WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: Chen

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◈ Incarnation of the Malevolent Star ◈

Chapter 47: Part 1 - Whispers of the Dark Brother (47)

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#47.

Legal Hunter had so readily accepted his young business partner's combined request and proposal not simply because of money.

If he took a third-rate idol group on as limited-time regulars, wouldn't all his efforts to manage and distribute issue-related risks have been for nothing?

It also went against his original plan to keep supplying fresh faces through short-term guest appearances.

Even so, the hunter had quickly allowed himself to be "persuaded."

Without even a single round of back-and-forth. It was as though the reluctance he had meant to show from the start had been a lie.

It was nothing compared to his young business partner's instincts, but even a bad adult had instincts of his own.

Those instincts whispered to their master.

「Hey, Master. Hold on a second. Something feels off.」

'What is it?'

「Don't you think he might've caught on? About you secretly skimming money on the side. The wild boars and water deer.」

It was something Legal Hunter had been uneasily worried about for some time.

He had hidden it as well as he could, but the longer one kept at something, the more likely someone was to catch on someday.

The excuse he had initially used to lure in his young business partner had been his hunger for fame. He had claimed he would line up every other hunter active in their province beneath him.

That goal had been achieved long ago.

He was now in first place by an overwhelming margin over second. The same held true even if the range expanded from the province to the entire country.

Yet he had always acted as though he wanted more kills.

So there was nothing strange about his young business partner, who seemed sharper the more one knew him, finding that suspicious.

He was already overwhelmingly in first place. What was the point of increasing his catch any further?

Wouldn't it only waste more time and money?

He was getting busier and busier with broadcasts, too.

The notion that the hunter simply enjoyed hunting did not hold up, either.

He barely caught any himself, so how could anyone say he enjoyed hunting?

By any reasonable measure, the only conclusion was that the hunter was profiting through some other means.

In that situation, the young business partner had offered to catch more wild boars as a bargaining chip.

If the boy harbored a "reasonable suspicion," there had to be another meaning beneath it.

The bad adult could almost hear the boy's clear voice in his head.

「I'll pretend not to notice you keeping money on the side. So please do what I say this time. Understand?」

Once his thoughts reached that point, the bad adult had no choice but to agree.

Of course, this could all be nothing more than a guilty conscience.

Still, what was wrong with being cautious?

Someone with something to hide ought to be careful.

Even if he had not been found out yet, steadily building goodwill would serve as insurance if anything happened.

So the hunter swiftly changed his stance.

"Okay, let's go!"

Yet even at that moment, the bad adult's thoughts turned in a bad direction.

'Hmm. He sounded calm, so it doesn't seem like he's fallen for them or anything... I don't know what our Onik likes so much about those girls, but out of sight, out of mind! I'll buy time by sending paperwork that won't take effect right away, then feel things out slowly.'

After sending off Truffle Candy, they could invite other guests and keep having fun. There was plenty of room for his young business partner's feelings to change.

Even if the young business partner had not yet seen through the bad adult's lies, there was no reason to oppose him head-on and earn his resentment.

If his hopes were dashed and the young business partner's feelings did not change, he would simply accept it.

He would still have the extra money he had earned in hand.

The hunter was pleased with how quickly his mind worked.

'Heh heh. Am I smart or what?'

He really was smart. The problem was that his mind only worked well in matters like this.

Profit-and-loss calculations and curiosity were separate matters, though. The hunter wanted to know why his young business partner was going out of his way to show goodwill toward a third-rate idol group.

So after startling the manager and producer with the sudden talk of extending the collaboration, he returned and faced Onik once more.

"Onik, why are you really helping them this much? I'm not saying I object, but fill this uncle in too. We're business partners, aren't we?"

After hesitating, Onik first asked him to keep it secret.

Yu Se-ra herself was only a victim, but if her story leaked out, there was a high chance Truffle Candy would find it difficult to continue its activities as an idol group.

"I can tell you, but you have to promise to keep it a secret."

