When Miso said that Jin Sol-Ah had confessed to me, Writers Lee Ji-Yeon and Kim Soll-Ip immediately perked up, their faces lit with intrigue. Even Writer Han Woo-Ju was staring at Miso, who was now holding a drumstick like a microphone, hanging on to her every word.

That's when Yoo-Jin chuckled, clearly amused. "Oh yeah?"

Miso nodded. "Yup!"

"Who was this lady?"

"I don't really know her name! She was another cover model." Miso answered confidently and dropped the subject just like that, offering the drumstick she held to Lee Ji-Yeon. "Here, Mrs. Lee! This is for you!"

Lee Ji-Yeon looked at her with deep affection. "Thank you, Miso."

Miso, sweet as always, made sure Lee Ji-Yeon ate first.

'But sweetness aside—Miso. Why would you stop the story there?'

Yoo-Jin turned to me with a soft smile. It suddenly felt like a cold draft was creeping in from somewhere. That couldn't be good.

Then Miso picked up another drumstick and held it out to me. "Uncle Yoon-Ho! This is for you!"

'A perfect dose of poison and antidote.'

I turned to the very source of my distress and pleaded. "Mi-Miso. Could you maybe finish the story first before giving out chicken?"

If I jumped in to explain now, it would only seem defensive. It was better to let Miso clarify things herself.

'Please, Miso. Be thorough.'

"Oh, right!"

Miso lifted the drumstick she was going to hand me, now gripping it like a mic again, and started talking.

"Mommy. But then, Uncle Yoon-Ho told that lady he wasn't interested! He opened his eyes real wide and gave her a serious look!"

She squinted and furrowed her brow to mimic me, and Yoo-Jin glanced over and asked quietly, "Is that true?"

Miso nodded. I nodded too, vigorously.

'See, Yoo-Jin? I didn't do anything.'

Just then, Yoo-Jin turned to Miso again. "And then what?"

'No—this was the perfect place to end the story.'

However, the sweet Miso didn't leave anything out. She delivered the raw, unfiltered truth. "Uncle Yoon-Ho said he already has someone he likes!"

At those words, Yoo-Jin's eyes grew round. Lee Ji-Yeon, Kim Soll-Ip, and Han Woo-Ju—all still holding chicken—turned to stare straight at me.

"Oppa. Who is it that you like?"

This was bad. At this rate, I wasn't going to make it through the night. Unable to bear the rollercoaster of Miso's tale any longer, I rushed to explain.

"Ah, well... Jin Sol-Ah was really persistent, you know? So I tried to shake her off by redirecting the conversation. That's all. And besides, she's totally not my type."

Miso nodded again in agreement with what I said. "That's right! So today I became Uncle Yoon-Ho's girlfriend. He was the number one most popular male celebrity today, and people kept swarming him! Oh, and even celebrities at the station came up to talk to him!"

It was true. Several celebrities had approached me at the station.

"But I stuck with him the whole time to protect him. I did good, right, Mommy?"

Miso beamed proudly. That finally explained why she hadn't left my side all day. It also explained why she insisted on riding with me instead of in another car when Lee Ji-Yeon suggested otherwise.

Then Yoo-Jin, eyes twinkling, asked, "But oppa, you're usually not that cold to strangers. She's a rookie, right...? Do you know her or something?"

Yoo-Jin's intuition was annoyingly sharp at times. There was no helping it. I had to shut that down. Instead of answering, I turned to Miso, who was about to offer me the drumstick again.

"Miso, give that drumstick to your mom. I don't really like drumsticks. Give it to her. Go on, to your mom."

I took Miso's wrist and gently nudged the drumstick toward Yoo-Jin's mouth.

Chomp.

Yoo-Jin bit into it and then passed me a tissue. "Oppa... wipe that radish juice off your hand. Hehehe."

"Uh, thanks."

I took the tissue and cleaned my hand. However, Yoo-Jin just kept laughing for some reason.

