Chapter 40
When I was young, there were always things in the news that I just couldn’t understand.
Someone had provided sexual services. Someone had hosted a drug party. Someone had been gambling. Stuff like that.
It wasn’t because I thought I was a good person and wondered, “How could a human do such awful things?” I truly just didn’t get it.
If I had a lot of money, I thought I’d want to redecorate. I’d cover the yellowed, faded wallpaper. Then I’d buy some ice cream and eat it. Ice cream is crazy expensive these days, isn’t it?
If I still had money left over, and an enormous amount at that, I’d buy a game console and play a bit, assemble plastic model kits…
As I kept thinking like that a realization hit me. Ah—those people must have so much money that after doing all the little things I want to do, they still have tons left, and those simple pleasures no longer satisfy them. Their threshold for satisfaction got raised so high it warped them; that’s why they behave like that, right?
Thinking that made me sulky. And then I realized the reason I hated villains wasn’t so much that they were evil, but more that my own sulk came from being poor.
I’m not a particularly good person. I don’t know much about justice, and I don’t hold any creed about vanquishing villains.
I’m just a manager. As a manager, I want to clear away anything that would block the futures of the people I’m responsible for. Right now, astonishingly, that single feeling is all I have.
“Mr. Yang, is it okay if I’m not a righteous or good person?”
I looked at the onion bracelet. It showed no sign of withering or rot. Instead it gave off a fresh minty scent. Thinking of Im Yujoo, a pink flower bloomed on the ring. Just deciding to act had already changed the future.
“Good.”
I followed comedian Park Bong-won.
“Yes, sir. For now, we haven’t even picked songs yet. The PD spent too much time shooting the intro.”
Park Bong-won spoke into the phone in the public restroom near the GaGaSu shooting studio.
“I did put a little pressure in the tone of, ‘You don’t have what it takes to be here.’ I’m good at that—pretending to worry while applying pressure. But she didn’t look intimidated, so we’ll have to see… Yes, I’ll make sure the footage doesn’t show Lee Ji-soo losing to Im Yujoo.”
The person on the other end was Yoo Jong-hwan, CEO of LadoRemi Entertainment.
Yoo Jong-hwan was very upset. Lee Jua had refused to renew her contract and had abruptly left for JM, hadn’t she? Then she suddenly appeared on variety shows she’d never done before, acted in some unknown hipster director’s film, and in interviews came across as so soft and mild.
What did this make LadoRemi look like? Just look at the interview comments.
“Why did such a pure and cute actress seem prickly when she was at LadoRemi?”
“ㅋㅋㅋ Why? Don’t you know LadoRemi’s reputation?”
From Yoo Jong-hwan’s point of view, none of this felt good. On top of that, LadoRemi—primarily an idol and singer training company—had been drowned out by Nova Girls this time. He must have been boiling inside to the point that he gave Park Bong-won these instructions.
Lee Ji-soo represents LadoRemi as a singer. She was once a big name—if Im Yujoo surpassed her, it would feel like LadoRemi had lost to JM.
[Is she not getting knocked down? Damn it, can’t we just cut Im Yujoo out? Why is she crawling out of nowhere, making a fuss?]
“From the next shoot I’ll get serious and push back. If we keep saying things like ‘This doesn’t seem right,’ ‘This seems bad,’ or ‘I think you’re just being stubborn…’ a 25-year-old won’t be able to stand it. She’s already juggling a movie shoot; she won’t be sane.”
[Be smart about it. Drag out practice time and obstruct her if possible. It’d be great if the movie failed too. That kind of arrogant kid needs to be stomped on properly. That’s what grown-ups are for. Got it?]
“All right.”
In that sense Bong-won liked CEO Yoo Jong-hwan. He felt they were on the same wavelength. Bong-won hated young brats in showbiz who act cocky. They had no humility and didn’t respect their elders.
He remembered hosting a talk show twenty years ago. If he cut in and put a brash rookie in their place, you could hear them sobbing in the bathroom afterwards. He thought that was only natural—he’d been through it himself. But these kids these days lived too comfortably.
[What about Yoo Hyun-jae that bastard? Can’t we get rid of him?]
“That…I’m not sure yet.”
Yoo Hyun-jae. In LadoRemi that name had the feel of the plague—whenever something went wrong, that name haunted everything.
[Hmm… anyway, this Saturday’s schedule? Going as planned, right?]
“Yes, ‘Uncle’ got us something very high quality this time.”
At that moment: tic, tic. The sound of tiles being stepped on.
“Wait a moment, CEO. Someone’s here. Okay, I’ll call you back.”
Bong-won hung up.
