Chapter 137
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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 137
Chapter Title: Caught in the Act
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After the third game ended, a hint to the trophy's location was revealed.
The culprit, Park Youngjin, who was clutching the bag containing the trophy he intended to move elsewhere, was walking down the hall when he ran into Jeonghun, who suddenly popped out in front of him.
“!”
The moment he saw Jeonghun, Park Youngjin turned to run. That is, if Jeonghun hadn't also been holding a bag. Jeonghun, who had also been about to flee upon seeing Park Youngjin, froze when he saw the bag in the other man's hands.
“Huh? Hyung, why do you have that bag?”
“Jeonghun, you… why?”
They stared at the bags each was holding so dearly. Bags of the same color, shape, and size.
“……!”
The two opened their bags. Inside, they opened a box and took out something wrapped in bubble wrap. A trophy. There were two identical Oscar trophies. They had no idea which was real and which was fake.
“No wonder! I thought something was weird! The hints were different! I put mine on a bookshelf! Agh, the production team, seriously! I was so shocked, thinking it was the real trophy! Agh!!”
While Jeonghun was making a fuss, Park Youngjin was lost in thought. So that presence he felt wasn't just his imagination.
“Jeonghun, didn't you feel like someone was following you? I kept feeling like something was tailing me.”
“Huh? You too, hyung? Me too. But they hide so fast I could never find them. All I could see were the staff.”
Park Youngjin and Jeonghun lowered their voices.
“……A spy?”
“……Looks like it.”
* * *
After all the games for obtaining hints were over, it was time to find the trophy and the culprit.
“For the next hour, please find the Oscar trophy and the culprit. Hints about the culprit are located within the building. After one hour, please place the Oscar trophy on this table in the first-floor lobby…”
Producer Jeon pointed to a table marked with a [W].
“And write the culprit's name here. You only have one chance.”
Producer Jeon handed them an envelope. It looked similar to the ones used at the Academy Awards to announce the winners.
“Now, race, start!”
[01:00:00]
[00:59:59]
The bright red digital clock began to count down.
The six members, excluding Park Youngjin and Jeonghun, were about to scatter, wary of one another. Park Youngjin spoke up.
“You're all the culprits, aren't you?”
“What? What are you talking about, hyung?”
“Yeah. Isn't there only one culprit?”
At Park Youngjin's words, the members feigned ignorance before realizing the strangeness of the situation so far. Everyone was acting overly flustered. As if they were the culprit.
“I have a trophy.”
Park Youngjin retrieved the bag he had hidden nearby. Jeonghun did the same. The appearance of two Oscar trophies startled the six members.
“Why do you have that, hyung?”
“Wait, does that mean the trophies we had were fakes!?”
Fakes!
At that word, a few of the members slumped to the ground as if their legs had given out.
“Damn it! I almost cried when I saw the trophy in the office!”
“It was fake… It was fake! What a relief!”
“I mean, who in their right mind would entrust a real trophy to a place like this.”
Watching the members express their genuine relief, Park Youngjin continued.
“But did you guys feel like someone else was around?”
At his words, the six members flinched. They had all felt a presence whenever they were hiding their trophies.
“……You felt it too, oppa?”
“You too, nuna?”
“That's what I'm saying. There's someone else besides us. I think we need to find that spy.”
A spy.
The eyes of the Working Man members glinted.
“The hints from the games were probably for the location of the real trophy.”
“Then let's have four of us look for the trophy and the other four look for the spy.”
“Who do you think the spy is?”
“Since Seojun was mentioned, I think it’s one of his acquaintances. Actor Lee Jiseok, Actor Park Dohun, Actor Kim Jongho… why are you looking at me like that?”
The members stared at Jeonghun with incredulous expressions.
“Seojun? Are you close with Seojun?”
“We’re incredibly close in spirit! I’m a 3rd generation member of ‘From a Sprout’!”
“Huhu. 3rd generation? I’m 1st generation! What’s 3rd gen? The cameo in ‘Re-investigation,’ the play ‘Spring,’ and the fan meeting… wait. Here?”
Choi Sohee, a 1st generation fan who had joined the fan cafe [From a Sprout] after watching ‘William,’ was speaking with pride when she suddenly looked around.
“What? What is it?”
