Resort Getaway (3): Paths Chosen at the Resort
There was no real reply, but Ho Haneul seemed to have already made up her mind.
She would get a job instead of entering an arranged marriage.
Her family already thought of her as a disgrace, so instead of begging for affection any longer, she’d chosen independence.
"That won’t be easy."
"...What do you mean?"
"Even if your family never loved you, they didn’t exactly leave you with nothing, did they?"
She hadn’t been treated as well as her older siblings, sure, but the Ho family had still given Ho Haneul quite a lot of things they could have offered.
They sent her abroad to study.
They bought her a car.
They covered her living expenses.
And even if her card bill got a little outrageous, they never made much of a fuss.
At that point, she was living the life of a gold spoon heir.
But what if she refused to be used as a bargaining chip in an arranged marriage and chose to strike out on her own?
The Ho family would cut off everything they gave her.
"All of that support would disappear."
"....I see."
But the future didn’t change.
Ho Haneul would leave home and find a job.
"Think carefully. An arranged marriage isn’t automatically miserable. It might not be that simple."
"What happens if I do get a job?"
"Surprisingly, the place you’ll work for is run by someone I know."
"Huh? Really?"
"Yeah. And that person’s a good one."
Maybe not to everyone, but at least to me, she was a good person.
I’d gotten more than a few favors from her, so it was only natural that I spoke well of her.
"...Who is it?"
"Want me to tell you?"
"Ugh... no. I’ll look it up myself."
Fair enough.
"But what exactly can you do?"
"I graduated from a business school in the U.S...."
It wasn’t Ivy League, but it was still a well-regarded business program, and she’d graduated second in her class.
Ho Haneul muttered softly that she’d at least never go hungry anywhere with credentials like that.
"Wow. You’re an elite, aren’t you? Just how impressive are your older brother and sister, then?"
Seo Yu-rim, who had been listening beside us, asked.
For someone who’d spent her life in entertainment, Ho Haneul must have seemed pretty fascinating.
"My brother graduated from Harvard, and my sister from Cambridge."
"Th, that’s incredible."
Yeah, elite is elite.
Still, that was their life, not ours.
There was no need to envy it.
"Anyway... thank you. No one’s ever spoken to me this seriously before."
Then she held out her hand to me.
What, did she want to shake hands?
When I took it, she smiled brightly.
"I’ll definitely repay this debt."
"I don’t know how you’re planning to do that, but I’ll look forward to it. And pay up. My consultation fee."
"...How much?"
"Pay whatever you can."
How dare she try to set the terms with me.
That just meant I’d make the counteroffer.
After thinking for a moment, she opened her wallet.
Out came ten checks.
The total was ten million won.
"That’s all the cash I have on me right now. If it’s not enough..."
"No, no. That’s more than I expected."
Sure, I did make a lot of money.
Even so, ten million won was not a sum to dismiss lightly.
I’d use it gratefully.
"And..."
"Hm?"
"If I really do end up separating from my family completely, let’s have a meal together sometime."
"Is that a date invitation?"
"Ha!"
She snorted.
Gone was the defeated, bitter look she’d had earlier; in its place was a bright, dazzling smile.
"And if it is?"
"Then I’ll see you next time."
The dazed way she looked at me made her laugh bubble up again.
Her face was a mess, her makeup smeared by tears, but even so, her smile was beautiful enough to make that fact irrelevant.
.
.
.
Ho Haneul left.
That left Seo Yu-rim and me at the bar again.
A few people were sneaking glances in our direction, but nothing worth worrying about.
"Hmm..."
Seo Yu-rim took a sip of her cocktail and let out a small sigh.
"Kang Noah."
"Yes?"
"Let’s play Dungeon & Saga."
"Yes."
"What’s your ID?"
"MushroomSnailIsMushroomMushroom."
"....... "
"...You know it, don’t you?"
Did I know it?
I didn’t even ask what exactly she was asking me to know.
I just smiled at her, watching her stare back at me with trembling eyes.
"...You do know it!!"
"I do. MerlesBoobsSucker. How is an idol’s gaming ID..."
"Th, that was the ID I made when I was a trainee...!!"
She flustered, her face turning bright red as she scrambled for a rebuttal, then let out a heavy sigh.
After stepping back, she bowed deeply to me.
"Thank you."
Seo Yu-rim’s expression of gratitude was for what I’d done to stop her manager-cum-bodyguard from stalking her.
"Don’t mention it. We’re in the same guild, aren’t we? If you really can’t hold back your gratitude, just back me up in raids later."
"That’s all you want?"
"I didn’t help you expecting anything in return."
I sipped my cocktail.
Seo Yu-rim watched me closely, hesitating.
"Do you maybe like me? Like, did you help me because you want to date me or something..."
I looked at Seo Yu-rim.
Her absurdly confident expression made me laugh.
"And if I do?"
"Ah! It! Uh! Huh!"
