Episode 31. Don’t I Have the Right Too? 1.
After Yang Gyeonghun and Song Gaeun left, Kim Byeongjun asked Hyeonu,
“Why aren’t you going?”
“It felt wrong to leave before you did, Assistant Manager.”
“Hey, it’s fine. I’m more comfortable being alone. Don’t worry about me and just go.”
“No, sir. To be honest, I was thinking of taking the TOEIC sooner anyway, so I wanted to study a little harder. Since you said you were working overtime, I just used it as an excuse to study. Please don’t mind me.”
“Yeah?”
“Yes, sir.”
Kim Byeongjun gave a soft snort of laughter.
“All right. Then do that.”
Hyeonu opened his TOEIC book, and Kim Byeongjun turned back around in his swivel chair and continued the work he had been doing.
Had he studied for about an hour like that? Just as he was deep in concentration, Kim Byeongjun’s voice reached him.
“Hyeonu.”
“Yes, Assistant Manager.”
“You know that uproar about Mancheon Passenger throwing its weight around as a big corporation? Something about it seems strange.”
“What does?”
“Do you know what kind of company Mancheon Passenger is?”
He did not.
“I’m not really sure. I still haven’t memorized all the affiliates yet… I’m sorry.”
Kim Byeongjun gave a small laugh and said,
“It’s fine. You’ve only been here a few days. I’ll send it to you by email, so take a look.”
“Yes, sir.”
After the sound of several clicks, he turned his head back.
“Did it go through?”
The number “1” appeared on the envelope-shaped icon.
“Yes, it arrived.”
“Take a look.”
“Yes, sir.”
When he clicked the attached file titled “Mancheon Passenger Management Rationalization Plan,” a set of PowerPoint slides appeared, organized extremely well.
As Hyeonu was reading through them page by page, he heard a cracking sound, as if Kim Byeongjun was stretching.
“Ugh, ah… I’m stiff… I’m going out for a smoke.”
“Yes.”
“Haa… I’m tired…”
[You said you wanted to improve your abilities, right? Then I’ll make that happen. From now on, I’ll sit right beside you and drill you hard. First, get familiar with the slides. For an employee at a major corporation, that’s essential.]
Hyeonu had the feeling that today’s one-on-one English conversation lesson was a bust too.
He had been just about to leave work, only to get caught perfectly.
But he did not dislike it.
In the fifteen days Hyeonu had observed him, Kim Byeongjun was someone everyone acknowledged as a person of real practical ability.
This was an opportunity that would not be a waste no matter how much one paid for it.
Hyeonu was reading on, admiring Kim Byeongjun’s systematically organized slides, when Kim Byeongjun, who had returned without him noticing, held something out.
“Here, drink.”
It was Milkis.
“Ah, Milkis… Thank you. I’ll enjoy it.”
“How far did you get?”
“I’ve only gotten through the overview.”
If Mancheon Passenger had to be summed up in one line, it was this:
A transportation company that operated city buses and intercity buses in Seoul and the Gyeonggi region.
“That’s enough for now. But it’s a bit…”
Click, hissss…
The sound of Hyeonu opening the Milkis can cut off Kim Byeongjun’s words.
“I’m sorry.”
“No, drink.”
As Hyeonu took a sip, Kim Byeongjun’s voice continued.
“But it’s a bit strange. Mancheon Passenger was founded forty-one years ago, you know? It was established back when the roads weren’t even properly paved and the transportation environment was poor. That alone doesn’t match the articles the media is making such a fuss about right now, or public opinion.”
“…You’re saying Mancheon Passenger isn’t inherently the sort of company that kills small self-employed businesses and local small companies, right? Since it was founded at a time when transportation was desperately needed.”
“Right. In reality, Mancheon Passenger isn’t a company that makes that much money. It has done public-interest projects for a long time, and it’s a community-friendly company that even operates at a loss to extend routes to remote areas.”
The corner of his mouth slid upward as he asked,
“So why are people raising such hell? The media, even people who have nothing to do with it… Why the hell are they making such a racket?”
[Funny, isn’t it? Or is it not funny?]
“It is funny. Now that I look at it.”
“Huh? Oh. Yeah, it is. I found something strange, so come here and take a look at this.”
Hyeonu followed Kim Byeongjun and stood in front of his monitor.
Kim Byeongjun pointed with the mouse cursor, circling it around.
“This is the original article from the Donghae Ilbo, the starting point of this whole incident. Read this.”
What Kim Byeongjun was pointing at was a comment below the article.
