WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: Potter
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◈ The Genius Writer Who Will Never Fall Again ◈
Chapter 15: Human Scum (1)
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The entertainment industry was a market that took mannequins stuffed with rotten organs beneath silicone skin and called them “the idols of all.”
I had heard it described that way once, and found much to agree with.
It had been a long time since I realized that none of the stars admired by the world were beautiful all the way through. Most of them had at least one defective organ somewhere in the machinery that made up their image, while the worse ones had entire organs that were ruined.
Of course, such problems rarely surfaced.
The media and press that dressed them in skin worked desperately to keep them buried.
But there was no such thing as an absolute in this world.
Sometimes, their ugly secrets were uncovered with surprising ease, exposing the rot beneath.
Because crows that caught the scent of corpses would tear off the silicone skin.
Choo Hyuk-jae was the angriest of those crows.
“Ah, over here!”
At a quiet café just outside the city center, a solidly built middle-aged man with a thick beard grinned beneath horn-rimmed glasses and waved.
He was not a welcome face.
Gossip reporters had an inherently slimy air about them, and I had plenty of memories of being tormented by that bastard.
Old memories came back to me.
When he tried to rope me into Jo Du-ho’s sexual-patronage scandal during my debut work.
When, during my next work, he pushed the conspiracy theory that I had been turning a blind eye to an adulterous actor’s double life.
When he kept savaging me over the fact that I had been Ryu Cheong-a’s final phone call before her suicide, then desperately tried to tie me to every incident afterward.
There was no other bad blood as viciously entangled as ours.
Did you know?
Choo Hyuk-jae had not tried so hard to ruin me because I was under suspicion.
‘It was because I was in a situation that stirred people’s imaginations.’
That was the only reason.
My misfortune, which had gotten me branded a plague-ridden freak, could be seen as fertile ground for horrific conspiracy theories. The traffic those articles brought was that bastard’s livelihood, so he tried to destroy a person for that petty reason alone.
He was the living embodiment of a trash journalist.
And yet he worked without a hitch until the day I died, personally proving that “good is rewarded and evil is punished” was the greatest bullshit ever spoken.
Normally, he was exactly the kind of person I should never get involved with.
‘But there’s no one better for this.’
I had turned back time and returned to the past, but I could not guarantee that future knowledge alone would let me stop every misfortune.
I assumed that plague bastard clinging to me would someday plant a land mine beneath my feet.
What should I do, then?
Blow it up before I stepped on it.
In that sense, ironically, this bastard who chased after land mines was the best bomb squad in the industry.
That was why I was making contact.
“It’s good to meet you. I’m writer Han Jae-kyung.”
“Reporter Choo Hyuk-jae. Kihya, I’m a little surprised. Not many people contact me first with a public-interest tip.”
“I thought you were someone who handled issues well.”
“I meant that not many people contact me after knowing how I handle them.”
His eyes swept over me, sticky enough to suggest he was looking for somewhere to peck at.
“This isn’t about you, Writer Han, but there are plenty of strange people who think they can sweet-talk a reporter and make him do whatever they want.”
‘It is about me, though.’
As I thought that, he changed his expression.
“Anyway, shall we get to the point? I heard the rough outline, but I’d like more details.”
“It’s a common story. A family agency exploiting a hopeful rookie actress. Something like that.”
“The drama you’re writing, right? I looked it up. Your debut work was selected through an open competition.”
“Yes, that’s right.”
“Are you personally close with the actress? Or do you have feelings for her?”
He asked an outrageous question as though it were nothing.
“I want my work to succeed.”
“You could have kept it buried, then. Won’t dragging it out cause trouble?”
“The opposite. If we solve the trouble that will come to the actress, more people will click on the drama because they want to support her.”
At that, Choo Hyuk-jae’s mouth twisted.
“...Writer Han, forgive me, but why does that sound like you’re saying you’ll use me for a media stunt?”
The way he put it was crude.
His lowly nature was so transparent.
Still, I could not deny it myself.
‘If it’s going to explode, I want it to explode usefully.’
I knew how Ryu Cheong-a’s family would move in the future.
I knew how long they would deceive her and covet her money.
‘It’s enough to make me sick.’
The people Cheong-a’s parents had turned out to be were capable of that sort of thing.
That was why I had decided to get rid of them. But if I was going to get rid of them anyway, would it not be better to receive something in return?
It was entirely possible if I arranged the pieces well enough.
