episode_0144

Slums in Ansan.

There was a small, shabby bar there that would not have been surprising if it had gone out of business at any moment.

The name of the bar is First Love.

The space is small and there are few guests.

It’s a simple place that just lives off the memories of its regulars.

A woman’s figure entering the place comes into view.

A silk one-piece dress that highlights your sensual body lines.

And a light jacket over it.

However, despite her body, her face still has a youthful look.

Because she had fair skin with short hair and fluffy cheeks.

She climbed the stairs, her small handbag slung over her arm.

And then slowly opened the bar door.

“Welcome.”

An unfamiliar voice.

As a regular at the bar, she tilts her head at the sound of a woman’s voice she hears for the first time.

To begin with, the bartender at this bar was a man.

The woman, who found this strange, slowly looked at the counter.

And I tilted my head at the sight of a small bartender whom I had never seen before.

“Hey, is Juho oppa off today?”

“Yes, I’ll take care of it for a few days.”

The woman stares at the bartender as he washes her glass.

A pretty and feminine body line.

Even the strange eyes and tear stains.

Aren’t they much more attractive than the ladies at our store?

Her face wasn’t that much prettier than theirs, but she had a very feminine vibe.

“What would you like?”

She smiles with her eyes.

The woman, who had been blankly staring at the flashy black choker hidden under her shirt, finally came to her senses.

“Uh… Midori shower.”

“Hmm-. Midori shower-.”

The bartender raised the corners of his mouth at the woman’s order.

The customers also couldn’t help but chuckle at her playfully repeating their orders.

“Why Midori Shower?”

“No-, just. It seems like a spell that goes really well with guests.”

The bartender points to the customer’s eyes with his finger.

Her eyes, with their lenses on, were also green.

“Your eyes are a pretty shade of green.”

“Oh, thank you…”

The woman bowed her head shyly.

Male bartenders don’t do this…

Are all female bartenders really this friendly?

I feel something warm in my heart.

“—.”

Gentle R&B music.

The woman hummed along to the music.

The bartender placed a small snack in her place.

This is a chocolate cookie that was recently advertised by a female singer.

“Do you like this song?”

“I’m sorry… Was it too loud?”

The woman blushed at the bartender’s question.

The bartender waved his hand and said it was okay.

“No, it was so nice to hear, it sounded like a singer!”

“My favorite song. Jaei’s Hola… ”

The woman smiled shyly and pointed to the speaker.

The bartender nods in agreement with the customer’s reaction.

“I once wanted to be like that too… ”

A woman’s face is reflected in the prepared Midori bottle.

A pitiful and bitter expression.

The bartender knew that look.

Because it was the same face as my past self who had not achieved the dreams he had hoped for.

“What are you doing now?”

I asked the guest carefully.

Then she pursed her lips for a moment and hesitated to answer.

When, not long after, he opened his mouth again.

She answered with a bitter smile.

“I sing in a bar. Sometimes I sell my body too.”

At those words, the bartender paused for a moment.

And he looks at the guest with a compassionate expression.

“Don’t look at me so pitifully. It was all my choice.”

The customer took out his cell phone, avoiding the bartender’s expression.

And check the time.

“I’ve become a regular here because my customers live nearby.”

The woman placed her cell phone on the table with a bitter look.

And then he stares at the bartender with his chin resting on his hand.

“Isn’t that funny? You became a regular because of your customers… ”

She smiled faintly.

But the bartender knew.

That smile was not a happy smile, but a smile of despair at the unchangeable reality.

Because I can’t stand it if I don’t smile like that.

The guest left a pathetic joke and just stared at his phone.

As if I would jump out if I got a call right away.

Her face looks very anxious.

The bartender, who was worried about the sight, calmly asked the customer.

“Excuse me, sir. What is your name?”

“What’s my name…?”

“Yes.”

The guest looked at me with suspicion at the sudden question about my name.

And he told me the name he used at the store.

“Please call me Yeji.”

“What a pretty name.”

The bartender obviously knew that her name was a fake.

But, he praised me as if it were my real name.

“Why are you suddenly asking my name?”

“You’ll debut as a singer someday. You should at least know your name in advance so you can brag about it later.”

The bartender smiled as refreshingly as he could.

Yejin stared blankly at that smile for a moment.

“Singer… .”

She muttered to herself with her head down.

As if imagining himself as a singer.

