A Peaceful Day (4)
A Peaceful Day (4)
I took the elevator down to the first floor to head to the convenience store where Dad was.
A familiar voice drifted faintly from outside the store, so he still seemed to be inside.
I eased the door open so the bell wouldn't ring and slipped in carefully.
The store was spacious, so I was looking around for a moment when Dad's voice reached me.
"Maybe next year or the year after."
I headed for the household goods section in the corner, trying to stay as inconspicuous as possible.
"And how long would the period be?"
"Until she develops a sense of money, probably about three months?"
A sense of money, huh...
I was dumbfounded wondering who he could possibly be saying that to, but I kept listening.
"Just yesterday she spent an outrageous amount."
Seriously, did I spend money yesterday...?
Ah... I did spend some yesterday because I said I'd do some good deeds at Da-yeon's request...
The convenience store manager's voice immediately continued.
"I'd be honored, Si-yoon..."
That was when HSW Team 5's security detail came in behind me.
"Huh? Si-yoon, what are you doing here...?"
Flustered, I glanced at the bodyguard, then looked back at Dad—and met his eyes.
In a situation like this, there was no helping it...
My fifth trump card.
"Dad!! Do you even know how long I've been looking for you?!"
"Huh...? Oh... I'm sorry."
"Why have you been vanishing without a word so much lately?"
The moment I crumpled my face, Dad came over helplessly, all in a fluster...
Then his expression shifted and he spoke.
"...So... how much did you hear...?"
I flinched for a second at his reaction,
but if I backed down here, forget the trump card, I'd lose every other card I had all at once.
I narrowed my eyes as much as I could and stared at Dad.
"What are you talking about? You vanish without a word and that's what you say? Unbelievable. You keep finding more inventive ways to dodge—"
"I knew you were there from the moment you went into the household goods section."
I deployed my honed reasoning skills at the extreme limit, desperately searching Dad's words for a weak point.
And I immediately changed the subject.
"Ohhh... So you knew I was looking for you and pretended you didn't... Is that it?"
"Huh...?"
"My dad's really something, isn't he? Doesn't know his own daughter's starting work tomorrow, but sure had a perfect bead on her location while she was out looking for him?"
"Si-yoon... huh?"
I glanced at Dad, who was now flustered, and nodded.
"Tell me what this is about, and I'll forgive you."
"......"
Dad was holding his tongue, like something was weighing on him... I played my final move.
"I even dug through my closet and dressed up because I said I'd go to the amusement park with you... Now the mood's ruined. I'm not going."
Dad finally spilled everything he'd been planning with Lee Jin-seok for the last six months.
This... was exactly, my fifth trump card... codenamed 'Turning the Tables.'
The reason Dad had hesitated to tell me was that the plan wasn't his alone.
In fact, it was a plan spearheaded by Lee Jin-seok.
The plan was to give Da-yeon and me some part-time job experience.
I, of course, had zero interest in that, and I immediately went to call Lee Jin-seok.
Dad got frantic and hurriedly tried to negotiate with me.
If I worked the part-time job for three months, he'd buy me the supercar of my choice, no strings attached, after I became an adult—so I accepted.
Dad got changed and stuck right by my side while we waited for Da-yeon.
Kim Seon-hwa and Lee Jin-seok must have been busy today; Da-yeon came out with only Ga-yeon.
Dad got word asking him to take care of the two of them, and we all headed out in his car.
"Did you eat?"
""Yes~""
I sat in the passenger seat, pulled some snacks out of the dashboard compartment, and passed them to the back.
As Dad's car pulled out of the house, three vehicles fell in behind us.
The people in the three vehicles were HSW Team 5, Team 6, and Team 7.
Team 5 and Team 6 were in large black sedans, and Team 7's vehicle was a four-seater sports car.
And that sports car was the one Jong-hyeon often drove me around in.
Anyway, it wasn't that only Team 7 got special treatment just because Dad is the largest shareholder; he's free-spirited and has no old-man tendencies.
It was just the model they issued when you requested an inconspicuous vehicle,
and no one but Team 7 had ever requested one.
"Ga-yeon, have you been to an amusement park before?"
"Yes, my mom came before and we went to Dazneyland together."
"Oh, that must've been fun~"
Ga-yeon nodded while eating the snacks I'd handed back.
I looked over at Dad, who was driving.
"So, where are we going?"
"Everland!"
