The Second Miracle Hand
You've got to be kidding me.
"The Second Miracle Hand" — Therapist Kang Junhyun: "Without chiropractic, Shin Yongseop is no match for me."
I had no idea when I was supposed to have given an interview like that.
Wasn't this grounds for a lawsuit?
I sat there stewing for a moment, then finally couldn't take it anymore and dialed Lee Jeongphil, the team leader at Men's Care.
"Ohhh! Superstar! Calling me yourself like this? I should have been the one to reach out first!"
"What the hell is this supposed to be?"
"Haha. Our Therapist Kang is quite startled, I see. Don't you worry. Everything is proceeding very smoothly."
The guy had zero sense of propriety. I'd at least expected him to sound flustered, but he just kept talking like nothing was wrong.
"We're currently running an operation to turn our Therapist Kang into a superstar, you see."
Lee Jeongphil dropped his voice to a near-whisper at the end.
"Ms. Gu Somin will be helping out as well."
Come to think of it, Gu Somin hadn't been next to me. After yesterday's interview, we'd shared a casual beer at home, then spent the evening through two in the morning having rough, exhausting sex. When I opened my eyes in the morning, she was nowhere to be found.
"Ms. Gu Somin is sitting right next to me as we speak!"
"What? Somin's there? Ha, seriously... What exactly are you trying to pull..."
"Hehehe. Don't you worry! From here on out, all that's left is making money."
"No, look — I at least need to know what the plan is."
"Ohhh... Fair enough. There is something you should prepare for. Shin Yongseop seems to be quite angry, after all."
"Aigoo... Seriously. So why distort the interview like that?"
"It was all for the sake of a rising star. Aigoo, Therapist Kang, you really don't know how the world works — not even a little. Making stars is our specialty, so all Therapist Kang needs to do is sit back and watch. There's a saying, you know — row when the tide comes in?"
Listening to him, I started to understand a little.
The fastest way to make a name for yourself was to create an issue.
Shin Yongseop, currently known as the Miracle Hand, was a hot potato in the entertainment industry. Modern people who took their health seriously tended to fixate on things like massage and physical therapy, so Shin Yongseop got occasional casting offers from the entertainment side. Every time he appeared, the response was great, the ratings were great, and he always climbed the search rankings — making him the number-one booking target for producers.
The problem was that Shin Yongseop was so popular outside of broadcasting that booking him was like plucking stars from the sky. They needed something that would yank on the sleeping man's nose hairs.
One of the shows connected to Men's Care was a program where celebrities ran around playing various games, and the plan was to put both of us on it at the same time and milk the controversy for all it was worth.
I kept asking why they had to do it with a lie, but the answer always came back the same. That was just how the entertainment industry worked. The media loved rivalry setups and loved diss wars.
Hah. Anyway, it means I can get my name out there.
Honestly, it wasn't that bad a piece of storytelling. Whether the attention was good or bad, getting your name known was a win. As long as you didn't end up getting cursed out by the entire nation, you were fine.
I found myself gradually swayed by Lee Jeongphil's words. He was a smooth talker, and he knew exactly how to stroke my ego. Shit — if he'd asked me to sign up for insurance, I probably would have bought several policies on the spot.
I listened to him with the distinct feeling of having my pocket picked right in front of my open eyes.
"Understood..."
"Haha! I knew Therapist Kang would say that. Then I'll go wrap up the meeting. Ah! Of course, it's a meeting about the Make Therapist Kang a Star Project!"
"...I said I got it. I got it, okay."
"Yes, sir! Then have a wonderful day today! Boing!"
Did I mishear that? What? Boing? I was so floored I couldn't even speak.
I tossed my phone onto the blanket with a sour look on my face. Letting my heavy shoulders fall back, I flopped down onto the bed.
I was pretty sure I'd just gotten played — so why did the corners of my mouth keep twitching? Never in my life had I received this much attention.
Curiosity got the better of me already. I picked up the phone I'd just thrown and checked my KakaoTalk.
Over three hundred unread messages were waiting.
Hah... You've got to be kidding me.
I didn't even know what Shin Yongseop looked like. What Shin Yongseop?
But right then, one unread message jumped out at me — none other than Han Seoyeon.
Reading Han Seoyeon's message, I felt the corners of my mouth — which I'd been holding in check until now — stretch into a full grin.
She was clearly name-dropping Hodu so she wouldn't look like she was the one clinging, and I found it pretty adorable.
Then, out of nowhere, the memory of Han Seoyeon's secret room flashed through my mind, and I snapped back to my senses. No — I had to slap myself across the ear just to force myself back to reality.
She's crazy. She's crazy. That woman is a lunatic.
The handcuffs and whips and ropes in that secret room... and the traces of sex strewn across the floor. Han Seoyeon was definitely a woman obsessed with sex. And she'd done that filth in the mansion she shared with her own husband, without even locking the door — that alone was enough to confirm she was unhinged.
