Chapter 70

70. Red Moon

"Siwoo, there's a drama that Mom often watches. The one where Mr. Han Tae-soo is the main character."

"Red Moon~?"

"Yeah. You appear in it for a bit. Do you want to try it?"

"Umm... Sure! That drama is so fun!"

Siwoo nodded.

It was the moment when a blockbuster drama was added to Siwoo's filmography.

And...

Siwoo, who was creating a splendid filmography that surpassed most adult actors at the age of six, quickly agreed, and the matter proceeded swiftly.

A few days later, Siwoo met PD Yang Seok at the Red Moon Hotel.

"Hi! Wow, it feels like meeting a celebrity!"

PD Yang Seok extended his hand with a wide smile.

Siwoo's temporary manager, who was seated next to him, smiled back and said,

"He is a celebrity."

"Haha, he is a celebrity, but what I mean is that he feels like a celebrity among celebrities. Thank you for agreeing to appear. Siwoo, it's a short role, but let's do our best."

"Okay~!"

Siwoo answered energetically, pulled out a chair by himself, and sat down.

The manager, who was about to help, withdrew his hand.

"Our Siwoo can do anything on his own. Shall we order food first?"

Siwoo had left his mother, who suddenly started feeling morning sickness, at home and came to meet PD Yang Seok with his temporary manager.

"What would you like to eat, Mr. Yun Siwoo? I'll treat you, so choose whatever you like."

At PD Yang Seok's words, Siwoo examined the menu and spoke.

"Umm... Fire..."

"Fire?"

"...Fire chicken feet."

"..."

PD Yang Seok, whose eyes widened, asked Siwoo.

"Siwoo, have you tried fire chicken feet before?"

Shake, shake.

"This is super spicy! It makes your mouth feel like it's on fire. That's why it's called fire chicken feet."

Siwoo pointed to a spot on the menu with his finger.

"Then, do you know about honey sauce?"

"...How do you know about honey sauce?"

"From TV~ Spicy food goes with honey sauce!"

The manager, who was watching Siwoo's cute smile, took out his phone and scribbled notes.

While the manager was taking notes, PD Yang Seok kept tilting his head.

"No, can a child eat such things? Siwoo, there's also pancake and egg roll. Fire chicken feet are too spicy for you. No, no."

"Ha..."

PD Yang Seok learned for the first time today that a six-year-old child could sigh.

Siwoo swallowed hard, looking at the fire chicken feet drawn in the menu.

It was a dish that Dojin and Hyunju often ordered at night, but they never gave Siwoo a single bite, saying it would upset his stomach.

If there were any leftovers, he could taste it secretly in the early morning, but since it was Dojin's favorite, there were rarely any leftovers.

Today was Siwoo's only chance.

"Should I call Siwoo's mother and ask if he can eat fire chicken feet?"

At the overly meticulous manager's suggestion, Siwoo immediately waved his hand.

"No~ Mom is sick~"

"Oh, right. Your mother is having morning sickness. We shouldn't talk about food."

"Just~ one bite~ Crunch~ Just one bite... Can't I? Yes? I'm curious... Hmm..."

Siwoo made a pouting face and pleaded, and the manager, unable to resist, asked PD Yang Seok.

"PD, how about the fire chicken feet? I really like spicy food, so I eat it whenever it's available."

PD Yang Seok laughed heartily and replied.

"I also like spicy food. Food isn't food unless it's spicy. Actually, fire chicken feet at most places are just named that. But here, they are really spicy. That's why I... don't really want to recommend it..."

The manager, sensing a strange provocation in PD Yang Seok's reluctance, smiled and said,

"I usually like capsaicin and such, so I'm looking forward to it. Let's order the fire chicken feet. Siwoo can rinse it with water and just taste it."

The manager raised his hand and called a staff member.

After ordering a large egg roll, seafood pancake, and shrimp fried rice for Siwoo, among other dishes, the manager started discussing work with PD Yang Seok.

"It's nice to meet you outside the office."

"Ah, I hardly have time except when eating. You know our drama's ratings, right? It's doing well, but it's also stressful and busy."

"It's a huge hit. You said you would give me Siwoo's script today. Can I take a look before the food arrives?"