"Wow... seriously? Not Lotto World, which is right nearby? We're going all the way out there?"
"The more fun the place, the longer the trip to get there."
Da-yeon piped up from the back seat.
"Ah! I heard Everland just opened the fastest ride in the world!"
"That's right! I went last time when Ga-yeon's dad was filming those running people, and there was a ton of stuff to do!"
Dad chatted with Da-yeon and Ga-yeon, and I spent the drive enjoying the scenery outside the window.
I'd figured there'd be a crowd since it was vacation season, but we'd won the battle of timing.
No matter how you look at it, an amusement park this empty even in winter is a total jackpot.
The bodyguards were roaming around in ordinary clothes, just like regular people.
I say it every time, but no matter what they wear, those builds of theirs are absolutely not regular people.
Team 7, especially, looked a lot more intimidating than the other teams.
In the summer, if Team 7 went around in short-sleeve shirts, even people with a decent amount of nerve couldn't meet their eyes...
We spent more time wandering around and sightseeing than actually riding the rides.
Da-yeon and I wore cat ears while we looked at the animals and took sticker photos.
We took a few short rides and were roaming around freely when we discovered the haunted house.
"No way..."
"Why? Doesn't it look like it'd be fun?"
"I am absolutely not going in there."
Da-yeon had always been like this—she was deathly afraid of ghosts.
So much so that if someone even briefly brought them up, she'd have trouble sleeping alone that night.
Ga-yeon was scared too, so I called Jong-hyeon over.
A haunted house I'd only ever seen in videos.
I wasn't particularly scared of ghosts myself.
Honestly, being scared of ghosts is... I've racked up way too much bad karma for that...
That said, I still do get chills, or get startled out of nowhere, of course.
That's why I watch a lot of monster movies.
To the point where I sometimes daydream about what I'd do if I were the main character.
Everland's haunted house was pretty famous—it was genuinely well-made, creepy even without sound effects.
And then, inevitably, it happened.
I mean, why, like, why... do you have to jump out and scare people...
Why did a staff member in a ghost costume—not even an animatronic—have to suddenly lunge out of the dark and pull that shit... fuck...
Before I knew it, my right hand had reflexively driven in a tranquilizer palm strike.
The moment the ghost appeared, my right hand shot out on pure instinct...
The staff member took the hit and dropped on the spot, as if following a script.
Thud.
"Ughh... Glk!"
"".....""
The short, severed cry—a zombie moan meant to scare me, cut off mid-sound like a death rattle—was the highlight.
The man lay flat on the floor, twitching for a moment before going still...
"......"
To check his condition quickly, I had no choice but to stick my hand into the unconscious man's mouth.
If, by any chance, his tongue had fallen back and blocked his airway, that would be a real disaster.
Jong-hyeon, who had never actually seen me use my hands properly, helped me while looking flustered himself.
From Jong-hyeon's perspective, because my hand had shot out on instinct, what it must have looked like was someone appearing and collapsing to the floor at the same exact moment...
"Excuse me... are you okay?"
In the distance, a CCTV camera pointed at me caught my eye...
This had just become a massive pain in the ass.
When the staff member came to, thankfully he hadn't registered that I'd hit him.
On the contrary, his expression was one of pure honor that a superstar had helped him up.
I kept my outward expression serene, and the instant I got outside, I checked the CCTV first.
Judging by the looks on Dad's and Da-yeon's faces, they thankfully hadn't seen it yet.
Sure enough, I was just thinking that the angle must have kept me hidden behind the staff member's body, but then...
a camera from a different angle started playing back from the beginning.
Photos taken in rapid succession over a short instant, meant to capture the perfect expression...
In one of those photos, my right hand was bent, distorted as if from motion blur.
I could only marvel at how fast the movement must have been for today's camera technology to produce distortion in a hand, but still.
Two people who saw that photo and put the situation together...
Dad and Da-yeon.
No, from the very first photo of the staff member suddenly collapsing, the two of them had been suspicious...
And as soon as they saw the photo of my distorted right hand, their certainty must have solidified, because both pairs of eyes were fixed solely on me.
My eyes met theirs.
I naturally averted my gaze, laughed awkwardly, and scratched my cheek.
"Kim Si-yoon... you come with me..."
Dad grabbed my arm and pulled, and I desperately latched onto Jong-hyeon.
"Jong-hyeon!!! Jong-hyeon!!!"
