Chapter 48. Finishing Blow (4)
“Please, just spare us this once.”
The moment Yubin answered, Mun Byeonggeol’s pleading voice came through.
She was instantly annoyed.
“What are you talking about out of nowhere?”
“Our vice president has been reflecting on his mistakes and keeping a low profile for days.”
“What does his staying quiet have to do with me?”
“The article you filed today...”
What was he talking about?
The street edition wasn’t even out yet.
How did he already know what was going into tomorrow’s paper?
Yubin checked the time.
It was almost five in the afternoon.
Lee Munhong was still in the middle of desk-editing her article.
This had gone far beyond the line.
Everyone in the newsroom vaguely knew that unpublished articles sometimes leaked outside.
But for the person who received one to openly tell the reporter that he had seen it?
That was insane.
He had read her article before even the first edition had come out.
Wasn’t that practically advance censorship?
If she formally raised the issue, whoever leaked the article could be fired and have no excuse.
“What article I filed today?”
Yubin deliberately pretended not to understand.
She needed clear proof.
“You know... that one...”
Mun Byeonggeol knew perfectly well how serious it was to admit he had seen the article in advance, so he started dodging the question.
If you won’t say it, neither will I.
Yubin kept circling around the subject too.
Their little battle of nerves went on for about a minute.
In the end, Mun Byeonggeol gave in first.
His feet were the ones on fire.
“I heard the recording involving our vice president is going to be reported. So...”
Okay.
Got you.
“You’re admitting that you saw my article before it was published, correct?”
Only then did Mun Byeonggeol realize what he had done.
“N-No, Reporter Seol, that’s not what I meant...”
“I know reporters are treated like dirt these days, but seriously... Is it normal for a corporate PR office to read an article before it’s even published?”
Mun Byeonggeol fell silent.
There was nothing he could possibly say.
“I’m absolutely going to address this. I’ll report it to the union and formally raise the issue with the company.”
“R-Reporter Seol, this is entirely my fault. Please calm down and—”
“No. This is not something I can just let go.”
Mun Byeonggeol had called to put out a fire and ended up pouring gasoline on it.
Worse, the person who had leaked the article was none other than Chu Jiyeong.
If Yubin made this into an issue, Chu Jiyeong would be in serious trouble.
“Reporter Seol, I’ll come to your office right now.”
“I’m not at the office. Don’t come looking for me.”
Click.
Mun Byeonggeol immediately began calling over and over.
Yubin quickly added his number to her blocked list.
Blocking a source was one of the things a reporter should never do.
A reporter’s job was to listen to other people and turn what they heard into writing.
They were called people who write, but in practice, they were also people who listen.
You had to listen well to write well.
Even so, Yubin blocked Mun Byeonggeol because she knew he would keep calling and pestering her.
You’re blocked for now.
I’ll unblock you after tomorrow’s article is out.
Though she wondered whether Mun Byeonggeol would have any reason to call her after tomorrow.
“Senior, where are you?”
“Me? On my way back to the office.”
“Why are you going to the office at this hour?”
“I have work too. What, you think Culture reporters sit around doing nothing all day?”
Yubin told Harok about her call with Mun Byeonggeol.
“Is he insane? No matter how desperate he was, he actually admitted he saw the article beforehand?”
As soon as Yubin returned to the office, she requested a meeting with Lee Munhong.
She had already informed the Chief about Mun Byeonggeol’s behavior and made it clear that she intended to raise the issue.
“I heard from the Chief.”
“Yes.”
“I can’t just let this slide. I had a vague idea that articles were leaking outside. But does it make any sense for them to openly call the reporter and admit they saw it before publication?”
Lee Munhong was stuck in an awkward position.
He had become furious when the Chief reported it.
Then Wi Seongman, the Industry Department Head, sent a signal asking him to let it go.
Even the editor-in-chief joined in.
An unpublished article leaking outside meant there was a major hole in the company’s security.
If things were this bad, how could anyone feel safe uploading a sensitive exclusive into the newsroom editing system?
