“Seeing how CEO-nim contacted me first like this, I guess Seo Nakil-ssi’s situation is more advantageous.”
There must be plenty to feel guilty about. The contract that would be brought to court was full of clauses intended to exploit young me.
—Even if he wins, it’s absurd. It’s a fight where nothing comes back to him either. Look? Seo Nakil already brought 500 million won last night. And now he’s starting this shit saying to return it.
“Then he gives 500 million won and gets 500 million won back… so either way you’re covering your losses.”
—Exactly that. Cover the losses and that’s the end of it. But is a court battle free? Attorney fees, labor costs—it’s not a small amount of money.
It might not be an action taken just looking at money. There must be some reason for purposely raising the issue between me and Cosmos Entertainment to make it noisy.
Thinking that far, what Seo Nakil wanted became clear.
‘He’s trying to make it public.’
He was trying to bring my problem to the surface. If the problem between me and my agency emerged, personal matters that looked more serious than health issues would arise, and it wouldn’t look strange if I couldn’t participate in group activities because my insides were noisy from a court battle.
If this controversy became known to the world, people would remember Han Ijae, and furthermore might sympathize with him. Even if I changed agencies overnight, they’d accept it naturally.
Seo Nakil wanted to get his hands on that series of developments.
—Yeah, well. I don’t know what it’s about but…
An unclear muttering sound quickly passed. It was a sound of swallowing curses he couldn’t pour out as his temper wanted.
—Let’s try to settle.
“Settle.”
—Yeah. We were eating from the same pot at one time, so this won’t do for either of us. Huh? Both of us turning red in front of everyone, arguing right and wrong without any affection.
Probably the ‘affection’ the CEO spoke of meant a one-sided relationship that started from one side and poured onto the other. Even though whenever I stood before him, I always felt like filth was being dumped over me.
—There’s still time until the Starium concert. It’s the first solo concert. Let’s just do that.
“CEO-nim, as you saw in that medical opinion yesterday…”
—Your memory of people is lost, but your work functions might just be at a simple decline level. At least go and try doing it. Either way, you need to do rehabilitation or whatever, don’t you? There are still a few months left, you can’t not choreograph a few songs.
“…”
—Just do one solo concert well. After that, let’s take it easy. It’s a 2-year short stint anyway, so the team business is almost over. Even if you’re carefully gathering memories, what will become of you after that? They’ll probably run units centered on Min Seungwoo and Kwon Seonho, guys like that.
That analysis was correct. In reality, after scattering like that, the members did unit activities or individual activities. Min Seungwoo and Kwon Seonho succeeded in solo debuts, and the rest moved around two or three at a time, then added members from their respective agencies to create new groups.
—Ijae.
The CEO’s voice became extremely soft. The scent of desperation dripped heavily.
—The fans will be waiting for you, won’t they? Huh? How disappointed they’d be. Coming up in swarms, taking buses and subways from who knows where just to see Han Ijae. You should go on stage, right?
‘Han Ijae. Don’t go on stage.’
—If you do just that well, I’ll let you go. If you want, I’ll even write a memorandum. Wouldn’t this be better for a withdrawal without controversy?
‘You can’t run away, bastard. The memorandum you wrote is right here. You know?’
—Let’s terminate the contract after just this year. Without a penalty.
The 500 million won melted away on the tip of the tongue that always spoke wicked words.
—I’ll send you off cleanly. By mutual termination. That’s less troublesome for you too, isn’t it good? You won’t need to pay back the debt either.
Honestly, that was true. As the CEO said, it wasn’t simply giving a large sum then getting it back as is. The money, time, and mental strength that would leak out in between would dry a person up.
Moreover, I didn’t trust the public. They didn’t always make rational and reasonable judgments. Because people didn’t believe the truth but believed what they saw.
Even if I was pitiful, they would eventually throw stones. Those who suffered no damage would easily criticize my carelessness. Saying that’s what happens if you’re stupid, sneering that not being deceived is also an ability.
I had crossed through such times.
“What’s the exact date?”
—Your birthday.
December 31st. Really doing Starium activities only until this year, and on January 1st I’d become a free person.
I quickly rummaged through my memories. The winter when I was 23 was when I suffered some headaches from minor rumors. Still, they were all unfounded rumors within manageable lines that didn’t burst into articles. It was also a time when I could somehow endure by pretending not to know, since the stories circulating on SNS or stock market gossip sheets were all just sensational without any real evidence.
“You really won’t interfere after that, right?”
—Yeah. Whether you go to Seo Nakil’s agency or quit, it’s all fine. Better to just wash my hands than to poke the wrong beehive and get fucked.
It was a situation where April was just around the corner. Even if there were no major album activities after the concert, 8 months was by no means a short time.
But my mind changed a bit. Wouldn’t it be better if I could subtract 500 million won? Whatever I did here, I wouldn’t earn the penalty fee within that time anyway.
500 million won, or 8 months.
After Starium’s regular album activities, ‘sudden activity suspension due to health issues,’ or a certain group’s main vocal’s ‘beautiful farewell.’
‘Dishonorable desertion’ due to scandal, or ‘mutual withdrawal’ due to differences in musical direction.
The scale in my heart tilted and pointed toward the direction of the answer.
“I’ll do that.”
It wasn’t asking me to do something completely impossible. I just had to do as usual while preparing my heart firmly. Fortunately, since I’d come back after seeing an unfortunate future, I didn’t have to hurt like being struck by lightning from a clear sky.
It would be unpleasant but bearable pain.
“I’ll think about it positively. If you return that 500 million won to Actor-nim. Of course, just promising with words won’t do.”
Of course, even if I lay down saying I couldn’t do anything, I wouldn’t need to pay back the 500 million won. Because Seo Nakil had already paid off that debt.
But I purposely chose to take the time to have it forgiven. It was my own courtesy toward work I once greatly anticipated, worked hard at, and loved.
No matter how wealthy Seo Nakil was. So even if that enormous chaebol spent all that money for me and acted like it was nothing.
That didn’t make the debt I owed disappear. I hated having weight placed on my shoulders. Whether materially or psychologically.
“I need to think about the procedures too, and talk with the members… so when I return to the dorm later, I’ll contact you first from my side. I’m outside right now.”
—Okay. You contact Seo Nakil and try to talk it out well. If things go wrong and it gets noisy, neither you nor I will look good.
Even though I’d only talked for about 10 minutes, I was completely drained. Enough to want to sleep like the dead again and run away to tomorrow.
As I tried to appropriately end the call, the other party cautiously called me back.
—But, Han Ijae. What exactly is your relationship with Seo Nakil?
That’s what I’d like to know. How can I explain something even I, the person in question, don’t know? Even with ten, no, a hundred mouths, I’d have nothing to say. Rather, I just want to grab anyone and ask. What exactly am I to Seo Nakil?
—Actor Seo Nakil? Or Seo Nakil of Ritten Group?
“…”
—Acting so high and mighty, but in the end you’re being sponsored? This is why celebrity bastards…
I hung up without even listening to an answer. No matter what plausible veneer he wore, it seemed he couldn’t hide that rude inner nature.
What was truly terrible was that I had no words to refute it. This most insulting stab at the current me was the most persuasive reason for moving large sums of money without hesitation.
Whether that fact was false or not was no longer important. Too many lies had already piled up between Seo Nakil and me. The second on top of the first lie, and then the third, fourth, fifth…
Now even judging truth from falsehood felt futile, as if a mountain of lies was swallowing me whole.
??? Bro??? You have a way out?????? And you’re denying it????? Whaaaat???
Someone give him advice he’s not in the right state of mind 😭🙏