MWFL 12

12. Showdown

Taking a deep breath in and slowly letting it out, he grabbed the phone he had set down inside the locker. He then turned his body to face the man.

“What did you just say? I didn’t catch that properly.”

“I said Ju Ha-rin looks fucking hot. She’s got the kind of face that drives guys crazy to play around with.”

Shin-woo smoothed out his expression, which was on the verge of crumpling into annoyance, returning it to a calm mask.

Right. They said he was this kind of scumbag to begin with.

He had heard that the man standing before him was a married man with a wife and kids, yet he constantly caused messy scandals not just with celebrities, but with fans as well.

“So how do you know Director Ju?”

“I’m with Daol, too. I’ve never worked with Ju Ha-rin, but I’ve seen her face around plenty of times. Oh, and she was Lee Tae-woon’s manager a few years ago. The guy who was with my previous team.”

“…”

“Back then, Ju Ha-rin hadn’t even established herself yet, but I treated her exceptionally nice, so she’s probably grateful to me.”

The arrogant expression on his face—acting like he was some hotshot—was exceptionally pathetic.

“By the way, there’s a rumor her ex-boyfriend was a baseball player. Have you heard anything about that?”

“No. Nothing.”

“You wouldn’t spill even if I asked, huh? I’m dying to know who the bastard was that got to have some fun with Ju Ha-rin.”

The man—who had been talking while looking in the mirror—suddenly whipped his head around to stare straight at Shin-woo.

“Hey. Is Ju Ha-rin your manager?”

“Yes.”

“I heard she went up to a high position and stopped taking individual clients, but I guess she’s doing it again. Perfect. I just asked the agency to switch my manager to her this time. I should tell them again to make sure she takes on manager duties for me, too.”

A sly, dirty grin brushed across the man’s face as he stumbled upon this unexpected piece of information.

“If Director Ju acts as my manager, wouldn’t she be unable to be yours, Sunbae?”

“Of course I’ll have to tell them to swap her over. It’s not like you have to be with Ju Ha-rin.”

Shin-woo simply twitched both eyebrows upward without answering.

“Besides, from Ju Ha-rin’s perspective, managing me is way less busy and a lot more comfortable than taking on a busy megastar like you. Plus, think about how much I’d pamper her. From her standpoint, there’s zero reason to say no.”

“Sunbae-nim.”

Shin-woo called out to the man just as he was about to turn his head back toward the mirror.

Driving his gaze straight into the man’s eyes as their glances met once more, Shin-woo took long, imposing strides toward him.

“…What?”

Flustered by how close Shin-woo had stepped up right behind his back, the man slowly turned his body around.

Looking down at the man—who was more than ten centimeters shorter than him—Shin-woo spoke slowly.

“It’s totally fine with me if Director Ju doesn’t act as my manager.”

“…Huh? Really? Well, that’s great. But did you really have to get this close just to say that? Back off a bit.”

“No. I’m telling you this to share another important fact.”

“What is it?”

Shin-woo pulled his lips long into a wide smile. At the same time, he flicked his eyes down between the naked man’s thighs before bringing them back up.

“It seems like it’s going to be pretty tough for you.”

“What is?”

“Our Director Ju’s standards are pretty high.”

The man wore an expression that showed he couldn’t grasp what he meant at all.

“If you’ve got the confidence, why don’t you go ahead and show her what you’ve got?”

However, at the words that followed from between those smiling lips, the man’s face completely crumpled.

Though he still didn’t seem to fully grasp the exact meaning, he clearly picked up on the intention to make him feel like utter garbage.

“Hey. You piece of shit. What the hell are you talking about?!”

Shin-woo leaned his upper body toward the man with lazy, unhurried movements.

“Sunbae-nim. Stop making your wife at home go through so much heartache and start thinking about your kids. If you keep running your mouth dirty like that, you’re going to get into huge trouble again.”

After whispering those words in a low voice right into the man’s ear, he straightened his upper body right back up.

“Cha Shin-woo. Have you lost your damn mind? Just because you’re doing well, you think you can treat people like dirt?!”

“You’ve only got a few years left until retirement anyway.”

“What about it?! And what the hell did I say that was so bad for you to spout bullshit like that?!”

Maintaining a relaxed smile, Shin-woo raised the hand holding his phone up in the air.

Confirming the screen—which clearly showed a recording in progress—the man’s eyes quivered violently.

“I’m curious to see if other people would think the same if they heard the bullshit you just spewed, Sunbae-nim.”

“…Hey. Cha Shin-woo. What… what are you doing right now?!”

“Seeing how panicked you are, it seems you’re thinking the exact same thing I am, Sunbae-nim.”

The man’s face flushed bright red, his throat working in a heavy gulp.

“Ever since I got wrapped up in a noisy incident last year, I developed a habit of keeping a recording going in my daily life.”

“…Hey. You’re not… planning on doing something with that, are you?”

“Don’t worry. I have no desire to see my respected Sunbae-nim leave the pitcher’s mound alongside articles about sexual harassment remarks, so for now, I’ll keep those shitty comments safely to myself.”

