There Are Four Top Idol Uncles - Chapter 185

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Part 2, Episode 11
* * *
“Look again, look. My ribbon isn’t crooked, is it?!”
“No, it’s not crooked….”
“Tch. Getting called out on my first day, and not by just anyone—the student council president. This is all your fault.”
Hyuk was already being scolded by Yewon for the 97,845th time.
Eunoh had pointed it out himself and probably forgot all about it anyway….
Hyuk felt deeply wronged, but he held it in.
“Anyway, oppa.”
“Hmm?”
Yewon placed her hand on Hyuk’s shoulder with solemn determination, then immediately regretted it.
Why was this guy so tall…?
With such a height difference, even raising her hand didn’t look impressive…. It was awkward….
“Don’t you have a friend to eat lunch with? Actually, I already knew you had no friends. But not this badly. Why didn’t you tell us?”
Yewon forced herself to sound casual and continued.
“…Don’t say such cruel things with that innocent face of yours.”
Hyuk hung his head, looking deflated.
Of all people, to be found out like this on the very first day by the one person he least wanted to see him this way.
It was the worst.
“So what. Between us, there are no secrets. Starting tomorrow, let’s eat lunch together!”
“No.”
“!”
“I can’t do that, Yewon. Today I was too caught off guard… I couldn’t refuse. But starting tomorrow, don’t come like this ever again.”
Hyuk rejected her immediately and firmly.
His tone was so resolute that Yewon’s eyes widened.
“Why? Is it because you’re worried about me—”
“That’s not it.”
Hyuk took a deep breath and let it out.
“…I’m just… I’m just….”
Ugh. This was so embarrassing.
He ran his hand through his hair.
Was there anything more shameful and terrible than being exposed like this to someone you liked?
And on top of that, when that person cared about you this much—
“I’m just… ashamed, that’s all.”
His pride wouldn’t let him accept help like this.
Really, this was the worst, Mun Hyeok.
Hyuk cursed at himself tens and hundreds of times, but he couldn’t stop the words from coming out.
“You’re two years younger than me…. I can’t even help you, and I’m ashamed of just receiving help. I’m supposed to be your senior, but….”
Smack.
“?!”
Realizing that the sharp slapping sound had come from his own body, Hyuk looked up in shock.
It didn’t hurt at all, but it was extremely startling!
“Did you just—”
“Yes. I just hit your back. Me.”
“!!!”
“Sorry. But I hit you with a mother’s heart, so forgive me. Mothers usually swat your back to knock some sense into you, right?”
Yewon said this with a grin.
Hyuk just stood there, stunned, staring blankly at her face.
Mother? And more than that… did that make me… her son?!
Does this mean that to Yewon’s eyes, I’m just… a family member…?!
“What does age matter? That’s what friends do—help each other. Later, when I’m struggling, are you not going to help me? Of course you will.”
“!”
“And don’t worry, oppa.”
Yewon flicked her thumb upward.
“I’m perceptive enough that I won’t make it awkward like today.”
Instead, I’ll help you discreetly in other ways.
Yewon deliberately swallowed the rest of her words.
Right, no matter how much you act like an older brother, to me you’re still just a nine-year-old runny-nosed Mun Hyeok.
“…!”
“Just remember this. I’m always on your side.”
Yewon laughed, a bright titter escaping her lips.
“Well, I won’t steal your time with a junior two years younger. See you!”
With that, Yewon bolted into the building before Hyuk could follow.
Because.
-Long time, Yewon!
Something had been laughing wickedly from behind Mun Hyeok since earlier.
That Cotton Ball she’d made a contract with.
It had come back after seven years.
* * *
The moment Yewon stepped inside the building.
The surrounding scenery and students froze as if time itself had stopped.
“…You….”
Since seven years ago, Cotton Ball had never once appeared before her.
All she could do was guess, based on the occasional Quest windows that arrived out of nowhere, that it hadn’t died.
But to appear like this, so suddenly.
What on earth was it scheming?
Yewon’s brow furrowed.
-Calling me “you” after all this time? Tsk, tsk. As if you don’t know how much I’ve been looking out for you all these years.
Cotton Ball wore the same wicked smile it had at their first meeting.
“Looking out for me? You?”
You’re always killing my uncles or threatening to disband them—that’s what you call looking out for me?
Yewon let out a hollow laugh, shaking her head in disbelief.
-Of course. I even gave you a twelve-year grace period on your Quest. You just had to succeed by the time you became an adult. How much more could I possibly accommodate you?
