Chapter 41
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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 41
Chapter Title: How About a Bet?
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Park Gyu-hyeon was seething, but he bit back his anger, all too aware of the uncomfortable stares directed at him and Lee Jae-eun.
Causing any more trouble here would be disastrous for the image of HS Group and Executive Director Lee Jae-eun, not to mention his own.
‘Manager. What do we do?’
‘We're leaving. For now.’
Park Gyu-hyeon helped Executive Director Lee Jae-eun to her feet.
“Executive Director.”
“Let go!”
Lee Jae-eun snapped, shaking his hand off as if disgusted.
He understood her frustration, but there was nothing to be gained by staying any longer.
“My apologies. Let's leave for now.”
Lee Jae-eun gritted her teeth and glared at Park Gyu-hyeon and Kim Byeong-seok. Ever since these two had arrived in France, everything they touched had turned into a disaster.
Unable to bear the stares any longer, Lee Jae-eun turned to leave.
Questioning Park Gyu-hyeon, confirming the details about Han Mi-ra—all of it would have to wait until they were out of here.
“Marcos. See our guests out.”
“Of course. They've come a long way.”
At a nod from Yu-hyeon, Marcos grinned.
Once Lee Jae-eun's party had left, Kang Man-dong took charge of the atmosphere again, smiling as if nothing had happened.
But everyone had eyes, ears, and a brain. There was no way they could simply forget what had just transpired.
People returned to their seats, huddling in small groups to whisper about HS Group, Executive Director Lee Jae-eun, and Yu-hyeon.
Kang Man-dong and Yu-hyeon were well aware of the conversations, but they didn't intervene. What was done was done, and it would be ridiculous to ask everyone to pretend they hadn't seen it.
As Kang Man-dong led Yu-hyeon to a table, Yu Han-seong, who had been cautiously staying neutral, was the first to join them.
Kim Seong-hui and Han Mi-ra quickly followed, and Lee Ha-na, Seong Ye-rim, and Jo Seong-hyeon, the male lead, filled the remaining seats.
Yu Han-seong looked at Yu-hyeon and spoke cautiously.
“I had a feeling something was different about you from the start. And now a co-writer... I'm not sure what to call you anymore.”
"You can call me what you always have. Nothing's really changed."
Kim Seong-hui had only mentioned him being a co-writer and investor for this drama. But Yu Han-seong had heard that the co-writer she'd connected with was the screenwriter for 'Urus Club'. In other words, he had figured out that Yu-hyeon was the writer, Camu.
"Haha, I can't do that. An investor, a writer... you even provided this venue. I'll be sure to address you formally as Writer-nim. Please take good care of us."
Han Mi-ra watched Yu-hyeon with a worried expression.
“Yu-hyeon. Why did you do that? You could have just let it go quietly.”
“Don't worry.”
“How can I not worry? I... *Sigh*.”
As Han Mi-ra sighed, Yu-hyeon gestured to someone. Nicky, the limousine driver, scurried over.
“You recorded it, right?”
“Yep!”
Nicky fiddled with his smartphone and said he'd sent the message.
*Ding.* Yu-hyeon opened his smartphone and showed everyone the video Nicky had sent.
“The world has changed. In an age with advanced devices and high-speed communication like this... by any chance, does anyone have the business card from HS?”
“I have it right here.”
Kang Man-dong placed Park Gyu-hyeon's card on the table. Yu-hyeon keyed in the number and sent the video he'd received from Nicky, along with a single line of text.
“Even a major corporation can't act recklessly. If they try anything funny, this video will spread everywhere. HS isn't some corner store; a company that big is sensitive about its public image. So you can stop worrying.”
At Yu-hyeon's words, everyone looked stunned.
They hadn't imagined he would have recorded a video in the middle of all that to use as evidence.
*
Lee Jae-eun stormed down the path, her face flushed with fury. Park Gyu-hyeon and Kim Byeong-seok could only watch her warily, not daring to say a word.
They had only been following orders, but...
‘Both times, it ended up looking like we were targeting Executive Director Lee.’
