Seizing on the rare piece of juicy news, online articles quickly began to flood the entertainment pages.
In the photos accompanying the articles, non-celebrity men with blurred faces were captured talking to two actresses whose faces were tightly bundled up.
Manager Woo Seung-beom, sitting before his monitor with a grim expression, bit his lip and slowly scrolled down with his mouse.
“News has surfaced that actresses Seo Ji-won and Cheon Na-young were spotted at a so-called ‘hunting bar,’ a place where people meet to drink with strangers. An employee of the bar, a certain Mr. Yang, claimed that the two are frequent regulars… Whew.”
As he read the article aloud, Manager Woo had to take a slow, deep breath to cool the rising anger in his chest.
Without even glancing toward Seo Ji-won, who was sitting in a corner of the office looking as intimidated as she had during her rookie days, Manager Woo looked up at the ceiling and asked, “You went to a bar? Without even telling me?”
“No… I just met Na-young and we were going to have a light meal…”
“Who goes to a hunting bar for a ‘light meal’?”
“It wasn’t a hunting bar; it was a gukbap restaurant…”
“Oh, my head!”
Finally snapping in annoyance, Manager Woo pressed his throbbing temples with his hands.
The truth didn’t matter.
In the photos, the men were all wearing white dress shirts and black slacks. Looking only at the blurred images, it was easy to misunderstand and think they had been hanging out with the same group the entire time.
An actress’s image was her most important asset, and since not just one, but two of them had appeared at a bar in a nightlife district, the reporters were bound to be ecstatic. Already, various online communities and YouTube drama channels were spreading the news like a wildfire through dry grass.
“Do not post on SNS for the time being, and don’t answer even if reporters call. You are forbidden from leaving your house until the company releases an official statement.”
“I’m sorry, Brother Seung-beom. I didn’t know things would get this big.”
“I have to handle this mess, so I’ll send another road manager to take you home. Get in that car and go straight home.”
“Okay…”
Manager Woo maintained his stern expression as he walked out of the meeting room alone.
This was the first time he had ever been this angry. It was practically the first time Seo Ji-won, who had always worked diligently without causing any trouble, had ever deviated from the path.
It wasn’t that Manager Woo was angry because he hated her. He didn’t even consider for a second that the two of them had actually been partying wildly in a nightlife district as the articles claimed.
‘What would that innocent girl even know?’
He had watched over Seo Ji-won since she was a snot-nosed adolescent; she was like a niece to him. She didn’t even like alcohol, and the most rebellious thing she ever did was cook meals at home to serve to those around her.
However, a minor mistake like this could return as a massive wave for high-profile actresses like Seo Ji-won and Cheon Na-young. Depending on how things progressed, advertisements could be canceled, and casting for future projects could run into difficulties. In the entertainment industry, there were countless cases where a career ended instantly due to even more absurd situations.
Walking briskly into the hallway, Manager Woo immediately began searching his contacts and calling reporters.
“Yes, hello. Reporter Choi? This is Woo Seung-beom. I’m calling about this article. There are some facts that are incorrect, and I need to clear them up…”
After making several rounds of calls to reporters, Woo Seung-beom held his aching head and shook it slowly.
“This won’t be easy.”
It was a night where Manager Woo’s worries only deepened.
—
On the same day.
Seo Sun-ae, the CEO of Gat Media, was lost in deep thought after seeing the articles about Seo Ji-won and Cheon Na-young.
Lately, she had been suffering from the pressure exerted by CL Media, but Gat Media possessed a solid core of talent—the so-called Lee Junghyuk Division. Among them, both Seo Ji-won and Cheon Na-young were actresses with deep, inseparable ties to Gat Media.
Seo Sun-ae, who had thought she wouldn’t have to worry about casting as long as she could secure production conditions, bit her lip.
“There’s something strange about this.”
As the person in charge of Gat Media’s finances and management, as well as its strategic intelligence, Seo Sun-ae immediately spotted a peculiar point in the current situation.
Lee Junghyuk, who was sitting across from her reading through the articles, looked up and asked like a reactive sidekick in a detective story, “What’s strange?”
“The photos in the articles. Based on the angles and the quality, they were definitely not taken by ordinary people. It’s clear that reporters were waiting in position to take them.”
“If you just look at the quality, they don’t look like professional photos.”
The photos in the articles were extremely blurry and of low quality, as if they had suffered from severe digital degradation—to the point where it would be difficult to recognize Seo Ji-won and Cheon Na-young without comparing multiple shots.
However, in a country where using a Galaxy instead of an iPhone could be a reason for bullying among students, and in the neighborhood near Gangnam-Nonhyeon—which had become the wealthiest area in the nation since the Fifth Republic—the CEO’s insight was that there was no Gen Z person who would spot beauties hidden behind masks and hats and then take proof shots with quality worse than a free budget phone.
