Massaging the Press
-The prosecutors will end up chasing ghosts and coming away empty-handed. They’ll only poke at the small fry, and then the whole thing will fizzle out.
James nodded at Mr. Park’s reply and said,
“That’s about what I expected... Anything unusual?”
-Tae-jin’s bastard took a flight out yesterday. He’s headed for Los Angeles, where he studied abroad. The madam sent two people from the Strategy Office to keep tabs on him.
“Already? They haven’t even announced the investigation yet.”
-That’s why I’m planning to make a little more noise. I’m going to run a few more articles tied to him.
The story that went out this time was only a fraction of what Mr. Park had shared with the reporters so far. It included the women Tae-jin had taken drugs with and the assaults that had erupted in the middle of those gatherings. It also left intact the long-buried scandal of a female employee being raped at the company, something TY Telecom had been quietly sweeping under the rug.
“The prosecutors must be in a tight spot.”
-The one who’ll really be in a bind is Choi Jeong-san.
With his son already fleeing overseas, everything left behind would become Jeong-san’s burden to carry.
“But if you sent two people from the Strategy Office, won’t that leave you short-handed, Mr. Park? Won’t it cause staffing problems?”
-The Strategy Office only takes in brains. That means the treatment is generous, too. There are plenty of people lined up, waiting for a call.
“Okay. So Tae-jin’s out, then...”
-Even so, he still has some use left in him.
“How are you supposed to use a guy who ran all the way to America?”
-Didn’t I tell you? Two people from the Strategy Office are on him. That means the leash is still there, at least for now.
“Ah. Right.”
What Mr. Park meant was that they intended to stir up trouble through Tae-jin even in the United States. If they used someone already under Mr. Park’s instructions, it wouldn’t be difficult at all.
-In Korea, the courts or the prosecutors can put a hand on him. In America, that’s impossible.
“Isn’t America a little more lenient on drugs?”
The United States had legalized marijuana, so it might seem more relaxed than Korea, but America was also one of the countries most serious about drug control.
-The DEA isn’t an easy opponent. If they catch him properly, it’ll be hard for him to avoid prison time.
The DEA mostly investigates and arrests cartel operations, but if he’s a drug offender who smuggled narcotics into the country, that’s a different story.
James already had several ways to make Tae-jin fall into the DEA’s hands. The first was to get him caught dealing drugs inside the United States. Another was to have him arrested right at the airport. And if Tae-jin dealt drugs in America and the buyer turned out to be tied to a Mexican cartel, the situation could explode far beyond imagination.
The bigger his problems get, the better it is for me.
“Okay. Keep that moving, too. Choi Jeong-san won’t be able to do much about it, but it’ll definitely keep him distracted.”
-Yes, James. And before this current series of articles is finished, I’ll also expose Choi Jeong-san’s mistress problem.
“Toward the end?”
-We can’t let the media run out of fuel.
By dragging the drug problems of chaebol children into the open, the scandal had begun to look like a disease spreading through the entire ruling class. If an accurate report targeting TY Telecom emerged here and drew attention, then Tae-jin’s drug scandal would start burning all over again.
From that point on, any joint response would be over.
The other companies implicated this time had been trying to minimize the damage by responding together to Tae-jin’s drug case. But there was no reason for them to protect Choi Jeong-san’s mistress scandal.
Isolated and alone.
On the contrary, they would probably welcome a new scandal that could help bury their children’s drug problems.
-The next article will move on to the aging base-station issue that happened before, the way they dumped responsibility for restoring service on a subcontractor after the incident, and how they botched consumer compensation without facing any government sanctions.
From there, the renewed barrage of articles would be an effective weapon for amplifying the incompetence and moral rot of TY Telecom’s management. If the government got dragged into it as well, the TY Group patriarch’s family would have no choice but to step down from management, whether they liked it or not.
Now all that’s left is securing a real stake.
No matter how thoroughly they highlighted management’s incompetence and moral bankruptcy, if they didn’t control enough shares, taking over TY Group would remain a distant dream.
“The stock’s fallen a lot, hasn’t it?”
-It’s not at the bottom yet.
Every time one of TY Telecom’s problems was turned into an article, the stock price was going to punch through the basement and keep digging until it found the true bottom.
-We’re still far from it. Still, we’re steadily speeding up the share accumulation. We can’t exactly buy everything off the soles of the earth, after all.
“I told you that Chairman Kim from ST was going to join in, right?”
-In fact, we recently confirmed that another force has appeared besides us.
Mr. Park had also realized that there was another group acting behind the scenes besides the nominee accounts he managed. But some of those forces were impossible to make sense of.
-I could tell part of it was ST Group, but unexpectedly, an overseas player showed up, and...
“Ah. There was one more place I asked to join in, but I forgot to mention it to you, Mr. Park.”
-So we have another ally?
“A huge overseas fund is going to join. They’ll secure a pretty substantial stake before the shareholders’ meeting. I told them there was no need to go that far, since they’re trying to get over ten percent anyway.”
As external forces kept popping up one after another, Mr. Park began to feel a flicker of unease.
-...There isn’t anyone else, is there?
“There’s also the stake we’re getting through Citi Bank. They said they’d hand over everything they’ve secured so far, so if we include that, it’ll be quite a lot.”
Maybe James could have pulled off this operation even without me.
“That’s the end of it. Just keep it in mind.”
-I’ll stockpile as much as possible as insurance. To solidify control later, we’ll need a certain level of ownership.
For now, pushing out the existing management was enough. But if he wanted to take the company into his own hands completely, he needed a definitive shareholding ratio. It was a remark born from Mr. Park’s desire to emphasize his own usefulness a little more.
