Chapter 32. Suspicious Death
Harok was bored out of his mind.
He had thought transferring to the Culture Department would mean living a more refined life, but reality was different.
The conversations he had with sources weren’t particularly interesting either.
Honestly, investigating Kwon Jaegwan with Yubin had been more fun.
Kwon Jaegwan was currently cornered because of his so-called “late-night hospital escape drinking show.”
Next would come stories about police summonses, search and seizure warrants, and possibly an arrest warrant.
Still, Kwon Jaegwan was surprisingly resilient.
His ability to brazenly hold out was no joke.
Or maybe the law firm defending him was simply that capable.
At this rate, the Kwon Jaegwan case might somehow get quietly buried again.
That would be a disaster...
No. I shouldn’t be worrying about that right now.
It had almost been two weeks since Harok transferred to Culture, and he still hadn’t landed a proper exclusive.
His interview with Hyeon Jiyeon kept getting pushed back because their schedules didn’t match.
Yu Seongun wasn’t pressuring him either.
Is the Culture Department always this relaxed?
If Harok had spent this much idle time in Social Affairs, he would have been torn apart.
Truthfully, he did have plenty to do.
Compiling weekly charts.
Writing drama preview articles.
Drama reviews.
Most of it was just miscellaneous work.
The problem was that none of it involved real reporting.
He was writing from prepared material, which made it boring.
“Not fun, is it?”
Yu Seongun tossed the comment at Harok while he was yawning.
“N-No. Of course not. Who works because it’s fun?”
That was true.
The moment you turned something you loved into your job, hell began.
Because the thing you enjoyed became labor.
That was what work was.
“Don’t rush. Take it slow. Slowly.”
“Yes. Thanks.”
Ring, ring.
Jihyeon?
“What is it?”
“Do I need a reason to call you?”
“No, I mean... You probably need something.”
“I have a favor.”
“What?”
“Can you get me tickets for the concert at Sangam World Cup Stadium this weekend?”
Ah.
So now I’m getting these kinds of requests too.
There was a saying among reporters.
Either become a minwan reporter, a brilliant and capable journalist, or become a minwon reporter, someone good at handling favors and requests.
The standard route to becoming a department head or editor-in-chief was being good at reporting and writing.
But newspapers had another route to success.
Those reporters were especially good at solving other people’s problems.
And they were frighteningly efficient when the requests came from higher-ups.
Reporters were constantly surrounded by favors.
The most common request crime reporters received was to make drunk-driving cases disappear.
These days, that was nearly impossible.
But there had been a time when it was possible.
For culture reporters, the most common favor was getting concert tickets.
Sports reporters got requests for Korean Series baseball tickets or Korea-Japan football match tickets.
Depending on your beat, there were all kinds of favors a reporter could handle.
Harok was now officially a reporter on Daehan Daily’s Culture Department Popular Culture Team.
He ought to be able to secure something like K-pop concert tickets.
“Jihyeon, I haven’t been in Culture very long yet, so...”
“You’re a Daehan Daily reporter and you can’t even get something like that?”
There goes my pride.
“It’s not that I can’t...”
“Let me benefit from having a reporter for a brother for once. I already bragged to my friend.”
“Bragged about what?”
“That my brother’s a reporter, so getting tickets would be easy.”
“How many do you need?”
“Two.”
“I’ll look into it and call you.”
“I’m counting on you.”
Click.
Harok immediately checked which concert was happening that weekend.
It was a huge event featuring nearly every popular K-pop group in Korea.
Tickets were already sold out.
As Harok scanned the performer list, one group caught his eye.
Girl group Havana.
The group that included Jo Mina, the woman who would later become one of Asia’s biggest superstars.
Havana debuted not long ago.
They’re already big enough to perform here?
If Havana was appearing, maybe their agency had some complimentary tickets to distribute to acquaintances.
And it wasn’t as though Harok didn’t know the agency president, Yoon Suran.
He immediately searched for her number and called.
“Reporter Baek. Hello.”
“Hello.”
Yoon Suran’s high-pitched voice sounded genuinely pleased to hear from him.
Harok exchanged some small talk first and waited for an opening.
After congratulating her on Havana appearing at the K-POP Festival, he carefully asked whether she could get him tickets.
“Someone must have asked you for them.”
“My younger sister likes one of the artists performing. She begged me to get tickets for her.”
“If it’s a favor from Reporter Baek, then of course I should get them for you.”
Heaven is helping me.
Harok almost wanted to bow down in gratitude.
“If you give me your account number, I’ll transfer the money.”
“What are you talking about? I’ll just give them to you.”
“No.”
Harok refused firmly.
Usually, when a reporter asked this kind of favor, it implicitly meant they wanted the tickets for free.
Yoon Suran had spent more than a decade in the industry and naturally assumed that was what he meant.
But Harok hated that custom.
He believed habits like this were exactly what poisoned journalism.
Just as someone who stole a needle might eventually steal an ox, a reporter who accepted small things could eventually begin accepting bribes.
“...All right. I understand. I’ll contact you after I secure the tickets.”
“Thank you.”
Phew.
At least I can save face with Jihyeon now.
“Next, breaking news. The police officer who first reported the garbage dumpling case has taken his own life. Police stated that...”
Harok had just finished writing a review of KBC’s newly launched weekend drama and was preparing to leave when the news caught his attention.
Who died?
The report didn’t reveal the officer’s full name.
It only referred to him as Sergeant Park.
It had to be Park Junhyeong.
I spoke to him just two days ago.
Why?
Harok turned up the television volume.
“According to acquaintances, Sergeant Park had been suffering severe emotional distress since the garbage dumpling scandal began... Police discovered a suicide note, and testimony from people around him also supports the possibility of suicide...”
According to the report, Park Junhyeong had parked his car near the entrance to a hiking trail on Bukhansan and burned charcoal briquettes inside.
Harok pulled up a map of the hiking trail area online.
The location where Park died was slightly removed from the route normally frequented by hikers.
