Chapter 157
Do-Jin wasn’t someone who normally ate a lot, so he filled up fast. However, they hadn’t even come close to finishing their orders. The food kept coming out one dish at a time, and Theresa and Soso continued eating slowly but steadily. Soso was only taking small bites just to try different things while Theresa was inhaling three times as much.
How the hell does she eat like that and maintain that figure? Do-Jin, who managed his diet tightly and worked out hard as hell, felt genuinely wronged.
They left plenty uneaten, but even then, Theresa looked like someone who weighed about forty-something kilograms at most. For someone her size, she was eating a ridiculous amount.
So it all comes down to genetics, huh...
About ten more minutes passed before Theresa finally started slowing down. Soso had already finished eating.
“Ugh. I ate too much again because of you, Soso.”
Soso didn’t even bother replying, and Theresa didn’t seem to expect an answer anyway. The two of them seemed to match each other strangely well.
“Now that we’re eating something this good, I keep thinking about Sang-Soo. Right, Soso?”
“No. I barely even remember his name. If you hadn’t mentioned him, I would’ve forgotten he even existed.”
“Please wipe that stupid smirk off your face, Miss Soso,” Theresa said sarcastically. “I know you’re getting way too happy thinking about Sang-Soo with his head shaved again...”
“I mean, it was funny.”
Theresa snorted and nodded in agreement, then asked, “Do-Jin, you remember him too, right? That kid who was with us when we first met, Sang-Soo.”
“Of course,” Do-Jin replied. He remembered the swordsman who had rolled around acting like he was about to die every five minutes. His full name had been Kwak Sang-Soo, if he remembered correctly. “He’s in the army now. And even though Soso talks like that, she came with me when he enlisted and we even visited him once.”
That had probably been so she could capture his reaction when he shaved his head and hit the lowest point of his life. Do-Jin guessed that much when he saw the twisted little grin on Soso’s lips, and he was right.
“Now that I think about it, you’ll probably have to enlist soon too, Do-Jin...”
Theresa froze as the words slipped out of her mouth. She cursed inwardly, hating how she always said the wrong thing at the wrong time.
“Sorry. I shouldn’t have brought that up here.”
She used to tease her friends when they enlisted, but Do-Jin was on a completely different level. He earned more in a year than most people could dream of, and the amount of money he would lose being stuck in the military wasn’t something she could even calculate.
Delaying enlistment was technically an option, but that would bring its own stress. Why bring up something so heavy when they were having such a good time? Theresa wanted to slap herself for having zero sense.
“I’m not going,” Do-Jin said simply. “So don’t worry about it.”
Theresa’s puppy-eyed expression instantly brightened. She was completely convinced that the reason Do-Jin was exempt was because he technically counted as a foreigner despite looking Korean.
“They still give exemptions to orphans for now. They’re talking about drafting even orphans soon, but mine’s already finalized, so I’m exempt,” Do-Jin explained.
That wasn’t what Theresa had expected at all, and her face warped back into a sullen expression. If she said sorry now, it would only make it weirder. She wanted to crawl under the table and die.
“Don’t even start,” Do-Jin said, a bit amused. “It’s not such a big deal, but if you start looking like that, I have no idea how I’m supposed to react.”
That was exactly why he never talked about this kind of thing. But the words slipped out anyway. He didn’t even know why. Maybe he said it because he felt this connection might last a long time, or maybe he wanted it to.
The conversation died for a moment. Theresa looked ready to claw at the air just to break the awkward silence. Her eyes kept darting around, desperate to grab onto anything that could shift the mood. Then, salvation came in the form of Soso’s ringing phone, which she answered immediately.
“Hello.”
—Soso, where are you right now?
The voice on the other end was loud enough for both of them to hear. It was Ju Kang-Hee.
“Why?”
—Come by the office for a bit.
Soso narrowed her eyes and straightened up. “Is it my mom?”
—Just come to the office for a bit.
“You’re not on speaker, right?”
—Do you really think I’d do that? Stop being ridiculous. She came by for work and said she wants to see your face while she’s here, so get over here.
“It still feels more like a surprise inspection to check whether I’m slacking.”
At that line, Theresa’s lips moved silently, mouthing “You are slacking!” When Do-Jin saw it, he burst out laughing.
“I’m gonna take Theresa with me, then.”
Theresa choked on her drink and coughed violently. She knew exactly what that meant. Soso was trying to use her as a shield again.
—Theresa is probably busy.
“She’s not busy. She’s literally right here eating with me at a restaurant near the company.”
—Then... bring her too.
Theresa shoved her face toward the phone in panic. “Hi Ju Kang-Hee, I’m busy! And we’re here with another friend!”
—Another friend? It must be yours, right? Soso doesn’t have other friends.
“Well, that’s true but... actually, no, wait. That’s not the point. I’m out eating with Do-Jin.”
—Do-Jin? You mean Mr. Do-Jin?
Even through the phone, Ju Kang-Hee sounded shocked, and she genuinely was. She’d seen the reports that they’d been doing party content lately, but she never imagined Soso would be comfortable enough to eat with someone in real life. Theresa doing it was believable, but Soso doing it felt like a natural disaster.
Although momentarily stunned, Ju Kang-Hee recovered quickly and thought, This is good for us anyway.
