19 – Goddess of Purity
019
Buzz—
Joo Jitae’s mouth curled up as he saw the vibrating phone being placed down, the movement almost frightening.
“Now, he sends it without even thinking… huh?”
A smile that disappeared as soon as he checked the contents.
Joo Jitae’s forehead furrowed.
“He won once, and he’s acting all high and mighty. Advertisements, sponsorships, contract proposals… What is this? New Life Aid Foundation? Your donation… ugh.”
Despite not having shared his number, calls were coming in from all over the place.
Suddenly, a long-lost relative appeared, and a close friend of his father, who had no acquaintance whatsoever, emerged. The variety of repertoire was truly remarkable, sometimes evoking admiration.
This situation was unfamiliar even to Joo Jitae, the second time around.
There were no such incidents in the first round.
At that time, he was called up to the national team under 20 after the international competition had ended, so there was no opportunity to make his face known to the public. By the time he gained popularity, he was already in Europe. It was primarily handled by agents.
Most importantly, back then, he distanced himself from Korea due to Jo Yeoshin’s death.
Of course, it was an unfamiliar situation for Ju Ji-tae, even in his second encounter, but a veteran isn’t a veteran for nothing.
Having been through thick and thin, veteran Ju Ji-tae knew a very simple way to resolve this situation.
“I guess I need to hurry and find an agent.”
Judging by the flood of emails bursting forth with various offers, it seemed inevitable that he couldn’t delay this any longer.
Most of it would probably be junk, but who knows if a valuable treasure might be hidden among them? Yet, he couldn’t go through that garbage pile himself. So, the solution was to find someone to sift through the rubbish on my behalf.
An agent.
“Faster than the first time, but… well, being faster isn’t the only thing. Once the World Cup is over, it’ll probably be even more chaotic than it is now, so it’s better to find one quickly.”
To do that, first—
Ju Ji-tae headed straight out of the room.
There was something essential that needed to be done before finding an agent.
“Dad! Mom! Let’s discuss hiring an agent, Jae-shin!”
Permission from the parents must come first.
Ju Ji-tae was a 17-year-old minor.
* * *
There had been occasional agreements between Jo Jae-shin and him.
Might as well contract with an agent together.
“Excuse me~”
“Huh? What’s with the sudden formality? He’s the kid from next door who always comes over, making a fuss about nothing.”
“Still, it’s about having manners.”
“Oh my. Ji-tae’s even learned manners. They’ve grown up.”
Jae-shin’s mother with blue eyes chuckled as if finding Ju Ji-tae’s presence amusing.
With black hair and blue eyes, exotic features reminiscent of a Westerner, Jae-shin’s mother was actually a Korean born in Korea. Specifically, a French-Korean born from a mix of a Korean and a French person.
Looking at the mother, one could discern where Jae-shin and Ye-shin’s subtly exotic looks stemmed from.
If there’s a difference, it’s that being a second-generation mixed-race, the mother’s features leaned closer to the Western side compared to the Asian, whereas being a third-generation mix, both Jae-shin and Ye-shin were closer to the Asian side.
“Why has Ji-tae come after such a long time? Dad’s feeling lonely.”
“Ah~ He’s probably here to play futsal again.”
“Hey!”
The well-dressed middle-aged man, quite mismatched, yelled out in jest.
“Even if you don’t come, we’ll still play!”
“That’s right! We’re not dead yet.”
Father laughs heartily with me.
Sigh. It’s not every day that fathers indulge in playing futsal.
Hmm… Looking at it this way, my dad has quite a dignified face. He’s even standing shoulder to shoulder with Uncle Jaeshin without being overshadowed. That means I’m not overshadowed by Jo Jaeshin either.
It was when Joo Jitae was happily enjoying himself alone.
“Oh, it’s Sunday, why is it so noisy! Let’s get some sleep! …Who’s there?”
As the living room resounds with laughter, the door to the corner room creaks open, and someone cautiously peeks in.
“Oh! Uncle and Auntie. Hello.”
