Translator: Dreamscribe
"Thank you, please come again."
The woman working part-time at the convenience store counter looked familiar. It was An Ji-hee.
"Whew..."
Other trainees would be in the middle of practicing right about now, but An Ji-hee couldn't afford to do the same. Her family's finances were far from comfortable. She smiled and greeted the customer, but her heart was heavy as lead.
"......"
Because she'd been told that even her grueling trainee days had reached their end. She lifted her head.
Soon, she recalled the past.
An Ji-hee had heard since childhood that she was brimming with Star Quality. Whenever relatives and others gathered, she would sing children's songs or dance for them, putting on little performances, and every adult who watched her would heap praise on her without end.
"Oh my, Ji-hee has so much Star Quality! And such a refined, pretty face. You should be a celebrity when you grow up, a celebrity!"
That Star Quality shone even brighter after she entered elementary school. An Ji-hee always stood out and was popular. Around that time, she naturally developed a dream of becoming an idol.
She thought she was overflowing with ability, with talent.
And indeed, she passed the trainee audition fairly easily. Smooth sailing. But that was as far as it went. An Ji-hee had been a big fish in a small pond, and among the dozens of trainees gathered together, she didn't particularly stand out.
Everyone else was so dazzling, so impressive.
Still, An Ji-hee didn't give up.
'If I work hard, someday... someday they'll notice me.'
Should she have given up? As time went on, An Ji-hee was pushed further into the background. The looks that adults had once praised as refined were now pointed out as a flaw.
"Hah, An Ji-hee, your vocals and choreography aren't bad, but your Looks are kind of bland. Well, keep at it anyway. You can always go under the knife before debut."
Looks too unremarkable to even support a Visual Center. No one, not a single person, recognized An Ji-hee. It was bad enough that she'd developed a complex about the appearance she'd once been so confident in.
If only she'd been born with a more striking face.
In the end, An Ji-hee received her expulsion notice from Leon Entertainment as well.
The funny thing was.
"...Me, an actress?"
The very person who'd handed her that expulsion notice was the first to acknowledge her Looks. He was sharp and cold. But the sound of his, of Kang Jae-ha's somewhat indifferent voice, kept lingering in An Ji-hee's ears.
'Not an idol. I think I'd be better off as an actress.'
As an idol she was just so-so, but if she switched to acting, those bland Looks of hers could actually shine. An Ji-hee fidgeted with the business card in her hand. Kang Jae-ha's business card. Would it be okay? Could she actually do it? She'd already wasted six years; was it alright to keep going? Could she trust this person called Kang Jae-ha? She was scared, afraid.
At present, An Ji-hee's self-esteem had hit rock bottom.
It wasn't strange. Once someone became a washed-up trainee, the gazes around them changed first. The oppression and pressure delivered through people's eyes. Endure that for six years and this is naturally what happens.
An Ji-hee agonized for a long time.
No, she wasn't agonizing. She was searching for the courage that had hidden itself away somewhere deep in her heart. It had buried itself so thoroughly that pulling it out wasn't easy. But An Ji-hee managed to find it somehow. The courage, that is.
-Swish.
She picked up her phone. With faintly trembling fingertips she punched in the number, and before long, a calm male voice came through from the other side.
"Yes, this is Kang Jae-ha."
"...Manager-nim. It's An Ji-hee."
The trembling in her hands had spread to her voice as well. She pried her lips apart with effort.
"If I want to become an actress, what should I do first?"
It truly was a step taken with immense difficulty, but Kang Jae-ha's answer from beyond the phone was short and matter-of-fact.
"You need to shed your 'Residual Echo'."
Residual Echo? Unsure what he meant, An Ji-hee asked again.
"......'Residual Echo'?"
"Yes. The Residual Echo you've built up over six years as an idol trainee."
"Ah..."
"Well, to put it simply, I'm telling you to forget everything."
"Everything."
"That's right, everything. Think you can do that? If you've only half made up your mind, you can take more time to think it over."
She didn't know why, but An Ji-hee drew strength from Kang Jae-ha's indifferent, cold way of speaking. Perhaps because he seemed like a coolheaded adult who would set her on the right path.
"No, I'll forget everything. I really will."
"Alright. Then we'll need to draw up a new contract."
A contract. The extinguished flame of hope flared back to life, and Kang Jae-ha's voice came through again.
"I'll call you back to the company soon, so just take it easy for now."
That same day, around the afternoon.
It was late afternoon when Kang Jae-ha returned to Leon Entertainment's Team 4 office. Yoon Da-yeon's filming schedule had been delayed, and.
"I'll take Da-yeon back myself, so you can head back to the office, Jae-ha ssi. You worked hard today."
General Manager Kim Dae-yong sent Jae-ha back to the office first. Probably a courtesy, since it was his first day. There weren't many people in the Team 4 office. Team Leader Jang Hyung-su was nowhere to be seen either.
How to put it...
'This place reeks of death. Definitely a different vibe from Team 2.'
