The Return

The chat room erupted in an instant.

As opinions clashed, Doyun hurriedly continued, his voice trembling.

"Park Jihun, please give me a shamanic reading. Please."

Click.

Park Jihun disconnected the Discord call without hesitation.

As the viewers buzzed with confusion, Jihun spoke in a firm, resolute tone.

"Someone who didn't line up just barged into the Discord."

He moved his mouse, clicking a few settings as he spoke.

"From now on, I'm making this a password-protected room. Next."

At that, the chat room absolutely exploded.

Two scripts lay side by side on the conference room table.

One was a drama that the agency heavily favored. It was written by a famous screenwriter, and the role offered was quite substantial.

The other was a movie script. Its working title was The Return.

The team leader sitting across from her lightly tapped the drama script with his fingertip.

"Yu-na, think about it again. This screenwriter has a massive name ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠value, and the screen time is solid. If you land a role in a project like this, your next steps will be so much easier."

Instead of answering, Han Yu-na stared at the movie script. The firm, authoritative voice she had heard during yesterday's stream echoed in her mind.

"The drama is fine."

"But the movie will leave you with a new name."

The team leader continued, "I'm not saying the movie is bad. The script is great, and the character is intense. But the screen time is too short. With roles like this, you risk getting completely buried if things don't go perfectly."

"..."

"The movie isn't a terrible choice, but right now, the drama is a much better picture for your career."

Rationally speaking, the team leader was right. Getting her name on a drama by a famous writer was undoubtedly a safe, solid choice. It was stable and would easily lead to her next project.

And yet, her eyes kept drifting back to the movie script. The more she read it, the more peculiar it felt. Despite her limited screen time, there were scenes that practically burned themselves into her mind.

A story tangled with graves, mountain ridges, an ancient family, and buried names. It was bizarre and eerie, yet it possessed an strange, magnetic pull.

Han Yu-na slowly opened her mouth.

"Team Leader."

"Yes, Yu-na. Which one will it be?"

"I want to do the movie."

The team leader frowned. "What?"

"I want to star in The Return."

This time, her voice carried no hesitation.

A brief silence fell over the room. The team leader let out a hollow laugh.

"Are you serious?"

"Yes."

"Why are you insisting on the movie?"

"The Perpetual Job Seeker told me to go with the movie. He said the level of success would be entirely different."

The team leader's brow furrowed deeper. "That shaman streamer from the articles recently?"

"Yes."

The team leader was silent for a long moment. Finally, he gave the movie script a light nudge with his finger.

"I still think the drama is the better choice, but the movie isn't completely absurd either."

Han Yu-na pulled the script close to her chest. "Thank you."

The team leader let out a short sigh. "I'll report to the CEO that we're going with The Return."

As the conference room door closed behind her, Han Yu-na looked down at the script in her arms. Only then did she feel as though she had finally put on clothes that actually fit her.

Even ten minutes before the stream was scheduled to start, the chat room was already buzzing with activity.

Just then, the notification that the stream had started flashed on screen. The viewer count began to skyrocket, and the chat scrolled up at a dizzying speed.

Park Jihun scanned the chat as usual before speaking.

"I'll open the donation window in five minutes."

That single sentence sent the chat into an even greater frenzy.

A moment later, the donation window opened, and a torrent of Water Droplets poured in. The five first-come, first-served slots were filled in the blink of an eye. Cheers and groans erupted simultaneously in the chat.

Just as the initial rush was settling down, a viewer mentioned a piece of news.

A moment later, the headline of the article was pasted into the chat.

Amidst the noisy chatter, Park Jihun spoke up curtly.

"Quiet down."

He continued, his voice dropping into its cold, authoritative register.

"Today, we'll start with a free shamanic reading."

The chat room instantly went wild.

Park Jihun scanned the chat for a long moment before stopping on a specific username.

"Lablux. Get in here."

While everyone else groaned in disappointment, Lablux asked in disbelief.