Soon, Yejin raised her head again.

And he gives the bartender an equally bright smile.

“Okay. If I succeed, I’ll let the bartender know first.”

Yejin sticks her face in and examines the bartender’s clothes.

However, there was no name tag on her clothes.

“What is your name?”

“Ah… Me?”

The bartender hesitated to answer questions about his own name.

She thought for a moment, then covered her lips with her palm and whispered,

“It’s a poem. Han Siho.”

Han Si-ho… .

Yejin repeated the name in her head.

That’s a pretty name.

There was silence in the bar for a moment as she memorized the name.

Meanwhile, Shiho was busy taking out the ingredients to make Midori Sour.

Yejin just waited for the customer’s text to arrive soon.

Suddenly, her cell phone screen lights up.

“Take some painkillers when you get here. You’re feeling good today.”

A thoughtless and decisive text message.

The moment she saw that message, Yeji’s face turned dark.

Even though it was clearly a text she had been anxiously waiting for.

“Yeji, what’s wrong? Your complexion doesn’t look so good… .”

Siho seemed to immediately notice the guest’s face and asked cautiously.

“I think I should go out in 20 minutes.”

Yeji’s voice trembles faintly.

She wanted to hide it from Siho somehow, but the fear her instincts remembered would not let her go.

“Yes, then I will make it quickly.”

Siho hurriedly prepares for bartending.

However, he stopped for a moment at the words of the prophet who called him back.

“Can I ask you a favor?”

“Just say the word.”

“Please put half the cider in my Midori.”

“Half a cider…?”

The bartender tilts his head at the unusual order.

Then the guest immediately told me the reason.

With a very tired face.

“I can’t stand this shit with my mind clear. I have to drink it to feel better.”

The bartender’s hand, which was about to follow Midori, suddenly stopped.

And as if even she herself was suffocating, she put her fingers into the choker around her neck.

“I think the customer is a rude person… .”

“He’s crazy. He works at a drug factory and he must be doing well, because he always pays me three times the price when he sees me.”

“What’s the medicine…?”

Siho asked, taking her hand out of the choker.

Her calm brown eyes sparkle.

“Yes… , he was originally banned from our host because he was a violent brat… .”

Yejin took a deep breath and muttered.

“Because I paid more, the boss ended up sending me away by force.”

Siho’s plump lips twitch as she listens.

Yejin smiled at her expression as if telling her not to worry.

“It’s okay. I can handle it, so I’m doing it! But they give me a lot of money… .”

Soon she stopped talking, as if she was tired.

The quick-witted bartender no longer questioned the customer’s words.

“Okay… .”

The bartender placed a glass on the counter table.

To be as pretty and beautiful as the guest you meet.

In transparent glass…

Beautiful green midori. (30ml)

Fresh lemon juice and lime juice. (10ml each)

And sweet sugar syrup. (10ml)

Add everything and stir gently.

Pour some refreshing cider over it.

Finally, let’s float some sweet cherries on the surface…

Rating: ★★★★ (Epic)

Effect: Increases Focus by 10 for 1 hour. Permanently increases Composure by 5. (Cannot be duplicated)

Information: Midori Shower made with a classic recipe. The original name is Sour, but many people call it Shower.

The customer clearly asked for his cider to be half-filled, but the bartender did not comply.

“I’ll give you a shower, Midori.”

A beautiful green cocktail in a clear glass.

An ecstatic drink that sparkled like an emerald was placed in front of Yeji.

She just stared blankly down at her glass, as if it was a waste to even drink it.

Forgetting that I had to leave in 20 minutes.

“There seems to be a lot of cider… ?”

“Yes, sorry… I haven’t made a custom version like that yet… ”

Siho bows his head and apologizes, holding the tray gently with both hands.

However, Yejin did not accept the apology.

In the first place, putting in less cider didn’t mean you’d get less drunk.

It was just an eccentric act of wanting to escape reality.

“Instead, I won’t take your money.”

Siho muttered, covering his mouth with the back of his hand.

Then, Yeji’s expression suddenly softens and reassures the bartender.

“It’s okay, it’s been a while since I’ve had the original, so I’m actually looking forward to it?”

The woman slowly brought the glass to her lips.

And soon I savored the sweet cocktail running down my lips.

Close your eyes.

The tangy, refreshing taste of melon soda and the subtle alcohol spread throughout my body.

