Chapter 40

Chapter 40

I simply nodded instead of answering.

Baek Sung-han noticed that I was deliberately keeping quiet and didn't ask any further questions.

“Let's talk about what you just said later.
I'll be back.”

Baek Sung-han grabbed his bag and car keys before hurriedly leaving the company.

I watched him walk away and fell into thought.

“Ah...
Plan B is really something I don't want to do...”

“No, Min Sung-jae?
What on earth were you thinking when you decided to cast Min Sung-jae?”

“What do you mean, what was I thinking?
Of course, I thought he was a good actor and suited the role...”

“CEO, how can you say that after looking at this?!”

The investment company's representative suddenly turned the laptop screen toward CEO Han Tae-sung.

On the screen was an article about actor Min Sung-jae's comeback, along with countless malicious comments underneath it.

The investment representative tried to calm his anger before continuing.

“Don't you remember?
We clearly told you that if you planned to cast an actor below Park Jeong-ho's level, we might withdraw our investment.”

“Yes, I remember.”

“Then how could you make this decision after remembering that?”

“I didn't think actor Min Sung-jae was below Park Jeong-ho's level.”

At Han Tae-sung's words, the investment representative let out a disbelieving sigh.

“Ha...
If you really think that way, then we have nothing more to say.”

Han Tae-sung continued, as if driving the final nail into the coffin.

“Even if we only consider Director Park Jun-beom's name value, our production company's reputation, or the production experience I, Han Tae-sung, have, I don't think this is the kind of movie whose success will be decided by a single actor.”

The investment representative hesitated, seemingly caught off guard.

Eventually, he broke the heavy silence.

“I understand what you're saying, CEO.
And I also don't think this is the kind of movie whose success depends entirely on one actor.
But we're an investment company.
We're not investing simply because we want to break even.
We were willing to invest because this was a Park Jun-beom movie from ‘Big Picture’, so we thought we could at least recover our principal.
But if we wanted to make a profit on top of that, we needed an actor who met the conditions we specified.
That's our position.”

Perhaps because of the words ‘at least recover our principal’, Han Tae-sung's brow twitched as if his pride had been hurt.

The representative noticed the change in Han Tae-sung's expression and quickly softened his tone.

“Fine.
We'll assume you're considering casting a new actor rather than someone at Park Jeong-ho's level, and we'll invest up to 35 percent of the total production cost.
However, if you continue pushing for Min Sung-jae's casting, we'll withdraw our investment.
We're only making this much of a concession because of our relationship with you, CEO Han.
I believe this is the maximum consideration we can offer.”

The investment representative smiled with satisfaction, believing that he had presented a fairly reasonable investment condition.

But Han Tae-sung's expression remained stiff.

A deep shadow fell over Min Sung-jae's face as he read the comments posted online.

• Only one year of reflection?
  At this point, wasn't that a vacation rather than reflection?

  • It's only been a year since he said he would live only as a father.
    What a shameless bastard.

  • It doesn't matter how good his acting is.
    Once his image is ruined, it's over.
    By the way, why has the child's mother never been mentioned even once?

  • Ah, I really liked Director Park Jun-beom's movies, but I guess I'll have to skip this one.

Min Sung-jae closed the laptop with trembling hands.

When Baek Sung-han arrived at Min Sung-jae's house, Min Sung-jae already seemed slightly drunk from having a drink.

“Hyung, did you drink?”

“Yeah.
Just a little.”

“What about So-jeong?”

“She hasn't come home from school yet.
But why did you come all the way here?
I thought I already told you everything on the phone.”

Min Sung-jae picked up the glass of whiskey sitting on the table and downed it in one gulp, looking distressed.

Baek Sung-han quickly took the glass away from him.

“Hyung, stop!
What do you think So-jeong will feel if she comes home and sees her dad drunk like this?!”

Thinking about So-jeong, Min Sung-jae lowered his head heavily.

“I know why you're doing this, hyung.
But the company hasn't even withdrawn your casting yet.
Why are you giving up before they do?”

“Because the result is obvious anyway.
The casting isn't even confirmed yet, but there are already tons of comments saying they'll never watch the movie if I appear in it.
Do you really think I can appear in this movie after that?”

“Hyung, the company knew there would be problems like this from the moment we decided to cast you.
And even knowing that, we still wanted to cast you.”

“Yeah...
Like you said, they probably expected some backlash.
But they couldn't have known the situation would become this serious.
Do you really think the production company can still cast me now?”

“Hyung, why are you worrying about something that hasn't even happened yet—”

Min Sung-jae cut him off as if he didn't even want to hear it.

“You don't have to taste something to know whether it's shit or soybean paste!
The production company is probably just too sorry to say anything to me, but they've already given up.
That's why I decided to make things easier for them by telling them first that I won't do it!”

“Hyung!”

“And more than anything...
I don't want our So-jeong...
to become the subject of people's gossip again...”

When Min Sung-jae mentioned his daughter So-jeong, Baek Sung-han's eyes trembled.

But as if he had made up his mind about something, he continued.

“Hyung, how about revealing to everyone that So-jeong isn't your biological daughter?”

