LIGHTNOVELWORLD Episode 134 - Baek Sol's Pawn
Kim Joo-seong stared at the board member who had questioned him before speaking.
“What makes you think that?”
“In the current state of the domestic content industry, the fantasy genre has never succeeded. Yet, we are investing a large sum in its production. Are you aware that the fantasy drama 「Valdor」, aired on MBS, resulted in significant losses for several companies that couldn’t even recoup their investments?”
Kim Joo-seong tilted his head at the board member’s opinion.
“The initial ratings for 「Valdor」 were good, but didn’t it fail because it couldn’t compete with the ratings of 「The Stars Beyond the River」, which starred our own Ryu Yeon-woo? I don’t think the genre was the issue.”
“Ahem. But…”
Given that Kim Joo-seong, who held the largest voting rights, opposed the agenda, the meeting was essentially pointless. Although the board meeting was a formality, Kim Joo-seong couldn’t ignore the shareholders’ opinions entirely, so he reluctantly nodded.
“Understood. Appointing an outside director can guide the company’s direction positively in the long run, so I agree.”
An outside director is an external person unrelated to the major shareholders, brought into the board to prevent unilateral management by the major shareholders. Even with the appointment of an outside director, Kim Joo-seong, a legendary figure who had built the company from scratch, would still hold dominant influence within the company, making it difficult to challenge his opinions.
With Kim Joo-seong’s agreement, the facilitator took the microphone.
“Then, I declare that the third agenda item, the appointment of an additional outside director, is approved as proposed, with one recommendation each from the board and the management.”
After the board meeting, Kim Joo-seong left the conference room and took the elevator to the top-floor CEO’s office. Team Leader Jung-hyuk followed him, shaking his head.
“Aren’t the board members being unreasonable? There hasn’t been a single failed investment in the past three years, yet they question your management skills.”
Kim Joo-seong smiled slightly at Team Leader Jung’s frustration.
“It’s a transparent ploy. Our stock price has risen significantly lately.”
“Yes, especially since the projects starring Ryu Yeon-woo have been hits four times in a row.”
Kim Joo-seong shook his head.
“I have a feeling it’s not just because of that.”
「Summer Promise」 was a self-produced project, and the independent film 「Sketch」 was solely funded by LN Entertainment. However, in the cases of 「Master Plan」 and 「The Stars Beyond the River」, although Ryu Yeon-woo starred in them, LN Entertainment did not directly produce them.
“Someone has been steadily buying up our company’s shares. Quite aggressively, too.”
“Who could it be…?”
“I don’t know…”
Ding─.
The elevator arrived at the top floor. As Kim Joo-seong stepped out, he fell into thought. Rumors about those people were rampant in the entertainment industry. However, Kim Joo-seong knew for certain that they existed.
“It seems someone doesn’t like me. This is getting interesting.”
Kim Joo-seong’s lips curled into a smile, genuinely amused.
Meanwhile, at an undisclosed location in Seoul, a man was holding a phone respectfully, his head bowed.
“Yes, understood. I will make sure there are no mistakes this time.”
“Right. We can’t let ourselves be outdone by someone running a mere entertainment business, can we?”
“I apologize.”
The man on the phone bowed his head to the steely voice coming through the receiver, even though the person on the other end couldn’t see him.
[You see, with meat, if it’s too big, it can hurt your jaw to chew, and you might even get an upset stomach trying to digest it. You have to cut it just right to eat it.]
“Yes, I’ll keep that in mind.”
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Meanwhile, Yeon-woo, who had been focused on filming, was released from the harness and wires after getting the okay sign.
“Phew.”
Chroma key action filming was more complicated than one might think. Kim Min-soo rushed over to Yeon-woo, who was catching his breath after the strenuous morning.
“Here’s some water for you, sir.”
“Ah, thank you, Min-soo hyung.”
“When you were flying around with the wires, you looked just like a special agent in a spy movie.”
