Chapter 89
I resolved Jo Sang-jin's problems and drank canned coffee with Gu Nam-cheol in the break room.
Though he complained that there had been too much work lately, he looked quite happy.
"So, did you go to America this time?"
"Yes. I have some pictures from Dazney Land. Would you like to see them?"
"Oh... Huh? Isn't this Han Yu-na, the president of Saseong Group?"
"Yes. That's right."
"What kind of relationship do you have that you'd travel to America together?"
"We're friends."
"Ah. I-I see. Wow. Friends with a chaebol. As expected of you, Teacher."
"Haha. We just happened to become friends."
"By the way, the Wizard of Dazney Land... Aren't you going to tell that story on the show?"
Perhaps because it was something he hadn't heard on the broadcast, he found it quite fascinating.
He'd be even more surprised if I told him that I'd met the governor and advised him to prepare for the typhoon.
"But what will happen to Twin Enter?"
"Indeed. Now that the president has been arrested, won't the company fall apart? Or perhaps someone will buy it. Are you thinking of running the company yourself? If so, I could make things a little easier for you."
"Haha. Is it really all right for a prosecutor in the Republic of Korea to do that? More importantly, do you even have the authority?"
"I can just tell the people bidding for the company, 'Don't bid against Teacher Kang's company.' Something like that?"
I laughed along with him as he chuckled and made the joke.
"I might ask some people I know."
I was the one who had handed even the company I'd received in the first place over to Hong Si-yeon because running it was a hassle.
Would I run a company just because it was domestic?
That wouldn't be fun.
"Who are you thinking of asking?"
"I'm not sure. Han Yu-na, perhaps, or Hong Si-yeon..."
Or perhaps I could ask Elder Kim Seok-chun, who had gone to Yangpyeong to look after a grandnephew's child.
I could ask Yang Hye-jeong as well.
I knew quite a few wealthy people.
"But why are you asking about that company?? Do you need something from it?"
"Ah, there's a document I want to check."
"If that's all, let's go together."
Gu Nam-cheol got up and put his empty can in the recycling bin.
"Why worry when I'm here?"
His face was brimming with confidence as he flashed me a grin.
.
.
.
When we arrived at Twin Enter, we found several employees who looked exhausted.
There weren't that many employees to begin with.
It hadn't exactly been a properly run company in the first place, so that said it all.
"W-welcome."
A gaunt employee in his late thirties who recognized Gu Nam-cheol spoke cautiously.
"Hello."
"Y-yes..."
The prosecutors had come last time, opened the secret safe in the president's office, and taken away the ledgers and other documents.
The female employee who had watched the whole process had felt a little frightened.
The only thing this woman had done wrong was the cute little crime of taking some coffee and snacks from the break room home after work.
In that case, she didn't really need to be afraid.
"I'd like to check some of Twin Enter's documents."
"Huh? W-what documents?"
"They're rather old. Jo Sang-jin has warehouses where he stores documents separately, doesn't he?"
"Yes. In the basement here..."
"Could you show us the way?"
"Uh..."
She glanced at Gu Nam-cheol, gauging his reaction.
But instead of stopping me, Gu Nam-cheol merely nodded.
"Would you turn this over?"
"Huh?"
I held the card out to the uneasy employee.
She cautiously turned over the card.
"Please don't be so afraid. Taking a few snacks and coffees from the break room isn't considered embezzlement."
-Hiccup.
Of course, they could make an issue of it if they really wanted to.
But would the prosecution bother with something so trivial?
"Ms. Oh Hye-min. And you don't have to worry about losing your job when the company falls apart. Someone will acquire it soon."
"I-is that so? Really?!"
She was already worried about that
as it was.
A ship that loses its captain is bound to sink.
Even if the captain was making a complete mess of things.
The president wasn't the only one among those arrested this time.
Not only the president but also two directors had been arrested on illegal gambling charges, and nobody knew what would happen to the company.
"Is it all right if I tell the others? Everyone's already anxious..."
Aside from popular actor Kim Hyun-woo and a few others, where would everyone else go in this economic downturn?
The unknown actors and employees tied to the company had made a living on the company's money, and they were extremely anxious about the current situation.
"Yes, please do. In any case, just show me to the basement."
"Understood!! I'll go get the keys!"
She immediately got up.
Just then, the office door opened, and a man appeared.
"Oh!? Teacher Kang?!"
It was Kim Hyun-woo.
He entered with his manager and was startled.
"Why are you here, Teacher...?"
"There are some documents I need to check."
"You?"
In other words, he was wondering why I had needed to come when the prosecutor beside me was enough.
"That's true, but I don't have anything else to do right now."
I had to use up Dunsa's fatigue later in the afternoon.
I'd made plans to run dungeons with my guild members.
I smiled and turned my head.
Pictures of Twin Enter's leading actors hung on the office wall.
