"What is it, punk?"
"Couldn't you have just humored him a little?"
"I would have if I could. We're already scrambling because there's no one to manage Actress Jo. What will we do if Geon-ho quits?"
"That's true, but...... I'm worried you'll end up suffering for no reason."
"Let him chew me out if he wants. You think this is my first time getting chewed out by the Deputy Division Director?"
"Is that really something to brag about?"
"Shut it. I'm grateful you're worried about me, but don't say anything unnecessary to Geon-ho. Understood?"
"I know better than that."
Kang In-gyu was worried that Team Leader Han Sang-woo might get caught in the crossfire for defending Park Geon-ho.
But Team Leader Han Sang-woo hadn't acted without a plan.
'Geon-ho even helped Actor Han Do-hoon get cast. I can't repay that kindness by stabbing him in the back. If this project does well and Han Do-hoon's status rises, even the Deputy Division Director won't be able to treat him as badly as he does now.'
Before leaving the office.
Park Geon-ho had told him the news of Han Do-hoon's casting.
Writer Woo Yeon-hee and Blue Media had accepted Park Geon-ho's suggestion that Han Do-hoon play opposite Jo So-hee.
His fee would be 6,000,000 won per episode.
That was 1,000,000 won less than he had earned on his previous project.
But if he firmly established his name through this project, it wouldn't be a losing proposition at all.
Besides, Park Geon-ho had promised to continue looking after Han Do-hoon as well.
"Once Do-hoon finds his footing, I'll be able to support the others without watching what everyone thinks."
After returning to his seat, Team Leader Han Sang-woo sent Park Geon-ho a message.
> The Deputy Division Director came looking for you, so I said you'd gone out to manage Actress Jo's personal schedule.
> If he asks, cover it up that way.
Park Geon-ho replied immediately.
< I really did come out to manage Actress Jo's personal schedule.
"Where did this little punk learn to lie through his teeth?"
Team Leader Han Sang-woo gave a dry chuckle.
He owed Park Geon-ho, so he intended to cover for him diligently for a while, but such an obvious lie was a little disappointing.
> What personal schedule?
> Didn't you just go out to eat?
< Actress Jo is receiving skincare treatment, and I'm at Cheongwoo Gallery right now.
< (Cheongwoo Gallery image.jpg)
"What? Why did you suddenly go to a gallery?"
Team Leader Han Sang-woo suddenly grew uneasy.
No matter how he thought about it, there was no reason for Park Geon-ho to visit a gallery alone.
But Park Geon-ho didn't have time to explain the situation.
"You said you're Jo So-hee's manager?"
"Yes. I'm Park Geon-ho, a manager at Wooju Entertainment."
"I'm Yoon Ji-hyeon."
When Reporter Park Jin-joo introduced him to Director Yoon Ji-hyeon, she gave him several warnings.
First. Director Yoon Ji-hyeon respected her father.
Second. Director Yoon Ji-hyeon disliked grandiosity.
Third. Director Yoon Ji-hyeon loathed wasting time.
Fourth. Director Yoon Ji-hyeon despised people who deceived her.
Someone came to mind when he first heard that.
Jo So-hee.
Jo So-hee, a master actor who poured her soul into acting.
And Director Yoon Ji-hyeon, who had called Jo So-hee's acting art.
He had thought the two would get along, but he hadn't expected their temperaments to be mirror images of each other.
That put Park Geon-ho at ease as well.
'There's no need to overthink this. I just have to treat her like Jo So-hee around the time of my regression.'
There was the Jo So-hee he had met again after regressing, and there was the Jo So-hee who had presented him with a slave contract disguised as marriage.
If someone asked which of the two was more difficult to deal with, the latter won without question.
The present Jo So-hee had yet to accomplish much, but the Jo So-hee from the time of his regression was already an actress at the very top.
She had won nearly every award available in South Korea.
Her acting had even earned her a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress with an OTT production filmed in Korea.
Treating Director Yoon Ji-hyeon as he had treated Jo So-hee back then, Park Geon-ho restored his posture, gaze, and voice to those of Director Park Geon-ho.
Did the strategy work?
Director Yoon Ji-hyeon's slightly irritated expression softened a little.
