Chapter Thirteen: The Cracks Inside
May 16th, 2025
4:52 a.m.
Aura Entertainment HQ – 17th Floor
The building that once glowed with pride now buzzed with fear.
Security guards whispered behind mirrored sunglasses. Interns glanced at one another, eyes wide. A nervous kind of silence pulsed through the halls — the kind that precedes collapse.
At 4:52 a.m., someone uploaded a password-protected ZIP file to a forum used by entertainment insiders.
Title:
> The Auction House – Real Contracts, Real Footage
The thread exploded in less than five minutes.
---
By 6:00 a.m., three former trainees posted anonymous testimonies:
"I was 14. They told me to sign a 'diet contract.' I didn't even read it. It let them control where I lived, who I met, what I weighed."
"He said if I wanted to debut, I had to 'entertain sponsors.' I said no. The next day, my singing video disappeared from the agency channel."
"We were told Ji-hoon was dangerous. That he 'hurt' someone. That he was 'unstable.' I believed it. I helped spread the story. I'm sorry."
---
10:33 a.m.
A former manager—code-named "Eagle"—posted a private diary entry:
> March 20th, 2024
They paid the psychiatrist to fake her diagnosis.
They told Ji-hoon she was 'mentally unwell.' They told her he 'sold her out.' Then they leaked half the story to Dispatch.
> This is all my fault.
But if they find me, I won't live long enough to testify.
---
By noon, the media was in chaos.
Aura's stock price dropped 38% in two hours.
One by one, junior staff began leaking NDA-protected documents to investigators — encrypted screenshots, chat logs, hotel invoices, and fake police statements.
The biggest revelation?
> Aura Entertainment had a sub-company that never appeared on public records — "AE Black."
It managed four actors who had all disappeared or "retired" after scandals…
and all of them were connected to the same producer: Mr Goh
Meanwhile…
Ji-hoon was still in hiding.
But now his phone wouldn't stop ringing.
People wanted interviews.
Legal teams offered to represent him pro bono.
Even the Minister of Culture issued a statement praising his "courage."
But Ji-hoon?
He only wanted one thing:
> "Where is Sae-jin? She said she'd come back.
Why hasn't she?"