The Crazy Mercenary Commander Goes to Work in the Entertainment Industry

Lee Chan-hoo described to Ha Yeon-ji what he’d seen of Top Actor Woo Jeong-cheol through ’Search’. His location, and what he was doing in that exact moment.

”A room inside a club. Doesn’t look like a regular room, more of a hidden one. Men and women all tangled up like animals, booze everywhere, drugs everywhere, total mess.”

”And Woo Jeong-cheol?”

”The biggest mess of all of them. Drooling all over himself. Can’t tell if he’s high or just drunk.”

”Both, probably.”

Ha Yeon-ji gave a faint smile and murmured as she looked at the photo of Woo Jeong-cheol she’d taken earlier with her camera.

”At this point... no need to dig any further. Enough circumstantial evidence, drop the article to make it an issue, and the police will start their own investigation. The hard evidence is inside Woo Jeong-cheol’s body anyway.”

”Okay, then we just go report this to the Commander.”

”The Commander said not to go straight to the cops, right?”

”Yeah. Said there’s something he wants to get out of it before we drop the bomb.”

”What’s he scheming this time… Sometimes I want to crack open the Commander’s head and take a look inside.”

”Go for it, I’ll cheer you on.”

”Are you crazy. You trying to get me killed?”

Lee Chan-hoo cackled, narrowing his already thin eyes even further.

”But it’s weird, you know. Top Actor like Woo Jeong-cheol, what does he need that he doesn’t have? Why mess with drugs? And in a place like that. So tacky.”

Ha Yeon-ji lowered the camera she’d been looking at and answered casually.

”Whether it starts out of curiosity or somebody’s recommendation. The first time, they’re as discreet as possible, careful not to get caught by anyone. But humans are creatures of adaptation. Repeat it enough times and you get sloppy, and more than anything, your judgment goes fuzzy. The drugs do their work too.”

”So the addiction the drugs deepen ends up cutting through reason?”

”Why do you think drug scandals never stop in the entertainment industry? On top of that.”

The expression suddenly drained from Ha Yeon-ji’s face, and she spoke flatly.

”Addiction. We were the same way, weren’t we? In the other world. Even if it was about survival, even if the world was different.”

”…Yeah, I guess we were.”

She was talking about war, about killing. A completely different world, but they too had experienced an addiction of their own. Both of them thought of Kim Ho-yeon. Still, there was no danger of breaking down anymore. Ha Yeon-ji put the reason into words.

”Maybe meeting the Commander early was our stroke of luck...”

Lee Chan-hoo laughed shortly.

”Whether he’s around or not makes a huge difference. Without him, we’re just a bunch of crazy bastards. With him, everything falls into place.”

In war, when the head of the leader is cut off, the soldiers usually fall apart fast. Especially for the members of ’MEG’, who all carried ’abilities’, the existence of Kang Jae-ha was critical.

The moment he disappeared, some kind of balance would collapse.

Then Lee Chan-hoo started the car and muttered.

”All right, shall we go report to that Commander of ours...”

Past midnight, the ’MEG’ office.

By the time Lee Chan-hoo and Ha Yeon-ji returned, Kang Jae-ha was sitting in the ’MEG’ office with his eyes closed. Seated at the six-person table, arms folded. Beside him, Go Chun-seok was in much the same posture, hard to miss. Not a common sight, so Ha Yeon-ji smiled and pressed an index finger to her lips. Lee Chan-hoo nodded.

Then Ha Yeon-ji.

-Swish.

aimed her camera at Kang Jae-ha. Bulky Go Chun-seok kept getting in the way, but with the Commander’s eyes-closed face caught in the frame, Ha Yeon-ji murmured to herself.

’He’s actually pretty good-looking, come to think of it.’

Whether he sensed someone there or not, Kang Jae-ha, still with his arms folded, slowly opened his eyes. Meeting the Commander’s eyes from up close, Ha Yeon-ji let out an awkward laugh.