"I'm sorry for visiting without notice. I know you're busy, so I'll be brief."
"Will 5 minutes be enough?"
"Yes. I'll try to finish within that time."
Park Geon-ho smiled lightly.
According to Reporter Park Jin-joo, 9 out of 10 people who barged in on Director Yoon Ji-hyeon never even got to see her face.
Even if they were lucky enough to meet her, she never gave them more than 3 minutes, yet Park Geon-ho had received 5.
'Director Yoon must be curious about what Jo So-hee's manager has to say after appearing out of nowhere.'
Now that he had read Director Yoon Ji-hyeon's thoughts, there was no reason to leave.
So Park Geon-ho immediately brought up the marathon.
"We're planning to participate in the marathon hosted by the Love for Children with Heart Disease Association."
"Jo So-hee is?"
"Yes. The association has contacted us with rather remarkable persistence. At first, we declined to protect the actor, but their sincerity was anything but ordinary. We've decided to participate."
"Hmm....... Is that what you came to tell me?"
Director Yoon Ji-hyeon's eyes hardened.
She seemed to have misunderstood Jo So-hee's participation in the marathon as a decision to side with Chairman Park Sang-do.
"More precisely, I came to ask for your help in ensuring Jo So-hee's good deed leads to a positive result."
"Hmm....... Interesting."
Just because she disliked grandiosity didn't mean speaking bluntly every time was the right approach.
When testing each other's intentions, one also needed to know how to speak indirectly.
Director Yoon Ji-hyeon spent a long moment considering the words of the young, handsome manager who had appeared without warning.
First, he had called it a good deed.
That showed his determination not to let it end as mere image marketing.
That alone was ambitious, yet he was asking her to help turn it into a positive result.
She had suspected as much after Reporter Park Jin-joo contacted her, but Jo So-hee's side must also know about the internal situation at the Love for Children with Heart Disease Association.
It seemed he was asking her to open a path because they didn't want to be toyed with by Chairman Park Sang-do.
"So you're asking me to create a stage where Jo So-hee can shine?"
"Yes. I would like many people to properly learn about her good deed instead of letting it end as simple gossip."
"Couldn't Wooju Entertainment do that much?"
"The company will naturally do everything it can to support her. But its influence is limited."
"You want to use me to spread the word further?"
"I believe the days when the left hand kept its deeds hidden from the right are over. How disappointed would she be if no one noticed her first marathon challenge after she worked up the courage to begin?"
Director Yoon Ji-hyeon nearly laughed.
The moment she gave him an opening, the words poured out as if he had been waiting.
And what he wanted was perfectly clear.
Make Jo So-hee stand out.
Like an artist seeking to display a work in her gallery, he poured his passion into Jo So-hee.
Yet he never actually explained how extraordinary an actress Jo So-hee was.
At first, Director Yoon wondered if he had omitted it because of the time, but his gaze told her otherwise.
'Does he trust my eye?'
She wasn't the type to smile in meetings like this, but the corners of her mouth kept rising.
"I understand what you're saying. I also understand why you came."
"Thank you for understanding."
"But...... do I have a reason to go that far?"
Director Yoon Ji-hyeon asked him in return.
She was asking him to give her a reason to set the stage for Jo So-hee.
Park Geon-ho answered immediately.
"Shouldn't you be the one to find that reason, Director?"
"......?"
"I came to give you an opportunity, not the Love for Children with Heart Disease Association."
"An opportunity? Are you saying you'll give me an opportunity to use Jo So-hee?"
"Yes. I thought you would understand the meaning of mutual support, mutual virtue."
The secretary attending the meeting flinched and looked at Director Yoon Ji-hyeon.
Mutual support, mutual virtue (support one another, cultivate virtue).
It was a lesson Chairman Yoon Tae-jun had repeated like a favorite saying while he was alive.
It went beyond simply helping each other. It meant accumulating virtue, which continued onward and returned as even greater virtue.
Those words encapsulated the life of Chairman Yoon Tae-jun, both a merchant and a philanthropist.
Had anyone else barged in and said such a thing, Director Yoon Ji-hyeon would have stood up and left.
