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Chapter 144: There\'s No Such Thing As A Permanent Number One (5)

Kang Ji-Yung\'s eyes sparkled at the smell of whiskey as she licked her lips.

But I let out a deep sigh and answered, "I didn\'t drink a lot. I just had one shot."

"One shot?"

"Yes. When I said I would only take one shot, he poured an entire bottle of single malt whiskey worth 12 million won."

"Oh my goodness, that\'s ridiculous! Jiang Wei is quite a character! Dumping a Glenfiddich 40 years old on the floor? Is he out of his mind?"

Upon hearing me recount what had happened, the alcohol lover Kang Ji-Yung grabbed her neck and burst out in anger as she passionately explained how she couldn\'t possibly live under the same sky as someone who doesn\'t cherish alcohol.

Thanks to this, she was no longer in the mood to drink and I was able to escape from her house safely.

***

Early the next morning, I sent a text to Gu Seong-Cheol saying I would be reporting to work late and headed to Yoo-Jin\'s house as soon as I opened my eyes because there was a chance that Kim Dong-Soo might go to Yoo-Jin\'s house.

When I opened the door and entered, a half-awake Yoo-Jin greeted me. It was not even 7 a.m., which explained why she was still in her pajamas.

"Why did you come so early this morning?"

"First, let\'s get Miso dressed and go to Ms. Lee\'s house."

"Right now?" asked Yoo-Jin as she made a puzzled face.

Yoo-Jin seemed a little concerned as she probed further. "Why? Is there something wrong?"

"I\'ll tell you in the car on the way there."

Fortunately, we could take Miso with us today since she didn\'t have to go to the kindergarten.

Yoo-Jin picked up the groggy Miso who was still half-asleep and dressed her. Miso, who had been lethargic, gradually woke up as she got dressed.

"Huh? Uncle Yoon-Ho...?"

Miso blinked and rubbed her eyes with her small hands.

"Is this a dream?"

"No, it\'s not a dream, Miso. You remember I said I\'d be here when you wake up, right?"

"Yes! I remember!"

It seemed I had managed to keep my promise of being there when Miso woke up, which I had made before we parted ways yesterday.

"Miso, let\'s get dressed so that we can go outside and have fun. Okay?"

"Okay."

After changing the sleepy Miso into her clothes, I packed some clothes in a suitcase and loaded it into the car.

As soon as the engine started, Miso fell asleep again and I told Yoo-Jin about what happened yesterday.

"What? So are we running away right now?"

"We avoid poop because it\'s dirty, not because it\'s scary. We\'ll stay away just until tomorrow. President Jiang Wei is leaving the country the following afternoon so let\'s just lay low until then."

Yoo-Jin nodded and then asked with a worried look, "Oh, by the way. Did you get Ms. Lee\'s permission?"

"Of course I did. I contacted her last night and she said we could go over anytime. She even said we could live there since she has many spare rooms."

"Makes sense. That house is really big for her to live alone. How big is it, like 200 pyeong?"

"No, 400 pyeong."

"Wow~that\'s huge. Really."

"I bet you could live in such a place too in a few years."

Yoo-Jin smiled, saying she didn\'t want such a big house but she did hope to be in a position to afford one some day.

Considering she was already making hundreds of millions a year, I wondered if her dream was too small or if she just simply couldn\'t envision that future.

***

We arrived at Lee Ji-Yeon\'s home in Hannam-dong and woke Miso up.

"Miso, we\'re here."

Miso rubbed her eyes and got up. "Uh, where is this?"

At that moment, the garage door of Lee Ji-Yeon\'s house lifted and revealed a palace-like house before us.

"Wow! It\'s a palace!" Miso exclaimed as her jaw dropped at the sight of the well-maintained lawn and the massive two-story house.

As we entered through the open front door and made our presence known, Lee Ji-Yeon pointed to one side of the sofa.

"Just wait a moment, everyone. I have some work to finish. It\'ll be done soon."

Without properly greeting us, Lee Ji-Yeon continued a conversation with a guest who had arrived earlier.

The guest was Lawyer Kim Chan-Sung, a lawyer specializing in entertainment industry affairs. I had also worked with him before in my past life.

His nickname was Yes Man—not because he only answered yes to his clients\' questions, but because he was known to fulfill all his clients\' requests and demands.

"Mr. Kim, let\'s start with changing the production company. And please replace the investors too."

"Don\'t worry. I\'ll have everything perfectly settled by tomorrow."

After getting up and greeting us, Kim Chan-Sung stepped outside.

Then Lee Ji-Yeon sighed deeply as she watched him leave.

"My head is spinning from working since 3 a.m. because of the production company change."