Everyone followed Choi Sohee’s gaze, looking around. There was nothing there.
“This is the Eunhasu Center! Where the children’s play ‘Spring’ was performed!”
“Oh, oh. You’re right.”
“I thought they chose this place because it was a Seojun special, but what if the guest is one of the child actors from ‘Spring’?”
“That’s possible! Wait, who was in it?”
“Actor Lee Dajin, Actor Choi Soyoung…”
Choi Sohee counted them off on her fingers, one by one. The members were speechless at her incredible fandom knowledge.
“……You know all of them?”
“Of course. I’ve seen the pamphlet and the play so many times! Ah, on DVD, of course. I found out about it after the run ended.”
“Then who do you think is the most likely candidate?”
“I heard Actor Lee Dajin is filming a movie soon…”
“She must be here to promote her movie!”
At Choi Sohee’s words, the members’ eyes lit up.
“50 minutes remaining.”
“Let’s go, quickly!!”
At Producer Jeon’s announcement, the Working Man members left the practice room.
A moment later, as the sound of the members' footsteps faded, Seojun opened his mouth.
“They’re pretty good at deducing.”
“They stumbled a bit, though. Plus, their eyesight isn’t great. Seojun is right here.”
Seojun, who was sitting with the writers, chuckled at the head writer’s comment. He had been sitting with them ever since the members had entered the practice room, which was set up as the filming location.
“Then Seojun, you need to pick the final mission too, right?”
“Yes.”
At Producer Jeon's words, Seojun sat down at a table that had been prepared next to where the members had been standing just moments before. Producer Jeon Minjae placed eight mission cards in front of him.
“This is the final mission. Please choose one.”
Seojun carefully looked over the eight mission cards. According to Producer Jeon, both the first and second missions he'd picked were high-difficulty missions decided on that day.
After carefully examining the cards, Seojun flipped one over.
[Take a group photo with the Working Man members.]
The expressions on the production team’s faces clearly said, ‘He’d pick this one no matter what.’ He had succeeded in the first two missions, but the third one would be difficult to accomplish.
“This is good too. Who would have thought that superstar Lee Seojun would have, um, such cursed hands.”
“I know, right? How does he manage to pick the three hardest ones out of ten?”
“Seojun’s luck must be pretty bad.”
An Daho, who was listening to the staff's comments, smiled faintly.
‘Luck is relative, and Seojun is actually quite lucky.’
Once again, fortune favored Seojun. The more difficult the mission, the brighter Seojun's face became. It was the face of someone genuinely excited and having fun. It seemed that luck responded not to the outcome of the mission, but to Seojun's interest.
“You and the eight members must all be in a single shot. Any camera will do.”
“Do our faces need to be visible?”
“At least four of the members’ faces must be captured. And your face, Seojun, must be in the shot.”
“That’s incredibly difficult!”
Even as he said it, Seojun looked like he was having the time of his life. Seeing his expression, a thought crossed the production team's minds. Don't tell me he's going to succeed this time too?
After receiving his mission, Seojun left the practice room with a cameraman.
Seojun stood still and looked around. Where could they have gone? He activated his ability.
[(Good) Sandfish's Vibration Detection - Low Grade is activated.]
[(Good) Sandfish's Vibration Detection - Low Grade]
A desert fish that feeds on sand.
To avoid becoming prey, it has developed the ability to detect the movements of living creatures.
The longer the search time, the more detailed the detection of the target's movements.
The Sandfish, the lowest-ranking species among desert monsters, had no offensive skills. Only evasion and escape. That was why Seojun had chosen this ability. Thanks to it, he had managed to evade them well so far. But to think he would now be the one chasing the members.
After ten seconds, a map formed in Seojun’s mind. With a short search time, all he could see were blurry dots.
But for now, that was enough. Since buildings weren't living creatures, their shapes didn't appear, but he could see the movements of life forms as if they were floating in mid-air.
‘The members, the cameramen, the staff…’
Unlike before, the dots were now moving around without hesitation, which made Seojun grin.
The movements of the Working Man members had changed. The members, who had been like low-grade monsters, busy hiding their treasure and themselves, had now become aware of the enemy and adopted an attack stance.
‘This means they’ve formed a pack.’
