NOVEL WEB Chapter 4
Episode 4
The responding police officers quickly showed up with tools to recover the wallet.
“So you’re saying the wallet fell through that gap in the railing, right?”
“…Yes, it slipped through the gap at the bottom of the railing.”
“What was inside the wallet?”
She glanced nervously between the police and me before answering.
“…One million won.”
Well, that’s quite an impressive stash.
I lowered my head deeply to the police.
“Please, officers, I beg you.”
“Sigh… It’s definitely safer to use cards or digital payments for stuff like this. Losing cash is just a nightmare… Anyway, we’ll check it out.”
“I really appreciate it, even though you must be busy.”
“It’s our job, really.”
The oldest-looking middle-aged police officer said this and began searching for the wallet with his colleagues.
Now that was a reassuring sight.
“Hey, what if you try to pick it up yourself? Not joking—you might actually die doing that. Seriously.”
“…But police officers need to catch criminals, right? They shouldn’t be busy picking up wallets.”
“Finding a wallet is one thing; if you end up falling and being discovered as a corpse, that’s a much bigger problem.”
What kind of life does one have to lead to think climbing a bridge railing alone is a reasonable decision?
“I’d rather try to handle it myself than ask someone for help. I don’t want to owe anyone anything… I don’t even have the ability to repay.”
Seeing her determination to do it alone seemed like a sign of independence, but that wasn’t it at all.
This girl’s self-esteem was hitting rock bottom.
With a face that looked like she could smoke two packs a day, she acted like a nervous meerkat.
For someone like me who needed to take advantage of the situation, her personality was quite welcome.
She seemed indecisive and pessimistic, but under enough pressure, I felt like she would just eagerly follow along.
I wet my lips slightly and cleared my throat.
“Don’t think of it as a heavy word like ‘debt.’”
Gyeoul looked up at me.
“When you encounter obstacles, the effort and risk you have to take can be immense, but for someone else, it could be relatively easy.”
Crisis, after all, is ultimately relative.
“I’m not expecting a grand reward; just a simple ‘thank you’ would be a sufficient reward… So it’s okay to ask for help.”
“One word is enough as a reward, you know. So, it’s okay to ask me.”
“Then just ask me.”
“You’re lucky to be introduced to Cheon Jong-hoon.”
“I’m glad to get a job referral.”
“Let’s become each other’s honey-sucking buddies.”
With her puffy eyes staring at the night sky, she glanced my way and asked.
“My name is Han Gyeoul. How should I address you?”
“Just call me Uncle.”
“But you don’t seem like an uncle,”
Gyeoul muttered softly, but it was quiet enough that everyone heard.
At least she seemed to be friendly, so that was a relief.
“You said you came from the countryside, right? Wasn’t there an adult with you? Or maybe a friend living in Seoul?”
“Ah… my parents aren’t here, and my grandfather finds it hard to come up, so I came alone. I don’t have any friends…”
‘What were you thinking, coming up here all alone at such a young age?’ I didn’t want to be that kind of condescending advisor.
Honestly, I was grateful that she had the guts to come up alone.
Because that gives me a chance to slide in.
If she had a guardian, no matter how much I tried to chat her up, they’d suspect my ulterior motives.
“Wow, you’ve made a big decision.”
I supported her decision like a pure-hearted good guy.
“My grandfather gave me the money he saved up because I wanted to come, but what if I lose such money… boo hoo.”
Tears that had stopped were flowing again.
“Oh dear… it’s okay, the police will help you find it.”
I pulled out a tissue I had stashed in my pocket and handed it to Gyeoul.
She bowed her head and started blowing her nose.
The sounds of police searching for a wallet and her blowing her nose echoed off the bridge in the early dawn.
By the way, from what I’ve heard, this winter girl’s planning to audition for CH tomorrow.
That means she’s interested in becoming a trainee, so persuading her won’t be too hard.
But it wasn’t all good news.
The status window doesn’t lie, and with her level of talent, she’d easily pass the CH audition.
The problem arises from there.
If she passes the audition and starts her trainee life, I won’t have the chance to swoop in and make a deal with Cheon Jong-hoon.
My plan to introduce her to Cheon Jong-hoon and make a profit faces a snag.
Should I persuade her that SS is a more attractive agency than CH?
