Chapter 121: New Year (5)

Translator: Dreamscribe

A woman's voice, reaching Kang Jae-ha, and reaching Jang Tae-san, whose eyes had flown wide at the sight of the Commander who had appeared out of nowhere.

【Comrade encounter confirmed.】

【The comrade (subordinate) has awakened thanks to Kang Jae-ha-nim's achievement of the Other World objective.】

Startled all over again by that woman's voice, Jang Tae-san knit his brows.

【'Absolute Obedience' is now applied to the comrade (subordinate) who has encountered the Commander, toward Kang Jae-ha.】

【Should the comrade (subordinate) commit betrayal, treason, or similar acts against the Commander, it will be regarded as a violation of the applied 'Absolute Obedience', resulting in death.】

All of it was utterly bewildering.

'Absolute Obedience?'

Even after the woman's voice had finished its guidance without his noticing, Jang Tae-san.

"......"

Froze, staring at Kang Jae-ha standing beside him. The shock was simply too enormous. Terminator Jang Tae-san held the Commander's gaze while countless thoughts surged through him. Is the man I'm looking at right now really the Commander? Or an illusion?

No. Far too vivid to be an illusion.

Since waking in this world, Jang Tae-san had never once imagined that his comrades might be here with him. To be precise, he'd had no room to worry about such things. Not a spare moment.

He had come back to his sister after far too long. Adjusting came first, and between earning money and looking after her, he'd had his hands full.

So for a full year, he hadn't crossed paths with a single comrade. But he had never forgotten his days in the Mercenary Corps.

How could anyone forget that?

There were times, when reality got to be too much, that Jang Tae-san found himself wanting to go back there. But that was as far as it ever went. And now, out of nowhere, the Commander stood in front of him. The very Commander he'd torn across battlefields with.

Before long, Jang Tae-san's gaze, which had been boring into Kang Jae-ha, shifted.

It landed on Go Chun-seok, the monster who had rampaged beside him in the vanguard on the battlefield, now standing in front of the two hulking thugs ahead.

Just then.

-Swoosh.

Someone else stepped into the barbecue joint. Narrow-eyed Lee Chan-hoo, and Sato Shota. Turning at the sound, Jang Tae-san was startled yet again. More comrades. Three of them at once, when he hadn't seen a single one in a year. And the Commander on top of that.

'...What the hell is going on.'

Kang Jae-ha spoke to Jang Tae-san, whose eyes stayed wide. He wore a faint smile.

"Looks like I gave you quite a shock."

Jang Tae-san wasn't the only one shocked. His younger sister in the wheelchair stared round-eyed at Kang Jae-ha and Go Chun-seok and the rest. The owner of the barbecue joint had frozen solid too.

The two hulking thugs were already on their knees under the terrifying pressure rolling off Go Chun-seok.

They'd known it by instinct.

That if they threw their weight around any further,

'Wh-what the hell are these monsters!'

there wouldn't be enough of them left to bury.

Either way, Kang Jae-ha spoke to Jang Tae-san again.

"Don't answer for now. Your sister's here."

Any conversation between them was bound to include words like 'mercenary'. Nothing good would come of his sister, who knew nothing about any of it, overhearing. Calmer now, Jang Tae-san started to open his mouth, then gave a small nod instead. Kang Jae-ha watched the Terminator steadily.

'Well, I managed to keep this one from blowing his lid.'

What he was thinking of was the 'Deja Vu' about Jang Tae-san he'd seen back at 'MEG' earlier. In the Deja Vu Jae-ha had seen, Jang Tae-san beat those two hulks to a pulp. Probably killed them, no?

'The rage boiling up because they touched his sister, and on top of it, the lock he'd kept clamped down on his taste for blood popping loose. That'd be why.'

For a year his sister had been the one thing keeping Jang Tae-san in check, if anything was, and those two hulking thugs had ended up being the trigger. It was a good thing he'd made it in time. If he hadn't stopped Jang Tae-san, if those two had gone and died, it would have been a real headache.

Kang Jae-ha glanced at the pair cowering as they looked up at Go Chun-seok and Jang Tae-san, and said inwardly,

'You two ought to be thanking me.'

