Chapter 7. Unauthorized Transmission (2)
It was the second day of Harok's disappearance.
He was nervous.
Not because he feared punishment for the massive incident he had caused.
What worried him was whether the future event he remembered would still happen exactly as before.
Harok had persuaded a high-ranking police officer he was close with to station divers around Banpo Bridge.
He lied and said someone had threatened to commit suicide there.
Now he was waiting anxiously for KBC's 120-Minute Debate, which was scheduled to begin at ten at night.
Originally, Harok was supposed to be on night duty in the newsroom that day.
He had almost gone back to work, but then changed his mind.
I'll at least see the result first.
He quickly sent Yubin a message.
[Harok: Yubin, I need a favor.]
[Yubin: Go ahead.]
[Harok: Can you take tonight's night shift?]
[Yubin: LOL]
[Harok: Why are you laughing?]
[Yubin: Scared?]
[Harok: Not scared.]
[Yubin: You definitely are LOL]
[Harok: Don't get cocky. Possible or impossible. Pick one.]
[Yubin: I have plans though ㅠㅠ]
[Harok: ㅠㅠ]
[Yubin: I'll change my plans ^^]
[Harok: One meal coupon has been added to your account.]
[Yubin: Change it to drinks.]
[Harok: Deal.]
Getting cursed at was practically part of everyday life for a journalist.
But if he was going to get cursed anyway, he at least wanted to confirm whether the future had changed first.
The direction of the garbage dumpling scandal had shifted faster than he expected.
Has the future changed too...?
The topic of 120-Minute Debate had been changed from [Are Garbage Dumplings Acceptable?] to [Controversy Over the Police's Flawed Investigation].
Naturally, the panelists had also been replaced.
About an hour after the debate began, the president of Mirae Food was finally connected by phone.
"We have him on the line now. Hello?"
"Yes, hello."
"Please introduce yourself."
"I'm Jeong Chanseong, the CEO of Mirae Food."
...
"Would you like to say anything before we finish?"
"To be honest, until this morning, I was thinking of taking my own life. But then... I read that article... and I saw hope."
"I see."
"Please, everyone. I beg you not to be angry anymore. Please help make sure there are no more innocent victims."
"Thank you for speaking with us."
The fact that he had openly mentioned suicide meant he no longer intended to do it.
"Phew...!"
Harok threw both hands into the air.
His stomach had felt blocked the entire time, as though he had been suffering from indigestion.
Now, at last, he could breathe.
For the first time since his regression, he went to bed with a completely peaceful heart.
"Good morning."
Harok walked into the National Police Agency press room with a light step.
He headed toward the Daehan Daily booth.
The internal phone line was still unplugged.
Just as Harok reconnected it, Jeon Giyeong, the vice-chief from Daea Daily sitting behind him, began grumbling.
Jeon Giyeong was the reporter who had originally broken the garbage dumpling story.
"If you drain all the momentum from a police investigation like this, what the hell are we supposed to do?"
Anyone could tell the remark was aimed at Harok.
All he did was rewrite something the police handed him...
Harok wasn't the type to let a jab like that pass.
"Quit muttering like a rat behind my back."
Harok's voice echoed throughout the entire press room.
Jeon Giyeong's face flushed red.
"What? Mutering?"
He stood up and approached Harok.
"Was that directed at me?"
"The guilty person is usually the one who feels stabbed. Looks like you felt stabbed, Senior."
"Ha, this bastard..."
Jeon Giyeong looked up at the ceiling and let out a disbelieving sigh.
"Fine. Since we're already here, let's speak openly. What are you trying to accomplish by attacking the police this early in the investigation? Are you trying to ruin the whole case?"
"Early? What do you mean, early? Companies are already getting destroyed because of their garbage investigation."
"If they messed with people's food, they deserve to go bankrupt. If this investigation falls apart, are you going to take responsibility?"
Bullshit. Why the hell would I be responsible?
If anything, the police who had driven companies to the edge with a sloppy investigation should be responsible.
"Senior, when you eat gimbap, do you eat the ends or throw them away?"
"Of course I eat them. Why are you suddenly asking that?"
"It's the same thing. The ends of pickled radish are still food. But the police are insisting they're waste."
"How is that the same thing?"
"Anyway, I attacked them because their investigation was garbage. If you're curious, read my article properly. Everything the police screwed up is right there."
Their argument continued for quite a while.
"Hey, even so, attacking someone just because they beat you to a scoop is dirty. If you miss a story, you're supposed to bankai it. Didn't you learn that?"
