1
He was about two kilometers from the Ilsan studio.
BZZZT. BZZZT.
Road manager Bae Chang-mo called him.
"Chang-mo. I'll be there in three minutes."
Assuming he had called to check Park Geon-ho's route, he stated only the essentials.
But the reply sounded strange.
-Ah, yes. I think you need to hurry.
"Why? Did something happen?"
-Well...... I think Actor Han Do-hoon caused an accident.
Not that he had caused one, but that Bae Chang-mo thought he had.
In other words, even Bae Chang-mo could not decide whether it counted as an accident.
"Was Actor Han Do-hoon hurt?"
-No. No one was hurt.
"Whew. All right. I'm entering the alley now, so wait just a little longer."
Following the navigation system's directions, Park Geon-ho parked in front of the warehouse-style studio.
When he hurried inside, Han Do-hoon ran over on the verge of tears.
"Geon-ho. I swear this is unfair."
"Actor Han Do-hoon. Take a deep breath first. A lot of people are watching."
"You don't believe me? I didn't even brush against her, but suddenly......."
"I understand, so calm down."
Unlike Jo So-hee, whom he had accompanied until right before his regression, he had not seen Han Do-hoon in more than ten years.
He had wondered how he would feel when he met Han Do-hoon again.
But after seeing Han Do-hoon half out of his mind, he sighed before he felt any happiness.
"Chang-mo!"
"Yes, Manager."
"Please bring Actor Han Do-hoon some water."
"Ah, yes."
Leaving Han Do-hoon with Bae Chang-mo, Park Geon-ho approached a man who appeared to be the director of photography.
A woman in glasses abruptly stepped between them and held out her phone.
"You're Actor Han Do-hoon's manager, correct?"
"Yes. I'm Park Geon-ho."
"Before you speak with the director, would you take a look at this?"
"What is it?"
"Mr. Han Do-hoon is quite playful on set. So we recorded some separate footage."
The woman tapped the play button on the phone she held up, and the video began.
-Director! Isn't this a little dull? Should we mix in some action?
-How?
-For example, something like this. Or maybe this.......
CRASH!
-Aaaah!
-Excuse me! Are you all right?
That was the substance of the video after one viewing.
During a break in filming, Han Do-hoon had demonstrated movements reminiscent of short-track speed skating beside the director.
As he swung both arms too vigorously, a staff member passing by was startled and fell.
The equipment case she had been carrying toppled over with her.
Park Geon-ho watched the video twice more to see if he had missed anything.
His conclusion was that it was ambiguous.
'There was no direct contact, but...... the staff member does seem to have fallen because she was startled.'
While he reviewed the video, a man who looked to be in his late thirties brought over the equipment case in question.
"Was anything damaged?"
"Everything else is fine, but this."
"......?"
"If you look here, can you see the small scratch?"
"Ah....... You're right."
"If this were our equipment, we'd repair it and bill you for the cost, but it's a rental. It has to be returned by this afternoon, so this is difficult......."
The man spoke as if an accident that would never have happened without Han Do-hoon had occurred.
The female staff member who had walked nearby carrying an equipment case while the director and the advertising model discussed the shoot also bore some responsibility, as did the other staff members who had not stopped her, but the man omitted all of that.
Park Geon-ho could have argued the point if he was prepared for tempers to flare.
For the moment, however, he nodded.
This was not some small or mid-sized agency. Han Do-hoon belonged to Wooju Entertainment, which had once reigned at the top of Korea.
It was better to accept the responsibility that was theirs cleanly than to dodge it to save a little money and end up embroiled in controversy.
"Then what should we do?"
"The rental company is supposed to come by shortly? You can settle it with them then."
"Is that what the contract stipulates?"
"Yes. It can't be repaired in Korea, so I understand that it will probably need to be sent to the head office in Germany."
If it needed to be repaired in Germany, it seemed better for Wooju Entertainment to take the lens and pay the purchase price, so Park Geon-ho reported it to Team Leader Han Sang-woo.
-Sigh. I knew what kind of manager you were when you skipped a schedule.