The pair should have been licking Jae-ha's toes, frankly. If not for Kang Jae-ha, the two of them would be walking the road to the afterlife hand in hand by now. Before long Lee Chan-hoo and Sato Shota moved to Jae-ha's side, and after a brief nod of greeting to Jang Tae-san, Lee Chan-hoo called to Kang Jae-ha in a near whisper.

"Commander."

It was a signal to wrap things up. Jang Tae-san's frozen sister was there, and so was the owner. Kang Jae-ha nodded, moved past Jang Tae-san, and walked over to the kneeling thugs. The swagger they'd shown while harassing the sister was nowhere to be found; now their faces were pure meek lamb. Weak to the strong, strong to the weak, exactly that. Utterly pathetic.

Kang Jae-ha murmured down at them, cold as ice.

"Morons."

Jae-ha reached out and seized one of them by the hair. This bastard had laid hands on the family of a Mercenary Corps member. The Kang Jae-ha of the Other World would have slit his throat on the spot. But this Jae-ha only looked down at the hulk, bloodlust in his eyes.

The one with his hair in Jae-ha's fist trembled and spoke.

"......I-I'm sorry. Please spare me, sir."

Begging for all he was worth. Because after Go Chun-seok and Jang Tae-san, he'd sensed the danger in Kang Jae-ha's eyes too. One look was enough to tell that this man gave the orders. The hulks figured they were royally fucked, and Kang Jae-ha spoke in a tone drained of all emotion.

"Take off your shoes."

"...Sorry?"

"I said take off those filthy expensive shoes."

"Ah! Yes sir!"

The hulk stripped off his shoes with rigid military discipline. His partner followed suit. Jae-ha jerked his chin at their feet to say it wasn't over.

"Socks and trousers too."

The hulks hesitated, but the killing intent coming off Kang Jae-ha and everyone else around them got them moving fast. Once the socks and trousers came off, they looked thoroughly ridiculous. As they knelt again, Kang Jae-ha pressed his foot down slowly on their thighs.

The two hulks groaned.

"Guhh!!"

Jae-ha spoke. His voice was flat. Meaning there was nothing behind it. Which made it all the more menacing.

"Wouldn't even show if I carved a little flesh off, would it?"

Carving flesh off these two would have been nothing at all to Kang Jae-ha, and the hulks, on the verge of pissing themselves, slammed their heads into the floor over and over.

"W-we're sorry!!!"

About then, Lee Chan-hoo pulled the wallets out of the hulks' discarded trousers. He checked their IDs and backed up the Commander's warning.

"I've got your names."

The two nodded violently, and Kang Jae-ha lost all interest in them.

"Get lost."

The hulks bolted out of the barbecue joint, flab jiggling, and Kang Jae-ha stepped over to Jang Tae-san, who had been watching the whole thing in silence.

"Jang Tae-san, get in touch later."

Jae-ha handed him a 'MEG' business card, and his eyes met the sister's, still round as saucers. She greeted him on reflex.

"...Ah- ah! Hello."

Kang Jae-ha pulled his killing intent back in and smiled faintly.

"Nice to meet you."

Kang Jae-ha walked straight out of the barbecue joint. His subordinates followed. Then the sister rolled her wheelchair lightly over to her older brother's side.

"Oppa, who was that?? He's got this... something different about him."

Looking down at the 'MEG' card, Jang Tae-san answered quietly.

"He was someone I looked up to......my superior."

Two days later, the morning of the 19th.

The 'One-Act Drama Project', fresh off its Production Press Conference with roughly two weeks left until its official launch, started moving first thing that morning. Teasers, a trailer, and the like went up on Netflix Korea's official YouTube channel.

-One-Act Drama Project | Official Trailer | Netflix

With Oh Jong-man and the rest drawing a flood of public and media attention, the 'One-Act Drama Project' racked up views instantly, and reactions from the public came just as fast.

-what is this, it's a one-act, why am I hyped?

-trailer's well cut at least ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ watching the second it drops

-ugh I cancelled Netflix, guess I gotta go back

-nope, not watching~ Oh Jong-man's comeback is disgusting

-↑there's always one of these assholes wherever you go

-even leaving Oh Jong-man out of it the quality looks pretty damn good thoughhh ㅋㅋㅋㅋ

-Actor Oh Jong-man! Rooting for you!!