"A secret? Is it something that needs to stay secret? Then nobody is more tight-lipped than this uncle! Trust me. You can tell me without worrying. Of course!"

Legal Hunter conveniently forgot the time he had tattled about the Village Youth Association President's stalking faster than anyone else.

He truly believed he could keep a secret, and that belief was partly true.

When keeping a secret benefited him, or when revealing it seemed likely to cost him something, this bad adult became more tight-lipped than anyone.

The frightening boy did not know about his older partner's history of tattling.

That was why he decided to share Truffle Candy's situation with him.

The business partner Onik knew was far from a bad person. He thought that if his partner learned about the city idols' circumstances, he would pity them and help even more actively.

"Actually..."

After carefully telling Sera's story, the boy soon felt satisfied.

His older business partner got angrier than he had expected.

"Argh! What kind of bastards are these?! I can never forgive them!"

The hunter's anger was not an act.

He was genuinely furious.

What angered him was the part where the management division head had tried to scout Onik through improper means.

It was only Sera's guess, but to the hunter, the circumstances made it seem highly likely to be true.

'That rotten bitch with cobwebs growing between her legs? She dared try to steal my lucky charm?'

Contrary to the boy's expectations, the hunter did not particularly feel any sympathy for the Truffle Candy members.

Sympathy? Not when money was involved.

Old man Jo Jeong-ho, his young business partner, and his own people were naturally exceptions. But the third-rate idols who had come down from the gray city were complete strangers.

Still, the hunter decided he would pretend to pity them.

'This is actually better. I'll treat it as a vaccination and earn a whole lot of points with him while I can.'

The most important asset when going into business with someone was the relationship with one's partner.

Why did people try to talk someone out of starting a business with a partner?

Because it was common for businesses to be abandoned halfway when partners could not agree, for companies they had worked hard to build to be torn apart by power struggles and fights over interests, or for business to become impossible once trust between them collapsed.

Nothing like that could ever happen in Onik and the hunter's business.

To the hunter, his young business partner was both a business partner and the most essential, irreplaceable business asset.

A business asset that could declare the partnership over of its own will had to be cared for, and one had to earn its goodwill in advance.

Therefore, taking the position of pitying the third-rate idol group and building common ground with his young business partner was a wise move.

He would use the pitiful idols as a machine for raising his young business partner's affection.

It would make it easier to drive away the second and third thieves who would surely appear someday.

Jo Onik was a jewel that shone far too brightly. There was no way only one or two people would covet him in the future.

'Right. Something like this isn't bad once in a while.'

The chance to build an image as a kind, good adult was also beneficial to him.

The people from the company were obviously bad adults.

By standing against bad adults, he would naturally become a good, dependable adult in his young business partner's eyes.

And while he was at it, there was also the satisfaction of punishing those insolent people for reaching for something they should not have coveted.

'I'll use this chance to show him what a capable business partner I am.'

Grinning, the hunter whispered the wisdom of a bad adult to his young business partner.

"Heh heh. Then, Onik, let me teach you a little adult wisdom."

"Adult wisdom?"

"That's right. In this uncle's opinion, we don't need to see that manager as being in the same camp as the agency. I know people like that very well."

"What kind of people are they?"

"What kind? Salaried workers with no ambition or drive, worn down by life at a miserable company.

"People who only hope each day passes without trouble, who don't care about right or wrong and focus only on avoiding responsibility.

"If the conditions are right, those kinds of workers could end up on our side..."

This was wisdom the bad adult had acquired through long years of exchanging favors and goodwill.

"Really? If they like stability, wouldn't they want to avoid troublesome things?"

"Onik, you really are still young."

The hunter snapped his fingers.

"People like that don't live that way because they like stability."

"Then why?"

"They have no authority to take initiative, no ability to move to a better job, and if they stick their neck out, they just get knocked around from every direction.

"So everything becomes bothersome, irritating, and exhausting, and they curl up inside themselves.

