Chapter 51 Mars Collides with Earth

"It's Christmas already! Won't oppa be going to work soon? I originally wanted to ask Sejeong unnie to hang out, but I didn't expect her to still have a schedule. How exhausting!"

As a Canadian, Somi naturally came from a religious family. Although the proportion of Christian believers in South Korea had been declining in recent years, the church had after all made indelible contributions to the process of national modernization and normalization, still accounting for about a third of the population.

She had just looked at the Christmas group photo of the eldest sister and the younger sister, and anticipated that they would start a live broadcast shortly. They were wearing rather formal red Christmas-themed outfits, and without little reindeer headbands or anything, it somehow felt like something was missing.

"When is your solo debut again? When that time comes, oppa will definitely buy some copies to support you through my colleagues, so as not to waste you calling me oppa for so long."

This little girl had been quite well-behaved lately, growing increasingly enthusiastic after he received his commendation, and it was said she had talked back to Mr. Matthew more than once at home.

"Dad keeps saying that oppa is a hypocrite putting on a facade of morality, and told me not to contact oppa anymore in the future. But how could I not know what kind of person oppa is? You're definitely a great guy."

Handing out a good-guy card so casually, this little foreign girl was really something else. Still, after such a long time, they had built up some rapport. Although their relationship couldn't be called extremely close, they could at least be considered friends. A good guy it was, then.

Lately, this girl and her father had also been appearing on various variety shows and the like, and her agency had already leaked news that she would debut as a solo singer with a new single produced by Teddy. Quite a few media outlets were also expecting this girl to bring some diverse colors to the industry.

"That's right, I'm actually a bad guy. Can there be good people in a club? Who goes to a club if they're a good person? Your uncle was spot on! In clubs, bad guys like us especially love high school girls like you who hate studying—brainless and love to play."

Cha Lunhou's teasing didn't crush the little foreigner's spirit at all. This fellow had never shied away from her playful nature; otherwise, she wouldn't have almost crashed and burned before. He could save her once, but if she courted death over and over again, even the gods couldn't save her.

Moreover, that crappy agency she was currently signed to—in his mind, this black-hearted company was just like the parent company YG, neither being a place where decent people should stay. It could be said to lack even a shred of human decency. The biggest event in the entertainment industry over the past couple of days was none of other than the youngest member of YG's legendary boy group BIGBANG, that scum from the city of Gwangju, Lee Seung-ri, who had suffered a massive disaster at the Burning Sun club in Seoul's Gangnam district.

Late last year, when a customer named Kim finished a gathering at the club, he was heavily intoxicated and stalked and harassed three women, leading to him being beaten by the boyfriend of one of them. A petty dispute driven by jealousy wasn't much of a deal, but causing trouble in the venue naturally earned him a heavy-handed beating from the security guards. Unable to take the beating, Kim called the police himself, only to assault the officers when they arrived. Up to this point, it was just the scope of a normal drunk throwing a tantrum, and no one would have imagined it would become the catalyst sweeping South Korea's media headlines.

Kim exposed his experience of being beaten at the Burning Sun club online, accusing the club of violence, collusion between business and government, drug trafficking, and sex trade. This exposure was like poking a hornet's nest, quickly fueling public opinion. Even more explosive was that Kim posted a national petition on the Blue House website, stating that the police and Burning Sun had colluded to beat him. This petition rapidly gained the support of over two hundred thousand netizens.

"Oppa, are you a man from the Middle Ages? You should walk around in a long robe and a bamboo hat, and be locked up in a museum for exhibition. You don't have a shred of youthful vigor at all—you were a club-goer yourself!"

Somi felt that this oppa was truly wrong to look at people through colored glasses. Which South Korean youth didn't go to clubs? Being this conservative didn't resemble a young person at all; one could tell his brain had been rigidified by military school. She ought to properly reshape this oppa's mindset, or he would become completely out of touch with this society.

"Let's not talk about other things. March is my coming-of-age ceremony, and I plan to hold a small-scale party. Both you and Sejeong unnie must come then, to celebrate me being able to drink in formal settings."

The legal drinking age in South Korea was nineteen, but the right to purchase alcoholic beverages began on January 1st of the year one turned nineteen. However, not many people strictly enforced this law, let alone someone with Somi's flexible nationality. Although the phenomenon of underage drinking was skewing younger and younger, if an artist was caught, it would look terrible and inevitably draw fierce criticism from netizens—something even someone thick-skinned like Somi found headache-inducing to think about.

Actually, this girl's alcohol tolerance was already quite good. He didn't even know when she had started drinking; for all he knew, she might have started back in middle school. Thus, learning bad habits didn't require anyone to teach her. As long as she didn't touch her homeland's specialty products, he was willing to acknowledge this girl as his friend.

"I originally didn't want to go, but if Sejeong is going, I'll go just to humor you. Those friends of yours are a mixed bag; who knows what kinds of demons and monsters are among them."

In truth, Sejeong didn't have many friends she interacted with wholeheartedly, but aside from this little foreigner, she seemed to be burning hot with TWICE's Park Ji-hyo, currently the most sought-after girl group member. He had spent some time in the agency himself and even done field work following TWICE; although the contact was brief, his impression of this leader wasn't very good.

Though the eldest sister Im Nayeon, who was his age, would sometimes display a trace of arrogance, her usual demeanor in handling matters and dealing with people was quite good. She always wore a smile and had a sweet mouth; whether sincere or not, it always made people feel at ease. Meanwhile, this fifth-ranked female artist, right in the middle of the group, always held a sense of superiority towards those below her. In the past, it had nothing to do with him—it was normal for a big star to look down on a poor bodyguard from the countryside. But now that she was playing so closely with Sejeong, it left a rather sour taste in his mouth.

"Who is it! Who have you been on the phone with for so long? Let me see where this vixen came from, is it that old... oh, it's just a little thing!"

Wrapped in a bath towel with her hair tucked into an absorbent towel cap, looking for all the world like an Indian princess, Suzy exuded water vapor and the fragrance of shower gel. This mixed-race younger sister had also stayed at the agency for quite a few years and could be considered quite familiar. At first, she had thought it was that senior Jessica shamelessly seducing a fresh young man again.

"Ah! Who is it? Suzy sunbaenim, I..."

Somi was caught completely off guard, never expecting that fellow Cha Lunhou was actually staying with Suzy sunbaenim in the middle of the night. The two of them weren't even bothering to hide it from others anymore! She truly felt it was unjust for Sejeong unnie; it had only been a few days, and she had already run off with a wealthy woman. Ah, men!

Yet this turn of events had put her right on the spot. She didn't dare hang up the phone, and could only pin her hopes on Cha Lunhou being quick-witted and swiftly cutting the call. However, seeing that Suzy had already taken over the conversation, the man had missed the best window of opportunity to end this exchange.

"Good evening, Suzy sunbaenim! I just wanted to invite oppa to attend my coming-of-age ceremony, that's all. I didn't mean anything else."

Though Somi spoke submissively on the surface, what she was thinking inside was: What business of yours is it what I say to Lunhou oppa? Do a cohabiting pair of dogs think they can boss me around too? Acting all high and mighty—even Sejeong unnie didn't talk to her like that.

"Is that so? So Somi and Lunhou are such close friends! That's wonderful. How about this, I'll go hang out with Lunhou when the time comes! Somi won't mind me not being welcome, right?"

Suzy's proposal made both Cha Lunhou and Somi stare with wide eyes. Now the situation seemed to have headed down a point of no return beyond their control, yet this senior's suggestion left Somi with no way to refuse, forcing her to stammer out an agreement.

"This is ruined! What on earth am I going to do now?!"