"The Leaked Video"
"A… video?"
— "Yeah. This is a first for me too, so I don't even know what to say. Anyway, sorry it turned out like this. Just think of it as experience, and… we'll talk again when the next project comes around."
At that moment, another call came in—from one of the unknown numbers that had left missed calls.It had to be Enbin's agency.
Mu-yeong cut in quickly.
"Sorry, sir. I'm getting another call."
"Ah, right, right. We'll talk again later."
"Yes, of course. Take care."
His friends were waiting for him by the hallway, watching curiously.Mu-yeong gave them an apologetic wave.
"Sorry, guys. Something urgent just came up. Go ahead without me!"
"Oh, sure. See you next time!"
As they left, he accepted the incoming call.A voice on the other end spoke rapidly, laced with urgency.
— "Hello, this is Ha Mu-yeong, right? I'm the managing director at SN Entertainment. I'm calling on behalf of Enbin. Could we meet right now?"
"…Uh?"
Mu-yeong blinked, confused.
"I guess I can. I'm at Seoyeon University, though."
"We'll cover your taxi fare. Please come to the address we're texting you. It's urgent—please."
Mu-yeong agreed, ended the call, and started toward the main gate.He tried calling Enbin himself.
"Turned off?"
A video…He had a vague suspicion, but it wasn't something to jump to conclusions about.
He showed the texted address to the cab driver.
"Sir, could you get me here in Hannam-dong as fast as you can?"
"Got it."
As the cityscape swept by outside the window,Mu-yeong frowned slightly.
It was such a beautiful day—yet for someone, it was probably the worst day of their life.He pictured Enbin smiling brightly on set, and his chest tightened.
Hannam-dong, a luxury apartment.
The view of the Han River was as stunning as ever.But inside, the scene was chaos—like a burglary had taken place.Everything that could be broken was shattered, splintered, overturned.
Crash!Bang!
"Aaaahhh!"
"Bin! Please, stop! You're hurting yourself!"
"Let go of me! I said let go!"
Enbin was completely out of control.His eyes, swollen and red from crying, burned with fury and despair—anger, humiliation, helplessness all colliding inside him.
"…Hyung. What did I even do wrong?"
"You didn't. You didn't do anything wrong."
"Then why the hell is this happening to me?!"
It had started with a single text in the middle of the night.
A picture—a man and a woman, naked, in the middle of an intimate act.Anyone else would've dismissed it as random porn.But Enbin knew instantly what it was.
His room.His bed.His girlfriend.
"Hhh… I can't do this anymore, hyung."
"Bin, calm down. Let's call the police, okay?"
"No! We can't! Not just me—Ji-yeon too!"
The text had come with a message:
Transfer 100 million won, or the full video goes online—and your girlfriend's identity goes with it.Contact the police, and we release it anyway.
The real problem was—
"She's a civilian."
His girlfriend since childhood.The girl next door.Their parents knew each other.
If her personal information was exposed like that…Even he, a celebrity, couldn't survive it.What about her?
"It's all over."
His career, his life, his relationship—all in ruins.Enbin clutched his hair and collapsed onto the sofa.
"How much are they asking for now?"
"…One billion."
He'd paid the first 100 million.
The extorter must have realized how easily the money came through,because soon another message arrived—a new photo, similar to the last,proving the existence of a video,and a new demand: 1 billion won.
That's when Enbin finally told the company.
"Crazy bastard…"
Swish—
The manager yanked the curtains shut.The photos were clearly shot from outside the window.Fifth floor—meaning it was probably done with a drone.
"I'll terminate my contract. Settle the accounts.I can't drag the team down any more than this."
To raise that kind of money, that was the only option left.His voice cracked as he muttered it.
Tears streamed down his face.He'd spent almost half his twenty-one years dancing, singing, and chasing a dream—and this was how it ended.
"Bin, please. Calm down."
The manager pressed a towel over his bleeding hand.
"The company will help as much as we can."
"You don't get it?"
"What do you mean?"
"I think it's her."
Though he didn't name her,the manager knew instantly who he meant—the obsessive stalker who'd once slashed her wrists in front of him.
She'd disappeared months ago… or so they thought.
"She hasn't shown up in a while, though."
"I can feel it.She's haunting me—even from the grave…"
And deep down, he was certain.
There was no evidence. No proof.Just a gut feeling that wouldn't leave his head.But to the manager, it looked like nothing more than a nervous breakdown.He searched for something comforting to say—then—
Click.
