Season 3: Chapter 132: Pass It On (2)
Sang-Hyeon headed straight to the makeup room.
“Hello~”
“Wow. Almond, you look much more handsome in person~”
Two makeup artists had been waiting for him.
“I’ll get started right away!”
They seemed pressed for time and immediately began working. Soft, fluffy brushes moved all over his face with his hair tied up.
Whenever he went to a shoot, he always felt that everything passed in a blur from the perspective of the one being worked on. Many people waited and prepared for the one person who would be filmed, which led to this situation.
“Sis, I’ll start on the hair.”
“Oh, yes. You can start now.”
One of the two makeup artists began working on his hair.
“Almond~”
That wasn't all. Amid this, another person approached and handed him a tablet.
“Hello, Almond. I’m the writer in charge. You probably checked the storyboard, but some things changed on set. Can I explain them to you?”
This person seemed to be one of the planning staff. Changes to the storyboard on set were regular, so it wasn’t unusual.
Sang-Hyeon nodded and asked to be shown.
“Hey! Don’t lower your head.”
The makeup artist immediately grabbed his face and corrected his lowered head while the writer explained cheerfully into his ear.
Sang-Hyeon listened to the explanation with his cheeks squeezed like a fish.
“This part moved here...”
In truth, even if he listened here, everything would be corrected again by the director on set. He just pretended to listen for now.
“… That’s all the changes.”
The staff member thanked him and quickly returned to the studio.
Looking in the mirror, his makeup and hair seemed mostly done.
‘I'm getting used to this now.’
Sang-Hyeon recalled how awkward he looked the first time he had makeup done. Today felt quite natural compared to that. It wasn’t because of the makeup artist's skills. He had simply grown accustomed to such situations. Ɽ𝐀ɴȯᛒĘṩ
“Is there any place you want to adjust? Like your hair or eyebrows? Feel free to let us know.”
They routinely asked this. Sang-Hyeon always just answered that it was fine, but his fingers moved somewhere this time for some reason.
“Ah... Could you adjust this part a bit...?”
He pointed at his hair and asked if he could try brushing his bangs aside.
“Ah. I’ll take a look.”
He didn’t dislike his hair or have celebrity syndrome. It was for a completely different reason.
Sang-Hyeon glanced at the wall clock. It was because of the time.
‘Let’s drag this out for another ten minutes.’
Twenty minutes still remained until Ju-Hyeok’s requested time.
Sang-Hyeon quickly sent a message while the hair artist went to get her tools.
[Sang-Hyeon: It ended much quicker than expected. Dragging it out for another ten minutes.]
***
Outside the studio was a common office building hall near the elevator.
Buzz.
Ju-Hyeok’s phone vibrated in his pocket, but he didn’t look at it. Instead, he looked at the people standing in front of him.
Two men were trying to enter the studio. Both wore casual suits and carried small bags that probably stored thin laptops. Their employee IDs hung from their necks and read [Great Planning].
The one named Lee Kyung-Ho spoke up, “Yes. I am Lee Kyung-Ho... What’s the matter?” he asked and looked at Ju-Hyeok.
Ju-Hyeok had been standing at the entrance and called him out directly.
“We’re from the legal team. Please come with us for a moment.”
Hearing about the legal team, Lee Kyung-Ho scrutinized Ju-Hyeok.
Ju-Hyeok looked tall with broad shoulders, had neat hair, wore a pitch-black suit like at a funeral, and carried a briefcase. He had a cold, sharp look in his eyes.
Something felt ominous.
“I need to go in right now. Come back later.”
“They’re still in makeup inside. It’ll take some time. Please come with us.”
Ju-Hyeok even knew the situation inside. Lee Kyung-Ho sensed that this wasn’t a normal situation.
“Due to the nature of my job, it’s hard to take time off at the shoot. Please come back later,” Lee Kyung-Ho spoke more firmly and used work as an excuse.
He started to move and tried to walk past Ju-Hyeok.
