TM Chapter 57
Chapter 57: A person who found sothing to protect (8)
TL: emptycube
Sponsor: Beefcake
“...!”
Without being able to scream, Son Chaeyoung stiffened like a mannequin. Looking at how only her pupils slid downwards in her widened eyes, it seed she couldn’t grasp the situation and what had hit her face.
The tiramisu cake, still a black ss stuck onto her face, slowly slid down.
While taking in the once in a lifeti scene in front of , I thought for a mont.
Although the cake I spent a lot of money on beca like that, I didn’t feel like the money was wasted.
The cake choice was great. If it was simply a cream cake, then I thought it would feel slightly lacking.
“Wh-what, th-this, Chae-Chaeyoung...”
Chief Jo’s stutter broke the silence. He stared at
then at Lee Songha with the pale face of soone who had watched a terrifying horror movie before rummaging through his pockets and hurriedly disappearing, saying that he would bring tissues.
“... Are you crazy?”
Son Chaeyoung said as she wiped her cheek with the back of her hand and furiously brushed off the cakey ss. I thought she would rampage like a beast like before, but perhaps it was similar to the quiet before the storm as her voice was unexpectedly calm.
However, there was a vicious look in her eyes.
I raised my arm and shielded Lee Songha just in case.
“No,”
Replied Lee Songha.
When I turned around, I beca surprised. Her voice was as calm as usual, but her eyes seed to be burning. Her attitude seed as though, if Son Chaeyoung raised her hand again, she’d throw the cake box at her too.
Well, she was like that. I had forgotten for a while.
I had forgotten that Lee Songha, who would beco dejected whenever she troubled her team because of her mistakes, was the type who would say what she wanted and fight when necessary.
“You’re the one who started it.”
“You?”{1}
Son Chaeyoung laughed as if taken aback. Lee Songha didn’t care and continued,
“You tried to hit him.”
“So? Did he get hit? He dodged it like a slippery eel. Also, because I vented my anger on your manager, you throw a cake at your company senior? Have you lost your mind because people praise you for being a genius? Do you think that you can still-!”
“Don’t vent.”
Lee Songha cut her off.
“What?”
“Don’t vent your anger on soone else’s-“
Soone else’s?
“Soone else’s oppa.”
It felt like she had hurriedly changed her words.
However, I didn’t have the chance to be curious. Behind Son Chaeyoung, the door opened again. Then the still pale-faced Chief Jo glanced outside before entering then closing the door.
He had a bunch of tissues in one hand.
“Chaeyoung, before anyone sees you, you sho-“
“Oppa, is soone seeing
the problem? When I was hit with a cake?”
She spat after snatching the tissues. Chief Jo did a double take before looking at Lee Songha with a frown.
“What were you thi-!”
However, Chief Jo’s expression soon beca bitter. It was clear he was also aware that Son Chaeyoung requested Teacher Shim Kyungtaek to block Lee Songha’s path. That was why he couldn’t scold her. When thinking of what Son Chaeyoung did, she deserved a rock thrown at her, let alone a cake.
Instead of Lee Songha, Chief Jo picked on .
“Hey, you! How could you just watch instead of stopping her?!”
“I didn’t see it as I was thinking about Teacher Shim Kyungtaek.”
Chief Jo flinched like soone who had been suddenly attacked at my words. As if this sight irritated her, Son Chaeyoung angrily threw the tissues she was wiping her face with on the floor.
“Ah, I’m pissed. Don’t think about picking on Teacher Shim with this incident. I heard that you now know everything. I did it. I asked the teacher to stop Lee Songha from acting.”
“Chaeyoung!”
Frightened, Chief Jo checked outside.
I montarily halted. Although Teacher Shim Kyungtaek told
everything, I never thought that Son Chaeyoung would admit it with her own mouth as if it was nothing.
I suddenly beca worried and looked at Lee Songha. However, Lee Songha was less agitated than before. She simply stared at Son Chaeyoung with eyes that seed calm and deep like a bottomless pool of water.
I couldn’t tell what she was thinking with those eyes.
“But what are you going to do about it now that you know?”
Son Chaeyoung asked .
“Who are you going to whine to? The director? The CEO? Try it. What do you think the CEO is going to say to ?”
“Chaeyoung, really, what if soone hears you?!”
When Chief Jo grabbed her arm and tried to stop her, Son Chaeyoung raised her voice.
“There’s no one besides these two anyways! And what did I do wrong?! I only hid it because it was embarrassing, do you think I hid it because I was scared?!”
