Chapter 174 - The Chinese Variety Show (Part 5)

“Come on,” I said to the five people standing below me on the stairs, but Luyoung and Jang-chun remained where they were. They were staring at me in anticipation. If this had been the lobby or somewhere with more space, they would’ve attacked me by now. Unfortunately, the stairs were narrow. Not to mention the pummeling these two had gotten earlier. They were probably still scared of me because of that. Just then, Luwein and Yisung attempted to come forward, but Jang-chun stopped them.

“Freeze.”

At that, Luwein and Yisung both stared at Jang-chun in confusion. So, Jang-chun spoke up.

“You can’t beat this one.”

He said it so seriously and yet it sounded like an odd scene from a movie. At first, Luwein and Yisung protested but once Luyoung, the pro-wrestler, backed up Jang-chun, the two shut up. And they all turned to stare at me again. Guk-jong stood next to me.

“Sian, you’re amazing.”

“What do you mean?”

“They’re too scared to attack you,” Guk-jong said in genuine surprise. Of course, he was surprised. Luyoung and Jang-chun were both huge. I was barely half their size, and yet they seemed genuinely hesitant to attack me.

“Of course they are,” I answered. Guk-jong nodded. Then, he turned to Jang-chun.

“Hey, Jang-chun.”

“Yes?” Jang-chun replied.

“I heard Sian got your name tag…”

“You wouldn’t be able to win against Sian, either,” Jang-chun cut in.

“What?” Guk-jong demanded. His face seemed rather insulted by that, but Jang-chun kept going.

“I said you can’t beat her either. She’ll probably have yours too.”

“Yeah, right,” Guk-jong countered. Sure, he’s not as big as Luyoun, but he had some sizable muscles himself. The idea of losing to a girl like me was probably a huge blow to his ego. Anyways, at Guk-jong’s response, Jang-chun cackled. And so did Luyoung.

“I didn’t want to say anything because it was embarrassing. But she got me pretty quickly. Luyoung as well. I know it’s hard to believe. Believe me, I don’t want to myself. But it’s true,” Jang-chun said with a scoff. Next to him, Luyoung nodded, confirming the story. Guk-jong turned to stare at me as if to ask me whether what they just said is true.

“How many times do I have to tell you it’s true?”

Maybe now he’ll listen. I wonder how many more times I’ll have to tell him before it sinks in. Guk-jong can be incredibly annoying sometimes. Just then, the five Chinese members suddenly ran up at incredible speed, but I wasn’t shocked. It was expected of them. But just then, Guk-jong suddenly stood in front of me.

“Sian!” he shouted. “Run!”

I’m sure Guk-jong thought he was being noble, but to me, he was just in my way. I found him so bothersome that I grabbed him by the back of his head, picked him up, and threw him out of the way.

Whoosh!

“Ah!”

Crash.

Tumble tumble tumble…

And so, Guk-jong started rolling down the stairs. The Chinese team just stared in shock.

“Hello?” I said, taking a step forward. They all took a step back. I sped up.

Whoosh! Whoosh! Rip!

I got Luwein’s name tag first. Then, I got Yisung’s. With a spin, I landed next to Jang-chun and ripped his name tag as well. Just then, Luyoung bent forward and slammed his shoulder into my hips and lifted me! In response, I reached down and ripped the nametag on his back.

Rip!

Idiot. Did he think this was a wrestling match? Anyways, that’s how I got four nametags. Now, it was just Sullin left.

“Hey, Sullin,” I said with a wave. With a scream, Sullin began to run.

“Kyaah!”

Unfortunately, it was no use. I had already grabbed her by the arm and was pulling her into mine.

Squish~

I felt Sullin’s chest press against mine.

‘Wow…’

This wasn’t my goal, I swear, but…wow, Sullin is curvier than I thought. Anyways, as I hugged Sullin, I reached down and grabbed the nametag on her hip.

Rip!

And with that, all five of the Chinese members were out. The only person still standing was the VJ filming this whole thing. The VJ continued to stare at me in shock as the announcement came on.

[Luwein is out. Luwein is out. You may return after five minutes.]

[Yisung is out. Yisung is out. You may return after five minutes.]

[Jang-chun is out. Jang-chun is out.]

[Luyoung is out. Luyoung is out.]

[Sullin is out. Sullin is out.]

***

Once Luwein and Yisung were back in the game, I chased after them and got their other name tags, getting them out and winning the game. Afterward, my popularity soared again, as did the conspiracy theory of me being an alien. Anyways, we finished all the missions, and right now, it was nighttime. Filming was over and it was time to say our goodbye’s.

“Nice job, everyone,” I said. Just then, Guk-jong approached me.

“Sian!”

“Yes?”

“Wouldn’t you come to my gym?”

“Nope.”

“You want to?”

“Nope.”

“Oh,” Guk-jong said, looking disappointed.

