Chapter 23

The CEO had rushed to resolve the matter since he did not want to give Woo-Jin any opportunity to save a backup copy of the voice recording; he did not know that Woo-Jin handing over his phone was a ruse from the get go to avoid further suspicion. TM's CEO had always thought of Woo-Jin as an innocent and kindhearted young lad. However, innocence did not equate to stupidity; people often got them mixed up. It was a mistake that was usually made by people who only saw schemes as either an act of conspiracy or an insidious act.

"Got it. However, what is the reason why you're telling me this? What if I did the same thing to you as TM's CEO did? Now that I know about it, I could be more crafty, right? Or are you telling me about it because you trust that I will never do that to you?"

Jang Su-Hwan would not do something like that, but he was curious about Woo-Jin's intentions.

"For the time being, I trust Song Jae-Hee's words, but I don't know what will happen in the future. That's why I told you about it. I want you to state it explicitly in the contract. I would like you to put it down in black and white that the contract would be automatically terminated if either the company or myself propose or consent to sponsorships."

According to what Song Jae-Hee mentioned in passing, DS had zero tolerance when it came to their own artistes making any sponsorship agreements in private. She told him, somewhat pridefully, that if they were caught, they would be kicked out of the agency with immediate effect. She encouraged Woo-Jin to join DS, telling him to trust her and that joining DS would be good for him.

However, just like he hadn't known that TM would do something like that, he did not know what DS would do behind the scenes as well. Hence, by being upfront about it ahead of time, he was preventing it from happening entirely. He knew that not all celebrities had sponsorships, as well as the fact that not all agencies recommended sponsorships. Nonetheless, Woo-Jin's past experience made him want to err on the side of caution. Just in case DS proposed to their artistes to accept sponsorships, he needed a smokescreen to ensure they would not do it to him.

"If that's what you want, I'm more than happy to do that for you. I am someone who thinks that celebrities are artisets who represent the modern times. Artistes should be judged based on their work and talent, and make a name for themselves through that. I have no tolerance for anything else that degrades or cheapens them."

When Jang Su-Hwan first entered the entertainment world and opened his agency, there were many businessmen and politicians who offered sponsorships to his artistes. If he had accepted their proposals, it would make him no different from a pimp. It was absurd. In a way, their actions could be seen as an insult to him, that was why, he had given it some time and gotten back at them one step at a time.

Fortunately, he had the resources, power and finances to pull it off. The businessmen who had made such a proposal had either become bankrupt or had lost management rights and authority, thus becoming insignificant people. Politicians and civil servants in high positions had also lost all power and authority, disappearing from the public eye.

According to Jang Su-Hwan, people who only see the arts as a tool for satisfying one's sexual desires, instead of appreciating it, were a menace to society.

"Sponsorships were not originally meant as a sexual transaction; the purpose behind them has been strangely distorted. In DS, I'm the only sponsor. As a lover of the arts, I started this agency because I wanted to genuinely support, protect and care for my artistes, helping them to bloom and reach their potential."

Jang Su-Hwan chuckled out loud, and asked Woo-Jin, "There needs to be one or two other wealthy people who do the same thing as me, don't you think so?" Chae Woo-Jin agreed with him, making him feel very happy.

If there were agencies like TM that pushed for disreputable sponsorships, then there were also cases where it was the other way around. There were quite a number of celebrities that personally got themselves sponsorship deals as a means to attain quick success and wealth causing the agencies to end up being in a pickle instead. Even if these people were selected in the beginning, the CEOs were unaware of the dark desires of their hearts and ended up being stabbed in the back by these artistes instead. In that regard, Jang Su-Hwan and Chae Woo-Jin were on the same page.

"There is also something else I'd like to tell you," said Woo-Jin. Unlike Jang Su-Hwan, who was in a good mood, Woo-Jin still maintained a serious look on his face.

"Go ahead and tell me anything that's on your mind. Before signing the contract, we have to iron out all the details and reach an agreement."

"If I sign a contract with DS and do well, it is highly likely that TM will harass me," said Woo-Jin.

"You're aware of that?"

Woo-Jin nodded in response to Jang Su-Hwan's question. Judging from his reaction, Jang Su-Hwan seemed quite surprised.

TM had the tendency of obsessing over valuable artistes that got away. However, they were not like that with every single one of them. TM allowed those who had already been famous at the time they joined the agency or those who left after becoming famous by debuting under TM to leave without bearing any grudges against this group of celebrities. But, that was not the case for trainees or artistes who had debuted under TM and were unsuccessful, so they would leave only to eventually gain recognition elsewhere.

