Chapter 103: The Dream That Wasn’t Just a Dream

“It’s a talisman.”

A talisman? What’s that?

“A talisman…… what is it?”

“You’ve really never heard of it?”

“No.”

“Did you grow up abroad or something?”

When I said I didn’t know what a talisman was, Min-jun looked at me like I was some kind of international kid.

“No, nothing like that.”

“Okay, so this is……!”

As if he was about to give a proper lecture, Min-jun sat right next to me and pulled out the red cloth again.

“Hmm…… how should I explain this. Ah! It’s something that holds belief.”

‘Belief.’

How can something that tiny hold belief?

“There’s…… belief in this?”

“You know how it is. Like lucky numbers or lucky stones.”

“I know those!”

I at least knew that 7 was a lucky number for Koreans.

“Yeah, it’s like that. There’s no proof it works, but it’s for people who want something to lean on.”

“Ah~ so it’s that kind of thing?”

“My mom really believes in this stuff. She gave it to me so I wouldn’t get hurt. She hopes it wards off bad luck.”

Hearing Min-jun’s explanation made talismans seem completely new. To think something so profound was inside it.

“And sometimes I think ‘what if,’ so it’s better than nothing.”

“Lots of people believe in them?”

“Tons. People say it’s just for fun, but you can’t really ignore it.”

“Oooh~ that’s fascinating.”

“We did a ritual offering too, remember?”

“Ah! Right.”

I heard the ritual was praying to the heavens for help. It was funny how people who loved evidence and needed to see things to believe still trusted this stuff.

“Even our manager hyung checks his daily fortune every single day.”

“There’s daily fortunes too?”

“Are you that young? They’re on portal sites and there are tons of apps.”

He said he didn’t believe in it, yet Min-jun proudly showed me the daily fortune app on his phone.

“Wow~ amazing.”

“You just put in your name and birthdate and it tells you instantly.”

“But then wouldn’t everyone with the same name and birthdate have the exact same fortune?”

“That’s true…… but it’s just for fun. When’s your birthday?”

Wanting to show me, Min-jun asked for my birthdate, typed it in, and my fortune for today popped up immediately.

[You’ve had a lot on your mind lately.

Things won’t solve themselves if you stay still, so now is the time to act proactively.

Helping others will come back to you doubled, so don’t hesitate to help.  

Oh, and the energy of water is bad today, so stay away from bodies of water.]

“Wow!”

I thought it was just random, but goosebumps shot up the moment I read it.

‘How does it know so accurately?’

“Hyung, this is insane!”

“See? Does it fit?”

“It’s completely freaky!”

Seeing me jump in shock and amazement, Min-jun smiled proudly.

“Sometimes it’s wrong, but sometimes it’s scarily accurate.”

“Wow…… really amazing. Hyung, what’s this one?”

Blown away by the technology, I was poking around and discovered a category called “Dream Interpretation.”

“It interprets dreams too.”

“Interpretation……”

I had somehow mastered Hangul, but Chinese characters were still hard.

“Dream interpretation. It tells you what the dreams you had mean.”

“Dreams need interpretation?”

I thought dreams were just things you saw while sleeping, but they even interpreted them—this was a whole new world.

“You know, if you dream of a pig you should buy a lottery ticket, or dreaming of fire is a good dream……”

“Ah~ I think I’ve heard that.”

I had picked up somewhere that dreaming of pigs was good.

“Yeah, exactly. It tells you whether it’s a good or bad dream.”

Since so many people believed in it, that’s why it was in apps, right?

“If you have a good dream, people even sell the dream to others.”

“Sell dreams?”

“Yeah.”

“But I can’t show other people the dream I had. How do you sell a dream?”

Everything else was fine, but selling dreams made no sense.

“It’s trust. Trust between people. And sometimes what you see with your eyes isn’t everything.”

And from those words, a brilliant idea flashed in my mind.

‘This is it! The way to make them believe me.’

“Hyung, thank you.”

“You don’t need to thank me for something like this……”

“No, really, thank you!”

“It was just telling you something I know…… I’m really not the type to believe in this stuff.”

“Ugh…… how are the views this low?”

So-hyun let out a deep sigh looking at the view count for ‘Chaeroun TV.’ But contrary to her sigh, every video had already surpassed 200,000 views.

“I should’ve somehow gotten Jung Hyeon-jae to appear. What a waste.”

He was blowing up with a drama and a variety show right now; just using his name as clickbait would guarantee a view explosion. 

But no matter how much she coaxed, he had been firm.

“Ugh…… the recording isn’t enough.”

She had recorded it pretending it was an accident, thinking of uploading it later, but after listening again she realized it could get her sued for privacy invasion, so she deleted it.

While every other YouTube channel pulled all kinds of aggro to raise views, why were these people so carefree?

“Haa I need something fresh. More.”

So-hyun hadn’t always been obsessed with views. 

She started as a normal editor. But as she grew closer to the couple and became casual with them, and once they started sharing a portion of the revenue, everything changed.

‘Wow~ Is it really okay for me to take this?’

‘Of course, we started this as a hobby anyway, and we make plenty from sponsorships. Just do a good job for us.’

‘Of course! I’ll work even harder!’

She had put sincere effort into editing out of gratitude—for a while. Soon, she was hunting for more stimulating content.

‘Is this going too far?’

[Found the Missing Puppy!]

