Exposing the Abuse (4)
Min Hong-soo returned to the News Trigger office and went straight for the director’s room.
Han Hyeon-cheol, who had been on the phone, looked startled. “At least knock, would you?”
“Senior!”
“Don’t call me senior. Call me Director. What’s with the panic?”
“Listen to this first.”
From the look on Min Hong-soo’s face, Han Hyeon-cheol knew immediately that this wasn’t ordinary. He set his phone down at once and listened to the recording.
“You want to run this as an article?”
“Yes. Isn’t this a major scoop?”
Han Hyeon-cheol’s eyes lit up. “It is.”
The recording didn’t just contain insults aimed at a private driver; it also included remarks about treating employees like serfs and sneering at minority shareholders.
If they published it, it would be more than enough to cause a stir.
“But that’s not the important part.”
“Huh? Then what is?”
“The real scoop is something else.”
“Why are you lowering your voice all of a sudden? What is it?”
Min Hong-soo spoke even more quietly, and Han Hyeon-cheol nearly jumped.
“Is that really true?”
“Yes.”
“Wait, hold on. You’re saying the president took bribes through a shell foundation? In exchange for supporting the National Pension?”
“That’s right.”
“Can we really trust what Director Ju Hyeon-jin said on the call? It wasn’t even the person involved speaking directly.”
“I checked several of the related documents with my own eyes.”
“Where are those materials now?”
“He wouldn’t give them to me.”
Han Hyeon-cheol looked flustered. “Huh? Why not?”
“He said he’d hand them over once we ran the abuse story.”
“...What?”
In other words, it was a “let’s see how you do” sort of deal.
Min Hong-soo tried to coax him. “We need to write the abuse article first.”
“Right. We do.”
News Trigger still hadn’t landed a truly explosive scoop since its founding.
This is it! This is the kind of piece our paper needs!
Under normal circumstances, maybe not—but right now, the entire country was focused on the Hanjeong Group succession battle. Even if the government and a chaebol group tried to bury it, they wouldn’t be able to make it go away so easily.
This is our chance to make the name News Trigger unforgettable.
Thinking that, Han Hyeon-cheol pulled Min Hong-soo into an embrace. “You lucky little treasure!”
Chairman Ju Min-jae was the type who rarely interfered in his children’s private lives.
But this merger proposal was drawing attention not only from the press, but from political and business circles alike. In a situation like this, even the smallest slip could snowball into a disaster.
So he had warned them repeatedly not to make any flashy moves until the merger was completely settled.
Ju Cheol-jin and Ju Hye-jin, of course, but even the youngest, Ju Hyeon-jin, had obediently followed his father’s orders. They kept outside meetings to a minimum and, for a while, drank only at home.
But that could only last a day or two before he started to feel cooped up.
Just then, he got a call from his friend Choi Jeong-hwan.
“I’m meeting up with Sang-ho for a drink tonight. Can you come?”
“What time?”
“Around eight.”
Choi Jeong-hwan and Kim Sang-ho were two of the people he usually drank with anyway.
He had been itching for some release, so this worked out perfectly. This was definitely the sort of thing he was talking about when he said he’d endured enough.
“All right. See you there later.”
Just as he was about to leave, he noticed that Driver Kim, who had been there in the morning, was nowhere to be seen.
“Where’s Driver Kim?”
Instead, the secretary who had taken the wheel answered, “He said he wasn’t feeling well and filed for sick leave.”
“Really?”
He’d looked perfectly fine when Ju Hyeon-jin had seen him that morning.
He got into the car with the secretary driving and headed to a room salon in Gangnam.
When Ju Hyeon-jin stepped out of the car, a woman greeted him with a bright smile.
“Welcome, Director. It’s been a while since you came by.”
“You’ve been well?”
“Of course.”
Her name was Min Ga-young.
She was twenty-nine, but she looked younger—like someone in her early twenties. Her face had been subtly altered by surgery, and her slim figure was something she was very proud of.
She had once been in a relationship with Ju Hyeon-jin, but now they were more like friends. He had set up this room salon as an expensive parting gift when they broke up.
“You’re still beautiful.”
Min Ga-young smiled sweetly. “Thanks for the compliment, at least. There are plenty of young, pretty girls inside, so hurry up and go in.”
“What about the others?”
“They’re already inside waiting for you.”
The two chatted as they went in.
Inside the spacious private room, two men were already seated. When they saw Ju Hyeon-jin, they got up and greeted him warmly.
“Hey.”
“We hardly ever get to see your face these days.”
The three exchanged greetings and took their seats.
Ju Hyeon-jin asked Min Ga-young, “Is Se-a on shift?”
“Of course. As soon as she heard the chairman was coming, she ran right over.”
“Tell her to come in.”
While his friends picked out women, a woman in her early twenties wearing a velvet dress came inside.
She was tall, a little over five foot seven, with long, sleek legs. Her face was small, and her features were sharp and striking.
Even in a place that had seemingly gathered every beautiful woman in Korea, her looks stood out.
Ju Hyeon-jin waved her over with a cheerful gesture. “Se-a, come here.”
She sat down beside him.
“How have you been?”
“You haven’t even come by, oppa.”
“You know I’ve been busy.”
“Tch. You could’ve at least called.”
The woman frowned and pouted, and the sight made Ju Hyeon-jin laugh out loud.
“Our Se-a missed oppa that much, huh? I’ll buy you a present, so don’t be mad. Is there anything you want?”
