Episode 118: Project Trinity (3)
A single girl stepped into the staff room of the restaurant ‘Scarlet’.
With her frail shoulders drooping and her steps lacking any strength, she eventually came to a stop in front of the cabinet with her name on it.
[Han Chaekyung]
“Haa.”
Han Chaekyung let out a small sigh like that, then pressed her forehead against the spot near her name.
The cold chill of the metal seeped straight into her skin, while numbers—far too stark and naked—dominated her mind.
‘Goshiwon rent, phone bill, transportation… Ha, why are there so many expenses…’
[TL Note: A goshiwon (고시원) is a small, budget-friendly, micro-studio in South Korea designed for short-term residents, students, and workers.]
In the calculations running through her head, the concept of food costs didn’t even exist.
In fact, that was exactly why she had stubbornly chosen a part-time job at a restaurant.
‘I can eat while working.’
Most decent restaurants take care of staff meals, after all.
Of course, that meant no meals on her days off.
‘I can just think of that as a diet.’
With that pathetically stubborn mindset, she had already endured nearly a full year.
The reason Han Chaekyung had pushed herself so relentlessly through such a brutally grueling time was simple:
‘Just another half year like this… and Chaeyeon’s tuition will somehow be covered…’
Ever since their grandmother passed away, her younger sibling was now the only family she had left.
The local national university her sibling was aiming for hadn’t raised tuition fees in seventeen years, so even if they increased next year, 16 million won should be more than enough to cover four full years.
‘And after that…’
Wouldn’t that mean she’d done everything an older sister could possibly do?
The thought of finally embracing the dream she had put on hold for so long gave her just a little strength.
‘Alright, Chaekyung. Let’s go hard again today.’
Just as she was about to toss the precariously dangling bag from her shoulder into the cabinet—
“As expected of Chaekyung. You’re the first one here again today?”
“Hello, Manager-nim.”
At that moment, the hall manager who had just entered the staff room forced a brighter atmosphere out of her.
But it was only for a moment—Han Chaekyung’s mood quickly cooled again.
“Um… Chaekyung-ah.”
The hesitation in the hall manager’s voice as she called her name was painfully obvious.
“The head chef is looking for you?”
“The head chef… you mean Su Chef-nim?”
“No, Chef Jin. Change into your uniform and go to Chef-nim’s office. He’s waiting.”
The instruction was so out of the blue.
Before the flustered Han Chaekyung could even ask why, the hall manager had already left.
Left alone, her mind went heavy and rigid.
‘Why me?’
Han Chaekyung was nothing more than a serving staff member.
Even her part-time interview had been conducted by the hall manager and Su Chef—so the owner chef of this restaurant, ‘Jin Honggi’, was literally someone from another world whom she had never once spoken to.
‘Could it be…’
She had heard stories.
That some places fire part-timers just before the one-year mark to avoid paying severance.
Of course, if it were something that sleazy, it would have been handled at the level of Su Chef or the hall manager rather than the head chef himself.
But her mind, frozen stiff, couldn’t think that far.
All Han Chaekyung could do was come up with clumsy countermeasures.
‘Should I write a statement saying I won’t report it? I need to hold out here for at least six more months…’
Muttering half-baked plans to herself, she quickly moved her hands and hurried her steps.
Knock knock.
“Come in.”
At the office door she finally reached, she knocked with a trembling hand. A somewhat mechanical voice answered from inside.
“Han Chaekyung-ssi?”
“Y-…Yes…!”
“Take any comfortable seat over there.”
In the office—simply put, minimalist; to be honest, stark and cold—Han Chaekyung cautiously perched herself on the very edge of the sofa, eyeing the room nervously.
Jin Honggi watched her and twitched an eyebrow, murmuring softly to himself.
“She really is pretty, huh.”
Jin Honggi had simply spoken his honest impression without any ulterior motive.
Unfortunately, Han Chaekyung couldn’t take it at face value.
‘Right now… what did he just…?’
‘Could Chef Jin Honggi really be that kind of person…?’
Han Chaekyung’s imagination—already assuming the absolute worst-case scenario—completely ran away with her at that single small murmur.
“I’m not the kind of person who usually passes on offers like this. But there’s a customer who came here and wants to meet Han Chaekyung-ssi personally.”
Completely unaware of the storm raging in her mind, Jin Honggi—still buried in his recipe documents and unable to lift his eyes—unwittingly drove the final nail in.
