Chapter 123: New Year (7)

Translator: Dreamscribe

Terminator Jang Tae-san's 'Ability' was, as expected, quite aggressive. He could harden himself like a slab of iron, and absorb the attacks he took while in that state, convert them into his own strength, and release it.

Kang Jae-ha stroked his chin as he listened to the explanation.

'Absorb the opponent's power and make it his own?'

And it stacked, on top of that. Meaning the absorbed force was added to his own. In short, the more he was attacked while using his 'Ability', the stronger Jang Tae-san became. In that brief moment, Jae-ha had Jang Tae-san's 'Ability' figured out.

'So he can defend and attack at the same time.'

Lee Chan-hoo and the rest of the subordinates grew more and more interested in Jang Tae-san's Ability. Choi Ri-na poked at his iron-hard forearm with curiosity all over her face, and Ha Yeon-ji, after getting his permission, threw a few light punches into his stomach. The other subordinates crowded around him as well, fascinated.

Even Go Chun-seok, who had swung at Jang Tae-san with everything he had, 'Ability' included, looked fairly stunned.

Well, this was generally the mood whenever a new comrade joined. Around then, Lee Chan-hoo, standing in front of Jang Tae-san with his arms folded, muttered.

"Not bad. So what's the catch?"

Jang Tae-san answered in a voice as hard as his own body.

"I can't hold this state for long, there's a limit. And I can only do it about twice a day."

Next, Commander Kang Jae-ha asked.

"Anything else?"

"It's better to rest the day after using the 'Ability'. It still activates, but it doesn't come out at 100%. And I feel some pain when I'm defending."

"For example, if someone attacks with a blade or a weapon instead of a fist, do you come through it just as clean?"

"Yes, it doesn't matter what it is. That much force gets absorbed."

Go Chun-seok's 'Ability' was simple and destructive, but Jang Tae-san's 'Ability' was quite an interesting one in its own right. Kang Jae-ha recalled the days Jang Tae-san had run wild on the battlefield.

'Right, now that I think about it, this guy walked away from plenty of hits without a scratch.'

At any rate, Jang Tae-san's 'Ability' was useful too. An Invincibility Skill, perhaps? Kang Jae-ha had an Invincibility Skill 'Ability' of his own. Defense. He could throw up a one-time barrier over himself or anyone he chose, and it blocked anything.

'This guy doesn't really need my Defense. It'd probably just get in his way.'

Which meant Jang Tae-san could generate that kind of Invincibility Skill Defense all by himself.

'If I break it down, Go Chun-seok pushes his own strength to the extreme, and Jang Tae-san gets stronger by taking someone else's.'

The mechanism by which they grew stronger was similar, but the grain of it was clearly different. Either way, both of them needed rock-solid fundamentals. The destructive force and explosive power of an 'Ability' rose exponentially depending on the user's fundamentals and skill.

'Well, both of them are already solid enough.'

Solid didn't begin to cover it. They were far past that. Out of the entire Mercenary Corps, Kang Jae-ha himself acknowledged the two of them as the Two-Top of the battlefield. Then Kang Jae-ha looked at the two subordinates standing there like great trees and murmured.

"The Two-Top of the battlefield, all right. Even your 'Abilities' have a similar smell to them."

For a brief moment he thought that Go Chun-seok and Jang Tae-san matched up well. Just as he'd seen a moment ago, Jang Tae-san could share in Go Chun-seok's monstrous strength.

'Whatever else, these two were the Vanguard Unit in the Other World, and that's their role here too.'

There wouldn't be blood-drenched warfare in this world the way there had been in the Other World, but it was still right to set his subordinates' roles to fit the modern age. Soon Kang Jae-ha calmed his excited subordinates down.

"That's enough. Sit."

Jae-ha watched Jang Tae-san, newly a part of 'MEG', take a seat nearby, and went on.

"Jang Tae-san, first, listen to your comrades' 'Abilities'."

Lee Chan-hoo took charge of explaining the 'Abilities' of the comrades gathered there. Starting with his own 'Search', he laid them out one by one. Jang Tae-san, listening in dead earnest, flinched at Kamijo Yuu's 'Ability'.

"......Mind destruction?"

"That's right. If Kamijo Yuu wants to, she can destroy someone's mind with food she's cooked."

