Is This Okay? - 2
Monday came around again.
“....”
I was sitting alone in the venue.
From the very back row, I could see everything clearly. A sea of gray and black walls, and within that enormous rectangle, rows of seats laid out to accommodate six hundred people.
Up to this point, it was no different from the old Colorful Star.
But over the past week, a few things had changed.
All the tiered seating had been replaced with modular units. That meant I could push them back against the wall and clear them away whenever I wanted, transforming the place into a venue that could hold around twelve hundred people.
And I updated the fire safety systems and inspection records, too.
The stage at the very front of the hall.
The place where she and the others would soon appear had also been improved in the digital-friendly ways the venue already prided itself on. I’d added a relay-style mini display and upgraded the sound system to the next level.
Everything had been pushed far beyond the standards required by the Advanced Management Act. No matter how picky an inspector came sniffing around, they’d find nothing to nitpick.
It was all ready.
Completely.
Thoroughly.
Given that it was June 14, there was no longer any room for the Advanced Management Act to block ABCD.
“....”
And the capital is all ready, too.
I looked at my phone.
On it was the asset status of Big Plan Holdings Global, owned by the British-Singaporean tycoon Big Man, and Big Plan D, handled domestically by the Korean branch representative, Seonwoo Taek. Roughly speaking, it had converted both tangible and intangible assets into numbers.
[Big Plan Holdings]
[Paper company based in Singapore]
[Owner: Big Man]
[Total assets: 82.1 billion won]
[No real estate owned]
[Big Plan D]
[Investment corporation based in the Republic of Korea]
[Owner: Investment Director Seonwoo Taek]
[Total assets: 45.3 billion won]
[Colorful Star, D/FENCE, Studio Romance, Big Plan Planning Committee, etc....]
I’d made good money by moving the scarecrow Big Man around. The phantom of cash that only earned money and then scattered it had proved extremely useful.
And while I could set aside Big Plan Holdings as essentially a foreign cash tank, Big Plan D—which I was running as a domestically distributed strategic asset—had also been growing at a rapid pace.
Because I’d set up the Singapore corporation, I could poke around in every major overseas market. If anything, the overseas side, where the regression knowledge stayed fixed, was more profitable than Korea, where things changed too quickly.
In just one week, that had produced more than a thirty percent return. This was after buying Colorful Star, on the roughly eighty billion remaining after the initial purchase.
So my current cash-like assets totaled....
[Remaining balance: 104.3 billion won]
Of course, that excluded the value of the venue, the stadium, and the companies’ equity holdings. Even after excluding my network, infrastructure, and influence, I’d still crossed the one-hundred-billion-won mark in pure cash.
In other words, there was no longer any mistaking it.
I was a rich man.
I’d reached the kind of position where I wasn’t someone who could simply be swept away by the waves of the Advanced Management Act or run from them, but someone with the right to sit confidently at the negotiation table. A player in capitalist society, in other words.
“....”
I lifted my head.
The empty stage came into view.
Looking at it, I murmured,
“I’ve passed one hundred billion after all.”
The moment I said it, my throat suddenly prickled and went dry. I flexed the foot inside my shoe for no reason at all, and my eyes darted around, checking whether anyone had followed me.
If I die, what happens to everyone else....
But my feet were free, and there was no one in the empty venue but me.
That realization brought relief.
“....”
This was the stage where structural violence turned its gaze.
I had made it there.
But there was still no sign of anything.
And then a rational rebuttal rose up in my head.
The position I had built for Big Man. The harmless image of a cultural infrastructure investor. And the underling image I had carefully cultivated for Seonwoo Taek by refusing every securities firm interview and every media inquiry....
Everything had been prepared so the institutional powers couldn’t come after me. It was a level of safety previous loops’ “jobless Seonwoo Taek” couldn’t even compare to.
So there was no need to worry.
“....”
And yet I found myself rubbing my empty left hand.
What if.
What if....
Even after going this far,
nothing changes.... then what am I supposed to do?
Suddenly, DoDam’s smile floated into my mind. The girl’s sorrowful smile, as she struggled against the thick void and was drawn back into reality, left behind a scent that was both aching and strangely clear, like cool spring water.
Like that blue butterfly.
Was I supposed to fly somewhere again, too?
What am I even supposed to do with my life now?
“....”
I didn’t know.
If I could no longer fly....
I would stay with you all....
At that moment.
My vision went black.
“?!”