As Park Gyu-hyeon walked with a complicated expression, a message chimed on his phone. *Ding-dong*.
“This... damn it.”
Park Gyu-hyeon's face soured, and Lee Jae-eun, walking ahead, glared back at him as if to ask what was wrong now.
“It's... it seems they recorded what happened earlier.”
“What?”
Lee Jae-eun snatched Park Gyu-hyeon's phone to check the message, including the text below the video.
“23 hours and 45 minutes?”
Unable to take it anymore, Lee Jae-eun slammed Park Gyu-hyeon's phone onto the ground.
Luckily, it landed on soft dirt and wasn't completely destroyed, but the screen cracked and it was covered in scratches.
Park Gyu-hyeon pressed his lips together and silently accepted the situation.
Lee Jae-eun, who had started walking again, suddenly stopped as if remembering something and turned to Park Gyu-hyeon.
“About that man from before.”
“Which...”
“The one they called his son.”
“Yes.”
“He said something strange.”
“Strange how?”
“'Don't even think about refusing the offer.'”
“The offer? You mean serving President Lee Jae-yoon?”
“I assume so. But then he added something else, and I don't know what it meant.”
Lee Jae-eun frowned and repeated Yu-hyeon's words to Park Gyu-hyeon.
“'Unless you want to wake up in bed with a bloody horse head...' Something like that. I know it was a threat, but why say something like... That look on your face. You know something.”
Lee Jae-eun trailed off, staring at Park Gyu-hyeon. His expression had hardened as he listened.
Kim Byeong-seok looked at Park Gyu-hyeon and spoke cautiously.
“Manager. Do you know something?”
“*Sigh*. Not now. Later. It might just be my imagination.”
Park Gyu-hyeon tried to brush it off, but Lee Jae-eun wasn't about to let it go.
“Imagination or not, I'll be the judge of that. Just tell me.”
Under her persistent questioning, Park Gyu-hyeon had no choice but to speak.
“It's... well. Have you ever heard of a movie called *The Godfather*?”
“*The Godfather*?”
Lee Jae-eun nodded, saying she thought she'd heard the name somewhere.
Park Gyu-hyeon briefly explained how the horse head appeared in the film.
“That... that... Don't tell me those people are.”
“No. That's impossible. This isn't Italy. And even if it were, an Asian person wouldn't be involved. They'd be lucky not to be ostracized.”
“Then what he said was...”
“You can think of it as a warning, borrowing a line from a movie.”
Lee Jae-eun, whose heart had been pounding at the thought of a Mafia-style warning, looked relieved at Park Gyu-hyeon's explanation. Still, she felt a surge of resentment. She'd never intended to accept the offer anyway, but did he have to use such a gruesome threat?
“Let's just go.”
Lee Jae-eun quickened her pace as if to shake off the unsettling feeling. They reached the road again and were about to get in the car.
“What the. Why is the tire...”
Kim Byeong-seok noticed the driver's side tire was flat.
“What is it?”
“The air's out... Huh?”
As he inspected the tire, Kim Byeong-seok found a long gash where the rubber met the wheel rim.
‘What? Who would do this? No way.’
Kim Byeong-seok quickly turned his head and looked toward the car the big guys had arrived in.
Just then, someone got out of the car and leaned against the hood. He pulled out a jackknife and started tossing it playfully in the air, a smirk on his face.
“That son of a...”
Kim Byeong-seok approached the man, his eyes glaring. Park Gyu-hyeon, realizing what was happening, followed him. He didn't know why they'd done it, but he was ready to take out the humiliation he'd suffered earlier on this guy.
But Kim Byeong-seok, who was walking ahead, suddenly faltered and began to back away.
“What's wrong? What is it?”
“Manager. Let's just get in the car. Quickly.”
Kim Byeong-seok spoke urgently, as if he'd seen something he shouldn't have.
Park Gyu-hyeon pushed past Byeong-seok to see for himself.
“Hmm...”
Park Gyu-hyeon, who had been planning to vent his frustration, immediately changed his mind, just as Kim Byeong-seok had.
