Payback

As I headed to the big shopping mall where my part-time job was, all I had in my head was the madman. Even when I tried to calm down, I was so angry that my veins popped out in my hand holding the steering wheel. Fortunately, the manager didn’t talk to me because he was talking on the phone with the company, the office of the movie studio, and PD Jung to make schedules for Hansoo’s movie appearance.

He seemed to be saying something, but I had different stuff on my mind, and I just said ‘yes, yes’ from time to time until we had almost reached our destination, when there was something that popped into my ears when he was talking to someone in the company. 

“Uhahaha~ It’s only been a month since he entered the entertainment industry, so it’s amazing that he’s already been cast in a movie. Hahaha, it’s nothing. Not a big deal. Of course, the director did not spare much praise for Taemin’s performance, but isn’t that what any acting genius can do? Chief Park knows it right, if you’re a genius, it’s easy to get a movie role in a month. Uhahaha~”

Of course, the manager’s bragging about me to the crybaby Chief Park was not a surprise. I wanted to cover my ears with the manager’s nonsense as he kept emphasizing the ‘acting genius’ in me. Just as I was thinking of taking his phone away if he kept saying stuff like that, the manager, who had been listening to the other person for a long time, asked.

“So can we extend the contract again? This time, not a month, but a little longer, right? Yes? He proved that he’s an acting genius in just one month, so at least a year or more… Yes? Do I need to get approval from Director Yoon?”

I subconsciously turned my sharp eyes to Director Yoon’s name. Then the manager glanced back at me while speaking in a bewildered voice. 

“Ah, does Director Yoon check all the contracts of these new hires? … No, it’s not that I’m not confident, I’m just a little surprised. … Yes? You said he might have to do an acting test in front of Director Yoon?!”

The manager, who had been yelling loudly, was conscious of myself and struggled to laugh.

“It’s our pleasure if D-D-Director Yoon is interested. Ha. Ha. Ha.”

Contrary to his smile, the manager’s face turned white at Director Yoon’s name. People at the company had a rough idea of ​​him, but to me, only one name came to mind.

Fuck, the madman.

I muttered to myself again while the manager turned his head to make sure I couldn’t hear him, and whispered.

“Does Director Yoon perhaps have any plans for a long-term business trip? … Ah, I heard he would only be in Korea from now on, so Chief Park was crying … Haha, yes I know you were joking about crying. Of course, I know you won’t cry if you go to the company’s production studio and work overtime like today. You are not the kind of person who would cry because you miss your pretty wife since you are newlyweds! Chief Park is so manly!”

In the way he exaggerated my acting, he praised Chief Park. Then he laughed and asked while the other person was in a good mood. 

“In that sense, if there is any alcohol that Director Yoon likes, please let me know… Yes? A bribe? Oh, absolutely not. I’m just a drinker, I’m just trying to figure out what kind of alcohol the executives like…”

Peeking at me again, he raised his voice back to a normal tone.

“Of course, our Taemin is an acting genius, so contract extension is a given. Hahaha~ So, what meat part does Director Yoon like?”

——— 

After the manager persistently asked for the color of socks that Director Yoon likes, we finally arrived at the destination.

Slam! As I closed the car door and followed him through the parking lot, I saw him tilting his head. Perhaps he did not understand something that he found out by bothering Chief Park for a long time. At the same time, he guided me to the waiting room with familiarity. The person in charge immediately inquired whether I had been here and handed over the mascot suit I needed. I was urged to change quickly and went into a warehouse-like room, but the manager who followed me apologized first.

“I’m sorry for making you do this. It was something you didn’t need to do since it was decided for you to appear in a movie, but it couldn’t be canceled…”

“It’s fine.” 

I heard his voice of concern as I took off my jacket with the costume covered in dark fur next to me.

“No, this is not as easy as you think. On the surface, you think you just have to wear the costume and stand there but…”

“Heavy, suffocating, sweaty, stinks because it doesn’t get washed, passers-by would hit it, and the kids would run to it. Like that?”

“You… you’re well aware?” 

He widened his eyes in surprise as I replied that I had done it before.

“What? Have you ever worked part-time in a mascot suit? Aiya, what on earth haven’t you done? You worked so hard to earn money. Haha, anyone woulld think that you owed a loan.”

“I owed a loan.”

“…” 

“…”

“E-gfjiis?”

P cbvvfv. Llr ojmf tjgvfcfv obg j wbwfca jcv tf jrxfv lc j ibk nblmf.