"I\'m sorry for coming over so early in the morning, Ms. Lee."

"Why apologize? I was the one who told you to come. And Yoo-Jin, you can always use me as an excuse if things get urgent. I\'ve got your back, so don\'t lose your confidence. Okay?"

"Thank you, Mrs. Lee."

After greeting Yoo-Jin, Lee Ji-Yeon turned to look at Miso with a pleased expression.

"So this is Miso, huh?"

Miso let go of Yoo-Jin\'s skirt and clasped her hands together. Then she greeted Lee Ji-Yeon in a loud voice.

"Hello! Ms. Lee! I\'m Jung Miso from Lila Kindergarten! I\'ve been a celebrity since a few days ago!"

Lee Ji-Yeon burst into laughter at Miso\'s confident introduction of herself.

"Ha ha! A small peanut like you is a celebrity?"

"I\'m sorry, Ms. Lee. Miso, you shouldn\'t introduce yourself like that," said the startled Yoo-Jin.

However, Miso simply tilted her head in confusion.

"But Mom, am I not a celebrity?"

"Well, technically you are since you\'ve signed a contract. But..."

Lee Ji-Yeon left the flustered Yoo-Jin aside and kneeled down to meet Miso\'s eyes.

"My name is Lee Ji-Yeon."

"I know. You\'re the scary auntie!"

Lee Ji-Yeon shot me a sharp glare, seemingly questioning what I had been saying to the child about her.

She locked eyes with Miso after mouthing the words "Yoon-Ho, I\'ll deal with you later," which sent chills down my spine.

"Anyway, you should appear on TV now that you\'re a celebrity too, right?"

"Yes! Uncle Yoon-Ho said he\'d get me on a show where I get to eat yummy things."

Miso\'s proud claim made Lee Ji-Yeon burst into even more laughter.

"Good. Then Miso, would you like to appear in my work too? This auntie here is not really scary but a very famous one. You know The Morning Takes Off that your mom was in, right?"

"I do."

"I\'m the one who wrote that."

Miso\'s eyes widened. "Really?"

At that moment, Yoo-Jin waved her hands in refusal.

"Ms. Lee, we haven\'t really thought about Miso appearing in dramas yet."

"Why not? She seemed fine dancing in front of the camera on MeTube."

"But we still need to consider her own wishes..."

"Then let\'s find out what she wants right now."

Lee Ji-Yeon grinned at Miso.

"Miso, do you want to appear in the same drama with your mom?"

Panicking, Yoo-Jin tried to interject the conversation but Miso quickly nodded her head.

"Yes! I want to do it!"

\'Miso is a true Yes Girl. I\'m not sure if this is something to be happy or worried about.\'

The role of young Cheongmyung in In the Name of God didn\'t have a lot of scenes, but she did appear in flashback scenes from time to time. The role was quite significant, considering she\'s set to appear throughout the drama, unlike other child actors who might only show up briefly in the first or second episodes of other dramas.

"Then it\'s settled, Miso is now an actress in my work too."

"Wow! Really?"

"Of course."

"Thank you~!! You\'re the best, Auntie Ji-Yeon!!"

Miso hugged Lee Ji-Yeon with a bright smile.

"Oh my."

I was worried that Lee Ji-Yeon might get angry, but she simply smiled warmly and gestured that it was okay.

"Ha ha ha. So, I\'m not scary to you anymore?"

"No! Not scary at all!"

Lee Ji-Yeon\'s face brightened even more with Miso\'s response.

Judging by how Miso easily won over Lee Ji-Yeon at just seven years old, it seemed Miso was born to be a celebrity.

***

When I finally turned on my phone after finishing the strategy meeting with Lee Ji-Yeon, the time was past 11 a.m.

There were over 100 missed calls and KkTalk messages from Lee Gi-Cheol, Kim Dong-Soo, and Lee Sang-Sik on my phone.

"They must be quite desperate."

The messages were mainly requests to meet and talk. As expected, Kim Dong-Soo had indeed gone to Yoo-Jin\'s house according to a KkTalk message from the landlord.

Yoo-Jin could use Lee Ji-Yeon as an excuse for her absence and now it was my turn.

I called Gu Seong-Cheol first to check the atmosphere at the company.

-Assistant Manager Jung, where are you?

"I\'m at Ms. Lee Ji-Yeon\'s house, but I\'ll be heading to the office soon."

-No, don\'t come now. It\'s not a good time. Mr. Lee and Mr. Kim are here raising their voices at Ms. Kang, so just stay away.

"Are you telling me not to go to work today?"

