Chapter 146
In the past, why did Lee Min Ki's life not just go awry but hit rock bottom?
If one were to speak of the fundamental reason, it was just one.
‘Because his luck was extraordinarily terrible.’
That was the big one.
However, bad luck comes in many forms for different people.
Some misfortune stems from carelessness, while others are sometimes struck by the ill will of humans.
The man standing before him now.
Ham Chi Hyun was exactly that type of person.
A person who seemed as though the misfortunes Lee Min Ki had experienced were sculpted into human form.
“Ha-ha, I didn’t expect Actor Lee Min Ki to know who I am.”
The man spoke, radiating an endlessly amicable smile with his bright eyes.
“This is our first time meeting, right?”
“…That’s correct.”
It was impossible not to know.
Ham Chi Hyun.
After all, he was one of the main culprits who ruined Lee Min Ki’s life.
In response to the overly cheerful voice, Lee Min Ki smiled and replied.
“I remember all the agencies.”
That was true.
Ham Chi Hyun’s true identity was that of an agency president.
Ham Chi Hyun.
Where this devil had sprung from was unknown.
He was a man with as many secrets as the snakes coiled within his belly.
However, one thing was certain.
‘He was incredibly good with words.’
He was someone who knew how to lure people in.
Especially those scraping the very bottom of life’s barrel.
[Don’t think of it as exposure. It’s about showcasing the beauty of the body. You know XX from XXX Agency, right? That friend started this way too. Gradually adjusted their face after formally debuting.]
He would take aspiring models and push them into nude photoshoots.
[Starting with major TV appearances is difficult. Instead, these days, a lot of people talk about building a foundation with internet broadcasts. This gig is a big deal. It could be a stepping stone to public broadcasting.]
He would disguise it as online broadcasting and make them appear on adult platforms.
Then there were other things, like sending them to cheap comedy programs to take degrading roles.
Or making them dance on nightclub stages.
Forcing them to handle as many as five assignments in a single week.
Or throwing them into physically grueling action scenes.
[As long as you keep increasing your workload, opportunities will come. If you do nothing, nothing will happen.]
He was thoroughly focused on the immediate profit in front of him.
He would spew plausible words while shoving endless work down their throats, showing little concern for the actor’s long-term roadmap.
He was someone who only cared about raking in cash.
That was Ham Chi Hyun.
And there was one more thing.
[I think we’ll be able to settle your payment by early next year.]
He would defraud people in the name of settlements.
Settlements involved deducting the agency’s investment costs from the actor’s activity income before payment was made, but this concept was rare in the modeling or acting agency world.
This was because they didn’t initially make significant investments in training.
When the settlement period finally arrived, though.
[There are still too many outstanding expenses from operations.]
[If you had performed better, we could have settled with you.]
[The company’s financial situation isn’t great. Could you wait a few more months?]
His attitude would suddenly take a sharp turn.
This was Ham Chi Hyun’s primary method as a fraudulent agency president.
[Doesn’t it seem strange?]
Of course, not all contractors were entirely without suspicion.
But he was skilled at using sweet talk to win them over.
There was no way a naïve aspirant with limited information could beat a seasoned representative well-versed in the industry.
Even if someone tried to press him, what could he say?
[Contract termination? Sure, but you’ll have to return every penny of the investment we’ve made so far.]
He would demand a staggering amount of compensation for damages under the guise of recouping investment costs.
Including transportation expenses, clothing costs, and business operation expenses.
He would even demand compensation for anticipated event revenues that had not materialized.
And if someone pushed further despite all this?
This was when the true nature of Ham Chi Hyun revealed itself.
[Are you planning to stop working in the entertainment industry altogether?]
He would apply pressure through his connections in the entertainment world.
[That’s fine. Just be prepared to retire completely. When other agencies see you quit after just a few years, what do you think they’ll say?]
What choice did powerless rookies have?
[…I’ll keep going.]
They had no choice but to endure.
‘He pulled off his scams for about five years before eventually fleeing with the agency’s money.’
Lee Min Ki had been one of those victims.
