episode_0063

When Yeongcheol was in his second year of high school, a cold wind blew at school.

This is because an article exposing the chairman’s corruption was posted on an anonymous bulletin board.

There have been posts like this before, but this time it was quite specific.

This was something that only students or faculty members who knew the school well could write.

“The school was turned upside down. Two teachers were fired and suspicious students were called to the student council. One of them was Yeongcheol.”

Due to persistent threats from the chairman and the teachers on that line, I wrote a letter of reflection and was disciplined.

“Senior Yeongcheol is the only student who didn’t write a reflection paper and wasn’t disciplined. Given the chairman’s personality, there’s no way he would’ve just let it slide. He must’ve exchanged something.”

After filming, I investigated Senior Youngcheol and found this.

It was probably around this time that my connection with the Chairman began.

“When I was in school, I would have kept an eye on my seniors and juniors, and in college, I would have gone around alumni associations and collected information on graduates who were helping their juniors who were dissatisfied with the school. You can think of them as spies for the chairman.”

“My sister was wrongly fooled by that kind of person.”

Minji said with an angry expression.

“So we can use it. The chairman will try to get Yeongcheol senior again because he’s wondering what’s going on. Tell Minhee senior to bring Yeongcheol senior with him no matter what. From now on, he’ll leak information that’s favorable to us.”

“Okay.”

A few days later —

“Congratulations on winning the award. But why did you submit it to an independent film festival? It was originally a youth film festival.”

Senior Young-cheol said with a haggard face.

They say they had a hard time filming the movie in Jeju Island.

“I heard that the judging for the Youth Film Festival is not fair. The goal is the target, so it shouldn’t be like that. That’s why I submitted it to the Independent Film Festival.”

Senior Youngcheol’s expression became strange.

The expression on his face is like, “How did he know that the chairman had a hand in it?”

“Thanks to that, the schedule got messed up, but the result is better. Now I think I can expose the chairman’s corruption.”

“Are you going to upload the exposure video you made then?”

“I’m going to use that later. If I just upload it, the chairman will file a defamation suit before the Office of Education investigates. It doesn’t matter to us since we’re the instigators, but I hope the people I interviewed don’t get hurt.”

“That, that’s right.”

Beyond the strange expression, he is confused.

It makes sense, since what the chairman said came out of my mouth.

“Actually, a better idea just came to mind. So I’m thinking about it.”

“A better idea? What is it?”

“Once it’s decided, I’ll talk about it when we all gather together. Senior Youngcheol is also on the same boat, so please help him a lot.”

“Of course. If you need anything, just let me know.”

Senior Youngcheol’s eyes lit up.

You probably think you’re doing a good job as a spy.

*

Chairman’s Office —

“He said something like that?”

“Yeah, I guess I won’t use that video.”

“Write, just write. I could have just caught them all at once.”

The chairman exhales cigarette smoke and laughs bitterly.

“I think there’s another plot, but I’ll keep looking into it. I haven’t told you yet.”

“Do that. It won’t be fun if you suddenly cut off contact like last time.”

“I couldn’t help it because of the filming. How do I cut off contact with the chairman?”

“Okay.”

As Kim Young-cheol left the chairman’s office, the teacher sitting next to him said.

“Speaking of Byun Ha-jin and those guys, shouldn’t they be awarded at the school level?”

“Award? Why?”

“It’s been a while since I won an award at a film festival while I was in school. There’s a big fuss about their film outside right now.”

Even if film festivals are a trend, winning awards at film festivals brings honor to the school.

It seems only natural that we should express our gratitude at the school level.

“Am I crazy? Say hello to those guys.”

The chairman suddenly became angry.

“Tell those guys to do it to the principal. Even if it’s something that the old man doesn’t do, he should do it.”

He said that, but he took a deep drag on his cigarette as if his heart was burning.

*****

A new concept for the exposure video has been decided.

The reincarnation cast directly exposes the chairman’s corruption.

It’s a direct revelation without any acting or interviews.

“The data screen can be recycled from the last time, so editing won’t take much time. You two will have a hard time because you have to keep talking like announcers.”

Minji said this while giving me the script she had organized.

The words are a script, not a narration that explains the situation.

“I’ll do the reading with Eugene first. Let’s film tomorrow.”

“Okay.”

*

I met Eugene separately in the practice room.

We exchanged comments while checking the parts that needed to be melodramatic, and it was as natural as the flow of water.

They even acted like they couldn’t live without each other, but this kind of narration is nothing.

But the problem arose in an unexpected place.

“What do you think of this expression on the face of the CEO who is exposing his corruption? Yoo·Jin·Yang.”

Eugene said, turning the monitor towards him.

We are filming the reading scene and checking it intermittently.

