Chapter 606

Influ 1 was still being scolded, his lips puffed out in a pout.

"Still, after that he finally came to his senses. He doesn't do that... what was it... train thing anymore."

"...Gacha..."

"Right, that! Back then, if there was something he wanted, he could've just bought it, but instead he'd keep pulling and pulling. Couldn't even win at claw machines."

"Oh my? My child spends all of their allowance on those too."

The conversation shifted toward the younger cousins obsessed with claw machines.

At any rate, Influ 1 really had gotten his life back on track afterward.

"You've paid off your debts, right? You're not still lying to the family about anything, are you?"

"I told you, it was aaaall a life lesson! I paid everything back recently by organizing a group order for Macau egg tarts."

Influ 1 wasn't discouraged in the slightest.

After all, he had doubled his followers by showing off his glamorous lifestyle on social media, and because his Macau travel photos had racked up so many likes, he'd organized a group purchase for a Macau egg tart brand that had recently entered Korea.

"Alright, that's enough. The poor kid went through so much. He must've been terrified."

"Graaandmaaa!"

Influ 1 had completely returned to everyday life.

"Since everyone's here, let's play a game."

"..."

His uncle pulled out a deck of hwatu cards.

"You! Absolutely not."

Influ 1's mother immediately tried to stop him.

But today was Lunar New Year, a day when the whole family was supposed to enjoy themselves.

"It's fine if he's just playing with the adults."

"You know how to count the score?"

"A liiiittle... Hehehe..."

Influ 1 joined the table.

"Ten won per point!"

The game of Go-Stop began.

"Ah, that was cheap! So cheap!"

"Who shuffled these cards? What's going on?"

"It's been so long, but the cards are really sticking together today."

Everyone played together cheerfully.

Influ 1 no longer looked like someone who had once been addicted to gambling.

Smiling, he reached down to pet his grandmother's dog that had wandered over.

"Happy... Aww, you're so cute."

"Hey, stop playing with Happy and make your move. It's your turn."

Once Influ 1 stopped petting them, Happy padded off elsewhere.

"Alright, here we go!"

Influ 1 laid down a Bonus Double Pi.

"I'm stopping."

The adults' expressions froze.

They had started at ten won per point, then raised the stakes to a hundred won just for fun.

"Now then... shall we calculate the score?"

Influ 1 began counting on his fingers.

"I swept up all the Bonus Pi and Bright cards, so that's thirty-two points to start with. Then I doubled twice earlier when I entered the hand, so that's four times... and I just called one Go, so double again. That makes my score two hundred fifty-six."

"Hey, hey... Even then, two hundred fifty-six points at a hundred won each is only twenty-five thousand six hundred..."

"Oh, come on, Uncle. You can't do that. You called Three Go earlier, remember?"

Influ 1 calculated the score as though possessed.

"And since I turned the game around... Uncle takes the penalty. You have to pay Aunt and Uncle's losses too. Oh, and you don't have a single Bright card, so that's double for Bright Penalty. As for Pi... what a shame. Only three cards, so another double for Pi Penalty. That brings my score to... one thousand twenty-four."

His uncle let the hwatu cards slip from his fingers onto the floor.

His face had turned pale.

"One thousand twenty-four points, multiplied by three players under the penalty... that's a total of three thousand seventy-two points. At one hundred won per point... exactly three hundred seven thousand two hundred won!"

Influ 1 beamed.

"I'll buy everyone ice cream today!"

Happy shook themselves vigorously by the cool front door.

At that moment...

A card tucked beneath Happy's collar quietly slipped free.

Without making a sound, it slid into Influ 1's sneaker.

The scene rewound to just moments earlier.

"Happy... Aww, you're so cute."

Pretending to pet Happy, Influ 1 secretly swapped the cards.

Originally, he had no playable card and was supposed to discard a worthless Pi, making his uncle's Three Go victory inevitable.

Instead...

Influ 1 produced the Bonus Double Pi he had hidden beneath his knee.

Happy had only been a decoy.

One of the Sakura cards lying on the edge of the table had disappeared.

From the dog's point of view, Influ 1 wore the happiest smile imaginable.

Then he looked directly toward the audience beyond the screen, as if speaking to them.

"Goeun?"

Influ 1's friend's narration played over the scene.

"The strongest card shark..."

"I've ever known."

Bang!

<Faster Than the Law 3>

With upbeat music playing, the movie finally came to an end.

The ending credits rolled.

Director: Gong Mujin

Detective Yoon: Yun Hyeonjo

Detective Kwak: Kwak Cheolsik

Chen Wei: Jun Cedric Valentian

The audience was still laughing.

Whenever people thought of gambling movies, this was the film everyone remembered first.

It paid homage to one of the greatest iconic lines ever, keeping the laughter going until the very end.

The only accurate description was that it was absolutely insane.

Influ 1 (Goeun): Han Yeoreum

At last...

Influ 1 had a name.

Applause echoed throughout the theater.

Myeong Jeha watched Han Yeoreum's name race upward across the screen.

Against the black background...

Only her name seemed dazzlingly white.

A story that existed because it was Han Yeoreum.

And a name no one had expected.

Things that hadn't existed before.

Surrounded by an audience still laughing, Myeong Jeha naturally joined in and laughed with them.

* * *

The applause continued for quite some time.

Everyone sitting here has watched so many movies they're probably sick of them.

Yet even people like that were leaving with smiles on their faces.

There was no need to wonder whether this film would be a success.

Triple ten million.

Just imagining that title being attached to me sent a thrill through my heart.

We stood up once more in front of the screen.

"Thank you all for staying until the very end. Please spread the word about our movie, and have a safe trip home!"

Only now did it seem Director Gong's nerves finally ease after trembling throughout the event.

