The Scandal-Proof Producer

The final production meeting for the Starlight Festival was a pressure cooker. The air in the Stellar Entertainment boardroom was thick with resentment and unspoken threats. Sofia Kang sat at the head of the table, her face a mask of cold fury. Her quiet, bureaucratic attack on Kang Ji-won had been publicly reframed as an act of corporate bullying, and she had been forced to endure a terse, unpleasant meeting with Director Yoon about "maintaining the festival's artistic integrity." Her scheme to sabotage Aura's schedule had also been dismantled by Yoo-jin's impeccably timed email about "safety concerns." She had been outmaneuvered twice, and she was not accustomed to it.

Everyone in the room expected this meeting to be the final, brutal showdown. Sofia had called it to resolve the "scheduling conflict" once and for all, and her expression made it clear she was done playing games.

"Let's be direct," Sofia began, dispensing with all pleasantries. She gestured to the schedule on the main screen, the overlapping time slots of Aura's stage and the headliner, Celestial, glowing like a declaration of war. "This overlap is unprofessional and logistically untenable for the broadcast. It has to be resolved. My previous offer to integrate Ms. Ahn into the main stage was, I believe, more than generous."

The unspoken threat was clear: compromise, or be prepared for more "unforeseen technical difficulties."

Yoo-jin listened, his expression calm. Across the table, Sofia's allies on the board looked smug, ready to watch the upstart from the small agency get put in his place. Director Yoon watched Yoo-jin with a neutral, unreadable gaze, waiting to see how his new, unpredictable pawn would play this hand.

As Sofia finished speaking, Oh Min-ji, sitting beside Yoo-jin in her official capacity as his "intern," quietly slid a tablet in front of him. On it was a detailed analysis she had prepared, a complex flowchart of probabilities and strategic outcomes. Yoo-jin glanced at it, gave her a nearly imperceptible nod, and then looked up at Sofia Kang.

He did something no one in the room expected. He smiled.

"You are absolutely right, Director Kang," he said, his voice agreeable and conciliatory. "A scheduling conflict of this magnitude is unprofessional. It reflects poorly on all of us. Aura Management is, above all, a team player. We will, of course, adjust our schedule for the good of the festival."

A stunned silence fell over the room. Go Min-young, sitting beside him, looked at Yoo-jin in disbelief. Sofia's eyes narrowed, victorious but deeply suspicious. This was too easy.

"We will cede the final 30 minutes of our allotted stage time, as you initially requested," Yoo-jin continued smoothly. "Our set will end cleanly, allowing for a smooth transition to the main stage finale." He paused, letting his concession sink in. "However, in the spirit of partnership, and in exchange for our full cooperation in this matter, we would require one small consideration."

"And what would that be?" Sofia asked, her voice wary.

"It's a simple matter of dead air," Yoo-jin said with a shrug. "That thirty-minute block will now be a major changeover period for the live broadcast. Rather than have the tens of thousands of fans in the stadium and the millions watching at home stare at a blank stage or watch commercials, we would like to offer some pre-produced content to fill the time. We would like to use the festival's main Jumbotron screens for a 'special video presentation' from Aura Management."

Sofia stared at him. A video presentation. It sounded like a meaningless, egotistical vanity project. A chance for him to splash his company's logo on the big screens. It was a powerless move, the request of a defeated man trying to salvage a scrap of dignity. Eager to lock in her victory and end the conflict, she agreed before he could change his mind.

"Fine," she said with a dismissive wave. "You can have your video presentation. The time is yours."

Director Yoon, seeing a peaceful and logical resolution, nodded in approval. The deal was done. Yoo-jin had folded. Sofia Kang had won.

The night of the Starlight Festival was a dizzying explosion of light and sound. Aura's stage had been an unqualified triumph. Lee Seo-yeon's powerful, emotional ballads had captivated the crowd. Kevin Riley's raw, English-language acoustic set had been a surprising, intimate hit. And the final performance, the legendary collaboration between Kang Ji-won and the jazz master Kim Shin, had been a transcendent display of musical genius that had left the audience breathless.

As their set ended and the stage went dark, Yoo-jin stood in the wings, a small smile playing on his lips. He gave a signal to his technical producer.

On the massive main stage, the charismatic members of Celestial were getting into their final positions. The thirty-minute changeover had begun. The colossal Jumbotron screens that flanked the stage, which were supposed to be showing lucrative commercials for cars and soju, flickered.

And then, a face appeared, fifty feet high, silencing the entire stadium. It was Simon Vance.

He was in his familiar study, looking directly into the camera. The video was impeccably produced, his voice a low, authoritative rumble that commanded attention.

"Hello, Starlight Festival," he began. "I regret that I couldn't be there in person to witness what I hear has been an incredible night of music. But my good friend, the producer Han Yoo-jin, asked me if I would be so kind as to introduce you to a world premiere."

In the VIP box, Sofia Kang shot to her feet, her face ashen with dawning horror. This was not the corporate logo video she had expected.

"Tonight," Simon Vance's voice echoed across the stadium, "we are seeing the debut of a new artist and a new kind of collaboration. A bridge between Seoul and London. A story of a voice that was lost, and then found. This is 'Unheard Note.'"

The screen cut from Vance's face to a stark, beautifully shot music video. It opened on a solitary Park Chae-rin, her face etched with a profound, compelling sadness. As she began to sing in her clear, wounded voice, her story unfolded on the screen, told through haunting visuals and stark English subtitles. The music swelled, a perfect, seamless fusion of her raw Korean emotionality and the deep, atmospheric production of the legendary Alistair Finch. It was a song that was both heartbreakingly intimate and epically cinematic.

Yoo-jin had hijacked the climax of the entire festival. He had turned the thirty minutes of stage time he had "lost" into a five-minute global premiere for his new artist, broadcast on the biggest screens to hundreds of thousands of live fans and millions more watching at home. He had used Sofia's own power play against her, transforming the dead air she had forced upon him into the most valuable and talked-about segment of the night.

He hadn't just won the petty battle for his stage time. He had used the entire Starlight Festival as a launchpad for his true, global ambition.

The repercussions were immediate. In the stadium, the massive crowd, which had been chanting for Celestial, was now watching the screens in a captivated, stunned silence. In London, Alistair Finch watched the livestream from his studio and allowed himself a rare, satisfied smile. In his penthouse office, Chairman Choi watched, his face a mask of thunderous fury, realizing with a sickening certainty that Han Yoo-jin was no longer playing the same game as him. And on a small laptop in his dorm room, Jin watched, a slow, triumphant grin spreading across his face as he understood what his small act of espionage had truly unleashed.

Yoo-jin stood backstage amidst the chaos, the sound of Chae-rin's haunting melody washing over him. He hadn't just protected his company. He hadn't just survived. He had planted his flag, not just in the heart of his enemy's festival, but on the world stage. The petty war for Seoul was over. The campaign for global domination had just begun.