Translator: Dreamscribe
Ra Yoon, member of the top-tier girl group 'Seriel', was riding in a van barreling down the road. For some reason, she wasn't with the other members today. She was alone. The reason was simple. Ra Yoon had a solo schedule starting from the morning.
She seemed to be on her way to the salon, her bare face topped with a white cap pulled low. The title of Visual Center was no lie.
Even without any effort to dress up, her beauty shone through.
That same Ra Yoon was staring out the window with a thoroughly sour expression. A faint irritation flickered around her eyes, and inside, her anger was boiling over.
"Ugh, damn."
She was thinking about Kang Jae-ha right now.
"So freaking annoying."
The pushover manager she'd always considered her meal ticket. Then out of nowhere, he'd lost his mind and turned on her. In a flash, the things Jae-ha had barked at her flickered through her mind.
'Grow up and quit chirping.'
And that wasn't all. He'd told her to drop dead, told her to shut her mouth. The more she thought about it, the more furious Ra Yoon became. She was angry at herself, too, for not being able to fire back a single word at Kang Jae-ha.
"I said I'm pissed off!!"
Her sudden outburst startled the General Manager dozing in the passenger seat.
"Whoa! Wh-what! What is it??!"
He whipped around to check on Ra Yoon. Ra Yoon, still fuming, immediately fired a question at the General Manager.
"Oppa! Is that Kang Jae-ha guy just getting off scot-free??! No disciplinary action or anything??"
"Ah, this again?"
"Don't you think the CEO went too easy on him?! Of all people, me! He talked shit to me!"
Having heard this several times already, the General Manager calmed his startled nerves.
"I already told you, Kang Jae-ha got sent to Team 4. That is the punishment."
"No! How is that a punishment!"
"It is. You know too, Ra Yoon. What Team 4 is like at our Leon Entertainment."
Ra Yoon had heard of Team 4's infamy. What kind of celebrities ended up there, and how they all met their ends. She'd heard that it wasn't just the talents who were treated like trash; the Leon Entertainment staff assigned to Team 4 got the same treatment. And beyond the treatment, the mental stress must be considerable.
That was why everyone at Leon Entertainment who wanted to get ahead avoided Team 4 like the plague. After all, if you're going to be a servant, at least serve in a lord's house. [TL Note: Korean proverb meaning if you must do hard work, at least do it somewhere prestigious where it pays off.]
The General Manager cracked his neck side to side as if it were stiff, then continued.
"And from what I heard, word is Kang Jae-ha got stuck with Yoon Da-yeon the moment he got to Team 4."
Ra Yoon's eyes went wide.
"Yoon Da-yeon sunbae?"
So Ra Yoon knew the actress Yoon Da-yeon too. Well, it would've been hard not to.
'The one everyone calls a total nutjob.'
Yoon Da-yeon was far too famous at Leon Entertainment for anyone not to know.
"Kang Jae-ha got assigned to Yoon Da-yeon sunbae?"
"Yep. That crazy, well, anyway, Kang Jae-ha will probably crack and bail within days dealing with Yoon Da-yeon's temper. That woman's something else. Worse than you."
"Hey! What did I do! Why am I being dragged into this!"
The General Manager let out a deep sigh and turned slightly serious.
"Ra Yoon, you too, kid. Rein in your temper from now on. Separate from the Kang Jae-ha incident, the CEO said it himself."
"Oh come on, what did I even do."
"Just keep it in mind."
"Ugh! Whatever!"
Ra Yoon gave a halfhearted answer, then thought of Kang Jae-ha and Yoon Da-yeon in turn, and her stress eased just a little.
'Kang Jae-ha. He's going to get run ragged in Team 4 too.'
No, Kang Jae-ha was not being run ragged. He was feeling refreshed. The location was the set of the daily drama 'The Last Man'. The main PD, along with dozens of staff members, stood with their jaws hanging open as they stared into the set.
"Huh..."
"What the..."
"Insane."
