2
While Division Director Kang Young-jin and Jo So-hee were chatting.
Park Geon-ho was summoned to the conference room on the fifth floor with Team 5 Leader Han Sang-woo.
"But why the fifth floor?"
"How should I know, you punk? Maybe it's because I'm the Team 5 leader."
"Ugh, that wasn't funny."
"Do you want to die?"
The conference rooms used by the Actor Division were on the seventh floor.
The fifth floor belonged exclusively to the Singer Division.
Sometimes, if all the seventh-floor conference rooms were occupied, the Actor Division would ask the Singer Division for permission to use one on the fifth.
But going all the way down to the fifth floor just to avoid Jo So-hee was, to put it bluntly, pathetic.
Nevertheless, when Deputy Division Director Jo Yeong-chan belatedly entered the conference room, he raised his voice with the confidence of someone in his own bedroom.
"Park Geon-ho. What are you?"
"Pardon?"
"Who are you to take charge of Jo So-hee?"
"Those were the division director's orders."
"I'm asking why you took charge of Jo So-hee without saying a word to me?!"
"Those were the division director's orders."
"Why, you......! That's not what I'm talking about!"
When Deputy Division Director Jo Yeong-chan grew irritated, Team Leader Han Sang-woo, who was seated across from Park, gave him a meaningful look.
Just apologize.
It'll be over quickly if you apologize.
Park Geon-ho was well aware of Deputy Division Director Jo Yeong-chan's personality.
Jo was not incompetent, but he despised the label of parachute appointee brought in by Division Director Kang Young-jin and could not stand being disrespected by his subordinates. He was the king of all old-school tyrants.
That was why, when one usually clashed with Deputy Division Director Jo Yeong-chan, the best course was to bow one's head just enough to move past it.
But until the day before yesterday, Park Geon-ho had been receiving the greetings of SH Entertainment's employees. He had no desire to bow to Deputy Division Director Jo Yeong-chan when the man was merely being unreasonable.
"I told you that they were Division Director Kang Young-jin's orders."
"Sigh, what is wrong with you? Do you think you're somebody? How dare you act so insolent?"
"Then are you saying I should have refused the division director's orders?"
"Who told you to refuse? Hey! Han Sang-woo! Can't you manage your team properly?"
"I'm sorry, Deputy Division Director."
With nothing left to say, Deputy Division Director Jo Yeong-chan turned on Team Leader Han Sang-woo.
As though he had been waiting for it, Team Leader Han Sang-woo bowed his head and apologized.
Park Geon-ho could only sigh at the sight, since Jo had clearly been instructed by Division Director Kang Young-jin to offer a formal apology.
'That's why everyone hates him.'
Not a single actor at Wooju Entertainment was close to Deputy Division Director Jo Yeong-chan, and it was not only Jo So-hee.
The same was true of the employees.
They all answered yes, sir to his face because he was the deputy division director.
But visit the place officially called the rooftop garden and unofficially known as the enormous smoking room, and criticism of Deputy Division Director Jo Yeong-chan poured out.
Deputy Division Director Jo Yeong-chan was well aware of that fact.
Early after transferring to the Actor Division, he had even gotten into an argument with employees who were speaking ill of him.
Park had heard that Division Director Kang Young-jin had reprimanded him several times over the incident.
After that, Jo had stopped visiting the rooftop garden.
But Deputy Division Director Jo Yeong-chan had not changed.
Not before Park's regression, and not now.
He always bowed to the strong and flared up the moment he saw someone weak.
That habit was unlikely to change.
So Park Geon-ho decided to come at him forcefully as well.
"Deputy Division Director. I'm sorry, but tell me why you called us to the fifth floor first."
"What? You have to ask because you don't know?"
"Yes. I don't. The division director clearly praised me for handling yesterday's incident well and said he would make the deputy division director apologize to me. He also transferred me to Jo So-hee as her dedicated manager. So I don't understand what I've done wrong."
"You......!"
Once again left speechless, Deputy Division Director Jo Yeong-chan turned to Team Leader Han Sang-woo.
But Team Leader Han Sang-woo was no fool either.
The moment Park mentioned that Deputy Division Director Jo Yeong-chan would be made to apologize to him, Han knew the game was already over.
"Deputy Division Director. If that's what the division director said......."
"So what? Are you telling me to apologize?"
"You don't have to. We'll simply treat it as though I didn't receive an apology."
"Hey! Park Geon-ho!"
"Deputy Division Director. We're on the fifth floor. I'm worried the Singer Division employees might hear you."
"Huh......!"
