Clean Shot
After basketball practice ended, Yeon-woo returned home and headed straight for his workroom.
Settling into his seat, he slipped on his headset and opened a private communication channel with Han Hae-un.
"They've started moving?"
"Yes. I just got home from work myself, so this is the first report I've received from Kim Su-hyeok. First off, abnormal fund movements have been detected at one of the production companies we've been monitoring."
"A production company—media sector?"
"Correct. A small outfit called Lake Film. Do you know it? Searching didn't turn up much."
Yeon-woo stroked his chin and pulled up Lake Film on the internet.
Just as Hae-un had said, there was scarcely any information to be found.
"Lake Film... Yoon Mi-yeon and Representative Jeong Hyeok mentioned something about them recently. They said the company was producing a drama on a blockbuster scale."
It had originally been an ordinary mid-sized production house, but somewhere along the line it had found a powerful backer and was suddenly pushing forward with a major drama project.
He had only caught fragments of the conversation in passing, so the details had been sparse—yet looking at it now, that backer had clearly been Baeksol.
"That was quite a while ago, too. Before filming for the movie Moon even started, so more than half a year back."
"A man named Lee Hyeong-rak who held a large stake in the company suddenly moved an enormous sum overseas this morning through remittances and cryptocurrency. The Financial Supervisory Service immediately suspected money laundering or tax evasion and launched an investigation."
Yeon-woo smirked at Hae-un's report.
"And then the fact that the FSS was investigating suddenly vanished, right?"
"Correct. It seems they applied pressure from higher up."
They would have leaned on the upper echelons to scrub the traces, yet Hae-un—who had been waiting on high alert for exactly this kind of movement—had caught them red-handed.
"Hmm. In any case, that means it's a nominee account. What about the real Lee Hyeong-rak?"
"The agents are tracking his whereabouts, but he's a homeless man, so locating him is difficult. Homeless people are everywhere in Seoul. It's not even clear whether he's still in the city."
They probably hadn't killed him. If trouble later arose with the financial institutions, they would need to haul him in, scrub him clean, dress him up, and "use" him.
"Hmm. I'll dig into related information a bit more. Hold on."
Yeon-woo immediately opened his smartphone and dialed Executive Director Yoon Mi-yeon.
The phone rang several times before her voice came through the receiver.
"Actor Ryu? Is something wrong?"
Because Yeon-woo rarely initiated calls, Yoon Mi-yeon sounded worried, clearly surprised by the unexpected contact.
"Ah, nothing's wrong. I just wanted to ask you something."
"Phew. When the call came out of nowhere I thought maybe someone got hurt during basketball practice."
"The lesson finished safely and everyone went home. As expected of professionals—they've been practicing hard."
"Really? That's a relief. What did you want to ask?"
Yeon-woo continued, eyes on the monitor still displaying the Lake Film search results.
"Last time you and Representative Jeong were talking about Lake Film. I overheard briefly that they were proceeding with a large-scale project?"
"Ah, that place? I think the drama's name was Daytona. Seems they found a well-funded investor. I heard they cast Actor Yun Seung-seol as the lead."
Yeon-woo knew Yun Seung-seol well.
A major actor now in his forties who had been invited to Cannes and Venice and was currently riding the peak of his career—his most recent drama work was more than ten years old, as he operated almost exclusively in film.
"Senior Yun Seung-seol in a drama? It really must be a major production."
"Well, it only becomes a major production if it succeeds. Anyway, they seem to have poured a fortune into production costs. But why the sudden interest in that company?"
"Ah, isn't their launch timing roughly similar to ours? Once Parabola starts cranking in, it'll probably air early next year, and I figured they might land around the same window."
Yoon Mi-yeon ran a quick mental calculation and agreed.
"Roughly, yes. Hmm, maybe we should lock in the network scheduling early and dodge them..."
"Do we really need to avoid them? If we end up going head-to-head, so be it."
"Has Actor Ryu always been this combative?"
"Come on—you said they're a big-budget major production. Our audience demographics are probably a bit different anyway. Let's worry about scheduling when the time comes."
Since they planned to work with general programming channels or cable, the scheduling was relatively flexible.
With not only Ryu Yeon-woo but also Jin Yu-han and Son Jin-uk starring, what conditions wouldn't a network accommodate?
After chatting a while longer with Yoon Mi-yeon and hanging up, Yeon-woo stroked his chin.
"Hmm. You heard that?"
"Yes. I'll dig for information focusing on Daytona and Yun Seung-seol. If we tail Actor Yun Seung-seol, we'll naturally connect to Lake Film."
"Lee Gyu-jin and Park Jung-hyeon will handle that side, right? Kim Su-hyeok needs to find the homeless man."
"Correct."
Yeon-woo looked alternately at the monitor and the calendar before continuing.
"About that homeless man. It might not be, but I've got a hunch."
"What part are you referring to?"
"The place where his name was used is a media production company, right? I think it was the sector Hwang-geum handled before he was eliminated."
The agent who had clashed with the operatives when Yeon-woo extracted Kim Ju-seong, then leveraged the interests of the Chinese underworld and Baeksol so that Baeksol itself disposed of him.
"High probability of that. He was in charge of the entertainment side from LN all the way to Plus Ten."
"In that case, there's a strong chance it's a nominee account Hwang-geum created himself. Where would he have found that homeless man?"
Hae-un seemed to grasp Yeon-woo's meaning at once and clapped as he answered.
"He would have picked him up along a route he could monitor frequently. Skullcap Corporation."
The officetel Hwang-geum had used as a hideout and the paper company he operated.