“But you said this year would be the last time my uncle’s safety was guaranteed. So really, the Quest’s deadline is… as good as this year.”
As Yewon protested, Cotton Ball grinned as if it had been waiting for exactly this.
-That’s right. That’s exactly why I came.
“…!”
Could it be offering to extend the deadline for her uncle’s protection?
Yewon’s eyes gleamed.
-This school, see… I’m not happy with it.
“….”
At those loaded words, Yewon’s expression turned colder still.
Truth be told.
She too was starting to really hate this school.
-Talented kids who could succeed big-time come to this school and lose all their drive completely—they end up leaving for other fields instead of pursuing entertainment. And that cuts into my income, you see. Ah, it’s making it hard to get by, really.
Income…? Did it start some entertainment company or something…?
Yewon found herself drowning in question marks above her head.
-So here’s the thing: you need to save the kids at this rotten school who are giving up on their dreams.
“….”
There were so many children here who abandoned their dreams upon entering.
Before coming, she wouldn’t have understood why.
But after seeing Mun Hyeok and the third-year students just now, she was beginning to grasp it.
Yewon had chosen Hyunbong Arts Middle School because of its renowned faculty and solid curriculum.
Hyunbong Arts had opened numerous art-focused after-school classes to develop students’ talents.
Originally all paid courses, but she’d heard that from this year onward, the foundation changed and they’re running everything free.
She’d enrolled thinking it was a school with good intentions all around.
…But the atmosphere in the cafeteria just now was truly horrible.
If she weren’t living a second life, she wouldn’t have endured it.
“What exactly are you asking me to do?”
-Looks like you’re willing to cooperate?
Cotton Ball broke into a grin, baring its teeth.
[▶Sub Quest Triggered! – <Mun Hyeok, Open the Door>
Did you know Mun Hyeok once had a best friend? They severed their friendship now, though.
One true friend is worth more than a hundred acquaintances.
Let’s restore Mun Hyeok’s “real friend” to him.
But it seems the rift between them runs deeper than expected.
Why don’t we get them into the same club first?
Quest Success Condition: Get Mun Hyeok’s former best friend, Yoo Eunoh, and Mun Hyeok into the same club
On Quest Success: Casting offer for <???>, the directorial debut of a genius young director who shook the film festival
On Quest Failure: Mun Hyeok’s withdrawal from school]
“…….”
Yewon checked the Quest window and looked up at Cotton Ball with an bewildered expression.
?
Was this some kind of joke?
-Don’t look at me like that. You think I wanted to name a quest something this ridiculous? This is entirely someone else’s taste…! Ugh!
What’s wrong with him?
Yewon glanced sideways at Cotton Ball, whose mouth had suddenly clamped shut as if jammed, unable to form proper words.
“…Mun Hyeok and Yoo Eunoh were best friends? The student council president from earlier?”
Yewon recalled the scene she’d witnessed moments ago.
Those two who’d been so cold to each other—best friends?
She couldn’t even fathom how severe their severance of friendship must have been.
‘Putting both of them in the same club?’
Now, of all times?
‘Just because they join the same club doesn’t mean they’ll become close again.’
It could backfire, actually. What’s the real agenda here?
She didn’t understand the quest conditions, but what she understood even less was the quest reward itself.
‘A genius director making their debut?’
When I was fourteen in my past life, there was no such person’s debut work….
What kind of film is it that they won’t even tell me the title?
“If you’re going to leave everything as question marks like this, how am I supposed to know what to work toward?”
-Can’t be helped. The quest reward hasn’t been decided ‘yet’.
“What do you mean—”
-You ask too many questions. Just complete the quest. Besides, you can’t exactly turn a blind eye to Mun Hyeok anyway, can you?
“….”
That much was true.
In fact, Yewon had been deeply shaken by those voices and glances that had openly mocked Mun Hyeok from behind. He didn’t deserve such treatment—no one did.
No one in this world should be treated that way.
Not because of Cotton Ball, but for Hyuk’s sake, she had to complete this quest.
“Fine. But in exchange.”
However.
-What?
That’s one thing.
I need to get the maximum reward possible.
“Instead of a casting offer, guarantee Uncle’s safety. Because I’m already—”
-Ah, yes. You already won the Fox Best Actress Award in that work in your past life, so you don’t need some other project, right?
Cotton Ball grinned with a wicked smile that split his face open, circling around Yewon.
As if mocking her with the thought: ‘Will that really go the way you want?’
-You’ve changed so many things in this life, Yewon. But will the future really flow exactly like the past?
“…!”
She’d been struck right at the heart of the matter.

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