Sooho

Chapter 86: < Protect – Episode 85 – Taken [1] >

When the politicians were struggling due to sex tourism, murder instigation, and bribery, the entertainment world was hectic because of the Hwang Min Wook List. Those who actually knew Hwang Min Wook didn’t believe what they read and simply apologized. That was because they knew how despicable he really was.

Then why did Hwang Min Wook confessed and commit suicide? Those who knew about the Korean society and how things worked predicted that there was someone bigger behind this who wasn’t on Hwang Min Wook’s list. They believed that that person used Hwang Min Wook as a scapegoat and made it seemed like suicide.

The president of a successful agency was talking about Ahn Soo Ho’s badass remarks at the open audition to an executive of Disney when he heard something surprising. Besides nicknames such as Wizard and Killing Machine, what gave off a warning in his head was Godfather.

The American entertainment world was 100 times greedier than that of Korea. Just because it was America, did that law enforcement was fair? Not at all. The criminals with big heads couldn’t be arrested, let alone charged. For just average thugs, it didn’t matter if they were put away for 10 or 20 years, but the big criminals’ used lawyers to mock and ridicule the law.

They knew who was bad and how bad they were, but they couldn’t punish them due to lack of evidence. As soon as Kim Seok Chan heard Ahn Soo Ho’s name, he shook, which made the Disney executive suspicious. If Ahn Soo Ho was a businessman known in America, why didn’t the media talk about him? That means his reputation wasn’t made by the media, and he could only think of one reason for that.

‘A tycoon of the underworld.’

He finally understood how he got top stars to visit Korea. On one hand, he got goosebumps. How bad was he that he was even close to the Korean president and that Chinese premier?

Ahn Soo Ho wasn’t just a rich man.

After the JT Entertainment situation, people of the entertainment world started harassing celebrities under Hosoo Entertainment, and Kim Seok Chan was aware of that. He normally would have ignored it, but since he found out the truth, he had to warn his employees to maintain their celebrities properly.

And today, what he was worried about happened.

‘I knew this day would come.’

It was the work of God that he happened to visit the set that day. If it wasn’t Kim Seok Chan but just the manager who was there, he would have scoffed at the order to run over in one minute.

“It’s nice to meet you. I’m Kim Seok Chan of Yerang Entertainment, CEO Ahn.”

“He’s the president of Yerang Entertainment.”

Ahn Soo Ho offered a handshake after what he heard from Lee Seon Mi.

“I did tell the president to come, but I didn’t think you’d actually come.”

“Of course, I did. You’re an important man.”

It sounded like he knew who he really was. Ahn Soo Ho scanned the people mumbling around him and then looked back at Logan.

“What about the list?”

“I secured it, Sir.”

“Who didn’t come?”

“There are quite a few, Sir.”

If he hadn’t mentioned Thirties Group, half of them wouldn’t have gathered.

“Make a call.”

“Yes, Sir.”

It was obvious where he had to call. He had to prove that he wasn’t just bluffing when he brought up Thirties Group. Was it 5 minutes afterward? The mumbling started up again, and new faces started to appear. And when the superior who fought with Lee Jung Hoon appeared, the noise got even louder, and the peak was when the president of the broadcasting company showed up.

Clap-

He clapped his hands once.

After the mumbling quieted down, everyone focused their attention on Ahn Soo Ho. Whether he liked it or not, today would feed the existing rumors and make things worse. Someone could even report him to the police for threatening.

“I’m hoping the ones that came late now know that I’m not kidding around.”

When else would he use the stocks that Hosoo Entertainment had been holding on to? Corporations didn’t have the guts to ignore a major shareholder just because they were a major corporation. In the Korean advertisement market, Thirties Group took up a big portion, so if they pulled out all of their advertisements and switched models, it was hard for any entertainment agency or broadcasting company to survive.

It was definitely a way of asserting dominance.

But so what? Ahn Soo Ho had no interest in making his assertion look nice. What happened today was definitely going to turn into a scandal. However, there were still clear rules to follow.

“I’ve already been briefed about this, so I had an idea of what happened today. But I didn’t do anything to deal with it. Why, you ask? Because this happens in every industry. I tried to think of it as hazing.”

Some nodded as if they sympathized with what Ahn Soo Ho said.

“I thought time would resolve it eventually.”

It wasn’t uncommon to keep a competitor in check and give them a hard time. It happened abroad, too. In the upper class of the States, hazing rituals were even worse than this.

“But it’s even dirtier on site than I expected. I was going to tolerate it once or twice, but I won’t tolerate you harassing our newbies over and over again. You must have really looked down on me to do this. This is all my fault.”

Some were surprised by what he said while Lee Seon Mi and the others seemed like they felt a lot better.

“I never thought that the leaders of this country’s trends would do this. Not even the thugs on the streets stoop this low. You should be ashamed of yourself.”

Ahn Soo Ho noticed Jung Gyo Min, who wasn’t able to hide his bitter face. He was the one that Lee Jung Hoon punched. When he met eyes with Jung Gyo Min, he quickly looked away.

“However, I’m a very reasonable person.”

Ahn Soo Ho made a hand gesture to Lee Jung Hoon.

“Agh!”

Lee Jung Hoon wobbled around after suddenly getting hit on the face.

“Stand up straight.”

Lee Jung Hoon fixed his posture in response to what Ahn Soo Ho said.

