The Sacred Manager Life - Chapter 62
Since the two of them couldn’t carry all ten fish, they called for help from above.
The people who came down asking what was going on were all stunned speechless.
The expressions of the new PD and the cast members on set were no different.
“Wait, are sea bream usually this easy to catch?”
“We should check if this isn’t some kind of fish farm setup.”
“Manager-nim, are you a fishing prodigy?”
“PD-nim, we might need to reshoot this. Who’d believe we caught ten fish?”
“You’ve got a point.”
In the end, they reshot the scene with only two fish being selected and placed in the icebox.
Since the guests would arrive the next day, today the cooking segment cast prepared a meal for themselves.
They hadn’t expected to catch sea bream on the very first day, so they’d bought some meat and ingredients from land—only for them to go completely unused.
Because they had freshly caught, premium-grade sea bream straight from the ocean.
“Wow—eating it with the skin on, the texture is just… why is it so chewy?”
“Red sea bream tastes best when you chew the skin. Slice it with the skin on and lightly pour hot water over the skin part. Ask for it to be prepared with a matsukawa cut when you get sashimi at the fish market.”
Yeoreum effortlessly answered Park Seungho’s questions from beside him.
“Unnie~ It’s so delicious grilled like this.”
They brushed the remaining meat (aside from what was set aside for spicy stew) with olive oil and herb salt before grilling it—it melted in their mouths.
“But isn’t it kinda cruel to turn this into fish and chips? This guy probably never imagined he’d end up as fried fish, right?”
Everyone burst out laughing at Park Seungho’s outdated joke.
“Fish and chips taste different depending on what you use. It’s on another level compared to the ones made with small fry. Here, try it with tartar sauce.”
Yeoreum brought out the sea bream fish and chips.
The perfect balance of oiliness and lightness was incomparable to anything sold at supermarkets.
The head, bones, and innards were boiled with bean sprouts, crown daisies, and water dropwort.
Filling their stomachs with warm sea bream spicy stew felt like heaven.
“Wow, that video didn’t even show half of Yeoreum’s skills. You should open a restaurant when you retire. I’ll spread the word to everyone so they’ll buy from you.”
“Yes, sunbaenim. I’ll definitely let you know.”
With Yeoreum’s smile, today’s shoot came to an end.
“This is weird.”
“What is?”
Rina, who was spreading out the blankets, asked Ryu Yeoreum.
She had been sitting on the floor, lost in thought for a while now.
“About Ayoung unnie—don’t you think she’s been following Manager-nim around all evening?”
“You’re no different, unnie. Except when cooking, you’re always glued to Oppa’s side.”
“It’s not the same with me and Ayoung unnie!”
“How is it different?”
“W-well….”
She struggled to answer.
No matter how close they were, she couldn’t bring up anything involving Cha Soyeon.
Without context, it would sound unmistakably like a threesome.
“Ah, whatever! He’s our manager-nim… and we met him way earlier… Ayoung unnie just met him this time….”
Rina was puzzled why her usually sharp unnie was rambling like this.
“Now that you mention it, she did talk to Oppa an awful lot.”
“R-right!”
Rina recalled Min Ayoung chattering nonstop during dinner.
She was like a woodpecker drilling holes into a tree at terrifying speed.
Of course, the tree being drilled was Shin Juwon.
“Everyone calls her the ‘Queen of Sageuks’ or whatever… but she said she wanted to play a sophisticated city woman like Soyeon unnie. They always make her wear hanbok….”
“Juwon-ssi, try this. Huh? The color changed again?”
“Acting? I want to—no, I have to. People keep saying I’ve lost my touch, that I’m overrated… tch, they don’t know anything… what can I even say?”
“When I got the call from PD Shin-nim, I agonized over it… but I can’t keep living like this. There’s still so much acting I want to do….”
“So, like I said earlier, give me some of that energy. Okay? Juwon-ssi.”
.
.
.
It was chatter unimaginable from her first impression as a prim and proper lady.
The fact that this chatter was exclusive to Shin Juwon was also a problem.
When she was with other women, she didn’t even talk a tenth as much.
“Is unnie asleep?”
“She went to wash up first and went in. Probably asleep.”
The three Red Blossom members slept in the larger room, while Min Ayoung was given the smaller one.
When the cameras were off, they tried to probe her under the guise of girl talk, but she left early, saying she’d go to bed first.
Anticipating tomorrow’s close-up shoot, Ryu Yeoreum also went to bed.
“Sunbaenim, go ahead first. I’ll just put away the traps and come right down.”
“Alright, hurry back.”
Park Seungho headed toward the guesthouse, while I went down toward the cliff.
