It had been fun.
How could it not be, when lifespans were flowing in neatly on their own?
He’d even hit the jackpot by filming the drama. It was an ultra-jackpot called automatic lifespan harvest. Far more efficient than pounding the pavement for a handful of small commissions.
Considering the lifespans he’d earned over just a few months of shooting outstripped a whole year’s worth, that said it all.
The biggest windfall came on the day the final episode aired.
[Congratulations! You have secured a large amount of lifespans.]
[Would you like to harvest the lifespans?]
[Let us celebrate! A large amount of…]
Not just lifespans—a large amount of lifespans.
For two days after the drama ended, they popped like fireworks. It was quite a spectacle.
Maybe thanks to reruns, they still kept coming in by the handful here and there, and it was deeply satisfying.
He’d already amassed more than two years’ worth. Thinking back to the days when he ran the same day-long commissions over and over just to gather a few lifespans, the contrast was staggering.
Still, he couldn’t leave everything to auto.
It seemed additional special ability points could only be gained through commissions.
He had no intention of quitting commissions altogether. The number-one contributor to this new auto-harvest life was none other than those extra special stats. Commissions were a pain, but relying only on automatic harvest would be a mistake.
This was an investment.
You sow if you want grain to grow so you can reap.
“You’re not thinking of quitting, right?”
“For now, no.”
Unless some even better substitute appeared, there was only one choice.
“In that case, good. Then Yeonwoo, since we’re on the topic, let me make a proposal.”
Kwon Seonghyun smiled brightly.
“Why don’t you join my agency?”
“Your agency?”
“There are a lot of people asking for you, and once you start filming a few more dramas or films, handling it alone will be hard. Ah, though it’s not like you must have an agency.”
“Why not?”
“Because I can keep handling everything for you, like I’ve been doing.”
“Excuse me?”
“It’s fine. I shouldn’t have brought it up. Whether you have an agency or not won’t make much difference to you, Yeonwoo. Right?”
“…I’ll consider an agency.”
“It really would be fine without one…”
He looked ready to personally manage every last thing if necessary, so Yeonwoo shook his head, dead serious.
Having a lifespan vending machine at your side was reassuring, but somehow, when he got tangled up with that man, tiresome things kept happening.
Yes, the results had been back-to-back jackpots, but…
The process was exhausting.
[Are you going to join the actor’s agency?]
The child spirit popped his head out from Yeonwoo’s chest.
“You’re awake, Dongja? This body of yours is sleeping longer than usual.”
[I dunno… Maybe I’m cold-blooded now… Feels like exposure to my spiritual energy keeps trying to push me into hibernation… yawn…]
A soul carrying a chill yin energy seemed to be affecting the tiny lizard body.
[It’s not bad when the actor looks after you, but it eats into his time, so I don’t think that’s good.]
Well said, child spirit. You finally prove your worth.
[Wouldn’t it be all okay if you just joined the actor’s agency? Let other people do the work, and the actor can just have fun hanging out with you.]
…A betrayal within one minute?
“That’s a good idea too. True, managing it myself from start to finish is appealing, but I’m not keen on wasting time fussing over other things…”
“….”
He had just heard something frightening.
“Then we’ll have you join the same agency.”
Kwon Seonghyun clapped his hands as if concluding the matter.
“How did the conclusion end up there?”
Min Yerin’s voice was edged as she asked, her cool expression showing she didn’t like it.
“Because my agency can give Yeonwoo the best treatment in every respect.”
“If that’s all, m-my agency isn’t bad either!”
“You mean the one that tried to wedge you in as filler?”
A gentle smile from Kwon Seonghyun; a chill look from Min Yerin. Eyes flashing, as if stung by indignation, Min Yerin whirled toward Yeonwoo.
“If you haven’t decided on an agency yet, at least come take a look. The board’s been completely overhauled. Every incompetent has been cut, so you can relax. You haven’t set anything in stone, right?”
“That’s true.”
“Then at least come tour it. I’ll show you around.”
“Personally?”
“…Why? You don’t want me to?”
It felt like saying yes to that was forbidden. Her expression was cool, but somehow it felt like that it was a thin sheet of ice carefully sealed over. One tap and all that tightly packed frost would shatter to pieces.
“Everyone, let’s calm down. I get that Yeonwoo’s attractive, but we gathered to discuss the reward vacation, remember?”
Seeing the mood, Writer Min, who’d been quietly sipping her drink, stepped in to mediate. Normally, these things were handled between agencies. But Yeonwoo didn’t have one, and since Writer Min had wanted to see him anyway, this ad-hoc meeting had come together.
She just hadn’t expected Min Yerin to insert herself.
“You don’t have to make it difficult, Writer,” said Kwon Seonghyun.
“Hm? Seonghyun, what do you mean?”
“Just do everything exactly the way you want. Anything the budget can’t cover, I’ll take care of.”
“…Really?”
“That was my plan from the start. The network did say they’d cover it, but…”
He trailed off. No one present needed him to finish to understand.
“I managed to wrangle an upgrade on the lodgings even though we didn’t crack fifty, but the drama bureau chief is stingy as they come. He’ll say five-star because he promised, then pinch and pinch until he finds somewhere that wouldn’t pass for three. He’s weirdly gifted at that. But if you’re offering, Seonghyun, I already feel relieved!”
