LIGHTNOVELONLINE Chapter 2
Episode 2
No more hesitation. The decision was made.
In the office of Ban Seong-cheol at Flower Entertainment, a sight of unseen violence was unfolding.
“Ah! Security! Security! Is anyone there? Someone stop this jerk!”
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Maybe I hit too hard, as the fluffy part of the mallet started to peel off from the middle.
Now that the cushion was gone, the mallet was more like a solid stick than a proper mallet, but I didn’t care and kept swinging.
Smack! Smack! Smack!
“Seong-cheol, were you the only one holding back? Were you the only one disgusted? I held back every time I saw your face!”
“Ugh! Wait… let me talk!”
“Why do you throw crap on other people’s projects and act greedy? Just do your job right! Why are you so worried about others?”
Smack! Smack! Smack!
“And stop getting cozy with the trainees! Is it okay to mess with someone who’s half your age? Being born the same year as you is such an embarrassment, loser!”
“Ah! No! Please stop…”
Ban Seong-cheol was crawling on the ground like a slug.
What a fitting image.
“Phew… that feels good!”
Now that I thought about it, hitting him with the nameplate on his desk would have been nice too, but after some consideration, I was convinced that the mallet was the best choice.
After all, if I had used that nameplate, he’d either end up half-dead or actually dead.
At this point, Seong-cheol had to experience the rollercoaster ride to hell I’d prepared while fully sober.
Watching everything he had built up fly away would be much more painful.
Looking back, I saw a few employees gathering, trying to figure out what was going on after hearing the commotion.
If they wanted to intervene, they should have jumped in earlier, but judging by their inaction, it seemed like neither Seong-cheol nor I could count on any help.
I had prepared a little gift package for those traitors.
“Hey, are you guys okay just standing there? Haven’t you seen the news?”
The employees, glancing at me, started checking their smartphones for news.
“What is this?”
“Flower Entertainment raided?”
It seemed the corruption materials I had cleverly saved up about Seong-cheol and Flower Entertainment were now exploding in the media.
Not just Seong-cheol and Flower Entertainment, but all those who ignored me had their dirty laundry aired, so it was bound to be entertaining.
“Aren’t we doomed?”
Yep. You guys are definitely doomed.
I had laid down the bait nicely, so the entire political and media world would come crashing down on Flower Entertainment and Seong-cheol.
Sure, there would be plenty wanting to get at me, the informant, but that was not my concern in this reprisal trip.
[Quest completed! You received ‘Rebirth Candy’ as a reward.]
As soon as I finished my tasks, the timing was just right, and the quest was completed.
I said goodbye to the employees who were making a fuss like fools.
“It was a hell of a time together, so just grind your teeth and deal with it!”
Then, I popped the candy I received as a reward into my mouth.
The candy tasted like red ginseng.
“But why red ginseng… where am I?”
Feeling the taste of red ginseng, I looked around and realized I was in a café, not Ban Seong-cheol’s office.
The café was playing a song from an idol that had been popular ten years ago.
Thus, I was reborn.
*
The café was a local hangout that had gone out of business about eight years ago.
The president used to give out cookies as a service, making it a favorite spot for me during my unemployed days.
Why was I here again?
I took out my smartphone to check the date, but I couldn’t quite remember clearly.
It seemed like I was supposed to meet someone.
However, I could vaguely recall it, but it slipped away again.
It felt like it was something important…
“Am I late? Sorry. I got a bit busy with work.”
At that moment, a young man in a suit dropped his bag on my table and spoke.
It was Dongwoo, a guy I had gotten quite close to during my military service.
“Why are you just staring blankly at my face?”
“…”
Seeing his face, everything came flooding back.
Today was the day Dongwoo was going to offer me a job at Flower Entertainment.
“Ah, are you mad because I’m late? I’m sorry, but trust me, you’ll cool down once you hear the proposal I brought.”
“…Are you trying to set me up with a job?”
“Wow… how did you guess? That’s right. Our company’s road manager position just opened up, and I instantly thought of you as a reliable candidate.”
Dongwoo was boosting my ego.
“You were the only one who kept your dignity amidst all the trash in our squad, right? You did more than your share even in the chaos.”
It was a kind offer.
It was a timely suggestion for me, who was aimlessly drifting after my discharge.
Back then, I immediately accepted it without hesitation.
Of course, my choice now was different.
“Thanks for the offer, but I’ll pass.”
“Why not?”
“There’s no weekend or holiday, mandatory overtime, and the pay is peanuts. Plus, average sleep time is just four hours. And the celebrities don’t even treat you like a human.”
