward a sign shimmering faintly in the distance.
"A place that offers 24-hour on-site service."
"…?"
Kim Rae-bin followed my finger with his gaze. I captured the moment on camera. His puzzled face filled the screen.
"Why… here?"
"You said you've visited a place like this to make a request before."
I had heard him mention it when we were talking about our childhoods the other day.
"Yes. That is true, but…."
"Good, I'm counting on you."
"…?? U-Understood!"
Kim Rae-bin looked even more confused, but he answered promptly. He really was easy to work with since he didn't talk back.
"Good. Let's go in."
We entered a single unit of a dilapidated building that still had its lights on. Red letters on an illegal roadside banner fluttered in the wind.
[Woori General Hardware Store]
[Emergency On-site Construction Available - Open 24 Hours]
And then, morning dawned.
"Is everyone awake?"
"Good morning…."
"…Why are you guys coming from the front door instead of your room?"
We didn't return to the lodgings until after 7:00 AM. We weren't holding anything in particular—just the tools we had taken with us.
The PD, who had been stationed in the yard, asked in a flustered voice, "Where did you two go?"
Well, I had sent a text to the production crew during the night saying we were 'on an adventure,' so they wouldn't have filed a missing persons report.
I leaned the shovel back against the wall in the yard and answered, "We tried to go to the carrot field, but we got lost."
"Gwahahaha!"
Are you happy?
Go ahead and be happy. That'll make it more fun later.
Following the production crew's interrogation, questions from my teammates poured in.
"Hyung, what did you do? Did you eat something delicious with Rae-bin? Did you do something fun?"
"No. We starved."
"Oh… I see. Hang in there."
Cha Yu-jin, cleared.
As I passed the guys who were still sleeping or just waking up, one of them put me in a headlock. It was Keun Se-jin, of course.
"Aww~ Moon-dae, I'm hurt. How could you leave Se-jin behind and go get screen time in the middle of the night… sob sob."
Let go, you punk.
"It's not even screen time. There were no cameras, so I just used my phone."
"With Park Moon-dae's filming skills, wouldn't it look like a professional shot? It must be an important scene. Now I'm even more hurt~"
Good grief.
"I thought we'd get caught if there were too many people. Happy? Rae-bin was there because he had a role to play."
"Oh…."
Keun Se-jin stopped his fake crying and grinned.
"Now I'm even more curious."
"I'll fill you guys in before breakfast, so get everyone together."
"Hmm?"
I smirked.
"I did something good. Might as well share it."
A short while later.
The production crew heard TeSTAR's sudden declaration to go out.
"Everyone, you only have four coins. Are you really going grocery shopping?"
"Yes. We're going to try anyway."
"Well, it's fine with us~ Whatever our TeSTAR grandsons want!"
Their tongues were certainly well-oiled. They must have been excited at the prospect of getting fun footage of us struggling to buy anything.
Regardless, we headed to the mart first thing in the morning, accompanied by the production crew.
As soon as we stepped through the entrance, Ryu Cheong-woo spoke in a kind voice.
"Guys, shall we just pick out everything we want to eat?"
"Yeaaah! Sounds good!"
"T-Then… I will go get some fruit…!"
The production crew was taken aback as they watched the members scatter in an orderly fashion.
"Uh, wait?"
"What's going on?"
The PD whispered to me in a suggestive tone, "You know that poaching from a carrot field is theft, right? It’s a double-deduction penalty."
"I told you, we didn't do that."
He seemed to suspect we had dug up carrots from a corner of a field where the surveillance didn't reach and hidden them.
Unfortunately for him, that wasn't it.
"Okay~ So this is everything?"
"Wait."
"Wow, Moon-dae’s being generous. One duck per person?"
When we brought the mountain of groceries we’d picked out to the checkout counter, the mart manager greeted us again.
However, what he said was different.
"Hmm~ For all of this… just give me one of those coins."
"…!!"
"Thank you~"
As Keun Se-jin quickly moved to finish the transaction, the production crew’s bewildered cries broke out.
"O-One?"
"Wait a minute."
"This shouldn't be happening…?"
"Huh? What do you mean it shouldn't be happening? The manager said so himself~ Cheong-woo hyung, please pay!"
"Haha, sure."
Ryu Cheong-woo held out a coin and completed the payment.
Clink!
Looking at the total displayed next to it, it looked like we’d bought about 300,000 won worth of stuff. The production budget sure is sweet.
The PD barely managed to ask, "…What did you do?"
"What do you mean?"
"No, you definitely did something??"
"Why do you keep acting like this? The residents are just voluntarily charging whatever price they want. Right?"
"……."
Around the slack-jawed PD, I could hear the other staff members stifling their laughter.
I signaled Kim Rae-bin to stay quiet and then nodded.
"It's nice that they gave it to us for so cheap."
"I'll say."
Round one, complete.
After preparing and eating a grand breakfast, we drove the cart out again to help the elderly.
"Yee-haw!"
"Cha Yu-jin, watch your speed! Speed!"
And once again, coins were showered upon us with enthusiastic generosity.
"Take this~ It's a bonus for sweeping the yard yesterday~"
"T-Thank you…!"
