episode_0200
by adminA fancy Korean BBQ restaurant in Gangnam.
Kim Iseo parked his car in a nearby parking lot and waited quietly in the driver’s seat. He made a phone call at the same time.
“Yes, yes. That’s right. Black sedan. Here.”
Slam!
Soon after, the passenger seat door opened and a woman with a phone to her ear got in.
It was Kim Seon-ah, the team leader of Star Catch.
“It’s been a while, Team Leader Seon-ah.”
“Yes. Nice to see you. About what you said on the phone…”
Kim Iseo nodded.
“It’s all true, and I really need Seon-ah’s help to resolve Soo-ah’s situation. Please help me.”
“Of course. I should definitely help if it’s for Soo-ah. I don’t hesitate about that. But CEO-nim…”
Kim Seon-ah tilted her head.
“…I don’t know if I’ll be of any help. I’m not good at psychological warfare. Honestly, I don’t have the confidence to extract information from the Next Day team leader.”
“I’ll assist you as much as possible on that part.”
Kim Iseo held out a small wireless earphone.
Thanks to its small size, it’s not noticeable even when worn. Kim Iseo plans to watch the situation from the car and give instructions when Seon-ah enters the BBQ restaurant wearing this.
It was difficult, but worth enduring this hardship.
Because the person Seon-ah is meeting today is the entertainment department team leader of the prominent media company ‘Next Day.’
Kim Iseo grabbed Seon-ah’s shoulder.
“Lastly, Star Catch has no information regarding Kang Hak-man or Lee Joo-hyun, right?”
“It’s not that there was absolutely no information mentioning those two, but it was unrelated to what you mentioned, CEO-nim. It was all routine stuff.”
“Hmm… I see.”
Kim Iseo nodded with a bitter taste.
‘Even Star Catch, which has been rapidly growing these days, hasn’t come across any information about infidelity. It’s a bad sign.’
But he had no intention of quitting just because a few bad signs came up. Because his faith in Soo-ah is greater.
Soon, Kim Iseo tapped Seon-ah’s shoulder.
“It can’t be helped. All we can do is hope something comes out of it today.”
.
.
.
.
.
Afterwards, Kim Seon-ah, wearing a small wireless earphone, entered the restaurant. Immediately, an employee greeted her.
“What is the name of the reservation holder?”
“Kim Seon-ah.”
“Please go to Room 8.”
It’s definitely not a restaurant where you grill meat in a boisterous atmosphere. This is a restaurant for entertaining guests, where only small portions of meat are grilled and served.
Therefore, it’s right to consider it a bar. A bar where you have premium Korean BBQ as an appetizer and sake on the side.
Slide open─
When she opened the sliding door and went inside, her counterpart was already seated. He smiled broadly when he saw Kim Seon-ah.
“A precious person has arrived. Aren’t you the team leader of Star Catch?”
Kim Seon-ah politely greeted him and then sat down.
…Now what do I do from here?
─Ask if he ordered the BBQ and just ask how he’s doing. So he doesn’t feel like we’re being impatient.
As if reading Seon-ah’s mind, Kim Iseo’s instructions came through the earphone. It was so specific that it wasn’t difficult to carry out.
“Did you order the BBQ? What can I get for you?”
“BBQ is fine, let’s just have some drinks.”
The man across from her said, pouring soju into his soju glass. He hadn’t ordered the BBQ, but it seemed like he had ordered drinks in advance.
He smiled.
“Kim Seon-ah, you’re buying today, right?”
“…”
─He basically looks down on Team Leader Kim Seon-ah. It means he’s being careless, so that’s actually good. Relaxedly accept and order drinks and BBQ casually.
Kim Seon-ah nodded.
“I’m buying drinks as well as BBQ. Have some with me.”
“Wow, I didn’t know you were such a nice person.”
The man glanced at Kim Seon-ah.
“And aren’t you being too polite? Star Catch is doing really well these days, right? You don’t really need to do this.”
“We’re still far from catching up to Next Day.”
