Taking Over (1)
The entertainment industry was in an uproar over a single scoop: top actor Woo Jeongcheol’s drug scandal. His name was plastered everywhere, as if an earthquake had hit.
Like articles giving birth to more articles, the same story kept reproducing itself under different headlines.
The funny thing was that the moment top actor Woo Jeongcheol’s drug scandal broke, his past behavior and words were dug back up as if people had been waiting for the chance.
The spark that set off Woo Jeongcheol’s drug case had been Ha Yeonji, but now the snowball had grown beyond anyone’s control. The firepower of countless articles naturally spread into public opinion at once.
The flames moved from the communities to social media and YouTube, where they roared all the harder.
Hours melted away in that state, but neither top actor Woo Jeongcheol nor his agency said a word.
Then articles began appearing saying that Woo Jeongcheol had missed his scheduled engagements, or even gone missing. The industry cooled almost at once, and tension filled the air.
Countless agencies kept mentioning Woo Jeongcheol. Leon Entertainment, where Jaeha worked, was no exception.
To put it crudely, everything was a complete mess, and the only ones who still had room to breathe were Kang Jaeha and his subordinates.
"Now just let the current carry it. It'll sort itself out."
That was the entire situation.
Meanwhile, veteran director Yu Giltae, who had already heard the news, had no choice but to sit there stunned.
"...I-it actually blew up."
Woo Jeongcheol’s drug scandal, supplied by Lee Chanhoo of MEG, had turned the world upside down. Thanks to that, the team for his new film, The Masked Murder, was in an uproar. It was a top actor already cast in the film getting hit with a drug case. It would have been strange if they had stayed quiet.
Still, the damage to Yu Giltae was minimal.
No, there was almost none at all.
It was all thanks to Lee Chanhoo. Or rather, if he dug deeper, thanks to Kang Jaeha, the one really pulling the strings and setting the board. Yu Giltae, unaware of that, felt a strange mix of relief and confusion.
'What would have happened... if I hadn't known about this?'
Meanwhile, the animated film Day Moon House, which had opened a few days earlier, was steadily spreading by word of mouth.
It wasn't explosive, but the mentions were steadily increasing. On top of that, the reactions from viewers who had seen the film were fairly hot.
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It was the fourth day after release. The mood among the public was turning unusual.
August 1. Late afternoon.
Even amid the commotion over Day Moon House and Woo Jeongcheol’s drug scandal, the day kept moving. Yoon Dayeon and An Jihee were each handling their own schedules, and Kang Jaeha, who had more freedom than the others, got off work a little late.
The moment he clocked out, he did what he had already decided to do.
The meeting with the entertainment agency he was about to acquire.
The earlier Lumia Entertainment had been ruled out, and this time the meeting was with LX Entertainment. Jaeha first stopped by the MEG office and met the members who would go with him.
The members were Lee Chanhoo, Go Chunseok, and Cha Chunghyun.
The conversation with LX had already been arranged, and Kang Jaeha, wearing a mask and black-rim glasses, muttered to his subordinates.
"Let's go."
Lee Chanhoo gave their commander a thumbs-up.
"Man, Commander, those glasses really suit you."
Go Chunseok agreed with solemn earnestness.
"Yes, Commander. You have a very educated look."
Cha Chunghyun, who was watching the two of them, lazily scratched his chin.
"So, uh, is this the part where I pretend to fawn over you? Commander, you're stupidly handsome."
Kang Jaeha gave him a short reply.
"You don't have a soul."
Even as they moved, Jaeha reviewed LX Entertainment's materials again: the situation Ha Yeonji had investigated, the financial state Cha Chunghyun had summarized, and more.
He had already read it once, but he checked again just in case.
It didn't take long for the MEG team, including Jaeha, to arrive at LX Entertainment. It wasn't far from the Yangjae Station area where MEG's office was located. LX Entertainment had been around for a while, so the office had more than fifteen employees.
After scanning the atmosphere inside LX Entertainment, Kang Jaeha gave a faint snort.
'This is probably after they've already cut a lot.'
There must have been even more employees once upon a time. As Jaeha was taking the measure of the place, Cha Chunghyun, wearing his usual air of weary boredom, came up beside him and whispered,
"Out of the agencies you had us check, this one here, LX, was in the best financial shape at least. You could almost call it managed. Still in trouble, though."
When Kang Jaeha nodded, the MEG team was shown into a small conference room. Inside, about three people were waiting: one middle-aged woman, with two men on either side of her.
That middle-aged woman was the representative of LX Entertainment.
Her name was Park Zahi.
Representative Park had hair shorter than a bob, and looked to be in her late forties. Her features didn't seem especially severe, though her aquiline nose stood out. The moment he saw her, Kang Jaeha silently judged her.
'The type who started as a manager and built her own agency.'
The MEG team and the people from LX exchanged greetings with a few brief handshakes. Representative Park looked at Kang Jaeha, who was wearing a mask and glasses, with a faintly curious eye, but she quickly let it go.
Everyone took their seats.
Apparently they had prepared in advance, because transparent folders and documents were laid out at the MEG team's seats. Probably LX Entertainment's company profile and internal materials. As Jaeha skimmed through them, he saw profiles for the artists currently under LX Entertainment mixed in as well.
'Not that many.'
The conversation began with Representative Park.
"I was a little surprised when I first got the call."
Her voice was a little rough, and Lee Chanhoo took the lead in the discussion.
"Were you?"
Soon Representative Park briefed them on LX Entertainment's current situation. Jaeha already knew most of it, but he listened quietly. As expected, things were far from good. The atmosphere had been decent in the beginning, but then they had apparently been attacked by several other agencies.
