Free Money From the Sky
The meat sizzled on the grill. Across from me, Han Yujeong exhaled a hot breath.
“Ahjussi, is it not done yet?”
“Nope.”
“I heard beef’s fine even if it’s a little undercooked.”
“Hey, I just put it on! ‘A little undercooked is fine’ doesn’t mean go ahead and eat it raw!”
She nodded as if she accepted that, yet her eyes still clung to the grill with open longing.
Just where did all the allowance I gave her keep disappearing to? Gaming gear was one thing, but this was pouring water into a bottomless jar—no matter how much I handed over, it simply leaked away.
I couldn’t nitpick every single purchase. All I could do was trust she wasn’t blowing it on anything weird.
She wasn’t the type for that kind of trouble anyway.
“But Ahjussi.”
“Hm?”
“Why’d we suddenly come to a meat place?”
“Ah, this.”
I flipped the meat with the tongs.
“Free money just dropped out of the sky on me.”
“Free money?”
“Someone tossed me two hundred thousand won. Like they were handing out charity.”
I talked circles around the fact that I’d won it on a bet.
How was I supposed to admit outright that the wager had been on her?
Han Yujeong tilted her head, clearly not following.
“I don’t really get what you mean.”
“Do you need to?”
I picked up a couple of pieces that had lost their raw red and set them on her rice. White steam curled up from the meat that had just fled the grill.
“Meat’s just meat.”
At my calm tone her face turned instantly serious, as if she’d just attained enlightenment.
“Meat is meat.”
She kept nodding to herself.
“You’re right, Ahjussi. Meat is meat… I’ll dig in.”
Every last scrap of conscience I had pricked my heart like thorns.
Sorry.
This is actually money you earned.
I popped a piece of heavily sauced meat into my mouth and grinned.
“Nothing beats free food.”
We were chatting quietly over the meal when the wall-mounted TV switched to the news.
Most of it was empty speculation. Han Yujeong had wiped her past clean and started over; in a way she really had dropped out of the sky.
At some point her chopsticks stopped moving. She stared blankly at the TV, even the meat she’d been hunting for completely forgotten.
I felt my own cheeks loosen without meaning to and asked,
“What? Surprised to hear yourself on TV?”
“I never imagined I’d get mentioned on television like this.”
She gave an awkward little smile.
“I always thought the only time I’d end up on screen was when they dragged me off to an underground prison after my Cheonsalseong got exposed.”
The wistfulness in her voice made the skin under my eyes sting.
Any more of that and I’d start crying mid-meal.
“…Eat. Eat. Leave it any longer and the meat’s going to burn.”
“Ah.”
Han Yujeong moved her chopsticks and popped a piece into her mouth. A satisfied smile spread across her chewing lips.
A short distance away a group of men raised their voices.
“Three thousand points? Is that high?”
“They said she’s second after Lee Jia. So yeah, it’s high.”
“I’m so fucking jealous. When do I get to awaken?”
“If you awaken, the best you’d get is the ability to grill meat really well.”
“What was that, asshole?”
I glanced at Han Yujeong. She had her head down, pretending to focus on her food, but her ears were twitching nonstop.
“You’re going to have to get used to this.”
“Huh? The beef?”
“The beef… yeah, you’ll get used to the beef too.”
As if it would stop at beef.
Right now she was still the pitiful kid living off my allowance, but her bank balance would flip soon enough and she’d be living large.
“Even the first exam already got you decent media exposure. Once the second and third come around, the attention’s only going to climb.”
The press would aim their spotlights and crow that a second Lee Jia had appeared.
“Just like those guys over there, your name’s going to keep floating around from every direction.”
Awakening Cheonsalseong had once sent Han Yujeong’s entire life plummeting into the abyss.
Watching her drown in guilt over the past, I’d thought the same thing over and over.
I want to help her however I can.
And little by little, the path was starting to show itself.
Things were going to change a lot from here.