More than anything, just thinking about her dragging her butler in there, beating him up and tormenting him while milking him dry was enough to make your tongue hang out of your mouth in disbelief.
And yet, even so, Han Seoyeon was a woman you couldn't refuse.
First of all, she had money.
And more than anything, she was fucking gorgeous.
As I'd said before, she had looks that scored well above average, so the image of her naked back that kept circling through my head was something I simply could not erase no matter how hard I tried.
I texted Han Seoyeon back right away, and we arranged to meet soon.
Right. Just no sex. Like the butler said — don't cross the line past anything outside of work!
Armed with that firm resolution, I headed to the shop for work.
And the moment I clocked in, I had to sit down for a private talk with Choi Wonjae.
He led me into one of the empty VIP rooms and sat across from me.
"Have you lost your mind? Do you even know who Shin Yongseop is?"
"Like I already told you earlier — those weren't my words."
"You must have given them something to work with. You think that magazine would just invent something out of thin air?"
"Hah..."
Bringing up Shin Yongseop's name in front of Lee Jeongphil had been my mistake.
Apparently realizing he'd been pushing too hard, Choi Wonjae drew a deep breath to steady himself before speaking again.
"Anyway, things are about to get busy. You know that, right?"
"Yes. I'm aware."
"I got a call from one of Shin Yongseop's acquaintances. He says he'll be visiting here soon. But that guy loves his pranks, so there's no telling what form he'll show up in. He might even send an advance party."
"An advance party?"
"Meaning he doesn't come himself — he sends a disciple or someone from his circle instead. If he wants to check out your massage skills, he'll probably send one of the women. This is a women-only shop, after all."
"Ah... Would he really go that far? From what I've heard, he's a pretty prideful guy."
"That's what I'm saying. Why did you go and poke a guy with that kind of pride? From what I've heard, that bastard is a total psycho. One of those types who strut around believing in their own talent."
It was the first time I'd ever seen Choi Wonjae lose his composure like this. Even as he talked that way, though, he seemed quietly excited about a showdown between Shin Yongseop and me.
"Anyway, there's no telling what that bastard will do when he gets here, so prepare yourself thoroughly. Show even the slightest opening? He'll tear into you like a hyena."
I just sat there blankly, so Choi Wonjae continued.
"The moment you threw the first punch, there was no way that guy was going to let it slide."
"I guess I'll have to start treating every client who comes looking for me with suspicion."
"Well, either way, giving every client your best is a given, so nothing much will change. Just don't hand him any ammunition."
"Yes, understood."
Choi Wonjae wanted me to beat Shin Yongseop. After all, he'd been the very first person to call me the Miracle Hand. He wanted me to win if only to prove that his eye hadn't been wrong.
And I, too, didn't want to let his expectations down.
Not for his sake — for mine.
The real problem started after that.
Once the private talk with Choi Wonjae was over and I headed to the front counter, Shin Iseol was already on her own phone. She pointed at the second line and frantically gestured for me to please pick it up.
The second I answered, I understood exactly what had caused this chaos. It was me.
"Is Therapist Kang Junhyun there? The Second Miracle Hand."
A clear, pure voice. The diction was so crisp and precise you could have believed she was an announcer.
"Yes, I'm Kang Junhyun."
"Oh my! Really? I— I'm really in a hurry, please book me an appointment. Th-that... is it true you got someone with lower-body paralysis back on their feet?"
The way she rambled without any structure made her sound like a complete fool. She was talking so fast and frantically that you'd never know she'd just been speaking so clearly — she really must have been desperate.
"Yes... that's true, but you shouldn't take the interview content at face val—"
"Please! I'm really in a hurry!"
"What's the reason, if you don't mind me asking?"
I figured she must be suffering from some serious illness.
"My lower back is a bit out of alignment, and the hospital said it looks like a disc issue!"
"..."
Fuck. At least half the population of Korea probably had some kind of disc symptom.
I booked her an appointment, and after that I took several more offers. Every single one was about some trivial, minor disc issue or a light misalignment.
So the situation boiled down to this. My appearance in the magazine was one thing, but more than that, people had gotten curious about who I was even before the controversy fully hit. On top of that, if they happened to have a disc problem or some twisting issue lately, they might as well get treated while they were at it — so they were booking appointments for no real reason.
If people actually knew how expensive a massage was, they'd all be shocked.
According to Shin Iseol, the price of my massage would be set at the Special Massage rate even among VIP massages — more than thirty percent higher than the existing prices. It was even higher than what Director Choi Wonjae himself charged.
Well, disc or whatever. I'd already filled every first-come, first-served reservation slot, so maybe it was time to start growing the VIP clientele.
Following on from yesterday, today was shaping up to be another seriously grueling day.
From the moment the first client walked in, I put my mouth and hands to work without a single break.