If I Don’t Earn 1 Trillion Won, My Regression Ends - Chapter 16

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Episode 16

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Looking for a child with impressive eyes.

Recruitment target: Girls aged 6-12

Experience: None (must have no debut history to apply)

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-These were the recruitment conditions posted by NEU.

Speaking of mobile carrier advertisements at that time, it wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say they dominated South Korean popular culture.

It was a period when the generational shift from pagers to digital mobile phones was happening explosively across all fronts.

【Sleep well~ dream of me】, 【Don’t ask, you’ll get hurt!】, 【Love is something that moves】 and so on… All the legendary catchphrases that every generation in Korea remembers came from this time.

During this period when mobile carrier advertisements had absolute influence, NEU’s advertisements were especially special among them.

As a brand created by major corporation S Company targeting young people, they released experimental CFs one after another, with the advertisement of a red-haired girl getting pelted with tomatoes being the most famous.

An unknown rookie model became legendary with just that one advertisement – need I say more?

But that advertisement was from 2000. It was an advertisement representing twenty-year-olds, so it had no connection to me.

The advertisement I’m targeting is a different one.

There was another advertisement that was quite successful, though not as much as that tomato one.

The one and only advertisement that used a child model!

The very advertisement that Yun Yirae sneakily got someone in through connections!

「What was that mobile phone advertisement later? There was this nationwide recruitment for kids, and a neighborhood girl met Chamsol’s mother there. She remembered that her son was close friends with that girl and immediately got her the spot! Even though she didn’t become hugely successful from it, she definitely made good money.」

‘Aunt Yirae! Wait for me! Sing-a is racing over!’

Wasn’t it all for today’s big moment that I awakened at six years old and immediately targeted the gloomy little Choi Chamsol with my lisping speech?

In the original history, she even got a random daycare classmate in, so would Madam Yun Yirae really ignore ‘Choi Chamsol’s one and only friend’?

Given Choi Chamsol’s reclusive personality, there was no way he would have made new friends.

Even though I knew his address and contact information, not contacting the Choi family after moving to Bundang was also to gain momentum for our reunion.

‘The more joyful the reunion, the higher my chances of being selected…!’

Oh no, what a ruthless woman I am!

I think my personality is becoming increasingly vicious from not eating flour, but thinking of 1 trillion won and brain death, I have no choice but to strengthen my heart’s cold bastard power…

‘How much was the advertisement fee again?’

2,000? My heart can become even more ruthless…

The KOSPI, collapsing in ruins due to the IMF, is eagerly waiting for me.

If I can’t land this advertisement today despite all the cucumbers I’ve eaten and stuck on my face for this day, plus having the cheat key connection of Yun Yirae, then I wasn’t even a regressor.

Remember this. Only the strong survive in the 90s!

I need to become more vicious, Seosing-a!

“Daughter, are you crying by any chance?”

“Oh, Mother… I’m so scared…! Can’t I just go home? How can I do something like an audition…”

“What?! You’re the one who said you wanted to come, you little brat! What are you saying after we’ve come all this way?! Go in right now!”

Sob sob… Madam Bang Suk-yeong is so harsh!

♧

“This is hopeless~. It’s not like we’re looking for a pearl in the sand.”

“Exactly. I think the higher-ups are mistaken. Fresh doesn’t always mean good. It would be better to just use kids with experience.”

The cause was a child model who had fallen through just before signing the contract.

She was supposedly the hottest kid in the industry these days, but her parents had also become arrogant, causing quite a bit of trouble.

After properly getting a headache, the higher-ups decided that since things had come to this, and freshness was the brand concept anyway, they’d go with completely new faces.

Thanks to that, now it was the working-level staff who had headaches.

“Fine. This isn’t a movie audition. We’re not looking for someone skilled, just someone who fits the tone. Let’s not be too picky and just check for presence.”

“Right, we don’t need anything besides image. We’ll create things like eye expression, voice, and atmosphere ourselves.”

The production company producer and advertising agency side grumbled while glancing at the director sitting in the center.

They were talking to the director – wonder if he understood!

Actually, this big advertisement wasn’t just troublesome in terms of the model.

‘Director Hamgyeongseok, was it.’

Right now he was sitting quietly like a decoration, but you never know.

Originally a promising guy who fell and got pushed into the advertising world, so he probably had quite a bit of ambition and inferiority complex.

‘I hope he doesn’t cause trouble…’

The problem with failed directors was that they always fantasized about making a spectacular comeback with one unexpected hit.

They needed to keep in mind that no production company or client wanted to become a director’s experimental stage.

The concept was decided, and the production budget was sufficient.

If they just went smoothly, this advertisement project could end without any noise.

