Chapter 191: Leaving Bohol Island (2) |
Police Chief Eddie of Bohol Island placed a gift from Daniel, the boss of the Ahas Organization, on the table.
Thud.
The black leather bag about 50 cm in size made a heavy sound as if something weighty was inside.
"This is an apology from Daniel for the unfortunate incident yesterday," Eddie said.
When I asked if it was a petition, Jason shook his head.
"No. It’s common for the small fries to get caught, and he’s not someone who worries about lower-ranking members of the gang. Which is saying Daniel didn’t orchestrate this incident either," Eddie explained.
"Then what is this for?" I asked.
Eddie hesitated for a moment before speaking. "Actually, Daniel of the Ahas Organization has a daughter named Annie…"
"And?"
My eyes widened. "No way. Is she a fan of Yoo-Jin?"
Eddie nodded. He explained that Daniel's daughter Annie was currently crying her heart out, blaming it all on her dad. She believed she'd be hated by Yoo-JIn all her life because of her father's poor management of his subordinates.
Not knowing what to do to calm Annie, at the volatile age of 15, Daniel tried to mend the situation with a gift.
Eddie sighed as he read my expression. "Honestly, I understand it might be hard to grasp."
"No. I get about half of it. Even a gang boss has a soft spot for his daughter. But I'm more surprised you are directly involved," I replied.
Gangs and police together looked like collusion from all angles. I never thought a high-ranking police official in charge of regional security would openly run errands for a gang.
Noticing my suspicious look, Eddie scratched his head and explained himself.
"Truth is, I've known Daniel since we were kids. But I've never engaged in any dishonorable activities ever since I became a police officer."
He also mentioned that if Yoo-Jin accepted the apology, he would ensure that the Koreans would never be bothered again.
Despite knowing now that Daniel was a doting father, I was surprised by such an offer.
While pondering the gang boss’s proposal, Jason supported Eddie's statement.
"Daniel isn’t one to lie though he's a gang boss," Jason remarked.
Eventually, I called for Yoo-Jin. "Yoo-Jin!"
Yoo-Jin, who was preparing to return home on the second floor, came down.
Yoo-Jin smiled after hearing the situation. "What’s there to contemplate about? Just say yes and that’s it."
"But I don’t want you to be even slightly involved with a gang boss."
"Then just don’t accept the gift. And it's not Annie’s fault, is it? Please tell them I accept the apology."
"Are you sure?" I asked.
Yoo-Jin grinned. "If I can reduce crime by stepping in, why not?"
"True. You're like Mother Teresa," I remarked.
"Well, I wouldn’t compare myself to her…but if it’s feasible, accepting the apology seems like a good idea."
I nodded. "Alright."
At that moment, Yoo-Jin added as if she suddenly remembered something. "Oh, but oppa, if we don’t accept the gift, they might think it's a rejection. How about we send them my signature as a gift?"
"That's a good idea. Let’s do that."
When I conveyed Yoo-Jin's decision to Eddie, he stood up abruptly and bowed.
"Thank you. Thanks to Miss Yoo-Jin, it'll be a safer place for many tourists."
"You're welcome."
From that moment, Yoo-Jin began signing photos printed with her face.
That's when my eyes inadvertently landed on the bag that Eddie had brought. To be honest, I was utterly curious about what the gift was.
"Mr. Eddie, what exactly is the gift from Daniel?" I asked.
Eddie's face brightened once again. "Will you accept it?"
I quickly shook my head. "No, I'm not asking with the intention of accepting it. I just want to know what's inside that thing to make such a heavy sound…"
Zip.
Eddie slowly unzipped the bag.
'No way. Could it be gold bars?' I wondered.
There they were, flat golden lumps distinctly engraved with '1,000g'.
I swallowed my saliva and asked, "H-how many are there?"
"There are ten. Don't worry about customs, by the way. If you accept them, you can receive them in Korea."
A gold bar of 1kg was worth about 60 million won, and ten of them would amount to a staggering 600 million won.
'600 million won for an apology? That's just insane...' I remarked inwardly.
I glanced at Yoo-Jin, wondering if she had seen them.
Despite her calm face, Yoo-Jin's hands were also trembling. Her usually neat signature now looked scribbled and erratic.
"Oh, wh-why is this happening? Ha ha. Why are my hands shaking so badly?" Yoo-Jin muttered.
Yoo-Jin stopped signing and gave an awkward laugh. Then she glanced at the leather bag and whispered in my ear.
"O-oppa? What, what is that?"
"Gold bars," I replied.
"Are they real gold bars? Not chocolate shaped like gold bars or something like 18K?" Yoo-Jin continued.
