The Turn of the Screw

Things took a turn.

The meeting started, as if it had been waiting for that very moment.

"I already read the report, but I wanted to hear it from you two in person."

"..."

"Take your time and explain it for me. Total Director Kim Jang-hun, and Park Gyu-ri from the To.Any debut lineup. Tell me exactly what this sponsor relationship was."

It wasn't exactly a bed of nails.

But it was an uncomfortable seat, all the same.

The air felt stale for no clear reason, even with the purifier humming away in the corner. The atmosphere in the head office director's room pressed down on me like I was the one at fault, even though I hadn't done anything wrong.

And yet, strangely enough, I wasn't tense at all.

It was a meeting with the company representative and the director-in-chief both present, and still I felt almost absurdly calm.

In the meantime, Team Leader Ma Seok-du gave a full account of the incident, his voice tight with tension.

"When we looked into Director Kim Jang-hun, it turned out he wasn't having a sponsor relationship with Park Gyu-ri alone."

"We also confirmed that he had a sponsor arrangement with Choi Seon-young, whom our company recently brought in from A-PAL Entertainment, and..."

"As for Park Gyu-ri from the To.Any debut lineup, aside from Director Kim Jang-hun, there were also rumors about affairs with trainees from other agencies..."

Just as I had expected, this was about Kim Jang-hun and Park Gyu-ri of To.Any.

Their secret private lives, it seemed, had not stopped with just the two of them.

Kim Jang-hun had a sponsor relationship with another actress in the company, and Park Gyu-ri, who had already been locked in for debut, had been spreading rumors of affairs with trainees from other entertainment companies.

"...These are the documents."

Director-in-Chief Park Yu-hyeon took the materials Ma Seok-du handed him and began examining them carefully.

How much time passed after that, I couldn't say.

Eventually, Park Yu-hyeon clicked his tongue once.

"...Tch. This is far more serious than I expected."

"!"

"Team Leader Ma? Can you explain once more about this part, where he was involved in a sponsor relationship with another actress in the company?"

Ma Seok-du shot to his feet and started explaining again.

Watching him blankly, I nodded to myself.

Not bad.

The meeting was going better than I had expected.

Representative Baek Ji-won and Director-in-Chief Park Yu-hyeun both looked fine, too.

If it ended like this, Ma Seok-du would keep his team leader position, and Kim Jang-hun would... well.

He'd probably get fired, or maybe made to pay a penalty.

The meeting seemed to be wrapping up exactly the way I had originally predicted.

Relieved, I reached for the coffee cup I hadn't even taken a sip from, only for the mood to suddenly flip.

"...Kwon Siljang's help was a major factor."

"?"

"Kwon Siljang was the first to find out about the sponsor relationship, and he didn't hold back with his advice either. If I'd tried to handle this whole thing on my own, I never would have managed it."

My eyebrow twitched.

When I looked up, I saw Seok-du hyung grinning like an idiot.

What the hell are you doing, hyung?

Why was my name coming up there?

This was the stage for ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠making an impression on the company's number one and number two.

I glared at him in disbelief, and Seok-du hyung gave me a thumbs-up.

Before I knew it, a dry laugh escaped me.

Ha... this guy is unbelievable.

I knew he was a good man, but...

I hadn't expected him to be so good he'd hand over his own bowl of rice to someone else.

Meanwhile, Director-in-Chief Park Yu-hyeun and Representative Baek Ji-won's attention had shifted to me.

"Kwon Siljang?"

I cleared my throat and answered.

"Yes, Director-in-Chief."

"I heard that after you were promoted to Siljang, you took over the To.Any girls. Is that right?"

"Yes, that's correct."

"And you're the one who first uncovered the sponsor relationship between Park Gyu-ri and Kim Jang-hun?"

"Yes. That's right."

Director-in-Chief Park Yu-hyeun set down the documents he was holding and adjusted his glasses.

"So let me ask you this: how did you find out these two were involved in a sponsor relationship?"

"..."

"Up until To.Any was transferred to Team 5, no one in the other teams had found anything. Did you get a tip from somewhere?"

I ran a hand through my hair.

How am I supposed to explain this?

I could think of a decent excuse, but nothing that actually held together.

As I kept thinking, I realized just how impossible the things I'd been through really sounded.

'By chance, I saw that the two of them had a sponsor relationship, and by chance, I received a photo through an international number that proved it...'

Without meaning to, I frowned a little.

How was I supposed to explain that to a director-in-chief?

Meanwhile, the director-in-chief's gaze on me grew more and more persistent.

Unable to withstand it, I had no choice but to stop thinking.

Well, it can't be helped.

I didn't have a convincing excuse, and I wasn't especially planning to cover for it anyway.

So I decided to tell the truth.

"I saw Kim Jang-hun massaging the ass of the debut trainee Park Gyu-ri."

"?"

Silence dropped into the conference room.

"............?"

Ma Seok-du, sitting beside me, blinked at me with his mouth hanging open.

That look on his face was exactly the kind you give a lunatic.

Well, I guess I am one.

The word choice for a report to the director-in-chief was...

Yeah. It was a little too blunt.

But the die had already been cast.

I put on a completely shameless face and looked at Park Yu-hyeun and Baek Ji-won.

Director-in-Chief Park Yu-hyeun asked, sounding flustered, "So... Kwon Siljang saw Kim Jang-hun, the head director, massaging trainee Park Gyu-ri's ass?"

"Yes, Director-in-Chief."

"And that's when you started investigating the sponsor relationship?"

"Yes, that's right."

Park Yu-hyeun let out a dry laugh.

"Uh... um..."

"..."

"I'm a little taken aback, but there is something good about how direct it is. I understood what you meant right away. Still, how should I put this..."

