Descent of the Demon Master-Chapter 1152. Advancing (2)

Kang Eun-Yeong cheerily waved her hand. “Unnie, I’m finally here~.”

“Hi, welcome to our agency,”" Choi Yeon-Ha greeted back with a chuckle at the younger woman entering the office.

What a... unique character Kang Eun-Yeong was.

To Choi Yeon-Ha's eyes, Kang Eun-Yeong was a very odd person. Having said that, maybe Kang Eun-Yeong felt the same way about Choi Yeon-Ha, too!

Considering who Kang Eun-Yeong's older brother was, her oddness seemed so much more pronounced as she and Kang Jin-Ho didn't seem to share any similarity!

While Kang Jin-Ho was somewhat of an introvert, Kang Eun-Yeong could be described as an extrovert. Even though her brother extremely loathed the idea of stepping in front of a camera, she became a celebrity, an entertainer for the masses, who must stand before a camera to survive.

That wasn't all, though, as her speech or behavior starkly contrasted her older brother's. Of course, there was no law saying siblings must resemble each other or behave the same.

Even so, strangers meeting the duo for the first time would never imagine Kang Jin-Ho and Kang Eun-Yeong as actual siblings. That was how disparate these two people's personalities were.

‘Even then, they have a pretty great sibling relationship. Which is kinda amazing, really.’

While most siblings were in a love-hate kind of relationship, Kang Jin-Ho's relationship with his little sister seemed pretty good, even if it felt like Kang Eun-Yeong was one-sidedly clinging to her older brother sometimes!

Choi Yeon-Ha stepped aside a little. “Here, let me introduce him, even though you two have already met. This is Mister Eun-Sol. You'll be seeing a lot more of him in the future since he's more or less in charge of the operations.”

Kang Eun-Yeong smiled brightly. “Hello, Mister Eun-Sol!”

“It’s great to see you again, Miss Eun-Yeong!” Han Eun-Sol energetically roared while bowing ninety degrees.

After that exchange of 'simple' greetings, Choi Yeon-Ha guided Kang Eun-Yeong to an empty seat in her office. Once seated, she started the conversation off.

“Why haven’t you come to the opening, though?”

Kang Eun-Yeong pouted deeply. “Oppa said he didn’t want me there.”

“Ah, really?” Choi Yeon-Ha slowly nodded.

She could understand why Kang Jin-Ho would say that, though. That sounded like a good way to prevent potential incidents from rearing their heads, even if that resulted in Kang Eun-Yeong's disappointment.

Kang Eun-Yeong scanned the interior of the office. “By the way... This building is pretty awesome, isn’t it?”

“You think so, too?”

“I heard Jin-Ho oppa's income was pretty good, you know? Even then, I didn't expect his place to be so nice. Did you already know about this, unnie?”

“...No, I also had no idea.”

Choi Yeon-Ha was as surprised as Kang Eun-Yeong was. No, maybe even more!

Although she had expertly hidden it until now, her shock at finding out how large Kang Jin-Ho's new building was and how many people he employed had been indescribable. And, from what he explained briefly... He still had lots more people working for him!

‘There must be at least three hundred people here, yet this is only a small portion of his workforce...?'

At this rate, calling Kang Jin-Ho’s company a medium-sized corporation wouldn’t be an exaggeration.

Choi Yeon-Ha's expression became reserved when she realized something. Even though she had opened up a lot about herself to Kang Jin-Ho, it felt like he was still hiding so much from her. That disappointed her somewhat, but...

‘But, what can we do? When that’s how he is?’

She decided not to think about it too deeply.

Kang Eun-Yeong continued to grumble. “It’s great to work together with you, unnie. But... I can’t help but get weirded out here. It feels like I’ve gotten involved in something massive, you know?”

“Yeah, me too,” Choi Yeon-Ha nodded.

Her sentiments were pretty much the same as Kang Eun-Yeong's.

‘I almost freaked out during the grand opening, didn’t I?’

***

Going slightly back in time...

Han Eun-Sol dazedly asked, “Noona, isn't this the right place?”

Choi Yeon-Ha muttered back, also dazed. “I don't think so?”

“Are you sure? Because we’ve been around this block three times already. The GPS says we’re at the right place.”

