Chapter 22. Whale Hunting (5)
Stage one was a success.
As soon as Harok arrived at work, he turned on his computer and read through all the crime team's story pitches.
At the very top of the list posted by Chief Kim Seongjun was Yubin's follow-up on the drug investigation.
[Seol Yubin, Follow-up / Celebrity Drug Investigation Expands to P, J, Others]
[Seol Yubin, Related Box / K-POP Tainted by Drugs... Concern Growing Overseas]
Every one of Yubin's pitches had already passed through Harok's hands.
If the pitches were approved, Harok had also agreed to desk-edit all of her articles in advance.
Harok kept sneaking glances at Social Affairs Department Head Lee Munhong.
Lee Munhong was busy carefully checking the pitches submitted by each team.
The social affairs department usually gathered its story pitches around eight in the morning.
The heads of teams such as crime reporting and legal affairs uploaded their team's pitches into the social affairs article editor.
Then the department head selected the stories worth using and assigned them appropriate space in the paper.
A newspaper had limited physical space.
It couldn't publish everything.
Some articles survived.
Others were killed.
Would Yubin's story survive?
"Yeah, Chief. About this drug story... Right, yeah... That works... Do P and J really have to be initials? Ah... They're not famous enough, so initials are actually better? Okay..."
Lee Munhong was on the phone with Kim Seongjun.
Judging by the tone of the conversation, Yubin's article had a good chance of getting through.
Apparently, he was curious who P and J were.
But even if Harok told him, only their fans would know.
They weren't celebrities most ordinary people recognized.
In cases like that, initials were actually better.
They created more curiosity.
[Yubin: Fate of my article?]
[Harok: Looks like it passed.]
[Yubin: ♡(͒ ᴖ ·̫ ᴖ⸝⸝ )͒♪♡]
[Harok: When will the article be finished?]
[Yubin: Almost done.]
[Harok: Send it fast.]
[Yubin: Yep.]
"Baek Harok."
"Yes, Department Head."
"The printout's coming now. Bring it to me."
Harok was still under suspension.
His place remained at the very end of the social affairs desk.
The multifunction printer and copier were right beside him.
Bzzz.
A sheet of A4 paper slid out.
Let's see...
Harok pulled it free and immediately read it.
Yubin's pitch had been assigned as a side lead on the social affairs page.
Yes! Stage two is a success too.
Harok grinned as he handed the printout to Lee Munhong.
"Hey. Did you forget you're under suspension? What are you smiling about?"
"You've got to enjoy life. Looking miserable isn't going to end my suspension any faster."
"You're unbelievably positive. You'll live a long time."
Lee Munhong took the printout and headed into the conference room.
The ten o'clock editorial meeting.
From now until the meeting ended around eleven-thirty was a sweet break.
Most satsumari reporters slept during that time.
The in-office reporters also relaxed however they wanted, either sleeping at their desks or smoking.
Harok decided to take a nap and sleep off the previous night's hangover.
Before that, he headed to the smoking room for one cigarette.
"Vice Baek."
Harok turned toward the voice.
It was Yu Seongun.
"...The personnel announcement was originally supposed to come out yesterday. But it seems it got delayed one more day for some strange reason."
Click, click, click.
Yu Seongun struggled with his lighter.
Click.
Harok lit his own lighter and held it out for him.
"Thanks."
"But the announcement was supposed to come out yesterday?"
"Yeah. We had everything ready for you to join us."
That had been close.
If the transfer had been announced yesterday, Harok's plan to publish the Kwon Jaegwan article would have been completely ruined.
"Why was it delayed?"
"I heard from Senior Han Seungjin this morning..."
Han Seungjin, deputy chief in the political affairs department.
Apparently, it hadn't been an exaggeration to say all internal company information flowed through him.
"They tried to send another social affairs reporter to the international department along with you or something like that... But apparently the president tore them apart over it."
The first face that appeared in Harok's mind was Seol Yubin.
"Was it Seol Yubin?"
"How'd you know?"
Kim Yeonghwan, you bastard.
Harok had never hated him more.
Harok himself had actually caused a major incident.
Whether it was disciplinary punishment or a transfer, he couldn't exactly say he was innocent.
But why the hell would they suddenly send Yubin to the international department?
Just to stop the publication of Kwon Jaegwan's name?
They were going to bury a promising junior reporter in the international department for that?
Kim Yeonghwan had overlooked one important detail.
Yubin's father was close enough to the company president to make that kind of request directly.
The international department did have advantages.
Still, reading foreign news every day was exhausting.
And more importantly, it was an in-office position, meaning junior reporters had to face seniors every single day.
That was the biggest reason young reporters avoided it.
For them, being sent to the international department was effectively a demotion.
What did Yubin even do wrong?
Her crime is being close to Baek Harok?
Either way, it was now obvious both Handong Group and the editor-in-chief had lost all sense of reason.
They were even trying to manipulate newsroom personnel assignments just to protect Kwon Jaegwan.
Look forward to tonight.
Kim Yeonghwan frowned deeply as he replayed the previous day's events.
Wasn't newsroom personnel management the editor-in-chief's exclusive authority?
Even if Jang Seonung was the company president, how could he interfere?
The previous day, Kim Yeonghwan had been summoned to the president's office.
"Editor-in-Chief Kim, why are you trying to send Reporter Seol Yubin to the International Department?"
President Jang Seonung spread the proposed personnel assignments across his desk and looked at Kim Yeonghwan.
Jang Seonung.
Fifty-six years old.
President of Daehan Daily.
His father, Chairman Jang Ikho, had become too old to participate actively in management, so Jang Seonung now ran the newspaper.
Until now, Jang Seonung had rarely interfered with newsroom matters.
In his own way, he had respected the principle of editorial independence.
But recently, he had started stepping in.
The disciplinary case involving Baek Harok had been the first sign.
"As editor-in-chief, I decided this based on efficient personnel allocation. Reporter Seol Yubin studied abroad for a long time and is fluent in English..."
Jang Seonung cut him off.
"Then you should have assigned her to International when she completed her training a month ago. Why make her go through two transfers in barely a month?"
Kim Yeonghwan had no answer.
He wanted to mention her supposed offense of leaking internal company matters to Weekly Media.
But bringing that incident up would only hurt him as well.
"This is simply part of a newsroom personnel reorganization..."
"I can't accept that explanation."
Slide.
Jang Seonung gathered the personnel papers together, placed them back into the folder, and closed it.
"On hold. Submit it again."
He handed the folder back to Ryu Jasang, head of the Management Strategy Office.
Ryu Jasang shot Kim Yeonghwan a contemptuous glance.
You harassed me to rush this through, and then you got rejected. Idiot.
In the end, Kim Yeonghwan's plan to remove Seol Yubin from the social affairs department had failed.
He carefully read through Yubin's article in the social affairs article editor.
He was worried Kwon Jaegwan's name might appear somewhere.
Fortunately, the article's main angle was that the drug investigation was expanding to other celebrities.
If Kwon Jaegwan's name leaked from the police later, or another media outlet reported it first, Kim Yeonghwan didn't care.
Daehan Daily simply couldn't be the first.
If that happened, one billion won would roll in, and his term as editor-in-chief would be extended by another two years.
At the very least, he had to remove Baek Harok from the social affairs department as quickly as possible.
Seol Yubin's reporting was one hundred percent being directed by Baek Harok.
