Adding flowers to a brocade isn't as good as offering help in the snow. Anyone who's been in the entertainment industry for years knows how to play the game.
This time, the director who approached Seiya with a new job offer wasn't just doing him a favor—he was also repaying another director's request.
Still, it was true that the man had helped Seiya out.
"How about it? Are you going to accept the job Director Okawa introduced you to?"
Yuko walked behind Seiya, crouched down in front of him, and gently patted his head as she asked softly.
"Of course I'll take it. Why wouldn't I? Didn't you say we were so broke we'd have to live on instant noodles soon?
Besides, the job Director Okawa got me really suits me. I've got no reason to refuse."
The job Okawa introduced to Seiya was a Sengoku-era TV drama, and Seiya was cast as a young lord.
The role required a boy who was both bright and physically gifted, but the production team hadn't been able to find anyone suitable.
Coincidentally, one of the crew members had seen the viral clips of "Young Souya" online and showed them to the director.
The middle-aged director watched the footage of Seiya fighting the wild wolf and instantly lit up with excitement.
"This is exactly the actor we've been looking for!"
The entertainment world is a web of connections as tangled as tree roots, so the director got in touch with Okawa through mutual acquaintances—
and that's how this opportunity came about.
Compared to his previous bit-part movie role, this time Seiya would get much more screen time.
He wasn't the male lead, or even the second lead, but his role carried significant weight nonetheless.
According to Director Okawa, filming would last about a week, and he had negotiated a 1 million yen paycheck for Seiya.
For a child actor who had only played one background role before, that was an astronomical sum.
And the reason Okawa could secure such a high fee was simple—despite being new, Seiya's name was already trending.
Since the shoot would take a week and take place all the way in Hokkaido, Yuko had no choice but to pause her own work and accompany Seiya as his guardian.
After all, she could draw manga anywhere.
But when she heard Seiya would be paid a full million yen, she couldn't help but feel a sting in her heart.
To think—she, Wenren Yuko, could spend sleepless nights working on her doujinshi for a whole month and still earn less than her five-year-old son would make in a single week!
That realization hit hard. She couldn't help but feel like her twenty years of life had gone to the dogs.
Time flew by in the blink of an eye—twelve years later.
In a luxurious two-story house, a handsome black-haired boy with a bright smile dashed out the door, a piece of toast in his mouth and his schoolbag clutched in one hand.
"Seiya! You little brat, you're skipping breakfast again! How many times do I have to tell you—breakfast is important for your health!"
As he left the house, a stunning woman with a shapely figure, dressed in casual home clothes with her long hair tied back and a frying pan still in hand, chased after him from the entryway.
"Alright, alright, he's grown up now. Stop nagging him all the time. And if he overslept, isn't it your fault for not waking him up earlier?
You really should fix that personality of yours—if you don't start acting a little more ladylike, you might never get married."
Twelve years had passed, and Wenren Yuko was now in her early thirties.
Time hadn't left any marks on her face; if anything, it had only added to her mature beauty and charm.
"Seriously, sis, you spoil him too much. You used to nag me constantly even after I started college.
And haven't I told you before? Words like 'marriage' and 'getting married' are banned in front of me. Stop bringing them up.
My family is just you and Seiya. I'll never start another family, and I'll never leave this house."
The woman behind Yuko, who resembled her by seven or eight parts and was equally beautiful, sighed deeply.
Then, glancing down at her motionless legs in the wheelchair, she clenched her fists and said in self-blame, "It's all my fault. Because of me, both you and Seiya had to give up so much. You both could've had better lives."
The woman in the wheelchair who could still scold Yuko was none other than Yuko's older sister, Aiko.
Ever since Seiya debuted as a child actor and began earning money, Aiko—who had been in a coma in the hospital—received better treatment.
After several years of therapy, she finally woke up when Seiya was ten years old.
However, the severe injuries from back then left her paralyzed from the waist down, forcing her to rely on a wheelchair.
According to doctors, there was still a chance for full recovery—but the advanced treatment overseas would cost an astronomical amount.
Because of that, Aiko had long blamed herself.
She had even attempted suicide several times, unwilling to continue being a burden to Yuko and Seiya.
Aiko believed that Yuko's refusal to marry even in her thirties was all because she had to take care of her crippled sister.
Hearing her sister say such depressing things again, Yuko grew furious. She walked up to Aiko, her face stern.
"We're family—there's no such thing as being a burden.
If Seiya heard you talking like that again, he'd probably ignore you for days!
Have you forgotten what he said to you the last time you tried to take your own life?
And can you please stop worrying about everyone else for once? Who ever told you the reason I don't want to get married is because of you?"
Yuko's words made Aiko lower her head.
Even now, she couldn't forget what Seiya had said to her years ago when he saved her life.
Back then, Aiko had slit her wrists in the bathroom, unwilling to keep dragging them down.
As her consciousness faded and life slipped away, Seiya—then only eleven or twelve—came home from school, discovered the scene, and carried her on his back, running over ten kilometers all the way to the hospital.
To this day, Aiko still couldn't comprehend where that small boy had found such incredible strength.
(End of Chapter)
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