12 Hours After

Translator: Khan

Editor: Aelryinth

I stood and walked around the president’s office with my arms crossed. “Umm…” I picked up my cell phone. When I looked at my watch, it was 12:30 p.m. It had been about three hours since Jung So-young had taken the file on Tak Joon-gi.

‘It’s about time it got out…’ I searched for ‘Tak Joon-gi’ while thinking about it. ‘Oh!’ It was up.

[The hidden wire-puller of the Bisang Construction corruption case is the third generation of Suyeon Group, Tak Joon-gi.]

It was a special article from Oracle News. Looking at the posting time, it was 12:26 p.m. It was a hot article that had been posted less than five minutes before. I went through the contents quickly. To be honest, I had nothing to read. It was practically as good as the original article. I looked for more comments that were lower than the article.

‘Is it too early to run comments…’ But it was baseless anxiety. There were already quite a few comments on the unconventional title, as it had surprising contents.

– Wasn’t this the case that ended in spring… but the hidden wire-puller is from the Suyeon Group?-

– Why don’t the third generations of chaebols have the right conscience?-

– The reporter who killed himself was murdered, too. Huck! It’s too scary.-

– He seemed to be caught last time, but as he was from Suyeon Group, the prosecution hid it.-

– The prosecution is a party to a plot, too. Let’s lock them up all.-

Director Tak Joon-gi was also listed in the real-time search. It started in eighth place. It was a good debut. By this evening, he would definitely be in first place, so that people all over the country would know his name. ‘Just as vampires die when they see sunlight, villains naturally perish when their misdeeds are revealed to the public.’

I waited a little while with my hands together. But about half an hour after the story came out, more news was posted on the portal’s main website.

[Close-up coverage: Kang Ha-joon and Han So-jin are colleagues and lovers.]

‘What?’ Kang Ha-joon was famous for his looks and so-called comic strip, and Han So-jin was a beautiful actress who was famous for being a natural beauty since she was a child. But both of two were dating. It was an amazing story. ‘Really?’

It was an attractive title. To be honest, I had no choice but to click on it. The article showed two people wearing black masks and getting into the same car. It was definitely 100%. In fact, the two were a little short on acting skills, so they were treated like B-list actors, but one was from an idol group, and the other was a child actor, so their recognition was high.

‘I think I saw two of them starring in a mini-series… Did they start dating each other during the shooting?’

I looked up at the article. It was written by Today S., a celebrity gossip news company. It was a well-known media company and rival of Keystone Media, which was run by CEO Lee Won-jae.

I was just looking at it and suddenly, I thought of a conspiracy theory, ‘They put this out to cover it up.’

‘No. Is this done by what Director Tak Joon-gi orders?’ When I heard that story before, I was half confident, ‘Oh, I guess it just happened.’ However, the timing was really weird.

I saw the picture again. The photo showed both of them in a long-sleeved, thin shirt. I looked at the bottom of the picture, and it was written, ‘At the office where Kang Ha-joon lived around March…’

‘They had covered it in March, and yet now they showed it. Why so? Maybe they received some money to do so.’ I could not think of another reason. I came back to the portal site and looked at the ranking list, “First place Kang Ha-joon, second place Han So-jin, fourth place Han So-jin, and seventh place the passionate love of Kang Ha-joon, and tenth place Today S.”

Five of the top ten were search terms related to two people. Tak Joon-gi was way behind in the push. He didn’t even appear on the portal’s main news.

‘He is not going to die as it stands.’ It was somewhat expected. Tak Joon-gi was very used to playing with the public in the media. It was strange to be beaten to death by sitting there. But the method he used was just unexpected.

‘How much money did he spend for the passionate love of Kang Ha-joon?’ The bitter smoke screen was quite thick. I suddenly thought of the worst scenario. ‘Maybe… the Oracle news article was forced to drop…’

I wrote Tak Joon-gi in the search box.

[The hidden wire-puller of Bisang Construction corruption is the third generation of Suyeon Group, Tak Joon-gi.]

Fortunately, there were still Oracle news stories left. But it was weird. Usually, when there was this big article, other articles were lined up like those.

[Director Tak Joon-gi of Suyeon Travel is the real controller of Bisang Construction Stock Price Manipulation.]

[There was separately an influential person behind the stock price manipulation of Bisang Construction-the black shadow of the Suyeon Group.]

[The third generation of a chaebol who manipulated the stock price! The secret hobby of Director Tak Joon-gi.]

That was how they were supposed to send out the replicated news. Now that it was all money, but it was quiet this time.

‘Is it because the source is limited or… Where and how does the external pressure come from?’ If I thought about it, Tak Joon-gi might not be the only one trying to cover up this article. It contained a prosecutor, a high-ranking police officer, and two media executives. There were quite a few people who didn’t want the truth to come out to the world.

I was going to ask Secretary Seo, but I picked up my cell phone myself. I then found the number of Jung So-young, president of the company, and called her. However, the recording was heard, “I am on the phone right now,” and the beep sound followed.

She was on the phone somewhere: whether she was calling or taking a call from. Either way, she was busy.

‘President Jung So-young is doing her best.’

