The Crazy Mercenary Commander Goes to Work in the Entertainment Industry
Chapter 116: Transfer (6)Translator: Dreamscribe
News of Top Actress Moon Ji-a's transfer, dropped rather out of nowhere. She was leaving AC Enter and moving to 'MEG Enter'. And of course, the first scoop on Moon Ji-a's transfer had been Ha Yeon-ji's.
Either way, the news of Moon Ji-a's transfer, fresh off the Free Agent Market, spread like wildfire.
《Moon Ji-a Leaves AC Enter After All, New Agency Is 'MEG Enter'?》
Moon Ji-a's issue power was considerable to begin with, and the timing lined up with all the recent buzz about her contract renewal and potential transfer. Thanks to that, the press had already been making a fuss.
On top of that, the attack on Moon Ji-a was still burning hot as a furnace.
And then her transfer news dropped.
Naturally, it sold like crazy, and in no time the names Moon Ji-a and MEG Enter were plastered all over the entertainment world. The thing was, most people had predicted one of the mega agencies as her new home.
"MEG Enter?? What is this place. Is Moon Ji-a seriously transferring here? Sounds like a tabloid rumor."
"Right? It's way too out of left field."
There were plenty who didn't believe the news of her move to MEG Enter. Where even is MEG Enter, they said, and even if you've heard of it, there's no way it's true.
Which wasn't strange.
It went beyond a plot twist; it was downright absurd. This was Moon Ji-a, with conglomerate agencies lining up for her. What could she possibly be lacking that she'd transfer to a small company? And one whose name wasn't even properly known yet, at that.
So before long, the news of Moon Ji-a's transfer started getting dismissed as a tabloid rumor, at which point Moon Ji-a, as if she'd been waiting for exactly that, posted an official statement about the transfer on her own SNS.
-Hello, this is Moon Ji-a. I should have told you all sooner, but some things came up recently and this got a little delayed. I'm sorry. I wanted to share the news that I've left the agency I'd grown so attached to and settled into a new home......
The post, of course, nailed it down that her new agency was MEG Enter.
At that point, there was no not believing it.
After her SNS post went up, the articles poured out even harder.
《Moon Ji-a Announces It Herself on SNS "I'll Show You My Best at My New Agency 'MEG Enter'"》
《Moon Ji-a Chooses the Relatively Unknown 'MEG Enter' Over the Major Agencies, Industry Baffled》
Public reactions were all over the map.
-Moon Ji-a news just keeps exploding lately
-The attack story is still going nuts and now a transfer announcement on top of it
-Wait but where the hell is MEG Enter??? Never heard of it
-Looked it up and MEG Enter seems tiny, this is so fucking random ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
-Unnie! If you're being threatened, wave a carrot!! [TL Note: A Korean fan meme; "carrot" (danggeun) puns on slang for "of course", jokingly asking a celebrity to signal if they're being coerced.]
-What ㅋㅋㅋㅋ okay this really is out of nowhere
-Didn't she just set up a one-person agency? Someone Moon Ji-a's size could totally pull it off, she's the #1 actress in the country
-The big agencies that were drooling over Moon Ji-a must be losing their minds rn ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
That atmosphere held all through the morning of the 20th, and from around lunchtime, MEG Enter was being mentioned like crazy across the entertainment industry.
"Huh... Moon Ji-a transferred to a weird little agency. MEG Enter??"
"Hold on a second. MEG Enter I've never heard of, but hasn't 'MEG' been making a lot of noise lately?"
"Has it?"
"You know, the investment firm that landed the solo investment on Director Yu Gil-tae's new work. That was 'MEG'."
"Oh!! You're right. So is that 'MEG' the same outfit as MEG Enter??"
The current gradually rolled away from MEG Enter and toward the parent company, 'MEG'. MEG Enter might be unfamiliar, but the investment firm 'MEG' itself had racked up quite a track record.
"The investment firm 'MEG'? That place is pretty hot these days."
"First time they came up was... BIFF, right?"
"Yeah, the short film 'Condensation' that took the Triple Crown. And wasn't 'House of the Daytime Moon', the domestic animated film that blew up, also 'MEG' money?"
"The investment firm doing the solo investment on Director Yu Gil-tae's new work is 'MEG' too."
"Now that you lay it all out, this 'MEG' place is no joke?? So MEG Enter is like a subsidiary of 'MEG' or something."
"Then does that mean this 'MEG' snapped up Moon Ji-a too??"