Who is it? Did he hear us? No—if he did, there wasn’t anything lethal said.
Someone opened the restroom door and walked in. Bong-won was startled by the face.
It was none other than Yoo Hyun-jae.
Why here, instead of the studio bathroom?
Although he wondered, Bong-won put on a cheerful greeting.
“Oh, for a second I thought I was seeing a ghost. Manager Yoo, did you need to pee badly too?”
He said it with a smile, but inside his heart churned as black as tar. That bastard—he thinks he’s cool because he’s young and handsome? He’s acting like he’s the best. Just you wait…
“Looks like you’re having fun with your ‘Uncle’?”
Yoo Hyun-jae asked.
What an insolent tone.
“Ha ha, that’s how it turned out. I’m pretty close with ‘Uncle.’ He said he’d get some good liquor. Manager Yoo, wanna join us sometime?”
“No.”
The voice was so cold it sent a chill down the spine.
“‘Uncle’… Park Bong-won, you’re quite close to Seol In-cheol, right?”
“Yes?”
His heart dropped.
How did this kid know the name Seol In-cheol?
Right. “Uncle” referred to Seol In-cheol—the boss of the Seongsin-pa, the organized crime group in Seongnim-dong. The gang was called Seongsin-pa because thugs gathered around a dispute over ownership of the Seongsin building and formed a violent group.
You might ask if gangs still exist nowadays. Of course they do. Who runs the illegal nightlife establishments and gambling clubs right in the middle of Seoul?
“What are you suggesting…”
“Yoo Jong-hwan, Park Bong-won, Son Deok-soo, Park Gang-ho, Han Jong-gu, Choi Jae-gil, Kim Man-ho—”
“……!”
As more names were spoken, Bong-won’s face went pale. Yoo Hyun-jae had every one of those twenty-plus names memorized.
“You know what I’m talking about, right?”
It was the VIP client list of Pale Moon, the VIP club Seol In-cheol secretly ran. Bong-won started sweating cold.
That list must never leak. It included high-ranking officials, members of the National Assembly, businessmen, and celebrities!
“You bastard, how the hell did you—”
“You’re the one who manages that list, aren’t you? Luring young women, secretly drugging them… Why do you all live like that?”
“…….”
What was going on? The guy who had been walking around the studio with an innocent smile now had some kind of ominous aura.
It didn’t make sense that the roster leaked. It was hidden in a place no one knew about.
“Room 102, Haengun Villa in Sanmok-dong. Under the loose tile in the living room.”
“That’s trespassing, you know?! If we check the CCTV—”
“Go ahead and check. See if I show up.”
What is this? How could he know that without seeing it? Did he tamper with the CCTV?
It was strange. No, it was impossible. Yoo Hyun-jae had just returned from abroad not long ago. He was a team manager and busy with schedules. Seol In-cheol’s men watched the Haengun Villa closely.
When did Yoo Hyun-jae find the chance to break in and take it?
“…What do you want?”
“Break into LadoRemi, get records showing Yoo Jong-hwan giving company money to Seongsin-pa. Evidence of embezzlement and breach of trust.”
“And then you’ll let me off?”
“Then you’ll leave GaGaSu and turn yourself in.”
“What the hell? I get nothing out of this—why would I betray Yoo Jong-hwan?”
“Why don’t you understand?”
Yoo Hyun-jae brushed his hair back. Bong-won’s spine went cold. How could he have thought this guy was a harmless pup?
“If you don’t do it, I’ll go to the press with this list. What will Seol In-cheol think then?”
They’d think Bong-won leaked it. Seol In-cheol doesn’t forgive traitors. Before he even got to the police…
“Why—why now? What’s your problem with us? Have we wronged you?”
“You tried to touch Im Yujoo, didn’t you?”
“That’s all?”
“That’s all?”
It sounded like a lion roaring. Not a pup! Bong-won’s hands trembled. He couldn’t accept this situation. How could a mere manager know the workings of the underworld?
‘Could those rumors be true after all?’
Rumors that Yoo Hyun-jae was the crown prince of the dark underworld… no, that sounded absurd.
Either way, this is bad. Bong-won didn’t want to die or go to jail. Was he cornered?
There was one way: handle it and then ask ‘Uncle’ for help…
“If you were gone…!”
Bong-won pulled a knife hidden in his pocket and lunged at Yoo Hyun-jae.
But for some reason the next moment Bong-won was kissing the cold bathroom floor. He had no idea what had happened.
Yoo Hyun-jae said, “If you don’t want to, don’t.”
That voice—what could you compare its chill to? Even Seol In-cheol’s voice would be warmer when he had someone killed.
‘I’m going to die. He intends to erase me like this. This guy… he really will do it!’
