12 Hours After

Editor: RED

“We’re here, boss.”

At Ji-hoon’s voice, I raised my head. “Hmm?”

I looked out and saw a row of luxury cars. It was the parking lot of my studio building. I didn’t even know that we had already arrived there, as I was thinking about something. “Oh, we’re already here.”

“Your home is close to the company.”

“Yes, that’s right.” I nodded and sat still for a while, without thinking of getting out. It had been a dozen seconds.

Ji-hoon spoke up, “Boss?” ‘You’re home, aren’t you going to get off?’, was omitted.

I spoke to him, “Hey Ji-hoon.”

“Yes, boss.”

“Today… we had a meeting.”

“Yes.”

“Wasn’t it a little strange?”

“What part do you mean?”

“You know, when I asked CEO Do Chan-ki a question, “Why do you want to sell this company?'”

“Oh, are you talking about it at that time? Well, I had two ideas.”

“What were they?”

“First of all, it was a natural question to ask while buying $20,000,000 worth of goods. Second, it was a little too much to ask, knowing why.”

I laughed at the remark.

‘CEO Do Chan-ki was disillusioned with the entertainment industry due to the gay rumor.’ It was Ji-hoon who delivered the words to me. Still, he was reading my feelings correctly.

“But CEO Do is the one who threw the first punch. Huh-huh-huh. He was suspicious that you can do well.”

I smiled, “Did it sound that way?”

“Yes, 100%. I’m sure that’s what Vice President Jang heard. He pretended to be gentle, but then he looked a little bit like a snake.”

I was right as expected. ‘He is like a snake, so it’s even more questionable.’

“And, then, did you hear his voice shaking when he answered that question?”

“Oh, yes. I was surprised, too. I didn’t know when I heard it, but I thought it had was a shock to him.”

I asked him a key question, “But that shaky voice. Was it real?”

“Yes?” Ji-hoon seemed to have no idea that it was fake.

“I was a little sorry when I heard it, but now I’m thinking… Do I have to say that the situation was weird then? Think about it. At that age, in front of others, in front of his men, he was showing his feelings… It felt like something impossible to me, even at my age.”

Ji-hoon nodded, collecting his lips. “Well, is that so?”

Ji-hoon didn’t understand my story very well. It was not very long since I had been listening to the word ‘boss’, but being the president of a company wasn’t such a light thing.

“Yes. If I were alone with you… but I don’t think I’d ever be able to do that in front of other employees.”

“Well… it sounds like that. Oh, by the way, at that time, what I thought was this guy had a very thick, nice voice even though his voice was shaking.”

That was what I thought, too… “Oh, right. Come to think of it, he’s a singer. He might easily manipulate his voice,” I said it to Ji-hoon and I had a flash of insight. “Wait a minute. Did CEO Do Chan-ki ever act?”

“Ah? Maybe he did?”

We both didn’t know about his best time in the 1990’s, because we were middle school students. We both picked up the cell phone and searched for “Do Chan-ki.” When I took his profile, I found out that he had acted once. It wasn’t a feature film, but he was the main character in a short story, and he played two supporting roles in miniseries. I searched The Northern Part of Eden, the name of the short story he had played as the main character. The news came soon. News from ten years ago…

[Do Chan-ki in The Northern Part of Eden has favorable comments.]

[Director Kim Sung-kyun gives a favorable comment on Do Chan-ki; his performance and vocalization are great.]

[Do Chan-ki has challenged a full-time actor? His splendid ability has been proven.]

Before I said anything, Ji-hoon said first. “Oh, he has acted before, and he got favorable comments?”

“Well. He must have been quite talented in his acting.”

“I searched some articles at that time… he was going to act, but then he set up an agency. I guess he just quit after all this.”

“Well, he is good at acting… Hey, Ji-hoon, If what he said was a lie, wouldn’t there be a fatal problem inside the company?”

If so, it was a big problem. To maintain the Diamond Class, the listed company must be controlled and maintained. If something was wrong with the inside, I might face a downgrade.

“Maybe… But it was neat in accounting. Since he has been selling it too quickly, Vice President Jang has checked it out a few times.”

“Well…”

I stroked my chin for a moment and was lost in thought. ‘If it’s an entertainment company… It’s not an accounting problem, but it may be a human problem.’

I thought so. The reason I started the entertainment company was that it was for all about people. But when I thought about it, I had an idea coming into my mind naturally. ‘Man’s problem… Do Chan-ki… could be homosexual…’

————-

When I got back home, I turned on my computer and typed the name Do Chan-ki on the portal site. Most of the time he appeared in the ’90s. Most of them were with the lyrics he sang during his best years. I went over to the news. The article I was looking for was the one at that time.

[CKD Entertainment CEO Do Chan-ki is gay.] But the article was gone.

