Chapter 32: Once is Chance, Twice is Fate (1)
How did it come to this?
It started well enough. Despite not driving for a while, Kim Si-woo’s skills held up, and he navigated fine. But Seoul’s traffic was relentless.
“Uh… I need to turn here…”
Beep, beep.
- “Turn left in 300 meters,” the navigation announced.
“Uh…”
Failing to follow the GPS, the feeble human Kim Si-woo drifted further from his destination.
“Come on! I signaled—why are you speeding up?!”
He shouted, frustrated. South Korea’s cutthroat roads showed no mercy, and somehow, he ended up in Gangneung.
“Sigh… might as well see the sea while I’m here. Wonder what he’s up to?”
He made a call.
“Hey, where you at? I’m at Gyeongpo Beach. Come out.”
— “Nah.”
“What? Just come when I tell you.”
— “Nope, too much hassle.”
“I’ll give you pocket money.”
— “Deal.”
“Call when you get here.”
Hanging up, Kim Si-woo grinned but grumbled,
“That punk, acting like he’s too cool for his hyung.”
He called Jung Dong-sik next, admitting he was in Gangneung. Dong-sik laughed, bragging about saving money. Annoyed but at fault, Si-woo scratched his head.
“Might as well grab a drink,”
He muttered, searching for restaurants on his phone.
“Ooh… king crab. Beats regular crab.”
Rushing to the restaurant, he ran into an unexpected face.
“Writer-nim?” a voice said.
“Ji-hyun-ssi?” he replied.
Kim Ji-hyun was eating king crab. Both were startled to see each other.
“Hi. What brings you here?” she asked.
“Shooting. You?”
“Just… ended up here,” he admitted.
“Oh… okay.”
An awkward silence hung between them. Feeling uneasy, Si-woo moved to a table further in.
“Enjoy your meal.”
“Wait—” Kim Ji-hyun started, hoping to invite him to join, but her group arrived, cutting her off.
“Unnie!” they called.
“Oh… uh…” she faltered, unable to stop him.
“Something wrong?” one asked.
“No, nothing. Sit down,” she said.
Scratching his head, Si-woo muttered,
“Why’d I have to run into her here…?”
Settling at a table, he ordered four king crabs and waited. Soon, a familiar voice called out.
“Hyung!”
“You’re here?” Si-woo said.
“What, buying me crab?”
“King crab, you punk.”
“Whoa, hyung, you rich or what?”
The caller was his younger brother, Kim Seung-oh, a taekwondo athlete. They’d lived apart since childhood due to Seung-oh’s training, but their bond remained strong.
“You didn’t hear what I do?” Si-woo asked.
“Nah, just that you write stuff.”
“You don’t care about your hyung.”
“You care about me?” Seung-oh shot back.
“Ahem…”
Si-woo explained how he ended up in Gangneung—failing to change lanes in Seoul’s traffic.
“So, you got here because you couldn’t merge?” Seung-oh laughed.
“How does no one yield?!”
Si-woo groaned, a soju bottle already in hand.
“Oh, and drive my car back later,” he added.
“Sure.”
“How much pocket money you want?”
“Whatever you feel like giving.”
Seung-oh’s casual attitude about money reminded Si-woo of himself.
‘Bet he doesn’t know how much I’ve got. He’s in for a shock.’
“King crab’s here.”
A waiter announced, setting down a tray with four massive crabs before hurrying off.
“Let’s eat,” Si-woo said.
“Thanks for the food!” Seung-oh replied.
Si-woo savored the steamed king crab with soju.
“Ahh, this is the life.”
Drinking alone with good food was worlds better than with Park Woong-deok, where he couldn’t tell liquor from water.
“How’s coaching?” he asked.
“It’s alright,” Seung-oh said.
“Gonna open your own dojo?”
“Nah, doesn’t suit me. Coaching’s easier.”
They’d gone from silly childhood banter to practical life talks, a sign of their age.
“Order whatever else you want,” Si-woo offered.
“Sashimi?”
“Sure, and tell them to fry rice with the crab innards.”
“Nice.”
As an athlete, Seung-oh ate double a normal person’s portion. While they dug in, he returned from the bathroom with someone in tow.
“Hyung, know this person?”
Standing hesitantly behind Kim Seung-oh was Kim Ji-hyun.
“I know her. You don’t?”
Kim Si-woo asked his brother.
“Huh? Isn’t she your friend?” Seung-oh replied.
‘Even if you’re not into movies, come on… she’s a celebrity.’
“So, what brings you here?”
Kim Si-woo asked coldly, standing up.
“I… wanted to talk.”
Kim Ji-hyun said, her voice small.
“About what?”
“To apologize for last time…”
As she spoke, tears welled up, her emotions overwhelming her.
“I’m sorry, I…”
Seeing her cry, both Kim Si-woo and Seung-oh froze, unsure what to do. Then a woman stormed over, yelling at Si-woo.
