Chapter 177: Chapter 174

After parting with Myunghoon, Hyunwoo met Jungah.

Jungah was in a cheerful mood in sharp contrast with Myunghoon. Though she was offered 30 million won in annual compensation, she gladly signed the contract.

“Sorry, I wish I could give you more, but our profits are not growing now. If all goes well in the days ahead, let me give you an increase in your salary.”

“Okay, Promise me 100 million won as a bonus. Hohoho,” said she, cracking a joke.

In fact, Hyunwoo wanted to.

And there was a real possibility for the rapid growth of Ani & Funny.

After having lunch with her, Hyunwoo walked with her on her campus and met with her friends at the animation club.

After spending several hours like that, he headed to Nami’s condo, timed with Dukwoo’s arrival there.

Dukwoo, who got there first, was already waiting for him at the entrance. Exchanging greetings, they waited for Nami, who soon joined them.

They walked up the stairs to her condo.

“Oh, this is your place,” said Dukwoo, looking inside here and there. Because of Taesu Ahn’s close monitoring, she wouldn’t let anybody in up to now.

Nami prepared tea for them.

Drinking tea, they discussed how to cope with Taesu.

Dukwoo expressed his opinion first, “Why don’t you break the contract first?”

Nami went berserk at that, arguing that’s nonsense. She said he could bring a lawsuit on compensation for damages, which could reach a colossal amount.

When she opposed, he came up with the next best solution.

“Okay. Let me go along with you wherever you go night and day. I can go to your shooting studio or anywhere else.”

“What about your company?” asked Nami.

“You’re more important to me. Let me take my vacation until your contract expires.”

Nami grinned at that and said, “Do you think someone threatens to kill me? You don’t have to go to the trouble of doing so. Just come to my office when I call you. That’s enough. Actually, dating someone is a breach of the contract as I have to live on my image as an entertainer.”

Nami felt Dukwoo’s idea was an excessive response, which she didn’t need.

Actually, Hyunwoo rented a good house 10 minutes away from her condo, where Raymon was supposed to stay just in case he had to serve as her bodyguard.

Though Dukwoo might not trust Raymon that much, Hyunwoo felt reassured that Raymon would defend her.

“Well, I have to go now for the shooting schedule in the afternoon.”

Nami put on her clothes and stood up.

After she left, Hyunwoo and Dukwoo went to a place near Hongik University to see Raymon and his friends.

They were performing on the street, three black people and two Korean people singing and dancing.

There was a big crowd watching their passionate performance, but the performance itself was not as good as Hyunwoo expected. There was a lack of harmony among the five performers, even though Raymon’s husky voice and the other two black guys’ high-pitched tones were impressive.

After their performance was over, Hyunwoo approached Raymon.

“Our animation production is getting delayed because of a big workload at the moment. Let me invite you to Ansan sooner or later, ” said Hyunwoo.

Waving his hand, however, Raymon said, “I’m alright. I’ve decided to stay in Korea until this fall. If I don’t make a success by then, I’m going to go back to America. If you can call me by then, let me chip in.”

“Hope Nami Yu is in your good hands,” said Hyunwoo.

“No problem. You got me a good rental house anyway. If something happens, she said she would reach me right away.”

Having dinner together with him, Hyunwoo had lots of talk about music.

After dinner, Hyunoo went to his house in Hwasung, Suwon City. It seemed as if he got all the worries off his chest for now. Though he felt regrettable about Myunghoon’s decision, that was something he couldn’t do anything about. Koh made a legitimate decision for his own interests.

“Sure, all things did go well.”

Emptying his heart, Hyunwoo lay on the floor comfortably.

The next day, Hyunwoo’s cell phone buzzed noisily.

It was a call from Dukwoo.

Hyunwoo felt his heart sank as Dukwoo called him only one day after they met.

Hyunwoo urgently took the phone.

“What should I do, brother? Taesu Ahn finally began to use the dirty trick…” said Dukwoo in an excited voice.

“What’s the matter? What happened?”

“What? Sex video about Nami?”

“It’s certainly not Nami in the video. It’s just titled that way. Everybody thinks it’s her sex video.”

Hyunwoo opened the file he sent and confirmed it. The title of that video was Nami.

The images of the video were pretty bad enough to identify the female face, but it looked like her in some respects. If someone argued it was Nami, they might think it was.

