76 The Red Eve

Chairman Yoo was furious that Hwang Gyeong-ok had gifted her shares to Jinhan without consulting him. He immediately assumed it was due to the recent conflict with Jinhan.

“It feels like my wife is tidying things up around her lately. Don’t you think so, Chief Secretary Han?”

“Perhaps she’s trying to empower Director Yoo, since he’s your youngest son?”

“If that were the case, she would have said something to me first.”

He immediately called Jinhan. His son’s cold tone was full of thorns. Chairman Yoo scoffed at his son’s words about separating GN Entertainment from GN. However, the more he replayed the conversation, the colder his spine felt.

“Chief Secretary Han, are you sure you only stopped Jinhan from going to the press conference?”

“Ms. Hong Yoonji was also at GN Entertainment that day. I politely asked them, but they were stubborn, so we had no choice but to block the building’s entrance.”

“Hmm.”

“Then CEO Park Dojun barged in, and I and the bodyguards were the ones who suffered.”

He had left Haejoo to Youngjae. He had instructed him to absolutely prevent her from attending the press conference, but he failed. Youngjae couldn’t handle Dojun. Because of this, Youngjae disappeared and couldn’t be contacted.

“It’s so hard to manage just one child...”

“No matter what we do, when CEO Park Dojun appears, everything goes haywire.”

“He’s no ordinary man if he blows up trivial matters into such big issues.”

To Chairman Yoo, Dojun was just a young puppy. But his actions were closer to those of a tiger, not easily underestimated. It was no exaggeration to say that GN held the reins of the Korean film industry. GN’s affiliates alone accounted for 70% of the theaters. He intended to just tighten the leash a little. He was confident they wouldn’t last long and would eventually bow their heads at a reasonable level. It had always been this way, so it wasn’t difficult. The biggest unexpected variables were Dojun and Jinhan. These two were complicating matters, which was a headache.

“Follow my wife.”

“Understood.”

On Friday evening, when he returned home from work, Hwang Gyeong-ok was acting as usual. Chairman Yoo tilted his head in confusion but still went out to play golf the next day. After some moderate exercise, a drinking party ensued. As he was pleasantly tipsy, Han Jintae urgently approached and whispered a few words.

“Is that true?”

Clack!

He almost threw the glass he was holding as he set it down. As those sitting around looked on nervously, Chairman Yoo left the bar. He then returned to the company. The capillaries around Chairman Yoo’s eyes were visibly swollen from the alcohol.

“Put what Chief Secretary Han said on the monitor first.”

Late Saturday night, a post appeared on a famous anonymous bulletin board. The poster’s name was also listed as ‘Anonymous’. Because anonymity was guaranteed, whistleblowing posts from large organizations often appeared there. Coincidentally, a post titled ‘Exposing the truth about GN’ appeared on this site.

“This is the post.”

Chairman Yoo took out his glasses and stared intently at the monitor. The anonymous poster began by stating that GN had a history of habitual theft. They cited Director Kwak’s film as an example. The post also claimed that when Haejoo’s marriage scandal broke, Chairman Yoo demanded excessive responsibility and threatened them. It was added that this treatment even disregarded his son, Director Yoo Jinhan.

“How dare someone post such trash!”

The post didn’t stop there. It also added that there was already evidence for everything GN had done. Monitoring Haejoo by assigning a famous manager, bribing GN Entertainment employees to spy... it was endless. Then, it mentioned Director Kwak, who held a press conference a few days prior. It lamented that Chairman Yoo, blinded by money, had manipulated outsourced directors into abandoning the set. These were details that only an insider could know. Moreover, mentioning Chairman Yoo and Han Jintae by their real names made it difficult to prevent the fallout.

“Find out who wrote this. Immediately!”

“We are already investigating, but it’s not easy.”

“Why?”

“The police previously failed to catch the author of a controversial post on this site.”

“We just need the server address!”

“It’s not that simple.”

