Reckoning
Think.
When a person gets impatient and loses their footing, their field of vision narrows.
I was no different back then.
Before I won the lottery, I had no room to breathe.
That old version of me overlapped with Team Leader Ma Seok-du.
"Let’s bury this, Chan. This is more than we can handle."
Rather than looking pitiful, it just made me sympathize with him.
Where does a wage earner find the luxury to look toward the future?
It was impressive enough just to live with one’s eyes on the present.
But this incident wasn’t something we could afford to view that way.
At least, that was my instinct.
I rolled my glass and cut to the point.
"Look into it."
Honestly, there was no need to investigate.
I’d already checked before I even came.
I had the answer I wanted from Reporter Seo, with whom I’d long been on friendly terms.
"To.Any's red-haired one? Ah... that Park Gyu-ri? She was a pretty well-known trainee, wasn't she? There were always rumors about her private life."
"Director Kim Jang-hun is famous. I heard he got kicked out of his last company for messing with trainees too."
Scandal, and less substantial than gossip.
But in this world, if a story like that was already circulating in a journalist’s mouth, it meant the person’s habits had never been clean to begin with.
It was only suspicion, but in a situation like this, that was enough.
From here on out, Ma Seok-du would turn suspicion into proof.
"There’s no harm in checking, is there? Hyung, you’ve got a lot of connections, so dig around on those two."
Ma Seok-du hesitated.
"...Still, they’re family, aren’t they? Snooping around behind their backs doesn’t feel right, Chan."
"Family? Since when do family members eat each other alive?"
"... "
"And think about it, hyung. If To.Any gets hit with a problem, the one who gets cut is you."
Ma Seok-du’s shoulders jolted.
"...What the hell are you talking about?"
"If To.Any’s girls debut and something goes wrong, whose word do you think people will listen to? Director Kim Jang-hun, the one the boss personally brought in? Or Team Leader Ma Seok-du, who’s underperforming?"
"... "
"If it were me, I wouldn’t fire Director Kim Jang-hun. I’d cut off Team Leader Ma Seok-du. Even trash is more useful if it’s got skill, and that’s Director Kim Jang-hun."
Ma Seok-du’s eyebrows twitched.
"Damn it? So I’ve got no skill?"
"You’re better as a person than as a worker."
"...Fine, I’ll own that. So what do you want me to do? Dig deeper?"
He’d taken the bait.
But I didn’t yank the line too hard.
Unlike his size, Seok-du hyung was timid and easily frightened.
If I pushed too quickly, he might get spooked and retreat.
So I kept it light.
I pitched it like a joke, something casual enough to make the whole thing feel less serious.
"Dig deeper. If there’s still no proof, then we bury it like you said. But if proof does turn up..."
I shook the baited line back and forth.
"Gather it all up and cut him out. Cut off Director Kim Jang-hun’s head before they cut ours."
***
Several days passed after that drinking session with Seok-du hyung.
I went to work as usual and left work as usual.
That ordinary routine dulled the incidents that had burned so hot in my head only a few days earlier.
But the matter wasn’t over.
Even by the simple fact that Team Leader Ma Seok-du had been absent from his desk for days, the situation was still in motion.
Would it have been better to help Seok-du hyung?
I shook my head.
I’d already done enough.
The company I’d already resolved to leave.
Whether a scandal broke, an affair came to light, or a sponsor arrangement surfaced.
Honestly, none of it had anything to do with me anymore.
The only reason I’d stirred the pot was Seok-du hyung.
What remained now was his responsibility.
He was a bit dumb because he was too good a person, but he was still the man who had climbed all the way to team leader at Baekhak.
I trusted him to handle it, and I took a day off.
I grabbed a simple lunch, then got into my 2014 K5, which I’d bought secondhand.
I’d just finished paying off the installment loan last year, so the car was fully mine now, but today it suddenly seemed to have flaws everywhere I looked.
"Should I get a new car?"
Honestly, wasn’t this thing too shabby for a first-prize lottery winner to be driving?
At minimum, I should be behind the wheel of a German luxury sedan.
With pointless thoughts like that in my head, I visited the property office where I’d made an appointment.
The realtor, who had covered her exhausted face with thick makeup, greeted me as if we were already acquainted.
"Oh, Mr. Kwon Chan?"
"Yes. I got here a little early."
"Well, that’s better than being late. Have a seat for a moment."
As she poured coffee, the realtor asked, "Coffee? Green tea? What would you like?"