He had experienced countless times how low-grade monsters would gather in packs to attack monsters stronger than themselves. And he knew how to deal with such low-grade monsters. Either pick them off one by one, or set a trap and wait.
“I secretly, no, I was right there, so I was openly listening earlier, and it seems they’re all moving around diligently.”
Seojun spoke to the viewers beyond the camera. He felt like he was finally getting used to variety show cameras.
“How much time is left?”
“45 minutes.”
“That’s plenty of time.”
Seojun first went to check on the hidden trophy. A staff member from Team 2, who was managing the hidden Oscar trophy, waved happily at him. Seojun waved back.
“It looks like they haven't found the trophy yet.”
After confirming the members’ locations using his vibration detection, Seojun set off.
Just as his friends had said, this was fun. The thrill of the chase felt like he had returned to his life as a monster, and it felt like his wild instincts, which had made up most of his past life, were stirring. His heart pounded with excitement.
“Since the mission is a group photo, I think I need to gather all the members in one place.”
If there were no mission, he would have hunted them down one by one using his vibration detection, but since the mission was what it was, it seemed he would have to set a trap. Seojun chuckled, unable to contain his hunting instincts.
* * *
“There!”
Jeonghun spotted a cameraman.
“Hey! Lee Taehoon! The guest’s cameraman! Lee Taehoon!”
It was a stroke of luck. They hadn't seen the guest, but they had just managed to catch a glimpse of the guest's cameraman from behind. The four members of the spy-catching team saw the retreating figure and charged after him.
“Agh! He’s so fast!”
“He’s really good at getting away.”
The members gasped for breath and looked around.
“We’re steadily heading down, right?”
“Well, going down is easier than going up, so I guess he is.”
“Should we go down and wait for him at the bottom?”
“That’s a bit risky. What if he comes back up in the middle? Aren’t the others down there?”
Jeonghun, who was looking around, suddenly froze. He thought he heard footsteps heading down.
“Hyung! This way! Let’s go down!”
At Jeonghun’s words, everyone moved. Following the sounds and spotting the cameraman's back, they pursued him all the way to the first-floor lobby. The chase seemed too perfectly timed, and Park Youngjin grew uneasy.
“Don’t you guys feel like we’re being lured?”
“Lured?”
“It feels strangely like we’re just about to catch him but can’t. Before, he was hiding perfectly, but now we’re catching glimpses of his back.”
“Nah. Why would a spy try to lure us? Besides, it seems like there’s only one of them. We can win.”
“Are you planning to fight a kid who’s still a student?”
“No! I’m talking about the game! The game!”
“Why do I have this nagging feeling…”
Park Youngjin scratched his head.
The place they arrived at after chasing the cameraman was the lobby where they had filmed the opening. The spy-catching team found the trophy-searching team loitering in the lobby.
“Oh. Sohee-nuna. Weren’t you supposed to be looking for the trophy?”
“It looked like you guys were chasing the spy down here.”
“We were going to team up and catch him… but he’s gone?”
The eight members of Working Man gathered in the Eunhasu Center lobby. Even the production team was curious as to how all the members had ended up in the first-floor lobby.
The key to everything likely lay with Lee Seojun.
While the Working Man members were talking, Seojun, who had been hiding, smiled as he watched their backs, all gathered in one spot.
“Got you.”
Seojun quietly moved. The cameraman followed. Occasionally glancing back to close the distance with the members, Seojun nodded in satisfaction and looked at the screen.
[(Good) Elf's Basic Breathing is activated.]
An alert sound, inaudible to anyone else, rang out. A virtuous energy emanated from Seojun’s body.
Even a faint presence can make a person turn their head, but that intense aura forcibly captured the attention of the members and the production team. Everyone couldn't help but turn and look.
The Working Man members saw the back of someone standing there. And in front of him stood the guest's cameraman, Lee Taehoon, holding his camera with the lens pointed at the 'someone' and the members.
Seojun, exuding the full aura of a superstar, was standing there, having approached without anyone noticing. He smiled brightly at the camera.
“Cheese!”
With the dumbfounded Working Man members as his backdrop, Seojun flashed a victory V-sign at the camera.
[00:00:03]
[00:00:02]
[00:00:01]
[00:00:00]
The red digital clock struck zero.
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