The Devil's Whisper
Convincing his former manager was not a simple matter for Woo Jun-seo.
He liked to say that money could solve anything, but this particular situation couldn't be brushed away quite so easily.
The interview had been given with the manager fully prepared to never set foot in this industry again. That was how unshakable his resolve was.
More than anything, he had a moral reason for it — a belief in justice.
A scumbag like Woo Jun-seo shouldn't be allowed to walk around free.
Three years of working as his manager had shown him filth upon filth, and that had only hardened his determination to put a stop to it.
Refusing to back down no matter what, he had backed up an enormous archive of video evidence. No matter how large a sum Woo Jun-seo dangled, he swore he would not budge.
And sure enough, Woo Jun-seo offered a lot of money. It wasn't enough to crack the man's resolve.
But a lot more money was another story.
"...How much did you say?"
Enough money to change the entire life of one person — no, of one entire family. When he was presented with a figure beyond anything he'd dared imagine, the former manager's pupils trembled violently.
Woo Jun-seo's agency had winced — whoa, that's a bit much — but the offer went through anyway, and the former manager ultimately surrendered to the devil's whisper.
"But I have one condition."
"Which is?"
Perhaps his pride was stung at the thought of selling out for nothing more than a pile of paper, because the former manager said he wanted to hear Woo Jun-seo's sincere apology.
"If you don't apologize properly, I'm deleting the videos — money or no money."
Ah, what an utterly pointless test of will. Woo Jun-seo, who had been steering this whole negotiation from the start, had to bite back a laugh.
What a little shit to the very end.
"I understand how you feel. I really am sorry for everything."
He delivered the apology without a trace of hesitation. For an actor, this level of performance was something he could do in his sleep.
"Whew... Then I just say in the interview that I accepted your apology?"
When the manager, somewhat mollified, said this, Woo Jun-seo flashed a warmly likable smile.
"Of course not."
That wouldn't be enough. Anyone who thought the public was that stupid was badly mistaken. Sure, they were stupid to a degree — but when it came to tearing into celebrities, they were frighteningly sharp.
The whole thing has to look as little like a payoff as possible.
There was no hiding it entirely, of course, but he had to choose the approach that made him look as innocent as possible. For example...
"You've been battling severe depression for a very long time. It had nothing to do with work — it was personal, and it was wearing you down. And then, in a moment of impulsive despair, you made up things that never happened. Because you resented me for working so hard at my life. Because you wanted me to fail."
"What? No, what the hell are you—"
"Is that too unreasonable a demand, considering all the money I'm giving you?"
The manager, who had been wearing an expression of sheer disbelief, flinched.
It was an absurd, outrageous thing to say — but then, the sum he was about to receive was equally outrageous.
To take this much... I suppose I do have to let some things go.
Woo Jun-seo caught that flicker of hesitation with uncanny precision and grinned.
"You're done in this industry anyway. However this ends between us, you'll never work as a manager again. So it actually works out. If we put out that explanation, not a single person in your future life is going to look at you sideways."
"But my parents—"
"Sending your parents on a trip with the money I'm giving you — that's real filial piety. Better than some pathetic son who drags out a lawsuit for years, can't find another job, and whines that his life is over, isn't it? Am I wrong?"
"......"
Somewhere along the way, the gentle tone had curdled into a threat. And yet the former manager, seasoned by three years of experience, didn't even find it unpleasant.
And so he took the money — enough to live on comfortably for the rest of his life without working a single day more — and sold himself.
Mr. Kim (a pseudonym), the former manager who exposed actor Woo Jun-seo's gapjil in an exclusive interview with the OO Daily, reversed his position overnight.
In an interview released this morning, Mr. Kim stated, "I have been suffering from severe depression for years and was in no condition to make sound judgments. I developed an irrational hostility toward Woo Jun-seo, who was working hard and living well."
Apologizing to the public — "I'm sorry for fabricating things in a moment of impulse" — he emphasized that "Jun-seo always treated me well for those three years. There was never any abuse of power." He further signaled his willingness to accept legal responsibility for the false interview.
When the article first dropped, the reaction was ugly. Almost no one believed it — if anything, most people pitied the former manager, sure that he'd been threatened into recanting by Woo Jun-seo and his agency.
But then the manager uploaded a full apology letter to his own social media, and the story exploded beyond anyone's control. Along with detailed episodes he hadn't been able to share in the interview, it came out that he truly had witch-hunted Woo Jun-seo for no reason whatsoever.
Blindsided by the twist, the people who'd been coasting in neutral since yesterday came charging in — See?! I told you so!
My former manager is family to me. The only decision I made was that he could no longer work alongside me while his treatment urgently needed to come first, and I will wait for the day he recovers and we can work together again.
When the article first came out, I couldn't bring myself to speak carelessly, because I feared that whatever I did would push him down an irreversible path. To the production staff and fellow actors who suffered because of this news breaking right before our drama's finale, I sincerely apologize.
For two days I have felt nothing but remorse for the confusion I've caused you all. But I have one request to make. Please, I ask that you refrain from harshly condemning my former manager. He doesn't need condemnation — he needs treatment. I sincerely hope he receives proper care and makes a full recovery.
It was a remarkably mature and humble post. Everyone marveled at the breadth of Woo Jun-seo's magnanimous heart, and not a single person suspected a scripted drama behind it all.
The people who'd trashed him early on, embarrassed, slunk off in search of their next target.
Maybe check your facts properly before publishing next time? And you call yourself a journalist?
The OO Daily — the very outlet that had run the exclusive with the former manager — was next in the crosshairs. The reporter, who had covered the story with more accuracy than anyone, suddenly found himself recast as a clickbait hack, and the injustice was driving him out of his mind.
He tried to publish a follow-up report in his own defense, but the higher-ups shut it down. Everyone in the industry knew Woo Jun-seo had pulled the strings.
But pushing further carried too much risk. It wasn't just about making an enemy of Woo Jun-seo anymore — the broadcasters and investors breathing sighs of relief over the public's reversed reaction would turn against them too.
And so Woo Jun-seo rose from the ashes.
He felt a soaring exhilaration — he had personally resolved what even his incompetent agency couldn't handle, and the public had fallen in love with him all over again.
I really am one of the ones who makes it.
He'd sensed it after the livestream incident too, but now a rock-solid conviction had taken root.
The world doesn't want to see me fall.
The certainty that in the end, everything would go exactly the way he willed it.
Woo Jun-seo howled to the heavens. First he'd driven out rabies, and now even the Woo-Jun Theory — the one claiming Woo-joo orbited around him — had been crushed underfoot.
And at that very same moment, Yoo Seul-ho was sipping coffee as he read through the related articles.
"Hmm~."
Watching the comment section flip on a dime, he slowly smiled — wishing, with all his heart, that Woo Jun-seo would get thoroughly drunk on the cheering crowd.