“It’s just,” he added, “I thought it’d be nice to work out together.” He gave my body a quick scan.

“I don’t,” I answered with a smile. I was going to give him one more second to move his eyes. He was currently stealing glances at my chest, and it was irritating.

“Oh, okay. But stop by anyway. I’d love to see how you work out,” Guk-jong said eagerly. Then again, when I was losing weight, I spent a lot of time at the gym. Exercise is incredibly important when you’re trying to burn fat.

“Okay, I will,” I lied.

“Thanks!” Guk-jong said sincerely. I turned and headed towards the van. I saw Hak-gyu standing next to it having a conversation with Jang-chun.

“Huh?”

What the hell is Jang-chun doing? I called out to Hak-gyu.

“Hey, Ha- Manager Lee!”

I need to stop treating Hak-gyu in such a familiar way. Then again, technically, he and I are the same age. So can you blame me?

“Hey, Sian.”

“What’s up?” I said, staring at Jang-chun. A smile spread across Jang-chun’s face. I almost reached out to rip it off his face but I refrained.

“Jang-chun says he wants to have dinner with you.”

“Dinner?”

I continued to look at Jang-chun. He mimed eating with a spoon. I held up my middle finger to him.

“Wha…” Jang-chun’s jaw dropped, looking offended. “That’s a joke, right?”

“No,” I said, still holding out my middle finger. Jang-chun sputtered.

“Are you still scared of me?” he demanded.

“Scared?”

“Yeah,” Jang-chun answered. He continued. “I know you’re just doing this because you’re intimidated that I’m the top star and really handsome. No need to lie.”

‘Wow. This guy,’ I thought, but I continued to listen as he kept spewing nonsense.

“You know, I’m just an average guy. I’m not that different from other people. I just happen to be famous and really handsome. There’s no need to be intimidated by me.”

With that, he stuck his hand out to me. You know, his Korean is really good.

“Take my hand and let’s go get dinner. I’ll treat you to something luxurious.”

At those words, I began to think about whether I should go. Yeah, right. Why would I think about that? Hate to say it but I had no plans to go with him. I was simply thinking about how I could curse him out.

“Hmmm…”

At the sight of me thinking, Jang-chun looked expectant. Then, I answered.

“I don’t want to,” I said politely. Yeah. I shouldn’t curse. It’s a bad habit.

“What do you mean? Let’s just go eat,” Jang-chun said.

“I said no,” I spat out. And then…

“I said I’m buying. It’s my treat so let’s go. You don’t have to be so intimidated by my good looks.”

“Ugh, you fucktard, I said no.”

I grabbed Jang-chun by the collar and Jang-chun looked shocked, but it was nothing compared to how Hak-gyu looked.

“Sian, what are you doing?!”

Hak-gyu immediately pulled me off with my fists clenched. I was this close to hitting the guy. God, he was annoying.

“Wow…were you just about to hit me?”

“Yeah, I was,” I said. I went for another attempt, but Hak-gyu blocked me again. Jang-chun shook his head, muttering under his breath.

“Wow…this really is the first.”

“And you got lucky. Let’s go, Manager Lee,” I said. With a final breath to calm myself down, I climbed into the van, but Hak-gyu did not. I looked outside to see what was going on, only to find Hak-gyu bowing to Jang-chun in apology. But then, I saw something even more shocking when Jang-chun reached out to hit Hak-gyu on the back of his head!

“What the hell?”

I opened the door and climbed out of the van. Both Jang-chun and Hak-gyu turned to look at me at the same time. Jang-chun looked furious, as did Hak-gyu. He clearly felt he had no choice in the matter. Even if Hak-gyu fought back, he can’t win. This made me even more furious. Just then, Jang-chun smirked.

“This really is the first. I’m not one to be rejected and take an attitude like that from just anyone.”

“Then I’ll make you into someone who will.”

I stomped forward, but Hak-gyu blocked me again. He leaned forward to whisper in my ear.

“Sian…I got a call from Mr. Park earlier and he asked me to beg you to not get into a fight with Jang-chun…We’re trying to expand into China and there’s a lot of investments hanging on this. So just let it go…”

“Let it go?”

This man still doesn’t know me.

“Yes, just take it easy. We need Jang-chun’s agency to help us with the Chinese expansion…”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah.”

“Fine, then.”

“That’s good. Uh…huh, Sian…Sian…? No!”

Hak-gyu tried to block me again, but it was too late. My fist had already made contact with Jang-chun’s face.

“Pow!”

“Ah!”

And with that, Jang-chun was out.

I know Hak-gyu told me to take it easy, so I did. I went very easy on Jang-chun. I never said I wouldn’t hit the guy.

“Ugh, I can’t believe he’s already out.”

I grabbed Jang-chun by the tongue and his eyes immediately burst open. I made him stand up only to knock him out again.

Pow! Wham! Pow! Pow!

With that, I immediately felt thirty years younger.