Chapter 139: The Service Industry

Entertainment Around You - No Pop-ups
Story Setting Time: March 2007
Recommended Song: Secret
Disclaimer: This work is purely fictional. Any resemblance is 100% coincidental!

Li Ran had agonized for quite a while over how to handle Lin Yue. Staying in Japan was definitely out of the question. Sending her back to China would not only leave Lin Yue herself with deep regrets, but Li Ran would also feel a profound sense of waste, because Lin Yue possessed truly formidable talent. Her dancing, singing, and appearance had all reached the standards required for debut, and she was only sixteen years old this year. If she could be given proper development, her future would be boundless. After much deliberation, Li Ran consulted Lin Yue to find out whether she wanted to return home or try her hand in the entertainment industry, leaving the final decision entirely up to her. If Lin Yue wanted to go home, it would naturally be simple; if she wanted to venture into the entertainment industry, Li Ran would need to think things through very carefully.

Jiang Yihan even found it somewhat amusing as he watched Lin Yue and Jiang Ziyi bantering and playing together. Only at this moment could one truly feel that Lin Yue was merely a sixteen-year-old girl—innocent, lively, and cheerful. Coming to Japan had originally just been about making money and sightseeing; never had she imagined encountering such an unexpected ordeal. Jiang Yihan smiled as he walked back to his room.

"I'd like to go out for a stroll tonight and take in the night views of Japan. Is that okay?" Li Ran was currently planning the schedule for the next two days, which involved shooting three print advertisements and one television commercial, and was busy coordinating the timeline when Jiang Yihan walked over and asked.

"Your visibility in Japan is quite high right now. What if you go out and get recognized?" Li Ran was still somewhat worried.

"I just want to go out and walk around," Jiang Yihan said, a hint of melancholy in his tone. In Lin Yue, Jiang Yihan had witnessed a different kind of suffering. The darkness within the entertainment industry was perhaps something Jiang Yihan would never fully understand, nor did he wish to delve into it deeply.

Li Ran said nothing more. After a brief moment of thought, he stood right up. "Let's go together."

Stepping out of the room, Kim Jaejoong came up to meet them. Seeing Jiang Yihan's outfit—wearing a baseball cap with a very wide brim—he immediately knew the two of them were heading out. "Hyung, where are you guys going? It's almost eleven o'clock."

"Just going out for a walk," Jiang Yihan smiled, his face only faintly visible beneath the shadow of the brim.

"Going out to play? I want to go too! I want to go!" Kim Jaejoong exclaimed excitedly.

"You? You'd better not go. I reckon there are plenty of people who recognize you in Japan. If you go out, it'll cause a riot," Jiang Yihan teased.

"Hmph, there are even more people who recognize you, hyung. Besides, my Japanese is better than both of yours combined. With me around, it'll be much more convenient for you guys," Kim Jaejoong said, his eyes wide with infinite entreaty. "Hyung Li Ran, please let me come along, okay?"

Li Ran looked at Kim Jaejoong, then glanced at Jiang Yihan, and nodded. "It's true that our Japanese isn't very good. Having Jaejoong with us would make things much smoother."

Upon receiving a positive answer, Kim Jaejoong quickly hurried back to his room to change his clothes, put on a cap, and joined them as they set off. The other four young men, who were busy playing video games, were left abandoned at home.

Walking down the streets of Shinjuku, the roadside was adorned with shimmering lights. Even deep into the night, the crowds remained surging, people coming and going in a bustling and lively scene.

"Jaejoong, have you ever regretted entering this industry?" Jiang Yihan looked at the scenery along the street, breathing in the somewhat biting air and gazing at the glittering neon lights, his thoughts in a jumble.

Kim Jaejoong did not answer immediately, walking a few steps in silence. "I have. I've regretted it." After saying that, there was another brief silence. "During the early days of our debut, the group's popularity was rising steadily, but me—I had no popularity of my own. Every time we had a live performance cheering section, I couldn't hear my name. I would search through the crowd for my own light sticks and support boards, but no matter how hard I looked, I couldn't find them. After leaving the stage, even though the group had achieved massive success, I would always doubt whether I was just surplus to requirements. During that period, I completely lacked self-confidence and constantly doubted myself. Back then, I regretted it because I felt as though entering this world was a mistake. And right around that time, my former agency planned to replace me, and that incident happened..."

Kim Jaejoong stopped there. What followed next was what happened after Jiang Yihan bumped into Kim Jaejoong on the street back then.

Jiang Yihan felt a stir of emotion upon hearing this. "Yeah, our confidence doesn't just come out of nowhere." Remembering how he had lost all support in the past, Jiang Yihan recalled the self-doubt and the loss of confidence he had felt; at that time, everything truly seemed shrouded in gray.

