The Sin That Wouldn't Stay Buried
Director Shin did not give up.
Yoo Seul-ho... how dare you do this to me.
For a nobody like that to land a spot at Wooyeon Entertainment would have been impossible without Space of You and Me. And it was Shin himself who had made that drama a runaway hit.
I was the one who negotiated with the investors, I was the one who drew the flak over the egg incident, I was the one who managed the actors!
Hot with fury, Director Shin could not bring himself to hand Yoo Seul-ho over without a fight. Once he let the kid go, there wasn't a single celebrity left at the agency worth holding up as a trophy.
"I will die before I agree to a settlement. Sue me instead, if you want!"
"I'm sorry, what?"
If he couldn't have Yoo Seul-ho, he'd sooner burn everything down — and with that in mind, Director Shin dug his heels in.
"Can't you read the room? The moment that video hits the press, we're finished — Yoo Seul-ho, the whole company, all of it. Every remaining celebrity will line up to terminate their contracts! Do you honestly think you can handle that?"
"That's the CEO's problem to figure out, hyung. Besides, what does it matter to me if the company goes under? I'll just find somewhere else to work."
After all, there was no shortage of rival agencies ready to poach Director Shin himself.
"How can you say that to me...?"
Even faced with his shell-shocked CEO, Director Shin stood his ground without a flicker of shame.
"After everything I've done to build this company, you owe me, hyung. Fine. Forget it. I'll handle this alone."
And so Director Shin set off for the Wooyeon Entertainment building on his own.
He switched on his phone's voice recorder in case anything happened, and anticipating that his phone might get confiscated, he'd also tucked a fountain pen with a hidden recording function into his breast pocket.
—Click.
With the pen activated, Director Shin strode into the building.
"Welcome. May I have your name, sir?"
He clenched his teeth at the receptionist's pointless, cheerful politeness.
"I'm from Star Actors. I'd like a word with a Team Leader... Ahn Jin-bae. It's urgent, so please make it quick."
The three-syllable name from the courier slip had done its job — and demanding to be rushed through on top of it was just icing on the cake. He'd come fully prepared to raise hell in the lobby if they tried to turn him away.
But to his surprise, entry was granted without a fuss.
"It's a pleasure, Director Shin. I'll escort you up personally."
A staff member appeared and walked him to the elevator. Riding up, Director Shin felt himself shrink a little under the sheer weight of affluence that soaked the entire building.
Holy hell, these bastards must really be raking it in.
Mid-grumble, a thought struck him.
...Why not take Yoo Seul-ho with me when I go?
Why not, indeed. Star Actors was easy to work at because his relative was the CEO, but beyond that, it wasn't exactly a place where anyone got rich. He'd even looked into where he could jump ship if the company went under.
Wooyeon Entertainment would appreciate my value.
Director Shin's brain began spinning like a runaway motor.
He and I got along fine, right up until that day, didn't we?
Sure, he had thrown an ashtray and a good deal more at Yoo Seul-ho that day — but before that, he had never once laid an improper hand on him.
This is why a man has to live clean.
He'd arrived brimming with rage, but gazing up at the gleaming building, something else started creeping into his heart. Whatever misconceptions Yoo Seul-ho had about him could be cleared up with words.
All I need to do is convince him that everything I did was ultimately for his benefit.
With that, Director Shin revised his plan on the spot.
—Knock, knock.
"Team Leader, Director Shin has arrived."
"Send him in."
At the insolent voice from inside, Director Shin felt his face crumple — and hastily smoothed it out.
That's my money-maker you're talking about, punk.
It irked him, but his current plan did not allow for making an enemy of this Team Leader.
He stepped inside to find a man he'd never met standing there, and beside him, sitting calmly — Yoo Seul-ho.
"Seul-ho, my boy, you've been through a lot."
Director Shin greeted Yoo Seul-ho warmly first, then extended his hand straight toward the man.
"You must be Team Leader Ahn? A pleasure to meet you. I'm Shin Seung-im, executive director."
Offering his hand with a slight, deferential bow, Director Shin was met with a soft smile as Team Leader Ahn took it.
"Yes. Hello."
"I apologize for arriving without calling ahead. Given the sensitive nature of the matter... and above all, I came in a personal capacity, separate from my company, so there was no way to contact you in advance."
"Separate from your company, you mean?"
At Team Leader Ahn's question, Director Shin launched into his performance.
"I've reviewed the video material you sent. To think that the CEO and staff of Star Actors have been treating Seul-ho so abominably all this time. I had my suspicions, but the video truly shocked me. Frankly, it made me feel I could no longer work at such an unethical place."
"So Director Shin means to say..."
"Yes. I have resigned."
Director Shin lied without so much as blinking.
"I wanted to express my sincere gratitude for the choice and the courage Wooyeon Entertainment showed in protecting our Seul-ho. And while I'm here, I hoped we might talk about the things I've done for him."
He hadn't charmed his way into powerful people's good graces with that silver tongue for nothing. Over and over, Director Shin's dazzling rhetoric painted him as an executive who genuinely devoted himself to his actors.
Yoo Seul-ho can't exactly argue with this one, can he.
Seated quietly in the corner, Yoo Seul-ho offered no rebuttal to any of it. If anything, nodding along from time to time, he seemed to be thinking, Well, fair enough. When it came to the work itself, Shin did deliver.
