Chapter 47: Golden Road and Park Eun-Bin (3)
Cha Tae-Hee's face turned red, resembling the Rākshasas[1] after seeing Park Eun-Bin and Jang Eun-Yung fighting.
"I was wondering what you were all up to, not showing up backstage...And this was what you were doing?”
Coldness seeped through Cha Tae-Hee's voice.
Lee Ju-Yung and I bowed deeply to apologize. "I'm sorry."
"We apologize."
Park Eun-Bin and Jang Eun-Yung also reluctantly bowed their heads in succession. But their disgruntled expressions remained even with their heads bowed. They didn’t seem the least bit sorry at all.
Cha Tae-Hee's bellow echoed through the corridor, akin to a resounding five-octave G note. "Forget it. Summon the chiefs from TK Entertainment and Hoop Entertainment to the broadcast van now!"
"Ah, no, Ms. Cha! Please let me explain about what happened..."
Sung Ji-Hyuk rushed to intervene, but Cha Tae-Hee turned away, expressing her reluctance to engage in any further conversation.
"Ah, seriously. We are fucked," uttered Sung Ji-Hyuk, as his face turned pale.
However, Park Eun-Bin simply snorted and wandered off nonchalantly, as if the situation was not her problem.
‘What a bitch. How can she act so nonchalant when this is her fault?’
However, Jang Eun-Yung was no different.
‘Jeez. Both of them are ridiculous. They started this mess, and yet they are just going to leave it to the talent agents to clean up after them?’
Then, Jang Eun-Yung nudged me. "Aren't we going? We're late."
She talked as if nothing had happened.
‘Does she have the memory of a goldfish or what?’
"Right. Let's go, Miss Eun-Yung."
Lee Ju-Yung quickly gestured for us to leave. After briefly bowing to her, I hurriedly took Jang Eun-Yung to the back of the stage.
On our way to the stage, Jang Eun-Yung didn't bother speaking a single word to me.
***
Park Han-Cheol rushed over after receiving my call. "Hey, Jung Yoon-Ho! What were you doing letting it get this far?"
"I tried to stop them, but they wouldn't listen. There's only so much I can do without using force."
Park Han-Cheol frowned and grumbled as if it was all my fault. However, after listening to my recording of the situation, he stopped blaming me.
"Take this with you when you meet the PD. It will help."
Park Han-Cheol made an awkward expression. "Ahem, ...kid. If you had something like this, why didn't you say so earlier!"
‘Not gonna give me a single word of praise, are you?’
After Park Han-Cheol asked me to send the recording to his KkTalk, he quickly rushed off, his sparse hair fluttering in the wind as he ran.
When Park Han-Cheol left, Eun Ji-Yoo, who had been watching me handle the situation, exclaimed in admiration. "Wow, Mr. Yoon-Ho. You're amazing. How did you think of recording in that situation?"
"Park Eun-Bin's temper is well known. I recorded just in case, and bingo—it paid off."
Eun Ji-Yoo looked bitter as she shifted her gaze to Golden Road on stage. "Sigh. I should start recording too. But considering Eun-Yung’s temperature, I don't know if it would be of any help."
Golden Road was singing the title track of their fourth mini album, ‘Like the First Time! Like Now!’, while winking at the audience. Despite the earlier commotion, Jang Eun-Yung was unfazed and casually blew a kiss to the audience. She swayed in her pink, pearl-embellished stage outfit with cute and vibrant movements.
『As before! Like the first time! That look in your eyes toward me~.』
As Jang Eun-Yung, the main vocalist, sang the highlight of the song, the audience began to get pumped.
"Yessssss!"
"Golden Road. Let's only walk the golden path!"
The fans of Golden Road, who made up about 20% of the audience, were waving yellow glow sticks.
I quietly hoped that Cherry Blossom could also receive the same kind of passionate support from the fans. I was confident that Cherry Blossom could elicit even greater reactions if they were given a good song for their next album. After all, I was with Cherry Blossom to support them now.
That was when I heard a boorish laugh from behind me.
"What's with the serious face? Isn't the stage performance going well?"
Lee Dong-Min approached us with his hands in his long coat.
"Mr. Lee!"
Lee Dong-Min grinned and nodded. "Ms. Eun, I see that you are doing well even without Team Lead Cha. You seem quite experienced now."
"Oh, not at all, sir. I still have a lot to learn."
"Nonsense. Who else can handle Golden Road's temperament apart from you? Everyone at the company knows how hard you work. So keep your chin up. Let me know if work gets too stressful."
