Chapter 66

The long-awaited day had arrived — the InTube early release of episode 1 of May the Mountain God Protect You.

Dad and I sat side by side on the couch, watching together through the InTube app on the TV.

On screen, So Ji-min — having calculated that she’d have to cling to this man until she found her way back to the present — shot the mountain god a cheeky wink.

The mountain god’s flustered expression filled the screen in close-up, a cheerful OST swelled, and the preview for the next episode rolled.

“…Hhk.”

Just then, I heard sniffling beside me.

I turned to find Dad scrubbing at his eyes with a tissue. His face was an absolute mess of tears and snot.

Wow, Dad’s really sensitive.

I felt secretly proud. My acting must have really been something, if he could get so immersed he’d cry like that even knowing full well I was his own daughter.

…Wait, was that even a scene meant to make you cry?

I quietly handed him another tissue and patted his back. I had no idea why he was crying, but whenever Dad cried, my resolve always softened.

“Hhheugh… our Sae-i…”

Dad grabbed my hand. Then, eyes red-rimmed, he cried out with grim resolve.

“No! Absolutely not!”

“…Huh? What’s not happening?”

“Not that guy! Dad will never allow it!”

“…”

“How dare he look at you like that, with those eyes? At my daughter! Do you know how hard I worked raising our family’s princess? And now I’m supposed to hand her over to some fierce-looking punk like that? Waaah!”

…Oh.

So that’s what those tears were about.

Dad hadn’t been crying because the story was sad.

It was because the way Do Je-hyeon’s character looked at me on screen felt so real that he’d been seized by the panic of a man about to have his daughter stolen away, and had wailed.

Honestly, what a drama queen.

I let out a disbelieving laugh.

But at the same time, I felt relieved.

Even accounting for Dad’s doting-father filter, if he could get that immersed, it meant the chemistry had definitely landed.

This might actually blow up.

While I was cheering inwardly, Dad picked up the remote with a determined look.

“This won’t do. Dad’s going to help pump up the ratings. Can’t have our daughter losing her nerve.”

Beep, beep. Dad’s fingers flew over the remote as he dug through the TV’s schedule menu.

“This one’s airing episodes 1 and 2 together, coming up next.”

“They say you can even reserve viewings these days. If I reserve them all and keep it playing, it should count, right?”

“…Oh.”

“Hold on. Once I’m done reserving all of these, I should text everyone I know and tell them to watch too.”

I wasn’t sure how much that would actually help with the ratings, but…

Dad had even gone and put on his glasses, and the sight of his back as he jabbed away at the remote was so earnest that I couldn’t bring myself to throw cold water on it.

“…Thank you, Dad.”

When had Dad become such a doting fool? Still, seeing him so happy made me smile — I figured that was enough.

I shook my head and went to my room. I threw myself onto the bed and checked my phone.

Messages had started trickling in from the handful of people I knew who’d seen the drama. The moment I saw one particular name, the corner of my mouth curled up strangely.

[Ryu Do-gyeong]

Had the great Ryu Do-gyeong actually sat down and watched episode 1? Wasn’t he too busy for that?

Half curious, half hopeful, I opened the message. A laugh burst out of me before I knew it.

[So you’re into faces like Do Je-hyeon’s now?]

What was this ridiculously childish question, coming out of nowhere?

Ryu Do-gyeong’s message wasn’t a review of the drama, or praise for my acting.

In his own way, different from Dad’s, he was sulking and sizing up Do Je-hyeon as competition.

Ryu Do-gyeong, jealous of Do Je-hyeon of all people… It was a situation I never could have imagined in my whole life.

[Does he look better than me?]

Oh, for real.

[Answer me if you’ve read this.]

From Dad to Ryu Do-gyeong, why was everyone acting like this…

The response to May the Mountain God Protect You was nothing short of a sensation.

The InTube early-release view count blew past a million within a single day.

Riding that wave, the special combined broadcast of episodes 1 and 2 on KDS posted unusual ratings despite airing in the dead of night.

On top of that, a virtuous cycle took hold as viewers who first caught it on TV flooded back to InTube, keeping episodes 1 and 2 planted on the trending video chart for days.

My Listagram follower count was climbing at an insane rate too. Every time I refreshed, the number had gone up again.

With my heart pounding, I pored over the drama’s reception. Wherever I looked, screenshots of top posts about May the Mountain God Protect You kept catching my eye.

