#109

The next day, just as I had promised, I headed to the set where Tartarus was filming their music video. Fortunately, I was with Secretary Sung Yoojun, who had a lighter schedule than usual.

The evening before, when he returned home, I explained the entire situation to Secretary Sung Yoojun and expressed my intention to replace the director. Naturally, Sung Yoojun did not oppose my opinion. In fact, he seemed to strongly agree with it.

As expected, I knew Sung Yoojun would support a firm approach. I nodded in satisfaction, recalling his reaction, which was exactly as I had predicted. While he was concentrating on driving, Sung Yoojun suddenly spoke up.

“But, President.”

“Yes?”

“If you’re replacing the director, wouldn’t it be unnecessary for you to go there in person? You could have just passed the message to Manager Ahn, and that would have been enough.”

I nodded in agreement with Sung Yoojun’s words. Indeed, it wasn’t something I had to deal with in person.

“That’s true. But it’s just that, it feels so unfair for my kids to have gone through all that, you know?”

I spoke casually with a slight smirk on one corner of my mouth, and Sung Yoojun glanced at me in the rearview mirror.

“Are you thinking of returning the favor the same way?”

“Well…… I guess it depends on the kind of person he is.”

“What do you mean by depending on the kind of person he is?”

“If he’s someone who would dare say something like that right in front of me, I might feel a little lenient towards him out of respect for his courage…… But judging from how he bullied Tartarus, he doesn’t seem like that kind of person.”

I gently stroked my chin with my finger as I spoke, and Secretary Sung Yoojun made a peculiar expression.

“Normally, if someone says something like that in front of you, wouldn’t you be even less likely to forgive them?”

“There are people like that, sure. But I don’t really mind someone who can boldly say they don’t like something in front of someone with more money and power than them.”

“Still, that person spoke ill of you behind your back.”

“If they said it in front of me, can it still be considered behind my back? I tend to give more credit to people who are the same in front and behind you. It’s easier to deal with them that way. No need to worry or doubt them.”

I said nonchalantly, lowering my hand that had been resting on my chin to my thigh. I then looked at Secretary Sung Yoojun, who was staring at me with a look that seemed to want to say something but was holding back.

“Why are you looking at me like that? Do you think my taste is a bit too unique?”

“No, it’s just…… I was wondering if this is when you’d use the word ‘bold.’ You have a really straightforward personality.”

“It’s one of my strengths, I suppose.”

At my playful response, Sung Yoojun let out a small laugh. Despite our original purpose of heading to the set, we managed to maintain a cheerful mood the entire way. After chatting happily for some time, a large building appeared across the road.

“Is that it?”

“Yes, that’s it. Just in case, let’s go around the back instead of the parking lot.”

With that, Secretary Sung Yoojun drove past the entrance of the set and took the car around to the back of the building. The road leading to the back was unpaved and very bumpy. Even though I had my seatbelt on, the car jolted with each bump, and I had to grip the seat tightly to stabilize myself. Before I knew it, the car had reached the back of the building.

Secretary Sung Yoojun, who had neatly parked the car in a spacious spot, got out and walked around to the back seat where I was sitting. He opened the door and asked.

“Are you alright?”

“Yes. I’m fine.”

I answered his question and quickly got out of the car. As I stepped out of the shaking car and took in the cold, fresh air, I felt much better. While I stood in front of the car, breathing in the fresh air, the back door of the building opened, and one of our staff members, who had received a message from Sung Yoojun, came out.

The staff member, who had been looking around outside the building, noticed me and Secretary Sung Yoojun standing in front of the parked car and quickly approached us. After stopping at a reasonable distance, the staff member bent at the waist 90 degrees and greeted us loudly.

“Hello!! I’m Oh Jiwan from the Public Relations Team!”

“Yes. Hello, Jiwan-ssi.”

“It’s such an honor to meet you in person, sir!!”

I felt a bit overwhelmed by Oh Jiwan’s intense reaction and spoke with a wry smile.

“Uh, well, we’re here secretly, so if you could lower your voice a bit, I’d appreciate it.”

“Ugh, yes!”

After I gave him a gentle reminder, Oh Jiwan made a sheepish expression and lowered his voice. I looked at the now quieter Oh Jiwan with satisfaction and asked.

