TFIU 22

Chapter 22

“Whaaat?! The kindest and proudest uncle in the whole world~?!”

And then, a voice completely ruined the moment.

“That’s me, right? Our little baby bird? Huh?? Huh?? You didn’t just confuse Uncle Han Woo-yeon with Lee Do-ha for a second, did you?? Huh??”

“It’s Do-ha uncle though!”

“…Yewon, you. Could you at least pretend to think about it for a moment?”

“Then Uncle Woo-yeon is the coolest uncle!”

“What?”

“That!!! That is absolutely correct!! Yes. Uncle Han Woo-yeon is cool, coolness itself. Who cares about facial features and stuff? Coolness is what matters!! Mwahahahaha!!”

At Yewon’s words, Do-ha’s eyebrow shot up.

Meanwhile, Woo-yeon was dancing excitedly in place.

“Uncle.”

“Hm?”

“Then can I go on TV with you now?”

“!”

At Yewon’s innocent question, Do-ha immediately started sweating nervously.

CEO Park screamed internally, This is it!

“Of course~ Yewon can go on TV. Of course, of course. If you’re the ‘kindest uncle in the world,’ then naturally you’ll grant all of our Yewon’s wishes. That’s what the ‘proudest uncle in the world’ is supposed to do. Mm-hm.”

“…….”

Do-ha glared at CEO Park.

Seriously, this guy…

“I’ll think about it some more. It’s not confirmed yet.”

“A-ah… so I can’t…?”

Yewon’s shoulders drooped instantly, and Do-ha shook his head right away.

“No. I didn’t say you can’t.”

“Then I can?!”

“…Well, not exactly that either.”

“Oh… so I can’t… I guess… How could I ever… appear on TV… I shouldn’t embarrass you, Uncle….”

“No, Yewon! That’s not it!”

Seeing her so dejected, Do-ha didn’t know what to do and shot Woo-yeon a desperate look.

Help me out.

But Woo-yeon only shrugged.

I want to do it though?

That was clearly written all over his face.

“Huh!? Is Yewon crying?!”

Then, as if he noticed something, Woo-yeon raised his voice.

“……!!”

Startled, Do-ha turned toward Yewon.

Sure enough, her eyes were brimming with tears.

Her face was clearly trying hard not to cry, and Do-ha panicked, stomping his feet before hurriedly pulling out tissues and pressing them gently under her eyes.

“Yewon… why are you crying?”

“N-no! I’m not crying!”

“Wow. Amazing, Lee Do-ha. You haven’t even been raising a kid for long and you already made her cry. As expected of the man who’s made countless members cry with his heart, huh?”

“Will you shut up?”

Even at Do-ha’s sharp rebuke, Woo-yeon just stuck his tongue out.

“…Fine.”

“Huh?”

“…Let’s do it. TV… Let’s do it.”

“!”

In the end, when Do-ha finally gave permission, everyone except Do-ha broke into bright smiles.

Especially Yewon, who smiled the widest.

Told you my acting skills aren’t dead yet.

[▶ Sub Quest Complete!]

Reward: A “Good Impression” from PD Hwang Jio
Nationwide Recognition +10
Current Recognition: 12

The audition opportunity for the drama <???> will be provided later, so please wait!

“!”

Wait, it even shows my current recognition status?

Yewon was startled.

So this is how you can check it too.

And what kind of drama audition would it be?

While Yewon was deep in thought—

Ding!

Another new quest window appeared before her eyes.

“!”

It’s not over?!

[<The Path to Becoming an Actor> Quest Chain Activated!]

[▶ Main Quest Generated!]

<The Path to Becoming an Actor>

You said you want to act, but with only Recognition 12, opportunities are desperately scarce.

Raise your recognition through this chance and receive casting offers!

Achieve #1 in OTT viewership rankings for <Glittering Baby House>.

Quest Success: Recognition +30
<???????> Quest Chain Activated

Quest Failure: Glit disbands, Lee Do-ha dies

“……!”

The path to becoming an actor…

Yewon’s face stiffened.

Not just Top 10, but number one?!

That’s not easy. Seriously.

If we don’t hit #1, the main quest automatically fails.

And that wasn’t all.

