Jo Seok-hwan, the Chairman of the Newlike Group, wondered what exactly was going on.
He hadn't expected such information to suddenly fall into his hands.
'Seoyeon brought this?'
From what he heard, she had briefly shown up at the Shine Gate, run by JustX's 'Rou'.
Since she was a minor and left so quickly, it ended without much said, but...
"But how did she get her hands on this information?"
"I don't know that either."
Seohee spoke sharply, as if telling him not to pry any further.
At those words, Jo Seok-hwan, who was about to ask a few things himself, flinched and had no choice but to close his mouth.
'Her temper has been really bad lately.'
On top of that, she seemed displeased with using Seoyeon for 'business' purposes.
It was like that during *Lady of Gyeongseong*, and the same for this 'web novel drama adaptation'.
She probably didn't like the Newlike Group taking advantage of Seoyeon.
That was why Jo Seok-hwan had no choice but to watch Seohee's mood.
Her explicitly mentioning Seoyeon's name was probably an indirect way of telling him to handle it so that no harm would come to her.
'How she got it isn't really important.'
Right, that doesn't matter.
The important thing is that he has this information.
'Seeing as it matches the list of people we've uncovered so far, it's definitely real.'
Actually, Jo Seok-hwan had been digging into the background of the Shine Gate for a while.
There was intel that executives of major corporations frequented the place, and among them was information regarding the Newlike and GH Groups.
Therefore, he wanted to find out as early as possible.
There were more than a few journalists digging into that place, and if it blew up, the Newlike Group would definitely take a hit too.
So it had to be blocked before it exploded.
The GH Group was surely making moves behind the scenes as well.
"What are you going to do?"
At the secretary's words, Jo Seok-hwan lifted his gaze from the document he had been leisurely reading.
"There must be several ways to handle it."
"That's right."
"Are you going to handle it loudly?"
"No."
At that, the secretary didn't ask 'why'.
It wasn't his place to ask, and he could roughly guess the reason.
"This is the perfect time; we can't have cold water poured on it."
*Child Game*.
Right now, the whole world is focused on South Korea's movies and dramas.
If a massive scandal breaks out here, it would really pour cold water on things.
The productions in progress would be halted en masse.
The loss would be impossible to quantify in money.
"Even without making a noisy fuss, there are plenty of ways to handle it."
As long as the GH Group cooperates on this matter, that is.
'They would also want to get through this as quietly as possible.'
He knew they had a lot riding on *Mine*.
In that situation, if an issue blows up, it could become dangerous, so they'd want to handle things quietly.
And coincidentally, there was someone who could reach them.
Seohee said it herself: Seoyeon's father's friend.
Cultural Business Division Director Kang Tae-jin.
Naturally, Jo Seok-hwan knew him too.
Of course, he was the son of the GH Group's Chairman.
'...I thought she was from a normal middle-class family.'
How on earth does she know such a person?
Thanks to that, the job seemed like it would get easier, though.
"Sometimes, handling things quietly is even more terrifying."
By the time you come to your senses, everything is already gone.
A blade thrust without even a moment to prepare.
That is the most fearful thing.
"Secretary Shim."
"Yes."
"Please convey a message to the Assemblyman that I'd like to meet him."
"Understood."
"He'll be very pleased. He begged us so much, after all."
Honestly, Jo Seok-hwan felt refreshed too.
Above all, he had no intention of leaving alone the bastard who kept acting inappropriately toward his daughter.
Moreover, not just his daughter, but his daughter's friend.
If the actor who would shoulder the future of the Newlike Group was included, even more so.
"He probably thought he lived above the law."
Jo Seok-hwan's eyes turned cold as he looked at the document.
"I need to show him that there are things above that."
And from the next day.
The Shine Gate fell into silence.
***
"...Yes? What are you talking about, CEO? The business... you're telling me to fold the business?"
Rou couldn't believe the words that had just entered his ears.
It had been a week since the safe suddenly disappeared.
Yes, just a week.
He hadn't even slept properly at night, desperate to find the safe somehow.
In the midst of that, he got a call from Sung Ha-jun, the CEO of RY Entertainment.
He had yelled and ranted for a long time, but to summarize, it was simple.
