RBCT Chapter 38 Jin Daoqi's Silent Economics
Chapter 38 Jin Daoqi's Silent Economics
At 10:00 AM, at the company.
Su Yu was adding broth to her oden when her phone vibrated. Yoon Shi-yoon had sent a message, seemingly out of the blue: "I'm trending."
Su Yu replied: [Which number?]
Yoon Shi-yoon: [Ninth.]
Su Yu opened the NAVER trending search list. Sure enough, the ninth spot was "Yoon Shi-yoon is silent." Clicking on it, she found a video of an interview with him that a reporter had caught up with on set after the second episode aired last night.
In the video, Yoon Shi-yoon is wearing his ever-present black jacket, his hat pulled low, giving off a "keep away" vibe. A reporter, microphone in hand, smiles broadly: "Shi-yoon, what was the most difficult part of playing Kim Do-gi?"
Yoon Shi-yoon stared at the camera, silent for about five seconds. The reporter, thinking the signal was bad, asked again. Yoon Shi-yoon finally spoke, his voice low: "I won't speak." The reporter was taken aback: "You won't speak?" "Yes."
Yoon Shi-yoon nodded. "People who don't talk much often have a lot on their minds." The reporter persisted, "So, are you usually quiet too?" Yoon Shi-yoon looked at him as if he were an idiot. Another five seconds of silence followed. Finally, he uttered two words: "Not much." Then he turned and walked away, leaving the camera with a dashing silhouette.
The live chat exploded. [Hahaha, is this guy trying to be funny?] [Reporter: The biggest Waterloo of my career.] [Is this Ben Dodge? Even his interviews are so cost-effective.]
After reading it, Su Yu replied with three words: 【Saved money.】
Yoon Shi-yoon replied instantly: [?]
Su Yu: [From now on, if you appear on a show, you'll be charged by word count, which will save you a huge sum of money.]
Yoon Shi-yoon sent a "goodbye" emoji.
-
Yoon Shi-yoon arrived at 1 p.m.
Wearing a black hoodie, mask, and sunglasses, he dressed like a terrorist. As soon as he entered, he walked close to the wall, as if afraid of being recognized.
Su Yu leaned against the cashier's counter, watching him place a bottle of sports drink on the counter.
"One thousand and five."
"You only charge 1,500 yuan?" Yoon Shi-yoon took off his sunglasses, revealing a pair of dead fish eyes. "I'm currently ninth on the trending topics list. My value has gone up."
Su Yu scanned the QR code, and a beep sounded: "The ninth spot on the trending searches was also made famous by the script I wrote. Giving you a 10% discount is already out of brotherhood; otherwise, I would have charged you double the endorsement fee."
Yoon Shi-yoon choked for a moment, then took out his money and got his change. He leaned against the counter, unscrewed the bottle cap, took a sip, and his eyes darted around.
"Su Yu, that interview wasn't intentional on my part."
"I know. You did it on purpose."
Yoon Shi-yoon glared at him: "I just... don't know what to say."
"So you're not going to say anything?"
"Um."
Su Yu looked at him and sighed, "Do you know what people say about you online?"
"I didn't see it."
Some people say you are "the last man in the Korean entertainment industry who can make money without saying a word."
Yoon Shi-yoon's lips twitched slightly.
"Su Yu".
"Um?"
"You say Jin Daoqi is quiet because he's suffering inside. What about me? Why am I quiet?"
Su Yu tossed the rag into the sink, braced herself against the countertop, and leaned closer to him. "Because you're lazy. And you know, no one will listen anyway, so you might as well save your energy climbing over the wall."
Yoon Shi-yoon tapped her finger on the bottle. It was a sign of her anger and embarrassment at being exposed.
"Su Yu, have you gotten too cocky lately? How dare you talk to your male lead like that?"
"I'm the boss, you're the actor. I'm your father."
"...I want to kill you."
"If you kill me, you won't have any scenes in season two."
Yoon Shi-yoon fell silent. He crushed the empty bottle and precisely tossed it into the trash can.
"What time tomorrow?"
Nine o'clock. The alley downstairs.
"What are you practicing?"
"Use a VPN. We agreed on it yesterday."
"I can definitely climb that wall faster than you."
"Let's give it a try. The loser treats the entire crew to coffee."
"Okay." Yoon Shi-yoon put on his sunglasses, turned to leave, then stopped. "Su Yu, that trending topic..."
"What's wrong?"
"Don't tell Cai Xiubin."
Why?
"She'll laugh at me if she finds out."
Su Yu laughed: "Don't worry. She's busy checking her own trending topics."
-
Cai Xiubin arrived at 3 PM.
The commotion was loud; the iron gate slammed against the wall with a loud clang. She stood in the doorway, holding up her phone, the screen blindingly bright.
"Su Yu! Look at this!"
Su Yu looked up.
The screen displays a press release titled "Ahn Go-eun: From an unknown actress to OCN's national first love."
Cai Xiubin's face was tense, not from anger, but from the kind of bewildered look that says, "Who am I? Where am I? Do I even deserve this?"