“Mandatory and the salary is pitiful. Average sleep time is just 4 hours. Not to mention, the celebrities under my agency don’t treat me like a human.”
Being a road manager isn’t exactly the job where you get treated like a decent human being.
Let alone that the so-called agency, Flower Entertainment, is a rookie company that’s barely 4 years old and treats you like trash.
I really didn’t want to go through that hell twice.
Honestly, it felt better to just enlist in the military again.
“Oh boy, you’re spot on. Like you said, it’s not a job that offers good treatment, but it has some recognition for my experience, so long-term, it might not be too bad.”
As Dongwoo hyung said, it’s a different story if I become a team leader manager.
“And you don’t have much to do right now, do you? Seriously, think about the future and put in the effort. We’ll treat you fair if we stick around together.”
“…Looking at it from a future perspective, it doesn’t seem like a bad choice.”
“Right?”
From the perspective of a regressor, it wasn’t a bad choice either.
Having experienced it once, going back to Flower Entertainment would surely make it easier to succeed.
But success wasn’t guaranteed just by joining Flower Entertainment.
I possessed the knowledge of a regressor.
I also had experience in growing an agency from a rookie to a mid-sized company.
And I had a cheat key known as a management system.
I was like an unclaimed first-place lottery ticket.
No matter which agency I went to, if I worked there, success was a confirmed future.
I had no intention of sharing that success with my former colleagues at Flower Entertainment.
Especially that jerk Ban Seong-cheol. I couldn’t bear to see him prosper.
This time around, I’ll send them to the depths before I succeed. Flower Entertainment.
“Speaking of which, I have a plan, and I don’t think my experience as a road manager at Flower Entertainment would be much help in it.”
“…Yeah, if you have something in mind, then so be it. How about we grab a drink since it’s been a while?”
Dongwoo hyung was actually a pretty decent guy.
Talking about military stories over drinks with him would surely be a fun time.
But right now, I didn’t have any time to waste on drinking.
“Sorry, but I have stuff I need to take care of. I only came by to show my face, so drinking is going to be tough.”
“That’s a bummer. Well then, see you next time. Contact me.”
“Thanks for the suggestion!”
I roughly waved Dongwoo hyung off and opened my notepad.
Then, I started jotting down significant events from the previous timeline before the memories faded away.
Of course, some of those significant events included information directly linked to money, like stock surges.
But such information was as foggy in my mind as a haze — I just couldn’t remember it.
Is it really not possible?
[Knowledge directly related to financial gain is sealed from memories prior to regression.]
It was a warning written on the regression candy.
That content was indeed true.
Knowledge that could be converted into financial gain seemed to be stuck somewhere, as if it couldn’t rise to the surface.
I remember that an oil price surge incident is going to happen, but I can’t recall exactly when—it’s like that.
I wasn’t disappointed.
After all, I had chosen regression knowing this penalty.
Even without stock information, I was overflowing with confidence in my success.
The information and experience in my mind were still mine.
If I had a selfish mindset that didn’t hesitate to take from others, it would be strange not to succeed.
Can’t remember which company’s stock will skyrocket?
No problem.
Any company I join will see its stock soar anyway.
As soon as I receive my salary, I’ll buy stocks in the company I got hired by, and that’s instant profit.
If I don’t know which stocks to invest in, I’ll just create them myself.
It was a success formula that even world-class investors would admire.
This is the absolute fail-proof plan.
It works. I’m sure of it.
I nodded with conviction.
To set this plan in motion, the first step was to get a job.
In my mind, I sorted through entertainment companies, evaluating their atmosphere, representatives, and vision.
I suspected this information wouldn’t be treated as directly related to financial gain, and everything came back to me.
Given that it’s the entertainment system, I thought this industry would have been quite lenient with its knowledge.
That’s a fortunate situation.
I ranked them and decided on the company that would be lucky enough to accept me.
One of the top three agencies, SS, seemed the most suitable.
Once I made my judgment, I got up immediately to submit my resume and dashed to the PC room.
SS’s CEO, lucky bastard.
I’m going to change you from one of the top three agencies to the number one agency.
And then, two weeks passed.
*
I got rejected by SS.
I cursed SS for not recognizing talent.
But I wasn’t too worried.
There were plenty of other options besides SS.
So, I decided to apply to other agencies.
This time, I sent my resume to all agencies I thought were decently good as insurance.
In total, I applied to five different agencies.
I got turned down by all of them.
“Why?!”
My absolutely fail-proof plan hit a crisis right from step one.