CHAPTER 1
Bang!!
“Kang Taeyoon, you fucking bastard, where the hell are you! Even grinding you up in a blender wouldn’t be enough! Hey, you piece of shit, get out here!!”
With his sparse hair flying like dry hay, a large man kicked the conference room door open and stormed inside.
“Can’t hear me?! Should I smash my head in right here and die, huh?! I’ll make sure everyone, even in the most remote mountains, hears how that bastard Kang Taeyoon tried to swallow up a company owned by someone old enough to be his father!”
Security guards rushed in after him, grabbing his arms to restrain him, but the enraged man lashed out violently, smashing anything within reach. Expensive vases and office equipment rolled across the floor at his feet.
Inside the conference room, those who recognized him avoided eye contact, pretending not to see the spectacle.
“Let go! I said let go, you bastards! It’d be real nice to have this splashed across the front page, wouldn’t it? You think a country like Korea, where hierarchy runs to the bone, will just sit back and let you get away with this?!”
“Please calm down, sir.”
“That’s right, I’m the representative here! All you bastards who lived in luxury off the money I gave you—now you betray me just because of a few words from Kang Taeyoon? Got a little fat on your bellies and now you think you can scam me like this?!”
Still struggling, he finally kicked the podium.
At that moment, the man seated at the head of the U-shaped table curved his lips into a gentle smile.
If anything… he had been bored.
Everything had gone according to plan. Not a single hitch. Even the board meeting had flowed smoothly. Without tension, there was no real sense of achievement. It had been dull.
But this sudden outburst?
Now this was entertaining.
How considerate. Putting on a show like this.
Leisurely watching with one leg crossed over the other, Kang Taeyoon slowly buttoned his suit jacket and stepped out from behind the desk.
“You’re here? President Kim. Ah… I suppose you’re not the president anymore.”
With both hands tucked into his slacks pockets, Taeyoon tilted his eyes into a languid smile.
“What! You think words don’t matter? Just because your mouth works doesn’t mean you can spew shit from it! Just you wait—I’ll deal with you. You think you’ll keep rising forever? I’ll bet one of my balls that you’ll go down!”
“Do you have about ten of those?”
Taeyoon lowered his gaze slightly, then tilted his head as if reconsidering.
“You little—look at you talking shit, you crazy bastard! How dare you act like this in front of someone old enough to be your father! Don’t you have any parents?!”
“I have a mother. No father.”
“What kind of unruly punk…! Why are you doing this to me, huh? At least give me a reason.”
A reason…?
“There isn’t one. That’s not how corporate hunters work. I’m not Mother Teresa. Money’s what matters. Right?”
“You little—”
After lazily scratching his eyebrow, Taeyoon bent down and brought his smooth lips close to Piljong’s ear.
“Open your ears and listen carefully, old man. Bring me the money. I’ll give you the company.”
With a slight nod from Taeyoon, the security guards dragged Kim Piljong out of the room.
“Hey!! I even bought back your shares at a high price—was this your plan all along, stabbing me in the back like this?! You bastard, watch your back at night. I’ll make sure you can’t live as a proper human being!”
Amid the stream of curses, Taeyoon smirked as if he still didn’t consider him human. Once Piljong’s voice completely disappeared, he turned around.
The smile hadn’t yet left his face.
The directors, who had been watching anxiously, stared at his lips in stunned silence.
“Well then, we’ve checked on our former president’s well-being—and he seems quite healthy. Shall we continue the meeting?”
J Film.
It had been one of the places Kang Taeyoon had devoured most meticulously.
He had purchased shares to threaten management control, even reselling them back at a high price to Kim Piljong, who refused to step down.
Then, after exposing Piljong’s embezzlement and sexual bribery scandal, he waited for the company to weaken—
—and bought the shares back at a bargain under the name BIG T.
And today, he had completely pushed him out at the board meeting.
—
“Congratulations, sir.”
Manager Han, who had gotten into the car a bit later, handed him a tablet with a smile.
“Congratulations?”
“For getting rid of Kim Piljong.”
Kim Piljong.