The same thing had happened with Harok’s dumpling-scandal article.
It leaked before publication, exposing it to outside pressure.
And in the end, Harok was the one who got punished and exiled to Culture.
“I completely understand how you feel, Yubin.”
Yubin stared intently at Lee Munhong.
“What?”
“You know who did it, don’t you?”
The culprit was already running around lobbying people after receiving a call from Mun Byeonggeol.
Chu Jiyeong had immediately called Wi Seongman and burst into tears.
Moved by her full-on method acting, Wi Seongman had stepped forward as Chu Jiyeong’s defender.
He personally came to Lee Munhong and asked him to mediate.
Lee Munhong didn’t want to get involved, but the situation left him no choice.
“W-Well, that...”
“I already have a pretty good idea who it was.”
Lee Munhong couldn’t meet Yubin’s eyes.
“Please take immediate action at the company level. Otherwise, I’m going to report this to the union and make it an official issue.”
Lee Munhong grabbed his head.
“What exactly do you mean by action?”
“Convene a disciplinary committee and punish the person. The editor-in-chief is always so by-the-book when it comes to reporters’ misconduct, isn’t he?”
Good grief.
Lee Munhong let out a small groan and leaned back in his chair.
“Do you really have to go that far?”
“There’s a saying that someone who steals a needle eventually steals an ox. It may be just one article now, but who knows what they’ll leak next? We need to make an example out of this.”
“All right. I understand.”
“Please let me know the result quickly. If the company doesn’t deal with it, I really will go to the union.”
If the union got involved, the problem would become much bigger.
It could even lead to questions about whether the editor-in-chief should retain his position.
“Fine. I said I understand. Give me some time.”
Not long after Yubin returned to her desk, she received a summons from the editor-in-chief.
“I heard from Department Head Lee.”
“Yes.”
“Do you really need to make this into a bigger problem?”
“The thing that bothered me most while writing these Kwon Jaegwan articles wasn’t even the pressure from outside. It was the atmosphere inside the newsroom protecting him.”
Kim Yeonghwan flinched.
“Every article was exhausting. Honestly, I’d already suspected for some time that stories were leaking before publication.”
“That can’t be true.”
“Don’t tell me you’re going to pretend you didn’t know, Editor-in-Chief.”
“There was no such thing.”
Yubin stared at Kim Yeonghwan with as much contempt as she could put into her eyes.
“Then how do you explain the Blue House calling before Senior Harok’s article even ran last time?”
“Who told you the Blue House called?”
“It’s already common knowledge. Senior Bang Woncheol, the Senior Secretary for Civil Society, admitted it himself.”
Kim Yeonghwan had just lost face in front of a rookie reporter.
That idiot.
Why would he admit that himself?
“Forget it. What’s the point of digging up the past?”
“It’s really not true that the Blue House called.”
Kim Yeonghwan denied it to the bitter end.
“Fine. Let’s say it didn’t. Either way, does it make sense that someone handed over my entire article before publication, and then the company called me asking me to pull a story they’d already read?”
Yubin was firm.
The victim herself was refusing to back down.
Kim Yeonghwan didn’t have many options left.
“Do you really have to draw blood?”
“Draw blood?”
“If you formally make this an issue, severe disciplinary action will be unavoidable. She’s still a fellow reporter and your senior. Won’t you feel guilty if she receives that kind of punishment?”
Yubin gave Kim Yeonghwan a cold smile.
“A reporter who sells articles to companies is my senior? I’ll pass on a senior like that.”
Kim Yeonghwan’s expression twisted further.
Is this little brat saying that for me to hear too?
“Anyway, tell me by tomorrow what the company intends to do about this. Otherwise, I’m going straight to the union.”
“Are you threatening me?”
“Editor-in-Chief, that’s unfair. How is this a threat? I’m the victim of theft asking you to find and punish the person who stole from me.”
There was nothing wrong with what Yubin said.
Kim Yeonghwan had no choice but to retreat.