“You’ve got the wrong person. I don’t do that kind of thing. I don’t need severance—just let me quit.”
Unfortunately, Scarlet wasn’t the kind of restaurant that accepted just anyone as a customer, so Han Chaekyung’s runaway imagination, spiraling in the worst possible direction, finally forced those words out of her mouth.
The fortunate part was—
“…?”
—that her resolute declaration and the way she stood up from her seat finally pulled Jin Honggi’s gaze away from the papers.
“Ah, shit…”
From Han Chaekyung’s firm expression, Jin Honggi immediately understood.
He barely managed to swallow back the curse that had almost flown out of his mouth—something he did reflexively in the kitchen—because he fully recognized that his explanation had been sorely lacking.
“No matter what worst-case scenario you’re imagining right now, what you’re thinking absolutely isn’t going to happen—so just sit back down first.”
Words far too insufficient to douse the wildfire of her runaway imagination.
What actually stopped her feet—the ones already poised to bolt out of the office—was—
“I should’ve asked this first. Han Chaekyung-ssi, are you interested in the entertainment industry at all?”
Jin Honggi’s question as he set the recipe book aside on the edge of the desk and stood up.
“Huh?”
“The entertainment industry. More precisely, girl groups. Are you interested?”
That cold voice was no different from liquid nitrogen.
It didn’t just extinguish the flames of her runaway imagination—it froze her entire mind solid.
The reason was simple:
‘How does this person know…?’
Because that was precisely the dream Han Chaekyung had set aside for a while—the very dream itself.
“I never thought I’d live long enough to personally hand over one of my own staff to someone else. And the person making the offer isn’t exactly ordinary either. Have you ever heard the name Han Yujin?”
Jin Honggi’s following words only amplified the blizzard already raging in Han Chaekyung’s head.
‘Of course I have!’
How could she not?
When he had visited this place with his lover before, how hard had she bitten her lip to hide her fluttering excitement?
Of course, it wasn’t out of affection or jealousy.
To Han Chaekyung, Han Yujin was an object of pure admiration.
For someone who had temporarily set her dream aside, his songs were like the North Star in a desert night sky—guiding her direction.
She had even chosen MyWay as the very first place she planned to audition for.
Unaware of any of that, Jin Honggi roughly scratched the back of his head and continued.
“You’re not answering… Do I have to explain from the beginning? Uh, do you know Hylliy? It’s a pretty famous girl group. After debuting, they never got first place even once—until this time, when they finally did. The person who made that happen is that Han Yujin. And that person is interested in you, Han Chaekyung-ssi. Ah, don’t go thinking in a weird direction now that we’ve come this far. It’s strictly professional. That guy’s a famous romantic, so don’t misunderstand for real.”
Only then did something catch Han Chaekyung’s eye.
Among the bookshelves that were otherwise stark and filled solely with recipe books, there was one strangely colorful section.
Realizing that those were works created by the girl group called Hylliy, Han Chaekyung responded not with an answer, but with a question.
“Chef-nim… are you perhaps… a Hello… fan?”
“Yes. That’s right. Hello. What, people like me aren’t allowed to like idols? Wait—hold on, you know Hello too? You know everything? Ha, damn it, this is embarrassing…”
The sudden rush of shame made Jin Honggi unable to hold back the curse this time—but fortunately, it didn’t reach Han Chaekyung’s ears.
‘That Han Yujin… is interested in me…? Wait, then what about Chaeyeon’s tuition…?’
Her mind was already so full of that single thought that there was no room left for anything else.
“I heard from the hall manager and Su Chef that they’re at the point of confusing whether they’re bounty hunters or chefs now, but among everyone, they said Han Chaekyung-ssi has never been late once and has an excellent work attitude—they were even talking about hiring you as a full-time employee. It’s a shame to let go of a staff member like that with my own hands… but if you’re interested, give this number a call.”
What Jin Honggi continued to say only deepened her inner conflict.
“Eh, screw it—decision made.”
But her body was honest.
Han Chaekyung’s hand had already snatched the business card lying on the desk.
***
‘I didn’t expect contact to come this quickly.’
From the moment Lee Ahjeong passed the message to Chef Jin Honggi until Chaekyung reached out, only half a day had passed.