Dukwoo sent him several pictures, which showed Nami rushing to a man and being wrapped in his arms.

Dukwoo cautiously said, “In fact, these pictures are a headache. There is rumor fast-spreading that the man in the picture was the same as the guy in the video…” he paltered, which was understandable. For Nami was wrapped in someone else’s arms, not her boyfriend Dukwoo’s, and the pics were real, not imaginary as in a film.

But Hyunwoo was not shaken by that. He obviously knew where it was, when the pictures were taken, and why Nami was wrapped in the guy’s arms.

“That’s me!” said Hyunwoo.

“What? Was it you?” asked Dukwoo, surprised.

Hyunwoo told him about what happened several days ago when Nami was intimidated by Taesu. At that time, Hyunwoo first arranged for Raymon to save Nami until he arrived late at her place. When she saw Hyunwoo, she ran to him and was wrapped in his arms with a sigh of relief.

Obviously, someone secretly videotaped all that.

“I see now what happened. I might have misunderstood…” said Dukwoo reassured, but the problem was how Nami could cope with this. By now, she must have seen the sex video and photos.

“I called her but couldn’t reach her. Let me call her again.”

“As you know, this must be Taesu’s act. He wants to push Nami into a corner. So, tell her to be strong and steel her face to confront his dirty trick.”

“Got it, brother.”

A little later Nami called Hyunwoo. It looked as if she had a call from Dukwoo first.

“Hey, Nami. You must have been surprised a lot.”

Her reaction was to the contrary, though.

“Why should I be surprised by that? I was expecting that. So disappointed at Taesu. I called you so that you wouldn’t have to worry about me.”

She was very bold and calm. Actually, it was Nami who was comforting Hyunwoo.

“I feel good as you say you’re okay,” said Hyunwoo.

Hyunwoo’s anger over Taesu became more intense.

The reason Taesu used this dirty and mean trick was simple. He wanted to satisfy his lust through Nami, but when she refused, he decided to take revenge against her.

After talking with Hyunwoo and Dukwoo, Nami took a deep breath.

“Phew…”

In fact, she was scared. She was ready for that kind of stuff, but she was in a worse situation than she thought.

“Yea, I’ve got only six months to go before my contract expires.”

When the contract expired, she would have a chance to reveal everything.

At that moment, her cell phone buzzed.

She confirmed the caller, it was her manager.

Tightening her lips, she intentionally answered the phone in a cheerful tone.

“The president wants to see you now. Right now,” said the manager, hanging up the phone right away.

Nami tried to calm down.

Hummm… What can they do about me? You’re not killing me anyway. Nami, you’re fine. Just think of your tough school days. This is nothing, she murmured to herself.

Nami confidently walked into the president’s office.

Putting on airs, Taesu was sitting on the sofa. When she came in, he pointed to the opposite seat with his chin.

“Do you know you have already broken the contract?”

“Breach of contract? What are you talking about?”

“I’m talking about the sex video about you. If you damage the image of our company because of your bad personal conduct, there is a clause in the contract that we will bring a lawsuit on the compensation for damages.”

But she didn’t budge an eye at all.

“If you have any evidence that the female in the video is me, then I breached the contract, but it was not me. I can say this clearly to you that I’ve never done any personal wrongdoing.”

Correcting his position at Nami’s confident attitude, he stared at her, raising his eyes.

“Oh, you definitely have guts. Do you think you can get anything by confronting me?”

“I don’t have the slightest intention to fight you. My point is I don’t want to have sex with you to maintain my popularity. I’m going to do my best for the interests of the company.”

She didn’t budge at all. Though she was aggressive in speaking out, she still observed good manners.

Taesu now realized that Nami was already for this the moment she signed the contract.

In other words, he was thoroughly used by her.

“Got it. You can go back now.”

Bowing to him gently, Nami left the office.

Looking at them behind, Manager Kim approached Taesu and sat on the sofa.

“What should I do? Can I drop her off all the programs she is appearing now? Or do I bury her completely in the entertainment world?”

Taesu stared at him and said, “Are you crazy? Don’t you know how much she is bringing for us?”

Though he was a womanizer, he was a businessman with a good business mindset. He wasn’t foolish enough to ruin his business because of Nami’s case.

“Leave her alone for now. We don’t have to rush. Certainly, we will have a chance.”

“Got it, President.”

