Chapter 92: Threat (2)

Translator: Dreamscribe

“Who do you like?” Hwalin was stammered, her embarrassment deepening.

“What are you talking about?? Speak sensibly. Why would I like him. Why would I like him… I mean, Woojin? We’re not even close yet!”

“Really?”

“Yes! I told you, I only liked his work in the short film because it was genuinely good. And I was offered this variety show before Woojin was, you know?”

“……”

“Ah, really, seriously, true. Unnie, really.” (TL: Unnie -> Older Sister)

Their whispering was interrupted by Hwalin’s chubby manager.

“Excuse me – Sorry to interrupt. Hwalin, it’s about time to go, isn’t it?”

“Ah! Yes, yes! Unnie, I’ll head out first, Unnie.”

“Okay. Message me.”

“Yeah, let me know how it goes too, Unnie!”

Hwalin, waving her hand rapidly, swiftly got on the elevator, and Hong Hye-yeon bid her goodbye with a small smile. Then, calmly walking down the corridor with her team, Hong Hye-yeon felt an unknown emotion surge within her. She wasn’t sure if it was anxiety.

‘I didn’t expect Hwalin to be involved-‘

Hong Hye-yeon felt a vague sense of unease. Shortly after, in the meeting room, she met with PD Yoon Byung-seon, who was wearing glasses. PD Yoon and the writers were all smiles, surprised by the unexpected appearance of a top star.

“Haha, Ms. Hye-yeon. I was really surprised to hear from you.”

“Did I arrange the meeting too abruptly?”

“That’s okay, even if you set it up more suddenly, we’d run in barefoot to meet you. It’s Ms. Hye-yeon after all.”

Hong Hye-yeon smiled.

“You’re exaggerating, PD. You haven’t changed.”

“Variety shows should always be somewhat exaggerated. Haha. Anyway, are you really interested in my show?”

“Yes. Right. But on the way here, I met Hwalin? She said she’s confirmed?”

“Ah- You saw her? Yes, Hwalin is confirmed.”

After finishing his sentence, he received a clear file from one of the writers.

“Let me show you who’s confirmed so far. Just keep it a secret. Including Hwalin, Kang Woojin, Ahn Jong-hak, and Ha Kang-su. One is still being coordinated. And now you, also, Hye-yeon.”

“Hwalin was the first to be discussed, right?”

“That’s right. We sent the offer out first. You’ve heard since Woojin is from the same agency, right? We only opened up about Woojin early because of the flow of events.”

PD Yoon Byung-seon chuckled mischievously.

“Come to think of it, Hye-yeon, you’re close with Hwalin, right? And you and Woojin are from the same agency. It would be great if you joined, considering the chemistry and all. You’re acquainted with the others, aren’t you?”

“Yes, somewhat. But is it no problem that Woojin and I are from the same agency?”

PD Yoon Byung-seon, closing the clear file, smiled even brighter.

“Absolutely no problem. As long as it’s fun, viewers don’t care about such details. Only the media nitpick on such things.”

Hong Hye-yeon slowly nodded, her decision having been firmly set just after meeting Hwalin. Soon, Hong Hye-yeon asked PD Yoon Byung-seon.

“What’s the format of the show?”

“Do you like cooking, Hye-yeon?”

“Cooking? I can boil ramen well.”

“That’s sufficient.”

PD Yoon Byung-seon spread out the confirmed plan.

“So, what’s your schedule like for the second half of this year, Hye-yeon?”

About an hour later.

Hwalin, who arrived at a salon in Cheongdam-dong, received a message. The sender was Hong Hye-yeon.

-My Love: Hwalin! I’ve also decided to do the variety show.

After reading the message, Hwalin quickly replied.

-Really?! That’s totally great! ㅠㅠㅠ I can’t wait to start filming and have fun together, unnie!

She was sincere. Hwalin was genuinely looking forward to shooting the variety show with Hong Hye-yeon. However, Hwalin also had somewhat mixed feelings.

‘Ah- I should have just said I was a fan of Woojin from the start.’

She regretted that the first button had been wrongly fastened.

Late at night on the same day.

The time was past 11 PM. A time when everyone else was off work and resting at home. Nevertheless, the streets of Seoul were gleaming. Cars still frequently traversed the road.

Among them, a sleek black foreign car stood out.n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om

At a glance, it was obviously an expensive model, easily worth several hundred million won. That foreign car drove through the road, heading towards the vicinity of Sinsa Station. Although there were many cars around the station, once it entered an alley, the number of people and cars gradually decreased.

Several minutes later.

A foreign car repeatedly traveled the same route, finally pausing briefly in front of a building before starting again. It continued this pattern, obvious enough to notice something was amiss. Regardless, the car repeatedly stopped and started in front of the building.