At her praise, Min Yerin bit her full lower lip and spoke up.
“Writer, I can contribute too.”
“Oh my, Yerin too? Aigoo. Our staff are blessed. This reward trip is going to be the real deal!”
Beaming, positively giddy at the thought, Writer Min grinned from ear to ear.
But unlike her, an icy draft passed once more between Kwon Seonghyun and Min Yerin.
“Why are you looking at me like that? You have a problem with me contributing?”
“Looking at you like that? You misunderstand. I don’t have a problem, only a little concern.”
“Concern? Why would you be concerned?”
“Since your key personnel were all replaced, the company’s internal situation must be chaotic. I don’t know if you’ll have the leeway to take care of a reward trip after a drama ends, of all things.”
The tone was soft, purely concerned, but somehow the smiling corners of his eyes felt frost-rimmed.
Min Yerin, however, wasn’t easy prey.
“But we have the know-how. Overflowing know-how backed by data from training and launching hundreds. As far as I know, your agency is a one-man shop. I’m not sure it can provide systematic management.”
“I think concentrating management is far better than dispersing it. Besides, isn’t my very existence proof enough of that supposed ‘know-how’?”
He smiled sweetly. Min Yerin’s eyes crinkled like she’d seen something distasteful.
“We can offer the best treatment in the industry.”
“So can we.”
“Signing bonus at the highest tier, and everything Yeonwoo needs.”
“Whatever you offer, I can guarantee ten times that.”
“…Are you serious right now?!”
“I was taught it’s a bad habit to covet what belongs to others.”
Their expressions didn’t change, but the air turned frigid. How had such a harmonious couple come to be cutting each other with ice?
[Wow… Yeonwoo, must be nice to be so popular.]
“What is it?”
[The actor and Min Yerin are having a power struggle to take you.]
“I’m not so sure…”
It felt less like popularity and more like being a shrimp caught on a whale’s back.
The writer had fled, too.
Smiling sweetly over the upgraded reward-trip quality, Writer Min had slipped away some time ago.
“I have to go spread the good news to the rest of the staff. Everyone’s talking already. I’ll be back soon, okay?”
With a performance that demonstrated while using her entire body that writing great dialogue has nothing to do with acting ability, she slipped out awkwardly but adroitly.
[I think the actor’s side is better!]
“That’s purely because you like him.”
[Ah. Busted.]
The gecko lizard, big round eyes and all, flicked his tongue. The child spirit still hadn’t left the lizard body. He’d said the spiritual energy kept pushing the flesh toward hibernation.
“I haven’t even said I’m going anywhere yet.”
They were making a whole fuss among themselves. Wasn’t this exactly like drinking kimchi broth before anyone’s offered you rice cake?
He could understand Seonghyun a hundred times over, but why was Min Yerin doing this?
Could it be because I saved her when she fell in?
He’d saved a person, and somehow two barnacles were clinging to him. What a reality.
Watching their incomprehensible power struggle, a thought popped up.
“Oh, speaking of which. Hey, Dongja.”
[Yeah?]
“Did you hear anything from your mom?”
[Huhhh?]
“Why do you look so obviously flustered? You drop by Madam Kang from time to time. You went before you swapped into the lizard, too.”
[“H-h-how did you know that?”]
How wouldn’t I?
“I’ve been with you twenty-three years. You think I wouldn’t notice?”
Just as the child spirit knew Yeonwoo, Yeonwoo knew a fair bit about him.
“When you vanish for days ‘to get a new body,’ how could I not notice?”
[R…really…?]
“So?”
[So what?]
“What did Madam Kang say?”
[Say about what?]
“About ‘what’ do you think? Hm? There’s no way drama-maniac Madam Kang didn’t watch a drama with Kwon Seonghyun in it, which means she watched mine too. She must’ve said something, didn’t she? Didn’t she?”
[Mmm…]
The big lizard eyes rolled.
“Are you not going to answer properly?”
[She really didn’t say much…]
“Really?”
[Mhm!]
Strange. The Madam Kang he knew would have contacted him already—at a dead sprint.
Well. Since she hasn’t called, I figured it was tacit permission and let it go…
But nothing at all, even with him in a drama?
“Did something happen to Madam Kang?”
His mother, Kang Yeonhwa, had never shown weakness. She knew all too well that the more you whined or admitted hardship, the more people looked down on you. There had been exactly one exception: when she stepped down from the shrine, trying to make Yeonwoo take her place.
[No way. That can’t be.]
“You’re acting suspicious.”
He kept darting his eyes away, and it was plenty suspicious. The child spirit protested his innocence with all his might.
[If there were any problem with Yeonhwa, she’d have reached out already. Right?]
“That’s true, but…”
[If you’re that worried, go see her.]
“….”
Yeonwoo’s eyes narrowed. The way the child spirit was standing his ground suggested there wasn’t a problem.
Right. It’s not like something would happen to Madam Kang.
She’d been a mansin—a great shaman. She’d been involved in the major and minor affairs of all sorts of important people. If anything happened to Kang Yeonhwa, of course the connections who knew her would move.
Still, maybe I should go once…
He was thinking just that when…
“…?”
The atmosphere was oddly quiet. The back-and-forth like the frantic underwater paddling of a swan had gone silent. He turned his head slightly; both Kwon Seonghyun and Min Yerin were looking at him.
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