บท 67: Getting Scouted
"Where are we going, Oppa?" Yeo Ri asked Hyuk. She wondered if they had a place to return to now, after all that commotion the night before.
Hyuk pursed his lips. "We'll go get our things from the house first. I'm looking into a place to rent; just wait for a little bit longer, okay?"
"...Mm." Yeo Ri nodded thoughtfully as Hyuk secured the straps of her helmet.
"Ah," Yeo Ri exclaimed, remembering something. "Oppa."
"What is it?"
"Try not to get there quickly. That person is usually home around this time," Yeo Ri remarked.
Hyuk's body tensed. He wanted to ask how she knew that, but he already knew the answer deep inside. It must have been around these times that he... to Yeo Ri... ... .
"Okay," he replied. Because of Yeo Ri's warning, he decided to make a stop first. "Should we have some lunch first?" He asked rhetorically as he pulled into a parking space.
They headed into Hyuk's usual hangout place, Granny's Chinese restaurant. It was the same place that they had went to a while back.
"Oh my, look who's here!" The granny exclaimed as the two entered. "You finally came~" she broke into a large smile, ushering the two to a seat by the window.
Yeo Ri was perfectly visible to the passers-by who were walking by the sidewalks, attracting dozens of gazes.
Hyuk was dissatisfied with the seating choice, but seeing as there were no other empty seats inside the restaurant, he could only take a deep breath and control his temper.
"The usual?" The old woman asked Hyuk knowingly. Whenever the boy came, he had never ordered something different, so she knew his preferences by heart. "And since Yeo Ri is here, I'll keep my promise from last time and add a serving of tangsuyuk on the side," she smiled at Yeo Ri, practically glowing.
Yeo Ri raised her head in surprise and anticipation. "Granny, you still remember?! Thank you!" She smiled brightly.
"Don't mention it, Yeo Ri-ah," the woman grinned. "Ah, that's right. I heard from that boy In Guk that you're looking for work?" She looked at Hyuk with an inquisitive glance.
"Yeah," Hyuk shifted in his seat. He didn't want to talk about work in front of Yeo Ri. For some reason, he didn't want her to know about the kind of part time jobs he usually had. He knew she would feel bad if she found out; they were rough and had low pay, but he lacked the qualifications to get better jobs. His highest level of education was high school, and these days, not many people wanted to hire a high school graduate from some third rate school.
"That's just perfect, then. If you have some free time, go and peel some onions. I'll pay you—a dollar for every kilogram, how's that sound?"
"Only a dollar? Granny, are you trying to exploit me?" Hyuk raised an eyebrow.
"Fine, fine. Five dollars," she negotiated.
Hyuk narrowed his eyes, "Ten."
"Now you're pushing it. Eight, and that's final," the old woman frowned, "Gosh, you're so expensive to hire!" she sighed. This is what happens when you try to be generous, she lamented.
Hyuk smirked, "sure, if I feel like it."
"You little..."
"I'll help too!" Yeo Ri interjected, causing the two bickering pair to look at her, simultaneously saying, "no!"
Yeo Ri shrunk in her seat, "Why not?"
"No means no," Hyuk sternly repeated.
Similarly, the granny also tried to reason with the young girl, "Yeo Ri-ah, peeling onions is a tedious job, and you'll end up smelling like them too. You're still young, so you shouldn't take jobs like these, okay? It's better if you become a waitress instead."
Hyuk frowned, "Just focus on studying. Don't think about getting any part-time jobs. Oppa won't allow it."
"..." Yeo Ri sulked. What is this double standards? Hyuk used to work part-time jobs when he should have been in school, but when she wanted to do the same, he wouldn't let her.
"Fine," she finally acquiesced.
"Well, the offer still stands," the woman said before she headed to the kitchen to relay their order.
The two sat inside the restaurant quietly as they waited for their food. Every once in a while they would glance at each other, making eye contact and looking away quickly. This repeated for a few times, making them both amused.
However, their subtle sweet interactions were broken when a stranger walked up to their table.
"Excuse me," the man cleared his throat. "I'm sorry to bother you, but can I have a little bit of your time? I promise it would only take a short moment."
He pulled out a business card from within his pockets, handing it over to Yeo Ri. "Student, do you want to be a model? Or an idol?"
Yeo Ri gingerly accepted the card with a polite smile. She briefly scanned the card. S Entertainment Agency? The name sounded awfully familiar. She could recall another similar instance. This was the second time someone from that company had given her their card, asking the very same question.
"No, thank you," Yeo Ri politely declined, returning the card to the man. She had received so many of these kinds of business cards that she simply lost count. She didn't think she could become a good model, nor did she think she was talented enough to become an idol. As for actress... while she did have some interest in acting, it was not something she felt the need to pursue. She had never thought she would be good enough to survive in the entertainment business.
"Student, please think this through. With looks like yours, you'd be famous in no time!" The man insisted. The company was looking for new talents to recruit, and he had somehow found such a gem in this small town. He had been walking around, scouting for people the old-fashioned way, hoping to bump into someone with worth. Then, just as he was crossing the street, he saw her. Obviously, he was not going to let the chance slip past.
Hyuk frowned. This stranger b*stard dared to bother them, and then still had the guts to force Yeo Ri to do something she didn't want to do? "Oi," he growled.
The man snapped his head at the younger man. Realising that he was also quite good looking, he flashed a flattering smile, "Of course, Student, you as well, have the potential to make it big someday!" He rummaged his pocket for another business card.
"Get lost," Hyuk didn't want to waste another second listening to the man's spiel. He glared at him, leaning his body in as if he was ready to pounce.
The man was clearly intimidated from the display. He slightly backed away, "I mean no harm, Student. It's true—"
"Get. Lost." Hyuk's face darkened.
"Y-yes, yes. Anyways, please think about the offer and give me a call if you want to accept it. I-I'll be waiting!" The man says before scurrying away.
After the man left, Hyuk snatched the card that was still in Yeo Ri's hand away from her. "Give it to me; you don't need this," he frowned. What model, what idol? Just thinking about it made him incensed. He didn't want other men to look at her, and he especially didn't want her to be objectified and sexualised.
Yeo Ri smiled at his action. "I have so many of those. I wish they'd stop coming," she sighed.
"...This isn't the first time it happened, is it?"
Yeo Ri shrugged nonchalantly, "I get them sometimes. Like when I walk in town, or in front of the school. Sometimes schoolmates introduce them to me because the companies contacted them through SNS," Yeo Ri explained. "I heard this from Min Chae, but apparently there's a fanpage of me on SNS. Isn't it funny? I'm not even a celebrity," she chuckled. Although her tone was light, it sounded more like she was complaining to him.
Yeo Ri didn't have a social media, but people sometimes take pictures of her and uploaded them online. This would lead to the agencies discovering her, then they would send a personnel for scouting. Yeo Ri refused every time, but she had no shortage of offers. Rather, they kept coming. At some point, she had to tell them to stop uploading pictures of her without permission, and they did stop. However, they did not take down the old pictures.
Hyuk nodded in understanding. He had seen one of those pictures circulating online a while back. Of course, he didn't just sit still and do nothing; he reported the sh*t out of them and made them take the picture down. Now that he had found out one of the sources of Yeo Ri's breach of privacy, the 'fanpage' was probably going to suffer the same fate.
Silently, he began plotting his attack...
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