An orange sunset gradually descended upon the village.
The lively and heated atmosphere also began to fade. However, a lingering sense of fulfillment remained in its place.
“That young man sang well today.”
“Shouldn’t we have gotten his autograph in advance?”
“It was so soulful and pleasant to hear.”
Naturally, it was Tae-seong who was on the elders’ lips.
Tae-seong’s stage, the main dish of today’s event, was a massive success. From the first song everyone knew, “Unconditionally,” to Tae-seong’s original songs that I had heard in my past life, he performed over ten songs.
Throughout it all, he didn’t show the slightest hint of fatigue. He just looked happy.
‘That feeling must have reached the elders.’
The desire to sing. Since his sincerity was conveyed, the elders were likely just as moved.
While I was organizing the stall with those thoughts in mind, Tae-seong ran over from a distance.
“Chansung! Sorry, did I keep you waiting long?”
“No. Why did you come back so soon? Didn’t the staff ask you to eat dinner with them?”
As the hero of the day, Tae-seong received everyone’s love. Naturally, there must have been offers not only for food but also for a drink.
“They did, but I told them I’d drink with them next time.”
“To do what?”
“I have to help you work. What kind of employee in this world leaves the owner to work alone?”
Tae-seong said that and picked up the luggage bag left on the side. Even though he had spent so much energy on stage today, he still had the stamina to carry that.
‘He definitely has better stamina than me.’
“It’s probably tough, so take it easy. And you’re fired as of today. You know that, right?”
“That you only wanted me to work until today? I remember.”
I told him when I first gave him the job, and I told him again this morning. Tae-seong’s stay here ends today.
“It’s a shame. I really liked Hyeon Goon.”
“Is that so?”
“I’ve grown very fond of it. It’s like a home for the heart.”
“If you know that, then make sure to charge us a low price when you come to our county to sing later. We don’t have much money.”
Tae-seong didn’t answer for a long time after hearing my words. When I turned around to see what was wrong, Tae-seong was staring at me while holding a box of luggage.
“… Why?”
“Chansung, do you really believe I’ll succeed as a singer?”
“Of course.”
Those words popped out without even passing through my head. It was like a supreme truth. Since I already knew the answer, the words just came out.
However, it seemed to look different to Tae-seong. He smiled brightly at my words.
“I knew you’d say that.”
“Is that so?”
“Thank you. It’s all thanks to you.”
Tae-seong loaded the luggage into the car and said, “It’s thanks to you holding onto me and telling me to work here.”
“I just did it to get the tea money.”
“Hahaha, right. That’s right. You were just trying to get the tea money.”
Seeing him laugh inanely, it seemed he had noticed long ago that it was just an excuse. It was impossible not to know. I had acted far too transparently.
“You only did it to get the tea money, but I felt a lot of things during that time. I received a lot of good energy. Above all, I was able to stand on a stage like this, wasn’t I?”
Tae-seong quietly watched the stage being dismantled. It was a temporary stage built in just a few days, but for Tae-seong, it must have been a more wonderful stage than any he had experienced before.
“It was a day where I didn’t regret dreaming of being a singer.”
“Why does that sound like you’re giving up on being a singer?”
“No way. If anything, the thought of wanting to sing has only become clearer.”
Tae-seong smiled brightly. The timid appearance he had when we first met was nowhere to be found. The Tae-seong in front of me was the same bright and confident Hwang Taeseong I had encountered in my past life. I could feel that he had truly shaken everything off.
“Be sure to succeed.”
“I absolutely have to. Oh, before that.”
Tae-seong said that and held out a cup he had brought separately. This was the cup I gave to Tae-seong earlier. I had put tea in it that contained the power to strongly encourage the desire to sing.
The moment I took the cup, I felt a strange sensation.
“Why is this heavy?”
When I first handed it to Tae-seong, it wasn’t a large amount of tea, but the weight was definitely felt. That weight… remained now.
With a sinking feeling, I checked the contents and saw the tea was still there, exactly as I had given it to him.
“You didn’t drink this?”
“Yeah.”
“Why?”
“I’ll drink it later, so keep it for me.”
Tae-seong intentionally didn’t drink this tea. He wanted to use it as an excuse to come down to Hyeon Goon once more.
I gripped the cup with both hands and spoke.
“Our tea house doesn’t have a ‘keep’ concept.”
“How about making one this time?”
“You should just be the boss.”
“That would be a bit difficult. I don’t think I could make the tea you make, no matter how hard I tried.”
“You just put in tea leaves and pour water. What’s the big deal?”
“I don’t know. It doesn’t seem that way to me.”
Tae-seong said something meaningful. It reminded me of what Naru had said before. No one else could make this tea except me. I realized once again that it wasn’t just empty talk.
“I’ll keep this. Make sure to come and drink it later.”
“Of course. I have to drink it. Don’t you forget it.”
“How could I forget?”
How could I forget a cup entrusted to me by the best singer? As I let out a light chuckle, the Hyeon siblings approached from afar. Fatigue was etched onto their faces, likely from working hard and sweating all day. And over that fatigue, an even greater joy was lingering.
“Hey, Tae-seong! You’re really good at singing. Did you attend a vocal academy or something?”
“No, my mother…”
“Tae-seong, thanks to you, the Harvest Festival ended successfully. Do you want to have a drink together?”
“Where do you think you’re sticking your venomous teeth? Hyun-woong, handle her.”
“Back off, you stinky punks.”
Soon, Hyeonseo and Hyun-woong began to bicker. Watching the two of them, Tae-seong smiled and spoke.
“Don’t be like that, let’s all have a drink together.”
“Are you sure that’s okay?”
“Of course. If we don’t drink on a day like this, when will we?”
“That’s true.”
On such a good day, if we didn’t share a drink with friends, when would we ever?