“But, uh, the building. Look at it. Isn’t it strange? Why is it so... huge?”

Han Eun-Sol pointed to the front of the building. “Look over there, noona. There's a crowd of people by the entrance. And it's a big crowd, too. It has to be the right place, then. Should I park the van over there?”

Choi Yeon-Ha hurriedly yelled, “H-hold on! Pharmacy! Yes, a pharmacy first!”

“Huh? Why a pharmacy?”

“I, I need to buy a cheongsimhwan pill first. Can we quickly go and buy one?”[1]

“...”

***

The situation back then was so hectic for Choi Yeon-Ha.

The story was pretty much the same while she was getting out of the van, too. She wasn't sure how others perceived her at the time, but the naked truth was... She had to grit her teeth and work crazily hard to stop her legs from wobbling in shock.

And when she discovered the Prime Minister and Chairman Hwang Jeong-Hu among the crowd, she genuinely thought her heart might leap out of her mouth!

Kang Jin-Ho and the Prime Minister of this country? What kind of nonsensical combination was that?!

Choi Yeon-Ha frowned a little. “I know it sounds strange for me to ask this now, but...”

Kang Eun-Yeong tilted her head. “Yes, unnie?”

“Just what does your oppa do for a living?”

Kang Eun-Yeong awkwardly looked away. “Even if you ask me...”

“Hah-ah...”

The harder Choi Yeon-Ha thought about it, the more mysterious Kang Jin-Ho seemed to get. He certainly had a talent for surprising everyone around him, so Choi Yeon-Ha should've become used to it by now, but the surprise this time still turned out to be a bit too much!

“By the way, unnie?”

“Yeah?”

Choi Yeon-Ha sobered up when Kang Eun-Yeong cautiously asked.

“Maybe my oppa is much more impressive than we give him credit for?”

“...I think so?”

Kang Eun-Yeong frowned, clearly unable to understand the situation at all. From her perspective, Kang Jin-Ho was an ordinary person who got nagged on by his mother, got led around by the nose by his little sister, and was forced into working part-time in his father’s cafe.

With his formerly intimidating aura from his high school days gone, Kang Jin-Ho seemed to have become so plain and boring lately, so to think he was doing these kinds of things behind his family's backs!

“It’s like, knowing this is motivating me, but at the same time, I’m getting a bit of cold feet...”

Choi Yeon-Ha chuckled slightly when Kang Eun-Yeong mumbled that. What a privileged mindset that was.

Other people would've killed for a chance like this. That was how amazing this situation was.

However, the suddenness of it all understandably made both Choi Yeon-Ha and Kang Eun-Yeong rather confused and uncertain.

'Saying that out loud in public might get us crucified, though!'

Choi Yeon-Ha sat back a little while chuckling helplessly.

"Since we're on this subject...”

Kang Eun-Yeong blinked her eyes. “Yes, unnie?”

“We need to change our plan a little. The support we'll receive will be bigger than we initially thought, you see?”

“Support, you say?”

“Yup, support,” Choi Yeon-Ha coolly shrugged. “We wouldn't have money troubles with me pitching in. But we still had been facing an uphill battle in awareness and manpower. So I thought protecting ourselves while going on the offensive would've been challenging, but with this place's help? Now that will be a game changer.”

A confident smile spread on Choi Yeon-Ha’s face.

“Of course, I still have to talk to Miss Hyeon-Ju about it, but from my initial chat with her, we can expect a great deal of support coming our way. And that's only the start.”

Kang Eun-Yeong tilted her head some more. “Who’s Miss Hyeon-Ju?”

“Oh, right. I'll introduce her to you later. Speaking of support, though... I heard Jaegyeong had been supporting you?”

“Yes. Oppa has connections to Jaegyeong, you see?”

“Looks like we can count on Jaegyeong's assistance, too. As far as our business is concerned, things will get pretty interesting for a while.”

Kang Eun-Yeong stared at Choi Yeon-Ha, her expression gradually becoming unreadable.

‘She feels like a different person.’

In all honesty, Kang Eun-Yeong had viewed Choi Yeon-Ha as a foul-tempered actress and not much else. Once upon a time, she even disapproved of the idea of her oppa dating this woman.

