Become a Star

TM's CEO, Kim Seok-Hyung, had been feeling very uneasy since the day before. Feeling anxious always made him imagine only the worst outcomes.

“Damn it, why did that fella even take the bar exam? Don’t tell me he wants to become a prosecutor or something?” Kim Seok-Hyung couldn’t calm himself down; he paced back and forth in his office, muttering to himself. His right-hand man, Director Kwon, shook his head at this sight.

“I don’t think that’s the case. He has been doing very well these days, so why would he want to become a civil servant?”

“But you never know. If he can become a big prosecutor and gain a lot of power, what’s so great about being just a celebrity? To put it bluntly, what if he chooses that path and goes into politics and then seeks revenge on us?”

“Does he have anything to seek revenge on? If it’s about Blue Fit, that matter has already been resolved….” Director Kwon was about to say that even if Chae Woo-Jin might have ill feelings towards TM, he had no reason to seek revenge, but he paused. As CEO Kim’s close aide, he too knew the real reason Chae Woo-Jin left TM. He was so focused on resolving Blue Fit’s matter that he had momentarily forgotten about that piece of fact, and it had just come to his mind.

“I highly doubt it. It’s disgraceful for him after all.” Even if Woo-Jin was still holding a grudge against Kim Seok-Hyung, it wouldn’t benefit either one of them to dig it up again.

“That’s not true. On the contrary, it could be an opportunity to build his reputation. Who knows if he wants to destroy us and say that he resisted the temptation and made it so far by himself?”

Kim Seok-Hyung's impassioned speech wasn’t entirely far-fetched. Even if it wasn’t about that particular issue, as long as Woo-Jin held a grudge against them, he could find as many cases as he wanted. Woo-Jin’s recent act of approaching Lee Hyung-Jin was somewhat suspicious as well.

“If that guy had set his heart on politics in the first place instead of wanting to be just a celebrity,

wouldn’t his actions thus far make sense to a certain extent? So why bother being a celebrity? Just work your ass off and take the bar exam!”

The more Kim Seok-Hyung thought about it, the more he was convinced that Chae Woo-Jin’s goal was to get into politics rather than become a celebrity. If Woo-Jin were to go into politics after having years of experience as a prosecutor under his belt, coupled with his current popularity, he would most likely create a stir and become very successful.

Director Kwon might have disparaged prosecutors as mere civil servants, but prosecutors could gain a great deal of power as they climbed the ranks. How could a mere celebrity be compared to a politician who had won the public’s affection and risen to a high position? Kim Seok-Hyung had mocked Chae Woo-Jin for being unambitious, but the thought of him possibly being the most ambitious of them all sent a chill down his spine.

“Nevertheless, there’s no need to worry about it in advance. Even if he becomes a prosecutor or a politician, what can we do about it?” Director Kwon casually dismissed CEO Kim’s worries and reminded him that they too had strong connections backing them and there was nothing to be afraid of.

However, Kim Seok-Hyung couldn’t let it go. He had done those things to Chae Woo-Jin, and always evaluated others using himself as a yardstick and tried to read their thoughts.

“More importantly, the fact that his maternal uncle used to be a prosecutor makes me feel uneasy.”

“He must have been a public prosecutor. If he had been a powerful individual, would he have done nothing and let his nephew suffer at that time? Frankly, the Blue Fit issue had been discussed after Woo-Jin entered DS. It wasn’t like it brought up by his maternal uncle. That uncle’s probably not working for a big law firm at the moment; he might have just set up his own office and is currently working as a puny lawyer.”

Even though Director Kwon had only said that to calm Kim Seok-Hyung’s nerves, what he said did make quite a lot of sense. Judging from Chae Woo-Jin’s circumstances at that time and how he couldn’t properly fight back, it was apparent that either he wasn’t on good terms with his uncle or that his uncle had no power.

“In that case, we don’t have to worry about Chae Woo-Jin’s family?”

“What’s there to worry about? We also know several prosecutors ourselves.”

After news about Chae Woo-Jin passing the second round of the bar exam broke out the previous day, people all over the internet had gotten curious about his family. The truth was bound to be revealed regardless of whether the netizens took matters into their hands and investigated it, but no details had been released thus far.