Jeon Giyeong was about three years senior to Harok.
Naturally, Harok addressed him as Senior.
But then...
"Bankai, my ass."
"What? You little bastard. Just because we use the same press room, you think you can talk to me like we're equals? Show some respect to your senior..."
Harok looked at him as though he were ridiculous.
"You heard what kind of scene I caused in my own newsroom, didn't you? Once I lose my temper, seniority doesn't mean shit to me. I cursed directly at my editor-in-chief. A senior from another newspaper isn't exactly going to scare me."
Jeon Giyeong flinched at Harok's intensity.
"And let's get one thing straight. Can an article you got spoon-fed by the police really be compared to an exclusive I actually investigated with my own feet?"
"What? You think I just copied it?"
"If I hadn't pissed Choi Cheonsik off, do you really think he would've handed that story to you? Not a chance in hell."
There had already been rumors going around.
People said Investigation Division Chief Choi Cheonsik had passed the story to Daea Daily after clashing with Harok.
Now Harok had effectively confirmed that rumor as fact.
"What? You little bastard. You get beaten to a story and now you're making up ridiculous lies..."
Rustle.
Click, click.
Harok took a cigarette from his pocket, put it between his lips, and lit it.
"If it wasn't Choi Cheonsik, then where did your source come from? Go on, tell me. We all know what your reporting skills are like."
Telling a journalist they had no reporting skill was essentially the same as telling them to go die.
This was no longer an argument.
It was a declaration of war.
"What the hell? You really have no respect for rank, do you?"
Enraged, Jeon Giyeong grabbed Harok by the collar.
Yes! Something useful to report upstairs.
And I can spread the rumor too.
The expressions of the surrounding reporters made their thoughts obvious.
There was nothing more entertaining than watching a fight or a fire.
One of the things that exhausted journalists almost as much as coming up with story ideas was filing internal intelligence reports.
All kinds of information that wasn't quite suitable for publication could become material for those reports.
Rumors.
Incidents at institutions they covered.
Conflicts between reporters.
Affairs.
Anything.
Once those reports started circulating outside the organization, they became what journalists called batgeul.
In other words, gossip sheets.
"Hyung, you confident? Want to take off the rank badges and settle it?"
Harok was well over 180 centimeters tall.
Jeon Giyeong, on the other hand, was barely around 170.
Whether in height or build, it didn't look like Jeon Giyeong had much chance against him.
He quietly released Harok's collar.
"The journalist world is dead. Completely dead. A junior with barely any experience is glaring at his senior..."
Apparently feeling wronged, Jeon Giyeong returned to his seat and continued grumbling.
"Senior, let me tell you one more thing. Back when I was a trainee, I once went on a blind date with a woman from the PR department of a major corporation."
Jeon Giyeong looked at him as though wondering what nonsense he was about to say.
"Do you know what that woman from the PR department asked me? I still haven't forgotten it."
"..."
"Do journalists write articles too?"
Every reporter nearby who had been listening burst out laughing.
"I'm serious. She asked me that completely sincerely. That's the reality of our journalist world, full of copying, Ctrl+C, Ctrl+V, and rewriting whatever someone hands us. From now on, try doing some actual reporting before you write your articles."
Even after being savaged by his junior, Jeon Giyeong no longer had enough momentum left to answer.
He merely moved his lips and muttered, "Fuck..."
After his clash with Jeon Giyeong, Harok opened his laptop.
Then he closed it again.
Normally, this was the time when he should be preparing a story proposal.
But was that really the problem right now?
Seo Jinwoo and the other juniors were already working hard on breaking news related to the garbage dumpling scandal.
What Harok needed was a separate exit strategy to calm the editor-in-chief's anger.
The best option would be to bring in some huge exclusive and throw it at him.
Harok left the press room and headed toward the smoking area outside the National Police Agency building.
As the number of non-smokers increased, it had become increasingly uncomfortable to smoke inside press rooms.
What a pain in the ass.
Tap, tap.
He opened a fresh pack and pulled out a cigarette.
"Hey, Vice Baek. Fancy seeing you here."
Who is that?
Harok turned toward the man waving cheerfully at him.
It was Yu Seongun from the culture desk.
He had joined the company in the same intake as Chief Kim Seongjun.
"Ah, Senior."
"Wow. Because of your article, the police are getting completely torn apart. And here the man who wrote it is calmly smoking right in the heart of police headquarters. Hahaha."
Does he not know about the unauthorized transmission incident?
Harok was currently hiding from the company because of it.
"What brings you here, Senior?"