"That is as different from simply liking stability as heaven and earth. Do you understand what I mean?"

"Um... I think I do."

"They definitely won't have any loyalty to the company. There's no way they're being treated well, either, so they'll have all kinds of complaints piled up inside."

He could tell even from Sera's story as told through Onik.

When the management division head berated Sera, hadn't the manager mostly stood by and done nothing?

His pay would be tiny, and the unfairness would be endless.

"I'd even bet on it. Once we slowly build some rapport, hint at a transfer under suitable conditions, and say, 'You've got a lot bottled up, don't you?' he'll spill enough trash talk to fill several bowls."

"Hint at a transfer? Are we going to hire that person?"

"Onik, you watch a lot of news. You know how common it is in this country for people to bring their old company's technology and inside information in exchange for moving to a better job."

"...That doesn't sound like a good thing."

"Normally, it is a bad thing. But we're in the position of punishing bad people, aren't we?

"It's not like we're doing this to make money."

"That's true, but..."

"I was already thinking about hiring a few employees with experience in entertainment agencies or broadcasting.

"More and more broadcasters and OTT production companies have been asking about having you appear on their shows."

As he said this, the hunter swallowed a little disappointment. He could not hire family members in that field.

He could if he really wanted to, but then it would be hard to expect any related business to go well afterward.

It would not do to lose a large profit over a small gain.

"Do you know how much my daughter nags me? She says we need to build a team to manage your schedule, develop content, and support sales work in broadcasting.

"It's a risky upfront investment, but this uncle believes in you! Onik, you can become much bigger than you are now!"

"..."

"Why? Don't you like that manager?"

"To be honest, I don't."

"Heh. Neither do I."

"...?"

"Onik, have you ever heard of giving someone false hope?"

The bad adult smiled wickedly.

"The important thing is that we actually need people in that field.

"So all we need to do is show him the emails various producers have sent to our corporation. That alone will be incredibly convincing."

"Wow."

"And the harder life gets, the more people believe what they want to believe.

"He must be desperate for a better job, so after we buy him food and drinks, get a little friendly, and this uncle subtly dangles the job opportunity, he'll fall for it one hundred percent.

"You've given us the necessary credibility, too, Onik."

"The credibility I gave you? What's that?"

"That manager friend is going to wonder why we suddenly handed over a memorandum of understanding, isn't he?

"If we tell him you did it because you simply liked the Truffle Candy noonas, no other explanation is needed. Didn't you show how close you were during the day?

"Then he'll naturally understand why I'm asking for inside information from their company, too."

"Umm..."

"A company that runs like a pigsty floor full of dung won't be strict about internal security.

"They'll have far more shady things going on than what Sera told us!

"So we promise the manager that if he digs up information that can blow up the company, we'll hire him at our company later. What do you think?"

"Are you going to blow up the noonas' agency?"

Onik's eyes grew round as the story became grander and grander, and the hunter felt pleased.

"No! We'll use it to threaten them... I mean, negotiate quietly with them!

"It depends on how well that manager does his job, of course!"

"Oh, then if things go well, are you going to take the Truffle Candy noonas out too and hire them at our company?"

"No!"

"...?"

"Heh heh heh! It's better to leave those girls at their current agency until their contracts end.

"Wouldn't it be most profitable to leave them there and squeeze that agency dry?"

"How do you squeeze an agency dry?"

"We make a contract about Truffle Candy's activities that is completely favorable to us!

"We have the group's activities effectively belong to our side, through some sort of dispatch arrangement or whatever!

"We distribute the profits 'fairly' to the girls, and make the agency bear all the costs!"

The important thing was to offer them a loss that was still bearable.

He had to propose a deal that would make them decide it was better to accept, even while cursing him.

"Onik. This is the adult wisdom I'm teaching you. Proper business is business done with other people's money!"

"Other people's money..."

"That's right! Other people's money! Then we can save money on that manager bastard, too!

"Even adding a little on top of the salary he gets from that company will feel like a huge difference!