“Who are you? What did you do to make Ji-hyun unnie cry? Manager! Get over here!”
Her shout drew two men and the attention of everyone in the restaurant. Si-woo’s irritation spiked. This woman was blowing a quiet matter out of proportion, and he hadn’t even had a proper conversation with Ji-hyun yet.
Fueled by the soju, he glared at the woman.
“Who are you to butt in? Do you know me?”
“No! That’s why I’m stepping in! And I’m an actress.” she declared.
“Stop it, Sung-ah. It’s a misunderstanding.”
Kim Ji-hyun said, trying to calm her colleague, Park Sung-ah.
“Unnie, hold on! Managers, take care of her. I need to know what these guys did to make her cry. She wouldn’t cry for no reason!” Sung-ah insisted.
“Park Sung-ah, enough.”
Ji-hyun said, tears streaming as she tried to stop her.
Frustrated, Si-woo decided to leave.
“Sigh… Managers, handle your actors. This could turn into a scandal. Let’s go, Seung-oh.”
As he moved to exit, Sung-ah grabbed his wrist.
“Where do you think you’re going? I’m calling the police!”
“Enough,”
Si-woo snapped, shaking her off.
“Ji-hyun-ssi, let’s finish this talk later.”
Handing his car keys to Seung-oh, he said,
“Let’s go. The booze wore off. Round two—let’s get some soup.”
“Wow, a Benz?” Seung-oh marveled.
“Yeah. Come on.”
Seung-oh, sensing his brother’s mood, cautiously asked,
“So, who was that crying actress?”
“You haven’t seen Revenger?” Si-woo asked.
“Heard of it, but no time to watch. Supposed to be good, though.”
“I wrote it,” Si-woo said.
Driving calmly, Seung-oh slammed the brakes at the revelation.
“What?”
“And the crying woman was Revenger’s lead actress. The one butting in? No idea who she is.”
“Huh?”
Shocked, Seung-oh searched his phone and found Kim Ji-hyun’s profile as Revenger’s star, with Kim Si-woo credited as the writer.
“For real? But you two don’t get along? Why was she crying?”
“We had some bad blood recently,” Si-woo said vaguely.
They hit a seafood stew place for round two, then crashed at Seung-oh’s place before Si-woo drove back to Seoul.
“Take care,” Si-woo said.
“Drive safe. Merge properly this time,” Seung-oh teased.
“Yeah, yeah. I put plenty of pocket money in your account. Buy what you want.”
Waving goodbye, Si-woo left. Seung-oh checked his phone when it buzzed, and his jaw dropped. His account showed 200 million won.
“One, ten, hundred, thousand, ten thousand, hundred thousand, million… two hundred million?”
While Seung-oh reeled at the absurd sum, Si-woo navigated Seoul’s midday traffic, miraculously merging successfully and arriving home.
“I’m back,” he called.
“You went to see Seung-oh? That’s rare,” his mother said.
“Just had some time, thought I’d travel a bit.”
He said, omitting the part about getting lost.
“I’m gonna rest now.”
“Alright, son. Write something when you have time.”
Since he’d made a fortune writing, his mother had started nudging him to keep at it. In his room, he flopped onto his bed, replaying yesterday’s events.
‘She was trying to apologize…’
“Sigh… if that woman hadn’t interrupted, we could’ve talked. Now it’s all messy.”
Feeling uneasy about not accepting Ji-hyun’s apology, he called his closest ally, Shim Ji-young.
“Hello?” she answered.
“Hey, noona, it’s nothing big…”
He summarized the Kim Ji-hyun incident, only to be met with a torrent of scolding.
— “What? You’re cold and tough? Even Park Woong-deok would quit drinking before believing that. You made her a star and now wants to apologize after treating you like that? If I were you, I’d bury her.”
“People make mistakes. She’s still young,” Si-woo defended.
— “If Kim Min-ho apologized, would you accept it?”
“That’s different.”
— “What, you’re playing favorites? Or is it because Ji-hyun’s young and pretty?”
“No, Min-ho tried to assault me—that’s a crime.”
He argued their situations weren’t the same, but Shim Ji-young wasn’t convinced.
— “She got famous from one movie, caught celebrity disease, and can’t handle herself, so you run to help her on set? And then you went home mid-shoot.”
“Well… yeah,” he admitted.
Her words started to sway him, but he shook his head to clear his thoughts.
“I get your point, noona, but we’ll cross paths again. No need to burn bridges.”
— “How many people do you think you’ll see forever in this industry? Celebs vanish overnight. You think youth gets a pass here? Even young actors are targets to watch out for.”
Her words flipped a switch in her, her tone sharpening. ‘Did I call the wrong person?’ Si-woo thought, regretting it as he heard her slam something over the phone.
— “Ugh, you’re so frustrating! Where are you? Home? Let’s talk in person.”
“I’m home, but can’t we just talk on the— Noona? Hello?”
Beep… beep… beep…
The call cut off, leaving only the sound of a disconnected line.
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