Inside TNT Entertainment's meeting room, Yoo Kang-Seok furiously accused me of instructing Sung Gyu-Hwan to sabotage his work so I could steal him away. He even claimed he would demand damages of up to 5 billion won. Nevertheless, I didn't bat an eye. That was because, in addition to ordering his talent agent to dig through Sung Gyu-Hwan's black box, Yoo Kang-Seok had committed a major crime that was recorded in my planner. -10:00 p.m. T Company case. Texts, Kk Talk messages, and calls were monitored using a cloned phone of celebrity P. Before the regression, TNT Entertainment's actress Park In-Jung had landed the female lead in the romantic comedy drama Island Village Fisherman. This drama had achieved a 19% viewership rating, propelling her into stardom. The problem was that her popularity soared when there were only three months left on her contract with TNT. Worried she wouldn't renew, Yoo Kang-Seok secretly cloned her phone. However, Park In-Jung moved to Hana Entertainment the moment her contract ended. Then strange things began happening to Park In-Jung. Every project and ad she tried to take was snatched up by TNT actors. Suspicious, the president of Hana Entertainment had Park In-Jung's phone examined by a professional service. That was when they discovered her phone had been cloned. Soon after, TNT Entertainment was sued. At the time, Yoo Kang-Seok deflected blame onto subordinates and got away. Yet, the incident marked the beginning of TNT's downfall. Once the phone-cloning scandal hit the news, the remaining celebrities had hesitated to renew their contracts. Desperate, Yoo Kang-Seok had begun offering double the usual signing bonuses to appease stars, which quickly drained the company's finances. Eventually, TNT pushed for reckless mergers and acquisitions as a last resort, ran into financial trouble, and went bankrupt. Now, I was planning to expose the cloned phone scandal—the very event that had set all of this into motion. Unaware of my plan, Yoo Kang-Seok was smug and full of confidence. Seeing that clueless expression made me involuntarily laugh. Yoo Kang-Seok frowned. "You punk, you think this is funny? Huh? Is what I said amusing to you?" I tried to suppress my smile and answered his threat calmly. "It's not funny, it's just absurd." "Come on. Even if I did speak with Mr. Sung Gyu-Hwan, how exactly are you planning to prove I ordered him to sabotage anything?" Yoo Kang-Seok snorted. "There are ways to prove everything." But the look on his face was far too confident for mere bluffing. He looked like someone who had real evidence, despite Sung Gyu-Hwan having clearly told me he never revealed anything we discussed. Then a thought struck me. Before the regression, when TNT got destroyed by the cloned phone scandal, only one device was discovered, and it belonged to Park In-Jung. 'But what if it wasn't just one? What if they had cloned Sung Gyu-Hwan's phone too because of this situation?' That would explain Yoo Kang-Seok's certainty. If they had eavesdropped using a cloned phone, they would know exactly what I had discussed with Sung Gyu-Hwan. I immediately scrapped my original plan. If Sung Gyu-Hwan's phone had been cloned like Park In-Jung's, exposing that would be an even easier way to corner Yoo Kang-Seok. But I needed to confirm it, so I threw out a surprise question. "What is it? Did you clone Mr. Sung Gyu-Hwan's phone? Planning to record our calls or eavesdrop on him?" For a moment, Yoo Kang-Seok's expression faltered. "There... there are other ways to find out!" His trembling voice confirmed my suspicion. Even more telling, Sung Gyu-Hwan's talent agent, Oh Sang-Joon, had turned completely pale. And Hwang In-Joon, the head of the legal team, avoided my gaze. The moment suspicion turned into certainty. From here on, I had to act swiftly before the other side could destroy any evidence. I immediately looked at Choi Woon-Jae. "Mr. Choi, could you please check if Mr. Sung Gyu-Hwan's phone was cloned? Is that possible?" I had already told Choi Woon-Jae in advance about TNT Entertainment cloning Park In-Jung's phone. So he quickly understood that it was possible Sung Gyu-Hwan's phone