Identities
When Kim Hang-gon asked the writer what on earth was going on, the writer merely shrugged and said he had no idea either.
Then something seemed to click, and the writer clapped his hands.
"Ah! Dong-ha from Axis just filmed White Blood with Ryu Yeon-woo, right?"
"Ohh! That's right. So through personal connections?"
Whatever the reason, from Producer Kim Hang-gon's perspective it felt like he had suddenly won the lottery—without even having planned to buy a ticket.
"These Axis kids are really something. Hahaha!"
"PD-nim, did you know Ryu Yeon-woo and Dong-ha recently went to the States to film NBS's Friday Night Show?"
Being the sort who paid attention to nothing outside his own work, Producer Kim Hang-gon's eyes went wide.
"Really? I'd heard they were popular overseas, but…"
"Our program is the first broadcast Ryu Yeon-woo is appearing on after Friday Night Show."
The writer's words made the reality sink in all over again.
"Right—this is no time for chatting!"
Producer Kim Hang-gon immediately picked up his smartphone to contact someone at LN Entertainment.
"But… I don't have LN Entertainment's number…"
Having only ever run idol-related programs, Kim Hang-gon had no connection to LN whatsoever.
"Ugh, how embarrassing. Do I really have to call the main line?"
"Hold on. I'll go ask the team next door. Some other actor from there must have been on a variety show before."
The writer hurried out into the station hallway and returned not long after.
"Phew—here. It's Team Leader Jeong Hyeok's number at LN Entertainment."
Producer Kim Hang-gon took the number and placed the call.
At LN Entertainment's headquarters in Gangnam, Team Leader Jeong Hyeok answered the phone, nodding.
"Yes, please proceed that way."
"If I may be so bold… Since it's a program featuring multiple idols and a special episode, adjusting the actor's fee separately might be…"
"Ah, you don't need to worry about that part. The actor is appearing purely out of loyalty, so just match the fee to what the other cast members are receiving."
In truth, compared to the money Yeon-woo was already earning, even a special-episode variety rate could never come close to his market value.
Hearing Team Leader Jeong Hyeok's words, a humble, polite voice came through the receiver.
"Oh my, yes yes. Thank you so much. Then regarding the audience tickets you mentioned, I'll personally make sure to secure them and allocate them separately. I'll leave plenty of empty seats just in case, so no problem at all!"
"Understood. Then please take care of it."
After hanging up, Team Leader Jeong Hyeok smiled.
Actor agencies had always received relatively good treatment when dealing with broadcasting stations, but ever since the company signed Ryu Yeon-woo it felt as though they occupied an almost absolute top-dog position.
It wasn't simply because Ryu Yeon-woo was doing well. By succeeding with White Blood, they had gained the ability to distribute content worldwide without even needing to go through broadcasting stations.
The power dynamic between client and vendor had completely flipped.
Team Leader Jeong Hyeok called Yeon-woo again.
"Yes, Team Leader Jeong."
"Ah, Yeon-woo. I just finished speaking with the station. Filming is on January 2nd, and the broadcast will air during the Lunar New Year holiday. We've also secured plenty of audience seats for Woo's."
"Hmm, so about ten days left. You've worked hard. Thank you."
At Yeon-woo's words, Team Leader Jeong Hyeok smiled.
"Hard work? Not at all. Then I'll hand the process over to the PR team. They'll probably post a notice through the fan café admins and distribute the tickets via lottery."
"Yes. Understood."
Café manager YeonuJina—Lee Jin-ah—received the call from LN Entertainment's PR team and could hardly believe her ears.
"What? You mean the Idol Sports Festival?"
"Yes, that's correct. We'd like to coordinate with you, Manager, so that the audience tickets can be drawn through the fan café in a transparent and fair manner."
The fact that he was appearing on the Idol Sports Festival was already astonishing, but she first asked about the question that had risen in her mind. As the person ultimately responsible for the fan café, she had to handle her duties properly.
Lee Jin-ah had been a devoted fan of other idols since middle school, long before she settled on Ryu Yeon-woo, and she had even attended the Idol Sports Festival as an audience member before.
"But is the lottery really being held through the fan café? As far as I know, it's usually done on the broadcasting station's website."
Originally it had been a free-for-all known as the "Comment Olympics," where people competed to leave comments the fastest within a set window in order to apply for tickets.
"The fans of the idol teams officially invited have already finished their draws through the official site, so we've secured seats separately. He accepted the special-guest invitation on the condition that he receive audience seats for his fans."
At the staff member's words, tears welled up in Lee Jin-ah's eyes.
"Uwaaah… thank you so much."
Whether she was speaking to the employee on the other end of the line or to Yeon-woo himself was unclear, but Lee Jin-ah bowed her head deeply toward the invisible other party.
After hanging up, her heart began to pound hard at the unexpected news.
"I can already hear our members' screams of pure happiness from here…"
That evening, after coordinating with the LN Entertainment staff, Lee Jin-ah posted the notice.