Yeon-woo chuckled at Kim Min-soo’s comment as he walked to the corner of the set to drink water.
“Really? I think I looked more like an angry flying squirrel.”
Special agents don’t fly around like this.
“Ha, a flying squirrel?”
Yeon-woo joked with Kim Min-soo as they walked back to his waiting area. Sitting down, he unlocked his smartphone and found several messages that had arrived during filming.
“Hmm… I’m going to use the restroom.”
As Yeon-woo stood up with his phone, Manager Kim Min-soo nodded.
“Alright. Since that’s it for your filming today, I’ll start the car and get ready to leave.”
Yeon-woo nodded back and headed out the back door of the set. He bypassed the restroom and walked down a deserted back alley before making a phone call.
[Yes, Team Leader.]
“Do you have something important to report?”
The sender of the messages that had arrived during filming was Han Hae-woon.
[The information I’ve obtained through the device we installed at Plus Ten suggests that those guys are meddling with the movie you’re currently filming.]
Yeon-woo was taken aback by the unexpected news.
“The movie I’m filming? You mean White Blood?”
[Yes. The instructions I obtained were clear, they’ve tampered with a certain role to ensure there are no mistakes like last time.]
“Tampered with a certain role…? Alright, let me know if anything else comes up.”
[Yes, Team Leader. Oh, and I’ve been assigned to the Seoul Northern District Prosecutors’ Office.]
Yeon-woo was pleased to hear Han Hae-woon’s news.
“Oh, really? That’s great. Things should be easier now.”
Having Han Hae-woon in Busan had made it difficult to coordinate quickly if any issues arose due to the distance.
[I’ll contact you immediately if there’s anything else to report.]
After hanging up, Yeon-woo was lost in thought. The reference to ‘the time of The Stars Beyond the River’ likely meant the incident involving the action actor ‘Park Kyung-wan’, who was originally cast for the role of a bodyguard that appeared in the latter part of the series. It turned out to be a blessing in disguise when Son Jin-yuk made a cameo appearance instead.
At that time, it was suspected that Baek Sol’s pawns, who had invested in the competing drama 「Valdor」, had hastily acted to bury 「The Stars Beyond the River」, which was emerging as a rival during the same time slot.
‘But why now…?’
White Blood was to be distributed through Netflix, so there wasn’t a direct competitor.
Since there was no direct competition in the same time slot and it was impossible to predict which projects would clash upon completion, there was no way to know in advance what they would be up against.
Every action has a motive. And there must be a financial motive behind their actions.
‘It can’t be that I’m their target…’
Given that there was no way for them to know about the supernatural situation of reincarnation, the possibility of them discovering Han Hae-woon or Yeon-woo’s true identity was zero.
So, if they were indeed sabotaging 「White Blood」, what could they gain from it? What benefit could they derive if this series failed?
Yeon-woo pondered deeply but couldn’t come up with a clear answer.
‘If it’s not for immediate gain, then it must be part of a long-term plan.’
If the project itself wasn’t the target…
“Then their target must be LN Entertainment.”
Although it wasn’t entirely clear yet, it seemed they wanted to damage LN Entertainment for some reason. Given the substantial budget poured into this project, a failure would certainly deal a significant blow to the company.
Yeon-woo quickly summarized his deductions and sent a message to Han Hae-woon. Since Kim Min-soo was waiting with the car engine running, he headed towards the parking lot.
‘If they’re tampering with a significant role, hmm…’
In this series, aside from himself, there were four key roles:
Han Byul as Ella.
Jung Soo-yeon as the narrator.
Dong-ha from Axis as Akhenaten.
Jeon Ki-hoon as Dipangdal.
Logically, it made sense to exclude Han Byul and Jung Soo-yeon, who were middle schoolers, but Yeon-woo decided to keep all possibilities open.
‘If it’s not someone they’ve already planted, there’s also the possibility of them pulling a stunt like they did with Ahn Jun-ho.’
