"I told you I was having dinner with my cousin today, so who else than my cousin would be in the photo?” Park Yi-Yeon said to his girlfriend on the other end of the phone.
—Huh? Huh? Huuuuh???
"That’s right! Didn’t I tell you before that if you dated me, I could help make your fangirling activities a success at the very least?”
A confused voice spat a string of bizarre words out of Park Yi-Yeon's phone in response. Among them were questions such as: ‘How was I supposed to know that’s what you meant?’ or ‘I thought you would just silently accept and support my fangirling!’
"So you don't want my help?" Park Yi-Yeon asked.
—I do. I’m never breaking up with you.
"No need to state the obvious. In any case, that’s it for today."
—Huh?
"One should always throw only a handful of fish bait at a time. I'm a squid who slowly but steadily provides quality food and the best environment for the fish coming inside my fishing area."
Park Yi-Yeon settled the grudge he held against his girlfriend for not accompanying him tonight in a teasing yet caring manner. He poked fun at her a bit more before saying he had some important stuff to talk with Woo-Jin and hung up soon afterward.
"Are you sure you’re getting along with her?" Woo-Jin asked in confusion.
“We can talk without holding back because we were friends of the same age for so long.”
"Does Grandfather know you plan on marrying her?"
Woo-Jin didn’t know the familial or financial situation of his cousin’s future wife. Nonetheless, he didn't think their grandfather would allow Park Yi-Yeon to get married so easily just because he loved her, considering that Woo-Jin's mother and uncle had arranged marriages.
"I feel bad for what happened to Aunty, you, and Woo-Hee, but things have gotten laxer in the family thanks to what happened back then. Grandfather said he'll allow us to marry whomever we want as long as their family’s status isn’t too different from ours and the person we wish to marry is good. In fact, Grandfather likes my girlfriend a lot because she’s in the same line of work as us."
Woo-Jin smiled bitterly at Park Yi-Yeon's words but was happy for his cousin.
"It’s a well-known fact that Aunty’s divorce played a big part in Grandfather’s obsession with conducting background checks on people. In the past, he was only interested in evaluating people’s social statuses and public image, but since the divorce, he thoroughly investigates their private lives as well. And my girlfriend passed his evaluation!” Park Yi-Yeon bragged to his cousin.
Although he only looked into people’s competencies and their reputations before, Park Hyun-Man became exceedingly distrustful of people after getting tricked by his ex-son-in-law. So nowadays, Park Hyun-Man didn’t care too much if someone’s personal life wasn’t perfect, as long as he didn’t get stabbed in the back later on.
"In any case, you should go see him after getting your results. Now that Grandfather is interested in Lee Hyung-Jin, he must be busy collecting intel on him. By the time you visit him, he should have more than enough info and evidence that will be of use to you. And if you pass the bar exam, he’ll be overjoyed and help you proactively."
Park Yi-Yeon added that Woo-Jin shouldn’t feel too anxious about visiting their grandfather since the latter was recently bored by the lack of work.
"Now that we’re done talking about your issue let's get to my business."
Park Yi-Yeon put down his teacup, held his hands together on the table, and gazed seriously at Woo-Jin. The actor watched his cousin with suspicion as Park Yi-Yeon was behaving like an intimidating prosecutor in the midst of an interrogation.
"There will be a bloodbath in the entertainment industry around November."
"A bloodbath?" Woo-Jin asked for clarification.
"The relationships between celebrities and their sponsors in the political and business worlds will be revealed."
"And you're in charge of that case, hyung?"
Although he didn't give a proper response, the answer was apparent from the smile on Park Yi-Yeon’s face.
"Aren’t sponsorship scandals quite common, though? In the end, it will be treated as a single person’s misbehavior and get quietly glossed over. Has there been a single time where such a scandal got properly resolved?” Woo-Jin asked. He was very skeptical.
Political and business figures were no ordinary people who could be easily shaken. Even if a celebrity committed suicide or someone confessed their wrongdoings, the scandal would only shine for an instant before the light got extinguished. There had never been a bloodbath that involved the entertainment, political, and business worlds. No one was ever punished, and those who committed suicide would simply take on all the blame before being forgotten.
“This time around, we have a proper target and guidelines on how to proceed provided by the higher-ups. But while we catch the big fish, many other extras will get caught in the net. Still, those extra fish are so famous that the country will be in chaos.”
Park Yi-Yeon pointed up with his finger. He hinted that he had no choice but to take charge of the investigation due to instructions from above.