It feels like the taste of a child and the taste of an adult coexist.

A child who wanted to be a singer and an adult who despaired of reality.

A well-filled cider eased the despair of the adults who had given up.

And he encourages her not to give up on her dream of becoming a singer.

“It’s delicious… ”

Yejin soon opened her eyes.

Before her eyes, there was an empty glass.

And even the bartender was smiling faintly…

“Yeji… I’ll support you. Don’t give up on your dreams.”

Is it because alcohol got into my body?

Yejin felt a tingle in the tip of her nose without realizing it.

His parents were killed by monsters and he lived his entire life as an orphan.

She became a prostitute to survive, but no one sympathized with her.

As those days continued, my emotions naturally became dull.

Thanks to that, I wasn’t able to cry even when I was assaulted by a regular customer.

But of all people… why am I crying over a cocktail that only these kids would drink?

It’s ironic.

“Thank you… I definitely still… .”

I couldn’t speak well because I was sobbing.

But, Yeji somehow managed to tell Siho.

“I think the song is really good.”

A smile with tears in her eyes.

Siho’s heart was also touched by that sweet smile.

Can’t I help this person?

She was lost in thought for a moment, then opened her mouth as if a good idea had occurred to her.

“Yeji, have you ever auditioned?”

“I failed all the open auditions because of work. So I’m just sending the recordings by email. Of course… no one read them.”

Yejin smiled wryly as if it was all her own karma.

Siho wipes away the tears from her eyes and says.

“Can I have your phone for a moment?”

“Your cell phone…?”

The woman tilted her head for a moment, then obediently handed the phone over.

Then Siho wrote down an unknown phone number.

“Please answer the phone if you get a call from this number.”

“Who is this person…?”

Yeji asked back with a blank expression.

Then Siho winked as if telling a secret.

“Looking for someone as talented as Yeji.”

「—.」

Yejin came out of the bar.

And then he leisurely went down the stairs with a trembling expression.

The cell phone is still in her hand.

There was a phone number written on it that the bartender had left.

“Who the hell is this… ”

A call comes into her cell phone as she stares blankly at it.

Yeji focused all her gaze on the screen, wondering if it was the person Siho had mentioned.

but…

That number belonged to someone else.

She is the one who knows that better than anyone else.

Regular customer.

I feel empty, like I’ve just woken up from a sweet dream.

Yejin swallowed deeply and slowly answered the phone.

“Hello, hello… ”

“Hey, you fucking bitch… Why are you so late?”

A rough man’s voice.

Yeji shrugged her shoulders, startled by the voice.

“Okay, I’ll be there soon… .”

“If you are even 1 minute late, the time will be extended.”

The call was disconnected.

Soon she starts running hurriedly towards the hotel where the meeting was held.

I was running so fast that one of the heels I was wearing broke.

However, Yejin didn’t care and hurried into the hotel.

“Haa… Haa… ”

She reached the hotel hallway, gasping for breath.

And then I catch my breath in front of room 104, the meeting place.

“… ”

She thought for a long time before pulling the doorknob.

Should I just run away now?

Run away and start a new life like Siho said.

Towards a famous singer like Jay…

But that glimmer of hope soon faded away.

The moment she hesitated… .

Because the doorknob that had been firmly locked started to wiggle on its own.

It comes out….

A beastly man who would commit suicide.

Yejin trembled in fear, clutching her chest.

I was shaking so much that I couldn’t even swallow my saliva properly… .

Bright light pours in through the crack in the door.

Because the hallway was somewhat dark, Yeji closed her eyes.

“Huh, what is this? Is this guy in the same group?”

what.

Yeji thought it was definitely the voice of a fierce man.

However, when I closed my eyes, the voice I heard was that of an attractive woman.

“You don’t look like someone who would go to a drugstore.”

Another woman’s voice.

It’s relatively awkward Korean.

“Isn’t that the call girl the target called? It seemed like she was preparing to sleep together… ”

A warm voice that doesn’t feel threatening compared to the two people.

At that voice, Yejin slowly opened her eyes.

And then you see three beautiful hunters you’ve never seen before.

“Come in. I have a ton of questions to ask this kid.”

The enemy opens the door with a calm voice.

Anna, who had been leaning against the wall, makes way for him.

and…

Jisoo, sitting on the bed, cleared away the body of the unconscious man.