Shin-woo ostentatiously tapped the stop recording button and lowered his hand. He then patted the frozen man’s chest a few times with his palm.

“Instead, I’d appreciate it if you could etch a junior’s tearfully touching concern for his senior deep right here.”

Finishing his words in a smooth, slick voice, Shin-woo turned around cleanly and walked back to his locker.

. . .

Dong-goo glanced at the back seat through the rearview mirror.

Shin-woo had his eyes cast all the way down, wearing a cold, unreadable expression.

He wasn’t usually one to talk much in the car to begin with, but today, a particularly heavy air hung in the silence.

“Hyung. Did something happen?”

Only then did Shin-woo give him a look for the first time.

“What does my schedule look like tomorrow?”

Instead of answering, he threw a question right back.

“There’s nothing on the schedule tomorrow except for afternoon training.”

“There was a lot on the schedule you gave me—why is it so empty?”

Dong-goo’s eyes widened slightly. He had sent the schedule over by email, but he had naturally assumed Shin-woo wouldn’t bother checking it.

“That was the old one. Director Ju pushed back almost all the appointments set for the next week or two.”

“Why?”

“She probably anticipated that you—wanting to terminate the contract—wouldn’t cooperate smoothly, so she made that call.”

Since they had already gone back and forth over the same topic this morning, Dong-goo delivered the reality without holding back.

Is he going to snap again? Dong-goo shifted his gaze from the road back to the man in the mirror.

“Come to my place by 9:00 tomorrow.”

The order dropped suddenly out of nowhere.

“Huh? 9:00? Morning or night?”

“Morning.”

“Hyung. I have an appointment tomorrow morning.”

“Is that so? Then forget it. Leave the car. I’ll go by myself.”

“Where are you planning to go?”

Shin-woo didn’t answer right away, keeping his lips firmly shut.

The car pulled to a stop at the stop line as the traffic light turned red. Dong-goo turned his head to look back at Shin-woo.

“I asked where you’re planning to go.”

“Daol.”

“Daol? Why?”

As if the endless questions were getting on his nerves, Shin-woo spoke with a deep furrow between his brows.

“You told me to go have it out with them properly. I don’t want to drag things out, so I’m going tomorrow.”

Freezing up for a moment, Dong-goo quickly nodded his head right after.

“Okay. I’ll head over to your place in the morning.”

“The light changed.”

“Ah, right.”

Dong-goo hurriedly looked ahead and pressed deep on the gas pedal.

Though Shin-woo had answered with an annoyed voice and expression, his gaze was completely firm and unshakeable, signaling that his mind was made up.

It looks like my guess about him having no intention to break the contract was a complete mistake on my part.

The following morning, Shin-woo’s car pulled into the underground parking lot of the Daol Media Group headquarters building.

“Hyung. I think we go in through that way.”

Getting out of the car a beat later than Shin-woo, Dong-goo pointed toward the entrance connected to the main building and took the lead.

“Shin-woo Oppa!”

Just as they took a few steps onto the hard floor, a bright female voice rang out.

Stopping in their tracks at the same time, both men’s eyes turned toward a single spot.

Stepping out of a luxury foreign sedan parked a short distance away, a woman quickly walked over toward the two of them.

With her eyes locked onto Shin-woo, the woman approached with the click-clack of her high heels before coming to a stop a single step in front of them. In that instant, Dong-goo bowed his waist to greet her.

Yet the woman didn’t throw so much as a glance at Dong-goo. Splitting her lips—which were neatly painted in pink lipstick—wide open, she smiled brightly at Shin-woo.

“Oppa. It’s been so long.”

The woman let out an even more excited voice than before, her eyes crinkling beautifully.

Staring at the woman with dry, indifferent eyes, Shin-woo turned his head toward Dong-goo.

“Who is this? Did you call her?”

His voice was so icy that it would make anyone listening feel a chill.

The woman’s high-arched smile froze stiff on her face.

“Ah, well…”

Dong-goo let out a hesitant voice, stealing a glance at the woman.

“I came because I wanted to see you, Oppa. I heard you were meeting my dad today.”

Having explained the situation herself, the woman regained her soft smile.

The woman was Han Soo-hee—the only daughter of Daol Media Group’s Chairman, Han Hae-shik.

“Dong-goo. Did I say I was meeting the Chairman today?”

Shin-woo asked without giving even a single glance to the beaming woman.

Dong-goo’s eyes widened in panic.

Since Shin-woo had said he was going to have it out with them, Dong-goo had naturally assumed he would meet Chairman Han. So he had reached out to the Chairman’s secretarial office last night to set up an appointment in advance.

It seemed he had completely misunderstood the situation.

“How are you going to act as a manager when you can’t even get things straight like this?”

Grasping the situation from Dong-goo’s expression, Shin-woo muttered with a weary air before finally giving Soo-hee his full attention. He then flashed her a friendly smile.

“I have no business with you, so stop chirping like a bird and get lost.”

However, the words that spilled from his mouth were excessively unfriendly.