The heavy gloom on his face had lifted a lot, and now I could finally see the Kim Seunghun I knew, which put me at ease.
“Did you drink a lot yesterday too?”
When I asked carefully, he gave an awkward smile and nodded.
“Drink only through today. Even if they do your makeup for Your Night… you should go on looking confident.”
“I should. Ha ha…”
I took a bottle of soju out of the plastic bag and poured him a glass. We clinked and knocked them back like friends.
“Ahh… I cannot live without this.”
Letting out a faint groan, he and I kept raising our glasses one after another.
At first, we opened the conversation with a warm mood, talking about things from the old Night shoot.
And when he seemed to be in a much better mood, I asked him,
“Hyung, I know it is hard to dredge up, but could you tell me a little more about when you were young?”
“Huh…?”
To move people’s hearts, detailed events that could carry one pillar of the story were more important than the simple fact that he had been bullied.
“It is for what I will send to Mr. Jeong Jisu of Your Night and the PD.”
He looked a little surprised, then smiled and nodded.
“Okay. I promised, after all. Ha ha… where should I start…”
He propped his chin on his hand, closed his eyes, and seemed to search through his past.
Not long after, he began to carefully unwind the story of his past.
Shards of terrible memories in Kim Seunghun’s mind.
I wrote those shards down in my notebook, one by one.
A poor family,
memories of helping with the family business at his parents’ bar when he was underage,
a time in life when studies mattered,
memories of teachers taking the side of the bullies with good grades rather than the underachieving Kim Seunghun and even blaming him instead.
They were memories so awful that you frowned just listening, yet he kept speaking with a calm expression.
“After you succeeded, did you ever feel like taking revenge?”
“Revenge, what revenge? All I ever thought was that I never wanted to run into them. I never thought anything except hoping they never show up in front of me. And they say the best revenge is doing well yourself.”
He gave a loose smile, as if relieved.
“Right. For someone like you, that counts as doing well.”
“Ha ha.”
If I could just show people this side of Kim Seunghun…
“I will make sure people stand on your side.”
At that, he looked a little surprised, then nodded and bumped his fist to mine.
“I am only trying it because it is you.”
After he reviewed the conversation we had shared, I sent it to the production team at Your Night.
Before long, I heard that the recording of the Kim Seunghun episode of Your Night had been completed.
Along with the message from Jeong Jisu that this was the most anticipated episode ever and would have the kind of impact to change broadcast trends, he sent me a separate edited cut.
“This episode is entirely thanks to you, Mr. Gyeong Chanhyeon, so I am sending it to you. Watch it first by yourself. If anything is lacking, contact me. Ha ha!”
Watching the Kim Seunghun cut in advance, I could tell that the level of immersion was on a different plane from the previous Your Night.
The emotional throughline was not overdone, and his story was one that would resonate with anyone.
It also seemed that Kim Seunghun himself was quite satisfied with the content of the program. He told me he felt relieved and that he had said everything he wanted to say and thanked me.
The long-awaited broadcast day.
It was finally right before the stage we had prepared for weeks was set to unfold.
“Hey. Should I go buy some popcorn?”
Junseong, who was waiting with me at the office for Your Night, spoke up.
Since Jeong Jisu had told me to watch it alone, I had kept it secret even from Junseong.
“Are we watching a movie? It is a talk show. What popcorn?”
“Then I will buy some just for myself.”
“That is heartless. If you are going to buy it, buy mine too.”
At my words, he smirked and seemed to pull something out of his pocket.
“What are you looking for?”
“This.”
He shot me a crisp middle finger, smirked, and dashed outside.
“Good grief. How old are you…”
I shook my head and slumped into the chair.
“Oh, right.”
I had already called the reporters, but the press had a pretty important role to play in this setup.
As another check, I texted them again.
“After Your Night ends, from online news to tomorrow’s papers. I would appreciate it if you could do exactly as requested.”
