Chapter 143
Chapter 143
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 143
Chapter Title: The University Festival
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7 AM. The commercial shoot was finally over.
“Haaah.”
“Yaaawn.”
The Answer members yawned one after another, as if it were contagious.
The Golden Carriage coffee truck we'd chartered seemed to have run out of the 120 servings of coffee it had prepared for after the shoot.
“Thanks for your hard work.”
“Don’t mention it. It’s what I get paid for. Come back again soon!”
The owner of the Golden Carriage looked exhausted, blinking his dry eyes, but he responded kindly.
I hadn't expected the staff, only about thirty people, to drink that much.
Not everyone would have had four cups, which meant some must have had six or seven.
Maybe people in the advertising industry are particularly addicted to coffee.
“Ugh, I think I'm gonna collapse... Yi-na, open your eyes when you walk.”
Yi-na, the sleepiest member, was walking with her eyes completely shut. But strangely, an unreadable smile graced all their faces.
“Ah!”
“Be careful, I told you!”
Seol-ah grabbed Yi-na's hand as her knees buckled and pulled her into the van, while Ro-si supported her from behind.
“Khhh.”
“What the heck, is she snoring the second she sat down?”
Seul-bi chuckled, looking at Yi-na who had passed out the moment she sat.
“Well, she’s young.”
“We have a two-and-a-half-hour drive to the next schedule, so… Are you sleeping? She's asleep…”
Even Seol-ah, who had been talking just seconds before, was already fast asleep.
A beautiful girl group, sleeping with their mouths agape. I smiled at the cute sight and called Choi Yoo-jun.
-Yes, hyung. Are you done now?
“Yeah. We ran a little late. I'm heading straight to Sudo University.”
-Okay. I just need to pick up the stylists and head there, right?
“Right.”
-Drive safe!
“Don't worry. I have a self-driving system.”
-Huh? Our van doesn't have that, does it?
Of course, it's not in the van. It's in my system.
“Anyway, get here safely.”
I hung up with Choi Yoo-jun and started driving.
The Answer members didn't stir in the slightest. They looked like they had literally passed out.
I put on my earphones and started driving, listening to a song I'd recently produced under my Beat Room alias.
Even with the system's help, listening to a track again after a few days can spark better ideas, so I always do my final checks somewhere other than home.
Sometimes, it's better to just enjoy it mindlessly like this than to focus intensely on perfecting it.
Thinking about the price of the track I was listening to naturally brought my SJ stock investment to mind. Though I'd already sold it and bought something else.
My original plan was to sell after it went public and hit its peak, but perhaps Gyeon Sang-jin's desired project wasn't going well, because the IPO was much later than in my first life.
So I changed my mind and decided to sell the pre-IPO stock and obstruct the public offering altogether. If SJ Enter went public, countless individual investors would flock to it. If I then brought down Gyeon Sang-jin as planned, those investors would bear the brunt of the damage. SJ's stock would plummet. It might even drop to a tenth of its value.
I'd made up my mind for certain after checking the SJ shareholder register and seeing almost no individual investors. Even though I'd resolved to live only for myself in this second life, I didn't want innocent people to get hurt because of me.
Lost in various thoughts, two hours flew by.
“PD-nim.”
Seol-ah, who had woken up at some point, had a stiff expression on her face.
“You're awake? I'll pull over at the rest stop.”
A few minutes later, we arrived at a rest stop with a small outlet mall. Seol-ah, who had changed into slippers, quickly got out of the van, and the other members, who had been passed out until now, followed her one by one as if they'd been awake the whole time.
Is this a comedy routine?
Many people recognized Answer and greeted them. The members, in a hurry, bowed their heads politely but didn't stop walking.
I thought they were passed out, but somehow they'd all taken off their heels and were wearing three-stripe slides.
“Ouch!”
The glue on Yi-na's slide, caught on a wooden step, came apart, revealing her bare foot.
Those five-thousand-won slides, I knew this would happen eventually. I grabbed a few safety pins used for fittings and got out of the van.
“Heeing.”
Yi-na was standing on Seol-ah's foot, while Ro-si held Yi-na's broken slide, not knowing what to do.
I took the slide from Ro-si and secured the part where the glue had come off by pushing three safety pins deep into it.
