Chapter 111
Chapter 111
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 111
Chapter Title: A Father's Shadow
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Far behind Min-jun, she could see a middle-aged man with slumped shoulders.
‘If my dad were still alive, he might look just like that.’
She imagined her father collapsing on a snowy road, losing consciousness.
Seol-ah closed her eyes and shook her head, trying to clear the image.
The strangely familiar feeling reminded her of yesterday.
“Si-ah, is that… is that man…?”
“Ah…”
Si-ah nodded.
Watching Si-ah's father avoid her gaze after their eyes met, Seol-ah felt a sudden wave of anxiety. An inexplicable certainty washed over her—that Si-ah would come to regret it deeply, just as she had.
Seol-ah didn't even notice Seul-bi and Yi-na playfully circling around Min-jun.
“Ah!”
The moment Si-ah's father started pounding his left chest with his fist, Seol-ah shot forward before a sound could even escape her lips.
I have to save him! I have to save him! Please, Dad, live!
Blurry tears filled Seol-ah's eyes, superimposing her father's silhouette onto the man.
Seol-ah began CPR like a woman possessed.
The only thought dominating her mind was that she had to save him.
Her wrists, elbows, and shoulders were under immense strain, but Seol-ah felt no pain.
“I'll do it, move.”
“I can save him! I can do it!”
Seol-ah wanted to save her father. The father she had resented so much. Even if this man wasn't her father.
“Dad! I was wrong! Wake up!”
Si-ah grabbed her father's arm and shook it.
‘Give me a chance to atone. All I did was resent you. Please, just live.’
Seol-ah had always been stronger than average, and in that moment, she seemed to have superhuman strength. But as time passed, her breathing grew ragged and her energy waned.
“Damn it, move!”
Min-jun's electrifying shout pierced through Seol-ah, snapping her back to her senses.
Every time Min-jun pressed down on Si-ah's father's chest, she had the illusion of seeing a powerful wave of energy, forcing her to shake her head to stay focused.
“Ah…”
Only after coming back to her senses did Seol-ah realize her wrists were throbbing so much she couldn't move them, and that her elbows and shoulders had been strained.
Crack.
Si-ah's father's ribs broke, and blood gurgled up from his mouth.
“Aah!”
“Oh my god!”
Some of the cast and crew screamed and turned away. But Min-jun, like someone who had transcended it all, continued CPR without so much as a blink. To Seol-ah, Min-jun, dressed in black, looked like the grim reaper.
“I! Said! Wake! Up! Please!”
“…Cough! Gack…”
At Min-jun's cry, Si-ah's father's airway cleared. The scene was like something out of a movie, depicting a hero in a moment of crisis.
* * *
[A healing item has been used on the target.]
[New blood vessels are being generated to replace the blocked ones.]
Time remaining for blood vessel regeneration: 11 hours 59 minutes 25 seconds
“…Hah.”
I got off of Si-ah's father.
Just as I thought, a cardiovascular disease.
“Whoa!”
Seeing the man breathing again, the crowd clapped and cheered for a brief moment, but then fell silent as if realizing it wasn't the right time.
“Dad!”
Si-ah, having come to her senses, grabbed the man's hand and began to cry.
The faint sound of an ambulance siren began to approach.
“Is that your father, Si-ah?”
“Hng. Yes.”
N-Pink's manager asked Si-ah, his face pale. His miserably contorted expression clearly showed the inner turmoil and the difficult decision he was about to make.
Don't make that decision.
The ambulance siren grew louder, and N-Pink's manager, seemingly having made up his mind, placed his hands on Si-ah's shoulders and fixed his gaze on her.
“Si-ah. Listen to me carefully. You worked so hard to debut and come this far, right?”
“...?”
Si-ah looked at him, completely clueless as to what he was about to say.
“Your father would want you to succeed.”
“So?”
Si-ah asked, her voice trembling with anxiety despite her tears.
“It's not like your father will be in any less pain if you go with him, so let's stay and see the show through to the end.”
“What kind of bullshit is that!”
The response came not from Si-ah, but from Seol-ah.
“Si-ah, you go. Hold your father's hand and stay right by his side!”
Seol-ah said, glaring venomously at N-Pink's manager.
The manager's face flushed, but he couldn't muster a response.
“No. You can't do that.”
“What? What do you mean?”
Seol-ah flared up at my words, and the manager's face brightened as if he'd found a strong ally.
“See, Si-ah? Even Answer's manager says it's for the best.”
“All of N-Pink should go. You too.”
“Huh?”
N-Pink and their manager stared at me, their eyes wide.
“Your teammate's father just collapsed in front of you, and you're going to stay here laughing and filming? You want to be blacklisted?”
“Hah!”
The N-Pink members covered their mouths, their eyes filled with confusion.
“I'll give you a bigger reward than anything you'd get from filming this broadcast, so just go.”
“H-Hey. We worked so hard to get on this show...”
“If you go with Si-ah, I'll give Reporter Shin Dong-min an exclusive scoop and get you an article that will help you ten times more than this broadcast. But if you don't? Even if I don't say a word, rumors will spread like wildfire. A clip of N-Pink laughing it up will be immortalized and will remain in the industry's history long after you disband.”
“H-Haah…”
“You think I'm bluffing? Want to find out the hard way?”
Wee-woo, wee-woo.
