The Invisible Person I Wanted to Find - 2
The morning sun blazed down hard on a June day.
Seonwoo Taek, Baek Su-cheol, and Jo Tae-sik got out of the taxi. Ahead of us stood a massive, polygonal building. Gray and navy blended together across its modern facade.
It was a performance hall in the middle of downtown Seoul.
Not exactly a prime district, but it still had decent location value.
Up the stairs, a deliberately restrained sign came into view.
Colorful Star
For a place with such a flashy name, it was still hanging on to a concert poster from two months ago.
And that poster’s for a foreign mobile game concert, too. The performance period ended ages ago. Guess they stopped getting inquiries because the location’s awkward and the foot traffic’s weak...
It definitely wasn’t on the edge of nowhere, but for some reason it felt like a shiny new building slowly going under. It was the kind of scene you could find all over Seoul. Thanks to that empty, unhurried atmosphere, Baek Su-cheol from the earlier timeline had probably managed to close the deal here.
...
Of course, it had all fallen apart because of that so-called advanced management method.
I came to a stop for a moment.
...
I remembered that time.
I’d spent days tying together small and midsize theaters across the country, preparing for a “final performance.” Even if the scale had been pathetic, I still wanted to give A-young everything I had.
Even then, I’d been late getting ready, so it had fallen a little short....
Now that I’ve gathered money quickly, I can come buy a performance hall like this separately from Big Plan. If I secure it now, I can prepare ahead of time for any kind of event.
But even so, I still felt a little disappointed.
...
Back then.
What if I’d given just a little more to A-young in that previous timeline?
To someone who loved me,
to someone who held me up,
I hadn’t given my best.
And now, having chosen “fate,” even if “the current A-young” didn’t remember, that regret would be frozen in place forever. The past I couldn’t reach had already changed.
...
Past A-young and the A-young of this timeline.
Two distances that couldn’t be called completely identical.
The only thing left between them was regret.
...
Even if I do my best for A-young in this timeline, I can’t make up for it. I can’t go back to that timeline. It’ll wander my memories forever.
So....
For now, I’d do my best.
So I wouldn’t regret anything else.
For the people beside me now....
That much, I knew for sure.
Making that vow, I climbed the stairs. The two company heads following me kept looking around at their surroundings.
Baek Su-cheol was the first to speak.
“Ah, this place! I knew it looked familiar. I’ve been here before!”
Jo Tae-sik turned his head.
“Mr. Baek came here personally?”
“Yep. I’d been scouting performance halls all over the place for the past month since we were preparing for live shows, and this was one of the places I had in mind. But here I am again, haha.”
“Oh-ho, is that so?”
“Mr. Jo wouldn’t know, of course. Back when you were elsewhere, you probably prepared events straight through Arc Network’s theaters or performance venues....”
“!”
Jo Tae-sik waved his hands frantically.
“No, no, that’s not how it works at a big company. Everything gets scheduled around core business and major content. Even if we send in a proposal, the reply doesn’t come back for months. And of course, it’s always orders to cut the budget.”
Baek Su-cheol said bitterly, as if he had already concluded that, yes, people everywhere were the same after all.
“Really?”
“Of course. Do you know how much eye contact you have to keep making just to get one thing done? There’s no one who supports creators and recognizes their autonomy the way Manager Seonwoo does.”
“Oh-ho....”
“Even our Eun-hwa has had a hard time because her broadcast proposals keep getting rejected. The first batch of talent who are resting now were pushed hard right up until earlier this year.”
“Ah, right. Do they know about the current situation?”
“Of course. Do you know how famous our Manager Seonwoo’s knack is in the industry? Handling foreign heavy-hitters’ capital so smoothly and skillfully....!”
It was a painfully excessive bit of flattery.
Jo Tae-sik was already rubbing his hands together like a fly.
He kept moving his hands as he said, “This kind of thing! Renting such a large, modern facility is such a huge help for broadcast operations, after all. Haha....”
“Heh-heh-heh, Mr. Jo is right. Hmm-hmm....”
It was the sort of rubbing that even Baek Su-cheol would have found embarrassing.
If you set a bowl of bibim-myeon on top of it, it looked like it would mix itself into something tasty. No matter how much of a placeholder he might be, it seemed he hadn’t spent all his company years for nothing.