had been cloned too. "Hmm. From what I'm hearing, that seems necessary." At that moment, Choi Woon-Jae turned to Attorney Kang Hyung-Beom, who had come with him. "Mr. Kang, take Mr. Gyu-Hwan's phone and dig into it. Check for wiretaps, cloning, recordings. Whatever you find, report to me." Kang Hyung-Beom got up and approached Sung Gyu-Hwan, who had been sitting across the room. Still looking utterly devastated, Sung Gyu-Hwan pulled his phone from his inside pocket and handed it over. "Here you go." Yoo Kang-Seok shouted, "Hey! Why is Chief Jung's lawyer taking Gyu-Hwan's phone? Look! I caught you red-handed!" Choi Woon-Jae gave him a look of disbelief. "And who said I'm Chief Jung's lawyer?" "Our law firm, Changseong, came here from the start to represent Mr. Sung Gyu-Hwan." Yoo Kang-Seok's face twisted with confusion. "W-What did you just say?" Because the attorneys had been sitting beside me, Yoo Kang-Seok had assumed both lawyers were mine. But that wasn't the only surprise waiting for him. Just then, Sung Gyu-Hwan, who had been slouched over looking terrified, suddenly straightened up and stood. "Phew. I thought I'd have to keep that act up for days." Yoo Kang-Seok's eyes went wide. "Hey! Sung Gyu-Hwan! What the hell is this?" "What do you think? You really thought I'd let you threaten and trample on me and just take it?" The panicked, overwhelmed look Sung Gyu-Hwan had shown earlier had vanished. He now stood tall and confident. It was like a scene from The Usual Suspects, a moment where his acting skills truly shone. There was no wonder he would later be called an S-class actor in just two years. Sung Gyu-Hwan confidently walked over to stand beside Choi Woon-Jae. As the situation suddenly flipped, Yoo Kang-Seok's gaze wavered in fear while Oh Sang-Joon and Hwang In-Joon sat there with their mouths hanging open. Meanwhile, Kang Hyung-Beom was already heading out of the meeting room with the phone. That's when Yoo Kang-Seok shouted, "W-Wait!! Talent Agent Oh! Stop him!" Still dazed, Oh Sang-Joon shot up. He ran toward the door and blocked Kang Hyung-Beom's path. Yoo Kang-Seok swallowed dryly and turned to speak to me and Sung Gyu-Hwan. "Chief Jung. Gyu-Hwan. Can the three of us talk, just us?" I shut that down immediately. "Let's just talk right here." Yoo Kang-Seok trembled and began speaking with difficulty. "O-Okay. First off, Gyu-Hwan. I'll let you be in Haze. I'll even offer some compensation. And Chief Jung... yeah, I'll give you something too. I won't sue. So let's end this here, huh? If this blows up, it won't be good for you either. We're not just going to take this lying down. We don't need to make things ugly, right?" 'Now that it's come to this, he wants to call it even? What a ridiculous proposition.' Now was the time to watch TNT Entertainment collapse. I shook my head and said, "I don't mind things getting ugly." Sung Gyu-Hwan was on the same page as me. "You ransacked my car and spied on me. And what, now you want to talk? Forget it. Let's see this through to the end!" He then looked at Choi Woon-Jae. "Mr. Choi, I absolutely will not settle." Choi Woon-Jae answered, "Understood. Just the black box issue alone is grounds for a lawsuit, so we'll proceed with that. Once we review the phone's findings, we'll file additional charges. Oh, and we'll also proceed with terminating your exclusive contract." "I'll be counting on you." Yoo Kang-Seok's face turned pale as he realized that there was no way out of this tangled mess. At that moment, Han Yoo-Sik, who had been silent all this time, glared at Yoo Kang-Seok and spoke. "And I heard you told my estranged children about the Mirinae shares, huh?" "I'll never forget what you did. Be ready." Han Yoo-Sik still had countless connections at KBC. Even if Na Tae-Hwan had been promoted to director and gained more power, the higher-ranked President Oh Han-Guk was still part of Han Yoo-Sik's camp. With one disaster piling onto another, Yoo Kang-Seok was too stunned to collect himself. "Well then, let's be on our way. It looks like Mr. Yoo needs a bit of alone time." Before leaving the room, I quietly said to Yoo Kang-Seok, "See... why did you