-Ppangkku Ttongkku: This company is complete trash!!!!! Evil company Mancheon~~~ From now on, I’ll have to be picky about riding Mancheon Passenger-.,-
“See it?”
“Yes.”
“Now, then…”
Kim Byeongjun opened another window he had already organized.
This time, it was a fairly famous online community.
“Look.”
-Ppangkku Ttongkku: This company is complete trash!!!!! Evil company Mancheon~~~ From now on, I’ll have to be picky about riding Mancheon Passenger-,.-
Hyeonu’s eyes widened slightly.
“It’s that same guy again?”
“Right. The crap he wrote is exactly the same too. Not a single character off. Even the number of exclamation marks and tildes, and that runny-nose face… He copied and pasted it.”
“……”
“I found two more identical comments like this on other sites. If I kept looking, there’d be a lot more.”
“……”
“But Ppangkku Ttongkku isn’t the only one doing this.”
He clicked around roughly and showed him.
“Oh, here it is. Hong Kong Baby Ghost. Heh, look.”
It was the same as before.
Copied and pasted across multiple sites.
“Heh, I thought I was going to die finding these.”
It really did seem like it must have taken quite a lot of effort.
“Good work, Assistant Manager.”
“Work, well. I did it because I wanted to. Anyway…”
Kim Byeongjun leaned back in his chair and asked with a sardonic smile,
“Do you know what this means?”
“Are you saying someone did it intentionally?”
“Bingo… It’s a setup. Someone is working this. Who, and why, would they try to turn Mancheon Passenger, a socially friendly company, into such an evil corporation? By force, like this.”
“Could they be trying to ruin Mancheon Passenger? Maybe there’s some kind of interest at stake there.”
“We don’t know that. We can’t conclude that Mancheon Passenger is the target. It could be a deceptive tactic. We shouldn’t rule out the possibility that they’re starting with Mancheon Passenger and aiming for something else.”
“Hmm… Shouldn’t we inform the company about this quickly?”
“Of course we should. Not quickly, though. We have to watch the timing and situation carefully.”
[If I report it the wrong way, some other bastard could snatch the credit.]
“……”
“You get it, right? From my standpoint, this is the perfect opportunity.”
He seemed to be talking about what he had said on the rooftop today.
“The slides I gave you have everything about Mancheon Passenger in detail, so memorize them by tomorrow morning. No matter what.”
[You have to do this with me too. You need to grow as quickly as possible alongside me.]
“Understood, Assistant Manager. I’ll make sure to cram it thoroughly into my head.”
Kim Byeongjun smiled in satisfaction.
“Good. Let’s go now. It’s late.”
Hyeonu felt like he understood why Yang Gyeonghun acknowledged Kim Byeongjun so much.
He truly was someone with something different about him.
Whether it was hereditary or not…
On top of that, his air seemed to have changed a little too.
Should he say he had become more aggressive and bold?
It seemed to have been that way ever since he had made up his mind for certain.
It was probably because of what he had said to himself several times—that his heart was beating again.
In any case, Hyeonu was glad to learn work from him and work together with him.
* * *
The next day······.
Early in the morning, Sim Hae-gyun, director of PR Strategy at Mancheon Group, entered the editor-in-chief’s office at the Donghae Ilbo.
Editor-in-chief Park Seong-il greeted him warmly.
“Welcome, sunbae.”
Park Seong-il was Sim Hae-gyun’s junior from Gyeonggi High School.
Prestigious high schools like the old Busan Commercial High School or Seoul’s Gyeonggi High School were famous for forming exceptionally tight bonds between seniors and juniors.
Simply being from the same high school was enough to form a line, and that bond was considered something far above university background, hometown, or even one’s social cohort.
On top of that, Sim Hae-gyun had even been Park Seong-il’s senior in middle school.
People in high positions never regarded such relationships lightly.
They knew well that backgrounds like these had played a large role in allowing them to rise to where they were, and they also knew exactly how one would be treated if one ignored them.
In other words, there existed an enormous personal hierarchy between the two men.
“Ah, yes. Editor Park. Sorry for dropping by so early when you must be busy.”
“Not at all, sunbae. If you’re coming to see me, I’m always happy to welcome you. Please wait just a moment. I’ll bring you a cup of morning coffee.”
Park Seong-il scooped some coffee beans from a shelf on one side and brought over a cup.
“Here you are, sunbae.”
“Thanks.”
After taking a light sip of the rather fragrant coffee, Sim Hae-gyun opened his mouth.
“By the way.”
“Yes, please go ahead.”
Though he answered like that, Park Seong-il was subtly watching Sim Hae-gyun’s expression.
He knew what the man was about to say.