"We can keep putting off the actual transfer for as long as we want!"

Naturally, the hunter's plan was to cover even that extra money, if possible, with profits from Truffle Candy's activities, money that should originally have gone to the agency.

The agency would burst with rage at the producer's betrayal, yet have no choice but to keep paying the traitor's salary.

They would not want to be completely destroyed.

The bad adult was already pleased as he imagined the thieving management division head flying into a rage.

'The Truffle Candy girls will be grateful simply to receive any profit distribution at all, no matter how small the amount, won't they?

'From what I heard, they would probably be happy if we just treated the investment money as though it did not exist.

'This is a deal where everyone wins. Except that agency. Heh.'

If old man Jo Jeong-ho had been there, he would have flicked the hunter on the forehead and said, "You're teaching such wonderful things to a child."

Onik wondered whether he was supposed to agree with this "adult wisdom"...

So instead of nodding, he raised a reasonable concern.

"Will that grand plan really go as well as you say...?

"Leaving everything else aside, from the manager ajusshi's point of view, it doesn't seem like there is any guarantee you'll keep your promise..."

Before the skeptical boy, the hunter confidently pounded his chest.

"Onik, trust me. This uncle will use every bit of his ability to make that friend believe exactly what he wants to believe."

The bad adult had confidence in his ability to do bad things well. He had plenty of experience luring people in by showing them "sincerity" one way or another.

The hunter strengthened his resolve inside.

'Just wait, you bastards. I'll make you pay for treating Boss Jo like a real hapless fool! The results will show who the real hapless fool is!'

If things went according to plan, Truffle Candy, as an idol group, would become his crop growing in someone else's field.

'Heh. Where else would those girls go when their contracts end?'

Surely they would not renew with their current agency. Unless they had gone mad, it was not a path they would choose.

If they became successful as an idol group before then, he would take the whole group.

Legal Hunter had always admired the sprawling business expansion of South Korea's major corporations.

If they did not succeed, it would still be worth considering bringing them in individually as employees.

'As long as I don't fail in business, won't I have two or three franchises by then?

'Wouldn't it be good if I could train those pretty girls well and use them as public relations employees or sales representatives?'

The hunter had been studying hard late in life, determined to become a successful businessman, and had come across research showing that a salesperson's looks had a significant effect on sales performance.

The example of a large company like Korea Yakult recruiting so-called failed idols, putting them in charge of YouTube channels, and seeing results had also inspired him.

Even if average views were only around ten thousand, a promotional channel that generated steady effects held meaning for a company.

One employee could create advertising effects comparable to keeping a viral-marketing contractor on retainer. The value for money was excellent.

If he made a dedicated promotional channel like that for each franchise, it would also greatly help recruit new franchise owners.

And who knew?

Perhaps Onik and the hunter's company would grow large as an MCN, too.

Then they could use pretty former idols with good voices purely as broadcasters.

At the very least, it would not be a loss. Broadcasters had no minimum-wage floor.

If labor costs were cut hard enough, most businesses turned a profit.

The more his hopeful fantasies spun, the more motivation filled the bad adult.

'I! Will! Definitely! Become! Rich!'

Desire was the driving force that moved people.

#

For the Truffle Candy members, the final day of their joint broadcast passed in the blink of an eye.

They had literally spent their time eating, playing, and enjoying themselves without realizing how quickly it passed, and before they knew it, the sun had set and it was time to return to the gray city.

The members laughed more brightly and chatted more energetically than they had the day before.

Their eldest unni had returned after meeting Onik the previous night with "good news," and hope had sprouted in the other members' hearts, which had been like dry rice fields, for the first time in a very long while.

But when it came time to part, everyone's smiles disappeared.

Sera looked downcast, and one by one, the other three girls' eyes reddened.

"Huu..."

Mi-na, the youngest, tightly held both hands of the country boy and sniffled.

"Onik! Let's definitely see each other again, okay? Definitely, definitely!"

