3
Not long after Jo So-hee and Deputy Team Leader Ahn Hye-ju left work, Jena came to see him.
"Thank you, Geon-ho."
"Hm? Has it already been resolved?"
"Yes. It was resolved nicely."
"How?"
Park Geon-ho imagined Jena storming into the multimedia room and turning the place upside down, just like Jo So-hee.
But Jena was different from Jo So-hee.
"First, I called in every team leader."
"All eight of them?"
"I called Team 1 Leader in later. He's directly involved, so it could have clouded his judgment."
"So what did you do?"
"I just kept playing the original song for them. On an infinite loop. Until the team leaders admitted it was plagiarism."
"Then it must have happened quickly."
"It did. Han-sol oppa found footage from a club in Malta too. A really famous travel NewTuber visited Malta last summer, right? And the highlight played during the scene where he went to a club, can you believe it?"
"Mr. Han-sol is impressive."
"He is. He was originally supposed to produce Xenora, but the deputy division director took it away from him after developing a grudge against him. Han-sol oppa wrote my debut song too."
After gathering the opinions of the seven team leaders, Jena called in Team 1 Leader Bang Hyeon-gyu.
"What is this? What's going on?"
Team 1 Leader Bang Hyeon-gyu entered the recording studio with an anxious look and exploded the moment he heard the original song in question.
Apparently, the other team leaders barely managed to stop him as he raged about killing Raiden Park.
"I completely understand Team Leader Bang's position. He spent a long time preparing Xenora, didn't he?"
"Wow, even the other team leaders say his temper is fucking awful, but you understand him. What's your religion, Geon-ho?"
"I'm not religious, but I respect every religion."
"A wise answer to a foolish question. Anyway, I reported it to Division Director Hong, and the Legal Team has started moving too. And ta-da~"
"What is this?"
"Proof that Raiden Park visited a club in Malta last year. He brazenly filmed the evidence of his plagiarism and uploaded it as a vlog."
"Does the original song play in this video too?"
"How did you know? He went into a clothing store around the middle, and it was playing there too. Really loudly, at that."
With more than one or two pieces of evidence against him, Raiden Park readily admitted to the plagiarism.
He said the debut date was approaching and every song he submitted kept getting rejected, so he did it in a fit of anger.
But Park Geon-ho didn't take that explanation at face value.
"You asked the police to investigate, right?"
"That...... I'm not sure. The team leaders want to collect the penalty fee and wrap things up here."
"Team leaders generally hate making matters bigger. What does the division director say?"
"He praised me for doing well, but he seems to be weighing his options."
"Hmm....... I don't think we should leave that man alone."
"Why do you think so?"
"He said he'd be outside Korea even if something went wrong. At first I thought he was bluffing, but he might really flee the country."
"Couldn't that be because he's an American citizen?"
"What if there are other victims? Wouldn't that hurt Wooju Entertainment later?"
"Other victims....... Hmm......."
"I think it would be a good idea to check the other songs Raiden Park claims to have composed."
After thinking for a moment, Jena nodded and took out her phone.
She spent a long time on a call in the conference room, then returned looking much more relieved.
"The division director?"
"Yes. He said he'll report it to the police."
"That was a good decision. An article will come out, but if you use it well, it could help promote Xenora."
"How?"
"A major agency was different. Wooju Entertainment uncovers plagiarized song and reports it to police. Something like that?"
"There's nothing about our girls in there?"
"That should go at the end. Meanwhile, Xenora, the girl group Wooju Entertainment has poured its heart and soul into, is scheduled to debut in the second half of this year."
"Oh! This is good, isn't it? Can I tell the division director exactly that?"
"Yes. Do as you please."
With anyone else, he might at least have joked that such advice wasn't free.
But there seemed to be no need for that with Jena.
After all, she was someone who remained grateful to the composer of her debut song even after becoming a top star.
Besides, merely forming a friendship with a top star like Jena was a major benefit.
"But where did So-hee go?"
"She went home."
"Then are you alone?"
"Yes. I don't have a girlfriend."
"What are you talking about? I don't just go around liking anyone, you know?"
"A top star would be too much pressure for me too."
"Wow, you never let me have the last word, do you? This won't do. Geon-ho, I should steal you away."