“Po sbe tjnfc’a qjlv la sfa…” 

“P qjlv la jii boo.”

C rlut bo vffq gfilfo frmjqfv tlr ilqr.

“Qtfk, atja’r j gfilfo. Rb, bo mbegrf, lo sbe tjnf vfyar, P mjc qjs atfw boo abufatfg, yea lo sbe ralii tjnf vfyar, sbe mjc’a vb sbeg pby qgbqfgis.”

He smiled bitterly and suddenly asked in a trembling voice. 

“Then… did you lose your house too?”

Looking at his eyes that were about to cry, I knew I shouldn’t talk about the house in front of him, even as a joke. Originally I had no house, but to reassure him, I changed the topic and talked about what he was talking about on the phone with Chief Park.

“Did Chief Park say anything strange about Director Yoon?”

“Yes? Ah… that’s a little…” 

He tilted his head again. I glanced at him while he spoke as I peeled off my t-shirt over his head, and unbuckled my pants.

“Recently, Director Yoon kept drawing strange patterns on paper because he was looking for something. It seemed that he saw it at a glance a few years ago. Then I just went through works related to India and found it and liked it.”

India? I took off his pants, draped it over a chair, and bent over to pick up the mascot costume. The manager’s voice continued from behind.

“But looking at the pattern, it seemed like Director Yoon was cursing. I heard something like ‘shiva*’… So he might not like it, so I didn’t ask in detail. I’m thinking of offering a sculpture of an Indian elephant if he likes it… Huh? You!!” 

*sounds like ‘fuck’ in korean (sshibal)

I tucked one leg into the costume and suddenly I turned my head to the manager’s voice calling me out loud. He pointed at me and his eyes widened in astonishment. While I straightened my body, wondering what was wrong, he hurriedly came up to me and grabbed my shoulder and turned me around.

“T-Taemin! You, you, you have a tattoo?”

Tattoo? Ah… Then I remembered a part of my body that I had completely forgotten. A tattoo placed exactly below the waist and above the buttocks. If I put on my pants properly, it couldn’t be seen at first glance, so no one would notice unless I took off my clothes completely. 

If you ask me why I got my tattoo in that position, the reason was simple. When I had been in the biker gang before, there were girls who were always flocking around. The day before we went to get a tattoo as a group, I accidentally overheard some girls talking about tattoos. A tattoo on the bottom of the waist, showing a little when wearing pants, was apparently really sexy.

After hearing that, I got a tattoo to see if I could be popular, but later I found out that they were talking about women. It meant that if a woman got a tattoo in that position, she would look sexy. In the end, I was the idiot. Eyes open vertically in the middle and unfamiliar long letters below them. The meaning was the name of the ‘God of Destruction’, but no one recognized it. Of course, the manager didn’t recognize it either.

“Argh! It’s a tattoo! What the hell is this?!”

“The God of Destruction.” 

“… I wasn’t asking that.”

The grim-faced manager immediately pulled his hair.

“Ugh! It’s a tattoo! Erase with a laser? No, I heard that it costs a lot of money… First of all, when filming, cover it with plaster…”

I left the manager to worry alone and started putting on the mascot suit again. As I hung the clothes on my shoulders, the weight and stiffness that made it difficult to move became familiar to me. I would be sweaty in a few hours. When I picked up a large mascot head and put it on my head, I remembered the time I wore the old mascot suit and handed out flyers. It was more well-received by people when I wore the costume than when I just handed flyers out. Perhaps they were assured by his cute appearance. 

Assurance? In an instant, something flashed and came to mind. Oh yes, there was no need to gather evidence, I just had to go in and check it myself.

“Manager.”

I called the manager, who was still thinking about the tattoo, and asked him about what I had heard earlier.

“Does the company have a separate production?” 

“Ah, yes. Dream is also doing another production. The production office is at xx around here. But the security is very strict. I went to meet some producers before, but I couldn’t even get through the front door.”

Then the manager complained about the security there, but it didn’t really bother me. Only one came to mind.

That guy must be working overtime there today.

——— 

The most difficult thing about wearing a mascot suit was that you have to keep moving your body. If you stand still, you can only be seen as a giant doll, so people would ask, ‘What is that?’ It’s funny that you have to keep moving in order to set up a proper backdrop for the stage, but I didn’t feel that it was difficult even if I pretended to be cute on stage for several hours. My mind was full of thoughts about the madman. When I went down the stage after finishing the work that took longer than expected, a person-in-charge was talking with the manager. As I got closer, the manager was unilaterally angry rather than talking.