Ahn Jun-ho, who had worked with him on 「Summer Promise」, was not the type to dabble in drugs due to his timid nature. He had claimed to have only drunk champagne handed out at an event, suggesting that the other side might have tampered with it to use him.
‘They could create a scandal in a similar way.’
Although he didn’t want to think about it, there was a high chance they might use Han Byul or Jung Soo-yeon to create a shocking scandal. Of course, if something happened to Dong-ha, a current idol, it would generate significant noise, and the same went for Jeon Ki-hoon, a middle-aged actor known for his volunteer work.
At that moment, Kim Min-soo called out from the driver’s seat, rolling down the window.
“Yeon-woo, stay there. I’ll pull the car up.”
The van soon stopped in front of Yeon-woo, and he got in.
“Sorry, I took too long.”
“No problem. I informed the director that you were leaving.”
“Ah, thank you.”
Yeon-woo realized he had been so preoccupied with Han Hae-woon’s message that he hadn’t even seen Director Hwang Min-kwon before heading to the parking lot. As he sank into the seat and stared at the car’s ceiling, thoughts of Hwang Min-kwon naturally led him to consider the production team.
If something happened to the production team, it would also severely impact the project’s fate.
“Hmm, the more I think about it, the more problematic it seems.”
“Sorry, what?”
“Nothing, just thinking about the next scene we’ll be shooting.”
Yeon-woo decided to keep his concerns to himself for now. There were too many variables and potential threats, and he needed to stay focused on his role while keeping an eye on any suspicious activities around the set.
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The filming continued smoothly without any major issues, and about ten days had passed. Yeon-woo found it easy to work with Han Byul, who played Ella, and their scenes together went well.
“Today, all the actors will be gathering for the first time,” said Director Jung Yo-han, whom Yeon-woo hadn’t seen in a while. Yeon-woo nodded in agreement.
It was the first time they were having a cast dinner since the crank-in.
“That’s right. Senior Jeon Ki-hoon missed the script reading, didn’t he?”
“Yes, his previous project wasn’t finished yet, so he couldn’t adjust his schedule.”
Jeon Ki-hoon, a veteran actor known for his volunteer work and good deeds, played ‘Dipangdal,’ one of the main character’s key allies. His presence significantly raised the average age of the cast, which had been quite young.
“So, Director Jung, you’ll finally have a drink tonight.”
“I’ve been holed up working lately. But with the guys who came over from the U.S., I’ve been drinking beer like it’s water while working.”
Jung Yo-han chuckled, thinking about the colleagues who had joined from Hollywood.
“Yeon-woo, you haven’t had any scenes with Akhenaten yet, right?”
“No, not yet. But I hear we’ll be filming together soon. So far, I’ve only met Ella.”
“I’m working on Akhenaten’s solo shots. I was worried since he’s an idol, but his acting is quite good.”
Akhenaten was played by Dong-ha from the idol group Exis. He was the second ally to join the story, but since the filming hadn’t reached that part yet, this was the first time Yeon-woo would see Dong-ha since the script reading.
As Yeon-woo and Director Jung Yo-han chatted, the restaurant door opened, and Director Hwang Min-kwon and the actors walked in. Since all the main actors and the production team were gathering today, Yeon-woo needed to observe everyone closely.
“Hello. I wanted to meet you, but we haven’t had any scenes together yet.”
“Ah, Dong-ha. That’s right.”
Yeon-woo smiled and shook hands with Dong-ha. Then, Jeon Ki-hoon approached Yeon-woo and extended his hand.
“Oh, Actor Yeon-woo.”
“Hello, Senior. It’s my first time meeting you.”
Yeon-woo politely shook Jeon Ki-hoon’s hand, smiling. Though he was smiling, his eyes quickly scanned the actors, gathering real-time information.
Following them were Jung Soo-yeon and Han Byul, along with the rest of the production team. After observing several things, Yeon-woo’s lips curled into a smirk.
‘Hmm, it seems like this guy might be Baek Sol’s pawn.’