The person directly harmed was coming at him with no brakes.
What could he do?
“Fine. I’ll decide by tomorrow and let you know.”
“Yes. Thank you.”
Yubin sprang to her feet, bowed a full ninety degrees, and left the editor-in-chief’s office with light steps.
“You should’ve just accepted an apology and let it go.”
Yubin immediately ran to Culture and reported everything to Harok.
She had naturally expected praise.
His reaction was the exact opposite.
Her eyes widened.
“Wasn’t that the right thing to do? I thought you’d tell me I did well.”
Harok sighed, stopped writing, and turned his chair toward her.
“Sure, it feels good. Very satisfying. A perfect cathartic ending.”
“Then what’s wrong?”
Harok shook his head.
“If you’re too rigid, you break. Sometimes you have to pretend you lost and let things slide.”
“What do you mean?”
Harok pulled his chair closer and lowered his head as if they were discussing a secret.
“What power does the editor-in-chief have? Personnel authority. There are endless ways he can make your life miserable with transfers. It hasn’t even been a month since he tried to send you to International.”
Now that Harok mentioned it, Yubin could understand.
What if Kim Yeonghwan held a grudge because she had refused to do what he wanted?
He could completely screw her over in the next personnel reshuffle.
The last transfer had been reversed through sheer luck, but newsroom personnel decisions still ultimately fell under the editor-in-chief.
Yubin still wanted to learn more in the Social Affairs crime team.
And she had Baek Harok, the best private tutor she could ask for.
Kim Yeonghwan knew perfectly well that she wanted to remain in Social Affairs.
If she got on his bad side now, he would almost certainly throw her into another department at the next reshuffle.
And everyone knew how petty Kim Yeonghwan could be.
The thought of being driven out of Social Affairs suddenly made Yubin’s vision go dark.
“What would you have done, Senior?”
“Me? Obviously I would’ve set the newsroom on fire. Maybe smashed a desk or two.”
What kind of hypocrisy was this?
He would burn down the newsroom himself, yet he was telling her to hold back?
Yubin stared at him in disbelief.
“And how did that turn out for me? I got demoted to Culture and now I spend my days choosing half-naked girl-group photos.”
“You looked like you were enjoying it.”
Harok glared at her as if this were not the time for jokes.
“You don’t need to follow in my footsteps. Compromise a little and life gets easier.”
“I don’t want to compromise.”
Harok suspected Yubin’s confidence came partly from knowing she had her father’s backing.
But Yubin was an adult.
It wasn’t a good look for her father to keep stepping in every time something happened.
Harok decided to seriously persuade her.
“Seol Yubin. I’m saying this as someone who’s lived a little longer than you.”
Seeing Harok turn serious, Yubin had no choice but to do the same.
“Go ahead.”
“You want to keep working in the crime team, right?”
“Yes.”
“Then listen carefully.”
“Yes.”
“Handle this the way the editor-in-chief wants.”
“I don’t want to.”
Harok narrowed his eyes and glared at her like a teacher scolding a student.
Yubin shrank like a puppy facing a guard dog.
“Use this as leverage. Make a deal that he doesn’t interfere with your articles anymore.”
“Can I even do that?”
“You’re the one holding the knife right now, Yubin.”
Yubin shook her head.
“As if the editor-in-chief would ever stop interfering with articles. Selling them is basically his job.”
Even Yubin thought that little of the editor-in-chief.
How terrible did you have to be for a reporter barely out of training to judge you like that?
“I’m not saying forever. Just make him stay out of every Kwon Jaegwan article until this case is over.”
Even that much would open up some breathing room.
Kim Yeonghwan’s interference throughout the Kwon Jaegwan coverage had gone far beyond reasonable.
And tomorrow, they had an enormous story ready that could remove Kwon Jaegwan from the board permanently.
To publish it safely, they absolutely needed the editor-in-chief to do nothing.
At last, Yubin decided to follow Harok’s advice.
“But what do I do now? I already gave them an ultimatum to take action by tomorrow.”