“No, how can he work overtime like this? What a tight schedule our Taemin has!”

After that, my only schedule was to go home. The in-charge who didn’t know that patted the manager’s arm and apologized.

“I’m sorry. The singer who was supposed to come in the middle came two hours late, so we had no choice.” 

“Tsk, the singer who sang only two songs? I don’t even know his name.”

“Right? He’s not even famous, but he came so late that I thought we shouldn’t have called him. Rather than that, CEO Choi, I’m sorry, so I put more money in, so you can relieve my anger…”

“You don’t have to pay me more.”

As I intervened, the two of them turned their eyes at the same time, saying, ‘Eh?’ I took off the smelly doll head and asked the in-charge. 

“Instead, lend me the mascot suit for a few hours.”

Then the manager asked, more surprised than the person-in-charge.

“Hm? Why are you wearing the costume?!”

“I’m going to surprise someone.” 

“Who?”

“The madman.”

———

The company’s production office that the manager told me, while asking me to check if things were going well, wasn’t far from where I worked part-time. If I took off the costume, I needed a car because I had a lot of luggage to carry, but fortunately it was close, so I was able to wear it. All the eyes of people on the street were focused on me, probably because I was holding a balloon I got at the part-time job event in one hand. Except for the occasional children squealing for balloons, I arrived at my destination without any problems. There was also a bakery in front of the company. I went into a place that wasn’t closed yet and said what I needed right away. 

“A cake box please.”

Surprised by the mascot suit, the waiter asked with wide eyes.

“Yes? C-cake?”

“No. Cake box. I just need a box.” 

Dazed, the waiter stood up crookedly and tapped the table threateningly. However, as if the mascot with balloons looked funny, the employee immediately smiled and took a box from the back and brought it to me.

“Just take it.”

When everything was ready, I went to the production office with the cake box filled with stones and a balloon. Of course, I was stopped in front of the door, but I had already thought of an excuse to go in easily.

“It’s a delivery to Dream’s Chief Park. If you tell him ‘beloved darling’ sent it, he would know.” 

As soon as the security guard contacted the upper management, I was let in. I got on the elevator to go to the 8th floor where the office was located.

That madman bastard, let’s listen to how shameless your excuses will be.

I was barely holding back the rising anger, but the door opened with a ding sound. And I ran into Chief Park, who was waiting right in front of the door. As soon as he saw me, his smile widened and he raised his voice.

“Did my darling send it? Yes?” 

Instead of answering, I looked around.

‘Dream Production’

A nameplate appeared next to a nearby glass door. It was also a place where you had to enter with a card key, but it seems that Chief Park, who just came out, opened the door. I gave him a balloon and a stone cake, and walked away. He staggered at the unexpected weight of the cake, but his hands floundered in the air to catch the balloons that had been scattered.

While he was distracted, I slipped through the open door with ease. There were hardly any people left in the office after work hours, so it wasn’t difficult to check if anyone was looking for them. So where was he? I crossed the large office and looked into the various conference rooms before stopping in front of a small conference room. A person looking at a laptop with various documents sitting on a long table. When I found him, I pushed through the glass door without hesitation. And I spoke clearly, considering the voice that would be heard indistinctly because of the mascot head. 

“Director Yoon.”

Perhaps he was preoccupied with his work, the madman answered while staring at the monitor.

“What?”

He replied dryly and added, moving the mouse around. 

“Did you find the material I was talking about?”

He kindly let me know that he mistook me for an employee.

“No. I don’t know what the material Director Yoon is talking about.”

I added, grinding my teeth as I spoke. 

“Ah, I think I would know if it was the material Director Han Jay said.”

For a moment, his movements stopped. He took off his glasses and slowly lifted his head, as if he had finally recognized who I was.

“You, how are you here…”

Raising his head indifferently, he suddenly stiffened with his hand holding his glasses in the air. 

“Why? Are you surprised to see the fool you’ve been deceiving appear in front of you?”

I tried to lower my angry voice and asked, but his reaction was a bit strange. He must have noticed it was me a while ago, but it looked like there was something he hadn’t expected. Not like his usual self at all. Those startled eyes. Why was he like that, instead of me who was supposed to be angry? After a while as he thought about it, he let out a low voice.

“… Fuck, it was you?”