My connection with Seo In-ae began when I took over the clinic.
Of the two nursing assistants who had worked under the previous director, one quit immediately. Seo In-ae was the only one who chose to stay.
“You want me here by 6:30 in the morning? That sounds great. I always felt like my mornings were being wasted.”
Come to think of it, maybe she had never been normal to begin with.
Back when I first opened the clinic, I had been burning with an almost unhealthy level of motivation. At the time, I simply assumed she was another hardworking person full of passion.
Though now that I think about it, “ordinary” and “passionate” don’t really belong in the same sentence.
Seo In-ae worked with terrifying diligence.
At exactly 6:29:59 a.m., she would arrive, change into her uniform, finish cleaning the clinic, and greet me.
Then, after preparing everything in advance, she would disappear like the wind at 5:00:01 p.m.
Up to this point, she just seemed like a typical Gen Z employee.
Whenever I spoke to her about anything unrelated to work, her responses were curt and professional. Yet within her job scope, there wasn't a single thing she neglected—from daily accounting to monitoring the toilet paper inventory.
She made it painfully obvious that she had no desire to become friends with her employer, so I never bothered trying to get closer.
My senior from college said she smoked with her coworkers during breaks at her new clinic. Hwang Seo-young seemed close with her colleagues too.
But I wasn't nearly as sociable as they were. I had no problem working alongside people I wasn't personally close to.
I still had over ten classmates from university whose faces and names I couldn't match.
Until now, both of us had been perfectly satisfied maintaining a comfortable distance.
“Think of this as an all-you-can-eat buffet and order whatever you want! What do you like? Tenderloin? Ribeye?”
But now that I'd become interested, things were different.
Master always said my competitiveness was excessive.
Being stubborn when treating patients was one thing, but if that obsession wandered into strange directions, it would become a problem.
Still, once I made up my mind, I acted.
I mean, I'd managed to bring the Martial Alliance Leader and the Heavenly Demon to the same table and hold a peace summit.
Surely becoming friends with one person couldn't be harder than that.
“Really? Then I'll have the sirloin.”
Using every means at my disposal—
—or more specifically, the power and money of an employer—
I set out to win Seo In-ae's favor.
First, I brought her to a beef restaurant and stuffed her full of delicious food.
Then I tried making conversation.
“Work isn't too hard, is it? Sorry I haven't paid more attention.”
“Not at all. You never pressure me, and it's comfortable working alone. We haven't had any difficult patients yet, either.”
“This clinic was your first job as a nursing assistant, right?”
“As a nursing assistant, yes. Before that, I worked at a factory for a few months.”
“Oh?”
“Should we order a beer? Do you drink?”
“I'm pretty good at it.”
I even participated in drinking and nightlife—things I normally avoided.
“Karaoke?”
“I'd rather go somewhere with more alcohol options.”
“What do you want? Whiskey? Wine? Sake? Order everything!”
The company dinner became surprisingly lively.
One thing led to another, and we ended up going all the way to a third venue before entering a quiet bar that Seo In-ae picked.
And then came the inevitable result.
We drank.
A lot.
An absurd amount.
Drink. Eat. Drink again.
I could have secretly used my internal energy to neutralize the alcohol, but if I wanted her guard down, we needed to be equally red-faced and slurring our words.
“Actually... I have a second job...”
“Oh? Are you in debt or something?”
No.
At that point, I had probably drunk even more baijiu than she had.
“No... hic... not that.”
“Then... you just want to make more money?”
This was getting dangerous.
My tongue was starting to feel heavy.
Seo In-ae shook her head.
Then, after a long pause, she suddenly slammed the table.
“Waaaah! Director, you're totally born rich, aren't you?! You'll never understand how I feel!”
“I'm drowning in debt too! I paid my tuition by tutoring the whole way through college!”
“Huh...? Really?”
Honestly, by then things had completely gone off the rails.
Before I knew it, I was telling her about being orphaned young, growing up at my aunt's house under constant criticism, and leaving home with nothing the moment I got into university.
“Sniff... seriously... do you know how miserable I was in college? Some people had grandfathers who owned multiple hospitals, and others were casually drinking alcohol worth ten million won...!”
After hearing my tragic life story, her response was unexpected.
“Then why are you running your clinic like this?!”
She was angry.
Had she really assumed I treated the clinic like a hobby?
I was one hundred percent earning a living here.
Although...
If I had been rich...
Well, I still would've practiced medicine.
Just much deeper in the mountains.
“You're barely breaking even, aren't you? After paying rent, paying me, using premium herbs for every prescription—”
“Come on. The number of patients is growing. It'll be packed soon.”
“You're obviously an amazing doctor. That's exactly why you should've taken out a bigger loan and opened near the station! You'd be making hundreds of millions a month!”
“You may have a point.”
Considering how she'd hidden the online store management screen before, she was definitely involved in business.
Her sense of money was far sharper than mine, someone who had spent twenty years outside capitalist society.
“By the way, what exactly is your side job?”
I downed another shot and asked.
What I really wanted to ask about was the vending machine, but I eased the conversation in that direction first.
“Well...”
“There's no non-compete clause in our contract. What's the big deal?”
“Actually, it's not really a second job anymore. More like... four? No, five jobs now.”
“...What?”
I stared at her in disbelief.
“You raised my salary a lot, but nursing assistants have limits, you know? I want to buy a house, buy a car, prepare for retirement.”