Two more menacing-looking men had gotten out of the car, and they were holding machetes—the kind also known as jungle knives or clearing knives.
“Son of a bitch.”
The image of a bloody horse head flashed through Park Gyu-hyeon's mind. It seemed this wasn't just a threat borrowed from a movie scene.
As Kim Byeong-seok scrambled back into the driver's seat and Park Gyu-hyeon got into the passenger side, Lee Jae-eun turned her head from the back, as if to ask what was happening now.
When she saw the two men with brutish machetes approaching their car, Lee Jae-eun let out a strange sound that was neither a scream nor a gasp.
“Eeeek!”
“Go, now!”
“Yes, Manager.”
Kim Byeong-seok quickly started the engine and slammed on the accelerator.
The car listed to one side, forcing him to wrestle with the steering wheel, but the only thing that mattered was getting out of there.
*
Kim Seong-hui sighed in frustration.
“What's with all the sighing?”
Yu Han-seong asked, looking at Kim Seong-hui as he sipped his wine.
“The drama hasn't even started filming, and all this trouble keeps popping up.”
“Well... you're not wrong. But it all worked out, didn't it?”
“Does this look 'worked out' to you, CP-nim?”
As Kim Seong-hui grew prickly, Yu Han-seong discreetly turned away. The airport incident was one thing, but the matter with HS Group was too big for him to comment on. In times like these, it was best for one's health to play ignorant.
“Writer Kim. Don't worry. Let's just think of it as getting the bad luck out of the way early.”
Kang Man-dong, who had been listening from the side, offered some words of comfort, telling her to shake off her worries.
“But, President-nim.”
“Hm?”
Seong-hui glanced around before asking her question in a low voice.
“You said things could get out of hand if Yu-hyeon got involved.”
“And?”
“But it seems to have ended more quietly than I expected.”
“What's that supposed to mean? Are you saying it should have ended with a bigger bang?”
“No, that's not what I meant.”
Seong-hui pouted.
“I know, I know. What good would come from escalating things here? Yu-hyeon knows that too. He probably wrapped it up neatly on purpose.”
“I guess so. We can finally film the drama without any more trouble, right?”
“Of course.”
Kang Man-dong spoke as if there was nothing to worry about, but Seong-hui couldn't shake her anxiety.
Kim Seong-hui then turned to Yu-hyeon.
“Yu-hyeon. Do you really think those people will come back here within 24 hours? To apologize to Mi-ra?”
“Wouldn't any sensible person do so?”
At the word "sensible" coming from Yu-hyeon, not only Seong-hui but also Mi-ra, who was listening, shook their heads.
“*Sigh*. If those people were truly sensible, they wouldn't have caused this mess in the first place.”
“How about a bet?”
When the word "bet" came from Yu-hyeon, everyone at the table showed their curiosity.
“A bet?”
“Yes. If they return within 24 hours and offer a formal apology, I win. If the time runs out or they come back with nonsense, you all win.”
“What are the stakes?”
“If I win.”
Yu-hyeon looked around the table, starting with CP Yu Han-seong and then the actors.
“How about I get involved in the filming and directing?”
“You're the writer, so that level of involvement is already open to you.”
Yu Han-seong tilted his head in confusion.
“I was thinking we could run on a tighter schedule.”
"Tighter? How tight?"
"We wrap up filming within fifteen days."
"What? That seems a bit impossible."
Fifteen days? It wasn't completely impossible, but such a forced march would leave everyone exhausted.
"It's not about strictly hitting fifteen days, but about planning and moving with that goal in mind."
“And if you lose the bet, Writer-nim?”
“You all can decide the terms for my loss.”
At Yu-hyeon's words, Seong Ye-rim's hand shot up.
“Do we have to decide right now?”
“Not at all. If you win, you can take your time, think about it, and tell me what you want. I'll grant any request within my power.”
At his promise, everyone's eyes lit up.
A major Korean corporation coming all the way here to apologize in just one day? Absolutely ridiculous.
This was a bet they couldn't possibly lose.
Even Yu Han-seong, who had shaken his head at the impossible fifteen-day schedule, now thought this was a surefire win and boomed, "You're on!"