[Korean Dramas] Anyone watching Mountain Protect? The female lead’s acting is insane

Ngl I turned it on for Do Je-hyeon but I came out wrapped around the female lead instead;;;

From ep2 on, every time the female lead whines a little the male lead does that /smiling-like-she’s-cute thing /then-pretending-not-to-smile thing and it’s genuinely so believable, I catch myself grinning like an idiot watching her too..

Heard she’s a rookie but her diction’s great and her face is an actual treasure..

(gif)

this is a two-shot some Do Je-hyeon gif account made and don’t they just look amazing together?? TT_TT..

[Comments]

– even the height difference with Do Je-hyeon makes my heart race,, TT_TT

– ugh, Choi Gi-yeong’s blessing is coming down hard on this barren K-drama market, let’s just worship and wait for the next episode

– the visual chemistry is straight up cheating, they look like they’re drawn by the same artist,,

does anyone know the female lead’s Listagram? TTT_TTT

└ it’s right there if you check who Do Je-hyeon follows

– there’s zero weak acting so even when the light-hearted start gets deeper and deeper, you stay totally immersed, I rewatched it all night TTTTT_TTTTT Mom Gi-yeong why did you make this a one-shot T_T T_T T_T

It was praise from start to finish. Some of it was no doubt thanks to Do Je-hyeon, but so much of it was praise squarely for my own acting that my chest swelled.

As I was happily scrolling through the screenshots, one comment among InTube’s top comments caught my eye.

[LIVE: an old classmate’s cheer shows up under a reaction to Mountain Protect’s female lead]

yeondyudyubya-jksknnc

Sae-i it’s me, Ji-hye!! You suddenly transferred schools and we lost touch so I worried about you a lot, but seeing you again as such an amazing actress makes me so happy,.. T_T You were always so sweet back in school too, our whole class is rooting for you!!!! We’re gonna hook the TV up to InTube after lunch and watch it together lol. Our Sae-i, nothing but flower roads ahead!!!

“…Oh.”

Lim Ji-hye. Seeing that forgotten name again, memories buried under a fine layer of dust came rushing back, vivid and clear.

That’s right. I was close with Ji-hye around this time…

The moment I’d regressed, I’d been so consumed with averting the misfortune bearing down on me and plotting revenge that I’d completely forgotten the precious people from this period of my life.

Of all times, I’d ended up transferring schools during a break, so I never even got to say goodbye to my classmates.

In my last life, I’d dropped out of school, hounded out by Uncle Joo Su-deok’s schemes and the family’s circumstances.

Life had been so brutal and miserable back then that I’d built walls around myself and cut off contact with my friends.

Even wanting to take the college entrance exam and go to university, I couldn’t, always watching Uncle’s moods instead — and I’d found myself too pathetic to bear.

Our interests diverged, the worlds we lived in grew apart, and drifting away from each other had been inevitable.

And yet Ji-hye had still occasionally tracked down news of me and reached out first to ask how I was doing. Asking if I was well, saying she missed me.

Those short texts had meant so much to me back then. Though I’d been too wretched to even send a proper reply.

This time, I won’t let her go.

I pressed my lips together firmly. Revenge and success mattered, but protecting the warm people at my side was just as much a goal of this life.

Without hesitation, I found Ji-hye’s contact and sent her a message.

[Ji-hye it’s me, Sae-i]

[Saw your comment and got so happy I had to reach out. I left in such a rush when I transferred that I never got to properly keep in touch…..TT_TT]

[How have you been? When are you free?]

[I’ll treat you to something good!]

The moment I hit send, a corner of my chest went warm and fuzzy.

I wouldn’t isolate myself again.

I was just about to set my phone down, resolving to tie my precious connections back together one by one, when—

Bzzt, bzzzt…

The phone buzzed loudly, out of nowhere. Thinking it might be Ji-hye’s reply, I checked it, and my eyes went wide. It was a direct call from Grandfather.

What business did he have at this hour? A call to tell me he’d enjoyed the drama?

“Hello?”

Unlike my cheerful greeting, Grandfather’s voice on the other end was far lower and graver than usual.

“Sae-i. Come over to the main house right now.”

“What? Right now?”

“Yes. There’s someone I want to introduce you to. And something urgent to discuss.”

Someone to introduce? I’d already heard about Park Yeon-hui, my senior.

Who on earth could it be, that he’d summon me in the middle of the night like this?

At the strange tension lacing Grandfather’s voice, I shook off the warm, fuzzy feeling from before and hurried to my feet.