The site’s server was in a third country, and the operator’s nationality was not Korean. Due to the nature of an anonymity-guaranteed site, poster information was not provided unless it was related to a serious crime. Chairman Yoo’s face swelled red as he listened to the explanation. He couldn’t hold back and eventually threw the cup on his desk against the wall.

“Catch them by any means necessary!”

The post had been up for only about two hours. While Chairman Yoo raged, the exposé post was deleted by the author. Coincidentally, the post had already spread. It was even more chaotic because it appeared at a perfectly timed moment, while Director Kwak’s press conference was a hot topic.

“I will do my best to investigate.”

This situation was also unfavorable for Han Jintae. If things continued this way, the public could push for prosecutorial intervention. Chairman Yoo knew he could always escape. But he couldn’t. Other hidden things might be exposed, and he might be unfairly blamed. If he was going to clean it up, he had to do it while he still had a connection to Chairman Yoo. Power was meant to be used at times like this.

“Send a cooperation letter to the site operator first.”

Secretariat staff were called in late at night. As if that wasn’t enough, Chairman Yoo summoned the entire legal team. He swore they wouldn’t go home until they found a solution. Thanks to GN’s true colors being revealed, it earned the nickname “gangster company.” Some people were surprised, saying they doubted it but it turned out to be true.

“In times like these, you just grab the weakest one and beat them to death.”

Han Jintae, who had stayed up all night, had malice in his pupils. Unable to find a clear solution, he resorted to a last resort.

________________________________________

Dojun couldn’t sleep late into Saturday night. The blank laptop monitor now displayed over five pages of text he had personally written. He absolutely had to prevent Haejoo from facing more difficulties. Moreover, with her pregnancy, he felt more desperate than ever.

“What could Chairman Yoo be thinking right now?”

To confront GN, a meticulous strategy was needed. He carefully timed the optimal use of the currently collected evidence. Dojun’s goal was for Chairman Yoo to not only face a prosecutorial investigation but also step down from his position as chairman. His eldest son, who would inherit the succession, would have no choice but to be mindful of public opinion given the circumstances.

“He’ll probably come up with all sorts of countermeasures to try and clean things up.”

It could easily turn into an all-out brawl. In the meantime, innocent people, including Haejoo, could suffer, so he had to end it quickly. Fortunately, terrestrial broadcasters were also continuously criticizing the unrepentant GN. Just driving them into a corner like this was half the battle won.

“Good.”

It was when Dojun turned off the monitor. Haejoo, her face hardened, rushed into the study.

“Don’t run. The baby will be startled.”

“Dojun, did you see that post?”

“What post?”

“There’s a huge commotion because of a post right now!”

Haejoo had been gloomy after hearing about Director Kwak’s situation from Yoonji. The idea of actors uniting to issue a statement came up, and she agreed to participate. She was pondering how to draft the first version of the statement as a representative when Yoonji urgently messaged her via chat.

[Did you post this?]

[What post?]

[Go read it quickly.]

Haejoo clicked the internet address Yoonji sent her along with the message. It was a site Haejoo had never seen before, and someone had posted an exposé about GN’s misdeeds. The details in the post were incredibly specific. She couldn’t have known them without seeing them firsthand, and her heart pounded as she read.

“Who...”

Anyone would easily misunderstand that Haejoo had written it. Her vision blurred without her realizing it, and then Yoonji spoke.

[Are you sure you didn’t post it?]

[I just found out about this site now.]

[This is a big problem. GN is going to cause trouble.]

[How did you know, sunbae?]

[My manager told me. This post is being screenshotted and spreading everywhere.]

Haejoo’s hand, gripping the mouse, trembled. As Yoonji said, “GN exposé” was already trending on portal sites. The author even described how Chairman Yoo had cruelly made Haejoo, who was in a wheelchair due to the risk of miscarriage, stand up as if torturing her. When this fact became known, the public was furiously enraged. At the same time, they rallied in support of Haejoo and the affected filmmakers. Haejoo’s face turned ashen, and she breathed heavily. Despite her fingertips tingling, she placed the laptop she had brought in front of Dojun.