Deputy Division Director Jo Yeong-chan's face turned crimson.
Not only his face but even the back of his neck flushed red, so he seemed thoroughly enraged.
But Park Geon-ho did not so much as blink.
He and Deputy Division Director Jo Yeong-chan would clash over everything from now on.
In that case, it would be better to correct the man's behavior from the beginning.
"Deputy Division Director. Tell me exactly what I did wrong."
"What? Huh! Young people these days really......."
"A significant number of Wooju Entertainment's artists and managers are included among the young people you're talking about, Deputy Division Director. Please refrain from using expressions like that too."
"What......?"
For a moment, Deputy Division Director Jo Yeong-chan was dumbfounded.
This was not even a team leader but a newcomer who had barely shed his road-manager label, and yet he dared lecture Jo.
Jo was so astonished that no words came.
'You lunatic! What are you trying to accomplish?'
Watching from the side, Team Leader Han Sang-woo could not close his gaping mouth either.
Even if Park intended to fight, he needed to stay within certain bounds for Han to help him.
If Park charged ahead like this, even Han could not step in.
Deputy Division Director Jo Yeong-chan held grudges.
Given his personality, he would never let today's incident go.
He was certain to wield every ounce of authority he possessed in an attempt to drive Park Geon-ho out.
In fact, more than one manager had effectively been forced to resign after getting on Deputy Division Director Jo Yeong-chan's bad side.
But Park Geon-ho was not worried about what came next.
Could Deputy Division Director Jo Yeong-chan defy Division Director Kang Young-jin's order and punish him?
Especially when Park was supposed to take charge of Jo So-hee starting tomorrow?
'Absolutely not.'
Besides, dragging Park down to the fifth floor to vent his emotions already amounted to workplace bullying.
Unlike Park, who could throw away his Wooju Entertainment employee ID if the worst happened, Deputy Division Director Jo Yeong-chan had a great deal to protect.
Nor was he foolish enough to keep attacking an opponent he did not think he could defeat.
As expected, Deputy Division Director Jo Yeong-chan, who had looked ready to explode at any moment, laboriously steadied his breathing.
"Phew....... Fine. I'll tell you exactly."
"Yes. I'm listening."
"First, you were late yesterday, weren't you?"
Deputy Division Director Jo Yeong-chan lowered his voice.
Apparently copying something he had seen, he acted like a detective interrogating a criminal.
But Park Geon-ho had already prepared all his answers.
"I couldn't sleep because I had to deliver wardrobe to a set before dawn. I'm sorry."
"Did you drive yourself?"
"Yes. There were no road managers available who could drive."
The previous evening.
While drinking with Han Do-hoon, Park had remembered why he had been late.
At first, he had assumed it was some kind of mishap caused by his regression, but that was not the case.
At the orders of Team 1 Leader Yoo Hye-eun, who was away at a location shoot, he had made the wardrobe delivery with his eyes forced open against his drowsiness.
"Who ordered you to do it?"
"I received a call from Team 1 Leader Yoo Hye-eun."
"Team Leader Yoo herself?"
"Yes."
"I'll verify that."
"You may verify it now."
When Park responded without hesitation, Deputy Division Director Jo Yeong-chan narrowed his eyes.
His expression said that he had meant to begin with the tardiness, only to fasten the first button wrong.
'Team Leader Yoo won't be easy to touch. She's effectively the next deputy division director.'
If Deputy Division Director Jo Yeong-chan were removed, who would succeed him?
Unless Division Director Kang Young-jin recruited someone from outside, Team 1 Leader Yoo Hye-eun was the most likely person to take the position.
What if every manager in the Actor Division were gathered right now and told to line up behind either Deputy Division Director Jo Yeong-chan or Team 1 Leader Yoo Hye-eun?
Most of them would probably try to stand behind Team 1 Leader Yoo Hye-eun.
"So? Are you saying it's fine to be late because you drove before dawn?"
"I understand that company policy does not classify unavoidable lateness due to work duties as an absence or tardiness."
"Who are you to decide that?"
"Then discipline me. I'll file an appeal."
A rookie who had just joined the company would have stiffened at the word discipline, but Park Geon-ho was different.
As a director at SH Entertainment, he had personally managed dozens of managers.
If this matter became public, every manager in the Actor Division would turn against Deputy Division Director Jo Yeong-chan.
This was not habitual lateness or absence.
Who would work hard if they were punished for briefly dozing off after complying with a sudden work order before dawn?
"Fine. We'll let yesterday's lateness go. But write an explanation."
"I already submitted one this morning."
