Idol of the Heavenly One - Chapter 64.1
Baek Jae-heon, who didn’t seem like the type to like stuffed toys at all, suddenly pointed at one and asked me to get it for him. For a moment, I was speechless. I thought he was joking, that he’d laugh and move on, but his eyes were serious. It was so oddly funny and fascinating that I couldn’t help but laugh as we walked into the claw machine shop together.
The price sign said 4,000 won for two tries. I took out my phone and paid through mobile payment.
“I’ve never done this before,” he said.
“It’s fine,” I replied.
For some reason, I gripped the joystick a little too tightly. The claw descended bravely over the stuffed toy, but the result was miserable. It barely brushed the toy before rising back up, empty-handed. My two chances vanished in an instant.
Feeling awkward, I scratched my head.
“…This is harder than I thought.”
So I charged another 4,000 won. The result was the same. Failure. The toy didn’t even budge.
In the end, I sighed and let go of the joystick.
“…You want to try? I think I’m just not cut out for this.”
But Baek Jae-heon didn’t move. Instead, he crossed his arms and shook his head.
“No. You do it.”
“What?”
Without another word, he calmly took out his phone, tapped it on the terminal, and paid 12,000 won. The payment confirmation tone rang through the store.
“Keep going.”
I let out a short, helpless laugh.
“You could buy one from a pop-up store for twenty thousand won…”
“I want it now.”
He said it firmly, and it didn’t sound like a joke.
So I grabbed the joystick again. Six more tries. During that time, the stuffed toy didn’t even get caught properly once. My heart sank a few times when it almost did, but in the end, it always fell back into place.
“…Let’s just go,” I said weakly.
Right then, Baek Jae-heon calmly paid another 16,000 won and added more attempts without even blinking.
“Keep going.”
“…Ha.”
I laughed under my breath and gripped the joystick again. I couldn’t understand why he was so stubborn about this, but somehow, I got pulled into that seriousness of his and focused even harder.
“Again,” he said.
Of course, those eight tries failed too. But Baek Jae-heon didn’t care. He added even more rounds and paid another 20,000 won. I couldn’t help thinking he was unexpectedly persistent and stubborn. I moved the joystick once more.
And then, on the twenty-eighth attempt, the claw barely caught the loop attached to Moongbaek’s head. It swayed dangerously as it rose. I thought it would fall again, but it didn’t. It dangled for a moment, then finally dropped into the prize chute with a soft thud.
I couldn’t help shouting in excitement.
“Oh my god! I got it!”
I quickly pulled the stuffed toy out of the machine, shaking it in my hand before handing it to Baek Jae-heon. It was a Moongbaek that cost 56,000 won. My hands trembled slightly as I handed it over, even though it wasn’t my money.
“With this much money, we could’ve bought three of these…”
But Baek Jae-heon didn’t seem to care about the money. He took the toy and just stared at it quietly. Seeing him like that made me feel oddly proud, even though I hadn’t spent a single won and had only moved the joystick—though it had taken twenty-eight tries. Still, I was just glad we’d managed to get it.
As we left the store, smiling, I suddenly felt people’s eyes on us. A few people were standing outside with their phones raised. Fans. At first, there were only a few, but the number quickly grew.
“Hello…”
I bowed slightly and greeted them as calmly as I could. But the murmuring grew louder. Someone called my name, and flashes from phone cameras started popping everywhere. I began to worry that if more people showed up, we wouldn’t be able to leave.
“Run,” Baek Jae-heon said quietly.
And with that, we started running, almost like we were escaping. The noise of the crowd faded behind us, and by the time we reached my apartment complex, it was completely gone. It wouldn’t have been easy for anyone to keep up with two twenty-year-old men sprinting like that. Only after we entered my building did we finally stop to catch our breath.
Panting, I burst out laughing.
“Ha, that was close.”
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