“Forget presents. Just don’t leave me lonely.”
“Want me to get you a car?”
“I said it’s fine. I already have one.”
She knew men well. Saying she didn’t want it only made him want to give her more.
Women who just gobble up expensive gifts because they’re given one are boring.
Ju Hyeon-jin clinked glasses with his friends.
After being practically locked up at home for so long, it felt like he could breathe again. After all, liquor tasted best in a place like this, not at home.
Since this was supposed to be a night out, his friends didn’t bring up anything as troublesome as the merger.
“When are you going to finish that bastard off?”
“You’re not seriously going to let him keep breathing, are you?”
Both Choi Jeong-hwan and Kim Sang-ho had been at the lounge bar that day.
The way Han Miru had spoken to Ju Hyeon-jin—and the way he’d acted—had been a real shock to them.
“Wasn’t he the only one who strutted around like that in front of you and still walked out on his own two feet?”
“Yeah. I thought you’d make him beg for his life on the spot.”
“What the hell was he relying on to act so high and mighty?”
“Is he really connected to Vice Chairman Yang Ja-eun?”
If his temper had been any different, he would have crushed the guy right there and made sure he never dared to climb over him again. The only reason he hadn’t done it was because he thought there might be some link to Sung Yoon-ah or DA Group.
But it turned out it had all been bluff.
There were plenty of people in the world who met a chaebol’s name once or twice and started imagining themselves to be somebody important. He had seen a lot of them.
In the end, that guy was just another one of that type.
Ju Hyeon-jin clenched his glass tightly and said, “First, the shareholder meeting has to be over. Once that’s done, I’ll deal with him properly. I’ll grind him down so thoroughly he won’t even be able to meet my eyes again.”
No matter how much pride they put on display, in the end everyone knelt before money and violence.
“Haha! Then make sure you call us over too.”
They were laughing and drinking after a long time when his phone rang.
Se-a looked at it and asked, “Who is it, oppa?”
Ju Hyeon-jin checked the name on the screen and answered with obvious irritation, “Our Park Manager. He’s just like his father—talks non-stop.”
“You don’t have to pick up, do you?”
“Nope.”
The phone kept ringing, so he shut it off completely. They kept drinking, but then Min Ga-young came back into the room.
Looking apologetic, she said, “I’m sorry, Director. They know you’re here, so they’re telling me to put the call through right away. They said it’s urgent.”
“What?”
When Ju Hyeon-jin looked up at his friends, both of them shook their heads at once, as if they knew nothing about it.
It seemed they’d put someone on him to track his movements. Or maybe they’d called every place he might have gone.
“Damn it. Way to ruin the mood.”
Still, if they were going this far, it must really be urgent. If he didn’t answer now, they’d probably come find him in person.
With no choice, Ju Hyeon-jin took the phone.
“What is it?”
At his question, Park Myeong-hoon spoke in a hurried voice.
“Did you see the article I sent you?”
“An article?”
For a split second, several possibilities flashed through his mind.
Did word get out about forcing Eun-jeong to have an abortion? Or the drunk-driving incident I had covered up last time? No way they found out about that separate investment with company money, right?
There were too many things he could be guilty of.
Ju Hyeon-jin deliberately sounded annoyed. “Just handle it yourself and report back later. I’m hanging up now.”
“News Trigger just uploaded a piece exposing the youngest son of the Hanjeong Group chairman’s family for verbal abuse and assault.”
Ju Hyeon-jin froze before he could end the call.
“What? What did you just say?”
Park Myeong-hoon repeated himself.
“They even edited the recording and posted it. The situation is very bad.”
“Which bastard snitched?”
“Kim Seung-do.”
“What!?”
“It looks like he’s been secretly recording things in the car for a long time.”
The moment he heard that, the alcohol in his system seemed to vanish in an instant.
“Wait just a second.”
Ju Hyeon-jin opened the article on his phone.
“Son of a bitch! That fucking bastard!”
Reading the article, Ju Hyeon-jin shot to his feet and shouted, “Where is that Driver Kim bastard right now?”
Park Myeong-hoon answered, “I can’t reach him. He has his phone turned off.”
“Then go to his house!”
“It’s empty too.”
“Can’t we stop this article? Tell them to take it down right now. If not, I’ll pull all their ads.”
“It’s a shabby internet outlet, so it’s hard to do anything directly. Even if they take the article down there, it’s already spread across the internet, and it’s been picked up by other outlets and even foreign press. The PR team is asking the media to hold off for now, but it’ll be hard to stop this.”
“What? So we’re just going to sit here and do nothing?”
“Just come to the chairman’s house first. The chairman and the vice chairman are on their way in now, too.”
“All right. I’m coming.”
As he started to get up, Se-a grabbed his arm and tried to coax him. “You’re already leaving, oppa? Stay a little longer and have some more fun.”
Ju Hyeon-jin looked at her and said, “What the hell do you think you’re doing? Let go of my hand.”
She blinked in shock. “W-why are you acting like that, oppa? I was just joking.”
“Joking? Do I look like I’m in the mood to joke around with some bar girl?”
“......”
Ju Hyeon-jin’s eyes were filled with disgust, as though he were looking at a bug. It was hard to believe this was the same man who had been speaking so sweetly to her just moments before.
At the sudden change in his attitude, she trembled all over and let go of his arm.
Ju Hyeon-jin ignored her completely and walked out of the room.