No matter what life in the shadows had been like, no matter what the past held.
The future of Han Yujeong the hunter—not Han Yujeong the assassin—was going to shine brilliantly in the light.
“It’s going to be pretty different from everything up until now.”
I was watching a movie in my room when the phone rang.
It was Han Yerim.
“Got any plans today? If it’s not urgent, I need a favor.”
“Guild stuff?”
“Yeah. You know Yujeong’s interview is today, right?”
Of course I did.
From the moment the interview had been scheduled, Han Yujeong had been memorizing every possible question and answer until they were burned into her brain.
“Something suddenly came up at the Association. Can you take Yujeong to the interview for me?”
“No problem. Why the Association all of a sudden?”
On the other end Han Yerim clicked her tongue.
“I have no idea how these people do their jobs. The guild registration we filed got rejected, so I need to go over the paperwork again in person.”
She would take Lee Jia with her. The call ended.
The image of Han Yujeong’s reliable, competent face rose in my mind—and right behind it a whole parade of her airheaded moments.
I was getting a little uneasy.
I knocked on her door. No answer. I knocked several more times and called her name; still nothing. I eased the door open and pressed a hand to my forehead.
For crying out loud.
“Hey, Han Yujeong! Stop sleeping and get up! We have an interview today!”
I checked my watch in front of the row of tall buildings.
12:20.
The appointment with the reporter was at three. Still plenty of time left—too much, even.
I could feel a glare boring into my back. Han Yujeong was staring at me with pure resentment.
“I could’ve slept longer.”
“I didn’t know the interview time had been pushed back. Sorry…”
Even if Han Yerim was busy, forgetting something like that was just careless.
I couldn’t exactly storm into some company at lunch and demand they interview us right now. Figuring we might as well grab a bite, I headed for a nearby street stall.
“Boss, two servings of tteokbokki…. Yujeong, you hungry? How much do you want?”
“Two servings.”
“Make that three to go, please.”
While we waited I took a big bite of a fish-cake skewer. Just the ordinary street-stall flavor. And ordinary fish-cake flavor meant it was delicious. Empty sticks piled up in no time.
“Tteokbokki’s ready.”
“Thanks.”
We left the stall and started walking. Midsummer sun blazed overhead and the air was thick and muggy. Sit on a bench and eat this and we’d both pass out from heatstroke.
“…Car?”
Han Yujeong nodded with the most serious face in the world.
“Good idea.”
Right. Better eat with the A/C blasting. The filter would reek of tteokbokki for a while, but what else could we do in this heat?
As we walked down the quiet alley I asked,
“Interview prep going okay?”
“Yes. Unnie summarized the possible questions for me.”
“Unnie? Who, Jia-ssi?”
“Not Ajumma—Yerim-unnie.”
Han Yerim was “unnie,” Lee Jia was “Ajumma,” and I was “Ahjussi”… All three of us the same age, yet the titles were all over the place. I couldn’t figure out her criteria for the life of me.
“Huh?”
A big van was blocking the mouth of the alley.
Parked like absolute garbage.
Our car was deeper inside.
And this bastard hadn’t even left a number.
How were we supposed to get out later?
“What kind of lowlife piece of—”
I trailed off. Han Yujeong was staring at me with round eyes, mouth slightly open. I scratched the back of my head, embarrassed.
“Uh, let’s just get in and eat the tteokbokki.”
“Ahjussi, just now you…”
“I didn’t say anything!”
We squeezed through the narrow gap and finally climbed into the car. We were practicing interview answers over the tteokbokki when a sudden commotion started outside.
What now?
About five people had clustered in front of the van and were talking loudly. A man in a pitch-black suit ended a call and raked a hand through his hair. He sighed.
“This is driving me insane.”
“Oppa, what’s wrong?”
“Reporter from Daejin Daily just called. Went silent so long I figured it was dead, then out of nowhere asks if we can do an interview today.”