The darkness was so sudden it felt like regression itself, and for an instant I caught my breath. But then warmth and a voice reached me, and my heart began beating normally again.
The person behind me said, “Guess whooooo!”
“....”
It was A-yeong.
It seemed the ABCD team had arrived first. Her bright, lively voice had barely managed to pull my freezing heart back up from under the surface. I was even a little relieved.
But if the others see her like this, she might get embarrassed.
Thinking that, I tried to gently lower A-yeong’s hand.
“....”
But just as I tried to lift my empty left hand, a question brushed past me.
A question I had always pressed down deep inside my heart.
Is A-yeong’s heart really still the same?
July 31.
Let’s get through it together, she had said.
Our story had begun with coincidence and goodwill....
...is it still continuing?
If so, did I still have the right to hold this hand?
“....”
I didn’t know.
So I couldn’t take it.
While I hesitated like that, A-yeong spoke. Her voice was faintly bewildered.
“...Oppa?”
“Yes.”
“Um, do... do you really not know who I am?”
“You’re A-yeong.”
“Hmm....”
A-yeong still didn’t take her eyes off me. With a somewhat suspicious air, she gently rubbed my eyelids with her middle and index finger. It was a gesture full of doubt rather than affection.
“Ssshh.... Oppa, you’re kind of weird.”
“I’m not. I was just thinking for a moment.”
“You look like you’ve got something on your mind....”
“....”
Now A-yeong moved from my eyelids to my cheek and started kneading it. Of course, there was no way the cheek of an adult man would feel pleasant. It was just a slab of firm flesh being pinched between her thin fingers.
Even so, she didn’t stop.
Squeeze.
Squeeze.
Fidget.
Fidget.
Should she say something, or not?
The silence carried that hesitation.
“....”
“....”
But as the moment dragged on,
the chance to say anything drifted farther and farther away.
At last, A-yeong stopped kneading my cheek. Then she gave my shoulder a light tap, as if deciding not to ask after all.
I stood and faced her.
“You came early. Are the others outside?”
“Ah, well, you see....”
A-yeong grinned and brought her hand to her mouth. Then, even though it was just the two of us, she whispered softly, like a child sharing the world’s most important secret.
“Actually, I came by taxi first all by myself...! As soon as I heard that you’d finished preparing the stage, I got so excited I couldn’t sleep...! The CEO and Ae-ri unnie will be here later.”
“....”
At that shining, star-bright smile, numbers and doubt gradually faded away.
“....”
Not completely.
But enough.
I said to A-yeong, “I see. Do you like the stage that’s been prepared?”
“Hmm....”
A-yeong adjusted her baseball cap and looked around. She’d already seen it all on the way in, but she pretended to inspect everything with a solemn expression.
Then she shot both thumbs up.
“F-Five, five po....”
“I see.”
“Five, five points out of five, five points....”
“I’m glad. A perfect score, then.”
A-yeong’s face flushed a little. Under the venue’s intense lighting, her eyes sparkled like stars. And in a voice so excited it was rare to hear from her, she said, “H-how did you prepare such an amazing stage─?! Even just the size makes it feel like a huge movie theater.... Isn’t this the kind of place that could fit, like, two thousand people standing? Underground idols could never perform somewhere like this...! Even among agencies, this is like, super, super big....!”
“....”
That pronunciation brought back memories.
She seemed to like the place that much.
And I suppose the fact that it isn’t a rental, but a space they can use whenever they want, is part of what she likes too.
Still, I corrected the one part that had been exaggerated.
“It’s not that large. For safety reasons, the maximum capacity is around one thousand people.”
“Why? It looks like you could pack people all the way up to the front of the stage.”
“....”
That’s an aggressive idea.
I pointed at the stage and kept explaining.
“Besides that display and the sound system, we also need space for the stage equipment required for a live concert.”
“Stage equipment...?! N-no way, could it be?!”
“Yes, the thing you said you wanted to use, A-yeong.”
“H-holograms...?!“
“Yes. And the mobile display, too.”
“That too?!”
“Yes, all of it. Since we’ve cut down the budget for renting a venue, you can use the savings to put on whatever performance you want.”
“...?!”
Now she was so happy she couldn’t even scream anymore.
Bounce.
Bounce.
She hopped in place where no one could see her.
Watching that, I suddenly thought back to a previous loop.
In the last loop, if I’d given her this stage too, would she have been this happy?
Regardless of my thoughts, A-yeong, still overflowing with emotion, moved her hands this way and that in silence. Then suddenly she opened her arms and came toward me. It was a completely unexpected display of feeling.
