Become a Star

Chapter 147

<Last night, we received some important information from a TM employee. The employee said they happened to find a phone that Chae Woo-Jin used back when he was in TM, and decided to give us this tip-off after contemplating for a long time. After looking at the information, I have decided to publish an article about it after much thought. This decision was made based on a conversation found on Chae Woo-Jin’s phone, as well as a voice recording of the conversation between CEO Kim and Chae Woo-Jin from back when he was still in TM. The evidence is conclusive without a shred of doubt.

We’ve all been wondering for a long time why TM had released Chae Woo-Jin from their agency. We found out about the reason in the beginning of the year, when Chae Woo-Jin’s discord with the members of Blue Fit and their acts of violence were revealed. However, this reason was not good enough, because it was between the members of Blue Fit and Chae Woo-Jin. There was no reason for TM to let go of Chae Woo-Jin just because he left Blue Fit. TM knew Chae Woo-Jin’s value best. It was clear that Chae Woo-Jin was a goose that laid golden eggs, but they still let him go, which didn’t make any sense. However, we have found the missing piece of the puzzle thanks to the newly obtained evidence.

There was a series of text messages found on Chae Woo-Jin’s phone – it was a conversation between him and TM’s CEO. It was proof that there was discord between them right before Chae Woo-Jin left TM. A feud between an artiste and the CEO of an agency is not uncommon within the entertainment industry. However, the cause of their discord was not ordinary by any means.

It might come as a shock, but according to the messages exchanged, the CEO of TM was trying to persuade Chae Woo-Jin not to get a sponsorship. Chae Woo-Jin showed a firm attitude – he refused to change his mind. The messages captured the entire process of how CEO Kim got tired of persuading Chae Woo-Jin, and decided to release him from the agency.

I’d like to reiterate that Chae Woo-Jin was indeed the owner of this phone, which contained all these messages. Truthfully, this evidence alone is not enough. We’re not trying to set a trap to destroy the future of a promising young man with worthless speculation.

The most important piece of evidence is the voice recording of the final conversation between TM's CEO, Kim Seok-Hyung, and Chae Woo-Jin. In this recording, Chae Woo-Jin clearly said ‘It’s good to have a sponsor in order to succeed quickly and easily in the entertainment industry. So what?’.

Upon hearing the voice recording, I thought long and hard about it, and I’m writing this article with a heavy heart. Chae Woo-Jin mentioned the day before yesterday that he was earnestly preparing for his interview after passing the second round of the bar exam. As of now, nobody knows if he will continue to stay in the entertainment industry, or choose to enter the legal field. I’m merely concerned about whether it’s okay to give such an important position to a person with such morals.>

(Best Day. Kang Il-Ro)

Jang Soo-Hwan started his Sunday morning with a cup of fragrant tea and a piece of unpleasant news. His thoughts were simple.

“What’s wrong with this son of a bitch?”

Jang Soo-Hwan was speechless; he read the article that woke him up this morning over and over again. Kim Seok-Hyung wouldn’t have dug his own grave if he hadn’t recklessly tried to stir up trouble, so Jang Soo-Hwan couldn’t understand why he would do such a thing. He figured things were going to get noisy again over the next couple of days, so his temples were already throbbing.

“See, another phone call! I wonder if they even sleep in.” Jang Soo-Hwan clicked his tongue softly after receiving yet another phone call. However, Jang Soo-Hwan became excited after realizing that Park Hyun-Man had called him first thing in the morning.

What should I tell him to make things as dramatic as possible?

Jang Soo-Hwan picked up the phone, while imagining all the interesting things that would unfold because of his words. After meeting Chae Woo-Jin, his life had become rather dynamic, and Jang Soo-Hwan enjoyed it.

***

The blackout curtains were drawn, allowing sunlight to pour in through the window, instantly lighting up the room. Woo-Jin couldn’t help but unwillingly open his eyes because of the sudden bright light. What he saw in his semi-awake state was the blurry image of three people looking down at him. His parents and Woo-Hee were staring at him; he couldn’t continue sleeping, so he leaped to his feet.

