Chapter 85: < Protect – Episode 84 – Scandal [4] >

“Stop squishing them together, everyone.”

The ones who got the joke laughed and the rest just blinked with confusion. Ahn Soo Ho clapped to get everyone’s attention. In an internal fight within the company, he had no interest in taking someone’s side. This made him feel like his ancestors who were in cliques with leaders.

Ahn Soo Ho crossed his arms.

Ahn Da Sol, Emily, and Rachel didn’t look so bad together. They were all smart, so they were all able to speak a few languages each. And since Ahn Da Sol was actually Kumiko who was a monster with outstanding capabilities, she was even better. What was surprising was that Emily and Rachel could both sing and dance really well.

People with brains could do anything.

“This doesn’t look bad either. What do you think?”

“The three of them?”

Kim Yoo Seon was startled. He looked at them and then nodded his head.

“Hm, not bad. I like it.”

Hosoo Entertainment was planning to give Ahn Da Sol a solo debut before Emily and Rachel showed up. If they put her in a group, she would have killed the group, but a talented person like her was too good to be a trainee. Celebrities became what they were after painstaking training, but real stars were born with natural talents.

Emily and Rachel had strong auras as well.

“Since Da Sol studied abroad, she won’t have problems with communication, and all three of them are very talented… But will they resonate with our country? Don’t you think they’ll be against it?”

“I’ll take care of these three myself.”

“Oh.”

Kim Yoo Seon’s face slightly stiffened.

“I’m not saying I’ll steal the ball away from you. I just don’t want to waste any time.”

“I apologize, CEO Ahn.”

Kim Yoo Seon immediately bowed and apologized. He wasn’t so slow-witted that he didn’t catch on to what he meant.

“I’ll tell Director Shim myself, but I don’t care if a fight breaks loose or not. Let’s just make sure we do our work properly.”

“I’ll work with the acting department and yield optimal results.”

“I’ll trust you with that.”

Kim Yoo Seon bowed deeply and then stepped out. Ahn Soo Ho seemed like he was uninterested in the company, but he didn’t miss anything important. When Emily and Rachel left to get washed up, Ahn Da Sol was already ready to head out.

“You sure have a thick face.”

“Oh my! Don’t say anything people might misunderstand, Uncle.”

“Be honest with me. You’re over a hundred years old, right?”

“Haha.”

She laughed at Ahn Soo Ho’s sudden question.

“If you can control your aging process and change how you look, you could just disappear quietly. Why are you lurking around me instead? And don’t say it’s because it’s safe.”

“What do you think will happen in the future?”

Ahn Soo Ho shrugged at the future-related question.

“How would I know? Can you see the future?”

“No.”

“That’s a relief.”

If Ahn Da Sol could see the future and that truth got out, a blood bath would ensue. If that happened, Ahn Soo Ho would kill her or hand her over. Why? Because he never promised to protect her.

“I don’t want you to get hurt. But if you don’t tell me the truth… I can’t guarantee your safety.”

“I meant it when I said it’s safe around you, Soo Ho. South Korea has become the DMZ of the world. That doesn’t mean I stopped working in intelligence, but I can’t do anything violent anymore.”

“So?”

“Do you know about all the dispatched agents from other countries being newbies?”

“I saw. They made it pretty obvious.”

Since they weren’t going to do anything in secret and their identity had already been exposed, they didn’t see the need to use veteran agents.

“That’s how intense J-Law and Issac’s war was. Africa had taken their hands off of it, and northern Europe is also a blood bath. And the CIA, which wanted to take back the throne after your retirement, gave up after the Sao Paolo incident, and as the terror and crime organizations and multinational companies’ fraud went up, it’s turned into chaos. And it’s too dangerous to stop now that they’ve already started.”

Her Korean really improved. Despite Ahn Soo Ho’s admiration, she kept going.

“Even if the entire world turns into a battlefield, it won’t happen next to you. No one’s crazy enough to pull a gun in front of you. The truth is, the terrorist attack in Japan was planned by Issac.”

“Why?”

“Because if Angola is going to crawl out of the darkness, they need a good opportunity.”

For Issac, which was trying to go from a military corporation to an intercom, needed a chance to show off its capabilities. Returning a stolen ship wasn’t enough to touch anyone.

“How rude.”

Bad guys were bad guys until the end.