"Okay! We'll see each other again! We're friends, so when we meet again, let's have fun like this again! Promise!"

"Promise..."

After hooking pinkies and shaking on it, Mi-na hugged the country boy tight, wiped away her tears, and stepped back.

Tears and hugs were contagious.

The other members came forward in no particular order and shared their sorrow at parting with the country boy.

Legal Hunter was no exception. He awkwardly laughed as he received tearful hugs from girls younger than his own daughter.

For a short while, purity even settled in the bad adult's heart.

Inside the van headed toward the gray city, the shopworn rookie idols grew extremely quiet.

The last two nights and three days had been a vivid summer that had suddenly entered their endlessly continuing gray days like magic.

The lingering feeling left by those three dense, intensely lived summer days could not help but be rich and powerful.

The person most deeply caught in that afterglow was, naturally, the leader, Yu Se-ra.

Sera rested her chin on her hand and leaned her head against the window, lost in thought.

Most of those thoughts, flowing like a deep river, concerned the country boy. Among them was the mysterious request he had left her with.

'Don't make it too obvious that I hate the producer... Was that it?'

It was something the country boy had quietly told her that day.

Boss had decided to do something to help the noonas, and Onik did not know whether it would work, but she should play along for now.

'He said it was still difficult to tell me exactly what it was... What could it be?'

There was a reason the country boy had not told Sera about the hunter's sinister plan.

First, he doubted whether that plan was realistic.

And even if he set aside those doubts, he felt it would be imprudent to immediately share the details with Sera.

'From the producer's expression, something really must have happened.'

Until then, Sera had never read anything from the producer except annoyance, exhaustion, and irritation.

She had especially never seen him smile.

But the producer was different now.

He seemed to be worrying over something with a very complicated expression, and the seriousness in it came as a surprise to Sera.

Watching the producer through the rearview mirror, Sera quickly turned her eyes toward the window when their gazes met.

"..."

The producer watched her briefly before returning his gaze to the road ahead.

Then he moved his index finger and tapped the steering wheel.

Tap. Tap.

There was impatience in those taps.

'Ha... Could I take that position for myself?'

The position the producer was desperate to land was one that would open at the country boy and hunter's company for people with entertainment-agency experience.

Legal Hunter's sinister plan had fermented overnight and become more refined.

The hunter thought:

'It would be a poor move for me to bring up a transfer first. If possible, I should make him come begging on his own.

'I should also make him bring me the inside information himself. That way, I can cut down the price.'

So the bad adult adjusted the third day's joint-broadcast schedule slightly.

He made time to meet the producer alone, then, following a hunter's habit of luring prey, set out a poisoned lure.

"...For reasons like these, we plan to hire some talented people with entertainment-agency experience soon, within about the next six months or so.

"The problem is, we don't know anything about this field, so we don't know where to start."

"Then why did you ask to see me separately...?"

"I thought I'd hear a little about how things work in that world from someone currently working in the industry.

"I would feel bad listening for free, so here, have some meat first. It's very good beef."

Having opened with that, the hunter chattered on under the guise of seeking advice, talking about the corporation's finances, current businesses, and outlook.

How much capital it had, how its business and broadcasts were growing, how many outside appearance requests they were receiving, and so on.

"What do you think? Would decent people apply if we posted a job listing? If they did, what standards should we use to choose people?

"Oh, right. This is roughly the compensation we were considering. Ha ha."

The producer's thoughts became seriously tangled from that point on.

As he drove, the producer chewed over the thoughts he had had then.

'Their capital alone is almost five times our company's. Their outlook is bright, too. I don't know about anything else, but on the broadcasting side, all they need is to hold onto that kid named Onik.

'His looks and talent are both unusual. Even if they position him only in variety shows, he's a rough gem that could feed a small or medium agency on his own.'

As far as he knew, the average capital of small and medium entertainment agencies at that point was just under four hundred million won.

The "other people's money" Legal Hunter had desperately scraped together was enough by itself to make the producer of a shitty little agency feel the gap between them.

