Chapter 52
***
The filming location for the 1.3-million-subscriber YouTuber and the idol who would soon surge back into the spotlight was Gangwon Province.
"You lived in Gangwon Province?"
"Yes. I lived in Gangwon Province until my parents passed away."
Ppeuhong was quite surprised.
For good reason—no matter how you looked at her, Wan seemed like she'd been living the life of a city girl since the day she was born.
"Then maybe you know how to light a fire in the hearth?"
"No, how would I know that...? I lived in an apartment too?!"
Then I lived with my aunt in an officetel.
Ppeuhong giggled at the flustered Wan and pointed at the hearth.
"But if you can't get that thing lit, we won't be able to eat dinner tonight."
"......"
Ppeuhong's content, titled Have You Lived in the Countryside?, is, literally, a healing program where they spend three days in the countryside cooking all three meals themselves.
Ppeuhong's banter.
It was a fairly popular show that drew viewers in by showing how the cast members, who weren't used to country life, adapted.
However, because it showed everything raw and unfiltered, idols who needed to maintain an air of mystique for the public rarely appeared on it.
And now some pretty idols who were obviously from the city had appeared—how could that not be entertaining?
-Those work pants suit her way better than I expected.
-Miyabi's Japanese, so why is she eating corn so well?
ㄴCorn exists in Japan too;;;
Their unfiltered selves on live streams.
The idols with their sophisticated looks fit the countryside better than expected.
Scenes like the members linking arms and going out to the market to chat casually with the grandmothers.
Or pouting and acting cute at the woman selling the wild greens in order to knock 500 won off the price.
Even the scenes where they sampled acorn jelly at the market and gave long-winded tasting reviews like they were on a cooking show.
Every single part was right up Ppeuhong's alley.
'They're more entertaining than I thought?'
The highlight among them was this.
The scene where they had to cook rice over the hearth.
Naturally, not a single one of them knew how to cook rice in a cauldron.
Potatoes for breakfast.
Corn for lunch.
All the members wanted to eat rice.
Then.
"I'll try."
Wan stepped forward.
The leader, who had the most urban charm out of all the members.
With her cold, sharp beauty, she listened to Ppeuhong's explanation one more time and lit a fire in the hearth.
"Huh?"
"It worked on the first try?"
"It's not that hard...?"
Gather some dry twigs, light some newspaper, and put it inside.
Then fan it to get the flames going.
And just like that, she cooked rice in the cauldron.
"Wow. Amazing. I think you're the best out of everyone who's been on before."
"Ahaha... This is easier than I expected! Am I naturally suited to country life?"
Ppeuhong tilted his head, but either way it was a good thing.
Looks like they'd be able to eat a proper dinner on the first day.
"But that's not the end of it."
Taking care of all three meals in the countryside isn't easy.
They still had a lot left to do.
"Unnie, bring me some eggs. You can make rolled omelet with those, right?"
"Got it."
"Mei, trim the greens."
"Okay, unnie!"
"Yuri. You... just dance over there."
"Why am I the only one?!"
While Yuri danced in the yard with a tearful face, Wan gave orders to the members like a proper leader.
Viewers were impressed by how everyone moved in perfect coordination under her direction.
-Wow, the leader really is a leader.
-But why is Yuri the only one dancing over there?
-Don't you know what a totem is?
-Yuri's hilarious, and she's still dancing well in the middle of all that.
The live viewers were loving it.
Ppeuhong grinned.
If things kept going like this, the views would be great...
"Kyaaaaaa!!"
"What! What is it!"
"A bug! A bug!"
Miyabi, who had gone into the chicken coop, came out screaming at the top of her lungs.
She was Aces' eldest sister and always had a gentle demeanor, so seeing her tremble over a bug no bigger than a finger was funny—and cute.
"W-What do I do!!"
Yuri, who was still dancing, ignored her.
Wan strode over.
Then, without a care, she grabbed the unidentified bug with a gloved hand and flicked it away.
-What a boss
-As expected of the leader...!!
-She has a whole different kind of presence!!
"Done, right?"
"Uh, y-yeah... y-yeah."
The viewers were once again amazed by how Wan said that and just walked off.
-Why is she so good at this?
-Because she's from the countryside.
-No, I heard she lived in an apartment...
No matter how you looked at it, she seemed like she had grown up rolling around in nature in the countryside.
They began to look forward to it.
How far these idols could go
.
.
.
"Wan. Tell the truth. You lived in the countryside with your aunt, didn't you?"
"Isn't your family home a thatched-roof house?"
"I feel like you were raising cows before you became a trainee..."
The members' suspicious gazes.
Wan was flustered.
'No, it's seriously easy, so why...!'
Mission: Boil cow feed and give it to the cows.
The cows wolfed down the gruel Wan had boiled as if possessed by a ravenous hunger.
It was such perfect gruel that even a cattle owner who had raised cows for ten years couldn't match it.
Mission: Repair the roof of the house of a grandmother who lived alone, together with the hardware store owner.
The hardware store owner even asked if she might want to work with him whenever she had time.
Mission: Repair the furniture at the village senior center.
The grandmothers marveled that she'd fixed it so perfectly.
Many other missions.
Under Wan's guidance, only perfect successes remained.
Ppeuhong, who had set it up, was impressed, and the viewers were stunned.
Punishments for mission failures were of no concern anymore.
-What the hell was her previous job...?
-I think she's more dexterous than I am?
