Chapter 85

Chapter 85

Chapter 85 We're All MeTube Stars (8)

“I'm sending it?”

“Will it be okay?”

“It was fine with eight people.”

“No, but doing it this seriously is a little...”

“You won't know until you try. If it really doesn't seem right, you can stop halfway through.”

“That would be rude to the people who gathered.”

“You don't know yet, but compared to the rudeness committed by the customers who come to our coffeehouse, this doesn't even register.”

“What?”

It was true. How many incidents had there been that couldn't even be resolved by human strength?

From searching for a dragon that ran away after leaving behind its Dragon Pearl, to grabbing souls that had failed to pass on by the scruff of their necks and threatening them to enter the underworld.

Compared to everything I'd experienced so far, what Wooju was about to do was nothing more than child's play.

After all, it was only a small live concert.

“I'll do it.”

“Good choice.”

I pressed the finger I'd been resting over the send button.

【Message sent successfully.】

『1st Dangsan-ri Coffeehouse Live Concert

Date & Time: August 16, 20:30 ~ 21:30

Venue: Dangsan-ri Coffeehouse Concert Hall

Guest Singer: Wooju

Admission: Free』

“I sent it.”

“Um, but how many people do you think will come?”

“Who knows? Most of them probably will. Oh, Han Seun might be too busy to come.”

“Han Seun? You mean Han Seun, the Go player?”

“Yeah. You probably don't know because he hasn't come much lately.”

Wooju had the look of someone who wanted to ask, ‘Why would Han Seun come to a place like this?’

Even though among the customers he met and greeted every day were a nine-tailed fox, a raccoon dog spirit, immortals, and even a dragon.

And there was another famous person I'd completely forgotten about.

“Manager, I'm here!”

“Welcome.”

“What? I haven't been here in ages, and you're not even happy to see me?”

“We see each other at work.”

“No, work is work. It's been a long time since I've been to the coffeehouse.”

Dohyeok quickly took a seat and joked around.

“But what brings you here today? What about your academy?”

“Ta-da.”

“Oh! You went up a hundred points?”

What Dohyeok was holding was a TOEIC score report.

His score was an impressive 430.

For someone who had diligently completed the standard education curriculum, it was a score that could have been achieved without much effort, but it seemed Dohyeok had only barely managed to reach it after attending an academy and even receiving private tutoring.

“But isn't our company's cutoff 700?”

“Ah, I don't know, I don't know. I'll just get promoted slowly. My head already feels like it's going to split. Anyway, who's that?”

Dohyeok pointed with his chin toward Wooju, who was sitting awkwardly after missing the right time to introduce himself.

“Who do you think, idiot? He's a customer.”

“No, I know every customer who comes here... Is he a monster by any chance?”

“Why are you whispering right into my ear? He's just an ordinary person.”

“Ahem. I'm Joo Dohyeok.”

“I'm Wooju.”

“Wooju? What! So you're not human!”

“Pardon?”

“I told you he's human! He's a singer. Wooju is his stage name.”

“Ah, a singer? Then how did you end up at our coffeehouse? This isn't a place people can just casually wander into.”

“Wooju's been coming here for over a month already. Good grief, enough with the territorial behavior.”

“Well, they won't let us talk about the coffeehouse at work!”

The period when Dohyeok hadn't been able to visit the coffeehouse because of his TOEIC academy was only a month.

But an enormous number of stories had piled up during that time.

From how everyone had started MeTube because of Lia's dream for the future, to how Sani's ridiculous stubbornness had brought Wooju to our coffeehouse.

And with the person himself sitting right there, Dohyeok even made sure to look up his dark history.

“Wahahaha! You really can't sing! That must've been insanely embarrassing!”

“Hey! Stop making fun of him! Wooju, don't think too badly of him either. He's rude, but he's not actually a bad person.”

“Ha... ha...”

“Wait a minute. So you're a singer, but you can't sing in front of people? And that's why you're going to try holding a concert here this time?”

“Yes. I don't know if it'll go well, though.”

For some reason, Wooju's voice was steadily losing confidence.

Perhaps because there was quite a gap between leaving the office door half-open and practically letting people eavesdrop from outside, and actually singing in front of real people under the name of a concert, however small.

This concert was effectively his final genuine chance to overcome his trauma.

That meant he needed a safety device.

Something that would disperse the shock.

And it wasn't difficult for me to think of one.

“Dohyeok, you're going to the orphanage later, right?”

“Yeah. It's been a while, so I was going to stop by.”

“Perfect. Take Wooju with you.”

“Him?”

“Me?”

The two of them asked me at the same time, clearly confused.

“Yeah. You'll understand once you get there.”

____________

Wooju ended up gathering his guitar and bag and following Dohyeok.

‘He said he's the son of a chaebol family. Was that just bragging?’

The car Dohyeok had parked at the coffeehouse was nothing like the cars chaebol heirs drove in dramas.

It was a work van.

And one with the entire rear seating area converted into cargo space.

Even if someone wasn't a chaebol, it seemed difficult to imagine driving something like this outside of work.

“What are you doing? Aren't you getting in?”

“Ah, yes.”

The vehicle carrying Wooju drove for quite a while before arriving at a nearby large supermarket.

“Didn't you say we were going to an orphanage?”

“The supermarket first. Pushing a cart alone is hard, but I've got an assistant today, so this works out perfectly. Ah! Is that why Hyung told you to come with me? As expected of Hyung.”