Star Catch’s growth rate has been remarkable these days, but that’s only thanks to preempting topics related to ‘Soo-ah’ every time. Next Day is still ahead in other fields.
“So why are you buying me drinks and BBQ today? It’s not like you’re personally interested in me, right?”
Kim Iseo had heard about this part in advance. Why else, it’s a textbook question that was expected to come up.
“It means let’s get along well, whether it’s professional or personal.”
“So you’re giving me an opening to seduce me? Scary. By the way, everything Lee Soo-ah touches these days turns into a hit.”
─Lightly respond to the conversation and induce him to drink more.
Kim Seon-ah did so right away.
“Have another glass.”
“…Your face is already red? Are you weak at drinking?”
“What does it matter? It’s a gathering to get closer.”
─It’s fortunate that Seon-ah’s face turns red easily when she drinks. Thanks to that, the other party will be more careless. He won’t even imagine that I’m behind this.
In fact, the Next Day team leader seemed to have relaxed.
“These days, there are too many guys who don’t have professional ethics. They’re so obsessed with views that they write all sorts of articles. What’s really important is─”
“Of course.”
─From now on, rather than trying to drink, stop him.
Kim Seon-ah did so. Afterwards, Kim Iseo gave her several additional explanations about psychological warfare.
“Team Leader-nim, stop drinking.”
“Huh? No, no. I’m okay. You should worry about Seon-ah.”
“Oh, is that so? You do seem to be very strong at drinking.”
Kim Seon-ah matched his rhythm well. She verbally stops him from drinking but ultimately makes him drink more. Eventually, the team leader’s speech began to have slight hints of intoxication.
Kim Iseo, who was waiting in the car, let out a sigh of relief.
‘For now, I’ve succeeded in getting him drunk. Good.’
Kim Iseo said so, looking at his notepad. Numerous names were written on it, and each of those words had a check mark over them.
It means that as a result of investigating these people, he was unable to find clues about Lee Joo-hyun and Kang Hak-man. After hearing Soo-ah’s words, Kim Iseo frantically searched for information.
But there was a limit.
If he kept digging around too much, rumors would spread that the Mystic CEO was digging into Lee Joo-hyun and Kang Hak-man.
‘Next Day is the last hope. If I strike out here too, there’s nowhere else to look.’
A few more minutes passed while Kim Iseo held his breath and focused on the sounds. Kim Iseo slowly gave instructions.
─It seems like we’ve drunk enough, so it’s okay to bring it up now. Use Soo-ah as bait.
Kim Seon-ah swallowed hard and then let out a deep sigh.
“Ah… but it’s been so hard lately.”
“What could be difficult about Star Catch? Looking at the situation these days, you could throw a party every day.”
“Soo-ah will be going into ‘Tomorrow’s Crescendo’ soon. It’s a headache just thinking about all the groundless rumors that will follow.”
“There are bound to be a lot of speculations, right? It’s because Director Go hasn’t revealed anyone other than Lee Soo-ah and Ham Ah-yoon.”
“That’s true.”
Then, the man across from her leaned in.
“…If it’s hard, we can add a little bit, give me some information about the casting. If Team Leader Kim Seon-ah gives us proper information, we won’t write skewed articles, right?”
─Softly reject and subtly shift the topic to Tomorrow’s Crescendo. In a way that asks to guess who else went into the lineup besides Soo-ah and Ham Ah-yoon.
Kim Seon-ah drank some water and then followed the advice.
“We’ve naturally acquired who everyone is in the casting. If you guess correctly, I’ll tell you about one person.”
“Oh? Really? Then first of all, Kang Hak-man?”
“Kang Hak-man-ssi?”
Kim Iseo and Kim Seon-ah simultaneously pricked up their ears.
The desired name came out at once. His heart was pounding.
“Kang Hak-man’s reputation has been incredibly good lately, right? And the fact that he’ll be going into schedule soon also seems to coincide with the ‘Tomorrow’s Crescendo’ schedule. The circumstances are like that.”
However, the story they wanted didn’t come out.
Kim Iseo bit his lip.
‘This feels like a dead end.’
It was the same even after talking for about 20 minutes.
