「 To: Seo I-re, Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office
I’m currently in talks with Shinhwa Department Store regarding some farm-related business.
The person in charge is Assistant Manager Hwang Young-sik from the buying team.
I’m not sure if you’re aware, but he’s a member of the Shinhwa Group’s royal family and the son of Chairman Hwang Man-cheol.
Since they kept coming to me to propose a deal, I’ve requested that he first earn my trust regarding their owner risk.
Well, he’s likely curious about the existence of another illegitimate child himself.
It would be perfect if he decides to start a power struggle with his siblings to find out.
If that doesn’t work, I’ll at least pick up a strand of his hair for you.
Since it would be illegally obtained evidence, it couldn’t be used in court, but there are plenty of other ways to use it—like giving them a taste of the ‘leaking’ tactics the police and prosecutors love so much, right? 」
After re-reading the message I had sent to I-re, I let out a sigh.
“It’s not polite to keep a guest waiting too long.”
At the same time, I quickly walked toward the outbuilding.
I could catch up with my brother in the main house later. He was probably having a good time with our parents, whom he hadn’t seen in a long while anyway.
“Ah!”
Shin Hye-seo, who had been talking to Director Bong Ha-gyun on the wooden veranda, immediately waved at me.
However,
*Vrrr—!*
“!”
As if on cue, another call I couldn’t ignore came in.
‘Leave this to me!’
Shin Hye-seo, being quick-witted, mouthed the words to me. Then, she quietly pumped her fist in the air, as if telling me to hang in there.
‘Thank you.’
I gave her a slight nod and immediately answered the phone.
“Secretary.”
— I’m calling to report that the operation to fake Lawyer Jin Sang-woo’s death has just been completed.
It was the call I had been waiting for.
The fake death operation. I had left this part entirely to Chairman Han Seung-ho’s chief secretary. Someone who wasn’t on the scene couldn’t exactly command the operation, after all.
Furthermore,
— I have some connections with high-ranking police officers in the Philippines that I established previously. With their help, I’ve secured a fire scene.
I didn’t have that kind of overseas network myself.
“So you plan to disguise him as a body found at the fire scene.”
— Yes. Naturally, we plan to leave scorched belongings, including his passport, at the site.
Extreme choice due to being unable to withstand psychological pressure.
However, I had doubts about whether a ‘fire’ was an appropriate method of death. There was no reason for someone who intended to die to choose such a painful way.
When I shared this thought, he replied.
— Ah! I forgot to mention this part. We aren’t trying to disguise it as a suicide. It’s to add more plausibility to the death.
“I’d like you to explain in more detail.”
— That fire scene isn’t just any fire scene. It’s a human trafficking factory left behind by a Chinese gang. They burned it down themselves recently to destroy evidence.
I was starting to get the picture.
— Even if one more body is found in a place like that… After looking into it a bit, it turns out that his act of handing over poison for money was due to personal gambling debts. Such a place wouldn’t be unfitting for a scumbag like him.
This was exactly why information was so important.
“I’ll leave the final details in your hands.”
— Leave it to me.
After hanging up, I started walking again.
‘I have two cards in my hand.’
One was the certain card of Jin Sang-woo, a murder suspect.
The other was the somewhat uncertain card of Hwang Young-sik.
‘If I have both, it’s a sure thing. Even with just one, an arrest warrant is a foregone conclusion.’
I hoped these cards would be helpful to I-re as well.
***
A luxury officetel located in Haeundae.
“Ah, I’m exhausted.”
Having returned home, Hwang Young-sik threw off his clothes carelessly.
Well, it made sense for him to be tired. In a single day, he had gone from Seoul to Gyeongnam Goseong, and then back to Busan.
“Hash-tag, praising myself for living diligently.”
He had even posted a proof shot on Instagram to show off. Now, he was about to wash up and get some rest when—
*Vrrr—!*
“…Huh?”
The phone he was about to set down vibrated violently. The caller was an informant he had left in Seoul.
“Brother Cheol-min?”