Fold the business.
And, quietly wait at home.
"Something, something went wrong. I'll, I'll talk to them. I'll contact Director Jung or Director Hwang."
"What are you going to do by contacting them?"
"They aren't exactly clean either, are they? If we're in danger, it'll harm them too, so they'll have to do something."
"..."
At Rou's words, a deep sigh was heard over the phone.
"You won't be able to reach them."
"Yes? What do you..."
"They're already finished."
"Th-that can't be. There must be some mistake. Ah, r-right. I'll make some calls right now. Think of how many people we're entangled with. If that blows up..."
"No."
He said firmly.
"No one will be able to open their mouths. It will end without anyone even being able to speak. Including me."
Unable to even let out a peep, they'll all just go down.
Who would dare touch the one holding the media in the palm of his hand?
Rou was nothing.
The ones above him.
Even the ones that he, the CEO of RY, had to look up to, were all finished.
"CEO? What, what on earth are you talking about?!"
Click.
Sung Ha-jun didn't say anything more and quietly hung up.
No matter how many times he shouted, no answer came back.
Only a heavy silence greeted him.
Holding his phone in his hand, Rou stood there blankly for a moment.
Thump, thump.
Only the sound of his rapidly beating heart echoed in the silence.
A feeling of the blood in his head running cold.
Sweat poured from his forehead like rain, as if it were the middle of summer.
"Th-that can't be."
Rou belatedly began calling everyone he knew.
But no one answered his calls.
The numerous businessmen connected to him.
And the acquaintances who had comforted him just yesterday.
Even the celebrities.
Even the members of JustX from the same group didn't answer his calls.
Except for one person: Ri-hyun.
"R-Ri-hyun, where are you right now? What on earth is going on?"
"Hyung."
A voice that sounded like it would extinguish at any moment came through.
"I'm... at the police station right now."
The moment he heard those words, Rou felt his eyes spinning.
JustX.
One of the idol groups representing South Korea.
"We..."
Such a person was at the police station, yet not a single article had been published.
A silence so heavy it was vicious.
"...Just what did you touch?"
At that disparity, Rou felt like he was going to vomit.
Fear tightening his heart.
Because it felt as if a formless monster was opening its maw and standing right in front of him.
***
'...It's quiet?'
Seoyeon inwardly flinched.
After all, nothing really went according to plan.
'They said it was delivered properly?'
She thought at least an article would explode, but it was strangely quiet.
So she doubted it was delivered properly.
Actually, Seohee's reaction when she gave it to her was quite subtle.
"Wouldn't it be better to give this to your father?"
"Why?"
"Huh? What, do you really not know?"
Seohee said such ambiguous things, but soon nodded as if she understood.
Of course, Seoyeon felt sorry to ask this of Seohee, who had a lot on her mind lately, but there was no one else to ask for this kind of thing besides Seohee.
'In my past life, both GH and Newlike suffered huge damages because of this.'
The chairmen of major corporations wouldn't fail to foresee such a thing after seeing that.
So they would handle it as quietly as possible.
In fact, there were rumors that the reason the incident was buried so quickly in her past life was because the Newlike and GH Groups stepped in.
If it got noisy, the ones who would suffer the most damage were those two.
But she thought at least a few articles would come out; it was too quiet.
'No, the quietness makes it even scarier.'
Since then, not a single contact had come from Rou.
It seemed Pyo Ji-woo hadn't received any particular contact either.
Since he was beaten up, she thought he would take some action, but it was surprisingly quiet.
And Seoyeon found out about the news from that side a few days later.
It was thanks to Ma Yeon-woo, who visited Nova Entertainment.
"It's destroyed."
"...What is?"
"Our group."
He had a devastated expression.
Since he truly cherished JustX, he couldn't seem to believe this situation at all.
"We were up for contract renewal soon... Hah. Of course, it seemed like Rou hyung didn't have the intention."
He said that with a bitter expression.
"Now it's just Ho-jin and me."
'Killer Hong survived.'
At Ma Yeon-woo's words, Seoyeon scratched her cheek.
She thought the remaining one might disappear soon too.
'No, considering this incident, he might just live quietly.'
