Side Story Chapter 2
The moment I saw Baek Ina smiling on the television screen, the guilt came rushing back.
If I had done something for him back then... could Baek Ina have survived?
I tore my eyes away from the TV and quietly stood up.
“I’m going to rest in the study for a bit.”
“All right. I’ll bring you something warm.”
Once I reached the study, I sat at my desk and began going through my memories from before the regression one by one.
JNC Entertainment CEO Kang Jintae.
Connections to criminal organizations.
Political lobbying.
Using aspiring actresses for entertainment and money laundering.
But I couldn’t remember the specific people or the exact structure behind it.
Before my regression, I had been too consumed by guilt over Baek Ina’s suicide and self-pity over my life collapsing yet again to dig deeply into the true nature of JNC Entertainment.
Still, there were a few things I remembered clearly.
Baek Ina had gotten involved with a woman and started using drugs around February 2024.
He had ended his contract with JNC Entertainment and left the agency in April.
Then the drug scandal had broken six months later, in October.
And right now, it was November 2023.
There was still time.
But not enough to waste.
Right.
First, I need to get Baek Ina out of JNC Entertainment.
The moment my thoughts reached that point, something heavy seemed to stir deep inside my chest.
Everything I possessed now was something I never could have obtained without the miracle of regression.
Then what had that miracle been given to me for?
Was it simply so I alone could live a better life?
Sometimes, knowing the future as a regressor felt like a blessing.
But at other times, it felt like a curse.
Because if I knew someone was heading toward tragedy and still chose to look away, that wasn’t merely standing by.
It made me an accomplice.
Suddenly, I remembered the words I had shouted before my regression when I fell into the stream and truly believed I was about to die.
“I can’t die like this! It’s too unfair!”
Back then, I had thought only about my own injustice.
But maybe the truly wronged people were those like Baek Ina.
People who never received help from the world even once and ended up taking their own lives.
Right.
This time, I will never look away.
No.
That wasn’t enough.
JNC Entertainment was the source of the evil that had driven Baek Ina to his death.
I need to destroy them completely while I have the chance.
The next morning, on my way to work, I searched for JNC Entertainment on my tablet.
Its official website displayed neatly organized profiles of its actors and a company history.
Twelve years since establishment.
Twenty-three actors under management.
CEO Kang Jintae.
From the outside, it looked like an ordinary mid-sized management company.
I also searched for several interviews with Kang Jintae.
[The growth of our actors is the growth of the company.]
[We want to become an agency that nurtures talent.]
Plausible-sounding phrases like those appeared in every article.
In the photographs, Kang Jintae wore an immaculate suit and a gentle smile.
But I knew what was hiding behind that clean exterior.
The problem was that knowing something and proving it were completely different matters.
My memories from before the regression gave me only the outline.
Not the details.
I knew JNC Entertainment was connected to a criminal organization, but I didn’t know which organization.
I knew it had ties to politicians, but I had no idea which politicians or how those connections worked.
All I truly knew was one thing.
JNC Entertainment is a criminal organization.
Right.
Then I should start by finding evidence.
After arriving at Hanshin Media headquarters, I quickly dealt with my morning schedule.
Then, around lunchtime, I called Moon Changsoo.
He was now an Executive Director at Starlight Entertainment, which had firmly established itself as the largest actor management company in Korea.
Moon Changsoo had spent more than twenty years in actor management.
It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that almost every rumor in the industry had passed through his ears at least once.
“Huh? Hyung, what’s up at this hour?”
“What do you mean, what’s up?”
“Let’s have lunch.”
“You’re free, right?”
There was a brief silence on the other end, as though he were trying to figure out what I really wanted.
“You’re paying?”
“Then sure.”
“You little... you’re rich and you still act like this.”
“And when have you ever paid?”
“Yes!”
“Then where should we go?”
“Somewhere quiet.”
“I’ve got something to talk about.”
The line went silent again.
Moon Changsoo wasn’t stupid.
He must have instinctively understood what I meant by somewhere quiet.
“What is it?”
“You’re making me nervous.”
“Anyway... fine.”
“Let’s meet at that Japanese restaurant in Cheongdam-dong we went to before.”
“Okay.”
“I’ll see you there.”
Lunchtime.
A Japanese restaurant in Cheongdam-dong.
Since it was lunchtime in an area packed with office workers, the main dining hall was crowded.
But the private room separated from the hall was so quiet it felt completely cut off from the outside world.
“I didn’t know this place had private rooms like this.”
The last time I came here with Moon Changsoo, we had eaten in the main hall, so I hadn’t even known these rooms existed.
“I come here sometimes with our actors.”
“You know how sensitive actors are about privacy.”
Moon Changsoo took a large bite of the raw fish rice bowl he had already ordered, then stared at me.
“So what did you want to talk about?”
“Judging from your face, it seems serious.”
I put down my chopsticks and asked directly.
“Changsoo.”
“Do you know anything about JNC Entertainment?”
His expression changed subtly.
He didn’t look surprised.
If anything, he seemed more curious about how much I already knew.
