The morning of the production announcement day.
Since I had already wrapped up all my schedules except for the production announcement, the only thing I had to worry about today was that ridiculous fake news.
I didn’t know the exact time the article would drop, but seeing as the announcement started without any real countermeasure, it was obvious they had chosen to break the story on the same day on purpose. Stirring up trouble through live broadcast comments—today was the perfect timing for it.
‘But it can’t be too late, either. It’ll have to be when there’s just enough attention… Maybe around lunchtime.’
Right after I finished my face mask and workout, as soon as I got home, the article dropped exactly when I expected.
‘So, it failed in the end.’
I recalled the text I’d received from Hyeonsaengsa last night.
[We tried to convince them with the photo you sent, but they said if they don’t run this article, they’ll get nothing this year, so they’re going to go ahead and publish it;; They said it’s all just blackmail anyway.]
In short, it was an email saying they’d failed, and asking me to send whatever material I had to help with the rebuttal.
The exclusive scoop Hyeonsaengsa couldn’t stop broke at 11 a.m.
The production announcement was at 4 p.m., so there wasn’t much time to prepare.
First, I checked the first exclusive article that dropped.
‘He said he knew the reporter.’
Before my regression, I’d heard there was a reporter with an even nastier personality than mine, someone he’d cut ties with. Turns out, at this time, he was still close enough to call that guy an acquaintance. Surprising.
+
[Joo Taegang, rookie actor power harassment allegations? After all that image-making, this is how it ends…]
Actor Joo Taegang has come under suspicion for power harassment against rookie actor A on the set of . During the period when he was absent from the script readings for a long time, Joo Taegang allegedly called rookie actor A to his house or made him run errands like buying coffee, among other abuses of authority.
(Photo: A is heading to Joo Taegang’s house, both hands full with coffee and lunch. He visits Joo Taegang’s house almost daily. It’s hard to see this as a normal senior-junior relationship.)
Even after returning, Joo Taegang reportedly continued to speak informally only to A, and called him out to the parking lot separately to scold him.
Recently, it was revealed that Joo Taegang sent a coffee truck to rookie actor A’s filming set, flaunting a special friendship amid the allegations. Attention is focused on whether the allegations are true.
○○○ (*****@***.co.kr)
+
– Is the entertainment industry just a den of thugs… Still acting violently even out in society.
– With that face, just frowning is power harassment lolololololol
– Honestly, I think this was bound to come out. Wasn’t Joo Taegang always on thin ice? Even in the behind-the-scenes, he spoke harshly, so I wondered how he acted off camera lol not surprised lol
– How can you torment someone like that? Don’t they know a single word can kill? There are too many poorly-raised people in this world.
– Neutral gear
└ You’re trying to go neutral on this? There are photos!
└ What do photos prove? Maybe they were close.
└ How close can you get from a few script readings to visit someone’s house every day?
└ Didn’t you see the explanation under the photo? Who’s the idiot talking nonsense lol unbelievable.
└ Instead of helping the rookie, you’re defending the perpetrator.
– But who is this A, anyway?
└ If you look closely at the photo, you can tell lol
└ The rookie who shot Prosecutor of Vengeance together
└ Wow, picking on rookies already
– But didn’t he send that rookie a coffee truck? The rookie even posted a proof shot on Instagram. Maybe they really were close and visited every day??
└ Lololol can’t believe someone thinks like this
└ I mean, rationally speaking…
└ How can we know what’s really going on between them
└ Exactly my point.
└ The problem is it was ‘constant’ power harassment, not a one-off. No way it wasn’t intentional.
└ It’s easy for you to say such things. If you don’t like him, just don’t watch his drama, it’s more effective.
└ Who are you to tell me what to watch
└ These kinds of people always use sockpuppets
– Wasn’t it well known that Joo Taegang had a nasty personality? Even in the last work, there was a scene in the making where he cursed.
└ That was practice for a line. Stop making things up.
└ There are always people popping up at times like this to spread lies.
└ Would he really curse, knowing it’d be shown in the making? And besides, Joo Taegang was super sensitive at the time because of a scandal with another actress. Everyone knows he was just pretending to say his lines angrily.
└ Was that actress N.G.?
└ H.S.
└ H.S.? Who’s H.S.?
└ Last name is Woo?
└ Nope
As soon as the first article went up, other reporters followed with their own pieces.
If you’re going to publish a follow-up, shouldn’t you at least check with A, the person involved, to see if it’s true?
Strangely, not a single reporter with enough information to have my personal number contacted me.
My SNS inbox was already blowing up.
After skimming some relatively mild internet articles and sharp SNS comments, I also glanced at a few comments from other anonymous communities.