“Ah, that… is a bit awkward. Hehe.”

Eugene said with a bashful smile.

Eugene is looking at me with honey dripping from his eyes.

They say it’s cool because it’s like an announcer hosting a current affairs program.

I’ve had a hard time keeping my eyes open since I started filming the movie.

“Are you going to be an idol?”

“Yeah. But why are you asking that?”

“Your fans are really into you, do you think they’d feel good or bad watching this video?”

“Ah.”

The entertainment industry is a place that sells fantasy, and the basis of that fantasy is ‘love’.

People feel affection for girl groups that are nicely packaged by entertainment companies.

Each member of the girl group has to become a virtual lover to one of those people.

A virtual lover should be without even the slightest flaw.

Any trace of a man in particular is fatal.

“I guess that’s because they’re acting in movies. But no matter how I look at it, this is a face that makes me want to die for it. When you debut, you have to have a pseudo-relationship with your fans, so what if something like this comes out?”

“But… I try not to do that, but when I look at you… .”

He twirls his hair with his fingers, expressing his helplessness.

This is something Eugene often does when he’s embarrassed.

It was so cute I wanted to bite it, but I held myself back.

“You want to compete with Sora’s acting with dance and song? Do you want to collapse before you even get there?”

Eventually, Sora was pulled out.

There is no better medicine to bring Eugene back to his senses.

“That, that’s right. This won’t do. What if I’m worse than Sora!”

From the next reading, the honey disappeared from Eugene’s face.

*

The next day —

We met early because we wanted to do one more reading before filming.

The expression on his face while narrating seriously has improved a lot since yesterday.

It was a good thing I spoke strongly.

“What happens if I expose it and the CEO somehow gets away with it?”

While making the video, we never once talked about failure.

Now that it’s right in front of you, I guess you remembered it.

It’s not a worried expression.

I’m just asking out of curiosity.

To Eugene, this is just a school that he can go to or not.

“The chairman will take revenge. He will either sue you for defamation or refer you to the student council and force you to transfer or suspend your school. There are seniors who have been treated that way.”

“It’s annoying. You’re going to kick us out and go around being so annoying.”

“Maybe they’ll just kick me out?”

“What are you talking about?”

“You’re a third-generation chaebol. The chairman is the ringleader, so I’ll catch you. That way, I won’t touch you.”

Even if the chairman leaves, I don’t think he’ll try to get along with Daesung Group.

“I hate it. What am I doing here when you can’t go to school? I came here because of you!”

“Really? Then, you shouldn’t go either.”

“What?”

My eyes are wide open because I didn’t think about this.

“If something goes wrong, I’ll leave on my own before I get punished. I can drop out and re-enroll, I have a qualification exam, and no matter what, I don’t want to get kicked out by the chairman.”

I’m not saying that we should leave together because it would be unfair if I left alone.

Anyway, Eugene won’t be able to attend school properly starting next year.

Clover Day, which made Eugene a K-POP goddess, will be revealed next year.

Starting with auditions at the beginning of the year, it takes nearly three years to go through a fierce training period and advance to the debut group.

Knowing this, it was easy for me to say let’s go.

But I can’t say that the future will be like this, so I decided to try to be a little bit more stylish.

“That’s why I’m leaving you alone. Without me, men would be so entangled, wouldn’t it be annoying? Having another guy beside you besides me… Ugh, I don’t even want to imagine it.”

When I make a face like that, Eugene’s face blooms.

It’s a rare, hearty laugh that we’ve seen in recent times.

“Really? Are you sure you wanted to go out with me?”

He reacts as if he is receiving a proposal.

That’s a bit off topic.

“I’m telling you, it’s true. Instead, you should talk to the CEO. Don’t point fingers at me for no reason… Hey, hey.”

I couldn’t finish speaking.

Because Eugene suddenly hugged me.

The chest compression strength was still a bit… disappointing.

“Haa, after always being a jerk, you finally acknowledge my spot. I’ll be sharing it with Sora for now… Just wait and see. It’ll be mine eventually.”

Then he licks my cheek lightly.

Why are you so bold?

*****

“Oh, we fit together better than when we were filming. After all, we need to have a common enemy.”

Minji looks at the monitor with a satisfied expression.

“When can I upload it?”

“If I work on the weekend, maybe early next week?”

“Get ready and upload it when I contact you. I have something to do first.”

“What to do?”

“Interview with the Chairman.”

All three of them have expressions like, “What are you talking about?”

“No, why the chairman?”

“I told you I was going to use Senior Youngcheol. I was going to give the chairman some medicine.”

*

When I asked to meet with the chairman, he told me to come up right away.

He didn’t even ask why he requested the interview.

‘I was planning on calling you anyway.’