“Hello! We’re FOB, your winter-born sweethearts!”

Ju-min’s greeting was a declaration of war.

♫ Du-dum chk dum-dum~ ♫

Before anyone could get over their surprise, the song began.

“White snow is falling~ blessing our winter~♬…”

The members, wearing wireless earpiece mikes, sang live to the music.

Tssssssssss.

The law group-ten members crossed in front of the stage, spraying fake snow with both hands.

Their faces showed exactly how embarrassed they were.

The shamed conscience of people trying to get something for nothing was on full display.

“Wh-what? Why is a girl group here?”

“That’s law group ten’s act?”

Cheers erupted at the fresh girl group’s entrance.

Even so, some people had their doubts.

They figured law group ten meant to spray some snow and cover its talent-show act with a girl group.

The law professors’ faces went cold too.

The business professors whispered among themselves and sneered.

Anyone could paper over things with money.

“You~ who came to me like winter snow~♪.”

Knowing none of this, FOB’s song rang on.

Just then!

“Hey~ you can’t call that love. I don’t want a dream that melts away like winter snow~♬~”

A man appeared with a sudden, powerful feature verse.

He showed up in baggy hip-hop clothes with a big gold chain around his neck and a cap pulled down at an angle.

“!!!”

Everyone’s ears pricked up.

The hip-hop boy’s voice was big enough to match his height, clear and startlingly good to listen to.

“Believe me. Our sparkling snowflakes are a promise of love~.♫.”

Ju-min the leader answered back with her line.

“A promise is only a promise—it’s not the real thing~. Don’t whisper to me~ I don’t believe those words anymore~♪.”

The hip-hop boy spun roughly and struck a pose, firing a finger gun at Ju-min.

On top of that, he pulled off a b-boy move right there, spinning once in midair and walking off.

“Don’t go~ our love hasn’t even started yet~♫.”

“No! I don’t believe those lies anymore!~♭.”

Ju-min’s live vocals.

The girl group’s razor-sharp choreography.

And, cutting in between, the hip-hop b-boy’s fierce moves.

“Ah…”

“So cool!”

The women were the first to be swept away.

The man’s rough, husky singing got deeper into your head the longer you listened.

A wildly addictive beat and voice.

“Winter snowflakes are love~. My cold, cold one~♩♬.”

The song flowed into its climax.

“I like it just like this! Leave me alone~ snowflake love is a luxury for me~♪♫.”

The hip-hop b-boy, who’d pulled away from the girl group, planted one hand on the floor and spun fast, landing b-boy moves one after another.

Anyone could see they were perfect, beyond expert level.

Power and precision to match his height, then clean, crisp swipes and windmills in a row.

“Kyaak!”

“Whoa-oa-oa-oa-oa-oa-oa!”

The freshmen and most of the other young undergrads went wide-eyed.

A hip-hop b-boy in perfect sync with a bright girl group’s dance and song.

“Who is that? A law student?”

“Isn’t he a freshman?”

“Ah! Right! …It’s the Arrogant Mouth!!!”

“Heok! The Arrogant Mouth, Jang Tae-san???”

The law students whispered in shock.

In the middle of the fierce dancing, his cap flew off.

And when his face was revealed, every law student who knew him was stunned.

Dum!

The last harmony and move ended.

This wasn’t some clumsy student act—it was a killer performance by pros.

Everyone drew a breath and held it.

The aftershock of being suddenly overwhelmed.

“Now, shall we really have some fun?”

Not even a little out of breath, Jang Tae-san grinned and woke up the stunned crowd over his earpiece mike.

“The second number is…”

♫♬ Dum-du-ru-ru dum dum-du-ru-ru dum dum dum-du-ru-ru-ru~ ♫♬

A powerful beat filled the auditorium.

It burrowed into every ear, until you’d think you were in a club.

Pow! Pa-pow! Pa-pa-pow!

With the cheap strobe lights added in, you could see everyone’s shoulders start bouncing on instinct.

♪ La-la-la~ la-la-la-la-la~ la-la-la-la-laaaaa~. ♪

Seo-ryeon, who’d changed into black leather pants at some point, came out singing the first bars of “Sweets in My Ear.”

Hair down, eyes and moves at peak sexiness, she stole the men’s souls on the spot.

Behind her came the rest of the members in leather shorts, giving it everything as backup dancers.

In an instant, heat took over the room.

♬ (My opening line: I ask her to tell me what she wants.) ♬

A husky, sultry voice rang out.

I really put my internal energy into my voice now.

I poured in the hunger of a man burning with desire, like a beast.

Rrrrip.

I tore off the loose hip-hop clothes I’d been wearing and threw them aside.

Underneath was a skintight leather shirt.

“Kyaaaaaaaaaaaah!”

The women in the front rows all screamed as one.

♪ (Her reply: whatever I say, she’s leaving.) ♪

Seo-ryeon swayed her hips, coy and sultry, flirting for all she was worth.

Even her eyes looked possessed by a femme fatale—she was simply killer.

♫ (My next line: if she wants the sweetest words, she should look at me.) ♫

With a sweeping come-here gesture, I circled Seo-ryeon once.

Then I tore off the baggy hip-hop pants too and threw them aside.

“Kyak! Kyaaaaak!”

“Aaaah!”

Underneath were skintight leather pants to match Seo-ryeon’s.

My firm thigh muscles were on full display.

The outfit announced to the world that I was a dangerous beast.

The transformation was complete.

♪ (The hook’s declaration of love, half in English.) ♪

My eyes met Seo-ryeon’s.

♫ (My promise to whisper every word she wants into her ear.) ♫

Then I went up to Seo-ryeon and whispered hotly in her ear.