"If I'd left immediately instead of stopping at Damwol, I would've managed things so the accident never happened."
-So? How much do you think it'll cost?
"The staff don't know the exact amount either. We'll have to wait until the rental company arrives."
-Anyway, settle it within the company card's limit.
"It does have a limit, right?"
-I don't know, you punk.
"It'll embarrass the company if the card gets declined for exceeding the limit."
-Sigh. It should cover up to about five million.
He thought five million won would be enough, even for an expensive imported lens.
But the employee from the rental company quoted twice that amount.
"How much did you say?"
"Ten million won. And this is an entry-level model. The more expensive ones have another zero on the end."
"......."
"You'll be paying by card, correct?"
The company card did not have a high enough limit, so Park Geon-ho had no choice but to use the card Jo So-hee had given him.
He planned to settle the situation by paying now, increase the company card's limit tomorrow, and then have the transaction processed again.
"Considering I must've been out of my mind from regressing, that was handled neatly. Park Geon-ho."
He had even driven the aggrieved Han Do-hoon home and soothed him with pork belly and soju, so he thought he had dealt with the situation admirably.
But things became tangled.
"Hey! Actor Han Do-hoon says it wasn't his fault?"
"I watched the video, and Actor Han Do-hoon appears to bear some responsibility."
"Why are you the one deciding that?"
"......?"
"The deputy division director is raising hell right now. He's furious that some third-year manager spent ten million won on his own authority."
"Don't we have insurance for situations like this?"
"No, you punk! I thought we did too, but they say Team 5 isn't covered. And even if we had it, there's a good chance the insurance wouldn't cover this."
"So?"
"The deputy division director says he'll look into it more, but I don't know. I might even get disciplined."
"......."
Two days after regressing, Park Geon-ho was ordered to stay off duty.
Actor Team 5 had complained that it was desperately short-handed, but not one person objected to Deputy Division Director Jo Yeong-chan's decision.
"Sigh. Fuck. This is bullshit."
Park Geon-ho climbed to the rooftop and poured every remaining Obmint into his mouth.
CRUNCH. CRUNCH.
He had meant to ration them as much as possible until Deputy Team Leader Ahn Hye-ju found more for him.
But if he did not do this, he felt he would go back to chain-smoking.
"No, is this really something to blame me for? Are they that incapable of understanding the situation? Then what was I supposed to do there? Stammer around and advertise that I'm a rookie manager? Call Sang-woo and summon the Division Director, making the problem even bigger? Would that have been right?"
Passing the responsibility to his superiors would not have changed anything.
Even Deputy Division Director Jo Yeong-chan, who became endlessly petty when money was involved, could not alter the compensation terms in the rental contract.
Unless they intended to grab the advertising company by the collar and fight, compensating the rental company as requested had been the best option.
"When you've crashed into a supercar, you don't get to clutch your neck and play the victim, you stingy bastard, Deputy Division Director Jo Yeong-chan. And you should only skimp on things worth skimping on. I protected the company's image, and what? You want me to write a letter of reflection until things are settled? Fuck, do you think I regressed so I could write a letter of reflection?"
He had not realized it while working as top star Jo So-hee's manager and the division director of SH Entertainment, but the world was filthy when he returned to being a low-ranking manager.
"Fine. I'll quit. I was going to leave anyway, wasn't I? A measly ten million won? I'll write Jo So-hee an IOU and pay her back."
He clenched the empty Obmint wrappers in his fist.
He had no use for a company run by m—s who could not even recognize a regressed manager.
Just then.
BZZZT. BZZZT.
The phone in his back pocket rang insistently.
The caller was Team 5 Leader Han Sang-woo.
"Yes."
-Hey! Where are you?
"On the rooftop."
-On the rooftop? You bastard, I told you to sit at your desk and reflect, and you went up to the roof?
"Didn't you tell me to stay out of the deputy division director's sight and keep my head down?"
-You've always got an answer, you little bastard. Get down here. The Division Director summoned you.
"The Division Director?"
2
Wooju Entertainment was broadly divided into two business divisions.
The Singer Division and the Actor Division.
