12 Hours After

Translator: Khan

Editor: RED

I quickly typed ‘Director of Daewon Daily News Lee Won-jae’ on the keyboard. After searching, it appeared in the portal window.

[Director of Daewon Daily News Lee Won-jae]

However, there was no other news or such, except for a short profile.

‘If he became a director at twenty-eight years old, he would have been a little bit controversial.’

I certainly remembered seeing such an article. I changed the search term, ‘director, chaebol II.’ There was news coming up soon.

[Controversy is growing over the director appointment of Kang Yu-mi, the daughter of Chairman Kang Joon-gil of Hwa-yeon Asia.]

There was an article about half a year ago. When I clicked on the article, there was a story like that written.

[She is thirty years old and a granddaughter of the founder… At a time when the youth unemployment rate is recorded historical high… The appointment doesn’t match the style of Hwa-yeon Asia, which has emerged as a global cosmetics brand.]

I came back to the keyboard and typed, ‘controversy over Lee Won-jae, chaebol II.’ There was no article on Lee Won-jae, a 28-year-old director. I guessed Daewon Daily News had asked the portal site not to upload any news about him. In addition, no other U.S. company published an article about it.

‘I guess the media are taking care of one another.’

I searched a little more, ‘President of Daewon Daily News.’ The President of Daewon Daily News was Lee Keun-sang. As soon as I saw his picture, I thought he was the father of director Lee Won-jae. The red face, the cut eyes, and the big nose looked exactly the same. If there was a difference, his father looked very old. The hair of Lee Keun-sang was completely white and he had gray eyebrows. He was sixty-two years old.

‘Well… Lee Won-jae is twenty-eight years old and this man is sixty-two years old. There is 34 years difference between them.’

‘If it is a 34-year-old difference, he may not be the first son. Is he the second or third?’

I searched for more. Sure enough, there were two older brothers. The first was Lee Won-sang, the 36-year-old President of Daily Sports. The second was Lee Won-joon, the 34-year-old Executive Director of Daewon Daily News.

‘Thirty-six, thirty-four, twenty-eight years old… Look like he is the last son in this media chaebol.’

The Garden Envoy organizer, Master T, was also a low-ranking member of the chaebol, and there was an odd similarity.

I was thinking about him, and my cell phone rang. When I saw the caller, it was Lee Won-jae. With Lee Won-jae’s face on the monitor, I answered the phone.

“Hello? Mr. Han. I heard you signed a good deal. Congratulations.”

Director Lee Won-jae seemed to know the details of our contract. That certainly made me feel bad.

“….”

“Would you like me to write a piece of good news for you this time? On the contract?”

“News?”

“To celebrate this deal, I’ll write it down well.”

“Keystone Media… I’d like to say no.”

“Haha, don’t look at us so bad. There are many ordinary internet newspapers in our company. I will take good care of it.”

I thought it over. I had a plan to build the Invictus investment into a large and profitable company.

“Well, I think it’s not bad.”

“Yes, I’ll put it on the news in a few days. Then I’ll call you back.”

He ended the call with the last words. I looked at the cell phone with the name floating for a moment. From this approach, he seemed to think that his relationship with me was useful, too.

‘Well… this guy…’

At that moment, I heard a knock twice, and then I heard the secretary Seo’s voice.

“Boss, Vice President Jang is waiting.”

“Please let him in.”

Soon the door opened, and Vice President Jang came in. After bowing to me, he came before me.

“This is the data you mentioned before, on the appointment of CKD’s representative.”

“Okay.”

I received the data he gave me. There were several profiles of CKD Entertainment’s executive director, managing director, and others. I remembered seeing them all at the last meeting. They had their noses in my backside.

‘Welcome, Mr. President.’

‘Please take care of me. Mr. President.’

They showed appropriate reactions for their positions.

I announced that I would not be directly involved in management before I took over the company. Therefore, CEO Do Chan-ki would leave the company and the post of CEO would be vacant. So they were trying to get themselves in that position.

“Is there anyone you can recommend?”

“Well, I don’t know anything about the entertainment business… It’s hard to say.”

I kept passing over their profiles. But among them, the face of OH Entertainment CEO Kwon Oh Hyuk was also seen. I asked, picking up President Kwon Oh Hyuk’s profile, “How’s this guy? President Kwon Oh Hyuk of OH Entertainment, a subsidiary company?”

When I picked an example, Jang only expressed his opinion at that time. “Oh, I looked at him a little carefully, too. I don’t think it’s a bad choice. OH Entertainment’s performance is so good these days. Thanks to Oh Hyun-joo, the star entertainer, but… isn’t it true that he has done a job, anyway? These small and medium-sized entertainment companies can make a big profit, having a star entertainer.”

“Well, how was OH Entertainment acquired by the CKD? President Kwon Oh Hyuk was the manager of CEO Do Chan-ki.”

“They only worked together in the nineties, and then they split up and set up their own entertainment company around 2010. Unfortunately, CEO Do Chan-ki had his own money and used his name to attract investors and started holding large amounts of capital, while Kwon Oh Hyuk had only a career, so he got few investors and started with small amounts of his own.”

