I was Mistaken as a Monstrous Genius Actor [EN]: Chapter 96

Red alert. But luckily, Kang Woo-jin was quick.

“Eek!!”

He subtly pinched Kang Hyun-ah’s side. Then, he calmly asked the startled Hyun-ah.

“What’s wrong? Did you get a stomachache?”

“No, just now…”

The funny thing was that Hyun-ah, who made eye contact with her brother, shut her mouth. The reason was simple.

‘Wow—if I say more, I’ll die.’

She could feel the murderous intent in Kang Woo-jin’s intense eyes. Anyway, thankfully, Choi Sung-geon only tilted his head slightly and didn’t notice anything.

“Hmm-”

He crossed his arms and let out a small breath.

“Okay, that’s good. It’s not a problem if your sister is the head of the fan club. But let’s keep this between the three of us. Does anyone else know?”

Kang Hyun-ah, who had become slightly dejected, answered.

“Ah—the staff members. So, three of my friends.”

“Make sure to tell them too. Well, it’s not a big deal if it leaks out, but I’m worried about your sister or family getting hurt. The media here is so aggressive.”

“Yes, yes! I will!”

“Also, I hope you’ll be active in the fan club. You can’t just slack off because you’re family, okay?”

“I understand!”

“Haha, you’re spirited. Is it because your brother is so cold? Your sister is the opposite, cheerful and lively.”

“…Huh? What? My brother is cold?”

The crisis came again. Thanks to that, Kang Woo-jin stepped forward and opened his mouth.

“Representative, I need to talk to my sister alone.”

“Oh? You want to? Then—let’s see. Let’s wrap it up in 10 minutes.”

“Yes.”

“Hyun-ah, we can see each other next time.”

“Goodbye!”

Choi Sung-geon, waving his hand, left the waiting room. Immediately, Kang Woo-jin locked the door with a thud. Hyun-ah flinched at this. She got scared and started to stammer first.

“Wh-wh-what. Why, why?”

“……”

Kang Woo-jin, who had been staring at his sister, sighed softly and rubbed his face.

“Ha—never mind. Are you really going to do that? The fan club?”

“Yeah. I’m going to do it.”

“Why?”

“Well, just! It’s amazing that my brother is an actor, and I want to do it.”

“You’re not my fan. You’re just family.”

“Family can be fans too!”

“Bullshit.”

Kang Woo-jin flicked Hyun-ah’s forehead.

“Ouch—seriously.”

Then, Kang Woo-jin took out his wallet from his back pocket. He took out a few 50,000 won bills [approximately $37 USD] and handed them to Hyun-ah, who was rubbing her forehead.

“Here, take this allowance. And if you’re going to do it, do it properly? While keeping up with your studies. If you don’t think you can, pass it on to your friends.”

“Wow—I’m touched.”

“Shut up. If I hear from Mom that your studies are slipping, I’ll cut you off immediately, okay?”

“Okay, okay!”

“And.”

Kang Woo-jin stopped talking for a moment and lowered his voice.

“Make sure you keep what the representative said just now. Don’t go around telling people you’re my sister. Especially not stories about living with me or my past.”

“Am I crazy? Why would I go around saying that!”

“You’re crazy enough just by being here.”

“Geez! That’s too much—I’m still promoting you a lot as the president of your fan club!”

“Want another bill?”

“…If you give it, I’ll gratefully accept it.”

Woo-jin, shaking his head, took out another 50,000 won bill. Hyun-ah bent down to receive it. Then, she suddenly changed the subject.

“But Oppa, that cool image you have in ‘Sports Day’ and here, is that all image-making?”

Kang Woo-jin’s answer was simple.

“Do you want to keep being curious? Do you want to return all the allowance you just received?”

Financial therapy. No, financial silencing.

“No, Oppa. I was wrong.”

“From now on, whenever you get curious, think, ‘My allowance will decrease.’”

“Okay. I’ve already forgotten everything.”

“Go now. Go study.”

At the given order, Hyun-ah backed away and bowed to Woo-jin.

“I shall take my leave.”

Soon.

—Thud.

