Yeon Cheonguk experienced extreme fury at the call that was disconnected without sincerity. He called again, but the manager didn’t answer. Now it had crossed the limit of what he could endure.
Yeon Cheonguk sent a text to the manager.
If it’s going to be like this, I can’t work with you
Ignoring contact. Avoiding me. This is the last time
If there’s no confirmation of the album release schedule by this week
I’ll get back the money I paid and terminate the contract
The extreme words came out because his anger had risen to the top of his head. While waiting for the manager’s response, he looked around the agency office more carefully.
No matter how he thought about it, things didn’t seem to be running properly. Last year they screwed up a female dance singer’s album, and the young male students they’d brought over while bragging loudly about nurturing a duo had been silent for some time now. Yeon Cheonguk was also a card that had been pushed back as far as it could go.
As time passed, his trust crumbled. Dabbling in this business and that business, wasn’t this just an attempt because entertainment agencies seemed like geese laying golden eggs?
After seeing ballad singers win grand prizes at year-end award ceremonies, they tried to grab a piece of the action, but now aren’t they gradually turning their attention to other businesses? While spreading his wings of imagination looking at the Gag Concert printouts placed on an empty desk, the phone rang.
Ring ring ring! Ring ring ring!
The ringtone was particularly loud since he hadn’t changed any settings after activation. Ignoring the employees’ glances, he answered the phone. The manager immediately poured out vicious curses.
— Hey. Fuck… what the hell do you know to be saying this? Huh? Contract termination? Jesus. Do you know whose son’s name that is? This little shit, after I’ve been so patient…
Yeon Cheonguk regretted not buying a cell phone earlier. He’d never used the call recording function. With the phone still pressed to his ear, he quietly rushed to a nearby employee. He whispered a question to the employee who turned around with a frown.
Recording. How do I record? He asked only with lip movements. The female employee blushed and avoided Yeon Cheonguk’s eyes as he approached. The method the employee showed him with gestures was simpler than expected. He just had to press and hold the 0 key.
While recording the call like that, he unintentionally ended up listening to the manager’s abusive language together with the employee.
— If you calculate all the money spent raising you until now, it far exceeds the investment. You arrogant bastard. Did you, what, entrust us with songs? Did you?
The employee twisted her lips and shook her head. It was an expression that said she couldn’t stop him. Yeon Cheonguk also drew a spiral next to his head while rolling his eyes up as far as they would go.
“I did entrust you. Isn’t support the agency’s role?”
— You think debut is that easy? Do you know how many agencies in Korea can fill ten songs and release an album? You ignorant bastard who doesn’t know how the world works…
After recording all the abusive language, Yeon Cheonguk picked up the phone. He gave a warning to the manager who was panting after making a speech alone for almost five minutes, then hung up.
“I can’t wait any longer. If nothing becomes certain by this week, I’ll terminate the contract even if I have to file a lawsuit.”
He lied even though he had absolutely no means to afford litigation costs. And he went one step further.
“I’ll come with my parents, so know that.”
— Ha! Your parents, even if you bring your parents who live in a studio apartment…
“Fuck, excuse me.”
The female employee flinched in surprise at the curse that came out without hesitation.
Yeon Cheonguk himself is sometimes surprised at himself too. Should he say it’s thanks to being trained during his past high school days? There are times when he’s surprised at himself seeing how frighteningly his anger bursts out suddenly.
“You want to fight like a dog? Ah, then I can talk like a dog as much as you want.”
— Ha…! You right now…
“Get ready to return the money. You son of a bitch.”
After hanging up and turning around, he regretted not being able to control his emotions. He needs to fix this habit of getting worked up clumsily.
The manager kept calling, but he didn’t answer. He’d already conveyed what he needed to anyway, so there was no need to receive more stress.
From behind, the female employee spoke in a mosquito-like voice.
“…I haven’t been paid for three months.”
“……”
“Fighting.”
The employee raised a weak fist with a worn-out face. Yeon Cheonguk also gave a bitter smile and returned the answer “fighting.”
Damn. It seemed he had to accept the fact that he’d chosen the wrong agency.
Ambiguous talent. Was that ultimately Yeon Cheonguk’s limit?
But it felt too early to conclude that. Yeon Cheonguk’s heart was full of lingering attachment. He hadn’t yet burned and offered up everything. He hadn’t tried hard enough to leave not a single trace of regret. It seemed he needed to make efforts several times more than the time spent earning money.