“This will hold for now. Go ahead.”
“Heeing, so embarrassing. Thanks, oppa.”
Yi-na wiped her dirty sole on her calf.
It seemed a few people had already taken pictures of the scene. When they met my eyes, they scattered as if fleeing, probably worried I'd tell them to delete the photos. Sigh, I can only hope they keep them for their private collection.
Was there anywhere to buy new slides? Thankfully, I spotted a place selling Crocs.
“Welcome! You're the manager for that group from before, right?”
“Yes.”
She must have seen Yi-na's broken slide.
“These, do you have them in all sizes?”
“Of course. They're new arrivals!”
They were pink Crocs with rainbow-colored soles.
“One 230 and three 235s, please.”
“We only carry them in increments of 10. For a 235, a 240 would be more comfortable. It's better if you're wearing socks.”
“I'll take them like that, then.”
“As expected of a manager, you even know all the singers' shoe sizes.”
“…I have to. It's my job.”
“But are all managers usually this handsome?”
She seemed like a talkative person, deliberately ringing me up slowly.
“New arrivals aren't usually discounted, but I'll give you the employee price. With a 30% discount, that'll be 105,000 won.”
“Thank you.”
“Goodbye. I'll give you the employee discount next time too, so please come again.”
As I was leaving the store, I saw the Crocs decorations called 'Jibbitz.' Since the shoes were all the same design, they might get them mixed up, so I decided to buy these too.
The members, who had scurried to the restroom in a single file line, now returned in pairs, arm in arm.
“Huh?”
Yi-na, who was walking in with a mixed expression of pouting and playfulness, let out a cry of surprise.
“Oppa, you have great taste!”
“Ah! Are these for us?”
The Answer members, looking incredibly pleased, picked up the Crocs that had been placed in each of their seats.
“You can tell whose is whose just by looking at the Jibbitz.”
“I happened to find some game characters with similar hair colors. I picked the ones that matched each of your hair colors.”
For Seul-bi and Ro-si, whose hair colors were similar, I differentiated them with characters—one eating bread and one smiling.
“Let's eat after the event. The commercial shoot ran way too late.”
“Okay. But where's the event?”
“Sudo University's 50th-anniversary celebration.”
At my words, Seol-ah's eyes widened.
“Isn't that the place we went to before?”
“You remember? I think we were paid about 500,000 won back then.”
“Ugh! What a rip-off gig that was.”
Yi-na said, sounding like she now knew a thing or two about how the industry works.
“How much are we getting this time?”
I paused for a moment at Seul-bi's question.
“Aw, what is it!”
“Ah, tell us already! The suspense is killing me.”
“Twenty million.”
“No way!”
“Is our performance fee that high?”
The Answer members' eyes went wide like anime characters.
“It's not even that expensive. This is the price for April, when there aren't many festivals. Next month, I've set it at over thirty million. For events way down in the provinces or on Jeju Island, we're asking for over forty million because of the travel time.”
“Wow! We've really made it big!”
The income from their first payout had mostly come from commercials, photoshoots, and broadcast appearances, so the Answer members hadn't really known their own value.
“This is just the beginning. We need to raise it to a hundred million.”
“Heehee. I love you, Min-jun oppa.”
As Seul-bi spoke, politely placing her hands over her heart, Yi-na, not to be outdone, chimed in.
“Me too!”
“M-me too.”
When I grinned and looked at Seol-ah, her ears turned red, and she shifted her gaze to the other girls.
“D-didn't you hear what the Isa-nim said? Don't call him Oppa. Call him PD-nim. Or Timjang-nim.”
Why are you stuttering? So awkward.
In less than a minute, the Answer members were asleep again. They'd been up for nearly two straight nights, so it couldn't be helped.
Thump, thump.
I was driving carefully, but the high speed bumps in the quiet residential area we had to pass through to get to the university woke the Answer members up again.
“We're here.”
The campus, built by carving out the side of a mountain, wasn't what you'd call large. As we drove up the steep slope where the main building was located, I could see several large tents set up on the field below.
“Wow! Are those the pop-up bars?”
“…What's a pop-up bar?”
At Seul-bi's exclamation, Ro-si and Yi-na asked with curious expressions.
“Well, uh... how do I explain it?”
