How a Loan Shark Survives as an Actor – Chapter 21

Author: Cireng

Chapter 21

In exchange for telling them who I was, I asked them to investigate Director Shin.

The answer I got back was:

[W-Why… why should we do that?]

At the foolish, bewildered voice, I swallowed a sigh. Maknae, is that really the thing you should be saying?

‘This kid has absolutely no talent for negotiation.’

If a client made a request like this, he should have either acted aloof and told them to explain further, or gotten angry and demanded a reasonable argument. Instead, he stupidly asked the question back.

I had expected such an answer from the youngest member, Hwang Taejun, but hearing it in person still made my vision go dark.

I wanted to shout, “How are you going to run a business if you let clients drag you around like that?!” But since I was the client in question, I barely held myself back.

“Of course, you don’t ‘have’ to. For a place that even investigates celebrities, figuring out who made a request shouldn’t be difficult. The problem is time and money. You’ve been trying to find out who I am ever since our last conversation, but so far you’ve gotten nowhere, haven’t you?”

[……]

The silence on the other end confirmed my words.

“Of course you’ll find out eventually. But first you’ll have to unravel all the layers of obfuscation I’m using right now… burner phones, VPNs, Monero, and so on. That process will take a considerable amount of time. You’ll also need to pay people to obtain data through the apps I’ve used. It’s a complicated job.”

[What exactly are you trying to say?]

“But if I reveal my identity myself, then there’s no need to waste valuable time and money. Besides, you already received compensation far above average from my previous request. Given that I could become a lifelong customer of your agency, refusing to provide even this much service would be strange, wouldn’t it?”

[That… that’s true, yes.]

“If this investigation were difficult, I’d understand a refusal. But we’re talking about an ordinary company employee, not a celebrity. Compared to the difficulty of the request, the compensation is actually cheap. All I need are a few weaknesses uncovered. What kind of agency can’t do even that much for a potential VIP customer? There are private investigation agencies all over Korea. If you want your business to succeed, how you treat customers is extremely important. Of course, if you don’t want to do it, feel free to decline.”

[No. I mean, it’s not that we don’t want to. It’s just… it’s not something I can decide myself…]

Hwang Taejun sounded like he was about to cry.

It was a reaction I had seen countless times back when I had been his boss.

Soon enough, someone watching anxiously beside him would snatch the phone away.

I glanced at the clock and spoke even faster.

“Then discuss it with someone who ‘can’ make the decision and call me back.”

After practically rapping the words out, I hung up without hesitation.

‘I may not trust the maknae, but I trust the others.’

Especially Gyeongbeom. With his experience, he’d know exactly which choice offered the best return.

Even if it felt disgusting to be pushed around by a client whose identity they didn’t know, he wasn’t stupid enough to reject a profitable proposal out of sheer pride.

Sure enough, less than a few hours later, I received a call saying they’d accept the request.

[We’ll deliver the report within the next week. However, we have a condition.]

The caller was Joo Gyeongbeom.

After listening to the youngest member’s soft, squishy voice that felt like it would collapse if someone punched him, hearing Gyeongbeom’s firm tone was a relief.

“What condition?”

[We can’t provide this report online like last time. We’ll meet in person and verify your identity before handing it over.]

“Fine.”

[Even if that’s difficult for you, from our position… Excuse me?]

His cold, rigid voice faltered for a moment.

He clearly hadn’t expected me to accept the condition immediately.

Come on, even I have some common sense.

‘Even if I told them who I was over the phone, how could they trust me?’

I was already disguising my voice. There was no reason for them to believe anything I said.

“I said I’ll receive the report in person.”

[Ah… yes. Understood. Then… yes. There shouldn’t be any problems. We’ll have everything prepared by next weekend. Please come to our office.]

“The address listed on the portal site, right?”

[Yes. If you come there..]

“I’d rather not. It’s too cramped. Let’s meet at the office in Pyeongchang-dong instead.”

The moment I finished speaking, I heard someone suck in a breath.

After a brief silence came a chilling voice.

[Who are you?”]

The voice sounded ready to kill me.

Until then, he’d been using a polite customer-service tone, even if it was somewhat artificial.

Hearing it change so suddenly made me feel oddly proud.

‘Looks like I didn’t raise them into idiots after all.’

