Chapter 116
Chapter 116
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: uly
Chapter: 116
Chapter Title: You Have to Experience It to Know (1)
-----------------------------------------------------------------
After taking on Yeon Do-hee's request, Yeonwoo fell deep into thought.
“How should I handle this?”
Bad people deserve fitting punishment.
Good people deserve fitting rewards.
That was Yeonwoo's creed.
By his standards, Yeon Do-hee was plenty good.
In other words, the executive at her agency who tormented such a good person deserved heavenly retribution.
“But I’m no god, so I can’t just mete out divine punishment.”
Yeonwoo pondered deeply.
How could he make that guy experience “putting himself in her shoes,” just as Yeon Do-hee had requested?
“Show him an illusion? Nah, that’s too weak. Too many limitations.”
He could use a formation to induce hallucinations or trap him in a barrier with a talisman to cause visions.
The problem was the constraints involved.
Formations and barriers required getting the target inside them first.
“If I could pull it off on a massive scale like Lady Kang, that’d be ideal. Tsk.”
He wouldn’t even need to seek him out—just claim the whole area around the guy as his domain.
Unfortunately, Yeonwoo wasn’t yet comfortable handling something so vast and precise.
“A method with no spatial limits or time constraints…”
One idea popped into his head.
That was it.
[Yeonwoo, even if I made a mistake, do I really have to enter the dream of some potbellied middle-aged uncle at my age and suffer?]
“If you’ve sinned, you make amends.”
[Kang Yeonwoo, aren’t you going too far?!]
“Do you know that potbellied middle-aged guy nearly ruined a movie that Kwon Seong-hyeon cares about?”
[What?! Okay, that changes things. Hurry up and tell me. Who is it? What do I have to do?]
The mere mention of Kwon Seong-hyeon shifted the Child Spirit’s attitude.
Yeonwoo grinned as he watched it slink down to his shoulder and lean in like a curious sparrow.
“What I have in mind is…”
*
Park Chil-deuk. Age 38. He was the head of the general affairs department at an entertainment company boasting several stars.
A total parachute hire, connected through his brother-in-law, the company president.
“Aigoo, Mr. Park. I heard my kid made it into this debut group… Please take good care of her right up to the end… I’m really counting on you, okay?”
“Ahem! Well, that’s not really up to me.”
“Oh, come on. Who in this industry doesn’t know you’re the real power here?”
The middle-aged man groveled obsequiously, flashing a smile at Park Chil-deuk.
All the while, his hand steadily slipped into his pocket and pulled out a thick envelope.
“It’s not much, but I put in a little something for a meal…”
“Hey, what’s with that? You trying to get us both in trouble?! Don’t you know how risky stuff like this is these days?”
Park Chil-deuk jumped back.
His face stern.
His voice firm.
He waved his hands as if swatting away filth, the picture of innocence.
But.
“Come on, Mr. Park, don’t be like that. Can’t we even buy you a meal? I’m not the type to blab. It’s just a small token of my appreciation—please take it.”
“Ahem! Ahem! Even so, principles must be—”
One envelope placed carefully on the table.
Seeing no sign of Park Chil-deuk taking it, the man frantically reached into his pocket again.
“Aigoo, sir! Don’t say such disappointing things!”
Thud!
Another envelope landed atop the first.
The man forced a smile and shoved them closer.
“Ahem. Well, if you insist…”
Swoosh!
Like a toad snatching a fly with its tongue.
With practiced speed, Park Chil-deuk snatched the two thick envelopes off the table.
Then, as if nothing had happened, he cleared his throat innocently.
“Well, considering ‘our relationship,’ how could I refuse a meal? I’ll graciously accept your gesture. Ahem!”
“Aigoo, Mr. Park. Then please, my kid this time…”
“Ah, that’s not something I can decide, but I’ll put in a good word with my brother-in-law—er, I mean, our president.”
“Aigoo! Thank you, Mr. Park. I’m counting solely on you!”
As Park Chil-deuk rose, the man shot up too and bowed deeply.
“Take care on your way, sir! I’m trusting only you!”
Park Chil-deuk grimaced amid the desperate send-off.
“Ugh, that bastard… No sense at all.”
In the car, he pulled out the envelopes without missing a beat.
Inside were thick wads of bills.
A decent stack by any measure.
Yet Park Chil-deuk’s already sour face soured further.
“Too small-time. Why stuff it with ten-thousand-won bills? Fifty-thousand-won notes have been around forever.”
Flutter, flutter!
Still, his fingers counted the money ceaselessly.