-is Netflix seriously in the business of laundering criminals??

-he was cleared of charges, what criminal? are you nuts

-wait, the OST under the trailer is fucking good too???

-no but seriously this smells like a masterpiece, it's fresh

Of course, the trailer included footage of Oh Jong-man, back as an actor.

-oh jong-man's on screen for a second and the face acting is insane;; is he playing a psycho killer?

-oh jong-man was always a good actor, even before he crashed and burned

Buzzing, buzzing. That mood held for more than five days, and with about a week left until the official launch of the 'One-Act Drama Project', Oh Jong-man was.

-Clack clack clack!

The projected episode count was 12 episodes.

At that moment, Oh Jong-man stopped typing and let out a long breath.

"Whew, episode 12 done."

Naturally, it would still take revisions to reach a final draft, but.

"Damn, this actually works."

Kang Jae-ha.

That same afternoon, a filming location.

The place was a villa out toward Uijeongbu with a bleak air hanging over it. Close to a hundred crew members were spread around the property, and cameras and other equipment were set up across the fairly wide yard.

A hundred-odd people, and yet the set was dead silent.

Naturally, since they were mid-take. Just then, the director, seated in front of the monitor watching the actors perform, called out.

"Cut!!"

It was the master director Yu Gil-tae, round glasses and all. Which meant this was the set of 'Mask of Murder', now in production. And the actress who had just been performing was.

"Da-yeon-ssi! Not bad, but let's take some of the emotion out and go again!"

"Yes, Director."

Yoon Da-yeon, no longer washed-up. Her skin had always been clear, and the makeup made it paler still; her costume was a white-toned dress. Something that suited the bleak lodge and clashed with it at the same time. That was exactly the character she played in 'Mask of Murder'.

In any case, filming on 'Mask of Murder', financed solely by 'MEG' and quite the talk of the film industry, was already in its second week.

Then Yu Gil-tae gave Yoon Da-yeon and the other actors brief direction and settled back in front of the monitor.

"One, two... action!"

The camera captured Yoon Da-yeon once more. Among those watching the set, two figures stood out. Kang Jae-ha, wearing the mask of General Manager Kim Ha-jae, and Lee Chan-hoo. Ha Yeon-ji was visible among the reporters granted access.

Arms folded, Jae-ha watched Yoon Da-yeon act inside the shooting zone and murmured inwardly.

'Nervous, for once? Her acting's a little stiff.'

He decided he'd go over and pick a fight with her during the break. It was the most reliable way to shake the nerves out of that lunatic Yoon Da-yeon. At which point Lee Chan-hoo whispered softly to Kang Jae-ha.

"Commander, did Jang Tae-san call?"

Kang Jae-ha shook his head.

"No. Not yet."

"That's unexpected. I figured he'd get in touch right away, and it's been over a week without a word."

"Guess he's sorting his head out while he works. Leave him be for now."

Kang Jae-ha answered briefly, then changed the subject.

"Anyway. About Director Yu Gil-tae."

Quick on the uptake, Lee Chan-hoo smirked.

"Time to start reeling him in to 'MEG'?"

"Yeah. Might as well start the build-up to pulling him our way."

Kang Jae-ha intended to absorb the master director Yu Gil-tae into 'MEG', the same as Director Kwon Sung-min, writer Oh Jong-man, and Director Hong Man-seop.

"Between what his name is worth and how big he is, though, it won't be easy... well, I'll get the ball rolling, so just keep it in mind."

"Understood."

Winding in a heavyweight like Yu Gil-tae was no simple task. Kang Jae-ha stroked his jaw and ran through the first step.

'First, I'll need a much more detailed look into the man.'

Ordering his thoughts, Kang Jae-ha gave Lee Chan-hoo an instruction.

"And I'm going to acquire a separate management company to handle directors and writers, so look into it."

He meant the next subsidiary after 'SecurityMEG' and 'News M'.

It was right then.

-Bzzzz, bzzzzzz.

The phone in Kang Jae-ha's pocket let out a long vibration. A call. Jae-ha moved a little way off from the set, and the moment he put the phone to his ear,

"Commander."

A heavy male voice came through from the other end. Jang Tae-san.

"This is Jang Tae-san. I'd like to talk."

*****

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