Slap-

When the second hit came around, he couldn’t even scream. After wobbling about, Lee Jung Hoon got back up, and Ahn Soo Ho hit him for the last time. This time, his lips cracked and bled.

“Apologize.”

“I apologize!”

Lee Jung Hoon bowed at 90 degrees. Lee Jung Hoon stayed down for a while, so Ahn Soo Ho pulled him back up.

“As men of noble stature, we can resolve problems with our words. So you have to stop using violence. But if you really have to… do it with the intent of killing them. That’s what I think.”

Since he was the one who just hit his little brother, this was just like a black comedy. What he meant was that if a person used violence, it shouldn’t end with just a fist fight.

“Okay, it’s time for me and my brother to receive apologies this time. Mr. Jung Gyo Min?”

Jung Gyo Min got startled and looked at his manager.

“We won’t charge you…”

“Stop.”

Jung Gyo Min’s manager stepped up to say they wouldn’t charge him, but Ahn Soo Ho stopped him with his hand.

“You shut up. What I want to hear is Jung Gyo Min’s apology to me and my brother.”

“I think you’ve misunderstood. I didn’t insult anyone!”

“Is that right? Hm, since we don’t have any evidence, I can’t prove anything.”

Jung Gyo Min and his manager felt hopeful at what he said but was shocked by what followed. Ahn Soo Ho looked at Logan and said something.

“Take over DS Entertainment.”

DS Entertainment was Jung Gyo Min’s agency.

As the situation became weirder, more people started to look anxious. Ahn Soo Ho knew that how Lee Jung Hoon was treated wasn’t simply because of jealousy. Some of them probably received orders from someone else to harass him in a planned and systematic manner.

“I won’t let anyone mistreat my employees, actors, singers, and my family.”

Ahn Soo Ho looked at everyone and gave them a warning in a scary voice.

“If I hear something weird starting tomorrow, I will take it as a personal insult and a declaration of war.”

What Ahn Soo Ho said on set went viral on the internet.

Wow, he’s so badass! Only Mr. Ahn could say all that! I’ve been noticing that the Hosoo Entertainment rookies have been mistreated!

But isn’t this a threat? Does anyone know more about the law than I do?

He didn’t use any force, so it’s fine. You can’t really call this an assertion of dominance.

His threat to pull out the advertisements could cause quite a controversy.

Then shouldn’t the ones that maltreated Hosoo Entertainment be punished, too?

Who in the entertainment industry could possibly like Ahn Soo Ho? Personnel costs skyrocketed because of him!

Our country doesn’t treat the laborers fairly! I don’t know about a reformation of the rich, but the minimum wage should at least be adjusted!

I can’t believe this entertainment agency pays as much as major corporations! I want to work at Hosoo Entertainment, too!

Didn’t you see the competition at the open audition? They’re already a major corporation!

What Ahn Soo Ho said was problematic, so the legal team had to start working overtime again. However, it wasn’t all negative. The promotions team used Ahn Soo Ho’s “My employees, actors, singers, and my family” as a way to prove his loyalty and improve the company’s image.

In any case, since Ahn Soo Ho started a scandal, he announced that he would be resigning from his position as special inspector. People probably thought that was his way of taking responsibility for his actions, but he simply didn’t have any more to gain from being there. No matter what the world was saying about him, he tried to keep his promise to buy Lee So Hye and the three other girls food by holding the academy dinner at Daesan Hotel.

‘Should I just take over a hotel?’

Since he went to Daesan Hotel all the time, it felt like home.

“Managing a hotel will probably be bothersome, right?”

“Why do you ask?”

“I don’t want to keep getting free food from here.”

Ahn Soo Ho sat across from Kim Dae Chan. Who would have thought the chairman of Daesan Group would sit in the middle of a bunch of academy students at a buffet? But no one approached his table easily.

“It doesn’t even cost that much. You can use this place every day if you want to.”

“The hotel executives won’t like that.”

“Then I’ll just fire them.”

The Kim family showed Ahn Soo Ho a lot of sincerity. It would have been nice if the Kim family had a daughter of marriageable age, but they lost their timing and Seol Hyun was hard to beat.

“Did you look into it?”

The meaning behind Kim Dae Chan’s question was obvious.

“What is it that you want me to do? Make her innocent or make a deal?”

“I’d like her to be innocent…but we can’t let my aunt’s name get exposed.”

The media was currently busy with a lot of events, but it was just a matter of time before they sniffed out this case. Daesan Group didn’t care if she was innocent or not as long as it got resolved quickly. If the case had been ruled out then they could bury the case, but while the trial was still going on, the case was going to be talked about from time to time.

“A plea bargain can be made with just one phone call. But if your sister doesn’t accept it, a bigger problem might arise, Dae Chan.”

“Is it impossible to convince her?”

“Can the old man do anything?”

“He’s already backed out of this.”

It wasn’t good for Daesan Group and for Chairman Kim Dae San to come back into the limelight. Everything had to be dealt with by his heir, Chairman Kim Dae Chan.

“I’ll make sure to find you a really good broadcasting company.”

“Can I look forward to it?”

“Of course.”

Once the takeover of a broadcasting company was resolved, the number of unpleasant cases were definitely going to decrease.

‘Then I have no other choice.’

If it wasn’t for Kim Na Hee, he wouldn’t have gone to Europe where J-Law and Issac were having a full-on war.

“Okay, fine. I’ll go.”

Ahn Soo Ho decided to go to Europe.

< Protect – Episode 85 – Taken [1] > The end.