It wasn't that TM wanted them to come back to their agency. Instead, they wanted to destroy those artistes, ruining their chances of success entirely. That was how their obsession worked. It was as though TM were trying to show that they let them go because those artistes had issues to begin with, not because the agency themselves had poor judgment. Their modus operandi was so subtle and uncommon that the public was still not fully aware of it.

Truth be told, if one were to think about it, how many stars did TM successfully produce? Furthermore, instead of destroying these artistes personally, they used the help of a third party to create terrible scandals that would lead to the demise of their entertainment careers. They also had strong ties with some reporters that specialized in dirty work like this, hence, things had always gone smoothly for them.

"Not many people in the industry know about TM's shady actions. Indeed, the biggest reason why I hesitated signing a contract with you was because you used to be TM's trainee. Nonetheless, I've made my decision, and that means that I will deal with everything. But how did you know about it? They are very sly."

He had wondered about it, but when he heard that Jang Su-Hwan had already known about it, Woo-Jin finally felt at ease. He realized that even if he didn't talk about it, he had unknowingly been worried about it. The moment Woo-Jin learned the truth about TM, he had been looking for an agency that would protect himself.

"To be honest, I only found out about it recently. No, I felt it. Recently, a trainee, who was a few years my senior, was caught up in a scandal. I saw how he got destroyed. Thereafter, I looked at all the other cases and found out that they had all left the entertainment industry in a similar fashion. I also came to learn that it was always the same couple of reporters that raised the initial doubt and presented the evidence to the public," explained Woo-Jin.

"You're talking about Lee Hyung-Jin."

Lee Hyung-Jin's scandal had recently shaken up the entertainment industry. After being a trainee at TM for a considerable amount of time, he eventually left for another agency. At the beginning of this year, he started to gain some recognition. He went on a variety-music TV program and was recognized for his great singing skills. Every single song he had released swept the charts. He was truly on a roll. He had also become more famous by appearing in commercial films, as well as all kinds of variety shows. It would not be an overstatement to say that Lee Hyung-Jin was certainly the number one rookie who shone in the first half of the year.

However, one day, rumors started to circulate. It was said that Lee Hyung-Jin was a bully back when he was in school, and that a fellow student had committed suicide because of the bullying, which had been instigated by him. One by one, testimonies from his former classmates surfaced, and the photo of him and the student that committed suicide was released. Apparently, it was a photo of Lee Hyung-Jin grabbing his friend by the neck. While it was hard to see his friend's face due to the angle, Lee Hyung-Jin was smiling brightly in the photo, thus resulting in a bigger uproar.

"I heard that the news of the death of his friend was truly shocking to Hyung-Jin. They were really good friends. When I first met him, he was very deep in his slump to the point he could hardly sing. His friends at school were not exactly model students, but they were not school bullies either. They used to hang out quite a bit together, but I heard that after Hyung-Jin became a trainee, he spent less and less time with them. During that time, some of those friends turned into actual bullies and started bullying Hyung-Jin's friend."

"Are you saying that not only did they hide the truth, they had also distorted it?" asked Jang Su-Hwan.

There was so much evidence and testimonies against Lee Hyung-Jin that even Jang Su-Hwan, who knew that TM was behind a lot of scandals, had also thought that Lee Hyung-Jin was guilty. The reason why Jang Su-Hwan had been very invested in this incident was because he had been extremely interested in poaching Lee Hyung-Jin before the rumors circulated. Since Hyung-Jin had already signed with another agency at that time, Jang Su-Hwan had been stuck in a dilemma about whether he should wait until the end of Hyung-Jin's contract with them, or if he should pay the penalty and recruit him right away.

Since it did not happen often, Jang Su-Hwan had chosen to overlook the relationship between TM and Lee Hyung-Jin briefly. However, when the scandal broke out, he was reminded of the atrocities that TM had committed. Around the same time, people recommended Chae Woo-Jin to him and Jang Su-Hwan had a lot more to contemplate over.

"Hyung-Jin said that he had only found out later on that his friend had been bullied. One time when he was drunk, he cried as he told me how hard it had been at that time. Of course, I had only heard his side of the story, but I'd like to believe that a person who was drunk and not in the right mind would not have intentionally lied to me. I've also seen the picture that has gone viral on the internet in Hyung-Jin's wallet. It was taken when they were fooling around. Even though his friend's face could not be seen, he said that he treasures that photo because it was the last photo he had taken with his friend."

