Chapter 24
I’m translating the chapter now and shaping the special in-universe bits into the required HTML blocks while keeping the prose natural in English.CHAPTER_TITLE: Variant (1)
There were plenty of ways to swallow Leon Entertainment whole. Let MEG grow large enough, work from inside, and so on. Those were matters for later. As Kang Jaeha was thinking that, a woman’s voice spoke again.
We’ll see you then.
That damn fighting again. By now, Jaeha had mostly gotten used to it. At first it had sounded like mockery, but these days it almost felt like genuine encouragement.
More importantly, that wasn’t the issue right now.
AMOUNT:700,000,000 won
The point was that 700 million won had just been credited to Jaeha. Sitting at his desk in Team 4, Kang Jaeha stared at the deposit and rubbed his chin.
Wasn’t it supposed to be paid every fifteen days? Today’s the 13th.
Looking at the calendar, he saw that the 14th and 15th fell on the weekend. Jaeha gave a small snort and figured it out. Since the pension payment day landed on a weekend, they’d sent it early, on Friday. Seen that way, it was less like a pension and more like a salary.
A salary of 700 million won, and an annual income of roughly 8 billion.
Once again, Kang Jaeha thought it had been a good idea to gather every scrap of currency and treasure he could in the other world. He had spent some of it moving the money around for his Gyeollo and Natdaljib investments, but with this 700 million credited to him...
All right. We’re back to almost a billion.
His funds had recovered to nearly one billion won. If a promising Déjà vu with the smell of money showed up soon, he’d be grateful. Jaeha was muttering that to himself when he opened his laptop.
-Swish.
Before long, a man entered Team 4, which was still almost empty.
"Hey, Kang Jaeha."
At the self-important voice, Jaeha looked up. It was Seo Jinsu, the chief manager from Team 2, who had once been sharply put in his place by Jaeha. He was a junior of Team 2 leader Song Seonhui, deeply tied to her, and a man who had often bullied Jaeha back when Jaeha was still easy to push around.
Seo Jinsu walked up to the seated Jaeha, every step already dripping with sneering intent.
"What, punk, Team 4’s been twitching around a little lately? I heard you and Yoon Dayeon have been busy or something."
He had probably heard the rumors about Team 4. There had been some small but real progress there, after all. Apparently, having caught wind of Team 4, Seo Jinsu had come by to poke around and make trouble while he was at it.
Jaeha didn’t react much.
He sat with one leg crossed over the other and gave Seo Jinsu a smile. It was thick with arrogance.
"What is it now? You came all the way over here this morning just to act up, Chief Manager?"
Seo Jinsu’s brow furrowed, as if Jaeha had hit the mark. He shoved both hands into his pockets and growled.
"You little bastard, didn’t I tell you to keep your crap under control?"
"We haven’t even started yet."
"What did you say?"
"You want me to be serious with you? You’ll regret it."
"...You’re all talk."
Seo Jinsu stepped closer to the seated Jaeha.
"Maybe you can fool other people, but you can’t fool my eyes. Who doesn’t see you’re just putting on a tough act?? Your heart’s probably pounding right now, isn’t it? Worried your real face is about to come out."
"I told you last time your mouth stinks like shit."
"......"
"Back off. If you don’t want to die."
For an instant, all expression vanished from Kang Jaeha’s face. There was no annoyance there, no anger. Not black, not white, just gray. But in the look he gave Seo Jinsu...
This guy’s a little annoying.
There was a faint edge of killing intent beneath it. If this had been the other world where he’d rolled through eighteen years of blood and mud, Seo Jinsu’s neck would already be bouncing across the floor.
Just then, the team leader’s office door, which had been shut, opened.
Team Leader Jang Hyeongsu stuck his face out. His features were full of the hollow wreckage of too little sleep, even by his usual standards. He spotted Seo Jinsu facing off with Jaeha and thought,
What the hell is that idiot doing now?
Annoyance rising, he was about to drag Seo Jinsu away. But before he could, another person called out to him. It was a long-chinned man who had just barged into Team 4: Director Kim Cheoljung.
"What’s this?"
Seo Jinsu flinched. So did Jaeha. Both turned toward the door, but the quicker reaction belonged to Seo Jinsu, whose eyes widened slightly.
"D-Director Kim?"
"Seo Manager, was it? What are you doing in Team 4?"
"Ah... I, um..."
"What are you doing. You from Team 2, hanging around Team 4."
"We were... talking."
Kim Cheoljung looked back and forth between Seo Jinsu and Jaeha, then scowled.
"Talking? This early in the morning? Hah. Everyone else is killing themselves working, and you’re fooling around?"
"S-sorry."
"I’ve been hearing your name a lot lately."
