The Failed Man's Confession
Following the confirmation of the GPL award, the government issued a press release, and the news that a civilian—not a soldier—would be receiving the Order of National Security Merit began to spread as breaking news. As the sunset began to paint the horizon, Eunbyul sat by his side, monitoring the comments on news articles one by one and relaying them to him.
"I don't really want to see those kinds of comments..."
"There are some comments saying that giving such a medal to a civilian devalues it. Hmm..."
It wasn't just those kinds of comments, though. Eunbyul continued to find and share the comments with the most reactions and the most "likes."
"You've acquired two 'Anti-Criticism Passes,' Director. Did you see?"
"Anti-Criticism... what does that mean? Is that some kind of slang?"
"It's called an Anti-Criticism Pass; it means people won't curse you even if you cause two major accidents in the future. I think the term came from gaming..."
"So, does that mean it's fine if I blow up two more cars? Haha..."
Eunbyul kept reading the comments. 'Wouldn't they have given it because he deserved it?', 'It's unexpected for a silver-spooner who lived comfortably,' and so on. There were quite a few that sounded like praise but were laced with sarcasm. Listening to public opinion didn't mean he stopped working. Even now, approval documents were piling up in real-time, and the fact that his brain was running at full capacity to process them within four minutes said it all.
"Do you want to look together?"
"Forget it. You look. I'm still... it's a bit hard for me. You know."
There was no special reason he had come to hate the news. It was because of his past, when coming home and turning on the TV meant hearing nothing but people criticizing and blaming him. That had become a trauma, and he only read a few internet news articles at most. Even so, he couldn't help but be interested. To him, who still remembered the comment sections of internet articles filled only with vitriol, the positive reactions people were showing now had a rather alluring taste.
"Director, um... I think you should see this. There's something good."
"...? What is it?"
"Look at this. Right here."
It's all good that he's getting a medal and people are praising him. It's a bit much to dig up the past now, but... honestly, aren't people being hypocritical? Looking at the comments, the reaction is almost like they're treating him as a national hero, and it kept giving me goosebumps while reading. Of course, not everyone is like that, but aren't more than half of the guys praising him now the same people who cursed Han Suhyun back then?
The "pot-like" mentality of Koreans is truly amazing. It's not like he killed anyone; he just took what was in the lab and put it in, and one car blew up and failed. When they were cursing him with all sorts of profanity, calling him a swindler or an assassin, where were they? And now, he's the "Prince of the Sea"? It's truly absurd. It was even more ridiculous for me because I'm the son of a refinery worker. Back then, they were cursing him like they wanted to beat Han Suhyun to death lol. Hey, in refineries, nine out of ten R&D projects involving crude oil fail. If they knew that, every refinery employee would be locked up.
Not long ago, we filled a car with BD100 biodiesel and the engine room exploded, so why isn't that on the news? Do I need to change jobs? I'm not friends with Han Suhyun, and we aren't college seniors/juniors, so why do you think I'm shielding him? Because the price of oil skyrocketed because of your mindless cursing. Back then, the atmosphere was good, and people thought if GPL's alternative gasoline came out, oil drilling companies would have piles of inventory, so it went up to 800 won per liter. After that failed, what happened? We're bringing in 100 tons of Brent crude for 150 million won now. It went from 65 dollars a barrel to 170 dollars in two years. You ask why I'm saying this when refineries are making a lot of money? What "a lot"? Our performance bonuses keep getting cut, and the government is always investigating us for collusion, asking us to lower gasoline prices. We had 600 layoffs last year alone. There's no profit. If he had just developed it like he was doing, we wouldn't be in this mess. At the very least, if he had just received the alternative gasoline, changed the lines, and supplied it to gas stations, that would have been a cash cow. If he had kept developing it, I bet comments saying "people would have died" wouldn't be posted.
I don't think there's anyone left who thinks Han Suhyun made a mistake, unless they've been in prison for two years without watching the news or are just locked in their own delusions lol... They say it works just fine now that they're using what they originally intended to use after failing with something else, sigh...
"That's what it says."
He fell into thought while looking at his phone. Even though he hadn't done anything again, people seemed to be trying to understand his sincerity as time passed, and it felt like tears were welling up. Similar posts began to appear one by one.
"What is this?"
"It's called Blind. A community for office workers. I signed up too. Because I was curious about the posts."
"I see..."
"Only people who have verified their company can come in here, so the 'V Oil' tag means an employee from that company wrote the post."
"I see."
If he were to sue, he thought the settlement money alone would add up to about 1 trillion won. Just suing all the media outlets would probably yield 30% of that. If he stated that the severe defamation made him think about suicide, he felt the judge would acknowledge it and strike the gavel. However, here again, the quick-witted and smart secretary Eunbyul said to him.
"Director. Things like this are just jokes."
"...?"
"We should do it in a different way. A way where you can shine."
And Eunbyul whispered something to him for quite a long time.
"Medal Certificate. Doowon Co., Ltd., Executive Director Han Suhyun."
"You have contributed greatly to national security, and in accordance with the Constitution of the Republic of Korea, the following medal is awarded."
"Order of National Security Merit, Samil Medal. September 11, 20XX, President Choi Mundeok. This certificate is recorded in the National Medal Registry."
"Commendation. Doowon Co., Ltd., Secretary Eun Byeol."
"You have acted voluntarily to contribute to national security, and in particular, have contributed greatly to the success of the maritime rescue activities of the 'Jail Thousand — Spirit Ho' and the rescue of crew members, so you are hereby commended."
"September 11, 20XX, President Choi Mundeok. This certificate is recorded in the Presidential Commendation Registry."
One by one, they faced the President, listened to the words of the person reading the certificate, and exchanged simple nods. "Commendation. Doowon Heavy Industries, Park Jeongmin. You have acted voluntarily in protecting the lives of the people, contributing to the protection of the marine environment and life-saving, and..."
After receiving the certificate, they carefully folded it as they had learned in advance, and instead of waving, they shook hands and bowed their heads. Then, he stepped forward as the representative, stood on the podium with President Ham Juhyeon beside him, and began his acceptance speech into the microphone.
"Yes... First and foremost, thank you for awarding me such a precious medal."
As he was giving his speech, all of a sudden—
The audience went silent.