Chapter 178
“Hello~.”
Five women entered the room, lined up, and greeted us sweetly.
Ha... this is awkward.
Feeling strangely uncomfortable, I glanced toward Goo Yangmo.
But he looked completely at ease as he casually examined the women and spoke with practiced familiarity.
“Let’s see. Is there anyone here who’d suit our Director Min?”
The waiter who had brought them in gave me a sly grin.
“Young boss looks like this is his first time somewhere like this.”
“Kim unnie here is a veteran, so she’ll take very good care of you.”
“A veteran?”
Goo Yangmo nodded.
“If we’re choosing, a veteran sounds good.”
“Then Kim unnie, and the lady next to her in the blue dress.”
The two women he picked sat beside us, while the waiter led the rest out.
“Is this your first time here?”
Kim unnie, wearing a black miniskirt, moved right up beside me.
“Huh? Ah, yes. Ahem.”
I awkwardly leaned away from her.
She smirked as though she found my reaction cute.
“Oh my, really?”
“I’m Sujin.”
“And I heard them call you Director earlier.”
“Are you really a director?”
“Director of what?”
“Huh? Ah, yes. Well... ahem.”
As she moved closer again, I slowly edged farther away.
“Oh my.”
“You look pretty young too.”
“You must be really successful~.”
“Kim unnie, take good care of our Director Min.”
Goo Yangmo grinned.
“He’s a pretty big deal in entertainment.”
The moment he mentioned entertainment, not only Kim unnie but also the woman in the blue dress became interested.
“Oh my, my dream when I was younger was to become an actress. Hoho.”
“Then I really should make a good impression.”
While we exchanged a few introductions, the waiter returned with a bottle of Gold Salute and some snacks.
Goo Yangmo smoothly poured drinks and loosened up the atmosphere.
“By the way, how long have you two worked here?”
“I’ve been here about a year and a half.”
The woman in the blue dress smiled.
“I’ve been here around three years.”
Kim unnie answered while expertly filling an empty glass.
Goo Yangmo turned toward her.
“Three years?”
“Then you must know almost all the regulars.”
“Well, yes.”
“I recognize the people who come often.”
“Really?”
He casually threw out the bait.
“Then you must know Executive Director Bang Seongsik too. I heard he’s a regular here.”
Kim unnie immediately reacted.
“Huh? Executive Director Bang Seongsik?”
“You mean Executive Director Bang from Hanshin Group?”
“You know him?”
Then the woman in the blue dress blurted out without even being asked,
“He was here yesterday too. Hoho.”
So Bang Seongsik definitely came here yesterday.
Goo Yangmo and I quickly exchanged glances.
He probed again.
“Ah... Executive Director Bang said he was meeting Reporter Lee Kyungsuk from Hanju Daily yesterday.”
“So I guess they met here. Hahaha.”
“Oh, so the man who came to see Executive Director Bang yesterday was a Hanju Daily reporter.”
The woman in blue continued innocently.
“After he arrived, the atmosphere got so scary that all of us were sent out of the room.”
The atmosphere got scary?
Once again, Goo Yangmo and I met each other’s eyes.
“Did you happen to hear why things got tense?”
At my sudden question, Kim unnie tilted her head slightly.
Then she looked at me suspiciously.
“But... why are you two so interested in Executive Director Bang?”
Only then did I realize I had rushed too much.
Goo Yangmo smoothly stepped in.
“The truth is, we do business with Executive Director Bang.”
“We have an important deal coming up in a few days.”
“So if he’s in a bad mood, we’re worried it might spill over onto us.”
“Ah.”
The woman in blue smiled.
“So you’re trying to figure out his mood because you have to watch yourselves around him.”
I took ten fifty-thousand-won bills from my wallet and placed them on the table.
“It can be dangerous going home late at night.”
“Take a taxi.”
Kim unnie understood immediately.
She smiled faintly and spoke.
“We didn’t hear everything because we were sent out right after the reporter arrived.”
“But the reporter kept shouting at Executive Director Bang.”
“He asked several times whether Executive Director Bang had lied to him.”
“And Executive Director Bang kept saying he hadn’t and looked really flustered.”
She thought for a moment.
“Oh, and Executive Director Bang said he’d pay the reporter’s legal fees if there was a lawsuit.”
Wait.
Does that mean Lee Kyungsuk trusted Executive Director Bang and published the story without properly fact-checking it?
Just then, Goo Yangmo subtly rubbed the inside pocket of his jacket and winked at me without letting the women notice.
He had already switched on a miniature recorder in his pocket before we entered.
Still...
I wondered how much evidentiary value there could be in what these women had merely overheard.
Well, we’ve come this far.
Let’s collect everything that might become useful.
“Excuse me.”
“I need the restroom.”
I stood up using the restroom as an excuse.
The waiter who had shown us to the room followed me toward the restroom.
Then he waited until I came back out and handed me a bottle of hangover relief drink.
“Boss, drink this in one go.”
“You’ll thank me tomorrow morning.”
“This is the strongest hangover drink in Korea.”
I knew enough about places like this to understand that waiters often offered hangover drinks because they were hoping for tips.
“Oh, perfect.”
“I have an early meeting tomorrow, so I was already worried.”
“Thank you.”
That was exactly what I had been waiting for.
I accepted the drink and pulled out another ten fifty-thousand-won bills.
“Here.”
“Consider this my thanks.”
The waiter’s eyes went wide at the unexpectedly large tip.
“Th-This is too much...”
“Th-Thank you!”
He bowed almost ninety degrees.
I got straight to the point.
“I’ll give you twice this amount.”
“No, three times.”
“Could you do me one favor?”
The waiter blinked in surprise.