His official title was the personal driver for CEO Hwang Hye-gyeong of Shinhwa Department Store. Personally, he and Hwang Young-sik had been like brothers for a long time.
Regardless of their status, he had grown up like a friend with Park Cheol-min, who was a second-generation chauffeur for the family.
— Young-sik. Listen carefully to what I’m about to say.
“What is it? Why are you suddenly lowering your voice so creepily…?”
— We don’t have much time, so just listen.
Hwang Young-sik immediately stood up. Cheol-min wasn’t the type to act this serious for a joke.
— Not long after you left, the Chairman’s children all went into one house. It’s CEO Hwang Chang-il’s place.
“What!?”
— I had a bad feeling about it, so I found a moment to call you. Did you hear anything from them?
“N-no? I haven’t received any calls…”
Hwang Young-sik’s pupils trembled.
— I’m glad I called then. Do you have any idea what this might be about?
“Any idea…?”
As he mumbled blankly, Hwang Young-sik’s eyes gradually widened.
‘Are they planning to bury me?’
As they had already discussed in Seoul, there was only one hot topic among the siblings right now. Who would go to jail in their father’s place?
‘What if… what if all my siblings are thinking the same thing as me?’
Nobody wanted to go to prison.
In that case, wouldn’t they try to throw the easiest target in? They would likely judge that doing so would keep them in their father’s good graces while making it easier to reclaim their shares later.
“Fuck. No matter how you look at it, this isn’t right!”
— What? What exactly is going on?
Eventually, Hwang Young-sik shared his thoughts.
— …If it’s as you say, this doesn’t look like a good development at all…
“That’s why your role is important from now on! If anything happens, you have to tell me immediately! You’re the only one I can trust now!”
— I feel like I might have grabbed a rotten rope…
“Oh, come on! I’m serious!”
— Fine. I was just joking, so make sure you’re prepared. If you don’t think you can handle it alone, look for a capable lawyer or something.
“…”
Keeping his mouth shut, Hwang Young-sik pondered for a moment before speaking.
“…But, Brother.”
— Yeah?
“I just had a sudden question. How did it first get out that that woman, An Yu-ra, was father’s daughter?”
The answer came immediately.
— I overheard the CEO on the phone. Apparently, that illegitimate child, An Yu-ra, called the Chairman before she died. She was caught red-handed by the prosecutor in charge while she was doing it.
“But the suspect died right in front of the prosecutor during the investigation, so the prosecutor couldn’t do anything to Father and got fired?”
— From what I heard, she wasn’t fired. She only got a light disciplinary action. Of course, she was labeled as a prosecutor who talks nonsense about murder and illegitimate children just to avoid responsibility.
“Which means, at this point, there’s nothing the prosecution can do against Father, right?”
— Yeah. Whether or not to issue a warrant is decided by a judge, not a prosecutor. Since there’s no evidence and public opinion has turned, there’s no way the court would allow a compulsory investigation.
This was why Hwang Young-sik trusted Park Cheol-min.
Although he was currently just a driver, he was an elite who had graduated from a top-tier law school. He just hadn’t passed the bar exam because he had spent too much time playing with Young-sik during his studies.
“Instead, thanks to that prosecutor making such a fuss, all of us siblings found out about Father’s crimes in detail, didn’t we?”
— Yeah. That prosecutor was quite stubborn. It seems she tried to turn public opinion through the media… and as a result, like you said, only your older brothers and sisters found out everything. They’re people with more than enough connections in the prosecution and the courts.
Hwang Young-sik stopped in his tracks.
One conclusion formed in his mind at the end of that conversation.
‘I’m the only one without information.’
As that thought hit him, his entire body began to tremble.
‘Just how much of a pushover did they think I was all this time?’
At the same time, one person came to mind.
— Management risk. Shouldn’t you at least have some assurance that something like that won’t happen again?
Hwang Young-sik made up his mind.
‘If I want to survive, I must become Prince Suyang.’
In other words, he would strike his father and siblings’ necks before he was discarded.
