Chapter 2
“Haah.”
I-won lay sprawled across the deck of a yacht he had rented with the very last of his money.
It was a tiny yacht, cheap enough to rent for about a hundred thousand won an hour.
(Translator’s Note: Won — South Korean currency)
Why would a bankrupt man rent a yacht?
Well…
“…I’m sorry. It’s… terminal cancer.”
“Stage four pancreatic cancer.”
As if all the metaphorical death sentences he had already received were not enough, the doctor had decided to hand him a very literal one.
“This is ridiculous. Honestly.” I-won kept drinking, one deep gulp after another.
That bastard Baek Do-gyeong telling me to take care of my health. Was that some kind of curse?
“You must have been in incredible pain. Pancreatic cancer is one of the most painful there is. How did you endure it for so long…?”
“I thought it was just severe stress.” He really had thought it was stress.
Enough stress to make his whole body ache had not seemed strange.
But cancer?
What kind of absurd scenario was that?
“How long do I have?”
“…About a month. Possibly longer if you undergo treatment, but—”
That was when I-won sold everything he owned and rented a yacht.
Treatment, my ass.
If he was going to die, he might as well do it flamboyantly.
So here he was, lying on a small yacht drifting along the Han River at sunset.
Like this.
“Um… excuse me? Captain? Is it captain for yachts? Or owner? Boss? Anyway, yes. Could you go a bit faster?”
He wanted to feel something.
Anything that might clear his chest.
Maybe sensing his mood, the captain sped up far more than before.
I-won closed his eyes, enjoying the rush.
Then something felt off.
“Uh, captain? Did you stop? It was just getting good—”
“—I’m about to give you something better.”
Something better?
That sounded suspiciously like the kind of thing said right before a crime.
I-won bolted upright.
But the captain, wearing a bright red life vest and flashy sunglasses, was gone.
In his place was something else.
“…?”
“?”
“……?”
“Did he die? Why isn’t he talking?”
What the hell…?
I-won frowned at the thing floating in front of him.
“Who… are you?”
Did pancreatic cancer cause hallucinations too?
What hovered before him looked like a lump of cotton.
“Ah. Still alive, I see?”
“I was cruising the Han River. I didn’t realize I’d crossed the River Styx.”
(Translator’s Note: River Styx — Mythological river from Greek mythology associated with the boundary between the living world and the underworld.)
“All right, no time. Let’s get straight to the point!”
“The… point?”
“You. Become an entertainment company owner.”
…Yeah.
Definitely a dream.
I-won leaned back to lie down again.
But the cotton ball started smacking his cheeks repeatedly. “This isn’t a dream! Wake up!”
“Then what the hell is it?”
“Kang I-won. Why did you become an idol producer?”
Why did this sound like a job interview?
“Well… I wanted to make a lot of money… and it was the only thing I was good at—”
“Liar.” The cotton ball bristled, its fluffy white fur standing on end. So much that it almost looked spiky. A cotton ball the size of an adult’s head floated around him. It was hard to tell if this was real or not. “I know everything. I’ve been watching you for a very long time.”
“…Me? Why?”
I’ve never seen you in my life.
I-won stared at it suspiciously.
“I hate the current idol industry.”
“…You’re a cotton ball and you care about the idol industry?”
“I care more than anyone in this world.” The cotton ball opened its huge mouth and grinned.
Now that he looked closely…
It was kind of creepy.
It had seemed cute earlier.
Now it was just creepy.
“At this rate, the idol industry is going to completely collapse. And if that happens, I collapse too, so that’s a big problem.”
“Why is that your problem? Did you go all-in on entertainment stocks or something?”
Didn’t anyone ever tell you not to invest in entertainment stocks?
“So! I analyzed why the idol industry keeps getting worse…” The cotton ball giggled and zipped right up to I-won’s face. “And the answer was Imperial!”
“!”
“The damn owner family of Imperial, the number one company, has no understanding of the industry, yet they control everything! Fans grow exhausted and miserable, idols become unhappy, and everything rots!”
The analysis was surprisingly accurate.
I-won felt slightly taken aback.
This thing actually understood the industry frighteningly well.
“So I need you to work for me.”
“Work?”
“Yes. Take over Imperial… and fix the industry.”
Fix it?
I-won narrowed his eyes. “The industry was never normal to begin with. You just don’t know. It’s rotten to the core—”
“Then make it better than this! At this rate, everything’s going to collapse!” The cotton ball threw a tantrum, flailing around him. “In other dimensions, I let idols handle it themselves. But here, the people at the top are too powerful. Adults need to fix adult problems. Making kids do it was… inefficient.”
“Haha… ha… why me?” I-won decided to enjoy this absurd dream.
If it was a dream, he might as well ask fundamental questions.
“Your idols liked you.”
“So?”
“All the idols you worked with were happiest when they were with you.”
“……”
I-won did not answer.
Was that really true?
Thinking of Ideal, who had failed while working with him, he was not so sure.
They failed because of me.
They were unhappy because of me.
“Happy fans come from happy idols. If you take over Imperial, Imperial’s idols will be happy. And then millions of fans will be happy too. No company has more fans than Imperial. And then I’ll be… heh.”
Why is this thing so obsessed with fans’ happiness?
Is it an Imperial idol fan or something?
I-won listened in disbelief, then sighed. “Fine. Let’s say everyone becomes happy if I take over Imperial. How exactly is that possible? I already failed. Even if I went back and tried again, I’m not confident. You can’t beat chaebol families in Korea. Even if I were reborn, it’d be impossible.”
Reality was not a fantasy novel.
A regular person from a normal family could not overthrow a conglomerate just by regressing once.
He might succeed more.
But toppling a chaebol family in Korea?
Impossible.
“So you do want to?” The cotton ball wiggled excitedly.
“…Yeah.”
That part was true.
He had thrown away his carefully built career at Imperial to start his own company.
He had lost that company.
Lost the idols he had poured his heart and talent into.
Ruined not just his life, but the lives of everyone connected to him.
And it had all been because of Imperial.
If he could take Imperial…
What could he not do?
It would be the greatest revenge and the greatest success.
More than that, he could change Imperial so it would not destroy the industry.
An industry not exploited by a handful of greedy monsters, but built for artists and fans.
It would not be perfect.
But at least it would not keep collapsing.
As this strange cotton ball said, artists, staff, and fans.
Everyone who truly loved this industry could stand at the center again.
“Then I’ll make you the youngest granddaughter of Imperial’s chairman, Yeon Kang-ho. Try whatever you want. Revenge. Success. Everything.”
“…What?”
“Okay. Deal?”
[Transaction Complete!]
[You are now Yeon Se-rang, the youngest granddaughter of Yeon Kang-ho, owner of Korea’s number-one entertainment company, Imperial.]
Um.
Excuse me.
I haven’t signed anything yet?
“Wait. Yeon Se-rang?! That insane delinquent psycho?!”
Cancel this deal. Now!
Anyone but Yeon Se-rang!
That’s a hard no…!
You scammer—!