“Why are you guys staring at me?” Woo-Jin rubbed his eyes and asked in a hoarse voice. Woo-Hee handed him a glass of cold water. For some reason, Woo-Jin felt as though it was a wake-up-and-smell-the-coffee situation[1], so he hesitated to drink the water at first. After he finished drinking, Woo-Hee quickly took the glass back from him.

“What’s the matter?” As soon as Woo-Jin asked them in his sleep-laden voice, his father replied cautiously.

“We trust you, but we can only help you deal with it if we know the full story, so we couldn’t wait anymore and woke you up. You were sleeping so soundly, I’m sorry for waking you up.” After his father was done talking, his mother immediately held out a tablet in front of him.

The title, <Exclusive breaking news / Did Chae Woo-Jin get released from TM because of a sponsorship?> was displayed on the screen. Woo-Jin quickly read the contents of the article because of its impactful title.

The more he read, the more he laughed – not because it was funny, but because it was so ridiculous it made him angry. He thought to himself: These people couldn’t tolerate it any longer and ultimately started a scandal huh. Woo-Jin had expected that TM might do something after finding out Woo-Jin had met with Lee Hyung-Jin. However, Woo-Jin didn’t expect them to play their trump card so easily.

“He’s still acting on a whim without thinking it through again.” It seemed like Kim Seok-Hyung was still as hasty as before, and handled things haphazardly once he made his mind up. He was someone who didn’t know restraint, and because of him, people around him always ended up suffering and feeling exhausted.

“Woo-Jin!” When Woo-Jin muttered to himself, his mother couldn’t take it any longer and called him. Woo-Jin studied the faces of his family members that were staring at him, and looked them in the eye; rather than feeling doubtful or anxious, they were worried about him. Woo-Jin returned the tablet to his mother and replied.

“It’s been edited. I have the original version, so please don’t worry.”

“Edited? Original version?”

“Yes, this is the real reason why I left TM. In fact, the contents of the recording are actually the opposite.” Woo-Jin found it very hard to discuss the sponsorship matter in front of his parents and younger sister, so he explained it in that manner.

“So you’re saying that the truth is completely different from what the article is saying, right?”

Because of his father’s earnest look, Woo-Jin had no choice but to talk about the incident in detail. He wanted to ask Woo-Hee to leave the room momentarily, but she had to know the full story in order to explain the situation to her friends in school.

Upon hearing the truth about his departure from TM, which had nothing to do with the Blue Fit incident, Woo-Jin’s mother was upset, and his father was very angry.

“We’ve already prepared something in advance just in case something like this happens, so you don’t have to worry. We’ll be having a press conference around tomorrow to deal with the matter.”

“Why do it tomorrow when you have the evidence? Just quickly settle it today!” His mother had a serious look on her face, and she asked Woo-Jin if he could withstand the horrendous accusations that were floating around the internet. His father then shook his head and explained.

“It’s okay because we have the means to deal with the damage for a day or so. The greater the damage, the stronger the counterattack. That’s what you’re thinking, right?”

“Yes.”

Whenever such a scandal occurred, it was impossible to prevent one’s image from getting damaged. In order to get out of this mess, it was better to punish the perpetrator to the fullest, rather than acting as a weak victim. The plan was to make Woo-Jin look like a powerhouse that was a force to be reckoned with, so much so that the rumors about him wanting a sponsor would seem like nothing but ridiculous slander. In order to accomplish that, Woo-Jin had to experience some suffering. One day was the right amount of time for them to suffer damages and demand compensation from TM. If they dragged it out for too long, the damage suffered would increase. But a day was a reasonable window of time to give his enemy, and prepare for a perfect counterattack.

As a businessman, Choi Min-Woo understood this concept. There were often times when a victim intentionally took more damage than needed during a business transaction. It was only done in situations where the victim in question was confident they could handle it till the very end, but it was mainly used when they stood a lot to gain from the perpetrator, or when they wanted to destroy them.

“In that case, the companies that Woo-Jin is contracted to must have a lot to prepare for.”

