Chapter 145

Chapter 145. A Romantic's Confession

Jo Yang-hoon finally confessed everything honestly.

Fun & Fun Co., Ltd. was supposed to be his own new management company, one that would manage things like live commerce and BJ activities, exactly the kinds of work the members had drunkenly talked about earlier.

Of course, most of those members apparently believed they would eventually be absorbed completely into Universe.

But Jo Yang-hoon had never discussed anything like that with me.

Nor had he started this whole thing with that intention.

He had been planning to establish a separate company.

"Is that all?"

"What? Yes. That's all."

"This isn't going to work. Dae-hun, call Jin-hee."

Dae-hun nodded and took out his phone.

Jo Yang-hoon immediately began trembling.

"There are a few more minor things!"

"Minor things?"

"Yes. I'll tell you everything else."

Only then did the name Yoo-won finally come up.

Yoo-won.

Apparently, she was his girlfriend.

"This happened before I joined this company. I met Yoo-won at a drinking party by chance, and one time I lost a lot of money and borrowed some from her. I was really poor back then, so I drifted away from quite a few of my friends. But Yoo-won never once pressured me to repay her and kept staying in touch."

He'd eventually repaid all of it after becoming a road manager at Universe.

And the moment he'd finished paying her back, this bastard apparently confessed to her by saying that now that he no longer owed her anything, maybe they should try dating.

What a romantic.

"But one day, she suggested we try starting some kind of business by using your name, CEO Do Jun-hyeok. Whenever I had spare time, I'd sometimes help her out almost like a personal manager. She said if we used your name, there'd probably be plenty of people willing to follow us."

After that, they gradually made the plan more concrete.

They'd secretly pulled idols out for outside events and saved the money.

Once they had enough capital, Jo Yang-hoon planned to establish Fun & Fun and create a BJ management agency one level below the mainstream entertainment industry.

"Wow. You could've just said you did it together. You're selling out your own girlfriend now?"

Dae-hun clicked his tongue in disgust.

Jo Yang-hoon protested as though deeply wronged.

"That's why I didn't want to say anything...! And it isn't irrelevant. I was trying to explain that Yoo-won doesn't know I'm planning to start my own company."

"She doesn't? Yoo-won doesn't know either, just like the other members?"

"Right. Yoo-won... thinks I'm going to push CEO Do Jun-hyeok out and take over Universe."

What a terrifying woman.

Push me out?

Anyway, that meant Jo Yang-hoon was planning to establish his own corporation precisely because he had no intention of doing that.

Meanwhile, Yoo-won was apparently planning to destroy me directly.

At that moment, a phone vibrated inside Jo Yang-hoon's clothes.

Normally, I probably wouldn't have heard it.

But it sounded unusually rough, almost as if two phones were stacked together.

"For some reason, I feel like that's Yoo-won. Turn on the recorder and answer on speaker."

"What?"

"If you're not hiding anything else, there's no reason not to."

Jo Yang-hoon timidly nodded and answered Yoo-won's call.

"Hey! Are you insane? How the hell did CEO Do Jun-hyeok personally show up there?! You guys planned that, didn't you?"

"N-No. We didn't."

The Yoo-won who had been crying and clinging to her manager earlier was nowhere to be found.

"It's over. If this wasn't planned, you're already buried. Completely buried! You know how many major entertainment companies Do Jun-hyeok has destroyed, right? You think he can't bury one nobody like you?"

Nothing about the impression I'd gotten from the future video had been wrong.

If anything, Yoo-won was the one shouting and taking control.

For someone aggressive enough to think about bringing me down, that fit perfectly.

"What about you? Did your manager forgive you?"

"Haa... I've got my manager completely under my thumb. As long as you and CEO Do Jun-hyeok keep your mouths shut, I won't have any problems. But do you seriously think that bastard will stay quiet? Even if my company doesn't find out, you and I are both screwed either way! That's why I told you to stop driving that damn Volkswagon around!"

Yoo-won sounded furious.

In the future video, she'd at least consistently called him oppa.

Now all politeness was completely gone.

"For now, somehow stay at that company. If something goes wrong later, we need to pin it on Do Jun-hyeok."

"What? Then what happens to me?"

"Even if you go to prison, do you really think you'll spend more than a year there? Use your brain! You're just some nobody. You'd need unbelievably bad luck to even get an actual prison sentence."

So that was her plan.

She wanted to make it look like I'd ordered Jo Yang-hoon to poach trainees or idols from other agencies.

All of it would be useless.

We were recording the call.

"Okay."

"Okay? You actually understood me? You're stupid. Tell me what you think I just said."

"If I get fired, then nothing works, so I need to somehow stay attached to Universe. That way it'll look like I'm your subordinate. Then later, if the CEO moves against someone, you'll use that as evidence to pin everything on him."

Yoo-won thought about it for a moment, then added,

"No. There's no way you'll survive there. I need to know better than to trust you. Just find out Blue Moon's upcoming schedules and tell me everything you can."

"Why do you need Blue Moon's schedule?"

"Do you have any idea how many messes Do Jun-hyeok has caused in this industry? You think there are only one or two people who want to bring him down? I'm going to find whoever wants him gone badly enough, meet them, sell the information, and squeeze out as much money as possible. I'll give you thirty percent, so take it and get out of this industry."

So that was it.

Then the money in the thumbnail might not have been five million won.

It could've been ten million.

Maybe even a hundred million.

She planned to track my schedule and approach everyone likely to have a grudge against me.

After taking the call that far, Jo Yang-hoon looked blankly at me.

He was asking what he should do.

All of Yoo-won's scheming amounted to meaningless desperation.