‘He said that he was going to sue, so did they take it off?’

I did a search with ‘Do Chan-ki, sue’. However, there was no news that said he had filed a complaint. Something suspicious was going on.

‘What if he’s gay?’

I tried the scenario on that premise. ‘He barely managed to stop the story and the press, but now it has spread to the public. It’s only a matter of time before he loses. Then, he cannot maintain his position as CEO anyway. Before then, he’ll sell it to someone who is a first timer in an entertainment business. It’s a lie that he is disillusioned with the entertainment industry. It’s not that. It’s a situation where he can’t stay in the entertainment world.’

Open-eyed, I thought a little more. ‘Then why did President Kwon Oh Hyuk do that?’

I searched ‘Do Chan-ki and Kwon Oh Hyuk.’ News came up again.

[President Kwon Oh Hyuk set up OH Entertainment.]

I clicked on the article. There I could see the relationship between the two.

[President Kwon Oh Hyuk, who worked as a manager for famous singer Do Chan-ki…]

“Aaaah.”

Then it all made sense. Since President Kwon Oh Hyuk was the manager of Do Chan-ki, he must have known Do was gay.

‘Even the old fans turned around and blamed me… I have an indescribable wound…’ When CEO Do Chan-ki told a lie, Kwon had a guilty conscience and kept his head down and his fingers crossed. Then it all made sense.

‘Do Chan-ki is a homosexual. That article wasn’t wrong.’ When I thought about it, I recognized that CEO Do Chan-ki deceived the public with the news, [CEO of CKD Entertainment, Do Chan-ki, is not gay.]

And he also deceived with the words, ‘I’ve been in the entertainment world for almost 30 years, but it’s the first time I’ve been so shocked.’

‘Oh, my God! If the hypothesis is real, it may be necessary to fundamentally review the contract. CKD is a company named after Do Chan-ki himself. Homosexuality isn’t much of a bad thing, but it’s a big thing that he has been lying through a fake marriage for thirty years. It’s to the extent the entire company is shaking.

‘But I don’t want to break the contract, either. This CKD entertainment is a good company on the surface. Oh Hyun-joo’s OH Entertainment has been doing well. I’ve worked on it for three months, and if I give up now, the promotion to Diamond Class will be too far away. It is not certain when other entertainment companies will be put up for sale.’

‘So what shall I do with this?’

I suddenly thought of the news company that wrote the article. It was the famous Keystone Media, a kite-sniper.

‘They’d know the truth, wouldn’t they? How can I contact Keystone Media?’

Thinking of it, I called Secretary Seo right away.

“Yes, boss.”

“Ji Hoon, do you know Keystone Media?”

“I know them. The Keystone Media are professionals on figuring out on the sportsman or celebrity gossip.”

Ji-hoon didn’t seem to know that they first presented the news of Do Chan-ki. But that was three months ago. “Yes. I need you to call them and let them know that we want to talk with them.”

“Yes, I see.”

“Well, if you just say it, they can’t understand it. Tell them all about our takeover; our company is trying to make an investment worth $21,000,000 and that’s what CKD Entertainment is for.”

“Yes, I see, boss.”

If my scenario was real, Keystone Media would contact me.

—–

Sure enough, I got a call from Secretary Seo ten minutes later. “Boss, that’s weird. Moments ago, I talked to them about what the boss just told me… and they said that they would visit us tomorrow at ten in the morning.”

I got it. “Really? Who’s coming to see us? A reporter?”

“No, not a reporter, but they didn’t tell me the position… The decision maker of their company is coming?”

“Okay.” Any decision maker with a high-ranking could be coming.

“Well, I’ll see you tomorrow at ten.”

“Yes, boss.”

—————————————

I raised my hand and looked at the watch. It was 9:50 am. I had ten minutes left before the meeting with a Keystone Media official today. I was going to meet him and buy solid evidence that the Do Chan-ki was gay. After the purchase, we would negotiate with him over that.

‘It’s kind of mean to shake a person’s weakness, but he tried to hide it and sell it over to me. I will do that. too.’

Outside, with a knock, the voice from the secretary Seo came in. “Boss, this is the guest you promised.”

“Yes, let the guest in.”

I got up from my seat and prepared to greet the guest. The door opened, someone came in, and I almost cried out.

The person who came in had sharp eyes and a nose sharp a ruler. The man also hardened when he saw me. He was Kaiji, whom I saw at Garden Envy. We both recognized each other at once, but secretary Seo was watching behind us. Shaking my hand first, I said to him, “I’ve seen you for the first time. I’m the president of Invictus Investment, Han Sang-hoon.”

He took my hand and replied, “Nice to meet you. I’m Lee Won-jae from Daewon Daily News.”