According to Chef Jin Honggi, today was the first time Chaekyung had ever left work early since starting there.
‘At that rate… the casting itself should go smoothly.’
As a condition for participating in Project Trinity, MyWay had secured an audition free-pass casting authority—one that even Lee Ahjeong hadn’t received, previously held only by Seo Yoonje and Jeon Seonwoo.
‘I’d prefer to go through a proper audition if possible.’
Unfortunately, MyWay’s auditions weren’t something you could pass on visuals alone.
At Chaekyung’s current level, she would definitely get eliminated in the document screening round based on her demo audio alone.
‘I did really well setting up that “jakdu show” in advance.’
The aftermath of that reality show where the demon Catherine sniffed out—purely on instinct—the horrific thing she had done back in elementary school was still more than enough to cover Soyoung’s shortcomings.
‘But even that umbrella won’t last forever.’
Still, raising Chaekyung’s skill level—which I had already gone through all the trial and error with in the past—to at least the “this might actually work…” threshold wouldn’t be that difficult.
Ding.
Speak of the tiger and it appears.
Right on cue, I saw Chaekyung stepping into the café.
‘Well… I’ve been thinking only about her the whole time, so it’s only natural, I guess?’
As I cracked that joke to myself internally,
“Ah… Hello. I’m Han Chaekyung.”
The girl approached me, greeted politely, and there were a few beads of sweat on her forehead.
“Sit down first. What do you want to drink?”
“No, I’m okay…”
“I’m not okay. My throat’s dry too.”
“Then… I’ll have an Americano…”
An elementary-school palate ordering an Americano, of all things.
Even if she had no choice but to drink it, did she really have to drown it in syrup until it layered?
I ordered an Americano and a peach iced tea.
The reason? They had the most similar colors.
“Ah, this one’s the Americano. Oh well, I already took a sip, so let’s switch. Or I can just order another iced Americano.”
“No, no—it’s fine. I like iced tea too.”
Pretending it was a mistake, I passed the iced tea to Chaekyung. Once she seemed to catch her breath a little, I straightened my posture and got to the point.
“You even left work early to come here, so shall we jump right in?”
“About that…”
Chaekyung paused for a moment before continuing,
“To be honest… I was planning to audition for MyWay. Not this year—it would be tough—but next year, for sure. I know I might fail because my skills aren’t there yet… but I really, really wanted to go.”
Hearing that, a sudden question popped into my head, and I tossed it out half as a joke.
“You specifically picked MyWay? There are so many other companies. Like Starlight, for example.”
“Starlight? No… I’m not really interested in Starlight…?”
Her immediate, straightforward answer.
The moment I heard it, my head couldn’t help but tilt slightly.
Because—
“Starlight! I was only going to go there and nowhere else! If I fail, I’ll audition again. If I fail again, I’ll keep going back!”
What Chaekyung had just said was eerily similar to something she had once said back in my previous life.
‘Is she just saying that because I’m sitting right in front of her?’
The thought crossed my mind for a second.
But no—the clear look of confusion in her eyes, the genuine “why are we suddenly talking about Starlight?” question shining through, was far too vivid.
‘Wait… does she…?’
A single possibility flashed through my mind.
‘Is she following me…?’
In the previous life it was Starlight; now it’s MyWay.
The only things that have changed so drastically between then and now are me and Zia.
Naturally, that thought had to surface.
‘Nah, that’s way too far-fetched. That would be massive self-delusion on my part.’
Come on—no matter how much Chaekyung used to follow me around, there’s no way it’s to that extent.
I mentally shook my head to brush off the idea.
Meanwhile,
“So… I’m really grateful that you see potential in me… but could you possibly give me a little time…? About six months—no, maybe seven months…”
Chaekyung avoided my gaze, slightly lowering her head as she continued.
“Six months… Why?”
“It’s just… it’s kind of a long story if I explain…”
Because of that, she probably didn’t notice.
The small smile that tugged at the corner of my mouth.
‘What I didn’t know about was her raw material—not her circumstances.’
Any obstacles that could hinder leveling up—especially family issues like this—should be resolved as quickly as possible.
I’d already prepared for something like this well in advance.
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TL Note:
Want to read ahead?
Chapters 119–131 are available on My Patreon (Premium Tier) together with 5 other novels.
Link: https://www.patreon.com/cw/Vritratls
[This series is in the “Regressed Idol” collection]
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