Chapter 208
Chapter 208
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 208
Chapter Title: The Aftermath
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Jang Ki-yong, the Senior Managing Director of King Patty, turned pale when he realized the CEO already knew about his corruption. Getting fired as a corrupt executive at the age of fifty would surely make the remaining decades of his life a living hell.
“Sir. Please, don’t do this. Just give me a little time.”
“And do what? You should be grateful we’re a publicly traded company. Just handle this quietly and get out.”
Senior Managing Director Jang Ki-yong dropped to his knees before the CEO.
“Sir. Please, just give me one more chance. I’ll talk to the other side and get the article taken down. I’ll have everything back to normal by the end of the day.”
“I’ll give you two hours.”
“Thank you, thank you!”
Jang Ki-yong bowed as if in a deep prostration and ran to his office.
“Hey, Reporter Lee! It’s me. Take down that hamburger column. Quickly. And if there are any clickbait versions, please take care of those too.”
He first had the column he commissioned taken down, then looked up the rebuttal article and managed to get in touch with reporter Shin Dong-min.
“Hello, Reporter Shin. I believe there’s been a misunderstanding, so we’ve taken down our column.”
-Ah, I see. So?
Jang Ki-yong ground his teeth at Shin Dong-min’s blunt reply.
“Since your article was a rebuttal to that column in the first place, I was hoping you could take it down as well.”
-It’s not like I did anything wrong, so why should I have to take it down? I took time out of my busy schedule to write that article.
*Haaa*, Jang Ki-yong covered the mouthpiece and let out a furious sigh.
“Ah, of course, I’m not just asking you to take it down for free. You must have worked hard, so you should be compensated. I’ll give you one million.”
-One million? Is that all? Not ten million? Or a hundred million?
“Ha!”
Jang Ki-yong let out a scoff, utterly dumbfounded.
“Look, can’t we just settle this for one million won?”
-Pahahaha! Sorry.
*Click.* Shin Dong-min abruptly hung up the phone.
*Thump!*
“Ugh! That son of a bitch! I hope he bursts from his own greed!”
Jang Ki-yong slammed his desk and screamed through gritted teeth. After taking a few deep breaths, he called Shin Dong-min again.
-Yes, hello?
“Why did you hang up so suddenly? Let’s be reasonable. How about five million…”
-No, thanks.
‘This greedy journo-trash.’
A vein throbbed on Jang Ki-yong’s temple. But he calmed himself, remembering he was the one in a desperate position.
“Haaa. Alright. I’ll prepare ten million won. If you give me your account number—”
-Are you taking journalists for fools?
Shin Dong-min’s once-languid voice suddenly turned sharp, sending a chill down Jang Ki-yong’s spine.
“O-Of course not. I just thought we could resolve this amicably. As a reporter, you must have expenses for things like undercover investigations—”
-Not all reporters swoon over a bit of cash. I have nothing more to say.
*Click.*
“Gasp!”
Jang Ki-yong gasped in bewilderment. His mind went blank, and for a moment, he was completely stunned.
He tried calling again, but Shin Dong-min didn’t answer. With trembling hands, Jang Ki-yong typed out a text message.
-Reporter Shin, I’ll give you whatever you want. Please, just help me out.
He waited for several minutes and tried calling again, but Shin Dong-min still didn’t pick up.
“Damn it! Damn it!”
After kicking the innocent floor in frustration, he looked up Min-jun’s phone number.
Jang Ki-yong knew full well that Min-jun was the source of all his current troubles. Otherwise, the response couldn’t have been so swift.
“Haa. Shit.”
Taking a breath twice as deep as the one he took before calling Shin Dong-min, he dialed Min-jun’s number.
“Pick up, pick up…”
The man in his fifties anxiously tapped his foot like a child. And then.
-This is Min-jun, from Answer’s team.
Jang Ki-yong swallowed hard without realizing it.