She didn't even need encouragement anymore.
The alcohol had loosened her tongue completely.
“I started by working night shifts at a convenience store after leaving the clinic. But even making one-and-a-half times my salary wasn't enough. So I started looking for ways to earn more money and found videos about online stores. I jumped right in.”
Wow.
Her initiative was unbelievable.
“Then I started a blog for promotion. Then I wanted ad revenue, so I grew that too. After saving some money, I started studying real estate auctions. That's where I met people running shared houses and vending machine businesses.”
“Uh-huh...”
“Then a public bid opened up at the high school right in front of work. I thought, ‘Why not try installing a vending machine?’ I bid on it and somehow won.”
I wasn't sure whether to be impressed or horrified.
I'd never imagined she worked this hard.
She wasn't an ordinary Gen Z employee at all.
She was one of those legendary multi-job hustlers.
“I thought I'd only need to restock it every few days, but those students eat way more snacks than you'd think. Hehe.”
“So the five jobs are: the clinic, convenience store, blog, shared housing, and vending machines?”
“Not shared housing yet! I'm still researching that!”
“Then what's the fifth one?”
“NewTube. Five hundred subscribers now! Just a little more watch time and I'll qualify for monetization!”
Jumping to her feet, she proudly opened her channel.
So her YouTube channel was still tiny.
The creators in my algorithm during my unemployed days all had at least a hundred thousand subscribers.
“I don't have anything that really grabs attention. A lot of my blog readers are fellow side-hustlers, but relying on them alone isn't enough.”
Something that grabbed attention...
Before I knew it, I was helping Seo In-ae brainstorm content ideas.
Her channel already had videos about multi-job life, part-time job reviews, nursing assistant exams, and starting a vending machine business.
Most of them barely reached double-digit views.
The occasional successful one might crawl past a thousand.
“Hmm.”
Maybe I was too drunk.
“Want me to show you something interesting? Hold up the camera.”
“What? Are you going to do a magic trick?”
“Something like that.”
I just wanted to help her a little.
She was so close to reaching the watch-time requirement.
Outside the bar was a quiet park.
Hardly anyone was around.
At the center stood an old fountain with a statue of the famous peeing boy.
“There!”
I sprinted in the opposite direction.
“Keep filming over there!”
First, I tore open every acupuncture needle package I had and stuffed the needles into my sleeves.
A thicker needle would've been better, but a little internal energy would compensate.
“Zoom out! So my hand is barely visible! Got it?”
“Got it!”
Without knowing what I was planning, she obediently aimed her phone.
Perfect target.
No people around.
And thankfully, I'd brought plenty of needles.
I grinned and flicked a needle toward the fountain.
Thunk!
The needle embedded itself precisely in the center of the statue's forehead.
“Wooooow!”
Before her astonishment faded, I loaded ten needles between my fingers.
“That's amazing!”
Encouraged by her drunken cheering, I launched all ten at once.
The needles arced through the air in a perfect circle.
One after another, they struck the statue's central meridian.
TATATATAT!
Every single one hit.
Simultaneously.
Then came dozens more.
Long needles mixed among standard ones.
One large needle at the center.
Countless others scattered outward like blooming petals.
“W-What...?!”
SHHHHHHHK!
They moved faster than Seo In-ae's eyes could follow.
“How is that even possible?!”
To ensure the camera captured them, emerald internal energy blazed around the needles.
Using the Shadowless Blood-Poison Step, I circled the fountain.
Hundreds of needles shattered the laws of physics.
They followed impossible trajectories.
Flowers blossomed from my fingertips, dancing to their own rhythms before soaring skyward and raining down moments later.
“No way! Is this like the Thousand Blossoms Rain technique from martial arts comics?!”
This woman worked five jobs and still read martial arts webtoons?
I chuckled.
How could anyone not be amazed by the sight of all 365 acupuncture points represented by needles?
Seo In-ae clapped excitedly.
“Hey, hey. You can't teach secret techniques to outsiders. Let's call it... twenty percent Thousand Blossoms Rain.”
“I see!”
She showered me with praise.
Amazing.
Incredible.
Where did you learn that?
How can needles pierce stone?
She kept talking.
I probably answered.
But strangely enough...
I couldn't remember a thing.
The only thing left in my memory was her blurry face and voice.
“We're friends now, right? Starting tomorrow, I'm making small talk with you.”
“Of course! Best friends! You're the greatest, Director!”
“Ugh... I drank way too much...”
Seo In-ae woke up with her upper body draped over the toilet in the tiny dorm room where she lived to save money.
How had she even gotten home?
Had the director brought her back?
Wait.
Did she really tell him about all four of her side jobs?
“You idiot, Seo In-ae!”
She slapped both cheeks in horror.
No matter how drunk she'd been, how could she have revealed everything?
What employer would be happy hearing their employee was juggling that many side gigs?
He's not going to fire me, is he?
There was no workplace better than this.
Long hours, good pay, and enough downtime to handle other work in between.
While washing her face, she worried about what she would say on Monday.
I should explain somehow...
An apology felt strange.
An excuse?
Maybe...
Tapping her fingers thoughtfully, she absentmindedly pressed the "+" button in her phone gallery.
Then she froze.
“Huh?”
There was a video she didn't remember recording.
“What's this?”
The mysterious video sat there on her phone, waiting to be played.
