Seeing Han Dong-Hae's face on TV, it was clear he had steeled himself. Saying he would restore my honor meant he was going to testify about the match-fixing incident from nine years ago. But back then, Han Dong-Hae had been the one who received 50 million won from NK Entertainment, so I couldn't help but feel shaken. I could abandon that kind of honor anytime if it meant keeping my family safe.

"Hyung-nim, I'm heading down first!"

I was about to rush down to the first floor to stop the interview. Right then, Prosecutor Park Jung-Jik caught my arm.

Grab.

"Yoon-Ho. Wait. Dong-Hae hyung-nim isn't the type to act without thinking."

"Hyung-nim!"

"I don't know what kind of person Dong-Hae hyung-nim was to you, but it's already been nine years. He's now the finance team lead at NK Construction. Try trusting him."

Park Jung-Jik knew a side of Han Dong-Hae that I didn't. In the end, I had no choice but to stop and watch the TV.

At that moment, Reporter Lee Sang-Hee from YTM held the microphone out to Han Dong-Hae.

-Setting aside the reason for attacking the victim lying in the hospital room, what do you mean by restoring your youngest brother's honor? As far as I know, the victim has one son and one daughter.

-The frequently featured Chief Jung Yoon-Ho from Hoop Entertainment used to be a boxer coached by our father, Mr. Han Dae-Man. And my sister and I have known Yoon-Ho since middle school. We think of him as our youngest brother.

-Wait a moment. Are you referring to the man often called the Midas touch of the entertainment industry? The young chaebol ranked number one among female celebrities as the man they want to marry?

-Yes, that's right. And...

Han Dong-Hae went on to briefly talk about my childhood. Lee Sang-Hee nodded along as he listened. Since it was past midnight and not part of regular programming, they had the time to go into detail.

Then Han Dong-Hae revealed that during the national team selection nine years ago, I had no choice but to be eliminated so that Noh Tae-Soo could be pushed forward. He declared that I should have been the Asian Games gold medalist.

After speaking at length about the corruption within the Boxing Association, Han Dong-Hae then began exposing NK Construction as if he had made up his mind.

-Because of that incident, my family fell apart. Since then, I've been investigating President Noh Sang-Jin. I discovered that he took the position of vice president of the Boxing Association to create slush funds under the pretense of sponsorships. In the process, he established a subsidiary called NK Materials to accumulate those funds and even diverted money overseas.

Lee Sang-Hee asked back, her voice trembling.

-W-wait a moment. If this is about slush funds at NK Construction, this is a massive case. Are you sure it's okay to say this on air?

-My only regret is that I was too afraid to step forward earlier. Because of that, I couldn't stop President Noh Sang-Jin from kidnapping and beating my father. So now, I plan to submit all the evidence I've gathered to the prosecution soon.

-Then... would it be possible to provide some of that to our station as well—

As Han Dong-Hae continued to pour out revelations about NK Construction and Noh Sang-Jin without end, Park Jung-Jik spoke to me while watching the screen.

"I heard this from him before. He said his greatest regret in life was trying to abandon you back then, when you were just the clueless youngest brother who didn't understand anything. He couldn't protect you."

"..."

"He said he's been preparing for a long time to repay that debt."

Only then did I understand why he had stopped me from going downstairs.

"Seems like you've already forgiven him, but just know that he hasn't been able to live comfortably all this time either."

If Han Dong-Hae had spent nine years gathering evidence out of guilt toward me, I could only imagine how much he had suffered. Because of that, I let go of even the smallest lingering resentment and spoke to Park Jung-Jik.

"I know. Dong-Hae hyung was always kind and just soft-hearted. I'm just worried that the 50 million won he took back then might come to light."

"It's fine. If he's blowing the whistle like this, it'll be hard to hold him accountable for that. Besides, all he has to do is return the money. And he hasn't even touched it, It's been sitting in his account this whole time."

"Ah..."

"So you can relax now too, Yoon-Ho."

"Understood."

Only then did I finally let out a sigh of relief and turn my gaze back to the TV. And a moment later, Lee Sang-Hee asked cautiously.

-Thank you for your courage today. But I have one question.

-Yes? What is it?

- If the national team selection nine years ago was indeed match-fixing, then it would imply that Chief Jung Yoon-Ho was stronger than Asian Games gold medalist Noh Tae-Soo...