“You. Haa, you clearly told the team leader you wouldn’t do it aga-!”
“I did it because I didn’t like her. When I thought that she might join my project, I beca so irritated that I couldn’t read the script or sleep! I made so much money for the company, they can just gloss it over with that!”
Even her assigned manager, Chief Jo, seed flabbergasted. Although he was looking at Son Chaeyoung like a moving bomb, Son Chaeyoung didn’t stop and continued,
“That’s why I beca relaxed, oppa.”
“What?”
“Since there was nothing getting in my way, I beca relaxed and didn’t get stressed. Because of that, the drama went well and so did the movie. I did so many comrcials and advertisents last year too. Do you think that she’d make more than
even if she continued acting? In the company’s perspective, wasn’t this better?”
My anger surged, cald, was taken aback, then cald again.
There was one thing on my mind now.
Just where did soone like her co from?
It was like I was looking into Son Chayoung the human and not the actress. When you took off her clean, innocent fabricated fa??ade, there was an obscure, disgusting monster inside.
“Can I tell you sothing?”
Without waiting for my reply, she said sarcastically,
“There not much ti before I have to renew my contract. That is why the director and CEO aren’t going to say anything to
right now. From the drama releasing in January to extending comrcial and advertising contracts, there’s a lot riding on .”
Ah, so this was it. This was what Teacher Shim Kyungtaek ant.
That it would be better if I had just glossed over it without knowing.
“If the CEO asks
to apologize, then, well, I’ll think about it. So, until then, don’t piss soone off with sothing like this. It seems you don’t know because it hasn’t been long since you’ve started working, but this industry is always like this.”
I swallow the countless words that surged up my throat and said,
“Although it hasn’t been long since I’ve started working, there sothing I clearly learned.”
“Sothing you learned?”
Son Chaeyoung, who had a mocking smile, narrowed her eyes.
I looked at Lee Songha. She was still standing tall behind .
However, I could feel her thin fingers clinging on my shirt.
Although I might not know the ways of the world, I wasn’t simply a na??ve person. aning, I wasn’t the type to completely believe CEO Baek Hansung would make Son Chaeyoung pay a worthy price for her actions after listening to her words.
That wasn’t naivety but stupidity.
This industry was a breeding ground of absurdity and irrationality. There was nothing more to say about this as this was a celebrity managent organization with an enormous food chain of boss-subordinate relationships.
Son Chaeyoung was a top actress residing in the upper echelon, while Lee Songha and I were buried way below, to the point where it would be difficult to see us, and were only now sticking our heads out and looking up towards the top.
However, because I was in this position, I could say this.
“You never know what will happen the very next day in this industry.”
Kim Hyunjo and the team 3 leader arrived long after the appointed ti.
The team 3 leader’s expression stiffened after checking the cake on the eting room floor and the cocoa powder still stuck on Son Chaeyoung’s neck. When the two of them entered, Son Chaeyoung clicked her tongue as if they were a hindrance.
Then she bobbed her head in greeting to the team 3 leader and left.
“Son Chaeyoung.”
When the team 3 leader called out to her, Son Chaeyoung montarily stopped.
“This isn’t sothing we can just gloss over.”
“It’s tireso to say the sa thing multiple tis. Please talk with my team leader.”
She said with a smile before disappearing without turning back. Chief Jo followed behind while reading at the team 3 leader’s expression.
Kim Hyunjo and the team 3 leader shook their heads. They both revealed the sa expression I had on previously. An expression that said, ‘Just where did soone like her co from?’
I, once again, thought that the influence of a top star was quite amazing and that, if I didn’t want to see such dirty figures in this industry, I needed to at least have the title of a CEO.
“How ill-mannered. She’s no good.”
The team 3 leader sat in an empty seat and said,
“It looks like Shim Kyungtaek, that damn bastard, called the team 2 leader. He fud about how you crossed the line or whatever so we were late because we got in a dispute.”
“He looked like he was going to grind you up.”
Kim Hyunjo added with a frown.
Since I already beca an eyesore to the team 2 leader after the Sung Dowon incident, with this, it seed that I had crossed a point of no return. Well, I had no thoughts on turning things around for this incident.
The team 3 leader tapped my arm.
“You have nothing to worry about. I firmly told the team 2 leader that I told you to do it and to not even think about letting his temper out on you.”
“Ah, yes.”