That's when Lee Ji-Yeon smirked as she watched me reach for a wing. "Yoon-Ho must like wings. Wings, huh?"

Everyone nodded. "Ah~ I see. That explains a lot."

I hadn't even done anything, and yet it felt like I was being convicted of something.

"Wings? What about them!" I cried.

Kim Soll-Ip immediately swiped the wings away from in front of me. "No big deal. Wings are tasty. But Mr. Jung, you can't have those. You get breast meat. Dry, safe breast meat."

Han Woo-Ju nodded solemnly. "Legs are off-limits too. Can't have you flying or running away."

Kim Soll-Ip took the wings and legs off my plate. Just then, Yoo-Jin, who had been about to sneak me a wing, slowly lowered it in silence after hearing the writers.

Instead, she handed me the neck. "Oppa, I heard this part's a delicacy. Here, try this."

'Is that a threat? Is this her way of saying if I got any ideas, she'd go for my throat?'

I had no idea what Yoo-Jin meant, but I had no choice but to accept it.

'My drumsticks! My wings!'

Suddenly, a wave of fury toward Jin Sol-Ah surged within me.

'Jin Sol-Ah. This is all your fault.'

Next time we meet, I was determined we would definitely get even.

Crunch.

***

In the most private VIP room of Ilshim, a Japanese restaurant located in Cheongdam-dong, a gathering of the so-called Faithful circle was underway.

Attending were Chairman Hong Moon-Gyu of HK Inc., ranked 12th in the business world; Sung Hak-Soo, son-in-law of Daechon Inc.'s founder; Park Sang-Ah, only daughter of presidential candidate Park Sang-Gon—the former ruling party leader—and Jin Myung-Gyu, vice president of Jinseong Inc.; along with Jin Myung-Hee, the president of Jinseong Hotel & Resort.

Also present at the table was Hong Moon-Gyu's second daughter, Director Hong Ah-Yoon, who now led the newly launched HK Entertainment.

In keeping with the stature of those gathered, a massive wooden round table was topped with a disassembled greater amberjack, over a meter long, flown in from Jeju Island. An ultra-premium junmai daiginjo sake from Japan had also been uncorked, its delicate, sweet aroma wafting gently through the air.

Yet not a single person paid attention to the mountain of food. Instead, they focused entirely on whoever was dipping sashimi into soy sauce across from them. 𝗳𝐫𝚎𝗲𝚠𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝘃𝚎𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝗺

The man stuffing a lettuce wrap so full it nearly burst at the seams—a vigorous man in his sixties—was none other than Park Sang-Gon, a major figure in the conservative party.

"The fish is great today. What's everyone waiting for?"

Though he had resigned from his party leadership role with no serious rivals in sight, Park Sang-Gon remained the most likely candidate for the next presidency. Despite losing the election, he showed no signs of gloom.

At that, Hong Moon-Gyu furrowed his brows and asked, "You've got quite the appetite for someone who just lost an election."

Wiping his mouth, Park Sang-Gon downed a shot of sake and laughed. "Hahaha. Precisely because I lost, I need to eat well and get my strength back. Politics isn't for the weak. And you know that no game's over until the final whistle."

Everyone there had to admit that Park Sang-Gon was no ordinary man.

Hong Moon-Gyu shook his head and turned to his daughter. "So, Ah-Yoon. You said you spent a few days around Jung Yoon-Ho... What did you think?"

Hong Ah-Yoon shrugged casually, her expression calm. "Just as you and everyone else said, he's not normal. Not only is he sharp for someone not even thirty but he's seasoned too."

As soon as Hong Ah-Yoon praised Jung Yoon-Ho, Jin Myung-Gyu scoffed. "Who here doesn't know that? I told you already. Even if you go all out trying to crush him, he slips away like an eel!"

However, Hong Ah-Yoon shot back coldly, unimpressed by the man seventeen years her senior who was still throwing tantrums like a child. "You should at least be accurate, even with an enemy. He didn't slip away. He went head-on against everyone here and won. And if anything, he's more like a dragon in waiting than an eel."

