Summer's Second Chance
Jin Baek-ho stared blankly at the spot where his daughter had left. He called over Park Pyo-chung, the man in the black suit standing closest to him.
“Pyo-chung.”
“Yes, Chairman.”
“Wire some investment money to Two Bear. Make sure Yeoreum doesn’t feel slighted.”
Park Pyo-chung glanced at his expression before asking, “How much should I invest?”
Jin Baek-ho looked at him as if the question were absurd. “Enough so our daughter can do anything at the very highest level.”
‘Anywhere Reception Message’ has contacted the sender. The sender’s memories from the time of writing have been transmitted.
Jin Baek-ho’s reaction was somewhat ambiguous, but the quest had been completed and permission to recruit Yeoreum had been granted, so the outcome felt satisfactory.
“You may exit this way.”
“Thank you for guiding me.”
Once the matter was settled, I left the Jingang headquarters under the escort of the man in the black suit. When I had been politely kidnapped earlier, I had even imagined being encased in cement and dropped into the sea. The feeling now was strangely novel.
…Or perhaps my sense of reality still hadn’t fully returned. It felt as though I had simply lived through a long dream.
To regain my bearings, I took the letter Jin Yeoreum would write three years from now out of my pocket and read it again. As I walked down the empty corridor, absorbed in the letter, hurried footsteps approached from behind.
When I turned around, the person who had been running called out.
“Team Leader Sun!”
It was Jin Yeoreum.
“…Haa. Hah.”
She was breathing heavily, as if she had sprinted the entire way.
“How did you get here, Yeoreum-ssi?”
Only after speaking did I notice her outfit. It was the exact same black suit design worn by the men who had been lined up outside the chairman’s office. Come to think of it, there had been quite a few women among them as well. I couldn’t hide my suspicion.
“Don’t tell me you were among them?”
Jin Yeoreum answered with trembling eyes. “Yes. I heard everything.”
“…Good grief. So you saw all of that.”
Honestly, it was embarrassing to know she had witnessed the entire scene. Suddenly launching into a passionate speech about a merchant’s duty was mortifying even to me. I finally understood why the chairman had lined up so many black suits—not only to intimidate, but also to shield his daughter from seeing that spectacle. Jin Baek-ho really had a terrible personality.
I tried to hide my embarrassment and spoke as casually as possible. “That’s how it turned out. He didn’t exactly look thrilled, but it seems I received the chairman’s permission anyway. …You went through a lot. There were many complications, but in the end everything wrapped up happily.”
Perhaps my words struck a nerve. She spoke in a heavy voice.
“…Not everything. Team Leader Sun isn’t included in that ‘everything.’”
“Excuse me?”
What was she talking about now?
“In the end, it’s a conclusion where I only receive from Team Leader Sun one-sidedly!”
Yeoreum seemed to be under some kind of misunderstanding. The future awaiting her was far from bright. Two Bear Entertainment and I would do everything we could, but the one who had to endure the barrage of public opinion and fight for success was Jin Yeoreum herself. This was not the time for her to say she had only been receiving.
“Receiving? No. From now on, Yeoreum-ssi will have to work hard for Two Bear’s success, won’t you?”
Did you think only I would suffer? I’ll work you so hard that you’ll look back fondly on the days you spent cleaning during volunteer work.
“…Of course I intend to do everything I possibly can. But there’s no reason for Team Leader Sun to go that far.”
I smiled faintly and looked at her.
“There is a reason.”
This was tied to the very core of who I was—something I had never revealed to anyone.
“I failed spectacularly once. I was betrayed by people I trusted.”
Yet that betrayal hadn’t come without cause.
“The people who betrayed me were at fault, but I wasn’t blameless either. I was foolish enough to deserve what happened. …I trusted people blindly. I refused to see their flaws. Even when I knew there was corruption, even when I realized the plagiarism suspicions were real plagiarism, I stubbornly kept trusting and helping that person. I was truly an idiot.”
Even now, I thought my past self had been incredibly stupid. By my own judgment, I had deserved to be betrayed.
“And then I met someone who gave me the same foolish, unconditional trust and consideration that I once gave others.”
“Who is that?”
“Jin Yeoreum-ssi, of course.”
“….”
Jin Yeoreum stared at me with a sulky expression. There was none of the elegance that usually made her seem older than her years. The sight was oddly endearing.
I smiled gently and continued. “You said you wouldn’t get attached, yet you were already starting to lower your walls after just two days. Do you know how cute that looked?”
“…Cute?”
“Yes. Cute. And even after being hurt by people, you still sent out that reckless trust again. That foolishness, that stubbornness—it didn’t feel like someone else’s. That’s why I didn’t want to remain just another person who betrayed you. …I even hoped it might serve as some small compensation. A kind of self-satisfaction.”