"Yeah. Discord."

A moment later, the connection tone rang out. Soon, a youthful voice mixed with outdoor ambient noise came through the speakers.

"Um, am I really the one who got chosen?"

Jihun asked in a detached tone, "Are you outside?"

"Yes."

Jihun got straight to the point.

"Your cat ran away again, and you're looking for her."

"Huh? How did you know? You can see things like that too?"

"I can."

Lablux said hurriedly, "I just got home from school, and Yumi had slipped out again. Normally I find her right away, but she's not in any of her usual hiding spots, so I've just been wandering around looking for her."

Park Jihun closed his eyes. A brief vision flashed before him.

A worn hallway, gray walls, cold concrete floor. A small shadow was silently padding up the stairs.

A moment later, he opened his eyes and spoke.

"She went toward the emergency exit stairs."

Lablux hesitated. "...Excuse me?"

"She went up the emergency stairs, so head over there quickly."

A flustered breath came through the Discord call. "The door to that staircase is always closed, so I didn't even think to look there..."

"Take a bag of cat food with you."

"Ah, yes!"

"And don't call her name too loudly."

The chat began scrolling rapidly once more.

Lablux said urgently, "I haven't checked the emergency stairs yet. I'll go right now."

"Go."

The Discord call disconnected, and the chat room buzzed with anticipation for a while.

It was right after Park Jihun finished the shamanic readings for his first and second reserved clients.

Ding.

A short Discord notification chimed.

Park Jihun checked his direct messages. A photo was attached.

In a dusty corner of the emergency staircase, a calico cat was curled up in a narrow gap. She was looking up at the camera with wide, round eyes. It was the exact image Jihun had seen in his vision.

A message followed immediately after.

Park Jihun stared down at the photo for a moment, the corner of his mouth twitching upward in a tiny, almost imperceptible smile.

The chat room reacted instantly.

Park Jihun spoke briefly.

"She sent a photo of the cat."

In that instant, the chat room went wild.

After finishing his broadcast, Jihun checked his phone. Lately, text messages from his mother had been coming in frequently.

In between the texts, there were rows of photos of properties she had taken herself. Houses with wide living room windows, two-bedroom villas, and descriptions boasting a short walk from the station.

Before, she had always insisted she was fine, that her current place was still livable, and that there was no need to overextend themselves.

Yet, once the topic of moving actually came up, she was looking for houses more enthusiastically than anyone.

Park Jihun smiled as he looked at the messages.

She really wants to move. That's great.

After sending his reply, Jihun set his phone down and looked around. The new house he had moved into yesterday still felt a bit unfamiliar.

Even so, it was incomparably better than his old rooftop room. There was no damp smell from the walls, and closing the windows actually blocked the draft, unlike before. He also liked how the soundproof booth had turned out. Since there were two rooms now, he could use one strictly as a bedroom, which was another huge plus.

He sat down at his desk and booted up his streaming software. It was his first broadcast from the new house.

Once he closed the door of the soundproof booth, the outside noise was almost completely cut off. It was a minor difference, but he felt the impact immediately.

"Not bad," Jihun muttered to himself as he clicked the start stream button.

The notification went out, and the viewer count surged instantly. The chat room quickly began scrolling up.

Jihun spoke casually, brushing off the compliments.

"The move went well. Let's get started right away."

While the chat laughed and joked, Jihun opened the donation window as he always did. Water Droplets flooded in, and the five slots were decided in an instant.

It was after Jihun had finished reading for two of the reserved clients that the viewer count began to swell noticeably.

Normally, his stream hovered around ten thousand viewers. But before he knew it, the count had surpassed twenty thousand, and was now climbing toward twenty-six thousand.

Jihun's brow furrowed.

What's going on?

That wasn't all. The chat was suddenly flying upward at an uncontrollable speed.

As Jihun scanned the chaotic chat, a message caught his eye.

Something major had definitely just broken.