I Became the CEO of an Idol Company in a Game Chapter 105

<Episode 105>

 

I stared at the monitor for a long time before letting out a breath.

‘We have circumstantial evidence, but no concrete proof.’

There was nothing more exhausting than those words.

The iced coffee on my desk had already gone lukewarm.

I picked up the cup, then set it down, then picked it up again. Without drinking, I simply rubbed the condensation on the surface with my fingertips.

My thoughts were still a mess.

If I revealed my hand, the opponent would immediately counterattack. And in that counterattack, those hiding along the intermediate routes might surface, tangling everything up.

But doing nothing was also a problem. It was no different from leaving open the risk of the evidence disappearing.

Leaning back in my chair, I tapped my fingers against the desk.

The dull sound broke the silence.

Slowly, I picked up my phone and called Han Suseok.

“Still no news?”

[Signs are pointing to JM Entertainment’s involvement through several routes, but we haven’t secured a decisive link. It seems harder than expected.]

I had thought there would be progress by now, but there wasn’t.

Even with manpower and money being poured in, nothing was being caught… it was frustrating.

“What about the lawyers?”

[We’ve discussed it with them. With insufficient evidence, directly pointing to JM Entertainment carries a significant risk. It would be better to cooperate with investigative agencies and target the intermediate routes first.]

If they cooperated with investigative agencies, the fact that Florence’s debut song had been leaked would inevitably become public.

‘What should I do?’

I hesitated.

‘Seriously, this leak is no small matter.’

Ten regressions. Repeating the same life.

And yet, this was the first time a song my idols were supposed to sing had been leaked.

It was one problem after another.

Solve one thing, block one issue, and another incident would immediately break out.

‘At this rate, maybe it’s better to reveal the leak ourselves first, as Kang Woojin suggested.’

Rather than letting others break the story through articles, it seemed better for us to release an article first, stating that we were suing the leaker.

‘Better to at least appeal as the victim.’

Reporters would write extremely sensational headlines. I could already picture how they would phrase them.

[Ramos Entertainment suffers song leak. Management crisis?]

A phrase that could easily be misunderstood as the company being in actual financial trouble if one didn’t read the full article.

And since most people didn’t read articles thoroughly unless they were truly curious, the “management crisis” would be treated as fact.

If that happened, the company’s carefully built image would collapse in an instant.

“Alright. Let’s do that. And let’s release the article ourselves first. Time it with Florence’s teaser release. You remember the reporter who wrote about Spade Joker last time, right?”

[Yes. I still have their business card.]

“Good. Contact that reporter, explain the situation, and ask them to write the article. They’re skilled.”

[Understood. I’ll contact them right away.]

“Alright, good work.”

After a brief reply, the call ended.

I held the phone for a moment before slowly lowering it.

‘If we release the leak article first, Joo Youngjun will be caught off guard. He won’t be able to pull anything reckless for a while.’

For now, tightening the noose around Joo Youngjun just a little would have to be enough.

That was the best option I had at the moment.

Outside, it was already deep into the night.

Rain ran down the building’s exterior, tapping against the window.

‘Since it’s come to this, let’s go all in on noise marketing.’

 

***

 

An office lit by grayish light.

Despite the late hour, the hum of computer fans and the lingering heat of fluorescent lights filled the air.

Joo Youngjun leaned back in his chair, a slight smile on his lips.

It was the smile of someone satisfied with how their day had gone.

“Now it really begins.”

Several monitors were on across the desk. On one of them, a schedule was displayed.

[Florence Teaser Release Date — Tomorrow, 6 PM.]

He was reviewing the articles he had prepared for that time, along with a schedule for manipulating public opinion on online communities.

‘If I ignite public opinion at 5-minute intervals right after release… Half positive comments, half suspicious ones. Then the reporters will jump in on their own.’

His mind was already filled with a perfectly constructed script.

Joo Youngjun let out a low chuckle.

A pack of unopened cigarettes lay on the desk.

He slowly rolled it with his fingertips and muttered:

“Watching them collapse the moment they debut… that’ll be quite a sight.”

Imagining the downfall of the idol group that John Raid Lombardi had ambitiously prepared made it feel like all the built-up frustration inside him was finally being released.

“Then Spade Joker won’t be able to come out for a while either.”