For several days, there was no contact from the manager. After getting off work from the beer house at 2 AM, Yeon Cheonguk sat at the desk in his boarding house room. He held the conscription examination notice and fell into thought.
Debut, military, money, musicals. The elements of life seemed to be in a vicious cycle like a Möbius strip. With the agency also creaking, the future was even darker.
“I need to break this vicious cycle before it’s too late.”
Let’s settle things with the agency first. After making the decision, he picked up the electronic dictionary placed on the desk.
“This vicious cycle too.”
He muttered while shoving the electronic dictionary deep into the drawer.
He would forget the past emotions that were useless even after realizing them.
The person covering his hopeful twenty years of age was both resentful and futile.
However, he decided. To cut off this emotion as well. Yeon Cheonguk, who had been fiddling with the electronic dictionary with lingering attachment, slammed the drawer shut.
“It’s over, you too.”
Yeon Cheonguk, who sat up straight and stared at the wall for a moment, slyly opened the drawer.
“No, but I still need to listen to music.”
He took out the electronic dictionary again and put it on the desk. Then he opened a harmony textbook pretending not to care. However, after reading the text for a few seconds, Yeon Cheonguk threw the electronic dictionary back into the drawer.
“No, but I should still throw away that bastard. No, but there are times when I need to hear English word pronunciations. No, but I shouldn’t use that bastard’s. No, but it’s still perfectly fine. No, but still… Ahhh!”
It felt like the electronic dictionary was looking at Yeon Cheonguk. As if there was a soul inside it.
In the dark dawn, the only thing embracing Yeon Cheonguk was that silver object. Today, yesterday, last week, last month, last winter… that was all.
Yeon Cheonguk stroked the electronic dictionary with a sad expression.
The next day, Yeon Cheonguk boarded the bus again. Today he planned to go see a musical alone at a small theater in Daehangno.
When he arrived in Seoul, he had time left so he stopped by a comic book store. Dongdaemun without Hwang Jegu somehow didn’t feel like Dongdaemun. Even though it was a place he’d frequented constantly.
He walked the familiar path and arrived at the bookstore. Kkaebi Manga Village’s worn-out sign had been patched up on one side, and even though several months had passed, it was still the same.
He looked through the bookshelves. Perhaps because he’d been coming frequently recently, none of the new volumes for the comics he’d read last time had come out. Did he come too often while living in distant Gyeonggi Province? No matter how much he looked, there was nothing he particularly wanted to read, so he went back to <Berserk>.
He pulled out the volume he’d read last time with the intention of reviewing it. Yeon Cheonguk, who sat on the sofa and opened the book, ended up being startled.
“Shit!”
He stroked his surprised chest and glanced toward the counter. Fortunately, the part-timer didn’t seem to notice Yeon Cheonguk’s strange behavior at all.
He couldn’t help but be startled loudly. That was because both lower corners of the book flaps were torn!
Did the owner tear it? Did the next person who rented it tear it? In any case, it was clear someone tore it because they were bothered by the number code Yeon Cheonguk had written. What Yeon Cheonguk feared wasn’t being pointed out as the culprit, but whether they’d solved that code. His heart was pounding.
Surely they didn’t solve that code. He’d written strange content like Erection King and whatnot. What if he gets treated like a crazy person?
Yeon Cheonguk, who was biting his finger, secretly looked toward the counter again. It seemed they didn’t know the book was damaged yet…
That’s when it happened. Yeon Cheonguk’s gaze stopped on someone’s trail that had just passed outside the glass door.
‘What?’
The person who passed by in an instant like a flash appeared to be a tall person around 190cm.
He was confused by the ordinary and neat clothing, but still the feeling was strange. The size of the large feet and build that disappeared quickly from the corner stimulated his memory. It was a physique hard to see around, and an existence whose presence had been too strongly imprinted long ago.
Yeon Cheonguk put the comic book back in its place and left the store.
Maybe.
It can’t be, but maybe?
When he left the store and looked around both sides, there were only people of average height. The protagonist Yeon Cheonguk had in mind wasn’t anywhere on the street.
“…Did I see things?”
With an uneasy expression, Yeon Cheonguk turned around and cast his gaze toward the alley next to the store. Faint smoke was rising from a cigarette butt someone had just thrown away.
The ember not yet extinguished lives and burns.