Thunk.
Ju-Hyeok’s arm blocked him.
“We apologize for the sudden interruption, but we can’t help it. Please follow me.”
“Gulp.”
A dry swallow could be heard.
It wasn’t just Lee Kyung-Ho who felt the strange atmosphere. His colleague did too and frantically looked back and forth between the two of them as if weighing which side to take.
“Well... Kyung-Ho, you go. It's okay since it’s still early, right? Haha...”
His colleague almost fled into the studio.
“Hey, no...!”
The studio door interrupted Lee Kyung-Ho’s desperate call.
Thunk.
Lee Kyung-Ho pleaded with Ju-Hyeok, “Please, I need to go in. This is also part of my job.”
“We know two people aren’t needed for this task.”
“Pardon?”
“One person is enough, isn’t it?”
Planning work was mostly done at the desk. On-site work was for the filming team.
The planning team came to ensure on-site modifications didn’t deviate too much from the initial plan. Two people came because it was hard to convince everyone alone, not because they needed more hands.
Ju-Hyeok knew this from the last shoot.
“You just check and confirm on site, right? Our team has already raised issues about budget leaks due to this system.”
‘What? Budget leaks?’
That was something the audit team would say, not the legal team.
Lee Kyung-Ho felt a chill down his spine.
“Seeing your colleague readily agreed, it seems what I heard was right. There aren't many employees who would willingly do the work of two alone, are there? Unless it’s manageable alone.”
Lee Kyung-Ho had no response to Ju-Hyeok’s cynical analysis. He barely managed to hold himself together, trying not to collapse.
‘Got him.’
Ju-Hyeok laughed inside and patted his shoulder.
“Let’s go.”
Ju-Hyeok almost forcefully turned and pushed him out of the studio corridor.
“But... what is this about…? No, wait. I’ll go. I’ll...!”
***
Ju-Hyeok sat at a quiet café within the building and silently observed Lee Kyung-Ho. He habitually adjusted his glasses, but his hand waved through the air.
‘Ah, contact lenses.’
Today, he was wearing contact lenses. He needed to be careful with such habits.
If the opponent was observant, they would realize he usually wore glasses.
‘Fortunately, he didn’t notice. Well, I couldn’t recognize him by face either, so how could he?’
Ju-Hyeok wondered if this person would remember his face from a previous shoot. Given the hundreds of shooting sites this person attended, it was natural that Lee Kyung-Ho wouldn’t remember.
Moreover, Ju-Hyeok had been a regular manager wearing a cap and a comfortable hoodie back then. Now, he'd be hard to recognize with a black suit, styled hair, and no glasses.
‘Even if he recognizes me, it doesn’t matter.’
Ju-Hyeok already had a plan if his identity was revealed. Having brought Lee Kyung-Ho this far, Ju-Hyeok thought it would actually be easier if that happened.
Thud.
“Here’s your coffee.”
The server brought the coffee. For a café, it was quite the courteous service. Ju-Hyeok had specifically requested it.
“Huh?” Lee Kyung-Ho chuckled incredulously. “Are you doing this because you think I might run away?”
Even Ju-Hyeok thought it was a bit much to be cautious about the time it took to get coffee, but he had no choice. Ju-Hyeok had only one shot at this.
“Yes, it has happened before. Besides, it's convenient if they bring it.”
Lee Kyung-Ho’s eyes twitched.
‘This guy doesn’t even bother hiding that he’s from the audit team.’
Lee Kyung-Ho felt convinced that his opponent was from the audit team.
“Don’t be so tense.”
Ju-Hyeok observed his emotions fluctuating and sipped his coffee, enjoying the show.
Sssip.
The opponent was clearly flustered right now. When flustered, one’s field of vision narrowed and their awareness of the outside world diminished.
It was safe for now. However, things would change once he calmed down.
‘He’ll start to get suspicious soon.’
Many clues indicated that Ju-Hyeok wasn’t from the audit team.
