Chapter 34: The Great Storm (Part 2) (Second Update)

  Sent too late... Sorry!

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  The incident turned out to be just as An Junhe had predicted, and it escalated over the next few days.

  Major portal sites put up news of So Ji-sub's fabricated medical records on their front pages, but before his agency and the hospital could discuss the matter of calling up the records, all sorts of rumors and speculation emerged online, with some people protesting, others defending him, some insulting him, and others arguing back. The noise stirred up the waters, making it murky and attracting even more onlookers to the scene. Later, the person who had previously released two medical records came out with even more evidence, such as a surgical record from September of that year without So Ji-sub's name, and a hospital registration form also without his name. The documents looked extremely authentic, ultimately leading everyone's emotions in a direction completely unfavorable to him.

  Recently, due to the incident involving Song Chong-han and others, the public felt deceived. However, Song Chong-han and others either left the country or went into hiding, leaving people unable to vent their anger. This time, after the incident broke out, it seemed that they had finally found an outlet for their emotions, and the situation rapidly deteriorated. On the internet, countless people suddenly became anti-fans of So Ji-sub, viciously attacking him, even going beyond the issue of faking his medical records to fabricate rumors about him disrespecting seniors and having messy relationships with women. Netizens usually blindly follow the crowd, seeing everyone attack one person, either joining in on the excitement or being misled, and also followed suit, causing the anti-fan group to rapidly expand.

  Even if the 51K brokerage firm quickly communicated with the hospital and obtained the files kept by the hospital, publishing them online, but now that things have developed to this point, it's no longer something that can be resolved with a simple clarification statement. No one believes them, just like Ahn Jun-hee's impression of Jang Tae-young's tax evasion case a few years ago - he was innocent, but no one believed him.

  The noise on the internet reflects reality and is naturally a huge source of news material.

  KBS TV station annex, Ahn Jun-hee stood on the third floor corridor, looking out through the window at the crowd outside, which was about to block the road in front of the annex in the misty rain. Under umbrellas like lotus leaves, reporters holding microphones and carrying cameras looked up at the quiet entrance of the TV station. A little further away from them, on the opposite side of the road, many men and women wearing simple raincoats squatted there, holding high banners and signs that were even more eye-catching in the rain.

  "We don't want traitors!"

  "Soo Ji-hyun, you are a criminal who deceived the nation!"

  "Get out and face the people's trial"

  A few words of fierce rhetoric, shocking and appalling.

  He remained silent, although he had anticipated such a situation, but did not expect that the deterioration of the situation would be so rapid, so rapid that he was caught off guard. He had originally wanted to find an opportunity to remind Su Zhihui to be careful.

  It can only be said that the behind-the-scenes planner chose a suitable time, just when Song Chongxiang and others were evading the public and refusing to admit their mistakes. They launched an attack on Su Zhihao, taking advantage of the increasingly high dissatisfaction among the people, and quickly expanded it. However, even if the behind-the-scenes planner had expected this development, they might still be surprised by the current situation. Because of ANTI's involvement, things have clearly gone beyond anyone's control, but at least the goal has been achieved. Su Zhihao's reputation has plummeted rapidly due to this incident, and the popularity he gained from "A Thousand Years of Love" and "The Story of Bali Island" has quickly dissipated in just two or three days. Even many advertisers who had endorsed him think that he no longer fits their product image while being embroiled in the scandal, and have terminated their contracts with him one after another.

  Years of hard work, all because of a rumor, were in vain. Even someone as rational as An Junhe couldn't help but feel a little desperate and frustrated. He asked himself that if such a thing happened to him, apart from constantly producing evidence to clear his name, he had no other way out.

  All I can say is that Su Zhihui is unlucky!

  It's said that Ahn Jun-hee is also a bit curious, wondering who has such a big grudge against So Ji-sub that they would ruin his reputation and future prospects with one hand. Unfortunately, this kind of thing is difficult to investigate. South Korea doesn't have a real-name internet system like it will in a few years, so if you want to find out who did it, you'd first need to hire a hacker to track down the IP address, and then follow that lead further. However, the outcome is uncertain - it's possible that they might be able to investigate successfully, or the person responsible for hyping things up might notice beforehand and quickly run away with no evidence left behind.

  Compared to the concerns about So Ji-sub, who is not very familiar with him, Ahn Jun-hee is more concerned about the filming of the drama group. The male lead is embroiled in a scandal and has been unable to start work for a long time. Although the crew is now shooting scenes with the other three main actors first, the progress is undoubtedly slower than expected. If this continues, it's unclear whether they can finish filming within the year - this is a 50th anniversary international adoption drama gift, if it can't be broadcast within the year, what kind of gift would it be?

  Just then, the situation downstairs changed. Several assistants and agents escorted Soo-young out of the TV station without an umbrella, and they were quickly drenched in rainwater. From above, their figures looked lonely and disheveled.