***

Saturday afternoon at Incheon International Airport in Korea, while pacing up and down in front of the entrance gate at the airport, Hyunwoo raised his hand quickly, looking at the line of people waiting to go through immigration.

“Yu Zuung, I’m here!”

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Yu Zuung looked around at the entrance gate and quickly raced to Hyunwoo after spotting him.

Hyunwoo opened his eyes wide with surprise.

When he saw her at a wedding ceremony in Vietnam, she wasn’t wearing make-up, but today she did. Besides that, she wore a short, beige dress.

Hyunwoo got carried away in her stunning beauty.

Feeling his awkward look, she said stand-offishly, “I look weird, don’t I? In fact, I usually don’t do my face with heavy makeup. I regret that I did it.”

“No, no. You look beautiful. I’m serious.”

“Thanks. By the way, it’s rather cold here in Korea.”

She slightly shrunk. In Hyunwoo’s eyes, she might have felt cold, though it’s warm in May in Korea, as she was accustomed to the warm weather in Vietnam around this time.

“Let me buy you some clothes,” said Hyunwoo.

He bought her beige knitwear, which fit well with her clothes.

Whenever she moved, she drew the attention of the people around them.

After getting in Hyunwoo’s minivan, they went to the office of Ani & Funny.

Even though it was the weekend, several staff members reported to work.

They were all went out of their minds at Zuung’s beauty. Even the female staff members were surprised.

Seeing her come in, Kyungsu, who once saw her in Vietnam, said hello naturally, “Hey, Zuung! Long time, no see!”

As if he learned English only yesterday, Kyungsu’s pronunciation was clumsy as he opened his arms to welcome her. She seemed a bit embarrassed but gently hugged him to save his face.

Other male staff stood up one by one to say hello.

“Hello”

“Good afternoon!”

“My name is…”

They started coming around her to exchange greetings.

Grinning at them, Hyunwoo said, “Hey, guys, she is embarrassed. Just shake hands with her.”

As soon as she came into the office, she became a star. Every staff member got carried away in her stunning beauty so much that they couldn’t focus on work.

In particular, Jihoon Kang showed intense interest though she was two years older than him.

Even Jungah felt jealous at Jihoon’s reaction.

“Hummm..you are interested in Jihoon, aren’t you?” asked Hyunwoo jokingly.

“Not at all,” replied Jungah bashfully.

At that moment, Hyunwoo realized something.

No matter how capable Zuung is, I don’t think scouting her here won’t be helpful.

Even though the atmosphere of the office might improve with Zuung joining the team here, the male staff wouldn’t be able to concentrate on their work.

They couldn’t take their eyes off her in the office, which was the main problem.

“Let’s test her now. Zuung, come here and read this.”

Hyunwoo gave her a prepared story. Suhim Yu selected some characters from her story and translated them in English.

“Just create the characters befitting the story here. You can draw them freely, the best you can.”

“Got it.”

She focused on the story. While she was at it, the male staff could not take their eyes off her.

Because of their intense attention, she couldn’t focus either.

“No way. She can’t focus in an office atmosphere like this. Can you work on it in my office? It doesn’t matter how much time you spend on it,” said Hyunwoo.

“Can I submit by tomorrow? As you have given me such a quick assignment I am just at a loss at the moment. And I feel a bit tired as I left for the airport very early in the morning.”

Come to think of that, Hyunwoo didn’t think of the fact that there was a two-hour time difference between Korea and Vietnam.

“Of course. Let’s go to my place then.”

Leaving the staff behind, who felt sorry for her departure, Hyunwoo took her to his house.

On the way back, she asked Hyunwoo several questions.

“By the way, who drew the facial expressions of Tuti & Angelica?”

“A guy named Myunghoon Koh,” said Hyunwoo with a bitter smile.

“Looks like he is a really capable man. How can he draw such facial expressions? I would love to learn from him.”

When Hyunwoo kept silent, she prodded on, “Was he at the office today?”

“No, he lives in Seoul.”

“I am curious about him. Can I meet him in Seoul tomorrow?”

In fact, Hyunwoo had to meet him one more time. If Myunghoon didn’t yet make the final decision, Hyunwoo wanted to persuade him by all means.

Besides, Hyunwoo had something to give him. Regardless of his quitting from Ani & Funny, Hyunwoo wanted to give him a cash prize for his big contribution to the success of Garbage World and Tuti & Angelica.

“Let me give him a call, then.”