But this time, she nodded as if she accepted it.
"Mutual support, mutual virtue. I suppose that could be true."
Mutual support, mutual virtue didn't carry only a benevolent meaning.
It also meant that great things couldn't be achieved by calculating every last gain.
"Then all I have to do is expand the event?"
"Yes. If you do that, we'll also make every possible preparation for you."
3
Park Geon-ho, who had been granted only 5 minutes, stayed in the director's office for 20 minutes before rising from his seat.
"What was my next appointment?"
"You were going to have lunch and inspect the inside of the gallery."
"Let's do that another time."
"Understood."
"More importantly...... what should I do with this?"
Director Yoon Ji-hyeon looked at her personal secretary, Park Seong-min.
Park Seong-min shared the thoughts the secretary had been considering.
"I think it would be best to act after publishing an article announcing that Jo So-hee will participate in the marathon."
"You want us to publish it before they do?"
"Even the same article carries a different nuance depending on who publishes it."
"Hmm....... And after that?"
"First, we have to grow the event beyond Chairman Park Sang-do's ability to manage it. Then he'll naturally ask you for help."
"You're telling me to accept the table Chairman Park has set?"
"I believe an event's success or failure depends on the host's ability."
"Ability. Chairman Park isn't capable of handling something that large, so in the end, I'll have no choice but to step in."
"Judging from Jo So-hee's manager, I expect Wooju Entertainment will prepare well too. Jo So-hee will probably attract attention all the way through the event. You can inherit that growing public interest afterward and put it to good use."
"What about my relationship with Jo So-hee? Does it end with the event?"
"I believe that depends on what Jo So-hee shows us during the event."
Director Yoon Ji-hyeon nodded at Secretary Park Seong-min's words.
Her mind had been tangled for a moment, but now she finally felt clearer.
At that time.
After leaving Cheongwoo Gallery, Park Geon-ho visited the skincare clinic Jo So-hee used.
She had maintained the skin of a woman in her 20s even as she approached 40, so he had thought it was natural.
"An annual membership costs...... 50,000,000 won?"
She had been pouring money into her face from this early on.
Of course, Wooju Entertainment covered 20,000,000 won of that amount, and she also received a 10% celebrity discount.
But fewer celebrities than one might expect could afford to invest 25,000,000 won in their skin.
Once the cost of additional procedures was added, it would easily exceed 30,000,000 won a year.
At that point, she was a walking supercar.
Just then, the waiting-room door opened, and Jo So-hee entered in a robe.
"Hmm? You're here already? What about the meeting?"
"It went well."
"What was the result?"
"We've agreed to cooperate with Director Yoon Ji-hyeon. An article will probably appear by tomorrow."
First, he would return that afternoon and report to Division Director Kang Young-jin.
After receiving permission to participate in the marathon, he planned to send an official letter to the Cheongwoo Foundation the next day.
Then, by that afternoon at the latest, an article would probably be released by the Cheongwoo Foundation.
If Wooju Entertainment picked it up and issued a confirmed report of its own, even entertainment reporters wouldn't dare invent stories.
"What do I have to do?"
"Prepare to run the marathon."
"It's only a 10-km marathon, isn't it? I run at least 3 km every day."
When Park Geon-ho suggested marathon training, Jo So-hee boasted about her running ability.
But this wasn't a mere argument. She truly had to run a marathon, so Park Geon-ho drew a firm line.
"Running on a treadmill and running outside are different. Running on the road is far more difficult and demanding."
"I have better stamina than you'd think."
"Even if I'm extremely generous, you might run well for 3 km. But what happens after that? You'll tire faster than usual, and your physical limits will make even walking difficult. Reporters and fans will flock there to see you. You can't let them see you like that, can you?"
"Then you want me to run like an athlete?"
"That would be ideal. If you run like a marathoner, articles will pour out. But unless we had a year to prepare, it's realistically impossible."
"You said the goal was to finish?"
"Yes. Finish. More precisely, finish like Jo So-hee."
"Finish like me?"
"Just do your best and run to the end. Ignore everyone else and maintain your own pace."
"You're running with me, aren't you, Geon-ho?"
"Of course. Celebrities and their managers are a package deal."