Jo So-hee would have had a fit if she had heard that.
But there was no one else in the Team 5 office at the moment.
Everyone had stepped out either to eat dinner or accompany their assigned artist to a schedule.
"You haven't eaten dinner, right? Let's go. It's my treat."
"I have work to do."
"You said So-hee went home?"
"I need to write a handover report."
"Really?"
Jena came up behind him and examined the monitor.
A subtle scent tickled the tip of his nose, and he nearly turned his head.
"Oh. You really are working? How long will this take?"
"About two hours."
"Then can't you do it after we eat?"
"I'm sorry, but I'll get in trouble if I eat with you."
"Huh? Why? Did someone tell you not to hang out with the Singer Division?"
"I only joined the company this year. They'll hound me about what happened this time. Good grief......."
"Okay. I understand what you mean. Then I'll order you a delicious lunchbox. That's all right, isn't it?"
"I won't refuse. I'll enjoy it."
"But you have to eat with me next time~ You promise~"
After seeing Jena off, he wrote Han Do-hoon's handover report.
He couldn't go as far as the 1,000 Questions and 1,000 Answers that Deputy Team Leader Ahn Hye-ju had prepared.
But thanks to the time he had once spent with Han Do-hoon as though they were brothers, he had no trouble filling it with information.
"If I write it too carelessly, the deputy team leader will have something to say."
He filled ten whole pages for a handover report that would normally be complete in three or four.
After checking it for typos, he uploaded it to Wooju Space, the company's intranet.
At that moment, third-year manager Kang In-gyu, who had gone out for dinner, appeared carrying a lunchbox.
"Geon-ho~ Here's your lunchbox."
"What is it?"
"No idea. Someone told me to bring it to you?"
If it had been another manager, they would have questioned him in minute detail.
But Kang In-gyu wasn't very interested in other people's business.
Nor was he strict merely because he was Park Geon-ho's senior.
"The quality of this lunchbox is no joke?"
He took the lunchbox and his laptop into an empty conference room.
It was his second day since regressing, and he tried to organize his thoughts while watching NewTube, but perhaps because he had traveled fifteen years into the past, he couldn't adjust easily.
It felt as though he were a full-grown adult watching a video of his own kindergarten performance at the age of five or six.
"This is going to take some time."
After clearing away the empty lunchbox, he began the assignment Deputy Division Director Jo Yeong-chan had given him.
How would he manage Jo So-hee, Wooju Entertainment's greatest problem child?
Frankly, it was a conundrum without an answer even if the industry's most renowned experts were gathered in one place.
But he couldn't exactly submit a report saying he would blindly work hard and manage her well.
"Should I check the community's reactions first?"
The comments beneath news articles varied sharply in tone.
If Jo So-hee's fans posted the first comments, many of those that followed were friendly.
Conversely, if someone who disliked Jo So-hee claimed the first comment, a fight broke out.
So he entered <SceneConnect>, a drama-and-film community with one million members.
"What was my SceneCon ID again?"
After moving to SH Entertainment, he had deleted every account he used before and made new ones.
Naturally, the account he had used until recently didn't exist yet.
And his memory of the old ID was hazy.
"Didn't I write it in the notebook?"
He didn't want to bother recovering his ID through authentication, so he muttered quietly as though he wanted someone to hear.
When he opened the notebook, the ID really did jump out at him.
Username: hobbang2001 / Password: sorkchlrhek@!
"Oh, hoppang. I used this one."
Hoppang had been his nickname in school.
The ID was "I'm the best" typed with the keyboard set to English.
It positively reeked of something he had made before he knew better.
When he entered the written ID and password and logged in, a notification appeared telling him he had received a message.
"What is this?"
He opened his inbox without much thought and found an unexpected gift waiting for him.
─────
[User Rank Adjustment Notice]
User hobbang2001's rank will be raised from Rank 2 to Rank 7.
We hope you continue to enjoy using our service.
[Benefits by User Rank (Click!)]
─────
"Rank 7?"
SceneConnect's user ranks were divided into ten levels in total.
Of those, Rank 7 was the highest an ordinary user could reach.
During his time as a director at SH Entertainment, he had received special approval for Rank 5 by verifying that he was Jo So-hee's manager, but now it had risen another two ranks.
