Chapter 46
"Boss, it's Taesik. Aigoo, aigoo, what are we gonna do? This lawyer punk named Cha Juhan or whatever barges into the print shop out of nowhere, aigoo! Aghogo!"
Jang Taesik launched into a flamboyant performance on the receiver.
"He straight-up threatens me, says he already knows everything, tells me to cough it all up—hard drives, USBs, hand 'em over, open the drawers, open the cabinets, flipping out and... Boss, I'm really sorry. I had no choice—they blackmailed me! They said they'd just check it and give it back! Euheuk!"
Taesik's pitiful wail echoed through the office. It was late, and he was loud enough to worry about a noise complaint.
"Me, right now? Yeah, they've dragged Cha Juhan into the office—wait, no, I've been dragged here by Cha Juhan, aigoo, boss. You gotta come quick... The USB? That bastard took it! I'm truly sorry, boss... Hurry, hurry over. Aigoo, let go of me! Hey, I said let go!"
No one had prompted him, but Taesik acted like his arm was being yanked in midair. I wanted to remind him this wasn't a video call, but he was too immersed.
"Yes, yes! I'll text you the address! Yep! ...Heh heh. All done."
He hung up proudly and flopped onto the sofa.
"Whew, putting on that show dried out my throat. No water for me?"
The print shop owner, alerted by Taesik's call, rushed into the office pale-faced and yelled at us the moment he arrived.
"Are you people insane?"
His arrow of rage flew straight at us, the axis of evil.
"Calm down first and have a seat. Kang, get him a drink or something."
"Sure. What kind of juice—"
"Never mind. Taesik, you can't do this. No matter how much they threatened you, this is too far! What the hell did they threaten you with?!"
The print shop owner stomped his feet, and Taesik—who hadn't thought that far—shot me a troubled look.
"We were protecting his cat."
I answered curtly. Taesik had said he'd been loitering around the print shop looking for his cat and ended up as a part-timer. What else was there to say? He'd acted like he'd lay down his life for that cat, so it seemed justification enough. Truth be told, the excuse didn't matter much—I'd thrown it out there anyway. The key was persuading him before he dug in his heels.
"Let's get to the point. We're currently handling a copyright lawsuit against Blue Island Media and author Jeong Hyejin."
"...I know. Saw it on the news."
He barely suppressed his anger and sat down. If he'd intentionally gathered dirt on Blue Island Media like this, he'd have been keeping tabs on the case. No need for long explanations.
"We need your USB for that lawsuit. It contains our client Na Eun-seong's manuscript. You must have gotten it from Blue Island Media, right?"
"No."
The owner cut me off. No intention of cooperating easily.
"Then can you explain why that file was on the USB?"
"A Blue Island Media rep came by and left it behind."
[Lie]
In the old days, I might've bought that plausible story. But the word hovering over his head sparkled like a warning not to fall for it.
"I see. In that case, we can confront you with that rep, right? Why would they 'accidentally' leave a USB packed with works Jeong Hyejin plagiarized at a print shop? And why collect those files in the first place? Gives the impression that rep had ulterior motives, doesn't it?"
The print shop owner's eyebrow twitched. His reason for not handing it over was simple: he didn't want to admit he had been collecting Blue Island Media's weaknesses for shady reasons.
And that reluctance boiled down to two things. First, Blue Island was a major client he couldn't afford to piss off. Second, he wanted to keep it for leverage when he needed it.
"You've harbored grudges against Blue Island Media before, haven't you, boss?"
He stared at me in surprise. Taesik had never mentioned it to me, so the owner must've kept it bottled up.
"Boss, people collect others' weaknesses for one simple reason: to use them someday."
When Taesik first found it, I'd thought it was just a forgotten drive. But after seeing everything in the [P] folder, my mind changed.
"Turns out Blue Island Media's infamous for its power trips."
In truth, I'd never heard such rumors. It was leading the witness a bit, but anyone could infer industry whispers about a company that bullied contests and assistant writers. No guarantee they spared other clients.
"P-power trips? What's that?"
Ah, right—this was before the term "gapjil" was coined. Not just the owner; Kang Minjae and Director Jo, listening intently, tilted their heads in confusion.
"When the powerful act arbitrarily. Anyway, they're known for that sort of behavior. Have they ever pressured you into unfair deals?"
The owner stayed silent, still undecided.
"Boss, this is a law office. If they've made unfair demands, we can fix it for you."
Kang Minjae jumped in to persuade him. No one throws spaghetti at the wall quite like him.
I pulled my gaze from Minjae, who was glued to the owner's side piling on reassurances, and locked eyes with him.
"Worried about losing Blue Island Media as a big client?"
"..."
"We can help with that too. Right, Director Jo?"
I glanced at Director Jo. I'd consulted him beforehand, before the owner arrived.
"Yes, we can. If you can't keep dealing with Blue Island anymore, do business with our film company instead. We'll order more than they do. Already cleared it with our CEO."
Director Jo's film company had gotten extra investment for the CEO skipping a court appearance as a witness. His senior, the CEO, had been furious at Blue Island's bullying over pulling funding and waited for the money to drop before plotting payback. Now flush, he didn't care.
"..."
The owner sighed and fell silent for a long stretch.
"...Can you promise?"
"Pardon?"
"That you won't go back on your word later!"
"No worries there. We've recorded it, and this is a law office."
Kang Minjae emphasized "law office."
The owner slapped his forehead with an "Aish!"
"Those Blue Island bastards keep lowballing contracts every time—costs go up year after year, but they don't pay more! So I gathered dirt to hold over them. What power does a small print shop like ours have? They ignore every complaint and just threaten to take their business elsewhere!"
He vented his rage.
"So how did you know those contest scripts were plagiarized by Jeong Hyejin and start collecting them?"
His face flushed with unresolved anger, he answered readily.
"One of my employees, Jimin—she's into scripts, an aspiring writer or something."
"Hajimin, by any chance?"
Taesik, who'd been shrinking invisibly in the corner as the cat-selling traitor, piped up. His face lit up.
"Yeah, Jimin. She's worked with me for six years or so..."
One day, when Jeong Hyejin's drama aired, this Hajimin noticed it matched a script they'd printed last year. But last year's print wasn't Jeong Hyejin's—it was an aspiring writer's contest entry. Realizing Jeong Hyejin had plagiarized a second-round finalist, the owner started archiving contest print orders from then on. He'd compare them to her new dramas and collect matches. Hajimin helped with that work. Over time, it built up into the files in the [P] folder—including Na Eun-seong's manuscript.
"But if they find out you've been hoarding this, they might claim it's illegal evidence..."
Kang Minjae said, as if it just occurred to him.
No issue there.
"Blue Island's too lazy to re-upload originals to their web hard—they just tell us to keep 'em. They reorder prints all the time anyway."
Taesik knew it too; it was an open understanding between them.
"If they try to pin that on you, we'll drag their unfair contracts—where they've bullied you into lower print rates—into the light and humiliate Blue Island Media."
They were already set for humiliation from the plagiarism spree, but if pinned solely on Jeong Hyejin as a lone actor, they could cut her loose and recover. Rebrand, lie low, pump out new shows. But if it snowballed into a power-trip scandal, that changed everything. "Gapjil" might debut right here and now.
"Alright then, lawyer. We file to reopen arguments with this and the old man's notebook."
Kang Minjae said excitedly. But I didn't reply, just held up the USB and sank into thought.
"No... I think there's a more entertaining way."