Media outlets, agencies, production companies, film studios, broadcasters, and on and on. Whatever the field, everyone was busy running their mouths about whatever they knew, whatever they'd seen. And along the way, a good number of the works Kang Jae-ha had touched came up.
And so, through the weekend of the 21st and 22nd, the press and public opinion buzzed noisily over Moon Ji-a and 'MEG'.
《'MEG Enter' Riding Moon Ji-a's Transfer to Sudden Fame, A Closer Look at What Kind of Company It Is/ Photo》
In the end, the name recognition of 'MEG', and of MEG Enter, shot up exponentially.
At this hour, Kang Jae-ha, the man at the center of it all, could be found at Leon Enter. He watched the snowball roll and allowed himself a faint, satisfied smile.
'Not bad. This'll do.'
Naturally, Leon was every bit as abuzz with talk of Moon Ji-a and 'MEG'.
'From here it'll keep rolling on its own without me lifting a finger.'
Not a soul knew that the man who'd set this whole current in motion was sitting in Leon's Team 4.
Monday the 23rd, the CEO's office at Leon Enter.
CEO Han Tae-sung sat on the five-seater sofa. A fitted dress shirt, hair slicked neatly back. Dignified as ever, maxed out on gravitas, he was at this moment.
"Hmm..."
Looking down at the tablet in one hand. Articles about Moon Ji-a and 'MEG' were pulled up on the screen. Weighing the contents, CEO Han Tae-sung murmured quietly.
"So Moon Ji-a has made her nest at MEG Enter..."
Truth be told, when word got out that Moon Ji-a had hit the Free Agent Market, CEO Han Tae-sung had gone after her too, just like the other major agencies. But right around the time Leon sent its meeting request, the article confirming her transfer had dropped.
Just then, the sharp-looking executive secretary standing before him recited his report.
"We've confirmed that MEG Enter's parent company is the investment firm 'MEG'. Furthermore, 'MEG' is currently expanding its subsidiaries at a rapid pace."
The executive secretary slowly walked CEO Han Tae-sung through what he'd dug up on 'MEG'.
"That's the extent of what's surfaced. 'MEG' appears to be a company with a great many secrets."
Lowering the tablet, CEO Han Tae-sung rested his chin on his hand. An expression halfway between blank and smiling. He began retracing things from the start.
'It began with the short film 'Condensation', then success after success through 'House of the Daytime Moon'. On top of that, they landed the solo investment on Director Yu Gil-tae's new work. Plenty of other projects running on the side, too. And while rapidly multiplying their subsidiaries, MEG Enter even took in Moon Ji-a.'
CEO Han Tae-sung had known, of course, about Yoon Da-yeon transferring to MEG Enter. That much had been trivial at the time.
'Yoon Da-yeon is one thing, but swallowing Moon Ji-a too, that's impressive.'
But from the moment he learned they'd taken in even Moon Ji-a, CEO Han Tae-sung could no longer ignore 'MEG'. At the same time, he felt an odd sense of kinship.
''MEG' is moving in the... direction I wanted for Leon.'
MEG's current trajectory was the very course CEO Han Tae-sung had once sketched out. A group woven together like threads on a spool. Only, 'MEG' was moving too fast. Ferociously fast.
Soon the executive secretary spoke up.
"MEG's CEO is a man named Lee Chan-hoo. Have you seen him before, sir?"
"......"
CEO Han Tae-sung had seen Lee Chan-hoo before. Back at the actor auditions for the short film 'Condensation'. As he recalled that day, the executive secretary asked him.
"Shall we put a tail on Lee Chan-hoo?"
Chin still on his hand, CEO Han Tae-sung slowly shook his head.
"No. From what I can see, that's not a place you slap a half-baked tracker on. No need to make an enemy of them for nothing."
Just then.
-Buzz, buzzzz
A long vibration sounded from somewhere. A phone call. Feeling the vibration, CEO Han Tae-sung gave his secretary an order.
"You can go."
After the executive secretary bowed deeply and left, CEO Han Tae-sung moved. He took out a phone. The interesting part was that it wasn't the phone lying on his desk; it was a second phone, produced from inside his jacket.
CEO Han Tae-sung looked at the caller displayed on its screen.
-New Light Chairman
He walked over to the window, pressed the phone to his ear, and spoke in a low voice.
"Yes, it's me."
Around the afternoon.
About a week after their comeback, 'Seriel' was riding a wave of mega success. The moment the song dropped, it swept the number one spot on every domestic music chart, and it had held there without a wobble ever since.
