Episode 2

There was no more hesitation. All the decisions were made.

Thus, in the office of Director Ban Seongcheol at Flower Entertainment, an unimaginable act of violence was taking place.

“Ahhh! Security! Security! Is anyone there? Somebody stop this bastard!”

Bang! Bang! Bang!

I hit so hard that the soft part of the toy hammer came off from the middle.

The toy hammer without its cushion was now just a hard stick, but I didn’t care and kept hitting.

Smack! Smack! Smack!

“Seongcheol, did you think you were the only one holding back? Did you think you were the only one disgusted? I also held back every time I saw your face, Ban Seongcheol!”

“Ah! Wait… Let me speak!”

“Stop meddling in other people’s projects and curb your greed! Just do your job and stop bothering others!”

Smack! Smack! Smack!

“And stop hitting on the trainees. Is that something you should be doing to someone half your age? It’s embarrassing to be the same age as you, you bastard!”

“Ahhh! Ahhh! Stop… please stop!”

Ban Seongcheol was crawling on the floor, curled up like a worm.

It was a fitting sight.

“Phew… That feels refreshing!”

Now that I looked, hitting him with the nameplate on his desk that bore his name seemed like a good idea, but after some thought, I was convinced the toy hammer was the best choice.

Because if I hit him with a sledgehammer or a nameplate, he’d be half-dead or dead.

It wasn’t about worrying now; Ban Seongcheol needed to experience the downfall rollercoaster I had prepared with a clear mind.

Watching everything he had built fly away would be much more painful.

When I turned around, a few employees who had gathered due to the commotion were watching nervously.

If they wanted to stop me, they should have intervened earlier, but seeing as they didn’t, it seemed neither Ban Seongcheol nor I would receive any help.

I had prepared a gift for those unloyal bastards.

“Hey, you guys, are you just going to stand there? Haven’t you seen the news?”

The employees, who had been watching me, started checking the news on their smartphones.

“What is this?”

“Flower Entertainment being raided?”

It seemed that the corruption data of Ban Seongcheol and Flower Entertainment, which I had meticulously gathered using quest rewards, had been exposed to the media.

Not only Ban Seongcheol and Flower Entertainment but also the data of those who had turned their backs on me were all exposed, so it would be interesting to see their reaction.

“Aren’t we ruined?”

Yes. You guys are indeed ruined.

I laid the groundwork so well that everyone in the political and media circles would target Flower Entertainment and Ban Seongcheol.

There would be plenty of people wanting to target me, the whistleblower, but I, who was regressing, didn’t care.

[Quest Complete! You are rewarded with a ‘Regression Candy’.]

As soon as I finished my task, the quest completion came at the perfect timing.

I said goodbye to the employees who were foolishly panicking.

“It sucked being with you all, now go struggle like hell!”

Then, I put the reward candy in my mouth.

The candy tasted like red ginseng.

“But why red ginseng…? Where am I?”

While tasting the red ginseng, I looked around and realized I was in a café, not Ban Seongcheol’s office.

A song from an idol who was popular 10 years ago was playing in the café.

And so, I regressed.

The café was a local one that went out of business about eight years ago.

The owner used to give free cookies, so I frequented it during my unemployed days.

Why am I here now?

Even after checking the date on my smartphone, I couldn’t clearly remember.

It seemed like I was here to meet someone.

However, I couldn’t clearly remember who I had arranged to meet.

It seemed like it was something important, but…

“Sorry, I’m a bit late. Work was a bit hectic.”

Then, a young man in a suit put his bag down on my table and spoke to me.

It was Dongwoo, a hyung I became quite close with in the military.

“Why are you staring blankly at my face?”

“…”

Seeing his face, everything came back to me.

Today was the day Dongwoo hyung was going to offer me a job at Flower Entertainment.

“Oh, are you mad because I’m late? Sorry about that, but your anger will disappear once you hear my proposal.”

“You’re going to offer me a job?”

“Wow… how did you know? Yes. We have an opening for a road manager at our company, and I thought of you as someone reliable.”

Dongwoo hyung praised me.

“You were the only decent person in our unit full of human trash. Even in that mess, you maintained your dignity and worked more than twice as hard, so you’re trustworthy.”

It was a kind offer.

For me, who had just been discharged and was idly wasting time, it was a timely offer.

At that time, I accepted it on the spot without hesitation.

