059 IAN

"Hui-oppa, how about a drink tonight?"

"Not drinking, don't feel like it. I'm currently in Gahoe-dong."

"Gahoe-dong? Oh, alright then, otherwise..."

"I have plans tonight. How about the weekend? Let's go play golf this weekend. How does Incheon sound?"

"You got it, Hui-oppa."

Sitting by the window in a cafe converted from a traditional Korean house in Gahoe-dong, Jongno-gu, Seoul—part of the Bukchon Hanok Village—Yoon Eun-hui hung up the phone.

Had this kid Lee Jun-ho finally realized he had been "hoodwinked" by the artist under his charge?

Kim Min-ju hadn't followed the resources Lee Jun-ho provided to become an MC on *Inkigayo* and partner with Yoon Eun-hui. Who knows what she said to her original agency, but they went ahead and secured her a solo hosting gig on *The Show* instead.

This was definitely abnormal, and Lee Jun-ho was completely in the dark.

Even though IZ*ONE was about to disband, they still had one final comeback ahead of them. What was the meaning of this?

It was safe to say Kim Min-ju had just taught Lee Jun-ho a vivid lesson.

He couldn't even manage the artists under his wing?

With disbandment looming, everyone was simply looking for their own way out. Seen in this light, Kwon Eun-bi was actually not half bad. Yoon Eun-hui mentally tagged Kwon Eun-bi as "sensible."

"BMW!"

The cafe owner's daughter brought him his coffee. The girl looked like she had just started middle school, probably stopping by after school to help out.

"Little one, you should put the coffee down first before you stare."

Yoon Eun-hui was very patient. The little girl was standing right beside him holding the tray, unable to move her feet, her eyes glued entirely to the BMW motorcycle parked outside the window.

The girl hurriedly set the coffee down and smiled sheepishly.

"Hehehe, Oppa is so handsome."

"Am I handsome, or is my motorcycle handsome?"

"Well, of course Oppa is handsome~ Have I seen you somewhere before?"

The girl looked at Yoon Eun-hui's face, voicing her doubt directly.

"Hmm, I'm not sure, but I do know your name is 'Yi-an'."

Teasing little kids was really quite fun. Yoon Eun-hui rather liked children, especially other people's kids; they were always exceptionally adorable.

He found it hard to imagine what kind of father he would be if he ever had children of his own.

He felt he might not be quite up to the task of such a role.

"Ah~ Ah?"

The girl was startled, but a quick thought struck her.

"I know! Oppa, you're a regular at our cafe, right?"

"So smart."

Yoon Eun-hui thought girls were just wonderful. Who said girls couldn't inherit the family legacy?

Anyway, he didn't want to go through all that trouble. Just for the sake of having an eldest son, the elders would go through adoption or high-tech procedures; Yoon Eun-hui felt that just managing to have a child at all was already good enough.

"Yi-an! You should be calling him uncle."

"Uncle???"

Jung Yi-an froze.

The cafe owner walked over and greeted Yoon Eun-hui with a smile.

"Director Yoon, long time no see."

"How is business lately?"

"There are a lot fewer tourists, so where would business come from?"

The owner gathered her daughter into her arms, while Jung Yi-an remained immersed in the shock that she was actually supposed to call such a handsome oppa "uncle."

"Is Mr. Jung's work going smoothly?"

"Thanks to you, everything is fine."

"Mm."

Yoon Eun-hui nodded kindly.

A cafe was a cafe, and the storefront was a storefront. Evidently, this Hanok belonged to the Yoon family.

The Yoon family ancestral properties had been evenly divided among each son back in the generation of Cho-woong.

Over the years, passing through the hands of several generations, very few buildings remained under Yoon Eun-hui's name.

There used to be quite a few more, but they were tied up in the Songdo Memorial Foundation. Just like the inheritance left to him by his grandfather, they couldn't be taken out, nor were they easy to sell if he wanted to.

Yoon Eun-hui had no plans to change their usage. According to the ancestral agreement, he continued to entrust them to the management company of Cho-woong's third younger brother's descendants, including the courtyard in the Asan ancestral grounds.

Of course, management fees had to be paid; otherwise, how could that courtyard have been so clean the last time he visited Asan?

The husband of the lady before him was an executive at one of Yoon Eun-hui's older cousins' companies, and they had rented this Hanok at a relatively favorable price through internal connections.

Yoon Eun-hui felt that she was purely running a cafe because she didn't want to be a full-time housewife.

After all, her family lived right next door to Gahoe-dong in Hyehwa-dong—yes, in Jongno-gu.

Jongno-gu and Jung-gu—at the foot of the royal citadel, residents who originally lived here basically all had a bit of money.