Newspapers also wield powerful influence over public opinion.
If the Your Night episode with Kim Seunghun aired the way I imagined, it would probably elicit a pretty good reaction, but adding newspapers would create a much bigger ripple effect.
While I watched the commercials and waited to see how the show would unfold, Junseong opened the door and came back in.
“Eat this.”
He tossed me the snack I usually liked and said so.
The show title at the top right disappeared, signaling the final commercial was almost over.
“Whew… here we go. Original story by Go Jinhun, adaptation by Gyeong Chanhyeon, investment by Lee Junseong.”
He tore open the snack wrapper and stuffed a handful into his mouth.
“Good evening, viewers. I am a little nervous to introduce today’s guest.”
With a genial smile, Jeong Jisu looked at the camera.
“He is someone who has been at the center of ongoing controversy lately. We invited him with particular difficulty. Mr. Kim Seunghun, please come out!”
In a neat shirt and tidy outfit, Kim Seunghun walked on stage.
At first, with his trademark cheerful hosting style, Jeong Jisu loosened the mood.
Then, in an instant, he shifted the tone.
“But… we cannot just gloss over the recent controversy. Ha ha, is it all right if we talk about it?”
“Yes. I came to talk about that. Ha ha.”
With an easy smile, he picked up Jeong Jisu’s line naturally.
“They say you experienced bullying. First of all, is that true?”
“Yes. It is true. I even dropped out of high school because of it. It was too hard.”
Looking surprised, Jeong Jisu listened closely to his words.
“The biggest reason I came on Your Night is to let you know that the rumors spreading now are facts without a single lie.”
With a solemn expression, he looked at Jeong Jisu and calmly told his past.
Next to me, Junseong set down his snack, which he had been crunching on, and focused on the story.
“He did not talk about that kind of family situation when he drank with us…”
“He is too needlessly considerate. He did not want to ruin the mood, remember.”
Tears were pooling in his eyes now as he immersed himself in the story on Your Night.
“Is it not hard to talk about this?”
“I wanted to hide it. My dream was to be an actor, but after I became an actor, my dream changed to the bullies not recognizing me. It was a past I wanted to hide so badly.”
“But now the rumors have spread like this…”
“To be honest, that does not matter much anymore. I thought it was something that would be revealed sooner or later anyway.”
With a confident look, he spoke toward the camera.
“Frankly, there was something I wanted to say to kids who are being bullied.”
“Yes?”
“No matter how hard it is now, if you endure and endure, someday you can be happier than they are. I wanted to tell them that they deserve to be happy.”
“Sniff…”
Now it was not just teary eyes. Beside me, Junseong watched Your Night with snot running.
“Hey, are you crying?”
“It is moving… Seunghun hyung… sniff… hngh…”
The further the interview went, the more intense his emotions became.
I focused more on his reaction.
Other people needed to react like that for things to follow my script.
His feelings shifted in rich colors along the flow of the story.
From anger to empathy, from pity to admiration.
Watching the talk show while a storm of emotions swirled, he even clenched his fist.
This was enough.
My heart started pounding at the thought that something huge would break tomorrow.
After Your Night aired.
Baek Jincheol could not help but be flustered.
[Your Night sets all-time record ratings!]
[Kim Seunghun. Revealing his past shows his human side…]
[It comes out that he had been doing volunteer work under other names… a lotus blooming in the mud.]
[Online exposés about Kim Seunghun vanish… Cyber Investigation Unit opens a probe.]
Bang!
“Damn… damn it!”
Reading a newspaper in the club office, Baek Jincheol shouted and slammed his fist on the desk.
This was not what he had imagined.
Ring.
When the phone suddenly rang, he swallowed his rage and picked up.
“Hello.”
“Because of the info you leaked, my boss is chewing me out! You punk… I knew it would be like this.”
“What?”
When he first got the information, that reporter had been chuckling, but now he was scolding him, and rage surged up in Baek Jincheol.
