After Story 135

Snip, snip.

He snipped the scissors lightly before finding a rhythm. The sound of the scissors spread around with the dried fish store as the center.

Maru kept snipping without saying a word. The rhythm was strangely addictive and it made people move their shoulders.

Even the people who didn’t show any interest despite the presence of the camera started approaching at the sound of the scissors.

It was mostly elderly, but there were quite a lot of students wearing school uniforms. They were clearly students headed to the tteokbokki alley further down the market.

People started gathering around the small stage that was a chair.

She didn’t understand what was happening even as she watched everything unfold.

The snipping continued for about ten minutes without any accompanying music before stopping. Maru, who was just snipping away like he was possessed, finally opened his eyes and looked in front of him.

“Now, then.”

They were two simple words. Those two words reminded her of the train.

Merchants selling miscellaneous stuff in boxes on trains. It was the voice unique to them.

There was a sense of rhythm in his blunt voice like that of the snipping.

“This is no amazing item, but it ain’t your ordinary stuff either. It’s a special item that I’m selling just to the people gathered here today. It’s called fried fish, also called… I dunno.”

The metallic screech along with his baritone voice on top of the snipping sounds made it a performance.

As though he had a loudspeaker in his throat, his voice overpowered the murmurs of the people around him.

She looked around. People were gathering. Now, they weren’t gathering because of Maru’s appearance, but because people had flocked here.

A housewife going back home after buying groceries, students walking together with their arms crossed, a middle-aged lady carrying a tray on her head, and a middle-aged man wearing a work outfit all approached the dried fish store.

It was a pity that there was only one camera. Right now, they had to shoot Maru, so it was hard to shift the camera.

“Hello, ladies and gents. First, allow me to offer my sincere gratitude to all the important people who have taken out their time to come to see the important product today.”

When he had all the attention, Maru changed his voice again. He turned from a street merchant to an insurance designer. His popping voice became calm.

What was interesting was that as Maru’s voice died down, so did the noise in the surroundings. They were all focused on Maru.

“If you would allow me to explain about this dried filefish filet, it is made from a filefish that is estimated to have swam across the northern seas, down to have a drink of the sea waters of the Atlantic, then to have a bath in the mineral-rich seas of the Indian sea, before swimming across the Pacific all the way to the east sea.”

Maru uttered nonsense in a very smooth manner. Thanks to the moderate change of tones midway, there were quite a lot of people who laughed despite the terrible joke.

“Look at this tender fish meat. This is no ordinary filefish. You are not going to see something like this anywhere else. Girls.”

Maru called out to a few girls watching from the front. They were the girls who were waving their hands at the camera like mad for a while.

“You have to be honest with me after eating this. Tell me whether they’re good or not.”

Maru handed out a grilled dried filefish filet. The girls blew on the filet before putting it in their mouths.

“How is it? Good, isn’t it?”

“It’s good, but not that good.”

Maru twitched his eyes before taking out a wallet from his pocket. He took out a thousand-won bill and gave it to the student who just replied.

“I couldn’t hear you just now, how is the filet again?”

“It was super awesome.”

The girl joined Maru’s gig, knowing how TV programs worked. The atmosphere would’ve turned cold if she was a hesitant person, but she was just as mischievous as Maru, so people laughed again.

Was it a coincidence that Maru pointed at that specific girl? Or was it Maru’s discernment?

“Everyone. Didn’t you just see? Young students don’t lie. They’re very honest about the things they like and dislike. If they didn’t find it tasty, would they have said that it was good?”

This time, Maru pointed at a lady holding groceries in her hand when he asked. The lady who was pointed out spoke in a loud voice, even as she looked embarrassed.

“Kids these days are so smart and picky. They won’t say something is good if it’s not actually good.”

“See? This filet has been acknowledged by children and adults alike. You won’t find these in department stores. You won’t find these at the supermarket. You’ll only find them here in the dried fish shop. But unfortunately, we apparently don’t have many of these filets. Sir, how much of these filets do we have in stock today?”

Maru asked the husband standing behind him. Over a hundred pairs of gazes all fell on the husband.

“F-fifty middle-sized ones.”

The husband stuttered, seemingly overwhelmed by the sudden gazes.

“Hear that, everyone? There are only fifty of this great product. Fifty. This is a very rare opportunity. Also, what are these filets made from? Fish, right? The gentleman over there. You must’ve heard that flour, pork, and the like are bad for you from the TV, but you have never heard that fish is bad for your body, right?”

Maru’s hand was now pointed at a man who was semi-bald. The man seemed to be delighted to receive attention and replied boldly,

“Never! Even when the doctor told me to stop drinking alcohol and eating meat, I’ve never heard I should stop eating fish.”

“Of course, I’m sure being moderate is the best with anything. But as we all know, fish is at the forefront of healthy food, isn’t it? Do your children ask for snacks every day? How about giving them this fish rather than giving them snacks or cooking them instant noodles? The mothers here all know that chewing helps in developing the brain, right? This dried fish filet is moderately hard and you can chew on it for a long time, so it might help with your children’s studies.”

He wasn’t exactly lying, but he was adding details that shouldn’t really be related.

