AVSH 07

 That Man

Yoo Min-ah, who had willingly joined Han Jun-sang’s scheme, actually harbored ill feelings toward Do Da-hee as well.

Of course, it hadn’t always been that way. As fellow actresses of the same age who had debuted around the same time, Min-ah had always been happy to greet Da-hee whenever they crossed paths.

But as time went on, an unmistakable difference emerged in their careers. While Da-hee alternated between singing and acting, earning recognition for her star power, Min-ah went through a slump because her acting skills had stagnated.

Watching a rival who had unintentionally become her constant point of comparison rise to stardom had plunged Min-ah into an especially turbulent period of her life.

Then, last summer, Min-ah had confessed her feelings to Park Je-min in private. They had played a couple in the same production, and she had fallen for him.

But he had rejected her without hesitation.

‘I hope we can remain good colleagues, just as we are now.’

‘Oppa, there’s something I’ve wanted to ask you for a long time. Is there someone else you have feelings for?’

‘Well…’

‘Is it Do Da-hee, by any chance?’

He hadn’t answered, but Min-ah had already found her answer in his expression.

Park Je-min liked Do Da-hee.

The two, who had been colleagues for a long time, had feelings for each other.

Which meant that Min-ah’s long-standing unrequited love could never come true.

‘Why does it have to be Do Da-hee? Why does everyone like only Do Da-hee? Why can’t I have someone, too? Why? Why on earth!!!’

Her jealousy and resentment toward Do Da-hee, now a top star who could no longer even be considered her equal, grew beyond her control.

‘President, I have a favor to ask. You have to grant it.’

‘What is it?’

‘I want to destroy Do Da-hee. Please help me take her place.’

Consumed by a storm of rage, Min-ah had fueled Han Jun-sang’s ambitions.

And so, the worst kind of drama had been set in motion.

The public had been easily deceived, and just as they had expected, Do Da-hee’s reputation had begun to crumble.

If they held out a little longer, she might even announce her retirement.

Since they had deliberately orchestrated this whole scheme to bring about that very outcome, they had to see it through to the end.

Min-ah had started this with firm resolve, but for some reason, the longer it went on, the more uneasy she became.

And her ominous premonition had not been wrong.

Han Jun-sang, who had been engrossed in a game, answered his ringing phone with irritation.

“I told you to keep your head down for a while! Why are you calling me again? What is it now?”

“President, have you seen the news?”

“What news?”

“Do Da-hee jumped into the Han River! No, she was rescued! And apparently, it was the youngest son of a chaebol family who saved her!”

“What? What kind of ridiculous nonsense is that?”

“Please check the news right away! We’re going to end up facing a massive backlash at this rate! Everything’s going crazy right now!”

Han Jun-sang hung up irritably, sat up, and opened an internet browser. He skimmed through the breaking stories about Do Da-hee appearing across the society and entertainment sections, his brows furrowing involuntarily.

“What the hell is this? Do Da-hee, that woman… Ha! Has she completely lost her mind?”

“What’s wrong? What happened?”

“Min-ah, stay right here and lie low. Don’t make a sound, as if you were dead. I need to rush out for a bit.”

“President! President!”

Han Jun-sang grabbed his jacket and hurried out of the hospital room.

“Do Da-hee has gone crazy? What on earth happened?”

Overcome by a sense of foreboding, Min-ah bit her nails anxiously.

“Do you have any idea how much attention you’re attracting right now? Your situation is practically bringing the company’s operations to a standstill!”

“Grandfather!”

“I told you to leave quietly! Why did you have to get yourself involved in something so unnecessary? Tsk!”

Gun-woo had sensed that something was wrong the moment he arrived at the mansion and was asked to hand over his passport.

Grinding his teeth at Jang Dong-wan’s absurd reaction, Gun-woo stood there with a defiant tilt to his posture.

“I don’t know about anything else, but calling saving someone’s life ‘something unnecessary’ is a little hard to stomach.”

“Enough! You will stay in this mansion and keep a low profile for the time being. A week should be enough for the public to stop talking about this. I’ll return your passport then.”

As stubborn as ever, Jang Dong-wan was not someone who could easily be persuaded to change his mind.

And so, practically imprisoned in the mansion, Gun-woo grabbed his hair in frustration.

If I’d known this would happen, I would’ve at least brought my phone.

He had come empty-handed, intending to attend the wedding and leave the country shortly afterward. That had turned out to be his undoing.

In any case, Taesan Corporation was in an uproar. Just as Jang Dong-wan had said, the reason was that the man who had rescued Do Da-hee from the river had been identified as Jang Gun-woo, the second son of the family that owned the conglomerate.

No matter how hard the company tried to suppress the news reports, public interest in the incident had reached its peak. As a result, the area outside the company headquarters was packed with reporters every day. The same was true of the area surrounding the mansion.

The neighborhood where Chairman Jang’s family lived was an affluent district populated mostly by high-ranking officials and wealthy individuals. Naturally, none of the residents were pleased to see reporters swarming every street.

Complaints poured in daily, and eventually, the family deployed a large number of security personnel to strictly block outsiders from entering the neighborhood.

“You have to admit, it’s pretty ridiculous, right? All this just to chase after one person for a story.”

“Hyung, do you know where my passport is?”

“Father took it, didn’t he?”

“Exactly. If I knew where he’d hidden it, I’d retrieve it and head straight to the airport. I can’t stay cooped up here forever. It’s not like I’ve committed a crime.”