have to mess with me, huh?" Yoo Kang-Seok couldn't say a word and just stared blankly. We parted ways after leaving TNT Entertainment. Choi Woon-Jae headed to the law firm with Sung Gyu-Hwan to begin the contract termination and collect evidence of the phone cloning. As for me, I immediately tipped off reporters Choi So-Hye and Jang Moon-Ki. Then I drove straight to MBS to notify Park In-Jung, the other victim of phone cloning. The countdown had begun for the time bomb that would bankrupt TNT Entertainment. Because Hwang In-Joon had stepped out to clean up the mess, only Yoo Kang-Seok and Oh Sang-Joon remained in the meeting room. Yoo Kang-Seok slumped in his chair, dizzy with despair. Just that morning, he thought everything would be fine if he just pinned the blame on Jung Yoon-Ho, especially since Sung Gyu-Hwan had begged for forgiveness. He thought he could use the wiretapped audio from the cloned phone to shake him down. However, all those plans had crumbled. Worse yet, the other side had figured out the phone was cloned. Then Oh Sang-Joon, sitting nearby, spoke up. "M-Mr. Yoo, we shouldn't just sit here. We need to retrieve the cloned phones from the others first." Yoo Kang-Seok had cloned phones for only four actors at TNT Entertainment: So Yi-Yung, currently the female lead in Queen Jeong-Hee; Min Gyu-Ri, who had been signed with a massive contract for Hwaranjeon; Park In-Jung, who was about to re-sign; and finally, Sung Gyu-Hwan, who caused all this trouble because of Haze. If Sung Gyu-Hwan went public with the article, the others might have their phones checked as well. Yoo Kang-Seok snapped out of it and responded, "R-Right. We have to retrieve them before the article drops." He hurriedly called Chief Jang Sam-Duk, who handled So Yi-Yung and Min Gyu-Ri. "Chief Jang, where are you right now?" -I'm in Gunsan with So Yi-Yung right now. "Listen, Chief Jang. That thing we planted in So Yi-Yung's and Min Gyu-Ri's phones—get rid of it now!" -Excuse me? Why all of a sudden? "I put one in Sung Gyu-Hwan's phone too, and the bastard caught on. An article might drop, so erase it right now!" -Ah, yes. As soon as we finish this scene... "No! Not later, do it now! Smash the phone with a car or toss it in the sea. Just get rid of it!" -Understood. I'll have Team Lead Choi take care of Min Gyu-Ri's side as well. After hanging up, Yoo Kang-Seok panted hard. Then he called Park In-Jung's talent agent, Oh Han-Joong. However, the call didn't go through. "What the hell? Why isn't he answering?" At that moment, a commotion began outside the meeting room. It wasn't just a few, but it sounded like dozens of people talking all at once. "Go check what's going on outside!" Oh Sang-Joon got up to go check, but before he could reach the door, it burst open. Hwang In-Joon came running in. "Mr. Yoo! We've got a major problem!" "What? What is going on right now?" "The article is already out." "And now the phones won't stop ringing. Everyone's calling the office asking if it's true. Here, look at this." Hwang In-Joon held out a tablet. On it, a breaking news headline had appeared: [(Breaking News) T Entertainment accused of digging through actors' black boxes and even cloning phones! Voice recordings to be released tonight!] However, the problem was more serious than he thought. "Why... why didn't they name anyone?" While it would have been bad enough for Sung Gyu-Hwan's name to be mentioned, a report that only listed the company name was even worse. This made it look like the phones of all the company's celebrities had been cloned. Sure enough, Hwang In-Joon said, "Not just reporters, but our actors and their talent agents are all calling us. They're asking if it happened to them too. What should we do about this?" The meeting room door was open. Notification ringtones rang out nonstop from the meeting room, along with the frantic voices of TNT staff trying to explain and dismiss the matter. It sounded like a war had broken out. 