Still, there was one thing that bothered me.

Her statement that there must be more than a few people who wanted to destroy me.

Honestly...

That was probably true.

There were likely several.

I simply didn't know what they truly thought of me, so I carried that burden and continued working.

But what if Yoo-won willingly dragged them all into the open for me?

I already had the recording.

Wouldn't that let me safely identify and weed them out?

Even when you can't see the rats, you still put down rat poison.

That way, they'll eventually crawl out on their own and get caught.

I showed Jo Yang-hoon the Blue Moon schedule written in my calendar.

He began reading each item aloud.

"Meeting with Choi Gyu-sik's competing distributors?"

"Yeah. The movie has to pass the Film Council before it can go to the Academy Awards. I guess that's why they're meeting other major submitters. Only one film can be selected, after all."

"Ah, so that's how it works? Then that's perfect! The Academy Awards? Even just getting submitted to one of those international film festivals is insanely profitable, isn't it?"

It was obvious what Yoo-won was thinking.

Sell my weakness to a competing distributor and get paid.

If they could damage Choi Gyu-sik's movie, they could use that flaw to get their own film submitted to the Academy Awards instead.

The benefits could probably reach into the hundreds of millions of won.

Would it really be that much?

Maybe.

At the very least, that distributor would be putting one of its major directors onto the world stage.

Still...

The Film Council selection deadline was approaching.

Wouldn't it be a little late to start scheming now?

Yoo-won hung up.

It was a clear sign that she no longer wanted to share anything else with Jo Yang-hoon.

Whatever else you could say about her, she certainly had drive.

After receiving the recorded file, I sent Jo Yang-hoon away.

Dae-hun sighed.

"All kinds of things happen, seriously."

"They sure do. I'm so upset I could die, you bastard. Kwon Dae-hun, don't you betray me too."

"I'm too cowardly to betray people."

After saying that, Dae-hun subtly turned his head and made a sinister expression.

Like the secretly plotting final mastermind in a movie.

"Not funny, you bastard. Not funny."

"What do you mean, not funny? Oh no. Did you notice my expression?"

After fooling around like that, Dae-hun apologized for not paying closer attention to Jo Yang-hoon.

What could he have done?

I shared the blame too.

I'd seen Jo Yang-hoon secretly borrowing company cars and deliberately looked the other way.

Still, for someone who had spent her entire life singing and dancing as an idol, Yoo-won had planned something surprisingly elaborate.

It was impressive enough to make me wonder whether someone powerful was secretly backing her.

Dae-hun scratched his head with a bitter smile, then pulled out his phone.

"That Yoo-won or Moo-won girl will probably start moving around the Film Council soon, so I'll call Director Choi Gyu-sik in advance. It's late, though. I don't know if he'll answer."

Eventually, news reached Blanco Pictures that Choi Gyu-sik's film had been submitted to the Korean Film Council.

Director Han Young-jo of Blanco Pictures let out a groan the moment he heard.

Until Choi Gyu-sik submitted his work, Director Han's film 〈Cherry〉 had practically been considered the confirmed selection.

But now the dark horse, Director Choi, had entered the race.

Their odds had fallen below fifty percent.

Blanco Pictures wanted profit.

But until now, they'd done nothing except endlessly produce art films.

The company was now on the verge of collapsing.

They couldn't allow things to get any worse.

So they'd sharpened their blades and poured everything into 〈Cherry〉.

Of course, they weren't even dreaming about winning an Academy Award with 〈Cherry〉.

But simply becoming Korea's official submission would open the door to screenings in overseas theaters.

After that, Blanco Pictures' position as a distributor would rise.

More investment would follow too.

They absolutely had to be selected this time.

"Is there really no chance at all of beating Director Choi Gyu-sik?"

"It's not impossible. Just difficult."

"Haa..."

The company president, already in his sixties, and Director Han sat together sighing like mourners at a funeral.

"They're seriously going too far. I heard the submission period has already been delayed quite a bit. They're openly waiting only for Director Choi Gyu-sik."

"It is a bit much."

Director Han quietly agreed with the president's complaint.

"Honestly, Choi Gyu-sik has already succeeded with commercial films. Even if this doesn't work out, he can keep making movies. We're the ones standing on the edge of a cliff. At this rate, we may need to close the company."

"Ah... so it's finally come to that."

At that moment, the president's phone suddenly began vibrating.

He picked it up.

"Yes, honey..."

He silently listened to the other person for about ten seconds.

Then he quietly ended the call.

"What did they say? Was it the Film Council? Did they tell us to try again next time?"

"No. That's not it."

The president thought for a moment before speaking.

"You know that Do Jun-hyeok guy from Universe? The entertainment-company CEO who sponsored the set for 〈The Stranger〉. Apparently, there's some noise around him."

"What? What happened?"

"Nothing major. He's the kind of person with a lot of star power, so naturally there's always noise around him. But hypothetically, if a problem happened on his side, would that hurt Director Choi Gyu-sik's movie or not?"

It was an abrupt question, but Director Han thought about it.

Do Jun-hyeok had been deeply involved in 〈The Stranger〉, from casting the lead actress to the American set.

He'd also grown unusually close to Director Choi Gyu-sik.

"I think it would cause problems. Why? Do you think something's about to happen?"

"No."

The president hesitated.

Then a faint smile appeared on his face.

"I was thinking... what if we make something happen?"

"What?"

Until just moments ago, he'd been considering shutting down the company.

Now he was practically grinning.

But Director Han felt nothing except a sense of foreboding.

Because the smile on the president's face was the kind of villainous smile that, throughout both cinematic and actual history, had never once ended in victory.