Chapter 44 : Kim Siyeon rips out the brakes (4)

Breaking into the central security office was easy.

I checked the TM security shift times I had confirmed earlier.

I made a fake ID card for a guard with a physique similar to mine.

Then, right after the guard left for the day, I disguised myself and entered the security office.

-“Ah, I left something behind.”

I casually found the central system and plugged in the USB.

Deceiving the people of this world was easy.

Then I returned to my original appearance and entered the TM building.

After putting Chaeyoung to sleep, I sent a text to Dongsoo saying that the preparations were complete, and Dongsoo shut down the CCTV.

[Siyeon, you can’t last more than 10 minutes! You have to finish it in there!]

While heading to TM’s computer room, I got a text from Dongsoo.

It seemed TM’s response was faster than I expected.

If I had known the situation would escalate so quickly, I should have used a radio.

It seems I underestimated TM. It’s been so long since the last operation, maybe I lost my touch.

But it didn’t matter.

10 minutes was enough time for me.

I increased my speed.

-This comeback concept is really weird…………

Stop-

I stopped when I heard a voice while quickly descending the emergency stairs.

It seemed like an idol from TM was passing nearby.

I hid for a moment and waited for them to pass.

The important thing in this operation was not to let anyone see me.

While the CCTV was down, my alibi had to be that I was sleeping with Chaeyoung.

Thanks to the CCTV being off, there wouldn’t be any records of me moving, but I couldn’t run into anyone.

It didn’t require any special tools for that.

With my heightened senses, I just had to detect people’s presence and avoid them.

I reached the basement level in less than two minutes.

The data racks where I could connect to the server were said to be inside the computer room.

Usually, a separate room was made inside the computer room to place the data racks.

I arrived at the basement level, where the computer room was located.

“Hey! What’s the cause? Can’t you handle it quickly?”

“They say it’s almost under control!”

It seemed the basement was chaotic, likely because of the CCTV shutdown.

The security personnel and guards were hurriedly moving about.

There were 6 minutes and 41 seconds left.

Considering the time to go back, everything had to be finished within 4 minutes.

I turned toward the women’s restroom to avoid being seen.

I climbed onto the toilet and began tapping on the ceiling.

I found the part of the ceiling that made a dull sound.

In my past life, I usually used ventilation ducts for infiltration in cases like this.

The ventilation ducts in my past life were simply air passages. They didn’t use motors to circulate air like now.

But in this world, the ducts were very narrow, and the fans were running.

Entering through a fan-driven ventilation duct was a very dangerous move.

Instead, I decided to use the space inside the ceiling, which was filled with various wires.

I climbed up to the ceiling and followed the wiring toward the computer room.

I had calculated that the data rack room was located 70 meters north and 20 meters east from the women’s restroom.

As expected, I could feel the powerful electromagnetic waves coming from the room above where the data racks were located.

It felt similar to when I infiltrated the electric tower in my past life.

I checked that there was no movement below and opened the ceiling.

The data racks were separated in a room with cooling facilities, so no one would come in during this chaotic situation.

They were probably all focused on the security system.

Click-

I hung the rope I had prepared earlier on the ceiling and descended on it to plug in the USB.

The room was dusty, so I wouldn’t leave any traces like fingerprints or footprints.

After finishing the task, I closed the ceiling again and headed back.

There was only about a minute left. I quickly climbed the stairs.

Everything was perfect.

Dongsoo had already sent me a text saying we were at the limit, but fortunately, I was almost at the lounge where Chaeyoung was sleeping.

If I sat back down and pretended to sleep again, my alibi would be flawless.

But,

“…!”

I froze just as I was about to enter the lounge.

Chaeyoung was still sleeping, under the influence of sleeping pills.

The problem wasn’t that.

It was that a woman was looking down at Chaeyoung.

…I can’t believe I made such a foolish mistake.

I should have considered the possibility that someone could enter the lounge while I was away.

Now there was a witness who saw that I had left the lounge while the CCTV was off.

There was nothing I could do. It wasn’t perfect, but the woman didn’t witness my crime.

I walked confidently into the lounge.

“…Huh.”

She turned to me and let out a short sigh.

She was someone I knew as well.

She was a member of the group involved in a suicide incident. It was SuA from Sweet Black.

SuA stared blankly at the number on her phone.

The girl who claimed to be her huge fan had come to TM to transfer to their agency.

Recently, a rising new actress named Kim Siyeon was the one she was talking about.

She knew her name very well.

After all, she was the protagonist of the AS Entertainment incident that was currently making headlines.

And the president of AS Entertainment, Je-Young, who originally had Siyeon, was also the producer of Sweet Black.

“Really a fan! Could you give me your autograph?”

“Sure. So, are you thinking of transferring to TM?”

“No? That’s not it.”

“I see. You must have thought of another place.”

“Yes. I’m going back to AS Entertainment.”

“…?”

SuA kept thinking about her conversation with Siyeon.