“That article written by your rookie reporter······. You know about it, right?”
“That? Ah, yes. I know.”
“Things suddenly got too noisy, so I did some fact-checking myself, and the facts don’t line up at all.”
Sim Hae-gyun took documents out of an envelope marked “滿川 (Mancheon)” and placed them in front of Park Seong-il.
“Here. This is the truth. Read it over, and if it checks out, I need you to write a correction article. I’ve also included guidelines for when you publish the correction, so refer to those.”
Park Seong-il set down his coffee cup and, with a troubled expression, pushed the documents back toward Sim Hae-gyun.
“I’m sorry, but I don’t think I can do that, sunbae.”
Sim Hae-gyun’s brow furrowed.
He was extremely displeased.
Putting aside the senior-junior relationship, since he too belonged to an organization, he understood very well that what could not be done could not be done.
But pushing it back without even reading it was simply an act of disregarding him.
“Editor Park, isn’t this a bit much? You haven’t even read it······.”
Park Seong-il cut him off.
“Because there’s no need to read it.”
“What did you say?”
Park Seong-il lowered his voice as if whispering.
“I’m sorry, sunbae. It’s beyond the scope of what I can get involved in.”
Beyond the scope of the editor-in-chief of the Donghae Ilbo, South Korea’s largest media company?
A single false article written by a rookie reporter?
It made no sense.
Park Seong-il whispered again.
“This is for your ears only, sunbae.”
“······.”
“The truth is, there was an order from the owner of the paper.”
Sim Hae-gyun’s eyes went round.
What kind of bullshit was this······.
* * *
No Hyeon-cheol sat still, watching Ha Tae-seong, vice president of Mancheon Trading, stomp toward him in a huff.
An annoyed, reluctant expression settled over his face.
Good grief······ That hothead’s going to start yammering and make my ears ring again.
Ha Tae-seong flung himself down onto the sofa as if his weight would make it cave in.
“We can’t just leave this alone anymore.”
“What now?”
“Are you asking because you don’t know? What else could it be but Mancheon Passenger Transport? They’re even trying to start a boycott now. I’m saying this could damage all of Mancheon.”
“So what do you want to do?”
“What do I want to do? We need to come up with a move fast. Take action as quickly as possible and······.”
No Hyeon-cheol cut him off.
“Wait a little. Group headquarters is moving too.”
“Ah, that’s that, and we need to prepare too. Don’t you know that if you drag your feet on something like this and end up too late, it can get completely out of hand?”
“That’s why we’re preparing now, aren’t we? I told the director of PR Strategy to contact the Donghae Ilbo, so wait. Until I give the word.”
“Ugh······ damn it. To be toyed with like this by some rookie reporter’s false article. It’s beyond absurd.”
“If it’s a false article, it’ll end as just a happening. We can’t act rashly because public opinion scares us. The Donghae Ilbo will publish a correction, we’ll have other media outlets put out counter-articles, and once we announce our position, it’ll be neatly over.”
“And if it doesn’t go the way you want?”
“Then we’ll think about it when the time comes. Well, not that it’ll come to that.”
No Hyeon-cheol thought it would end as nothing more than a happening.
Because it was not the truth, he believed there was no way the matter could grow any bigger.
Then Ha Tae-seong said,
“If things get even the slightest bit strange, let’s just sell off Mancheon Passenger Transport. It’s not like the affiliate makes money anyway.”
“······.”
After Ha Tae-seong left, No Hyeon-cheol pressed the kettle switch to have a cup of tea.
He put tea leaves into the teapot and was standing there waiting when the phone rang.
He walked over to his desk and picked up the receiver.
“Mm.”
[Director Sim Hae-gyun of PR Strategy is calling.]
“Put him through.”
There was the mechanical sound of the call being transferred.
“Hello.”
[Yes, President No. This is Director Sim.]
Along with Sim Hae-gyun’s voice came the distinctive sound of water boiling in the kettle.
Rattle-rattle-rattle-rattle······.
He glanced toward the kettle, then asked,
“How did it go?”
[I think there’s something going on here.]
His voice sounded taut with tension.
For some reason, a chill ran through him.
“What is it?”
[They say the owner of the Donghae Ilbo won’t allow anyone to touch the article.]
“What?”
[It seems the article was published on the owner’s orders.]
His heart gave a jolt.
It was like trying to pull up a stalk of foxtail grass, only to find a snake coiled beneath it.
No Hyeon-cheol knew well from experience that in situations like this, something major was about to erupt.
Then the sound of boiling water reached No Hyeon-cheol’s ears—a shrill beeeeeep.