However, the truth had been buried, and Lee Hyung-Jin had turned into a murderer who drove his friend to death. The only people who sided with him was the family of his deceased friend who had committed suicide. Lee Hyung-Jin was at the funeral the entire time, and even now, six years later, he still visited his friend every year on the anniversary of his death. However, that meant absolutely nothing to the public who was already biased against him.

When an article that served to clarify the truth was released, another article that rebutted it surfaced again, portraying Lee Hyung-Jin as a shameless person who wore a mask to deceive the bereaved. They were persistently bent on destroying him, making it so that Lee Hyung-Jin had no chance of recovery at all.

According to something Woo-Jin had heard before, one of the students who instigated the bullying was the son of a wealthy man. Additionally, his uncle, who was a prosecutor, intervened and everything was taken care of and covered up despite the presence of a suicide note. Woo-Jin, who still remembered how it made Lee Hyung-Jin even angrier to the point of exploding, had been absolutely taken aback.

The friend's family were only ordinary citizens with no power, and Lee Hyung-Jin's current agency was just a small to medium-sized agency. They had no power to protect him. Even if the truth were to be exposed later on, it would be hard for things to go back to how they used to be since once a person's image was to get ruined, it would be difficult for them to undo the damage done.

It was apparent that there were bound to be some people who would not believe the actual truth and stick to the distorted facts to the very end, and be distrustful of Lee Hyung-Jin. The existence of prejudice against celebrities that could not be shaken off was so fatal to them that it was uncertain whether or not they could recover from it. That was TM's goal.

Even if the truth were to be revealed later on, the public would always be suspicious of them. Once distrust was established, people were generally unreceptive to new evidence. It was human psychology to not want to admit their own mistakes when it came to blaming innocent people. There were several people who had forgotten about the rumors and were not interested in the truth that was revealed later on.

Woo-Jin's first movie, Death Hill, was set to be released three weeks from now. Glooming Day would also be released six to seven weeks from now. It was still uncertain whether or not his movies would become a box office hit. Even if they were, it was highly likely that Woo-Jin's name would not be noticed. However, from now on, no one knew what TM would do to him as he made his first earnest step into the entertainment industry.

TM always attacked the artistes on their hit list just before they became famous, when their fandom was still weak and when they still lacked the strength to resist. That was because it was the best time for them to get rid of these artistes easily.

"There isn't much TM can use against me. I only studied hard in school, and I did not have any enemies. I only had friends who were similar to me, and I haven't fallen out with anybody yet. The only thing they can potentially use against me is the fact that I got taken out of the pre-debut group due to the discord among the members, and that I was terminated from TM," said Woo-Jin.

Even if they wanted to frame him or start some rumors, there needed to be some basis. However, they didn't have any dirt on Woo-Jin.

"Nonetheless, a few years ago, there was a female artiste who completely disappeared from the big screen after leaving TM, due to rumors of her having a sponsor. For some reason, I have a feeling that they might do something similar to me. Either that, or using testimonies of the members from my pre-debut group to portray me as complete trash," added Woo-Jin.

It was without a doubt that someone else must have taken over Woo-Jin's place that he had rejected. Woo-Jin could guess who he was, but if a scandal broke out, he had a feeling that his name would be brought up instead of that person's name. Either that, or that there would be rumors circulating that he was the person behind the discord among the members, causing him to be unable to debut with the group in the end.

In any case, there were five of them. If they corroborated their stories well and said the right things, it would not be surprising if Woo-Jin was portrayed as the villain. Jang Su-Hwan had searched and reviewed everything pertaining to Chae Woo-Jin. He knew that there was nothing in his past that might pose a problem. The only thing was the discord among the idol group, known as Blue Fit, where Chae Woo-Jin was the victim, a fact that Jang Su-Hwan had already known.

Woo-Jin did not know but Jang Su-Hwan had already gathered all evidence and materials pertaining to him. Hence, even if he were to get attacked, they would be able to defend him sufficiently.

However, no one knew when the two ticking time bombs would go off - 1. The secret about Woo-Jin's father's family; 2. False rumors that could be spread in the future. Nonetheless, Jang Su-Hwan who had considered everything was confident that he could deal with it. Hence, he decided to work with Woo-Jin. The increase in the number of possible circumstances that could arise did not change anything.