Chapter 117
Chapter 117
117.
Power of the Power (3)
At the filming location, everyone used the snack truck after the meal.
Baek Shin-woo was also getting a coffee with Jang Man-soo and the bodyguards.
"Are you trying to get your money's worth since you came all the way here?"
"What's wrong with that? Work, solve problems, and be a fanboy! Isn't that killing three birds with one stone?"
"Easy for you to say..."
Just then, the actors holding coffee approached Shinwoo's group.
"Hello. I thought I should come and say hello. Thanks to you, we had a delicious meal. And thank you for the coffee."
It was Han Sa-min, the main character of this movie.
Shinwoo nodded.
"I'm glad you enjoyed it. And this friend here prepared everything..."
Shinwoo turned to Jang Man-soo to pass the credit. But he was gone, nowhere to be seen.
Looking around, he saw him by the car parked behind them, peeking out.
"...That's Jang Man-soo, a friend of mine, and a fan of Han Sa-min. That's why he's shy."
"Ah, I see."
Han Sa-min smiled and greeted Jang Man-soo, who was only showing his head from inside the car.
In the meantime, someone approached from the side and stared intently at Shinwoo's face.
"Baek...Shinwoo oppa?"
It was none other than Myung Sung-chul's daughter, Myung Yoo-hee, who called Shinwoo's name.
"Myung...Yoo-hee?"
"Am I right? I thought I was seeing things."
Shinwoo was embarrassed by Myung Yoo-hee's sudden appearance. And oppa, no less...
"Why are you here, Myung Yoo-hee?"
"Why else? Sa-min asked me to appear. It's just a minor role. But oppa! What am I to you, calling me Myung Yoo-hee?"
Han Sa-min looked back and forth between the two, seemingly not understanding their conversation.
"Yoo-hee, do you know CEO Baek Shin-woo?"
"Ah! I didn't get a chance to tell you... he's my cousin."
Han Sa-min didn't know what kind of family Myung Yoo-hee came from.
From a young age, Myung Joong-hwan didn't like to flaunt his family name, and as Myung Yoo-hee matured, she didn't want to reveal that she was from the MH Group's owner family.
"Huh? Cousin? Then... ah!"
"I'm really sorry. I was going to tell you later... but I missed the timing and couldn't say anything. I'm really, really sorry!"
Myung Yoo-hee apologized to Han Sa-min with a sincere expression.
Han Sa-min stared at her with a dumbfounded expression.
"Even so... then what exactly is your relationship with CEO Baek Shin-woo?"
"Um... he's my dad's sister's son."
Han Sa-min nodded, understanding. Of course, it wasn't a simple relationship to explain, so Shinwoo was a little dumbfounded.
"So, Myung Yoo-hee and Han Sa-min are friends?"
"We've been friends since the first year of high school. Sa-min debuted as a singer as soon as she became an adult and has been busy ever since, so we haven't seen each other often."
"Ah..."
As Shinwoo nodded, Myung Yoo-hee made a disappointed face.
"But why have you been calling your cousin 'Myung Yoo-hee' since earlier? And using honorifics too."
He didn't particularly remember becoming close. He had only seen her briefly at occasional dinners attended because of their blood relationship.
Come to think of it, Myung Yoo-hee had said at the last dinner that she was working as an actress and that there were talks of a contract with an entertainment company.
"Isn't it natural since we're not close enough to call each other casually?"
"Hey, what's the big deal about being close! Just call me Yoo-hee comfortably. And drop the honorifics."
He had sensed it before, but Myung Yoo-hee didn't have a twisted personality like her father, Myung Sung-chul. Perhaps that was why Myung Joong-hwan cherished Myung Yoo-hee more than his other grandchildren.
"Maybe later."
"Tch―! Ah! My dad was making a fuss about suing you the other day. Did something happen at the company?"
He was reminded of Myung Sung-chul barging into his office over the Baesung Distribution acquisition.
"There was an incident where he tried to grab my collar, so I twisted his arm."
"Really? Wow... Tae-kyung got his face injured. Did you do that too...?"
"No. My colleague did that."
It seemed Wei had injured him when he threw him to the ground.
At that, Myung Yoo-hee jumped around, laughing to herself as if she was excited.
"Seriously, take care of yourself. My dad probably did something wrong again, so don't worry about it."
"...I'm not particularly worried."
"Really? I guess I overreacted."
Shinwoo frowned at Myung Yoo-hee's strange reaction, as if he had seen something he shouldn't have.
At the same time, Han Sa-min, who had approached from the side, spoke carefully.
"She has some strange quirks. She's not a bad person, so you don't have to think too badly of her."
"Ah, I understand."
"We're going to go film. We'll work hard, so please watch us!"
Han Sa-min then headed to the filming location with Myung Yoo-hee.
"So your cousin is debuting too? I checked and she signed with Yellow Eyes."
Shinwoo was startled when he suddenly heard Jang Man-soo's voice next to him.
"Damn it! When did you get over here again?"
"Just now. Why are you so surprised?"
"Why are you so good at hiding your presence when you haven't even properly learned martial arts?"
"Try living in hiding for six years! You'll get like this."
Jang Man-soo had lived abroad even after being abandoned by the National Intelligence Service. Since his identity was a threat to the NIS, he had no choice but to hide his true identity, and he made a living by selling information collected with the skills he had.
"Are you that embarrassed?"