***
I finally came face-to-face with my guest.
“First, I apologize once again for dropping in without notice.”
Director Bong Ha-gyun even bowed his head, looking genuinely apologetic.
“And… I’ve personally wanted to meet you for a while. Even if only because of Actor Lee Ji-hoon.”
At that moment, my gaze shifted behind Director Bong.
“…”
Shin Hye-seo, who caught my eye for a second, gave a faint smile.
“…You worked on a project with Lee Ji-hoon, didn’t you? I remember you even won an international award together.”
“Yes, that’s correct.”
“Given the timing, I don’t think you’d come all this way because of a case that’s already several months old. Am I right?”
“…Yes. It’s embarrassing, but you’re right.”
Director Bong nodded readily.
“I received a recommendation from Woo-sun. Actor Jo Woo-sun.”
“A recommendation…?”
“He said that if I came here, my creative block would be cleared.”
Cleared, huh…?
‘Hearing it put that way makes it sound like my house is some treasury of elixirs from a martial arts novel.’
Then again, considering the miraculous effects, was that even wrong?
“I’m not a doctor, so I’m not sure if I can be of help, but could I ask what specific difficulties you’re facing?”
“I have a project I’m planning, but I don’t know how to handle the ending. I’ve been racking my brain for days and nights, but nothing comes to me.”
Having said that, Director Bong let out a sigh.
“The industry has been very difficult lately. Those in the field are in denial, saying it’s because the audience hasn’t returned since the pandemic, but most people know what the problem is. It’s simply because it’s not ‘fun’ anymore.”
Director Bong’s bitter smile deepened.
“We live in a world where there’s an abundance of things to do, like OTT platforms or YouTube, even without going to a cinema.”
“Mmh…”
“To be honest, since that movie you mentioned, I’ve been feeling a fairly large burden and a sense of duty. The audience’s standards have risen, and I have to make a better movie than before. People around me say things like, ‘Bong Ha-gyun is the hope that will save the industry!’ so casually… It would be a lie to say I’m not affected by that environment.”
“Then the part you’re most concerned about right now is…”
“The entertainment value of the work. Giving a message to the public is good, but the most important thing is the fun, no matter what anyone says. The moment it loses its fun, it just becomes a cynical or pessimistic piece made by someone with an art-house complex.”
Come to think of it, I felt like I’d heard something similar before.
‘The most important element in content is fun. Only fun.’
If people wanted to learn something by dwelling on the meaning, they would have read literature. What Director Bong just said was actually the biggest problem in the current film industry. Producers these days were trying to pack too much meaning into a mere 2-hour movie. In doing so, they lose the most important thing: the fun.
‘Even Octopus Game, which boasts the highest viewing time in Netflix history, received similar evaluations.’
In Season One, it had a single thread that ran through the theme of the movie, and the story unfolded very interestingly. However, as the seasons went on…
‘…That’s enough personal critique.’
Regardless, the situation was different from before. Both Actor Jo Woo-sun and Jaejun from Revive ultimately had a sickness of the mind. In that regard, blueberries had the best effect.
‘What would be good for Director Bong Ha-gyun?’
Not an anxiety reliever, but something that would make creativity surge. I had to find a crop like that.
‘Thinking about it, if there really was a crop like that, becoming filthy rich would be a piece of cake.’
Since the main target audience would be ‘parents’ and ‘children.’ I could even feed some to our Seol-i…
“Uncle!”
“Hmm?”
*Poke, poke.*
Just then, Seol-i, who had approached me at some point, began poking the space between my eyebrows with her finger as if she were a cat kneading. She even frowned deeply, as if imitating my expression.
“Wrinkles!”
…Our Seol-i. She’s already worried about her uncle’s wrinkles.
“Come here, my little healer.”
“Gah! It tickles!”
As I hugged Seol-i and rubbed my cheek against hers, a squeal of laughter erupted from my arms.
“Ah!”
In that moment, an inspiration naturally flashed through my mind.
‘That would work!’
A perfect crop had just occurred to me.
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