At that moment, my boxing hoobaes standing behind him shouted out.

-Back then, it wasn't just in our region. There wasn't anyone in the entire country who could match Yoon-Ho hyung!

-Honestly, aside from biased judging, there was no one in his weight class who could beat Jung Yoon-Ho.

Then Han Dong-Mi, standing beside them, spoke up passionately as well.

-That Noh Tae-Soo guy never once beat my youngest brother. And if you just watch the videos on my phone, you'll see exactly how incredible Yoon-Ho was!

On the phone Han Dong-Mi held out, there was a compilation of my final matches from middle and high school. She used to follow me to competitions and film my matches with a camcorder, and she had transferred those videos onto her phone.

Park Jung-Jik smiled faintly. "Dong-Mi watches those videos not just for you, but for the whole family. Because they're all in there—my father-in-law and everyone else."

During those finals, I remembered how everyone had come to cheer for me so I wouldn't feel left out as an orphan. It reminded me again just how precious they all were to me.

-We at YTM will continue to investigate and report on the additional crimes of NK Construction President Noh Sang-Jin, who was urgently arrested today on charges of attempted murder.

With the interviews of Han Dong-Hae and Han Dong-Mi, all the tangled misunderstandings were finally unraveled. And for the father and son, Noh Sang-Jin and Noh Tae-Soo, who had torn apart my relationship with my coach's family for nine years, retribution was now falling upon them.

-...And that concludes today's YTM breaking news.

Just as the interview ended, my phone vibrated.

Buzz.

[Caller ID: Mrs. Eun Ye-Jin]

It seemed Han Dae-Man had finished his MRI. I immediately answered Eun Ye-Jin's call.

"Has Mr. Han finished his exam?"

Eun Ye-Jin's voice trembled as she spoke.

-He just came out, but they're taking him straight into surgery. And it is a subarachnoid hemorrhage. Yoon-Ho, where are you right now?

"I'm on the fifth floor. I'll come down right away. Don't worry."

-Okay. I'll wait out front. He said he wants to see you and the others before going into surgery, so I called.

I left the room with Park Jung-Jik right away. As I stepped into the elevator, I moved the people saved in my contacts into a different, most treasured category.

[Contacts: <Family>]

[Han Dae-Man (Coach)]

[Eun Ye-Jin (Madam)]

[Han Dong-Hae (Hyung)]

[Han Dong-Mi (Noona)]

[Park Jung-Jik (Hyung-nim)]

...

***

After a six-hour surgery, Han Dae-Man was moved to the recovery room. Fortunately, it had only been a minor hemorrhage and the surgery went well, so there was no longer any major cause for concern.

Afterward, I declared to the family that I would take responsibility for everything regarding Han Dae-Man and Eun Ye-Jin. I also recruited Han Dong-Hae, now a whistleblower, into Mirinae's management team. He didn't want to burden me, but I pushed through with the stubbornness of the youngest and got my way in the end. In truth, no matter how capable someone was, it was difficult for a whistleblower to find a new job.

After wrapping up what needed to be done for my family's future, I returned home and immediately fell into a deep sleep.

Click.

I opened my eyes after what felt like a short nap, and the clock was already pointing to 11 a.m. I quickly washed up so I could pick up Miso from school and head to work.

When I came back out, my phone was vibrating wildly on the desk.

Brrrr.

Brrrr.

It was flooded with interview requests from reporters and Kk Talk notifications about what had happened last night.

"Looks like today's going to be busy too."

Sure enough, the portal sites were already plastered with articles about last night's exposé.

[NK Construction massive corruption scandal exposed!]

[Coach attempting to expose corruption in national team selection kidnapped and threatened with murder! Association's reputation plummets.]

[The tragic figure who lost his Asian Games gold medal rises as a superstar maker in the entertainment industry.]

Not just the social affairs reporters, but even the entertainment reporters were all excitedly churning out articles. However, the most excited of them all was Reporter Jang Moon-Ki.

[No.1 man that female celebrities want to marry, Jung Yoon-Ho. Turns out he was the strongest boxer of all time? How far do his hidden charms go? (Weekly Star's Reporter Jang Moon-Ki)]

"Strongest of all time? Is he trying to get me socially buried or what?"