”Ah. Caught me.”

Go Chun-seok, who had opened his eyes at the same time as the Commander, fetched a bottle of water and presented it to Jae-ha. With something like a ’thanks’, Kang Jae-ha yawned and held out his hand to Ha Yeon-ji. Meaning, hand over the camera.

”Did you confirm Woo Jeong-cheol.”

The one who answered was Lee Chan-hoo, taking a seat across from Kang Jae-ha.

”Yep. Woo Jeong-cheol, soaked in drugs just like the Commander said.”

Ha Yeon-ji cut in here.

”By the way~ Go Chun-seok, what were you up to?”

”I was resting with the Commander-nim.”

”Ahh. Commander, where’s Cha Chung-hyeon?”

”At home. I sent him to sleep. The man needs to recharge.”

”Wow, here we are pulling all-nighters! Even the Commander’s working! And the new guy already clocked out??”

”In return, Cha Chung-hyeon will come in almost every day. Unlike you.”

Lee Chan-hoo sighed softly and lightly smacked Ha Yeon-ji on the head.

”He pays you overtime properly, what are you whining about.”

”I was just trying to lighten the mood. But seriously, you smacked my head? You’re crossing a line.”

”Ah, sorry.”

”Yeah, noted.”

Kang Jae-ha cut off their back-and-forth.

”Woo Jeong-cheol. Explain in detail.”

Lee Chan-hoo and Ha Yeon-ji then briefed Jae-ha on everything from the moment Top Actor Woo Jeong-cheol entered the club to the section where he was deep in the booze and drug party inside. Ha Yeon-ji tapped the camera Kang Jae-ha was looking at with her index finger.

”Drop this and Woo Jeong-cheol’s done for.”

”Looks that way.”

”Not dropping it right away?”

”No, not yet.”

Kang Jae-ha recalled the ’Deja Vu’ of Master Director Yu Gil-tae.

’According to the Deja Vu, his new film is going to be a huge hit. But after it released, Woo Jeong-cheol’s drug case blew up. Woo Jeong-cheol was the lead of that new film. After that, well, everything goes to hell.’

In any case, the chances were high that Woo Jeong-cheol had already been locked in as the male lead of Director Yu Gil-tae’s new film. That actually worked in Kang Jae-ha’s favor. Jae-ha lifted his head and met Lee Chan-hoo’s narrow eyes.

”Lee Chan-hoo, you’re going to take this card and meet Director Yu Gil-tae.”

”Hm? You think a Master Director like that’s just going to agree to meet me if I ask?”

”That’s why you’d better run your mouth properly.”

Smiling faintly, Kang Jae-ha laid out the plan he’d already worked up for Lee Chan-hoo. Lee Chan-hoo got it quickly and nodded.

”So in the end, the picture is ’MEG’ wedging itself into that Master Director’s new film?? No wait, we save the Master Director and earn ourselves an investment seat?”

Master Director or not, ’MEG’ was going to have its hands all over it. As the discussion was wrapping up, Ha Yeon-ji handed Kang Jae-ha a clear file.

”Commander, the entertainment companies you asked me to look into.”

It was the candidate list of entertainment companies to acquire, the ones Kang Jae-ha had instructed her to look up.

About an hour later.

Lee Chan-hoo, Ha Yeon-ji, and Go Chun-seok had all clocked out, but Kang Jae-ha was still left at the ’MEG’ office. Well, this was probably the Commander’s fate. Right now, Kang Jae-ha was.

”Hmm…”

going through the clear file Ha Yeon-ji had handed over with a serious look. The list she’d given him laid out a lot of entertainment companies. All of them met the conditions Jae-ha had specified.

Mostly small or small-to-mid-sized, on the verge of going under or already going under, with talent but no money: that was best.

Jae-ha started narrowing down the listed candidates yet again.

’They can’t be too tiny.’

