Chapter 133
Chapter 133
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 133
Chapter Title: The Aftermath
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As the articles about Do Chang-ryeol were taken down, Gyeon Sang-jin’s face twisted into a fearsome scowl when he saw the malicious comments pouring in about Your Girl.
“Hey! What the hell is going on?”
Manager Park, Answer’s former manager who was now by Gyeon Sang-jin’s side in place of Manager Jang, belatedly began looking through the articles about Answer.
“…I know. All the articles are gone, and only the rebuttals are left.”
“That’s not the problem! The arrows are pointing back at our girls.”
Online, the assault incident with Yuri Fox was being re-examined, and Your Girl was getting relentlessly torn apart.
“Oh my god! At this rate, we’re going to lose our contracts!”
“That’s what I’m saying, you idiot! Did I promote you to manager just so you could sit around and do nothing?!”
*Damn it. Is it my fault Your Girl is getting backlash? He’s the one who screwed up the plan.*
Manager Park grumbled inwardly but didn’t let it show.
*Brrrring. Brrrring.*
Just then, Gyeon Sang-jin’s second phone, a number known only to a select few, rang.
“Do Chang-ryeol!”
-How could you do this? Just because the plan didn't work, you throw mud at me?
Gyeon Sang-jin, who had been about to unleash a torrent of curses, was so dumbfounded that his throat seized up as the target of his anger turned on him instead.
Do Chang-ryeol had misunderstood, thinking SJ Enter was the one who told his wife about his compensated dating.
“…What? Do Chang-ryeol, are you insane? The guilty one is throwing a fit, I see. You’ve completely lost it, you bastard.”
-I had a plan, too! But if you just expose everything without a word of discussion, are you telling me to go down alone?
“Wow. This guy really has lost it.”
-What’s with you? I’m not going down alone! You think making me broke will make my mouth broke too?
Do Chang-ryeol, who had expected Min-jun to give him a cut of the money recovered from his wife, never once suspected that Min-jun was the one who had leaked the information.
“This is driving me crazy! Are you pretending you don’t know what’s going on because you’re scared I’ll kill you?”
-Hmph! I’ve already hit rock bottom anyway! Go ahead and do whatever you want!
“This son of a bitch, where do you think…”
-…
“What! Hey!”
Already disconnected, Gyeon Sang-jin’s fury intensified, and he hurled the phone.
*Crash!*
Manager Park, feeling a pang of guilt for no reason, flinched.
“That damn bastard!”
“Please calm down, CEO! It’s not good for your health.”
“…Ugh. Seriously.”
“…Should I have him brought in?”
“Brought in for what, you fool!”
*Knock, knock, knock.*
“What is it!”
A female employee entered timidly at Gyeon Sang-jin’s raised voice.
“The risk management team is on the line. Should I put them through?”
“What is it with them now? Put them through!”
Gyeon Sang-jin moved to his desk and took the call.
“What is it?”
-Chairman. We have a huge problem.
“What’s the huge problem now? We were just supposed to play dumb!”
-It’s not about the Yuri Fox assault incident. It’s about that prepaid point card ad Your Girl filmed a while back.
“…What about it?”
-The CEO of that prepaid point card company has been arrested on charges of running a Ponzi scheme.
“What!”
-There’s a rumor that our representative is also being summoned for investigation…
“How can you even say that! We’re the victims! And what were you all doing, not knowing it was a scam? You reviewed the contract with the legal team!”
-Many people were already using it, and even banks were cooperating, so we didn’t think it would go this far. The types of prepaid point sales have become so diverse.
“Agh, you people! Every last one of you just leeches off my salary and causes me trouble! So what are you going to do?”
-Our representative is only being summoned as a witness. We didn’t sign a separate agreement with them or invest in them, so there are no legal issues for us.
“So, what’s the point!”
-The agencies and individual clients that contracted with Your Girl are demanding cancellations. We can’t be held responsible for the prepaid points issue, but they can’t tolerate the assault incident on top of it.
“So you’re saying we have to refund the contract fees?”
