EMTM 04

Chapter 04

“Then what do you want from me, exactly?”

“Hmm. If you’re going to be like this, I guess we’ll have to stop here. I don’t intend to do anything for free, either.”

Su-i raised her eyes in disbelief.

“You’re the one who dragged me here!”

“There’s nothing I can do about that. If you don’t intend to meet CEO Choi Hwa-ja, you can leave.”

He was subtly playing a game of give-and-take. His arrogant attitude and the way he spoke were both exceptionally calculating.

But regardless, Su-i desperately needed Kang Tae-hyung’s help right now.

Waiting around outside all day and night until Choi Hwa-ja happened to show up was definitely a primitive approach.

Su-i shouted in a tone that admitted defeat.

“What do you want from me, exactly?!”

“If you’re curious, stop talking nonsense and just follow me.”

They passed down a long corridor and entered a room through a large door.

Several people who appeared to be secretaries greeted Kang Tae-hyung respectfully. Su-i, who happened to be walking beside him, reflexively bowed her head along with them.

So this guy really has every reason to be arrogant.

He seemed completely accustomed to being treated with such deference, and somehow, it suited him irritatingly well.

If he was Kang Tae-hyung, then wasn’t he an entertainer just like Yu-na?

Yet this man possessed the kind of presence usually seen in older company presidents. He looked barely in his mid-twenties, and yet Su-i couldn’t help feeling intimidated. Her pride was wounded by the feeling.

When she followed him into a large office, the entire view of Seoul, already beginning to darken, spread out through the floor-to-ceiling windows.

“Sit down.”

Is this this man’s office?

It seemed Kang Tae-hyung really was a major figure.

Su-i wandered around with her mouth slightly open, looking around the room, until her eyes met Kang Tae-hyung’s as he sat arrogantly on an extremely luxurious leather sofa.

“Let’s get straight to the point. Why do you want to meet CEO Choi?”

“Is that what you want to know?”

“I’m asking because I’m curious.”

“That’s not something I need to discuss with you. I’ll tell CEO Choi when I meet her.”

“I have to screen you before I let you meet her. What reason do I have to let you meet CEO Choi?”

“You know me, don’t you? I’m Im Yu-na.”

“I know. More precisely, it’s normal for you to meet her with your manager.”

His words seemed to imply that it was suspicious for her to have been hanging around Hwa-ja Entertainment alone, disguised with sunglasses and a mask, without even a manager accompanying her.

Su-i didn’t think there was any particular reason to hide it anymore, so she decided to tell him the truth. She didn’t want to waste any more time on this.

“I’m here to audition. I want to join this agency, too.”

“This one?”

His mocking tone made Su-i’s mood sink.

He looked as though Im Yu-na wasn’t even on the level required to enter a place like this.

“Why? Am I not allowed to join?”

“Do you think your current agency will just sit back and let that happen?”

“My contract is almost over. I want to get away from them first. And this seems like a trustworthy agency.”

“That’s right. CEO Choi is a trustworthy person. Even if someone isn’t a genius, she’ll try to make them one. And more than anyone else, she knows how to protect the people who belong to her.”

“Then show me CEO Choi already.”

“But I’m not like that.”

“…Excuse me?”

“I don’t take people in if they don’t have the skills.”

What is he talking about?

Just from the way he spoke, one would think this man was the owner of the company.

“CEO Lee Hwan-su of The Ollim Entertainment won’t leave Yu-na alone. You know that too, don’t you? Isn’t that why you’ve been tied down there for ten years?”

How does he know so much?

Had every detail of Im Yu-na’s situation already become public knowledge?

When Su-i simply stared at him without answering, the man continued speaking leisurely.

“CEO Lee Hwan-su is famous in this industry as well. So is how much he supposedly cares for Yu-na like his own daughter.”

Su-i narrowed her eyes.

He was indirectly saying that Lee Hwan-su was notorious in the industry.

Su-i didn’t let herself be intimidated and spoke confidently.

“You already seem to know everything, so that’s exactly why I want to get away. He’ll use all the weaknesses he’s collected about me over the years to keep me under his thumb. I can handle that much.”

“That’s Im Yu-na’s problem. Would CEO Choi really take on that kind of risk and accept Yu-na? An entertainer who has only filmed commercials, has no particularly notable work to her name, and is surrounded by nasty rumors?”

Su-i became irritated as Kang Tae-hyung coldly and analytically listed out Yu-na’s miserable reality.

It wasn’t pleasant hearing the same things about Yu-na’s circumstances from another actor, either.

But he wasn’t wrong. It was a reality she couldn’t simply ignore or pretend didn’t exist, so she had no grounds to argue.

“I feel like I’m the one being interviewed right now.”

At her words, Tae-hyung leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees, and spoke with a strange smile.

“Ms. Im Yu-na.”

“…Yes?”

“What are you doing?”

“What am I doing now?”

“Are you pretending not to know? Or is this some kind of concept?”

Su-i had no idea what he meant by not knowing or what he meant by a concept.

However, she felt she shouldn’t look at him with an expression that said, I don’t know anything.

His expression suddenly changed as he spoke, and the pressure he gave off was tremendous.

Along with his imposing presence, there was an unmistakable sense of intimidation that made Su-i feel she shouldn’t treat him carelessly.

“Until I give you permission, CEO Choi’s opinion is completely irrelevant.”

“……”

“How long am I supposed to put up with your act of flattering me, Ms. Yu-na?”

“Ah…”

At that moment, Su-i sensed something ominous.

Her eyes darted around before landing on the nameplate sitting prominently on the desk in front of the wide glass window.

Why didn’t I look at that sooner?

「Executive Director Kang Tae-hoon」

This man… apparently isn’t Kang Tae-hyung.

No matter how closely she had examined the photograph displayed prominently at the entrance of the Hwa-ja Entertainment building, the face had been exactly the same as Kang Tae-hyung’s.

And hadn’t the students who had been hanging around downstairs called this man Kang Tae-hyung, too?

What is going on?

If his name was Kang Tae-hoon, were they perhaps brothers?

But that wasn’t the important issue for Su-i right now.

After rapidly piecing together the various circumstances based on her assumptions…

The real person in charge of this company was Kang Tae-hoon, while Choi Hwa-ja was merely the figurehead whose name had been put on the company.

In the past, it had been common for famous people to be placed at the head of a company while someone else handled the actual operations and management behind the scenes, so Su-i’s guess was probably not far off.

Even if that assumption was wrong, one thing was certain.

This man definitely had more influence than Choi Hwa-ja.