A Righteous Reporter? (2)
"Ugh!" It felt as if his heart were shriveling up, but Kim Ho-je desperately tried to control his expression, masking his true emotions. "Anyway, I am truly sorry. If you hated me enough to come all this way, I shouldn't have done what I did..."
Watching Ryu Geun-tae wear such a troubled expression, Kim Ho-je felt a sharp, stinging pain in the corner of his heart. "N-no, that’s not it... It’s just that I’ve never been acknowledged like this before in my entire life..."
As he spoke, his voice grew increasingly somber. Ryu Geun-tae offered him a gentle smile. "I’m sure there are many others who recognize your worth, aside from me. They just aren't in a position to help. Things aren't always what they seem. You aren't alone, Reporter Kim."
If this had been a place where he could afford to cry, a tear the size of a fingernail would have surely fallen from Kim Ho-je’s eyes. But he was forced to swallow those tears back. He had to hide his face, which was burning with shame—partly because of the newspaper sitting right there on the table.
"A-anyway. Th... thank you." With words he never imagined he would say, Kim Ho-je rose from his seat.
"Are you leaving already?"
"Yes, I must. I wasn't exactly invited, after all..."
"Regardless of invitations, please come by whenever you like. I’ve read all of your articles. The ones you wrote back in your 'P' days were all filled with the weight of life and death. I will always be rooting for you. If you ever find yourself short on funds for your investigative work, come see me. Not as the President of YK Department Store, but as an individual, I will personally sponsor you."
Kim Ho-je couldn't bring himself to answer. He simply bowed his head once and hurried out of the office. And as he stepped out of the building, a large, heavy tear finally escaped his eye.
'Why on earth did that article have to go out!' Kim Ho-je began to run, heading toward his newspaper office with all his might.
"E-Editor-in-Chief! W-why, why did the article go out?"
At the breathless question from Kim Ho-je, the Editor-in-Chief wore a truly apologetic expression. "I’m sorry, Ho-je. I assumed you would naturally want to publish it, so I had it pre-edited and added to the layout. I forgot to pull it when I didn't hear back from you. I was in such a rush to fix another piece... But you were planning to publish it anyway, so it doesn't matter, right...?"
Seeing the genuine remorse on the Editor-in-Chief's face, Kim Ho-je felt like crying. Just two hours ago, he had indeed intended to publish it. But after meeting Ryu Geun-tae, that desire had vanished. He couldn't pinpoint one single reason, but a complex web of emotions had formed, and Kim Ho-je simply didn't want to touch YK Department Store—or rather, Ryu Geun-tae—ever again.
"Ho-je, did I make a huge mistake...?" Seeing the Editor-in-Chief walking on eggshells around him, Kim Ho-je was too ashamed to even nod. After all, he was the one who had insisted on running the story in the first place.
"No... no, it's fine..."
"Anyway, keep a low profile for a while. I’ve taken a week of vacation myself. You should hide out too. I’ll tell the higher-ups that you’ve gone on a long-term investigative assignment."
"No, I’ve already... prepared myself. It’s fine."
His voice lacked strength, as the preparation he had originally made wasn't for this kind of outcome. And so, a week passed. Neither Kim Ho-je nor the Editor-in-Chief suffered any personal harm.
[Um, excuse me... did you... pull some strings for me?]
Ryu Geun-tae replied to the voice on the other end of the line. "I saw the article in the paper after you left that day."
[As I thought... you saw it...]
"Reading your articles is my greatest pleasure. Didn't I tell you I'd read them all?"
[*Sob*...]
A very low, stifled sob erupted from the other side of the phone, but Ryu Geun-tae continued as if he hadn't heard it. "Still, I was honestly worried. So, I contacted a higher-up and explained that this incident could actually serve as a sort of 'venting' opportunity. It was a bit difficult, but I succeeded in getting them to understand. Of course, it would have been dangerous if that article had triggered a wave of critical pieces, but fortunately, no such follow-ups appeared."
[...]
There was no answer from the other side, but Ryu Geun-tae continued. "I don't know if I should call this good news, but I think you can feel free to criticize YK Department Store in the future. I mentioned that moderate criticism actually helps consumers stay interested, and they seemed to accept that, too. Of course, that only applies to you... I am truly sorry I couldn't cover the other reporters as well."
[No... it's not... that's not it...]
Kim Ho-je repeated that it wasn't the case for a while before finally hanging up with a quiet, "I'm sorry."
"Phew."
Ryu Geun-tae wiped the beads of sweat from his forehead with a handkerchief and sat down. "You worked hard."
At the words of Yoon-gi, who was sitting on the sofa in the president's office, Ryu Geun-tae couldn't help but offer a bitter smile. "Honestly, it was incredibly difficult. Having to act in a way I would never naturally behave felt like moving around while wearing a mascot costume."
"That was the only way to win over a person like that. If I were an adult, I would have stepped in myself, but it's a bit awkward for me to do that right now, isn't it?"
"That’s why I feel sorry for you, Chairman. In truth, it should have been you, not me, who bought that reporter's heart..."
"It doesn't matter. He'll figure it out in about ten years anyway. Shall we have a cup of tea?"