Anyone who didn't know boxing had weight classes would easily misunderstand something like that. Nevertheless, Jang Moon-Ki definitely wrote it on purpose.

Just as I was about to send him a Kk Talk message telling him to stop chasing clicks, a video call came in from Yoo-Jin. Figuring it was about what happened yesterday, I took a deep breath and answered.

And sure enough, Yoo-Jin's eyes were puffy like a panda's as if she had been crying her heart out.

[Video Call: Jung Yoo-Jin]

-Oppa... are you okay?

"Of course I'm fine."

-How can you be okay when the coach who taught you almost got stabbed?

I knew this would happen, so yesterday I had my boxing hoobaes take the spotlight and say they were the ones who saved him.

"Didn't you hear? The boxing club hoobaes said they saved him."

If I wanted to handle the aftermath, I had to be shameless.

-Really? You didn't actually save him yourself and just tell them to say that, right?

That hit right on the mark, but I answered calmly.

"No. Not at all. Never."

'Jung Yoo-Jin. You're not the only one who's gotten better at acting. I have too!'

Yoo-Jin tilted her head suspiciously, but I didn't even blink.

At that moment, someone called Yoo-Jin over the line.

-Ms. Yoo-Jin, we'll move straight from scene 34 to scene 35.

-Yes, I'll be right there.

'Wait a second.'

Scenes 34 and 35 of She Was Beautiful were crying scenes.

'Which means...'

"Yoo-Jin, don't tell me... you weren't crying because you were worried about me, but because you were filming—"

Just then, Yoo-Jin stuck out her tongue playfully.

-Both! So don't make me worry! Bye!

Click.

The call ended. At that moment, realizing I had been played, I shouted at my phone without thinking.

"You scammer!"

My voice echoed uselessly through the room. Right then, my phone buzzed again.

Buzz.

[Lovely♡Yoo-Jin: I really was worried. And oppa... it's a shame you didn't win a gold medal as a boxer, but you're definitely gold-medal level among talent agents!]

She must have been too embarrassed to say it out loud, so she sent it through Kk Talk instead. Her shy confession made the tip of my nose sting slightly.

"Thanks, Jung Yoo-Jin."

***

I arrived at Miso's elementary school parking lot.

Miso came running out, dragging her bag after class. "Uncle Yoon-Ho~"

As always, Han-Ul and Eun-Byul followed beside her with bright smiles. But behind the three of them, a crowd of elementary school boys had gathered.

Miso stood next to me, grabbed my hand, and puffed out her chest proudly in front of them. "This is my Uncle Yoon-Ho!"

The kids looked up at me with sparkling eyes. "Wooooow!"

"Miso... what is it this time?"

Last time, she bragged that I was the number one man female celebrities wanted to marry, and now I had no idea what it was again.

Miso grinned. "They said Uncle Yoon-Ho is the number one boxer in Korea."

"Oh...About that..."

Because of Jang Moon-Ki slapping on the title 'strongest boxer,' this time it was the boys swarming around me.

At that moment, Lee Dong-Ho, a classmate who liked Miso, stepped right up to me and asked, "Uncle Yoon-Ho! If you fought a UFO champion, who would win?"

UFO was an American mixed martial arts organization where fighters used boxing, jiu-jitsu, taekwondo, wrestling, and more under mixed rules.

"Well, I'd have to fight to know, right? There are a lot of really skilled fighters there."

"Then could you beat Mr. Ngannou?"

'Hey. That's going too far!'

Francis Xavier Ngannou was the UFO heavyweight champion. Being 193 cm tall and 117 kg with a reach of 210 cm, he was a complete monster. Asking me to fight someone like that wasn't even a joke.

'What am I supposed to say?'

At that moment, Miso puffed her cheeks and declared from beside me, "Of course Uncle Yoon-Ho would win!"

'Miso... You shouldn't say things like that.'

However, it was already too late.

"Wooooow! That's awesome!"

The boys threw their hands up and cheered.

"Mister! Show us a punch!"

"Uncle, can you teach me boxing? I want to go to the Olympics!"

"Uncle, there's a kid in our class who bullies weaker kids. Can you teach him a lesson?"

The boys crowded around me, each making their own requests.

At the same time, Miso, who had been standing next to me, was slowly—little by little—getting pushed farther away. "Huh? Huh? Huh?"