“He’s just trying to protect you. Try to look at it that way and relax.”

“Some protection.”

“I’m actually not unhappy about this situation. You’re my only younger brother, and once you leave, who knows when I’ll get to see you again? At least now I can see you every day. And I’d be even happier if you decided to settle down in Korea while you’re at it.”

Gun-woo gave a wry smile and shook his head. Hyun-woo then held out a box to him.

“I figured you’d need this while you’re staying in Korea, so I got you a new phone and activated it.”

“A phone? I needed one anyway. Thanks.”

“Oh, and take this, too.”

Hyun-woo handed him a business card bearing the name Kim Ju-young, Manager. Gun-woo tilted his head, wondering why his brother was giving it to him.

“He’s Do Da-hee’s manager. Apparently, they really want to meet you. They want to thank you in person.”

“Forget it. I didn’t do it to get thanked.”

“Honestly, we’d rather not get any more entangled with them either. There’s still the lawsuit over the contract penalty to deal with. But because of this incident, the legal team suggested putting the lawsuit on hold.”

An entertainer’s image was everything. The same was true of advertising models.

When a model representing a company’s image became embroiled in a scandal, it could directly affect the company itself, including its stock price. That was probably why Taesan Corporation was trying to terminate its advertising contract with Do Da-hee.

“I looked her up, and apparently, she owes hundreds of billions of won in contract penalties. Couldn’t Taesan just let it go?”

“What, do you feel sorry for her?”

Gun-woo shook his head, recalling the sight of Do Da-hee on the day of the accident.

“It’s just… she didn’t seem like the kind of person who’d be ruthless enough to drive someone to their death.”

“Hmm…”

“Honestly, isn’t it strange that a reputation she spent more than ten years building could collapse overnight? It almost feels as though someone deliberately set out to ruin her.”

“Still, I guess you’re taking her side because you’re the one who saved her.”

“I’m not particularly trying to take her side. What I mean is…”

“I get it. I know what you’re saying. We weren’t planning to do anything immediately anyway. We’ll see how public opinion develops and watch how things unfold. Now, get some rest.”

After Hyun-woo left, Gun-woo picked up the business card belonging to Manager Kim Ju-young that his brother had casually tossed aside.

Maybe I should ask if she’s feeling better.

The first and last time he had seen her, she’d been unconscious, her face deathly pale. He was curious whether she had recovered and looked as healthy as she did in photographs.

Rather than contacting her manager, he turned on his new phone and opened an internet browser. Do Da-hee’s name appeared right on the homepage, so he clicked it and quickly skimmed through the articles.

Then his fingertips stopped over one of the accompanying photographs.

It was different from the pictures he had seen in advertising pamphlets. In this one, she was smiling radiantly onstage. It had been taken on the day she won the Grand Prize for Acting.

For some reason, Gun-woo couldn’t take his eyes off the photograph for a long time.

Da-hee jolted awake as though having a seizure, letting out unsteady breaths through her parted lips.

It was the same dream again. She had lost count of how many times she’d had it.

The dream of falling from a bridge into the water was so vivid that her heart lurched every time. Sure enough, when she placed a hand over her chest, she could feel her heart pounding wildly and anxiously.

It was the third day since the accident and her hospitalization.

Fortunately, she hadn’t sustained any serious injuries, so her recovery was progressing relatively quickly. The problem was that whenever she closed her eyes, the horrifying images came rushing back, preventing her from getting a proper night’s sleep.

“Haa…”

After taking a deep breath, Da-hee slowly looked around the hospital room, her eyes gradually adjusting to the darkness.

It was still early morning, before dawn.

The sky outside the window was tinged with blue, and everything around her was quiet.

Her phone had been ruined when she fell into the river and was now completely dead. As a result, the only way she could contact other people was through a messaging app on a computer.

Da-hee picked up the tablet PC Ju-young had left behind.

Ju-young had repeatedly warned her to stay off the internet for the time being, since it was overflowing with malicious comments and rumors. But Da-hee simply couldn’t resist her curiosity.

“Who was that man who saved me again?”

She didn’t even need to search for him. His name was easy to find among the news headlines that appeared as soon as she opened the browser.

Jang Gun-woo, the second son of the chairman of Taesan Corporation.

A man who had never once appeared at an official Taesan family event.

He had gone abroad to study when he was young and had lived overseas ever since. He was a graduate of J Medical School in the United States.

“Oh, he was a doctor. That explains it…”

Remembering Ju-young’s comment that the swift emergency response at the scene had saved her life, Da-hee enlarged a photograph of Gun-woo that had attracted considerable attention after being taken at Jang Hyun-woo’s wedding.

Even at a glance, he had a solid, well-built physique, and his sculpted side profile gave him an aura that could put most models to shame.

‘The Taesan family has refused every interview request concerning this man. Even the police don’t have his contact information. We have no way of contacting him directly, either. From what I’ve heard, he normally lives overseas, so he’ll probably leave the country soon.’

‘Then how am I supposed to return his coat?’

‘Good point. Should I leave it at the reception desk at Taesan Corporation’s headquarters?’

‘…Just leave it for now. Oh, could you find out the address of Chairman Jang’s mansion?’

The bag containing the designer coat, which had already been cleaned, was still in Da-hee’s hospital room.

“I want to thank him, but…”

After some deliberation, she opened the messaging app.

As she checked the address of Taesan Corporation Chairman Jang’s mansion, which Ju-young had promised to find for her, Da-hee’s eyes gleamed.