PD Yang Seok took out a few pages of the script from his bag.

"Should I give it to Siwoo too? Can he read?"

Siwoo confidently extended his hand for the script and said,

"I can read Chinese characters too~"

"Chinese characters? How do you know Chinese characters? Where did you learn them?"

"Every. Direct. Thousand. Character. Book."

"......What, what is that?"

The manager explained to PD Yang Seok.

"There are children's comic books. Siwoo has read them many times. He's a Chinese character expert."

"Wow, kids these days learn from comics. The world has really improved."

Not just comics, but recently, almost all learning, including Korean, numbers, and alphabets, could be done through tablets, like playing games.

Drawing lines, finding mazes, even solving puzzles.

'If you knew everything else, you'd be even more surprised. Let's read the script first~'

Siwoo checked the pages of the script that only had his scenes printed.

PD Yang Seok looked at the six-year-old boy with a serious face, reading the script, with a curious expression.

'He has amazing concentration.'

It was surprising to see a young child read the script on his own, but his expression was even more shocking.

It was like the face of a professional analyzing a character.

If asked what such a face looked like, PD Yang Seok wouldn't have much to say, but he somehow got that feeling.

As the table fell silent, the staff started bringing out the dishes.

PD Yang Seok told the staff,

"Since there's a child, please bring the hot dishes this way. Ah, hot! Ah, hot!"

Although he didn't need to help, PD Yang Seok tried to take the pot handle from the staff and was startled, placing the pot on the table with a thud.

Red spicy broth splashed onto PD Yang Seok's arm.

"Ah, hot! Ah, hot!"

PD Yang Seok jumped up from his seat and rubbed his arm with his hand.

It wasn't a serious burn, but he was a bit startled.

"...Are you okay?"

Siwoo's manager asked.

"Uncle~ Are you hurt~?"

Siwoo also asked.

PD Yang Seok, realizing he had overreacted, sat down with a red face.

"Haha... Hahaha... Let's eat. Siwoo, there are forks and spoons, so eat as much as you want. Ah, I was startled."

"I, I was also startled. I thought you were seriously hurt. Should I go to the nearby pharmacy and get some burn ointment?"

"No, I'm really fine... Wait, Siwoo, what are you eating?"

Siwoo, who had put the script aside, was following PD Yang Seok's advice and eating fire chicken feet with a fork.

He even picked up two at once.

"Yum~"

"No!"

"No!"

The manager and PD Yang Seok shouted simultaneously.

However, the fire chicken feet, drenched in a sauce so red it almost looked black, had already disappeared into Siwoo's mouth.

Siwoo gave a cute smile to the frozen manager and PD Yang Seok and savored the spicy taste spreading in his mouth.

Is this—

The spicy taste of this world!

...

His mouth was calm.

Surprisingly, it wasn't spicy.

In a past life.

Siwoo, who had been a chef exploring gourmet cuisine and traveling to find all kinds of spicy flavors on the continent, knew that this calm was the calm before the storm.

Soon, a sharp pain would pierce his tongue.

'Now, why did I travel to find spicy flavors? Right, there was a bet with the emperor. He asked me to make him taste something he would never forget, even after death. In return, I had to finish any dish I started. Ah, I must have been rebellious back then. My personality was demonic.'

Just as a person's personality changes with age over a 100-year lifespan, Siwoo's personality had changed in various ways over his 100 lives. It seemed that during that time, he was in a sensitive period, questioning his identity.

Siwoo chewed the fire chicken feet with a faint sense of apology to the tyrant whose name he couldn't remember anymore.

Whoosh-!

The spicy taste strongly asserted itself but, as expected, it was just a spicy taste that didn't exceed human limits.

"Are, are you okay? Siwoo, isn't it spicy?"

Siwoo, who swallowed the fire chicken feet with a calm face, answered with a bright smile.

"Not at all. It's similar to tteokbokki."

"Oh, really?"

The manager, with a puzzled look, picked up a piece of fire chicken feet and put it in his mouth.

"This place is really spicy. Has the owner changed?"

PD Yang Seok also ate a few pieces of fire chicken feet.

A moment later, Siwoo was calling the staff.

"Brother~ Brother~ Water, please! A lot!"