Theresa came as a package deal with Soso, and Soso came as a package deal with Rael. If those two were getting close to Do-Jin, that was nothing but beneficial for the company.
—This won’t take long. If Mr. Do-Jin is okay with it, would he also like to stop by? If not, he can wait at a café nearby. I will finish quickly and send Soso back.
Theresa glanced at Do-Jin, who nodded easily. They had no specific plans, and Chun Ji-Hyun would probably be there too.
Seeing his approval, she took the phone and answered for Soso. “Okay, we’ll bring Soso over now.”
With that, the three of them headed toward the Rael Entertainment building.
***
There wasn’t a receptionist to greet them, but then again, Soso was technically an employee here. They took the private elevator up and stepped out to find Ju Kang-Hee already waiting.
“It’s been a while, Mr. Do-Jin.”
Given the situation, he greeted her a bit awkwardly. “Yes, it’s been a while.”
Soso stood there pouting as usual, while Theresa smiled brightly and waved. “Hi, sis!”
“It’s been a while for you too, Theresa. Isn’t it exhausting taking care of Soso all the time?”
“I’m used to it, so I’m alright.”
“I’m her manager,” Soso muttered in protest, but no one reacted. “Where’s Mom?”
Ju Kang-Hee pointed toward the director’s office.
Soso nodded. “Okay... Well, Do-Jin, wait here a second. I’ll just say hi and come back.”
“Sure.”
As the three women stepped inside the office, Do-Jin passed the time sipping the drink given to him by Ju Kang-Hee’s secretary. After about five minutes, the door opened and Theresa came back out.
“See you next time!” she said, leaning back in through the crack of the door before it closed fully.
“Alright, Theresa. Come visit again. Bring Soso over to the house too.”
“Sure thing!”
Once the door finally shut, Theresa turned to Do-Jin with an apologetic smile.
“Sorry for making you wait. Should we go to a café while Soso finishes her talk?”
“Sure. Thanks for the drink.”
Do-Jin handed the empty glass back and stood up. He’d already had drinks at the restaurant and here too, but cafés weren’t really about the drinks anyway. They moved to the company café on the first floor and chatted idly. Naturally, the topic shifted to the game. They had been through so much together in LOST that the conversation flowed easily.
“Team Director, over there... look.”
A woman who had just walked into the café spotted Do-Jin and Theresa. She was a streamer who had recently signed with Rael Entertainment under the name “Kaa’ang” and had become part of their main roster. She had come for a meeting with Content Team Director Oh Young-Sik and had walked straight into Do-Jin by sheer accident.
“Oh god...” Oh Young-Sik mumbled.
The moment Kaa’ang waved excitedly, his expression collapsed on the spot. There was a very clear reason for that. Ever since Kaa’ang moved companies, she’d been chanting Do-Jin’s name like it was a ritual. She kept pestering him at every opportunity, asking him to introduce her for a collab, asking if he could at least talk to Do-Jin for her, wondering if begging might work, and piling on every other request she could think of.
She pushed and pushed whenever she saw even the slightest opening, and Oh Young-Sik had been sweating bullets every single time trying to dodge her.
Why the hell did they have to run into each other today... and with me standing right here?
Somehow fate decided that this exact moment was the right time to screw him over. He genuinely felt like the universe was personally out to get him.
“Kaa’ang, I keep telling you that Do-Jin really prefers playing solo.”
“But I can at least say hello. I’m a fan, and we’re in the same company now.”
He had no grounds to stop her. He couldn’t exactly forbid her from greeting a coworker. The problem was that there was no way she planned to stop at a greeting.
Fine. Whatever. It’s better that she shoots her shot and gets turned down herself instead of dragging the entire company into it.
A company-level collab request and a streamer personally begging were completely different things.
“I’ll go order the drinks,” he said, finally giving up.
Kaa’ang took a deep breath and walked toward them with tiny, careful steps. Having to actually speak to them made her visibly nervous, but she forced herself to go through with it.
“Um... hello.”
Do-Jin and Theresa both turned around at the voice. Their expressions held some surprise and a whole lot of curiosity.
Kaa’ang gave them the brightest smile she could manage. “You’re Do-Jin and Theresa, right? I really enjoyed the new video. I’m Kaa’ang and I stream LOST. I moved to Rael Entertainment recently, so I wanted to come over and introduce myself.”
“Oh!” Theresa shot up from her seat like she had been launched. “Hi! I’m Theresa! That’s my real name too! It’s great to meet you!”
“A-ah, yes! It’s great to meet you too!”
Do-Jin nodded politely. “Hello. I’ve watched some of your videos, Kaa’ang.”
Her pale, almost white platinum hair looked like it had been bleached twenty times, and she was definitely someone he remembered. In his previous life, not long after he started playing LOST, he had watched a few of her videos.
He never kept up with her afterward, so he had no idea what became of her, but two things stuck in his memory. One was that she’d been a mage, and the other was that her gameplay had been absolutely awful. He remembered the first clip he watched where she’d been panicking after a monster rushed her, flailed helplessly, miscast her spell, and instantly blew herself up.
So when she showed up here now, all nervous and fidgety, he naturally wondered what she was really here for. If it was nothing more than a simple greeting, she wouldn’t look like she was about to pass out.
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