He trailed off, then turned his dry laugh into an actual laugh.

"Aren't you being a little too calm about explaining something this absurd, Kwon Siljang?"

I twitched inwardly.

...Did I overdo the poker face?

Thinking about it, I probably had been a little too calm.

A touch embarrassed, I lowered my head.

"I will correct that."

"No, no. I didn't mean that as an apology prompt."

Park Yu-hyeun waved a hand and looked at Representative Baek Ji-won.

Baek Ji-won gazed at me quietly for a moment, then looked away and said, "You two have done well. You can go."

I sprang to my feet and bowed deeply.

Ma Seok-du had been dazed, but he finally got up and hurried after me.

"You little bastard, Kwon Chan! Stop right there!"

He chased after me, furious, but I ignored him.

Why did he have to overturn a meal that was already fully set on the table?

This wasn't my fault. It was Ma Seok-du's fault.

...And just as I was using that logic to justify my thoughtless remark and wash away my embarrassment, the article hit.

The entertainment news scene went wild over those three syllables of Kim Jang-hun's name.

The public's attention flooded toward the provocative headlines.

After reading the article itself, people couldn't hide their shock.

In no time at all, the comment section under every article about Director Kim Jang-hun had blown past a thousand posts.

That was only because I was looking at the best comments, so the tone seemed somewhat restrained.

If you looked through the full comment sections, it wasn't hard to find netizens cursing out even the man's parents.

It was, quite literally, a barrage of insults, slander, and criticism aimed at Director Kim Jang-hun.

At that point, his career was effectively over.

Thanks to that, the company was buzzing.

It wasn't surprising, considering every mass media outlet was covering Kim Jang-hun.

In the middle of that chaos, I was the one suffering ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠an unexpected ordeal.

"That's Kwon Siljang?"

"He's the guy who exposed this sponsor scandal?"

"I heard it was Team 5's Ma Seok-du who uncovered it?"

"How did he figure out it was a sponsor relationship?"

I became a company gossip item.

The righteous apostle who exposed the sponsor scandal without bowing to rank.

The disloyal bastard who reported his superior.

People who were just curious about the incident.

Everywhere I went, I could feel their eyes on me, carrying a dozen different emotions.

I couldn't breathe. So I fled the office and smoked cigarette after cigarette up on the rooftop.

"Wow, Team 5 finally pulled one off, huh?"

"Yeah, seriously. They've been getting roasted nonstop lately for bad performance and all that."

"But who exactly is Kwon Siljang from Team 5? They say he was the one who found the director's sponsor relationship completely by himself?"

Even the rooftop wasn't much different.

With my name floating around everywhere, I eventually came back down to the office.

The moment I sat down, I ignored the gazes boring into me and looked at the clock.

But... unbelievable.

It was only 2 p.m.

There were still four hours left until quitting time?

It felt like I'd been at the company for a full day already.

Just as I was glaring at my wristwatch in silent refusal to accept that fact, Road Manager Jeon Hyeong-u suddenly popped his head in.

"Kwon Siljang-nim!"

I jumped and put some distance between us.

"At least make some noise when you appear."

"What noise? We don't need noise between us, haha..."

Jeon Hyeong-u leaned close and whispered into my ear.

"But, Siljang-nim. Do you know about this?"

"Know what?"

"The Kim Jang-hun incident. It spread all over our internal intranet board!"

"What's so strange about that?"

"Well, apparently... it was spread on purpose!"

My eyebrow twitched.

"Why would they spread it on purpose?"

"I don't know that either. But rumors say someone higher up intentionally leaked the information to destroy Kim Jang-hun."

I tilted my head.

"They'd go that far? Isn't that just a baseless rumor?"

"I thought so at first too... But this came from the director's secretary office."

The director?

Director-in-Chief Park Yu-hyeun?

"They say Director-in-Chief Park Yu-hyeun ordered it to be leaked on the company intranet board on purpose."

"..."

"At first I thought that made no sense, but... after this article blew up, doesn't it sound plausible? I mean, it was a case they could have buried easily, but Baekhak deliberately made a spectacle of it!"

Against my will, I found myself agreeing with Jeon Hyeong-u.

Yeah. That's right.

Honestly, this incident...

If Baekhak had wanted to, they could have handled it quietly.

But Baekhak turned it into a giant public mess.

First the intranet.

Then the media, then the public.

They used every means available to bring Kim Jang-hun down for good.

At that moment, a faint chill ran down my spine.

This is... kind of brutal, isn't it?

It wasn't that I wanted to defend Kim Jang-hun.

I was just surprised that Baekhak had gone beyond the line I thought they'd stop at.

"Kwon Siljang. The director-in-chief is calling for you."

My shoulders jerked.

When I turned my head, I saw Kim Seong-hun, the Team 1 ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠manager, standing there.

I composed my face and asked back, "The director-in-chief?"

"Yeah. Hurry up and go."

The Team 1 manager turned sharply and disappeared.

Jeon Hyeong-u muttered at the back view that was less icy than pure obnoxiousness.

"Ugh, what an insufferable prick."

I agreed.

The moment I saw Team 1's manager, my appetite for anything vanished completely.

But this wasn't the time to worry about appetite.

Getting to my feet, I put on the jacket I'd taken off and thought,

Why is the director-in-chief calling me?

Wasn't this incident already over?

Was there something else that still needed checking?

Under ordinary circumstances, I wouldn't have cared. But after seeing Park Yu-hyeun's true face a little while ago, this summons didn't exactly feel welcome.

Feeling my need for nicotine rise, I headed for the director-in-chief's office.

My smartphone, tucked in my pocket, started vibrating.

Instinctively, I reached in and unlocked the screen.

At that moment, I saw a photograph sent from an unfamiliar number.

My pupils jolted as I checked the message.