Expansion (15)
"Hello, this is Kim Juseong, anchor for Channel B."
"Here are the latest domestic headlines."
"In response to shifts in the criminal justice system—including adjustments to prosecutorial and police investigative authority—the Korean Bar Association has launched the Judicial Police Evaluation System to ensure healthy oversight and checks on judicial police officers. This initiative centers on surveys of individuals who have experienced investigations, particularly suspects and their attorneys. The goal is to fairly and independently assess judicial police officers involved in criminal cases and relay those results to relevant agencies, thereby fulfilling a monitoring and restraint function."
"According to the evaluation results, the majority of investigators approach their duties with fairness and strong ethical standards. Many possess specialized expertise and are frequently cited as exemplary cases. However, recent reports continue to allege that coercive interrogation practices remain widespread within both the prosecution and police."
"For more details, we turn to reporter Choi Eunseong. Reporter Choi?"
"Yes, this is Choi Eunseong."
"I'm standing in front of the Dongjak District Police Station. We've received a tip that a university student studying nearby was subjected to coercive interrogation. Although the victim did not file a report, an anonymous witness in the area recorded video footage and submitted it."
"Netizens who viewed the video reacted with outrage, questioning whether we were still living in the Fifth Republic and criticizing the police for outdated tactics."
"Police authorities expressed regret over the incident, stating they would investigate the involved parties and initiate disciplinary procedures, including personnel actions."
I used to go undercover at a media company. I should write a few comments myself. Once one outlet ran the story, others quickly picked it up and republished it. Since the report mentioned Busan, I figured it was time to leverage some connections in the Busan syndicate. With enough degrees of separation, someone would know the guy.
Even Sevenstar got pulled into this. Our Prosecutor Seo must have been quite the troublemaker back in school.
I asked if he was part of a school gang, but apparently not. He was just a self-appointed vigilante.
That's why I'm so on edge right now.
He suddenly switched to business. Weren't we supposed to hand over all the clients? From what he said, the Russian route was too irregular, so he hadn't mentioned it before. But since the volume had to come through me, he was bringing it up now.
Couldn't Yeoni handle this?
He wanted a kickback. Fine, I'd give him one. Five percent commission. Yeoni really needed to ease up. If she squeezed her people too hard, they'd just bounce.
Rigid, my ass. He meant she was a hardass.
We had a specialist for that. Express's Ali.
Figured an order would come through eventually. Even at five percent, this was worth hundreds of millions. I passed the word to Yeoni that a special Russian order had come directly to me and that I'd be supplying it to the soda guy. I also told her she was doing a good job. She seemed a little dissatisfied, but I ignored it and encouraged her to keep working.
I placed an additional order with Ali and asked how he was doing. Our Express's Ali had used the proceeds from a large deal three months ago to build an entire village in Pakistan. His father was the village chief or something like that. Last month he visited his home country and was treated like a VIP. Of course he was—his commission alone must have been over a billion won. He was still bringing product in steadily. I kept an eye on him, worried he might skim like the Chinese operation had, but so far there were no signs of that. The Chinese market must have been absorbing everything smoothly.
Ali and Mai were quietly skimming my money while working as a team, but they got the job done. The Cheonan factory had finished installing its lines and was producing product, while Haman had moved into the design phase. For Haman, we'd outsourced the exterior to a professional firm and asked them to provide only the interior design estimates. The team that was good at siphoning organization funds, along with the Yeouido accountant Kim, had wrapped up the Haman factory site preparations. After handling some work with the Philippine investment agency, he'd apparently made enough money to take a six-month vacation in Europe, traveling by camper van. I was a little jealous.
"This is MBN Lunch News. Recent exposés of the past have become a major social issue."
"From sexual harassment and abuse of power to school violence, the trend of revealing past misdeeds is becoming a cultural phenomenon."
"We've prepared an analysis. Reporter Eun Gyuhwan."
"Hello, this is Eun Gyuhwan. These days in South Korea, controversies from celebrities' pasts surface almost daily."
It wasn't just entertainers—professional athletes, social leaders, even workplace superiors were having their histories dragged into the light. Celebrity #MeToo cases typically began on online communities popular with younger users. Posts titled "Celebrity A is a school violence perpetrator" would detail the famous person's past behavior in full. Even ordinary people like workplace bosses had their private lives investigated and exposed on internal networks. These posts spread rapidly, cementing negative public perceptions of the accused and raising concerns about secondary victimization. While some argued that past wrongs must be held accountable in the name of justice, others warned that dredging up old mistakes could inflict secondary harm on victims and should be restrained. There was also worry that false reports might create innocent victims.
"While the principle that wrongdoing must be punished has merit from a fairness standpoint, the issue of secondary harm to victims through false reports is something we need to consider carefully."
"What do you all think?"
"This has been MBN News. I'm Oh Unwan."
I told Director Jo to have the IT team do a little more work and asked the Prosecutors' Office to apply pressure. I told them they could spend unlimited money. It would be ideal if they could force a resignation, but if the person was too entrenched, a simple reassignment would suffice.
"It should be possible. The only name coming up at the Prosecutors' Office is Prosecutor Seo."
As I climbed the hill toward the back gate of campus, forsythia bloomed along the path. The bright yellow flowers were pretty. While I'd been distracted dealing with the incident, the course registration change period had ended and classes had begun. I hadn't been able to drop Marriage and Family. The professor was ruthless—if I missed lectures, I got an F, and so did my partner. No presentation? F. Drop midway? F. He must have been a professional F-grader. His appearance didn't match his trigger-happy nature. Maybe that explained the absurdly high attendance rate. Apparently everyone except me showed up.
Everyone had done self-introductions and shared what they hoped to gain or accomplish from the class. After those presentations, matching began. As usual in life, the eloquent, handsome, and pretty students got paired quickly. The rest either got swept along or matched by chance. The last unpaired students drew lots, and my partner had the misfortune of drawing me. How did I know all this in such detail? I was curious too—why the class rep who never attended knew everything. Apparently she'd been ready to give up until I contacted her and suggested we set a time to meet.
She told me to wait in the College of Business and Economics building. While I was sitting in the lobby in front of the donor list, she messaged.
"Where are you?"
"I'm sitting in the middle of the lobby. In front of the donor list."
That was her. She was quite tall, close to 170 centimeters, with shoulder-length hair. She looked like she'd done some exercise—she didn't seem frail. Different style from Miju. My first impression was that she was intellectual. The studious type. But why hadn't she been matched? She wasn't bad at all.
"Hello?"
I greeted her. She responded awkwardly, but so far nothing seemed off.
"Ah, yes..."
"I'm Choi Eunsu, second-year in the Department of International Trade. I'm really sorry I had to miss class because of an emergency."
I apologized first.
"It's fine. I'm Kim Jiun, first-year in the Department of Law."
Her voice wasn't bad either.
"I haven't been to class, so I'm not sure what I'm supposed to do. I'll work hard, though."
After saying that, I realized I'd become the team project villain, but since it was my fault, I decided to accept it humbly.
"Just a moment."
I found out later why she hadn't been matched.