-…As of now, they’re demanding penalty fees on top of the contract fees… It would be best to negotiate well and offer the contract fee plus a little extra.
“You crazy… Ugh!”
“Chairman!”
The blood vessels in Gyeon Sang-jin’s eyes burst with fury as he clutched the back of his neck and collapsed.
***
A day passed for Answer, a day everyone thought would be their downfall, but by lunchtime, everything had returned to perfect normalcy.
At the center of it all was Answer’s own fandom, the very same one that had been cursing them.
The fans who had turned into anti-fans out of disappointment now redirected their anger at the source of their mistake: the reporter Do Chang-ryeol, and the beneficiaries of his articles, SJ Enter and Your Girl.
They tormented SJ Enter through every means possible, with a ferocity that made the malicious comments they had hurled at Answer pale in comparison.
It also wasn’t hard to figure out how Answer’s various event contracts had been canceled. The contracts that had gone to Your Girl were now being rerouted back to Answer through the agencies.
I was having tea with Manager Ji and Director Lee, waiting for Answer and Lee Yoo-ah’s music video to arrive.
“Ah! It says CEO Gyeon collapsed.”
“!”
At Manager Ji’s words, Director Lee and I immediately looked for the article.
-[Gyeon Sang-jin, the Father of Fire Emblem, Kneels Before a Barrage of Crises]
-CEO Gyeon Sang-jin, also the producer behind the top group Fire Emblem, reportedly collapsed at his company this morning and was taken to the hospital. It appears the stress reached a breaking point after the point card modeled by Your Girl, Fire Emblem’s sister group, was revealed to be a Ponzi scheme, on top of rumors that they had engaged in a brawl with their mentor. CEO Gyeon Sang-jin is currently said to be recovering in a general ward.
“…Tsk, what’s this? It was just a show, wasn’t it? It says he’s recovering, not that he had surgery.”
No. Gyeon Sang-jin wasn’t putting on a show. Even before, he had suffered from high blood pressure before he even hit his mid-fifties.
It was entirely possible that my counterattack, or lack thereof, had caused him enough stress to collapse.
“I can say this now, but I was seriously scared.”
“About what?”
Manager Ji started to jest with Director Lee while sipping his coffee.
“Honestly, I said it that morning, didn’t I? That since Answer’s value has gone up, I hoped all the contracts would be canceled so we could sign new ones.”
Manager Ji looked at me with a playful expression.
“Hehe. I can say this now too, but they say words can come true. I was almost about to hold a little grudge against you, Manager Ji.”
“Oh!”
“I’m kidding.”
Manager Ji laughed exaggeratedly at the director’s words.
“Hey, if it weren’t for Team Leader Min, that would have really weighed on my conscience for a long time. Thanks.”
“It was something that had to be done.”
“…And the matter with Team Leader Lee, too.”
Team Leader Lee, out of the blue.
“We can’t neglect someone who struggled with us when the company was having a hard time. I’m sure he’ll do great things later on.”
“Haha! You should be the CEO.”
Director Lee chuckled at Manager Ji’s words.
“So, how much additional profit did we make from canceling and re-signing those contracts?”
“380 million won.”
I answered Manager Ji’s question to the director.
“Whoa. That’s the kind of profit you’d get from about 2 billion in sales, right?”
“Strictly speaking, since many of the proposals that went to Your Girl came to us because of this incident, the actual profit is much larger.”
“Phew… always so quick with the calculations.”
Manager Ji smiled and shook his head, and Director Lee set down her coffee cup.
“I’ll make sure you’re well compensated.”
“I’ll treat everyone to something big when the incentives come in.”
I expected a hefty sum, as the incentive for these re-signings didn’t require calculating and deducting miscellaneous expenses.
Of course, it would be up to the discretion of Director Lee, who also served as our CFO and head of general affairs.
“You deserve it. I don’t regret a single penny that goes to Min-jun, really.”
“This time, we’ll be giving out employee incentives too, for the first time in a while.”
At the director’s words, Manager Ji beamed, a look that didn’t quite suit him.
