"Hyung? Something happen?"

"Heh heh heh. Why?"

"Your face is all flushed, like a drunk who's put away three or four bottles of vodka."

A-a drunk!

I snapped out of it.

"A drunk, of all things!"

"In Russia, when someone's out of it, that's what everybody thinks. 'That guy's had a few today.'"

That guy?

I should've let Vladimir, that little punk, get knocked around in the evil gods' realm a while longer.

I half wondered if I'd been too generous bringing him here. The kid didn't know how the world worked.

Still, I held it in.

Today was a happy day.

The afternoon's string of events had seen to that.

Believe it or not, Kang Go-eun, the lead of The Goblin's Bride, had promised to join M.T.S no matter what.

Kang Go-eun had spaced out for a moment the instant she saw me.

When I sat her down and asked whether she'd ever thought about going into entertainment, she looked overwhelmed.

And she said she'd always wanted to! That if we'd only give her the chance, she knew she could do it!

She answered in exactly the voice she used for her lines in The Goblin's Bride.

The world still had about nine years to wait for The Goblin's Bride.

In all that time, Kang Go-eun's personality and way of talking wouldn't change.

The character was her own everyday self, which was why it had suited her so well back then.

I gave CEO Hwang special instructions.

Hit her with a hundred-million-won signing bonus and get a ten-year exclusive contract.

I also promised that once she got into college, it would all be covered by scholarships, and that we'd never force her to act.

She'd said on the phone that her parents didn't trust this business, so I told him to bring along a lawyer from Samu Law.

And on top of that, I'd safely installed Kang Ye-seo, the actress I'd been a fan of, in my office building, with safety as the excuse.

On the nineteenth floor, I'd built a suite for resting now and then during work.