"!!!"
"Enough of your flailing around and get lost."
"Y-yes, sir!"
Seo Jinsu hurried off at once. Jaeha watched his retreating back for a moment, then his vision suddenly wavered. A familiar sense of premonition. In the next instant, something other than reality played out before him. It was Déjà vu.
The Déjà vu was short, and the subject was Seo Jinsu.
When Jaeha came back to the present, he thought,
That reeks of money.
Watching Seo Jinsu hurry out of Team 4, he let out a faint smile.
Thanks for making my money grow, bastard.
What Kang Jaeha had just seen in Déjà vu was a stock. U.S. stocks, again. In the vision, Seo Jinsu had kicked himself in regret, but to Jaeha it was delicious information that would multiply his capital several times over.
As Jaeha was thinking about all the money he was about to make...
"Hey."
After clearing his throat a few times, Director Kim Cheoljung quietly spoke to him, lowering his voice as much as he could.
"Let’s talk today."
"Why."
"...Because I have something to say-"
"Wait until I call you."
"Hey."
"I said wait. More importantly."
Kang Jaeha, thinking of Seo Jinsu, gave Kim Cheoljung an order.
"That guy from before, get him out of here. He’s annoying."
"Get him out?"
"What are you asking me for? Do what you’re good at."
"......"
Kim Cheoljung ground his teeth, let out a breath, and forced himself to calm down. Then, as if nothing had happened, he called out to Team Leader Jang Hyeongsu.
"Team Leader Jang. Let’s talk."
It was a smokescreen to emphasize that the reason he’d come to Team 4 was Jang Hyeongsu, not Kang Jaeha, and Jaeha, already pulling out his phone, had lost interest.
This next pump is in three days.
Checking the stock app mattered several times more.
After that, Kang Jaeha opened the securities app and found the stock he had seen in Seo Jinsu’s Déjà vu. After watching the price for a bit, he began pouring in funds without hesitation.
A few dozen minutes later,
His money was once again sitting in U.S. stocks. The stock was a rising biotech company in America. The catalyst was a new diet drug. That bit of good news would keep its price moving for about three days.
Today is the 13th. The real pump starts on the 23rd.
In other words, less than ten days remained before Jaeha’s money would start swelling again.
Then, a few days later, on the 17th.
Today was the script reading for Gyeollo. Not much time had passed since auditions, but since Gyeollo was only a short film, the schedule wasn’t unreasonable.
In any case.
"Hello-"
"Good morning!"
The actors whom Munbark Film had arranged began gathering one by one at the reading room. More specifically, they were the actors: Yoon Dayeon, An Jihee, and the rest who had passed the Gyeollo auditions. Naturally, most of them were unknowns, and they found their seats by checking the role chart laid out on the M-shaped table.
Compared to the reading room for commercial films or dramas, this one was cramped and under-equipped.
But for the unknown actors who had taken their seats now, it felt more than enough to bring tears to their eyes. Soon, a few of them voiced their curiosity.
"Do you know who got the female lead in Gyeollo?"
"No. Not at all."
"I’m curious too, but I actually auditioned for the female lead and got recommended for another role instead, so I switched."
"There probably aren’t any name actors, right?"
"Probably not? It’s rare for a short film to cast someone well-known."
Once one person opened the floodgates, the male and female actors, now gathered in a group of about six, lost their guard. They were talking nonstop. Then the reading room door opened again. A woman with her hair tied back in a bob peeked in.
The actors already seated greeted her awkwardly, but inside, each of them was thinking the same thing.
Wow, she’s pretty.
What’s with that vibe? It’s insane.
Her visuals are totally unique. The directors must be drooling. I’m jealous...
The woman who entered the reading room bowed and greeted them loudly.
"Hello! I’m An Jihee!"
Her forcefulness startled the others, and the actors all sprang to their feet to return the greeting. Then An Jihee rustled through the role chart, finally finding her own name.
-'Jisoo' / An Jihee
The moment she saw it, emotion surged through her.
My name is really written here. I feel like I’m about to cry.
While glancing at the others, she quietly pulled out her phone. She wanted to take a picture of the role chart. After snapping several shots, An Jihee carefully sat down. The instant she took the seat marked for Jisoo, the looks around her changed.
So she’s the female lead.
She’s the heroine, huh. No wonder her aura felt different.
The sync is actually good. That seat suits her, too.
But the actors’ shock didn’t end there.
-Swish.
Another actress entered the reading room behind An Jihee. It was Yoon Dayeon. The moment the actors of Gyeollo saw her long hair hanging loose, they were taken aback.
"Huh?"
"Oh."
"What? What is it?"