The bundles were tied with paper bands indicating rough amounts, but Park Chil-deuk preferred to count by hand every time.
‘This is it. Life’s little pleasures aren’t much.’
Counting bills filled him with pride.
Everyone scrambling to shove money his way—it was gratifying.
And it wasn’t just money.
Anything he wanted was within arm’s reach.
That was the power of Park Chil-deuk’s “position.”
“Sir, where to?”
“Oh, right. Meeting Kim Sub-manager for putting practice after lunch. Head to Daechi-dong.”
“Got it.”
The luxury interior glided smoothly without a vibration.
“With this much, debut? Not even thousands—hundreds to grease whose palm? Tsk.”
Had they been fifty-thousand-won bills, it might’ve been different.
But his eyes on the blue stack were ice-cold.
“No desperation at all. If he really wanted his daughter to debut, he’d sell the house and bring more! Tsk. Wasted my time.”
Griping despite clutching hundreds of thousands, he pocketed the cash neatly.
The shabby man’s desperate look had vanished from his mind.
The callused, rough hands offering the money.
The worn, frayed clothes he’d tried to present cleanly.
All gone the moment he stood.
Bzzz!
Park Chil-deuk pulled out his vibrating phone and answered.
“Yeah! Kim Sub-manager! Of course I didn’t forget. Huh? Someone from where? Company A? Oh, they want our kids for a CF? Nah, what authority do I have? What? Haha! Yeah, got it. Bring ’em over. Let’s talk.”
The new hire in promo seemed sharp.
The last one had been so stiff-necked.
He’d explicitly instructed routing sponsorship and ad inquiries to him first.
‘Why else did I push for head of general affairs?’
Even his brother-in-law the president hadn’t objected much.
Sure, he’d looked troubled, but that was long forgotten.
“Heh heh. This is the good life. Ahh.”
He’d forgotten his specs-less, groveling past.
Vowing to succeed and pay back those who’d scorned him.
And now.
‘Fancy grads living high, groveling under me.’
Good schools. Good jobs. Good specs.
All pointless.
When push came to shove, they bowed to him.
Most bent their stiff necks and softened their faces the moment they took his card.
Park Chil-deuk savored those moments.
Yes. He shone brighter than ever.
*
“Aren’t you coming home too late lately?”
Late at night.
Eyes glazed, Park Chil-deuk staggered into his luxury villa.
A place his brother-in-law had secured, at his sister’s insistence—she who treated him like a kid by the water and wanted to live next door.
“Oh? Who’s this? My big sis?”
“Park Chil-deuk. You reek of booze. Drinking again?”
“Yeah. Had a drink. Feeling good! Just one shot!”
With some alcohol in him.
And the prospective client today had stroked his ego perfectly.
Mood still high.
Drift off like this, and it’d end on a high note.
“One shot, my ass!”
The sharp voice made him frown.
“Ugh, why come nag again? Brother-in-law not home? Why here this late? Go home.”
“Nice talk. You know he’s tearing his hair out over you lately?”
“What…? Nonsense.”
“It’s not nonsense. What the hell have you been doing? Why are weird rumors popping up everywhere?!”
“Damn… Why yell?”
“You think I won’t yell?! You know Yeon Do-hee’s contract expires soon?”
“Oh, Yeon Do-hee. Yeah, obviously. So?”
“You know, and you still pull that crap?!”
“What crap? Barging in at night to yell?”
Park Chil-deuk found this irritating.
Sister showing up out of nowhere.
Screaming at him, no less.
‘Wrong? What wrong? What did I do wrong?’
Ridiculous.
His good mood sank.
His sister occasionally treated him like a dimwit.
The one person who still saw him as half-baked, despite universal respect.
“Yeon Do-hee? I fixed that weird rumor about her movie—what else?!”
To be precise, he’d been glued to his chair, silenced by Kwon Seong-hyeon’s aura.
But facts didn’t matter.
In his memory, Kwon’s words were already his own triumph.
“Fixed? You call this fixed?!”
Rustle!
Papers flung in his face.
Park Chil-deuk’s frog-like face scrunched up.
“Sis, you nuts?! What the hell!”
“What right do you have to yell after this mess?! Read it!”
“Damn, what even…”
He snatched the papers.
His hands began to shake.
“Wait. Sis. What is this?”
[Actress Yeon Do-hee: ‘Want a Fresh Start with New Heart’ … Break with Agency Imminent!]
[National Goddess Yeon Do-hee Hits Transfer Market. Who’ll Claim the Lucky Prize?!]
[Major Agency A on Verge of Signing Yeon Do-hee!]