“If they help resolve a terrorist case, they’ll become more well-known.”

“Did they already decided on the culprit?”

“Yeah.”

“They’re full of tricks, aren’t they?”

Even if it seemed like a simple plan, they used all sorts of tricks to protect their secret. Since they thought about every possible outcome, it was unlikely for anyone to catch them. As long as someone didn’t become a whistle-blower, that was.

“Did Issac tried to kill you?”

“They induced it. They think it’s better to eliminate anyone who knows their secret.”

She disguised her own death and then snuck out of Japan.

“Do they not know about our relationship?”

“They don’t know we’re this close. I hid it well, and you’re pretty cold yourself, Soo Ho.”

“Cold?”

Emily and Rachel, who finished getting ready to go out, cut off their conversation. It seemed like Emily felt a sense of competition against Ahn Da Sol.

“Cold. As in not friendly.”

“That’s not true. Soo Ho’s friendly.”

“You should call him CEO Ahn.”

“Why? Don’t Korean guys like being addressed like this?”

Ahn Soo Ho shook his head to her missing English and Korean to convey her thoughts. As soon as they got to the parking lot, Lee So Hye was seen waving in her school uniform.

“You finished early.”

“Heh. I skipped late night studying.”

It was more fascinating that such a thing still existed. Back when he was in high school, there was no such thing as a student’s human rights. Back then, teachers hit their students to punish them, but that was no longer viewed as a good thing to do, which Ahn Soo Ho disagreed with.

There were quite a few punks who don’t pretend to listen until they get hit.

How nice would it be if everything could be solved with words? There were teachers who didn’t have the right to be an educator, but there were also students who were out to use their status as the weak to screw adults over. Those with such ill intent were just bad people regardless of whether they were the teacher or student.

“Isn’t that mandatory?

“Nope. But if my grades drop, I’ll be sent to the solitary room.”

“Solitary room?”

“Yeah. The special maintenance room.”

The reputation of high schools depended on how many students they could send to top universities. Since he was walking with four pretty girls, people were bound to stare. Before they got into the van, they were captured by countless cameras, and they were bound to spread on social media in no time.

“Let’s go to Daesan Hotel.”

“Sure.”

The driver took off in response to Ahn Soo Ho’s instructions. When he went around alone, no one noticed if he used his magic or not, but now that he was with four beautiful women, more were bound to notice him. It was a little uncomfortable, but he also enjoyed the attention.

“Is the academy fun?”

“It’s hard. I respect Koreans.”

“Well, that’s because you’re trying to learn everything at once. You need to have an easy-going personality, Emily.”

“Isn’t that just irresponsible?”

“Don’t talk like an elementary school student.”

“You always talk that via text!”

“That’s just texting.”

“Ugh, whatever!”

“What’s with you two? You learned so many weird things!”

No matter how Emily and Ahn Da Sol’s relationship was, they were both close to Lee So Hye. It was understandable for her to be close to Emily and Rachel because of Jejudo, but it was impressive that she was already close to Ahn Da Sol, too. He wondered if she used brainwashing techniques, but he didn’t find any trace of it.

‘She’s a good actress.’

The way Ahn Da Sol talked and acted was like a high school student. But inside, she was over a hundred years old.

‘There must be alpha organisms among those who were born human and revered as a god.’

Most of the characters in mythological stories could have had superpowers. But it didn’t matter if they didn’t realize their own abilities and used it to their advantage.

“Soo Ho?”

“Sorry.”

Lee So Hye snapped Ahn Soo Ho out of his thoughts.

“Soo Ho, a weird article came out.”

When he saw the article on his sister’s phone, he immediately instructed his driver.

“Turn the car around.”

“How dare a newbie get in a producer’s face? Is he a thug? How dare he use his fists?”

“What did the agency teach him? This is why those who get in through connections are a problem!”

“He’s just a silver spoon. Why would he not have any manners?”

“Celebrities need to be tested to know if they have good character!”

The set of a sitcom show turned into chaos. Since it wasn’t a secretive place with many broadcasting employees walking in and out, rumors spread fast, and it was released in the news in no time. They normally talked to the agency first, but this time, they didn’t bother.

“Shit! What did I do wrong?”

“Calm down.”

Lee Jung Hoon was relieving his anger in the waiting room.

