Oh Dong-Cheol was hospitalized.

His ribs weren’t broken, but he couldn’t avoid fractures. Four of his ribs were cracked.

His neck was in worse condition. The old injury had worsened with this one.

The doctor warned Oh Dong-Cheol not to speak at all for a day.

The four members of 4cats rushed to the hospital as soon as they were contacted.

Seo Sora handed Oh Dong-Cheol a notepad and pen.

“President. They said you can’t talk today. Since our chatty president must be frustrated, I brought this for you.”

Oh Dong-Cheol wrote on the notepad.

- Thx.

“Hehe. Don’t mention it.”

- What about the others? Why do you all look empty-handed? Shouldn’t you have brought drinks or fruit or something?

“Da-yeon, take away the president’s pen. He’s writing on the notepad I gave him to ask why we came empty-handed.”

Park Da-yeon turned her head while rummaging through the hospital fridge.

“Should I really take it away?”

Oh Dong-Cheol quickly wrote again.

- Just your thoughtfulness is enough. Thank you.

Seo Sora said,

“See? He says he’s fine now.”

Oh Dong-Cheol was in a private room. Normally, to match his financial situation, he would’ve been in a shared room.

Nah Hee-seon, mother of the twins and a former popular singer, decided it wasn’t a good idea for people to see Oh Dong-Cheol in this state. So she paid for the room and admitted him there.

Nah Hee-seon gave 4cats a brief explanation of what had happened today.

The twins shouted for revenge as soon as they heard about the assault.

“Mom! Where are those bastards? Let’s go smash them!”

“It’s scary to go alone, so let’s bring Detective-nim too!”

Nah Hee-seon asked,

“Detective-nim?”

Park Da-yeon quickly realized her mistake and corrected herself.

“Ah, I meant D-darn amazing Detective Seo.”

“What’s with your pronunciation? D-darn?”

“Amazing. My tongue must’ve slipped.”

“They say Detective Seo was there too. Because he showed up right as the fight started, President Oh only got hurt this much.”

Seo Sora asked,

“But how did my brother show up so quickly?”

“He had a hunch something would happen, so he was waiting nearby. Oh, right. Was it you, Sora, who got the call at home?”

“Huh? What call?”

“What? You don’t know?”

“Not at all. Never.”

Nah Hee-seon was flustered.

‘Then who got that call?’

Park Ha-yeon pressed,

“Mom. So where are those bastards now?”

“They were all beaten up by Detective Seo and taken to the hospital. I think they’re in worse shape than President Oh. Some of them looked like they had broken bones.”

Yoon Nana worried,

“What if Jung-woo oppa gets punished or something because those guys got hurt badly?”

“It’s fine. My car’s black box recorded everything.”

“Oh wow. Can we see it too?”

“Huh? Sure. I made a copy before handing it to the police.”

She opened her handbag and rummaged through it.

“I saved it on a USB too, but where did it go? Why can’t I find it? Oh no, maybe I dropped it somewhere. Things were so hectic earlier…”

Park Ha-yeon squinted her eyes.

“Mom. Why do you sound different from usual?”

Park Da-yeon chimed in,

“It’s like you’re acting or something.”

Nah Hee-seon gave an awkward laugh and waved her hand.

“Are you girls saying you don’t trust your mom right now?”

Kim Gyeong-mi asked top star Lee Seon-hwa,

“Hangover? Did you drink last night?”

Lee Seon-hwa touched her head with her hand.

“No, I didn’t. But it’s weird, I feel like I had soju. All of a sudden, too.”

Kim Gyeong-mi grew concerned.

“Hey, are you sick or something? Has this happened before?”

“Yeah. Not long ago, we had a light drink, right? The next day, I felt like I’d had two more bottles of soju. And now it’s happening again, out of nowhere.”

“Anything else?”

“These days, to manage my weight, I’ve been exercising more than usual.”

Kim Gyeong-mi stood up.

“Hey. Let’s go to the hospital. Something’s not right.”

“I don’t want to go to the hospital.”

“Shut it. Get up, you brat. We’re going.”

“At this hour, only the ER is open. If we go there, I’ll end up on the news. No way.”

“I’ll take you to a doctor I know. He’ll examine you quietly.”

Dragging Lee Seon-hwa to the hospital, Kim Gyeong-mi made a phone call.

“Dr. Yoon, I’m sorry to call so late. But I really need you to check someone out.

Out of the public eye. Quietly.”

