EMTM 07

Chapter 07

“Goodness. Looks like I got a call too.0”

Pretending to answer the phone, Su-i suddenly let go of Jin-suk, whom she had been supporting with her arm.

There was a sharp crack when Jin-suk hit the floor for the third time. Judging by the sound, one of her arms seemed to have broken.

What a waste.

Both of them should have broken.

“AAARGH! Y-you bitch! You! Do you want to die?! AAAAAH! Let’s see who dies today, you bitch!”

Apparently, Jin-suk had also hurt her back, because she couldn’t move and instead began screaming at the top of her lungs, unable to contain her fury.

She spewed vulgar curses so harshly that Su-i’s ears began to hurt.

If there’s one thing I’m good at, it’s swearing. If this woman had really picked a fight with me, I would’ve killed her.

Everything about Jin-suk—the way she behaved, the way she spoke, even her voice—was something Su-i hated.

“Hey! M-my arm won’t move! Call 119! Right now!”

If there was one thing Su-i believed in, it was giving back exactly what she received.

Jin-suk had hit her with a box of tissues, so it was only fair that she returned the favor.

Su-i spoke lazily.

“Why call 119 when you’ve still got two perfectly good legs? That’s just a waste of taxes and manpower.”

“You little—! You! AAAAAAAAH!”

Watching Jin-suk scream and curse, Su-i thought to herself.

A person who couldn’t control her own anger would eventually destroy herself.

And when she did, she would make a filthy mess of it.

She’d splash that muck all over everyone around her, too.

No matter what the family registry said, Jin-suk was someone who should never have been allowed near Yu-na.

But all Su-i could do right now was trip her and break one of her arms.

How am I supposed to get this woman away from her?

“Be quiet for a minute. I need to take this call.”

Jin-suk immediately started screaming even louder, drowning out the ringtone.

Still, Su-i ignored her and answered.

“Hello?”

[……Why is it so noisy?]

Wow.

Even through Jin-suk’s ear-piercing screams, that smooth, low male voice came through perfectly clearly.

Is that him? Kang Tae-hoon……?

“Who is this?”

[Kang Tae-hoon.]

“……How did you get my number?”

[Do you really think I wouldn’t know Yu-na’s number?]

True.

Whether he knew her number or not wasn’t particularly strange.

But after being rejected by Hwa-ja Entertainment, Su-i had nothing left to lose.

“What do you want? Just tell me what you need.”

[Where are you? I’ll come pick you up.]

“Pick me up? Why?”

[It’s difficult to explain over the phone. Let’s meet first.]

“And what are we going to meet for? I don’t have anything to discuss with you.”

[You’re at your mother’s place, aren’t you?]

Tae-hoon was impressive.

He had figured that out just from Jin-suk’s screaming.

“So what if I am?”

[Then leave there quickly. I’ll come to wherever you are.]

“No, I mean, what exactly do you want to talk about? Why do you want to meet me?”

[I’ll say it again. Just leave there as quickly as you can.]

And with that, he abruptly hung up.

Well, considering Jin-suk was screaming her head off, it would have been difficult to continue the conversation anyway.

Still, hanging up after saying only what he wanted to say was a little rude.

Hwa-ja Entertainment was now outside the scope of Su-i’s plans.

She wanted to see Choi Hwa-ja, but Tae-hoon…

Something about him felt dangerous.

For one thing, she couldn’t read him.

And he was far too handsome.

Being handsome was a serious problem.

There was a very real danger that Su-i, who would eventually have to leave this world, might suddenly develop attachments to it.

Should I call him back and tell him I won’t meet him?

Su-i was still debating when—

“Why? What did that director say? What? He’s not doing the movie?”

Jin-suk had somehow crawled all the way into the living room and was shouting into her phone.

“Why the hell is he suddenly trashing Yu-na? Has he gone crazy?”

Oh.

Now that was something Su-i wanted to hear.

“What? It’s going to fail? How can something like that happen overnight?!”

Su-i immediately strained her ears toward the living room.

Oh-ho.