All he heard about Kang Hak-man was praise. It must mean that he didn’t come across any information like infidelity. Afterwards, even if Kim Iseo racked his brain, the situation didn’t improve.
─This time, should we change the topic to entertainment? It seems like it would be good to bring up Lee Joo-hyun-ssi’s story.
─Seon-ah-ssi, are you drinking? It’s better not to drink anymore. Your tongue seems a little twisted.
Then, at one moment.
With a thump, Kim Seon-ah didn’t answer. She was too weak to alcohol, so she hit her forehead on the desk and collapsed. For Kim Iseo, it was the worst situation.
─Seon-ah-ssi, Seon-ah-ssi?
Damn it! Kim Iseo hit his own forehead hard. He didn’t even get any information and Kim Seon-ah even collapsed.
From the beginning, it was also a limitation of a meeting where commands were given through earphones. No matter how detailed Kim Iseo, a master of psychological warfare, gave instructions, Kim Seon-ah is a novice.
‘…It can’t be helped. Damn it, I failed again.’
The moment Kim Iseo thought that.
“Tsk. A pup whose blood hasn’t even dried…”
The voice of the Next Day team leader flowed through the earphones. It was a voice without any intoxication.
“You little bitch, you thought a woman buying you alcohol would make you spit out information? Is life that easy? You damn bitch…”
Afterwards, the sound of a phone call was heard.
“Hello. You’re nearby anyway, right? I’ll go there now. But are you guys really confident? I heard you caught a big one on Lee Joo-hyun?”
Kim Iseo’s body, which was listening through the earphones, twitched.
“…What is it that you’re making such a fuss about? If it’s nothing special, I’ll fuck all of you over.”
Afterwards, with a slide, there was no sound at all. The Next Day team leader had left.
Meanwhile, Kim Iseo had his hand over his mouth.
‘They caught something big related to Lee Joo-hyun?’
Goosebumps appeared on his body.
◈◈◈◈◈
Mystic Headquarters.
Kim Iseo, who had returned to the CEO’s office, quietly became lost in thought. His heart was still beating loudly. Ah, of course, he took care of Kim Seon-ah and took her home.
‘The fact that Team Leader Kim Seon-ah was weak to alcohol actually turned out to be a divine move. The other party thought they had won.’
Kim Seon-ah kept drinking because of the strong tension, and eventually collapsed. As a result, the other party was convinced of their victory, but that wasn’t the case. Because Kim Iseo was behind it.
Also, what he said was very shocking.
‘Someone is planning to sell information related to Lee Joo-hyun to Next Day. That’s certain.’
That alone was enough reason to get goosebumps all over his body. If you just apply the situation that Soo-ah discussed, all the circumstances fit plausibly.
If Soo-ah’s words are true, and the big deal is really Lee Joo-hyun’s affair…
‘It’s huge. It’s absurd.’
Kim Iseo swallowed hard.
But one problem still remained.
‘There’s no time to investigate for sure.’
Kim Iseo doesn’t have any material evidence in his hands.
If he could, he would want to engage in a full-fledged information war right away. If he could just find out that the ‘big deal related to Lee Joo-hyun’ is an affair, everything would be perfect. However.
‘Yeah. There’s no time. Time is too tight.’
Director Go Tae-min was using his head to ensure that the buzz surrounding ‘Tomorrow’s Crescendo’ didn’t die down.
The method of revealing only Ham Ah-yoon─Lee Soo-ah in the casting and then revealing the remaining actors sequentially is exactly that. In other words, the casting of Lee Joo-hyun and Kang Hak-man will also be revealed soon.
That was the problem.
‘If an affair breaks out after the article that Lee Joo-hyun and Kang Hak-man have been cast is released, it’s unstoppable. The project will be ruined.’
So if he wants to take action, he has to take it right away. He wasn’t given the time to leisurely pick up evidence and walk around.
If so, he should move right away, but how should he move?
“…”
Kim Iseo briefly closed his eyelids and quickly organized the current situation. At the same time, he was frantically running the calculator in his head. That worry didn’t last long.