"Do you know what actress Kang So-ra has been up to lately?"
She was one of Twin Enter's leading actors.
The beautiful actress Kang So-ra, who had turned thirty this year, was currently on hiatus.
Perhaps for that reason, Kim Hyun-woo said matter-of-factly that she never came to the office.
"She should be taking a break since she's on hiatus these days."
"Really? Then what does she think of this incident?"
"I don't think she has much of an opinion."
"Would she stay with the company even if the president changed?"
"I'm not sure... Her contract only has a year left, so I think she might go to another agency."
"I see."
I was thinking of suggesting the acquisition to someone I knew, but whoever took it on would still need enough money to bankroll it.
Kim Hyun-woo and Kang So-ra were Twin's two biggest sources of revenue.
If one of them left, I imagined the company's value would decrease.
They already trusted my word completely, so I wanted to ease their burden a little.
"But, Teacher. What will happen to our president...?"
"You should ask the prosecutor over there rather than me."
Kim Hyun-woo glanced at Gu Nam-cheol, who was quickly shoving snacks into his mouth, and smiled awkwardly.
He was more comfortable talking to me.
"Come on. Don't look at Prosecutor Gu Nam-cheol like he's a man-eating monster. He's kind and a good person."
"I-I never thought of him that way..."
"I brought the basement key!"
"Then let's go."
Gu Nam-cheol put down the snack bag.
Kim Hyun-woo followed me despite looking puzzled.
He must have been curious about what I was going to do.
"There are some documents I need to find."
"Documents?"
"Something like ledgers? But I took all the documents from Jo Sang-jin's secret safe."
"There's a saying that if you want to hide a tree, you should hide it in a forest."
To hide documents, you hide them among piles of documents.
I took the puzzled pair to the basement, guided by Oh Hye-min.
"But there are so many documents... Jo Sang-jin told me not to throw any away and to keep them all here..."
"I see. Ms. Oh, you can leave now."
"Is there anything I can help you with?"
"We have to search and check them ourselves now. They're the sort of documents that would be troublesome if other people saw them."
"Um... yes. Understood."
She nodded and left.
I looked at Kim Hyun-woo and Gu Nam-cheol.
"All right. Let's dig through them."
"What kind of documents are you looking for?"
As Gu Nam-cheol opened a box, pulled out a binder, and rapidly skimmed through it, he asked,
So I answered.
"You'll know when you see them."
An hour passed like that.
We continued opening boxes, taking out binders, and skimming through them.
When Oh Hye-min came down, gave us snacks and drinks, and left,
"Ha."
I found it.
I discovered the documents inside a plastic binder.
[Actor Contract]
These were contracts for unknown actors who had signed with Twin Enter.
In exchange for Twin Enter training them, they would become slaves to Twin Enter—or more precisely, Jo Sang-jin—for the next ten years.
Kim Hyun-woo and Gu Nam-cheol approached in puzzlement, and their eyes widened when they saw the documents.
"Huh. This is practically a slave contract."
"Huh? Wait. What's this?"
Gu Nam-cheol was dumbfounded as he flipped through the binder I'd handed him, then suddenly cried out.
There were documents involving someone who wasn't an actor.
"Hong Ju-gwang...!!"
"Do you know him?"
"Yes. He's a former National Assembly member who lost the last election and is now out of politics. He had a contract with that man too. Hah."
Jo Sang-jin had used a National Assembly member's help to secure someone who would cover his back whenever he was in danger.
Gu Nam-cheol found it absurd that Hong's defeat had left him like a kite with its string cut, making him so easy to arrest.
"It's not easy to get a foothold with a National Assembly member, but he managed it."
He really was a resourceful man.
It was a shame that he had used that ability this way.
Well, what could one do?
"You'll be able to put this to good use, right, Prosecutor?"
"Of course."
It was a chance to lock up not only Jo Sang-jin but also all those who had once protected him.
While Gu Nam-cheol gritted his teeth and gathered the documents, I approached Kim Hyun-woo.
He still seemed to be in shock.
"If I hadn't become an actor, would I have avoided seeing this ugly side and getting mixed up in it?"
"Well, that might have been the case."
"...I feel like retiring... Teacher Kang. Things like this happen all the time in the entertainment industry, right?"
"Who knows?"
I wasn't in the entertainment industry either. How would I know?
"...Should I retire...?"
"You like acting, Mr. Kim Hyun-woo."
"But..."
"And your parents liked it too. When you appeared in your first movie, when you first appeared on television, and at your first premiere..."
"....."
"They're proud of their son. No matter what kind of person had you in his grasp, that person's fault—not yours."
"Sob..."
"You have wonderful parents. I don't even have any."
"Oh... I-I didn't mean to bring that up."
I grinned at him as he stood there flustered.
"I know. I was joking."
It was a high-class joke that only an S-rank orphan who had lived without parents his whole life could make.