The manager and PD were sweating profusely, their faces red, as they writhed in the spicy hell.

Siwoo, watching the two, calmly picked up another piece of fire chicken feet and put it in his mouth.

PD Yang Seok, with a look of disbelief, stared at Siwoo, half of his soul already gone.

* * *

Red Moon Hotel.

A place where souls stay before reincarnation, and where it is decided what they will reincarnate as, a very important exit to the afterlife.

Kim Mansik was the new manager of the Red Moon Hotel.

Originally, a beautiful woman named Lee Sojin was supposed to take the position, but due to unforeseen circumstances, Kim Mansik temporarily took over and ended up staying.

"Come on, everyone! The moon is up~ The red moon is up~ Stand up and let's... start the business... business..."

In the hotel lobby, two souls were seen fighting.

"You're really diligent. You have a lot of energy."

Mansik sighed and walked over to separate the two souls.

"No, stop it... Stop it. Nothing is solved by fighting. Oh, it's one mountain after another. How can there be no quiet day here! We need to change the rules. I gathered you to accumulate good deeds before reincarnation, but now you're fighting over whose good deeds are better!"

With the help of Red Moon Hotel staff, Mansik managed to separate the middle-aged man and the young man who were fighting and tried to calm them down by dusting off their clothes.

However, the guests' excitement didn't easily subside.

The middle-aged man shouted at Mansik.

"It's this guy! I was clearly chasing and getting rid of a mischievous ghost that was tormenting children, but this guy suddenly butted in..."

The young man said,

"Ah, really. You were trying to chase it away, but you didn't actually do it! I caught it, so what's your problem!"

"Y, you insolent brat..."

Mansik pushed himself between the two souls.

"Stop it! Stop it! You have a black box, right? I'll check the footage later. For now, stop fighting..."

The young man pushed the middle-aged man away and asked Mansik,

"But that's not the important part. Manager! I heard a rumor... A child is being born in the S Group family. How many points do I need to get that spot?"

The middle-aged man's mouth dropped open.

"S, S Group!? Can I apply too? I want to go there!"

Mansik rubbed his forehead.

Where did this rumor come from again?

The competition for a spot in a wealthy family is always intense. It's the busiest time for the Red Moon Hotel.

"Calm down. As you know, reincarnating into a wealthy family is very competitive. Do you know the competition rate? In fact, I think a normal but happy family, a family without problems and full of love, is more satisfying for souls in the long run..."

Mansik's voice was ignored as the young soul shouted,

"Enough with that! How many points do I need? How many points!"

"That's not up to us. The points required depend on the number of souls who want that spot, and we can't know that yet."

As Mansik stepped back with a troubled look, a hotel staff member approached.

"Manager, a new guest has arrived."

Mansik turned around as if trying to avoid the situation and quickly walked away.

"Wow, when will that young guest leave? He's not reincarnating and just accumulating points, saying he wants to be in a wealthy family. It's impressive that he didn't sin in his past life and came here with such ambition. But his good deeds aren't accumulating well because of his greedy heart. Telling him won't help."

"From what I see, he might end up working here."

"......No. No. No. By the way, what did the new guest do in his past life?"

Mansik asked.

The staff member tilted his head and replied,

"I'm not sure. It's not written. He seems to have been young and didn't have a job. But the important thing is..."

"......What?"

"He's young, but his points are off the charts."

"Wow. Really? He must have accumulated a lot of good deeds in his past life."

Mansik took a few staff members and went to the hotel entrance.

Under the night sky with the proud red moon, the lights of the ground below twinkled beautifully.

As Mansik stepped onto the air, the interior clouds he had generously spent points on appeared magically.

Mansik walked on the clouds to greet the new guest.

At the end of the cloud bridge, which connected to the afterlife, a large, dark, and always gloomy door was visible, and a small soul was standing there, waiting for him.

A child who looked about six years old.

"Hi~ From the records, this is your first reincarnation? Don't worry, follow Uncle and we'll talk and think about what you want to reincarnate as~ What's your name?"

"......"

As the child lifted his face, a child with a beauty that was almost angelic was revealed.

The child smiled at Mansik at the end of the cloud bridge under the red moonlight.

"My name is Suho."

Oh