“What?
Are you seriously saying that right now?!
Don't you care about the pain So-jeong will suffer?!”

Min Sung-jae's voice immediately became heated.

“Hyung, So-jeong isn't as young as you think.
Even if she learns that you're not her biological father but her uncle, I'm sure she'll get through this.
And more importantly, So-jeong genuinely wants you to return to acting.
You saw it yourself.
When she heard that you might appear in a movie again, she was practically jumping for joy...”

At Baek Sung-han's words, Min Sung-jae remained silent for a long time, looking deeply troubled.

Eventually, he spoke heavily.

“I'll pretend I didn't hear what you just said...
So don't ever say something like that again.”

As if he no longer wanted to talk, Min Sung-jae abruptly left the living room and went into his room.

Baek Sung-han was left alone in the living room and let out a deep sigh.

After everyone had gone home, I remained alone in the office.

I searched the internet for Reporter Gu Yang-mo of Hanju Ilbo, whom Manager Baek Sung-han had told me about earlier that day.

As I looked through the articles Gu Yang-mo had written over the years, I even found photos of him from his days as a political reporter.

‘Tch.
He even looks like a weasel...’

I muttered insults that the man couldn't possibly hear and glared unnecessarily at Gu Yang-mo's photo on the monitor.

‘But how can I get Reporter Gu Yang-mo to admit that he received the tip from PD Choi Moon-ho...?’

If I investigated carelessly, there was a chance that whatever I did would get back to Choi Moon-ho through Gu Yang-mo.

Normally, in situations like this, the best approach was either to negotiate using the other person's weakness or, conversely, to offer bait that the other person would want and get what I wanted in return.

But...

What weakness or bait could I offer Reporter Gu Yang-mo...?

Just as my thoughts were going around in circles, CEO Han Tae-sung entered the 9th-floor office.

“Huh?
CEO, what brings you here?”

I was surprised because Han Tae-sung rarely came down to the 9th-floor office.

I immediately stood up.

“I couldn't get in touch with Manager Baek.
Even his extension isn't connecting.”

“Ah, we unplugged the phones earlier to avoid the reporters' calls.
I guess they forgot to plug them back in.”

“I see.
Has Manager Baek already gone home?”

“Yes.
He should be with actor Min Sung-jae right now.”

Han Tae-sung let out a short sigh, seemingly deep in thought.

“Of course.
Today must have been difficult for Min as well.
By the way, why haven't you gone home yet?”

“Ah, I was looking for something.”

“Alright, then.
Good work.”

Han Tae-sung turned around to leave.

But I had been curious about what had happened when he went to the investment company that afternoon.

Without thinking it through, I called out to him.

“Excuse me, CEO!”

Han Tae-sung stopped in his tracks.

He turned around and looked at me as if asking what was wrong.

Although I had stopped him, I suddenly felt that the question I was about to ask was too presumptuous for the youngest member of the production department to ask the CEO.

I hesitated.

Perhaps Han Tae-sung had already figured out what I was thinking, because he raised the corner of his mouth and gave a small laugh.

“You're curious about what happened when I went to the investment company earlier, aren't you?”

‘Ha...
As expected.
This man isn't ordinary either.
No wonder he's running a company like this.’

I awkwardly nodded instead of answering.

“I was actually going to talk to Manager Baek about that...”

“Did the investment company say they'd withdraw their investment if you cast actor Min Sung-jae?”

“If we'd had even a little more time to lay the groundwork, as you suggested, they probably wouldn't have reacted this negatively.”

When I first suggested casting actor Min Sung-jae to CEO Han Tae-sung, I had anticipated that something like this could happen.

That's why I had suggested some image marketing as a measure we could take until Min Sung-jae revealed the truth himself.

By image marketing, I didn't mean fabricating something that hadn't happened.

It meant naturally exposing the good deeds Min Sung-jae had continued to do even after quitting his acting career, as if they were being revealed by coincidence.

If we had done that, even if an article about Min Sung-jae being cast in this movie came out, I thought his negative image would have been much weaker than it was now.

But the damage had already been done...

“They said a new actor would actually be better.
In that case, even if they don't invest the entire amount, they'll invest 35 percent of the total production cost.”

“Now that things have come this far, it'll probably be difficult to get investment from somewhere else too...”

“Most likely.
There are probably already rumors going around that our main investor is quietly pulling out.”

After a brief silence, Han Tae-sung continued.

“What about you?
Do you still believe casting Min Sung-jae would be a stroke of genius for this movie?”

From the tone and atmosphere of his question, I could feel the weight of the concern Han Tae-sung was carrying.

I answered him without the slightest hesitation.

“Yes.
My opinion hasn't changed.”

“Is that so...”

Han Tae-sung fell into thought.

I continued speaking to him.

“Don't you know that the current public opinion will quickly turn around once the truth is revealed?”

“Yes.
I know.
But the problem is that all investment could be blocked before the truth is revealed.”

His tone was light, but his words carried considerable weight.

I hesitated for a moment.

Then I finally spoke.

“What if...
we finance the entire movie ourselves?”