"Ah, I came to see the Drug and Organized Crime Investigation Division."
"Why there?"
Yu Seongun suddenly stopped talking and gestured for Harok to come closer.
When Harok approached, he lowered his voice.
"Celebrity drugs."
"Ah..."
It was one of those issues that surfaced whenever people started to forget about the last one.
The police are cornered right now. Are they trying to change the subject with a celebrity drug scandal?
"But I'm having trouble meeting the head of the drug investigation division."
Even for journalists, access to sources varied dramatically depending on whether they were assigned to cover that institution.
A culture desk reporter wasn't someone the police would meet easily.
"Want me to connect you?"
"You can do that?"
Yu Seongun's face immediately brightened.
Harok quickly searched his phone contacts for the drug investigation chief's number and pressed call.
"Yes, Hyung. It's me... Come on, why would I be trying to tear you apart?... No, it's something else. A senior from my company wants to meet you... Yes, yes. We're heading up soon, so please cooperate with his reporting... Yes, yes... We'll definitely have soju next time. Thank you."
Click.
"You can go up now."
"Thank you, seriously. I won't forget this favor."
"Don't mention it."
Yu Seongun started toward the building, then suddenly stopped.
"Actually, instead of just saying thanks, are you free tonight?"
"Tonight?"
"I'm meeting a very successful senior who used to work at our company. He's with TS Group now. I was supposed to bring a junior reporter with me. You'd be perfect. Want to come?"
"A senior? Who?"
"Lee Jinbaek. He's three classes above me. I think he left around the time you were still a trainee. How many years ago did you join?"
"I'm in my sixth year as a journalist now. It's been a little over five full years."
"Then you probably never saw him. Anyway, when Senior Lee Jinbaek announced he was moving to TS Group, the entire newsroom went crazy."
"He must've been impressive."
Yu Seongun stopped walking again, turned around, and took out another cigarette.
"Everyone thought that even if every other journalist quit, Senior Lee Jinbaek never would. People unanimously said he was going to become a future editor-in-chief of Daehan Daily."
"Then why did he change jobs?"
"That's the mystery. Some people said TS Group offered him an absurd salary. Others said someone in a key position personally recruited him."
"Probably the salary, right?"
"He apparently communicates directly with one of the leading candidates to become the next head of TS Group. That may have been the real attraction. Maybe he decided he could eventually wield enormous influence over the entire group."
"Oh."
Someone like that was worth getting acquainted with if only as a future source.
"So you have a chance to drink with a senior like that tonight. What do you think?"
But had Harok really been close enough with Yu Seongun to go drinking together?
He searched his memories but couldn't recall anything significant involving him.
This life really does seem to be unfolding in a completely different direction.
Since Harok wasn't tied down by article deadlines, he suddenly had far too much free time.
There was an old saying among journalists.
If journalists didn't have to write articles, there would be no better profession in the world.
Meeting people and chatting was literally part of the job.
If it suited your personality, there really wasn't much better.
The problem was that journalists also had to write articles.
That one inconvenience erased most of the profession's advantages.
Harok decided to spend the extra time doing rounds at the National Police Agency.
Mawari referred to making the rounds of the police stations and departments within a reporter's territory to gather information.
He visited departments on each floor, introducing himself and building familiarity with the officers.
His final stop was the Personnel Planning Office.
Normally, he would have no particular reason to cultivate a relationship with the personnel planning officer.
But he had deliberately come because of Choi Cheonsik.
I'll show you what a journalist's pride looks like.
A journalist might not be able to get someone promoted, but we can certainly block a promotion.
And this isn't because he stabbed me in the back.
This is legitimate punishment for conducting a garbage investigation.
As far as Harok was concerned, Choi Cheonsik had no business even dreaming about a promotion after running such a sloppy investigation.
After chatting with the personnel planning officer for a while, Harok stepped outside.
His phone rang.
Ring, ring.
"At least you answer my calls."
"Well, your calls are..."
"Hey. Are you planning to quit the company?"
What the hell?
The chief was standing beside Yubin.
"Ah, Chief..."
"Come to the newsroom tomorrow morning. If you don't show your face by tomorrow, things are going to become genuinely serious. Handle it however you want."
"Is the editor-in-chief really angry?"
"Wouldn't you be angry if you were him? What the hell were you thinking when you did something like... Forget it. What's the point of talking to you?"
"Still, it became a scoop. And the whole direction of the garbage dumpling scandal changed."
"You bastard... You really have no idea what kind of situation you're in."
"Understood. I'll see you tomorrow."