Hyun-ah left the waiting room. Soon, Woo-jin let out a long sigh full of fatigue.

“Haa—that was close. But I got over one hurdle.

Late at night.

It was around 11 o’clock. Choi Sung-geon, with his ponytail, was driving his personal car somewhere for the first time in a while. Kang Woo-jin, who had successfully finished his fan signing event, had left work around 10 o’clock. Then, after stopping by the company, his destination wasn’t home.

“Hmm—I think it’s around here.”

It was a whiskey bar near the company. Of course, he didn’t come alone to wallow in solitude. There was someone he was going to meet. Anyway, he parked his car in the bar’s parking lot and let out a small breath.

“Hoo, I wonder what I’ll get from this guy.”

He muttered, loosened his hair, tied it up tightly, and slowly walked into the whiskey bar.

—Swish.

The whiskey bar was in the basement. It was a bar with a generally woody scent, and the atmosphere was dimly lit. Not dark, but not bright either. With soft music playing. It was the perfect place to quietly enjoy whiskey. There weren’t many tables. About five.

It was a weekday, so there weren’t many customers.

Then, Choi Sung-geon.

“……”

He looked around the entire bar, searching for the person he was supposed to meet. Finally, he found a middle-aged man sitting at a table in the corner. He moved his feet again, and as Choi Sung-geon approached, the middle-aged man, who had been sipping whiskey alone, looked up. The man had a buzz cut and a large nose.

“Well, well—if it isn’t CEO Choi, who caught the super rookie?”

Choi Sung-geon chuckled at the big-nosed man’s welcome and pulled out a chair.

“Stop with the lousy acting. You came early?”

“Hehe, I was craving whiskey for a while, and if you called, I had to come quickly.”

The man, grinning, shook his whiskey glass.

“Can I drink comfortably?”

“When haven’t you? I’ll pay, so drink until you die.”

“Haha—that’s why I’m a reporter.”

That’s right. The man was a reporter. His name was Kim Hak-hyun. He was the head of the entertainment department at a major domestic media company, but his treatment within the company was closer to that of an assistant editor. He was someone Choi Sung-geon had a long relationship with. They had known each other for over 10 years, and it was a clear give-and-take relationship disguised as friendship.

Choi Sung-geon, a social butterfly in the entertainment industry, had many such connections.

“Reporter my ass. Kim, you don’t even work in the field anymore, do you? Then you’re just an old man in the back room.”

“Hey. Even though I’m at the desk, I still go to the field occasionally. I’m not that old yet. So? Why did you suddenly call? You’ve been busy rowing the boat with Kang Woo-jin and Hong Hye-yeon?”

“What, it’s nothing much. I just need to suck up to our media people, especially at times like this.”

“Hehehe. Ah—so you just called me out to do some maintenance? Well, it’s not like there has to be a gap for a nail to be hammered in. Even if the cement is well-applied, it will still be hammered in.”

“Scary, scary.”

“You know it all. But looking at Kang Woo-jin, there are already some rumors going around.”

After that, the two talked about trivial things for several tens of minutes. As friends, or as an industry representative and a reporter. Meanwhile, Choi Sung-geon.

“Have another drink.”

“You’re going hard?”

He induced the whiskey. There was no need to get drunk, but it was good to have a slight buzz. Real information comes out when defenses are down.

‘I need to go a bit deeper.’

Choi Sung-geon had been poking around here and there for a few days after hearing about Seo Chae-eun from Woo-jin. However, he couldn’t be too obvious. So, he had to work mainly with the reporters he usually managed. But it was limited work, so the results weren’t satisfactory, and since Seo Chae-eun was a top actress, it wasn’t easy either.

‘If this is a bust too, I’ll have to go around the reporter side a few more times. Or should I dig into the entertainment companies?’

He had searched as much as possible, but if nothing came out, that wouldn’t be bad either. It would just mean that Kang Woo-jin was being sensitive, and it would just end like that.

‘No matter how good his intuition is, Woo-jin is still just human.’

Another several tens of minutes passed. Kim Hak-hyun’s face had become slightly flushed. Choi Sung-geon was relatively fine. Here, Choi Sung-geon casually threw out bait.

