Come Back

■

Manager Koo Yong-jae was a relatively easy person to understand. He was basically affectionate and unsuspicious. Although Yoon Hye-an had been neglected and bullied a lot during her lifetime, he did not hold a grudge against her mistakes back then. It was enough for Yong-jae that Yoon Hye-an, who had awakened, no longer did that. However, at the same time, he was also a person who did not care about the fact that Yoon Hye-an had lost her past. He was a person who simply looked at the present, regardless of whether it was good or evil.

But to Choi Hong-seo, ENA’s clinical team leader was an elusive type.

Although he seemed like a person who was motivated by money and profit, at other times he seemed like a person who would take risks just for simple interest or recognition.

His actions before founding ENA were also suspicious. Judging from his gait and behavior, some suspected that he was from an organized crime group, but they could not be sure. Perhaps he had been an athlete since he was young. In any case, he had the aura of a man who had been in a group life with a clear hierarchy. This was especially evident in his relationship with Yongjae. It was clear that the two had a connection before founding ENA.

Choi Hong-seo, who was looking at the abundant fruit basket on the front passenger seat, raised his head. He could see the ENA Entertainment signboard through the windshield. It was a small agency similar in size to Myung Do-hoon’s former UB Entertainment.

One, two… three…

As Choi Hong-seo was counting numbers with his fingers folded for the first time in a long while, a vibration rang in his coat pocket.

Recently, he has been getting off work earlier and earlier. Choi Hong-seo’s day was already busy with just acting lessons and a couple of workouts, but these days, Lee Hae-seong usually comes out to pick him up when he finishes his last schedule of the day.

It’s unlikely that ARA’s vice president would be more relaxed than usual at the end of the year.

He spoke and acted normally in front of Choi Hong-seo, saying that there was nothing strange at all, but the anxiety and tension hidden beneath the surface were so thick that they could be seen through the packaging.

Choi Hong-seo opened the back seat door by pressing the button without counting the numbers. The bodyguard in the driver’s seat quickly grabbed the fruit basket. Before getting out of the car, Choi Hong-seo spoke to the front seat.

“Can I go alone?”

“I’m sorry, but that’s difficult. I’ll wait in front of the office so you two can talk.”

Choi Hong-seo nodded, saying he knew it, quickly sent a reply, and then got out of the car.

■

Choi Hong-seo was guided to CEO Im Sang-jin’s office. He could sense the few employees glancing at ‘Yoon Hye-an’ and whispering. Perhaps they were also acquainted with the previous Yoon Hye-an. He couldn’t know what they would think of the current Yoon Hye-an, who awkwardly nodded and passed by as if she were a stranger. Perhaps the previous Yoon Hye-an would have completely ignored these people and passed by.

The ENA CEO’s room was a cramped office with a four-person sofa set pushed up against a desk. CEO Lim, who was smoking a cigarette, got up and sat up when ‘Yoon Hye-an’ came in.

“Haha, I’ve gotten to receive all kinds of things like this from Yoon Hye-an. I like things like beef better, but does it look good?”

While accepting a fruit basket from a bodyguard who was approaching a few steps ahead of Choi Hong-seo, Representative Lim asked Choi Hong-seo in a low voice.

“But, do the three of you have to talk about it together?”

“No, I’ll wait in the hallway.”

As the bodyguard closed the glass door and left, Mr. Lim muttered as he followed his head poking out of the opaque glass.

“I guess Lee Hae-seong doesn’t trust you very much?”

“……”

“Aren’t you going so far as to attach something like that to monitor me? Don’t you stick with other guys too?”

“That’s not it.”

Representative Lim, who was curiously looking at the bodyguard beyond the glass wall, turned his gaze to ‘Yoon Hye-an’. Judging from her mysterious expression, he thought he knew. In the past, Yoon Hye-an had been in relationships with other men even though she had a sponsor. It wasn’t something new. That unpleasant idol member he had met at the birthday party seemed to be someone he had hung out with in that way.

“So, what did you want to know?”

Representative Lim, who was looking at a colorful fruit basket that was quite heavy, smiled brightly as he looked at Yoon Hye-an over the basket.

“Now that you’re in ARA’s inner chambers, didn’t you never set foot in such a shabby place before you were dethroned?”

“I guess that’s what I used to be like.”

“What, you’re still maintaining the setting that you don’t remember?”

As if it was different from what he had expected, Representative Lim frowned as he ran his hand through his short, graying hair.

“I came to see you because I thought you might know something that Dong-ha might resent me for.”

“Isn’t that something you can find just by searching the Internet?”

Representative Lim picked up a pack of cigarettes on the table, leaned back against his chair, and lit a cigarette with the filter in his mouth, muttering to himself as if he were performing a ventriloquism.

“You came to me to ask me that directly? Was it true that you didn’t remember?”

“The information floating around on the internet. I don’t think it’s all about me abandoning ‘Titan’ at a crucial time.”

