With production on The Gyeongseong Alchemist back on track, a fragile sense of normalcy returned to Yoo-jin's life. He was dividing his time between the demanding, day-to-day realities of the film set and the ongoing global promotion for Aura Chimera's monstrously successful album. It was a stressful, exhausting, but deeply satisfying existence. He was in a state of controlled, productive flow.
Which was why the unexpected call from his sister, Han Ji-young, felt like a stone thrown through a perfectly still pond.
He was in his office, reviewing the series' budget, when his personal phone, the one with the number only a handful of people had, buzzed. He saw her name on the screen and a cold, complicated knot formed in his stomach. Their last communication had been her three-word text message, an apology he had chosen not to answer. Her calling him now, out of the blue, could not be a simple social call.
"Hello?" he answered, his voice neutral, guarded.
"Yoo-jin," her voice came through, and it was different from how he remembered it. The bitter, cynical edge was gone, replaced by a nervous, professional strain. "I need to see you. It's important. It's about your production."
They met an hour later in the same quiet, traditional teahouse, the air thick with the ghosts of their last painful encounter. She was already there, a cup of untouched tea cooling in front of her. She looked thinner, more tired, and radiated an anxiety that was palpable.
"I'm leaving Stellar Entertainment," she said, dispensing with any pretense of small talk. The words came out in a rush, as if she were afraid she'd lose her nerve. "My resignation is effective at the end of the month. And before I go, I have a parting gift for you. Or maybe it's a warning."
Yoo-jin listened, his expression unreadable, his mind a flurry of strategic calculations. He had chosen not to pursue a relationship with her, to let the wound lie fallow. Now, she was forcing the issue.
"After your… success," she continued, stumbling over the word, "things at the top have been tense. Alliances are shifting. And people are talking. Through my position, I've overheard… things. About Quantum Music." She took a shaky breath. "They know their sound sabotage on your set failed, though they have no idea how you countered it. And they are furious. They feel you've made them look like amateurs. They are planning a new, much more direct attack."
Yoo-jin remained silent, his gaze steady, inviting her to continue.
"They're planning to launch a massive smear campaign," she revealed, her voice dropping to a conspiratorial whisper. "Not against you, or your new actors. Against Director Oh Se-young. They've been digging into the on-set accident from fifteen years ago. They're using their immense financial resources to track down and pay off former crew members from that film, coercing them into giving new, false testimonies. They're building a new narrative, painting Director Oh as a reckless, negligent monster who was directly responsible for what happened."
The sheer, vicious cruelty of the plan made Yoo-jin's blood run cold.
"They plan to launch the story a week before your premiere," Ji-young finished, her eyes wide with a mixture of fear and something else—perhaps a flicker of her old conscience. "They'll feed it to a dozen online media outlets at once. It will completely derail your press tour and poison the public against the series before anyone has even seen a single frame. They're not trying to compete with your story; they're trying to kill your storyteller."
The information was invaluable. It was a game-changing piece of intelligence that would allow him to prepare a counter-offensive. But the question remained. Why? Why was she giving him this? He activated his Producer's Eye, needing to see the truth behind her words.
[Analyzing Subject: Han Ji-young]
[Emotional State: Conflicted (Guilt LV 7 / Resentment LV 5 / Fear LV 8 - Dominant)]
[Primary Motivation Detected: 'Self-Preservation.']
[Analysis: The subject is genuinely terrified of Quantum Music's methods and her own tangential involvement. She fears being implicated in their increasingly aggressive and potentially illegal activities. This intel is being offered as a form of severance from her alliance with Nam Gyu-ri and a potential peace offering to Yoo-jin, her only possible protector.]
The Eye confirmed it. Her olive branch was born not of loyalty or love, but of pure, desperate fear. She was trying to save herself.
"Why are you telling me this, Ji-young?" Yoo-jin asked, his voice still carefully neutral.
She looked down at the table, unable to meet his gaze. "Because what they're doing… what I was a part of… it wasn't about balance or justice like Gyu-ri claimed. It was just ugly. It was cruel. And I don't want to be a part of it anymore." She took a deep breath, and then she delivered the true price of her information. "I need a job, Yoo-jin."
The request landed like a bombshell.
"After I quit Stellar," she said, her voice trembling with a vulnerability he hadn't heard since they were children, "with my record, with my history of being sidelined… no one in the industry will touch me. I'll be finished. I… I was hoping… I want to come work at Aura."
Yoo-jin stared at her, a whirlwind of conflicting thoughts and emotions raging within him. Bringing her into his company was unthinkable. She was the mole. She had actively worked with his greatest enemy to destroy him. His team, his family, would never trust her. It would be a poison pill dropped into the heart of everything he had built.
But if he refused? If he took her information and then cast her out? What would she do then? Desperate people were dangerous. She could be pushed back towards his enemies, or worse, become a chaotic, unpredictable free agent.
His Eye gave him the cold, hard data on his impossible choice.
[Simulating Scenario: Hire Han Ji-young]
[Projected Company Morale Impact: -80% (Catastrophic)]
[Projected Information Security Risk: High]
[Projected Personal Emotional Cost to Han Yoo-jin: Severe]
[Simulating Scenario: Refuse Han Ji-young]
[Projected Probability of Subject becoming a Hostile Agent (willingly or unwillingly): 60%]
[Projected Impact on potential for Familial Reconciliation: 0% (Fatal)]
He was trapped. His sister, the ghost of his past, had returned, offering him the key to defeating his new enemy. But the price of that key was to let the ghost into his own house, to live among the very people she had tried to harm. It was a deal with a devil who shared his blood.