And who could blame them.
The washed-up actress Yoon Da-yeon, who'd been getting her hair ripped out the whole time, had just pulled an absolute stunt. Out of nowhere, she'd spat on the head of the opposing actress, Song Mi-yeon. Ptoo, ptoo, ptoo, just like that.
Followed by an apology with zero sincerity.
"Oh my, oh no... I'm sorry."
And then a remark aimed at the main PD.
"Your abstract direction was so inspiring that my imagination just ran wild, PD-nim. The ad-lib was good though, right?"
The explosion of a has-been, Yoon Da-yeon, who had been holding it in again and again. Of course, all of it was exactly as Kang Jae-ha had told her to do. The spitting, the remark to the PD. So really, it could be seen as Kang Jae-ha's stunt. Still, it wasn't a stunt pulled recklessly.
Ad-lib. In other words, it was launched with acting as the foundation.
This was a filming set. Who was going to curse out an actress for an ad-lib born of emotional immersion? Well, sure, they'd be cussing her the fuck out internally. But outwardly, everyone, PD included, was frozen solid.
"......"
"......"
"......"
When people witness something that wildly exceeds their expectations, they sometimes forget how to react. This was exactly one of those moments. Meanwhile, Kang Jae-ha watched from the back and snickered.
"Not bad. Guess all those years of being a nutjob paid off?"
Yoon Da-yeon had delivered exactly the picture he wanted. However, Ryu Jin-woo, the road manager with only a year of experience, was scared stiff. Even the good-natured General Manager Kim Dae-yong wasn't much different. Perhaps because he was too kindhearted, the scene he'd just witnessed didn't seem to be sitting well.
"...J-Jae-ha ssi. This isn't good."
"Why?"
"I mean, this is way too much, isn't it?"
"Too much? I thought the picture turned out nicely."
"......Picture?"
"Yeah. It's perfect."
General Manager Kim Dae-yong stared at Jae-ha's devious grin, bewildered. A villain? An eccentric? What the hell was this guy?
'Even if people change, this is way too drastic!'
Yoon Da-yeon on set looked like a baby in comparison.
'Harmless? I couldn't have been more wrong. This Kang Jae-ha kid is the real maniac......'
As if to prove his thoughts right, Kang Jae-ha's smile deepened.
"Look at the faces on the PD and the staff. Masterpiece. Absolute masterpiece."
Soon, General Manager Kim Dae-yong, his unease deepening, whispered to Kang Jae-ha.
"S-so what now? You're not telling me to clean this up, are you??"
Jae-ha glanced at the PD sitting in front of the monitor and answered briefly.
"Wait here a moment."
As Kang Jae-ha walked toward the PD, he swept his gaze across the entire set, frozen as if time had stopped. Everyone's thinking had locked up. This was how it always went. Hit people with a strong enough shock and they don't know what to do. In a situation this insane, with this many people gathered together.
'Herd mentality kicks in.'
One person. Just one person breaks the ice the right way, and herd mentality spreads to everyone like a contagion.
'People are surprisingly eager for someone else to make the choice for them.'
Up close, the PD clearly had no idea what to do. It was written on his face, in his eyes. He was the person in charge of the entire set, but.
'That's the face of a man who wants to dodge responsibility.'
Kang Jae-ha could read it all too clearly. If he just dropped a line here that eased even a little of that responsibility, the man would gobble it right up. Kang Jae-ha, standing behind the PD, raised his voice slightly, pretending to be just another staff member.
"Wow, Da-yeon ssi's acting is really good."
The PD snapped to attention and absorbed Kang Jae-ha's line immediately. He couldn't blow this up into a bigger incident. But he couldn't just let it slide awkwardly either. Right. That stunt Yoon Da-yeon pulled, that was acting. It had to be seen as acting. Yoon Da-yeon had just gotten a little too immersed.
The PD turned an awkward smile toward Yoon Da-yeon on the set.