“Director. Shall we continue with the next team?”

“Yes.”

‘Ugh~ I have no idea what he’s thinking.’

The producer clicked his tongue and looked to the side.

Fortunately, Yun Yirae was here today.

Even though she hadn’t been back on the front lines for long, she was someone with sufficient gravitas, so the director wouldn’t be able to act however he pleased.

The producer gestured to the staff to bring in the next team, satisfied.

“…Huh?”

“What?”

Yun Yirae, who had been casually flipping through applications, stopped at the commotion beside her.

The director, who had seemed uninterested the whole time, also looked up.

The children who entered were five, same as the previous team.

However.

“…Why.”

“…”

“Why is contestant number 169 in such a state?”

The producer asked, unable to hide his bewilderment.

At those words, the four children quickly moved further away. They were very swift, as if avoiding a disaster.

The girl who glared at them resentfully stepped forward like a condemned prisoner approaching the execution block.

She looked like she’d been doused with water.

Except for that, she might have been a very pretty girl… but soaked like a wet mouse, how could you tell?

Her face, which looked like it would burst into tears at the slightest touch, became even more pitiful when she spotted Yun Yirae.

And she really did start dropping tears, and just as everyone was getting flustered.

In the strange silence, Director Hamgyeongseok opened his mouth.

“Good. Let’s go with that child.”

♧

I swear I was really being ‘harmless.’

Even if I’m a regressor monster who’s eight on the outside and thirty inside, I’m a common citizen who lived completely ordinary for 30 years – what would I do at a large-scale audition hall full of people?

Even if I wanted to act tough, I don’t have the ability to back it up!

As a remnant of a regressor protagonist, all I’d accomplished so far was quick currency exchange and one-on-one networking.

Even if my inner monologue was quite cold and bitchy, in reality, in a place like this, all I could do was [huddle quietly in a corner], [tremble while holding Mother’s hand], [stare wide-eyed at the pretty little girls from who knows where]…!

“You did splash it on purpose! You’re leaving without even apologizing? What about my hair? What are you going to do about it?”

“The sink is there for washing hands. Is it wrong to wash hands where you wash hands? Who told you to stand there blocking it?”

“You did it on purpose! Who in the world splashes water on someone’s head while washing hands? You’re jealous of me, aren’t you? Right? You’re ugly and have a bad personality too!”

“What? Hey! Say that again!”

“Stop, stop. Child, let’s stop this. Our kid made a mistake. Where are your parents?”

“What parents? Mom, don’t you know Namihee?! She’s an orphan! She’s an orphan leeching off her aunt’s house, so she doesn’t go to school and goes around earning money! Beggar!”

“Tsk, Lee Seon-yeop! You stop it too!”

“Look, that beggar’s running away! Doesn’t she know shame? An orphan beggar who can’t even attend school, always pretending to have money- Ack! It’s cold!”

“Oh my!”

“….”

“….”

“….”

Lee Seon-yeop who got splashed, Lee Seon-yeop’s mother who was just pretending to stop him, Namihee who threw the water, and Our Room Madam who was sneaking glances….

The surroundings became quiet.

Everyone stares at me with their mouths agape.

Namihee came furiously carrying a mop bucket, but due to a wrist slip her aim failed, so I was sitting quietly when I suddenly got drenched….

“…My, my child.”

My daughter….

Along with Mother’s dazed murmur, the staff shouted loudly.

“Number 169! Up to number 169, please come in!”

“….”

“Number 169? Are you not in your seat?”

“…I’m here.”

Number 169 is here.

I raised my hand and walked forward with heavy steps.

The staff, at a loss for words at my miserable appearance, opened and closed their mouth as if trying to say something, but ultimately didn’t and just opened the door for me.

When I entered, the four deciders who saw me also fell into silence.

I thought for a moment.

Couldn’t I claim this was some kind of concept…?

But while a fairy-like appearance moistly wet with rainwater might be possible, what I was drenched in was grimy mop water.

Even I couldn’t stand the stench emanating from my body!

“Why… why is number 169 in such a state?”

Chubby Mister in the center asked me, trying to somehow salvage the situation, but I couldn’t hold back the tears that gushed forth the moment I saw Yun Yirae.

‘…Aunt…! *sob* Aunt Yirae!’

My 1 trillion won…!

I could have earned at least 20 million won from this CF!

My 1 trillion won! My seed money of 20 million won!

Tears streamed down from grief and injustice.

Then, at my utterly miserable wailing, the green horn-rimmed glasses in the center seat spoke-

“Good. Let’s go with that child.”

The familiar sound echoed in my head again.

【Challenger, it’s your turn.】

【Roll the dice.】

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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