As soon as he arrived home, Hyunwoo called Myunghoon.

After the phone kept ringing for a while, Myunghoon picked up the phone.

Hyunwoo first brought up the topic.

“Hey, Myunghoo. I’m now with a fan of yours. She is very pretty and wants to see you. I’ve some business with you, too. Can I see you in Seoul tomorrow?”

Then Myunghoon confessed to him the truth.

“Sorry, brother. In fact, I was scouted by BNB. As the contract condition was so good, I agreed to sign it tomorrow.”

“Oh, I see. Actually, I expected it. Congrats!” said Hyunwoo, painfully hiding his true feelings.

Myunghoo kept saying he was sorry.

“Why are you sorry to me? If you receive a better condition, you can move freely. It’s me who feels sorry because I have not given you a good salary. By the way, I’m going to Seoul tomorrow, so take time out for me.”

“To be honest with you, I wish you wouldn’t come. I’m just ashamed to see you.”

With a smile, Hyunwoo said, “Don’t say that, dude. Are we going to be enemies just because you move to a different company? Business is one thing; personal ties are another. I would like to maintain a good relationship with you as brothers even in the future.”

“Thanks for saying that.”

“By the way, I have a cash prize for you. I’d like to give it to you in person rather than wire the money in your account.”

“Okay, then. I’ll see you tomorrow then.”

The next day Hyunwoo headed for Seoul with Zuung early in the morning.

She seemed a bit tired. While she was in the minivan, she racked her brain on how to draw the characters all through the night.

“Don’t feel pressured. Just relax,” said Hyunwoo.

“Well, I think I can draw some good characters but can’t for some reason.”

She wrestled with it the entire ride. She drew something on a piece of white paper and then erased it often.

They arrived at a coffee shop where Myunghoon was supposed to appear.

In fact, Myunghoon was already there, but there were two others with him.

Hyunwoo instantly found out who they were.

Pretending not to know, Hyunwoo shook hands with them.

“Nice to meet you. My name is Hyunwoo Jang of Ani & Funny. This is Yu Zuung, our employee.”

They also said hello to him, exchanging name cards. As expected, they were BNB people.

Feeling sorry for Hyunwoo, Myunghoon explained the situation.

“In fact, I met these gentlemen this morning and signed the contract just a few minutes ago. I told them I had a lunch appointment with you, but they insisted they join…”

“Oh, I see. Hahaha,” said Hyunwoo, as if he understood his situation.

And he introduced Zuung to Myunghoon.

“This is the lady I mentioned. She said she loved the pictures you drew and wanted to meet you. That’s why I have brought her here.”

“Hello, I’m Yu Zuung.”

But Myunghoon was not fluent in English, and his conversation with her in English was impossible, but that didn’t matter. She kept praising his ability with a bright smile.

Myunghoon was just happy seeing her facial expression. Even BNB guys seemed to have gotten carried away in her beauty.

Hyunwoo took out an envelope carrying some cash and gave it to him.

“This is a cash award. You can think of it as your severance money. Thanks so much for your work with us.”

The envelope was rather thick.

“Oh, you don’t have to give it to me…”

“Well, I think it’s more important how to part than how to meet. And you really deserve the award money. Sorry, I couldn’t give you that before. Now, I think I am financially more stable, so I wanted to raise your pay, but you are quitting like this. Hahaha.”

Myunghoon took the envelope and opened it slightly. He was surprised it was filled with 50,000 won notes, not 10,000 won notes.

“By the way, Zuung seems pretty sorry for your quitting. She was intent to learn the technique of drawing characters from you. I can’t hold you anymore, man.”

Zuung also felt very sorry that he had quit. She even cast a pitiful glance at him.

Was it because of her glittering eyes? Looking at her again, Myunghoon seemed to be lost in thought for a moment.

Suddenly, he opened his eyes wide, and so did Hyunwoo, quietly looking at him.

Hyunwoo felt Munghoom might change his mind, but pretended not to know it.

“I just feel it regrettable for you to quit like this. I think I can pay you more than BNB if you can work with us another year. As you know, Garbage World hit the jackpot surprising,” said Hyunwoo, slightly stealing a glance at him.

Myunghoon was still looking at Zuung as if he thought she would be his girlfriend someday, giving full play to his imagination.

And suddenly he turned his head to BNB people and said cautiously,

“Well…can I cancel the contract with BNB?”

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