[Who Stole the Puppy We Let Out in the Yard?]

[Rescuing a Puppy Almost Sold to a Dog Meat Farm]

The content that worked best was always about Chaechae, so her eyes kept drifting that way.

‘So what. Who do you think made it possible for her to live in luxury? She should at least do this much.’

And she came up with the next content idea.

She would secretly take Chaechae from the yard, keep her for a few hours, then appear in front of the frantic couple with a “Ta-da~ Turns out the editor took her~”

“If I edit it seriously…… show them desperately searching, it’ll blow up instantly.”

Netizens would go crazy giving unsolicited advice about whether they managed the dog properly or not.

The more that happened, the higher the views and comments soared.

“Okay! Let’s go with this.”

Right now, only boring videos were being uploaded; she needed aggro strong enough to wake the sleeping subscribers.

A few days later, So-hyun watched the timing and executed her plan.

“Hahaha, unnie, were you worried? I told you I was taking Chaechae~”

She had kept Chaechae away for about five hours and then brought her back home.

‘Why is the mood like this?’

It wasn’t the atmosphere she had pictured.

She had expected: first anger at seeing her, second worry about Chaechae, and finally relieved sighs and a warm family moment.

“Unnie, I’m sorry…….”

“Was it you?”

The icy tone and hurt eyes threw her off for a second, but knowing a camera was rolling somewhere, she put on an apologetic face and apologized again.

“I’m sorry, I thought you heard me say I was taking her.”

“So-hyun-ah, I’m not asking about today.”

“Huh?”

“I’m asking if it was you with Chae-so.”

So-hyun froze for a split second. The eyes staring at her were filled with absolute certainty.

How does this unnie know?

“N-no. What…… it wasn’t me!”

“What wasn’t?”

“You’re saying I killed Chae-so right now. Don’t you trust me? It wasn’t me!”

There was no evidence. A dead puppy couldn’t talk.

“How…… how much I looked after you, and you could do that to me?”

But seeing her on the verge of tears, voice trembling, So-hyun changed her mind.

‘She knows something.’

She was 100% certain. Did she find a hidden CCTV or something?

“So-hyun-ah, I know everything, so stop lying.”

And at that final ultimatum, So-hyun immediately dropped to her knees.

“Unnie! I’m really sorry! I must have lost my mind for a moment!”

“No, it’s just that views have been so low lately…… I was trying to make some content…….”

“Ha, haha. You killed a family member just to make content?”

Watching So-hyun kneel and beg for forgiveness, the woman let out a hollow, crazed laugh and clenched her fists.

“No! I didn’t mean to kill him!

I looked it up online and it said as long as it wasn’t a lethal dose it would be fine, so I only meant to make him a little sick…….”

“You—!”

They say the scariest people are the kind, gentle ones when they finally snap. She slapped So-hyun across the face.

“Just a little sick? Is that what you’re saying right now?”

“I’m sorry…… But I really did it thinking it would be good for all of us.”

So-hyun actually felt a little wronged. If the channel made more money, it wasn’t just good for her. They would take their share too, so why act like this?

“Sure, go ahead and make money selling your family. Even if I have to beg on the streets, I’m not the kind of person who could ever do that.”

“No, aren’t you going too far? How can you compare a dog to a person? That’s insulting our parents!”

“What?”

“Frankly, I didn’t even mean to kill him, it was an accident while trying to make him a little sick!”

Hearing her turn the tables and say dogs and people are different, any lingering affection vanished like melting snow; the woman had only intended to end things cleanly out of old ties.

“Don’t ever show your face in front of me again.”

“You’re throwing away a person because of a dog? Is that something to say?”

“He was a hundred times better than you! And I’m reporting you, so you know.”

At the word “report,” So-hyun flared up.

“You don’t even have evidence!”

“Can’t you see the camera over there? You just admitted it with your own mouth.”

“Ah!”

Only then did she realize the enormous mistake she had made.

“Ah…….”

– I was the idiot.

“I feel sorry for bringing up painful memories for no reason.”

– If I never found out, I wouldn’t have been able to face Chae-so later.  

And she might have done the same thing to Chaechae.

I told them the truth while pretending it was just a dream I had.

<Every time I see her, I keep getting déjà vu of her giving chocolate to Chae-so.  

Chae-so keeps appearing in my dreams. It wouldn’t hurt to be a little suspicious.>

Just as Min-jun said, it was hard to believe outright, but the words were too pointed to ignore. 

And as the saying goes, the tail that sticks out gets caught. She tried to pull dangerous stunts with Chaechae for content and got caught.

– I’m sorry. Honestly, I didn’t believe what Hyeon-jae-ssi said at first, but that day my gut feeling just hit me.  

So I was ready to be cursed at and tested her……  

“But you stopped something worse from happening.”

– What do we do about our poor Chae-so…… He met the wrong owner…… sob

I heard crying over the phone for a long while, listened quietly until it calmed down, then spoke.

“He would never resent you. He probably only took the good memories and went to a good place.”

They never resent their owners.

“Hyeon-jae, what are you doing? We’re starting soon.”

“Ah…….”

Because the call went long, someone came looking for me.

– I’m sorry. I kept you too long.

“No, it’s okay.”

After one more round of thanks, the call ended, and I hurried into the restaurant. 

And there, among countless people, hung a huge banner.