Ambassador

"Where are you going?"

When Yeon-woo stood up, Jeong Su-yeon, seated beside him, looked over.

"Yeah, just heading to the restroom for a bit."

He slipped past the nodding actors, slid open the door, and stepped out into the corridor.

He walked the long hallway at an unhurried pace, quietly mapping who was inside each room. Some of the small windows facing the corridor were curtained; others had been left slightly ajar for air. Being a weekday, a fair number of the rooms seemed empty.

Makes sense for a high-end traditional Korean restaurant—lots of private rooms.

He scanned the rooms whose windows or sliding doors stood even a little open, but catching a glimpse of reporter Kim Joon-kyung through those narrow gaps was nearly impossible. He had no intention of making contact even if he found him; he only wanted to know who the man was with. The reporter had just broken a major exclusive and was almost certainly gathering material for the follow-up. Identifying his company would let Yeon-woo guess which channels had supplied the story.

With this layout, though, finding him is basically impossible. Which is exactly why Representative Kim Ju-seong and people like him keep coming here.

The food was excellent, of course, but the real draw was the privacy.

Yeon-woo washed his hands and was about to return to his room when a sliding door opened and someone stepped into the corridor.

Rattle—

"Oh?"

The man spotted Yeon-woo and pointed. At first Yeon-woo assumed it was just another fan recognizing a celebrity—until he got a clear look at the face.

"Professor?"

"Well, well—Yeon-woo."

The man pointing and calling his name was Kim Tae-gyeong: university classmate from his previous life, academic advisor in this one.

Yeon-woo broke into a bright smile at the unexpected, welcome face.

"I never thought I'd run into you here. Seeing you like this is a real pleasure, Professor."

"Same here. What brings you? Business?"

Yeon-woo nodded.

"Cast dinner for the drama that's airing right now."

"Ah, right—I watched that. The basketball one?"

Yeon-woo's eyes widened a fraction.

"You watched my drama, Professor?"

"Come on, of course I did. I even saw that romance film you shot last time. Thanks to ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠you, my wife and I finally went to the movies again after ages."

Yeon-woo smiled quietly.

So Tae-gyeong actually got married. Back in college he was such an eccentric oddball I wondered who'd ever take him.

He remembered their first meeting this life—when he'd enrolled in Hankuk University's Economics Department and immediately neglected classes for entertainment work. Tae-gyeong had been thoroughly annoyed and treated him frostily.

Though that thawed pretty fast once we started talking about the bands he likes.

Come to think of it, Yeon-woo had appointed Kim Tae-gyeong an outside director of LN Media… and then left LN himself.

They had been talking longer than expected when the sliding door of the room Kim Tae-gyeong had come from opened again. A man still seated inside reached out, pushed the door halfway, and called,

"What is it? You run into someone you know, hyung?"

"One of my department's students. Well—no. Someone the entire country knows. Calling him just a student feels a bit inadequate."

Wanting to save his professor a little face, Yeon-woo leaned into view. The people inside recognized him and their eyes went round.

"Huh? Ryu Yeon-woo…?"

"…"

Yeon-woo looked at the faces inside, paused for a beat, then smiled as if nothing had happened and offered a polite greeting.

"Hello. I'm Ryu Yeon-woo, currently studying under Professor Kim Tae-gyeong."

His gaze settled on the man who had opened the door while still half-seated, awkwardly returning the greeting.

Found him. Reporter Kim Joon-kyung.

Since fate had brought them together, Yeon-woo joked that he ought to at least say a proper hello, and stepped into the room with Professor Kim Tae-gyeong.

Four men were dining inside. Brief introductions revealed that two were high-ranking officials from the National Tax Service; the other two, as he already knew, were Professor Kim Tae-gyeong and reporter Kim Joon-kyung.

And the real surprise:

They're brothers…

Kim Joon-kyung was Professor Kim Tae-gyeong's younger brother.

I never asked for a full family background on Kim Joon-kyung.

The article had only just dropped, so he had simply ordered a current location check.

Yeon-woo looked at the middle-aged men in the room. They looked back and spoke first.

"Haha, thanks to Professor Kim we get to share a table with someone this famous."

"Just so there's no misunderstanding—we're all going Dutch. This is absolutely not any kind of entertainment dinner."

They waved their hands, clearly mindful of the Improper Solicitation and Graft Act—the so-called Kim Young-ran Act.

Yeon-woo answered with an easy smile.

"That never crossed my mind. I was simply a little curious how you all know one another."

"Us old men? The three of us are university classmates."

Kim Joon-kyung, being the younger brother, was the exception; the other three were peers.

Yeon-woo tilted his head.

"Classmates? Then that would make you my seniors?"