I’d already had more caffeine than enough, so I declined.
She took a sip of the coffee she’d prepared for me and said, "From what I heard over the phone, you were looking at apartments in the Yongsan area?"
"Yes."
"Hmm... do you have a preferred size?"
"Twenty-eight pyeong, thirty-two pyeong? Something around there."
"So, standard national-size units. Shall we take a look at the listings first?"
She turned her laptop screen toward me.
I meant to study it carefully, but there was hardly anything to study.
There were only a handful of listings on the screen.
The realtor seemed to know it too.
"These days, there’s basically nothing left in Yongsan around the twenty-eight- or thirty-two-pyeong range. Ever since the president moved the office there."
She clicked her tongue softly.
"Would it be all right if we looked at other districts too?"
"Of course. Our office handles Yongsan, Gangnam, Sinsa, and Nonhyeon, so take your time and look around."
Once we widened the search, there were at least a few listings I could live with.
The realtor caught my expression instantly and asked, "If you have time, would you like me to show you in person?"
"That’d be great."
So I toured Gangnam, Nonhyeon, Sinsa, and Yongsan with her.
Among them, my eye settled on an older unit on the outskirts, but still attached to the Gangnam area somehow.
"This one is only twenty-five pyeong, but it’s 2 billion won. In Gangnam, you won’t find a place at this price."
"Twenty-five pyeong for 2 billion won?"
"Of course. This is Gangnam, after all. Even listings like this are causing a frenzy because there are so few. Everyone keeps saying real estate has collapsed, collapsed, but that’s really a story about the provinces. Seoul, especially a place like Gangnam, is different."
The realtor spoke with confidence.
"You know how, while everyone else was seeing declines, the real estate market in Seocho and the rest of Gangnam rebounded? In the end, Korea is Seoul. And in Seoul, Seocho, Nonhyeon, Gangnam. No matter what happens, prices on that line don’t go down. There’s a reason the industry calls it Gangnam invincibility."
I scratched my chin slowly.
It’s not exactly news to me, but hearing it from someone actually working the field makes it hit harder.
Was Gangnam really unbeatable?
As I mulled over that old real-estate mantra, I asked, "Can I get a loan?"
"What kind of budget are you working with?"
"About 1.3 billion won. Roughly around there."
The realtor broke into a broad grin.
"At that level, you’ll definitely get one. Where do you work?"
"I work in entertainment."
"Right. I don’t know much about entertainment, but if it’s Baekhak, you’ll absolutely get a loan."
The corner of my mouth twitched.
At Baekhak’s level, there was no need to worry about a loan.
Then the realtor chuckled and teased, "Goodness, how did such a young bachelor manage to save 1.3 billion won? Did you win the lottery or something?"
My heart thudded hard.
Thankfully, the jolt didn’t show on my face.
"I wish."
"I’m jealous. Even I, working in real estate, still don’t own a place. But with 1.3 billion won, you’re basically fine unless you insist on living in Seoul, right?"
"...Right?"
"Then this is an investment purchase. If it were me, I’d go with Gangnam without hesitation. If you’re worried about the loan, you can turn it into a jeonse or monthly rental. People are doing that a lot these days."
My ears pricked up.
Turn it into jeonse or monthly rent?
"Would a tenant move in quickly?"
"Of course! Like I said, places like this are impossible to find. If you switch it to monthly rent, you’ll pull in at least 2 million won a month. That’s why everyone doing gap investment gets a loan and puts it up for monthly rent."
2 million won a month was close to my monthly salary.
Without realizing it, I tightened my fist a little.
Forcing down the heartbeat that had started racing along with my thoughts, I said, "Could I think about it and call you back?"
"Of course. It’s a major purchase, so you should think it over."
I took her card and went home.
My 8-pyeong studio apartment came into view.
Coming back from a 25-pyeong place renting for 2 million won a month to an 8-pyeong studio barely better than a half-basement made reality feel strangely thin.
Unable to shake the odd feeling, I eventually reached for a can of beer.
- Psssh!
The sharp bite of alcohol tickled the back of my throat.
After draining half the can in one go, I muttered, "...I only meant to go look, but now I’m seriously hooked."
Winning the lottery hadn’t changed my life.
But it had given me a chance to change it.
If I handled 1.4 billion won well, I could live the rest of my life comfortably.
That was why I’d gone to look at apartments I could buy with 1.4 billion won today.
