Chapter 103: Sang-Hyeons Reward (2)
While living in the slums, certain people often came to visit.
Knock. Knock.
Those people would knock on the door and say things like, "May the holy spirit be with you. God will lead you to heaven."
They were various religious missionaries. The impression of them remained strong in Sang-Hyeon's childhood. They always came to the front doors, begged, and then were chased away by Sang-Hyeon's grandmother. At that time, Sang-Hyeon struggled to understand why his grandmother always harshly turned them away.
"Grandma, you don't want to go to heaven?"
Sang-Hyeon was worried because even when he was young, he could tell that his grandmother didn't have much time left with him. He was worried about what would happen if his grandmother didn't believe and fell into hell with no retribution. He thought his grandmother should have faith just to be safe.
At times like this, Sang-Hyeon's grandmother always responded, "You baby fool, no matter how much people moan and groan about their life, humans are saved by other humans. Instead of those unknown beings watching us from the sky, just be good to your neighbors and people around you."
Neighbors? Sang-Hyeon was confused because he thought God would be better help than anyone around him.
'That's what I used to think.'
The three were inside the car Ju-Hyeok drove. Sang-Hyeon looked outside at the green scenery after leaving the city. He could see his puffy eyes in the reflection of the window.
'Yeah, you were right, Grandma. You were telling the truth the whole time.'
Sang-Hyeon continued to stare outside as if his eyes were glued to the window. Ji-Ah looked back and saw him, but didn't bother him. She put her earphones in and stared outside at the window on the other side.
Only Ju-Hyeok, the driver, was being talkative.
"Wow, look at the view! Do you see that?"
No one was listening to him.
"Woah! Look at that mountain!"
***
Sang-Hyeon finally turned around after they came to a rest stop while Ji-Ah took her earphones out as she woke up.
After parking the car, Ju-Hyeok was the first to come out and shouted, "I'm getting potatoes! Don't get the same thing!"
"Wow... what a child."
Ji-Ah shook her head as Ju-Hyeok ran off.
"Why can't we get the same thing?"
Sang-Hyeok followed Ju-Hyeok toward the potato stand. When the three returned, Ju-Hyeok had butter-grilled squid, Ji-Ah had a kebab with rice cakes and sausage on it, and Sang-Hyeon had potatoes.
"... Why do you have squid?" Sang-Hyeon asked Ju-Hyeok.
"Are you being sarcastic?"
"?"
"Hmph. Well, you insisted on getting the potatoes, so what choice did I have?"
"You can just have it too."
"Argh."
Ju-Hyeok's expression looked like he wanted to punch Sang-Hyeon.
"Hey, we need to divide up these kinds of food."
Ju-Hyeok gave him a squid and took a potato for himself. Ji-Ah received a squid as well.
"Take a rice cake."
"..."
Ji-Ah had a kebab with rice cakes and sausages. Ju-Hyeok had to make a decision between the two. Eighty percent of the time, Ju-Hyeok would choose the sausage. However, Ji-Ah was adamant about wanting the sausage and slobbered all over it. He held back his tears and chose the rice cake.
Ji-Ah took Sang-Hyeon's potato and gave him a sausage.
"Huh? You said you slobbered all over it?!"
"I lied, Mr. Ju-Hyeok."
"Argh!"
Ji-Ah laughed at Ju-Hyeok's genuine scream. Sang-Hyeon laughed too as he ate a sausage.
'... She's lying, right?'
He felt a little uneasy, but ate it anyway since it was delicious.
***
As soon as they digested their snacks and felt drowsy, Ju-Hyeok glanced at the GPS and said, "We're here."
They arrived at the cemetery. It was a cemetery made on top of a mountain. On the lower portion was a graveyard while a charnel house rested at the top.
Sang-Hyeon planned to place his grandmother there. It was somewhere he had in mind for a while. He could see the small village his grandmother missed up here.
'Grandma, we're here.'
Sang-Hyeon held tightly onto the urn and got off from the car. The caretaker, the old man he contacted earlier, greeted them.
"You're Yu Sang-Hyeon who called earlier, right?"
"Yes."
"Family of the late Lee Jung-Soon?"
"Yes. Ah... these are my friends."
"Ah, you're friends came along. Good friends. Let's go. I've left a space open."
Vroom.
The caretaker drove the three in a small vehicle similar to a golf cart to the top of the mountain.
The charnel house was exactly as how Sang-Hyeon pictured it. He could see the mountains and field beneath him.
"Wow..."
Ji-Ah and Ju-Hyeok were impressed as they looked down as well.
"The view is good, right? The location is excellent. It's not easy to find a place like this. You're lucky."
Crank.
As the stone lid opened up, a deep space was revealed inside. His grandmother's urn would go in there.
"Do you want to put it in yourself?"
"Yes," Sang-Hyeon nodded.
He climbed a ladder and brought the urn as his right hand trembled.
Tuk.
An elderly arm gave him a hand. The man could've said, 'Why is a young man such as yourself trembling so much?' But he responded with a smile.
"Let's put it in."
"Thank you," Sang-Hyeon nodded and thrust the urn inside.
