“Seeing how you always carry one around for practice… it seems like you still do love shooting.”
He must carry it around for practice since he’s a shooting athlete. It was fortunate that he was that serious about shooting. Since Seo Sihan misunderstood on his own, Jeong Minha’s title inadvertently changed from coward to passionate enthusiast.
“O-of course~?! (His voice cracked.) S-since things have come to this, let me show you my skills! If I’m terrible, you can cancel the contract!”
When Jeong Minha panicked and started spouting random things, Seo Sihan’s eyes widened before he smiled as if pleased.
After briefly looking around, Seo Sihan pointed his finger at a vase on the table positioned in the middle of the room.
“I won’t cancel the contract, but… alright. Then how about you try hitting that vase?”
Perhaps because the director’s office was ridiculously spacious, the distance was pretty good for showing off his skills.
…No, it wasn’t good. What’s with the vase all of a sudden?
“Well, this is just a toy gun so it might be okay, but… what if it falls over and breaks?”
“It’s fine. We can just clean it up.”
When Seo Sihan just smiled quietly, Jeong Minha glanced at the secretary standing next to him. The secretary was sending him a desperate look as if begging him to please use something else.
To think that someone with such a scary-looking face could look pitiful. After thinking for a moment, Jeong Minha said,
“That seems a bit much… Do you have a small memo pad?”
“A memo pad?”
“Yes. Just mark a dot on it with a ballpoint pen or something.”
It was a method he’d often used when practicing alone at home. He’d roughly mark a dot on a small memo pad with a ballpoint pen, then fix it to the wall and shoot.
His studio apartment was so cramped that it wasn’t even fun, so he’d even toss the memo pad in the air and hit it. However, since this place looked spacious, there seemed to be no need to toss it, so he just walked to the end of the wall.
While Seo Sihan was quietly putting up question marks at that sight, the quick-witted secretary pulled out a Post-it note and a ballpoint pen. Watching someone that large hunched over seriously marking a small dot was quite funny, which eased his tension.
“Will this do?”
“Yes, that’s right. Please stick it on the wall over there at the end.”
“…Over there?”
The secretary hesitated for a moment, then stuck the Post-it note on the opposite wall before returning. And then became even more flustered.
“Can you even see it? I can’t even see where I marked the dot…”
“I can see it clearly. It’s perfect.”
“You can shoot accurately with that gun?”
“Probably?”
The secretary looked at the Post-it note stuck far away with a bewildered gaze, then stared at the pistol Jeong Minha was holding. Though he was surprised earlier, looking closely, it really did seem to be a toy gun.
It’s not even a real athlete’s gun, and he’s going to shoot at a dot that can’t even be seen with that toy gun? No matter how much he was a national shooting team member, to do it right away without any practice like this…
Silence fell again.
Jeong Minha took his stance. His left hand in his pants pocket, his right hand extended straight forward, aimed at the Post-it note. Without blinking either eye, he calmly looked only at the target.
It was unbelievable that he was the same person as just moments ago.
No, beyond that… it wasn’t the company, Post-it note, or toy gun…
He overlapped with a shooting athlete in an Olympic stadium who once amazed everyone with his genius-level skills.
The man who had helped him so nonchalantly, the athlete who later set a new record in competition and won a silver medal, the part-timer who suddenly disappeared and vanished only to meet again, Jeong Minha who was now aiming his gun once more in this very place.
Seo Sihan momentarily held his breath.
Bang—with the sound that followed, the Post-it note fell to the floor. The secretary immediately ran over, picked up the Post-it note, and held it out to Seo Sihan with a surprised face.
“He, he hit it. Right here, exactly…”
“…!”
Watching two tall men dressed smartly in suits gathered around, surprised over a Post-it note, somehow made Jeong Minha want to laugh.
My skills aren’t dead yet. With a satisfied expression, he glanced at Seo Sihan. Since he was already looking back at him, Jeong Minha felt slightly embarrassed and put the gun back in his bag. Come to think of it, compared to the Olympics, this was too much like child’s play.
