NIS Agent Reincarnated as a Genius Actor - Chapter 311

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Episode 311. Public Opinion War

At the time when Yeon-woo and his group left the Korean soup restaurant and entered the hotel to recover from their travel fatigue.

In Korea, what was bound to explode had exploded.

– [Exclusive] Butterfly effect brought by drug organization? Fire spreads to entertainment industry due to illegal fund receipt allegations

《Seoul Northern District Prosecutors’ Office Criminal Division 3 (in charge: Kwon Chang-jung) has launched an investigation after detecting circumstances where a considerable amount of funds flowed into drama production company L Planning (Representative J) during the process of tracking and recovering funds used for crimes such as drug trafficking.

According to the prosecution, through digital forensic investigation of the smartphone possessed by the suspect on the 24th···.》

Starting with reporter Kim Jun-kyung’s coverage, the prosecution had already begun their investigation, and as soon as the reporting restrictions were lifted, public opinion was turned upside down by a single exclusive article.

– [World Pick] Where is L Planning that allegedly produced dramas with hundreds of billions in drug distribution funds?

– [Media Today] Netizens begin manhunt, entertainment industry figures careful of getting caught in crossfire

Although drug-related incidents had been pouring out recently, they still felt like distant stories to ordinary people.

However, when it was revealed that the production company of a recently popular drama series had produced dramas with black money earned from drugs, it was like pouring oil on burning public opinion, and the flames spread wildly everywhere.

– I heard it’s Lake Film, seems like it’s DYTN?

– Really? Yoon Seung-seol’s eyes have been a bit strange since the year before last

└ Why are you suddenly dragging Yoon Seung-seol into this? It’s just a problem between the production company and investors

└ You’ve been screenshotted, I’m sending this straight to his agency

– They say they screenshotted everything lol Are you going to report someone for saying their eyes look strange?

– It really is a problem these days. Until a few years ago, Korea was a drug-free country, but this is all because of lenient punishments. We should impose punitive sentences like foreign countries, about 200 years each

As always, speculative comments about the cast actors were rampant, while voices of self-reflection also erupted from one side.

– Let’s put it in neutral gear first. Why are you suddenly cursing celebrities and making a fuss? The production company and PD seem to be involved

– You’ll probably keep talking nonsense until another article comes out about someone making an extreme choice

– Please don’t leave indiscriminate malicious comments

As the situation spread uncontrollably, Jung Yang-gi, the representative of Lake Film, sat in his office anxiously biting his nails.

He took out his smartphone and hurriedly called somewhere, but all he heard was a futile announcement.

– The number you have dialed is not in service···.

The mysterious forces that had been backing him had apparently gone into hiding, and none of the numbers he had contacted until now could reconnect him with them.

“Damn it···!”

Jung Yang-gi roughly threw his smartphone.

And at the same time, someone burst through the CEO office door.

“Representative Jung! What the hell is going on! Funds linked to drug cases? What kind of bullshit is this!”

The person who entered was Director Jo Hun-gwang, who directed 「Daytona」.

Gone was Jo Hun-gwang who used to politely call him hyung despite being only one year apart.

Clang─.

He roughly threw Jung Yang-gi’s name plate from the desk and shouted again.

“Why aren’t you saying anything, you bastard! Is the article true or not!”

“I don’t know either! I don’t know! I just received what the financier gave me and passed it on. It’s not like the numbers in the bank account have tags attached, so how would I know if it’s money from selling rice or selling drugs?!”

Of course, he knows now.

Since the article came out, he hasn’t been able to contact the financier by any means.

What other reason could there be for a hundreds-of-billions investor to go into hiding?

The lizard had cut off its rotten tail, and this time that tail was Jung Yang-gi himself.

“Then you bastard. You should quickly run away to places like Philippines or Vietnam and go into hiding! Are you planning to act like an idiot here, throwing tantrums and phones, then get obediently caught by the prosecution, get thoroughly investigated, and make me get summoned too?”

“I’m already banned from leaving the country, so how can I run away!”

Jung Yang-gi rolled his eyes around and then shook his head.

“···No. I’m innocent. I just delivered the money the financier gave me to use for drama production. I gained absolutely nothing in between, I simply delivered it. It would be better to voluntarily surrender before getting summoned.”

Director Jo Hun-gwang grabbed Jung Yang-gi by the collar after hearing his words.

It wasn’t like Jo Hun-gwang had nothing to hide either.

The amount he embezzled under the name of production costs alone was hundreds of millions, and the corporate card records of him spending money like water for personal use could fill a truck.

Normally, it would have smoothly passed through connected tax accountants, but now that the money he spent was proven to be illegal funds, the National Tax Service and prosecution would definitely thoroughly investigate his production cost expenditure records down to his soul.

In some ways, Director Jo Hun-gwang was more anxious than Representative Jung Yang-gi.

“You bastard···! What voluntary surrender in this situation? Are you playing secret royal inspector now?”

Then Jung Yang-gi’s eyes turned vicious.

“Yeah, that’s right. Jo Hun-gwang, you must have a lot of dirty secrets. I gained nothing at all. You idiots who took all that production money and still got beaten in ratings by a basketball drama made with less than half the budget are the reason I haven’t even recovered the production costs yet, so I gained nothing. I’m innocent.”

Jung Yang-gi roughly shook off Jo Hun-gwang’s hand that was grabbing his collar and went outside.

Jo Hun-gwang, left alone in the chaotic office, rolled his eyes.

His eyes caught the monitor screen on Jung Yang-gi’s desk.

– 「Parabola」 production team and Ryu Yeon-woo spotted at New York JFK Airport. Known to have visited for overseas location shooting···.

Jo Hun-gwang’s face contorted as he read the article.

“···Right. This is all because of those bastards.”