"Hey, Hong Ah-Yoon. Are you here to gloat?"

When Hong Ah-Yoon clicked her tongue at Jin Myung-Gyu, Hong Moon-Gyu stepped in to ease the tension. "Ah-Yoon, don't rile Myung-Gyu up. Just get to the point. Can you bring him down?"

Hong Ah-Yoon let out a small laugh. "Yes. I think I can."

Park Sang-Gon wiped his mouth and narrowed his eyes. "And how exactly do you plan to crush that bastard, huh?"

At that, Hong Ah-Yoon flashed a bright smile and looked around the room. "If I succeed in bringing him down, what will you all do for me?"

Jin Myung-Gyu blinked in disbelief. "You want a reward now? Are you kidding me? Besides, our funding from Chairman Choi Eun-Tae in Myeongdong has been cut off. We've got nothing to give even if we wanted to."

"That's exactly why I'm asking now. And doesn't Chairman Choi really like Jung Yoon-Ho? If I back him into a corner, Chairman Choi Eun-Tae will have to cut him loose too. That means I'll be the one who unshackles you all. That makes me your savior and that's worth compensation. Postpaid is fine. Don't worry."

Sung Hak-Soo, who had some familiarity with Hong Ah-Yoon, sighed. "Ah-Yoon, why don't you just say what you want?"

Hong Ah-Yoon glanced at Hong Moon-Gyu, and he nodded.

After reading the signal, Hong Ah-Yoon laid out her demand. "Each of you—hand over 10% of your core affiliate shares."

Outrage spread instantly. Ten percent of their main subsidiaries would seriously endanger their hold on management control.

As expected, Jin Myung-Gyu burst out again. "Hong Ah-Yoon! Are you playing games in front of your elders?"

Hong Ah-Yoon replied with a bored look. "If you don't like it, then don't agree."

"You little—!"

As Hong Ah-Yoon's boldness shook the room, Sung Hak-Soo pressed further. "Ah-Yoon. I'm sorry, but from what I heard, you got stepped on from day one. Where's that confidence coming from?"

"Stepped on? Who got stepped on? I just threw a jab, that's all. So what's it going to be? Are you giving it to me, or not?"

That was when Park Sang-Gon grabbed three slices of sashimi at once and spoke. "I'll give you 10% of my stake in S Industries. I'm in. Just make sure you succeed."

S Industries was the company where Park Sang-Gon's slush funds were created and laundered.

Startled, his daughter Park Sang-Ah spoke up urgently. "Dad, that place is—"

"That's enough. Ten percent is cheap, if anything. To get to Chairman Choi, we have to step on that bastard first. That's the only way to break this deadlock."

"...Alright."

Once Park Sang-Gon put his shares on the table, the rest eventually nodded one by one and promised to transfer theirs as well. With Choi Eun-Tae's attack cutting off their cash flow, the members of Faithful were in dire straits. If they could just get hold of Jung Yoon-Ho's weakness, they would have a chance to shake Choi Eun-Tae and force a decisive showdown.

Then Hong Moon-Gyu spoke. "Alright. Then tell us. How exactly are you going to step on him?"

Hong Ah-Yoon gave a crooked smile. "What about you, Dad?"

"What?"

"I'll manage HK Entertainment myself, so aside from that... you should give me something too."

Hong Moon-Gyu looked dumbfounded. "You're ruthless. You really have to squeeze your own father too?"

"Of course. Whose daughter do you think I am?"

After a moment of thought, Hong Moon-Gyu answered. "Fine. Then I'll transfer 5% each of HK Electronics and HK Apparel—the shares of your brothers who went to prison. Will that do?"

"That's more than enough."

"Then talk. What's your plan for Jung Yoon-Ho?"

Hong Ah-Yoon looked around the table and said, "After clashing with Jung Yoon-Ho for a few days, I finally realized why all of you kept losing. It's because you all acted like the 'alpha."

