Chapter 86

Chapter 86. Hi, Do Bro!

Lee Ho-seong and Yoon Jin-seo had been burning with righteous fury just moments earlier.

Yet the instant the police stormed in, both prosecutors quietly retreated into a corner.

Apparently, this wasn't the kind of case prosecutors like them were supposed to interfere with this directly.

There were lines even prosecutors had to respect.

Still, they confidently promised to make sure the culprit experienced enough of the law's spicy flavor to leave him with PTSD.

After sending Lee Eun-bit and Kim Jin-hee out as well, only Shin Hyung-geol and I remained in the room with the upright bed.

I explained the connection between the stalker and Kim Tae-jung.

Shin Hyung-geol fell into deep thought.

"The arrest went ahead as planned, but we haven't told the reporters yet. You know I have my own army of reporters, right?"

"I know very well... Let's keep this out of the news. An article wouldn't exactly be good for you either, CEO Do Jun-hyeok."

"That's right. It wouldn't be good for me either."

If the story broke, it wouldn't only hurt Shin Hyung-geol.

〈Rebooting〉 itself could explode.

But I was a demolition expert whose guts had already climbed out of his stomach.

If I couldn't get control of the debut group right now, I could simply blow up the entire program, write Univ a debut song, and launch them immediately.

"The police have already taken him away, so this matter is technically out of my hands now. But I don't believe you personally ordered something this horrible, CEO Shin. I worked at Pantheon too, so I know how easily managers can fall for these kinds of private temptations."

"So?"

"But Route Entertainment is going to suffer badly because of this stalking scandal, and I don't think Root Entertainment will escape the fallout either. On 〈Rebooting〉, Route Entertainment is practically the same thing as Root Entertainment... So I don't think it would be appropriate for you to remain in charge of the debut group."

I told Shin Hyung-geol exactly what I thought.

Honestly, the best possible outcome for me was taking control of the debut group.

The second-best option was blowing up the broadcast and launching Univ immediately.

And waaaaay down at the bottom was letting Univ debut under Root's project group and making money for someone else.

In other words, if I didn't get management rights over the debut group, I had no reason to suppress the article.

"And obviously, there's no way I staged this stalker incident myself. I may be a little arrogant, but I do have a sense of justice, don't I?"

"I'm not suspecting you of that."

I still remembered the tiny bit of goodwill Shin Hyung-geol had shown me when we first met.

He himself had grown numb to corruption and the mutual back-scratching among major agencies.

But he probably understood that I wasn't someone who would willingly go along with it.

That was likely why he'd shown me even that small amount of goodwill.

"Since things have come this far, let's look at this objectively. Whose planning produced the highest ratings? Whose production ability and commercial potential look strongest to you? What about insight into scandals and accidents? Who do you think would manage the debut group best? Isn't it me?"

Shin Hyung-geol slowly nodded.

Apparently, he still hadn't recovered from the shock of learning that such an inhuman crime had happened inside Route Entertainment, one of his affiliated companies.

"Even if it's someone else's table, once you've seated me there, at least let me eat. What the hell is this situation? Do you know how badly I've wanted to taste that grouper?"

"Hahaha... Still, you've been very popular lately. Haven't you benefited from the program at all?"

Benefited, my ass.

The appearance fee was basically it.

And 〈Rebooting〉 wasn't some easy program where we could casually juggle outside activities just because our popularity had increased.

"So tell me. Why exactly do you want control of the debut group?"

"Profit comes first. And the title of 'the company that managed the 〈Rebooting〉 debut group' would be huge for me. It would make people see Universe as a major agency capable of standing shoulder to shoulder with Root and Riven."

Shin Hyung-geol suddenly burst into loud laughter.

I couldn't tell whether that meant yes or no.

While waiting for his answer, I quietly opened the reporters' group chat on my messenger.

"This seems like it could become a sensitive issue, so please make sure no articles come out, Detective."

At my request, the detective glanced into a room with a sign that read [Night Duty Room 2].

"If publicity could hurt the victim, then of course. Your timing's lucky too. No reporters are stationed here today."

If a resident reporter had been around, I would've needed to handle them separately.

Very nice.

It wasn't technically Chairman Shin's personal wrongdoing.

Still, I'd succeeded in putting an end to his determination.

And since this wasn't severe enough to completely destroy Chairman Shin himself, I found myself wondering whether I'd end up working with Root Entertainment again someday.

After leaving the police station, I talked briefly with Yoon Jin-seo about what had happened.

"You caught kidnappers before, and now you've caught a stalker with hidden cameras. What are you planning to catch next? A murderer?"

"Why would I catch anything else? It's a happy day. We should catch a pig and celebrate."

At this point, the road ahead was beautifully paved.

All I had to do was pour everything into the fourth competition, raise expectations for the debut group again, and then produce one more great song.

It was practically a winning lottery ticket.

Who knew eating someone else's prepared table could be this exciting?

Lee Ho-seong, who was standing nearby, looked proud of having contributed and grinned.

"I never thought I'd see Attorney Lee Eun-bit again. Seeing her again because of something like this was incredibly awkward."

"Oh, really? Was that your first time seeing her since the first trial? She told me she'd contact you once she passed the special recruitment."

"She said she'd contact me? Me? Why?"

He kept ending every sentence with an upward tone as though asking another question, yet his face was visibly delighted.

