Chapter 1008: Project I.O.A Finals (4)

Park Eun-Chae collapsed onto the floor after colliding with Go Eun-Seo.

Since the collision had been deliberately staged by Park Eun-Chae under the guise of an accident, the usual Go Eun-Seo would undoubtedly have lashed out at her. Instead, following my advice, Go Eun-Seo held herself back and extended her hand to Park Eun-Chae first.

As a result, the entertainment rumor account's post that had been uploaded moments earlier instantly became a complete lie.

[@ENT_jjirasi]

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-Anyway, Go Eun-Seo is guaranteed first place.

(Additional information) During rehearsal, Go Eun-Seo allegedly intentionally collided with Park Eun-Chae in an attempt to eliminate last week's fourth-place contestant.

It is also said that Go Eun-Seo became angry at Park Eun-Chae afterward.

However, because Go Eun-Seo's father is an Incheon mayoral candidate, none of the staff dared criticize her.

Thanks to how well Go Eun-Seo kept her composure, I was able to pick up several clues about the insider.

First, the insider had to be someone who knew Go Eun-Seo's usual behavior very well. Otherwise, they couldn't have created such a believable rumor. I also realized that the insider had to be someone capable of instructing Park Eun-Chae to deliberately crash into Go Eun-Seo.

The rumor had appeared a full minute before the collision occurred. That would only have been possible if the insider had informed someone outside in advance that Go Eun-Seo and Park Eun-Chae were going to collide.

With that in mind, I immediately started narrowing down suspects who held enough authority to give Park Eun-Chae such an order.

Park Eun-Chae had been working in broadcasting for ten years since her days as a child actress, so there was no way she would obey someone of low rank. If the scheme were exposed, she would need the excuse that she had only followed orders from someone higher up. That excuse wouldn't work if the person giving the order was lower-ranking.

At minimum, it had to be someone at the PD level or above. At present, there were only four people of that rank or higher remaining on site. That was PD Ji Yung-Sik, CP Kang Dae-Woong, and the two who had arrived a little earlier—Director Park Han-Jong and Director Lee Gi-Do.

First, I ruled out Ji Yung-Sik and Kang Dae-Woong. The two of them had staked everything on this program, and they would never intentionally sabotage it themselves. That left Park Han-Jong and Lee Gi-Do.

Of the two, the more suspicious one was unquestionably Park Han-Jong.

In the past, Park Han-Jong had been part of Director Han Tae-San's direct line. Han Tae-San had tried to pressure Project I.O.A at Assemblyman Go Joon-Taek's request. Back then, however, that pressure campaign had failed because of me. As a result, both Han Tae-San and Park Han-Jong had fallen out of favor with upper management, leaving their positions unstable. There was a good chance they held a grudge against me and GoJoon-Taek.

Lee Gi-Do, on the other hand, had only recently been promoted and was overflowing with ambition. The odds of him targeting us were relatively low.

I had identified the more likely suspect, but accusing a department head without evidence would be reckless. First, I needed proof that someone was feeding information to outsiders.

Just then, I heard Park Eun-Chae, still seated on the stage floor, suddenly snapping at Go Eun-Seo. "Hey, Go Eun-Seo. Act like you normally do! Like you normally do! Why are you suddenly pretending to be nice?"

At that moment, Go Eun-Seo took my advice one step further and started acting as if she were about to cry. "I'm sorry... You can curse me all you want, but you need treatment first. It's the finals today. What are we supposed to do if you stay like this?"

Startled, Park Eun-Chae smacked her hand away. "Hey. Why are you crying? I'm the one who should be crying!"

That was when Go Eun-Seo suddenly pulled Park Eun-Chae into a tight hug. "I'm sorry, Eun-Chae. This is all my fault."

As Go Eun-Seo's acting continued to improve by leaps and bounds, the staff began whispering among themselves.

-Hasn't Eun-Seo changed a lot?

-Seriously. She used to be so arrogant, but now she actually knows how to apologize.

-Still, wasn't Eun-Chae the one who messed up her blocking and crashed into her? Why's she making such a scene?

-She's a child actress. There are plenty of executives at the network who dote on her, right? When people in power keep pampering you, you stop being afraid of anything. Tsk, tsk.

Go Eun-Seo had gone beyond simply holding herself back. In her own way, she was giving back exactly what she had received.

'Not bad, Go Eun-Seo.'

When it came to making someone's life miserable, Go Eun-Seo knew how to do it thoroughly.

Meanwhile, Park Eun-Chae, who had suddenly been cast as the villain, couldn't hold back any longer and muttered a curse under her breath. "Goddamn it..."