“Oppa...!”
“...!”
Just as I thought she might hug me....
A noisy commotion came from the side. A jumble of middle-aged male and young female voices mixed together. The representatives had arrived for the Big Plan meeting.
Baek Su-cheol and Jo Tae-sik were grinning from ear to ear. Among them, Baek Su-cheol stood out especially because he’d shown up in a head-to-toe white suit, so he was visible from far away.
“Aaaah...! So this is a place we’re actually allowed to use?! It’s much better than last time. CEO Jo, what do you think?”
“As expected of Big Plan, as expected of Big Man, as expected of Director Seonwoo.... How on earth could I ever fully grasp the breadth of your heart?”
“Ah, ahaha. I see.”
Behind them, Kim Ae-ri, Jang Se-yeon, and an extremely tall woman were looking around. Ae-ri was still at the front in her princess outfit.
“Whoa...! This is the venue...! It’s really huge....”
“Utya-tatya.”
“U-utya?”
“Ahahaha! Se-yeon unnie is a little hard to understand, huh?”
“T-that’s a bit much.”
“It’s okay. The members say she’s weird sometimes, too.”
“Sometimes...?”
As Ae-ri tilted her head, the tall woman behind her burst into a hearty laugh. From that laugh alone, I could tell who she was.
RD Yulhwa, maybe Narae? She’s a strikingly tall woman to begin with, so she was easy to recognize.
A few more Big Plan staff members came in after that. They, too, stopped short in surprise at the venue’s quality.
I walked over to them side by side with A-yeong. As soon as I did, everyone looked our way and bowed.
“Hello. Thank you for making the difficult trip here. Today I’ve called you all in to tour the stage and coordinate the schedule.”
“Ah! Director! Oh, come now, a difficult trip?”
“Utya-tatya, hello.”
“Director, hello~!”
“Oh, hello....”
We gathered in the stage seating and began the meeting. For some reason, A-yeong sat on my right. But there were only a few people who seemed to care about that.
“....”
...Se-yeon seems to be staring at this side in particular.
Ignoring that gaze, I said from where I sat, “Please don’t feel too much pressure. Just speak comfortably. As always, I’ll only offer simple advice. The exchange of opinions here is up to you.”
At that, Ae-ri and Narae, the stars of Big Plan’s planning efforts, rummaged through their bags to get ready to present.
- Ugh, where did I put my tablet....
- Should Berryry unnie go first?
- Y-yes?! Th-there’s no need to....?!
- Ah, sorry. Then I’ll just go first.
- Phew.... Thank you.
Meanwhile, Baek Su-cheol, seated on my left, muttered, “Should we be doing some kind of ritual or something?”
“...?”
At the sudden remark, I answered without thinking.
“Pardon? A ritual?”
“!”
Baek Su-cheol gave an awkward smile and said, “Ah, no.... It’s just that my bro... my acquaintance is a shaman. I hear all sorts of things from them. They say if fortune gets too big, the spirits get jealous, so you need to spend a whole day doing a cleansing rite. Coincidentally, that guy’s in Seoul right now, so I was thinking maybe we could call him.... No, I’m just saying things out loud. Yes.”
“....”
Hmm.
Uh....
He’s the type who’s extremely conscious of superstitions.
I nodded and stayed silent, but inside I was calculating the schedule as it stood.
We’re already in the middle of Big Plan’s planning work and pushing both groups’ live shows forward. To drag things out here for some shamanic ceremony....
After that calculation, just as I was about to politely refuse, A-yeong, seated to my right, grabbed my wrist. Strangely, it wasn’t my right wrist she grabbed, but my left. In a dazed voice, she said, “...?”
“...I think it might be a good idea.”
I fell silent for a moment.
Is A-yeong interested in shamanic rituals too...?
That was a side of her I hadn’t seen in the previous loops.
“So that’s what you think. If religious practice helps you psychologically, then there’s no reason not to do it.”
At that, Baek Su-cheol brightened immediately.
“R-really? That’s okay?”
“Yes, if it helps.”
Then I looked at A-yeong.
“A-yeong?”
“...Yes?”
I motioned toward the dazed girl. Startled, she hurriedly let go of my wrist. Then she muttered in confusion, “Ah, th-that’s.... That’s strange. I don’t know why I suddenly did that.”
“....”
While she was muttering, a red mark remained on my wrist.
For some reason.
It looked like a bracelet.