“Look at this.”

Only then did Dojun start reading the anonymous post. Someone had leaked the contents he had intended to include in the lawsuit onto the internet. The situation couldn’t be seen as good. If this continued, GN would seek retaliation, and Dojun’s position could become difficult.

“What is this suddenly?”

The content of the post focused primarily on Haejoo. It was as if someone had directly transcribed what they saw from Haejoo’s perspective. Already, various internet forums were ablaze with the anonymous post. Comments were filled with speculation that Haejoo had posted it herself, using the power of anonymity.

“Dojun, I didn’t write this post.”

“I know.”

“But everyone suspects me.”

What could be gained and not gained from this post was clear. While it might have garnered public support, Haejoo was being misunderstood as a whistleblower. She wondered if anyone would believe her, no matter how much she explained.

“Don’t worry. I’ll take responsibility for posting it, depending on the mood.”

“That’s even stranger.”

There was no reason for Dojun to secretly post something like this. He had enough power to confront GN directly. However, the anonymous poster was not a powerful figure. He felt that they must have posted it without fully anticipating such controversy.

“I’ll try to steer the direction in our favor.”

“Can we find out who posted it?”

“Posts on sites like this are hard to trace.”

“Then what?”

“We have no choice but to find and question every possible person.”

The opponent was GN. That fact alone put considerable pressure on Haejoo.

“You didn’t do it. That’s all that matters.”

While the two talked, the original post was deleted. It seemed the author had removed it directly. However, screenshots of the text were spreading to an unmanageable extent. Haejoo logged into her personal SNS account after midnight. She clearly stated that she was not the author of the GN exposé currently circulating.

“Could it be Director Yoo Jinhan?”

Jinhan was in conflict with Chairman Yoo. Even so, there was no way he would engage in an anonymous exposé. That would be no different from self-harm. It would be a fatal blow to Chairman Yoo, but it would also be difficult for Jinhan to escape responsibility for failing to fully protect his agency’s artists.

“Well. Just in case, I should meet Yoo Jinhan.”

While Haejoo suspected Jinhan, Jinhan himself was at home. He had been so infuriated by alcohol that he’d almost exposed his father Chairman Yoo’s misdeeds, but he stopped midway. Coming to his senses, he realized this wasn’t the right way.

“Let’s resolve this like adults.”

The way Han Jintae disregarded him kept coming to mind, tormenting him. What angered him more was that Chairman Yoo trusted such a cunning man. It was absurd. He also blamed himself for ultimately causing his elderly parents’ divorce. But if he didn’t do this, he would never be able to escape Chairman Yoo’s shadow.

“Anyway, Director Kwak is a problem.”

He turned off his laptop and flopped onto the bed. Just as fatigue was setting in, his phone rang from a company employee, and he frowned. It was past midnight, so he hesitated before answering.

“Yes.”

-Director, we have a huge problem!

Jinhan went to the site the employee told him about and read the post exposing GN. For a moment, Jinhan’s mind went blank, and he was speechless. Just then, Han Jintae called.

-Director, are you available to talk?

“Are you calling because of the post on the anonymous bulletin board?”

-Yes, that’s right.

“It wasn’t me.”

-Please be honest with me.

“I said it wasn’t me, you bastard!”

-The situation is serious.

“Say whatever you want to my father.”

Jinhan, furious, hung up the phone. The content written on the internet was so raw that it sobered him up completely.

“Could it be CEO Park Dojun?”

Jinhan considered Dojun as the author but immediately shook his head. He wondered why Dojun would do such a thing when he had nothing to gain. And Haejoo wasn’t someone who would do this either.

“What does it matter who wrote it now?”

Somehow, it had turned into a Mafia game. Nevertheless, Jinhan thought of one person who might have written the anonymous post. After a restless night, he left home early the next day. On Sunday morning, as he was about to enter the company’s main gate, a low voice came from behind him.

“No need to call.”

It was Dojun.