Director Park stared at the transfer request on his desk as if it were a live grenade. "You want to keep Lee Hana?" he asked, his voice a choked, disbelieving whisper. "On your team? As an artist?"
He looked at Yoo-jin as if he had grown a second head. "She is a PR disaster waiting to happen! Her scandal is barely contained. We were planning to send her to our Japanese branch until the heat died down."
"That would be a mistake," Yoo-jin said, his voice calm and unyielding. "Lee Hana is an A-Rank talent. To waste her is to waste company assets. My team is the only one who can manage her."
Park sputtered, "Manage her? She hates you! She tried to destroy your artist!"
"And now," Yoo-jin said, a cold, sharp smile touching his lips, "she works for me. She is more valuable as a rival and a motivator for Mina than she ever would be as a solo act. And under my direct supervision, she will not cause any more trouble."
It was a power play, pure and simple. By taking control of Hana, Yoo-jin wasn't just acquiring another talented artist. He was seizing control of the company's most volatile and valuable asset, placing her directly under his thumb. He was making his department untouchable.
Director Park stared at him, a complex mixture of fury and a new, grudging respect in his eyes. He was trapped. Yoo-jin had fulfilled his impossible contract, and the terms were clear. He had won.
With a deep, frustrated sigh, Park snatched a pen and scribbled his signature on the bottom of the form. "Fine," he bit out. "She's your problem now. Don't come crying to me when she burns your entire department to the ground."
Yoo-jin walked back into the office. The team was in the middle of a quiet, subdued celebration—sharing a cheap bottle of champagne that Min-hyuk had produced from a hidden bag.
The mood was one of relief, not triumph. They had survived.
Hana was standing by the window, staring out at the city, a solitary figure completely detached from the group.
Yoo-jin walked over to her. He placed the signed transfer request on the windowsill in front of her.
She glanced down at it, her eyes widening in shock as she saw the director's signature. "What is this?" she asked, her voice sharp with suspicion.
"It's your new assignment," Yoo-jin said simply. "You're not an intern anymore. You're the second artist in the Special Projects Team."
She stared at him, her expression a whirlwind of confusion and disbelief. "You… you're keeping me here? After everything? Why?"
"Because your little stunt in the vault gave us 'Monster'," Yoo-jin said, his voice even. "Because your intel on Aurora gave us a fighting chance. And because your pride won't let you be second best. You're more useful to me as Mina's rival than you are rotting in some overseas branch."
He turned to the rest of the team, raising his voice so they could all hear. "Our next project is simple. We are going to produce two solo albums. One for Mina. And one for Hana. They will be released on the same day."
A stunned silence fell over the room. Mina looked from Yoo-jin to Hana, her eyes wide. Eun-bi and Ji-ho looked at each other, their faces a mixture of excitement and sheer terror at the workload.
"You're going to make us compete?" Hana asked, her voice a low, dangerous whisper.
"I am," Yoo-jin confirmed, his gaze unwavering. "You wanted a war, Hana. Now you have one. But this time, you'll be fighting on my terms."
A slow, dangerous, and utterly thrilling smile spread across Hana's face. The defeated princess was gone. In her place was a queen, ready to reclaim her throne.
Later that evening, the team gathered at a small, private restaurant for a real celebration. It was a noisy, chaotic, and happy affair. Min-hyuk was telling loud, unbelievable stories from his glory days. Eun-bi and Ji-ho were engaged in a passionate, nerdy debate about synth plugins.
Mina and Hana were sitting at opposite ends of the table, a tangible, electric tension between them. They weren't enemies anymore. They were rivals, a far more complex and dangerous thing.
Yoo-jin sat back, watching his strange, dysfunctional, brilliant family, a feeling of quiet, profound satisfaction washing over him. They had done it. They had survived.
He checked his system, just out of habit, looking at the potential of the people around him. Eun-bi, A-Rank. Ji-ho, S-Rank. Mina, SSS-Rank. Hana, A-Rank. A team of monsters.
He felt a strange, sudden urge. He had never really looked at his own status since that first, confusing morning. He closed his eyes and focused inward, calling up his own screen.
The familiar blue box appeared in his vision.
[Name: Han Yoo-jin]
[Occupation: Producer]
[Title: The Midas Hand (New!)]
A new title. So that's what Park had called him. He smiled faintly. But then his eyes fell on the next line, the one that had always been a series of question marks. And his blood ran cold.
The question marks were gone.
[Potential: SSS-Rank]
[Unique Skill: Star-Maker's Gaze (Lv. 2) - Allows user to see the hidden potential and emotional state of others. Can now detect lies and hidden motivations.]
[Second Unique Skill: Locked (???)]
SSS-Rank? Him? He was just a failed manager, a glorified assistant. How could he have the same potential as Mina? It didn't make any sense.
And a second skill? Locked?
He felt a sudden, sharp headache, a dizzying wave of vertigo washing over him. The noisy restaurant seemed to fade away.
A flash of a memory, sharp and unwelcome, pierced through his mind. A memory that wasn't his.
A young, handsome man, his face a mask of grief, is standing in front of a hospital room. A doctor is speaking to him, his voice filled with pity. "The surgery was a success, but she's in a coma. We don't know if she'll ever wake up. The trauma was too severe."
The image was gone as quickly as it came, leaving Yoo-jin breathing heavily, his hand pressed against his temple. The coffee cup in front of him rattled in its saucer.
Mina's voice cut through the haze, filled with a gentle concern. "Producer-nim? Are you okay? You look pale."
Yoo-jin looked up, his eyes meeting hers. He tried to smile, to reassure her, but his new, level-two skill activated on its own.
He didn't just see her stats. He saw the genuine, deep-seated worry in her heart. He saw her unwavering loyalty and trust in him.
And behind that, buried deep, he saw something else. A flicker of a hidden motivation she wasn't even aware of herself. A desire to be seen by him, not just as a little sister or a talented artist, but as something more.
The headache intensified. He realized with a sickening, terrifying clarity that this was just the beginning. And the scandals he would have to manage weren't just the ones in the headlines.
They were the ones hidden in the hearts of the people he cared about most.