I thought CEO Lee Won-jae should come forward to end this game. I went to the homepage of the Daewon Daily News and the Daily Sports website to check if there was any news on this side. But there was no such news yet. I felt uneasy. I had just seen him saying in front of me, “I’ll do it myself.”

That was what he had said right here, but on his way back to work, he might have changed his mind, ‘The Invictus Investment is a rising sun… However, it is not enough to compete against Suyeon Group.’

Ahn Yong-kyun, former CEO of Blue E&M, betrayed me for that reason. But I decided to trust him, because he was born a third child and grew up under the yoke of his brothers.

Even he had said, “There’s a chance of a fight with my elder brother,” but objectively, it was true that he was behind his elder brother, Lee Won-sang, who was seven years older than him, and had much more experience. Lee Won-jae’s seat as president of Daily Sports was inherited from his elder brother. Even if he tried, his father and countless other directors who had supported the first son were unlikely to regard his potential as high.

‘A person with an inferiority complex has to make an adventurous move.’ I thought so and decided to wait calmly. In fact, it had only been about an hour since he had left here. Considering that President Jung So-young had taken the file of Tak Joon-gi and had aired the news three hours later, he should be given a little more time.

Soon after, there was a phone call from President Jung So-young, “Did you call me, boss?”

“Yes. I was wondering if there was any external pressure coming from somewhere else.”

She was silent for a moment when I said, and then she went on, “I can’t tell you, I don’t have much, but… Anyway, my staff and I decided to fight back.”

“Really? Um…” I thought for a moment and said to her, “It may be a little hard on your mind, but please wait. I’m sure reinforcements will come.”

“Reinforcements?”

“Yes.”

“… Yes. I see.”

I said one more word to her, “By the way, please make a list of all the people who have pressured you today, including their names and titles.”

“… Oh, yes.”

It was a war. Last time, I told President Ahn Yong-kyun, “How much did Tak Joon-gi give you?” Ever since I had said that, I’d already prepared myself. I would not hide myself any more. I would go out into the world and smash everything, whether it would be prosecutors, police, media, or chaebols, if they did something harmful with their dirty work to Invictus Investment and me. I had the will, and the power to do so. It was 1:00 p.m.

“What about your lunch, boss?”

“Buy me a hamburger, a Big Mac set.”

“Yes, boss.”

I ordered a hamburger instead of going out to eat, and I kept monitoring the Internet. Still, the portal site was occupied by “Kang Ha-joon, Han So-jin,” and Tak Jun-ki had no follow-up stories.

“Hmm…” I was a little bit nervous, around 1:50 p.m., at last, a new article came out on the main screen of the Daewon Daily News.

[The dark shadow of the third generation of a chaebol. The hidden wire-puller of the Bisang Construction stock manipulation is Director Tak Joon-gi of Suyeon Group.]

This was a bit unexpected. ‘Huh, I thought it would be from Daily Sports.’

CEO Lee Won-jae must have persuaded his father. The fact that the Daewon Daily News published such an article was effectively a declaration of war, and showed determination to get through the pressure of Suyeon Group. Apparently, because it was a major article, it went directly to the portal’s main site.

Director Tak Joon-gi climbed back up the search word list, starting at tenth, then seventh, fifth, and eventually was ranked third. He was right after Han So-jin and Kang Ha-joon. It was a bit disappointing that it didn’t get first place, but I was convinced as I had also tried to put my name on the news in 12 Hours After. Without a big accident, it was hard for a business figure to become the top in a real-time search list.

‘It’s easy to win the top spot just by manipulating stock prices because the image of a third-generation chaebol is so low.’

Somehow, the article appeared in the Daewon Daily News, and a series of follow-up articles came out looking for a click count.

‘When the Oracle News sent it out, they kept quiet, but…’

It was amazing. There were thousands of comments in an hour. If I had used the Ranking News on the political side this morning, it would have been showing this article.

—————————

At 3 p.m., Director Tak Joon-gi finally topped the real-time search list. In both politics and economics, Tak Joon-gi’s face came out. By the way, in the meantime, there was more news.

[Director Tak Joon-gi denied allegations of manipulation stock prices.- the last time I saw Kang Joo-hyuk, a reporter who committed suicide, was three years ago.]

I clicked on it. There was also an interview with a leading media outlet.

[The reporter Kang Joo-hyuk came to the travel agency for an interview three years ago, so I only answered after lunch.]

[I have an acquaintance with Jung Ki-woong, president of Bisang Construction, and no direct contact.]

[Operators who have invested in Bisang Construction have nothing to do with me.]

In that way, everything in the article was being negated.

I grinned at it. “As expected….”

In the first place, in the file, there was only information Tak Joon-gi could deny. There was a conviction of ninety-nine percent, but there was no clear evidence to confirm whether it was real or not. However, there was separately physical evidence.

I went into my mailbox and downloaded file two of Tak Joon-gi to my cell phone. Here was where it would turn up everything he had denied.

‘Pictures of evidence of Tak Joon-gi and Kang Joo-hyuk’s contact.’

‘Messages exchanged with President Jung gi-woong in advance.’

‘Evidence of direct control of operators involved in buying shares of Bisang Construction.’

It was all in there; the evidence that the strangely competent Crow had brought with him. I sent it to Jung So-young and Lee Won-jae, attached to emails.

– Finish him off with this.-