“Well, OH Entertainment hasn’t had any well-known celebrities, until the big hit of Oh Hyun-joo recently?”

“Yes. As the financial situation became difficult, President Kwon Oh Hyuk must have sent an SOS to Do Chan-ki, who had an old relationship with him,”

“That’s why it was taken over. And while it was a subsidiary, Oh Hyun-joo got a big hit.”

“That’s right.”

“But then… Should I say that his management skills are a little insufficient? What do you think?”

“However, people in this industry say that he is a little bit more upright than someone in the entertainment industry.”

“What does that mean?”

“Well, I don’t know the details, but… any company would do that. When they’re in need of money, they’re bound to do anything. Especially, in the case of entertainment agencies…”

When Vice President Jang blurted his words. I knew what he was saying.

“But he didn’t like to do it. He has been a very caring person. Even if he doesn’t have a sense of reality, it’s a good style in the long run.”

“Well… ” I thought of him for a moment when he lowered his head down and hit his fingers. Come to think of it, Oh Hyun-joo really didn’t get a big hit for a long time. I had always known her when she had been unknown.

‘Why can’t she get a big hit, though she is so pretty and so good at acting?’ I used to think that. Perhaps it was because Kwon cared about his agency’s entertainment staff and ran it neatly. I scored a good mark in my mind. President Kwon would be seated on the throne of CKD.

“Then, President Kwon will not be bad as the next CEO of CKD.”

“Yes, I think so, too.”

“By the way… What is the stake relationship between CKD and OH Entertainment?”

“It’s a 100% subsidiary. CKD had a 100% stake.”

“Well, why don’t we take this opportunity to merge? I can see that they also used the same building. At the same time, I hope we change our company name to OH Entertainment. CKD itself is named after CEO Do Chan-ki. I think it’s weird for a company that doesn’t have CEO Do.”

“You’re right. It wouldn’t be bad to do. This new OH Entertainment will do better.”

‘I think that’ll do. In fact, there are many cases in which well-known subsidiaries in other industries are disguised as parent companies.’

“Then I’ll appoint him a new CEO. Is there any other problem?”

“There’ll be a little noise. Other people, CKD’s board members will be wondering, because they expect to become the new CEO themselves.”

“But hasn’t OH Entertainment been feeding CKD much lately? From the financial perspective, it looks like OH Entertainment earns and pours it into CKD.”

“That’s true. For that reason, the directors won’t be able to say much.”

“Then there’s enough justification, so let’s go ahead with this scenario.”

“Yes, I see, boss.”

——

After Vice President Jang left, I picked up the phone right away and called Secretary Seo”

“Yes, boss.”

“Call that President Kwon Oh Hyuk of OH Entertainment and make an appointment to meet him.”

“When shall we do it?”

“The sooner the better.”

“Yes, boss.”

About a minute after the call, my phone rang again.

“Mr. Kwon will be here right away. I heard he would be here in time for the boss?”

Mr. Kwon seemed to have been interested in taking the position of CKD’s next president.

“Then ask him to have dinner tonight. Um… today… What shall I eat?” I blurted my words, and said what came to my mind right away, “How about tuna?”

“Oh yes, I see.”

————————————–

I opened the sliding door and walked in. Inside was President Kwon Oh Hyuk.

“Are you here, boss?”

“Oh, good to see you. Mr. President.”

I gave him my hand. He held my hand with his head down and shook it several times. We shook hands and settled down in front of each other. I looked at him, and he looked at me. By the way, he was still not aware of me.

‘What the hell? He still doesn’t recognize me.’

The door opened, and the hostess asked, “Would you like to order?”

“Eh… this one. What about alcohol?” I looked at President Kwon. He said, “Anything is fine.”

I started talking to him after having him take a course and drink for $150 per person. “You have a good reputation in the industry. You take care of your own celebrities well.”

“Ah, I’m overpraised.”

“To be honest, I don`t know much about the internal affairs of the entertainment industry. Don’t you see it sometimes? In the news. Gambling. Sponsors. Drugs… Considering that, I don’t think it would be easy to run an entertainment company. It’s a place where people with strong colors are gathered.”

“Thank you for your knowledge.”

“I think there’s a lot more to it, if you put together something that’s not covered. For example…” I sneaked out the story at that time, “The attempted murder.”

As I said, President Kwon’s eyes grow bigger. “Yes?”

He looked at me with his big eyes. “Ah… Ah-ah.” He made a noise without speaking. He only just now recognized me. I poured the beer served first into his glass as he said, “No, how?”

“What a strange connection, right? I didn’t know how President Kwon would look at me, but I was glad to see you again.”

“No, … I thought you resembled someone. But I didn’t even know that you were the same person that I saw.”

When I filled up his glass, he filled my glass with haste, too. He spoke with a slightly trembling hand. “But then… I heard that you were definitely an ordinary office worker…”

I said with a smile, tinkling a glass with him, “That wasn’t a lie.”