Chapter 65

Chapter 65. The Final Match

For the half day I spent with Kim Min-jun, Serin stayed with the interpreter the entire time.

Serin was calm and mature, but even she must have been a little stressed after spending half a day with a complete stranger.

So instead of sending Kim Min-jun straight back to Korea, I brought him to the hotel and gave Serin a chance to meet him properly.

For a rookie like Serin, meeting a famous Korean actor privately while overseas would probably become a nice memory.

Of course, he would soon become her colleague at the same company.

That night, we even went on a tour of the Forbidden City together.

With Kim Min-jun too?

No.

Just Serin, the interpreter, and me.

Kim Min-jun was a calm and mature adult.

Surely he wouldn't get stressed from being alone for a few days.

After Serin successfully finished her fan signing and we returned to Korea, there was exactly one week left on Kim Min-jun's contract.

The fact that Turb had given a man with only one week remaining on his contract a fifteen-day vacation to Bohol showed just how determined the division head was to renew him, even if the Earth split in half.

And that was despite Kim Min-jun repeatedly saying he had no intention of renewing.

Unfortunately for them, Kim Min-jun had already promised to become a new member of the Universe family.

What a shame.

I didn't know whether the person at the top who ordered those thugs was the division head or the CEO, but whoever it was must have been in for quite a shock.

Not only had the thugs who knew Beijing like the backs of their hands returned completely beaten down, but an article had appeared the moment Min-jun returned to Korea.

[Shock! Actor Kim Min-jun Attacked by Mysterious Men in Beijing]

We made sure not to reveal who had sent the men or who had reported the incident.

Dumping an entire bucket of bait into the water didn't mean the fish would bite.

First, I needed to confirm whether Turb had really sent those thugs, or whether it was simply Kim Min-jun's paranoia.

"Hello. I'm actor Kim Min-jun."

We couldn't keep him hidden forever while waiting for his Turb contract to expire.

So I called him into Universe first, thinking it would be good for him to at least become familiar with the employees.

I hadn't noticed it much in Beijing, but hearing him speak in the familiar setting of Universe reminded me that he really was an actor.

His voice echoed like a cave.

It sounded as if he carried around a perfectly tuned amplifier.

I called every employee to the introduction meeting.

Partly to brag about the huge catch I'd brought in, and partly to raise everyone's morale.

The staff whispered among themselves in admiration when they heard Kim Min-jun's voice.

"Actor Kim Min-jun. Kim Min-jun! ...Gasp!"

Youngchae whispered excitedly with Anna, then quickly covered her mouth.

Hearing that, Min-jun turned around.

The moment he saw Youngchae's face, he walked over with genuine delight.

"Youngchae! I've watched every fashion video you've uploaded on Nutube! I'm a fan. You're seriously like a professional. Did you study it somewhere?"

"Ah..."

Youngchae seriously thought about his question before answering.

"No. I'm not an actor."

That joke apparently hit Kim Min-jun's sense of humor perfectly.

He burst out laughing.

I didn't think it was that funny.

Well, it was something pretty Youngchae had said.

Who wouldn't laugh?

"And I watched Lawless Village."

"Ah... Lawless Village?"

As far as I knew, Kim Min-jun had a fairly important role in Lawless Village, but he barely had any lines.

He played a gangster.

His fierce facial acting had been impressive, but he personally didn't seem very proud of the role because he'd looked filthy the whole time and hardly spoke.

When he asked whether the members had watched anything else he'd appeared in, they shook their heads.

"Ah, I forgot to tell you before. I've watched a few more of Actor Kim Min-jun's works."

"Really?"

Serin, who had already become somewhat familiar with Min-jun in Beijing, spoke up.

He looked genuinely happy to hear that.

Min-jun said he'd binge-watched Theory of Unrequited Love as soon as he returned to Korea.

Each episode averaged about twenty-five minutes and there were sixteen episodes.

That meant he'd watched about four hours of Serin.

Meanwhile, even Min-jun's longest movies rarely went past two and a half hours.

Serin had won.

"How did you end up coming to our company?"

Lee Hana, who was sitting some distance away, raised her hand timidly and asked.

"Ah, I felt that my vision no longer aligned with my previous company, and I wanted to pursue more diverse..."

Apparently, actors explaining why they changed agencies weren't any different from regular office workers.

Well, he couldn't exactly say:

[I thought joining a tiny company would let me rest for a while.]

Or:

[I didn't want my skull cracked open with a pipe wrench.]

So of course he'd say something like that.

The truth was that Universe had more to gain from bringing in a major actor like Kim Min-jun.

Ignoring the money he'd earn, just being able to use the acting-industry connections and know-how that came with him would be valuable.