“And we’ve found an acting coach for Ro-si.”
“That’s great. Who is it?”
“The actor Jung Hyung-sik.”
“Ohh. Jung Hyung-sik is a solid choice.”
He was a famous veteran actor with 25 years of experience who had even landed a few leading roles in his youth.
“As an option, we also secured her a significant supporting role.”
“Wow, that’s great. We won’t have to go around schmoozing directors.”
“I had no intention of schmoozing. I was planning to have her go through auditions anyway.”
“Oho. Look at the confidence on our Team Leader Min.”
“Confidence is good, but a debut in acting isn’t as easy as you think. Directors can’t stand idol-turned-actors.”
“That’s right. You have to get off on the right foot to even get your foot in the door for an audition, right?”
They were all correct.
It wasn’t just viewers who disliked casting idols in productions. Directors and staff members hated it, too.
“Alright, it’s here! The hot-off-the-press, rated MV has arrived!”
The director in charge of the music video production and rating review entered the office, and the sound must have reached the CEO’s room, because Park Jae-yong, who had been wallowing in despair, burst out of his door.
Answer and Lee Yoo-ah, who had been practicing, gathered along with other staff members, packing the planning office until it felt like it would burst. The faces of Answer and Lee Yoo-ah were filled with anticipation.
The music video played on the large monitor.
“As per Producer Min-jun’s proposal, the MV intro proceeds with only the ambient sound from the set.”
The savory sound of the dozens of tracks I had created blended perfectly with the stunning visuals.
“Wow, this is good. It’s like a movie.”
CEO Park Jae-yong clapped silently, and Answer and Lee Yoo-ah also watched the music video with moved expressions. Seol-ah, in particular, was even tearing up.
Damn it.
The scene of me and Choi Yoo-jun dancing in gold and silver sequined shirts appeared on the screen.
Choi Yoo-jun was enjoying the scene with a goofy grin, but my face was burning.
“Huh? Hey? Wasn’t I supposed to have a cameo in this part? Why is it only the two Juns?”
“I think ‘the Jun duo’ has a better ring to it than ‘the pair of Juns’.”
Ignoring Manager Ji, the CEO waited for the MV director’s answer.
“Ah, about that, we couldn’t get a 15+ rating because of the part you were in.”
“What are you talking about? I nearly died getting waxed with tape on set because you guys made such a big deal about it!”
Besides the director, who had insisted back then that the CEO absolutely could not appear without removing his chest hair, Director Lee and I exchanged awkward smiles.
At the club we had rented through Choi Yoo-kyung, CEO Park Jae-yong had not hesitated to do something as outrageous as ripping out his chest hair with tape for his MV appearance, and tiny beads of blood had even formed on his plucked pores.
“There was too much chest exposure, and your skin was all red…”
“Well, of course it was red! I had it ripped off with tape! And it’s not like my nipples were showing, so what’s the big deal? Back in the day, nobody cared when Sung-hoon went completely shirtless. Why is it okay for some and not for others?”
“I’m not the one who does the rating… But we did keep the part where you’re dancing in the back.”
“Wahahahat! This is driving me crazy! Why is everyone doing this to me? Wow. My chest, wow!”
CEO Park Jae-yong’s resentful gaze turned to me. I had already anticipated this and was looking at Answer. So, CEO Park Jae-yong turned his gaze to Director Lee Sun.
The director, also feeling awkward, shot up from her seat.
“That’s right! Answer, you guys, I told you I’d be doing daily InBody checks starting today, right? Follow me.”
“Eek?”
“Director-niiim… please.”
“You can’t just spring this on us…”
“What do you mean, spring it on you? I told you yesterday. Hurry up. Your cheeks are all puffy from how much you ate yesterday.”
“Hmph. It’s just swelling.”
“Director, that was great. I’ll be going now.”
Feeling a prick of guilt, I quickly followed Director Lee out of the planning office.
I was incredibly excited to see the reactions of the staff and the fandom when the full version of the music video was revealed for the first time at the showcase.