In other words, their target could not escape the investigation, and the underlings would get caught in the crossfire. However, not all the underlings were innocent, so Park Yi-Yeon didn’t feel guilty for getting them involved.
"Are the higher-ups trying to eliminate a political opponent?"
"Ooh~! You’ve gotten smarter, Woo-Jin. That's right, the political world is going through an extensive pruning in preparation for next year's elections, while we prosecutors are waiting for the opportunity to bring up the scandals and cases we’ve been keeping quiet about so far. We sound really pathetic now that I’ve said that out loud. But, this is how we live as prosecutors."
A large pruning. The plan was to eliminate the big shots of their opponents while sacrificing some of their own people in return. Famous celebrities were also involved and getting sacrificed, so it was guaranteed that the scandals would garner attention and bring social repercussions to the targets.
“You’ve chosen a great career, unlike me.” Park Yi-Yeon smiled bitterly and complained. Naturally, he had chosen this career with firm determination and conviction, but he sometimes doubted his choice when situations got complicated as such.
"But why are you telling me all this?" Woo-Jin asked.
Park Yi-Yeon had no reason to tell Woo-Jin that chaos would descend on the entertainment industry and it involved sponsor problems. In fact, Park Yi-Yeon wasn’t the type of person to talk about his investigations to others when they were far from over, even if his cousin was a celebrity.
"Simply put, this case is a problem about political and business big-shots sponsoring certain celebrities. But the most crucial aspect is actually the connection between the entertainment agencies and the brokers—those who play the role of the middleman between agencies and sponsors. Celebrities just receive money and simple support for their activities from the sponsors, but agencies get support to expand their influence in the entertainment industry while brokers profit from it personally in between everything."
Although sponsorship issues could be treated as personal problems, they became the impetus that allowed agencies to push ahead in the entertainment industry with the help of politicians backing them. Moreover, agencies didn’t always get cash in return for pimping their celebrities to rich entrepreneurs.
In addition, the brokers profited by being the liaison between the politicians, entrepreneurs, and agency representatives.
"But this time, we won’t get the brokers involved. Trying to catch them is like tipping a domino. You find more and more dirt on other people, and it never ends. But I've already investigated them all just in case." Park Yi-Yeon paused for a moment.
Woo-Jin silently waited for his prosecutor-cousin to continue talking. But at this point, he could see where his older cousin was getting to. He had guessed Park Yi-Yeon’s intentions as soon as the topic of sponsorship had been addressed.
"But your name came up in the process of investigation."
Woo-Jin chuckled as his prediction came true.
He had guessed that Park Yi-Yeon wasn’t simply here to warn his celebrity cousin about the bloodbath that would occur in November. Park Yi-Yeon wouldn’t talk about this topic in a restaurant with Woo-Jin if the latter’s name were not mentioned during the investigation.
"So, do you think I have a sponsor?" Woo-Jin asked.
"No way. I wouldn't have eaten dinner with you so calmly if I did."
Even if Woo-Jin was his blood-related cousin, Park Yi-Yeon wouldn’t have spared him. In fact, he would’ve shaved Woo-Jin’s head instead of grabbing the actor’s hair in anger. [1] Park Yi-Yeon mumbled to himself before continuing his explanation.
"We are already investigating our target to gather solid evidence so that they cannot slip out of our hands by the time we reveal everything in November. So we’re still in the process of randomly collecting any and every superficial information we find. That's how your name was brought up.”
Park Yi-Yeon couldn’t go into detail, but for now, he planned on following the orders given by the higher-ups. With his current track record, he still couldn’t afford to deviate from the guidelines or try to catch a bigger fish. Moreover, Park Yi-Yeon didn’t trust his superiors enough to make a case and insist on his beliefs.
However, he intended to investigate the case he was now in charge of perfectly. He would gather all the overall intel and make his own judgment on the situation so that he could use the findings to his advantage if he ever came to need them—like a secret weapon up his sleeve.
And surprisingly, Park Yi-Yeon ended up finding out about the hardship Woo-Jin had gone through at TM. He discovered that Woo-Jin hadn’t left TM because of his discord with Blue Fit but because TM’s CEO forced him to have a sponsor.
"How did you find out about that? The only ones who know about it are the CEO and me…. Wait, was a broker involved in that as well?”
Woo-Jin thought that CEO Kim had ordered him to get a sponsor in total secrecy. However, Park Yi-Yeon found out about this incident even though a few years had passed. Thus, it was probable that many people were aware of that scheme.
Moreover, Park Yi-Yeon had just said that they were investigating secretly, so they shouldn’t have been able to dig too deeply into this matter. In other words, Park Yi-Yeon had found out about the incident even though he wasn’t actively looking into it, meaning that more people were involved in that case than Woo-Jin had thought.