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“Oh my, was the goddess still asleep? The beauty sleeps a lot; she’s truly a goddess.”
“Hehe, I’m a bit pretty, aren’t I?”
It wasn’t so much that the goddess, who had just woken up and was smiling with puffy eyes, was beautiful; rather, the word “cute” suited her better.
“Jooji came too? I’ll just wash up and be right out!”
With a swift exit, Joo Jitae’s gossip followed behind the aunts.
“Oh my, the goddess went to middle school, and her beauty has blossomed.”
“Beautiful indeed. She’s already in the second year of middle school, but she still goes around like that. I wonder when she’ll grow up.”
“Leave her be. She’s still a kid. I envy her. If I had a daughter like the goddess, I’d have no wishes left.”
“Then, do you want the goddess? I think I need to have two sons like Jitae.”
“Hmm, one plus one equals three when they get married, right?”
“Oh, is that so?”
While the mothers giggled like girls, the men got to the main topic.
“Yeah, I heard. You’re looking for an agent?”
“Yes. Whether it’s me or Jaeshin, we feel like we should start looking for one now. Even now, the contacts are pouring in, and we’re wondering how it will be in the future.”
“Right, that makes sense.”
Actually, finding an agent itself is easy. Joo Jitae and Jo Jaeshin were already promising talents in Korea, so there was no shortage of agents wanting to sign them. Adding their performance in the Asian Cup only made it more certain. Agents eager for them to at least listen to their proposals lined up.
However, what’s more important than the agent contract is the agent’s capabilities and, most importantly, trust.
An agent is like a legal representative and manager for a walking one-man business, almost like a famous football player. The agent is responsible for all aspects of business activities. Depending on the agent’s abilities, the salary, incentives, advertisements or sponsorships, and even positive or negative publicity can be determined.
That’s why you need an agent with both capability and trust. But verifying this is not easy, even for someone like Joo Jitae with experience from 20 years ago.
“Memories from 20 years ago are a bit hazy.”
Although I diligently searched for an agent in the first round, there are only scattered memories remaining. However, it’s not as if vivid recollections from 20 years ago come flooding back.
It would be better than starting from scratch, but even so, finding an agent requires considerable effort and entails various annoyances.
“Okay. Since you and Jaeshin are partners, I’ll take the initiative. Let me look into it.”
Things would be different if it were Jaeshin’s uncle taking charge.
The uncle nodded willingly.
“The field may seem vast, but it’s narrow, you know. Once you cross a bridge or two, everyone knows each other. If you scratch the surface focusing on places with some scale or achievements, excluding small ones, you’ll quickly find out.”
This is why they are trying to find the same agent as Jaeshin.
Jaeshin comes from a family deeply involved in the soccer world for generations, so his connections are no joke.
However, it’s not a role to simply leave to the uncle.
While discussing the requirements and essential conditions with the agency,
“Ta-da~ The goddess has arrived!”
In the meantime, a goddess with something applied to her face intervened.
“What’s going on? Why is everyone just sitting there?”
“What did you smear on your face again?”
“It’s my business. Don’t pay attention to what I apply.”
“Do I want to do that too? But if I apply something so weirdly, wouldn’t it bother you?”
“…Strange? Really? Jooji, am I really strange?”
It’s like they’re siblings arguing at the drop of a hat.
It was difficult to convince the fathers, but the discussion is coming to an end, roughly agreeing to it, to finish quickly. Somehow, the atmosphere is tense.
“Hehe. We used to bicker with three of us before, and Jitae has become quite mature.”
“Jaeshin has grown up too.”
“He’s just tall, still a kid.”
“What’s the difference with Jitae? They’re the same.”
Even the uncle’s conversation is okay, but the conversation of the aunties smiling happily over there is hard to listen to.
“Oh my. Jitae has become very well-behaved now. He can get married.”
“He’s not married yet. The goddess needs to be ready.”
“Oh my, I never claimed to be a goddess.”