I didn’t want to be one of the people who used Jin Yeoreum. Like those heartless bastards in my previous life who turned on me the moment they had squeezed out every last drop of value.
In the end, that was my true reason.
“So you don’t need to worry, Yeoreum-ssi. I’m already satisfied.”
I remembered her bright smile after winning an award in rhythmic gymnastics. I remembered her kind smile even while flustered during a reporter’s photoshoot. I remembered her warm smile while watching us during volunteer work. I liked seeing her smile. So I wanted to make her smile. And because she had taken my hand and smiled for me, I was content.
Yet Jin Yeoreum didn’t seem satisfied with that answer.
“…That can’t possibly be enough!”
She grabbed my clothes and shook me.
“Arrogant, self-righteous, stubborn! Pretending to have a strong ego while only being swayed by others! The consideration you show always ends up breaking the people around you! The fact that Team Leader Sun is sacrificing himself for someone like me hasn’t changed at all! Why are you sacrificing so much for me?”
“…Like I said, it’s not really a sacrifice. I told you I’m satisfied.”
What more did she want when the person involved was fine with it? If the person themselves said it was okay, she should just believe it.
“I’m anxious! I’m not someone who deserves such excessive treatment. So it wouldn’t be strange if your consideration disappeared at any moment. …And if that consideration vanishes, I think it would hurt a lot.”
“….”
Jin Yeoreum shook me as if demanding an answer.
“Ah.”
Because of her shaking, the letter slipped from my hand. Startled, Jin Yeoreum quickly picked it up with an apologetic expression.
“…I’m sorry.”
“There’s no need to apologize over something like that. It’s fine.”
…Wait. If she read the contents of that letter, wouldn’t it be extremely awkward? A letter written in her own handwriting about events she had no memory of writing. Seeing it would be an incredibly disorienting experience.
“Yeoreum-ssi, please don’t read the contents of that letter. It’s a request—”
The system message appeared, and Jin Yeoreum’s body froze as if time had stopped.
Huh?
“…What is this?”
Memories from the time of writing were being transmitted? Did that mean the memories of Jin Yeoreum writing the letter three years later while studying abroad were now flowing into the present Jin Yeoreum?
…That was regression, wasn’t it?
Jin Yeoreum, who had begun moving again, looked around in confusion as if recalling something.
“…Team Leader Sun? This is America, so how is Team Leader Sun here…? Huh?”
She clutched her head, her eyes trembling as though she were in a panic.
“…I was clearly studying abroad, majoring in economics. This is…”
Then, as if realizing something, she murmured softly.
“…I’ve returned to the past?”
That was definitely regression. Wow, so now there were two regressors? How the hell was I supposed to handle this…?
…Come to think of it, did I really need to handle it? Just having access to her information would be a huge help.
Overwhelmed by the sudden situation, Jin Yeoreum trembled and sank to the floor, voicing her anxiety. She looked as though she might collapse at the slightest stimulus. From her perspective, it must have felt like an abrupt time leap. If she had no prior knowledge of regression, it could easily have been a terrifying experience.
I couldn’t just leave her in that precarious state.
“Yeoreum-ssi, take a deep breath and calm down. I’ll tell you the real reason I’m recruiting you.”
She looked at me with trembling eyes that held a faint glimmer of hope. Jin Yeoreum seemed to want an answer from me about this situation. Well, suddenly regressing without warning would be incredibly disorienting. For a child like her, hiding things wasn’t the best approach.
Don’t worry, Yeoreum. I’ll tell you.
Speaking as if I were a senior guiding her, I said, “You wrote in the letter that you wanted to become an idol, didn’t you?”
Jin Yeoreum muttered in confusion. “…That was clearly three years from now. …Don’t tell me?”
Standing before the flustered Jin Yeoreum, I revealed the truth without hesitation.
“So I put in some effort. The truth is, I also wanted to be an idol with you, Yeoreum-ssi.”
Jin Yeoreum’s expression, her movements, her breathing—all of it stopped.
“…Ah.”
Then she let out a soft exclamation, as if she had finally understood. Two streams of tears flowed down her pale cheeks. Her face twisted with an indescribable emotion as she suddenly ran forward and threw her arms around me with all her strength, as if she would never let go.
Jin Yeoreum buried her face in my chest and rubbed her face against me. I gently patted her back.
“…Team Leader Sun really, really, really is a strange person.”
“It’s embarrassing to say, but I’m aware that I’m a strange person.”
“…Really.”
Jin Yeoreum looked up at me and smiled. She had cast aside all her usual elegance and looked like a complete fool.
“Meeting someone as strange as you is probably the greatest luck of my life.”
That smile, pure to the point of foolishness, was beautiful. Among all the versions of Summer—past, future, and present—she was the most beautiful of them all.