“In any case, you used violence, so this is a big problem. You might have to go to the police.”

“That son of a bitch made fun of me and said I got in through my brother’s connections.”

“That doesn’t mean you can hit someone. What a headache!”

The chief and other managers were on their phones trying to prevent matters from getting worse, so the only one available to hear Lee Jung Hoon’s complaining was the road manager.

“He insulted my family!”

“Yeah, yeah. I heard you.”

Lee Jung Hoon felt deeply wronged. He finally understood how it felt for Zidane to smash heads in the World Cup.

“Hey, this is a big problem. We can’t stop the articles from getting out.”

“Then what do we do?”

“What else? We’ll have to talk to the promotions team and…huh? CEO Ahn!”

Team Leader Lee Seon Mi, who was in charge of Lee Jung Hoon, was surprised when she saw Ahn Soo Ho’s face. Lee Jung Hoon was just as excited.

“Soo Ho!”

“Quiet! What happened, Team Leader Lee?”

Ahn Soo Ho shut Lee Jung Hoon up and then looked at Lee Seon Mi.

“Well…”

As Hosoo Entertainment caused a lot of issues and thrived, broadcasting and production companies became colder.

“The script was modified for him to have less screen time. It would have been understandable if his acting was bad, but the internet responses were quite good. Some film companies sent him scripts, too.”

“Is the broadcasting company the only producers of the sitcom?”

“No. Most dramas are outsourced. If you’re not a top star but just a newbie, it’s right to just go along with what they say. That’s what we’ve always done, and that’s what we’ll always do. The problem is that their requirement is too severe and sudden.”

Lee Seon Mi had worked in the entertainment world for a long time. She already expected for newbies to not be treated well to an extent. However, modifying the script without a word was crossing the line.

“Did that happen to everyone or just Jung Hoon?”

“Jung Hoon especially.”

Since Hosoo Entertainment caused a commotion in the entertainment industry, he expected the higher-ups of the industry to be jealous and retaliate. There was no use worrying about every single case. He was planning to just overlook them if possible. But not all celebrities of Hosoo Entertainment were at the same level.

Or top stars such as Jang Seol Hyun, Jeon Mi Sook, and Kang Young Gil, maltreatment was unheard of. So a newbie who was said to have gotten in through connections was an easy target. He was able to ignore small rumors back in high school, but rumors about sleeping around, going to clubs all the time, or becoming a drug addict when he studied abroad were too much for him to ignore.

“We didn’t make any replies, just as we were told by the board of directors.

It was Ahn Soo Ho’s order, but everyone else thought it was the board of directors.

‘I didn’t know it’d be this bad… Did I underestimate them?’

What made the situation worse was the thought that no one could do anything since he was so much stronger. He assumed that catching the big ones would scare the little ones away, but that wasn’t what happened.

He didn’t let his guard down.

If he had, he wouldn’t have known any of this, but he actually knew most of what Lee Seon Mi told him. The only thing was that he didn’t feel the heavy air at the scene. When people heard the rumors that Ahn Soo Ho appeared, they all ran over, and even the executives and producers came to Lee Jung Hoon’s waiting room.

“It’s nice to meet you, CEO Ahn.”

When the producing director offered a handshake, Ahn Soo Ho just stared at it.

“Ahem!”

The director coughed out of awkwardness and embarrassment. In the entertainment world, he had quite a bit of power, but it didn’t work with Ahn Soo Ho. Ahn Soo Ho sought out the producer of the sitcom. His face was pale, and it didn’t seem like he thought the CEO would visit himself.

“Please tell the sitcom producers, actors, and managers to come here.”

“I can’t just tell all of the actors to come here…”

Ahn Soo Ho was a capable man, but he didn’t think he could tell everyone where to come and go. And that was true. He wasn’t a superior to the producers and actors.

“Is that right?”

It seemed as though he treated his home country with too much care. He made them think that he would be afraid of a scandal like that.

‘This was definitely my own mistake.’

And all he had to do was fix that mistake.

“Then please deliver this message for me.”

Ahn Soo Ho’s face, which was emotionless until now, suddenly washed over with an expression.

“If they don’t come here in a minute, you can forget about Thirties Group advertisements. If you think I’m joking, I dare you to ignore me and see what happens.”

< Protect – Episode 84 – Scandal [4] > The end.

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