There Are Four Top Idol Uncles - Chapter 204

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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 30
At first, she’d wondered if there really existed such favorable conditions, thinking perhaps this senior was a good person after all—but she was completely wrong.
“You’re telling me I have to outshine a third-year senior? But… you just said a moment ago that the first-years were only supposed to support the seniors, didn’t you?”
“That’s right.”
“But if I step forward and upstage a third-year senior to become the lead, everyone’s going to hate me.”
“I imagine they would.”
The way Eun O spoke throughout—as if discussing some stranger’s affairs—made the back of Yewon’s neck tighten gradually.
This guy was really something.
“Are you serious?”
“Yeah.”
“Why are you making such an awful demand? Is it just a twisted sense of humor?”
At Yewon’s protesting tone, Eun O narrowed his eyes as if to ask what on earth she was talking about.
“Twisted humor? I’m not letting something like that affect my work.”
“Then…”
“Simple reason. You need to take that role.”
“!”
“Because it’ll be better for my film.”
“…Why?”
Yewon asked almost as if picking a fight, wanting confirmation.
She wanted to understand his reasoning.
“That’s… because you’re most like my leading lady.”
At those words.
Yewon felt her stubborn heart dissolving quietly, melting away.
“Within this school, yes. Outside school there would be far more options, but… there’s no helping it. One has to know how to compromise.”
And then, with the next thing he said, her mood turned thoroughly rotten again.
She really didn’t like this guy.
In the midst of such frustration.
[Quest Success Reward Provided!]
“!”
[Success Reward: Casting Proposal for <???>, the Directorial Debut of a Genius Newcomer Director Who Shook the Film Festival]
What?
Yewon couldn’t hide her shock at the message window that had appeared before her eyes.
* * *
On the way home.
Yewon alternated between looking at the message Yusong had sent and the Quest Success Reward message.
‘What could it be?’
She understood that Father had done “something” and her future was starting to return to its original course.
‘The moment Eun O offered me the lead role, the Quest Success Reward notification appeared… that can only mean one thing.’
No matter how she thought about it, the only conclusion was that the genius newcomer director had to be Eun O.
‘So they’re asking me to do both projects?’
Yewon was somewhat skeptical.
It was questionable whether she could focus on just one work, much less two simultaneously.
Could she even win the Best Actress Award that way?
‘…No.’
Yewon collected herself.
Even if Director Yoo started work from now on, there was absolutely no way he’d do a Crank In this year.
Though her future was being restored thanks to Yusong, the undeniable fact remained that much had been delayed.
‘And given Director Yoo’s nature, there’s no telling how much time the preparation will take.’
While directors varied in temperament, Director Yoo was known among them as an especially ruthless perfectionist.
There was no way such a person would skimp on preparation when making a comeback after so long.
It could easily take years rather than months.
Whereas Eun O’s project…
‘We could start filming immediately.’
Truthfully, she still had trouble believing that a middle schooler’s film could shake the festival circuit.
But Yewon didn’t think Cotton Ball would just dangle this sort of reward for no reason.
‘For now… I should do what I can.’
Right now.
Whether she liked it or not, she had to secure his project first according to their arrangement.
Even if it meant turning the entire club against her as a result.
‘Sigh, what a fate.’
Nothing ever goes smoothly.
‘At least I succeeded in one Quest, so for now I should just focus on acting and take it easy—’
It was at that very moment Yewon was trying to let her mind settle.
[Quest Triggered! –
Acting is something you do for a lifetime, but school days pass only once and never return.
Our young one has a tendency to focus only on acting and family.
What if you tried enjoying school life the way a fourteen-year-old should?
Meet all sorts of new friends, build all sorts of different memories.
Quest Condition: Make a new classmate friend (0/1)
Quest Success Reward: Memories of a happy adolescence
Quest Failure Penalty: The sorrow of adulthood]
“….”
Here it goes again with the Quest window.
It’d been quiet for a while!
Yewon let out a long, silent sigh.
For a stretch there it hadn’t sent any Quests unrelated to acting and stayed quiet, but now it’s suddenly meddling in my school life too?
‘Pick one. Just one.’
Either tell me to just act, or just live my school life.
‘And why does it keep calling me a child…!’
Now even the Quest window was treating her like a child.
‘Could I please finally get promoted to adolescent?!’
* * *
That evening.
After all his academy classes ended, Eun O returned home with heavy steps.
Already eight o’clock.
Under normal circumstances, this would be the hour when his father had forced his mother to eat dinner and medicine before bed, and then drunk himself into sleep.
But that day was different.
The house, which should have been dim, blazed with light.
Every light was on, and the TV in the living room was on. A film was playing across its screen—his father’s old work.
.
Director Yoo’s debut film, which Eun O knew well.
Since his father had decided to stop making films, not once had any of his work been shown in this house.
All the sights were familiar beyond measure, and yet equally strange.
What had once been everyday now belonged to the past, and Eun O stood frozen in the entryway, staring at these scenes.
What was happening?
“Ah, Eun O, you’re home? Come in and have dinner. Your father brought back all sorts of things.”
His mother’s voice—animated and bright for the first time in ages.
“Why are you so late? You should come straight home when academy ends.”
His father’s voice, disguising scolding beneath it, overflowing with affection.
And.
“…Come on. I saved your portion.”
His older brother’s hesitant voice, fumbling over the words.
Eun O felt as though he’d fallen into a different world overnight.
His heart pounded—thump, thump—but he deliberately showed nothing, harbored no hope, and set his bag in his room before coming out to the living room.
“…What’s going on?”
“Well, your father received quite an extraordinary proposal today. Dear, go ahead and tell him.”
“Ahem. Right.”
Director Yoo seemed to be choosing his words carefully with a feigned cough, but Eun O could read enormous joy and anticipation in his expression.
Yet the more he looked at that expression, the deeper the unease settled in his chest.
He had already learned once that everything breaks most easily when it seems most perfect.
“Someone came by today—you know Haiwon Entertainment, one of the Time Entertainment subsidiaries? The one established with investment from Haion? Their CEO, Hyeon Yuseong, came to see me. He said he’d invest fully….”
Director Yoo continued, his voice swelling with emotion, recounting his conversation with Yuseong.
A voice full of hope, the desperate wish that production might begin soon, the groundless hope that it would all come true.
Yes, that’s all Eun O could see.
Groundless hope.
Director Yoo had received investment proposals like this before—never once had any actually come to fruition.
This situation looked exactly the same to him.
Yet Eun O did not shatter his family’s desperate hopes.
After all, this peace had returned to his family for the first time in so long.
Perhaps it was all right to let themselves drift in the dream, just a little.
Not a day more, not a day less—just until today.
Eun O repeated this to himself over and over.
Just for today, let his family taste what they ought to have enjoyed all along.

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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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