As the boys swarmed me, clinging and crowding, Miso ended up pushed far off to the side.

Thinking I had been taken from her, Miso stretched both arms forward and shouted with all her strength, "He's my uncle!!"

At Miso's roar, the boys parted left and right like the sea splitting. Thanks to that, I finally managed to break free.

I couldn't believe this happened all because I had unintentionally become the 'world's greatest boxer.'

***

After barely clearing up the misunderstanding that I was some kind of world-class boxer, I dropped Miso, Eun-Byul, and Han-Ul off at their respective homes and headed to work.

But the moment I stepped into the meeting room, the talent agents of Integrated Division 4 all burst into cheers.

"Wow! The strongest boxer is here!"

"I saw your high school footage on the portal. You were the best in your weight class, weren't you?"

"Did you know your video is trending as a top post in the communities right now?"

"You beat Asian Games gold medalist Noh Tae-Soo, so if you'd gone to the Olympics, you could've won gold there too, right?"

"Mr. Jung, your abs were insane. What was your body fat percentage back then?"

"I heard your KO rate was over 60%?"

Everyone was talking excitedly, saying they had seen the videos Dong-Mi noona had provided to reporters, whether on TV or online communities. Of course, there were also people like Do Ran-Hee throwing in completely random comments.

"Mr. Jung, can I just get hit once?"

Lee Yung-Jin shouted in shock."Hey! Are you crazy? Why would you want to get hit?!"

"Why, oppa? Aren't you curious?"

"About what? Whether you'll live or die if you get hit?"

"Yeah. I want to know how strong the strongest punch is. I survived pro wrestling moves when I was a kid, didn't I?"

Lee Yung-Jin waved his hands frantically at me with a horrified expression. "Mr. Jung, she hasn't slept for two nights straight, so she's not in her right mind. Please just ignore her."

"Uh... yeah, okay."

I cleanly ignored Do Ran-Hee and tried to assess the situation.

Apparently, not just the news articles but major online communities were now full of posts about how I had been wronged by what Noh Sang-Jin had done. On top of that, the story of a chaebol president ordering his own son to commit murder was sensational enough to rival a full-blown makjang drama, so the impact was beyond imagination.

Everyone looked like they wanted to keep asking questions, but we had work to do, so I calmed them down.

"Alright, alright. Settle down. More importantly, how is So-Yeon's final audition for the daily drama going?"

Today was the final audition for the lead role in KBC 1TV's daily drama Twice-Lived Life. And Jang So-Yeon had passed the second audition and made it to today's final round with three candidates. Before the regression, Twice-Lived Life had been a massive hit, with an average daily viewership ratings of 20%.

On top of that, I was planning to include Kang Ha-Na's mother Kim Hyun-Ji's comeback song Youth, Once Again! as an original soundtrack for the drama. That made it all the more important to get Jang So-Yeon into that project.

At that moment, Choi Dae-Gi, the first-year talent agent in charge, spoke up. "Ms. So-Yeon ranked first in the second audition, and she's fully prepared for today's final."

"What's the reaction from the program PD?" I asked.

"It feels like they've already decided on So-Yeon, maybe because of something they heard from a high-ranking KBC executive."

"And what about Writer Nam Jong-Ok?"

"On set, she praised Ms. So-Yeon as the best and even gave her a thumbs-up."

Writer Nam Jong-Ok was a veteran with 30 years of experience, specializing in insanely dramatic dramas like Twice-Lived Life. She consistently delivered high viewership ratings, but she was notoriously difficult to deal with due to her unpredictable personality.

Still, I wasn't too worried. I had already worked with Nam Jong-Ok three times—someone famous for being one of the most stubborn people in Korea.

"I'll attend the final audition today as well. We'll need to manage Writer Nam too."

"Understood."

Just then, there was a knock on the door.

Knock knock.

The meeting room door opened, and Director Kang Ji-Yung's voice came in.

-Cheif Jung, can I come in?

"Yes, Ms. Kang."

The door clicked open, and Kang Ji-Yung walked in with a bright smile. But behind her, two men in black suits followed.

"Uh... what's going on?" I asked.

"Chief Jung, you'll need to go with these gentlemen right away."

"Why?"

"The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism is planning to award you a medal. And they've asked to bring you in immediately."

'A medal? They're giving me a medal?'