"Running into you back then, hyung, really made me feel a different kind of charm," Kim Jaejoong said with a smile as he recalled the past, looking at Jiang Yihan's puzzled expression. Kim Jaejoong smiled. "Hyung, do you know? There is a comforting kind of charm hidden in your smile. When you get close to hyung, you can feel a warmth radiating from you that makes people feel very at ease."

Jiang Yihan smiled bashfully, patted Kim Jaejoong on the shoulder, and looked somewhat embarrassed.

Kim Jaejoong said nothing more. His encounter with Jiang Yihan back then involved too many coincidences, but also an immense amount of luck.

Li Ran listened quietly beside them, quietly listening. He didn't know what would happen in the future, nor did he know what Jiang Yihan's destiny held; he only knew that Lazy Cat held an irreplaceable status in his heart, commanding his unconditional trust.

"Hey, how did we end up walking all the way here?" Kim Jaejoong suddenly broke the silence, calling out in astonishment.

Li Ran and Jiang Yihan looked up, and to their simultaneous astonishment, the large characters written before them were Chinese kanji—Kabukicho. This was the most prosperous nightlife district in Japan, brimming with all sorts of adult entertainment businesses.

"Let's go in and take a look; we've already walked all the way here anyway," Jiang Yihan's suggestion naturally won the agreement of the other two.

Walking into Japan's red-light district, the sides of the street were dazzlingly lively. Men and women standing at doorways were dizzying to behold, and independent operators stood along the pavements, casting intermittent glances at passing tourists in search of clients.

"This industry is truly developed in Japan, operating so openly and brazenly. It's really quite different from China and South Korea," Jiang Yihan remarked with a sigh.

"Hehe, it certainly feels different. Looking at it this way, it feels genuinely glamorous, utterly concealing the dark transactions hidden within," Kim Jaejoong also marveled.

"Shall we go in and take a look?" Jiang Yihan suggested jokingly. Indeed, such a glamorous exterior only made one even more curious about the scenes inside.

"How about we just go inside for a look and then come right back out?" Kim Jaejoong's curiosity was also piqued.

"Then how about that place over there? It doesn't look quite as flashy; it actually has a rather refined feel to it," Jiang Yihan said, spotting an establishment not far away.

Unlike the other shops, the entrance of this particular place did not feature multicolored neon lights, but only a few cold, bright lamps, nor were there men and women standing outside soliciting customers, making it look somewhat desolate. The door was made of bamboo, and some greenery was planted at the entrance, giving off an elegant vibe. Even so, the flow of people entering and leaving this establishment was relatively high, and remarkably, there were both men and women among them.

Jiang Yihan and Kim Jaejoong exchanged glances, feeling that entering this particular place might be acceptable, and nodded. Li Ran had no objections whatsoever and shrugged; it was all the same to him anyway, as he was merely accompanying Jiang Yihan out to clear his head, and as long as Jiang Yihan was happy, that was all that mattered.

With that, the three of them stepped into the establishment. Upon entering, the scene inside was completely different from what they had imagined: there was no clamor or noise, no clinking of wine glasses, and no bustling crowds moving back and forth. The interior used bamboo partitions to create numerous small private rooms, and inside each compartment, men and women were seated, chatting and drinking happily.

Just as all three of them were wondering where they were supposed to go and what kind of situation this was, a woman resembling a mama-san walked right up to them and rattled off a stream of words at top speed.

Both Li Ran and Jiang Yihan turned their gazes toward their primary translator for the day, Kim Jaejoong.

Kim Jaejoong, however, panicked slightly. "She spoke too fast, I didn't catch it all. It seemed to mean we should find a private room and sit down first."

This time, Kim Jaejoong had not heard wrong; true to his words, the mama-san took the three of them by the arm and led them to an empty compartment to be seated. Then, the mama-san walked back out.

"What's going on here? This place feels so weird," Jiang Yihan said with a trace of unease. "Should we just head back out? We only came in to look around anyway."

The three of them looked at each other and decided to walk out right then and there. Walking out less than a minute after entering a place would surely set a record.

As the three of them stepped out of the compartment and headed for the exit, they ran right into a middle-aged woman, around thirty years of age, who grabbed Jiang Yihan, rattled off a long string of words, and dragged him along with her. Jiang Yihan was caught completely off guard and was actually pulled right into the neighboring compartment. Before they could react, Kim Jaejoong and Li Ran were likewise pulled into the room.

What on earth is going on?

This was the simultaneous thought of all three men, and the question marks were now threatening to burst their skulls open.

Inside the compartment sat three middle-aged women, dressed in flashy, jewel-adorned clothing. Their coats were tossed onto the sofa, and they looked at the three young men before them with eager anticipation, seemingly expecting them to do something.