If we tried to build acting connections honestly one person at a time with only Serin, it would take forever.

But if a superstar like Kim Min-jun rolled around like a dog...

No.

Like an ox in spring.

If he worked hard for us, everything could be solved in one go.

Then Serin could simply follow the road he opened.

I could do the same later for Youngchae, Anna, and Aran.

The problem was that we currently had no teams other than Team 2.

For now, I could create a temporary "Min-jun Team" and quickly hire employees to support his activities.

Later, once we recruited more actors, it could develop into a proper acting division.

While Kim Min-jun and the employees continued talking about little things, suddenly...

"Why the hell are you only picking up now, you bastard?!"

A crystal-clear curse blasted from the phone in Kim Min-jun's back pocket.

The entire meeting room froze.

Kim Min-jun froze too.

Apparently, the call had been accidentally answered while the phone was in his pocket.

This was why you weren't supposed to put the screen against your butt.

Especially when wearing slacks with thin inner-sewn pockets.

Should I blame Min-jun's apple-shaped butt?

I should teach him the basic rules of being a fugitive when I got the chance.

Anyway, if the voice was already that loud through the receiver, the person on the other end must have been going completely insane.

I didn't recognize the voice, but it was probably someone high up at Turb.

I quickly muted our side and dragged Kim Min-jun out of the meeting room.

"Just in case, let's record the call and put it on speaker."

At my suggestion, Kim Min-jun looked close to tears.

"Then I'll just do exactly what you tell me, okay? You have to take responsibility for me!"

"Fine. Just answer the phone."

With trembling fingers, Kim Min-jun tapped the speaker button.

"Yes, sir."

"You bastard! What the hell are you doing? Do you know how badly Director Park got screwed in China because of you? Where are you right now?!"

We took the call in the Team 2 office.

We had gone through the trouble of leaving the meeting room, yet the employees and members had followed us out and were now gathered around the doorway, secretly listening.

So that was Turb's CEO.

I checked the time.

He was probably meeting with his lawyer in a detention center right about now.

Still, that voice was vicious.

"It was all over the news. Didn't you see? My phone was broken and I was hurt, so I couldn't contact anyone. I just got a new phone today."

"Stop talking bullshit! I already heard you didn't lose a single hair. Some handsome bastard suddenly showed up and saved you. That son of a bitch was Do Jun-hyeok, wasn't it?!"

Well, well.

He seemed very close to those Beijing thugs.

My name had even come up.

Then he must have already reached his own conclusion.

He had probably hired the thugs himself and received a detailed explanation of why the operation had failed.

I'd confirmed what I needed.

There was no reason to keep hiding anymore.

I entered the journalists' group chat and typed:

[Kim Min-jun transferring to Universe. Articles, go go.]

Then I spoke.

"Yes. This is Do Jun-hyeok, sir."

The CEO fell silent for a moment when I suddenly joined the call.

"Detention investigations are pretty sweet, aren't they? They feed you on time, lawyers come visit, and since you're lying around in there all day, you don't even have to be careful. I've gotten very friendly with reporters lately, so why are you casually throwing around words like bastard and son of a bitch?"

I started saying everything I'd wanted to tell the Turb CEO in person.

If I'd known this day would come, I would've written everything down in a notebook beforehand.

At the moment, I had no direct proof that he'd ordered Kim Min-jun's kidnapping, so I couldn't threaten him outright.

But I could at least tell the prosecution.

The prosecutor handling him was desperate to give him a prison sentence.

If I gave them even a small lead, they'd immediately start investigating the matter.

"Still, Kim Min-jun owes you something for raising him into the actor he is, so I don't want to go that far. Just let Min-jun go quietly. Then we'll also quietly continue his acting career."

Of course, the CEO was going to prison anyway.

"You little bastard... You think your road ahead will be smooth after breaking business ethics like this? You think your predecessor, Oh Deok-su, worked like this? If you keep acting like this, your company won't last long!"

Was he trying to stir sentimental feelings by mentioning someone from my past?

If that was his plan, it failed badly.

Before I could get emotional, my own phone vibrated and ruined the mood.

I checked the caller.

It was Tak Hyun-mo, the PD of Rebooting.

"Looks like we're not going bankrupt just yet. Let me take this call first."

I deliberately left Kim Min-jun's call connected and answered Tak Hyun-mo's call on my own phone.

Tak Hyun-mo greeted me in an extremely excited voice.

He'd been fairly friendly before, but compared to now, back then he'd sounded like an ice princess.

"CEO Do Jun-hyeok! I just saw the article. Actor Kim Min-jun is transferring to Universe?"

The article had gone up less than five minutes after I'd ordered it.