  As soon as they appeared, the reporters waiting at the door burst into a commotion, setting up their cameras and swarming around them. Across the street, the protesters who had come to demonstrate also stood up, gradually shouting out slogans in unison and gathering towards the gate.

  Su Zhiheng stood at the entrance, several assistants hastily formed a small circle around him, blocking out the reporters who wanted to squeeze in, but unable to stop them from stretching out their microphones and shouting questions, the scene was temporarily out of control. The security personnel from the TV station at the entrance saw that things were not going well and rushed over to help, barely maintaining order.

  From afar, Ahn Jun-hee could faintly hear Soo Ji-hyun's agent shouting at the top of his lungs amidst the rain and the crowd's din: "Everyone, don't push... calm down and listen to me... We're going to hold a press conference to officially respond to these events over this period of time... Any questions, please ask then..."

  Press conference.

  This is probably the last effort that the brokerage firm can make! An Junhe sighed silently, and didn't continue to watch anymore. He turned around and went back to the recording studio. Today, because of the rain, they were only filming indoor scenes. However, these few scenes mainly focused on the two female leads, so he had time to wander around the TV station.

  When they arrived at the recording studio, the crew was taking a break. Only one of the two female leads, Xu Zhiying, was sitting aside touching up her makeup. An Junhe went in and took a look around, asking "Where's Soo-jung?"

  "It seems like a friend came to find her and she's been out for a while." Xu Zhiying replied, as the makeup artist was touching up her makeup, she didn't want to talk much either. An Junhe just sat aside, preparing to spend the remaining time idling around on set.

  Not long after, a message arrived on his mobile phone. He opened it and found that the sender was surprisingly Lin Xiujing.

  He couldn't help but stare blankly, and Xu Zhiying glanced at him: "What are you looking at? You're stunned. It's a breakup letter from your girlfriend."

  "No, it's Xiū Jīng sister."

  "What? She sent you a text message?" Xu Zhiying turned her head in surprise, and the makeup artist who was drawing her eyebrows suddenly drew a black line on her forehead. Hurriedly annoyed, she straightened her head again, but still couldn't hide her surprise. "When did your relationship become so good? What does she want from you?"

  Lin Xiujing is introverted, having known her for so many days, it's rare to see her take the initiative to speak, usually greeting others with few words, let alone sending text messages which is a relatively intimate thing among friends. No wonder Xue Zhiying was surprised, even An Junhe himself felt strange.

  "She said her friend had something urgent and left suddenly, she didn't bring an umbrella, got stuck outside, and asked me to pick her up."

  Upon hearing this, Xu Zhiying's expression suddenly became ambiguous. "Oh...hmm, you're all willing to let me take her now? You little scoundrel, you're quite quick on the draw!"

  An Junhe helplessly gave her a white eye, "Too lazy to bother with you, you're also a star, can't you gossip less?"

  Xu Zhiying smiled and urged: "Go quickly, don't keep the beauty waiting."

  He gave her a thumb with contempt, suppressing the faint doubt in his heart, An Junhe asked the staff for an umbrella and was about to go pick up Lin Xiujing.

  According to the text message, she is now trapped in a cold drink shop not far from the back door of the TV station. An Junhe came out of the back door and walked around with an umbrella, but didn't see where the cold drink shop was. The rain got heavier and heavier, the gloomy sky and the rain curtain made everything between heaven and earth look gray and hazy. The rainwater pouring down from the eaves, splashed against the houses and the ground, creating a continuous misty veil, as if smoke, rising on this street outside the back door, narrowing the field of vision.

  On both sides, the storefronts emitted faint neon lights, indicating their business scope, but none of them were the cold drink shop I was looking for.

  Just then, a low roar of the engine, quickly approached from behind, An Junhe stepped aside a few steps, turned back to look, on the dark road surface behind him, a thin curtain composed of rainwater and shattered water droplets suddenly tore open, a black off-road vehicle, like a raging beast, rushed over, then stopped abruptly in front of him with a screeching sound of the tires skidding on the ground, the next moment, the car door opened.

  In the dark carriage, a flash of snowy light, swooshing out with a sharp knife.

  At this moment, the feeling of facing death's danger made An Junhe's nerves react at an extremely fast speed. As he retreated a step back, the opened umbrella closed and his wrist moved swiftly, the flexible umbrella ribs dragging the wet umbrella surface, tightly wrapping around the umbrella handle, instantly forming a rod-like shape, which he used to forcefully parry the knife light.

  "Ding!"

  The sound of metal clashing, the moment it opened, a blade of light flashed out from the dark carriage, and someone cursed: "Damn, react so fast, kill him!"

  However, at the moment when his curse was about to come out, An Junhe, who had blocked the blow, did not stop and grabbed an umbrella and rushed into a small alley next to him, disappearing around the corner in the blink of an eye.

  "Look, he's running away!"

  "Grab him!"

  The off-road vehicle's cabin suddenly became noisy, and five or six people rushed out from inside, each holding a snow-bright cleaver. The blade reflected the faint neon light, shining brightly in the rain, and chased into the alley.

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