“Then let’s move this to the tea house and go home for a drink. Hyun-woong, you go bring some of that alcohol you’ve been saving.”
“Do you think our house is a bar?”
“You probably have a lot stashed away anyway. I’ll prepare the snacks.”
“Then I guess I have to go without a word.”
“Hyeonseo, you go get some fruit from the orchard.”
“Ah! Aren’t you working us too hard?”
“If you go, I’ll give you a cool cup of tea that will wash away all your fatigue.”
“Then I have to go.”
“Tae-seong, let’s move this quickly before they get back.”
“Yeah. Hyun-woong, can I borrow the Porter?”
“Here are the car keys. Use it and park it in front of that guy’s house later.”
The stories that began then continued until the moon set and the sun rose.
***
“Are you leaving?”
Tae-seong, who was putting on his shoes at the door, stood still. Then he turned to look at me awkwardly.
“Sleep more.”
“That’s what I should be saying. It’s only been 2 hours since our drinking session ended.”
“Was it?”
“Yeah. It means it’s still time to be sprawled out asleep. Especially since I even closed the tea house today.”
I chuckled after saying that. Instead of making long speeches like this, there was something else I had to do.
“Come back safely.”
“… Isn’t ‘goodbye’ the right thing to say?”
“I don’t know. You don’t have a house or a car anyway.”
“You’re stabbing me where it hurts.”
“Even if you’ll have a house and a car soon once you go to Seoul, you don’t have them right now. And our house has plenty of empty rooms. You can come back anytime.”
The words I had said to the other spirit children. I gave those words back to Tae-seong.
“Think of this as your home.”
“… I won’t refuse that.”
“Good, good. Oh, right. This.”
I handed a wallet to Tae-seong. It was a simple wallet made of cloth on the outside. But inside…
“… Chansung.”
“Yeah?”
“How much is this?”
“I don’t know. I just put in whatever I could grab.”
I had stuffed the wallet with 50,000 won bills. Since there appeared to be over twenty bills, it would easily be 1,000,000 won.
“… This is a bit too much.”
“What do you mean, too much? It’s the wages for the work you did at our tea house. If I don’t give you that, I’ll be arrested by the Labor Office.”
“Wasn’t working at your tea house to pay for the tea?”
“Was it? I don’t remember.”
When I persisted with a feigned ignorance, Tae-seong burst into laughter. Then he carefully tucked the money away.
“I’ll pay this back tenfold later.”
“What do you mean, pay it back? I told you, it’s the money you earned fairly through work. Oh, and look at this.”
“Huh?”
Between the bundles of money, there was a note I had written. Tae-seong tilted his head as he opened the note.
“PD Shin Ha-geon of 7TVS?”
“You’re going to be a singer, right? Go find that person as soon as you get to Seoul.”
“I don’t have any intention of working at a broadcasting station.”
“I know. But he’ll definitely be a help.”
PD Shin Ha-geon was the one who planned the program *Trot Empire*, which produced the singer named Hwang Taeseong. According to the timeline, he would still be in the preparation stages, but there was no harm in showing his face now. A producer like him would recognize Tae-seong’s star quality immediately. The broadcasting period of *Trot Empire* might even be moved up a bit.
“Be sure to succeed.”
“You said I would. So I will.”
After putting the wallet away, Tae-seong finished putting on his shoes.
“I’m sorry I’m leaving without saying goodbye to Noran and Naru.”
“Come back later and soothe them yourself.”
“I should do that. Well, I’m off.”
“Yeah.”
Leaving behind those words, Tae-seong left the house. If he left now, he would be able to take an intercity bus from the terminal and go straight to Seoul. He would also meet PD Shin Ha-geon as I told him, and from now on, only success lay ahead.
“Take care.”
I hoped that when we met next, he would have become the Emperor of Trot. I turned around with that thought.
And then…
“Mister.”
“… Yes.”
“Did Uncle Tae-seong go?”
“Yes, he left.”
At my answer, Noran’s eyes began to well up with tears. Seeing moisture fill those large eyes, I realized I had made a mistake. I think I told her the truth too bluntly. As soon as I realized this mistake, it came back to me as karma.
“… *Sniff*. Why did he gooooo? Uncle Tae-seong is family tooooo!”
“He is family. You’re right.”
“But why leave? Why did he leaaaave! *Waaaaaah*!”
Noran began to cry loudly enough to shake the house. Seeing her lying on the floor and crying, anyone would think she had actually lost a family member. I approached Noran and tried to hug her to soothe her, but she struggled even harder to get away from me.
“No! Noooo! We have to be together! He can’t goooo!”
“Noran, let’s calm down. Calm down. Okay?”
“Noooo! Noooooo!”
This was never going to end. As I was wrestling with Noran, Naru opened the room door and came out. Naru, rubbing his eyes, seemed to realize what was happening as he looked at the situation.
“I guess Uncle Tae-seong has left.”
“That’s right.”
“He can’t goooo! Don’t goooo!”
“Noran, calm down…”
“Noooo!”
At this rate, it really would never end. I hesitated for a moment, but it was only for a second.
“Yellow!”
At my words, Noran stopped crying abruptly and looked at me.
“You can’t just throw a tantrum. What can’t be, can’t be.”
When raising a child, you shouldn’t just give in to everything. If they grow up to be arrogant, it’s the parents’ fault.
“Tae-seong has work to do, so he’s going. Holding onto him like that is doing something wrong to him. Do you understand?”
“Mister…”
What can’t be, can’t be. She must know that. Even if it’s right now.
“Stop crying. That’s enough.”
“Heh… *hic*…”
Tears welled up in Noran’s eyes once again. And then…
“Mister, I hate you!!”
… She dropped a bomb on my fragile heart.
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