The part where Siyeon said she was going back to AS.

“So, why did you come to TM then?”

Je-Young was under attack from all kinds of public opinion.

There seemed to be no way for AS to recover.

Of course, SuA knew best that the truth wasn’t like that.

Je-Young had cherished Sweet Black more than anyone, fought alone to protect Sweet Black at TM, and took all the blame for the damage alone.

Even knowing that, SuA and the other members couldn’t do anything for Je-Young.

They were simply too scared and kept hiding, and in the end, they lost their only ally.

But Siyeon was different from SuA.

Her unwavering demeanor, despite her first agency being destroyed and her president being that kind of person.

It was as if she was completely sure that she was going to return to AS.

How could such a young girl be so unaffected by the incident?

SuA was still terrified, unable to speak a word, living such an incomplete life.

“If you need an agency, contact me.”

“Huh? But I’m already with TM…”

“You never know. You might need it soon.”

The conversation they had while exchanging numbers felt very strange.

She was such a strange girl.

After all, she was someone who won four acting awards for her debut work, so she couldn’t have been ordinary.

SuA threw her phone down and threw herself onto the hard bed.

Her life was not one where she could afford to care about others.

A comeback was coming soon.

“This dance is too…”

The next day, in the choreography room.

Everyone, including SuA, frowned at the choreography for the next title track.

It was a dance, but it was obviously vulgar.

The intent of the producer, who had chosen choreography that blatantly shook the hips, was obvious.

Since Je-Young left, the new producer who took over was thoroughly on TM’s side.

“This is the new outfit for the song. The CEO will check it later, so wear this and go upstairs. Manager, make sure to take care of them.”

“Yes.”

The outfit also had a strange taste to it.

It wasn’t a pretty, normal outfit, but it had a weirdly childish, unpleasant vibe to it.

And the intent behind telling them to go up to the CEO’s office while wearing it was clear.

There were probably some unpleasant sponsors waiting for Sweet Black.

Now, there was no Je-Young to protect Sweet Black.

They had postponed the comeback ever since the suicide incident, but there was no choice.

TM had no intention of letting Sweet Black go, and they couldn’t escape either.

It was a painful time.

The toad-like sponsors, the unpleasant touches, the sinister smiles, and the approaching stench.

It was agonizing, and sometimes, she thought about following Na-Eun, who had gone first.

No, in truth, she wanted to live.

She wanted to leave this disgusting agency and expose all these atrocities.

But TM was too huge for four fragile girls to deal with.

SuA sometimes opened and closed the number she had received from Siyeon not long ago.

The girl who had been with Je-Young’s new company.

It seemed like she hadn’t signed a contract with TM yet.

And that made sense. Siyeon had said she was going back to AS. She didn’t know how, but that’s what she said.

But if there really was a way to do that…

She wanted to ask Siyeon to take them with her.

No, at least get them out of this hellish place.

Of course, the fact that such a thing was impossible made SuA suffer even more.

And so, the spark of hope was once again extinguished, leaving only the foul smoke behind.

After that, darkness would return.

The dreams of young girls who wanted to shine on stage had, by now, been thoroughly soiled by the ugly hands of monsters like these.

No matter how much they tried to clean, it seemed like it couldn’t be wiped away anymore. This disgusting filth.

The girls were dirtied. Probably, a little more time would pass, and they’d be so tainted that their original purity would vanish, and like a Barbie doll discarded in a trash heap, they’d become too filthy to be cleaned, their pupils unfocused and only automatic smiles devoid of emotion left behind.

They were being dirtied. There was no way to escape this swamp anymore.

It was too painful. At this point, she wanted to die.

Maybe dying would be better.

Rather than going back for a comeback and doing that horrible work again…

As the girls were falling into the pit, suddenly, a ray of light shone on them.

That light came with a flood of curses filling TM.

“F***! Who the hell is this?!”

“Hey! Spread the word quickly! What is this crappy cable channel?!”

Crash-

Sweet Black, who had been practicing in the choreography room, peeked their heads out when they heard the commotion outside.

“…What’s going on at the company?”

“Is there some incident? Or did some senior mess up?”

The legal team, the security team, and the management team were all in chaos.

Manager Choi was running around, spewing curses, and all the employees were in a panic.

Sweet Black would soon learn the reason from their phones.

“…Huh? Guys, look at this,”

“…Huh?”

There, unexpected articles filled the portal sites and trending searches.

[Whistleblower Exposes Inside Story of TM. The culprit is not Kim Je-Young.]

[The AS Entertainment Controversy. A New Development. The Truth Behind TM.]

[Report on the Ongoing Exploitation of TM Artists.]

[Actress Kim Siyeon’s Exposure Regarding Her Transfer to TM. The Dark Side of a Giant Entertainment Company in Korea.]

[Revealed Court Ruling of Sweet Black Suicide Incident. PD Kim Je-Young was innocent?]

[TM Trying to Shift Blame? What’s the Truth.]