Soon, the CEO reopened his eyes.
‘Believe in Soo-ah’s intuition and step forward, but from now on, let’s make all actions my own decision. I’ll take the fall.’
Kim Iseo decided to buckle Soo-ah’s seatbelt. So that if things go wrong, it will be remembered that Kim Iseo did something foolish.
Afterwards, Kim Iseo quickly rummaged through his phone.
[ Next Day Kim Hyun-mo, Department Head ]
First, the first phone call is to Kim Hyun-mo, the department head of Next Day. From Kim Iseo’s perspective, it was the card he had been saving the most.
“Department Head Kim Hyun-mo, how have you been? It’s nothing special, but you still haven’t bought me the meal I promised to buy last time. I’m also going to ask you for a few Soo-ah articles on the side.”
It wasn’t difficult to make an appointment with him. Anyone would jump at the chance to release information about Soo-ah.
─♩♪♬
Next, it wasn’t Kim Iseo who made the call, but rather he received one. It was Star Catch team leader Kim Seon-ah.
“Hello? Ah, CEO-nim! I’m so sorry!”
“No, it went incredibly well.”
“Yes?”
“There’s no time to explain everything in detail, are you mentally okay now, Seon-ah-ssi? Could you possibly write down the articles I’m about to recite in advance?”
“Ah? Yes? Of course. That much isn’t difficult…”
“Then write down what I say from now on.”
When Kim Iseo later instructed the detailed content, Kim Seon-ah couldn’t hide it and showed signs of shock.
“C-CEO-nim, are you really writing this?”
“Why are you surprised? I’m not telling you to post it, I’m just telling you to write it down and keep it. Just stand by.”
Since there was pre-existing trust with Kim Seon-ah, it wasn’t difficult to match words.
Kim Iseo put his finger on the last phone number and took a deep breath. Now the most important call remained.
[ Director Go Tae-min ]
Right, Director Go Tae-min of ‘Tomorrow’s Crescendo.’
“Hello? CEO Kim Iseo?”
“Yes. Director Go Tae-min.”
“What’s going on so late at night?”
“Well, it’s not that, right.”
Kim Iseo worried about what to say, then shook his head. Now there’s no time to waste even for a moment.
“I’ll just get straight to the point. Soo-ah might drop out of ‘Tomorrow’s Crescendo.’”
“Hmm?”
Director Go Tae-min’s bewilderment was felt over the phone.
“Soo-ah-ssi, drop out of my project…?”
“Yes. Let’s talk about the details in person.”
“Yes. But it’s too sudden. What’s wrong? Could you tell me a little over the phone?”
“I skipped a bit in what I said. Soo-ah will leave if Kang Hak-man-ssi and Lee Joo-hyun-ssi don’t leave.”
“Ah?”
Go Tae-min finally spoke out. It was a nuance as if he guessed why Kim Iseo was doing this.
“CEO-nim, did you possibly hear about the problem between Soo-ah-ssi and Hak-man-ssi? I’m also currently checking that. First, calm down…”
“I don’t know what problem you’re talking about.”
Kim Iseo pretended not to know.
It’s to take the fall himself. He pretended not to have heard any stories from Soo-ah. In case things don’t go as expected, so he can take responsibility.
“…Weren’t you trying to discuss Soo-ah-ssi’s troubles?”
“This is the first time I’ve heard that Soo-ah has any troubles. What I’m telling you about is Kang Hak-man and Lee Joo-hyun.”
“Ah.”
Go Tae-min reacted belatedly. He realized that Kim Iseo mentioned not only Kang Hak-man but also Lee Joo-hyun together.
“I’ll meet with you in person, CEO-nim, to talk about the troubles between Soo-ah-ssi and Hak-man-ssi. Then put that aside, what’s the problem with Lee Joo-hyun-ssi and Kang Hak-man-ssi? I’m curious why Soo-ah-ssi suddenly wants to drop out.”
“It’s about to explode the whole project, that’s why.”
Kim Iseo put strength into his voice.
“Kang Hak-man and Lee Joo-hyun, the two of them rolled around heavily.”
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