Something clearly wasn’t going according to plan.

If he was a movie director, then it was probably the director of the adult film.

And apparently, that director had turned against Yu-na.

Jin-suk seemed to have injured herself badly when she fell earlier, because she kept clutching her lower back while continuing to scream.

Once she hung up, she looked ready to come charging straight at Su-i and grab her by the hair.

But what exactly happened?

Did Tae-hoon somehow foresee all of this?

First, Su-i needed to get out of here.

There was no reason to stay somewhere that wouldn’t even feed her.

While Jin-suk was nearly losing her mind on the phone, Su-i took advantage of the opportunity and gathered the seal, bankbook, and all sorts of miscellaneous documents related to Yu-na that had been lying around.

Fortunately, they had practically laid everything out for her.

That made things easy.

Yu-na had chosen death under the worst possible circumstances.

And Su-i had inherited Yu-na’s life under those same terrible conditions.

Su-i had never once dreamed of having a new life while wandering the afterlife.

She had simply drifted aimlessly through the silent depths of the deep sea.

And then, for someone like her, Im Yu-na had become a shackle.

This was absolutely not luck.

She couldn’t freely pursue the dreams she had failed to achieve in her own life just because she had Yu-na’s body.

She couldn’t simply go wherever she wanted, either.

There were things tightening around Yu-na’s throat from every direction, and those same things were now tightening around Su-i.

The wisest thing she could do was simply face the present and fight her way through it.

She had no other choice.

And in the middle of all this, she had met Tae-hoon.

For someone who had been pushed around from one place to another without making any real progress, Su-i had a feeling that he might actually be able to help her.

In Su-i’s lifetime, there had always been one rule:

If someone gave her something, she returned the favor.

And if she received something, she always paid it back.

She had survived in the shadows, so she understood that much.

And a businessman like Kang Tae-hoon would probably be even more calculating, not less.

If she received his help, she would have to give him something in return.

Besides, the man was impossible to predict.

Something about it felt unpleasant, but she couldn’t think of any other way forward.

Should I meet Kang Tae-hoon?

By the time Su-i had left the apartment entrance, Jin-suk seemed to have realized that the documents and seal were gone.

Her phone was practically on fire from all the calls she was making.

Su-i snorted.

Are you crazy? Do you seriously think I’m going to answer that?

She lightly pressed the power button.

Then, just as she was practically jogging toward the bus stop—

“Yu-na.”

A man’s voice came from behind her, startling her.

Su-i slowly turned around.

Lee Hwan-su was getting out of a black sedan.

“Where are you rushing off to?”

Su-i glared at him with a thoroughly displeased expression.

“Your madam called for you. Weren’t we supposed to meet together?”

“……”

“Your mother said she wanted to renew your contract. She said if Yu-na worked hard this time, she’d give you a generous signing payment, so I told her that was fine.”

Why are they discussing contracts and signing payments among themselves when Yu-na is the one who’s supposed to work?

The more Su-i saw, the more absurd it became.

At that moment, Lee Hwan-su glanced at the seal and documents in Su-i’s hands.

He was quick.

I shouldn’t try anything foolish in front of this man.

“Let’s go inside. This time, look over the contract with me. You were curious about it last time, weren’t you?”

“I’m not signing a contract with you. I have somewhere to go, so move.”

Lee Hwan-su smiled like a sly fox.

Looking closely, he didn’t actually seem that old.

Early to mid-thirties, perhaps?

Then why does he talk to me like I’m some little child?

He had annoyed her from the very beginning.

“You can’t do that.”

“……”

“Madam told me to bring you to her if I saw you.”

“……”

“I heard you stole the seal and documents, wrecked Madam’s back, and ran away.”

“Stole them? They were mine to begin with!”

Lee Hwan-su stepped closer.

“Why is our Yu-na suddenly doing things she never used to do? You really hated filming that adult movie that much?”

Su-i felt sick to her stomach.

She had never felt so disgusted by someone’s oily manner before.

So this is what it means to be cornered.

Lee Hwan-su took another step toward her.