At that moment, Wang Lina from Team 3 walked up behind Park Eun-Chae, slipped both hands under her arms, and hauled her upright. Instinctively, Park Eun-Chae planted both feet on the ground and stood on her own.

Seeing that, Wang Lina gave her a meaningful smile. "Looks like you're standing just fine, so you can't be that badly hurt. Hey, quit stalling and let's continue rehearsal. Nobody here is in a position to sit around watching you throw a tantrum on stage."

Now that it had been proven she wasn't seriously injured, Park Eun-Chae hurriedly protested. "No. My leg still hurts. Ow!"

As Park Eun-Chae reached down toward her ankle, Ji Yung-Sik waved his hand dismissively. "Eun-Chae. Go to the treatment room and get checked out."

After glancing around uneasily, Park Eun-Chae limped toward the side of the stage.

At that moment, Ji Yung-Sik shouted to the contestants on stage. "Everyone, we're restarting without Eun-Chae. Get back into formation right away. Leave her spot empty."

"Yes, sir!"

AD Lee Tae-Eun approached the stage steps and helped support Park Eun-Chae.

Taking the moment, I focused on Park Eun-Chae's gaze. Her attempt to drag Go Eun-Seo into trouble had failed, so I expected her to look toward the person who had given her the order. Instead, after stepping off the stage, Park Eun-Chae didn't look at anyone. She simply left the performance hall alongside Lee Tae-Eun and headed for the treatment room.

Park Eun-Chae was being more cautious than I had expected, but I had no intention of giving up on finding the insider. So I immediately called out to Wang Long and Sasuke.

"Wang Long! Sasuke!"

The two of them ran over at once.

"Huh? What is it?"

"What is it, hyung?"

I said, "Each of you pick two female staff members and have them film nothing but Park Eun-Chae. Stream the footage live to my tablet."

The two exchanged puzzled looks. "Why?"

"I think someone's leaking internal information, and it looks like Park Eun-Chae is helping them. That collision just now also seemed like something she was ordered to do."

Wang Long tilted his head. "Then why don't we just bring Park Eun-Chae in and question her directly?"

"No. If we handle Park Eun-Chae carelessly right now, it'll look bad. People might start saying we're pressuring the fourth-place contestant just to push the fifth-place contestant, Go Eun-Seo, into the finals."

"I guess that's true. The timing's pretty delicate."

"The contestants don't have phones, so someone's definitely going to approach Park Eun-Chae and give her instructions. We need to catch that person."

"Okay. Leave it to us."

Wang Long and Sasuke nodded and selected two female staff members each.

I briefly considered putting people on Park Han-Jong and Lee Gi-Do as well, but I shook my head. Unlike Park Eun-Chae, if we were caught secretly filming those two, there would be no believable excuse. For them, I would have to rely on the security cameras around the venue.

A little while later, the female staff members chosen by Wang Long and Sasuke headed toward the treatment room carrying cameras. Watching them go, I waited to see who would approach Park Eun-Chae.

'All right. The bait's been cast. Now let's see who takes the hook.'

***

[@ENT_jjirasi]

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...

-Anyway, Go Eun-Seo is guaranteed first place.

(Additional information) During rehearsal, Go Eun-Seo allegedly intentionally collided with Park Eun-Chae in an attempt to eliminate last week's fourth-place contestant.

...

(Comments)

-Everything except the collision is made-up nonsense.

-Isn't this actually true? Go Eun-Seo's bad attitude is famous. With her personality, she'd definitely try to crush Eun-Daeng.

-Go Eun-Seo was fifth place last week. She was obviously trying to drag down Park Eun-Chae, who was one rank above her.

-Only the top four Korean contestants get to debut in I.O.A. If Park Eun-Chae is gone, the spot goes to Go Eun-Seo.

-This is seriously ridiculous. Park Eun-Chae fans, can you people not tell the difference between speculation and official facts?

-The on-site footage is already up on the [PROJECT : I.O.A] app. Park Eun-Chae was the one throwing a fit and ended up getting criticized. Why are you trying to bury Eun-Seo? The singer and her fans are exactly alike.

-In the video, Park Eun-Chae was the one who bumped into her first. Even then, Go Eun-Seo reached out to help her. At 3:32, you can clearly see Park Eun-Chae slap away the hand Go Eun-Seo offered first.

-Park Eun-Chae acted all nice, but look at her character. Turns out the genuinely kind one was Go Eun-Seo.

-LOL. Where did all the Park Eun-Chae fans go? The moment the official footage came out, they all disappeared.

...