“You may be partly right.”
“You’re a bad person, Writer Han. What if I’m recording this conversation?”
“You won’t be able to publish it.”
“Why do you think that? I’m more reckless than I look. And you seem like someone with no backing.”
The words carried a heavy threat.
Of course, there was no reason for them to work on me.
‘Think about it simply.’
My greatest asset was knowing the people who were the entertainment industry’s greatest problems.
I could pull out a directory of names whenever I wanted and respond to each one accordingly.
I wanted to cut Ryu Cheong-a’s parents away from her.
For that, I wanted to use the card called Choo Hyuk-jae.
But Choo Hyuk-jae was a glutton who would not be satisfied until he tore apart and devoured everything he could see.
Here was the problem.
How did you put a leash on something that saw even its keeper as food?
“Producer Jo Du-ho.”
You put a morsel filling enough to burst his stomach right in front of him.
And if that morsel happened to be food waste I needed to throw out, so much the better.
“I think I can give you some information on the scandal you’re chasing.”
“...!”
Choo Hyuk-jae’s expression stiffened for an instant.
It was nearly imperceptible. Right after, perhaps realizing his mistake, he tried to compose himself again.
“What do you mean by that...?”
“We know what this is. You need evidence suggesting Jo Du-ho received sexual favors, don’t you?”
This time, Choo Hyuk-jae failed to control his expression.
He froze in an instant.
Then his expression changed.
“...Well.”
If I had to describe my impression of him?
“What are you, Writer Han?”
As expected, he was not someone I liked.
“You’re very interesting, aren’t you?”
Choo Hyuk-jae’s mouth curled upward.
* * *
Hyuk-jae felt profoundly unfamiliar.
He was so dumbfounded that he could barely connect his thoughts, much less speak. Only after thinking for a while could he put a name to the feeling.
‘Ah, so this is what it feels like to get blindsided?’
Right. He had blindsided plenty of people, but he had never been on the receiving end. It was only natural that he would be surprised.
‘What the hell is this guy?’
Wariness surged within Hyuk-jae.
Researching someone before meeting them was basic.
He would never believe talk of a public-interest tip.
Hyuk-jae himself knew best.
If someone came looking for him without an ulterior motive, they were either crazy or an idiot.
But Jae-kyung was neither.
If anything, Jae-kyung was a person who raised questions at every turn.
‘A rookie writer. Graduated from a university with a good reputation in this field, and their closest friend is the son of a WBS department head. Separately from that, their debut work was selected through an open competition.’
He had considered digging into potential corruption there, but all he found was evidence that the department head had not participated in the preliminary judging and had left the final selection to the chief producers. So he discarded it.
Afterward, all he could learn was that Jae-kyung had gone through the production process without trouble, unlike most debut writers.
Going by the visible profile, Jae-kyung was a socially adept newcomer.
And yet Jo Du-ho’s scandal had come from Jae-kyung.
The very case Hyuk-jae had pursued persistently for the past two years without finding decisive evidence.
It did not add up.
That made him even more guarded.
But that wariness crumbled right afterward.
“...Will you answer if I ask? How did you find this out? I tend to be careful with my investigations.”
“I can’t tell you. That’s my capital.”
“Then I can’t trust you, Writer Han.”
“Why would trust be necessary between us? This is business.”
Hyuk-jae was briefly at a loss.
“...What?”
“Business. It means we’re making a deal. Don’t you understand?”
He looked at Jae-kyung’s face.
In the eyes of someone still wet behind the ears and only in their mid-twenties, Hyuk-jae sensed years far deeper than that.
There was something beyond them that had endured every storm in the world and become disillusioned by it all.
It was fascinating.
He could say with certainty that he had never met anyone like this, even in an entertainment industry crowded with every kind of person.
No matter how he thought about it.
“Let’s think of only one thing. I can give you sources, and you can clear away something I do not want to see.”
There had never been anyone who spoke so freely in front of him.
“Isn’t that a good deal for both of us?”
Someone who surely knew how dangerous he was, yet did not care.
“Take only what you need. And if we need each other again, we meet face-to-face. Let’s keep it pleasant and simple.”
Such a peculiar person.
There had never been anyone like that in Hyuk-jae’s life.
“...Writer Han.”
It felt unfamiliar.
And it was interesting.
“Aren’t you worried?”
His smile would not stop rising.