-Just head to a site instead of the office. If you don\'t show up, they might use that against you. Cherry Blossom is at MBS today, so just stick around there all day.

"Understood. I\'ll do that."

-Okay. Let\'s talk later. Take care.

After hanging up, Yoo-Jin, who was standing beside me, asked, "What did he say?"

"He told me not to go to the office and that they would handle it themselves."

"That\'s a relief."

However, as long as Jiang Wei was still in Korea, we couldn\'t be at ease.

***

I was about to look for Cherry Blossom at MBS when Kim Dong-Soo\'s call came through right on time.

-Hey! Why wouldn\'t you pick up your phone? Where is Yoo-Jin right now?

"I don\'t know. Yoo-Jin doesn\'t have any schedule today, so I\'m not sure myself. I\'m currently at the Cherry Blossom\'s shooting site at MBS."

Since the landlady told me she had played dumb, I did the same.

-Hey! If you don\'t know, then who does? You\'re lying, aren\'t you?

"No, I\'m not."

-If not drinks, how about a meal then? There won\'t be any issues with that!

Kim Dong-Soo was desperately spitting words out like a machine gun. Seeing him so eager to reach Yoo-Jin, it seemed that there was a lot of money involved.

-Assistant Manager Jung. Do you think Mr. Lee will let this go if the meeting ends this way? Do you have any idea how much of a mess Red Moon\'s President Lee is making right now? If you only look out for Yoo-Jin, all other actors of Hoop Entertainment involved in Red Moon\'s dramas will get dragged into this mess!

\'So it\'s okay for Yoo-Jin to suffer for the sake of other actors?\'

Kim Dong-Soo\'s argument was absurd.

"Anyway, I\'ll call you as soon as I get in touch with Yoo-Jin. Oh, and Mr Kim—I have to go now. Mr. Kim Sung-Woon is looking for me."

-Hey! Hey! Don\'t hang up.

Despite Kim Dong-Soo\'s urgent pleas, I coldly cut off the call.

I silenced my phone and was about to call Jung Sang-Bong who was with Cherry Blossom. At that moment, a call from Kim Sung-Woon, the designated director for In the Name of God, came in.

-Assistant Manager, where are you right now?

"I just passed the lobby on the first floor of MBS."

-That\'s good. Could you come to my office? Mr. Kim has something to say to you.

\'CP Kim Myung-Hak wants to see me?\'

I had no idea what it was about, but I couldn\'t probe Kim Sung-Woon over the phone.

"Yes, I\'ll be right up."

After hanging up, I headed straight to Kim Sung-Woon\'s office on the sixth floor. When I entered Kim Sung-Woon\'s office, I found both Kim Myung-Hak and Kim Chan-Sung gathered together.

"Good day, Mr. Kim."

"I wish I could say the same, but honestly, today\'s not a good day for me."

Kim Myung-Hak sighed heavily with a serious expression given that MBS\'s Moonlight Starpour was trailing behind Blue Sky with its viewership ratings dropping to single digits. His depressed mood was understandable.

"I\'m sorry, Mr. Kim."

Kim Myung-Hak stared at me for a moment after hearing my apology before bursting into loud laughter.

"Ha ha ha! Don\'t take it personally. I was just being grumpy because of Blue Sky\'s success. It\'s on us to do better."

I had been fooled by a dad joke. Even though Kim Myung-Hak wasn\'t an actor, I was taken in by his unnecessarily impressive acting skills.

"But you do look genuinely sorry. Why is that? Got something on your conscience?"

"No. It\'s just that with Mr. Kim Chan-Sung here, I thought maybe you were going to scold me about the production company change."

Kim Myung-Hak chuckled. "Why would you feel sorry for a production company change? That\'s between the writer and the production company."

"But still."

"Cut the nonsense. Anyway, I called you here because I was curious about something."

"Please go ahead."

"Do you think this project will do well?"

Honestly, I didn\'t know the future of this project. After all, it was originally a work that had disappeared from history. But considering Lee Ji-Yeon\'s writing skills and Yoo-Jin\'s double role, there was a high chance for success. The director-in-charge was also a true professional.

The only remaining factor was the lead actors\' performances, but I was confident that Lee Ji-Yeon and Kim Sung-Woon would make the right choices.

"Given it\'s a project that Ms. Lee Ji-Yeon has put her heart and soul into, it\'s bound to do well."

I answered sincerely, but Kim Myung-Hak seemed unconvinced and shook his head.

"Come on, give me a straight answer. I was hoping for a definitive response from you, Assistant Manager Jung. Tell me. You\'re known as Star Jung the Fortune Teller for a reason, aren\'t you?"

A nickname I wasn\'t even aware of was floating around.