Episode 107: Feint
Goosebumps prickled across his entire body.
It wasn’t because of the still-chilly night air.
[E-GIS Lee Ha-on, Assault and Extortion Controversy! Endless Allegations of Celebrity School Violence]
The unpleasant chill that made Jo Dae-hwan want to smash everything in sight came from the articles spreading like wildfire—exactly like a single casually tossed stone stirring up murky dust beneath the water’s surface, multiplying and dispersing in an instant.
“Fuck…”
Even he, who almost never let profanity slip from his lips, couldn’t hold it back in a situation like this.
“So ‘that’ was real…”
Less than a day had passed since he’d received the unpleasant warning: ‘Someone might try to harm E-GIS.’
The goosebumps that had risen all over Jo Dae-hwan’s body swelled into something he couldn’t easily shake off.
‘Could it be MyWay?’
The topic of school violence was so eerily precise that the thought had even crossed his mind.
But Jo Dae-hwan quickly shook his head vigorously to dismiss it.
‘No, if that were the case, there would’ve been no need to warn me in advance.’
Thanks to that almost unbelievable, prophetic warning, even in this moment when it felt like ice-cold water had been dumped over his head, he was managing to respond calmly.
[Team Leader Cha Ji-hyo: CEO-nim, Ha-on’s friends who did the interview today are asking when it’ll come out and saying they’ll write posts online too.]
[EnterSense Reporter Kim Ki-wook: CEO Jo, the interviews you just sent—are they confirmed? I’m writing the article right now?]
The very countermeasures they were taking now had been suggested by that prophet duo.
In the end, Jo Dae-hwan couldn’t help but think it.
‘Han Yujin!’
If he had moved even one day later.
If there had been a prior engagement at lunch today and he hadn’t met him.
If he had ignored the warning and stormed out of the room.
What kind of despair would he—and Jooyul Entertainment—be feeling right now?
For an ordinary person with no way to return to the past, it’s impossible to know the ‘road not taken,’ but one thing was certain.
There was no need to deliberately experience a situation you didn’t want to know about.
Reminding himself of that fact made the goosebumps that had covered his body feel like they were finally subsiding a little.
‘Now… shall I check on Ha-on’s condition?’
Feeling that he had regained his composure, the first thing Jo Dae-hwan did was contact the person at the center of the current crisis.
The reason he was only now doing what should have been the very first thing was because he couldn’t let Lee Ha-on see him in an agitated state.
‘Ha-on is that kind of kid…’
Even “lively” was an understatement—his personality was more like explosively cheerful—but when faced with something unfair, he often couldn’t even properly defend himself and would just burst into tears. That was Lee Ha-on.
He was so sensitive that they couldn’t even send him on variety shows that included panelists who liked asking mischievous questions.
‘A guy like that playing the school bully? Extorting money? Does that even make sense?’
Knowing that if he showed his own excitement in front of Ha-on—who was probably holding back tears out of male pride—he would definitely make the kid sob uncontrollably, Jo Dae-hwan had deliberately delayed the call for a while.
He moved his finger, dialed one number, and brought the smartphone close to his face. Almost immediately, the owner of the number answered.
“Ah, CEO-nim.”
“Yeah. Hee-seok-ah. How’s Ha-on? I’m thinking of heading over now.”
Of course, Jo Dae-hwan going there in person would also be pressing Ha-on’s tear button.
But sometimes that was necessary too.
If there were no way to fight back, it would be different—but right now, when there were plenty of adults and friends ready to step up for Ha-on, letting him cry his eyes out and regain his calm wasn’t necessarily a bad thing.
However,
“Um… Ha-on is actually doing okay right now.”
“Huh?”
The reply from the manager in charge of E-GIS was a little different from what Jo Dae-hwan had expected.
“Does Ha-on not know about the situation…?”
The thought that flashed through his mind came straight out of his mouth, but even Jo Dae-hwan himself knew that couldn’t be the case.
To prevent any possible accidents, the members’ personal smartphones had been taken away, but they still had phones prepared for fan communication broadcasts, and he had been turning a blind eye to them borrowing the manager’s phone to go online.
“No, it’s not that…”
The manager’s answer was exactly what Jo Dae-hwan had anticipated.