Sung Hak-Soo tilted his head. "Alpha?"

"Yes. From what I can see, at least in the entertainment industry, Jung Yoon-Ho is the alpha compared to us."

Everyone's faces twisted in unison. Everyone in that room belonged to royal families that had competed for the very top of the business world. They were people who had lived their entire lives believing they were always the ones on top.

As expected, Jin Myung-Gyu trembled with rage as he spoke. "That brat is the alpha? A nobody talent agent who isn't even royal blood?"

Hong Ah-Yoon shook her head slowly. "Hah. You're still thinking like that. Well, that's why you kept losing."

"Hey, Hong Ah-Yoon! Are you done talking now?"

At that moment, Hong Moon-Gyu also spoke, barely holding back his anger. "Myung-Gyu, be quiet. Ah-Yoon, keep going. We control all the advertising and everything else. So how is he the alpha?"

Hong Ah-Yoon puckered her lips slightly as she answered. "The people he's raised—Jung Yoo-Jin, Jung Miso, Lee Tae-Poong, Haru, Kang Ha-Na, Cherry Blossom, Go Jae-Soo, and recently even Park Sang-Gyu and Choi Deok-Bae. They're all dominating the Korean entertainment industry. At this point, isn't it strange to deny that Jung Yoon-Ho is number one?"

Hong Moon-Gyu's face reddened. "I didn't bring you here to listen to you praise him. So what are you going to do?"

Hong Ah-Yoon licked her lips and smiled. "I'm going hunting."

"Hunting?"

"Anything that's number one has a lot to lose. His projects, his people, whatever it is. Steal away his people, sabotage his projects. There's no shortage of things to do."

As Hong Ah-Yoon's eyes flashed like a predator about to hunt, Sung Hak-Soo curled the corner of his mouth upward. "So Jung Yoon-Ho is the one who has to defend now, huh?"

"Exactly. Everyone knows how hard it is to become number one. But keeping that position is even harder."

As expected, the gathered elites, each of them reigning over some top-ranking business in their own field, understood exactly what Hong Ah-Yoon meant.

"And another thing. You've all been way too polite. Why have you left Kang Gam-Chan, the president of Hoop Entertainment, and Director Kang Ji-Yung alone all this time? Friends! Family! Acquaintances! Everyone connected to him is a potential weakness. Why aren't you doing anything with them? I don't get it."

No one responded. The members of Faithful had always acted through proxies to protect their positions. And as leaders of society, maintaining a respectable public image mattered to all of them. However, Hong Ah-Yoon didn't care about any of that.

Hong Moon-Gyu watched his daughter with a satisfied smile. "My daughter takes after me most. They say even a lion hunts a rabbit with all its might. We've just gotten too fat and lazy."

Gradually, the others began to nod in agreement. They could no longer deny that in the entertainment industry, Jung Yoon-Ho held the upper hand. It was time to change their entire approach.

Seeing the shift in the room, Hong Moon-Gyu grinned. "My daughter might be a wild one, but she's damn good at finding an enemy's weakness and getting the job done. Otherwise, would I have handed HK Entertainment over to a kid like her?"

Hong Ah-Yoon scoffed. "Wild one? Dad! You're seriously calling your daughter that?"

"Oh? And isn't it wild for a daughter to squeeze her dad for shares?"

"Tch." Muttering under her breath, Hong Ah-Yoon composed herself and addressed the group. "First, I'll name a new president for HK Entertainment. Then we'll start tightening the noose."

Smiles began to appear around the table.

Then Park Sang-Gon raised his voice with a hearty laugh. "Come on, people! Even at Mount Geumgang, you eat before you admire the scenery. Since Miss Ah-Yoon's got this under control, let's all enjoy a good meal."

With the alliance between Hong Ah-Yoon and Park Sang-Gon freshly forged, the members of Faithful rediscovered their appetite and reached for their chopsticks.