He couldn’t stand the sight of them.

Not just because of simple inferiority complex or desire for revenge, but a good strategic idea came to mind to overcome this crisis.

“First, I need to bring those bastards down to draw attention. The important thing is to get out of the public’s attention for now.”

Jo Hun-gwang picked up his smartphone and called somewhere.

Ring ring─.

– Wait, PD Jo. Is the article that came out true?

As soon as the call was answered, the other party immediately asked about the authenticity.

‘These reporters, really···.’

Jo Hun-gwang changed his expression and opened his mouth.

“Come on, Reporter Choi. Haven’t you been in this business for just a day or two? I don’t know much either, but even if that’s true, what wrong have I done? All I do is just make dramas when I get commissioned. The money transactions are all handled by the people sitting in offices.”

-Well, that’s true.

Then Jo Hun-gwang opened his mouth as if whispering.

“More than that, I heard this story at a drinking party, you know that Ryu Yeon-woo who’s doing well these days···.”

– Ryu Yeon-woo?

Jo Hun-gwang wagged his three-inch tongue toward the questioning reporter.

‘Originally, agitation can be done with one sentence, but it takes a hundred words to explain it. There’s no one who doesn’t have any dust when shaken down, so if I just raise some suspicions, the bait will roll on its own.’

***

Meanwhile, Yeon-woo, who had received a brief report from Han Hae-woon about the situation with Korean media during the night and went to sleep, woke up in his hotel room after a good night’s sleep.

Buzz─.

As soon as he opened his eyes, his smartphone, which he had placed by his bedside, vibrated.

A long message from Han Hae-woon had arrived.

– Han Hae-woon : Intelligence came in that they’re trying to spread rumors about tax evasion regarding Team Leader. The article hasn’t come out yet, but we’ve obtained information that a person named Choi Un-gyu reporter from NK News is asking around to other reporters for related information.

It seems like those guys are trying to divert public attention with malicious rumors first.

‘Tax evasion···?’

Yeon-woo chuckled after seeing the message.

When it comes to tax evasion, the National Intelligence Service is actually the expert.

When working in the domestic division, if there’s concern that a major suspect under surveillance might flee overseas but it’s still difficult to prove any charges, tax evasion suspicion is what they usually pin on them first.

Proving innocence is complicated, and it’s easy to buy time under the pretext of reviewing.

It’s convenient to impose travel bans and easy to connect to summons investigations if done well, so it’s a method frequently used by domestic division agents hiding behind investigative authority···.

– Who’s behind this? It seems strange to think Baeksol is involved.

If Baeksol had decided to eliminate him, they would disguise it as an accident or create a more inescapable situation to make him a victim of a setup crime like An Jun-ho, but going after him with baseless tax evasion was too clumsy.

Sure enough, a message from Han Hae-woon came immediately.

– Han Hae-woon : Based on the information we’ve gathered, it seems like something Director Jo Hun-gwang pulled. The problematic reporter Choi Un-gyu is usually on friendly terms with Director Jo Hun-gwang. It seems like he’s making moves with the media in advance to cover up his own embezzlement case.

Yeon-woo nodded after seeing the message.

– How much time is left?

– Han Hae-woon : It’s currently 6 AM Korean time. They’ll probably break the story in the morning, so we have about three to four hours.

‘Hmm, about three hours···. I thought a cornered rat would struggle, but tax evasion suspicions about me is unexpected. So they’re choosing Goebbels in the end.’

There’s a phrase known to be left by Joseph Goebbels, Hitler’s Nazi propaganda minister.

‘Agitation is possible with just one line, but to refute it requires dozens of pages of documents and evidence. And by the time you try to refute it, people are already agitated.’

There are theories that Goebbels didn’t actually say this, but if it wasn’t Goebbels’ words, then ironically, the countless people who believe it was Goebbels’ statement have proven the sentence about agitation themselves.

Similarly, if an article titled ‘Ryu Yeon-woo Tax Evasion Suspicion’ comes out, public opinion will probably boil over without first determining its authenticity.

‘And once that starts spreading, it will require countless documents and evidence to refute. Eventually, rumors will spread among people like established facts during that time.’

Yeon-woo chuckled.

“Interesting.”

Although they had already completed understanding the money flow, the reason Yeon-woo and the agents didn’t use the media to break it before reporter Kim Jun-kyung revealed it was exactly this.

‘Even earthworms wriggle when stepped on, and even rats bite cats when cornered.’

This kind of hunting method that immediately puts a sword to the throat wasn’t good.

‘Well, it can’t be helped. Since it’s already happened, I have no choice but to gain maximum benefit from this.’

Yeon-woo picked up his smartphone and called somewhere.

Ring ring─.

– Mmm, this is reporter Kim Jun-kyung.

A drowsy voice came through the phone receiver.

“Reporter Kim Jun-kyung. First, I apologize for contacting you so early in the morning. This is Ryu Yeon-woo, whom you met by chance at the restaurant last time.”

– Actor Ryu Yeon-woo?

Surprised by the unexpected name, reporter Kim Jun-kyung asked back, and Yeon-woo nodded and continued speaking.

“Yes. I’m calling because I have something urgent to discuss with you. It seems like we need to have a conversation that also involves Yu Do-hyun, the Investigation and Analysis Division Chief from the National Tax Service, and Oh Young-jin, the Inspection Officer, whom we saw together last time. This is a matter that’s deeply connected to you as well, reporter Kim Jun-kyung.”

– ···Excuse me?

Yeon-woo smiled as he finished speaking.

Sometimes, one person’s words can be more powerful than dozens of documents.

Since things had come to this, he planned to use the attack of tax evasion suspicions through the media as a preventive shot.

By hitting it with a powerful fire extinguisher to quickly suppress it before public opinion could boil over.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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