They belonged squarely to the old Seoul elite holding the Taegeukgi.

"As it happens, I wanted to discuss something with you, Director."

"What is it?"

Yoon Eun-hui initially thought she was going to talk about the rent, which he certainly wouldn't mind—business was indeed sluggish lately with no tourists around.

"Doesn't our Yi-an like posting on Instagram? A couple of days ago, her account received an audition invitation."

"Oh? Our Yi-an is that impressive? Which company is it?"

Yoon Eun-hui looked at the quite outgoing Jung Yi-an, and the little girl gave a mischievous smile.

"They said the company building is in Seongdong-gu."

"Seongdong?"

Giving him a trivia question, were they? Kids sure were playful.

"Cube Entertainment, in Seongdong-gu."

"No, no, no~"

Jung Yi-an blinked her eyes, and Yoon Eun-hui noticed the child blinked at a very high frequency.

Not Cube Entertainment?

Then Yoon Eun-hui had no idea. Who cared about such things for no reason? If not for a school festival invitation, Yoon Eun-hui certainly wouldn't have known that Cube Entertainment's building was in Seongdong-gu.

Yoon Eun-hui intended to try a process of elimination, but he noticed out the window that the person he was waiting for had arrived.

"Phew! Oppa~ Your motorcycle still stands out so much."

Yoon Ji-min pushed the door open with a grin, a thin layer of sweat dampening her forehead.

"I ordered coffee for you."

"Thank you, Oppa~"

Yoon Ji-min originally wanted to sit next to Yoon Eun-hui, but a pair of mother and daughter blocked her path, leaving her no choice but to sit across the table from him.

Curious, she sized up the mother and daughter, prompting Yoon Eun-hui to briefly introduce them as the cafe owner and her daughter.

"By the way, Ji-min, do you know which entertainment company besides Cube Entertainment is located in Seongdong-gu?"

"Huh?"

Yoon Ji-min's expression turned odd, and the look she gave Yoon Eun-hui instantly carried a hint of grievance.

"Oppa, it turns out you don't care about me at all..."

"Want to try acting like that again?"

Yoon Ji-min was an expert at feigning pity and playing innocent. She had been like this since she was little because it would win her Yoon Eun-hui's attention, though Yoon Eun-hui soon realized this girl could really put on an act.

Although Yoon Ji-min now knew such little tricks didn't work on Yoon Eun-hui, it had become a habit of hers—and wasn't it rather cute anyway?

"Oh... SM Entertainment moved to Seongdong-gu, in Seongsu-dong Seoul Forest."

Yoon Ji-min confessed honestly, leaving Yoon Eun-hui slightly tongue-tied. As soon as she mentioned SM Entertainment, he remembered; Yoon Ji-min had told him about this during a chat last time.

"Totally slipped my mind. My bad."

"Oh? Oppa actually admits when he's wrong?"

Yoon Ji-min puckered her little lips, looking utterly mischievous.

"So SM Entertainment invited you to an audition?"

"Yup!"

Jung Yi-an kept her eyes fixed on the pretty new unni who had just arrived.

"That person just sent me one sentence: 'Hello, do you want to become a star?' I thought it was a scammer."

"Whoa."

Yoon Ji-min sipped her coffee and arched an eyebrow.

"SM Entertainment is just like that."

Not just Yoon Ji-min, but Yoon Eun-hui reacted the exact same way. When he first started using social media, his inbox frequently received direct messages like that.

"Indeed, it really looks like a scam."

Yoon Ji-min wholeheartedly agreed.

When she first received a DM from an SM Entertainment casting agent, she had similarly thought it was a scam, and by the time she finally gave it deep thought and decided to accept the interview invitation, the staff member who sent her the DM had actually resigned.

Fortunately, after some time, a second SM Entertainment casting agent approached her.

Yoon Eun-hui timely interrupted Yoon Ji-min, who looked very eager to start complaining about her agency. Perhaps because she had been tagging along behind him for too long, Yoon Ji-min was showing a slight tendency to develop into a complainer.

"I think there's no harm in giving it a try. But isn't Yi-an you and your husband's only child?

You know that trying to balance school while being a trainee is quite difficult; the child won't have enough energy. Your family needs to discuss it thoroughly first."

Jung Yi-an attended the Middle School Affiliated to the College of Education, Seoul National University. Just by the name alone, one could tell it was an exceptional school.

The couple had spared no effort worrying about their only daughter's schooling.

Jung Yi-an remained somewhat bewildered. She was still young and couldn't quite grasp the full meaning of what Yoon Eun-hui was saying, only managing to reply:

"I'll work hard!"