- Gyeong-mi, do you know what time it is? And you're asking that...

“The patient is my friend, Lee Seon-hwa.”

- What! Seon-hwa? What’s wrong with her… Ah. I’m a doctor. I’m on my way. I’ll take good care of her!

The doctor rushed over and examined Lee Seon-hwa with great care.

After the check-up, the doctor spoke with a slightly confused expression.

“Hmm… Based on the symptoms, it looks like a hangover.”

“But she didn’t drink.”

“That’s why it’s complicated. If she had, it’d be a simple case. But since she didn’t… Since you’re here anyway, why not rest for the night and take a few simple tests tomorrow?”

“I have a shoot in the afternoon tomorrow.”

“I’ll make sure everything’s done in the morning.”

Kim Gyeong-mi left, leaving Lee Seon-hwa behind.

Left alone in the hospital room, bored, Lee Seon-hwa started browsing her tablet PC. She found a video with rapidly increasing views.

She tapped it without much thought and was slightly startled.

“Huh? Dong-Cheol oppa?”

In the video, Oh Dong-Cheol was being beaten by guys holding baseball bats.

“What the—? Did he shoot a movie or something? The action’s so realistic. Is this handheld camera work? No, wait… Oh, it must be from a black box.”

A middle-aged woman also appeared in the video.

“Who’s this lady? She looks like a celebrity but I’ve never seen her. A minor role?”

Suddenly, glass shards flew off a guy’s head when someone pulled a knife. The man screamed and flew sideways.

“Wow. The main character must be arriving now.”

The new figure was mostly filmed from behind. Even when the face showed, it moved too quickly to be clearly seen in the dark black box footage.

He took out two more guys with empty soju bottles.

“What’s the title of this movie? Soju Bottle Hero?”

The last guy got uppercut in the jaw with a punch.

“Wow. That’s awesome. So cool… But… that back view looks really familiar…”

Oh Dong-Cheol appeared, coughing.

- Cough. H-how…

Her attention shifted back to Oh Dong-Cheol.

“Dong-Cheol oppa’s acting is insane. He might not sing anymore, but he should definitely go into acting…”

A beautiful middle-aged woman responded in the video.

- Detective Seo Jung-woo took down all the bad guys.

From the corner of the video, Choi Seon-myung screamed.

- Seo Jung-woo?!

Lee Seon-hwa also screamed.

“Jung-woo? This bastard filmed a movie behind my back? He refused when I asked him to shoot one together! Who is it? What bitch seduced him? Don’t tell me it was this ajumma!”

She straightened her posture and stared intently at the video.

Then she realized something was off. Up until now, she thought it was just a movie promotion video, but upon rewatching, it felt way too real.

“Wait… don’t tell me… is this an actual black box video?”

The video ended after Seo Jung-woo spoke about a murder case from ten years ago.

She rewound the video to the beginning.

This time, knowing it was real, she couldn’t watch it as casually as before. When Oh Dong-cheol got hit, she flinched as well.

The video ended again.

She organized her thoughts.

“So, Jung-woo predicted Choi Sun-myung’s actions and waited there? Well, it’s Jung-woo, so he could pull that off. But Choi Sun-myung committed murder? And he killed the former CEO and took over the company?”

She was fairly well-informed about entertainment industry news. That’s because many men approached her to gain favor by sharing various gossip even without her asking.

“If this is true, then Wind Planning is finished.”

If everything Seo Jung-woo said was true, the celebrities under Wind Planning wouldn’t just sit quietly.

She placed her hand on her chin and contemplated.

“Then who’s going to take over Wind Planning now? It’s a chance to spit out the trash and eat only the tasty parts.”

Yoon Nana was looking at her smartphone when she gasped.

“Ah!”

She widened her eyes and asked Na Hee-seon,

“Ajumma. What’s going on? Why is this video all over the internet?”

Seo Sora asked,

“What is it?”

Yoon Nana held out her smartphone. The same black box video that Lee Seon-hwa had watched was playing on her phone.

“This video is exactly the same as the story you told us, ajumma.”

The twins nodded as they watched the video.

“Looks like our mom leaked it on purpose. Pretending she lost it by accident.”

“Our mom is a scary woman.”

Na Hee-seon put a finger to her lips.

“Shh. I already discussed it with Detective Seo. Originally, we were going to handle it without even letting you girls know.”

Yoon Nana asked,

“Huh? With Jung-woo oppa? Why?”