Moreover, the Rank 7 benefits were quite powerful.
"Access to every feature except administrator functions. That means I can see blinded posts too, right?"
While he was at it, Park Geon-ho entered the Korean Dramas (2025) board and searched for Jo So-hee.
Jo So-hee's latest production, <Our Year>, had ended at the beginning of the year, so he had expected few related posts.
"Why are there so many?"
The posts uploaded yesterday and today alone filled more than ten pages.
7712341. Information on Jo So-hee's Next Project [36] up 41 down 19
7712336. Results of the Actress Appearance Poll for Women in Their Twenties [277] up 194 down 101
7712331. This Post Has Been Blinded. [17] up 19 down 27
7712316. Jo So-hee Is Insane. [6] up 37 down 17
7712295. Why Jo So-hee Has So Many Antis [21] up 26 down 21
7712273. March 2025 Actor Brand Power Rankings [315] up 511 down 56
As he scanned the list, Park Geon-ho reflexively clicked the post titled Jo So-hee Is Insane.
It turned out to be the predictable claim that her beauty was insane.
"Haa. I know better, and I still take the bait."
Many posts that used provocative titles to draw attention were like this.
But around one in ten mixed in personal attacks, so he had no choice but to open them.
Next, he checked the results of the appearance poll for actresses in their twenties.
[Poll Closed, Total Votes: 72,213]
1st: Jo So-hee (2003) 47.7%
2nd: Han Yu-rim (2003) 11.5%
3rd: Yoon Sia (2000) 9.6%
4th: Bae So-yoon (2001) 8.6%
5th: Kim Hye-rin (1997) 6.5%
6th: Seo A-rin (1999) 6.3%
7th: Go Da-eun (1998) 2.7%
8th: Jeong Yu-min (1996) 2.2%
9th: Park Min-seo (1997) 2.0%
10th: Joo Hyeon-gyeong (1996) 1.9%
Jo So-hee took an overwhelming first place in a major poll joined by around seven percent of SceneConnect's estimated membership.
Second place went to Han Yu-rim, who had briefly shot to fame through commercials.
She received around eight thousand votes, but it wasn't enough to overcome the So-hee Fortress.
Kim Hye-rin, who was set to appear in <First Skin> with her, also placed in the top five.
"Jeong Yu-min, Park Min-seo, and Joo Hyeon-gyeong are ranked far too low, aren't they?"
Until Jo So-hee joined the adult acting ranks, Jeong Yu-min, Park Min-seo, Joo Hyeon-gyeong, and Kim Hye-rin—the Jeong-Park-Joo-Kim quartet—represented actresses in their twenties.
One renowned critic had even predicted that these four would eventually lead the television and film industries, saying actresses in their twenties who possessed both beauty and acting ability were rare.
But two years ago.
The arrival of an invasive species named Jo So-hee in the lineup of actresses in their twenties began to shake the status of Jeong-Park-Joo-Kim.
When acting ability was included, they were still grouped as Jo-Jeong-Park-Joo-Kim or Jeong-Park-Joo-Kim-Jo.
Wasn't there a saying that no one could stand against the passage of time?
In the appearance poll, they were being pushed down by young and beautiful juniors who had entered the ranks around the same time as Jo So-hee.
"Seeing something like this really drives home how incredible Jo So-hee is."
Not only Jeong-Park-Joo-Kim but most entertainers declined in popularity as they aged. Jo So-hee was different.
Her popularity in her thirties burned even hotter than it had in her twenties.
By the time she was nearing forty, she had established herself as an unrivaled brand in South Korea.
While Jeong-Park-Joo-Kim, who had been at the height of their popularity around the time Park Geon-ho entered the army, went into decline.
Jo So-hee steadily climbed upward until she reached the summit.
"When you think about it, this is Jo So-hee's lowest point."
Even now, she was popular enough to be counted among the foremost actresses in their twenties.
But in terms of the value of the Jo So-hee brand, it had only just launched.
In the past, he had lacked ability, so he and Jo So-hee had suffered and grown together. Things were different now.
He had nearly twenty years of experience in the entertainment industry, plus the perk(?) of regression, so he could build the brand faster than before.
"Since I took charge of Jo So-hee three years earlier...... let's settle this within the next ten years."