That meant…
“Someone was positioned there, following Ms. Seo Ji-won and Ms. Cheon Na-young, waiting for a chance. Who on earth would do such a thing…”
However, Lee Junghyuk, whom she thought was just sitting there to play the role of a supporting character, gave an unexpected reaction instead of an exclamation.
“There’s only one place that would do such a thing. CL Media.”
“But to aggressively follow and target individuals like this is very different from CL’s usual strategy of just muddying public opinion.”
“That’s because their situation is much different than before.”
If CL Media was really moving to strike and crush anyone related to Gat Media—and by extension, Lee Junghyuk—then…
“But why?”
Lee Junghyuk’s current carefree attitude was difficult to understand. In an industry where a single article or a floating rumor could ruin someone, CL Media was like the Kingdom of Wei led by Chancellor Cao Cao. No matter how much credit she gave Gat Media, they were barely at the level of the Nanman tribes—hardly even a proper nation.
Lee Junghyuk’s current stance was like that of the Nanman chieftain, Meng Huo, who maintained his pride even after being captured and released seven times.
“Please be honest with me, Writer. You have some kind of plan, don’t you? Right? You have to.”
No matter how much of a genius writer Lee Junghyuk was, and even if geniuses usually had a screw loose… was he really thinking this was none of his business, like a sociopath, in the middle of this chaos?
No.
The Lee Junghyuk she had seen so far was timid, had strong outsider tendencies, was prone to victim complex, and was a selfish sort who only felt at ease after doing whatever he wanted—but he wasn’t the type of person to treat a crisis facing those around him lightly.
That was why he had left H Studio to move to Gat Media, and why he had stayed up all night resolving various incidents and paperwork.
However, Lee Junghyuk merely repeated the same line with his usual, consistent attitude.
“Everything will be fine. Don’t worry.”
“…”
The moment she faced that benevolent and comfortable smile, Seo Sun-ae began to mentally draft a list of large corporations where a former CEO like herself might find a job.
Watching Seo Sun-ae’s retreating back as she left the office dejectedly, unable to find peace of mind even after hearing his answer, Lee Junghyuk realized he was now alone in the empty Gat Media office.
“Oops, gotta save on the electricity bill.”
Lee Junghyuk quickly stood up and turned off all the office light switches except for one. He also turned off the power to the heating and cooling system. Once the ceiling fans stopped, the office fell into a state of silence where no sound could be heard except for his own breathing.
Only when he was truly alone did Lee Junghyuk quietly turn on his phone and access the app only he could enter: ‘Gatflix.’
The page he was looking at listed ‘Wish Tickets’ in a shopping list. He fell into deep thought as he looked at the tickets that would grant any wish corresponding to their value. If necessary, he intended to use a Wish Ticket to resolve the current situation.
But.
No matter how urgent the situation was, he had no intention of recklessly abusing the incredibly expensive Wish Tickets.
‘Such things will continue to happen in the future.’
Unless he brought a conglomerate like CL Media to its knees, the Jeon family of the CL Group would continue to block his path. They had more than enough justification and malice for it.
Therefore, rather than a fantasy of making a giant corporation bow down single-handedly, he needed a realistic response plan—all while saving the ‘use’ of a Wish Ticket, his final bastion, as much as possible. A Wish Ticket had to yield its maximum value in the most critical way at the most important moment.
That didn’t mean he intended to escape the current situation with optimistic delusions like a cult leader. CL Media’s monopoly on broadcast production schedules, the pressure on Gat Media, and the reach of their influence even to the actors around him were not problems he could simply ignore.
Of course, for a brief moment, he had held a workshop and acted like a cult leader to boost employee morale, but the difference between a real cult leader and Lee Junghyuk was that Lee Junghyuk actually knew the way to the Eden they spoke of.
He had learned this fact one week ago. Specifically, it happened during the time he had gone to a resort for the sudden workshop, spending unnecessary expenses. For someone like him, who wouldn’t even waste electricity by turning off the lights and heaters when alone in the office to save costs, there was a valid reason.
At that time, Lee Junghyuk had realized there was another hidden function of the Wish Tickets, and through that function, he had recognized that there was a way out even if the heavens were to fall.
Lee Junghyuk, alone in the office, reconfirmed the question he had ‘checked’ through a Wish Ticket one week ago.
“Can I use a Wish Ticket to solve the current problem caused by CL Media?”
**[A Wish Ticket can be used for this issue.]**
“What rank of Wish Ticket should I use?”
**[The use of a C-Rank Wish Ticket or higher is recommended.]**
Gatflix judged the situation as something easily solvable if a Wish Ticket was used. Among the tickets, a B-Rank was valued at 5 billion won, and a C-Rank was valued at 1 billion won.
“At most, it means this can be solved with about 1 billion won.”
And that fact, while it might have been different back when he lived as a third-rate writer with nothing to his name, was not a particularly difficult matter for the current Lee Junghyuk.