The fans of Park Eun-Chae, who had ranked fourth among the Korean contestants last week, attacked Go Eun-Seo in the comments under the rumor post claiming that Go Eun-Seo was guaranteed first place.

To stop the rumor from snowballing, I immediately uploaded the rehearsal footage to the [PROJECT : I.O.A] app. Once that happened, Go Eun-Seo's fans stepped in and prevented the rumor from spreading further.

Fortunately, the immediate crisis had been put out. But unless I found the insider, none of this would truly be over.

Just then, the tablet screen showed Park Eun-Chae leaving the treatment room outside the performance hall after finishing her treatment.

[(LIVE) Park Eun-Chae_Personal Cam_01 (Wang Long Team)]

Although her left ankle was wrapped in bandages, she had no trouble walking on both feet.

'She's walking awfully confidently.'

Kang Gam-Chan quietly stepped over beside me and spoke. "I poked around a little, and I don't think Director Lee Gi-Do is the one."

As Kang Gam-Chan said, Lee Gi-Do was busy running all over the performance hall, helping staff members wherever he could.

I nodded. "Yes. If he were openly moving around like that while being involved, he'd only draw suspicion later. The fact that he doesn't seem concerned at all means he probably has nothing to hide."

"Right. Which is why...I think it's Park Han-Jong. The fact that he's gone to the restroom twice already feels suspicious."

"I agree."

"So what are you going to do? Reporters will be arriving soon. If another rumor breaks after that, it won't be as easy to contain as it was this time."

I smiled faintly. "Whether the insider is Park Han-Jong or not, they probably don't have the luxury of waiting any longer."

Even after posting a rumor, it took time for it to spread. And since the first rumor had been completely crushed, the insider was undoubtedly growing desperate.

At that moment, the door to the performance hall opened, and Park Eun-Chae walked back inside.

Clack.

At the same instant, three additional cameras tracking her began streaming live footage to my tablet.

[(LIVE) Park Eun-Chae_Personal Cam_02 (Wang Long Team)]

[(LIVE) Park Eun-Chae_Personal Cam_03 (Sasuke Team)]

[(LIVE) Park Eun-Chae_Personal Cam_04 (Sasuke Team)]

The cameras filming Park Eun-Chae from three different angles didn't miss a single detail—not even the exact moment her normal two-footed stride transformed into a limp the instant she opened the door.

'What is this, The Usual Suspects?'

Though in this case, the situation was the exact opposite of the movie.

In any event, completely unaware that she was being watched so closely, Park Eun-Chae walked over to Lee Gi-Do and greeted him. With a concerned expression, Lee Gi-Do asked if she was all right. Park Eun-Chae nodded and gave him a smile.

After that, Park Eun-Chae headed toward Park Han-Jong. Park Han-Jong patted Park Eun-Chae on the shoulder, then grabbed her hand.

'A handshake? At a time like this?'

Something felt off. After all, the two of them had shaken hands before the collision with Go Eun-Seo as well.

I immediately opened the recordings from the three cameras that had been filming and saving footage simultaneously. Then I zoomed in on their clasped hands.

That was when I saw it. Camera 2 had captured Park Han-Jong secretly slipping a crumpled pale orange note into Park Eun-Chae's hand during the handshake. Because the cameras had been filming from multiple angles, the covert exchange hadn't escaped detection.

Beside me, Kang Gam-Chan stared at the screen in shock. "This is..."

"Yes. We found both the evidence and the insider."

Just then, Park Eun-Chae began limping toward me again.

"Mr. Kang, let's talk in a moment."

"All right."

I ended my conversation with Kang Gam-Chan and looked at Park Eun-Chae as she approached.

Park Eun-Chae clasped her hands together and bowed politely. "Mr. Jung, I'm sorry about earlier. Since it's the finals today, I guess I was a little on edge."

I answered, "That happens. More importantly, let me see your leg. What did the doctor say?"

Park Eun-Chae pointed at the bandaged leg. "Oh, it's fine. They said I just strained the muscle a little. As long as I rest for a bit, I won't have any problems performing."

At that moment, I lowered my voice so only she could hear.

"You forgot one thing. You need to hand over the note you're holding if you want to get back on stage."

The smile instantly froze on Park Eun-Chae's face. She was standing with her back to Park Han-Jong, so he couldn't see her expression.

Keeping my own smile in place, I continued whispering.

"I saw Mr. Park giving it to you, so just hand it over. Don't try to think your way out of this, and don't turn your head. The moment you do, it's over."

Grinding her teeth, Park Eun-Chae whispered back.

