A New Era
The corners of Kim Hae-chan’s eyes twitched hard.
Representative Baek is calling me?
In the sixteen years he had come to work at Baekhak, this was the first time he had ever received a call from Baek Ji-won herself.
A prickling tension crawled up Kim Hae-chan’s spine.
Representative Baek wouldn’t call for no reason.
Especially not while he was in the middle of a meeting with Kim Deok-pal.
From Kim Hae-chan’s point of view, there was no way to avoid suspicion.
Maybe Representative Baek has caught on to this transfer operation.
No, perhaps she had already caught on and was calling because of it.
Having reached his conclusion, Kim Hae-chan cleared his throat.
“I’m currently in an outside meeting, Representative.”
He lied with a calm voice.
Baek Ji-won answered flatly.
“Is that so? Who are you meeting?”
“It’s a sponsorship meeting related to Backstreet Police.”
Baek Ji-won let out a low chuckle.
“Really? It’s already past quitting time, and you’re still working hard, Team Leader Three?”
“...”
That laugh, which he never heard in ordinary conversation, only made Kim Hae-chan more uneasy.
Then Baek Ji-won’s voice, still tinged with amusement, dropped into a whisper.
“I suddenly thought of your face, so I called. I’ve caused a nuisance.”
Her tone remained light as she added, “It’s cold out. Take care of yourself and work hard.”
“...Yes, understood, Representative.”
The call ended. At the same time, Kim Hae-chan let out the breath he’d been holding in one long rush.
Kim Deok-pal, who had been watching him, asked cautiously, “Was that really Representative Baek, Team Leader Three?”
Without hiding the tension on his face, Kim Hae-chan answered, “Yes. I think she noticed something.”
“...What? Representative Baek noticed we started the operation?”
“She wouldn’t call me for no reason. Especially not while I’m with you.”
Kim Hae-chan rubbed his flushed face with one hand.
“Let’s speed this up. We should move the schedule forward.”
Kim Deok-pal looked troubled.
“Scouting isn’t that easy, Team Leader Three.”
“Then are we just going to get swallowed by Representative Baek like this?”
Snapping irritably, Kim Hae-chan thrust the document file he had been about to hand over a moment ago toward Kim Deok-pal.
Kim Deok-pal tilted his head. “What is this?”
“A list of entertainers and managers who are thinking about transfer offers.”
“!”
“Start again with these people. Especially...”
Trailing off, Kim Hae-chan pointed sharply at Lee Jae-min and Lee Seung-jun.
“Focus carefully on these two.”
Kim Deok-pal widened his eyes.
“Lee Seung-jun is a fairly low-tier actor. Is there a reason?”
“You know Backstreet Police, right?”
“Ah, that 40 billion won drama SBC is producing?”
“Yes. Lee Seung-jun is the lead.”
“!”
Kim Deok-pal’s eyes grew even wider.
“What? Really? Lee Seung-jun is the lead in Backstreet Police?”
“Yes. And he’s got about six months left on his group contract.”
“That means...”
The corners of Kim Hae-chan’s mouth lifted in a sly curl.
“If we play this right, we can bring in both Backstreet Police and Lee Seung-jun at the same time.”
“!”
“A drama with a 40 billion won production budget will at least do decent numbers. Once the drama ends, Lee Seung-jun’s market value goes up, and we can pull in commercials, overseas fan meetings, all of it.”
Kim Deok-pal let out an impressed sound.
“Wow... Team Leader Three, you’ve really decided to go all in, haven’t you?”
“We’ve come this far. You think I’m going to peek in and then back off?”
Kim Deok-pal crossed his arms.
“So I’m curious about something. Why are you going this far?”
“What’s that supposed to mean all of a sudden?”
“I mean, Baekhak isn’t some small entertainment company struggling with cash flow. It’s a listed company and one of the best in the industry. Why are you trying so hard to transfer?”
At the question, Kim Hae-chan shut his lips tight.
Why did I choose to leave?
At the thought, a fire began to boil in his chest.
Contempt, disregard, humiliation.
And through it all, sixteen years of company life he had endured with clenched teeth.
Even so, the versions of himself from the past had never been recognized.
The corners of Kim Hae-chan’s mouth twisted.