‘Right. He might be smart, but he’s just a greenhorn with no real-world experience, a salaried employee. He’ll jump at the chance for a major contract that would look great on his performance review.’
Jang Ki-yong calmed his racing heart.
* * *
-Excuse me, manager. This is Senior Managing Director Jang from King Patty.
“Ah. Senior Managing Director Jang?”
At my words, the Director, who had been working, looked over at me. The man on the other end of the line sounded extremely anxious.
-I was wrong.
“About what?”
It might have been my imagination, but I could almost hear the man’s blood vessels bursting.
-Please, calm your anger and let’s handle this amicably. We’ll be seeing each other again for future contracts, after all. I’ll make it worth your while.
I let out a small chuckle at the Senior Managing Director’s attempt to sound polite and composed. If things continued this way, King Patty’s downfall was a foregone conclusion. A boycott was imminent.
“I’m not sure what I’m supposed to forgive you for. And I don’t think we’ll be signing any contracts with King Patty in the future.”
-What do you mean by that? There are no eternal enemies or allies. If it’s mutually beneficial, we can always work together again. As a gesture of reconciliation, how about a two-year, 500 million won contract after your one with Break Burger expires?
A subtle condescension laced the Senior Managing Director’s voice when he mentioned the 500 million. He seemed to be thinking, ‘There’s no way he can ignore a major deal like this.’
“From my perspective, this situation seems quite serious, yet you appear rather relaxed, Senior Managing Director Jang.”
-N-Not at all. I was clearly in the wrong.
At my blunt remark, Jang Ki-yong’s voice immediately became timid again.
“You seem to think 500 million is some massive deal for Answer, but in the first twenty days of this month alone, we’ve signed contracts worth 1.2 billion.”
-N-No, that’s not what I meant, sir.
Has he finally grasped the situation? The Senior Managing Director’s voice began to sound urgent.
“Even if it were a 5 billion won deal, we wouldn’t sign with a company as notorious as King Patty. It would only tarnish Answer’s image. I’m hanging up now.”
-W-Wait! Please! At least have the articles taken down.
“Aren’t articles written by reporters? I’m just a mere manager.”
*Thud.*
Suddenly, a small but heavy sound came through the phone.
-I… I’m on my knees right now! Sir. Please, save me. My elderly mother and my rabbit-like children are all depending on me.
I didn’t know if he had an elderly mother, but I knew he had a hooligan son who caused an injury while drunk driving again after having his license revoked.
“I’m not sure what you’re talking about, but I believe that once someone shows their true colors, they don’t change back. I hope we never see each other again.”
-Hey! You!
*Beep.*
“Was that the Senior Managing Director?”
“Yes, that one.”
“Sometimes, watching you, Min-jun, you can be quite scary.”
“I’ll take that as a compliment.”
*Whoosh!*
The team leader, whom I thought was working, slid over in his chair.
“Be thankful I’m your ally, and lament that you’re my enemy.”
That line sounded very familiar.
“What was that? That arrogant, sweeping taunt?”
The Director said with a look of disgust.
“It’s a famous quote left behind by our very own Min-jun, Team Leader of the New Artist Development Team, while he was out on a schedule.”
“!”
The Director stared at me, dumbfounded, and I was reminded of the incident with Your Girl when they had picked a fight with Answer.
“…That Choi Yoo-jun.”
Spreading such useless things around.
* * *
The hamburger column that had been a blade aimed at Answer was now under heavy fire from netizens who had read the rebuttal. There were no comments defending King Patty anywhere; instead, the revelation of JD and Answer’s concern for underprivileged children created an even more favorable atmosphere.
King Patty’s various abuses of power and other issues, which had been hidden until now, began to surface from multiple sources.
The situation eventually escalated into a boycott, and the incident was more or less concluded when the Senior Managing Director posted an apology and resigned.
However, there was no stopping a significant portion of King Patty’s revenue from shifting to Break Burger, the brand Answer had filmed a commercial for.