I turned to look at Yoo-Jin. "No, they're pure gold. 1kg, 10 bars. You know all this, so why ask?"
"Because I just can't believe it. And he said he's giving all these to us?" Yoo-Jin responded while blinking her eyes.
I nodded. "Yes."
"What, what…what did I do to deserve this?" Yoo-Jin stuttered.
"Well, what you did was outright refuse Daniel's gold bars without even looking at them," I replied while throwing her a look.
Yoo-Jin's throat moved up and down. She gulped and whispered cautiously in my ear.
"Oppa, should we ask for them back?"
I shook my head. "How can we ask for them back after outright refusing them? That'd be embarrassing."
Yoo-Jin looked away and nodded slowly. "Right? It wouldn't be proper."
"Do you really want them that bad? Should I say something?" I asked.
Yoo-Jin stared at me and then smiled.
"Can't you take a joke? And even if I said I wanted them, you should stop me! Surely, I wouldn't covet proceeds from a crime?"
"But why is your voice shaking?" I retorted.
"How can I not shake seeing that much money? It's not like I'm the Virgin Mary. Besides, think of how many bowls of soup that money could buy..."
I nearly burst out laughing and thought to myself, 'Typical Jung Yoo-Jin.'
I had been wondering when she would bring up soup.
Thanks to this, the tension that surrounded my body scattered away.
Yoo-Jin murmured to herself and resumed signing. "Wow. To think we refused that. Jung Yoo-Jin, you really are full of surprises!"
Watching her signature regain its form, it seemed her wavering heart was steadying itself.
'Right. This is more like her.' I thought.
While Yoo-Jin was saving money for Miso, her stance of not crossing the line was admirable.
No matter how hard a talent agent tried, we had no choice but to follow once a celebrity crossed that line.
I felt a surge of pride and accidentally let my true feelings slip.
"Thank you, Yoo-Jin."
Yoo-Jin looked up. "Huh?"
I quickly came to my senses. "Oh, it's nothing. Just finish signing."
Yoo-Jin pouted. "You distracted me and made me mess up my signature. Look at this!"
'No, those squiggles look like they're because you were startled by the gold bars.' I thought to myself.
But fearing I might make things worse, I just kept my mouth shut.
***
When we returned from the Philippines, we could safely get into the car unlike when we left. It was thanks to Choi Yang-Han having arranged for cooperation with the Incheon Airport Corporation, providing us with security from the moment we went through immigration.
After sending Yoo-Jin and Miso home, I returned to my studio apartment in Jamsil and was knocked out in bed for the rest of the day.
The next day, I checked my planner as soon as I woke up, and there was a new schedule for Yoo-Jin as usual.
[Everyday V10.1]
[Date: July 1, 2020]
-11:00 a.m. [NEW. Jung Yoo-Jin] In the Name of God kick-off. Yangpyeong set in Gyeonggi Province.
There were two things clear from the newly created planner.
One: like Everyday V10, schedules could be deleted.
Another was that schedules appeared specifically for Yoo-Jin.
I wasn’t sure how it would change with the next update, but I could hold onto the hope that I might have a glimpse of the future even if only in fragments.
I closed my eyes and made a wish, 'Please take good care of me, Everyday V10.1.'
While I smiled looking at my phone, Haru’s voice rang out.
“Hyung! Come eat if you're up.”
Haru had set the table after saying good morning. On the small table he brought out were stir-fried pork and kimchi stew.
The tangy scent of the kimchi stew made my mouth water. "Alright. Let’s eat."
After quickly finishing the meal and doing the dishes, Haru took a shower. I mentioned the moving schedule to Haru while he was drying his hair.
“Haru, we'll move to Yoo-Jin’s place by the end of this month.”
“Is the construction already finished?” Haru asked.
“Yeah, almost.”
“That’s good…”
With his hair still damp, Haru looked around the small studio apartment with a distant look in his eyes. It seemed he was already feeling nostalgic about leaving a space where he had been able to relax for the first time.
I called out to him, “Come on. Let’s quickly get dressed and head over to Yoo-Jin’s place.”
“Okay, hyung!”
Haru was currently in the process of transferring to Hanyoung Arts Junior High, where Sae-Ri was. For this reason, I was taking him to Yoo-Jin's house on my way to work.
He also needed to go to the Healthy Senior Center to carry out the Confidence Boost Project for the upcoming Master of Mukbang audition.
***
After dropping off Haru with Jung In-Ji, I arrived at the company.
Tomorrow was the last stage performance for Cherry Blossom.
Originally, I was supposed to finish the Cocari Sweat shoot and join Han Myung-Ho at the MBS venue tomorrow. But since the schedule in the Philippines was moved up a day, I ended up coming straight to the office without taking a rest.