For about ten seconds, the room fell into a bizarre silence. Seeing that Jiang Yihan and the others remained completely unresponsive, the three women picked up their wine glasses and launched into another burst of Japanese.

Only this time did Kim Jaejoong understand, yet he found it utterly impossible to comprehend what the words actually meant, because they had said, "What are you waiting for? Pour us drinks."

Kim Jaejoong's translation left Jiang Yihan and Li Ran equally bewildered. The three women spoke again, and once more, the words were completely incomprehensible.

However, Kim Jaejoong did understand this time, and his expression changed drastically. "They're asking us how much we charge."

"What?!" Jiang Yihan and Li Ran blurted out in unison, completely terrified.

Before they could make their next move, the three women took the initiative. They strode right over and sat down directly between the three young men. One of the women reached out, pinched Jiang Yihan's cheek, and broke into a deeply satisfied smile.

Observing their smiles and connecting them to Kim Jaejoong's recent translation, a thought popped into Li Ran's head. Just as he seemed to grasp what was happening, but before he could investigate further, the woman beside him threw her arm around his shoulder, giving Li Ran a terrible fright.

Kim Jaejoong fared no better; the woman beside him had already begun pouring drinks, and her hands were wandering restlessly across his back.

"Excuse me, are they servicing us, or are we servicing them?" Jiang Yihan asked in agony as he struggled against the woman's hands, though she clearly had no intention of letting go and kept reaching out.

"Why does it feel like the three of us are the ones servicing them?" Kim Jaejoong's remark made the situation instantly clear to all three of them. It turned out that these three middle-aged women had mistaken them for staff members of this establishment—namely, the legendary hosts (host boys).

Good grief! The three of them sprang to their feet in an instant, scrambling and fleeing in a panic.

The three abandoned women hesitated for a few seconds before giving chase. At the entrance, the six of them ran right back into the mama-san who had just returned.

The three women immediately approached the mama-san and began chattering away angrily, as if complaining about something.

The mama-san looked at the three startled young men with an apologetic expression and hurriedly began explaining. It was obvious that the mama-san also realized what kind of misunderstanding had occurred. After explaining for a good while, the three women finally grasped what had happened.

Jiang Yihan and the other two lingered for a brief moment before deciding that escaping the scene was the best course of action. Silently, they inched toward the door and slipped outside while the women were still talking.

By the time the women finished clearing up the misunderstanding among themselves, the three youths had already bolted far away.

Only then did the three of them fully realize that this establishment was indeed a traditional service venue providing services for both men and women, and those middle-aged women had mistaken Jiang Yihan and his companions for hosts, thus demanding service from them.

The three of them exchanged glances and then burst into hearty laughter.

No matter how they thought about it, it felt completely absurd. The three of them had actually been mistaken for hosts and ordered to provide service. Heavens! Such an absurd event and unique experience would probably never happen a second time.

After laughing, all three of them felt somewhat tired. Jiang Yihan was now tired from laughing so much; life was truly like that, forever springing unexpected surprises upon you when you least expected it.

The sight of compensated-dating schoolgirls constantly appearing before their eyes caused the three of them to exchange bewildered glances once more before they laughed and ran off.

"Hey, if the media were to find out about what happened today, what kind of articles do you think they'd write?" Jiang Yihan asked with a smile.

"Today's hottest idol enters a night club to work as a host. Hahahahaha..." Kim Jaejoong imagined the headline and found it hilarious himself.

"What are you laughing at? You're no different—a member of the hottest idol group right now becomes a night club host, haha." Jiang Yihan joined in the laughter.

Li Ran carefully pondered whether anyone had recognized their trio of three. But the scene earlier had been far too chaotic, and Li Ran hadn't had the spare mental capacity to worry about anything else; after all, for someone like Li Ran, encountering such an incident was an absolute first in his life. Panicking by himself had already been quite enough to handle.

In a foreign country where you don't know the language, countless possibilities truly could arise.

Breathing in the cold midnight air, Jiang Yihan and Kim Jaejoong took off their hats and ran down the avenue, relishing the thrill of complete and utter relaxation in that moment. Although the unexpected events of tonight had been somewhat flustering, they had brought even more relaxation and hearty laughter. Coming to Japan, visiting Kabukicho, and personally experiencing the "service industry" for oneself could also be considered a harvest of sorts—somewhat thrilling, yet no less a valuable trial in life's journey.

Fortunately, amidst the madness of the three of them the night before, not a single person had recognized them, meaning no media outlets knew about the incident. Thus, this preposterous and accidental ordeal became a uniquely special memory shared exclusively by the three of them.