Eun Ji-Yoo bowed, grateful just to hear those encouraging words.
‘This isn't too bad of an atmosphere, is it?’
I thought of a way to transfer Eun Ji-Yoo, who always struggled because of Golden Road, to Singer Division 2.
In a few months, Golden Road's leader Jang Eun-Yung would cause an uproar by demanding for Eun Ji-Yoo to be fired over a costume issue. Fortunately, the innocent Eun Ji-Yoo managed to apologize and got through the situation. But this time, I planned to use that incident to transfer her to Singer Division 2.
Of course, for that to happen, Cherry Blossom would need to become popular and require additional staff.
'Hang in there a little longer, Ji-Yoo noona. I'll make sure you get transferred.'
After finishing the conversation, Lee Dong-Min looked around.
"Wait. Where did Chief Park go? Did he go out to smoke again?"
"No, he went to the broadcast van."
"The broadcast van? Why?"
After hearing my explanation about everything that happened, Lee Dong-Min made a joke with a sneer. "Shouldn't you have kept the recording from Chief Park and let him get scolded a bit?"
"Should I have done that?"
"Hahaha. No, we can't do that to someone from the same company no matter how annoying they are. However, you did very well to think of recording the situation in the midst of all this. Great job."
Lee Dong-Min laughed heartily and patted my shoulder.
***
Standing in front of Choi Eun-Hyuk, Ma Dong-Pal didn’t even dare to lift his head.
"Mr. Ma Dong-Pal, did TK Entertainment decide to screw me over or what?"
Coldness permeated Choi Eun-Hyuk's voice.
TK Entertainment was branded the villain when Park Han-Cheol played the voice recording. While Hoop Entertainment had tried to calm the situation, TK Entertainment appeared to only worsen it.
As a result, Ma Dong-Pal found himself bowing deeply twice that day. After apologizing repeatedly to Choi Eun-Hyuk, Ma Dong-Pal returned to the waiting room of Petite More while fuming.
Bang!
Ma Dong-Pal furiously slammed the door open.
"Hey, Park Eun-Bin. Are you out of your mind? How dare you fight in such a public place?"
Park Eun-Bin retorted with annoyance at Ma Dong-Pal's scolding. “Ugh, you think I wanted to fight? That bitch kept pissing me off when I’m her sunbae!"
"Even so, you shouldn’t have done that in front of so many people! Do you know how humiliated I was because of the recording? Hoop Entertainment threatened to release the contents in a news article!"
Park Eun-Bin bit her lip slightly.
‘A recording?’
She did not expect someone to have recorded the whole situation. But then, an idea crossed Park Eun-Bin's mind.
"Mr. Ma, could it be that talent agent who recorded it?"
"That talent agent? What are you talking about?"
The enraged Ma Dong-Pal couldn't understand Park Eun-Bin's words.
"Ah, you know, the Dough Face’s talent agent! There was only one female talent agent and him there. The female talent agent was busy talking, so she couldn't have recorded. But that Dough Face’s talent agent was just standing there with his arms folded!"
At that moment, Ma Dong-Pal frowned. He knew that young man, who was always in a suit, would certainly have had the audacity to do such a thing.
"The talent agent of Jung Yoo-Jin, huh... that newbie who always wears a suit?"
"Yes. That’s the guy. I told you there's something off about that talent agent. He’s only in his first year but is always wearing a suit as if he's a chief."
As Park Eun-Bin got more irritated, Ma Dong-Pal scowled. No matter how upset she was, Park Eun-Bin should be apologizing, not shouting.
"Hey! Who do you think you are to be yelling in this situation? Quiet down!"
When Ma Dong-Pal's face soured, Park Eun-Bin stepped back with a frown.
"Okay, fine. I know I did wrong. But we are not gonna let this go, are we?"
Grinding his teeth, Ma Dong-Pal lowered his voice and whispered. "Park Eun-Bin. I said keep it down. Others might hear."
Only after glancing behind did Park Eun-Bin also lower her voice and calm herself down.
"Wait. Are you...?"
"Yes. We are already in motion."
"Really?"
"When have I ever lied to you? I’ve been waiting for the right opportunity. Just pretend you don't know anything about this and keep your temper in check."
Jung Soo-Hee and Yeo Jin-Yung, the members of Petite More, did not hear the conversation as they were busy with their own things.
"Got it,” Park Eun-Bin answered.