He also caused an accident while drunk after visiting Shine Gate, so she didn't know what would happen if his base disappeared.
"But why did you come?"
"...No, it's just that with the recent events, I was worried Rou hyung might have done something to harm you."
It seemed he came to ask if there had been any contact.
Also.
"I have to make a living too."
"...Pardon?"
"RY Entertainment, honestly, the situation right now is beyond words. I don't know what's going to happen either. In this situation, for me to renew my contract... no matter how stupid I am, I can't do that."
JustX had already earned more than the invested money.
If he leaves RY, he won't be able to use the same group name, but what meaning would that have when the group was already shattered to pieces?
"So, I'm planning to move agencies."
"To our agency? There must be plenty of other places?"
No, why?
Honestly, if he went, there would be much better places.
The first one that came to mind was XN Entertainment.
If it were them, they would try to hold onto him with an outrageous amount of money.
Because unlike the other members, he was truly a person with no controversies.
"No, it's not as easy as it sounds."
"Pardon?"
"I don't know exactly who Rou hyung messed with, but... it felt like everyone was avoiding the topic."
Did that affect even Ma Yeon-woo?
'Ah, well.'
People who don't know the information might think Ma Yeon-woo was just 'someone who didn't get caught'.
However, since Seoyeon knew his future, she knew he had almost no connection to Shine Gate.
"...So I was thinking of asking a favor."
At Ma Yeon-woo's cautious words, Seoyeon nodded slightly.
"Yes, I understand."
Originally, Ma Yeon-woo was someone who would have lived an arrogant life, but even in the past life, he was someone who steadfastly continued his singing career even after Shine Gate blew up.
The situation was probably similar back then too.
Since he moved to a strange management company and was active.
She wondered why, and it seems he ended up in this kind of situation after all.
'...This time it seems to be because of me, though.'
Anyway, Seoyeon didn't want to let Ma Yeon-woo go to another place either.
In the past, he suffered from a bad image for a while, but he eventually made a splendid comeback, didn't he?
He was a talented person.
"I'll try talking to them once."
Like that.
A few more days later.
An article about JustX's Ma Yeon-woo transferring to Nova Entertainment was published prominently, and...
So quietly.
Many were buried in the darkness.
A year ended in silence.
***
A new year dawned.
The new year of turning eighteen.
Amidst a busy schedule of filming, Jo Seo-hee opened her eyes in the morning.
"...My head hurts."
Jo Seo-hee slowly sat up in bed and sighed.
She felt like she had a dream, but couldn't remember it well.
As she brushed the corner of her eyes, a small teardrop had formed.
Did her mother appear in her dream?
'That doesn't seem to be it.'
The vibe was different.
Lately, she felt like she was dreaming something, but couldn't remember exactly.
'Was it even my dream in the first place?'
Just a little.
There was something she remembered like fragments.
Her face reflected in the mirror.
But the face reflected there wasn't hers.
A completely different person was reflected there.
A woman with a pretty but somewhat melancholy impression.
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'I don't know.'
Thinking it was just a weird dream, Jo Seo-hee washed her face and quickly got ready to go out.
School was on winter break, so she didn't need to go out, but it happened to be a filming day.
'Filming...'
It had been a really long time.
The reason it was hard to go to the filming set.
The filming of *Mine* went extremely smoothly.
Her acting too, though she was occasionally criticized, that was it.
Textbook acting.
There were times she tried to attempt new acting, but after being criticized a few times, she stopped.
"You don't need to be too impatient. It will change as time passes anyway."
Han Ye-geon said that, but honestly, she didn't know if he meant it.
He was a very sensitive person, so it probably wasn't an empty remark, but she was still bothered.
'I am still young and...'
Suddenly, Seohee recalled what Seoyeon had said at the award ceremony a while ago.
The words that she was still young and had a lot to learn.
She was right.
Both Seoyeon and she were still young.
It's still too early to become adults.
They had plenty of time, so they could grow slowly.
"Yeah, let's not be impatient."
Slap, patting her cheeks, Seohee headed to the filming set.
Today was the day she was filming with Seoyeon.
Because she absolutely couldn't cause a nuisance by making a mistake.