From Crazy Bitch to Shining Girl
Nam Tae-woo pulled into the prepared parking lot and cut the engine.
"We got here a little early."
They had arrived at Starlight Orphanage a full fifteen minutes ahead of schedule.
Huh? It's tiny.
Through the window, the orphanage looked even smaller than Ara had imagined.
"What should we do? There's a kid supposed to come out and meet us. Want to wait in the car a bit?"
"Hmm."
Ara considered Nam Tae-woo's question.
"Mind if I look around on my own?"
"By yourself? You sure that's okay?"
"Yeah."
"Alright then. We'll head to the director first."
Ara climbed out of the car ahead of them.
"Ara! Call if anything comes up. Take your time looking around."
"Okay."
Nam Tae-woo got out after her, gave the reminder, and headed for the director's office with Jang Min-a.
Ara wandered the modest playground.
"Hmm…"
Only now did the details come into focus. Everything that had seemed small and charming from a distance turned out to be a lie. Rust ate at the play equipment in patches, and the sand that should have been soft had hardened into something unyielding.
She passed flower beds thick with weeds and approached a small building.
[Dining Hall]
"Okay if I go in?"
She wanted to ask someone, but no one was around.
"Should be fine."
Creeeak—
The old hinges protested as Ara gently pushed the door open. Inside, long tables waited where many children could sit and eat at once. Everything was worn—so thoroughly that cataloguing the damage would have taken forever.
She checked the kitchen that opened directly off the dining hall. Without proper kitchen shoes she couldn't step inside, but she saw enough to know what was wrong.
She was about to leave after her rough survey when a strained female voice reached her from a short distance away.
"Ugh—nnngh! Come on!"
Drawn by the sound, Ara found a girl trying to hoist a box onto a high shelf. The girl shoved hard, trying to hook the box over the edge.
Thud—
"Huh?"
Box met shelf, but instead of catching, it simply collided. The girl made a startled noise at the same moment.
"Wh-wh-whaaa—?!"
In that instant the box lost its balance and began to fall straight toward her head.
Thud—
"?"
Ara closed the distance in a blink and caught the box from underneath.
Whew—close one. That could've been bad. Looks like they need a proper step ladder too.
She mentally added the item to her list, then offered a word of caution and a greeting to the girl.
"Hello."
"Hello, Director."
"Welcome! You must be tired after coming all this way!"
Jo Na-kyeong greeted Nam Tae-woo and Jang Min-a with open warmth.
"The children would have been so happy to see you both. It's a shame."
"We'll meet them after school lets out."
"Ah, so you'll stay until then?"
"Of course."
The children were all at school right now.
"By the way, did you run into Ye-in? I sent her out to meet you."
"It's fine. We've been here before, and we arrived early anyway."
Jang Min-a smoothed things over so no blame would fall on Shin Ye-in.
"Speaking of which—Ye-in didn't go to school? She seemed so mature."
Nam Tae-woo asked, recalling the girl he had met the day before. A flicker of sadness crossed Jo Na-kyeong's face.
"No. Ye-in dropped out."
"What? Why?"
"Well… the orphanage was in a bad way. We were running on a skeleton staff, so there wasn't really a role for her."
"Ah…"
"She said she wanted to help too, and asked to leave school."
"So you gave permission."
Dropping out of high school required a guardian's consent. If Shin Ye-in had left, it meant they had agreed.
"No. I didn't permit it. Thinking of the child's future, it simply wasn't right."
"Then how…?"
"But Ye-in was so firm about it… She rebelled for the first time in her life. She even started skipping school without permission. When a child who never acted that way goes that far, we had no choice. We couldn't let her go off the rails."
Jo Na-kyeong and the orphanage teachers had set conditions for Shin Ye-in, and she shared them with Nam Tae-woo and Jang Min-a.
First: pass the GED and earn a high-school diploma.
Second: keep studying.
Third: take the college entrance exam no matter what.
"She was always a good student with plenty of talent, so she passed the GED right away. From then on she's been helping the teachers look after the younger kids. Honestly… it's embarrassing to admit, but she's been a huge help. We're always grateful…"
"I see. You must be proud of her."
"I've raised children here for thirty years now—from the days when this place was still an orphanage until it became what it is."
Her pure white hair stood out all the more.
"Every child who comes here was either abandoned by their parents or lost them in an accident."
"…"
"Sadly, orphans share one common trait."
Jo Na-kyeong looked down at the mug in her hands.
"The children who live here grow up far too fast. Childhood is supposed to be the time when kids get to be kids. It's heartbreaking."
Nam Tae-woo turned his own earlier words over in his mind.
Mature. Adult-like. Admirable.
Not a child who had grown up right despite this environment—
A child who had grown up that way because of it.
Nam Tae-woo and Jang Min-a realized they had been looking through tinted glasses.
"Ye-in ought to leave this place and step into a bigger world, but honestly I worry. The little ones are especially attached to her."
"I see. That must weigh on you…"
"…"
The director's office fell quiet for a moment.
Clap—!
"Oh! We never even told you why we came today, did we?!"
Jang Min-a clapped her hands and brightened the mood.
"Now that you mention it, yes. The goods you sponsored yesterday haven't even arrived yet—what brings you here today? It's far too early if you only came to see the children. And didn't you say one more person would be joining you?"
"Yes. She'll be here shortly. We'll explain everything then."
Ye-in still could not make sense of the situation.
