5
# Chapter 5
“My Mi-su, who is my star, my moon, and my sun. And now she's going to be known as nothing more than that bastard's
secret woman! Do you think that makes any sense?”
He crumpled the newspaper in his hand.
“Ah.”
The chief secretary gave him a look that clearly said, Of course, the chairman is a doting father.
He couldn't add anything more.
Besides, careless advice in a situation like this could easily become poison.
Just then, the main gate of the mansion swung wide open, and a middle-aged man stormed into the reception room with
heavy footsteps.
The hem of his coat fluttered, and in his hand was a sports newspaper that had already been torn apart.
“Father, should I round up every last one of these bastards and bury them?”
Jang Jin-su.
The eldest son of the chairman of Changseong Group and president of Changseong Construction.
His personality was straightforward, fiery, and explosive.
He was the kind of man whose fists moved before his emotions could catch up.
“Hmm. That wouldn't be a bad idea.”
The chairman didn't sound like he was joking.
Silence settled over the room.
The chief secretary couldn't help but tense up.
“Father, you already have the matter with Chang-su to deal with, so stay out of this one. I'll take care of it.”
“Jin-su, do you think you can handle it?”
“I can, Father. I'll go find those reporters myself, and if talking doesn't work….”
“If talking doesn't work?”
“Then I'll use my fists.”
Jang Jin-su ground his teeth as he spoke.
Anger seeped into every word.
“Father already has a criminal record for violence. If you get involved this time, you'll receive an aggravated
sentence. So I'll—”
At Jang Jin-su's words, the chief secretary shook his head.
He remembered how the chairman's repeated fistfights had nearly resulted in his name being removed from the group's list
of registered directors.
“You're making fun of me right now, aren't you?”
“Me? Absolutely not, Father.”
“Then what are you saying? That I'm a criminal?”
“That's not what I meant… I'm angry too. Our Mi-su is my star, my moon, and my sun, and that damn bastard… Ah, damn it.
Just thinking about it makes my blood boil.”
Jang Jin-su slammed the newspaper in his hand onto the floor to vent his anger.
“You both need to calm down. If you act like this again, the major shareholders absolutely won't sit still.”
There was only one person in the room who was maintaining his composure.
The chief secretary of Changseong Group.
He looked firmly at the two men in turn.
Then, the chairman, who had been pressing his lips tightly together, slowly rose from his seat.
Jang Jin-su swallowed.
His eyes wavered, wondering if the chairman was about to personally step in again.
But the chairman stopped and leaned against one wall, closing his eyes.
Silence continued for a while.
That silence was heavier than words.
“Father!”
Just then, a man in his mid-thirties rushed into the room holding a sports newspaper, just like Jang Jin-su.
“Should I take care of it?”
“Seong-su, you too?”
“I can't let my brother go alone. I'll go with him.”
This time, it was Jang Seong-su, president of Changseong Electronics.
He had a short temper and was usually quite aggressive in both his words and actions.
This was probably why people said that where you plant beans, beans grow, and where you plant red beans, red beans grow.
Jang Mi-su had a father like this and four brothers like these, so it was hardly strange that top star Yoon Jun-ho was
trying to be careful around her family.
“Chairman, Presidents, in my opinion, if we don't do anything, nothing will happen.”
The chief secretary's voice was firm.
“What are you talking about, Chief Secretary?”
“If you make a move for no reason, it will only make it clear that Director Jang Mi-su is Yoon Jun-ho's secret woman.”
“That is the problem! How can our Mi-su be someone's secret woman?”
The eldest son, Jang Jin-su, spoke through clenched teeth.
His words were sharp, but there was a certain note of respect in his voice.
Jang Jin-su had a hot temper, but the chief secretary was the one exception.
The chief secretary had been with the family for a long time and was effectively the person who handled the practical
affairs of the entire group, so Jang Jin-su never treated him carelessly.
“Absolutely not. If something shouldn't be done, it shouldn't be done!”
The chief secretary shouted repeatedly, emphasizing that nobody was to make a move.
Even his patience seemed to have reached its limit.
---
A coffee shop in front of the Sports Chosun newspaper office.
Ji Cheon-myeong was sitting across from reporter Jo Dong-su.
Two cups of Americano sat on the table, and Jo Dong-su leisurely took a sip of his coffee.
“Reporter Jo, we'll buy the photographs.”
Ji Cheon-myeong cautiously brought it up.
“How much?”
Jo Dong-su asked with a smirk.
“100 million won.”
“100 million?”
“Yes. We'll pay in cash.”
Jo Dong-su put down his coffee cup and stared directly at Ji Cheon-myeong.
“Manager Ji, look at me.”
“Yes.”
“Do I look like I'm joking to you?”
“No, that's not what I….”
“100 million won is a lot of money. I know that. It's enough to buy a small apartment in Gangnam.”
Jo Dong-su leaned forward and continued.
“But Manager Ji, I'm a reporter.”
“I know.”
“I worked in the political affairs department for more than ten years. Then I was demoted to the entertainment
department.”
There was a touch of loneliness in Jo Dong-su's voice.
“As you know, the entertainment department is the most looked-down-upon department in a newspaper company. Reporters in
politics, economics, and social affairs don't even consider us real reporters.”
“Reporter Jo….”