...
Probably.
It had to be Jo Tae-sik’s eloquence that had gotten Jeong Yu-ri’s wallet open as far as it could go. That was why I couldn’t casually stop his uncomfortable sales pitch.
That, too, was the weight of being the head of a household.
That flattery was probably the purest expression of his own self-worth.
Come to think of it.
There was someone who came to mind after a long time.
...
Team Leader Jeong Yu-ri hasn’t been making a sound in the industry lately. Did she go start some independent business?
I didn’t know.
And I didn’t have time to think about it, either.
By then, we’d already arrived at the performance hall office. The broker and the person in charge, both contacted in advance, were waiting for us there. They brightened as soon as they saw us.
“Ah! Manager Seonwoo, you’re here.”
“Good to meet you. I appreciate your help.”
“Oh, not at all! Of course. Now, now, rather than standing here talking, let’s have some coffee first and take our time.”
...
They were almost uncomfortably polite.
Before long, hot coffee had been set down in front of us. Then the broker and the manager immediately took out the documents on the facility’s current status.
Click....
Rustle.
The coffee cups and papers were arranged at the same time.
It was the kind of efficiency you’d expect from a precision machine.
Baek Su-cheol and Jo Tae-sik exchanged glances, both looking baffled.
“What in the world....”
“Why would they be that desperate....?”
Whether they noticed or not, the manager and the broker said with bright smiles, “Now, if you look at the facility status first, the strengths of this performance hall are....”
...
They really want to sell this place. We only asked about a purchase, but they’re clearly full of the urge to drive the deal all the way to signing. Looking at how this place is being run, business must have been rough for a long time.
Well....
Either way.
I was going to buy it.
...
“Just a moment.”
“!”
“!”
I raised a hand to stop them.
The manager immediately made eye contact with the broker and nodded. Then the broker quietly stood from his seat and changed the direction of the conversation.
“Ah, and this is your first time actually coming here, right? It’d be better to tour the inside of the performance hall. You really do need to see things in person for the strengths to sink in.”
“First, as a theater specialized in digital performances, this venue has a number of....”
The broker interrupted the manager, who seemed ready to launch into an overlong explanation with a pen in hand.
“Hey, manager. Save the praise for a little later. Let’s walk the site first.”
“Ah, yes. Right, of course....”
They were both hustling to keep me from changing my mind, trying hard to sell the hall’s virtues. But before they could continue, I took the documents out from inside my jacket.
After all, I intended to buy it.
...
I cut off the explanation. I already knew the performance hall’s internal situation. As I drew the papers from my pocket, I thought,
Six hundred seats in total. As a venue specialized in digital performances and displays, it’s the sort of place that’s built to focus on subculture and game events.
One sheet of paper landed on the table.
Swish.
Everyone’s attention locked onto it.
Jo Tae-sik was the one who read the text.
“Acquisition... intent letter...?”
And the one who heard those words was Baek Su-cheol.
“A-a acquisition? Acquisition? You mean this performance hall?”
“Yes, that’s correct. You didn’t know?”
“Ah, n-no. I thought you said you were just going to ‘prepare a performance hall,’ so I figured you’d come to rent one....”
“This isn’t a rental.”
I declared it.
“No need to tour the place. I’m buying it. This performance hall. Right now. As soon as the paperwork is finished, let’s sign for 20 billion won paid in full. I’ll transfer the 2 billion won deposit immediately.”
...
...
...
...
I sent the deposit through my phone right away.
After checking the corporate account, the manager muttered, “I-it really came through. Two billion....”
Clatter.
It was the sound of a pen dropping from the broker’s hand.
And then silence fell, cold and absolute.
...
...
...
...
Looking at Baek Su-cheol and Jo Tae-sik, I said, “From this moment on, this performance hall has been purchased by the corporate entity Big Plan D. So from here on, please feel free to use it as you like.”
“R-right now, immediately...?”
“No. First, it’d be best to set aside about a week for maintenance and repairs.”
“A-a week...?”
“It’s a little long, but there’s no helping it.”
“No?! That’s too short, not too long...! This isn’t some neighborhood hole-in-the-wall shop. To buy a performance hall this polished....”
“Is that so? That’s a relief.”
Baek Su-cheol and Jo Tae-sik stared at me in disbelief.