W-what is this?
She snuck a glance at the young woman walking beside her.
No matter how I look at her, that's Gil Ara unnie, right??
She hadn't heard a self-introduction, but the face and those eyes were a guarantee. The person walking with her was definitely Gil Ara.
"Um, excuse me…"
"Hm?"
"A-are you really… Ara unnie…?"
Even so, Ye-in couldn't hold the question back. She needed confirmation.
"Uh, unnie?! Me?"
"Y-yes?"
"Ah, sorry."
Having always lived as the younger sibling, the word "unnie" felt impossibly awkward.
"I never introduced myself, did I."
Ara shoved the momentary fluster into a corner and introduced herself.
"Wow… it really is Gil Ara unnie…?"
"What's your name?"
"I-I'm Shin Ye-in…!"
"Yeah? Pretty name for a pretty face."
"Thank you…?"
Damn, this kid's gonna have guys lining up later.
It's really Gil Ara… She's even prettier in person. Reality is broken…
After the conversation ended they walked a short while in silence, each lost in her own thoughts.
"This is where the director is."
Ara followed Ye-in to the door of the director's office.
Knock-knock—
At the knock, the director's voice called them in.
Creeeak—
"Director, I brought a guest."
"Hello. Nice to meet you. I'm Gil Ara."
"Wh-what?"
Jo Na-kyeong was just as startled as Ye-in.
Ahem—ahem—
"I made a bit of a fool of myself just now. I'm Jo Na-kyeong, director of Starlight Orphanage. It's a pleasure, Ms. Gil Ara. You're even prettier in person."
"Thank you."
After the brief greetings, Ara explained why she had come.
"You're saying you want to sponsor us again?"
Surprise outran joy.
"Strictly speaking, this is my first time. Completely separate from YW."
"I-is that so?"
"Have you seen a film called Stalker?"
"Yes. The children and I watched it together and enjoyed it."
"It's a little embarrassing, but thanks to that film there's been a wave of donations for dementia patients lately. Did you know?"
"Of course. How could I not know about something so wonderful?"
Ara told Jo Na-kyeong the honest reason she had decided to donate.
"Ah, I see…"
Hearing the intent, the director's voice carried a faint note of disappointment.
So it was for the image after all…
Shin Ye-in, listening beside her, couldn't help feeling the same quiet letdown.
"We arrived earlier than expected today, so I took a little walk around on my own."
Ara continued without the slightest concern for atmosphere.
"Does the intention really matter? Good or bad—if it can have a positive effect on the children's future, I don't care either way."
"For the record, the donation from YW was thanks to Ara too."
Jang Min-a chimed in from the side.
"Originally Ara wanted to come herself, but we stopped her. Because she's a celebrity, we moved first."
"I see. You're right. We have to think of the children's future. Thank you, Ms. Ara."
"It's nothing. We're both getting something out of it."
Ara offered a faint smile.
"So for now I want to look around once and decide what to sponsor."
Exactly the same method YW had used.
"And for the parts that are awkward to cover with sponsorship, I'll hand over a cash donation."
That part was a little different.
"How much are you thinking of donating?"
Jo Na-kyeong asked.
"Fifty million won."
"F-fifty…?"
"Huk!!"
Gasp—
Jo Na-kyeong echoed the number in shock, and Shin Ye-in beside her let out a startled cry before instantly clapping a hand over her mouth.
"Th-that's far too much!"
Flustered by the sum, Jo Na-kyeong tried to stop her.
"Director."
"Yes, Ms. Ara."
"This isn't a simple donation."
"Pardon?"
"It's a little embarrassing to say myself, but I'm a celebrity."
"Well, yes…?"
"As a celebrity, I'm buying an image. There's a lot in this for me. So please don't feel burdened."
From the moment she decided to donate to the orphanage, Ara had thought it through carefully.
The most under-resourced orphanage.
The staff there were almost certainly working on pure sense of mission alone.
A donation must never feel like a debt.
So she would frame it not as charity but as a transaction—money they could put exactly where it was needed.
"Well…"
Jo Na-kyeong hesitated. The amount was large enough that she couldn't decide on the spot.
In moments like this, a little help was all that was needed.
"Director."
Nam Tae-woo spoke up.
"Celebrities live and die by their image. And Ara is only going to get bigger from here."
"…"
"If anything, we're buying it cheap. Think about the big corporations. They throw tens or hundreds of billions just to build an image, right?"
"That's true."
"So it's fine to accept."
"Manager, let me finish explaining."
Ara took the baton back.
"Director. Do you know my other reason for donating to this orphanage?"
"Your… other reason?"
"I plan to donate to Starlight Orphanage and then post proof on my SNS account."
"I suppose so…"
"Then what will people think?"
"Ah!"
Shin Ye-in, listening, seemed to catch Ara's intent.
"Because of Unnie's film Stalker, donations for dementia patients went way up!"
"Ye-in? What is it?"
"Unnie is trying to widen people's field of vision, Director!"
Jo Na-kyeong looked from Ye-in to Ara.
Grinning brightly, Ara spoke.
"!"
"Well, two birds with one stone."
That night.
A single post went up on Ara's Instagram.
Photos of the sponsorship amount and a group shot with the children were laid bare for the public.
Drunk on her own good deed and curious what people thought of her, Ara opened the comments—only to freeze at the brand-new Gwang-nyeon-i.
"What the hell…"