ALL NOVEL Chapter 37
Chapter 37: A Surprising Encounter
There was a man in a swimsuit swimming underwater. Nearby, clothes were carelessly tossed onto a Stepping Stone Bridge. Oddly enough, that physique looked somewhat familiar.
Han I-seol tilted her head and approached closer.
“Oh my.”
Her eyes widened in surprise. It was someone she really knew.
Lee Si-hyun, the Correctional Officer.
What on earth was he doing here?
“Officer Lee Si-hyun?”
At the sound of a woman’s voice from behind, Si-hyun turned around.
“Hmm?”
He wore the same shocked expression. He never expected to run into someone he knew here.
What brought Han I-seol PD to this place?
I-seol’s gaze inadvertently wandered from Si-hyun’s face down to his bare upper body.
To her surprise, he had a solid physique. While he wasn’t bulky, his well-balanced muscles formed an aesthetically pleasing upper body.
Realizing she had been staring at Si-hyun’s body, I-seol quickly averted her gaze, her face turning red.
“…What are you doing here?”
“What am I doing? Well, um….”
Si-hyun paused for a moment in thought.
He couldn’t exactly say he was stunning fish into submission, so what else could it be?
“I came to catch some fish.”
“Wait, you’re here to go fishing?”
“Well, not fishing per se….”
“Net fishing?”
“Um, not that either.”
“Huh?”
“It’s a method of my own, if you will….”
As Si-hyun answered vaguely, I-seol approached the Stepping Stone Bridge with a puzzled expression to peer into the water. And then she gasped.
“What’s that?”
Fish were floating on the surface, not just a few, but dozens.
They looked like they were stunned.
“Uh, electrical fishing is illegal, you know?”
Using a battery to stun fish and catch them in bulk is a quintessential illegal fishing practice in our country.
“Um, it’s not electric.”
Si-hyun scratched his head, appearing somewhat uneasy. To anyone’s eyes, the sight of the fish floating on the surface looked just like electric fishing.
It seemed he had no choice but to demonstrate his Shouting Skill to avoid misunderstandings.
“Would you like to know how I catch them?”
“Yes.”
I-seol nodded vigorously with curious eyes.
“Then follow me over here.”
Si-hyun moved a bit further along, leaving the floating fish behind.
I-seol carefully stepped on the stones, following Si-hyun.
Just how was he planning to catch the fish? The booming shout she heard earlier flickered through her mind, but nothing concrete came to her.
“This should be good.”
Si-hyun stopped moving and said.
“Oh, and could you cover your ears?”
He preemptively mentioned, not wanting to create a huge disturbance.
“Huh?”
“I’m going to shout pretty loudly. It’ll be noisy.”
“Shout?”
“Yes, so please cover your ears.”
“Okay….”
With a confused look, I-seol covered her ears.
A shout? No way….
Huuup.
Si-hyun took a deep breath. Then, with all his might, he unleashed a mighty roar.
“WAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH-!!”
The thunderous shout echoed around, reverberating like a bell. Even I-seol, who was prepared, flinched at the volume. Despite covering her ears, the unbelievable noise felt painful, causing her to grimace.
Just how many decibels could that have been?
“Phew, that’s done.”
Si-hyun wiped the sweat from his forehead. Thankfully, the caster of the shout wasn’t affected, but when pushing Shouting Skill to the max, the heat in his face soared.
“Oh my….”
Soon I-seol witnessed it. The stunned fish started floating up from all directions.
She rubbed her eyes in disbelief, taking off her glasses. She had never heard of someone catching fish by shouting. She had never even imagined it. To see it firsthand was unbelievable. If someone had told her, she wouldn’t have believed it.
But when someone witnesses something themselves, it’s easier to accept. No matter how skeptical a person is, if they see it with their own eyes, they’re likely to believe it. Seeing it with her own eyes gave her the certainty that struck her as undeniable.
“You know it’s not electric fishing now, right?”
Si-hyun said with a sense of relief.
“Ah, yes… But, Officer?”
“Yes?”
“There’s something I would like to ask of you.”
Once her astonished heart calmed down, a strong impulse that was practically uncontainable rose up within her as a PD. Any PD would feel that urge when witnessing such an astonishing and fascinating scene.
“What is it?”
“I’m sorry to ask so suddenly, but could you please appear on our program?”
I-seol bowed her head with earnest eyes.
This was a golden opportunity. There was no way she could let it slip through her fingers.
“Excuse me? What program is it?”
“It’s called ‘6 PM Information.’ It’s an old show, so you must know it too. I started working there recently, and today is a filming day!”
“Really? Isn’t there already a guest since it’s a filming day? Why me all of a sudden…?”
“Well….”
As I-seol was about to explain, a frustrated voice interrupted.
“Hey, Han PD. Didn’t I tell you to be quiet? What on earth are you doing… Huh?”
Jung PD’s eyes went wide at the sight of the floating school of fish on the surface.
◈ ◈ ◈
Having heard the whole story, Jung PD wore an expression just like I-seol’s. Perhaps it was a shared trait among PDs.
“Ha ha, is there any way we could make this work?”
With a friendly smile, Jung PD took a humble approach.
“Someone’s already agreed to appear….”
“We’ll work it out with that person. You don’t need to worry about that. We’ll pay the appearance fee normally, too.”
“Um, still, life doesn’t work like that.”
“That person has heard the news and was quite surprised and impressed. If you join, as a fellow angler, they’ll gladly yield their spot.”
“….”
Si-hyun looked conflicted.
Jung PD shot a glance at I-seol, hinting her to persuade him since they seemed to know each other to some extent. Si-hyun realized I-seol was calling him “Officer” because that’s what she knew him by.