The front door opened.The SN Entertainment director stepped in, followed by Mu-yeong, standing awkwardly behind him.
"Whoa…"
The wall-to-wall glass windows first caught his eye—then the wreckage of the apartment did.Before Mu-yeong could even process it all, Enbin shot up from the couch and ran straight to him.
"Ha Mu-yeong!"
"Bin, are you okay? The director filled me in a little—"
The boy who had once been glamorous and dazzling was gone.All that remained was a wrecked young man with puffy eyes and a torn-up face.Without preamble, Enbin grabbed Mu-yeong by the shoulders.
"What did you do with her, that time?"
If anyone might have the answer, it would be him—the one who'd somehow managed to drive her off after a single conversation.
There had to be something in that experience—some way out of this hell.Enbin clung to him desperately.
"Please, tell me. Please, Mu-yeong."
"H-hey, what—what's going on?"
Back then, they'd agreed he would tell the story once Episode 1 aired.He'd intended to—but "I can see ghosts" and "the black smoke appeared" weren't exactly things people believed.He'd planned to joke about it, lighten the tone.
But looking at Enbin now—shaking and crying like a man on the edge—there was no room for jokes.
"I'm dead. For real this time."
How could he say anything flippant to someone trembling like that?Mu-yeong stayed silent for a moment, patting his back.
"Please convince him to report it to the police."
That's what the director had asked on the way up.The kid had threatened to kill himself if anyone told the police or his parents—but he had kept asking for Mu-yeong.
"You think the blackmailer's that stalker?"
"I'm sure of it. She's the only cursed tie I've ever had."
"Then you should tell the police. They already have her on record. They'll catch her fast."
"They said they'll upload the video!"
Enbin's voice cracked as he shouted. He was breaking down completely.Caught in a trap with no way forward, no way back.
But Mu-yeong only tilted his head, a faint frown forming.
"That's strange. Didn't she say the USB burned up?"
"…What?"
The unexpected words made both the director and manager snap their heads up.
USB? What USB?
Noticing their puzzled stares, Mu-yeong added calmly:
"Her house caught fire back then."
"Fire?"
"Yeah. In Sangdong, I think? Can't remember exactly. But I heard everything was burned down."
He suspected more, but didn't say it aloud.The black smoke—whatever it truly meant—he couldn't explain that part.
The manager muttered under his breath.
"So that's why she needs money…"
It made sense.If she'd lost everything and had no credit, extortion might be the only thing left.
Mu-yeong reached his hand out.
"Where's your phone?"
Enbin flinched, then scrambled across the floor.In the corner lay his shattered phone, its screen cracked to pieces.So that's why it had been off.
"You're sure the photo's really you?"
"Yeah. The room too—it's mine."
"Can you make out the faces?"
"…It's kind of dark."
Mu-yeong squinted at the fractured screen.The picture was grainy, taken at night without lighting.Hardly clear enough to be definitive.
"If you didn't tell me, I wouldn't even know it's you.Try asking them to send the video."
"What?"
"Usually, when people blackmail like this, they send the video to prove it's real. Not just photos."
It was so obvious that Enbin froze for a second,as though struck by a hammer.
He was right.If the culprit truly had the footage, they'd flaunt it—demand money after showing proof.
"I don't think there's a video."
Mu-yeong handed the phone back to him.The black smoke… the whispers of spirits—if his sense was right, there was no "real" misfortune waiting here.
"R-really?"
"No."
His trembling hands clutched the phone tighter.Every word out of Mu-yeong's mouth sounded like light itself.
"These days people use cloud backups, right?So just check. Make sure a video actually exists."
If it did—then it really was over.There'd be no coming back from that.His throat quivered, his eyes filled again.
"What do I do…? Hhhk…"
Tears spilled, heavy and unrestrained.
And as he cried—Mu-yeong's face lit up faintly.A glimmer others couldn't see.
Because from Enbin's eyes, something was falling—glittering particles, like dust motes catching light.
Like pollen.
'There's no video.'
Mu-yeong gently wiped the boy's tears.His palm shimmered with fine, golden specks.
"Don't cry. Go on."
Enbin sniffled, nodding.His fingers trembled as he typed out a message.
"You're sure I should send it?"
"Yeah. Don't worry. It'll be fine."
It'll be fine.
That single line—soft, certain—washed through Enbin like a spell.He steadied his breath, closed his eyes—
—and pressed send.