"The nearest station is Seodaemun Station. Seodaemun Police Station is right in front of it, too."
A large-scale police station sitting right there, so they would avoid crime?
Not at all.
As former agents themselves, Yeon-woo and Hae-un understood an operative's habits better than anyone.
"The brightest lamp, then."
The habit of thoroughly exploiting the fact that it is darkest under the lamp.
"I'll give Kim Su-hyeok the order immediately."
"Well, since we don't know where he is anyway, nothing to lose. Let's start searching from Seodaemun. By the way, the security firm is almost in the final stages now, right?"
"We've assembled all the initial members, and once the security-related training is finished, we should be able to start operations right away."
"Have you decided on a name? Want me to name it for you?"
At Yeon-woo's words, a brief silence fell on the other end.
It felt like a silent protest desperately rejecting Yeon-woo's naming sense.
"...Just kidding."
"Phew. That's a relief. We'll discuss it thoroughly with Kim Su-hyeok and come up with one ourselves."
The agents began their investigation, and the security firm Pridwen that Han Hae-un and Kim Su-hyeok had jointly created was nearly ready for its official launch.
Pridwen, huh... That was the name of the shield used by the legendary King Arthur. Why make it so grandiose? Something like Jeil Security or Daewon Safety Management would be forgettable and perfect.
Having spent so long as a spy in his previous life, his naming criteria had become focused entirely on things that would be easily forgotten, leaving him with what others would consider the absolute worst sense of naming.
If Hae-un had ever heard the names Yeon-woo had been considering, he would have shuddered from head to toe.
In any case, they had used their available surplus funds to purchase a building suitable for Pridwen's office. The area around Mokhwa Building, which had possessed no particular character before Saebyeol moved in, had now become extremely commercially active and a so-called hot neighborhood on SNS.
Of course, the revitalized commercial district had driven real estate prices up considerably.
Hmm. Purchasing the building for Pridwen's office cost quite a bit, but the value of Mokhwa Building has skyrocketed accordingly, so overall it's a gain.
At the center of the activated commercial district stood the Saebyeol Entertainment headquarters.
Including the restaurant and bakery that had moved into the first floor, plus the goods shop that had started operating in the rear, the area around Mokhwa Building was always surrounded by long lines and crowds of people.
A natural protective barrier. Even if those bastards want to conduct surveillance or wiretapping, it would be impossible because of the countless fans and tourists.
While turning these thoughts over, the car carrying Yeon-woo arrived at the gym.
"I heard you're playing a game today?"
At Kim Min-su's words from the driver's seat, Yeon-woo nodded and answered.
"Apparently so. They set up a friendly match to use for the follow-up variety show."
"Then who's on the opposing team?"
"They said it's a celebrity basketball team, but I didn't ask about the members. I'll find out when I go in."
When Kim Min-su parked, Yeon-woo stepped out of the car.
Originally they had rented the entire closed day every week for practice, so the parking lot had always been completely empty—yet today quite a few cars were already parked.
It seemed most of the follow-up variety show filming team and the vehicles the opposing team had arrived in were already there.
When Yeon-woo entered the gym, Jin Yu-han and Dong-ha approached.
"Yeon-woo, you're here?"
"Hyung. Did you know that guy is on the opposing team?"
"That guy?"
Yeon-woo tilted his head at Dong-ha's words.
Dong-ha came closer and whispered quietly.
"Jae-yun from N-Boys."
"...Who was that again?"
From his agent days, once he memorized a person's name he almost never forgot it—yet idol names were particularly hard to retain.
Was the middle-aged man's characteristic memory decline, limited strictly to idols, somehow stronger than his abilities as an agent...?
"You know—that time we played futsal when hyung ruthlessly..."
"...Ah!"
The memory surfaced at Dong-ha's words, and Yeon-woo made a slightly apologetic expression.
At the time, because it was sports, he had gotten a bit combative and given a hard time to someone who kept making dangerous tackles—yet thinking back, he might have been too harsh on a young idol friend.
Yeon-woo looked around for Jae-yun.
There he is.
Spotting him, Yeon-woo walked in that direction.
Jae-yun, standing among the other members of the basketball team Fast, suddenly felt a chill and glanced around—then discovered Yeon-woo striding over on his long legs and unconsciously took a slight step back.
"Hup...!"
But the approaching Yeon-woo smiled and held out his hand.
"I'm sorry about the unintentional collision last time. I was going to apologize after it ended, but the variety show continued right away so I couldn't say anything. Still, it's nice to see you again, Jae-yun-ssi."
Ohhh—
He could feel the other Fast members looking at Jae-yun from the surroundings.
After all, among the actors playing basketball today, Yeon-woo was the most mysterious figure—with the least image exposure despite recently rising as a world star.
Jae-yun disliked and feared Yeon-woo, yet on the other hand, because a world star had approached him first and offered a handshake, he felt somehow proud and his mood improved, leaving him with complex, subtle emotions.
"Ah, yes. No, it's fine. It was an accident that happened because my soccer was clumsy and I made a reckless tackle by mistake."
After that incident he had become a target of teasing and mockery, and as videos like "Achedae Dangerous Tackle Compilation" circulated, he had also received quite a few hate comments.
Jae-yun claimed it had been a "tackle by mistake," but it had never been a mistake.
And Yeon-woo said "unintentional," but it had been very intentional.
In any case, the scene of the two shaking hands was being quietly captured by the variety show camera director from afar.
Thanks to that, the related video "Achedae Futsal – Jae-yun Unnie" would once again decorate the rapidly rising popular video rankings.