*
Kim Byeong-seok focused on driving, his face tense. The shredded tire made steering ten times harder than usual, and to make matters worse, the GPS, which had been working fine, had errored out and the screen went blank.
“Damn it, this piece of junk.”
The sound of the flapping tire was grating, but if he could just get them out of here...
*-Pshhhh- P-tang-tung-tung!*
“Whoa!”
“What now? What's going on!”
A strange noise came from the engine, and then a cloud of white smoke billowed out from under the hood. All sorts of warning lights flashed on the dashboard, accompanied by a continuous beeping.
“God damn it! Stop the car!”
*Screeeech! Thud. Lurch!*
The car lurched and rattled as he slammed on the brakes, and Lee Jae-eun, who was already on edge in the back seat, shrieked in surprise.
“Aaaah!”
Park Gyu-hyeon quickly got out and pulled Lee Jae-eun from the car.
As the three of them put some distance between themselves and the car, a *pop!* sounded from the hood, and flames shot up.
Having reached a safe distance, Park Gyu-hyeon stared blankly at the burning vehicle.
“Manager... this.”
Park Gyu-hyeon knew exactly what Kim Byeong-seok was trying to say.
“Shut up. It was just an accident.”
“What do we do now? We still have a long way to go to get out of here.”
Park Gyu-hyeon didn't answer Kim Byeong-seok's question, chewing on his lip instead.
“You have the rental company's number, right?”
“Yes.”
“Call them and tell them to bring another car.”
“Ah. Right, that should work.”
Having found a solution, Kim Byeong-seok happily made the call.
But as the call went on, his expression soured. Eventually, he raised his voice in anger before hanging up.
“What is it?”
“They say they don't have any cars. And at this hour, everyone's gone home, so there's no one to come out here.”
“Call them again. Tell them we'll pay whatever they want. Just get a car here now!”
Lee Jae-eun yelled.
“I already told them that...”
Kim Byeong-seok approached Park Gyu-hyeon and spoke in a low voice so Lee Jae-eun wouldn't hear.
"About the rental company."
"?"
"The guy on the phone mentioned something about time, chuckled, and then hung up."
"What?"
"I think...."
Just as Kim Byeong-seok was about to say he thought the rental company was in on it with those guys, a large SUV slowly crept toward them.
It was a remote road, and darkness had fallen, so Park Gyu-hyeon and Kim Byeong-seok eyed the vehicle warily. But it looked familiar.
“Manager. Isn't that those guys from before...”
As Kim Byeong-seok was saying it was their car, the window slid down, and the man who had been flipping the jackknife leaned out.
“Do you need help?”
“No, thank you.”
Park Gyu-hyeon told him to mind his own business and go, as if everything was fine. In response, the man with the knife grinned and threw something out the window.
Park Gyu-hyeon quickly stepped back, shielding Lee Jae-eun.
As the SUV sped away with the sound of laughter, Kim Byeong-seok checked the object that had landed on the ground.
“Manager. This is a part from the engine.”
At Kim Byeong-seok's words, not only Park Gyu-hyeon's expression but also Lee Jae-eun's, which was already anxious, hardened rapidly. They now realized that what was happening to them was no coincidence.
Just then, the sound of a new message arrived.
Park Gyu-hyeon took out his smartphone, but Lee Jae-eun snatched it from him.
Through the cracked screen, the message was clearly visible: '22 hours and 30 minutes left.'
“Miss...”
“Shut up! You incompetent, ignorant, useless bastards! Do you not see what's happening? Huh? Do you really not get it? I'm asking you!!! Those guys never intended to let us leave in the first place!”
"The police..."
When Kim Byeong-seok cautiously mentioned the police, Lee Jae-eun completely exploded.
"If you're going to be stupid, at least be perceptive! Is this Korea? Which police are you going to call, and what are you going to tell them? And what happens if that man posts the video online? You two cause the trouble, and I'm the one who gets humiliated? Is that it?!"
"....."
“What are you standing around gawking for! Call my brother Jae-yoon. Right now!”