-Did she spend about ten years working on construction sites or something...
-Holy crap, I raise cows at home, but she looks like she can boil gruel better than me...?
Even Wan felt that maybe being an idol wasn't her true calling, and that she'd be even better suited to doing this kind of work in the countryside.
The honorary youth association president hat and armband the village chief had given her suited Wan quite well.
Anyway, the broadcast went quite well.
The feats carried out under the great leader Wan's orders had made Aces' table rich with food.
Compared to the meals of previous cast members, it was literally a feast.
"The wraps are good."
"The old lady next door gave them to us."
The vegetables and doenjang Wan got in return for quickly fixing the grandmother's doghouse, which she had come across while out for a walk and which was on the verge of collapsing.
Mei, munching on a crunchy green chili, looked at Wan with sparkling eyes.
"Unnie... you're so cool..."
"Hmph. Praise me more."
"Unnie... make a cat tower for our Myongie..."
"...Just buy one online."
"Wan, fix the broken door at our dorm..."
"You broke it by ramming into it...!! You fix it!"
"Wan, my mom said our roof is shaking..."
"You're telling me to go on a business trip all the way to Fukuoka?!"
When the members started making requests with sparkling eyes, Wan got emotional.
Was this really the kind of favor you asked an idol for?
"...I'm an idol...!!"
Her emotional reaction was perfectly captured on camera.
***
"Huh."
After the shoot ended, it was time for the company dinner.
While the Aces members were happily digging into the buffet at another table, I watched the footage from Ppeuhong's filming crew.
It had only been a day since it was uploaded, and the view count had already surpassed 2.2 million.
Have You Lived in the Countryside? was already a popular series, but this was a huge hit.
"It's more popular than I expected."
"Yes. I didn't expect it to blow up this much either."
Ppeuhong was quite pleased.
Well, it had more than twice the views of the other videos, so that was only natural.
"So we've decided to do other content together next time too."
I could already see Ppeuhong talking about all sorts of different concepts for the future.
No matter what they chose, it would be a successful shoot.
That was momentum.
Just look at YouTube right now—the views on the Aces channel they had been running on their own were skyrocketing, weren't they?
At this point, you could say they'd succeeded in going viral again.
"But, teacher."
"Yes?"
"Aces, I heard the teacher predicted you'd make a comeback?"
"You heard?"
"Yes. Wan came by and told me before the shoot."
Just then.
I saw the staff bustling around near the buffet entrance.
"Noa-ssi."
"Huh?"
It was Han Yuna.
She, in her signature neat semi-formal outfit, was walking this way.
When the brusque-looking woman with beauty no less striking than any celebrity appeared, the filming crew stirred a little.
"The person you dated before!"
"Haha. I saw you when we were together before, right? Welcome, Yuna. I was actually going to say we should meet later anyway."
"If you'd let me know, I would have gone out to meet you..."
"Ah, you're probably busy. I was just going to suggest we grab a cup of coffee if you had time."
"I'm totally free."
The woman behind her, who seemed to be her secretary, looked flustered.
Free, my ass.
The meeting starts in three minutes.
"You're not busy?"
"I'm not busy."
"Don't you have investors to meet?"
"...We can meet later if you want."
"What do you mean, 'it's fine'? Go on already. I'll wait until your meeting is over."
"Understood. Then please wait for me for sure. The coffee at our hotel is good too."
"Yes, yes."
Only after promising several times did Han Yuna finally walk away.
Only after seeing her leave with her secretary did Ppeuhong exclaim in admiration.
"What does that person do?"
"She's the hotel owner."
"...Eh?! Wait a second. The owner of this hotel is from a top-tier chaebol family..."
"Yes. She's the chairman's daughter."
"Wow..."
Ppeuhong looked quite surprised.
And then, eyes sparkling, Ppeuhong asked me,
"What kind of relationship do you have with her?"
"We're just friends..."
"Teacher Kang!"
Just then, a familiar voice called out.
It was PD Jang Woo-gyeong.
The woman standing next to him was the one I'd seen in his future.
It was Jang Woo-gyeong's wife.
"This is her."
"Ah... you're the teacher... Thank you. It's nice to finally greet you like this. I was actually planning to visit you soon anyway."
"Haha. I'm glad to see you're healthy."
"Yes. The surgery went well, and they say he's fully recovered now. On top of that, this drama wrapped up well, so a promotion is also expected."
"Oh-ho..."
"So we came here for a celebratory meal."
That's definitely worth celebrating.
I held out a card to Jang Woo-gyeong.
"Huh? What is this for...?"
"I'll take a look for you as a little celebration."
"Haha! Thank you! Then...!!"
When Jang Woo-gyeong turned the card over, I told him the future I had seen earlier.
"The broadcast station is picking a drama filming location right now, isn't it? You're probably looking all over to buy new land."
"Oh... yes, that's right. But why do you ask..."
"Jang PD... no, Director Jang's faction, and Executive Director Choi Jun-cheol's side are pushing Anyang."
"Yes, that's right. The price is good there, and the location is good too... but is there some issue with it?"
"There's an archaeological site there."
Of course, construction gets halted.
Executive Director Choi takes responsibility and resigns.
And naturally, Director Jang, now a kite with its string cut, gets shoved into a dead-end post.
"So you know what that means, right?"
Whether you ditch Executive Director Choi and switch sides, or persuade them to buy a different location instead.
You have to choose.
"You have to make a choice."