Or should I pressure her to at least get an introduction first and secure a promise?
Should I pressure her into making a promise?
I pondered over what method to choose.
“Excuse me, student, could you come here for a moment?”
Just then, the police seems to have finished their search and called her over.
“It looks like they found something. Let’s go.”
The kind middle-aged police officer spoke in a voice full of regret.
“By the way, student, are you sure you dropped it over there?”
Sensing an unsettling atmosphere, Gyeoul clasped her hands as if in prayer and said, “Yes…, my wallet slipped out from that compartment.”
“We checked everything on camera, but unfortunately, it’s not visible.”
The middle-aged officer explained while kindly showing the recorded footage.
“If it had fallen from that compartment, the only places it could go would be here or onto the net beside it. But as you can see, there’s nothing there.”
“Uh, then… um.”
Gyeoul’s pupils shook like candle flames.
Seeing her like that, the officer spoke with concern.
“First, I’ll give you a ride home. Where do you live?”
“Home? Um… it’s a bit far, so it’s okay.”
“Even if it’s a bit far, it’s fine. Where is it?”
“Actually, it’s not just a bit far, it’s very far.”
“And where would that be?”
“…Jeonnam.”
When the name of a place that takes at least 3 hours and 40 minutes by express bus came up, the officer’s eyes, once filled with kindness, changed.
A wallet full of cash and a home far from Seoul.
She had the typical delinquent fashion and was a minor.
She was a textbook perfect runaway.
“Jeonnam? Huh… where are your guardians? They should know about this situation.”
Sensing that things were taking a strange turn, Gyeoul began to sweat profusely.
Then, her pupils began to shake like crazy as she suddenly looked at me and shouted, “Th-This person is my guardian!”
Since when did I become her guardian?
It was true that I wanted to get a bit closer to use her, but I didn’t want to get that close, as she said.
I wanted to take advantage of Gyeoul without taking any responsibility.
I just wanted to reap the benefits.
The middle-aged policeman looked at me and Gyeoul alternately with suspicion and asked, “Excuse me, but what is your relationship?”
A teenager and someone in their mid-twenties. An ambiguous age gap.
Beauty worthy of trying out to be a trainee and an ordinary face.
No matter where I looked, it was a relationship that didn’t seem like family.
Here, even if I tried to agree with Gyeoul and called myself her guardian, that police officer would easily uncover that it was no relationship at all if he set his mind to it.
If caught, it was obvious I wouldn’t receive a good impression.
If luck turned against me, I could get tangled up in some weird crime situation.
No matter how I thought about it, the risk was greater compared to the return of Gyeoul’s kindness.
After finishing my cost-benefit analysis and trying to draw a line, I locked eyes with Gyeoul.
She looked at me, her eyes welling up with tears, shaking her head.
It seemed quite troublesome if it got found out that she had no guardian and a call went to Grandfather.
After all, this loser, who didn’t want to burden the police, just haphazardly called a guy he’d just met his guardian.
What would happen if a call went to Gyeoul’s grandfather right now?
If I were Grandfather, I’d probably drop everything and rush to Seoul if I heard the news that my granddaughter, alone in the city, lost her wallet and was broke.
Or he might send another adult.
Either way, it would make the audition harder to pull off.
For me, making the audition harder was a good thing.
Only by losing the opportunity and becoming desperate would they easily accept my offer to help.
However, having a guardian show up could create new variables.
Both choices had their pros and cons, but my heart leaned towards the latter option which carried less risk.
That’s when such thoughts crossed my mind.
In the previous chapter, I realized that during my years in the entertainment industry, I had never seen this girl named Gyeoul.
I had checked whether any small-time or insignificant idols had come through for market research.
There was no way that a trainee from the infamous CH girl group factory with such talent wouldn’t have debuted, meaning that Gyeoul’s audition must have failed somehow, and her debut was scrapped.
Even if I didn’t get involved, if her audition fell through, the risk for raising my favorability disappeared.
Once I reached that point in thought, I was sure where to place my bets.
Yeah, if I was going to maintain this line of empathy while pretending to be a futile suicide attempt, then let’s stick with it.
I locked eyes with Gyeoul again.
I sent her a look filled with the determination to tell her to trust me.
She gently nodded, as if to say she would believe me.
Alright. I’ll show her something.