Other agencies used somewhat more sophisticated names.
But Wooju Entertainment still used the department names from its earliest days.
Of the two, it was the Actor Division that represented Wooju Entertainment.
Unlike the Singer Division, which had almost no artists worth presenting besides Jena.
The Actor Division had numerous popular actors, including the rising star Jo So-hee.
"Expensive machines really are better. How convenient is full automation?"
The man muttering to himself as he made coffee was Division Director Kang Young-jin.
He had graduated from the Business Administration Department at Hanguk University, completed USC Business School, joined one of Hollywood's leading film studios, and then been recruited by Wooju Entertainment.
He was the true captain of Wooju Entertainment and the man who had made its Actor Division the best in the industry.
"Interesting. He isn't even a team leader, just a manager who only recently became a full-time employee."
As he reviewed someone's personnel file on a tablet, Division Director Kang Young-jin took a sip of freshly brewed coffee.
Deputy Division Director Jo Yeong-chan had thrown a fit because a mere rookie had cost the company ten million won.
But Division Director Kang Young-jin was pleased. It seemed someone with a good head for the work had joined them.
Just then.
KNOCK. KNOCK.
Following the knock, a secretary opened the door and entered.
"Division Director. Manager Park Geon-ho from Team 5 is here."
"Tell him to come in."
A short while later.
A tall man appeared beyond the window.
'He looks over 180 centimeters tall?'
His short stature had always been a complex for Division Director Kang Young-jin, and he returned to the coffee machine.
Then, making coffee as if it were the most natural thing in the world, he spoke.
"Sit there."
"Yes."
"Coffee is fine, right?"
"Green tea, please."
"......?"
For a moment, Kang Young-jin wondered if he had misheard.
The Division Director himself, a man as high as the sky, had offered to make him coffee, and he asked for green tea.
He was the sort of guy who would order spicy seafood noodles alone when everyone at a Chinese restaurant ordered black-bean noodles.
"We don't have green tea. Will you just drink coffee?"
"Then I'm fine."
"But I already made it?"
"I'm currently under suspension."
"......?"
"I don't think it would be appropriate for someone facing discipline to drink coffee the Division Director made personally."
The corner of Division Director Kang Young-jin's mouth twisted.
In other words, Park Geon-ho was telling him not to slap someone and then offer a bandage.
"That disciplinary action was canceled earlier."
"No one informed me."
"I summoned you, didn't I? That's enough."
Division Director Kang Young-jin handed Park Geon-ho the freshly brewed coffee.
Ordinarily, someone in his position would not know what to do with himself.
But Park Geon-ho calmly accepted the coffee cup.
"Have you lived abroad, by any chance?"
"I've never left Korea."
"Is that so?"
If Kang Young-jin wanted to be particular, he could call the man rude or socially inexperienced.
But Park Geon-ho handled everything so naturally that it felt awkward to criticize him.
"Deputy Team Leader Ahn Hye-ju reported yesterday's events to me. I hear you did something significant?"
"I did the best I could."
"If yesterday's work was the best Manager Park Geon-ho can do, shouldn't I make you a team leader?"
Division Director Kang Young-jin spoke with a laugh.
If holding Writer Woo Yeon-hee for nearly an hour to make the meeting happen.
And smoothly resolving an accident on a shoot were his baseline abilities, he more than deserved to be a team leader.
Normally, such extravagant praise would elicit a humble answer.
"I'll work hard if you give me the position."
Park Geon-ho snatched up the offer as readily as he had accepted the coffee cup.
"It was only a figure of speech. As you know, the company has rules."
"......."
"At any rate, you worked hard yesterday. You handled both Jo So-hee's contract negotiations and the damaged-lens incident remarkably well for a rookie manager."
Division Director Kang Young-jin gave him the highest praise he could offer a third-year manager.
He thought it was enough for Park Geon-ho to boast about like a heroic tale to the other managers.
But Park Geon-ho showed no particular reaction.
He had spent too many years being worked to the bone beside Jo So-hee for a few words of praise without material compensation to make him bounce in his seat.