If they were classmates of Kim Tae-gyeong, they would also have been classmates of his previous self, Jeon Su-hwan—yet every face was new.

"Ah, no. Strictly speaking we met in graduate school. Looking back, it's quite an old connection."

Yeon-woo nodded in understanding. In his past life he had joined the NIS immediately after graduating college; he would never have known Kim Tae-gyeong's graduate-school circle.

"Meeting my advisor's graduate classmates feels strangely fascinating. If you don't mind, allow me to pour a drink."

His easy charm drew warm responses all around.

"My goodness, when else would I ever get a drink poured by someone this famous?"

Yeon-woo filled the glass of the man who had introduced himself as a senior official in the NTS Investigation Bureau.

The National Tax Service…

He had found the wellspring of Kim Joon-kyung's sources.

These men would have been more than capable of spotting the strange money flows at Lake Film.

After making pleasant small talk, Yeon-woo returned to the drama team's room and sat down. Son Jin-uk immediately filled his empty glass.

"What took you so long in the bathroom?"

"Ran into my university professor on the way back and stopped to say hello."

"Oh? By chance? That's wild."

Yeon-woo nodded, then slipped his phone under the ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠table and messaged Han Hae-un.

Leaving Han Hae-un's message—complete with the mental question marks floating over his head—Yeon-woo slipped the phone back into his pocket.

"All right, nobody's escaping tonight. Especially you, Yeon-woo—don't even think about quietly vanishing the way you usually do."

Jeong Cheol-min, in high spirits at the long-overdue cast dinner, laughed and raised his glass.

"Come on, I'm not running. Let's take it slow and drink for a good long while."

Baeksol's informants who had been tracking Kim Joon-kyung were almost certainly watching the restaurant. Once the reporter left, the surveillance team would pull out as well. Yeon-woo had no intention of leaving before him.

After they had been drinking for some time, Representative Jeong Hyeok arrived late and took the seat beside Yeon-woo.

"Actor Ryu."

"Yes, Representative."

"I know business talk at a cast dinner is a bit off, but I was late because I just finished a meeting with guests from overseas—about that matter we discussed last time."

Guests from overseas?

Yeon-woo tilted his head.

"You mean Global Match?"

"Ah, that's still a long way off. I'm talking about the global brand ambassadorships."

Yeon-woo nodded. He remembered saying he would push overseas activity hard to raise the corporate evaluation ranking of their domestic entertainment company.

"Offers came in?"

"Of course—offers come in all the time from any number of places. I met with a few of them today. The final decision should be yours. The terms are all roughly comparable, and I've already checked for any poison-pill clauses. I'll send the list to your phone right now."

Yeon-woo opened the file that arrived.

While Yeon-woo reviewed the file, Representative Jeong Hyeok beside him explained the contract terms and expected activities in detail.

"There are quite a few other proposals besides these, but when you weigh the conditions and brand value, these three are the strongest."

Yeon-woo stroked his chin as he listened. Of course he knew the names—they were famous. But across both his past life and this one he had never been particularly luxurious, and fashion was completely outside his expertise. Choosing among them was difficult.

Jeong Su-yeon leaned in from the side.

"No way. Offers from these brands?"

"Yeah. Which one do you think is best?"

She thought for a moment.

"Armand over Jean-Pierre, don't you think? Jean-Pierre is more about perfume and bags. Suits look really good on you."

Yeon-woo nodded. She had a point. A brand ambassador wasn't merely an advertising model; the person became a living icon of the brand's entire philosophy. Even by his own reckoning, Armand suited him far better than Jean-Pierre.

Then his eye caught Lee Ye-eun dining at the next table.

I have a ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠dedicated stylist—why am I even deliberating alone? When it comes to my style and fashion, she's the greatest expert in the world.

He called her over; she came and sat beside him.

"I'm thinking of becoming an ambassador for one of these brands. What do you think, noona?"

"Whoa… so you can just pick any of them?"

It was Representative Jeong Hyeok who nodded.

"Ever since White Blood took off and SL Electronics' Universe marketing started scoring big in South America, every brand under the sun has been scrambling to sign him. Whoever gets the yes will probably jump for joy with both hands and feet."

Lee Ye-eun looked back and forth between the list and Yeon-woo.

"Do you really have to choose only one? Watches and fashion don't even overlap—couldn't you do two at the same time?"

"Oh?"

Yeon-woo looked at the list again. Jean-Pierre and Armand clearly competed in the same space, so simultaneous contracts would be impossible—but Capela was a different category entirely.

The whole point of accepting ambassadorships is to boost the overseas-recognition side of the corporate evaluation. Doing two would work just fine.

If he accepted two world-class brand ambassadorships at once, the press would go absolutely wild writing about it.