“How’s the situation inside?”

“It’s chaos. Honestly, there’s no other way to describe it other than chaos.”

I had just asked about the situation, but Oh Jiwan shook his head with a tired expression.

“It seems like he’s really made up his mind today. He’s treating the kids like they’re rats, and I’m wondering if something’s wrong and he’s just taking out his frustration on them.”

“Is it that bad?”

“Yes. From this morning until now, there’s been absolutely no progress on the filming. He keeps shooting the same scene over and over. I’m really worried the kids might collapse at this rate.”

Oh Jiwan’s words, filled with sighs, made me raise one eyebrow. I had come here in the afternoon, expecting to catch him in the middle of filming, but now I was regretting not arriving earlier. It felt like I had made the kids suffer more by coming late.

“……Understood. I think it’s better to go inside and check. Please lead the way.”

“Yes! Just trust me and follow me!”

Oh Jiwan said confidently as he pounded his chest a couple of times with his fist, then started walking toward the set. Secretary Sung Yoojun and I followed behind him, quickly catching up.

“This is a path only for the set staff. Other people probably don’t even know it exists.”

“You managed to find a way in like that?”

“You asked me to find a way to get into the set quietly. It’s your order, so I had to find out by any means necessary!”

“No, I would have preferred you to respect boundaries while looking into it. Please make sure to consider the legal and ethical aspects as much as possible.”

At my firm reply, Oh Jiwan laughed like he had just heard an amusing joke. Of course, I was being completely serious, so I didn’t laugh along. But he didn’t seem to notice my reaction at all and continued speaking.

“If you go straight up this path, you can enter near the ceiling of the set. Because of the lighting, it’s hard to be seen from below, so it’s perfect if you want to observe quietly. And I even got things set up so you can watch comfortably.”

Listening to Oh Jiwan chatter lightly in his usual cheerful tone, we climbed up to the space above the ceiling of the set. It was surprisingly spacious—probably an area built for managing the ceiling lights.

“Here. This way.”

While I was looking around the ceiling space with a curious gaze, Oh Jiwan, who had already gone quite far ahead, waved at me.

“This way, sir.”

“Oh, yes.”

Snapped back to focus by Oh Jiwan and Sung Yoojun’s words, I started walking again. But it wasn’t long before I found myself coming to a halt once more—because of the bizarre sight in front of me.

“Please have a seat here and watch comfortably, sir.”

I stared blankly at what Oh Jiwan was pointing to. It was a cute little picnic table and chair, the kind you’d expect to see in someone’s garden. On top of the table were even some simple refreshments prepared. They were items that absolutely didn’t belong in this dim, industrial space.

……What on earth is that? I blinked in disbelief and looked at Secretary Sung Yoojun beside me. But seeing the same baffled expression on his face, I had no choice but to turn my gaze back to the table.

“Um…… may I ask what this is supposed to be?”

“They’re things I prepared so you can observe the situation comfortably, sir!”

Trying hard to keep my voice from cracking in surprise, I asked, and was met with a cheerful and innocent answer. His response was so confident that I was momentarily at a loss for words, my lips simply parting without a sound.

“Uh…… thank you for preparing this. It must’ve been hard to bring all this up here.”

“Oh no, not at all. It wasn’t that hard.”

After much hesitation, I finally managed to speak and expressed my gratitude for Oh Jiwan’s effort. I didn’t know where he had brought the table and chair from, but the height of the ceiling made it clear that it couldn’t have been an easy task.

At my compliment, Oh Jiwan’s face lit up with joy. Watching him beam so sincerely, I spoke quietly.

“Well then, I’ll handle things here with Secretary Sung Yoojun, so Jiwan-ssi……”

“Oh, yes! I’ll head back down. Please take your time!”

Thankfully, Oh Jiwan didn’t insist on staying and promptly went back down. Only once he was completely out of sight did I finally let out the sigh I’d been holding in.

“Are you going to sit?”

“……Considering the effort it took to bring all this up here, I guess I should.”

“Understood. In that case, I won’t stop you.”

I had been hoping he might try to dissuade me just a little…… Thinking that, I slowly approached the table. After a brief hesitation, I lowered myself into the chair.