Firstly, audit teams usually traveled in pairs or more. In fact, almost any company dispatch would include at least two people. Audit teams did so even more to monitor each other.
Given Lee Kyung-Ho’s extensive experience, he would quickly sense this discrepancy.
‘For now, he’s just thinking about what to say to explain himself.’
Right now, all of Lee Kyung-Ho’s mental capacity was focused on solving another problem. Once that was resolved, he would start noticing his surroundings.
Before that happened, more issues needed to be thrown at him.
“Mr. Lee Kyung-Ho. You seem to know why I’m here?”
“...”
Lee Kyung-Ho hadn’t expected this approach and stayed silent, unsure of how to respond.
“I’d prefer to skip the explanations, but it’s protocol so I’ll go through it.”
Ju-Hyeok placed a document on the table. It was a business registration certificate.
“A business? Entertainment planning. An interesting side job. And you even developed it into a corporation.”
Swipe.
Ju-Hyeok brought out documents related to the corporation as well.
“What? Did you think forming a corporation would keep things separate? But there’s clear evidence that it evolved from your personal business. You’re the representative. Care to explain?”
Lee Kyung-Ho probably anticipated this much. What would he say?
“It was something I set up when I was trying to start a business. It didn’t make any money and is now in debt. How is this a side job? There needs to be profit for it to be a job.”
“Ah, I see. Then, let’s not call it a side job.”
“?”
Lee Kyung-Ho looked dumbfounded.
“Then, what’s the issue?”
“You left another company and joined ours as an experienced hire. Is that correct?”
“… Yes.”
“The transition period seemed rather short.”
“To me, it felt like a long time… With my experience, it usually doesn’t take that long.”
“For some, even five minutes is a long time. That’s not the point, is it? Mr. Lee Kyung-Ho.”
“...”
“You attempted to start a business during that transition and decided it was a failure. It seems a bit short for such a significant decision. Only three months.”
This matter had nothing to do with Ji-Ah. It was purely speculation on how Great Planning would view it. If this was a real audit, what would they suspect? What would cause the most harm to the company?
The suspicions would start there.
“My judgment might have been a bit quick. Is that a problem?”
“Mr. Lee, you were a manager at your previous company, correct?”
“Yes…”
“A manager is a fairly high position and is categorized as management. How long did it take for you to become a manager?”
“Why does that matter? I can’t remember.”
“Ah. Luckily, I remember.”
Ju-Hyeok smiled provocatively. It had quite an effect.
Lee Kyung-Ho’s expression was quite telling from this point on.
“Five years after joining. You became a manager in five years. That’s a rapid promotion.”
“It was a small company and titles changed quickly.”
“The average tenure to become a manager there is eight years. It wasn’t just the title that changed. Your salary also increased steeply, didn’t it?”
Having heard this directly from Ji-Ah who had been there, Ju-Hyeok’s details were unusually precise.
Lee Kyung-Ho couldn’t help but believe that Ju-Hyeok was from the audit team.
“No! But what does that have to do—”
Thud.
Ju-Hyeok slammed the table with the documents to cut him off.
“Why did you leave such a company?”
“…!”
Lee Kyung-Ho stopped in surprise.
“A company that appreciated you and gave you raises… Why did you leave? You even negotiated your salary until the last moment.”
“Gulp,” Lee Kyung-Ho swallowed dryly.
Something felt off.
“After leaving, you established a corporation. Then, you suddenly joined Great Planning. Do you know what pattern this suggests?”
“W-what pattern?”
Ju-Hyeok knew that Lee Kyung-Ho hadn’t maliciously started a business.
To Lee Kyung-Ho, such a suspicion would seem ridiculous. He would never have imagined it.
‘But it’s a plausible suspicion for the company.’
Lee Kyung-Ho hadn’t prepared a proper defense for this. He probably hadn’t considered it.
“Industrial espionage.”
Lee Kyung-Ho practically jumped out of his chair.
“What!?”