Daejin Daily?
That was the paper that had scheduled Han Yujeong’s interview.
“It’s a major newspaper! You got an interview with them and you’re sighing? You’re going to jinx the blessing away.”
“Fuck, because we already booked with The Hunt, that’s why. Time slots overlap with Daejin Daily.”
“The Hunt? That’s a hunter specialty magazine.”
The woman tilted her head.
“A major paper versus a magazine—what’s there to think about? Just cancel the magazine one.”
“Oh, look who’s rearranging the schedule. Why don’t you quit being a hunter and become a manager instead?”
“I was just saying it out of pity.”
The man scratched his head furiously and dialed someone.
“Ah, Reporter Jo? This is Manager Park from Taesan Guild. Got a minute? We’re on the way to Sangam-dong and just had a car accident… looks like it’ll take a while to sort out.”
A loud voice crackled from the other end. The man grimaced and pulled the phone away from his ear.
From the way they were talking, it was clearly a manager and his hunters. That explained the elephant-sized van parked right across an alley.
So it was a big-guild manager and hunters’ ride.
Now that I looked closer, the faces other than the manager’s were pretty familiar.
Taesan Guild, Taesan Guild…
Ah!
The half-forgotten memory snapped into place.
They were promising rookies taking the same hunter exam as Han Yujeong—ones the media already had their eye on for the future.
But what did that have to do with us?
“Tteokbokki’s good. Should’ve bought some sundae too, right?”
“Yeah.”
Han Yujeong set down her chopsticks.
“Should I go get some?”
“If anyone’s going, it should be the manager. Why would you go?”
“I’d be fast.”
“Forget it. Let’s finish interview practice.”
I was trying to focus on her answers when the manager finished his call, stuck a cigarette in his mouth, and spoke.
“That Han Yujeong kid. The one everyone’s calling the ‘second Lee Jia’ for breaking three thousand.”
Han Yujeong?
My ears pricked up.
“Don’t worry too much. She won’t score that high on the second exam.”
What?
“Why not?”
“Second exam’s a team battle, right? Random four-person teams holding off monster waves.”
“Yeah.”
“Being strong alone doesn’t cut it. You need a good team… and…”
The manager smirked and blew out a long stream of smoke.
“The big guilds already started lobbying. No lobby means you’re fighting with one hand cuffed. Game’s over before it even starts.”
The rookies’ eyes sparkled as they asked,
“What about our guild?”
“Worry about something worth worrying about. You know what kind of guild we are. Board’s already set. Just feed them the money and it’s done. You kids just open your mouths and swallow what they spoon-feed you.”
He ground the cigarette under his heel.
“Time. Let’s go.”
Manager and hunters piled into the van. The van that had been blocking the entrance soon vanished.
“….”
My mouth felt rough and dry.
Han Yujeong was staring silently down at the interview sheet.
There was no way she hadn’t heard what I just heard.
Heavy silence filled the car.
I wasn’t the one who broke it.
“Ahjussi.”
“Yeah?”
“Don’t worry.”
“What?”
I turned. Still staring at the paper, she tossed the words out as casually as a greeting.
“I’ll win so hard everyone sees it. I’ll take first for sure.”
Had my own dejection shown that clearly on my face?
Clearly enough that she felt she had to cheer me up?
I searched for something to say for a long moment, then just laughed.
“I told you before, right?”
“Told me what?”
“That I won’t be disappointed. Just take it easy. Even if you don’t come in first, that just means my ability as a manager wasn’t enough.”
Han Yujeong sat dazed for a second, then finally parted her heavy lips.
“…Okay. I’ll do my best.”
“That’s all I need.”
I checked the time. 2:15. Better arrive early and wait. I’d need to pick up donuts and coffee for the reporter too.
Going over and buttering people up—that was my job.
Making sure Han Yujeong’s article came out even a little bit better.
That was exactly what a manager was for.
“All right. Let’s head out too.”