Chapter 95

Chapter 95

Chapter 95 A Belated Vacation (2)

“Buy one.”

“I don’t want to.”

“Ahem! Yesterday you casually bought a tent worth ten million won, so why are you being stubborn now?”

“Buying something I don’t have and replacing something that works perfectly fine are two different things.”

There was a limit to how much the tail could wag the dog. At most twice as much? Maybe three times?

But this proposal went far beyond even that.

Our coffeehouse’s compact car was a luxury model with five seats and even ABS, the finest safety feature of its era, included as an option.

Not only that. Wasn’t it the so-called Ascension Edition that Yongman had ridden when he went up to the Celestial Realm?

Truthfully, setting aside all those minor reasons, I simply didn’t want to replace the car.

The car I’d bought after making a big decision when I was just starting out in society held far greater meaning than that.

“Ha! The tent we saw yesterday alone was as large as a mountain. At this rate, it looks like we’ll be carrying packs on our backs for this vacation. Tsk.”

“I have the roof box I bought for shopping, and if things are really too tight, we can rent a car.”

“Didn’t you see it too? Was that anywhere near the size that could be handled just by putting a few things on the roof?”

“Then we can put it in Uncle Dohyeok’s car! Uncle Dohyeok’s car is really huge inside!”

“That fellow’s car only seats two people, so there’s no point borrowing it.”

“Isn’t he coming with us?”

“Hm?”

“Uncle Dohyeok is part of our coffeehouse family too, so he’s coming with us.”

“Well, he is family, but...”

It wasn’t that I hadn’t thought of inviting him.

I simply hadn’t told anyone because if I started adding people one by one, I had no idea how large the group would eventually become.

And when I actually tried explaining that situation to Lia, I couldn’t help feeling strangely uneasy in one corner of my heart.

It was probably because all of us were going on vacation together... Wait.

“Sani, why are you standing like that?”

“I-I’m the same as usual!”

“You’re acting strange. You keep avoiding eye contact too.”

“I’m not! I didn’t do anything wrong!”

He had done something wrong. Definitely.

I quickly snatched the phone Sani was hiding behind his back and turned on the screen.

『(Haedong Divine Maiden has been invited to the chat room.)

(Dohyeok has been invited to the chat room.)

(Yongman has been invited to the chat room.)

(Stone-Flicking Amateur has been invited to the chat room.)

(Gangnim Doryeong has been invited to the chat room.)

(Wooju has been invited to the chat room.)

(Seo Hanrim has been invited to the chat room.)

Dohyeok: What is this?

Wooju: Did Sani invite us?

Gangnim Doryeong:??

Sani: We’re going camping!

Haedong Divine Maiden: Camping?

Sani: Jinseong said he’s going on vacation! It’s camping!

Wooju: Are we going too?

Haedong Divine Maiden: Oh my! Where are you going?

Stone-Flicking Amateur: No, more importantly, why is my name Stone-Flicking Amateur? Sani, you!

Sani: Ah.』

“I just wanted to spread the news quickly! And I didn’t send it to that many people.”

“What do you mean, not that many! You invited everyone saved in your phone!”

The little brat had even made a chat room that conveniently excluded only the people currently present and announced it there, so the conversation had already progressed far beyond the point of control.

There was no taking it back now.

Using Sani’s phone, I invited myself to the chat room.

『(Kim Jinseong has been invited to the chat room.)

Kim Jinseong:

Dangsan-ri Coffeehouse Summer Vacation Notice

Date: August 29 (Fri) ~ August 31 (Sun)

Location: Okgye Beach Campground, Gangwon Province

Meeting Place: In front of Dangsan-ri Coffeehouse (by 8:00 AM)

If you would like to attend, please contact me.』

Would this be enough?

“Looks like everyone will end up going together after all, heh heh.”

“Yes, maybe this is actually better. There aren’t many people there anyway, so even if our group gets bigger, it probably won’t cause much trouble. And there are some conditions attached, so I don’t think that many people will actually come.”

There were two restrictions on this vacation.

Time and distance.

Although the weekend was included, it was a three-day, two-night trip, and the distance was a full 220 kilometers.

They weren’t exactly conditions that made it easy to volunteer.

Especially for people like me who rarely left the house.

___________

At the same time, in the VIP reception room of Daecheon Department Store.

“So you’re saying there’s no camping equipment here right now?”

“We do have some, but the season has already ended, so our selection is very limited. And they say it would be difficult to prepare the tents and backpacks you requested in enough quantities for everyone right away.”

“So basically, you’re saying it’s difficult.”

“I’m sorry.”

This was the second time the heir of Daecheon Group had come to the department store.

His first shopping trip had fortunately ended in satisfaction, and the man had even received a generous bonus afterward.

But this visit was something even he, the person overseeing all the tenant stores, could do nothing about.

How was he supposed to restock items that had already been cleared out by outdoor stores for the end of the season? And not just one or two items either.

He bowed his head, prepared to accept whatever reprimand came, but the words that came from the mouth of Daecheon Group’s heir, who was notorious for his bad temper, were completely unexpected.

“No, there’s nothing to apologize for. If you don’t have them, you don’t have them.”

“Pardon?”

“And don’t make people run around trying to find stuff just because of me. It’s not absolutely necessary. Thanks for your work.”

‘Why is he suddenly acting like this?’

It was an extraordinarily clean surrender.

Before the man could even finish lifting his bowed head, filled with apology, Dohyeok had already left the room.

And the place he drove straight to was the camping supply store where Jinseong had bought a tent just three hours earlier.

-Bang, bang.

“Anyone inside?”

The sign had long since been turned off, and no matter how much he knocked, there was no sign of anyone inside.