The ambulance arrived and quickly loaded Si-ah's father inside.
“That's my father!”
Si-ah quickly climbed into the ambulance.
“Paramedic. Which hospital are you heading to?”
“Most likely Gangwon Severance!”
The paramedics answered my question swiftly before driving away with Si-ah and her father.
“You heard him. Make your choice. Either you all go and create a heartwarming story, or you stay here, force a few smiles, and watch your company go bankrupt.”
“…We'll go. I know this is shameless of me, but please, I'm counting on you.”
N-Pink's manager bowed a full ninety degrees.
Before he even finished bowing, I was already on the phone with Reporter Shin Dong-min.
“Reporter Shin Dong-min, I've got an exclusive for you. N-Pink member Si-ah's father had a medical emergency while observing the 'Best Idol' filming. The entire group is forfeiting the broadcast to be with her. I'll send you a memo with the details and the video. Yoo-jun, the video!”
“Thank you, Timjang-nim. We'll be sure to thank you properly later.”
N-Pink and their manager bowed once more before leaving the set.
Clap, clap, clap…
The sound of someone clapping spread through the surrounding staff and cast members, directed at me and Seol-ah.
And among them was PD Hwang Beom-seok.
Feeling a little awkward, I raised my hands and clapped along. The applause wasn't really for me, but rather for the emergency first aid training the production team had implemented to prevent such critical situations. The writers had probably come up with most of the ideas anyway.
Thwack! Thwack!
While everyone else was clapping and celebrating, Seol-ah forcefully hit my arm.
As if to say she was annoyed with me.
Then, she wiped her tears with her arm and headed back toward the set.
[Hidden Achievement 'Selfless Sacrifice' Unlocked]
There can be a fine line between a hero and a pushover.
We applaud your decision.
Reward: Golden Stratagem (S)
Description: Allows you to overcome a moment of crisis.
A crisis? What kind of crisis?
It's an S-rank item, seemingly on par with the one I used to save Si-ah's father.
Even without the item, I wouldn't have been a pushover. Answer's reputation and my own were bound to rise significantly because of this.
* * *
“As of now, his intracranial pressure is too high for the contrast agent to be administered. We can't determine the exact situation, so surgery is impossible.”
“What, Doctor! Are you saying we just have to leave him like this?”
Si-ah's mother asked the doctor, her tone accusatory.
“We're administering Mannitol… a drug to lower his intracranial pressure, so please wait for now. Until then, no one can perform the surgery.”
“…Dad is selfish to the very end.”
Si-ah cried, holding her aging father's hand, as the doctor sighed softly and left the ICU.
“Family members, I'm sorry, but visiting hours are over.”
At the nurse's words, Si-ah and her mother had no choice but to step outside.
The N-Pink members, who had been waiting outside, stood up.
“You all must be so busy, thank you so much for waiting like this.”
“It's nothing, ma'am.”
“Yes. We're a team.”
The N-Pink members said with heavy expressions.
“It's late, you should all head back. This isn't a punishment. You should go get some rest.”
Si-ah's mother sent N-Pink and their manager on their way.
“So why did you even marry a man like Dad, Mom…?”
As Si-ah cried and blamed her father, her mother's lips tightened into a firm line.
When she finally spoke again, she looked like someone who had made a great resolve.
“…Actually, it's because of me. Or to be more precise, because of Uncle Jeong-hoon…”
Si-ah's mother began to tell her the truth about the misunderstandings she had about her father.
* * *
“Seol-ah, you did great! You too, Manager-nim.”
“Thank you.”
The production staff praised Seol-ah and me for our frantic life-saving efforts as they passed by, and the Answer members smiled with satisfaction.
But I couldn't smile.
Because I knew that Seol-ah, who had performed CPR so desperately, had injured her wrists and shoulders.
“Aside from Si-ah's father, I feel bad for N-Pink. They must have worked so hard to get here.”
“Still, Min-jun Oppa helped them out. Isn't this better than competing and getting a mediocre result?”
Seul-bi replied to Ro-si's sympathetic comment.
“Seol-ah, can I talk to you for a moment?”
I pulled Seol-ah aside to speak with her alone.
“We should drop out too.”
“Drop out of what?”
“The filming.”
“…What are you talking about right now?”
Seol-ah said, dumbfounded.
“You injured your wrists and shoulders.”
Seol-ah's mouth snapped shut in surprise.
“Can I ask why you did it?”
Seol-ah seemed to understand my intention, as if she was aware that her own actions hadn't been entirely rational.
“…Did what?”
“Saving someone you've never even met, to the point of injuring yourself.”
“I knew he was Si-ah's father… and it reminded me of my own dad.”
As I expected, Seol-ah had a personal reason, so I didn't press further.
“Your wrists and shoulders… it looks like your elbows are hurt too. I think rest should be your priority. We have a good enough excuse, so it'll become a big issue even if we don't appear on the show.”
“We're different from N-Pink, who would have placed third at best.”
“…”
“And we've practiced so much. The Your Girl song. We went through all the trouble of figuring out the blind mission that was skewed in their favor and practiced for it, how can we just quit? I have to do it, even if my wrists are broken.”
Her eyes were so determined that it was clear nothing I said would stop her. And she had a point.
It would be a huge waste to drop out now, with the final victory right in front of us.