“If I were you, I could never say that in front of someone like me.”
“You’re confident, Writer Han? I really do ruin people relentlessly.”
There was an undeniable fact.
Choo Hyuk-jae was human trash who took pleasure in digging through people’s depths, displaying what he found, and bringing them down.
He knew it better than anyone, so he neither denied it nor tried to hide it.
Hyuk-jae was a madman fascinated by one proposition: the ugliness at the bottom of humanity.
“If you try to meet me as an equal, I might get bad ideas and dig into your background too.”
He had never known shame.
His twisted nature put his own pleasure before any honor or achievement.
Because that was his nature, Hyuk-jae was quite good at reading people.
Human beings were simpler than they seemed.
Even the psychological mechanisms that appeared complicated were ultimately things that followed uniform principles.
So as he spoke, he continued probing.
But...
‘Why can’t I see them?’
Today was different.
It was the first time the pieces of someone’s profile had failed to fit together so badly that they produced an error.
Why could he not see Han Jae-kyung?
There clearly seemed to be something bottomless hidden beneath the surface, so why were they impossible to analyze?
‘Does Jae-kyung have the department head behind them? Or a third party? Some writers’ cartel?’
No.
If so, Jae-kyung would have moved differently.
They would have created another opening to keep their backing from being exposed.
But Han Jae-kyung had none.
Jae-kyung stood entirely alone.
They left every possibility open enough for someone to connect them to any theory they imagined.
And that, paradoxically, made it seem as though none of them could be the answer.
‘Was even that a bluff?’
The chain of suspicion only grew longer.
Then Jae-kyung said something else interesting.
“Why would I be afraid of you, Reporter Choo?”
Hyuk-jae looked into Jae-kyung’s eyes.
And he became certain.
It was one of two things.
“I’m such an innocent and good person. You could shake me down and not a speck of dust would fall.”
Either Jae-kyung was a madman, or a con artist capable of fooling the world.
“Why would someone like me be afraid of you?”
The confidence in that almost mocking expression made Hyuk-jae’s heart race.
“Instead of talking about that, I’m saying we should discuss business. Is that so difficult?”
“...You sell me information on Jo Du-ho, and I destroy the person you want?”
“Destroy? It would be dispensing justice.”
“Justice doesn’t come with rewards. You get a reward, Writer Han. That means it isn’t justice.”
“My justice comes with rewards. That’s why I live.”
His heart pounded.
Reporter or not, scandal or not, Hyuk-jae was simply too curious about Han Jae-kyung.
For that reason alone, the proposal felt immensely appealing.
So appealing that even Jo Du-ho, the main subject, had been pushed aside.
That was when Jae-kyung spoke.
“If you’re not going to do it, leave.”
Hyuk-jae answered without even taking a breath.
“Getting someone this excited and then backing out is a bad habit.”
It was effectively an acceptance of the partnership.
Only then did Jae-kyung raise an eyebrow.
Hyuk-jae felt the greatest thrill he had experienced since starting this work.
Until he saw what lay at Han Jae-kyung’s depths, that thrill would never fade.
“All right, let’s talk. What do you want me to do? Should I break it now? Should I make the whole country throw stones at those people?”
Jae-kyung looked at Hyuk-jae for a moment before replying slowly.
“Not yet. If we’re doing this, shouldn’t we set the board nicely first? First...”
What followed exceeded expectations in its own way.
“Pfft!”
Hyuk-jae had to stifle a laugh.
Sure enough, it did not seem he would have time to be bored for a while.
* * *
Geomgye Ilgun steadily piled up footage in a good atmosphere.
Even Cheong-a, who had been limp as blanched spinach, had regained her spirits. Whenever they went to the set, laughter now rang out warmly.
But just because things were good on set did not mean they could be good outside it as well.
Someone had to look at the shadows.
“Wow, look who it is. Aren’t you busy filming these days, Byeong-gi?”
On a day at the drama department office, Byeong-gi flinched at the desk and looked up in surprise.
In an instant, the expression became a servile smile.
“Yes, sir! Senior Jo! Byeong-gi’s right here!”
Jo Du-ho, the narrow-minded toad who had continued nursing a grudge over insignificant bad blood with Jae-kyung, approached Byeong-gi.
Byeong-gi cursed viciously to himself.
‘Ah, fuck. That poisonous toad is throwing a fit again.’
He had to prepare himself.
Today, too, it was time for the regular bullshit.
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