“……”

Hoo. As he exhaled the first sip of smoke, Mr. Lim looked this way. The color of his gaze had changed. The impression of a middle-aged man who was somewhat rough but friendly and kind-hearted was gone, and the eyes and expression of a merchant who did not want to be exploited or suffer losses were in his place.

“You already know this, but seeing as you came to me with this basket… it really is true that you don’t remember.”

“I have never lied since I woke up.”

“We all know that Yoon Hye-an is a person who would do that and still be like that. So what can we do if it’s unfair?”

Representative Lim continued speaking, carelessly tapping the ashes that had not yet burned out completely on an ashtray.

“Even if you don’t remember, everyone else remembers. Just because you say you don’t remember, it’s not like everyone else can reset their memories of you, right?”

“That’s why I came to ask you this. What was I like in the past? What happened between you and Dong-ha?”

Representative Lim’s face, holding a cigarette to his lips with fingers as thick as sausages and hands as thick as a pot lid, still did not seem to trust Yoon Hye-an 100%.

“But I feel like I don’t have enough mouth to talk about it with just a fruit basket.”

“What are you talking about?”

“If you could have asked Dong-ha directly, you wouldn’t have come to me. Isn’t that right?”

“That was sent by the vice president.”

“okay?”

At that moment, Representative Lim’s eyes lit up.

He broke off the cigarette he hadn’t even smoked a few times, took off the plastic wrap around the basket, wiped a perfectly ripe apple on his trouser leg, and took a bite. While chewing the apple, he searched through the fruit until he found a slender envelope. After checking the contents, CEO Lim couldn’t help but laugh, shaking his shoulders.

“Ah… That’s true. You’re different from those empty-headed people who got their own seats thanks to their well-off parents. You know what you’re talking about.”

“So, why did Dong-ha start to resent me?”

Wow.

Taking another bite of the apple, Representative Lim began to speak.

“Once you started meeting sponsors, good things started coming in. They were things that came to you personally.”

“……”

“Once Yoon Hye-an became known and gained popularity, ‘Titan’s’ popularity also started to rise. Until then, Dong-ha and the other members were all grateful to you.”

“Thank you?”

“Who would want to give a back to a sponsor? Hyean-hyung sacrificed himself to save the team. They were grateful, as if he were some kind of noble sacrifice. That’s why everyone tolerated you even when you were acting unlucky.”

Wagjak. Taking another bite of the apple, Representative Lim added in a nonchalant tone.

“Actually, you didn’t do anything for the team or anything, you just voluntarily went out of your way to find a sponsor so that you could do well.”

“How do you know? Was it voluntary or something?”

“I told you not to.”

“……”

“Trying to get something by using the rich and powerful. It’s not easy. Even if it looks like ‘give and take’ at the moment, they are a race that doesn’t understand that they have to deal with people like us. Do they need something from us? Then they just take it and ‘take’ it. They don’t think there’s a need to ‘give’ anything.”

Representative Lim, who had been enjoying the apple until then, suddenly put down the half-eaten apple on the table as if he had lost his appetite. Then he looked for a new cigarette and lit it.

Choi Hong-seo knew better than anyone what that meant. Although there may have been differences in degree, none of the upper-class people Choi Hong-seo met thought of people as equal. Except for one man, a special and unique man.

“When you were doing well as a lead actor in a drama, the condition set by your sponsor at the time was that you leave the team.”

“Yunhye… I didn’t leave on my own, did I?”

“I told you that if you left the team, I would push you to become an actor. But you abandoned the team without looking back.”

Choi Hong-seo’s expression, which had been maintaining his composure, wavered.

Even if Yoon Hye-an, who had gained popularity, had left the team on her own initiative, it would not have been a very good situation. However, if the conclusion of the request to make a choice was to abandon the team, the betrayal of those who were left behind would have been even greater.

“Dong-ha got down on his knees to catch you.”

At Representative Lim’s hoarse voice, Choi Hong-seo, who was looking down at the leftover apples on the table, slowly turned his gaze toward him.

“Even if it wasn’t for you, for that Dong-ha guy, ‘Titan’ was like his only hope.”

“……”

“There’s a lot going on in the house, so he’s practically the head of the household. And around that time, my father hurt his back while working at a moving company. Damn… Things like that just keep happening in houses that aren’t full of people.”

Mr. Lim muttered in a complaining tone and tossed the ashes from his cigarette into an ashtray.

“I need major surgery right away, and I can’t even get a loan… That guy, he literally clung to your trouser leg. Begging you to save him. Begging you to save him, and begging you to save his father.”

Choi Hong-seo’s eyebrows furrowed. It was a story he had vaguely heard when he went to Park Dong-ha’s luxury officetel with Yong-jae.

“So… how did Dong-ha’s father get the surgery?”

“I didn’t have enough money to pay the debt at that time. I’m not a businessman who makes a lot of money. ‘Titan’ wasn’t even able to recover its investment. In the end, there was no other solution than private loans.”