Frankly, considering his popularity, the fact that the information that should have already been public was still unknown meant that it was nothing substantial in the first place. Moreover, since nobody had dug up anything about his family thus far, they weren’t influential enough to threaten Kim Seok-Hyung.

Even though his primary concern had been allayed, Kim Seok-Hyung was still pacing his office, feeling worried. Perhaps, he didn't have to be concerned. However, he couldn’t stop thinking about what he would have done if he were Woo-Jin, and worrying about it. It was clear that if he were Chae Woo-Jin, he would definitely seek revenge and give them a taste of their own medicine.

More importantly, Chae Woo-Jin did ultimately take his revenge on Blue Fit. The incident could’ve been quietly forgotten, but he subtly revealed it to the public on The King of the Masked Singers and TV Star instead, making the matter worse. It was unlikely for someone like him to forget about the humiliation and harassment he had gone through because of the sponsorship matter. Furthermore, even if Woo-Jin didn’t use that matter to get back at them, there were many other ways for him to seek revenge on TM and Kim Seok-Hyung. If Chae Woo-Jin was determined to take them down, more than one or two people would be implicated, so Kim Seok-Hyung’s worries were not unfounded.

“Unless he continues being a celebrity, it wouldn’t do us any good if he were to take an interest in law or politics.”

Chae Woo-Jin still had lingering resentment towards TM; it was nearly impossible for them to stop him from trampling on TM for the sake of his success. In terms of getting the public’s attention and achieving a satisfactory outcome, there was nothing like earning the merit of eradicating a corrupt agency. Because of Kim Seok-Hyung’s concerns, Director Kwon looked up articles on the internet in the meantime to see if Chae Woo-Jin had expressed his stance in any way.

“An article has just been published. DS announced that nothing has been confirmed yet and that Woo-Jin’s still contemplating it seriously. He’s focusing on preparing for the interview first and is seeking everyone's kind support.”

“Damn it!” When CEO Kim heard that Chae Woo-Jin was contemplating it seriously, he understood it differently. As he became increasingly worried that his predictions might come true, he had no choice but to look for a different solution.

“We have to make him fail the final round of the bar exam. Should I hire someone to hit him with a car before the interview so he can’t make it?” Getting someone into a car accident was an easy feat for Kim Seok-Hyung.

“Then what will you do after that? There’s still next year. You can’t possibly do the same thing twice. You can’t keep running him over with a car every time. The interview isn’t important. Even if he goes for the interview, we could always create a condition that will guarantee his failure. I don’t think this is something that will be resolved just because he can’t go for one interview.”

Kim Seok-Hyung had been feeling restless and uneasy the entire time. After hearing what Director Kwon said, he paused. Just like he said, Chae Woo-Jin making it to the interview this time around was not important. Even if he didn’t become a legal professional, a smart man like him could always become a politician. There were people in the entertainment industry who had gone into politics. If he didn’t have any serious scandals that could potentially end him, he could always become a politician in the future when he was older. He had already shown everyone how capable he was, so he was much more qualified to become a politician than every Tom, Dick, and Harry who wanted to go into politics.

“A dangerous scandal…. If there are dirty rumors about him, not only will he lose his popularity in the future, he will most likely fail his interview right now, let alone go into politics, right?” He had to crush him and make sure he wouldn’t pose a threat to them, be it now or in the future. Even though CEO Kim was doing it for a different reason, his method wouldn’t be much different from the one he used to destroy the artistes who had succeeded after leaving TM thus far.

“I have no choice but to use it,” Kim Seok-Hyung muttered. He still had the phone he had taken from Chae Woo-Jin back then.

When Chae Woo-Jin left TM, Kim Seok-Hyung had no doubt that he would become successful. It would have been strange if he didn’t with those great looks and skills. Chae Woo-Jin was indeed such a talented man that it was a shame for TM to lose him. If he hadn’t recorded their conversation and blackmailed him, CEO Kim would’ve somehow found a way to keep him. He didn’t have a choice in the past because the broker and client wanted Chae Woo-Jin very badly, but if the sponsorship issue had been well-resolved, he wanted to find a way to retain him. He had never imagined Chae Woo-Jin to come on so strong and do whatever he wanted.