‘Looking at his build, he looks like he could push a car, not just a cart. Is this because he's a chaebol and has never pushed a shopping cart before?’

Dohyeok stood 190 centimeters tall and had a thick build like a gang enforcer.

He was so large that even getting into the driver's seat of the van required him to hunch his shoulders and lower his head considerably, yet he was making a huge fuss over pushing a single cart, causing Wooju's prejudice toward chaebol families to resurface.

But that prejudice was shattered the moment they entered the supermarket.

Because Dohyeok handed him no fewer than two carts.

“You can push one with each hand, right?”

“How?”

“You've never been to a supermarket? Push one with your right hand and pull the other with your left.”

Wooju suspected he'd probably been to supermarkets far more often than this chaebol.

He'd just never dragged two carts at once. No, because he'd always been poor, he could barely even remember using a cart at all. Usually, the most he bought was a pack of ramen and some eggs.

“But since they're empty right now, can't we just stack them together?”

“Are you a genius?”

“...”

And so, pushing the two nested carts, they arrived at the snack aisle.

“See those boxed snacks over there? Load up whatever looks tasty.”

“Pardon?”

“Was that explanation difficult?”

“N-No. How much should I put in?”

At Wooju's question, Dohyeok grinned.

“Keep stacking until they start falling off.”

And the two of them really did leave the supermarket only after filling four carts.

“Wahahaha! The snacks are so heavy the car can barely move! I usually buy pizza too, but it's too late today, so I only bought snacks. It's a shame, but I'll have pizza sent tomorrow. Do you know how much the kids love pizza? One tiny little kid eats half a whole pizza! By the way, how did you end up at Hyung's coffeehouse anyway? You couldn't have gone there just to drink coffee.”

In the middle of talking enthusiastically about food, the subject changed back to the coffeehouse.

“Sani invited me as a guest on his MeTube channel.”

“What? That Sani channel is dead and doesn't even have twenty subscribers, and you went there to appear on it? Not Hyung's channel? Good grief!”

“As long as I appear as a guest, my agency gives me an activity allowance. So when he invited me, I just...”

“We're here. Get out.”

Dohyeok, who had been asking such blunt questions without restraint, now cut Wooju off just as he was struggling to answer.

From what Wooju had observed during the short drive, Dohyeok matched Jinseong's description of him exactly: ‘rude, but not a bad person.’

After getting out of the car, Dohyeok entered the orphanage building with a simple smile that didn't suit his fierce-looking face.

“Oh! It's Uncle Na Dohyeok!”

“Uncle Na Dohyeok!”

“It's Joo Dohyeok, Joo Dohyeok! Not Na Dohyeok.”

“Why haven't you come in so long, Mister?”

“I drew a car in art class and got first place!”

“Really? Bring it here.”

“I got eighty on dictation!”

The children swarmed around Dohyeok, each pouring out whatever they wanted to say.

Apparently accustomed to such enthusiastic greetings, Dohyeok continued talking with them one by one without leaving anyone out.

“But who are you, Mister?”

One child who hadn't managed to greet Dohyeok because he was too slow at running tugged on Wooju's shirt instead and asked.

“Me? Wooju...”

Telling children his stage name was more embarrassing than he'd expected.

“Na Wooju?”

And just like Dohyeok, the child immediately changed Wooju's name on the spot.

“No, not Na Wooju. Just Wooju.”

“Everyone, this is Uncle Na Wooju!”

“Is Uncle Na Wooju one of Uncle Na Dohyeok's henchmen?”

“Huh?”

“Wahahaha! Something like that!”

It wasn't entirely wrong, considering everything Wooju had done as Dohyeok's assistant before arriving at the orphanage today.

And the large number of curious children didn't even give him a chance to explain.

“Oh! There's a guitar here!”

“Really? Where!”

“Wow, a guitar!”

“Cool, right? My henchman is actually a singer.”

“A singer?”

“Are you friends with BTA?”

“No.”

“What about Esper?”

“I'm not friends with Esper either.”

“Then which singers are you friends with?”

“I don't really know.”

“Then are you good at singing?”

“Idiot, he's a singer, so of course he's good at singing.”

‘These kids strangely resemble that Joo Dohyeok guy.’

Their innocent questions, asked with perfectly clear eyes, contained no malice whatsoever, yet every single one pierced his chest like a sharp dagger.

“Then what songs do you sing?”

“Huh? Just ballads and...”

“Sing Three Bears for us!”

“No, sing Pinkubong!”

“Huh?”

It was an outright demand. They even handed him the guitar they'd taken out of the car without permission.

“One, two, three, four!”

“Th-Three bears live together in one house.”

Thanks to the child who even counted him in, the children's song Three Bears began with a gentle guitar accompaniment.

“Daddy bear”

“Mommy bear”

“Baby bear!”

The children even began joining in one after another, singing at the tops of their lungs.

It had begun as a solo, but there was no way the children would sit quietly when they knew the song and even had guitar accompaniment.

Before long, the number of audience members gathered around him had easily surpassed thirty.

Yet as Wooju sang the children's song in his gentle voice, there was no trace of his past trauma.

“As expected of Hyung. He sings perfectly fine. Oh, right, recording!”

Watching Wooju and the children sing with a pleased expression, Dohyeok suddenly remembered the task he'd been given and hurriedly pulled out his phone and pressed the record button.

Wooju and the children singing beneath the soft moonlight were captured on Dohyeok's phone like a watercolor painting.