Even then, she still didn't vocally oppose Kang Jin-Ho's decision. But not because she had discovered a more favorable side to Choi Yeon-Ha, though. No, she believed Kang Jin-Ho wouldn't allow himself to be under some woman's thumb. That was all. 𝐟𝚛𝕖𝚎𝕨𝗲𝐛𝚗𝐨𝐯𝐞𝕝.𝐜𝗼𝗺

However, this conversation revealed a somewhat different side of Choi Yeon-Ha. The sight of her wearing thin-rimmed glasses oozed this vague air of a young, confident entrepreneur.

“That’s why you will have to roll up your sleeves a bit more, Miss Eun-Yeong. You must fire the opening salvo for MK Entertainment, you see?”

“Am I the only talent in the agency?”

“Yes, but we’ll sign several more actors soon.”

“Ohh?”

Choi Yeon-Ha smirked at Kang Eun-Yeong’s surprised face. “No need to be so surprised. Don’t forget that I’ve been in this profession for a long time. Of course quite a few people want to follow in my footsteps.”

“That’s why I’m so surprised, though. There were people like that for real?”

“...”

“...?”

Choi Yeon-Ha stared at Kang Eun-Yeong with eyes that screamed, ‘If only you weren’t Mister Jin-Ho’s little sister!’ before fake-coughing to clear her throat.

Han Eun-Sol chuckled wryly before chiming in. “It's true that fewer than expected have promised to sign with us, though.”

“What was that?!” Choi Yeon-Ha immediately shot back.

“It’s true, unfortunately.”

The skin just below Choi Yeon-Ha’s eyes began trembling unsteadily. “Those... Those disloyal b*tches! Even though I’ve looked after them so well!”

Indeed, she had been looking after them. Quite well, in fact.

But there was a small problem with that, and that was Choi Yeon-Ha’s idea of ‘looking after someone’ differed somewhat from everyone else’s!

Imagine what would happen after Choi Yeon-Ha barged into a junior actress's rest area, kicked the table down, and hurled all sorts of threats and insults just because that junior was rude and failed to focus on her job, which was acting.

What if the scared-silly junior put on the performance of her lifetime despite trembling pitifully in fear and enhanced their reputation in the industry? Result-wise, you could say Choi Yeon-Ha had helped out immensely.

At least, that was what Choi Yeon-Ha believed.

However, what about from the perspective of the junior after being on the receiving end of Choi Yeon-Ha's abuse? Wouldn't she view her senior as the most insane b*tch of all insane b*tches?

If Han Eun-Sol was in her shoes, he’d never want to associate himself with Choi Yeon-Ha ever again. Just seeing Choi Yeon-Ha’s shadow from a hundred meters away would’ve been enough for him to turn around and run.

‘Having said that, humans can be such enigmatic creatures, no?’

Han Eun-Sol's sentiments should be common sense. Something that everyone should be doing. And unsurprisingly, most people did.

However, humanity sometimes produced a certain number of people who skirted past such common sense for one reason or the other.

Several victims of Choi Yeon-Ha-style goodwill seemed to have been moved by the fact that a massive star like her even deigned to look in their direction.

One had to wonder just how damaged their brains must be to come to such a conclusion, but...

‘Hey, what can any one of us do? When a hundred people in a group will all think and behave a little differently from each other?’

Thanks to this unique quirk of the human race, several 'junior' actors promised to transfer to MK Entertainment as soon as their contracts ended. Heck, some even said that they were ready to terminate their existing contract!

From Han Eun-Sol’s perspective, he should be on the ground kowtowing profusely toward these brave souls to express his gratitude.

But Choi Yeon-Ha seemed displeased by the fact that fewer than expected people had joined her.

“This is why you mustn’t take pity on black-haired beasts. Really!” Choi Yeon-Ha grumbled loudly.

Han Eun-Sol tutted softly. “Noona, you... never have taken pity on anyone, though?”

“Eun-Sol?”

“Yes, noona?”

“Do you know why you can't find that many people who say what needs to be said in public?”

“N-not sure?”

“Because they have all been killed off, you see?”

“...” Han Eun-Sol sheepishly clamped his mouth shut.

He didn’t want to be one of those who got killed off, at least not yet. One’s life was precious, after all!

Choi Yeon-Ha shifted her attention back to Kang Eun-Yeong. “In any case! That’s why we’ll have a few more actresses joining us soon. One of them is rather odd, though.”