It was well past ten at night.

He had found the store that stayed open the latest, but because it was far away, it seemed to have closed while he was on the way.

But Dohyeok did not give up.

“Hello? Are you the owner of the camping store? Ah, nothing else, I urgently need some camping gear right now, so I was wondering if you could open the store for me. No, no, wait! I’m Joo Dohyeok of Daecheon Group. Joo Dohyeok of Daecheon Group! I’ll buy everything, the most expensive stuff you have, so hurry over here.”

Just as the word “difficult...” was about to come from the other end of the phone, Dohyeok hurriedly hung up.

‘This is my chance. I’ll bring a full set of camping gear and leave a deep impression on Hyung and everyone at the coffeehouse.’

No matter what anyone said, he was Jinseong’s right-hand man.

Wasn’t he the younger brother Jinseong trusted most?

But recently, that position had begun to come under threat.

Excluding nonhuman beings, he, the owner family’s only heir to Daecheon Group, was obviously the person most suited to being Jinseong’s right-hand man.

At least until Han Seun, who had suddenly risen to stardom through Go, and Wooju, whose released album had even made it onto the US Billboard chart, appeared.

And there was one person he was especially wary of.

Seo Hanrim, that web novel author or whatever he was.

Even on the day the novel volume was published,

Dohyeok had never seen Jinseong look that happy before.

With so many people gathering at the coffeehouse and his presence already fading, this camping trip was a perfect opportunity to show off his one remaining advantage: wealth.

Dohyeok’s hand, tightly gripping his limitless black card, burned with determination.

And the owner of the camping supply store, racing toward him while cursing him in every way imaginable, had no idea.

___________

RTM Entertainment Headquarters, Practice Room 1.

Most entertainment company practice rooms had one unwritten rule.

The singers who used Practice Room 1 had to rank among the top three in the entire company.

The best audio equipment, worth hundreds of millions of won, had been installed there, and from the entrance to the walls, it was densely covered with bromides of the superstar artists who had once used Practice Room 1 and defined their respective eras.

And at the very end of the wall was a picture of Wooju playing an acoustic guitar.

But Wooju himself was nowhere to be seen during what should have been peak practice hours.

“Wooju! Wooju!”

-Creak.

“Ah, hello, Manager.”

When the manager searching for Wooju opened the door to Practice Room 1, a rookie group that was just getting ready to practice awkwardly bowed and greeted him.

“Yeah. Is Wooju not here?”

“He’s in Practice Room 3.”

“Really? Keep up the good work.”

“Goodbye.”

“No, wait. Hey, you guys.”

The door started closing, then opened again.

“Yes?”

“Who told rookies they could use Practice Room 1 however they wanted?”

“Our manager said we could use it if no one was here...”

“Who? Manager Ji? That bastard, seriously.”

The man immediately called Manager Ji.

“Hey, did you send your kids to Practice Room 1?”

(Huh? Yeah, yeah. It’s empty today.)

“Are you insane? Empty? Wooju has it booked all day today.”

“No, Wooju usually just uses whatever practice room is open...”

“This bastard. I let it slide and look what happens. You guys were the reason Wooju couldn’t even use a practice room properly when he was a rookie, and now what? Do you know how guilty I felt toward Wooju back then!”

It was then.

“Hyung, stop.”

“Wooju? Wait a second.”

“I’m really fine. I went to Practice Room 3 first on my own. Hurry up and hang up.”

“Whew, all right. Let’s go outside.”

Only after Wooju spoke did the manager finally calm down and leave the practice room.

“Did you eat?”

“Yes. The cafeteria here is really good.”

“Ah, good. Anyway, that’s not why I came... Here, take this.”

“What is it?”

“Look.”

『31st Riverside Festival Guest Singer Performance Contract』

“You’re finally going to start doing events properly. You’ll be busy day and night from now on, so prepare yourself.”

For singers, whether they were booked for events directly affected their income, so this contract carried special meaning for both of them.

But there was one small problem.

“Hyung, do I have other events after this one?”

“Of course. They’re lined up one after another. You’ll barely have time to sleep. Why? Something going on?”

“...There’s somewhere I want to go from the 29th to the 31st. It won’t be possible, right?”

“Hey, if you take one day off, the money you’ll lose is...”

The manager trailed off while trying to persuade Wooju.

He was the one who hadn’t even managed to give Wooju proper access to a practice room all that time.

The only thing he had ever done as Wooju’s assigned manager was hand him a pathetic twenty thousand won when Wooju said he had no money for living expenses.

That had weighed heavily on his mind, so when Wooju looked at him with such desperate eyes now, it was difficult to refuse.

“I’ll figure something out.”

“Thanks, Hyung.”

“Go have fun. It’s your last vacation. You’re going with those people from the MeTube office, right?”

“Yes.”

“Those people are better to you than I am.”

And so Wooju managed to break through his packed schedule and attend the Dangsan-ri summer vacation.

____________

At the same time, in the Palace of Yama, the two grim reapers were once again staring at a phone and agonizing deeply.

“But is it really okay for us to go?”

“Didn’t we have this exact conversation last time?”

“No, last time we were only dropping by for a short while in the evening. This time it’s three days and two nights. And traveling with grim reapers is a little...”

“I suppose you’re right.”

No matter how close they were with Jinseong, they were still grim reapers by profession.

Since theirs was the occupation that had never once lost the undisputed number one spot on the list of ‘Friends You Don’t Want to Travel With,’ it seemed this trip would be too much after all.

Just as the two clicked their tongues in disappointment and were about to close the phone,

“What are you two looking at?”

“Aaagh! Your Majesty!”

It was the moment when the participation of the two grim reapers and Yama in this vacation became confirmed.