It looked like a scene straight out of a movie, but Jong-hyeon probably couldn't do much either...
Dad, who knows my physical abilities, was certain I'd done exactly what he thought.
He understood that I'd done it because I was badly startled.
But... even so, getting chewed out for using my hands was a perfectly natural consequence.
Dad and I went back to that staff member and apologized.
When the victim himself hadn't even registered being hit, I think the right move is to run for it. But what can you do...
Dad told me to apologize...
But as it turned out, the staff member accepted the apology and was actually far more satisfied about getting a photo with our father-daughter duo.
I sat down next to Da-yeon and looked through the photos we'd just taken.
"You came out really pretty, right?"
"Yeah!"
We had a late lunch and then went into the aquarium.
Dad was already absorbed in looking at the fish with Da-yeon and Ga-yeon.
For some reason, Dad was more excited about it than we were.
When we went over to where the belugas were, one of them spotted me and swam right over.
The pure white beluga made a slow, spinning loop with its enormous body, then started following my hand as I moved it.
""Whoa...""
Wanting to startle me, maybe, the beluga suddenly opened its mouth wide.
Da-yeon and Ga-yeon both got a serious fright, but I just stared back without much reaction.
Dad seemed to have finished looking at the fish; he came over in high spirits.
"Si-yoon! Should we raise some fish?"
"So Alpha and Beta can eat them raw?"
"...Huh?"
Dad flinched and slowly shook his head back and forth.
The aquarium was our last stop, and we left the amusement park. A fun day came to an end.
No—the day that was the most fun for Dad came to an end.
The next day, I headed to the filming location with Dad for the start of proper shooting.
I was zoned out from exhaustion, and Dad spoke while he drove.
"Want to grab something to eat?"
"No."
"Really tired? Want me to ask them to push the shoot back a bit?"
"And then get caught up in a power-abuse scandal? No thanks."
"If you're really tired, get some more sleep even while we're on the way."
"Yeah, I should."
While driving, Dad reclined my seat for me, then pulled out a travel pillow and handed it over.
He never wears pink himself, but every single thing he buys for me is pink.
The performance was reliable, so I put on the travel pillow and fell asleep the second I leaned into it.
After arriving, Kim Ji-ho did not wake Si-yoon and instead got out of the car first.
"Oh, hello. Ji-ho, it's been a while!"
Director Yoo Dae-yeon spotted Kim Ji-ho and came over.
"Ah! Director, I watched the awards ceremony recently. It was great."
Director Yoo Dae-yeon gauged Kim Ji-ho's mood and spoke carefully.
"Um... and Si-yoon is...?"
"She was tired, so I'm letting her sleep a little. Is the shoot very urgent?"
"Yes, we've fallen quite behind because Si-yoon is a student, so we shoot in small bits..."
A representative from Notflix had taken a strong liking to Si-yoon and was pressing Yoo Dae-yeon for the next scene.
So Yoo Dae-yeon carefully hinted to Kim Ji-ho that things were urgent, but...
Sure enough, Kim Ji-ho, who handled Si-yoon with extreme, overprotective care, gave an awkward smile and changed the subject.
"Ah... is that so? Has everyone here eaten, by any chance?"
Haa... thinking about how Si-yoon's shoot got delayed by another two hours gave him a headache, but... there was nothing to be done.
Kim Ji-ho was not someone hard up for money; if you rubbed him the wrong way, he was the type who could lightly pay the contract penalty and walk off with Si-yoon.
"Sorry? Ah, no, it's not mealtime yet, so..."
"Then it's my treat. Let's eat first!"
".....All right."
In order to let Si-yoon sleep two more hours, Kim Ji-ho dropped roughly ten million won.
Kim Ji-ho treated every single person on location to a meal...
It seemed like the tail was wagging the dog, but what could one do.
Still, once Si-yoon woke up, no one could bring themselves to dislike Kim Ji-ho when they saw how he sprang into swift, efficient action for the shoot.
Just then, Si-yoon's voice rang out.
"Why didn't you wake me up?"
"Hmm...? Well... they said the crew hadn't eaten yet..."
"How much did you spend?"
"About ten million won...?"
"Haah... Now I see exactly who needs a sense of money around here. Don't you think?"
"...Sorry."
Kim Ji-ho had now started getting an earful from Si-yoon.
But even as his daughter scolded him, the smile that tugged at his lips seemed impossible to help.