Eventually.

-Whoosh.

Satisfied, or for whatever reason, the car entered the building’s underground parking garage. Looking at the building, there was a plastic surgery clinic on the third floor. The foreign car parked quietly, and then…

-Thud!

A woman with a bob haircut got out of the driver’s seat. What was peculiar was that her face was completely covered. She wore a full-face mask, had a black hat pulled down low, and even wore sunglasses. After briefly surveying the parking garage, she…

“……”

Moved silently, heading towards the entrance, and entered the elevator.

-Tap.

She pressed the floor for the plastic surgery clinic, which was odd. It was already past 11:30 p.m., way past the clinic’s closing time. Nevertheless, she headed towards the clinic as if quite familiar with it, opening the glass door to the dark, closed clinic.

Interestingly, the clinic’s glass door was unlocked.

Thus, the woman, her face hidden, casually entered the plastic surgery clinic. About 30 minutes later, she left and took the elevator. The only difference was that she now held a small paper bag in her hand.

The woman with the paper bag got into the foreign car in the underground parking garage and…

-Vroom!

Smoothly exited the garage. Once again, the parking garage fell silent, but only for a moment. The sound of another car engine echoed, and a compact car that seemed to have been waiting followed the foreign car out of the parking garage.

About an hour later,

The foreign car that had been at the plastic surgery clinic entered a luxury apartment complex in Cheongdam-dong. A woman got out of the car after parking it adequately, and she unlocked the door to what appeared to be her home. Simultaneously,

“Hu-”

She sighed shortly, removing the items covering her face – mask, hat, etc. Her face was revealed. A captivating beauty, short hair, and a modest vibe.

She, who had been cast in the ‘Island of the Missing’ and had a bit of a feud with Kang Woojin yesterday,

“It’s already this late. Tsk.”

Was the top actress Seo Chae-eun.

Meanwhile, in front of Seo Chae-eun’s apartment.

The small compact car that had followed the foreign car was parked at the roadside near the apartment entrance. The security of the apartment was so tight that it couldn’t enter.

Regardless, inside the compact car,

“Check the dashcam first.”

“Yeah, sure.”

There were three people, two men in the front seats, and a woman in the back. Their appearance was peculiar. They didn’t exactly seem like police, but they didn’t look entirely ordinary either. Moreover, the woman in the back was holding a huge camera.

The man in the driver’s seat, who had dark skin, asked her,

“Did you get everything? Check.”

“I got it. From when she arrived at the plastic surgery clinic to when she went inside her house.”

“Did you clearly film Seo Chae-eun?”

“Yes. But only the part where she gets out at the clinic. Her face was fully covered, so identification is not possible.”

The man in the driver’s seat grinned maliciously,

“Exactly, that’s the point. The image of her covering her face tightly makes the story come alive. It wouldn’t be interesting if her face wasn’t covered.”

He shifted his gaze to the man in the passenger seat.

“Is Seo Chae-eun’s car clearly in the dashcam?”

“Yep.”

“And you took photos too?”

“Yes.”

“That’s good. Even if her face is covered, it’s undoubtedly Seo Chae-eun’s car, so there’s no problem. For now, take an overall shot of Seo Chae-eun’s apartment just in case, you never know.”

The woman, nodding, took a shot of the apartment with her camera. Who were these people, and why were they documenting Seo Chae-eun’s actions?

The man in the driver’s seat murmured the answer,

“For now, don’t tell the chief editor. That wild boar will blow his top when he finds out and immediately want to run a story on it. For now, only we know about this. Absolutely do not leak it to anyone, alright?”

They were entertainment reporters. Moreover, they belonged to the large media outlet ‘PowerPatch.’ The man in the passenger seat, continuously checking the dashcam footage, tilted his head slightly,

“But are you sure about this?”

The man in the driver’s seat smacked him on the head.

“You idiot. Are you doubting my information network? Think about it. Why would anyone visit a plastic surgery clinic at this hour, close to midnight? And sneaking in all alone. It’s 100% Propofol¹.”

“They will deny anything at the plastic surgery clinic.”

“It’s okay. According to my sources, it’s not only Seo Chae-eun who goes there. There are a few others too. They’re all habitual, and we have reliable witnesses, so don’t worry. We just need a bit more spice to add to it.”

In other words, they were planning to gather more concrete evidence. The man in the driver’s seat who started the car continued explaining.

“The big fish is Seo Chae-eun. We need to scoop up the side dishes along with her and expose everything in one go.”

The next question came from the woman in the back seat.

“When are you planning to blow this up?”

“Assuming we collect enough about the others, maybe next month. Once the bomb goes off and causes chaos, the investigations or whatever will proceed on their own. Then Seo Chae-eun and others will go straight to hell.”