When his large, thick hand reached toward her face, Su-i immediately stepped back into a defensive stance.

“What—what are you doing? Don’t come any closer.”

Lee Hwan-su laughed as though she were ridiculous.

No matter how fearless Su-i had been throughout her life, having a large, well-built man nearly a head taller than her approach her like this was naturally threatening.

And then……

Something about the atmosphere was wrong.

There was something in this man’s eyes.

It wasn’t simply the look of someone trying to exploit an artist under his agency.

“Yu-na.”

He grabbed Su-i’s slender wrist roughly.

Even when she struggled and put all her strength into pulling away, Lee Hwan-su easily yanked her arm toward himself as though her resistance were nothing.

Then he whispered coercively.

“You can’t escape from me.”

“……”

“So you should listen to me like you used to. Hmm?”

Only now was his true nature beginning to show.

Just as he reached out to run his hand through Su-i’s hair in a disturbingly familiar way—

A harsh car horn blared from behind them.

Su-i took advantage of the momentary distraction and immediately wrenched her arm free, stumbling away.

Goosebumps covered her entire body, and her heart pounded wildly.

This was definitely Yu-na’s emotion.

The fear Yu-na had felt toward Lee Hwan-su.

Su-i should have kicked Lee Hwan-su in the shin and run.

But her feet refused to move.

Just how terrified was she of him to make even me, Jeong Su-i, freeze in fear?!

“Here you are, Im Yu-na.”

While Su-i stood frozen like ice, a smooth voice came from a distance.

It was Kang Tae-hoon.

It was the second time Su-i and Tae-hoon had met.

His clothes were immaculate, almost blade-sharp, resembling his stern and cold expression.

He looked like a wax figure devoid of emotion or expression.

And yet, the moment Su-i saw Tae-hoon, she felt an overwhelming sense of relief.

Even though she still had no idea what kind of man he was.

“K-Kang Tae-hoon……”

Su-i started walking toward him.

But Lee Hwan-su grabbed her arm again.

“Where are you going, Yu-na? You have to come with me.”

Lee Hwan-su spoke quietly.

No matter how hard Su-i tried to pull her arm free, the more he tightened his grip, the redder her arm became, as though it were being bruised.

“Let go of her arm. She could get hurt.”

Tae-hoon spoke with what sounded like genuine concern.

But Lee Hwan-su had no intention of releasing Su-i.

Instead, he simply smiled slyly.

“It’s been a while, Executive Director Kang. But what brings the head of Hwa-ja Entertainment all the way here?”

“I’m here to take my entertainer with me.”

Lee Hwan-su’s eyebrows lifted strangely, as though he didn’t understand what Tae-hoon meant.

“……What exactly do you mean?”

“Im Yu-na. I’ll be taking her with me. So let go of her hand.”

“Executive Director Kang? How am I supposed to interpret that?”

“I’ve already said it once. You’ve heard the rumors, so you know I don’t say things twice.”

The words seemed to be genuine.

Lee Hwan-su hesitated for a moment before, as if he had been commanded by magic, finally releasing Su-i’s arm.

Su-i clutched her wrist, which throbbed with a tingling pain like an electric shock.

“You went to such lengths to act all proper. Are you perhaps trying to make yourself her sponsor?”

“No. I’m not offering sponsorship. Hwa-ja Entertainment is offering Im Yu-na a contract.”

Lee Hwan-su raised his eyes, a mocking smile appearing on his face.

“Executive Director Kang, you may not know this because you only concern yourself with management, but our Yu-na isn’t suited to someone like you. I think you’ve come to the wrong place. I’ll let you get on your way.”

“Then where is Im Yu-na suited to?”

“Executive Director Kang, Yu-na has nowhere left to go. Even if you are the Executive Director of Hwa-ja Entertainment, she has nowhere higher to climb. If you recruit Yu-na, you’ll suffer a considerable loss. And you still intend to take her?”

Tae-hoon looked at him without changing expression.

Then he calmly asked:

“Then would your answer be different if I were speaking as the Managing President of JC Group?”