‘Did the universe step up as a sort of leader?’
The impossible doubt that had slowly begun to sprout in Jo Dae-hwan’s mind started to unravel with the manager’s next words.
“Well… not long after the article broke, Han Yujin sunbaenim contacted us.”
Of course, that wasn’t something Jo Dae-hwan could easily accept.
“Who?”
“Han Yujin sunbaenim from MyWay.”
Why was that name coming up right now?
While Jo Dae-hwan was momentarily at a loss for words as new questions chained themselves together, the manager’s urgent voice began to resolve the confusion.
“He’s been in contact with the kids through my phone from time to time anyway. As soon as he saw the article, he reached out right away.”
“You let him talk to Ha-on?”
“I tried to refuse at first, saying Ha-on wasn’t in a state to talk right now… but… he said it was all cleared with you, CEO-nim, so it was fine…”
“Who? CEO Seo Yoonje?”
“No. You, CEO-nim.”
“Me?”
“Yes…”
Jo Dae-hwan barely managed to swallow the hollow laugh that almost escaped his lips.
The sheer audacity of someone name-dropping him so casually after meeting only once had enough power to momentarily push the current crisis out of his mind.
“He did cry, but he seemed somewhat refreshed afterward.”
“Ha-on cried? You’re sure?”
“Yes. His eyes were bright red—he must have sobbed hard.”
Realizing that someone else had already done what he should have done, Jo Dae-hwan unconsciously scratched the back of his head roughly.
‘Well, whoever did it, who cares? As long as he’s calmed down, that’s what matters.’
It wasn’t exactly a good thing, but in a situation like this, how could he feel anything other than gratitude toward the person who had taken care of what he himself should have handled first?
“I’ll buy a few bottles of banana milk and head over, so give him those and put him to bed.”
That was Lee Ha-on’s habit.
Whenever he shed tears over something unfair without realizing it, he would calm himself down by drinking thick, comforting banana milk—the kind with the chubby bear on the package.
No matter how well-meaning Han Yujin might have been, he probably hadn’t wrapped things up perfectly, so Jo Dae-hwan didn’t stop walking toward his car.
However,
“Um… Ha-on already drank the banana milk and fell asleep.”
The voice coming through the smartphone finally halted Jo Dae-hwan’s steps.
“Did you buy it for him, Hee-seok?”
He asked, even though he already knew the answer couldn’t be yes.
The manager couldn’t possibly be unaware that Ha-on insisted on the green-capped version over the blue one when it came to banana milk.
And no matter how urgent the situation, the manager wouldn’t have unilaterally given him such a sugar-and-calorie bomb on his own authority.
“That was also sent by Yujin sunbaenim…”
“Han Pro-nim?”
“Yes. He thought you had already told us about it…”
“Hah.”
This time even Jo Dae-hwan couldn’t hold back the hollow laugh.
‘How the hell did he know that?’
The E-GIS members and Jooyul Entertainment staff all knew about it, of course—but how could an outsider like Han Yujin possibly have known?
‘Could Ha-on have told him directly?’
The only possibility left was that Lee Ha-on himself had mentioned it.
For someone as prideful as Ha-on to have opened up his heart that quickly was something Jo Dae-hwan found hard to comprehend, but
“How long have Han Pro-nim and the kids been in contact?”
Jo Dae-hwan simply closed his eyes and asked.
“Since the beginning of this year… occasionally…”
The manager’s voice shrank as he answered.
It had started as casual contact between fellow singers, but looking at the result, it amounted to allowing a producer from another company to approach his own artists.
“Got it. Hee-seok-ah, just make sure the other members don’t get too shaken up and take good care of them.”
“Yes, CEO-nim.”
But such thoughts weren’t even present in Jo Dae-hwan’s mind right now.
He was simply
‘So that’s why he stepped up like that…’
Quietly chewing over the respect he felt toward the young man who had unhesitatingly extended a hand of courage—even though there was absolutely nothing in it for him.
In the crudest terms, wasn’t this the perfect chance to eliminate a competitor without lifting a finger?
‘Could I have done the same in his place?’
The question that had somehow floated up to the center of his heart left Jo Dae-hwan unable to give a firm answer.