We bowed deeply.

The lively music Noah Williams had composed continued echoing through the Dolby theater.

It truly felt like everything was only beginning.

* * *

"Oh my, oh my!"

Even as everyone was getting ready to leave, it had become something of a tradition to stop and chat for a while.

After all, opportunities like this—when everyone gathered in one place—were rare.

The first person to run over to me was Hong Suryeon, hugging an empty popcorn bucket.

"You missed me, didn't you?"

"Unni... just how many stairs do you skip at once?"

Was she using some kind of teleportation?

Hong Suryeon always claimed she only did romantic comedies because she hated rolling down mountains or doing physical action scenes.

Yet she was absurdly athletic.

I had seen it with my own eyes and still couldn't believe it.

"In the face of my beauty, even gravity becomes meaningless..."

Once again, I was amazed by Hong Suryeon's unique way of thinking.

Queens really are different....

"You must've been so grateful I came that you almost cried, right? Sorry if everyone had trouble concentrating because of my beauty. Even wearing dark clothes can't hide it."

"Thanks to you, the premiere lineup definitely became a lot more impressive."

I had naturally expected Do Gyeoul to attend.

The entire <Seoul Metropolitan City> cast had come, so it would've looked strange if she alone had been absent.

I didn't expect Eun Baekhap to come, though.

Just having Hong Suryeon and Eun Baekhap in the same place at the same time was enough to become a hot topic.

The aftermath of the Great Actress Holy Grail War was still going strong.

Just then, Eun Baekhap began walking toward me.

Saintly Eun Baekhap.

The way I looked at her had changed.

After everything that had happened, I'd concluded she really was an incredibly kind and warm person.

Maybe I should greet her respectfully.

"Ah, Baekhap—"

Before I could finish...

She cut me off.

"Don't go babbling and call me Unni. Unless you want to die."

She whispered the threat into my ear as she passed by before continuing toward Director Gong.

...When did I ever call you Unni?

Apparently she simply didn't want people hearing me call her that.

Still...

A saintly person was a saintly person.

"Suryeon, shall we get going now?"

"Oh my!"

"People can't even greet us properly because they're too busy looking at your beauty. You're such a sweetheart. Let's give them some space."

"Well, if that's the case, I suppose it can't be helped...."

I thanked Hong Suryeon's manager with my eyes.

"Kid. Long time no see."

"Ah... hello."

Yoo Jiuk, wearing a blue shirt, approached with his usual refreshing smile.

He held out his hand, so I gave him a high-five.

It was only our second meeting, but anyone watching would've assumed we were close friends.

"Been doing well?"

"Not thanks to you. I'll never forget what happened that day. I couldn't even sleep."

"So you're just another woman after all."

...What was he talking about?

"Couldn't sleep because you were thinking about your Oppa."

What on earth was he saying...?

"Still, don't fall for Oppa too hard. I'm leaving."

Leaving me completely dumbfounded, Yoo Jiuk walked off to greet Kwak Cheolsik.

Then someone suddenly grabbed my arm.

"What was all that supposed to mean? Seriously."

"I have no idea either...."

"Haa..."

Jun Cedric Valentian parted his lips as though he had a thousand things he wanted to say.

"You have no idea how much I suffered filming that... Haa... and yet you..."

"Long time no see, and now we're meeting again!"

Seo Eden suddenly appeared in front of me.

"Yeoreum!"

"Hey! Han Yeoreum!"

So Dami and Choo Gaeul had come too.

I happily greeted the familiar faces.

Then I immediately brought up the important topic.

"Did you see that headline earlier? Scary Kid..."

"Don't bring that up!"

Choo Gaeul's face instantly turned bright red.

It had been a while, but she was still just as easy to tease.

Excellent.

"Dami Dami, you're looking pretty cute today."

"I put a little extra effort into it."

"Good. Otherwise you'd get swallowed up by the Stage Typhoon... Never forget that...."

"I'll engrave it into my bones...."

"Hey! I said stop it!"

"But I'm here too, you know."

Seo Eden tried joining the conversation again.

Come to think of it, Yoo Jiuk had messed up my hair before leaving, and I'd completely lost track of things.

"Have you been well? Since the year-end awards we've onl—"

"They're talking among themselves. Why butt in?"

This time Jun Cedric Valentian interrupted, looking directly at Seo Eden.

"It's not 'they.' It's 'we.' We're all close. Guess you never watched <Youth Disqualified!>."

"You don't exactly look that close...."

"If you weren't on the set of <Youth Disqualified!>, I suppose it would be hard to understand. Besides, Yeoreum and I have already worked together on two productions."

"This is only my second time."

"We did sixteen episodes."

"Can you really compare that to someone's debut...?"

Just as Seo Eden found himself speechless—

"Yeoreum. You worked really hard."

"Writer Hwang!"

"You were incredible. I got emotional when you switched those cards. Though honestly, you should've cast Beopsun as the dog instead. Happy's adorable too, but nobody can beat MBS's eternal mascot, Beopsun."

Hwang Boseok and Lee Saerok walked over.

Seeing them, Seo Eden suddenly puffed up with confidence.

"It's so nice seeing everyone from <Dongdaemun Romance> watching the movie together."

As Jun Cedric Valentian was about to say something, someone nearby approached him.

"Junseo! You were amazing as the villain. Why do you make action scenes look so sexy?"

"...Thank you...."

Before I knew it, I had gotten to know quite a lot of people at VIP premieres.

Which meant...

I had that many guests.

Thinking back to Seasons 1 and 2 made my chest grow warm.

"Hello, senior!"

Just then—

"My name is Heo Haena!"

A voice echoed throughout the theater.

Very close to where I was standing.