Break Burger’s Senior Managing Director Lee Woon-young seized the opportunity, reinvesting a portion of the increased profits back into orphanages, solidifying their positive image. Thanks to this, JD’s discerning eye for choosing advertisers also received praise.
“Ahem. Ahem.”
CEO Park Jae-yong’s face was all smiles at the weekly meeting. Ever since the King Patty and Break Burger incident, praise for JD had been pouring in from all over.
“Wow. That rebuttal to the hamburger column, you wrote that in advance, didn’t you, Min-jun?”
“I was the one who best understood the situation.”
The CEO raised both his hands.
“So this is what it feels like to be completely blown away. No wonder nobody was worried even when the crisis hit.”
“Pfft!”
The attendees of the weekly meeting, remembering the CEO’s panic just a few days ago, let out cheerful laughs as if watching a daily comedy skit.
“Now that my mind is at peace, I think my panic disorder is gone too.”
Park Jae-yong took a deep breath of the air in his office and exhaled.
“But does it still smell like budae-jjigae kimchi in here?”
“No?”
Everyone answered in unison. But to my nose, there was a faint trace of that smell.
“I see. Well then, let’s begin the weekly report.”
The weekly reports from each team leader followed.
With JD Enter’s image improving, the profit margins for not only Answer and Sung-hoon but also for the two artists who had been barely breaking even began to rise. Inquiries from new trainees were also increasing, but the policy was set to focus on the debut of the 15 trainees currently under management.
Then it was my turn.
“The response to the last ‘Gourmet in Love’ was so positive that we’ve been receiving continuous casting offers from related programs.”
“I saw that. Was that really not scripted? She knew so much.”
“Seul-bi has always been interested in food, and I know she studies diligently through Tube and other sources while traveling.”
“I never thought of Seul-bi as being that diligent. I guess financial therapy really is the answer.”
“There has never been a member of Answer who wasn’t diligent, Daepyo-nim.”
“Trainees put in that much effort too. She didn’t work herself to the bone like the others. She was just exceptionally talented. Though she seems to have changed a lot recently.”
Even to me, the Seul-bi from before the incident and the Seul-bi after felt like completely different people. The fact that she now held back on things she would have impulsively done before and sought my advice was proof enough.
In any case, the CEO wasn’t wrong. Seul-bi’s talent was certainly outstanding.
“She’s already scheduled to appear on ‘Idol of Cooking,’ so we’re turning down most related programs. We can’t do anything about the schedules that were already set.”
“Of course. Even if you’re good at something, it becomes stale if you show it too often.”
“Yes. The team at ‘Idol of Cooking’ was also very impressed with Seul-bi’s episode and asked for our opinion on modifying the concept to ‘Exposing Fake Gourmet Restaurants’.”
“Woah? Isn’t that sensational?”
“We’re reviewing it positively, as it seems like it would be good for their ‘moral-dol’ image.”
“The pros certainly seem to outweigh the cons.”
“A rising moral-dol in a society lacking in morality.”
“Even I could tell she was a total expert. Baking soda in the noodles? Store-bought red bean paste? Wow, just…”
“All the fake restaurants are done for. Heh.”
The meeting attendees showed a positive reaction, exchanging opinions and expressing their admiration.
“Other than that, there are no new contracts. As a special note, Seol-ah and I have our honorary firefighter appointment ceremony tomorrow.”
“Huh? Really? Hey, I do a lot of good deeds too, why don’t I get appointed as an honorary firefighter or police officer?”
Why our CEO, who has so many things he likes, was asking me that, I had no idea.
“Anyway, I have a major announcement to make today. Let’s wrap up the meeting and head out.”
The attendees of the weekly meeting rose from their seats with meaningful smiles.
“I have something I’d like to discuss privately with you, Daepyo-nim, and you, Isa-nim.”
After all the other attendees had left, the CEO and the Director sat back down in their chairs, their expressions telling me to go ahead.