Ones at a scale where building from scratch wouldn’t be much different got cut. Companies with settlement issues or any trouble in the past few years were also excluded. From there, Kang Jae-ha kept whittling the entertainment companies down through his own filters.

And eventually.

’About this much.’

Kang Jae-ha had narrowed the entertainment list down to three.

-Lumia Entertainment.

-LX Entertainment.

-ZER Entertainment.

Three companies of suitable size, with substantial track records, currently struggling financially. Looking at the three filtered entertainment companies, Kang Jae-ha crossed his legs.

’Hmm... I’d like to see these three in person.’

It wasn’t that hard. If he scheduled the meetings mostly in the afternoon and went himself, he could just throw on a mask or cover his face a bit. The other side wouldn’t make a big deal out of it.

’Lee Chan-hoo will be doing most of the talking anyway.’

Then the next morning, the 14th.

Surprisingly, the first one to arrive at the ’MEG’ office was Cha Chung-hyeon, still looking half-asleep. He yawned as he glanced around the ’MEG’ office.

”It’s not my own office... so coming in to work here, I still haven’t gotten used to it.”

He muttered, taking a long sip of the iced tea in his hand as he sat down at his newly arranged desk. On the desk, on top of the scattered papers, lay a clear file. A Post-it was stuck on it.

The Post-it bore the Commander’s instructions.

-These three entertainment companies. Get an exact read on their financial state.

Financial state included everything from cash flow to whether there were any legal issues. Tax evasion, etc. Cha Chung-hyeon scratched his chin slowly and stretched as he muttered.

”Something like this is easy.”

At the same time, Netflix Korea.

Currently, Netflix Korea was in the final stretch of selecting writers for the ’One-Act Drama Project’. A total of six writers. In other words, six works were going to be picked, and now there was about one work left.

At that Netflix Korea’s executive director’s office.

A knock spread through the executive director’s office where bald-headed Heo Seong-jin, the executive director, was seated.

-Knock knock.

A female employee soon poked her head in.

”Director, Writer Jong-man-nim is here.”

At the words ’Writer Jong-man’, Executive Director Heo Seong-jin reacted immediately. Among the selected writers, he was easily the standout prospect.

”Oh, oh! Show him in, quickly.”

”But, um……”

”What is it?”

The female employee, with a strange look in her eyes, seemed slightly flustered. Executive Director Heo Seong-jin furrowed his brow and asked.

”What’s wrong?”

The female employee shook her head.

”I think it’s better if you see for yourself.”

After the female employee left the executive director’s office, a man with a rough-looking face slowly entered. He greeted with a smile mixed with embarrassment.

”Hello.”

The moment he saw him, Executive Director Heo Seong-jin recognized him at once.

”…Huh?”

The ’Writer Jong-man’ standing in front of him was definitely a familiar face.

”Aren’t you……the actor, Oh Jong-man-ssi?”

’Writer Jong-man’ was the actor Oh Jong-man, who had once been quite a name in supporting roles. Caught off guard, Executive Director Heo Seong-jin ran his hand across his bald head.

”Wait, what is this... Writer Jong-man-nim was really the actor Oh Jong-man-ssi?”

He’d let it slide as a maybe, but Writer Jong-man really was the actor Oh Jong-man. With his eyes wide, Executive Director Heo Seong-jin first offered Oh Jong-man a handshake.

”P-please, have a seat. Wow... I’m shocked.”

Oh Jong-man scratched his head awkwardly.

”Thank you for remembering me.”

”Even if you took a bit of a break, anyone in the know would remember. What happened? You quit acting and switched over to writing?”

”That’s right. One thing led to another, and here I am, haha.”

One thing led to another? No, was this really something to be brushed off so lightly? At least to Executive Director Heo Seong-jin of Netflix Korea, this was anything but light. Someone who had been an actor for so long quitting acting to become a writer.

’At the very least... this is the first time I’ve seen it firsthand.’

In Hollywood it existed. Actors writing screenplays, or directing. There were a few in Korea too, but those were directors, never a writer until now.

