In the basement of our company building, there is a parking lot.
When you go down there, you’ll find three neatly parked large vans.
One of them is the one I rode in after the wrap party.
The other two are probably Heavenly Yuah’s vans.
Since the only entertainers in our company who use vans are me and Heavenly Yuah.
After passing the three vans, you’ll come across a waiting 24-passenger bus.
A mysterious bus entirely dressed in black.
It was the same bus I had wondered about when I went down to the basement for the wrap party.
In fact, up until that point, I was gritting my teeth and denying everything about Heavenly Yuah.
I had no idea that she would be living and eating at the company.
Thus, it was only natural that the black bus, which lacked any sense of style, struck me as odd.
“What on earth could this be, I wondered, but it turned to be useful in situations like this.”
The number of people mobilized for this volunteer work includes me, Yang Yuli, Heavenly Yuah, and ten guards.
Guards who had apparently known Heavenly Yuah for a while naturally escorted her into that bus without hesitation.
Their reactions were incredibly natural, as if they had experienced such missions many times before.
“Hey, Rando, have you ever taken this bus out before?”
“I did. It was less frequent in Korea. I went out quite often when I was in the U.S.”
“Is that so?”
“S and M Group is quite serious about their foundation. They’ve been managing it for over several decades now.”
Seeing how familiar the guards’ movements were, I casually asked my black gym buddy, who also liked to pump iron.
Turns out, this bus is originally used for external trips.
Heavenly Yuah used to go out much more often when she was in the U.S.
While they hinted at some subtle connection between Heavenly Yuah and S and M in their stories, it seemed like these people no longer felt the need to hide that Heavenly Yuah was tied to S and M.
I had a vague idea, but our Heavenly Demon must be from an extraordinary family.
After all, there’s no other way to explain how absurdly wealthy the situation is beyond mere suspicion. This building alone—no matter how successful an actor, it’s an absurd level of wealth.
“S and M Group’s Charity Foundation… ”
And, just as an aside, I found out that S and M Group’s foundation not only operates but actively engages in various charitable activities.
“In fact, all the guards here were recruited through the foundation.”
“Is that so?”
“Absolutely. Take me, for example. If it hadn’t been for S and M extending a hand, I would have been selling drugs or something in that damn slum.”
“Indeed…”
Thus, those who showed unnecessary loyalty were actually covering up a hidden backstory.
S and M guards seem to nurture talented kids, transfer them to different units, and after discharge, they re-recruit them into the S and M guard department to replenish manpower.
And this method of manpower supply certainly doesn’t limit to just the guards.
There are likely quite a lot of talented individuals placed throughout the S and M headquarters and various subsidiaries, recruited through the foundation.
The fact is that scholarship programs are something that major companies in our country approach quite seriously.
The Korean Chaebol’s specialty is fostering promising talents from their school days to wield influence in various sectors of society.
After all, Korea isn’t called a Chaebol Republic for no reason.
Whether it’s the legal field, government, journalism, or any other area, people supported by them exist to some extent.
But compared to the Korean Chaebol, which supports only talented individuals, S and M appears to run its support programs on a wider scale.
Take Rando, who was a regular kid from the slums, and even he benefited from their efforts.
This inevitably leads to more capital being invested, but the depth of loyalty seems incomparable to those selected through scholarship programs.
Since receiving support when you have nothing compared to receiving support after proving your worth is bound to feel different.
These guys—what they do truly seems like something from the New Religion.
When you think about it, the New Religion also used to bring in children from difficult backgrounds and nurture them into devout followers of the religion.
The meaning of loyalty may have changed dramatically with the times, but it seems like the loyalty of S and M Group’s employees surpasses that of a regular company.
And thinking about how they’ve been repeating this process for decades, the number of people involved must be enormous.
Somehow, the more you try to uncover about them, the more they seem like urban legends.
While contemplating the human infrastructure held by S and M, I boarded the bus, only to find Heavenly Yuah motioning me over.
Confused, I approached, and she firmly grabbed me and seated me beside her, starting a long speech on the importance of image management.
Yoo-a, an actress with already a 9-year career, was known for having relatively few haters.
At first, the lecture confused me, but upon reflection, it was reasonable advice from an elder. I paid close attention in case there were any tricks to it.
“Volunteering or charity activities help in maintaining an actor’s image.”
“Maybe so.”
“Have you ever done anything like that, Mr. Siwoo?”
“No. I wasn’t in a comfortable enough position to look around. Of course, there are people who give even in such situations, but I wasn’t someone like that.”
“I don’t consider that bad. Every person’s circumstances are different. In fact, I’m not someone who volunteers out of pure-hearted intentions either.”
“Is that so?”
“Yes. Expecting something in return and giving isn’t pure, right?”