"You only wrote that you were late to the studio!"
"Didn't you just say you would let it go?"
"Who said anything about discipline? Just write it! You were late, and that was wrong, wasn't it?"
Deputy Division Director Jo Yeong-chan grew irritated.
He acted as though he had tried to resolve matters amicably, only to be frustrated by Park's failure to understand.
But Park Geon-ho was not fooled.
He knew that if he wrote an additional explanation, it could become a problem someday even if nothing happened right now.
"Then ask Team 1 Leader Yoo Hye-eun to write an explanation too."
"What?"
"Didn't you say you wouldn't discipline me? If the explanation is merely to establish the facts, I believe Team 1 Leader Yoo Hye-eun should write one too."
"Huh......!"
Once again, Deputy Division Director Jo Yeong-chan was rendered speechless.
He had planned to secure an explanation and hold it over Park, but he had not expected Park to drag the difficult Team 1 Leader Yoo Hye-eun into the matter.
'What kind of bastard is he?'
Deputy Division Director Jo Yeong-chan stared directly into Park Geon-ho's face.
He had hired Park because the man had no standout strengths but possessed a good work ethic and seemed unlikely to cause trouble.
Apparently, Jo had misjudged him.
But backing down and pretending none of this had happened would hurt his pride.
'A bastard like this needs his habits beaten out of him from the start.'
After thinking for a moment, Deputy Division Director Jo Yeong-chan remembered something, and his eyes gleamed.
He had already been wondering what to do with tomorrow's meeting with the production company. He could make the man who claimed he had done nothing wrong handle it.
"Fine. You don't have to write an explanation."
"Understood."
"In exchange, the company that filmed the advertisement is coming tomorrow, so you deal with them, Park Geon-ho."
"Me?"
"This started because of you! You said you did nothing wrong, didn't you? Then you clean it up. Isn't that fair?"
"Yes. Understood."
It was a nearly unreasonable order, but Park Geon-ho nodded.
Most rookie managers found meetings with contractors intimidating, but Park Geon-ho was used to them.
"And one more thing."
"......?"
"Submit a report concerning Jo So-hee."
"A report?"
"Deputy Team Leader Ahn Hye-ju may be an outsider, but you're a full-time employee of our company! Submit a plan explaining what you'll do from now on. Don't you even know that?"
Embarrassed by his own order, Deputy Division Director Jo Yeong-chan raised his voice for no reason.
But this instruction was at least understandable.
Wooju Entertainment was not some tiny agency run by guesswork.
It was one of South Korea's five largest agencies. How could its managers do nothing but manage schedules?
"When should I submit it?"
"You're taking charge of Jo So-hee starting tomorrow, aren't you? Then submit it by tomorrow."
"I haven't even received the entire handover yet."
"Excuses, excuses. Fine, one week. Write it properly and submit it within a week. I'll report it to the division director. Understood?"
"Yes. Understood."
"Get out."
Deputy Division Director Jo Yeong-chan seemed to have forgotten that he was not sitting in his own office.
But Team Leader Han Sang-woo urged Park to leave quickly, so he had no choice but to follow.
"Hey, you punk! What is wrong with you?"
"What do you mean?"
"What are we supposed to do after you provoke the deputy division director like that? Did you eat something strange?"
"I did eat something strange."
"What?"
"Ugh. My stomach suddenly hurts again."
"You little punk. Joking around again?"
Team Leader Han Sang-woo frowned.
But Park Geon-ho really did have a stomachache.
He had drunk until late the night before, then eaten something spicy for brunch, and now his stomach was being pricked from within.
"Anyway, you have to do well. Understood?"
"Team Leader. I need the restroom......."
"You little bastard, what is with you today? First you challenge the deputy division director, and now it's my turn? Do I look like a pushover?"
"Oh, come on! It's urgent!"
When Park snapped because the signal struck without warning, Team Leader Han Sang-woo finally moved aside.
"You punk, you should have said so. Anyway, hurry back upstairs. I'm not done chewing you out."
Leaving Team Leader Han Sang-woo's words behind, Park entered the first restroom he saw.
He stepped into an empty stall and quickly relieved himself.
"Phew. That was close."
He almost stood right away, then decided to remain seated a little longer just in case.
Usually, an urgent intestinal upheaval like this did not end after one round.
Just then, he suddenly heard someone speaking on the phone.
"Yeah, I can talk now. I'm in the restroom. Woooow, fuck. Those Wooju bastards aren't tone-deaf, are they? They said it sounded familiar, and I almost had a heart attack."
"......?"