The man in the driver’s seat, grinning from ear to ear, chuckled heartily.

“All their s and works in which they are involved in will be ruined too.”

At that moment, in the vicinity of Samseong Station.

The location was Kang Woojin’s apartment. It was past midnight when the entrance to his apartment opened, and Woojin, who looked fatigued, entered. Without even taking off his clothes after removing his shoes, he dove straight into bed.

“…I’m exhausted. I’m really only going to sleep until tomorrow afternoon.”

Woojin, who had collapsed, determinedly affirmed this. Since Kang Woojin’s actual work start time was around noon the next day, anyway.

Soon, he recalled today’s schedule. There was a lot, he couldn’t remember everything. There were meetings related to new s and an interview with a popular YouTube channel. He also went to some event and did a photo shoot for SNS at night.

This tight schedule had been continuous.

“If I didn’t have the void space, I really would’ve been dead by now.”

Woojin was, somewhat, managing to survive thanks to the rest provided by the void space. Indeed, the level of life in the entertainment industry was quite high for Kang Woojin, who was still an ordinary citizen at heart. However, he was growing little by little.

“Ah.”

Woojin, who almost fell asleep, forcibly lifted his body. Now he couldn’t just sleep carelessly as he used to in the past. Washing up was the most basic of basics.

“What was it, start with a facial pack-”

He also had to pay attention to skincare. Thanks to that, Woojin sighed deeply and came out to the living room. Then, the script casually thrown on the kitchen table caught his eye.

‘Ah, that.’

It was the script for the second part of ‘Freezing Love’ by writer Lee Wol-seon. It was an additional one he received from the production team.

‘Might as well list it up.’

Muttering internally, Kang Woojin picked up the script. To be precise, he poked at the black square next to the script. Immediately, Kang Woojin said,

“Let’s see-”

He entered the totally dark void space. Kang Woojin, who soon reached the lined-up white rectangles. ‘Freezing Love’ Part 2 registered without any problems. Woojin, who slowly nodded his head.

“Done, let’s get out of here.”

He was about to shout the command to exit, to return to reality.

“Ex… huh?”

He paused, furrowing his brow unexpectedly.

“Huh?”

Then, Kang Woojin stared intently at one of the white rectangles. Because he sensed something strange.

“…Why is this like this?”

The white rectangle Kang Woojin was looking at was ‘Island of the Missing’. There definitely was a change compared to before.

-[3/Scenario (Title: Island of the Missing), D-Grade]

The rating of ‘Island of the Missing’ had dropped to D. Originally it was A+ wasn’t it? When Woojin, who had just come in for a rest, looked, it was A+ even up to lunchtime. But now it was D-grade. Woojin, bewildered, muttered dumbfoundedly.

“Damn, what? Why did it suddenly drop to D?”

100% something had happened. But there was no way to know what it was.

“Ah- shit, what the hell.”

Kang Woojin began to rack his brains while scratching his head. The first thing that came to mind was Director Woo Hyun-goo. He had been branded a criminal, and his work was F-grade.

So, was it possibly an issue with Director Kwon Ki-taek?

‘No, isn’t that a bit unlikely?’

If there was a problem with Director Kwon Ki-taek, ‘Island of the Missing’ should have received a low rating a long time ago. But it was fine until this morning, for sure.

Moreover,

‘Ordinarily, looking at that director’s personality, he doesn’t seem like someone who would cause a scandal.’

Then what about the staff? The staff? Could they cause such an issue that the rating of a project drops this drastically? Even if it did drop, it would drop by one grade. In other words, the staff was also out.

“…Is it the actors?”

If the movie’s arms and legs were investment money, the actors were its heart. ‘Island of the Missing’ was teeming with top actors, excluding Kang Woojin. Woojin first recalled Ryu Jung-min, whom he was somewhat close with.

“That handsome guy- no, that doesn’t seem likely.”

It was Ryu Jung-min who joined right after Woojin. If it was his issue, the grade would have dropped right away, or the grade of ‘Profiler Hanryang’, which he was currently filming, should have also dropped. However, Hanryang’s grade was still S.

Then it narrows down to three.

‘The top stars who joined recently.’

Jeon Woo-chang, Kim Yi-won, and Seo Chae-eun. Following that, Kang Woojin conclusively murmured.

“It’s one of the three. Definitely.”

For some reason, Seo Chae-eun’s face kept coming to mind for Woojin. It might be thanks to the unpleasant first impression at the dinner party.

“I have a strong feeling—it’s Seo Chae-eun.”

Guessing randomly seemed to hit close to the mark.

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1) Propofol – It is a drug used in surgery but can also be used a drug by junkies

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