“Good. Let’s keep it rolling just like this.”
Until the day you collapse together with Choi Jeong-san.
But to James, Park Jin-tae was nothing more than someone to be disposed of together with Choi Jeong-san.
-Yes, sir!
The prosecutors had lost momentum the moment their key suspect, Choi Tae-jin, left for the United States, and all they could do now was pressure the small fry who hadn’t yet managed to flee, including various entertainers. They also had to soothe the media so their own dirty laundry wouldn’t come spilling out into the open.
“Reporter Kim. I’ve helped you out plenty of times before, haven’t I?”
-Yes, Prosecutor Lim. I remember.
Lim had called a reporter from a major news outlet, worried that he might end up at the center of some unnecessary gossip.
“There was testimony saying TY Telecom’s Choi Tae-jin distributed drugs, but we didn’t have any real evidence. So...”
-Still, his escape to the U.S. is a matter of public interest...
“No, the problem is that the investigation on our side hasn’t even started yet, so there’s no way his charges can be fully established, damn it!”
The evidence was already more than enough, but the prosecutors were the only ones who possessed it.
-Ah, right. Yes. Of course.
“So for this one, just run articles using the materials we send you. Okay?”
-Then I just leave him out?
“I’m not asking you to leave him out. I’m saying we can’t even investigate him yet, so how are you supposed to put him in the article? Do you think you can handle the backlash if this blows up in our faces?”
-Well... if TY Telecom starts cutting off our ads, we won’t be able to handle it either.
“Exactly. We’re trying to keep everyone alive here. So...”
The reporters Lim called were not limited to Reporter Kim. He had already contacted several others before this, and by now related articles had flooded the portal sites like a deluge. With no new information left, the story had lost momentum. To Lim, this was the perfect opportunity to smother the media cycle.
-Huh? Another TY Telecom-related article just went up, sir.
“What? Where was it posted? Which reporter?”
Lim asked which outlet and which reporter had posted it, intending to have the article taken down—but this time, the piece wasn’t about chaebol drug use at all.
-It’s titled “TY Telecom President Choi Jeong-san’s Mistress...”
“What? President Choi Jeong-san, not Choi Tae-jin?”
-And there’s another piece just now, too: “The ugly truth of the chaebol elite, laid bare.” This one even has photos of President Choi entering a hotel with several sponsor women. Not just one, but multiple...
Lim hurriedly searched the article online and found exactly what the reporter had described. The story that had started as an exclusive was already being shared by other reporters and spreading fast.
“Damn it. What the hell is this now?”
-This... even if we try to suppress it, I think it’ll just catch fire again, sir.
“...”
The reporter’s prediction was right. If it had only been his son’s scandal, it might still have been manageable somehow, but if Choi Jeong-san himself became a subject of gossip, then his eldest son, Choi Tae-jin, would inevitably be dragged back into the spotlight as well.
-Prosecutor Lim. I’m sorry. It looks like we may have more articles coming from our side, tied to his son...
“Try to stop it anyway! Or don’t expect any more information from us after this!”
The leak point during a prosecutor’s investigation was the connection between prosecutors and reporters, and unless reporters stayed close to prosecutors, they couldn’t even dream of getting exclusive stories.
-I’ll do my best, sir.
After ending the call, Lim pressed the power button on his phone and quickly called someone else.
“Mr. Park!”
Lim was close to TY Telecom, including Chief Park Jin-tae. In other words, he had received plenty of support and favors from them over the years.
-Yes, Prosecutor. Good timing. Have you seen the article?
“I just checked. What the hell is going on this time?”
-We’re actually still confirming the facts, but it seems a few reporters have been shadowing us for some time.
“...So you’re telling me it’s true?”
-We’re not the only ones. Other chaebol heads all have sponsor women too; it’s just that they never got exposed publicly.
“Is that the important part right now? Tae-jin’s business was just about wrapped up, and now President Choi is caught up in this too. How are we supposed to contain it?”
-Prosecutor Lim. Just tell me who this case will be assigned to. We’ll handle everything after that.
After finishing the call with Lim, Mr. Park reported to Choi Jeong-san, who was sitting across from him.
“The prosecution says they can’t really discuss anything until the case is assigned.”
“Damn it...”
“You needn’t worry. If we just drag it out, the public will forget. There aren’t any women who’ll testify anyway, and there’s no evidence.”
“Do you think I’m scared of the prosecutors?!”
What Choi Jeong-san was worried about wasn’t the prosecutors, but his father, Chairman Choi Tae-yeong.
“I’ve already upset Father over the issue of the eldest grandson, and now this has exploded too. That’s the problem!”
And on top of that, the fact that his wife had learned about the mistress he had hidden perfectly until now was another problem entirely.
“What’s everyone at home going to think? And what about my father-in-law?”
“...They’ll understand.”
“What?”
“The madam already knew everything and just chose to pretend otherwise.”
“!”
“What the articles exposed to the outside world will be dealt with in time, and the madam won’t imagine the worst-case scenario.”
“Then my father?”
“He’s the chairman who cherishes you more than anyone else in this world, President.”
“...”
“He may fly into a rage for a while, but time will solve this too. The chairman’s health isn’t exactly good these days.”
“Oh?”
At Mr. Park’s words, the worry that had filled Choi Jeong-san seemed to melt away as if it had never existed.
“This is the time to hold on. If you can endure just a few years, the eldest son will return to Korea, and this noisy mess will all have been sorted out by then.”
By then, TY Telecom will probably already be sorted out too.
Mr. Park found Choi Jeong-san, who was completely absorbed by the problem in front of him, ridiculous beyond words.