“How dare he try to vent his anger out on soone else after being stabbed in the back? He should have taken better care of his people. If it were , I would be too embarrassed to show my face.”
When the team 3 leader continued to grumble, Kim Hyunjo tapped the table and changed the subject.
“While both hyung and I have listened to the audio file, tell us from the start.”
Still aware of Lee Songha, who was sitting next to , I opened my mouth.
From the incident with Shim Kyungtaek in the morning, to the incident just now. As I told the events which took place while taking out the unnecessary bits and emphasizing others, Kim Hyunjo and the team 3 leader’s expressions progressively turned uglier. The only one who remained calm was Lee Songha, the person this concerned.
No, at this point, she surpassed calmness and approached the boundaries of imperturbability.
On the other hand, the two who showed intense reactions at each word, using swears I hadn’t even heard of before, beca rampant like angry bulls when they heard the part when Son Chaeyoung ntioned the director and the CEO.
“There’s a limit to wickedness. At this point, she’s just a crazy bitch.”
“Songha, you should have thrown the table at her instead of the cake,”
Added Kim Hyunjo. I deeply agreed with him.
“Hyung, how much longer is it until Son Chaeyoung’s contract renewal?”
“I don’t know the exact date, but since they made a 2-year exclusive contract last ti, there isn’t much ti left. That’s why the team 2 leader was busy since last month, trying to curry favor with Son Chaeyoung. Even Team Leader Park from the PR team was exhausted.”
“Don’t tell
the director and the CEO will really...”
Kim Hyunjo said while glancing at Lee Songha. He was worried that the director and the CEO would really gloss over this for the contract renewal like Son Chaeyoung said.
The team 3 leader frowned.
“This isn’t a 1-person company for Son Chaeyoung, she needs to take responsibility for her actions. This goes the sa for that Shim Kyungtaek bastard. When I investigated, it looked like there were previous cases before Songha as well. I’ll call the director and the CEO and discuss it with them.”
The two talked for a while before each saying a word of encouragent to Lee Songha and getting up. Since they left with murderous looks, it looked like their target was either Chief Jo or the team 2 leader.
I was also about to leave, but I kept thinking of the disaster in the eting room.
I rolled up my sleeves and wiped the cake plastered everywhere. Lee Songha, who was next to , helping
clean up with tissues, said,
“Sorry.”
“About what?”
“I threw the cake you bought .”
Then she looked at the cake dropped under the table as if it was a waste.
Although she knew her life had almost been twisted by Son Chaeyoung’s wickedness, the words she said with a serious expression were... I wanted to open her head and see what kind of thoughts were contained in that small head of hers. It was this mont when I felt it was a pity my ability wasn’t mind reading.
“I was only able to take one bite, but it was incredibly tasty. It was expensive, right?”
“No, you did well to throw it.”
The price didn’t matter.
“It’s all good since it was worthwhile.”
I grinned when I recalled Son Chaeyoung’s face plastered with cake. It seed Lee Songha recalled the sa thing as her lips curved slightly upwards.
“Don’t think it was a waste. I’ll buy you one that’s bigger.”
“Yes.”
As she picked up the tissues and placed them in the cake box, she said in a passing tone,
“That witch.”
“Huh?”
“If I work hard and beco successful, can I drive her out far away?”
Even after I took Lee Songha to her residence and went ho, her last words kept ringing in my ears.
Her words asking if she could drive Son Chaeyoung far away.
Although she said it in a passing tone, the more I thought about it, the heavier her words felt.
While I was thinking about it, slouched on my desk, my phone rang.
It was a number I was seeing for the first ti.
Well, it seed by phone number beca public since broadcast writers and entertainnt reporters would call
all day and night so I was used unknown numbers now.
“Yes, this is Jung Sunwoo.”
-Umm. Are you free to talk?
Whoa.
I hurriedly turned the phone, which was against my ear, and confird the phone number.
Did I ever see this number on my company’s list of phone numbers?
He sounded like CEO Baek Hansung.
“Umm, are you the CEO...”
-Right. I called you because I wanted to ask you sothing.
I heard a low laughter from the other side.
That mont, I suddenly recalled what CEO Baek Hansung said to
privately in his office.
What to give
if the drama is a success.
If there was sothing I wanted, to tell him then.
I straightened my back and said while sitting,
“I’m free to talk. I also... have sothing I would like to tell you.”
{1} The reason she reacts like this is because Lee Songha didn’t refer to her as her senior.
Reviews
All reviews (0)