♪♬ (My claim that tonight she’s mine.) ♪♬

I was possessed too.

I poured in the feelings of a male seducing a lovely, sultry, sexy female, pure and simple.

Seo-ryeon’s cheeks flushed in an instant, and her breathing turned ragged.

I could see her heart pounding.

Ugh! Jini noona, this is way too hot!

I couldn’t calm myself down.

I’m not normally this kind of guy.

I wanted to enjoy college life quietly and modestly.

But once I’d inherited Hwang Jini noona’s abilities, my own mind betrayed me.

After I met Hwang Jini noona, I danced for forty-eight hours straight in that place.

She could have just transplanted the memories like the other gods. But she said you have to know a dance’s flair and flavor, and she put me through my paces.

It wasn’t bad.

Forty-eight hours of dancing with Jini noona, surely top-tier even in the world of the gods, was hot, passionate and erotic.

Even as a god, Jini noona kept her flair alive.

She ran a club called From the Gods’ Dusk Till Dawn.

The way the gods earned their points was truly human.

Jini noona was a success in her own way in the world of the gods.

There, with her, I mastered every dance ever created.

And today I showed it to the world for the first time.

Because I’d used my internal energy, it was even more tantalizing and hot.

Even the professors’ jaws dropped, practically drooling.

That’s how fearsome the gods’ dances were.

“Kyak! Kyaaaak!”

“Wow! Waaaaaaaaaah!”

Everyone was possessed as one, their eyes burning.

They were like zombies infected by a god’s flair.

The energy I was giving off now was the passion of desire.

Hearts pounding, brains flooded with dopamine, they’d lost control of their own bodies.

I could see kids jumping up from their seats and dancing, carried away.

And so the song raced toward its climax.

Seo-ryeon’s body and mine hovered on the edge, almost touching and not quite.

Anyone could see this was a passionate flirtation.

Seo-ryeon was going all out to seduce me.

Caught up in it, Seo-ryeon would come out of tonight a step further along.

Knowingly or not, she’d been steeped in the divine energy I was giving off.

♪ (The title line of “Sweets in My Ear”: was it as sweet as honey?) ♪

♬ (A plea to be melted by that voice.) ♬

♫ La la la-la la-la-la-la-la la-la-la-la~ ♫

And so the couple’s dance number with Seo-ryeon came to an end.

Our bodies pressed tight together.

My blood ran so hot I thought I’d burst.

“…”

And then came silence.

Everyone sat frozen in their seats, eyes fixed on us.

The dance was done; time to wrap it up.

“Did you enjoy the show?”

I stepped away from Seo-ryeon.

With a big smile, I put the question to everyone.

“Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!”

“Wheeew! Wheeeew! The best, the best!!!”

“Jang Tae-san! Jang Tae-san! Jang Tae-san!!!”

Most of the audience got to their feet in a standing ovation.

— Karma points acquired!

I danced and got a bonus too.

Considering the points I’d invested and the dance I’d learned from Hwang Jini noona, that much of a reward was only fair.

The women fans especially looked like they wanted to eat me alive.

Their hearts must have been burning.

They’d had a taste of a man’s all-out dance and flair, courting a woman.

From now on, most men’s dancing would have a hard time impressing them.

“Th-that was incredible… not even Park Ji-yeong and Oh Taek-yeon could pull off a collaboration like that! The best! The very best!”

Go Byeong-man came out and gave a big thumbs-up.

“Thank you so much for having us~. We’ve been FOB, your sweethearts~.”

The FOB members, their sexiness tucked away and armed with youthful charm again, took their bows and turned to go.

Their part ended here.

“You said you’re law group ten? How did you ever think of putting on a stage like this? Bringing a girl group to a talent show… Hanguk University law freshmen really do think big~.”

Go Byeong-man talked up the law department.

The law professors and the alumni there looked satisfied too.

“Th-this is cheating. A girl group at a talent show! It’s invalid! Invalid!”

One of the business professors shouted that it didn’t count.

“Professor Jang Myeong-gi.”

I could see the professor’s name.

I called out the name on the professor’s name tag.

“Speak.”

I met the eyes of the prickly-looking professor.

“As I understand it, there were no restrictions on this joint talent show. We were told any format at all was fine. Am I wrong?”

“That’s right. But this kind of thing is a problem. Isn’t it unfair?”

“Professor, weren’t you clapping just a moment ago?”

“That’s one thing, and this is another!”

He had a point, to a degree.

But there’d been no restrictions on the talent show from the start.

It in no way violated the principle of good faith.

“I enjoyed business group ten’s play just now. There was a line in it that struck me. A successful M&A goes unpunished. Isn’t this a similar case? Some capital was invested, but if everyone had this much fun, isn’t it a successful talent show? What do you all think? Am I wrong?” (TL Note: It echoes a notorious Korean line: in 1995, prosecutors declined to charge the leaders of the 1979 military coup, and the public summed it up as “a successful coup cannot be punished.”)

“You’re right! That was so much fun!”

“Needless to say! Law group ten’s talent-show act is the best!”

“Jang Tae-san! Jang Tae-san! Jang Tae-san!”

I used the crowd while they were still worked up.

What they’d felt was too special for them to listen to a stuffy professor.

And that was the end of it. The professor shut his mouth.

“Thank you! That was Jang Tae-san of law group ten and his friends!”

The kids who’d played scarecrows bowed from below the stage.

By spraying some snow, at least, they’d done their part as group-ten members.

Nobody said a word against them.

Everyone knew that if those kids had been the act, tonight’s thrill would never have happened.

I could feel the law professors looking at me.

I told the professors without a word.

This is my second life.

And from here on, I’m going to live it however I want.

(End of Chapter 97)