Chapter 55 Political Correctness and Persona

Cursing inwardly, Cha Lun-hoo thought that Somi was truly a trouble-maker. Whoever ended up as her man in the future would surely be tormented to death by her. Fortunately, none of this was his business, though figuring out how to handle it properly was definitely a problem.

Luckily, there was still some time to ponder the matter thoroughly. Cha Lun-hoo's thought was to wait and see if any variables would arise, or perhaps he could just speak with Somi and have her split the event into two parts—a grand celebration followed by a smaller gathering.

"Sejeong! Have you been looking at places to rent lately? Why don't you grit your teeth and just lease one? Haven't you been wanting to move out of the dorm for ages?"

Cha Lun-hoo felt there was no need to agonize over it so much now. A portion of the government compensation money he received had yet to be spent, and renting a place for Sejeong was not an issue at all. Although it felt slightly strange, given their many years of deep bond, he felt there was no real problem with it.

"Let's go take care of this tomorrow! Not having a proper environment to rest in will end up affecting your own condition. Oppa still has a sum of money left over from the state stipend! If it weren't for the fact that this current place was leased not too long ago, I'd want to move myself."

If the relationships in a dormitory were poor, it would be a torment both physically and psychologically. Especially for a girl like Sejeong, who—due to the hardships of her early years—was particularly sensitive to the perceptions of others, she would always choose to silently swallow her grievances and make concessions. He had heard stories in the past about how she would sleep on the living room couch just because she returned too late from work and feared disturbing her roommates.

"Ah! Where did you get the money? Could it be... could it be that oppa won the lottery?"

She originally wanted to ask if Suzy-sunbaenim was really that good to her, but suddenly remembering something, she shut her mouth just in time. Men had a very strong sense of pride, and besides, oppa was now a man of some status and standing; a woman simply had to save face for her man!

How could Cha Lun-hoo not understand what was going on in this fellow's mind? He quickly gave her a gentle tap on the head, explaining that this was the government's subsidy awarded to heroes. After buying a car, he still had quite a bit left over, and if apartments in Gangnam weren't so expensive, he would have rented a new place himself.

Although Suzy's villa was exceptionally spacious, it was by no means a permanent home. While the Bae rabbit had expressed a desire to fund him in achieving great things, he preferred to wait and see. Though there were complicated feelings intertwined between them, he also knew better than to let her acquire founding shares too early.

"Come help me reminisce and refine our childhood memories; it's been too long and I'm a bit hazy on the details. I'll pick you up tomorrow morning, and we can go lock down the apartment you'll be renting!"

Although the experts and scholars had predetermined the core theme of his autobiography, he still needed to incorporate concrete details from his actual life so that the common populace could resonate with it, making them feel that he was different from others—that he didn't view them merely as ballot papers, but as his genuine elders and fellow townspeople.

That particular scholar had pointed out a clear path for him: to wrap himself in more political correctness, such as portraying himself as a small-town test-taking prodigy or a resilient, progressive soldier. Once so many political elements were blended together, making himself appear coherent and self-consistent was the task at hand.

Sejeong habitually wanted to refuse—a habit formed over her twenty-some years of life, because accepting someone else's kindness meant owing a favor that she usually couldn't afford to repay. But suddenly realizing that she and this fellow were not outsiders, she simply shut her mouth and stopped talking, thinking to herself: If I can't pay it back, then I just won't. So many other women were willing to spend money on him, yet she was supposed to be the special exception.

"If you don't get proper rest, it's hard to maintain your skin condition. The sharp cliff-like declines in visual appeal that many idols experience during their prime years are directly related to excessive fatigue."

Many people talked about an idol's "blossoming period," but having had plenty of personal exposure to it, she knew deeply from experience that someone like Suzy would definitely have an exceptionally long-lasting peak. When she had no work, she often slept in until past noon and didn't face the frequent schedule pressures of typical idols—though, of course, that was also the wealth she had fought hard for in her early years.

Writing an autobiography was not overly complicated. It contained a portion of his own struggles, and the girl sitting before him played a certain role in it as well—though her true identity was concealed, cast simply as a part of his childhood memories, such as eating government relief meals together.

"So that means I'm the female protagonist in this? I'll guard this secret well. It feels like such a wonderful sensation."

The number of little secrets between her and this fellow kept increasing. Though unfit to be shared with outsiders, it always made her feel that her relationship with him was special. She wondered when Bae Suzy would finally lose her sense of novelty.

She had never believed in love that never ended, but that didn't mean she didn't believe in the word "forever." Once the climax of those two people's romance passed, she would probably be the only one left bickering and living out life alongside him. After all, oppa was just an ordinary office worker making tens of millions of won a year; how could a top-tier popular actress spare her youth and years to grow alongside him?

She wasn't looking down on Cha Lun-hoo; on the contrary, she believed more than anyone else that he could rise above the rest. It was simply that, judging by his profession and life plan, he wasn't like an entertainer who could shine brilliantly at a very young age, and the profession of an entertainer doomed them to be incapable of long-term investments.

Feelings from youth tended to be purer and more direct. Amid the scheming and backstabbing of her many years in the entertainment industry, she found herself yearning all the more for those past emotions untainted by worldly interference and distractions. The profound emotional foundation established in their early years had forged a deep tacit understanding and reliance between the two, eventually making each other an indispensable part of their lives.

In truth, the two of them had spent quite a long period separated, during which they could only communicate briefly through letters and phone calls. Maintaining their childhood bond through all that was truly no small feat. What ultimately bound them tightly together were two lonely hearts; to this day, both deeply felt like strangers in this great metropolis.

Sejeong corrected her memory discrepancies bit by bit, blending them with the direction mapped out for her by the experts and scholars. It seemed this book would not merely be her own struggle story; it would also firmly cement her political leaning—something that had to be done.

Just as her teacher, Cho Won-soo, had said: when it was impossible to unite everyone, one must never straddle the fence. Since the Democratic Party had thrown out an olive branch, she had no choice but to accept this path, and her subsequent task in the coming years would be to let them witness her growth and value.

"I'll be heading to Taiwan in China for a schedule in a couple of days. Is there anything oppa needs me to bring back? I hear the local produce and goods there are very abundant."

Sejeong now had numerous overseas schedules and was quite a worldly person. This made Mr. Cha Lun-hoo—who had only ever visited the desert-dwelling rabbit-eating rattlesnakes of Morocco—feel rather ashamed. Although his ancestors possessed Yanbian Korean-Chinese lineage, his only impressions of southern Chinese islands came from Hou Hsiao-hsien's films and that very polite yet somewhat timid youngest member of the Rabbit Group.

No wonder Sejeong had asked him to tutor her in Mandarin. Hearing that this girl enjoyed quite high popularity over there and was doing better and better filled him with joy. It would probably be difficult for her to reach the heights of Suzy on the acting front, but among idols, she was already doing exceptionally well.

Mentioning the Rabbit Group brought to mind their leader, who had a rather close relationship with Sejeong, but he couldn't deprive her of the right to make friends. He could only remind her to be guarded against everyone. He had certainly witnessed this fellow's obsequiousness when facing JYP and Suzy, contrasted with a completely different expression when facing people like himself whose status and position were below hers.

While looking up rather than down was a human instinct, he still felt he ought to look out for his good younger sister's activities, making sure she didn't cause a scandal due to poor choices in companionship.