While Ma Dong-Pal made a call, Park Eun-Bin searched the entertainment news on her phone and let out a sharp scream.
"Ugh, seriously. What is this?! She’s the one who took my ad?"
[Burger Queen's New Face: Rookie Actress Jung Yoo-Jin!]
[Jung Yoo-Jin Chosen as Burger Queen's New Advertising Model!]
[Burger Queen Replaces Slumping Park Eun-Bin with Rising Star Jung Yoo-Jin!]
[Park Eun-Bin's Acting Venture: A Disastrous Failure.]
Nave reported that Jung Yoo-Jin was the new face of Burger Queen's latest product.
Three days ago, Park Eun-Bin was notified of her contract termination by Burger Queen. Although her pride was hurt, she reluctantly moved on because she was paid a penalty fee. After all, such things were common in the entertainment industry.
However, the rage became unbearable when she found out it was Jung Yoo-Jin who replaced her.
Park Eun-Bin screamed in the waiting room as if she had been struck by lightning, while Sung Ji-Hyuk struggled to soothe her.
"Mr. Sung, get me an ad with Lotteria or Magnum! Something to compete with her!"
"You know that’s not as easy as it sounds."
"Ah, just do it! Or I won't renew my contract with TK!"
Her high-pitched pleas pierced Ma Dong-Pal’s ears as he left the waiting room with a headache. As soon as he stepped out into the hallway, he made a call.
"Yeah, it's me. Proceed as we discussed. Yeah. If you can make the scandal with Jung Yoo-Jin happen, I'll support your appearance in any drama you want."
Ending the call, Ma Dong-Pal's eyes sparkled with a sinister gleam.
***
After the eventful music stage, we returned to Seoul via the Yeongdong Highway.
The exhausted Cherry Blossom members had fallen asleep in the backseat of the van.
"We're here, girls."
Cherry Blossom stretched and got up at Han Myung-Ho’s call.
Even while half-asleep, the Cherry Blossom members instinctively bowed and expressed their gratitude. "Thank you for your hard work."
"You guys too."
Then, Sae-Ri approached me in the driver's seat.
"Yoon-Ho oppa."
"Hmm?"
"Thank you so much for today, really."
As Sae-Ri bowed, the other Cherry Blossom members soon came over to express their gratitude as well.
"Thank you, Yoon-Ho oppa."
"Everything from the Idol Daejun to today has been like a dream all thanks to you, oppa."
I lost count of how many times I was thanked today.
"I haven't done much, really. So lift your heads, it's fine."
"What do you mean you haven't done much? We got another stage performance because of you, and our photos flooded social media thanks to the shoes you got us."
"Shoes?"
I was unaware because I was driving, but it turned out the ugly shoes Cherry Blossom wore today became a hot topic on social media. They even ranked fifth on Nave's live search.
"We’ve been really lucky these days. What luck. Looks like this year is going to be big for us."
"How great would that be, eh?"
"Well, we're going inside now. Thank you for your hard work."
"Alright. Take a good rest."
As Woo Yeon-Hee was about to enter the dorm, she stopped and turned around.
"Yoon-Ho oppa, see you tomorrow~."
"I told you I can't make it tomorrow."
However, Woo Yeon-Hee pretended not to hear what I said. "Sorry, what was that? I didn’t hear you~. You have to come tomorrow!"
"Yoon-Ho oppa! See you tomorrow!"
"Tomorrow! Tomorrow!"
Following Woo Yeon-Hee, the Cherry Blossom members also insisted on seeing me again tomorrow, giggling while running into the dorm.
Han Myung-Ho looked at me with a slight smile. "Yoon-Ho, can't you help out again tomorrow? I've never seen them this happy before."
"I'm sorry, but I have a schedule tomorrow."
"Oh, you have a schedule?"
"Yes."
Unfortunately, I had an important task to handle tomorrow.
‘Kim Dong-Soo.’
I had a plan to get back at him.
At that moment, Han Myung-Ho’s phone rang with a loud and unusual ringtone.
『The Ultra Kiga destroying the earth~ Super~ Soniiii~~eek~ BOMB!』
‘Yikes, that scared me. It must be the theme song of an animated show his son watches or something.’
Han Myung-Ho tilted his head curiously and answered the call. "Oh, it's Mr. Lee. I wonder why he’s calling."
But as the conversation continued, his face gradually lit up with excitement.
"Yes. Yes. Huh? Really? For Cherry Blossom?"
1. A race of usually malevolent beings prominently featured in Hindu mythology ?
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