Earlier, I’d been so distracted by the sea bream that I forgot to retrieve the traps.
If left overnight, they could get swept away by the waves, so it was better to take them out and set them again tomorrow.
‘Total airhead.’
When I went back down to the fishing spot, Leviathan poked its head out of the water.
Somehow sensing my arrival, it extended a tentacle and poked me lightly.
It seemed to want to play because it was bored.
I stroked its tentacle like petting a dog’s head and pulled up the trap.
A few fish were caught, but no octopus, as I’d hoped.
After shaking them out, I retrieved all the remaining traps.
Tomorrow, I’d have to ask Leviathan to herd some octopuses for me.
“Aaaah!”
I turned around and screamed, falling flat on my back.
My heart pounded so hard I could barely breathe.
At the spot where the walking path met the cliff stood Min Ayoung.
Under the moonlight, her skin glowed with an eerily pale sheen.
[This is troublesome.]
‘Why?’
[I can’t say for sure, but she might be able to see Leviathan too. The divine beasts sent by God-nim emit light similar to divine grace. And she’s a woman who can see your divine grace.]
‘Why are you telling me this now?!’
[I let my guard down. The women who can see divine grace weren’t supposed to come here, according to the route the PD gave us. I never expected her to follow you at this hour. Since it’s not certain, just pretend you don’t know for now.]
So much for being meticulous.
Since she just stood there, I walked over to her.
“Why are you here? You scared me.”
“I saw you coming down and followed you. There’s something I wanted to ask.”
“What is it?”
“Um… doesn’t it seem like there’s something in the water?”
I stiffened but kept my expression neutral.
“Hmm, I don’t… but what do you see?”
“Something blurry… like there’s something there, but I can’t tell.”
This was strange.
How could she describe that massive thing as “blurry”?
Even at night, there was no way it would look faint.
[Her vision might not be great. Ask her in detail.]
No way.
We’d spent the whole day together, and I hadn’t noticed any issues with her eyes.
If there were, PD Shin wouldn’t have cast her in the first place.
“What did you want to ask earlier?”
I couldn’t just ask directly, so I changed the subject.
“Want to sit down for a bit? Talking like this is making me uneasy.”
We found a flat rock and sat side by side.
“I’ve been observing you all day—the color changed 19 times, and the brightness 12 times.”
Cha Soyeon and Yeoreum knew that the color and brightness changed based on my emotions.
There was no way Min Ayoung, who’d just met me, could know that.
“When the topic of light came up at the broadcasting station, you neither confirmed nor denied it. Do you really not know?”
“Why are you so curious? Whether or not you see light from me has nothing to do with you, Ayoung-ssi.”
When I brushed her off, she bit her lip slightly.
Her face showed clear dissatisfaction.
“You’re right. Like you said, it has nothing to do with me. But… I keep feeling drawn to you! I don’t even know what kind of person you are, but something about you keeps pulling me in.”
Cha Soyeon had been like that, and so had Yeoreum.
They were drawn first to the light of divine grace, not to me as a person.
Only afterward did they grow closer to me as a person.
[Remember what God-nim said?]
｢…Once you receive divine grace, people burdened by life will gather around you. Those who are weary and heavy-laden instinctively seek out divine grace. All you have to do is help them.｣
‘So Min Ayoung is one of those burdened people. Someone in need of salvation.’
[And a woman highly likely to be emotionally bound to you. Because she can see the light of divine grace.]
‘Let’s think about that later. Right now, I’m barely handling two.’
[King Solomon had 700 wives and 300 concubines. You’ve received more divine grace than King Solomon.]
‘Stop with the nonsense. How could I possibly handle 1,000?’
[Only time will tell.]
“Why are you so quiet? Answer me.”
While I was bickering with the spirit, Min Ayoung cut in.
Since I had to help her anyway, I decided to reveal some of my circumstances.
“I know. About the light coming from my body.”
“Then you must know why it happens.”
“I can’t explain that, but I do know who can see my light.”
“Who can see it?”
I repeated what I’d told Cha Soyeon during our interview.
That I wanted to help, to let them shine, that I expected nothing in return, that it was purely out of goodwill—I delivered the speech so flawlessly I could’ve recorded it to play for skeptics.
Why do people struggle to believe in selfless goodwill?
Even if you expect nothing, it all comes back to you eventually.
“You’re someone I’m meant to help. If you can see the light, then you must need help.”
“…….”
“If it’s hard to talk about now, there’s still time—”
“Sigh.”
I couldn’t finish because of Min Ayoung’s sigh.
“Are you seriously expecting me to believe that right now?”
She saw right through me.