"Ah ha, Da-yeon ssi, the acting was great, but... it was a bit much, you know?"
Yoon Da-yeon, her disheveled hair somehow already tidied up, replied with an expression of wide-eyed innocence.
"Was it? I'm sorry, I must have gotten too into it."
"Right? Even for an ad-lib, the spitting was too intense."
"Too intense?"
"I mean, don't you think?"
"My hair was getting ripped out so badly I was about to go bald, though?"
"......"
A true nutjob. She fired off lines Jae-ha hadn't even fed her with perfect ease. Was it because she was a seasoned veteran of crazy stunts? Kang Jae-ha smirked, and the PD scratched his head before making a decision.
"Th-then, let's just go with the scene we just shot? OK! Let's go with that scene!"
And with that.
By the PD's decision, the hair-pulling scene was replaced with Yoon Da-yeon's spitting ad-lib. The opposing actress, Song Mi-yeon, wiped the spit from her hair with a face like she'd swallowed something foul, but there was nothing she could do. The dozens of staff on set likewise ignored the incident and resumed preparing for the next shot.
Kang Jae-ha was satisfied with the way things were flowing exactly as he'd intended.
'Well, that's how it goes.'
This was the entertainment industry. This was a set. Glamorous on the surface, but teeming with all manner of ugliness underneath. When something blows up, the rush is always to bury it.
Someone takes the damage, but someone else gets to smile.
Until now, it had been Yoon Da-yeon taking the damage, but one stunt later, Yoon Da-yeon was the one smiling. Then General Manager Kim Dae-yong sidled up to Jae-ha and let out a remark of amazement.
"Damn......it actually worked out. Just like that, smooth as butter."
Kang Jae-ha, hands shoved back into his padded jacket pockets, was unfazed.
"Even pranks have their limits. When someone crosses the line, you've gotta cut them off."
"...Ha, Jae-ha ssi, I heard you're only in your fourth year, but you seem like a twenty-plus year veteran. Why are you so good at this? The way you handle people, I guess you'd call it."
Handling people? Different world or not, Kang Jae-ha had managed plenty of people too. No, not people. Subordinates. He was somewhat familiar with the entertainment industry, but what Kang Jae-ha was truly skilled at was reading the human condition itself. Spend eighteen years meeting every kind of person under the sun, and you learn these things naturally. Not that General Manager Kim Dae-yong could possibly know Jae-ha had lived eighteen years more than his age suggested.
"Anyway, this kind of stuff, I need to learn from you."
The General Manager, glancing around to make sure no one was watching, gave a thumbs up.
After that, the one explosion cleared the air and filming went smoothly.
During Yoon Da-yeon's scenes, the PD called OK on nearly every take. She was good to begin with. Even when there were NGs, his directing wasn't the abstract mess it had been at the start. As if he never wanted to witness another stunt like that. And with that, things moved quick.
Still, one thing hadn't changed: Yoon Da-yeon's role was barely more than a minor role.
Which meant a lot of waiting.
Endless waiting while other actors filmed. Around that time, Yoon Da-yeon, her makeup freshly touched up, drifted over to Jae-ha. She cleared her throat for no particular reason.
"Hey, you know."
"What."
"No, um... you did well."
"At what."
"At everything!"
It was obvious she didn't know how to give a compliment. Kang Jae-ha gave a halfhearted smirk. Compliments come easily to those who've received them. The fact that they didn't meant Yoon Da-yeon probably hadn't been on the receiving end of many.
"Not me. You're the one who did well, Yoon Da-yeon ssi."
"Me? I did well?"
"Yeah. Veteran instincts, maybe? You were good. At the crazy stunt."
"!!!"
Yoon Da-yeon scrunched her brow hard, her tone snapping back to irritation.
"Hey! What are you even saying! You're the one who told me to do it!"
"That's what I'm saying. You did well. The crazy stunt."
"......Unbelievable."