‘What kind of nobody agency president could threaten to blackball someone from the industry?’
From afar, it seemed utterly absurd, but under the weight of intense gaslighting, it wasn’t visible.
But now, he knew better.
The essence of Ham Chi Hyun wasn’t so grand.
He was simply a sweet-talking scammer.
Nothing more, nothing less.
When Lee Min Ki was a rookie, he hadn’t wanted to get tangled up, so he let it go. But now, here they were.
‘I didn’t want to cross paths with him.’
He had heard that the man fled overseas with the money later on.
And yet, here they were, meeting again.
Though their positions had shifted somewhat.
The scammer who hadn’t yet fled and the much more successful actor.
‘Not that I wanted this meeting in the first place.’
To Lee Min Ki, Ham Chi Hyun was like the grime under a toilet lid.
He knew it was dirty.
He knew it would have to be cleaned eventually.
But unless it was unavoidable, he wanted to avoid it for as long as possible.
As Lee Min Ki ruminated on the same thought over and over, the man kept speaking with a smile.
“I’ve been keeping a close eye on all the projects you’ve been in! Isn’t this meeting a coincidence?”
“Indeed. A coincidence.”
“I didn’t expect you to come to a theater in the morning. You’re thorough with market research. Many actors don’t even watch their own films while shooting.”
“Indeed. The movie was enjoyable.”
Lee Min Ki gave a hollow response.
Though he was facing an ill-fated connection, there was nothing in particular he wanted to discuss.
He figured all the man had to say would just be flattery.
There wasn’t much point in bringing up past grievances here.
“I’m also looking forward to your upcoming project. I heard you’re directly involved in production. Have you always been interested in that?”
“Indeed. I found myself interested.”
“Our agency sent a minor role to Man Man Two, so I heard a lot about you from them. They were deeply moved by how you took initiative in every scene.”
“Is that so? The director was incredible.”
“Ha-ha, but you’re the one who’s amazing. Our actor owes you so much, I’d love to treat you to a meal sometime.”
At those words, Lee Min Ki instinctively realized.
‘He’s testing the waters.’
This was a classic Ham Chi Hyun move—establishing connections to milk them endlessly.
A technique to enhance the credibility of one's words by referencing them when necessary.
“This must be fate, don’t you think?”
Unfortunately, though.
“I’m currently on a diet.”
Ham Chi Hyun was someone Lee Min Ki had to be cautious around.
Lee Min Ki, who had declined the meal invitation with a single short phrase, spoke with a smile.
“Thank you, but I’ll just take the sentiment.”
“This project, I believe you mentioned its release date is around... July?”
But Ham Chi Hyun did not give up.
As if determined to steer the conversation elsewhere, he shifted the topic.
In response to such remarks.
“There’s a sales representative in charge of that part, so I’m not too sure.”
Lee Min Ki repeatedly switched lanes in the conversation.
“Did Netflix approach you?”
“I’m not well-versed in sales. I leave that entirely to the studio.”
“You both respect each other’s domains. That’s an ideal form of collaboration.”
“Is that so?”
“Yes, especially when working together as a group.”
“I see.”
Thus, a series of soulless questions and answers exchanged back and forth for quite some time.
“As expected of an actor. So, the rumors about advancing to the U.S. were true.”
“I’m not familiar with the distribution routes yet. It’s still in the production stage.”
“……”
Was he planning to continue this till the end?
Just as Ham Chi Hyun’s friendly demeanor slightly twitched in front of Lee Min Ki’s impenetrable wall of refusal to share any information.
“Ah! It’s starting now!”
Kim Tak’s carefree voice cut through the tension like a snapped rope before a crescent moon.
Lee Min Ki was just about to speak when he glanced around briefly.
“Here’s my business card.”
Ham Chi Hyun spoke as if unwilling to let even that opportunity slip.
“Please get in touch with me sometime. I’ll arrange a great meeting.”
“...Understood.”
Lee Min Ki reluctantly took the business card and, as if waiting for this moment, moved into the theater with his group.
