The New Manager
"Hahaha! Is this fucker actually insane? Hey, Lee Ji-hoon. You really wanna get buried where nobody finds you?"
"I dunno what you're banking on to act all cocky, but get a grip on the situation. We're being nice letting you pay it off with your shitty wages—there's a ton of other ways we could collect."
Poke. Poke.
Two thugs jabbed their fingers into my chest, thrown off by my unfamiliar attitude, trying to intimidate me.
And that's when a man stepped forward from behind them.
"Hey, Ji-hoon."
"……."
A familiar face. The underlings' faces changed often, but this guy's mug was one I knew all too well.
Jang Tae-geon. Apparently the manager at the loan office where my dad had borrowed the money. Basically the big brother to these errand boys.
"What, you grow an extra kidney or something lately?"
"……."
"Or maybe sell an eye? Or you planning to die and pay it off with your corpse? Why so bold all of a sudden? You used to be such a meek little pushover—kinda cute."
Slap, slap.
Jang Tae-geon patted my cheek with his meaty hand.
His threatening gesture sparked a single thought in my mind.
Our eye levels are about the same now.
Until recently, looking up at him from below had filled me with fear. Now he just seemed pathetic, like a neighborhood kid bullying his little siblings.
I smirked and said, "Perfect timing, actually. Lemme ask you something."
"What…?"
"You ever actually killed someone? Ripped out their organs?"
"Ha, that's what you're curious about? What, you wanna fact-check before you mouth off?"
"Nah, I'm just asking. Have you killed before?"
"……."
My brazen attitude made Jang Tae-geon's face harden.
"Hoo."
He let out a deep sigh, then casually turned to glance at his underlings.
"Hey, this little shit's wondering if we can kill. Show him."
At his words, a rough-looking thug scowled and stomped toward me.
And then.
"So, you have killed before, right?"
I grinned after hearing his answer.
Vrrr—.
At the same time, something eerie and purple rippled unnaturally in my hand.
"What the…."
Jang Tae-geon spotted the bizarre thing in my hand and gaped, his body trembling.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
"G-gaaahhh!! What the fuck is this—!!"
"Eeeek!! Get away! Get the fuck away!!"
The thugs scattered in blind panic, scrambling for their lives.
A dark space. Filled to the brim with countless monsters.
Nice.
I glanced at the scene sidelong while checking my mod list.
Crunch—!
"Gaaahhh…!!"
Right then, one guy started getting devoured from the legs up by a massive troll.
The thug whose legs were being chomped writhed in agony, screaming his lungs out. It felt just like a panel from Berserk.
"Whoa… they can feel the pain too, huh."
For the record, those monsters and the dark space they saw weren't real.
Illusion Magic. That was the true nature of what they were experiencing.
Of course, I could summon real monsters and let them get crunched to death. But I had no desire to go that far with murder.
It'd make me no better than them.
Any issues with my body?
I checked my condition while watching them suffer.
UnderDream had all sorts of magic mods.
The Disease Cure Magic I used often was just one of them.
But the base game already had basic spells, so the ones added as mods tended to be… over the top.
The Colorful Magic Mod I'd installed was no exception.
Even excluding the Illusion Magic I was using right now… dropping meteors from the sky, summoning five ancient dragons, spewing unquenchable flames.
It was packed with insane spells like that.
If Illusion Magic is this intense… better not touch the others.
I'd been itching to test some magic, and these loan shark bastards showed up right on cue—perfect guinea pigs.
"Hmm, mana drain's no issue either."
I learned a few things from the results.
First off, like in the game, casting magic required mana.
Obviously, my untrained body only had the default 100 mana.
But the Illusion Magic I'd just used took 300. Impossible in the base game.
Thankfully, there was a convenience mod that let me tweak player stats freely.
Under Tweak.
With it, I could adjust health, mana, stamina, whatever.
Right now, my mana regen was cranked to 10,000%.
"Who knew the munchkin play for entertainment vids would come in so handy."
Disease Cure Magic only cost 1 mana, so I hadn't bothered tweaking for it.
But for magic testing, I'd fiddled with the numbers.
Now I could cast spells no problem.
…Though unless a war broke out, I'd probably never need to.
"Alright, played with them enough?"
After finishing my mod tests, I looked back at the loan sharks.
Every one of them was drooling, getting chewed and torn apart by something.
Jang Tae-geon especially. He was surrounded by four giants, who were playfully ripping flesh from his joints.
Snap!
I flicked my fingers.
Whoosh….
The illusions filling the area vanished all at once, and we were back in front of the villa.
"Wh-what…?"
"M-Mom… ugh, Mom…."
A few of the sharks, who'd been writhing in pain, stared at their intact limbs in confusion.
"Ugh, heh, heh…."
Jang Tae-geon's eyes had rolled back—he'd clearly lost his mind. Maybe permanently broken.
"Hey."
"Eeeek!"
I approached one and nudged him with my foot. He freaked out and crawled backward.
"Take your boss and fuck off. Unless you wanna go through that again."
"U-ugh…."
"And if I ever see you again, you're really dead. Got it?"
"Y-Yes! Y-Yes, sir…!"
The guy grabbed his crew and vanished from my sight.
The chaotic scene in front of the villa returned to its quiet normalcy.
"Guess I'll head in and crash."
I yawned like nothing happened and went back to my room.
As long as they hadn't lost their heads entirely, they'd never come back.