Most of them recognized Yoon Dayeon. Why was Yoon Dayeon here? Of course, there were also a few who didn’t recognize her, since her slump had gone on for so long. In any case, the room fell silent the moment Yoon Dayeon appeared.
Feeling awkward for no good reason, Yoon Dayeon gave the actors a small bow.
"Hello."
The unknown actors of Gyeollo got stiffly to their feet and returned the greeting, unable to tear their eyes away from Yoon Dayeon as she moved.
It was just too strange.
They were all actors, and yet the gap in recognition was heaven and earth. Even Yoon Dayeon would be at the bottom if she stepped onto a bigger stage, but here, this was a depth even lower than the bottom. Soon she found her seat and sat down.
-'Junghee' / Yoon Dayeon
Who would have thought that the Yoon Dayeon was this Yoon Dayeon. As the actors kept stealing glances at her without making it obvious, Director Kwon Seongmin and the key staff came flooding into the reading room. Among them was Kang Jaeha, his face unreadable. Lee Chanhoo was there too. Jaeha, who entered near the end, silently reflected to himself.
Been a while. Script reading rooms, huh.
He checked Yoon Dayeon and An Jihee in their seats. Yoon Dayeon was fine, of course, but An Jihee, who was doing this for the first time, might have ended up in the wrong seat. Fortunately, both of them seemed to have found their places without trouble.
"Hello. I’m Director Kwon Seongmin."
Standing in front of the actors, Director Kwon introduced himself with surprising confidence. Of course, inside, he was sweating bullets.
Ugh, I’m nervous!
He was holding down his pounding nerves with sheer willpower.
"During the production of Gyeollo, I’ll do my best to capture your performances as fully as I can."
After taking a moment to breathe, Director Kwon pushed up his glasses and spoke to the actors again.
"Filming for Gyeollo will begin next week and continue for about three weeks. Before we get into the full script reading, there’s something I need each of you to sign. It’s a confidentiality agreement."
A confidentiality agreement was, in simple terms, a spoiler ban contract. It contained clauses forbidding the leakage of information about the participating actors, internal production details, and so on to the outside world.
It was standard for just about any production.
"This is the first time I’m telling you this, but the final destination for our Gyeollo is the Busan International Film Festival."
The Busan International Film Festival? The moment they heard it, every actor’s mouth fell open.
"!!!"
It was a total shock.
That went for An Jihee, too.
B-Busan International Film Festival??!
And for the veteran Yoon Dayeon, too.
What did he say?!!
No, because she was a veteran, she was twice as shocked. She knew exactly what kind of impact the world-class Busan International Film Festival carried. Soon Yoon Dayeon shot a glare at Kang Jaeha, who was sitting there yawning as if this were nothing.
Are you insane? The Busan International Film Festival?? You never said anything about that!!
That same night, at the MEG office.
After the Gyeollo script reading ended, Kang Jaeha and Lee Chanhoo met at MEG. It was around ten at night. The two of them sat at a table for six, and a late-night meal had been laid out on top of it.
It was plump bossam pork.
"Man, that smell is lethal. Late-night food really is bossam, right? Right, boss?"
"When do I have time to talk? Mix up that buckwheat noodles over there."
"Yes, sir. But honestly, when I eat bossam, it makes me think of the food we used to eat in that other world. What was it called again? Anyway, the stuff they turned into monster fodder."
"Enough. Don’t compare sacred bossam to that kind of crap."
Lee Chanhoo apologized and enthusiastically tossed the spicy buckwheat noodles, while Kang Jaeha, apparently bored out of his mind, turned on the wall-mounted TV he’d recently bought. The news was on.
Jaeha kept his eyes on the TV and lowered the remote. Meanwhile, the anchor on screen kept talking.
Listening to the report, Lee Chanhoo clicked his tongue as he chewed on a bossam bone.
"What kind of idiot does that?"
At that moment, Jaeha’s vision rippled as he watched the television. Another flash of déjà vu followed. In an instant, Déjà vu unfolded for him again. The strange part was that the subject of the vision wasn’t standing in front of him. He had only been watching TV.
A different kind of Déjà vu.
But there was no mistaking it. What Kang Jaeha was seeing now was Déjà vu, and it lasted longer than usual.
......
When he returned from Déjà vu, Jaeha’s expression had turned grim. Seeing that, Lee Chanhoo asked,
"Boss? What’s wrong? Stomachache?"
Jaeha put down the chopsticks he had been holding and abruptly stood up, walking toward the TV. It was still reporting the incident from moments ago. Jaeha pointed at the screen with his index finger. More precisely, he was pointing at the criminal behind the case.
"Looks like this bastard is your next target."
Meaning he was one of their mercenaries.