Chapter 179
Reporter Goo Yangmo waved at me as I entered the coffee shop on the first floor of the Hanju Daily building.
I hurried over, sat down across from him, and looked around.
“Where’s Reporter Lee Kyungsuk?”
“He’s out on assignment right now. Said he’d be back by three.”
I quickly checked the time.
We still had about thirty minutes.
“I was a little surprised you contacted me this quickly.”
“How did you convince Reporter Lee?”
“Don’t even get me started. That man is stubborn as hell.”
Goo Yangmo launched into the story like a veteran recounting an old battle.
“At first, I thought I’d feel him out naturally.”
“But then I realized that wouldn’t work on him.”
“He notices that kind of thing immediately.”
Apparently, the last time Goo Yangmo had approached Lee Kyungsuk to ask about the source, Lee had instantly demanded to know what he was scheming.
Goo Yangmo had been forced to back off without getting anything.
That makes sense.
With someone as principled as Lee Kyungsuk, a roundabout approach could actually make things worse.
“So what did you do?”
“What else?”
“I just told him everything directly.”
“I said I had a younger friend connected to Hanshin Media who wanted to meet him and talk about the Mega Cinema article.”
“So I told him to meet you.”
I stared at him.
“You said it that openly?”
Goo Yangmo ignored my alarm and continued.
“At first he completely lost it.”
“He asked if I was getting paid to arrange meetings and swore he’d never see you.”
“And then?”
“What could I do?”
“When persuasion doesn’t work, you threaten him.”
Threaten him?
I blinked in disbelief.
Goo Yangmo smirked.
“I happen to know one embarrassing secret about him.”
“So I threatened him with it. Hahahaha.”
He laughed like he was having the time of his life.
“Ha... we should be trying to coax him over gently, and you dragged him out here by blackmailing him.”
“Is he even going to listen to me properly?”
“Don’t worry.”
“If he doesn’t listen properly, I’ll threaten him again. Hahaha.”
I shook my head, unable to tell whether he was joking.
“Anyway, how much did you tell him?”
“Not much.”
“Just what I told you a moment ago.”
“So you didn’t tell him we know Executive Director Bang Seongsik was the source?”
Goo Yangmo immediately waved his hands.
“Of course not.”
“If anyone’s going to tell him that, it should be you.”
“Why would I volunteer to get caught in the crossfire?”
We kept talking for a while.
Then Goo Yangmo suddenly looked past me and jumped to his feet.
He bowed quickly.
“Senior, you’re here.”
I turned toward the direction he was looking.
A tall, extremely thin man was walking toward us.
He was so lanky that he reminded me of a wooden chopstick.
I quickly stood.
“Hello. Thank you for coming.”
“I’m Min Kibaek, Head of Production at Big Picture.”
Lee Kyungsuk tilted his head at me, then shot Goo Yangmo a sharp glare.
“You said he was from Hanshin Media.”
Goo Yangmo smiled awkwardly.
“He works at Big Picture, but he’s been involved with CEO Han Taesung and the Mega Cinema acquisition from beginning to end.”
Lee Kyungsuk seemed to understand and sat down with an indifferent expression.
“What would you like to drink?”
“No need.”
“We’re not exactly close enough to sit around drinking tea together, are we?”
“Just tell me why you used Yangmo to get me here.”
His words were sharp.
I forced myself to remain calm.
“Yes.”
“Then I’ll get straight to the point.”
“Because of the incorrect article you wrote, Hanshin Media is currently in an extremely difficult position.”
Lee Kyungsuk frowned at me irritably.
“And what exactly do you want me to do about that?”
I had expected resistance, but he was even more rigid than I thought.
“If you feel wronged, then settle it in court.”
“Isn’t that why you sued me in the first place?”
“Yes, that’s true.”
“But we don’t have the time to wait for the courts to determine who’s right.”
I explained that if the issue wasn’t resolved properly within the month, the Mega Cinema sale could collapse.
And if that happened, Hanshin Media would suffer enormous losses.
But Lee Kyungsuk remained cold, as though none of that had anything to do with him.
“So what exactly are you asking me to do?”
I looked him straight in the eyes.
“Acknowledge that the article was wrong and publish a correction with an apology.”
His brow immediately furrowed in disbelief.
“A wrong article?”
“More precisely, an article written based on false information.”
Smack.
Lee Kyungsuk slapped his palm against the table.
“Look here!”
“I did enough fact-checking before publishing that article!”
“By fact-checking...”
I kept my voice calm.
“Do you mean the financial statements Executive Director Bang Seongsik showed you as evidence?”
The moment Bang Seongsik’s name left my mouth, Lee Kyungsuk’s eyes shook.
“H-How did you...?”
“You mean how did I know Bang Seongsik was your source?”
I leaned slightly forward.
“Do you really think even an executive can access corporate financial statements with no security trail whatsoever?”
That part was a lie.
But under the circumstances, a lie like this was nothing.