'How on earth am I supposed to fix this?' Yoo Kang-Seok felt as though all the blood was draining from his body, like he was falling into an endless abyss. And at the same time, Jung Yoon-Ho's last words echoed in his mind. -See... why did you have to mess with me, huh? Just as Jung Yoon-Ho said, he now fully regretted ever going after Jung Yoon-Ho. Then, Yoo Kang-Seok's phone rang. [Caller ID: Oh Han-Joong] It was Park In-Jung's talent agent. Yoo Kang-Seok forced himself to focus and picked up. "Han-Joong, look. About that—" But Oh Han-Joong spoke in an unusually cold voice, cutting him off. -Mr. Yoo. Did you clone In-Jung's phone too? Did you? -I'm heading to confirm it now. And if it turns out you did... I won't let it slide. Yoo Kang-Seok tried to respond, but his phone slipped from his hand and dropped to the floor. The stress had sapped the strength from his body. It felt like TNT Entertainment's future had just exploded and vanished without a trace. Suddenly, his breathing grew shallow. He began to hyperventilate, and his vision started to blur. Those were the last words he heard before Yoo Kang-Seok collapsed. After leaving TNT Entertainment, I met Park In-Jung at the MBS set. Her talent agent, Oh Han-Joong, was someone I was close to. Since he had moved to Hana Entertainment with her before the regression, I wasn't afraid to tell him everything that happened with Sung Gyu-Hwan. Oh Han-Joong and I went straight to a phone analysis company, where we received confirmation that Park In-Jung's phone had indeed been cloned. Park In-Jung then met with Choi Woon-Jae and filed a lawsuit against TNT Entertainment. As a result, the following entry in the planner was deleted. (Deleted Schedule Entry: T Company case. Texts, Kk Talk messages, and calls were monitored using a cloned phone of celebrity P.) And that wasn't all. Choi So-Hye continued publishing article after article about TNT Entertainment without specifying who the victims were. Because of that, rumors quickly began to spread that TNT was as chaotic as if they had been hit by a bomb. It was now clear TNT would walk the path of ruin. All the problems buried inside TNT would now erupt, and their contract renewals would collapse one by one. Now that all obstacles to Mirinae's recovery had been removed, I could also elevate Sung Gyu-Hwan to the role of lead actor. After wrapping everything up, it was 3 p.m. At that moment, Han Yoo-Sik, who had been reading an article in the passenger seat, looked at me and asked, "Still, TNT might not fall as easily as you think." "They've pulled the foundation stone of trust between their actors and talent agents. They'll crumble faster than you'd expect." Even before the regression, TNT Entertainment held out at first but eventually collapsed at an uncontrollable pace. Since I already knew that future, I wasn't fazed in the slightest. "Hmm. Alright. Then I'll help you through all my contacts at KBC. That should bring them down a little faster, don't you think?" With Han Yoo-Sik's help, things were guaranteed to progress faster. "Thank you, as always." "There's no need to thank me. If anything, I should be the one grateful. You've given me a chance to get back at the guy who turned my kids against me." While we chatted, we arrived in front of Cheonho-dong. A luxury car was parked at the entrance of the alley, right in front of the guard post. As the guards said something, a man in a suit stepped out of the car. He was someone I recognized. "Ryu Shin... why is he here?" Wang Long had said he was looking for him in Korea, but I didn't expect him to show up . Just then, a company car driven by Jung Sang-Bong came out of the alley. It looked like he had come home briefly because of Ling Ling's schedule and was now heading out again. Seeing the car in front of the guard post, Jung Sang-Bong brought the company car to a stop. And at that moment, the passenger door swung open. With her short hair flying and dressed in a black suit, Zhou Shishi burst out. Without glancing anywhere else, she closed the distance to Ryu Shin in the blink of an eye. As she sprinted toward him, Zhou Shishi suddenly shouted a curse in Chinese. "Cào!" Startled, Ryu Shin turned toward the source of the shout. At that exact moment, Zhou Shishi's sharp kick was flying straight toward Ryu Shin's face. 'What the hell is this situation now?'