"To think Star Actors had someone working with such a sense of mission. I'm impressed."
At the warm note in Team Leader Ahn's voice, Director Shin's spirits began to soar. This might actually work. He wrestled down his rising excitement and molded his face into an expression of pure, selfless devotion — a man who thought of nothing but Seul-ho.
"I worry that Seul-ho might feel small here, surrounded by strangers. If Wooyeon would permit it... how would you feel about me working here alongside him?"
"I'm sorry?"
"You'd have to consider how the public would receive an agency transfer, too. To the masses, it wouldn't look great for Seul-ho to suddenly jump to Wooyeon mid-contract."
But what if the director he worked under transferred with him? And what if that director went out of his way to testify about how rotten his former agency had been?
"The moment there are two victims instead of one, the story gains instant credibility. Rather than Seul-ho claiming mistreatment by his old company all by himself, it becomes far more convincing with me as a witness."
At Director Shin's slick, well-oiled pitch, Team Leader Ahn gave a quiet nod.
"You make a fair point."
"Exactly, right?!"
Director Shin's eyes lit up. And that was when it happened.
"Director Shin."
Yoo Seul-ho, silent until now, rose from his chair. Wearing a rather gentle expression, he walked over and brushed off Director Shin's shoulders.
"...?"
There was something strange about the touch. Dusting off his suit felt like someone tending to an ally — and at the same time, it carried the odd magnanimity of a superior fussing over an inferior.
Either way, this was no moment for Director Shin to be frowning.
"What is it? Yes, Seul-ho?"
Director Shin forced the corners of his eyes into a smile. The man who, three days ago, had hurled everything in his office at Yoo Seul-ho while screaming himself hoarse did not exist.
Yoo Seul-ho gave a serene smile, and Director Shin smiled along with him.
But the smile evaporated in an instant at the words that followed.
"Do you remember the hit-and-run in 20XX?"
"......"
Director Shin's breath caught. His frozen lips trembled, and the color drained from his face in a heartbeat.
Yoo Seul-ho, watching the transformation up close and personal, sparkled with something like fascination.
"It was raining hard that day. You made it home safely, I hope?"
"You..."
Director Shin could not get a single word out. He looked like a man who could do nothing but blink.
"I've been racking my brain over what to bring up first. Should I mention the woman you're seeing behind your wife's back? Or the ghost contracts you used to siphon off company funds? I was trying to figure out which one would rattle you most."
"S-Seul-ho."
"But honestly, whether it's an affair or embezzlement... none of it beats a hit-and-run. Especially with a child as the victim. Isn't that right?"
"Seul-ho! Seul-ho!!"
Gasping harder and harder, Director Shin abruptly dropped to his knees. Like a man with no dignity and no pride left to lose, he began rubbing his hands together frantically.
"I was wrong! I was wrong, all right! I'll never show my face in front of you again. I'll go straight back to the company and tell them to leave you alone for good. I'll clean everything up for you, so please — please just keep your mouth shut about that one thing. Okay?"
Director Shin shook with terror. How on earth did the kid know about that? An alarm bell was shrieking through his muddled brain.
"Please, Seul-ho. I was wrong. I was so, so wrong."
This was no pushover celebrity he'd looked down on all this time. Feeling as though he were facing a monster, Director Shin begged with every fiber of his being.
"I'll spend the rest of my life apologizing. I feel terrible for that child too — I'll atone until the day I die. Just this once, look the other way. Please. I'm begging you like this!"
Without even knowing what evidence Yoo Seul-ho held, Director Shin had no thought of denial — he simply begged, utterly crushed.
At the pitiful sight, Yoo Seul-ho's eyes narrowed.
"Aigoo, what a pickle."
He brushed Director Shin's shoulders once more. Then, slowly, his hand slid down and plucked the fountain pen from the man's breast pocket.
"You do know that recording a conversation you're personally part of isn't against the law, right?"
"...!"
Director Shin lunged to snatch the pen back — but the door opening came faster.
Security staff burst into the room and swiftly dragged Director Shin out the door.
"Seul-ho! Seul-ho!!"
The screaming voice vanished within seconds. Yoo Seul-ho quietly watched the staff subdue the intruder with remarkable, practiced ease.
"Good work, Seul-ho."
"You too, Team Leader."
"I really didn't believe you when you said he'd ask to work here of all places. I thought, no way, no way. How did you predict that?"
"Guys like him are easy to read, that's all."
Along with the fountain pen Yoo Seul-ho handed over, Team Leader Ahn passed every piece of material to the police. Thanks to a contact he knew on the force, the case moved with astonishing speed.
When Yoo Seul-ho asked how on earth he happened to know a cop, Team Leader Ahn gave a rather loaded answer: "There was a time I had no choice but to."
— Caught After 10 Years: Perpetrator of Unsolved Hit-and-Run Finally Apprehended
— Victim's Family, Who Waited 10 Years Without Giving Up, Breaks Down in Tears
— The Tipster Was an Actor? A Hit-and-Run Case That Reads Like a Drama
The next day, the internet was ablaze with coverage of a criminal caught after a full decade on the run. What drew the most attention was that the informant who had made the arrest possible was a celebrity — and it did not take long for that celebrity's name to surface: Yoo Seul-ho.