And beside that question rose another voice.
“Because behind Hylliy sunbaenim, me, and Orion, there’s someone Representative Lee Hee-kyung cannot handle.”
The desire to take his time and carefully ponder the question that voice was implicitly asking him wrapped around Jo Dae-hwan strongly, but
Bzzzzz.
[Team Leader Cha Ji-hyo]
Unfortunately, the incoming call didn’t give Jo Dae-hwan any room to continue that line of thought.
“Yeah, Team Leader Cha. What’s up?”
“CEO-nim! Jabberwocky is saying they’re pulling their investment…!”
Jo Dae-hwan’s expression hardened in an instant.
No matter how much preparation you make in advance, an avalanche named ‘school violence rumor’ is heavy by nature.
The situation that had struck Jooyul Entertainment was far from favorable.
***
The next day.
“It looks like Yujin-ssi was right after all.”
Seo Yoonje, who had suddenly called me to his office, opened with that straight away.
“CEO Lee Hee-kyung. She really is a frightening person.”
“…”
Seeing his usually curved eyes now drawn into straight, upward lines, it didn’t seem like he was joking, so I quietly waited for him to continue.
And what followed exceeded even my expectations a little.
“A significant portion of the investment that was in Jooyul has been withdrawn.”
“Huh?”
The headwind blowing against E-GIS had already shifted direction.
Last night, Lee Ha-on’s middle school classmates and high school friends had immediately stepped forward with counter-exposures (?), and reporters including Kwak Sun-bin had picked up and run with those articles, tilting public opinion toward “we should wait and see.”
In the meantime, it had been discovered that the original anonymous post from the so-called first exposer had been deleted, leaving only tailwinds ahead.
‘Investment pulled?’
How could that possibly happen naturally?
“They’re saying ‘there’s no smoke without fire’ and insist on a hard withdrawal.”
“How did you find out about that, CEO-nim?”
“There are ways, of course. But that’s not the important part.”
Well, as Seo Yoonje said, that wasn’t the key point.
In this world, smoke can rise even from a chimney that’s never been lit.
Would people whose business is investment really not know such an obvious fact?
It wasn’t something you could outright call nonsense, but I couldn’t stop my brow from furrowing.
“Jabberwocky… From what I know, they’ve taken in quite a bit of Chinese capital, right? I don’t know exactly how or what was moved, but I can’t shake the feeling that this is connected to the China money that went into Starlight.”
All the more so because CEO Lee Hee-kyung’s rampage had mercilessly crossed the line I had drawn in my expectations.
“She throws out a rumor and then hits the money line for the real attack. Wow, even I couldn’t have imagined that. Now I’m starting to understand why Yujin-ssi was so wary of Starlight. No—should I say Yujin-ssi is incredible? How did you figure that out?”
“…”
Once again, I didn’t give a particular answer.
‘In my eyes, you seem even more incredible.’
For me, it was just piecing together results I’d already seen from the future.
But Seo Yoonje had grasped the truth—even something I hadn’t anticipated—based solely on a few visible threads.
‘I always thought he was remarkable for having protected a dream-like company for nearly twenty years, but…’
The thought that maybe you need that level of insight and calculation to stubbornly protect a ridiculous company like MyWay only lasted a moment.
“By the way, I’m a little worried…”
Seo Yoonje continued, still wearing a heavy expression.
“About what?”
“If it’s a direct money-related issue like this, CEO Jo won’t easily come to us asking for help, will he?”
That was certainly true.
He wasn’t the kind of person who would sell off even his last shred of pride just because money was tight.
“Hmm…”
“Haa…”
Just as a simultaneous sigh escaped from me and Seo Yoonje—both of us seeing Jo Dae-hwan in the same light—
“The chance to confess to you
Is today the last.”
The melody of First Step flowed from Seo Yoonje’s phone.
A new song from one of his own artists as a ringtone—what a shameless choice, I thought for a second,
“…!”
But then Seo Yoonje’s eyes widened as he checked the caller’s name.
And,
“…!”
My eyes did the same when I saw the name displayed on the smartphone he held out.
[Jooyul Ent. CEO Jo Dae-hwan]
Somehow, it felt like things were about to go smoothly.