Chapter 369 (2/2)

Dongwook waved his hand. The lady bowed slightly before coming over and sitting in front of him.

“Are you journalist Kim Dongwook?”

“Yes. You’re someone who used to work for Number 8, correct?”

“Yes. But my name is really not going to go on it right? You’re not going to reveal things like where I live and things like that, right?”

“Of course. It’s one of our rules to hide the identity of the informant in this profession. So don’t worry about anything and just tell me. Rather than that, you look very tired. Let’s grab something to drink before talking.”

Dongwook ordered a warm drink on purpose. The animals known as humans were quite simple and oftentimes made their decisions based on their feelings. A cup of warm tea would relax a person’s guard and would soften their lips as well.

After emptying about half of the tea, the lady sighed.

“I came to work and was just working like usual, but the president didn’t come. As a production company, it wasn’t that uncommon to have business meetings outside, so I didn’t think much about it, but he didn’t turn up for two days. It was around that time we received calls for payment, so all the employees looked for the president, but no one could reach him.”

“That happened a week ago, am I right?”

“Yes.”

“When did those people come to the company then?”

“Three days after the president vanished. By that time, we employees were feeling uneasy as well and some people stopped coming. I was uncertain about what to do and it was then that they came.”

“You must have had a hard time.”

“Don’t even start. Some weird lady started pulling out my hair saying ‘give me my money back’, and I was scared to death back then.”

“People become violent when it comes to money, after all.”

“Yeah, you tell me.”

“What happened after that?”

“I didn’t leave the office and kept calling the president. But the only thing I got back was that his phone was off.”

“How was the state of payment?”

“Actually, I haven’t received my salary for four months as well. It should amount to around 7 million won. It’s not much compared to the people that were scammed, but right now, I’m about to be driven out into the streets because of that money.”

The lady sighed while shaking and eventually burst out crying. Dongwook pulled out some tissue and handed it over. After a while, she calmed down again before continuing her story.

“Three days ago, we started looking for where the president might be in secret, but we couldn’t even catch a glimpse of him. We even asked the owner of a restaurant that the president was a regular at, and the owner swore at us instead. Most of us employees haven’t received our salary so we are pretty desperate.”

“The president told you that you’ll receive a bonus once the movie shoot was over, right?”

“Yes. It’s a movie with more than 10 billion won invested into it. We thought that we’d receive our salary soon. Then, this happened.”

Dongwook consoled the woman before finishing up his interview.

“Here’s the list of stores that the president frequented.”

“Thank you.”

“Uhm….”

Dongwook handed her the interview fee. Although it was only 50 thousand won, the woman looked like she was about to kneel in gratitude.

“Then I’ll call you again later.”

After sending the woman off, Dongwook drove his car to the next employee. It was a woman this time as well. She was a university student who had taken a semester off, and she said that it was her first ever job. Her circumstances were similar to the lady before. The president suddenly stopped coming, and people just barged in a few days later. He didn’t expect that much from her in the first place, so he ended the interview quickly before leaving. When she asked him if she could get her delayed salary, Dongwook smiled bitterly and shook his head.

“Once the police get involved, it might become an issue.”

There was no bigger incident than this in the movie industry. After all, 15 billion won disappeared into thin air. It shouldn’t amount to that much considering the payment that was already paid, but from estimation, the president probably ran with at least 6 billion won or more. For now, he had to talk to the huge businesses, actors, and the staff.

“I wonder what my president is planning to do with this.”

Once a journalist starts digging deep into a case, their job would become similar to that of a detective. They would start digging into someone else’s personal history. Dongwook wondered what Junmin was going to do with this information.

He took out a cigarette before looking up at the sky.

“What nice weather.”

Just as he was about to get back in his car after smoking, he received a call. The caller ID was Choi Miyeon. It was his junior journalist who was currently working for a women’s magazine named Sharon, and she was also the one that was digging into a stinky, dangerous case.

“Yeah, what is it?”

-Senior, have you learned anything about the things I told you last time?

“No. I told you I’m not going to touch on it. I only lent you an ear back then.”

-I thought you’d say that. Then free up some of your time tomorrow. I have some things to tell you.

“Hey, don’t tell me you’re still digging into that? You should really stop it. If a magazine company keeps digging into the dark side of the entertainment industry, you won’t get any more ads.”

-I told you, didn’t I? That I’m resolved to quit. Anyway, we’re partners in crime, so free up some time. I found out some things about the woman titled ‘madam’ in the entertainment industry.

“We aren’t partners in crime. But wait, madam, you said?”

His junior hung up before he finished his question. Her personality still hadn’t changed. Dongwook clicked his tongue before getting in the car. He hated himself for becoming interested even though he knew that there was nothing good from sticking his nose into it.

He drove off. He still had a lot of places to go to.