Regardless, Seo Sihan kept looking at him with sparkling eyes. Jeong Minha casually spoke up.
“Was that okay…?”
“Yes, Minha-ssi really is amazing… At this point, I’m curious whether the coach who scammed Minha-ssi still has his head attached…”
“…”
Jeong Minha’s lips were about to curve up at the compliment of being amazing, but he straightened his expression again upon hearing the latter part.
When they met last time, he knew about his whereabouts so he wondered if he was a stalker, but looking at it now, it seemed he’d just done a complete background check. How does he even know about the coach? Isn’t this illegal?
…Well, in a way, it was rather convenient since he didn’t have to explain his uncomfortable past in detail because he already knew everything?
Jeong Minha now just accepted it rather than being shocked. Because if he asked how he knew or how much he knew, he felt like he’d face his own dark history that even he had forgotten.
While Jeong Minha was making an uncomfortable expression, Seo Sihan quickly sorted out the situation.
“Then let’s have you practice at my house. Do you want to go now?”
“…What?!”
Right, this was why he panicked and caused that whole fuss!
“I have to go to my part-time job later!”
“Since you’ll be receiving support now, weren’t you going to quit your part-time job?”
“Uh… um…”
Honestly, he thought it was a scam so he hasn’t quit yet. And shouldn’t he at least earn some minimum amount of money too? He should be able to buy things he wants while living.
While he was contemplating what to say, he saw Seo Sihan saying something to the secretary. The secretary nodded and tapped away at his tablet.
At that moment, a notification rang on Jeong Minha’s phone. Ding—naturally thinking the pop-up window that appeared was an advertisement, he was about to delete it when he paused after seeing the content.
10,000,000 won deposit – Seo Sihan
“…Wh, uh… uhhh… huh?”
“For now, as a trial for one month… instead of your part-time job pay, would that be okay?”
Seems like I could quit for a year, not just one month? As Jeong Minha froze in a broken state, Seo Sihan asked the secretary if he should give more, and the secretary stopped him, saying that would make him freeze up even more. At this, Seo Sihan made a briefly displeased expression before additionally offering to Jeong Minha,
“This is instead of one month’s hourly wage, so I’ll calculate and give you anything else you need separately. If you want more, please tell me.”
“N-no, isn’t this… too much?!”
“I only gave a moderate amount worried you’d feel burdened… Oh, and I’ve paid off all the debts under Minha-ssi. I’ve also taken care of all your mother’s hospital bills, so you don’t need to pay them separately.”
“What did you say?”
When it was deposited to him, bewilderment was greater, but when he said he paid the hospital bills, he didn’t know why he felt so good. Is this what a real chaebol is like? Chaebols are really absurd and annoying… damn it…
With an expression where it was unclear if he was crying or laughing, Jeong Minha just stared blankly at his phone’s bank account screen and said,
“I… I don’t have the confidence to pay all this back… How many percent is the interest…”
“You don’t have to pay it back. Because I want to give it to you.”
“…What kind of nonsense…”
“Looking at your bag earlier, you still had the money I gave you yesterday intact… I gave that because I wanted to too, so don’t feel burdened and accept it.”
“Sorry, but I feel so burdened right now I could die.”
A lottery win would be more realistic. A complete stranger is genuinely giving him over 100 million won without fees or interest? And in return, he goes back to the Olympics? Isn’t this ultimately only good for me? It made no sense from the fact that there was no need to pay it back.
When Jeong Minha glared with suspicious eyes again, the secretary whispered something to Seo Sihan.
Having gained enlightenment, Seo Sihan hesitated for a moment before immediately conveying to Jeong Minha,
“Um… Then instead, Minha-ssi…”
“…Instead?”
“Not just practice… live with me at my house for one month.”
“…?!”
…It was too much money to refuse.
