The Proactive Actress
Cha Ye-na deliberately turned her back on Jang Mi-ye and met Jang Gang-tae’s eyes as she spoke. “I’ve been buying up listed shares because I knew JB Group would do well. JB Construction too. Once I got my hands on Jangbaek Corporation shares, I started feeling even more attached to JB. QS Group is really unsightly, isn’t it?”
Knowing Ho-gyun stood behind Cha Ye-na, Jang Mi-ye’s face grew increasingly ashen, but Jang Gang-tae burst into another wide grin. “You don’t have to worry about QS. They’re nothing.”
“True. This time they tried using some idol as their promotional model and got smacked hard, didn’t they? When the school violence scandal about Rainy Girls’ Da-hyun broke, I found it quite satisfying. Even if it was a lucky break, it’s a huge gain for JB Group, right?”
Poor Jang Mi-ye’s expression turned as if she were chewing on filth instead of fine cuisine with every word from Cha Ye-na. Yet Jang Gang-tae, who had no time to notice her face, gazed at Cha Ye-na with a deep look and spoke confidently. “A lucky break?”
Cha Ye-na’s acting skills exploded once more. Already knowing the full situation, she lightly covered her mouth with one hand as if she had committed a grave discourtesy to someone as important as President Jang Gang-tae, her contact-lens-covered eyes widening. “Oh my, I seem to have made a slip of the tongue on our first meeting.”
“Not at all. JB Group’s greatness isn’t well known to outsiders. Mi-ye, why don’t you tell Cha Ye-na here about what we were discussing earlier.”
Jang Mi-ye, who had stopped cutting her food, widened her eyes like an innocent girl who knew nothing and asked, “What discussion?”
“The one where I said Father was pleased to hear about it too.”
While Jang Mi-ye twisted her body as if sitting on a bed of thorns, Cha Ye-na seized the opportunity and drove in the wedge. “Was the story you two were sharing related to Rainy Girls’ Da-hyun school violence incident?”
Jang Gang-tae, who had turned his gaze away from Jang Mi-ye as if completely uninterested, poured strength into his voice again, as if trying to exude masculine charm toward Cha Ye-na. “I’ll just tell you myself. It wasn’t a lucky break. We planned it meticulously. Whether they’re celebrities or whatever, if they get involved with QS, that’s what happens. Look at those QS bastards now, unable to respond and just floundering. Do you think those kinds of people could ever be our competitors in the future?”
“Ah, really? I’m glad I invested heavily in JB Group affiliates instead of QS.”
“Of course. They’ve just been lucky so far. In the next thirty years, they won’t even appear alongside us in the news.”
Jang Gang-tae must have been trying to impress Cha Ye-na by talking about a future where he would be the chairman of JB Group. Unfortunately, the interests of the two women at the same table were more than a light-year away from Jang Gang-tae’s aspirations.
Cha Ye-na figured she had heard everything she needed to hear, so leaving now would complete the mission Ho-gyun had given her. On the other hand, Jang Mi-ye had no intention of letting Cha Ye-na go like this.
“Please take good care of my stocks and dividends from now on. Seeing President Jang Gang-tae like this, I should increase my stake in JB Construction.”
“Hahaha, it doesn’t have to be JB Construction. As long as you put your money anywhere with JB attached, you’ll never lose.”
“I’ll trust you!”
Just as Cha Ye-na was about to wrap up her conversation with Jang Gang-tae, Jang Mi-ye’s hand reached toward Cha Ye-na’s shoulder.
“Um, Cha Ye-na!”
Smack—.
Cha Ye-na quickly swatted away Jang Mi-ye’s hand that had touched her shoulder. “Ah, I’m sorry. This is natural fur, so it’s not easy to clean, and I can’t have it get dirty. Please understand.”
At Cha Ye-na’s words, Jang Mi-ye, who had momentarily become a woman with dirty hands, let out a hollow laugh toward the ceiling. “Hah. Cha. Ye. Na. Could we talk privately for a moment?”
It was Jang Gang-tae, now afraid of letting Cha Ye-na go, who responded to Jang Mi-ye’s anger. “Mi-ye, why are you acting like that to a guest?”
“Guest? Oppa……!”
This time, Cha Ye-na intervened between the two cousins. “I didn’t come here to cause an argument between you siblings, so I’ll be taking my leave. If you have something to say to me, Jang Mi-ye, you’re welcome to come out with me.”
* * *
While my secretary Cha Ye-na was attending the Jangbaek Corporation shareholders’ meeting in my place, I was driving around the JB Hotel. Of course, I wasn’t just killing time waiting for Cha Ye-na to come out. I was receiving updates on the shareholders’ meeting through the microphone on the shoulder fur Cha Ye-na had worn over her purple dress and the recording and transmission devices in the bag she carried.
Honestly, even after casting Cha Ye-na as an actress and sending her into the shareholders’ meeting, I hadn’t had high expectations. Asking her to extract information from Jang Mi-ye through leading questions wasn’t an easy task for someone without investigative experience. Frankly, if Cha Ye-na succeeded, great, but if not, it didn’t matter much. After all, there were plenty of ways to resolve Park Da-hyun’s false school violence scandal.