“Hmm…”
“Therefore, I think it would be good for you, Mr. Siwoo, to prepare some sort of ace up your sleeve for when you succeed as an actor. If prepared well, you might even acquire something like a smear-proof reputation.”
Heavenly Yuah, who had apparently wandered around for quite some time doing a variety of charitable activities, admitted she hadn’t been doing it out of sheer purity.
She suggested that periodically engaging in charity or volunteer work as an actor helps maintain a good image.
Indeed, could her lack of haters be due to these heartwarming stories?
Considering she was associated with S and M, the purpose wasn’t merely image management, but it seems to have also helped her in this area.
“But despite all this, your personal life has remained largely unknown.”
First, I thought it was just so, but on second thought, this woman was a super mysterious star whose private life was practically kept hidden.
There was no news coverage of Heavenly Yuah’s charity or Heavenly Yuah’s volunteering, either.
In such a situation, wasn’t this unrelated to image management?
Yet, she tells me to stack good stories through donations and volunteer work, which feels a bit suspicious.
“So, have you benefited from managing your image through volunteer work or charities, Yoo-a Senior?”
“Ah, my situation was a bit different. It all happened too suddenly, so I didn’t have much… ”
“Hmm?”
“Yes, my first project was a huge hit. Once that happened, I had to be more cautious.”
“Ah…”
“If I had released any news, people, especially journalists, would have suspected misuse like tax evasion or something.”
“Another fabrication…”
Heavenly Yuah, who has been engaged in charitable activities for a long time, has not disclosed her donations to anyone.
No wonder there were no relevant articles. Apparently, she maintained thorough secrecy even in this area.
Then, what was the reason for her lack of haters?
Heavenly Yuah, as an actress, should have had quite a few haters, which would have been normal.
“What about the haters? How did you deal with them? Compared to your popularity, there seem to be relatively few.”
“That? I handled it legally.”
“Ah, legally?”
“By the way, our company’s employees are more competent than you might think, especially in handling these kinds of situations.”
As I suspected, there were many haters when Heavenly Yuah debuted.
Because she was pretty and young, all sorts of haters and trolls stuck to her like glue.
However, every time haters popped up, they were shown the reality with no leniency.
Thanks to the evolution of the Heaven Entertainment staff who thrived off their vitriol, they actively pursued and eliminated the haters.
Through this positive cycle, haters eventually almost disappeared.
Sure, there are still some haters, but they have become inconsequential enough as anyone who makes a mistake understands the risk of having their life messed up.
“Still, when I start activities again, someone will likely start ranting. When that happens, our company legal team and media management team will be busy again.”
Ultimately, the most efficient way to reduce haters is through strict internet regulation.
While giving me this advice about image management, it made me feel strange since she herself didn’t seem to care about such things.
While managing an image is indeed important, it feels like cutting down haters relentlessly like she did shows an image management strategy wasn’t her concern at all.
If she cared about image management, she wouldn’t have been so ruthless towards her haters.
There’s a reason other agencies can’t handle haters as easily.
“… I guess I’ll have to rely on the company like Yoo-a Senior.”
As an actor, ultimately a celebrity who feeds on the love of the masses, certain image maintenance is necessary, but getting remembered as just too good may become tiresome.
After all, if you look too kind and then do something bad, you get criticized even more.
So, rather than the image of a charity angel, just living a life true to oneself may be better.
“Ah, that’s unfortunate. I thought it would be nice to have at least a charity angel around the company.”
“Isn’t it a bad habit to demand something from others that you don’t practice yourself?”
“That’s why it’s unfortunate. If you start off with a good image, you’ll naturally become more careful. Like not wildly swinging an umbrella like you did last time.”
“So, you’re saying I should… because of such a reason?”
This is a dangerous woman.
While suggesting we go for volunteer work, she had a hidden trap like this.
Since she let it go when I didn’t agree, it seems she didn’t think I had much potential, but there’s no denying it was a pretty dangerous trap.
Indeed, it seems like I shouldn’t reveal my volunteer or charity activities.
“Then, what are we supposed to do when we get there?”
“Ah, nothing much.”
“Is that so?”
“In this day and age, what else could there be? Back in the day, we might have helped out with physical tasks, but now doing that would just be more trouble.”
“Hmm…”
After easily deflecting Heaven Yuah’s hidden trap, I asked what we were supposed to do.
Since I, as an unseasoned volunteer, likely knew less about it than she did.
However, her answer was somewhat suspicious.
To go for volunteer work but to have nothing concrete to do…
Which means, after all, Heavenly Yuah’s volunteering…
“Flex?”
“Yes. Flex.”
“Ah.”
Volunteering or charity is an absolute secret mission that must never be revealed, and the best kind of volunteer work is ultimately flexing.
Come on, what kind of world is this?
I seem to have learned another good piece of information from Heavenly Yuah today.