To be exact, they had lost the entertainers under their wing.
They had barely held on thanks to Representative Park's leadership, but in the entertainment industry, money beat everything. From the A-listers down to the usable talents, everyone with value had moved on for better offers, and the girl group they had launched with so much ambition had failed. Debt kept piling up.
Still, LX Entertainment wasn't completely without success.
It was just that the results by now were poor.
Without Representative Park's ability, they probably wouldn't have held out this long. Whatever the case, the meeting started to move in earnest.
'Way better than Lumia Entertainment.'
LX Entertainment fit the framework Jaeha had in mind quite well. As he listened to the conversation, he moved his hand over the files in front of him, checking the remaining artists under LX Entertainment one by one.
A B-list actor, a broadcaster whose schedule had gone up in smoke, and a few others.
Washed-up talent was here too. But the situation was different from Leon's. Leon discarded its washed-up talent, while this place was hanging onto theirs.
'Doesn't matter, though. After all, I need a vessel to fill.'
Then.
'Hm?'
Kang Jaeha's hand stopped dead over one profile. The last one. A profile with a photo of a young-looking woman, younger than the others. In an instant, Jaeha's expression changed.
Then.
-Swoosh.
He suddenly called out to Representative Park, who was in the middle of talking with Lee Chanhoo.
"Representative."
In truth, he had no intention of joining the discussion today. He had already told Lee Chanhoo and the others as much. Maybe that was why Lee Chanhoo, Go Chunseok, and Cha Chunghyun looked a little startled. Representative Park, whose words had been cut off, also looked mildly flustered.
"...Yes?"
Regardless, Jaeha lifted the profile he had been reading and said in a low voice,
"This one. Choi Rina. What's her story?"
It was the profile with the young woman's photo attached. The moment she saw it, Representative Park reacted with an "Ah" and answered,
"Rina... she was one of the members of the girl group that failed. She's the only one left now. She's got the most talent by far. She was the main vocalist, and she's good at composing too. We were getting her ready for YouTube, but... lately she's suddenly become withdrawn and depressed."
"Withdrawn. Depressed."
"I don't know. Her condition got bad all of a sudden. She was a girl who had a pretty solid mental state, too. Then out of nowhere she said she couldn't sing anymore. She's one of the people I'm worried about."
"Can I meet her?"
"That thing is... she's been a bit off the radar lately, so I can't get in touch with her."
"..."
"But! She might be busking somewhere."
"She can't sing."
"Oh, when she busks, it looks like she just plays the guitar."
After watching Representative Park for a moment, Kang Jaeha showed the profile to Lee Chanhoo. The commander spoke with his eyes.
Find Choi Rina. Right now.
For some reason, Lee Chanhoo looked serious as he nodded.
-Ssshh.
He closed his eyes.
About an hour and a half later, near Hongdae.
It was past nine at night. Even though it was a weekday, the streets around Hongdae were crowded. Through the mass of people, a rather lively guitar melody drifted out.
-♬♪
There, at roughly the center of the street, a woman was playing an acoustic guitar with a good deal of passion. She had long hair with a slight violet tint, clear skin, and a puppy-like face. She was very good at guitar. About a dozen people had stopped to listen to the melody she was playing.
But the woman with the guitar did not sing.
She only played.
For that reason, the people watching did not stay long.
And then it happened.
"Damn, that's killer??"
Three men among the onlookers raised their voices. They looked to be in their thirties, but from their speech and faces they seemed fairly drunk. The most flushed-faced one of them walked straight up to the woman with the guitar.
Because of the smell of alcohol on him, the woman stopped playing and looked up.
"...?"
When she frowned, the red-faced man grinned and spoke to her.
"Why aren't you singing? Sing for us too! Come on, sing!"
The woman didn't answer. She only furrowed her brow further. The red-faced man, however, kept making a scene. His two friends joined in as well.
"Yeah, your voice probably sounds pretty too, so sing for us."
"Or maybe have a drink with us??"
"Hey, hey, don't come on so strong."
"What, why not? Come on, don't you want to go have a drink with us?"
The bystanders began to murmur. The woman let out a sigh and started packing up. It seemed like she had gone through this a few times before. Irritated that she wasn't responding, the red-faced man raised his voice a little.
"Why are you ignoring me? Huh? Answer me, or sing something."
"..."
The woman with long violet hair still said nothing as she packed her things. At last, the man lost his temper and reached for her wrist.
"Damn it, talk, will you?"
But he couldn't.
Because someone had suddenly seized him by the back of the neck. It was an enormous hand. The man coughed and gagged.
"Ugh- gk!"
The two men with him snapped their heads around. Then they reeled. Backpedaling was an added bonus. It made sense. The thing gripping their friend's neck was a monster of a man. No, it was Go Chunseok.
In a thick voice, Go Chunseok warned him,
"Don't."
The ones who were shocked by him were not just the men. The woman with long violet hair, who had been packing up her things, was just as stunned. She opened her eyes wide the moment she saw Go Chunseok.
At that moment.
-Swoosh.
A black-haired man quietly brushed past Go Chunseok. It was Kang Jaeha. Ignoring the men entirely, he moved up beside the woman with the violet hair. He stopped about two steps away from her.
Kang Jaeha met her eyes and said quietly,
"Choi Rina."
The lips of the violet-haired woman called Choi Rina slowly parted.
"Huh?"
Shock flashed in her eyes, as if her breath had stopped short. And then, just as she was staring at him, a woman's voice rang out from somewhere.
Companion encountered confirmed.
Of course, Kang Jaeha heard it too.
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