"Oh, you young men are working so hard~ Here! I put in exactly! Five!"
"Wow! Father, really… Wow, as expected, handsome people have a different way of showing their kindness, right?"
In just three hours, we earned 36 coins. That was more than we got on the first day.
The members shrugged their shoulders.
"Oh~ We earned as much as a day's wages at the carrot farm."
"That's enough. Let's go."
At this point, the PD reached his breaking point.
"Sir… don't you need a massage chair?"
"I do~ It would be so nice to have one of those~"
"Uuuugh!"
Unable to contain himself, the PD began spitting out gibberish made of exclamations.
Translated, it would be something like, 'You bastards are playing dirty.' I'll take that as a high compliment.
I gave the members a low high-five.
Round two, success.
And around the time we were having a mid-afternoon snack.
I prepared for the final reveal before the joke wore thin.
"Dishes are done~"
"Let's get some rest."
As the guys lay down on the wooden veranda, Ryu Cheong-woo loosened the drawstring of the pouch and placed it in front of him, as if to lie down more comfortably.
The production crew, who had been frantically asking around for news from the village in their confusion, immediately took the bait.
"What on earth…."
The writer, who had been checking the pouch just in case, soon discovered something.
"Uh?"
"What is it?"
She urgently called the PD over and held out a coin.
"T-This is different??"
"…!!"
The production crew began to buzz. After a flurry of phone calls and running around, the actual news finally arrived.
"Someone went around to every house this morning and handed out dozens of Carrot Coins! Saying it was a special gift…."
"…!"
Oh, we got caught.
Though it was already too late.
"…TeSTAR grandsons."
"Yes."
"They say… there are over a thousand Carrot Coins circulating in this neighborhood right now?"
"Is that so?"
Yes.
If you think your own coin holdings are at a stable Top 10 level, wouldn't it be natural for your generosity to return?
"And there are… about five hundred at the mart?"
"Is that so?"
Yes. I negotiated with them as well.
—If the cameras come by later, please let us buy everything for just one coin.
Since the cost of the goods is billed to the production crew anyway, they wouldn't lose anything.
"Everyone, how did this happen??"
"We don't know either. Right?"
"Of course, of course."
The PD cried out.
"Moon-dae-ssi! Rae-bin-ssi! What did you do when you went out at dawn?"
What do you think? We mined carrots.
We didn't go to the field at dawn, but we did mine coins.
The mining method was just a bit different.
Who told them to make the coins so flimsy, like cheap giveaway toys for kids?
So easy to replicate.
"No, this…! This! It's a fake."
"Is there a problem?"
Looking at the production crew, who were aghast as they held the yellow carrot-patterned coins we’d had minted at the hardware store, I tilted my head.
"I'm not really sure. The shape is the same, everything is the same."
"Yeah, they look exactly the same."
"…I can't tell the difference either."
The production crew screamed at the support from the members with the same names, who were acting perfectly innocent.
Yes.
Variety shows where successful people suffer due to unexpected situations are usually fun.
But I didn't think it necessarily had to be TeSTAR.
So… how about a certain variety show production team that has only walked the path of success and enjoys tricking their cast?
Like these guys right now.
"Anyway! Moon-dae-ssi, Rae-bin-ssi, it's certain you ordered something at the hardware store!"
I guess they finally figured that out.
"Yes."
"TeSTAR grandsons can only use Carrot Coins, so how did you pay for that?"
The PD shouted, excited to have finally caught a lead.
I shrugged.
"Ah, they said they were my fan and did it for free."
"…!!"
"Who! Who does work out of fan spirit! You paid them, didn't you!"
Yeah. Of course, I put it on a tab. This is why being a famous celebrity is convenient.
The price was several times higher because it was a real-time express job in the middle of the night, but it wasn't a waste at all.
However, I replied without a change in expression.
"Do you have proof?"
"Gah!"
He looked like he might have a stroke.
And soon, the PD changed his target.
"Rae-bin-ssi!"
"Ye-Yes?"
"Rae-bin-ssi, you're a good person. I mean, are you really okay with this kind of lying?"
"T-That is…."
Ooh. A decent approach.
But I expected you to do that, too.
"It is not a lie."
"Pardon…?"
Kim Rae-bin spoke with his fists clenched.
"And as for the Carrot Coins… it is a desirable outcome for them to be distributed in large quantities to everyone."
"…!!"
"If a problem arises, I will provide the massage chair out of my own pocket!"
"What??"
I had already spent two hours brainwashing… I mean, explaining it well and persuading him.
"……."
And so, the production crew sank.
"Moon-dae, Moon-dae, let's buy everything at the mart. They said it's one coin."
"Wait a minute."
"Why? The residents are voluntarily setting the price at one coin."
"We're sorry! We're sorry!"
Even the writers hurriedly held up a sketchbook they’d written on.
[We have rabbit-like production costs and PPL! Please spare us!]
It was an unconditional surrender.
"Healing! We'll give you healing!"
"Just this once?"
"Next time too! Next time, we'll send you on a full healing course to a hot spring! A hot spring!"
Thus, the economic disruption of the Carrot Coin world ended with a crash due to indiscriminate mass production.
And at that exact moment, the teaser for Episode 1 was released.