"How are you feeling?" Su Yu asked.
"It feels like watching someone else's story." She walked over and slapped her phone on the counter. "Some people even say I have 'plastic surgery-level acting skills,' how come they never noticed I was so good-looking before?"
"That's because there wasn't enough lighting before," Su Yu said seriously. "Now that you have Jin Daoqi's light, you naturally shine."
Cai Xiubin glared at him, then couldn't help but laugh.
"Su Yu, do you think I could become an overnight sensation, only to fade into obscurity just as quickly?"
Su Yu looked at her. There was no excitement in her eyes, only a cautious wariness, like a stray cat that had just been rescued, afraid that if she ate her fill, there wouldn't be any food left for her next meal.
"What you're afraid of isn't fading into obscurity," Su Yu said, leaning against the counter. "What you're afraid of is being elevated to a pedestal only to find the ladder has been removed, and you can't get down."
Cai Xiubin's fingers were digging into her knees.
"Ahn Go-eun is Ahn Go-eun, and you are Chae Soo-bin." Su Yu reached out and flicked her forehead. "The drama has ended, and Ahn Go-eun is still acting cool on screen. You need to move on to the next role. It's enough for the audience to remember the character; you just need to focus on making money."
Cai Xiubin covered her forehead, glaring at him: "Su Yu, can you not be so realistic?"
"Let's be realistic. In reality, we can buy seaweed rice rolls."
Cai Xiubin took an insulated bag out of his bag and slapped it on the table.
"eat."
Su Yu opened it and saw that it was seaweed rice rolls. This time, not only were they neatly cut, but they were also arranged in a heart shape.
"...Are you trying to woo a woman?"
Cai Xiubin blushed, grabbed a piece, and shoved it into his mouth: "Eat yours!"
Su Yu chewed on a seaweed rice roll and mumbled, "It tastes good. It's just that the heart shape looks...like a tumor."
"Su Yu!!!"
-
At 6 p.m., Shirley sent a message.
[Su Yu, I saw that Yoon Shi-yoon is trending. When are you going to trend for me too?]
Su Yu replied: 【I don't want to be trending on social media.】
Shirley: [Why?]
Su Yu: [People who trend on social media are either praised or criticized. I don't want to be praised, nor do I want to be criticized.]
Shirley: [So what do you want?]
Su Yu thought for a moment, then typed: [Quiet. And there's still money.]
Shirley sent an eye-rolling emoji: [You're so boring.]
Su Yu didn't reply. He put his phone in his pocket, locked the convenience store door, and headed towards the company.
The alley was quiet, and the streetlights cast his long shadow. Reaching the company entrance, he took out his keys and opened the door. The iron gate creaked open, the latch clicked open. He pushed the door open, didn't turn on the lights, and went straight upstairs.
The used laptop was still on the table, its screen black. The green plants on the windowsill shimmered faintly in the moonlight. The one Shirley had given me had leaves that were a size bigger than last week.
Su Yu stood by the window and lit a cigarette. The red glow of the cigarette butt flickered in the darkness. He thought about what had happened today—Yoon Shi-yoon saying, "You'll think I'm giving you charity," Cai Xiubin saying, "I'm afraid I'm not good enough for you," and Shirley asking, "What do you really want?"
Su Yu took a drag of his cigarette, exhaled, and the smoke dissipated in the moonlight.
My phone vibrated. Cai Xiubin sent me a message: "I want to eat seaweed rice rolls tomorrow morning."
Su Yu replied, "They're available at convenience stores."
She said, "The food from convenience stores isn't good."
Su Yu said, "Then you do it yourself."
She said, "You do it for me."
Su Yu said, "On what grounds?"
She said, "Because I didn't cry today."
Su Yu looked at the message and smiled. He typed a few words: "Okay. Bring the ingredients tomorrow. I'll teach you."
She replied instantly: "Really?"
"Really. But they can't learn to take responsibility for themselves."
"If you can't learn it, come here every day and I'll annoy you to death."
"You come every day, and I'm here every day too. We all know who's annoyed and who's annoyed."
She sent a smiley face.
Su Yu stubbed out his cigarette, turned off the light, went downstairs, and locked the door.
Reaching the entrance to the semi-basement, Su Yu took out his keys and opened the door. Pushing the door open, he saw water still dripping from the ceiling. Drip, drip.
He took off his shoes, walked barefoot to the bed, and lay down. Something poked him from under the pillow. He reached in and pulled it out—it was Cai Xiubin's black hair tie. He'd forgotten to return it to her.
My phone lit up. Shirley had sent a message: "Goodnight, monster."
Su Yu replied with two words: "Goodnight." She replaced "monster" with an emoji—an octopus.
Su Yu looked at the octopus and smiled. He put the rubber band back under his pillow and closed his eyes.
Someone was playing music outside the window; the lyrics were indistinct, the melody slow and drawn out. The ticking continued. Tonight, he was thinking about Yoon Shi-yoon's words: "You'll feel like I'm giving you charity."
No, that won't happen. Because charity is for others, and Yoon Shi-yoon is no stranger.