“?”
While Minha was thinking “cult members are this thorough these days,” another burly man entered the cafe.
However, unlike the actor-like Seo Sihan, the man who just entered had slicked-back hair with a fierce impression, a considerably tall height along with a large build, and wore a perfectly fitted suit. Only now did Minha realize.
Ah, these aren’t cult members but gangsters. I’m fucked.
If he hits me, should I fight back? No wait, I should run!
But contrary to his worries, the scary-looking man just quietly approached Seo Sihan’s side and took out a laptop, which Seo Sihan received and handed over to this side.
“Here, this is the contract.”
“Uh… what? A contract all of a sudden?”
Since the cause of all this was his former coach’s scam contract, just seeing the word “contract” now made him feel like he’d collapse clutching the back of his neck. He hated looking at it that much. So after that, even when signing his studio apartment contract, he gritted his teeth and read everything down to the 5pt font before signing.
Therefore, he suppressed the urge to immediately turn off the contract screen before him and looked at it, but…
“…It’s blank?”
On the screen, there was only the contract title, Seo Sihan’s name, and a signature field. The most important content was completely empty. In all his life, this was the first time he’d seen such a contract.
“Next to my name there, write Minha-ssi’s name and sign… You see the numbers? Just write what you want there in order.”
“Is… that even valid? Does it have legal effect?”
“There’s a signature and we’ll add a seal too, so of course it has legal effect.”
“Even if I just write down to give me 100 billion won?”
“I’ll try my best.”
…This really was a crazy cult member!
At this point, he couldn’t tell if the other person was strange or if he himself was strange. But what he was most curious about was this.
“Why are you doing all this for me?”
“I told you, I’m Minha-ssi’s fan…”
He was frowning as he looked, but seeing that fox-like smile made his heart strangely noisy, so he buried his head down again and just stared at the laptop. Looking again, it really was cleanly empty.
Just in case, he scrolled down with the mouse, but the next page didn’t even exist. Even trying to find suspicious points of fraud, he couldn’t find any. Did this really mean if he wrote what he wanted here, they’d grant everything? Like Dorae*on?
It felt so unreal that he was just wiggling his fingers, and Seo Sihan just watched him as if enjoying it.
After deep contemplation, Minha finally reached his hand toward the keyboard. Then he hunt-and-pecked ㅈ…ㅓ…ㅇ, 미…ㄴ… before glancing around and asking,
“Um, could I just write on paper instead? There’s no content anyway…”
He roughly meant to give him a blank sheet of paper, but Seo Sihan answered “okay” as if he’d expected it all, and from the scary man’s bag standing beside him came a paper contract in the same format. It really was a scene that made him unable to shake the feeling of being tricked by gangster loan sharks.
Minha closed his mouth and gave up as he picked up the pen. Anyway, in a situation like now where money was tight by the hour, it didn’t seem like things could get worse. Eventually, he wrote his name, signed, and started writing from item number 1.
- Please properly verify your identity.
“Identity verification?”
“Well, you said you’re a director… so for me to confirm that…”
“Hmm… Is the business card not enough?”
“…”
Well, business cards have too high a possibility of being fake!
Honestly, all the talk about sponsorship and support up until now would make sense if he really was a director of a major corporation. Must be bored with overflowing money.
But until verification, he was just a suspected cult member, stalker, impersonator, and gangster. He needed solid evidence.
“Could I… see you working at the company directly?”
At Minha’s words, Seo Sihan quietly conversed with the scary man.
Huk, what did I just say? If he’s fake, I’ll be kidnapped, and even if he’s real, isn’t this rude?! When Minha was about to change his words, the scary man showed him a tablet screen saying it was the director’s schedule. Apparently, this person was set as the secretary.
Seo Sihan glanced at the tablet for a moment, then said,
“Minha-ssi, do you have time tomorrow? At 2 PM?”
“Huh? Yes.”
“Then come to the company then. To the 16th floor…”
Seo Sihan explained while writing the director’s office location on a notepad and pen he received from the secretary. He even gave him the company entrance gate key and elevator key.
Honestly, he’d just said it casually, but since the other person came at him this sincerely, Minha, who now found it awkward to back out further, wrote down the remaining items.
- Since I won’t have time to work part-time if I’m practicing, please give me an hourly wage equivalent.
- Also some money for competition registration fees and other necessities…
- In case I don’t win a medal, don’t demand a refund…
- Don’t threaten me or those around me in any way…
…And so on.
Since he was told to write what he needed, he unexpectedly only wrote minimum common-sense requests. Seo Sihan, who had been watching quietly, smiled softly and added an item at the top.
- Party B will provide all necessary food, clothing, and shelter to Party A, as well as fulfill any additional desired matters.
Seeing that sentence, Minha immediately asked,
“What’s this? I’m Party B?”
“Of course not. Minha-ssi is Party A.”
“…Food, clothing, and shelter. What, are you going to give me a house or something?”
“Where would you like?”
“…”
At this point, he couldn’t tell if this was the audacity of an impersonating cult member or the scariness of a real chaebol. Minha shook off the chills and put down the pen.
Then he dipped his thumb in the red ink pad prepared beside and stamped it on the contract. Did signatures originally require seals too? However, the contract content right now was overwhelmingly advantageous only to him. That actually made it more suspicious, but…
As Minha glared at the contract, Seo Sihan clasped his hands together like before.
“…?!”
Then, from who knows where he got it, he cleanly wiped the reddened thumb with something like a tissue.
“I-I’ll do it myself…!”
Embarrassed, he hurriedly stopped him, but his hand was already clean. Minha just turned his head away sharply. Seo Sihan said with a smile,
“It went longer than I mentioned… I’m sorry. I’ll give you more accordingly.”
“What?”
The secretary, who had packed away the contract and laptop, this time pulled out a bundle of cash he didn’t know when was prepared.
Immediately after, Seo Sihan stood up and greeted him saying see you tomorrow, and Minha also greeted him first before checking the money left on the table.
“…Huh?”
Thinking he’d counted wrong, he checked several times again, but it really was 1 million won.
What did he say earlier? 10,000 won per minute? It’s only been 30 minutes, what is this? Did he leave it by mistake? Wow, but this is how many days’ worth of part-time pay? Whoa… No wait, this is a bit much!
He hurriedly opened the cafe door and shouted “Excuse me, customer―!” but the car had already left far away.
“Haah…”
At this point, even just to return the money, he really had no choice but to visit the company tomorrow. Anyway, seeing him working part-time like this, they’d know he had no money, so it probably wasn’t something like multi-level marketing. Therefore, he first carefully put away the money, then hurriedly closed up the cafe.
And the next day, Minha went to return the 1 million won, but…
10,000,000 won deposit – Seo Sihan
“…Wh-wha… Whoa… Huh?”
He ended up receiving over 100 million won in total, including the transfer, debts, and hospital bills…