And he was a producer, after all.

He might work at a shitty little company whose only source of money came from endlessly running small events, while the occasional music-show appearance earned no money at all and only served as groundwork for future events, but he could at least claim to have an eye for rough gems.

"Haa..."

A sigh escaped the producer.

The last three days had not been vivid only for the secondhand idols.

For the producer, worn down by life at a shitty little agency, those three summer days had also been a series of moments that seemed to shine.

But unlike the secondhand idols, who had melted into that brightness, he was only an outsider with management responsibilities, standing a step away and watching.

What meaning was there in brightness that could never become his?

The producer had cynically thought he would simply eat something delicious and go home, but the hunter's poisoned bait changed things.

Perhaps he could make those shining moments his own.

What tempted him was not the money so much as the atmosphere and outlook.

Judging by the supposedly simple-hearted (?) personalities shown by the two owners of that promising country company, employees working under them would not suffer as they would at other shitty little companies.

They would be able to work faithfully and find fulfillment in a comfortable, free atmosphere.

Just look at the unconditional goodwill received by the idol group he managed.

The country boy wanted to play with the Truffle Candy noonas again because he "simply liked" them, and the older business partner had accepted it with a good-natured laugh.

They were the very ideal of warm-hearted, innocent country people.

Would people like that speak harshly to employees, or constantly abuse their power and treat them unfairly?

There was no need to prepare himself for working in a remote area, either.

How could they promote themselves in broadcasting and entertainment after setting up an office in the middle of nowhere?

The hunter had mentioned that point too, saying remote work would be the standard for everyone in their company's entertainment division.

Their YouTube editor already lived in Seoul, and if they made an office, they planned to make it in Seoul.

Of course, given the company's nature, there would be frequent travel by car and business trips.

Even considering that, the working conditions were on an entirely different level from the shitty little company of shitty little companies where the producer currently worked.

On top of that, the salary slightly exceeded the average entry-level salary at major agencies.

It was not something the shitty little agencies, where even experienced employees often made less than minimum wage after everything was considered, could dare compare themselves to.

If they recruited people under those conditions, good candidates would naturally flock to them.

There were surely many people currently working in the industry who monitored the country boy and hunter's channel, and they were all potential competitors to the producer.

'The problem is my competitiveness...'

His education was nothing special, only an ordinary university in Seoul, and his career was not particularly impressive either.

If his career had been good, he would not have ended up at a shitty little agency in the first place.

So if he wanted to seize this opportunity, he needed to find something that set him apart elsewhere.

The producer once again scanned the idols under his care in the rearview mirror.

'They said that kid Onik likes these girls that much...?'

As befitted a producer who had worked at a bad company for a long time, the thought that followed was a bad one.

'If I take these girls and run, would that make me competitive, too?'

It was not a particularly original idea. It was the sort of thing that happened every so often in an industry that had thrown ethics to the dogs. Even famous large agencies were not exceptions.

So it was not surprising that his thoughts overlapped with the hunter's.

People's thoughts were all much the same. The bad things people did tended to take similar forms in every field.

If he succeeded in taking them and running, he would not have much to worry about after that.

The company where he currently worked had a reputation lower than rock bottom.

Rumors among industry insiders would say that a company that deserved to be ripped off had finally been ripped off.

If there was nowhere for him to move to, that would be one thing. But if there was, it was a risk he could easily bear.

Even as the producer's dark worries deepened, Sera was still thinking about the kind and gentle country boy.

'That's true.'

Sera recalled something So-rin, the second-oldest, had said in a tone that had not sounded like a joke. If she had been five or six years younger, she would have seriously tried her luck with Onik.

'...She's right. I wish I were five years younger.'

A ten-year age gap was too large.

After giving a small laugh at her foolish lingering feelings, the twenty-three-year-old idol turned her eyes toward the dark scenery outside the car window.

Streetlight reflections slid one by one across the eyes of the idol watching the night.

Footnotes:

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