“What did you say, you bastard? Do you want to die? Do you know who I am…”
“What is he babbling? A toothless geezer. Baek Jincheol. You are on the blacklist now, punk. Ugh, damn it. Do not even think about calling me again.”
Click.
At the sound of the call ending, he slammed the receiver down on the desk.
It shattered, and a grotesque mechanical whine kept echoing through the office.
He hurled the beeping phone at the wall, then flopped into his chair.
This was not the dream he had.
He wanted to be a don of show business.
A man whose very name would make directors, actors, and entertainers shake in fear.
“I was sure… I was sure it was going well…”
Grinding his teeth, he replayed the past.
The first thing that came to mind was Gyeong Chanhyeon.
That punk was the problem.
With rage boiling up to his skull, he grabbed his phone.
Revenge on the one man who had wrecked his future.
Thinking that was the only thing he could do, he called Hwang Jesun.
“H-hello?”
“You bastard. Where are you!”
“Pardon…? Ah, boss. The thing is…”
“Where are you! You worm!”
Something in Hwang Jesun’s voice sounded hesitant, but that was not important now.
His eyes had already gone wild, and he had no attention to spare for anything.
He had already lost everything.
The ones who brought in money at the agency would obviously all leave, starting with Kim Seunghun.
“Ah, I am right outside the office. Boss.”
“Goodness?”
“Ah, outside Paradise Club.”
“What? What are you doing there! Get in here right now, you bastard!”
With his heart pounding like crazy, he barely noticed Hwang Jesun carefully opening the door.
“I am going to take care of Gyeong Chanhyeon. That punk.”
Swallowing hard, Hwang Jesun looked at the already gone eyes of Baek Jincheol.
“No answer? You bastard…”
“No, boss. If I go after Director Gyeong Chanhyeon… then who will handle Goodness Entertainment…”
“Have you lost your mind. Hey, since when is Goodness Entertainment yours?”
He picked up the baseball bat next to him again.
“It is mine. I am the president, am I not?”
“You are really out of your mind, huh? I sat you there as a figurehead and now you think you are really the president…”
It did not take him long to realize why Hwang Jesun was acting like that, and what he himself had just said.
Bang!
Men in black suits kicked in the door.
And Hwang Jesun looked at Baek Jincheol and sneered.
“You bastard…”
“They told me if I sell you out, they will shave a little off my sentence. What can I do.”
The first one Go Jinhun targeted for a weakness was Hwang Jesun.
To tie Baek Jincheol to Goodness Entertainment, he needed a witness so they could not cut off the tail.
He passed that plan to a prosecutor, and the prosecutor, who had been itching to catch the man he had let out on suspended sentence, accepted Go Jinhun’s plan.
The prosecutor in a suit took the recorder that a very polite Hwang Jesun handed over, then passed papers to Baek Jincheol.
“Well, well, Mr. Baek Jincheol. Out on suspended sentence and we meet again, do we? Here is the search warrant and arrest warrant. Take a look with your own eyes.”
“…”
With a long-harbored grudge, the prosecutor took handcuffs directly from the man next to him and snapped them onto Baek Jincheol’s wrists.
“Baek Jincheol, you are under arrest for the crimes of preparing for murder in flagrante, aggravated assault on Hwang Jesun, and prostitution. You can retain a lawyer and make an explanation, and you can refuse to make statements against your interest. You can request a review of the legality of your arrest and detention. Got it?”
Clack.
“You son of a…”
“Look at you. You should have kept your guys in line. They sang like birds without being asked.”
The prosecutor next to him pointed his index finger at Hwang Jesun, then stuck his face close to Baek Jincheol and said,
“This time we will make sure you eat prison rice. You miserable bastard. Someone even organized all the witnesses and sent them over. A whole truckload. You will not be getting out easily this time.”
The prosecutor in a suit, giddy, even did a little shoulder shimmy and called to the men behind him.
“All right, let us go!”
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