"There is a rumor that a broker actively recommended you to the lady sponsors back then. I hear that those ladies greatly regret not having gotten a hold of you now that you’ve become so famous,” Park Yi-Yeon mentioned.
Woo-Jin picked up the teacup he was fiddling with and drank the contents all at once in response. Those were the most revolting things Woo-Jin had heard in a long while, and his guts were writhing in disgust.
"Apparently, another member of Blue Fit met those ladies to replace you but got cast aside recently. I hear it’s Lee Yeon….”
"Lee Yeon? Wait, it's Lee Yeon hyung? Not Lee Min-Soo?"
"Hey! Don't call him Lee Yeon hyung. He’s the reason I’m being constantly mocked at work," Park Yi-Yeon exclaimed.
The people at the office constantly messed around with Park Yi-Yeon because he had the same name as Lee Yeon[2]. Park Yi-Yeon’s co-workers enjoyed talking about Lee Yeon and all the scandalous information they found about the idol in front of the prosecutor just to tease him.
Moreover, Park Yi-Yeon’s girlfriend hated his given name. Previously, when she joined Woo-Jin’s fancafe, she’d start glaring at her boyfriend for no reason and also insulted his name out loud. Park Yi-Yeon only learned of the reason later on, but he still thought it was unfair to mistreat him just because of his name.
However, Woo-Jin didn’t care much about his cousin's hardships at work. The actor was surprised by the news that Lee Yeon had replaced him, as he had always expected it to be Lee Min-Soo.
"It really wasn’t Lee Min-Soo?"
"I'm afraid not," Park Yi-Yeon confirmed.
"Lee Yeo—I mean, that person was always timid and a bit of a coward. There’s no way he would do something so bold and….”
Before he could finish his sentence, Woo-Jin suddenly remembered something and closed his mouth. The timid Lee Yeon always stood inconspicuously behind the other Blue Fit members. He had a beautiful face according to current beauty standards but had half-baked skills. It was often said that Lee Yeon wouldn’t have been able to join Blue Fit if not for his appearance. In consequence, Lee Yeon was always anxious and had low self-esteem. He thought he didn’t have any other worth or skills. Therefore, it was highly likely that Lee Yeon had thought of the sponsorship offer as an opportunity to prove himself.
"Oh well, why should I care whether it was Lee Min-Soo or anyone else."
"Right, that doesn't matter. But....”
"If you have something to say, say it already. Stop dragging out this conversation with one piece of info at a time," Woo-Jin said.
There was no need for Park Yi-Yeon to create such a serious atmosphere just to talk about something of the past. Moreover, it didn’t matter to Woo-Jin whether it was Lee Yeon or Lee Min-soo who accepted the sponsorship. The actor sensed that his cousin had yet to bring up the core of his concerns and urged him to continue.
"About the broker who promoted you to the sponsors…."
"Oh right! How did they know about me? They must’ve somehow heard of me since they were recommending me."
Usually, the agencies arranged sponsors for trainees that had yet to debut. The brokers would never personally promote trainees who had yet to debut to the sponsors first.
"They already knew you very well beforehand. You know them too."
Park Yi-Yeon slowly revealed the truth. Woo-Jin was somewhat doubtful but tried to recall all the people in his small entourage back in the days at TM. However, he couldn’t find the answer, so Woo-Jin blankly stared at Park Yi-Yeon. No one in his surroundings could’ve been a middleman between the entertainment industry and the political-business world.
Park Yi-Yeon took a deep breath and got rid of all the hesitation remaining in his mind. He had leaked details about his secret investigations because Park Yi-Yeon believed he had to inform Woo-Jin of the truth no matter what.
"It was Kim Hye-Ryeong."
"Kim Hye-Ryeong? Who are you… Don’t tell me, is it that woman?"
"Yes, it’s the woman you’re thinking of."
Kim Hye-Ryeong, the actress, was the current wife of Woo-Jin's biological father, Chae Mu-Seok. She was greatly active in the entertainment world until her marriage, so there was no way Woo-Jin didn’t know of her name.
1. This is an idiomatic saying that means Park Yi-Yeon would’ve gotten extremely angry/pissed that he would’ve gone the extra mile to punish Woo-Jin much more severely. ☜
2. Park Yi-Yeon’s first name ‘Yi-Yeon’(이연) is written the same way as ‘Lee Yeon’ in Korean. The family name 이 is written as ‘Lee’ in English but pronounced ‘Yi.’ ☜