"That sounds good."
A moment later, after a staff member left the tea, Yoon-gi and Ryu Geun-tae began to savor the warm brew. "Chairman, may I ask you one question?"
"Go ahead."
"Since this whole affair seems to have settled down, I’m asking... could you tell me why you chose that specific strategy? And why you let the report go through in the first place? I want to know your true intentions."
"There's nothing difficult about answering that." Yoon-gi was always gentle with questions that weren't meant to persuade. Of course, that only applied to his closest confidants. "Let's see... I suppose you're most curious about why I took care of his family instead of the reporter himself?"
"Exactly. It sounds simple once you hear it, but it’s a difficult thing to come up with."
Yoon-gi smiled at Ryu Geun-tae's honest remark. "The more someone is driven by a sense of justice, the more they carry a deep-seated guilt toward their family."
"I still... don't quite understand."
"Think about the independence activists. They had an incredible sense of patriotism and justice. But because of their actions, their families had to suffer. You’ve heard stories of wealthy families who went bankrupt supporting the independence army, right?"
"Ah, yes, I have!"
"That person is truly a great individual. But how do you think that looked to their family at the time?"
"Hmm..."
"No one knows what the reaction was back then. But when it’s revealed in later generations that they were an independence activist, could the family members go on the news and say, 'I resent my father'?"
"Ah..."
Ryu Geun-tae felt the fog in his mind begin to lift. "If they said they resented their father, the majority of public opinion would likely dismiss them as 'selfish children who didn't understand their father's grand vision.' Even though they weren't the ones who had to live as the family of a patriot."
"Certainly... I think I understand to some extent."
"And the independence activist couldn't help but feel guilty toward those family members, too. Someone with that kind of justice wouldn't just ignore their family. They were looking at the bigger future for their family. Even if it was hard in the short term, they sacrificed their current wealth because they were pursuing a world where their children could live with dignity in the distant future."
"Ah... I thought they were just thinking about the nation, but that wasn't it..."
"They thought about the nation, too. It’s just that they didn't abandon their family; they were looking at their family's future."
"I think my perspective is still too narrow."
"Not at all. My thoughts are just an inference, after all. Anyway, people like that always feel guilty toward their families. The reporter was no different. In that situation, imagine his parents suddenly receiving an enormous gift. How would he feel?"
"Happy... no, he would be flustered."
"Exactly! You nailed it!" Yoon-gi clapped his hands once, grinned, and continued. "If we had given the gifts to his parents and told them to call their son, the reporter would have felt disillusioned. But we didn't do that. We actually kept the parents' mouths shut appropriately. So the reporter must have been even more confused, thinking, 'Huh? What are these guys?'"
Listening to this, Ryu Geun-tae felt a chill run down his spine. At the same time, he realized why he had become loyal to Yoon-gi, and why he had no choice but to remain loyal. "He even came to visit us personally, and the person he met claimed to be his fan and was even worried about him. To anyone’s eyes, he’s someone who provides spiritual support for his sense of justice. Could a reporter ever see such a person as a villain?"
"I don't think so. I’ve become like a candle shining in the darkness for him."
"That's right. From now on, that man will never be able to write a bad article about YK Department Store. Every time he tries, he’ll feel like he’s stabbing his own pure-hearted supporter with a knife."
Ryu Geun-tae felt as if the sound of him swallowing was echoing loudly in the room. 'Reporter Kim doesn't even dream that I’m not actually his fan. But even so, he won't be able to criticize YK Department Store. Wow...'
Ryu Geun-tae looked at Yoon-gi for the final piece of the puzzle. "Then, is the reason you allowed the report to be published also an extension of what you just said?"
The Editor-in-Chief's mistake wasn't a mistake; it was Yoon-gi's instruction. He had ordered Ma Seok-il to have the article published under the guise of a mistake. While it was true that the Editor-in-Chief cared for his subordinates, he hadn't completely given up on the perks of being a reporter, and it was only possible because Kim Ho-je's safety was guaranteed.
[Huh? Really?]
Recalling Ma Seok-il's description of the Editor-in-Chief's reaction, Ryu Geun-tae couldn't help but smile slightly.
"It’s partly an extension, but fundamentally, it was for the future." Yoon-gi stood up and leaned in to whisper in Ryu Geun-tae's ear. "When time passes, the new military regime falls, and a democratic government like the one in the U.S. takes over, this single article will serve as evidence that we weren't deeply colluding with them. Whether the collusion was true or not. It’ll be quite a sight to see people arguing about it later. The opinion that 'Would a colluding company have let an article like this slide?' will inevitably come up."
If Choi Cheol-kyu could see Ryu Geun-tae's expression right now, what would his reaction be? Stunned by such unfathomable foresight, Ryu Geun-tae instinctively slapped both his cheeks with his palms, even though Yoon-gi was standing right in front of him.
"Why are you doing that?"
"I... I will pull myself together and get back to work. I still have so much to learn."
Hearing his reply, Yoon-gi gave him a cryptic smile instead of an answer. "Come to think of it, what is Microsoft's revenue for this year?"
"At this rate, I estimate it will be around 35 million dollars."