[▶ Sub Quest Generated!]

All Glit members currently have different thoughts.
The four of them still haven’t truly reconciled.

To appear on a “reality-style” observational variety show, they’ll need to overcome many obstacles.

Make sure the members don’t fight and finish the first shoot successfully.

Quest Success: Recognition +20
Quest Failure: <Glittering Baby House> launch fails

“…….”

Already, Yewon’s head was starting to ache.

Meanwhile, in CEO Park’s office…

“…That’s enough. We never expected that man to come to his senses beyond that point anyway. Thank you for your hard work. Please continue taking care of it.”

CEO Park sighed and hung up the phone.

Young-o carefully watched his expression.

“S-so… it’s been resolved, right, CEO?”

Yes.

The person CEO Park had just spoken to was the lawyer from the firm handling most of Time Entertainment’s affairs—

and the call was an update on the “fake uncle” blackmail case.

“No. It was… awkwardly resolved. Apparently, they signed a confidentiality agreement from the start. So he probably can’t expose anything… but now he’s threatening us in another way.”

“Another way? H-how…?”

“He’s claiming Yewon’s mother owed him money. And if the debt isn’t repaid, he’ll expose Do-ha for not paying off his family’s debt. Since that’s separate from the child’s existence, the NDA doesn’t apply.”

“What?! Was there really a debt?”

“We don’t know. We only found out about Yewon recently ourselves. The law firm has started investigating, so we have to trust them and wait.”

CEO Park sighed again.

Money scandals were extremely sensitive for idols.

How many celebrities had fallen into ruin over dirty financial issues?

This had to be handled properly.

“…Do-ha, seriously…”

Tragic, really.

To be blackmailed over the debt of a sister he hadn’t even contacted in years…

It seemed like something he could ignore, but…

Because of Yewon… Do-ha’s personality won’t let him ignore it.

They needed a clean resolution.

“H-how much is he claiming?”

“Two billion won.”

“Ghk—!”

CEO Park had been willing to quietly pay if it were around 100 million won.

But two billion was absurd.

There was no way it was real.

“Let’s trust the lawyers for now. This isn’t the first or second time we’ve dealt with blackmail. Most of it was lies.”

“Th-that’s true…”

Young-o nodded.

“A-and you’ll tell Do-ha too, right?”

“No.”

CEO Park shook his head.

“What?!”

“Not until it’s certain. I don’t want to burden him. He’s already struggling. I told them too—if they speak to Do-ha, we’ll sue for blackmail, so keep their mouths shut.”

“T-then… if the debt is real?”

“We’ll confirm, but… two billion? Come on. That ‘uncle’ was apparently a lifelong scammer. Where would that kind of money even come from? It’s 100% a lie. We’ve handed it to the firm, so let’s stop worrying.”

CEO Park clicked his tongue.

But honestly, an even more urgent problem remained.

Bringing Ian back—who wasn’t even in Korea yet.

CEO Park sighed and asked:

“Can you reach Eon?”

“…Not really… but he keeps posting pictures on Starstagram…”

Yes.

Just yesterday, Eon’s Starstagram feed had this:

(Photo)

Liked by young_o and others

I_an — YOUR bad.

A picture of Eon in London.

“Not ‘My bad,’ but ‘Your bad.’ What kind of mindset is that? Throwing fuel into the fandom fire? Seriously…!!”

CEO Park was trembling with rage.

Young-o was already preparing to dodge anything that might be thrown.

Even though she was his aunt, she was terrifying.

“What is that lunatic thinking? Ignoring all company contact and just posting his leisurely London life on SNS? I’m dying to know, Young-o. I really don’t want to curse at an artist, but the swear words just keep coming out!”

“I think… in his own way, it’s a protest…”

“A protest. Against me and Do-ha. I know.”

CEO Park rubbed her forehead.

“Bring him back.”

“Huh?! Me?!”

“Then who else? You’re his manager. I’ll pay you generously.”

“…….”

“That’s not the issue, CEO…”

“Leave immediately. To the UK. And take that ‘thing’ I told you about.”

Young-o’s face fell.

Generous pay isn’t the problem.

At minimum, I’d need a hazard bonus of 100 million won.