Of course, my choice now is different.

“Thanks for the offer, hyung, but I’ll decline.”

“Why?”

“No weekends or holidays off, overtime is mandatory, and the pay is low. The average sleep time is four hours, and the celebrities don’t treat you like a human being.”

Being a road manager isn’t a job that treats you humanely.

Moreover, Flower Entertainment, a startup company less than four years old, treats you worse than a human.

I didn’t want to go through that hellish experience twice.

Seriously, it seemed better to go back to the military once more.

“Oh, you know it well. Like you said, it’s not a great job, but the experience is recognized, so it’s not bad in the long run.”

As Dongwoo hyung said, things were a bit different once you became a team leader-level manager.

“And you don’t have anything special to do right now, do you? Look at it seriously and work for the future. We won’t treat you poorly in the long run.”

“…Looking at the future, it doesn’t seem like a bad choice.”

“Right?”

Even from the perspective of someone who regressed, it wasn’t a bad choice.

Since I had experienced it once, it was clear that entering Flower Entertainment again would make it easier to succeed.

However, it wasn’t necessary to enter Flower Entertainment to succeed.

I had the knowledge from regressing.

I also had the experience of growing a planning agency from a startup to a mid-sized company.

I had the cheat code called the management system.

I was like an unclaimed first-prize lottery ticket.

No matter which agency I joined, if I worked, success was guaranteed.

I had no intention of sharing that success with my former colleagues at Flower Entertainment.

Especially, I couldn’t stand to see that bastard Ban Seongcheol in a good position.

This time around, I’d send Flower Entertainment into ruin before they could succeed.

“But I have a plan, and the experience as a road manager at Flower Entertainment doesn’t seem to be of much help.”

“…Okay, if you have a plan, I can’t help it. So, should we have a drink since it’s been a while?”

Dongwoo hyung was a pretty good person.

Having a drink with him and talking about the military would be quite fun.

But right now, I don’t have time to waste drinking.

“Sorry, I have something I need to do. I just came out to see your face for a moment, so drinking is a bit difficult.”

“That’s a shame. Then, see you next time. Keep in touch.”

“Yeah, thanks for the offer!”

I bid Dongwoo hyung a quick farewell and opened my memo pad.

And I started jotting down major events from the previous round before my memory faded.

Of course, the major events I was trying to write down included information directly related to money, such as stock surge information.

But those parts felt like they were shrouded in fog, and I couldn’t remember them at all.

Was it really not possible?

It was the warning written on the regression candy.

That content was true.

Just like the warning stated, knowledge that could be converted into monetary profit didn’t come to mind, as if something was blocking it.

I could remember that a stock surge event happened, but not exactly when it took place.

I wasn’t disappointed.

I chose regression already knowing this penalty.

Even if I didn’t know some stock information, I was overflowing with confidence in my success.

Because the information and experience in my head remained.

With my selfish mindset of not hesitating to take from others, it would be strange not to succeed.

I couldn’t remember which company’s stock would surge?

It didn’t matter.

Anyway, the company I would join would have its stock surge.

As soon as I’d receive my salary, I’d buy the stock of the company I’d join, and that would be the jackpot.

If I didn’t know the rising stock, I’d just make it myself.

It was a success formula that even a world-class investor would admire.

This was a plan that could never fail.

It’s going to work.

I nodded confidently.

To start this plan, first, I needed to get a job.

I sorted through the agencies in my head, looking for those with a good atmosphere, CEO, and vision.

Since it wasn’t treated as information directly linked to monetary gain, I could remember everything.

It seemed that, probably because it was related to the entertainment system, knowledge about this industry was generously allowed.

It was a good situation.

I ranked them and decided on the company that would be lucky to have me.

One of the top three agencies, SS, seemed the most suitable.

Once I made my decision, I stood up and ran to the PC room to submit my resume.

The President of SS, that lucky guy.

I’d change it from one of the top three agencies to the number one agency.

And two weeks passed.

I got rejected by SS.

I cursed SS for not recognizing talent.

But I wasn’t too worried.

There were many other options besides SS.

So, I tried to get a job at another agency.

This time, just in case, I submitted my resume to all the agencies I thought were decent.

I tried to get a job at a total of five agencies.

I got rejected by all of them.

“Why?!”

My never-fail plan faced a crisis from the very first step.