True to its name as the Garbage Dump, Team 4's office reeked of something dying. Like the office itself was becoming washed-up. No vitality, no energy. If someone cheerful walked in, it wouldn't be strange if they caught the same disease.
Whatever the case.
-Swish.
Kang Jae-ha sat down at his desk and immediately booted up his laptop.
He was checking something.
-'Leon Entertainment / Short Story Contest'
It was Leon Entertainment's contest that included 'Condensation', the short film he'd seen through 'Deja Vu'. He wanted to see if the results were out for the short story contest, which had been set up with marketing purposes like boosting the company's image.
For reference, Kang Jae-ha had already read the entire 'Condensation' screenplay.
He then checked the contest details quite carefully, and within seconds, he had his answer.
'The contest results are out.'
Looking at the page, the results had already been announced. The New Business Team, which had organized it, had listed the titles of the first, second, and third place works. The directors who submitted those works had probably been contacted long ago.
Kang Jae-ha rested his chin on his hand and smirked.
'Just as I thought, 'Condensation' isn't on there.'
It was exactly as he'd seen in his 'Deja Vu'. 'Condensation' wasn't included in the contest results. However, the short film 'Condensation' would go on to become a massive hit somewhere down the line. As Kang Jae-ha recalled the 'Deja Vu' related to 'Condensation', a question arose.
Why had 'Condensation' been eliminated?
Having already read 'Condensation', Kang Jae-ha's assessment was that the quality was considerable. Enough to let out a genuine gasp of admiration. And yet 'Condensation' had been rejected. Did that mean the works that had placed first through third were even more impressive?
-Flick.
Jae-ha crossed his legs and clicked a few times. He downloaded the screenplays of the works that had been selected as first through third from the company network. Without bothering to print them, he went straight to reading the third-place entry.
"Hmm."
He hadn't even gotten past a few pages before his focus scattered. In other words.
'The pull is absolute garbage.'
It wasn't interesting. Puzzled, he opened the second-place work.
'Fuck, this one's even more boring.'
Hardly any different from third place. What the hell? Maybe first place would at least be somewhat different. Kang Jae-ha furrowed his brow, opened the first-place work, and closed it after exactly five minutes.
'This crap is first place?'
His assessment of the works ranked first through third was brutally harsh. And rightfully so. They were all shit. Of course, everyone has different tastes when it comes to evaluating a work.
But quality doesn't vary that much.
Whether the person who wrote it poured their soul in, or phoned it in.
'By quality, by entertainment value, by artistic merit, 'Condensation' is first place.'
Yet 'Condensation' had been rejected. It wasn't even mentioned in the New Business Team reviewers' comments. Chin still propped on his hand, Kang Jae-ha opened the profile of the director who'd written 'Condensation'. Young, at 25, from a regional university, with zero notable filmography.
Common if you called it common, unremarkable if you called it unremarkable. That kind of profile.
The profiles of the directors behind the first through third place works were the polar opposite. Their ages varied, but.
'Prestigious universities, studied abroad, and their families look pretty loaded too.'
Flashy profiles. The kind that reeked of money being thrown around. Sure, having a powerful background wasn't a major problem in and of itself. But their works were garbage, and those garbage works had lined up neatly from first to third in the contest. That grated on him.
Kang Jae-ha quickly grasped the system behind the New Business Team's contest. The final decisions had been made by the New Business Team's working-level staff and the director. Well, the director would have had the final say.
He checked the director's name.
-Director Kim Chul-joong.
Kim Chul-joong of the New Business Team? Had he seen him before? The face was hazy. In any case, Kang Jae-ha leaned deep into his chair and let out a low hum.
"Something smells rotten."
Rotten. Soon, Kang Jae-ha silently murmured the answer he'd arrived at.
'Looks like bribes changed hands here.'
He scoffed lightly. Well, he wasn't 100% certain. For now, only circumstantial evidence existed. But an internal contest of modest scale run by the New Business Team, results announced at a suspiciously fast pace, the garbage-tier winning works, and so on.
Jae-ha's eyes held near-certainty.
But Kang Jae-ha didn't show much of a reaction. Because it wasn't a big deal. Bribes changing hands in the entertainment industry? That's something that exists in every industry, and entertainment companies were no different.
If anything, agencies with trainees were dirtier.
Bribes were an everyday thing.
The saying that the entertainment industry exploits blood ties, regional ties, school ties, and even grudges didn't exist for nothing.
This was probably something only Kang Jae-ha, having seen it through 'Deja Vu', was aware of at this point. Nobody else was paying much attention. A problem isn't a problem if no one treats it as one.
Here, Kang Jae-ha smiled.
'Using 'Condensation' is one thing, but I can see an angle to exploit this from another direction too.'
What Kang Jae-ha had excelled at in the Other World wasn't just cutting down Demonic Beasts. He'd been good at handling people too. Whether they were subordinates in his Mercenary Corps or people from other organizations.
'If I play this right, I might be able to use one of Leon's directors as a chess piece.'