“By all that is holy, mercy me.”
“Manager, you’re really... decisive.”
There was a reason they were shocked.
Big money gets shaved down by taxes every time it moves. That’s why you don’t move budgets over a billion won carelessly. And budgets in the tens of billions are even more so....
There was only one kind of person who could move this fast.
Someone who could spend hundreds of billions of won
and not worry about taxes because they had that much money.
That was why I could do it.
A condition I’d missed in the last timeline, because I hadn’t given my best.
-I need to have a ton of money.
...
No, not yet. I’m still nowhere near doing my best.
I looked out beyond the office window.
Cars moved along the road, and the windows of the tightly packed buildings were transparent. Even now, deals like this were being made in countless places around the city.
The world was wide,
and the power in my hands was small.
I reminded myself of that.
...
Not enough yet.
That sense of urgency returned, and then, suddenly, the faces of Do-dam and A-young flashed through my mind.
A-young is probably in the middle of her Big Plan presentation by now... and Do-dam said her throat was in bad shape, so she’d be resting for a few days, I think.
They were doing their best, too.
So this time, so I wouldn’t regret it....
Let’s win this together!
...
Sorry.
I apologized to the memories that had already flowed away with my regression.
*
“Phew....”
Aki let out a breath.
Right up until the moment the presentation started, she’d been shaking at the thought of having to explain things in front of the heads of several companies. Sweat had been pouring out of her hands like a flood.
-P-p-please w-welcome....
-...
But that tension vanished at a single sentence from someone else.
It was a middle-aged man who had come as the acting representative of the company handling internet distribution among Big Plan’s partner firms. He shrugged his shoulders and spoke to the nervous Aki.
-Heh-heh, why get so worked up? We’re just here getting paid by Big Man. Whether we take it easy or not, it’s not like we’ve got some stingy sugar daddy breathing down our necks and ordering us to make money. So let’s just take it easy and wing it.
Somehow.
The moment she heard that, her head went cold.
...
Take it easy? Easily? Wing it? This spot and the budget were all prepared by Taek oppa....?
The first thing that rose in her was a question.
What?
Why?
How could that be?
There are so many people who try hard and still never get a chance. They were given the money and the slot, so why would they want to do it halfway...?
She clenched her hands tight.
Her heart had gone cold with a flicker of anger as she opened her mouth.
-No. Let’s do our best.
The presentation that followed moved smoothly without a hitch.
And so the planning for the fans’ “Water Festival” took shape without trouble. The man who had said to “take it easy” awkwardly trailed after the discussion, muttering, “Wow, everyone’s really working hard.”
And now.
Aki was facing Seo Eun-hwa.
As soon as the session ended, Eun-hwa came up to her. The gaze she felt through her glasses was somehow timid.
“?”
Why... her? She has way more subscribers and experience than I do....
Eun-hwa said,
“Um.... Ah, A-young?”
“Yes?”
“Could it be that....”
“?”
She hesitated, fidgeting with her hands and unable to get the words out. Aki waited calmly.
In the end, Eun-hwa managed to say it.
“Could you and the manager.... be, um, acquainted?”
!
“That tie....”
Aki’s eyes widened.
Ah.
She’d been found out.
I went with a color inversion so it wouldn’t look like a couple item. I thought it’d be too much to show off when we haven’t even confessed yet.
But in the end, she’d noticed.
Aki hesitated, then shyly nodded.
“Yes.”
“A-are you, by any chance, dating...?”
...
Oh.
She’d gone straight for the sore spot.
Aki’s face flushed with awkwardness. At the same time, she looked quietly at Eun-hwa.
...
As a rule, nobody asks that kind of question unless they’re interested.
She could also understand why Eun-hwa looked so small.
So she’s interested too.
Thinking that, she answered.
“...No. Not yet.”
“Ah, not yet....”
“Yes.”
...
Aki replied right away.
“So you don’t need to worry about it.”
“Pardon?”
“Because it’s not yet.”
...
The two of them fell silent.
To anyone else listening, it probably would have been a conversation with no obvious context.
But the two of them understood.
Eun-hwa said,
“So... that’s all right?”
“Yes.”
Aki answered,
“You can’t stop a feeling.”
...
After hearing that answer,
Eun-hwa gave a wry smile.
This alone already feels like I’ve lost.