“Then should we send Jitae to marry someone else?”
“Why are you sulking again? Should I marry a different goddess, then?”
Joojita’s head began to ache.
What makes it even more headache-inducing is,
“What are you talking about? Huh? What are you talking about? Tell me too. What is it, what is it?”
“Oh, talking about defection.”
“Defection? Where to? Europe? Hm, I want to go to Europe too. I want to go to Paris.”
“But France is too far.”
“Then where?”
Because the meddlesome goddess who always interrupts had once again intervened and created chaos.
Fathers just laugh and find it cute, and no one pays attention to Jo Jaeshin, so the only one who can stop this little outlaw is Ju Jitae.
“I’m talking about work, so I’ll naturally go.”
“Then I’ll be quiet.”
“The adults are talking, don’t disturb.”
“Juji is here too.”
“Jae Shin and I are the parties involved.”
Blocked by Ju Jitae’s calm but firm tone, Jo Jaeshin rolled her big eyes.
It’s not a situation where logical arguments work, and there’s no atmosphere to indulge in a tantrum.
Then— let’s manipulate the fathers.
Jo Jaeshin brought up the topic of the family’s move.
“Ah~ I hate it~ I don’t want to. Can I listen too? Sir, can I stay here?”
“Sure! Who cares if someone says something to our goddess. It’s okay, sit down.”
“Heh. See? It’s okay.”
Ju Jitae was left speechless.
He couldn’t say anything to the fathers who just laughed and said it’s fine.
Helpless.
Ju Jitae decided to bring out the tried-and-true ‘Great Jo Jaeshin Weapon.’
“Hey, try something.”
As expected, the younger sister’s counter was effective.
“Okay. Wait a moment.”
As soon as he poked her in the side, Jo Jaeshin’s stubbornness burst out.
“Hey, don’t pretend to be tough and get lost! Who do you think you are to talk about Europe!”
“Can’t I go too? I want to go to Europe too.”
“They sat there joking. Do you know any European languages? You can’t speak them, can you?”
“You can’t either!”
“I should go and learn. It’s for work, after all. What do you think?”
“…Fine. I’ll go and learn too, then.”
“Learning a foreign language isn’t easy. You have to study well, and you’re not good at studying.”
“It’s okay. They say if a girl is pretty, she doesn’t need to study hard.”
“….”
Unbelievable…
Makes sense!
“Haha, that’s right! You’re the three-time champion of the civil service exam, Yeo Jin!”
“Heh. Is that so? I guess that makes me the five-time champion!”
Unable to resist Yeo Jin’s playful charm, Ju Ji-tae asked, “Do you even know what the civil service exam is, claiming to be a five-time champion? Do you know anything about it?”
“Isn’t it a high school exam?”
“…Then what’s the five-time champion?”
“Um… scoring 100 in 5 subjects?”
Ju Ji-tae was left speechless by her sunny response.
Truly… sunny.
“What’s wrong? Why? What is it?”
Even in a situation where fathers turn away, they can’t bring themselves to call this cute.
Ju Ji-tae simply chuckled.
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“So sunny, our goddess.”
“Huh? Why all of a sudden? I’m just naturally sunny.”
“That’s right, as long as you’re kind and pretty.”
Exactly.
As long as the child is kind and pretty, that’s enough.
But…
“Still, let’s study a bit, my goddess.”
“Study? Why would I do that?”
“Well, because if you’re a student, you should naturally study.”
Jo-yeo-shin chuckled at those words.
“Studying is ultimately about eating well and living well, isn’t it? But I eat well and live well without studying. All I need is a man to take care of me.”
That makes sense!
Her head was innocent, but her face was the epitome of urban cool beauty. It wasn’t for nothing that she was dubbed the cool beauty three-time champion. On top of that, Jo-yeo-shin’s family was wealthy.
—
At that moment, Chae-yeon-jin paced nervously around the room, staring only at the chat screen.
“Why is there no reply? Didn’t it come out well? …No, it was shot properly.”