I checked Yoo-Jin’s Instargem after parking the car at the company lot.
[Jung Yoo-Jin@miso_1004]
[Posts: 367, Followers: 280,000, Following: 270]
Amazing turnout at the airport!
Love you~! I love you all! Wo ai ni! Xie Xie! Ich liebe dich! Aishiteru!...Mahal kita! Nakupenda!
(Photo: fan_sent_airport_photo.jpeg)
#airportphoto #amazing #YooJinandMisofirsttripabroad#loveyou #didntexpectthismanyfans #nowacelebrity #star
[Likes♡ 12,512]
(Comments)
-Risa99: Jung Yoo-Jin is so pretty! Miso, I love you so much!
-YEDAM: Jung Yoo-Jin took a picture with everyone that day. She's got an amazing personality, unlike most celebrities!
-padopadomidam: Felt like a personal fan meet at the airport. Miso took pictures with everyone too.
-burgerQ: Isn’t Burger Queen making more ads? Why stop at the sequel?
-tellmeSomething: Which brand is the outfit Jung Yoo-Jin wore at the airport from?
"She really dug up all those ways to say 'I love you.' But Mahal kita? Nakupenda? What languages are those?"
Curious about which languages they were, I found out that Mahal kita was Tagalog from the Philippines and Nakupenda was Swahili from East Africa.
"I'm glad she didn’t go with Hakuna Matata…It would have been a major embarrassment for generations," I muttered.
I was relieved to see that she had looked them up properly before posting them.
"Now she has 280,000 followers. Wow. Jung Yoo-Jin. You've grown so much."
I could feel Yoo-Jin's rising popularity from her growing number of followers.
The year-end awards depended not just on drama ratings but also heavily on fan support.
"Maybe she'll win an award this year."
I was already looking forward to the end of the year.
***
Cherry Blossom was ending their promotional activities for their song this week.
Lee Dong-Min and I had prepared a few events to celebrate the hard work of Cherry Blossom. I stopped by Singer Division 2 first to check the progress of these events. Since everything was well prepared, I quickly moved on to the office after conveying my thanks.
Upon reaching Team Jung's office on the fourth floor, I found the tanned Lee Yung-Jin entertaining people with exaggerated tales from the Philippines.
"...so I grabbed a frying pan and went after the robber!"
Do Ran-Hee looked puzzled. "You did, oppa?"
"Yes, it was me!" Lee Yung-Jin exclaimed.
'What a liar,' I thought to myself.
All he had actually done was console the frightened Miso with a hug.
"Then oppa, you caught the robber?" Do Ran-Hee asked with doubt.
"Of course, I..."
Just then, Lee Yung-Jin's voice started to falter when he spotted me arriving at work.
"...helped and contributed to catching the robber, I suppose. I was a big help."
"Help? Contributed?"
At that moment, Lee Yung-Jin bowed to me. "Good morning, Mr. Jung."
He winked at me, signaling me to back up his story.
I contemplated, 'Hm, what should I do? Well, he did look after Miso and took her to the hospital. So saying he was helpful wouldn't be entirely false.'
Do Ran-Hee turned to me. "Mr. Jung! Is what Yung-Jin oppa saying true?"
"Yes. It would have been really dangerous without Yung-Jin," I replied.
Lee Yung-Jin’s face lit up. "See? Do you think I only make things up all the time?"
Do Ran-Hee pouted. "Pfft. You always exaggerate so much, that's why!"
I made a circle with my thumb and index finger toward Lee Yung-Jin. Every lie had its price, after all.
Lee Yung-Jin grudgingly nodded.
'He better treat me to a meal,' I thought to myself as I tried to hide my snigger.
Then, I quickly changed the topic. "Alright, enough chit-chat. Let's prepare for the meeting. Tomorrow is Cherry Blossom’s last performance. Ran-Hee, is everything ready?"
Do Ran-Hee confidently puffed out her chest. "Of course."
But at that moment, I received a call from Lee Dong-Min.
-Yoon-Ho, come to the conference room. We have a team leads’ meeting for the entire Singer's Divisions.
"Pardon? Right now?"
-Yes. Director Lee Gi-Cheol wants to discuss something about Cherry Blossom. It seems our plans might be jeopardized. Come up here as soon as possible!
We had carefully prepared the events to mark the end of Cherry Blossom’s weekend music show performances, but now Lee Gi-Cheol was trying to interfere.
'Who does he think he is?' I got upset at the thought of Lee Gi-Cheol's interference.
I hung up the phone and headed straight to the conference room.
I couldn't just watch as my plans were being upended, even if it meant clashing with Lee Gi-Cheol.
Ristretto's Thoughts
Man, this guy just never gives up, does he😂