Cutting flesh to break bone? What nonsense. He had intended to give up some flesh to take the bone—but ended up taking the head without giving up anything.
“Good work, Manager Han. By the way, what happened with Lee Hyunwoo?”
“He’s having trouble even securing loans from second-tier financial institutions and is looking around for options.”
“If he finds an investor, identify who it is and block the funding.”
“Yes, I’ll handle it as instructed.”
“Now that Kim Piljong is dealt with, I’ll officially start at BIG T next week. The office is ready?”
“Yes. President Yoo Juntek is very pleased.”
“My hyung has been waiting a long time.”
Ending the conversation, Taeyoon quietly gazed at the river glowing under the setting sun.
As the light receded, darkness followed, growing deeper with every inch.
Beside them, a flamboyantly decorated wedding car repeatedly drew near and fell behind.
Of all things.
White roses shaped into a heart on the hood, paired with an elegant oversized ribbon.
Ha… fuck.
His neatly drawn brows furrowed. A dull headache and a suffocating tightness in his chest surged unpleasantly.
Whenever he encountered anything related to marriage, an unpleasant pain surfaced like Pavlov’s dog.
Noticing him, Manager Han instructed the driver to change lanes and handed him a bottle of water.
Taeyoon drank half before closing it, but the nausea refused to subside.
He had only just closed his eyes from fatigue when Manager Han, having finished a quiet phone call, handed him his phone.
“Sir, an issue has come up.”
Taeyoon narrowed his cold eyes and stared at the screen.
— Actress Go Jina’s manager has been handed over to the police for a hit-and-run under the influence. However, the actual driver is Go Jina. Confirmation complete.
“Fuck.”
Muttering the curse, Taeyoon loosened his tie with his index finger. His sharp eyes gleamed coldly.
Go Jina—the actress cast as the lead in his film High Tension—had already completed the script reading.
“Call Director Moon immediately. Tell the production PD and chief to come in. We’re heading to Sol Studio right now.”
The black sedan drove for a while before stopping in the parking lot of a building finished with printed glass.
Taeyoon headed straight to the conference room. Surrounded by glass walls inside the production office, the room was prepared for a meeting, with white blinds fully drawn.
As Taeyoon entered, Director Moon and the production heads, all wearing grave expressions, stood up.
“Sit. How long until crank-in?”
“Two weeks.”
“Replace the actress.”
Taeyoon spun his chair and issued the order succinctly.
“The situation isn’t fully confirmed yet. The article hasn’t even broken. We’d have to pass the script again… re-secure locations, fix schedules—at least once it’s confirmed that it’s Go Jina—”
“It seems a drunk hit-and-run looks like a parking ticket to you. It’s Go Jina. Drunk driving and hit-and-run, both true. Do you think my information network is a joke?”
His cold voice cut through the PD’s hesitation as he turned to Director Moon.
“Let’s start with the other strong candidates who were considered for the female lead. If there’s no one suitable, we’ll bring in a casting director.”
The young director in his thirties nodded.
“Let’s consider ourselves lucky. At least this happened before filming.”
As the heavy meeting wrapped up, the production chief raised the blinds.
Taeyoon, tapping the table with his pen, casually looked out across the office—
—and paused.
A woman stood there, smiling brightly in the afternoon sunlight.
Her brown hair was neatly styled in a low bun. She wore an ivory knit dress with a reindeer print, paired with sneakers.
Every time she smiled, a yellow butterfly clipped at the back of her head fluttered lightly.
“That woman—who is she?”
The pen in his hand stopped.
Everyone followed his gaze.
Taeyoon’s eyes were fixed on the woman standing by a desk, talking to a production staff member.
It was an openly blatant stare.
“Ah… you mean the one holding the blue file?”
“Yes.”
“She’s second in the art team. Apparently she has a good eye, so the art director brought her in this time. What was her name again?”
At the PD’s question, Director Moon answered.
“Seo Jeongha.”
Seo… Jeongha.
Taeyoon slowly rolled the name over in his mind, then gave a short आदेश.
“Fire her.”