His specialty was grabbing someone's weakness and squeezing.
Around this point, Kang Jae-ha gathered up the printouts of 'Condensation's' screenplay and the director's profile, then picked up his phone. He needed to contact two people.
The first was An Ji-hee.
-Come to the office in a couple of days.
After sending the text, Jae-ha called the second person. It was Lee Chan-hoo, his number-one subordinate whom he'd run into that morning.
Perhaps because he was unemployed with nothing to do, Lee Chan-hoo picked up fast.
"Commander? What is it? Craving a drink already?"
"Forget the drinks."
Kang Jae-ha set up a meeting.
"Let's grab a coffee tomorrow at lunch."
The next day. The 19th.
Kang Jae-ha yawned his way into Leon Entertainment, but wasn't attached to the crazy nutjob Yoon Da-yeon. Her schedule was empty. Thanks to that, Jae-ha had to endure the boredom of Team 4's lifeless office, and.
"Ah, Jae-ha ssi."
Team Leader Jang Hyung-su, wearing his usual can't-be-bothered-with-anything face, spoke up.
"I heard from General Manager Kim Dae-yong. He said there was a small issue at Yoon Da-yeon ssi's filming set."
"It was nothing."
"Yeah? Then forget it. How's Yoon Da-yeon ssi?"
"Not bad."
"That's unexpected."
Team Leader Jang Hyung-su of Team 4 seemed like he wanted to say more but decided against it, retreating into his own room. His gait was like a zombie's. About two hours later, when lunch hour arrived, Kang Jae-ha stepped into a large café near Leon Entertainment.
The moment he walked in, he looked around.
A squinty-eyed man in a slightly secluded seat was waving his hand. Lee Chan-hoo. No one was sitting near him. He'd apparently chosen the corner on purpose. Spotting him, Jae-ha took a seat across from Lee Chan-hoo.
"What's with the cake."
"Cheesecake. Even when I was over there, I was dying to eat this."
Over there meaning the Other World.
"Any good?"
"Not as good as I imagined, honestly. Too sweet."
Kang Jae-ha smirked and set the clear file folders he'd brought beside him. Lee Chan-hoo pointed at the folders with the fork still in his mouth.
"I smell an assignment. Been a while."
"You're right. Let's do some work together."
One might have expected him to think it over, but Lee Chan-hoo grinned brazenly and answered immediately.
"Don't be so out of character. Just order me around like you always do."
"It's a different world, you bastard."
"Sounds great, a job. I was about to die of boredom anyway. So what are you cooking up?"
"I'm not cooking up anything."
"Commander, you think I don't recognize that look in your eyes?"
"Cut the bullshit."
Kang Jae-ha placed the clear file folders he'd brought onto the table. 'Condensation' and New Business Team 'Director Kim Chul-joong' were visible at a glance.
"First of all, I've got reasons, so I need to keep working at the agency for the time being."
By reasons, he meant the female voice's damn 25 billion won 'Pension Program', the 'Reality Adaptation Project'. Lee Chan-hoo, who had no way of knowing this, asked again.
"I'm guessing if I ask what the reason is, you won't tell me. So? You need to keep working there, and."
"I'm thinking of starting a company."
"Oh, what kind?"
"Whatever works. We can name it whatever we want. Starting as an investment firm would be the safest bet. As it grows, we'll branch into other things."
"Other things? Like the entertainment agency or production company you're at now?"
"Who knows."
The possibility existed. He could scoop up things he'd seen through 'Deja Vu'. But he couldn't have everything right away. So he'd make proper use of Leon Entertainment, which he had to attend anyway. Recycling washed-up talent or whatever else cost money. Not a small amount either, quite a lot.
'There's no need for me to spend that money right now.'
Seven hundred million won was deposited every month, but if he was going to scale things up, even that was insufficient funding for now. Jae-ha was considering using 'Deja Vu' to grow that capital faster.
'When the rotten fruit ripens again, I can pick it then.'
At this point, Lee Chan-hoo cut in.
"An investment firm. But by any chance..."
Lee Chan-hoo narrowed his already small eyes further and voiced the guess that had occurred to him.
"Are you planning to gather the Mercenary Corps subordinates who crossed over, like me, into that company?"
Sharp as ever.
"It's one of the ideas. Still just blueprints for now."
"Sounds fun."
"Anyway, given the situation, it'll be a pain if anyone finds out I started a company."
His already-poor image within Leon had cratered thanks to the Ra Yoon incident. If word got out that he'd gone and started his own company on the side, Kang Jae-ha would be fired, 100%. And then the 25 billion won pension would go up in smoke too.
Jae-ha pointed his index finger at Lee Chan-hoo.
"So you be the CEO. I'll pay you a salary."
Lee Chan-hoo slowly nodded.
"I'm a salaried Figurehead CEO taking orders. The real power, the backer behind the scenes, is the Commander."
He grinned, a sharp edge to his smile.
"I like it. Takes me back to the old days."