"How many reasons are there for a man and woman who aren't close to contact each other?"

"Oooh..."

That should be enough to serve as a proper matchmaker.

Of course, if Lee Eun-bit actually had no romantic interest in him and my meddling only made things awkward...

I could always claim I'd meant something like a complaint call.

Speak of the tiger and it appears.

Lee Eun-bit, who had remained inside the station to check on the case, finally came out of the building.

But we couldn't immediately have a deeper conversation.

The moment she saw something in the distance, she jolted in surprise.

"Huh? Those people!"

"What? Who is it?"

The two prosecutors and I all looked in the direction Lee Eun-bit was pointing.

Two blonde women were walking toward us side by side.

One wore a crop top layered with mesh and short shorts.

The other wore loose, long pants and a thin blouse.

Even from their clothes alone, they practically seemed to be announcing to the whole neighborhood,

Hello. We are foreigners.

More importantly, several broad-shouldered Western men in summer suits were following them.

I looked more closely.

Billy Aaron.

And Emil Lipa.

"What the...? Those people are ridiculously famous. Are they lookalikes?"

"You think two people could look that similar at the same time? That's way too precise for a coincidence."

Seeing them in Korea felt like spotting a smartphone in a historical drama.

Of course, I'd already seen Emil Lipa in Korea once.

At her concert.

But Billy Aaron?

Park Gwang-cheol had told me he'd already asked Billy Aaron to participate in my project.

She was connected to me, sure.

But she wasn't someone who could simply appear this quickly.

And how did she even know I was at a police station?

Still, maybe she'd simply had business with the police while visiting Korea.

This was Seoul.

Coincidences happened.

Just as I was about to dismiss it like that, Emil Lipa looked toward us through her sunglasses.

Her expression immediately brightened.

She tapped Billy Aaron several times.

"Hey, hey! It's him! Junhyeok Do!"

The instant my name came out of a world-famous celebrity's mouth, Lee Ho-seong, Yoon Jin-seo, and Lee Eun-bit all stared at me in disbelief.

As it turned out, the two of them really had come looking for me.

Not because there was some tracking device planted on my body.

They had first visited the Universe office.

Kwon Dae-hun had told them where I was, so they came here afterward.

The three legal professionals were thrilled to meet celebrities and immediately volunteered to interpret while showing off their English skills.

Even if you combined all three of them, I doubted they were as good as Anna.

Still, beggars couldn't be choosers.

I decided to use all three.

I could roughly understand English on my own.

But if I tried to stumble my way through a full conversation, we'd be there forever.

And these two didn't exactly look like people who would politely speak only simple English like Filipino elementary-school children.

"I'm sorry I asked you to work on the song and then never contacted you properly. Funny that we're meeting like this."

"It's fine. I can rearrange my schedule however I like anyway. That's why I was able to come to Korea like this."

When Park Gwang-cheol first approached Billy Aaron, she apparently hadn't had any particularly urgent schedules.

That seemed to be one reason he'd asked her to produce the song.

"But what brings you here, Ms. Emil Lipa...?"

"We met at my concert last time! I finished the Seoul concert, then wrapped up Busan around last week. I was supposed to leave Korea soon, but Billy said she was coming to see you, so I came too!"

Then the two of them started showering me with praise as though they'd prepared a script beforehand.

Something about how capable I was and how responsible I was.

It sounded almost like a formal declaration of total support.

Even while translating, the three legal professionals kept looking at me with envy and admiration.

"So. Did MC Maralak finish her mukbang schedule properly?"

How did Emil Lipa even know Anna's rap name?

She fired the question at me with a smile that never left her face.

We chatted casually for a while.

The timing was perfect.

I couldn't delay planning the fourth competition any longer.

If they'd come all the way to Korea themselves and saved me the trouble, I could only be grateful.

The conversation also included comments like how they'd once visited Hadong, former Chairman Park Jong-moon's hometown, and how impressed they were by K-highways and K-public Wi-Fi.

Celebrities really were celebrities.

Their polite promotional comments were painfully stereotypical.

Their songs, thankfully, were anything but.

"Anyway. I've already made more than eleven songs. What kind of song do you want? If I need to see the vocals and handle recording too, the schedule will be tight."

"You don't need to worry about the vocals. As for the song... I want whichever one you've put the most care into."

I explained my plan to Billy Aaron.

Once the fourth competition ended, attention toward the debut group would spike.

And building the debut lineup while public interest was at its highest would have a major impact on future profits.

That was why the fourth competition was so important.

It was a competition show.

We needed a song that would unquestionably win.

"That makes sense. Then I'll choose something with as many rich session elements as possible, something innovative. If it's that important a stage, I'll have to work hard, right?"

"More than working hard. We need to create the best stage possible."

"The best stage? Then should I give it my best too?"

Honestly, yes.

I wanted her to.

Not just make the song and leave.

I'd love it if she studied the members' chemistry and helped with the performance too.

And if possible, encouraging people to vote on social media during the live broadcast would be nice as well.

When I nodded, Billy smiled and said that sounded good.

Then she grabbed Emil Lipa by the arm and pulled her closer.

"Great. Then I'll bring this girl onto the stage and have her feature on it."

I tilted my head forward, my expression clearly asking what the hell she meant.

Billy Aaron spoke again.

"I just feel like it."