Crank.
The heavy lid closed once more. The stone was labeled with the words, Lee Jung-Soon.
Tak. Tak.
As Sang-Hyeon climbed down the ladder, Ju-Hyeok patted him on the shoulder. The three bowed to his grandmother and walked back down the mountain.
Sang-Hyeon thought he could hear his grandmother scolding him for spending time on the dead instead of those alive around him.
"Ji-Ah, thanks for coming all the way out here."
"Then dinner is on you," she responded as if she already prepared that. "There's a famous pork stew restaurant nearby."
Ji-Ah pointed at a map and showed it on her phone. He was surprised that was all she asked for, but Ji-Ah did seem fond of pork stews.
"Alright, it's on me!"
Sang-Hyeon decided to go all-out since he was paid today.
***
One thing led to another and they drank at the restaurant, except for Ju-Hyeok, who had to drive back.
"I can't be the only one not drinking!"
He returned the rental car and joined them for round two. Excited from all the drinks, Ji-Ah told the two that she would pay for the next round. However, Sang-Hyeon paid without her knowing.
He felt a sense of responsibility since they worked for him. It seemed like Ji-Ah would forget everything since she was so drunk.
"Urgh... Almond..."
Like always, Sang-Hyeon piggy-backed Ji-Ah to the stairs and Ju-Hyeok piggy-backed her to her door. They suddenly faced a problem.
"Hey, Ji-Ah! Where are your keys?"
"Almoooond..."
"Are you a pokemon or something? Why are you repeating the same thing?!"
No matter how much Ju-Hyeok shouted at her, Ji-Ah wouldn't tell them where her keys were. Only a few words were getting through to her.
Ju-Hyeok placed her on the ground for now, "I'll find it."
Sang-Hyeon carefully looked through her backpack. It felt like he was intruding, but what choice did he have?
It was hard to find underneath the dim streetlight. He picked up his phone to use as a flashlight. As soon as the bright light lit up, he saw something.
'Huh?'
He saw something in the corner of his eye and was about to ignore it since it was dark, but he could see someone watching them. He felt uneasy because the figure looked like a man.
Sang-Hyeon gave up looking for the keys.
"Hey, looks like there's nothing we can do."
"What's the plan?"
"What can we do? We have to take her."
"What?!"
"I'll piggy-back her this time."
Sang-Hyeon picked her up while glancing at the man. He brought her to his house, placed her on the bed, and asked Ju-Hyeok, "Hey, did you see?"
He told Ju-Hyeok about the man in front of Ji-Ah's house.
"Uh... No? Was there someone like that?"
"... Yeah."
"Hmm..."
They were worried because she lived alone. Otherwise, it wouldn't be such a big deal.
"It's probably nothing. Anyways, I bet she'll be surprised once she wakes up."
Ju-Hyeok giggled as he lay on the sofa and stretched his back. He checked his phone out of habit as his eyes widened.
"Huh? Hey, there's an announcement."
"What announcement?"
"The collaboration with Bubblegum!"
***
[Project: Bubblegum's Road to Silver]
[Genius streamer vs. Genius gamer]
[Coach: Almond]
Sang-Hyeon's thumb fiddled around the screen with the announcement open. He couldn't believe it.
'I'll be streaming with Bubblegum...'
He knew it would happen, but seeing it as an official announcement was a different sensation.
"Hey, there's an article too."
"An article?"
Sang-Hyeon was confused. An article just for two streamers collaborating? There it was. A real article posted by Javer.
[A new content for Battle Large gamers - Bubblegum & Almond]
The article analyzed how Almond would carry Bubblegum as best as possible. Since Almond's strategy was gameplay based, they predicted he'd carry Bubblegum by playing together as a duo.
'They got it right.'
That was the content they had planned. Almond needed to gain more knowledge to teach someone else. Instead, their collaboration would highlight Almond's genius gameplay and Bubblegum's genius streaming.
— Wow, I'm so excited!
— Does it matter to Almond whether he has Bubblegum on his team?
└ His first win was as a solo squad. LOL
└ Oh yeah, right. LOL
— Is this long-term content?
└ I hope so…
— Almond, how far are you going up?
— ??? Small time? That's not me anymore.
There were a few comments on the article as well. Most of them were positive.
Sang-Hyeon glanced at the monitor in his room. He reminisced when he watched Bubblegum's stream in the dark with a can of beer.
Tuk.
Ju-Hyeok placed his hand on Sang-Hyeon's shoulder.
"He's the streamer you like, right? Bubblegum."
"Yeah, watching him puts me at ease."
"Actually, the first promo I wanted to do is related to him."
"Promo...?"
Sang-Hyeon recalled Ju-Hyeok complaining that the kimchi stew ad wasn't supposed to be their first promotion.
"Yeah. If the collaboration stream goes well, I'm going to push for you and Bubblegum to be Fantasia's new main models."
"...!" Sang-Hyeon's eyes widened.
There was a significant difference between video game models and main models.
"It's not a stretch. I talked with Manager Oh as well. He told us to be ready. Good luck."
Sang-Hyeon quickly nodded. He was ready.