“What’s there to it? Salarymen decide to transfer for all sorts of reasons.”
There was more to it than that.
But there was no proper place to pour out that grievance.
So Kim Hae-chan, now long accustomed to lying, lied again.
“I devoted my life and my time to the company, and it never paid me back. That’s why I’m transferring.”
“Sounds like Baekhak really hurt Team Leader Three’s feelings.”
Kim Hae-chan burst into laughter.
“Yes, exactly. Isn’t it only fair that I get a little revenge on a company like that?”
Kim Deok-pal nodded slowly.
“Fair enough.”
“So make sure you handle the job properly, Deok-pal.”
“Don’t worry. Once this is done, Kim Hae-chan Team Leader, you’ll be moving up to SAG. Moving up! SAG Management Executive Director!”
As he neatly gathered the documents Kim Hae-chan had handed over, Kim Deok-pal went on, “I’ll pass these along to the SAG side properly. For our Kim Hae-chan Team Leader’s revenge.”
***
The glittering curtain rose on the Baeksang Arts Awards. Brilliant lights sparkled across the long red carpet, and camera flashes stitched the sky with bursts of white.
“Eeeek, unni!”
“Whoa, Jo Soo-hee’s here! Jo Soo-hee!”
“ParkTube!! I love you! You’re seriously so cute!”
“Lee Hye-jin! Please take one photo with me!”
“Wow... Actor Nam Jun-su, his proportions are insane!”
“His face is only half the size of my thigh?”
“Hey! Don’t push! There are people in front!”
The cheers and shouts of fans filled my ears.
One by one, the invited stars began stepping onto the red carpet.
The male actors stood proudly before the cameras in black tuxedos, while the actresses greeted their fans with elegant hearts.
And not just them. Comedians, YouTubers, variety personalities, influencers too.
Every celebrity who had lit up Korea this year had gathered here.
Even I, who had seen countless famous faces dominating the entertainment world, couldn’t help being stunned by the lineup attending Baeksang.
The head of our PR team beside me seemed to feel the same.
“Wow... why is this year’s Baeksang so huge?”
He clicked his tongue.
“Jo Soo-hee, Park Nam-hoon, and that guy over there is... isn’t that ParkTube?”
“Looks like the travel YouTuber ParkTube, yeah.”
“No kidding, this is really a feast of stars.”
“Even nation’s MC Shin Dong-hoon is here.”
“Ugh... I’m getting star-struck. Manager Kwon, can you hold the camera for a sec? I need to top up my blood sugar.”
“If you’re eating candy, give me one too.”
The PR team leader pulled out a peppermint candy from somewhere and popped it straight into my mouth. Then she took the camera back and clicked her tongue.
“At this rate, won’t our Kwon Hyun-bin end up getting buried without a sound?”
“What are you talking about all of a sudden?”
“He was invited, sure, but Kwon Hyun-bin is only a candidate for the popularity award! Don’t you think his spotlight might be a little weaker?”
At that, I let out a snort.
Kwon Hyun-bin is a popularity award nominee, so his spotlight is weaker?
Well, I thought the opposite.
The faces stepping onto the red carpet were dazzling enough, sure. But still.
Today, Kwon Hyun-bin was different from usual.
Full-makeup Kwon Hyun-bin? Who’s supposed to stop that?
Success in entertainment wasn’t all about looks, but in a place like this, striking visuals were everything.
It’s the visuals people notice first, both fans and the public.
Proof of that was plain enough: the higher-tier actresses wore dresses that only got more extravagant.
Everyone here could boast top-class looks, as befitted an industry where Korea’s top one percent of beauties and handsome men gathered, but today’s Kwon Hyun-bin was different.
Because there was a halo behind him.
I smiled to myself and folded my arms in comfort.
How long had I been standing there at ease?
The fans’ cheers swelled even louder, heating the atmosphere of the red carpet, and at that exact moment I found myself muttering, “He’s here.”
A black sedan came to a stop, and the man I’d been waiting for stepped out.
Hallyu star Kwon Hyun-bin.
At last, he appeared on the red carpet.
In that instant, the air changed.
As if cold water had been poured over the feverish atmosphere, the red carpet froze over in an instant.
“...............!”