Reporters really did prepare multiple versions of articles in advance because speed was everything.

It seemed they'd published it almost the instant they got my approval.

And Tak Hyun-mo was crazy enough to have already seen it.

"Yes. We talked things through and our goals aligned, so that's how it turned out."

"Wow... Ah, we've finished reviewing your previous proposal. We'd like you to participate. None of the directors are against it."

Recruiting Kim Min-jun seemed to have played a significant role in changing Tak Hyun-mo's attitude.

The fact that Universe had immediately secured one of the hottest actors in the transfer market made them acknowledge our company's ability to some degree.

It probably also helped that I'd already expressed interest in appearing on the show.

"Really?"

The production staff made sense, but even the cast welcomed me?

Maybe they thought a powerful opponent like Turb had left and some easy pushover had crawled in to replace them.

"And there's one more thing. We're still looking for another MC. Would Actor Kim Min-jun possibly be available...?"

Tak Hyun-mo asked carefully.

Universe would occupy a judge's seat and also have an MC?

It sounded attractive at first.

But if I'd wanted Kim Min-jun to do group variety shows, I wouldn't have recruited him in the first place.

Kim Min-jun's first activity after transferring had to be acting.

Besides, Blue Moon was already scheduled to participate and perform during the agencies' introduction portion.

There was even less reason to shove Kim Min-jun into the show too.

"Kim Min-jun would probably be difficult."

"Ah... I see."

"For now, let's have only Blue Moon participate. We can watch how things go. If there's a good opportunity later, maybe he can do a one-day MC appearance."

It was a polite refusal.

Tak Hyun-mo understood immediately and confirmed that only Blue Moon would participate.

After ending the call, I turned my gaze toward Kim Min-jun's phone resting on the table.

It was still connected to Turb's CEO.

You heard all that, right?

I'm appearing on Rebooting.

"What? You still haven't hung up?"

"You... You're appearing on Rebooting?"

"Yes. Bleh. I'm hanging up now."

I pressed the end-call button.

And with that, the match that had begun with Seo Haewon's school-violence scandal finally entered its final round.

I turned toward the employees gathered outside the office.

"We need the new song ready as soon as possible. What's the current progress?"

Everything was ready.

The music video was finished.

Recording was complete.

Even the physical album CDs had been printed.

Right now, seven of us were gathered in the practice room: me, Kang Sang-do, Yang Seung-tae, and the four members.

We were preparing to film Homesick Girl.

There was a reason I'd pushed this song forward so quickly.

Austin River's dance challenge with over one hundred million views.

We were going to practice that now.

"If it's supposed to be a challenge, people should be able to follow it. The tempo should be slower too."

"This is difficult?"

"In the original version, you can barely even see the hands moving..."

While Sang-do and Seung-tae lightly argued over the choreography for the challenge version, the members quietly discussed it among themselves.

Seung-tae's argument was simple.

"If we change the choreography just to make it easier, there's no point. People should dance to Homesick Girl. And a challenge should feel satisfying when you pull it off. It should be something people want to brag about learning."

He was exactly right.

The dance I'd seen Austin River perform was identical to the official stage choreography.

What were the hands doing?

Where did the beat hit?

Apparently, the entire point of a challenge was to replay it in slow motion and practice it for three straight days and nights.

If you wanted to become a celebrity, you had to overcome difficult moves with sheer grit.

"Still, if only famous people do it and everyone else gives up, that's kind of... Wouldn't it be better if regular people could casually follow along too? We could even do a flash mob."

Sang-do made one last suggestion.

A flash mob?

What year was this?

Go back to school, Sang-do.

I walked out of the practice room and answered a call.

"Yes, this is Do Jun-hyeok."

"Hmm. Having fun these days, CEO Do?"

It was the voice of an old man I'd never heard before.

"Excuse me? Who is this?"

"I'm CEO Shin from Root."

CEO Shin from Root?

If he was really someone in the industry, that probably meant Shin Hyung-geol, CEO of Root Entertainment.

Pantheon and Turb were called major agencies, but Root was the oldest and largest entertainment company in Korea.

I'd visited them from time to time.

I'd met plenty of their employees too.

But most work was handled by the vice president, while the CEO himself never seemed to appear anywhere.

He was probably busy handling matters more important than day-to-day management.

"Ah, I see."

There was no way someone like that would personally call me.

If you were Shin Hyung-geol, then I was Shin Hyung-geol's grandfather.

"If you're not busy, come over here. The weather's nice. I sent a car, so just get in and come."

He sent a car?

I returned to the office and looked down at the company parking lot.

Right in front of our dirty old Starex sat an enormous black luxury sedan.