“They're temporary bars run by department or student councils just for the festival.”
When Seul-bi faltered, Seol-ah explained for her, and Ro-si and Yi-na, who had no experience with college life, even indirectly, looked fascinated.
“Who makes the food?”
“The students.”
“So cool!”
“Jerk?”
Yi-na looked at Seul-bi with a disgusted expression. Seol-ah glared at Seul-bi, who put her hands together in apology.
“I'm curious what kind of food they have.”
“Probably things like pajeon, dubu kimchi, spicy pork stir-fry, sausage and vegetable stir-fry, or maybe just meal kits?”
“I want to try it!”
This time it was Ro-si, not Seul-bi who usually went crazy for food, who spoke with a sparkle in her eye.
“Me too! Can't we have lunch there?”
Even after getting scolded so harshly by the Isa-nim?
“…It hasn't been that long since you got scolded by the Isa-nim.”
But even Seol-ah looked like she secretly wanted to try it. I mean, when else would they get to experience a pop-up bar at a university festival?
“Let's see how things go and decide later. We have a photoshoot this evening.”
“Okay!”
I parked next to Choi Yoo-jun's car, which had arrived earlier, but he and the stylists were nowhere to be seen.
Did they go to the restroom?
Just then, I saw Choi Yoo-jun and the stylists rushing over from the direction of the field.
It looked like they started running as soon as they saw our van pull in.
“Haa... haa... Welcome... back?”
“Yeah. Did you check the stage?”
“Ah? Yes, yes!”
The corners of his mouth were red from something he'd eaten. Choi Yoo-jun had clearly been to one of the pop-up bars. I suppressed a chuckle.
Come to think of it, this was probably Yoo-jun's first time seeing them too. I'll just let it slide.
“I was told there's no rehearsal.”
On the somewhat clumsy-looking stage at the front of the field, some clearly non-professional staff were milling about, and even though the show hadn't started, I could faintly hear the sound of several people laughing and chatting.
“Aigoo. You must be exhausted.”
“Yes. I feel like I'd fall asleep instantly if I lay down right now.”
The stylists began to touch up Seol-ah's and Ro-si's tired-looking makeup.
“Yoo-jun, wake me up in 20 minutes.”
“Ah, right! You must be tired too, hyung. Get some sleep. I'll wake you up.”
The moment I reclined the passenger seat and rested my head, sleep washed over me.
“Waaaah!”
I was woken by the faint sound of cheering.
Did someone else famous show up?
“Wow, that's amazing. Hyung, you slept for exactly 20 minutes, not a second off.”
It was 21 minutes, actually.
Seol-ah and Ro-si's preparations were nearly finished.
“Where are Seul-bi and Yi-na?”
“Huh? Ah!”
A flustered Choi Yoo-jun looked left and right.
“How could you take your eyes off them? What if something happened!”
“They said they were going to the restroom, but they're not back yet.”
I had a good idea where they were, but you never know what kind of incident could occur. Some crazy people do bizarre things you can't even imagine, like smearing feces on their hands to touch idols.
“I'm sorry. I was busy with fan manager duties.”
I couldn't rebuke Choi Yoo-jun any further, as he was also handling the fan manager role.
“I'll go check the stage. You go check the restrooms.”
“Yes!”
Choi Yoo-jun ran toward the main building, and I headed down the slope to the field with all the tents.
The event staff looked incredibly young. Surely they didn't just have the student council run this without a professional production company?
I wracked my memory; this event was definitely booked through an agency. Anyway, that wasn't what was important right now.
It was broad daylight, but countless students were already sitting at the various stalls drinking, and at some of the less crowded ones, young men and women were out front trying to attract customers.
This is the life. An enjoyment you can only have now. After graduation, they'll all go out into society and play their parts. Seeing these future pillars of society made me feel strangely reassured.
Just then, a spot with a particularly large crowd caught my eye. That must be it.
“This is so delicious!”
Sure enough, I heard Yi-na's voice coming from there. A sigh of mixed relief and worry escaped me. We'd handled bigger problems, so I doubted anything serious would happen to Answer now, but still….
Seul-bi and Yi-na were posing for pictures with several people, holding pieces of pajeon with their chopsticks.
But why was Seul-bi's hair wet?