“I wasn’t planning to use it to threaten him. I took the phone to bring him back to our agency in the future….” Unlike what he did to the other artistes, he had created a weakness for Woo-Jin to bring him back to TM. That was how much he had valued Chae Woo-Jin, and constantly lamented over losing him.

But that was now over. Kim Seok-Hyung had to make the quick decision of prioritizing himself first. Chae Woo-Jin’s weakness was the phone Kim Seok-Hyung had. The latter edited the voice recording on Woo-Jin’s phone and made it sound like he wanted to be sponsored. Kim Seok-Hyung separately recorded himself persuading Chae Woo-Jin not to do it and flawlessly combined the two recordings. On top of that, he even created a fake text conversation between Chae Woo-Jin and himself discussing the sponsorship.

“Are you going to use that? As you have already seen in the Blue Fit incident, if Woo-Jin has another recording of your conversation, it will not do you any good to use it. On the contrary, it might cause a backlash.” If Woo-Jin had recorded a video of the members of Blue Fit back then, he might have done the same with his conversation with Kim Seok-Hyung. As soon as Director Kwon pointed it out, Kim Seok-Hyung confidently shook his head.

“That video was taken by accident. Woo-Jin was trying to record a singing practice session when the boys did those things to him. He broke his phone at that time and changed to a new one, which is the one I currently have with me. There were no other recordings in it, though.”

The phone Woo-Jin used to record the Blue Fit members beating him up was broken at that time. That act of violence was the trigger that eventually led to Woo-Jin’s departure from Blue Fit, so Kim Seok-Hyung remembered it very well. He had distinctly heard that Woo-Jin’s phone had broken after being beaten up by the other members, so he had to get a new phone. And Kim Seok-Hyung currently had the phone he had newly purchased then.

There were no other recordings on the phone apart from the last conversation Woo-Jin had with Kim Seok-Hyung. More importantly, Kim Seok-Hyung felt that Chae Woo-Jin and DS wouldn’t have kept silent all this while if the broken phone had contained any other voice recordings on top of the video.

“If you were Chae Woo-Jin or DS, and you have other recordings, would you have done nothing and stayed silent the entire time? You probably would’ve tried taking something away from me. Just look at that bastard, Seol Moon-Young. He knew about Lee Yeon’s sponsorship and took my shares after threatening me with it.”

Kim Seok-Hyung was unaware that there were various recording devices other than phones. No, even if he did, he never imagined the possibility of Chae Woo-Jin using another device to record their conversation. Chae Woo-Jin was young at that time, so Kim Seok-Hyung didn’t think he would’ve been that meticulous. Since there were no other recordings in the new phone, he determined that it was unlikely there would be any in his old phone too.

“He may be smart, but if he were that meticulous, he wouldn’t have revealed he was recording the conversation on the spot.” Seeing how confident Kim Seok-Hyung was, Director Kwon started to waver little by little.

“Frankly speaking, if Woo-Jin doesn’t have any other recordings, we have the upper hand. We have his phone, and if we use it well and set a trap for him, it’ll be hard for him to get out of it.”

If Woo-Jin were to take this matter to court, they could say they had lost the phone, which contained the evidence and provide them with the edited copy instead of the original recording. To put it bluntly, even if TM were to lose the court case because of defamation, it was clear that Chae Woo-Jin’s image would’ve already been destroyed by then, and it would be impossible for him to restore it.

“I’m telling you, he doesn’t have any more recordings! He had no reason to remain quiet this entire time if he had them!” Kim Seok-Hyung was very skilled in plotting against people; he always assumed others had bad intentions. He thought everyone would exploit other people’s weaknesses and make use of them or use them to threaten those people to their own advantage, just like himself. So he concluded that DS and Chae Woo-Jin had been silent thus far because they had nothing incriminating.

“Send it to Journalist Kang and tell him to blow it up tomorrow.”

“Tomorrow?”

“Yeah. Don’t you think we have to blow it up as soon as possible and completely destroy his image?”

Now that Chae Woo-Jin’s image had reached its peak, it was the best time to destroy it. After discussing with Director Kwon how to proceed, CEO Kim took out Woo-Jin’s phone.

“The day for me to use this has finally come.”

It was the last card CEO Kim had planned on using to bring Chae Woo-Jin back to TM. Kim Seok-Hyung remarked that he never thought he’d throw it away like this. But, up until the very end, he felt it was such a shame.