《'Seriel' Tops Music Charts Upon Comeback... The Ignition of a Hit Parade》
《Number One Right Out of the Gate... 'Seriel' Sets Record atop Domestic Music Charts》
《New Single 'Nyxtra' Blazing Hot... Seriel Holds #1 on Every Music Chart for a Full Week!》
And that wasn't all. The music video released alongside the new single 'Nyxtra' had breezed past several million views. The industry showered the song with praise and heaped endless acclaim on the group, saying that this was 'Seriel', after all.
Riding along, the composer Rina's fame climbed as well.
《[Issue Pick] 'Rina', the Composer Behind Seriel's New Single 'Nyxtra', Drawing Attention Across the Idol Industry》
The more 'Nyxtra' sold, the fatter Kang Jae-ha's pockets grew. And of course, 'Seriel' was only the beginning. The songs of Choi Ri-na that Kang Jae-ha had scattered across idols and productions would only wield greater and greater power as time went on.
Around this time, Kang Jae-ha was in a meeting with the security firms Cha Chung-hyeon had shortlisted.
Kang Jae-ha picked one from the selection.
"This one. Start the acquisition."
He also settled on a new name for the acquired security firm.
"The company name will be SecurityMEG."
Going forward, SecurityMEG would be a security firm on the surface, while on the inside it would also be where the parent company 'MEG' grew its troops. For now, Jae-ha ran SecurityMEG's leadership as a two-man system.
Cha Chung-hyeon and Go Chun-seok.
Cha Chung-hyeon at the desk, Go Chun-seok in the field, so to speak. Handing it all to Go Chun-seok would've been simpler, but the idea was for Cha Chung-hyeon to cover what he lacked. Cha Chung-hyeon's main job was playing Safekeeper of Kang Jae-ha's funds; SecurityMEG was more of a side gig.
In any case, Go Chun-seok, Sato Shota, and Cha Chung-hyeon were now attached to SecurityMEG. Kang Jae-ha then instructed Cha Chung-hyeon to start by filling out SecurityMEG's ranks of guards.
"Recruit the guard personnel first, together with Go Chun-seok and Sato Shota. There's no rush, so pick only the absolute best."
"Yes... understood."
"And from this point on, the parent company 'MEG', MEG's subsidiaries, and everyone connected to 'MEG' comes under SecurityMEG's protection."
The parent company 'MEG' was fine, packed as it was with Mercenary Corps personnel starting with Kang Jae-ha himself, but this meant every other location would have SecurityMEG guards stationed there without exception.
MEG Enter, current home of Choi Ri-na, Yoon Da-yeon, and Moon Ji-a, was the top priority.
Director Kwon Sung-min, Director Hong Man-seop, and Oh Jong-man were key figures as well.
The film studio FilmMEG, the animation studio FrameMEG, and the rest of MEG's swelling roster of subsidiaries were all in the same boat. So was the Japan Branch, 'MEG Production'.
Covering all of that would take quite a lot of SecurityMEG guards.
Well, Kang Jae-ha had no intention of pinching pennies on recruiting guards. Every single one they hired would become MEG's troops anyway.
At that same hour, the top of the Top Actresses, Moon Ji-a, paid a visit to MEG Enter.
"Hello."
"Oh! Ji-a-ssi! Should you even be up and about already?? You should've called! I would have come to you."
"It's fine. Nothing serious with my body."
It felt like her first day reporting to her new agency. When Moon Ji-a appeared, the MEG Enter staff stared at her like she was some kind of marvel. Even CEO Park Ja-hee, who'd been given a heads-up by Lee Chan-hoo, still couldn't quite believe it, so who could blame the staff?
That was when it happened.
-Swish.
Another actress stepped into MEG Enter. Yoon Da-yeon, a cap pulled over her long, straight hair. Yoon Da-yeon spotted Moon Ji-a immediately. Her brow furrowed slightly. The first to speak was Moon Ji-a, wearing a fake smile.
"Hi, Yoon Da-yeon."
Yoon Da-yeon answered without a smile, face blank.
"Yeah, hi."
The two actresses didn't get along, had even fought in the past, and the air between them was ice-cold. Moon Ji-a spoke again.
"It's been forever since we've seen each other in person, hasn't it? Five years? Six?"
"Six."
Moon Ji-a didn't bother with pleasantries; she threw a fastball.
"Six years, and seeing you again, I can tell we still don't mesh, you and me."
Yoon Da-yeon didn't lose an inch when it came to Nutjob tendencies.
"What a coincidence. Same here."
Sparks flew where the two actresses' gazes met.
*****
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