"Huh-"

Jang Tae-san looked at Kamijo Yuu as though this was the last thing he'd expected. For all that pretty face, it was a fearsome 'Ability'. And along with that, Jang Tae-san remembered how happily he'd eaten the dishes she made back in the Mercenary Corps. Catching that, Kamijo Yuu smiled awkwardly and murmured in Japanese.

"Don't look so shocked. Everything I cooked in the Mercenary Corps was perfectly normal."

Only after hearing Kang Jae-ha's interpretation did Jang Tae-san's shock ease a little. As he took in the rest of his comrades' colorful 'Abilities', Jang Tae-san felt that nostalgia for the Mercenary Corps well up again.

'It really does feel like I'm back in the old Corps.'

Next, Kang Jae-ha explained about 'MEG', this world's Mercenary Corps.

"It's fairly different, but it's easiest to think of 'MEG' as a modern-day Mercenary Corps."

The explanation of 'MEG' was the same one the other subordinates had received. What it was doing, what its goals for the future were, and so on. 'MEG' already had a good number of Subsidiaries and quite a few comrades under it. And Kang Jae-ha commanded all of it.

Jang Tae-san watched his Commander speak in that dry tone and was startled all over again.

''MEG' is far more professional and complicated than the Mercenary Corps in the Other World, practically shaped like a corporate conglomerate. And the Commander runs the whole thing like it's nothing?'

The comrades each handled their own part, sure, but on top of running 'MEG' and its Subsidiaries, Kang Jae-ha was managing those comrades as well. And a manager at an entertainment agency besides, two lives in one. It was enough to make Jang Tae-san's head swim, and yet the Commander looked entirely unbothered.

'I can barely keep up with taking care of one little sister, and Commander-nim......haa- a monster, as always.'

Standing in front of that monster of a Commander, the year he'd spent scraping and struggling since crossing over into this world made Jang Tae-san feel very small indeed. Regardless, Kang Jae-ha gave Jang Tae-san his instructions.

"Jang Tae-san, wrap up everything you're doing now, right away. Whatever money you need, I'll give it to you immediately. As a loan, of course. Separate from that, you'll draw a salary. Pay the loan back however you like, just get it done before you drop dead."

A loan with a term of a lifetime. The same conditions Go Chun-seok had gotten.

"And you'll be with 'SecurityMEG'. You'll be a core member of 'SecurityMEG' alongside Go Chun-seok and Sato Shota."

Core member. Whether that word set his blood boiling or something else, there was real weight behind Jang Tae-san's answer.

"Understood, Commander-nim. I'll put everything you've said into effect right away."

Satisfied with the heavy, solid reply, Kang Jae-ha spoke again.

"As for your regular duties- you a fan of Moon Ji-a?"

Afterward.

Now officially a part of 'MEG', Jang Tae-san began settling his affairs the very next day, the 26th. First he handed in his resignation at the hotel he'd been working at.

Two days later, on the 28th, Jang Tae-san got the rundown on SecurityMEG from Cha Chung-hyeon.

"You remember how it was in the Mercenary Corps, right? Work hard and the Commander hands out fat bonuses. Looks like he isn't watching- but the Commander sees everything."

That day, Jang Tae-san was assigned as the personal guard of Moon Ji-a, the Top Actress signed with MEG Enter. Kang Jae-ha's reason for putting Jang Tae-san on Moon Ji-a so fast was simple. The Sasaeng Fan attack she'd been through recently.

She didn't show it, but Jae-ha knew perfectly well that Moon Ji-a was on edge.

'She's barely settled in after the transfer, and 'Condensation: Euphoria' is in the middle of shooting on top of that. With a guy like Jang Tae-san planted right beside her, Moon Ji-a should be able to breathe easy.'

As things stood, Moon Ji-a was someone Kang Jae-ha paid a good deal of attention to. Which made managing her state of mind essential. In any case, even Jang Tae-san, who had no interest in celebrities, knew who Moon Ji-a was. Well, it was safe to say there wasn't a person in the country who didn't.

"Hello. I'm Jang Tae-san. As of today I've been assigned as Moon Ji-a-ssi's personal security."

One look at Jang Tae-san's Terminator-grade build, and Moon Ji-a smiled with her eyes as she said,

"Nice to meet you. I'm counting on you."

Inwardly, she marveled.