***

The next morning, the writers—including Lee Ji-Yeon—had overslept, so I left without even saying goodbye and headed to the company. In the underground parking lot of Hoop Entertainment, I parked and headed toward the elevator.

That was when I noticed a new notice posted near the doors.

"It's finally up."

[Notice of Disciplinary Committee Hearing]

[Date: Monday, April 12]

-Managing Director Kim Jang-Bi

-Chief Yoon Dong-Gu, Singer Division 4

So far, I had secured every artist-related weakness in Singer Division 4 except for Bok Seon-Ill.

The issue of Bok Seon-Ill's out-of-wedlock child would be dealt with at the Project I.O.A. Week 5 filming site tomorrow, where I planned to confront both parties face to face. Once that was handled, Yoon Dong-Gu would no longer have any leverage within Singer Division 4. And then, we would finally be able to fire him.

Just then, a call came in from Bok Seon-Ill.

-Chief Jung! Are you at the company right now?

"Yes, I am. Is something wrong?"

-I'm in Recording Room 3. Come meet me quickly. We need to talk.

Bok Seon-Ill's voice sounded desperate.

"Understood. I'm in B1 parking right now. I'll head over immediately."

Without hesitation, I made my way to Recording Room 3 on B2.

***

The moment I stepped inside, Bok Seon-Ill greeted me with a distressed expression. "Chief Jung, it's bad. Ah-Yung says she's not going to the resort tomorrow!"

Back when he was an unknown, Bok Seon-Ill had a daughter with his first love at the age of 25. Yet struggling under the weight of poverty, the woman left him not long after. As an unmarried father, Bok Seon-Ill couldn't register his child under his own name, so he had her entered into the family registry as his parents' late-born daughter. That was how he was raising his daughter, Bok Ah-Yung, as his younger sister.

Bok Seon-Ill had been hiding the fact that he was actually her father from Bok Ah-Yung. But while managing Bok Seon-Ill, Yoon Dong-Gu learned the truth from him and had been threatening that if Bok Seon-Ill ever betrayed him, he would expose the existence of his "illegitimate child" to Bok Ah-Yung and to the public.

That was why I had planned to resolve that weakness tomorrow at the filming site of Project I.O.A. Now, Bok Ah-Yung was saying she wouldn't come to the set tomorrow.

"She said she'd come to the resort with us as of yesterday, didn't she?"

"Well... I had a huge fight with Ah-Yung this morning."

"Why?"

"I was worried Yoon Dong-Gu might try something with her, so I stopped by my parents' place today. I told her never to meet any entertainment industry talent agents no matter who they were, and that I was absolutely against her becoming a celebrity. She got angry and said she wouldn't talk to me for a week. She even left without eating... she must be starving. Damn it... what am I supposed to do? She's so skinny and weak. If she skips even one meal, she could collapse."

Bok Ah-Yung was twenty this year and would soon become a singer, but Bok Seon-Ill didn't know that yet. It looked like I would have to meet Bok Ah-Yung myself.

"Where is Ah-Yung right now?"

"Why? Are you going to persuade her, Chief Jung?"

"Yes."

In truth, I had already asked Chief Choi Go-Yoon of The Best Detective Agency to tail Bok Ah-Yung, but I pretended not to know.

"Perfect. This should be the time she's working part-time at the Yetterang Gangnam shop. She works the Saturday morning shift there."

"Understood. I'll go meet her first."

That was when my phone suddenly vibrated.

Buzz.

When I checked it, Choi Go-Yoon had sent me a photo.

[Sender: Choi Go-Yoon]

-(Attached photo: Yetterang_Gangnam_B_talking_with_woman.jpeg)]

-Isn't this woman someone from your company, Mr. Jung?

B was Bok Ah-Yung. And the woman she was talking to was So Ji-Min, a Chief from Singer Division 3 at Gwanwoo Entertainment—the same company asYoon Dong-Gu.

'Don't tell me... Yoon Dong-Gu figured it out ahead of time?'