“Odd? Odd how?”

“Well, I'm not even that close to her. The last time I ran into her was when she was smoking in the bathroom. So I taught her a lesson of a lifetime. Even then, she called us and said she'd be transferring to our agency.”

“Why? Is she a masochist or something?”

“Don’t ask me,” Choi Yeon-Ha casually shrugged.

Still, that actress was someone fairly well-known, so her joining MK should not be a net negative in the end. And if she dared to smoke again, all Choi Yeon-Ha had to do was take the cigarette and shove it right up that girl’s nostrils!

“Now that we're on this subject... Miss Eun-Yeong? Do you know anyone among your friends in the idol industry who might be interested in moving to a new agency?”

Kang Eun-Yeong innocently tilted her head. “I don't have any friends, though?”

“...” Choi Yeon-Ha silently grinned. She finally got the proof that this girl was indeed Kang Jin-Ho's little sister! “If you do run into someone like that, please tell them about us. Although I'd like to establish ourselves a bit more before doing that, we also can't afford to miss out, you see?”

“Okay, got it. I'll ask around but don't expect too much from me, unnie. I really don't have any friends.”

“...Got it. I'll remember that.” Choi Yeon-Ha sighed deeply before sitting up straight. “The agency will provide you with everything you need in your career. And the first order of business should be finding you a manager. How about the manager from your previous agency?”

Kang Eun-Yeong cutely tilted her head this way and that. “Well, he wasn’t bad, but... It didn’t feel like I must absolutely continue working with him.”

“Got it. Then, we’ll find a new manager for you,” said Choi Yeon-Ha, then leaned slightly forward. “Miss Eun-Yeong... No, Miss Se-Ah?”

“Yes, Director Choi?” Kang Eun-Yeong immediately addressed Choi Yeon-Ha by her title after her professional name was used. Because it meant the next part of the discussion would all be business-related.

“The agency will do everything in its power to support you. Whether that be the best songwriters or choreographers, you'll receive the best support you can imagine. That includes the best facilities, too. So, please focus your everything on getting your next album ready. Since our agency isn't a specialist in the music industry, there will be a few missteps along the way. However, I promise you, things will stabilize in no time at all.”

“I trust you, Director Choi. That’s why I joined this agency, after all.”

“Let’s make a killing so we can watch your oppa’s jaw drop in shock.”

“Agreed. And I promise to do my best to return to my prime...”

“Huh? Aren’t you still too young to talk about returning to your prime?”

“...My popularity has cooled down a bit lately, you see?”

Choi Yeon-Ha smirked softly while reclining in her seat.

‘Well, then. Things are about to lift off on our side, too.’

Choi Yeon-Ha had been thinking about doing this for a long time. And with Kang Jin-Ho's help, her dream came true sooner than she thought. The scale of the agency's operation was larger than expected, too.

The playing field had expanded somewhat unexpectedly, but...

Overall, she wouldn't say things were going badly for her.

‘And I'm going to turn this agency into the best in the country.'

Even if Choi Yeon-Ha fell short of that goal, she’d still ensure that nobody would accuse Kang Jin-Ho of creating MK Entertainment for some other hidden purposes.

For now, that was Choi Yeon-Ha’s goal.

“And Eun-Sol?”

Han Eun-Sol smartly replied, “Yes, Director Choi!”

“Has the story about Mister Jin-Ho and me in a relationship spread within the company?”

“...” Han Eun-Sol stared weirdly at Choi Yeon-Ha. “Do we really have to go that far?”

“...Look. There are only burly men in this place, right?”

“Yes, noona.”

“But we’ll be hiring female employees soon. So, before trouble has a chance to rear its ugly head, we’re gonna deal with it. Got that?”

“But, noona, what about the potential scandal of...”

“That would be great, though? Wouldn’t that be free publicity? Should we just call the reporters ourselves?”

Han Eun-Sol squeezed his eyes shut.

Why did it feel like this agency might not last long before going down the drain?

1. Cheongsimhwan, literally 'clear mind pill', is a traditional Korean medicine meant to treat various symptoms such as numb limbs, fits of apoplexy, epilepsy, and other illnesses. Or, in this case, to treat anxiety. ☜