Chapter 264 (2/2)

“There are rituals as well?”

“Sure. It’s not pocket change that goes into creating the film, so it should be better to pray to the gods for help, don’t you think?”

“Is that how it is? But wait, do you believe in stuff like that?”

“Yeah.”

That answer was rather unexpected.

Bada kept chewing as she watched TV. Coincidentally, Sungjae was singing on TV. He had strong eyes that did not fit his skinny face, and the long bangs that slightly covered the eyes looked very cool.

Her dear Sungjae-oppa was in charge of Charisma within TTO. He was really cool.

“What happened to your tests?”

She almost choked when she heard those words.

“W-well, I did not too bad.”

“You don’t sound that confident. I heard top 5 was easy for you?”

“When did I say it was easy? I said… that it might be doable.”

“Your scores are not as high as you expected?”

“I dunno!”

Bada started chomping on the chicken with a pouty expression. She had never been as focused as this time during tests. She even went over her answers three times. There weren’t any possibilities of putting her answers in the wrong questions, so there was no way the scores she self-scored would change. In other words, it was impossible to get in the top 5.

“And you did your best?”

“My best… I did. I mean it.”

She wanted to talk about the efforts she put in; about how she had study sessions with her friends and the like, but decided not to. It was over anyway, she didn’t want to sound like an obstinate child.

“So the concert is a no-go?”

“Even if I did get in the top 5, I wouldn’t have been able to go anyway. There’s no way mom would allow me, and also, the tickets are really expensive. Your part-time job is no where near enough.”

“Well, they were expensive, alright. It was over 100 thousand won.”

“You looked into it?”

“I tried. After all, I did promise to send you to one if you got into the top 5,” Maru spoke as he rolled around the neck bone in his mouth. She found that rather unpleasant.

“I’ll do my own part time work and earn my own money and buy them. I’m going to work this summer.”

“I don’t think middle school students are allowed though.”

“Not allowed? Why?”

“Because people would rather use high school students instead. Also, consent from a legal guardian is necessary for a middle school student, I wonder mom will let you do it.”

Crunch, Maru chewed on the crust of the chicken.

Why did he look so full of himself today? Bada made a pouty expression before poking him on the waist. Maru, who was sitting cross-legged, fell over to the side just like that.

“She’ll tell you to study if you have the time for that. I’m 100% sure.”

Her brother still spoke regardless. It felt as though they were back to the old days again. Bada chomped on some pickled radish as she watched TV. There was no point in talking to him any more. If her mom won’t let her do a part time job, then she could just save up on pocket money.

Thanks to the credit card that her brother gave her, she had saved up quite a lot. She had around 40 thousand won. Though, that was nowhere enough to buy a ticket…

“What do you think your average will be like?”

“Why do you ask?”

“Just curious.”

“...Around 92, I guess?”

“That’s good. Your average for your 2nd year finals was 80 wasn’t it? You put in some effort.”

“What good is that? I didn’t get in the top 5. There are a lot of smart kids in my class, you know?”

“Then without them, you’d be in the top 5?”

“Probably.”

“That’s good progress. Congratulations.”

“....”

Bada pouted as she changed the channel. She found herself childish for feeling happy when she was congratulated, and she also found herself pathetic for expecting something.

‘That’s right. I should do it with my own powers.’

Whether saving up pocket money, which her mom gave her, was ‘her own powers’ was up to debate, but she had no choice but to do well if she wanted to get what she wanted.

“Next time, try to motivate yourself, okay?”

Saying that, Maru stood up with the coke in his hand and entered his room. Bada was about to say ‘aren’t you gonna clean up?’ but decided not to. He was the one who bought this, so it would be shameless of her to ask him to clean up as well. She was putting the bones into one pile and was picking up the empty cups when she found an envelope from where Maru was originally sitting.

Hm?

Bada reached out and grabbed the envelope, when she had a peek inside, she found a rolled up piece of paper.

“Hey, you left something.”

She called out to her brother out loud, but there was no reply. Out of curiosity, she took out the piece of paper. As the piece of paper slid out, something fell on the floor as well.

“...Oppa!”

The things that fell on the floor were tickets, tickets to TTO’s concert this summer. Moreover, there wasn’t just one, but a whole six of them. Bada then looked at the rolled up paper as well. The inside of the paper was pink, and she found these words on it.

[Thanks for cheering for us.]

Bada kept staring into the names below those words. Sungjae, and then Bada. This was Sungjae-oppa’s autograph!

“Wow! Oppa!’

Bada jumped around and held up the tickets against the lights. She could hear her brother saying ‘be quiet already’ in a small voice.