Men and women alike were stolen by the flawless face of one man.
The reporters who had been hammering their shutters nonstop seemed to go blank for a moment too.
Then the Hallyu star, who had drawn everyone’s eyes merely by appearing, swept the area once with his usual indifferent gaze and began walking slowly forward.
The moment he reached exactly three steps, the heavy atmosphere of the red carpet exploded like an active volcano.
“Kyaaaaa, oppa!”
“Whoa..........holy crap, it’s Kwon Hyun-bin.”
“Oppa, Kwon Hyun-bin oppa! Look over here!”
“Hey, hey, what’s the point of taking pictures of Kwon Hyun-bin?”
“Whoa.... what is that face today? Is he insane or what?”
“He’s seriously killing it today, Kwon Hyun-bin...”
Late-arriving screams from the fans.
Bursts of flash.
“Insane... he’s so damn handsome.”
“How can a person look like that? Is he an alien?”
“Unbelievable... insane.”
Admiration and exclamations. Excitement and cheers.
His welcome was louder than that of any other star who had walked the carpet, and my mouth curled up.
Then Kwon Hyun-bin’s gaze turned this way.
I met his eyes naturally and gave him a small wave.
Kwon Hyun-bin smiled faintly, nodded, and headed toward the interview zone.
Watching his back, I shook the PR team leader’s shoulder.
“Leader, focus.”
“Ah, uh...?”
“How can you get distracted by an actor from your own company? Stop staring blankly and move.”
I pointed toward Kwon Hyun-bin, who was being interviewed in the interview zone.
“Take his photo and get the article uploaded fast. The star of Baeksang has arrived.”
***
After confirming that the PR team leader had started moving, I headed down the staff passage.
Kwon Hyun-bin’s on the red carpet now, so most of my work is done.
All I had left to do was check Baeksang’s assigned seating for Kwon Hyun-bin, and the day’s job would be finished.
He’s the only actor from the 46km Marathon production team who got invited separately, so I need to check his seat assignment carefully.
Baeksang’s cameras would definitely catch Kwon Hyun-bin. And depending on who sat beside him, all sorts of chatter could break out.
For top star actors, award shows like this are basically factories for headlines and gossip.
As proof, today’s ceremony included top actors who had once been famous as a model couple before divorcing, and top comedians on bad terms with each other were hosting together because everyone in the industry knew they were not exactly close.
In a jungle like this, if I wanted to keep Kwon Hyun-bin from getting dragged into unnecessary buzz or gossip, I had to pay attention to the seating plan too.
Then, just as I was thinking through Kwon Hyun-bin’s public relationships and stepping into the venue, someone called my name.
“Manager Kwon.”
Startled, I turned my head.
“Haha, we meet here.”
One of the most famous directors in commercial cinema was looking straight at me.
My eyes widened.
“Director Na Jun-hu?”
The double-ten-million-audience director, dressed sharply in a tuxedo, was smiling brightly.
***
At an upscale bar in Cheongdam.
Kim Deok-pal carefully opened the door to a private club run by membership only, a place that valued the privacy of its customers.
After taking in the bar’s interior, which was decorated with furniture and ornaments that looked expensive at a glance, Kim Deok-pal turned his head.
A woman in a purple suit was perched on the stand bar, sipping her drink.
Wow, what is this atmosphere?
This was his first time meeting Representative Baek.
But he recognized her at once.
Even without any flashy adornment, the woman shining with effortless luxury was unmistakably Baek Ji-won, the representative people in the industry called the witch.
Kim Deok-pal exhaled deeply and walked toward Baek Ji-won.
“Representative. These are the documents you asked for.”
Baek Ji-won accepted the file Kim Deok-pal handed over and replied, “You’ve worked hard.”
“Thank you.”
“Once this is done, I’ll send the rest of the contract payment as well.”
“Yes, understood.”
Kim Deok-pal bowed politely and left the bar.
Baek Ji-won took the documents he had brought and passed them to the man sitting beside her.
“In the end, Director Park’s trust came back as betrayal.”
Park Yu-hyeon accepted the papers with a troubled expression.
Inside the file the headhunter had brought were the details Kim Hae-chan had meticulously compiled on Baekhak’s entertainers and managers.