There were three companies that hired Woo-Jin as a model for their advertising campaigns – Gaon, the telecommunications company, and a coffee company. Woo-Jin started off by doing a one-off commercial for the telecommunications company, before signing a contract with them as their exclusive model. As for the coffee company, Woo-Jin had signed a contract with them a few months ago. He was the exclusive model for each of the companies, so the damage done to the image of the exclusive model could cause immediate damage to the company.

TM was only attacking Woo-Jin, but they ended up causing a substantial damage to these companies. These companies could handle a day’s worth of damages, so it was a question of whether TM had enough capital to compensate for the damages done to these three companies.

For the first time in a while, Choi Min-Woo showed his true nature as a businessman. He hurriedly left the room. He had to quickly contact his lawyer and call the CEO of Taeyang Foods, where Woo-Jin was working as a commercial model. Fortunately, they were close acquaintances, so the matter would be easily resolved. Choi Min-Woo wanted to seize this opportunity to brag about Woo-Jin being his son. His footsteps quickened.

Woo-Jin’s mother and Woo-Hee comforted him by patting him on the shoulder silently before quietly leaving the room, leaving Woo-Jin all alone. He looked for the article and read it again while scratching his head. The more he read the contents of the article, the more he laughed. This was exactly what CEO Kim Seok-Hyung would have done. Instead of releasing a statement as a company, he had told the journalist to indicate that an employee had reported it. It was a measure he had taken to absolve himself of all blame in case things went south. There were plenty of people who were willing to do anything and follow his instructions if he paid them.

In the scenario CEO Kim had orchestrated, an employee had found Chae Woo-Jin’s phone and the voice recording by chance and reported it to the journalist out of a sense of justice. Even if Woo-Jin were to show everyone the original recording, he could conclude the matter by accusing that employee of editing the file.

Kim Seok-Hyung’s M.O. (modus operandi) was to always create a way out for himself and to use someone else as a scapegoat. If there wasn't any conclusive evidence proving CEO Kim Seok-Hyung was the one who edited the voice recording before reporting it to the journalist, he would get away with it again.

Perhaps they would come up with a story about how the employee that reported Chae Woo-Jin had some sort of animosity towards him back when the latter was still in TM, and that seeing his recent success triggered them into setting him up. It was also their technique of discrediting Chae Woo-Jin by saying there was a problem with his character, such that it was enough to make one employee feel vindictive. As for whether or not their scapegoat would still be loyal towards TM in the face of several lawsuits, it was something that TM would have to deal with.

Woo-Jin grabbed his phone as he wanted to give CEO Jang Soo-Hwan a call first. It was Sunday, and there was nothing scheduled for the day, so Woo-Jin had put his phone on silent mode so that he could get a good night’s sleep. Because of that, he didn’t know he had already gotten so many calls and texts from people who were worried about him after reading the article. Before looking at those calls and messages, Woo-Jin called CEO Jang Soo-Hwan.

“CEO Jang.”

– You must have read the article too. Perhaps, these people just can’t deviate from what’s expected of them.

CEO Jang’s voice sounded more cheerful than expected, so Woo-Jin’s worries eased. Woo-Jin felt sorry towards CEO Jang because it seemed as though he had been bothering him every time a TM-related problem surfaced. Woo-Jin understood why CEO Jang was hesitant to recruit him before they signed the contract.

“Have you called TM by any chance?”

– I should probably call them first, right?

CEO Jang didn’t want to hear the voice of the person who staged everything, but he had to do the bare minimum to show that he wanted to resolve the matter. This was so that he could say DS weren't following formalities only because TM was unreasonable first.

“I called to tell you not to do it.”

– Why?

“I know him better than you do. I’m sure he’s looking forward to receiving our call right about now, but he won’t pick it up. It’s clear it would give him a sense of superiority, which he would enjoy to the fullest, before picking up the call.”

Perhaps CEO Kim might not even give CEO Jang Soo-Hwan the time of day and just hang up right away while claiming he was busy. After hearing what Woo-Jin said, CEO Jang Soo-Hwan had to admit he wasn’t surprised.