"It's a bit much∼!"
"What are you doing?"
Jang Man-soo was currently glued to his tablet, quickly flipping through various screens. Then, as in the car, he spoke using the Code.
"Ahn Deok-chil, his activity record is out. I found the vehicle he rode in on the TSF last time and ran the program."
"Show me."
Shinwoo took the tablet. As the end of the travel route came to mind, Shinwoo frowned.
"...Incheon?"
The place they were now was also Incheon.
"Incheon South Port, to be exact."
"Has he been smuggling himself in and out of the country all this time?"
"It's possible. He used to cut people's throats abroad."
Clatter― Clatter―
Lost in thought, Shinwoo rolled the 8-Sided Dice in his hand.
"Should we search all the smuggling brokers in Incheon Port?"
Smuggling, being an illegal route, is never managed electronically by brokers. They only keep handwritten ledgers for customer management, making it impossible to find out through hacking or anything like that.
"The TSF will notice immediately if you do that."
"I know that too. That's why I'm worried."
It was clear that they had to be careful since something had happened. Moreover, it was best not to move recklessly, as there might be traces that would reveal his identity.
As Shinwoo continued to think, a method suddenly came to mind.
"When you were in the NIS, didn't you have a smuggling route you used there?"
"I did."
"Just release Ahn Deok-chil's photo through that route and inquire about him. Something will come up. Even if you get caught, you can blame it on the NIS."
After all, Ahn Deok-chil had been acting on the instructions of Min Young-man and Ban Sang-won above him. By assuming that they were looking for him, they could divert the TSF's attention along with the search.
At that, Jang Man-soo gave a thumbs up.
"Oh∼ Boss! That's a great idea?"
The tablet was passed back to Jang Man-soo.
Meanwhile, Shinwoo looked towards the deck of the container ship where filming had begun. People were moving busily.
He then turned his gaze elsewhere, paused, and carefully said to Jang Man-soo.
"Hey, is there anything happening here today? That you remember."
He spoke in Code as before, so only Jang Man-soo could understand.
"Today? There wasn't anything in particular. It's already complicated enough with the QA Enter issue. Why?"
"I see a suspicious guy."
It was about 80 meters away. A man wearing a hat and mask, dressed in a staff vest, was walking towards the movie set.
However, his stride was stiff as if he was nervous, and his gaze was full of anxiety. Such behavior was similar to the behavior of the rebels who were about to commit suicide bombings with explosives during his mercenary activities.
"Where?"
"You stay here. Meian, follow me, and Mark and Lawrence, protect Man-soo."
At that order, the two nodded without saying a word.
However, Meian, who had many questions, followed behind Shinwoo and spoke.
"What's wrong? What's going on?"
"Just follow me. Ah, Man-soo. Can you pull up a list of the staff currently filming and compare it to the people on site?"
"I need a laptop for that. I'll go to the car and do it right away. And this!"
Jang Man-soo took out an earphone case from his pocket and threw it.
"You always carry that around?"
"Of course."
With that answer, Jang Man-soo headed to the car.
Shinwoo took out the earphones and put them on, then walked towards the filming location with Meian.
"What's going on?"
"You stand by the ship's exit at the filming location and catch anyone suspicious who runs away, no matter what."
"Is there a thief or something?"
"I don't know yet."
Shinwoo hoped that it would end with just an ominous feeling and went up to the ship where filming was in progress. The actors were giving their all in front of the staff around the residential area at the rear of the deck.
Shinwoo then looked around to find the man he had seen earlier.
Eom Ayoung, the CEO of the production company who had arrived at the filming location earlier, approached and spoke quietly.
"I thought you weren't very interested. You came to watch."
"I was a little curious."
"I heard you're cousins with Myung Yoo-hee, who's appearing as a minor role?"
Eom Ayoung knew about it, whether the story had already spread.
"Well, that's the relationship. But is it okay to talk like this during filming?"
"We're far enough away. Ah, am I disturbing your viewing?"
"It's my first time seeing something like this, so I want to watch quietly."
Eom Ayoung, suddenly feeling embarrassed, gave a slight smile.
"I'm sorry. I'll go somewhere else."
Even in the meantime, Shinwoo continued to scan the surroundings and found the man near the pulley device installed on one side. He called out to Eom Ayoung and asked.
"CEO Eom, do you know why that wire device is installed?"
It was because the structure of the ship was not a place where that device should be.
"It's a safety device. There's going to be a falling scene for Han Sa-min up there. I wanted to use a stunt double if possible, but the actor insisted on doing it himself. Of course, we finished checking that there were no safety issues before lunch."
Shinwoo was able to understand by recalling the contents of the script he had read in advance.
The filming had already moved past the beginning of the scene Eom Ayoung had mentioned. Han Sa-min was acting by fighting with the villains directly on the narrow stairs, as if they were filming in one take.
With an even greater sense of foreboding, Shinwoo immediately passed Eom Ayoung and ran to the wire device. At the same time, he shouted so that the filming location echoed loudly.
"Everyone, don't move!"
But the acting continued, and Han Sa-min collided with the final boss on the 5th-floor railing, and his body went over the railing.
Weeeeeee― Snap.
At that moment, the wire of the part they were holding onto for safety snapped, and the men supporting it collapsed. At the same time, Han Sa-min began to fall with a surprised expression.
Aaaaaah―
The screams of the people who saw the scene echoed.