She panicked, stumbled over herself, and then fled. I gave her a casual wave and took another drink.
As expected, cocktails were delicious.
.
.
.
The next day.
I headed to the event venue again.
Compared to yesterday, there wasn’t anything especially different.
Still, I had to collect the coupons.
While I was wandering from booth to booth, picking up coupons and enjoying the attractions, a new group of singers stepped onto the stage.
Four female idols.
They were cosplaying as Dungeon & Saga characters and singing the game’s theme song.
"Who are they?"
"Don’t you know? Aces? Never heard of them."
As I watched, I caught the voices of people talking beside me.
"Is NC.A not coming out again?"
"If she already appeared once yesterday, you should be satisfied."
"What a shame."
You idiots...
You came to a game event, so focus on the game...!!
"They’re a third-year idol group."
"Oh? Mr. Cheolhon, you know them?"
"Their debut song was good."
But after that, things went wrong.
Their agency simply didn’t do any work.
They didn’t promote them, and they didn’t even manage their social media.
There was a fan café, but they ended up clashing with the agency so badly that even that shut down.
They botched the crucial early days of debut, and the group’s first burst of attention rose and fell almost immediately.
Mr. Cheolhon gritted his teeth.
"They could still have turned things around with the next song...!!"
So he wasn’t just casually familiar with them?
"The next song... the next song..."
What on earth was this next song like?
Curious, I looked it up.
"Oh..."
What was this?
These metaphysical outfits?
Were they dressed as beggars?
And why did the choreography look like a folk mask dance?
The song, the costumes, even the dance—everything was baffling.
It was hard to believe this was meant for female idols.
"It’s not the end of the world, so what is this..."
"Exactly..."
The producer who’d newly taken over Aces seemed to have caught a serious case of artist syndrome and was vomiting his ego all over everything.
Aces, the victims of that ego, sank hard.
Even the fans they already had left in a hurry.
After that, they couldn’t even dream of appearing on television, let alone at university festivals.
In the end, their fame collapsed to the point that they were only booked for small-town markets or elementary school sports days.
"That’s really unfortunate."
"You think so?"
"Yeah. They actually have real talent."
"They’re that good?"
"Yeah. Their vocals are good, the girls are good-looking, and their personalities are nice too. And their leader, Lee Wan, apparently lost her parents when she was young and grew up under her aunt’s care."
"Huh? Really?"
She wasn’t an S-class orphan like me, but hearing that she’d lost her parents still gave me an odd sense of kinship.
"And even so, she grew up really kind and hardworking."
"I see... By the way, you know a lot about this, Mr. Cheolhon."
"...Ahem."
He gave a low cough and quickly looked away.
He wasn’t exactly ashamed of running the fan café and fighting with the company, was he?
"You don’t seem like a simple fan, but I won’t ask any further."
"Ha ha..."
"What, are you interested in them? Want me to introduce you?"
That was when I heard a familiar voice from behind me.
It was Seo Yu-rim.
The singer who performed as NC.A had disguised herself with thick-rimmed glasses and a hoodie, carrying two bags stuffed with Dungeon & Saga merchandise in each hand.
No one would look at her now and think she was that haughty idol, NC.A.
"Those girls are really nice."
"You know them?"
"Yeah. I’ve worked with them a few times, and talked with them too. They’re genuinely good people. It’s almost surprising they haven’t blown up."
"Popularity never quite escapes the influence of luck."
"Anyway, if you want, I can introduce you."
"I’m not really interested in idols or anything..."
Right.
I wasn’t interested in idols.
I was interested in their future.
Aces.
Not long from now, they would make an astonishing reverse-chart run and become one of the hottest idol groups in Korea.
The problem came after that.
When the tide was in, they should have been rowing hard, but instead of rowing, Aces’ agency decided it could make more money by selling them off at a premium.
So they were pushed hard.
Sent to every kind of event.
Made to show their faces everywhere.
They were singers who had simply loved singing and dancing.
Idols who had simply wanted to give people hope and make them happy.
It was a hard time, but for them, who had been working with joy and enthusiasm, it was still a happy thing.
But that wasn’t all fortune for Aces.
Being in the spotlight meant the company would manage them properly.
So the manager who had been with them since the beginning was replaced by the agency owner’s nephew.
He had more experience.
He knew more of the high-ranking people at television stations and was close with major YouTubers.
The company judged that, with him as manager, they could sell the group more effectively.
From the company’s perspective, it wasn’t a bad personnel change.
There was only one problem.
He liked alcohol.
Always drinking, he got behind the wheel after a night of drinking, just like always, to make the morning schedule.
And then came the accident.
All four members were badly injured, to the point that none of them could continue their careers.
And the only path left to them was retirement.
The idol dream they had pursued, singing and dancing for the love of it, and striving to repay the aunt who raised them in place of their late parents, came to a hollow, meaningless end.
That was...
No matter how I looked at it, not a fun outcome.