I-seol took a step forward.
“Um, Officer.”
“Will you do a mosaic?”
Si-hyun asked.
“A mosaic? Of course, if you want, we can do that.”
Originally, mosaics were rare on the program, but if an guest requested it, they would oblige. A month ago, a foreign couple living in the mountains had requested it, and both were aired with mosaics.
“Is that so?”
Si-hyun nodded.
He had somewhat made up his mind. Normally, due to his hating to be publicly recognized, he would never have agreed to appear. Even with a mosaic, he felt the same way.
However, after filming the documentary, he realized something. Even if people didn’t know his exact identity, simply being recognized would raise his fame. Even with a mosaic, the likelihood of fame would still increase. Even if his rank didn’t change immediately, it would eventually accumulate over time, raising it again someday.
If that were the case, he couldn’t afford to let such a golden opportunity slip away.
“If you can guarantee the mosaic, I will make an appearance.”
“Really? Thank you so much!”
I-seol, overwhelmed with joy, accidentally grabbed Si-hyun’s hand and shook it vigorously.
“Ah… uh.”
Caught off guard, Si-hyun couldn’t pull his hand away, leaving him with an awkward smile.
Realizing her blunder, I-seol hurriedly let go, her face flushed.
“Oh my, what was I thinking… I’m sorry.”
“…No problem. Your hand is quite soft… Huh?”
Si-hyun’s expression turned extremely flustered. What he muttered under his breath slipped out unintentionally.
I-seol’s face turned completely red. It seemed she wanted to say something, but she couldn’t find her words, her mouth moving silently.
“Thank you so much. I’ll prepare for the shooting right away.”
Jung PD skillfully broke the awkward atmosphere.
◈ ◈ ◈
“Phew.”
When Si-hyun arrived home, he sighed.
As expected, he had resolved his quest smoothly, and his stats had increased.
However, the unexpected filming was no easy task. Shouting in front of others was incredibly embarrassing. He had to maintain a straight face to get through the filming, thinking about the mosaic.
Life is truly unpredictable. Who would have thought he would appear on public broadcasting twice within just a few months? Since it was a daily program, the shooting would reportedly air next week. It was likely to become a hot topic online again.
“Let’s eat dinner.”
As Si-hyun stood up to head to the kitchen, his phone rang.
It was Han I-seol.
Remembering his previous blunder, Si-hyun slapped the wall and answered the call.
“Yes, Han PD.”
-Did you get home safely?
“Yes, I just arrived and was thinking of having some dinner.”
-I see.
“Yes.”
-….
“….”
-Um….
“Um….”
Both spoke the same thing almost simultaneously, leading to an awkward silence. I-seol hesitated before speaking first.
-…I wanted to say thank you for your cooperation during the shoot today. Also… I wanted to apologize for any rudeness.
“Oh no, no. I feel like I was the rude one, so I’m very sorry.”
-Not at all! It’s completely fine.
“I’m also completely fine, so don’t worry about it.”
-Oh… then should we leave it at that?
“Yes, let’s keep it that way. Otherwise, who knows how many times I’d kick my cover today before bedtime?”
With a red face, he unintentionally let out an embarrassing thought that had been nagging at his mind.
-Oh, really? I was just about to have a bad night of kicking my cover myself.
I-seol laughed.
“Haha, what a relief to hear.”
Si-hyun chuckled as well.
-Yes, let’s both sleep peacefully, then.
“Understood. I’ll contact you again next time.”
-Yes.
As he hung up, Si-hyun couldn’t help but chuckle. It seemed he wasn’t the only one who was bothered.
Anyway, it was quite the unusual encounter. To meet again in a place like that. Initially, he thought they had merely exchanged contact information out of formality, but now unexpected situations were continually connecting them.
When he got stuck with unpleasant people, it felt awful, but being tied up with someone pleasant like I-seol had its benefits; it wasn’t just good, there wasn’t really any downside. She was also a public broadcasting PD.
“Well, let’s just eat.”
◈ ◈ ◈
“Hey, Teacher Lee.”
As he sat in the break room, a familiar voice called out.
Jun-cheol.
“What’s up, hyung?”
“Are you in your youth these days? So envious, really jealous.”
“Jealous of what now?”
Si-hyun looked at him with a puzzled expression, wondering what nonsense he was spouting.
“Yesterday, I chatted with I-seol.”
“Huh? I-seol? Han PD?”
At the unexpected name, Si-hyun’s ears perked up.
“Yeah, that one. She messaged me, and we chatted. Somehow, she kept bringing the conversation around to you and subtly asked if you had a girlfriend. If I hadn’t been sharp enough, it would’ve passed by naturally, haha.”
“…She might just be curious… Why tie that to you?”
“I have a keen intuition, bro! She’s clearly interested! I can’t help but be jealous. You should find out about her. In her college, she’s like the goddess of beauty!”
“Well, she is pretty… But, that’s not it.”
When wearing glasses, her eyes appeared smaller, which normally diluted her beauty. However, since I-seol’s eyes were big, her beauty actually stood out more. It was an extremely rare case of a glasses beauty.
“Seriously, it’s not like that! We’ve only met a few times!”
Si-hyun waved his hands in denial.
“Bro, you can catch feelings at first sight! Haven’t you heard of love at first sight?”
“Ugh, really, your exaggeration is unbearable. I’m heading to the restroom.”
…No matter how he thought about it, it was really nothing.
Jun-cheol’s exaggeration left his mood a little stirred up.
Si-hyun left the break room as if to escape from the situation.