'Wow, he's enormous! His name's Jang Tae-san? His shoulders really are like a great mountain, exactly like his name.' [TL Note: 태산 (Tae-san) means "great mountain".]

General Manager Kim Ha-jae coming to mind was a bonus.

'Nice?? I feel safe. This one's with a 'MEG' Subsidiary too, right? Oh- General Manager Kim Ha-jae......he moves fast. I like that.'

Back when he'd given her his recruitment pitch, Moon Ji-a had been told something. 'We'll build you an environment where you can focus on nothing but acting'. It hadn't been a lie. 'MEG', and General Manager Kim Ha-jae, were unquestionably fast when it came to looking after her. Not even AC Enter, the major agency she'd come from, had moved this quickly.

Just having Jang Tae-san beside her steadied Moon Ji-a through her various schedules, and when she rested, she could sit and read through the Screenplay with an easy mind.

Soon the Top Actress Moon Ji-a glanced at Jang Tae-san standing beside her and smiled with satisfaction.

'Yoon Da-yeon aside, changing agencies might have been the best call I've ever made??'

Meanwhile.

Off the clock at Leon, Kang Jae-ha was listening to Lee Chan-hoo's report at 'MEG'.

"Finished checking out the Management Agencies that handle directors, writers and the like separately, like you said."

It was the matter Kang Jae-ha had assigned to Lee Chan-hoo at the 'Mask of Murder' set some time back. That he was going to buy a Management Agency to handle directors, writers, producers and so on separately, so draw up an acquisition list. At present, the directors and writers under 'MEG' were Kwon Sung-min, Hong Man-seop, and Oh Jong-man. And on top of that, Kang Jae-ha had his sights on the Master, Director Yu Gil-tae.

The numbers weren't all that large yet, but he couldn't keep them under the Head Office, 'MEG', forever.

Whatever the case, Kang Jae-ha pored over the list of Management Agencies Lee Chan-hoo handed him.

"Hm."

He reached his decision a day later, on the 29th. Stepping out of Leon's Team 4 into the hallway, Kang Jae-ha called Lee Chan-hoo and gave him his orders.

"I sent you the three I picked by message, so set up the meetings."

All signs pointed to 'MEG's seventh Subsidiary opening before long. And quite fast at that. Even as Kang Jae-ha turned over a name for the director-and-writer Management Agency he was about to buy.

'Director Yu Gil-tae, huh- how do I win him over?'

He was working out how to reel in Master Yu Gil-tae, who was deep in the shoot of his new film. Being a Master, plenty of places would be angling for him, and Director Yu Gil-tae himself wouldn't be hungry for much. Still, Kang Jae-ha wore a faint smile.

'It's not as if there's no opening at all.'

Being a Master didn't mean there wasn't a single crack to work into.

Having roughly sorted out what he would say, Kang Jae-ha left Leon in the late afternoon and headed straight for the 'Mask of Murder' set. Wearing the mask of General Manager Kim Ha-jae, of course.

Arriving at the location, Jae-ha requested a private word with Director Yu Gil-tae during a break in filming.

A private word as a man from 'MEG', the film's sole Investment Firm.

Seated in front of the monitor, the Master, Director Yu Gil-tae, waved the surrounding staff away, though a faint suspicion nagged at him.

'Don't tell me......they're going to start meddling with the film now, of all times. CEO Lee Chan-hoo said clearly that wouldn't happen.'

He couldn't help wondering whether 'MEG' meant to interfere with the film like every other ordinary Investment Firm. Sure, they'd said they wouldn't breathe a word, but Director Yu Gil-tae had never believed CEO Lee Chan-hoo 100%.

'Right. They poured in close to 10 billion won in Investment Funds all on their own. Of course they'll want some say. And I'll have to hear out anything reasonable.'

Director Yu Gil-tae pushed his round glasses up and braced himself. Fighting with Investment Firms was something he'd done to death over decades in the director's chair.

But General Manager Kim Ha-jae, seated beside Director Yu Gil-tae. No, Kang Jae-ha, kept those cold eyes of his level and said something else entirely.

"Director Yu Gil-tae, wouldn't you like to set down the heavy burden of being a Master?"

"......Sorry?"

It wasn't interference with the film. It was a recruitment offer.

"How would you like to spread your wings at 'MEG' and do exactly as you please?"

*****

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