“By the way, it’s a headache, a headache.”

“Looking at it, the water is gushing like a waterfall, what’s the headache? Just row the boat well.”

“Because Woo-jin is so popular with ‘Island of the Lost,’ all sorts of crazy rumors are going around. Like Kang Woo-jin is related to Kwon Ki-taek, or that I slipped them money.”

“Hehe, is this your first day in this industry? Ah—but speaking of ‘Island of the Lost.’ Kang Woo-jin and Ryu Jung-min have been revealed, but why aren’t there any other actors? CEO Choi, you know, right?”

“Of course.”

“Give me a little information. Not a lot, just one.”

Choi Sung-geon answered nonchalantly to Kim Hak-hyun, who was grinning.

“Where are you going to spill the beans? Who doesn’t know that if I tell you now, you’ll release an article in an hour? The media side must have some rumors going around too.”

“There are. Is it true that Hong Hye-yeon is joining? She’s done two projects in a row with Kang Woo-jin, so is she going again this time?”

“That’s bullshit.”

“Hmm—or is it Seo Chae-eun? There’s also a rumor that she recently met with director Kwon Ki-taek.”

The flow was good. Choi Sung-geon refilled Kim Hak-hyun’s whiskey glass and calmly countered.

“Oh—Seo Chae-eun? It’s amazing that she’s still holding onto her top spot with that personality.”

He subtly changed the subject.

“It’s strange. The media has been digging into Seo Chae-eun every year, but nothing significant comes out.”

“Hehe, what is it? Are you keeping her in check as Hong Hye-yeon’s rival?”

“Keeping her in check my ass. Still, in brand evaluations, our Hye-yeon is higher.”

“Even so, they’re neck and neck.”

About 20 minutes of chatter about Seo Chae-eun. But no information that stuck came out. Even though Kim Hak-hyun was somewhat drunk. Choi Sung-geon, who had glanced at the time, clicked his tongue inwardly.

‘Tsk. Is this a bust?’

Just as Choi Sung-geon, who had decided it was a waste of time, was about to wrap things up.

“Last month? I heard that ‘Power Patch’ was attached to Seo Chae-eun, so we dug around to see if there was anything, but it was clean.”

“…‘Power Patch’?”

“Yeah. But they move on even the smallest rumors, so it must have been a false alarm again.”

“Well, that’s how it is. You might get one hit out of ten tries.”

Choi Sung-geon’s expression suddenly became serious, then returned to normal.

‘Power Patch was attached to her?’

That was information that smelled fishy.

An hour later, inside Choi Sung-geon’s car.

Choi Sung-geon, who had left the whiskey bar, was sitting in the back seat of the car. A designated driver was driving, of course. Then, he looked out the window and checked the time.

‘12 o’clock—’

It was already past midnight. It was an ambiguous time to make a call, and he decided to loosen his tied hair and organize his thoughts.

‘In the end, I only got Power Patch from Kim Hak-hyun. And even that was just passing information.’

Normally, it was something that could be ignored without any problem. But Choi Sung-geon, who was tying his hair back up, kept thinking about ‘Power Patch.’ Why? Because Kang Woo-jin’s crazy intuition and timing were strangely aligned.

‘Why would Power Patch be attached to Seo Chae-eun? If there’s been no news so far, was it a false alarm? Or maybe they’re holding onto it.’

In fact, Choi Sung-geon was the type to bet only on sure things. But this time, there was nothing clear. If there was anything, it was Kang Woo-jin’s divine feeling? Of course, if he looked into it, Choi Sung-geon’s extensive network could find clues.

The problem was.

“There’s no time.”

He was on a time attack. It was clear that it would take at least two weeks to get to the exact clue.

‘Two weeks is too late.’

It would be best if there was no problem with Seo Chae-eun and everything passed without incident.

‘But if Seo Chae-eun did something shady that could ruin her, and that blew up after the news of her joining ‘Island of the Lost’ was released, it would be a disaster.’

The publicity for ‘Island of the Lost’ was still only for Kang Woo-jin and Ryu Jung-min. Of course, thanks to Woo-jin’s issue, the stock was at its peak. It was clear that it would rise even higher if they released top actors like Seo Chae-eun later.