The dark hallway.
As he slowly walked through it, the smile faded from Lee Min Ki’s face, and dark thoughts began to creep into his mind when Yoo Seon Ah spoke.
“That man earlier, doesn’t he seem like he has a really good personality?”
Lee Min Ki replied with a smile.
“Yes, he does.”
He might seem like a good person.
That’s hard to deny.
But just as the skin and flesh of a watermelon are different, a person’s exterior and interior can also differ.
To Lee Min Ki, Ham Chi Hyun appeared to be:
‘Still full of a con artist’s tendencies.’
A monster compressed into human form by kneading immense evil.
He had mentioned sending someone to [Manman Two] for a minor role.
Now he knew who it was.
It was probably the person he had a lengthy conversation with yesterday.
‘It was worth giving all the details about the theater and the movie.’
A person in his position had even bothered to show up in person.
His methods were likely the same as before.
‘Shall I probe a little?’
Revenge is necessary.
Especially when it’s someone who weighs on your mind.
JC Entertainment.
Even on a holiday, Lee Min Ki had made time to visit.
“You said it was Media Future Company.”
Director Seo Jung Woo placed his laptop on the table in front of Lee Min Ki and began to speak.
“The CEO’s name is Ham Chi Hyun. I did some digging based on what I could find.”
At that moment, Lee Min Ki’s heart thumped lightly.
How would a fellow industry professional evaluate him?
Would they, as someone from the same field, offer a favorable assessment?
It was just as he was having such thoughts.
“He’s a typical project scammer.”
Director Seo Jung Woo’s blunt words flowed out.
“The company he runs, Media Future Company, falls under the category of typical scam agencies.”
“...Huh.”
“Why? Is something wrong?”
“No, I just thought it’s hard to judge someone by appearances.”
Lee Min Ki scratched his head.
“I had my suspicions.”
“You had a hunch.”
Director Seo Jung Woo sighed as if it was only natural and continued speaking.
“Actor, you may not be aware yet, but there used to be a lot of agencies in this industry that exploited talented rookies. Or to be precise, there were. Nowadays, they’ve significantly decreased.”
“Hmm, hmm.”
Lee Min Ki nodded vigorously at the reasonable words.
“They’d circulate them in adult platforms. Just a few years ago, there were even places that forced them into underhanded deals. Even recently, there was one—3Y.”
“Hmm, hmm.”
Everything he said was correct.
“If you keep making them do one thing after another, they eventually find themselves relegated to being disposable menial labor without realizing it.”
“Hmm…”
That stung a bit.
Disposable menial labor.
Those words felt like they were piercing a corner of Lee Min Ki’s heart.
Because it had been true in the past.
“You must harbor some negative feelings towards such people as well.”
“Don’t you know? That’s how all the old agencies were.”
Director Seo Jung Woo raised an eyebrow as if it were unexpected and spoke.
“That’s why CEO Goo In Mo established JC, so at least we wouldn’t exploit actors among ourselves and run things honestly. Do you know what JC stands for?”
“Joy and Creative.”
The answer popped out of Lee Min Ki’s mouth immediately.
Joy and Creative.
Words that stood for joy and creativity.
For Lee Min Ki, who had once memorized the golden Namuwiki entries on agencies, it was an incredibly easy question.
At that response, he felt a sense of pride.
“That’s just the official motto.”
Director Seo Jung Woo shook his head and asked again.
“There’s a deeper truth. Can you guess?”
An advanced question?
A question that had shifted from a memorization type to an explanatory type left Lee Min Ki resting his chin in thought for a moment.
He barely managed to open his mouth.
“A super kind agency?”
“...Close, but a little different.”
At the casual guess, Director Seo Jung Woo shook his head and said.
“At least, let’s not exploit people.”
“Hmm.”
So it was Korean.
As expected, it seemed like something CEO Goo In Mo would say, and Lee Min Ki nodded slightly in admiration.
“In that sense.”
Director Seo Jung Woo spoke.
“Trash like Media Future should rightfully be weeded out of the industry.”