Chapter 14. Revenge of the Cut-Off Tail
The person who got out of the car was a trainee I had known back in my Pantheon days.
If I remembered correctly, he had first joined as a trainee around five years ago.
Surprisingly, it looked like this guy was now working as Yeo Eunju's manager.
After all, he had shown up at the place where I was supposed to receive Syongsyongi from her manager.
I immediately started questioning him about Yeo Eunju.
But surprisingly, he hadn't quit being a trainee to become a manager.
According to him, several trainees were being paid by Nam Wonsu to act as Yeo Eunju's personal servants.
And they weren't even getting paid much.
It was pocket change.
The kind of money that let you upgrade from a basic gimbap to a pork cutlet gimbap.
A man who wasn't even the CEO was privately using company trainees for his own errands.
I immediately contacted Yeo Eunju and told her that the person she thought was her manager was actually a trainee.
Yeo Eunju, who had been willing to quietly endure even the severe violence she was suffering, finally broke down after hearing that.
It was bad enough that she'd taken opportunities away from those trainees.
Now she had learned that they were also being used to handle her petty personal errands.
She was deeply shaken.
Soon afterward, she sent me photographs.
Pictures of her torn scalp.
Bruises covering her arms.
She had finally reached her limit.
She told me that she didn't know what kind of photographs would actually matter legally, so she asked me to help her file a lawsuit.
In response, I suggested taking the matter to the press.
Yeo Eunju agreed.
I immediately picked up my phone.
—This is Deputy Director Shin Hyeoncheol from TV Shilla.
Last time, he'd just been an investigative reporter.
Apparently, he'd been promoted since then.
Now he was a deputy director.
He had always been starving for an exclusive.
Whenever he smelled a story worth pursuing, he would bite down and refuse to let go until the very end.
Persistence was one of a reporter's greatest weapons.
And since he knew how to finish a fight before exhausting himself, it made sense that he'd climbed all the way to deputy director.
“Hello, Reporter Shin. It's Do Junhyeok, the man with horns growing out of his head.”
Reporter Shin snorted.
—I was wondering why you hadn't called me yet. But don't expect an apology from me. You were fired because Pantheon is rotten, not because of my reporting.
What a boring man.
When did I ever ask for an apology?
I had only made a joke because he probably imagined everyone from Pantheon had horns growing out of their heads.
Shin Hyeoncheol, the rabid mutt who never released something once he'd bitten into it, had spent the past several years keeping Pantheon under constant watch.
Considering that most entertainment reporters avoided touching Pantheon altogether, he was practically an endangered species.
The latest story he'd bitten into had been Wonwoo's Club Area scandal involving group drug use and arranging prostitution.
And that incident was what had gotten me fired.
Whenever I remembered how much trouble I'd suffered because of Reporter Shin's merciless articles, I almost felt like I'd wake up in the middle of the night with my ears ringing.
But now...
That terrifying Reporter Shin could become one of my strongest allies.
Just imagining his face was enough to put a smile on mine.
“I don't need an apology. I left a few nasty comments under your articles, so I already feel better.”
—You actually did that?
“Do you seriously think I did? You really are a reporter. You have absolutely no sense of humor...”
I changed the subject.
“Anyway, that's not important. I've got a source you'll probably like. Want to hear it? It's about Pantheon.”
Reporter Shin pretended not to be interested, but he immediately fell silent.
When it came to Pantheon, he couldn't resist.
Every young reporter who had boldly tried biting into Pantheon had eventually gotten their teeth smashed apart and retired from journalism early.
They'd learned the bitter taste of society.
The reporters who avoided that fate either lost all interest in Pantheon...
Or became one of Pantheon's so-called scholarship students.
In other words, when it came to Pantheon, Reporter Shin practically had a monopoly.
Which also meant he didn't really need to hurry.
There was no other reporter likely to publish the story first.
And yet he still became impatient whenever Pantheon was involved.
Probably because he felt responsible, knowing there wasn't anyone else willing to attack them.
When it came to Pantheon, Reporter Shin was exactly as impatient as he was righteous.
“You know Nam Wonsu from Pantheon, right?”
—Nam Wonsu? Ah, yes. I know him.
It had been back when Reporter Shin was digging into Club Area and fighting over what was true and what wasn't.
Nam Wonsu had contacted him at the time and asked him to stop publishing articles.
While offering him a large amount of money.
Reporter Shin recorded the entire call...
Then immediately aired it on his own program, Entertainment Special Report.
There really wasn't another lunatic like him.
“There's something involving Director Nam.”
Reporter Shin probably knew roughly that Director Nam handled Ji Cheonwoo's dirty work.
He wouldn't know the details, since they involved Pantheon's deeper corruption.
“That bastard is secretly dating Yeo Eunju.”
—What? Yeo Eunju? You mean the singer and actress, Yeo Eunju?
“Yes.”
Reporter Shin sounded shocked, then burst out laughing as if he couldn't believe it.
Even if he trusted me enough to investigate, he'd still have to verify everything personally.
Knowing that, he probably realized there was no reason for me to call him just to tell such an easily disproven lie.
—Interesting, but celebrity dating exposés aren't really my taste.
“That's not all.”
Now came the important part.
I lowered my voice.
“What if I told you Nam Wonsu beats Yeo Eunju every day?”
There was silence.
—...You're saying Yeo Eunju is being beaten?
I explained Nam Wonsu's behavior I'd witnessed at Premium Hill in Hannam-dong.
Then, with Yeo Eunju's permission, I sent him the photographs she'd given me.
They weren't absolute proof.
But they were strong enough circumstantial evidence to create certainty.
I didn't know whether they would convince a judge.
But they were more than enough to get Reporter Shin moving.
—That's hard to believe.
“I thought the same thing. Anyway, Yeo Eunju has agreed to actively cooperate. Why don't you investigate it yourself?”
Reporter Shin seemed to scribble something down before asking,
—Once I have enough material, can I publish immediately?
“Yes. And if this goes well, I'll give you another story too. So put some effort into it.”
—Another story...?”
The company name, the man's name, and the actress's name would all have to remain anonymous.
The headline would probably be something like:
Director N of Major Agency P Habitually Assaults Actress Y.
But everyone would know.
Even without the initial P, people already knew there was only one entertainment company Reporter Shin constantly attacked.
Pantheon Entertainment.
Once Nam Wonsu went down, all the things he'd done would gradually come to light.
Maybe even the relationships he'd forced women into before Yeo Eunju would be exposed.
But there was another story that would cause an even bigger social shock.
The assault and exploitation of Pantheon trainees.
Pantheon managers—including Nam Wonsu—treated trainees like animals.
They beat them mercilessly.
Bullied them into submission.
And ordered them around like servants.
It was the kind of thing outsiders would almost never hear about.