If Seo Chae-eun’s scandal broke here, the project would be damaged.

Movie production is like a candle in the wind. Even small issues can cause fluctuations in the number of viewers. It’s not uncommon for production to be canceled. But this was still a better case. If Seo Chae-eun had even participated in the script reading or started filming, it would be hopeless.

Fortunately, Kang Woo-jin had blocked it in advance.

‘If Woo-jin hadn’t told me, Seo Chae-eun would have smoothly moved on to filming 100%.’

Director Woo Hyun-gu had disappeared without a trace. If a scandal of that magnitude broke for Seo Chae-eun, even Kwon Ki-taek’s movie might be canceled.

So, how should he handle this situation?

A way to minimize movement, shorten the time, and get the desired outcome. And yet, Choi Sung-geon had to do the work alone.

‘If things go wrong, I have to take all the blame.’

The time he had was at most a day or two. But the information he had was scarce. Soon, Choi Sung-geon put a booster on his brain. He thought and thought again. Then.

“There’s no other way but to fight individually.”

Choi Sung-geon, having made a decision, picked up his phone. Among the countless people saved in his contacts, he chose.

—Director Kim of Power Patch.

He was the editor-in-chief of the media company Power Patch. Then, Choi Sung-geon sent a message to the editor-in-chief.

—How have you been? I think it’s about time we met, so I’m contacting you. Please contact me if you’re available. Let’s have lunch together.

According to Choi Sung-geon’s plan, he only needed to leak a little bait and encouragement to the editor-in-chief of ‘Power Patch.’

‘If there’s something they’re hiding, Power Patch will move on their own.’

Next was ‘Island of the Lost.’ That is, director Kwon Ki-taek. He had to delay all the publicity and production progress that was currently underway for a few days.

‘Let’s put in a safety net, it’s better to just leak it openly on this side. Fortunately, my credibility isn’t low.’

It was the moment his individual battle began.

After dawn, the morning of the 27th arrived. It was around 8 o’clock. It was the weekend, but the roads in Seoul were as congested as ever. Among those roads, director Kwon Ki-taek’s van was stuck.

—♬♪

Soft classical music was playing in his car.

“……”

Director Kwon Ki-taek, with his gray hair, was just calmly waiting for the traffic jam to clear. Then, the ringtone of his phone, connected via Bluetooth, rang from the speaker. The caller was from the distribution company of ‘Island of the Lost.’

“Oh, oh, I’m on my way now. Is it urgent?”

“Ah! Is that so? No, it’s not urgent! I was calling to confirm. I was going to tell you about releasing the articles about the remaining actors in an hour, as you said.”

“Hmm. Starting with Chae-eun, right?”

“Yes! That’s right, we’ll open with Seo Chae-eun in the morning and then release it with Jeon Hoo-chang in the afternoon. Tomorrow is Kim Yi-won. After that, we’ll mix them all up.”

“Okay, let’s talk again when I get there.”

“Please drive carefully!”

The call ended like that. The funny thing was that as soon as it ended, the ringtone rang again. This time, the caller was a bit unexpected.

“CEO Choi?”

It was Choi Sung-geon. Thanks to that, director Kwon Ki-taek tilted his head slightly and pressed the button on the steering wheel, and Choi Sung-geon’s voice was quickly heard from the speaker.

“Director, I’m sorry to call you in the morning. I have something to tell you.”

“No, it’s okay. If CEO Choi is calling this early, it must be urgent. Please speak.”

“To be direct, I’d like you to temporarily stop the publicity related to the actors and the movie production from now on.”

“…Hmm?”

“I’ll visit you shortly and explain in detail.”

Normally, he would be bewildered, but director Kwon Ki-taek was extremely calm. He tilted his head gently and asked back.

“The publicity for the actors is about to start in an hour—I don’t quite understand? Of course, since it’s CEO Choi, I think there must be a serious problem. Can you briefly tell me before I see you?”

After a moment of silence, Choi Sung-geon’s voice was heard again from the speaker.

“Seo Chae-eun, a major scandal is about to break.”