She was reminded of when she signed two contracts for cancer after hearing that they should just get some coffee.

Even the most veteran insurance designers would end up signing their names on a contract when they were in front of Maru. His speech was just that great.

Now, she crossed her arms and started watching Maru. There was no need to write a script or interfere at all for that matter. There were only two things she had to do. It was to look around so that no accidents happened and to decide on the position of the camera.

“Call the producer. Tell him that it’s total chaos here.”

She also said a word to the new AD.

This kind of atmosphere was unprecedented in the history of Hot Blooded Youths. It was hard to capture all of this with a single camera. She needed backup.

When Maru piqued their interest, the people started opening their wallets. It wasn’t that expensive, and since Maru was so entertaining, people just bought stuff for fun.

While the owner couple was putting dried fish into bags without any time to rest, Maru picked up the next item. It was the squid he bought with his personal money.

“Thanks to everyone’s heated responses, the 50 filefish filets were just sold out. Give a round of applause!”

The onlookers soon applauded when they were asked to.

“I’m taking the time of so many important people here, so I can’t send you home just because we ran out of one product, now, can I? That’s why I’ve prepared. This is the squid that has been caught in the depths in front of the western coast.”

Maru cut the dried squid into bits and handed them out to the people in front of him. People, chewing on a piece of squid or squid leg, stared at Maru’s mouth. They were practically the mother hen and the little chicks waiting for food.

Whenever Maru said something, he got responses everywhere. He didn’t just talk by himself. He exchanged words with the onlookers to ripen the mood. Having become participants instead of just onlookers, people became absorbed even more and looked at Maru’s hands and mouth.

“Just what the heck is he?”

She laughed in vain after seeing Maru who even ended up singing a song. He changed up the lyrics in a trot song that anyone in Korea would know in order to induce cheers.

He even seemed to have thought about copyright problems as he didn’t sing until the end.

She called for the AD and the VJ. They then passed through the crowd to the outside and shot Maru from even further out. She really wished she could use a helicam right now.

“It feels like there are more people here, doesn’t it?”

“There are definitely more people than before.”

She looked towards the entrance of the market. It had been quite some time since they called the producer. It was about time they arrived.

Just then, she saw people rushing in from the entrance.

They were made up of the necktie brigade getting off work and some young people looking to be college students.

Did Joong-il market always have a lot of people?

“Hey hey, there he is.”

“He really is there.”

These were words spoken by salarymen who were approaching the dried fish store. They looked like they came here knowing that Maru was shooting here.

There weren’t just one or two people like that. The new wave of young people all took out their phones to shoot Han Maru.

Was that person this popular?

“Writer.”

The AD gave her his phone, telling her to look at it. It was the YBS radio bulletin board.

“Apparently, Kim Suyeon said on her radio that Han Maru is shooting in Joong-il market, and she asked the people nearby for support.”

“Kim Suyeon?”

A top star’s support fire. That made this situation understandable. Now that she thought back, Maru was a regular guest on the radio program hosted by Kim Suyeon. Were those two close enough to mention each other’s schedules and even talk about them live?

In any case, this was a good thing.

They captured the owner duo, who were busy wrapping up the products, and Maru who was doing a fantastic job of gathering customers, in one frame.

Truthfully, just broadcasting Maru without much editing and adding background music might make the program several times more interesting than the previous episodes.

Just where did someone like this pop out from? If the people gathered here talked to their acquaintances about the program, the viewing rate would see a considerable improvement.

Kim Suyeon’s radio program, which was known to have a large audience, was also helping them out, so Kim Suyeon’s fans might watch the show as well.

This might be the trigger for Hot-blooded Youths to hit a 5% viewing rate for the first time.

She might be overthinking things, but looking at Maru right now, it didn’t seem like a dream.

“Our missus over here has bought the dried squid for five thousand won. Would you like some as well, sir? Yes! Okay, thank you!”

Maybe this was his god-sent gift? He might earn tons of money if he did sales instead of acting.

“What’s all this?”

She heard a welcomed voice behind her. She turned around. The main host for the program arrived.

“Myungho-oppa, you should go quickly. You see that mess? It is crazy here,” she said to Myungho.

The producer arrived soon as well. The producer smiled heartily after seeing the entrance of the market bustling with people.

“Put the mic up! Turn the camera on as well! Over there, control the people so that there are no accidents!”

While the producer was cleaning up, the people were gathering.

Maru, who had been shouting for over an hour, kept snipping away with his scissors and waved the dried squid without even looking the slightest bit tired. He even looked to be more energetic.

“You won’t get this price except today. Just ten thousand won.”

A comment she felt like she had heard before resounded out.

* * *

“What’s all that?” Haneul asked as she looked at her husband enter the house with an exhausted face, his hands carrying a giant box.

“I don’t have the energy to explain. I’ll go get washed for now.”

“O-okay.”

She had never seen him that exhausted before.

She sniffed. There was a fishy smell coming up from the box. She opened up the box and looked inside.

“Squid…?”

A pile of dried fish greeted her.

She looked at the closed bathroom door in confusion.

“Just what had he been up to?”