Not that I had any obligation to pay that debt anyway.
Either way.
This wrapped up my annoying saga with the loan sharks.
"Haha, feels fucking refreshing."
After a shower, I flopped onto the bed with a satisfied grin.
No more seeing those nauseating faces.
…That's what I thought back then.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
A few days after Lee Ji-hoon quit the company.
"Ha… fuck…."
"Hey, watch the language. We're working here."
"You think I feel like watching it? This is my last day."
Jeong Ha-rin's original manager, Jang Hyeok-jin, sighed heavily as he drove her car.
Ha-rin snorted back at him.
"Shoulda just done your job right then."
"You little shit… Did I not do my job? I did everything you asked! Even stuff that wasn't my responsibility!"
"Guess your attitude rubbed me the wrong way then. You just… look like a thug."
He was a thug, but she didn't say that part out loud and just stared out the window.
Jang Hyeok-jin glanced at her in the rearview mirror, pleading desperately.
"C'mon, Ha-rin. Don't do this—talk to the CEO again. What kinda friendship is this? We've known each other since high school~!"
"Ha…."
High school friendship. The word nearly made her curse.
My manager was half-blackmailed into the job.
Back in high school, Jang Hyeok-jin had been part of the typical bad crowd.
Ha-rin had hung out with the guys in that group often too.
Simple reason: they were the top dogs in the little high school world back then.
"Hey… you really not worried? If I get fired and go jobless. I could get drunk and spill your high school stories online…!"
"Ha, what'd I even do? I just laughed and hung around you guys. You were the ones causing trouble—why drag an innocent person into it?"
"That's why~! I don't wanna get screwed over~! Just talk to the CEO one more time~!"
"Cut the bullshit. What influence do I have for him to listen to me? And if you dare spread that crap online, the agency'll sue your ass."
"Ha… fuck…."
The reason Jang Hyeok-jin was cursing and whining like this? He'd just been fired from his manager gig.
A few days ago, the CEO of KV Entertainment had suddenly announced a change in Ha-rin's manager—unilaterally.
And for Jang Hyeok-jin, it meant straight-up getting canned.
Who the hell…? Who'd the CEO parachute in as a replacement?
He gripped the wheel roughly, obsessing over the identity of his successor.
CEOs rarely picked managers for actors themselves.
And it wasn't like the CEO doted on Ha-rin that much either.
"Hey, who the fuck do you think the new guy's gonna be? My replacement. The CEO's nephew or something?"
"Dunno. Just drive straight. It's your last job—do it right."
Ha-rin snapped irritably at his question, flipping through her script.
She didn't give a damn if Jang Hyeok-jin got fired.
He was someone she'd grudgingly kept around because of his threats about spilling her school days online.
Now that he was out, she couldn't care less.
And soon after.
Screech.
Ha-rin's car pulled up in front of the set.
"Whew, good work. Your replacement's already at the set—go hand off properly."
"Fuck… hey, this really the end for me?"
"You think life's a game with extra lives? Quit whining and find a new job."
"You're so fucking heartless. I handled all the dirty work…."
"That was your job—why act all wronged now? Hurry up."
With that, Jeong Ha-rin and Jang Hyeok-jin headed into the set.
Ha… getting paid off Kang Do-hyun that bastard was pretty lucrative.
Jang Hyeok-jin scratched his head following behind her, still fuming.
Ha-rin was a rising star with growing fame. Sticking to her meant plenty of side benefits for him.
Losing the manager spot felt like a huge injustice.
That's when.
"Hey, you see that guy? New actor?"
"Hot as hell. Total newbie, but my type. Extra in this drama?"
"That guy's 100% gonna blow up—my gut says so."
"Pfft, what gut? You're only year two—who'd mistake you for a vet director?"
Two set staffers laughed as they passed Jeong Ha-rin and Jang Hyeok-jin.
Ha-rin turned to Hyeok-jin after overhearing.
"There an extra today? If the staff are buzzing like that, he must be pretty handsome."
"Dunno, fuck. You think that's my priority? I just got fired."
"Ha, going out in a blaze of artistic glory to the end. Idiot."
"……."
Ha-rin tossed one last jab at Jang Hyeok-jin and headed back into the set.
New face… who?
If even jaded set staff who saw celebs daily were losing it over his looks, he had to be seriously hot.
Ha-rin was a woman too—curiosity piqued.
And moments later.
That guy?
Female staffers hovered awkwardly around a blankly standing man.
They weren't talking to him, but their sneaky glances proved his looks were no joke.
And then.
"Ah, there you are."
"……Huh?"
"What… I know that face from somewhere… an actor…?"
The man at the center of the women's stares waved at Jeong Ha-rin with a smile.
Seeing his grin, Ha-rin blankly muttered.
"Choco milk…?"
"What? Outta nowhere with choco milk…? Wait, choco milk… Lee Ji-hoon?! That Lee Ji-hoon from Kangseong High?"
Jang Hyeok-jin recalled the man's identity from Ha-rin's mumble too.
There was only one guy they called "Choco Milk."
Clack, clack.
Lee Ji-hoon walked straight up to Jeong Ha-rin.
"Long time no see. Heard about it, right?"
"……What?"
"You didn't hear? About your manager."
"No way…."
I flashed a bright smile at her stunned gaze.
"That's me."
"……."
Lee Ji-hoon's bombshell declaration left Jeong Ha-rin and Jang Hyeok-jin's faces frozen in shock.