The rumor was true. Yoo Hyun-jae—this guy—was a dark-world heavyweight who surpassed Seol In-cheol himself. Overwhelming terror washed over Bong-won; his face was a mixture of tears and snot.
“I’m sorry. Please spare me. I’ll do everything you say…”
— I asked if he could introduce a reporter who’d happily latch onto dangerous leads. Did you hear about that?
When Seon-woo heard that, his blood boiled in reverse.
‘Kim Man-ho, you bastard. I’ll bring you down with my life.’
Kim Man-ho, the local district assemblyman. When he was mayor, he issued a waste-processing permit to Seon-woo’s father, then suddenly revoked it citing administrative plan changes. Seon-woo’s father, after spending a fortune preparing the business, was left a fool.
His father fought an administrative lawsuit for five years and ended up bedridden. Because the authorities said the administrative plan change was a rational reason, the permit revocation didn’t violate the principle of protecting reliance. But later the plan was abruptly canceled and the waste-processing permit went to another company—one Seon-woo believed had ties to Kim Man-ho’s relatives. Quite a convenient coincidence.
Everything seemed clear but there was no evidence. When Seon-woo tried to take Kim Man-ho down, he was transferred within his workplace. What a shitty world.
He needed something to aim at Kim Man-ho’s throat again. To do that he had to build up achievements. That was why he’d met Yoo Hyun-jae.
“…Team leader, what is this?”
“It’s material.”
An eight-year veteran reporter, he’d never seen anything like this.
The list Yoo Hyun-jae gave contained everything. Literally everything.
Pale Moon—a secret club where sexual assault, drug dealing, and gambling took place—and all the people involved; evidence proving their involvement or where that evidence could be found; the whereabouts of victims who could testify—everything was written down.
How could he possibly know this? Was Yoo Hyun-jae connected to the prosecution? If the prosecution knew, wouldn’t they have moved already?
“Team leader, I thought my job was to assemble lists like this. How could you have done it yourself…”
“No, Jung Reporter, your job is to blow this wide open—make sure the people on this list cannot escape. Without excuse, make it so the police have to investigate.”
He saw police chiefs’ names on the list.
‘He’s insane.’
Jung Seon-woo understood Yoo Hyun-jae’s words as: “LadoRemi seemed suspicious, so investigate.” But actually it was: “I have everything to take down LadoRemi—let’s see if you have the guts to trigger it.”
Someone might be frightened seeing Kim Man-ho’s name on the list. “Isn’t this going to blow back on me?” they might think.
But Jung Seon-woo was not that kind of person. Kim Man-ho included? Seon-woo felt like laughing.
He didn’t know what kind of person Yoo Hyun-jae was—ghost? psychic?—but right now, Yoo Hyun-jae was a hero to Seon-woo.
‘Kim Man-ho, that bastard—while my father lay in the hospital you were having parties with women and drugs here, weren’t you?’
“Thank you, team leader. I’ll take responsibility and send every one of the names on this list straight to hell.”
For some reason the GaGaSu PD called Im Yujoo in separately. Curious, she went in and found Park Bong-won there with the PD.
The discomfort lasted only a moment… Bong-won bowed furiously to Im Yujoo. He even got down on his knees.
“Im Yujoo, I’m sorry. I’m truly sorry. I sincerely apologize. I won’t do it again.”
“Huh? Why are you like this?”
“I was subtly belittling your abilities, and that was out of bad intent. That was a lie. You’re the kind of talent who wouldn’t be outclassed even among veteran singers. I truly think that. I was really wrong.”
“Huh?”
What on earth was happening? She looked around as if hidden cameras might be recording, but there didn’t seem to be any.
More than anything, Park Bong-won looked like he was about to die—his face was pale as paper.
“Yujoo, please… can you tell Manager Yoo Hyun-jae that I’m truly apologizing? Please save me. If not, he’ll kill me.”
“……?? Okay, sure.”
What? Why did this man think Yoo Hyun-jae would kill him?
‘Did Hyun-jae oppa act boldly? Why? Because this guy treated me badly? Just for that?’
Bong-won left the room. Was he going to the police? What in the world…
“Yujoo, um… as you saw, Park Bong-won will be stepping down, so your partner slot is open. We need to find another cast member.”
“Oh… okay.”
She was still in a daze. She felt like that room had only allowed her to say “Huh?”, “…Yes.”, “Huh?” on repeat.
“We thought… how about casting Manager Yoo Hyun-jae as your partner? He’s a real manager, and people already know him.”
What do you think? How could she not be thrilled?
“That’d be perfect.”
Yujoo answered immediately.