+
– Good riddance~
– Didn’t want to see him anyway, thanks for taking yourself down lol
– Everyone he gets involved with ends up in trouble
– He was still around?
└ That’s harsh.
└ What’s harsh? Constant harassment vs. one hate comment from the victim— which is worse? Who’s more evil? Who’s the real bastard?
└ We still don’t know. Can you show these comments to his family?
└ So who told him to harass the junior?
– But there’s not a single word from the junior, so nobody really knows yet, right? And the coffee truck post on Insta— was he forced to do it? Maybe they didn’t get along then, but now they might be fine
└ People never change for the better lol if it goes bad, it just gets worse
└ Soon he’ll threaten to sue, claiming it’s all baseless
+
[Isn’t he actually crazy? Making a rookie he’s only known for less than a month run errands the whole time he skipped script readings… That’s just… seriously. Only someone who’s done this before would do it.]
(Article link)
–
Likes: 1.2k
[Thought he was a puppy, but turns out he was a real bastard.]
[(Previous post) My puppy’s smile is so cute TT He’s such a sweetie TT TT TT TT TT]
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Likes: 8.5k
[Still no explanation. Guess he’s just going to drag it out until the production announcement lol]
–
Likes: 134
[People don’t change. Just like physiognomy is science. Honestly, when he said in that interview three years ago that he couldn’t even be around juniors who didn’t practice properly, I already thought he was off. Guess this is how it ends. People like that probably don’t even realize what they did wrong.]
(Interview video 01:30)
–
Likes: 1.7k
[If you know his past stories, you’d know Joo Taegang has a horrible personality. He was so bad he couldn’t even defend himself, but he didn’t realize it. Just watch his debut acting video and judge for yourself. And his movie reviews were terrible too.]
(Video 00:37)
–
Likes: 1.7k
[I don’t really know… but maybe if you get close quickly, things like this happen.]
–
Likes: 210
└ So these are the kinds of people who are Joo Taegang’s fans
└ Not many actors with such a solid core lol That’s how he survived with that personality
[People like this are the same ones who bullied others at school. ‘We were close, that’s why.’ ‘I didn’t know, that’s why.’ Always justifying their violence. Never considering how the victim feels.]
([I don’t really know… but maybe if you get close quickly, things like this happen.])
–
Likes: 2.9k
+
Of course, cursing out Joo Taegang was a given, but I also saw some comments aimed at me.
There were comments like, ‘How stupid do you have to be to let that happen to you?’ and some saying I looked depressed carrying coffee to Joo Taegang’s house, as if that showed what my daily life was like.
Still, over 80% of the hate was directed at Joo Taegang, the so-called perpetrator in the article.
After checking the online reactions, just as I was opening the messenger to contact Joo Taegang, my manager called.
[Yeohu!]
Unlike me, who already knew the future, my manager was understandably shocked to suddenly hear this news.
“Yes, hyung.”
[Um… ]
Judging by how shaky his voice was, he must have called as soon as he read a few articles.
[So. You’re awake too, huh.]
“Yes.”
[Did you see it? The article.]
“Yes, I saw it. But…”
[Yeohu, you can be honest with me. Back then, you didn’t have an agency to protect you, but now you have me and Sagjangnim. You didn’t do anything wrong, and you’re not going to get dropped from the show because of this.]
“It’s not true. You don’t have to worry.”
My answer made him go silent for a moment.
After a long pause, he spoke again, voice still trembling.
[If you’re hiding something on purpose, it’s okay to tell me.]
Goo Gido is a really good person, both as a manager and just as a neighborhood hyung.
Honestly, if it were me before my regression, I don’t think I would’ve talked like this.
I probably would’ve said, ‘Let us handle it, just keep quiet and don’t cause trouble.’
Since Joo Taegang’s agency is powerful, if we opposed them, our tiny agency’s actors might get blacklisted from other dramas.
But even knowing that, Goo Gido was taking my side.
“I did go to Taegang sunbae’s house, but I wanted to. I even begged the writer at the time to get his address. I went every day because I wanted to practice reading lines with him. If it was like the article says, wouldn’t sunbae have had to give me his address first?”
[Is that… really true?]
“Trust me.”
Finally, I heard a sigh of relief through the phone.
[Haa… Good. I was so worried you’d already run into trouble the moment you entered this harsh industry!]
“I don’t have the seniority for that kind of trouble yet.”
[What?]
“I’m still a fresh rookie, no one would even bother stepping on me. I’ll try contacting Taegang sunbae now, since I’m involved too and I can’t help but care.”
[Okay, I’ll call Sagjangnim. Try not to worry too much. I’ll be there in 30 minutes, so get ready to head to the salon.]
As soon as I hung up with my manager, I immediately called Joo Taegang.
The call connected in less than five seconds.
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