Hello. This is Manager YeonuJina.
I am writing to inform you about the lottery for audience tickets in connection with Jay of the idol group Jaynari's participation in the Idol Sports Festival.
Eligibility is open to all members who have been active for at least thirty days after joining the café…
The moment the post went up, the café's reaction was, of course, explosive.
Watching the reactions pour in real time, Lee Jin-ah smiled.
"Phew… I hope I win too."
Her odds were far better than those of ordinary members. There were six café admins in total, and one of them would go as the escort lead—six to one.
Lee Jin-ah poured her own wish into a comment as well.
At that same hour, Yeon-woo was driving home after finishing troupe rehearsal and speaking with Han Hae-un on the phone.
"So the list is more or less finished?"
"Yes. It's about time we start making contact in secret."
The list of field agents Yeon-woo had ordered Han Hae-un to recruit was complete.
"Did you buy the equipment?"
"I've secured the video gear for now."
Yeon-woo nodded, then let out a short laugh.
"Then I guess it's time for a disguise again?"
"Not 'again'—it'll be the first time in this body."
"Do you have prepared identities ready?"
"Yes. A few. We'll have to pick suitable ones."
Field agents never left traces even in the National Intelligence Service database; they alone possessed several sets of secret personal information. The files sealed in envelopes were never opened until the moment of use, so while the data existed on paper in the Republic of Korea, the people themselves did not. Naturally, neither Baeksol nor even the NIS director knew about those identities.
"Ah, it would be useful if I could use mine too."
"…Team Leader, your face would show through no matter how you disguised yourself."
"Hmm. In that sense, my ordinary face from the previous life was better."
A brief silence followed Yeon-woo's words before Han Hae-un's voice returned.
"Saying that with that face will get you divine punishment."
Yeon-woo chuckled at the remark, then his expression shifted as if something had just occurred to him.
"Hae-un."
"Yes?"
"Don't you look a little older?"
"…Ahem. Are you teasing me all of a sudden?"
Yeon-woo shook his head.
"No, that's not it. I have a useful identity, you see. He'd be thirty-nine this year. You could pull that off with a disguise, right?"
"Ah—Team Leader's identity? Possible, of course. Thirty-nine is doable."
Yeon-woo turned the car he had been driving home and changed direction.
"I'll contact you again later."
"Yes. Understood."
Yeon-woo drove straight toward Hanam.
"I never thought I'd come looking for that in this life."
His car traveled a long while. Upon reaching the destination, Yeon-woo put on a mask and cap and got out.
Hmm. From here on there's no road, so I'll have to walk.
He began an untimely nighttime hike. The suburban hill was completely empty of human presence as he climbed.
After about thirty minutes of ascent, Yeon-woo looked around.
This is the place.
The darkness made it slightly confusing, but that also meant he would meet no one—which was better.
Suddenly Yeon-woo left the trail and began pushing through pathless undergrowth.
A place where the terrain never changes.
Buildings could be torn down and rebuilt in a matter of years depending on their age. Even empty lots, revisited after a decade, would be filled with new construction. Land locked under greenbelt restrictions was eventually released and developed as time passed.
But not here.
Yeon-woo looked up at the low steel tower rising from the hilltop. Transmission towers usually rose high like the Eiffel Tower, carrying high-voltage lines between regions. This area, however, had once held a military airfield used in the 1970s, so height restrictions had prevented the towers from being built tall enough. As the country developed and power demand grew, this stretch alone had eventually been forced to bury the high-voltage lines underground.
"Which means this area can never be blasted or excavated."
As he climbed, Yeon-woo carefully studied the surrounding terrain.
There.
A rather unusually shaped flat boulder came into view. Because neither blasting nor excavation was possible, the land could never be developed and all cultivation was forbidden.
Yeon-woo approached the rock, picked up a suitable stone, and began digging at one spot.
I should've brought a shovel.
The winter ground was hard, and digging took considerable effort.
Clink—
The stone struck something solid. It was no material that belonged in nature.
He dug a little more around it, and in the dark mountain an aluminum box revealed itself.
Yeon-woo carefully lifted the box out and turned the dial lock.
Click—
When he opened it, several faded yellow envelopes lay inside—files containing the false identity documents his previous self had personally buried.
In a way, this was the first object from his past life that he had touched in his present one, and it left him with a strange feeling.
There are quite a few useful identities in here. Identity information that will serve Han Hae-un well from now on.
Going forward, there would be more occasions when he would have to act while concealing his current life. After being reborn, he had assumed the age gap with his previous life was too great for him to use the identities, so he had naturally set them aside in his mind. Of course, age aside, Yeon-woo was now a face the entire nation knew and could never use another identity—but Han Hae-un was different.
A spy's abilities reached their peak when he could freely hide his true self. And the identities Yeon-woo possessed had been accumulated during his time as a black-ops agent; they were the hardest to trace, and even if somehow tracked, many of them were statuses Baeksol would not dare touch lightly.
"The constraints on future operations just got a lot lighter."