Chapter 57
“Is what she said true?”
“Kh—.”
PD Hong cleared his throat. He wasn’t used to being scolded so one-sidedly.
“Did it never occur to you to inform Loft Entertainment and discuss this together? Fine—maybe our opinion doesn’t matter to you. But in a situation with a clear victim, was it really appropriate to handle things that way? On a program that bears our name?”
The Loft Entertainment representative berated the PD in a visibly furious voice.
“No, we— we just thought we should hear both sides. We can’t listen to only one party, can we?”
“If that were truly the case, things wouldn’t have ended like this. You tipped Seoi off in a biased manner—that’s exactly why this disaster happened. If you’re going to mediate, do it properly. You can’t let things spiral like this.”
“……”
The PD smacked his lips. He had nothing to say in response.
Seeing that the PD had started backing down, the Loft Entertainment representative seemed to conclude that nothing more would come of pressing him. She turned her gaze back to Seoi.
“Very well. There’s no time to argue over fault, so I’ll get straight to the conclusion.”
At her words, everyone stiffened.
Especially—
“Frankly speaking, we want Seoi to withdraw voluntarily.”
“!”
Seoi’s eyes widened.
“For the sake of the Rain Rabbit Band, wouldn’t that be the better choice? If you have even a shred of conscience left, then as the leader, that’s the decision you should make.”
The Loft representative smiled coldly.
“Or do you not even have that much conscience left?”
“……”
Overwhelmed by the firm, icy tone, Seoi couldn’t say a word. Her face flushed red as she lowered her head.
Who… is that woman?
Her arrogant yet merciless presence made even Jiwon feel uneasy.
Strictly speaking, that woman was closer to being on Jiwon’s side.
And yet—
Jiwon’s goal was to sign with Loft Entertainment someday. Knowing someone this frightening existed there didn’t exactly feel like good news.
…Still.
At the same time, she felt an inexplicable sense of trust.
That as long as you didn’t do anything wrong, she could be the most reliable ally imaginable.
She’s scary, though.
Jiwon stayed silent.
“If you don’t want to withdraw voluntarily, then say so.”
The woman added calmly,
“We’ll respond accordingly.”
At those words, Seoi said nothing and lowered her head even further.
Judging that Seoi understood, the woman no longer spared her another glance.
Instead—
“And Do Jiwon.”
Her gaze shifted to Jiwon.
“…Yes?”
“Don’t ever take unilateral action like this again. This time, you were lucky—people took your side.”
She looked down at Jiwon coldly and continued,
“But next time, no one may stand with you.”
“……”
“Just because you won one gamble doesn’t mean you’ll always be lucky.”
Instead of saying she understood, Jiwon met her gaze head-on and shook her head.
“No.”
“!”
“I don’t think I won this gamble because I was lucky.”
“…What?”
The woman asked incredulously.
“I won because I was confident that I was right.”
Because Noah, Eunha, and Yeosan told her so.
That she was right.
That certainty gave Jiwon the courage to act.
“So if next time, no one listens to me again… I’ll do the same thing. I’ll make them listen.”
“!”
At Jiwon’s words, the woman let out a disbelieving chuckle.
But that chuckle slowly turned into a genuine smile.
“I understand how you feel, Do Jiwon. But the public isn’t that forgiving.”
She pulled out a business card and handed it to Jiwon.
“So next time, contact me first. I’ll listen to your story.”
The card read:
Han I-hwa
Director, Artist Care & Management Center
Loft Entertainment
* * *
Loft Entertainment Office
“How was it?”
At CEO Yoo’s question, Director Han responded with nothing but an irritable sigh.
“How was it? I just went there to get angry.”
“Well, given your personality, I figured you’d at least do that.”
“Then why did you even accept that proposal? I said I was absolutely against it.”
Director Han aggressively gulped down water and glared at the CEO.
He was too soft—that was the problem. Soft enough that his subordinate could scold him like this.
“What was I supposed to do? QBC basically threatened us. They said if we crossed them, they’d block our artists from music shows.”
“Then don’t go. Who even goes on music shows these days? Two weeks of promotion—who cares?”
“Each stage matters to fans, Director Han.”
There he went again, being nice to a fault.
Han clicked her tongue. That kindness was exactly why he kept getting taken advantage of.
Accepting QBC’s proposal in the first place was proof of that.
From the start, it was a ridiculous offer.
We’ll use your agency’s name to run an idol band survival show—but debut them under another agency so we can skim the profits.
What kind of nonsense was that?
Director Han had opposed it fiercely, but CEO Yoo eventually folded under threats of being blacklisted by QBC.
“We accepted a deal where the more we send them to music shows, the more we lose money—all for that?!”
“It wasn’t just music shows. They threatened to cut off variety programs too.”
“Then don’t appear on those either! It’s not like we lack name recognition.”
“That might be true for Clover4, but rookies are different. You know how desperate they are for every opportunity. Just… give me this one.”
CEO Yoo pleaded awkwardly.
Director Han sighed instead of pressing further.
“Those rookies are going to be stolen outright.”
“They were never ours to begin with. Think of them as QBC’s rookies. We didn’t invest any money.”
“We didn’t spend money, but we spent time, manpower, and our name. If anything goes wrong, we take the hit. And QBC knew that.”
She waved her phone in front of him, showing countless articles criticizing Loft Entertainment.
“Look. Even this time—we did nothing wrong, QBC screwed up, but we’re the ones getting dragged.”
She couldn’t help being furious.
After hearing Jiwon’s story earlier, it was clear QBC was running things like a mess.
And who’s to say this wouldn’t happen again?
Director Han was deeply skeptical.
“What can a mid-sized agency like us even do? Even if our artists are popular… we’ve only ever had one truly hit group.”
“……”
Seeing the CEO deflate, Han stopped pushing.
There was no point. She knew pressuring him wouldn’t fix anything.
QBC had targeted Loft specifically because they knew how soft-hearted CEO Yoo was.
I chose the wrong place to work.
Joining a company run by a friend’s uncle was a mistake.
Family-run businesses, seriously…
“Anyway,” the CEO said cautiously, “I’m just curious. They’ll be debuting under the ‘Clover4 junior’ label, at least in name. How were the kids? Any talent?”
“How would I know? I only saw two of them—and one of them dropped out today.”
“That Jiwon kid was the victim, right? How was she?”
Do Jiwon?
Director Han paused, then answered reluctantly.
“…She wasn’t bad.”
“Really?!”
The CEO brightened immediately.
“She was good? What about her impressed you?”
“I didn’t say she impressed me. Just….”
Director Han recalled Jiwon—quiet all day, then suddenly standing her ground boldly.
“She was kind of cute. In her own way.”
Small, sharp, and feisty.
Han let out a small laugh, then immediately stiffened when she met the CEO’s gaze.
“But what does it matter? She’s not ours. She’ll get taken anyway.”
“That’s true….”
“This is all your fault, CEO. I’m not cleaning up after you anymore. You deal with it yourself.”
“Director Han!”
Ignoring his call, she walked out without looking back.
…She had a feeling she needed to dig deeper into QBC.
Something about them didn’t sit right at all.