“Do you remember the conversation I had with Detective Seo at that restaurant in your neighborhood?”

She recalled fragments of that conversation.

— If you cut off the head, everything becomes fine.

— You step on them too lightly, and they crawl back up.

— The dead don’t talk.

“Ah. Don’t tell me that ‘cut off the head’ part meant….”

“Yeah. If we want to get rid of Choi Sun-myung for good, this is the best way.”

Lee Seon-hwa was bored, sitting alone in the hospital room.

“I should at least have a cup of coffee.”

She wasn’t supposed to drink coffee at this hour if she had tests tomorrow. But since she hadn’t come voluntarily and was dragged here by Kim Gyeong-mi, she didn’t really feel like being careful.

Wearing a scarf over her face and sunglasses, she stepped out of the room—and ran into someone coming out of the private room across the hall. It was someone she knew.

“Oh my. Sora!”

Seo Sora looked over in surprise at the familiar voice.

“Who… Oh! Seon-hwa unnie! Are you sick?”

“No. I just came for a check-up.”

Lee Seon-hwa paused. She had just watched the video of Seo Jung-woo fighting.

‘This girl is Jung-woo’s sister. This is a hospital.’

Her eyes widened in alarm.

“Oh no! Did Jung-woo get hurt?”

“Well, um…”

Lee Seon-hwa burst into the room.

“Jung-woo! How badly are you hur—”

Oh Dong-cheol was lying on the bed.

Lee Seon-hwa let out a relieved sigh.

“Phew. It’s just Dong-cheol oppa. Thank goodness.”

Oh Dong-cheol scribbled on a notepad.

– Why are you relieved when I’m the one hurt!

“Oppa, why are you writing instead of talking… Don’t tell me you hurt your throat again? Oh no, what now!”

– I’m already sulking.

“How bad is it? Last time you couldn’t sing, and now you can’t even talk? Oppa, you don’t have money, you don’t have a house, and now you don’t even have a voice?”

Seo Sora entered the room and explained,

“The doctor told our CEO to rest his voice just for today. He didn’t lose it completely.”

“That’s a relief. Oh, I saw the video too. Dong-cheol oppa really got beaten up. Are you okay?”

“He’s badly hurt. Four ribs are cracked. Not broken, but fractured.”

“Oh dear. At least he won’t die.”

Oh Dong-cheol scribbled again.

– Kick her out!

Lee Seon-hwa laughed and waved.

“Hey, I’m just joking. But still…”

She looked at Na Hee-seon.

‘That beauty is on a celebrity level, but the vibe is no joke. Who is she? Retired actress maybe?’

“How did someone like Dong-cheol oppa, who has nothing, end up dating such a woman…”

The twins quickly interrupted.

“That’s our mom.”

“She’s not in any relationship with our CEO.”

“She met him to file lawsuits against some bad guys.”

“No overreacting!”

Lee Seon-hwa apologized to Na Hee-seon.

“Ah, sorry about that.”

Oh Dong-cheol scribbled again.

– Apologize to me too!

Na Hee-seon handed over a business card.

“I heard my daughters were in your debt before.”

“Oh, it was nothing. I just treated them to a meal. Oh my, you’re a lawyer. So that’s why you were discussing lawsuits with Dong-cheol oppa.”

Lee Seon-hwa had been bored alone in her room anyway.

She ended up settling into this room and chatting with everyone. Only Yoon Nana wasn’t fond of her, but the others got along well.

Lee Seon-hwa and Na Hee-seon discussed the potential impact of the incident.

“Oh, I saw the video. That was intense. We need to take this chance to wipe out trash like Choi Sun-myung.”

“If, as Detective Seo said, it turns out Choi Sun-myung ordered the previous CEO’s murder and took over the company, then Wind Planning is over.”

Lee Seon-hwa said,

“This is a great opportunity for someone to grow a new company. Tons of free agents will be released, and the staff who supported them too. I bet there are a lot of places drooling right now.”

“You’re probably right.”

Lee Seon-hwa asked Oh Dong-cheol,

“Don’t you have any thoughts, oppa? This is a real opportunity.”

– I don’t have money to bring them in.

“Well, yeah. ES Entertainment is totally broke. But you’ve got the best personality, oppa.”

– Is that a compliment? Or an insult?

“Of course, you can’t sign artists with personality alone. But there’s something even more powerful than signing bonuses for those singers.”

– I have something like that?

“You do. The genius composer no one but ES Entertainment knows the identity of. Dimension.”