“But I'm a reporter. No matter how much I was demoted to the entertainment department, no matter how much people looked
down on me, I'm still a reporter.”
Jo Dong-su slammed his fist against the table.
“If I bury an article because I was swayed by money, what kind of reporter would that make me? I'd just be a guy making
money.”
“But if it were 1 billion won….”
“1 billion?”
Jo Dong-su's eyes widened.
“You're offering 1 billion?”
“Yes. I'll give you 1 billion won.”
Ji Cheon-myeong spoke urgently.
Jo Dong-su was silent for a moment.
Then he slowly shook his head.
“No.”
“Reporter Jo!”
“No matter if you give me 1 billion, I won't do it. Even if you gave me 10 billion, I wouldn't sell it.”
Jo Dong-su spoke firmly.
“Why are you doing this? 1 billion won would change your life.”
“My life? Ha-ha.”
Jo Dong-su laughed mockingly.
“If I bury an article after taking money, is that what you call changing my life? That's ruining my life.”
“But….”
“This is a scoop. The secret rendezvous of top star Yoon Jun-ho. And although we don't know who the woman is yet,
there's definitely something going on.”
“The thing is….”
“Seeing how desperately Manager Ji is trying to buy this, I'm convinced.”
Jo Dong-su gave a crooked smile.
“That woman isn't an ordinary person, is she? A chaebol? Or the daughter of a politician?”
“She isn't.”
“Don't lie. I could tell just by looking at her face. Designer clothes, a designer bag, and that air about her.”
Jo Dong-su leaned back in his chair and continued.
“I spent more than ten years in the political affairs department. I've seen countless chaebols and politicians. That
woman belongs to a family like that.”
“…”
“So I definitely can't sell this. This isn't just an entertainment article. This is a scoop.”
Jo Dong-su stood up.
“1 billion? It's a good offer. But I'm a reporter. A reporter who is swayed by money isn't a reporter anymore.”
“Reporter Jo, please….”
“And one more thing.”
Jo Dong-su stopped as he was leaving the door and said,
“It'll be on the front page tomorrow in a big way. Make sure you tell Actor Yoon Jun-ho.”
He left the coffee shop without even paying for his coffee.
Ji Cheon-myeong stared blankly at his retreating figure before letting out a deep sigh.
“We're screwed….”
---
Yoon Jun-ho's luxury apartment.
After the photographs were taken in front of the hotel room, I immediately offered the reporter I had caught at the
scene to buy all the photographs, including those taken by the other reporter.
The result was a failure.
But I couldn't give up that easily.
“Phew. First, I need to sort out this mess in my head.”
While I was thinking about how to understand and resolve the situation I was currently in, I noticed the diary sitting
on the desk.
I casually opened it.
Inside, the diary quietly but sharply recorded the daily life of the Yoon Jun-ho I didn't know.
[You are currently dating the youngest daughter of the chairman of Changseong Group.]
[Be careful of the Tiger Chairman of Changseong Group.]
It was clearly a diary.
But it wasn't an ordinary one.
The sentences looked as though they had been written for someone else to see.
“It's like he's informing himself of the situation…?”
It looked like a record meant to confirm and remind himself of a secret known only to him.
Each letter felt like a warning, and it seemed less like a simple record and more like a set of guidelines for his
future self.
This diary might very well be the key to revealing Yoon Jun-ho's true life.
And within it, I was facing Yoon Jun-ho's double life, something even his fans had never known about.
“Most of it is the Yoon Jun-ho I knew… but he's definitely different.”
The life of the Yoon Jun-ho I had known before my regression had changed because of some incident.
Beep.
Just then, I heard the door open, followed by the voice of the road manager.
I hid the diary somewhere out of sight and left the room.
“Hyung, even after offering 1 billion won, he says no.”
“1 billion?”
“Yes, hyung. I met Reporter Jo Dong-su myself and made the offer, but that guy is a real stubborn bastard. He absolutely
refused.”
At the road manager's report, I pressed my forehead.
His name was Ji Cheon-myeong.
According to the diary, he was a manager who had been with Yoon Jun-ho for a long time, almost like a younger brother.
I pressed my lips together, hesitated, and finally managed to speak.
“How did they know I was there…?”
I quietly muttered the question while looking at Ji Cheon-myeong, the road manager who respectfully called me hyung.
But Ji Cheon-myeong merely tilted his head for a moment, as if he didn't understand what I meant.
“I wonder about that too.”
“Forget it.”
“But hyung, on the way back, the expression on Reporter Jo Dong-su's face….”
“What about it?”
“He looked kind of excited.”
“Excited?”
“Yes, hyung. How should I put it? Like a kid getting excited right before a treasure hunt begins at a school picnic.”
“Ah, seriously!”
That meant the two of them were now going to investigate who Jang Mi-su was.
Even if they had only a few clues in their hands, it was obvious they would eventually find the answer.
“This is going to get bigger.”
By unnecessarily asking Reporter Moon Dae-ho whether he knew Jang Mi-su, I had only made things worse.
That one remark had fueled their curiosity, and by now, Jo Dong-su and Moon Dae-ho were probably rummaging through the
archives from top to bottom.
“If this keeps going, I'll end up meeting the Tiger Chairman.”
I really might meet him.
Whether I walked there on my own two feet and stood before him, or he came storming in here himself.