Like turning Kim Young-woo, Jang Mi-ye’s lackey who had directly given money to the whistleblower Go Mi-jin? Of course, if Cha Ye-na did well, we could get recordings of JB Group’s top executives from the Jangbaek Corporation shareholders’ meeting. This was the best scenario for me—giving JB Group a big middle finger while simultaneously demonstrating my power to the Central Investigation Headquarters.
And right now, Cha Ye-na was playing her role exceptionally well in her own way. When I instructed her to approach Jang Gang-tae separately, knowing he was a small-minded thug, I hadn’t expected him to fall so easily for such a light temptation. Jang Gang-tae was probably around twice Cha Ye-na’s age—would a man with a wife and child really be thinking of an affair? Well, since it was working out smoothly for me, I had no reason to complain.
A moment ago, after Cha Ye-na suggested going out with Jang Mi-ye, only the sound of footsteps could be heard. How would things unfold from here?
Just as my car turned onto the main road in front of the JB Hotel, the large phone on the holder rang with an incoming call. The caller was Cha Ye-na.
“Yeah. Ye-na. Did the shareholders’ meeting go well?”
- Yes. I’m just leaving the JB Hotel now, and someone is following me.
“Jang Mi-ye, by any chance?”
- Yes. When I asked why she was following me, she said she had nothing to say to me and wanted to meet the lawyer directly. What should I do?
Glancing out the car window, I saw Cha Ye-na and Jang Mi-ye walking side by side at just the right moment.
“There’s the car you rode in earlier right in front of you, right? I’m driving that car. If that’s what Jang Mi-ye wants, would you like to ride together?”
- Yes, I see it. Jang Mi-ye says she’ll do that too.
A moment later, the two women boarded the back seat of my car parked on the shoulder. Huh? But Cha Ye-na’s face reflected in the rearview mirror looked serious. There was a clear handprint on her left cheek, flushed red. Even though the heavy makeup had come off, leaving a lasting mark, anger surged at the thought of someone laying hands on our precious actress and my secretary.
“Jang Mi-ye?”
“Yes! Attorney Kwon.”
“Did you by any chance lay a hand on Cha Ye-na’s face?”
Jang Mi-ye deliberately turned her boiling face toward the rearview mirror as if to show me and replied, “Yes. What are you going to do about it? Since you’re a lawyer, are you going to sue me for assault?”
Was this woman really crazy?
“You want me to actually sue you? Assault on Cha Ye-na requires the victim’s consent for punishment. Will you consent to punishment?”
Cha Ye-na, with her arms crossed, turned to look at Jang Mi-ye. “If the lawyer wants it.”
“This bitch……!”
“Jang Mi-ye, it doesn’t seem like you’re in a position to raise your voice like that right now. We’ll discuss the lawsuit separately, so why don’t you tell me what you wanted to say first?”
Jang Mi-ye barely unclenched her tightly gritted molars and continued in a lowered voice. “Did you really have to go this far? I don’t know how you found out that the Rainy Girls Da-hyun school violence scandal was related to our JB Group, but did you have to come to the Jangbaek Corporation shareholders’ meeting and cause all this trouble?”
“Wasn’t it you, Jang Mi-ye, who handed over the authority to participate in the Jangbaek Corporation shareholders’ meeting to me?”
“Who do you think gave it to you for this?”
“Once I received it, it’s up to me how I use that authority. You know that the conversation you had with Cha Ye-na at the shareholders’ meeting was all recorded, right?”
“Ha, so that’s why she threw a fit just because I touched her shoulder a little? Was there a microphone here? You insolent bitch. So, Attorney, what are you going to do with that illegal recording?”
This woman, deliberately calling me “Attorney” and suggesting we fight with the law?
“It’s not an illegal recording. Since Cha Ye-na, a participant in the conversation, made the recording, the recording itself is legal, and it has evidentiary value in court.”
In the end, Jang Mi-ye’s voice, which she had been deliberately lowering, shot up to the ceiling and echoed loudly inside the car. “So what are you going to do! I’m going to go back into the hotel right now and expose that Cha Ye-na bitch is a spy. Are you going to start an all-out war with our JB Group?”
“After JB Group already touched our QS promotional model, an all-out war? There’s nothing we can’t do. But Jang Mi-ye?”
“Yes.”
“You said you were going to expose that Cha Ye-na is a spy?”
“Why? Are you scared?”
The moment she asked me, Jang Mi-ye’s facial muscles stiffened as she seemed to grasp the repercussions of that action herself. “Then you’ll also have no choice but to explain how that spy managed to get into the Jangbaek Corporation shareholders’ meeting, right? If necessary, I could even tell Chairman Jang Iksu myself. How about it? At this point, it’s not about JB Group or QS Group anymore—you’ll have to step in and stop it yourself, Jang Mi-ye. If you can’t stop it, Chairman Jang Iksu’s personality doesn’t seem ordinary, so I won’t bother imagining what might happen beyond that.”
What the—? Tears seemed to well up in Jang Mi-ye’s eyes, and soon her black mascara began to run. “Why are you doing this to me? Do you know how much alimony I’m being squeezed for every month because of you, Attorney?”
There are men whose hearts soften when a woman cries, but that’s only if I had even a shred of goodwill toward Jang Mi-ye in the first place.
“That’s not because of me. It’s because you cheated and then filed for divorce relying on Jeongwan-yeou. Don’t twist your words. Speak properly.”