And at the very end, it included Lee Seung-jun, the lead of the drama Backstreet Police, as well as Manager Lee Jae-min.
Park Yu-hyeon dragged a hand over his lined face.
“I’m sorry, Representative.”
Instead of answering, Baek Ji-won poured liquor into Park Yu-hyeon’s empty glass.
Absinthe.
It was a liquor that symbolized danger and forbidden pleasure.
Baek Ji-won said lightly, “Director Park is too soft-hearted. That’s the problem.”
Park Yu-hyeon drank the liquor she had poured and murmured, “He’s a subordinate who’s worked under me for sixteen years. I wanted to give him at least one chance.”
“And Kim Hae-chan Team Leader was going to hand that chance over to SAG?”
“...”
“At this point, I think I’ve held back a great deal for your sake, Director Park. What do you think?”
Park Yu-hyeon closed his eyes.
So there’s no going back now.
Baek Ji-won had moved the moment she heard about the team leader’s scheme.
She had scoured the country’s best headhunting firms and traced the one SAG had hired.
Even though the headhunting firm had been operating on trust and confidentiality, the employees within it did not move by trust and faith.
After working Kim Deok-pal over and figuring out who was leading this matter, Baek Ji-won had immediately identified the person at the center of Baekhak’s transfer operation.
If the representative had wanted to, Kim Hae-chan Team Leader would have lost his neck long ago.
But she hadn’t done that, entirely for Park Yu-hyeon’s sake.
She had stepped back one pace because she understood his heart, wanting to give a subordinate of sixteen years a final chance.
But Kim Hae-chan had thrown even that last chance away.
Now even Park Yu-hyeon had no way out.
“I’ll follow your wishes, Representative.”
At Park Yu-hyeon’s reply, Baek Ji-won slowly rolled the liquor in her glass.
Unmixed gin, with no herbs or other additions.
Among drinkers, gin was also known as the liquor that announced a new era. Baek Ji-won downed it in one shot and looked toward the TV mounted on the wall.
On the wide screen, the dazzling red carpet and lights glowed as the Baeksang Arts Awards unfolded beneath a sky bursting with fireworks.
Against that majestic backdrop, a man appeared.
Hallyu star Kwon Hyun-bin.
He was entering the red carpet to the sound of fans’ cheers.
But the man standing at the center of the world was not looking at the fans. He was looking somewhere else.
As the camera followed that gaze, someone familiar came into frame.
Team Five, Manager Kwon.
He was looking at Kwon Hyun-bin with that usual, cool expression of his.
The corners of Baek Ji-won’s mouth rose.
“I left the wine in one bag for too long. Instead of maturing, it was rotting.”
Her face, which had been low and still, came alive.
“We’ll have to throw out the rotten wine before a new era can arrive, Director Park.”
“Yes, Representative.”
“Clear out the entertainers and managers listed here.”
“!”
Park Yu-hyeon startled and asked back, “Representative... are you serious?”
“Yes. That’s why I set the trap.”
Baek Ji-won stared hard at the TV screen and murmured, “I’m going to root out the rats, including the one who stabbed me in the back, and the younger rats trying to move over to SAG, all at once.”
Park Yu-hyeon held his breath.
In the meantime, a faint smile appeared at the corner of Baek Ji-won’s lips.
“But to think there were this many rats... the employee who did me that favor must have given them a much bigger stimulus than I expected.”
“...”
“Director Park. This time, do it my way.”
At Baek Ji-won’s firm answer, Park Yu-hyeon worked his lips for a moment before replying, “Yes, understood, Representative.”
“Good. And...”
Her words trailing off, Baek Ji-won tapped her glass lightly.
“We should send SAG a gift too, shouldn’t we?”
“Do you have something in mind?”
“They tried to steal one of our entertainers. Shouldn’t we pay them back in kind?”
“You mean you’re planning to poach one of SAG’s entertainers?”
“Well, that wouldn’t be bad either, but...”
A strange smile touched Baek Ji-won’s lips.
“Why bother? What would we do with an entertainer who doesn’t even care about the company? So...”
She paused, and her eyes glinted dangerously.
“I’m going to take down one of SAG’s signboards. Set the stage for the press to leak the sponsor scandal involving Park So-yeon, Director Park.”