"Mr. Jung. If you keep pressuring me, I'll say you used your influence to push Go Eun-Seo through."

After ten years in the entertainment industry, she had developed some backbone. But in front of me, it was nothing more than a reckless child's bravado.

"Get a grip, Park Eun-Chae. Don't you realize I'm trying to save you right now? If you don't take my hand, you could end up arrested for interfering in the Incheon mayoral election."

At my warning, Park Eun-Chae wavered.

I didn't miss the opening.

"So choose. Which version of you do you want to broadcast? The one standing on the final stage, or the one being dragged away by the police?"

Unable to hold out any longer, Park Eun-Chae finally surrendered.

"I'm... sorry... Mr. Jung... I was scared I'd be eliminated if Eun-Seo took first place."

With trembling hands, Park Eun-Chae handed me the folded note. Taking it from her, I replied.

"Don't think this is something that can just be brushed aside."

Catching the insider was the priority, so I postponed dealing with Park Eun-Chae and unfolded the crumpled note. Written in Park Han-Jong's handwriting were detailed instructions.

[At the last step while coming down from the stage, get pushed by Go Eun-Seo and fall. This time, I'll step in and help. Even if you get hurt, I guarantee you'll advance by default.]

Just as I had suspected, the insider was none other than Park Han-Jong.

***

"Eun-Chae, don't participate in the second rehearsal. Stay off to one side of the stage. What if you get hurt again?"

Park Eun-Chae nodded without protest. "Okay."

After leaving Park Eun-Chae with Kang Gam-Chan, I headed straight toward the group where Park Han-Jong, Lee Gi-Do, and Kang Dae-Woong were gathered.

Standing before the three of them, I spoke with a grave expression. "Mr. Kang, I think we need to hold a quick meeting about Eun-Chae's leg condition and discuss our options."

Lee Gi-Do tilted his head. "Why? She said she was fine. Is it more serious than that?"

"Yes. I'll explain the details outside."

At the mention that a top-ranked contestant might be injured, Kang Dae-Woong looked alarmed and pointed toward the exit.

"Then let's go to the lounge. We can talk there."

At that moment, Park Han-Jong tried to stay behind in the rehearsal hall. "I'll check on Eun-Chae's condition first and follow afterward, Mr. Lee."

Lee Gi-Do clicked his tongue and scolded him. "Honestly. How can you do something that obvious? What if one of the sharper kids notices and starts getting anxious?"

"I'm... sorry."

In the end, Park Han-Jong had no choice but to follow us. We stepped out into the hallway, rounded the corner, and reached the first lounge. The moment we entered, I immediately handed the recovered note to Lee Gi-Do.

"What's this?" asked Lee Gi-Do.

"See for yourself."

The instant Park Han-Jong recognized the note, the color drained from his face. "This is..."

Lee Gi-Do frowned in confusion before unfolding the paper. The moment he read it, however, his voice shot up. "Chief Jung. What is this?"

"Mr. Park Han-Jong handed it to Eun-Chae a little while ago."

At the same time, I presented the footage of their handshake as evidence. On the tablet screen, Park Han-Jong could be seen clearly shaking Park Eun-Chae's hand while slipping her the crumpled note.

There was no longer any plausible way for him to deny it. Park Han-Jong's eyes began darting wildly.

In a cold, steady voice, I addressed him. "Mr. Park, turn yourself in. And tell us who ordered you to do this. If you cooperate, you'll pay a fine, but you won't go to prison."

Park Han-Jong hesitated for a moment before exploding. "Prison? For something like this? What kind of bullshit is that?! And that note I gave Eun-Chae was just an encouragement message from a fan! Wait a second... You forged this, didn't you? You copied my handwriting and tried to frame me! Right? Hey, Jung Yoon-Ho. You're unbelievable. Seriously."

Excuses only worked when they sounded remotely believable. This wasn't even worth entertaining.

"That's unfortunate. I gave you a chance, and you're the one who threw it away."

I immediately pulled out my phone.

At that moment, Park Han-Jong shouted, "Hey! That's illegally obtained evidence! It won't hold up!"

"Then why don't you explain that to the person I'm about to call?"

"Who? Our president? Fine."

For some reason, Park Han-Jong looked completely confident.

'Let's see how long that confidence lasts.'

Just then, the call connected.

I switched it to speakerphone and announced, "Sir, I caught the rat."

A chilling voice came through the speaker.

-Chief Jung. Who's that son of a bitch?

Park Han-Jong's face turned deathly white.

The voice on the phone didn't belong to SBC's president. It belonged to Go Joon-Taek, the candidate for Mayor of Incheon.