’……Is it the influence of that incident? Whatever it is, it’s amazing.’

Executive Director Heo Seong-jin was also aware of the Oh Jong-man case. And of course, the fact that he’d been cleared. Whatever the reason, perhaps because of the fresh shock, Executive Director Heo Seong-jin’s questions kept coming.

”How long has it been since you switched to writing?”

”A little less than half a year.”

”Excluding revisions... about two months?”

”……”

Executive Director Heo Seong-jin’s eyes grew wider and wider.

’Not even a few years since switching to writing. He produced a piece of work like that in just a few months?’

And on top of that, he’d been picked first at Netflix Korea.

’Unless he had a writer’s talent from the start, this level doesn’t make sense.’

At that moment, Oh Jong-man opened his mouth.

”Someone recommended that I switch to writing. They told me about the Netflix open call too. The period was short, but I really wrote like I was at war.”

’The person who recommended writing to Jong-man-ssi. I don’t know who they are, but they’re an incredible benefactor.’

The corners of Executive Director Heo Seong-jin’s mouth lifted as he murmured to Oh Jong-man.

”Writer Jong-man-nim… when this gets out to the public down the line, it’s going to be quite an issue.”

He corrected himself.

”No, not just ’quite’, but a major one.”

Around afternoon.

The location was the conference room of a major film company. Inside the spacious conference room, a man could be seen sitting alone at the rectangular table. Gaunt, with round glasses on. None other than Master Director Yu Gil-tae.

”……”

In front of him as he silently looked at his phone lay a fairly thick stack of papers, and he was currently waiting on an actor. The name of that actor was displayed on Director Yu Gil-tae’s phone in an article.

《[Star Talk] Yoon Da-yeon, Hot After BIFF, Shows Off Witty Banter on YouTube Talk Show / Photo》

The one Director Yu Gil-tae was about to meet was Yoon Da-yeon. Of course, Yoon Da-yeon wasn’t the only actor Director Yu Gil-tae was meeting today. He’d had meetings with several actors since morning, and Yoon Da-yeon was nearly the last one. The early build-up phase of the new film’s production was in full swing.

Yoon Da-yeon too had said she’d nearly arrived with her manager, so she’d be sitting across from him soon enough.

’The lead casting is already done. Now the supporting roles... and Yoon Da-yeon among them is an absolute must-have.’

Just as Director Yu Gil-tae was internally voicing his desire for Yoon Da-yeon.

-♬♪

The phone in Director Yu Gil-tae’s hand let out a ringtone. The caller showed up as a number not saved in his phone. Tilting his head slightly, Director Yu Gil-tae brought the phone to his ear.

”Yes, this is Yu Gil-tae.”

A man’s voice came through from the other end of the phone.

”Hello, Director-nim. I’m Lee Chan-hoo from ’MEG’.”

”Lee Chan-hoo from ’MEG’?”

As Director Yu Gil-tae echoed it back and furrowed his brow, in his mind, all at once.

’Ah.’

’MEG’, the one he’d seen at BIFF, flashed by. The investment company ’MEG’ he’d seen in the end credits of ’Condensation’, and at the closing ceremony as well. Director Kwon Sung-min had even mentioned them in his acceptance speech. But why was ’MEG’ calling him?

A question mark hovering over him, Director Yu Gil-tae asked right away.

”Ah, yes. But what’s the reason for the call?”

”It’s a very, very... important matter. Could I meet with you, Director-nim?”

Director Yu Gil-tae took a defensive stance for now. He was Yu Gil-tae, one of the foremost Masters in the country. Investors approaching him like this were a dime a dozen.

”…Hmm, this is sudden. I don’t have much time either. What’s the reason?”

”Even if you don’t have time, you’ll be better off meeting me.”

In a fairly calm tone, Lee Chan-hoo continued.

”Because it’s a matter that could very easily ruin your new film, Director-nim.”

Of course, that was a line the Commander had set up for him.