Joo Youngjun didn’t know the exact financial state of Ramos Entertainment. However, Spade Joker had faced continuous failures until recently, and had only just begun to make money after finally succeeding. So if Florence failed, he assumed it would naturally lead to bankruptcy.

“Then it’ll be much easier to build up Spade.”

If he built up Spade while Spade Joker couldn’t appear, Spade’s image would completely change.

People always found new topics of interest quickly, and old stories were gradually forgotten.

Just like how Spade Joker had shed their “flop idol” image from the past four years with their two recent albums.

Joo Youngjun’s gaze lingered on the monitor.

On the screen were the words:

“Florence Debut.”

A rookie idol group gains fame with their debut, only to collapse just as quickly.

He knew how entertaining that kind of spectacle was.

His phone vibrated.

He glanced at the screen and set it down again.

It was an automatic payment notification from an overseas VPN provider.

The hacker’s IP was still perfectly hidden. Since it had been set up to route through dozens of countries using multiple VPN services, there was no way the hacker could be caught.

Satisfied with that fact, he took a sip of his drink.

In his mind, everything was perfect.

He was still one step ahead.

In this game, he believed he would ultimately be the winner.

But without his knowledge, Ramos Entertainment had already moved the teaser release forward by one day.

Every schedule he had meticulously calculated had been thrown off by that single small change.

The “D-day” he thought was tomorrow had already become today.

At this very moment, as he leisurely drank, Florence’s teaser had already been released.

And the public was cheering at the unexpected “one-day-early pre-release.”

So much so that SNS feeds were instantly flooded with #Florence_Debut and #Dreaming.

But completely absorbed in his plan and having shut out everything else, he remained unaware, casually taking another sip of his drink.

The lights outside the window flickered.

Watching them, he muttered to himself:

“By tomorrow, everything will change.”

But the “tomorrow” he spoke of had already become the past.

 

***

 

The air inside the meeting room was heavy.

For the company staff, the fact that they had to release an article about Florence’s debut song leak alongside the teaser was far from comfortable.

Silence lingered.

“Alright, let’s check the reactions to the article about Florence’s debut song leak.”

I spoke as brightly as I could.

“Yes.”

They opened their laptops and checked reactions across communities and SNS.

 

[? Wow. Florence’s debut song got leaked? So they’re releasing the leaked version as a 3-minute teaser? That’s insane. I’ve never seen a decision like this.]

↳ A leak?

↳ Wow.

↳ This is crazy.

 

[??????? A leak??? A debut song? Wait, it got leaked? Doesn’t seem like an internal leak; they’re tracking the hacker, but the IP is overseas, so they’re filing lawsuits where the IP showed up and starting a police investigation. What is going on?

↳ I wonder if the CEO is okay.

↳ Isn’t this a targeted crime?

↳ I feel bad for Florence.

 

[Turning a leak into a 3-minute teaser? That’s bold. “Before you do it, I’ll do it first.” Isn’t that real alpha behavior?]

↳ LOL, it really is impressive.

↳ I can’t believe someone thought of this.

↳ Seriously LOL, this is insane.

 

Fortunately, the reactions didn’t seem bad.

 

[This is crazy. Why did this suddenly turn into a crime thriller? CEO, let’s track them down to the end.]

↳ People like this need to be taught a lesson.

 ↳↳ Seriously. They need to be punished.

↳ Let’s chase them to the ends of the earth.

 

“How are the community reactions?”

“They’re all worried about you, sir.”

A PR team employee answered while scrolling.

“Worried about me?”

“Yes. Saying things like… ‘Anyone who messes with my husband’s company won’t get away with it.’”

A hollow laugh escaped me.

It was a hollow laugh, but since I hadn’t had anything to laugh about for days, it felt like the first genuine laugh in a while.

“Well, those kinds of reactions are much better.”

At that moment, my phone vibrated.

I checked the screen.

A short message.

[IP Tracking 3rd Report Delivered. Additional verification required.]

I looked up.

“We’re already on the third report.”

Han Suseok met my gaze.

“We’re almost there now…”

“Yeah. Soon, we’ll finally be able to prove that Joo Youngjun is the one who orchestrated this.”

Buzz.

My phone vibrated once more.

This time, it was Park Juchan, the leader of A-Pen.