I don’t have the knack for stocks, and it’s not like I’ve got the talent to run a business.
I’d visited the realtor with no expectations because I had no other options left, but...
Why was my chest trembling like this?
"Me, buying a Gangnam apartment? Me, just some salaried worker?"
The absurdity made me laugh out loud.
"Ah, cut it out... seriously, cut it out. Please..."
I smacked my own mouth a few times, then finished off the half-can of beer.
After rinsing the stale taste from my mouth with a toothbrush, I lay down.
But I couldn’t fall asleep easily, and all I could keep thinking about was the Gangnam apartment I’d seen today.
How many people in Korea actually live in Gangnam?
Five hundred thousand?
Then how many of those five hundred thousand actually own a home there?
No matter how generously I estimated it, it probably wouldn’t even reach one percent.
And yet that one percent moved the whole country.
The social class I’d once thought of as a league unto themselves.
But thanks to a stroke of lottery luck, I now had one foot stepping into that class too.
The anticipation of that starting line kept me awake all night.
So the next day, when I came to work with puffy, swollen eyes, I found the management department completely turned upside down.
"Did you hear? They say Director Kim Jang-hun was involved in a sponsor arrangement?"
The century-defining sponsor scandal I’d personally helped set in motion had been exposed.
***
When I arrived at work, the company atmosphere was already in disarray.
"Did you hear?"
"Wow... how did it even come to that?"
"Good grief, Director Kim Jang-hun? The one the CEO personally brought in..."
Whispered murmurs drifted past my ears.
"What? A sponsor arrangement!"
"Hey, hey, keep it down!"
"Team Leader Kim, did you hear? Director Kim Jang-hun and one of the rookie girl group members..."
"You know that pretty trainee in To.Any? Apparently not only did she sleep with the director, she also..."
The office was steeped in dopamine, the kind that comes from a fresh piece of gossip.
Thinking that what I’d been waiting for had finally arrived, I sat down quietly at my desk.
Jeon Hyeong-u, the road manager from Team 5 who had been talking with people from other departments, hurried over to me in a fluster.
"Manager Kwon!"
"Chief Manager."
"Ah... Chief Manager Kwon! Did you hear the news?"
I asked as if I didn’t know.
"What news?"
"I heard this morning too, and it’s huge... huge! They say a sponsor relationship was exposed inside the company!"
"A sponsor relationship? Who?"
"Director Kim Jang-hun! You know him, right!? The total director for To.Any! Apparently that man... there’s a total uproar on the company intranet board right now because people say he was in one of those relationships with a debut trainee!"
My eyes widened slightly.
There’s a post on the intranet board?
Could it have been Seok-du hyung?
The only people who knew about this incident were me and Seok-du hyung, and I hadn’t even logged into the intranet board, so the only possible culprit left had to be Seok-du hyung.
But when I thought about Ma Seok-du’s character, he wasn’t the type to go around shooting off his mouth.
While I was still puzzling over it, Road Manager Jeon clicked his tongue.
"I never thought Director Kim Jang-hun was that kind of guy. He’s really trash."
I asked, pretending not to know.
"Yeah, it’s hard to believe. He always seemed like such a nice guy."
"Right? Wow... that’s basically the same as a road manager rolling around with the artist he’s assigned to, isn’t it?"
"... "
"Huh? Chief Manager? Why the face? Why do you look like you just bit into something rotten?"
I couldn’t exactly say, because my conscience is stabbing me, so I kept my face under control.
Then a strange voice called my name.
"Chief Manager Kwon?"
I turned and saw the head of Management Team 1.
"Yes, Team Leader."
"The Director wants to see you."
The skin at the corner of my eyes twitched.
"Director Park Yu-hyeon?"
"Yeah. I don’t know what it’s about, but hurry up and get ready."
Team Leader of Management Team 1 shot me a sidelong glance before heading off.
But my mind, already tangled up, had no room to care about that look.
I put on the jacket I’d taken off and headed straight to the director’s office.
After taking a breath, I knocked.
- Knock, knock.
"Chief Manager Kwon from Team 5. May I come in, Director?"
An answer came back.
But it wasn’t the director’s deep, heavy voice.
It was a woman’s voice I didn’t recognize.
"Come in, Chief Manager Kwon."
I opened the door and widened my eyes.
"Come in and take a seat."
Baekhak, the titan of the entertainment world.
There, with a strange smile, waiting to greet me, was Baek Ji-won, the legendary CEO of Baekhak.