***
Two of the three newspaper companies that were after Min Gyu-Ri's sponsor scandal were easily convinced to drop the scandal, with Celebrity Today receiving 200 million won and Bling Bling Celebrity getting 250 million won. Their articles would now focus on 'Min Gyu-Ri's Happy Day' and 'Min Gyu-Ri wins Hwangryong Film Association's best actress award.'
"Jung Yoon-Ho, you really changed a lot…"
I used to hate making these kinds of deals. But what can I do? If I don't make these deals, all my efforts in raising these celebrities would go down the drain.
Anyway, there was only one newspaper company left to convince—Weekly Stars.
I managed to speak to the editor-in-chief, but the reporter Gu Min-Ji, who had the photo, wasn't responding to the deal.
Hence, I had no choice but to visit her personally.
Screech!
I parked my car in front of the garage of an expensive-looking two-story house in Cheongdam-dong that looks quite expensive.
"Phew! What a nice house."
Gu Min-Ji used to be the leader of the girl group Pink Diamonds until a few years ago. She was now a reporter known for being pretty and stubborn.
After waiting for about five minutes, I heard the engine sound coming from the garage.
Buzz.
When the garage door opened, a fancy 2030 Pork Cheyenne came out but stopped as the driver noticed my parked car.
Screech!
Gu Min-Ji stopped her car and got out of the driver's seat while shaking off her wet hair.
"What do you think you are doing right now? Get out of my way right now and…"
"Hello. How are you doing, Miss Gu?"
Gu Min-Ji frowned at my greeting.
"Hmph, it's you, Mr. Jung. I'm kind of busy right now, so I'll see you some other time. Please move your car right away."
"Please give me a minute. Why don't we grab a cup of coffee? I heard you like this?"
When I handed over her favorite Sunblocks double-shot cafe latte, she accepted it with unease.
"I'll take it only because you came all the way here. But the only time I can give you is until I finish this drink."
"Thank you. In fact…"
I managed to start the conversation somehow, but Gu Min-Ji soon burst into a cold laugh.
"We are both busy, so why don't we get straight to the point? You want me to give up Min Gyu-Ri's sponsor scandal, right? You are planning to offer about 500 million won in return?"
"Wow, Reporter Goo. You should be a prophet, not a reporter."
"Give up. If the desk stops my article, I'm going to pass it over to the board of directors. To put it simply, you can't stop this, Mr. Jung. Not even your grandfather can stop this."
"Come on. Let's not do this, Reporter Gu. I promise to take special care of you from now on. I'll hand over a pretty good article for you to publish too."
What I meant by taking special care of her was to pay her extra money without the knowledge of others.
But Reporter Gu Min-Ji shook her head in a stubborn manner.
"Don't you understand what I just said? I said no!"
'She usually accepts my offer, so why not today? Is there something behind the scenes that I don't know about?'
In this case, I had no choice but to use my last resort even if I didn't want to.
Being absolutely clueless about what I was thinking, Gu Min-Ji shook her coffee cup and laughed out loud.
"Miss A actually won the best actress at the Hwangryong Film Association with the power of her sponsor. What do you think about this title? Damn. I came up with it myself, but it's so good. Don't you think so?"
The cold wind chilled her coffee and Gu Min-Ji drank the remaining coffee in one gulp.
'I bought a venti size, but that was a mistake. I should have brought it in a tumbler.'
"Thank you for the coffee. I'll see you later then. Good luck with taking care of the mess."
I let out a deep sigh and pulled out my phone.
"Reporter Gu. You can leave if you want, but you might wanna check this out before you do."
Gu Min-Ji, who was just about to get in her car, turned pale upon seeing my phone screen.
"W-where did you get this photo…?"
What I showed her was the confidential file related to the entertainment industry that Dong-Soo hyung had sent me.
[Reporter Gu Min-Ji—Confidential File]
-Content: Affair with Jang Min-Ki of Jungin Inc.
-Reference file: 1. Yokohama Hotel (photo) 2. Bali Villa (photo.)
Upon seeing Gu Min-Ji's perplexed and furious face, I felt a tinge of shame for resorting to such tactics.
'Did I become a talent agent to do this?'
Nonetheless, I maintained a poker face.
"Let's not do this. Karma is a real thing, you know?"
"You fucking bastard."
'Wow. She's so good at cursing.'
Fwoosh!
At that moment, Gu Min-Ji reached out her right arm and tried to snatch my phone but I dodged it with ease, causing her to become more infuriated.
"Delete that right now. Do you think Min-Ki will leave you alone if he finds out?"
"I have no idea what kind of person he is, but I know very well what kind of person President Kim Dong-Soo is. I actually came back from convincing him not to hand over these photos to a different newspaper company."
Gu Min-Ji glared at me and trembled, but not because of the chilly winter dawn.
'She must have stabbed me a few hundred times in her head…'
"I could have thrown Min Gyu-Ri, that bitch, down the cliff for good this time…"
It seemed like she and Min Gyu-Ri used to have some beef between them when the former used to be in the entertainment industry.
Gu Min-Ji bit her lips in annoyance.
She then begrudgingly picked up her phone to call someone.
"Yes, Editor-in-Chief. I think we should accept the negotiated price for this article. 500 million won, yes. Yes…I had no choice. Yes, I'll explain more later. Okay."
Judging by how the conversation seemed to be going on smoothly, Dong-Soo hyung had probably made a deal with the editor-in-chief again.
At that moment, I flinched. My chest had begun to ache again.
'Damn it. I'll really have to go to the hospital tomorrow.'
Gu Min-Ji finished the phone call and frowned at me.
"Mr. Jung. Isn't it hard to live a life where you constantly have to clean up after other people's mess?"
'You think? I feel like my lifespan is getting shorter every time I clean up the shit left behind by the celebrities in my company'.'
But I answered as if it didn't bother me.
"I'm glad we made a good deal. One of our staff will deliver my gift to your house very soon."
When I turned around after speaking, I heard Gu Min-Ji's sharp voice from behind.
"Hmph! You should do some housework instead of cleaning up after your celebrities. I heard bad rumors about your family, Mr. Jung."
I tried to ignore her, but the content of her remark was a hard one to disregard.
"The secret private life of actress Ju Yung-In…or should I say the wife of Midas' Touch Jung Yoon-Ho? What do you think? Either way, it sounds interesting enough to be the title of the year-end special article."
I could feel the vein in my forehead pulsating, but I knew that entertainment reporters were true aces when it came to pushing people's buttons.
I tried to tell her to stop talking nonsense, but not a single word came out of my mouth.
I couldn't move an inch, as if my entire body had frozen.
'What's going on?'
"Hahaha. Have a good day, then. One day, I'll make sure to drag down Min Gyu-Ri, that bitch. Hopefully, I'll bring you and that asshole Kim Dong-Soo down as well. Hahaha."
Gu Min-Ji poured out a curse and drove past me.
At that moment, I began to feel nauseous and sick to my stomach.
"Blergh!"
I vomited all over the ground, but the color of my vomit was different from usual—it was dark red rather than brown.
Then, I had a terrible headache and my vision began to blur.
Thud!
The moment I hit my head against the ground, I began to lose consciousness.
The asphalt ground on a cold day in November was colder than I had expected.
I could hear someone screaming and the 119 sirens in the distance as my consciousness faded away.
Soon, my vision turned dark.