Yoon Da-yeon glared at Kang Jae-ha, grumbled, and walked off. She looked displeased on the surface, but even as she sat down in her chair, she was secretly in a good mood.
'When was the last time someone told me I did well?'
It called to mind some distant moment when someone had praised her acting, told her it was brilliant. Was it a director? No, a production company? But the memory was hazy. It was from far too long ago. The years she'd spent as a washed-up has-been were simply too many.
That same Yoon Da-yeon stole a glance at Kang Jae-ha yawning behind her.
"Total villain. A complete nutjob."
She murmured quietly.
"How did a reputation like 'weak' and 'soft' ever get attached to him?"
Roughly two hours later.
Yoon Da-yeon's wait between shoots dragged on. Being a washed-up actress, she had no schedules to jump to during the downtime. Unable to stand the boredom, Kang Jae-ha finally spoke up.
"I'll make a convenience store run!"
"No, I'll go."
"You, sunbae?"
"Yeah."
Instead of letting Ryu Jin-woo, the most junior road manager, go for snacks, Jae-ha headed to the convenience store himself. There was one inside the broadcasting station, but Jae-ha deliberately chose one outside.
Half wanting some fresh air, half planning to slack off with a little walk.
He strolled at a leisurely pace, organizing his thoughts.
-Swish.
He headed toward whatever convenience store caught his eye first. As he pushed through the door and stepped inside, he brushed past someone. A man in a suit. Kang Jae-ha didn't pay it any mind, but for some reason, the suited man turned his head and studied Kang Jae-ha with unusual interest.
"......"
After staring at the back of Jae-ha's head for a few seconds, the man tilted his head quizzically and walked out of the store.
-Beep beep beep.
After scanning the barcodes and paying for a handful of snacks and drinks, Kang Jae-ha stepped out of the convenience store. He was turning his body toward the broadcasting station when.
"Excuse me."
A man's voice called to him from behind. He turned around. It was the suited man who had just been watching him so intently. His tie was loosened, and his eyes were on the smaller side. The moment the suited man got a clear look at Jae-ha's face, his eyes went wide.
Closing the distance in an instant, the suited man addressed Kang Jae-ha with a word that was unfamiliar yet familiar all at once.
"...Commander?"
The moment Jae-ha registered the man standing right in front of him, he was fairly startled himself.
"You..."
"It is you, right? Commander."
"What are you doing here."
"Whoa, you got summoned too, Commander? To the Other World?"
There was a raw, rough edge to the man's speech. This man had been one of Kang Jae-ha's subordinates. One of the mercenary corps soldiers he'd rolled through the mud with for over a decade in that other world. The one whose throat had been half-severed, who'd died before Kang Jae-ha. A flicker of genuine shock passed through Jae-ha's eyes. A feeling both wondrous and hard to believe.
"What, you were from this side?"
"My eyes just snapped open a few days ago."
A few days ago? Kang Jae-ha had gone through the same thing.
In that moment.
【Comrade encounter confirmed.】
A familiar woman's voice spread through Kang Jae-ha's ears. And it wasn't just Jae-ha. His subordinate, the man in the suit, heard it too.
【The comrade (subordinate) has awakened thanks to Kang Jae-ha-nim's achievement of the Other World objective.】
【A special privilege is now activated for Kang Jae-ha-nim (Commander), in recognition of longest survival and objective achievement in the Other World.】
【'Absolute Obedience' toward Kang Jae-ha-nim is now applied to the comrade (subordinate) who has encountered the Commander.】
'Absolute Obedience'? What the hell was this now? The woman's voice was spouting nonsense again. Kang Jae-ha locked eyes with the suited man.
"You hear it too."
"Yes, I hear it."
Then the woman's voice fired an additional line at both of them.
【Should the comrade (subordinate) violate 'Absolute Obedience', said comrade (subordinate) will die.】
The moment he heard that, the suited man let out a dry laugh.
"So I'm gonna croak again, huh."
Kang Jae-ha smirked.
"You think I'd let that happen?"