Chapter 466 (1/2)

He always thought that he should quit smoking. Dongwook put a cigarette between his lips and his nose and hesitated for a few seconds before putting it in his mouth. He crumpled the empty pack of cigarettes and stood up. It was sad that he lived in an era where he couldn’t smoke in buildings.

Just as he left the building, lit his cigarette, and was about to take a puff, his phone in his pocket started vibrating. He stared at the bright red tip of the cigarette before throwing it away while wondering if this was heaven's decree for him to quit smoking.

“Hello?”

-Senior, it’s me. Miyeon.

“Oh my. Journalist Choi. What happened that such a busy person like you would call me? Oh! Sorry, I just got something important so I think I need to hang up right n….”

-Senior, I tried digging into Lee Miyoon, and I found something interesting.

Dongwook g.r.o.a.n.e.d. This reckless junior of his clearly intended to speak without listening to him. Rather than that, something ‘interesting’ she said. He made a bitter smile. If that ‘interesting’ thing was what he thought it was, this junior had a huge misunderstanding.

“You were still doing that?”

“I shouldn’t have listened to you back then. What kind of journalist am I? I’m just an internet journalist.”

Dongwook stomped on the cigarette on the floor with his heels.

“So? Where are you right now?”

* * *

“Senior.”

Dongwook walked up to Choi Miyeon, who was waving her hand at him.

“Buy me food.”

“That’s the first thing you say to me?”

“Of course, what else would I say to you?”

“Then I’ll buy some bread.”

“Do you really have to open your junior’s wallet like that? Aren’t you supposed to be treating me since you receive a monthly salary from JA?”

“But you get your monthly salary from Sharon, don’t you? I heard that magazine journalists have a pretty decent income these days.”

“That only applies to those that get good interviews. I’m already outside of their circle.”

“Who told you to go around prying into other people’s embarrassing things? You should’ve stuck to writing rumors. You know, things like who likes who, who and who wore matching shirts. If you dig into idols, you could’ve created a huge issue. Why don’t you stop being the journalist of justice after today?”

“I’m not going to. Also, stuff like that doesn't interest me. What are you going to drink?”

“Something sweet.”

Miyeon put in an order before coming back. She took out a few notebooks from her bag that she always carried around as soon as she sat down and put them on the table.

“What’s all this?”

The madam huh. Dongwook opened the notebooks on the table. There were various news article snippets from various newspapers. Ads, press releases, casting stories. All of them were related to the entertainment industry.

“What about this?”

“I tried tracing the changes in the actors after the madam - that is, Lee Miyoon - used her connections to help them out.”

“Connections? You mean this?”

Dongwook made a circle with his left hand and repeatedly moved his right index finger in and out. Miyeon shook her head in denial before slapping his left hand.

“It’s the same thing. Anyway, do you think you’ll be able to find the relationship? All of this will only make sense if you have the evidence that these men s.e.x.u.a.lly serviced her before they scored themselves a contract or an ad.”

“There is a testimony from the actress I talked about before.”

“But she committed suicide. Did you get a recording?”

“No, I didn’t.”

“I got into contact with someone who used to work for her. He goes by the name ‘head manager Lee’, and he’s a broker who connects celebrities to the VIPs.”

Dongwook faintly smiled as Miyeon spoke,

“Through that actress’s connections. That man also said that he’s having a hard time, that he wants to quit, and that he wants to live a carefree life after putting everything down.”

“What a convenient coincidence.”

Dongwook closed the notebooks.

“Look here. You said that the actress that caused you to jump into this whole investigation committed suicide, right?”

“Yes.”

“A joint suicide with her son. However, the news article said that she was unable to endure the hardsh.i.p.s of everyday life. It mentions that in her last will as well. For now, it will be extremely difficult to prove that she was involved in s.e.x.u.a.l bribery.”

“That’s why I went around asking questions myself.”

Just then, they were notified that their drinks were out. Miyeon sighed and brought the drinks. Dongwook took a sip before saying that it was bitter.

“Well then. Let’s leave aside the deceased actress and talk about the current situation. An actress belonging to MH Entertainer has caused an uproar regarding s.e.x.u.a.l bribery. Immediately after that, The Five, belonging to the same agency, revealed the unfair contract incident. Regardless of their relationship, the incident where that actress sued for s.e.x.u.a.l bribery has been forgotten to the point that no one knows about it anymore. After that, The Five went separate ways, and three of them joined the new agency named Soul. That’s the current situation, right?”

“Yes, that’s right.”

“And one of your claims is that one or more boy idols belonging to The Five was involved in s.e.x.u.a.l bribery and that Lee Miyoon is involved in it as well, right?”

“I told you that before, yes.”

“To use as evidence for that, you have the testimony of the actress who left MH, but she has already reached an agreement, and that actress does not wish for this to become any bigger. That’s also correct, isn’t it?”

“Senior, what do you want to say?”

Dongwook raised his index finger as he spoke.

“What I want to say is that all the facts that you are speculating are based on the testimony of just one person. All the evidence you have about the previous incidents comes from this head manager Lee that you met through the connections of that actress.”

Miyeon spoke in a strong tone. Dongwook squeezed a lot of syrup into his coffee as he listened to her.

“This stuff is bitter even with sugar. Anyway, you’re thinking this, aren’t you? That there’s a connection between the broker and Lee Miyoon, and that you should be able to tie the current incident with the past one once the investigation begins.”

“Right.”

“Miyeon.”

“What?”

“You’re being way too hasty.”

“Hasty?”

“Did your skills rust after you quit the newspaper company? Or did you become blind because you want to beat up all the bad guys with your hands?”

Dongwook subconsciously reached into his jacket pocket and frowned after realizing that the only thing in there was a lighter.

“There are people related to the media in the list that the MH actress showed you, right? What do you think they did right after that incident became public?”