The office listed online for Mindo Detective Agency was merely a front.

The real employees worked out of offices in Pyeongchang-dong and Seongbuk-dong.

Even VIP clients from Haru Finance didn’t know those offices existed, so Gyeongbeom’s hostility was understandable.

And that was exactly why I’d said it.

“You’re probably wondering how I know information like this. And you’re probably wondering how much more I know. If you want answers, prepare the report properly. Don’t try anything funny. Don’t play games.”

During the entire time I had managed Mindo Detective Agency, I’d never once requested investigative services from my own people.

Since there was no precedent, the employees would naturally be confused.

They’d wonder how likely it was that I would actually show up in person, or whether handing over a genuine report would leave them as the only ones taking a loss.

‘It’s better this way than pretending to be friendly and trying to ease the atmosphere.’

In society, a smiling face is often the scariest thing.

Showing all my cards and pushing forward openly would actually make me seem more trustworthy from their perspective.

[…Understood. I trust that the client will refrain from making any foolish moves that day as well.]

Gyeongbeom had apparently regained his composure and returned to formal speech.

I said I understood and hung up.

‘It’s been a while since I’ve seen them.’

I’d wondered before whether reconnecting with them was truly the right choice.

Since I’d ended up with Yoo Seulho’s body, I had originally thought it best to leave my previous life behind without regret.

That was why, on the day I woke up in Yoo Seulho’s body, I hadn’t even bothered to check whether my original body was still alive.

‘But I have too little in my hands.’

There were far fewer weapons available through Yoo Seulho than I’d expected.

The only useful one was his parents’ influence, and even that required living as a puppet who obeyed their every wish.

For someone like me, who had never spent a day of his life trapped in someone else’s cage, it wasn’t an easy option.

‘I can’t wait for someone else to solve my problems.’

I had no weapons, yet countless things I needed to accomplish.

I had to escape this trashy agency.

I had to become famous enough to earn much larger appearance fees.

It’s not as if I have some noble passion for acting.

I don’t care about being known as “an actor who keeps acting even without making money.”

I need to make a lot of money.

That’s my only goal.

And to achieve it, I have to use every method available.

‘If you want to solve a problem, you draw your blade.’

And my blade, as always, was information.

But there were limits to gathering information while inhabiting Yoo Seulho’s body… a body that attracted attention everywhere it went.

‘I need to make the detective agency my ally.’

To survive in the brutal entertainment industry, I absolutely needed assistants I could trust.

Ten days remained until next weekend.

‘Let’s just hold out until then.’

I sincerely hoped that nothing would happen before then and that life would remain peaceful.

But naturally, life never goes the way I want.

***

The release date for the drama <Our Space> was fast approaching.

They had just finished a rough cut of Episode 3, yet only a week remained until Episode 1 aired.

‘Is this really okay?’

The fact that only Episodes 1 and 2 existed in completed form was terrifying.

The fact that only industry insiders knew this was even more shocking.

In the middle of this desperate race against time came a special event:

‘The production presentation.’

According to what I’d heard from Choi Ran, it was one of the most basic events in the drama industry.

The lead actors and production staff attended, introduced the project, and held interviews with invited reporters.

“So the reporters get to watch up to Episode 2 that day?”

“No. They’ll probably just show highlight scenes. Basically the same trailer that gets uploaded to YouTube. What you’re talking about is a preview screening.”

“Ah, I see.”

“A production presentation and a preview screening are different. These days, unless it’s a huge blockbuster, preview screenings aren’t really common anymore. Back in the day, they’d spread viral posts claiming the preview reactions were amazing, but the results weren’t that impressive anyway… We’d rather spend that time editing more footage.”

I found myself nodding along to Choi Ran’s crisp explanation.

‘What would I have done without her?’

Even though he couldn’t act, Yoo Seulho was still a veteran actor who had appeared in nearly fifty productions.

A filming set had been more familiar to him than school or home.

Would it make any sense for someone like that not to know how dramas were made?

‘I need to stay sharp.’

Before the production presentation, I reviewed every press event Yoo Seulho had ever attended.

Thanks to modern technology, countless videos popped up with a simple search from home.

‘The reporters are more gentle than I expected.’

Given Yoo Seulho’s terrible public image, I’d expected some nasty questions.

Yet none of them mentioned his acting ability.

‘Well…’