12 Hours After

Translator: Khan

Editor: Aelryinth

Rep. Lee Soo-won’s case was released shortly after the first news article was published. Before the prosecution investigation, the frightened nurse gave an interview first. “The doctor made such an offer, ‘all you have to do is say nothing and get paid money.’ At that time, I was divorced and raising a child alone without a father… $100,000 was too much for me. I’m sorry.”

The nurse blew it first, and the doctor quickly turned himself in. “Mr. Lee was so powerful in our area that it was hard to refuse his request. I had to make a living… I’m really ashamed of myself as a medical man…”

‘No, he said that he did it form the bottom of his heart…’ I knew everything about the conversation, but now he said it was hard to refuse the request.

‘What a lie he is spouting now.’ Anyways, the doctor and the nurse, who had been directly involved in military service corruption, appeared as witnesses and Rep. Lee Soo-won was driven to the extremity right away. There were ten million reserve soldiers in Korea who had served in the army in a normal manner. His son, who ran a business after graduating from Harvard, was going to be dragged into the army instead of heading into corporate business. As the military medical examination of his son was found to be false, Lee Soo-won himself began to be suspected of military service corruption, even though I didn’t touch it. [The military service corruption of the son of Lee Soo-won. Is it just about his son?]

This, in any case, completed a list of matches of the future. In the original scenario, Mayor Joo Sung-won became president, and as the opposition camp lost two of its presidential hopefuls, they raised their voices (This is political oppression and target investigation!). However, clear evidence was found, and they were not supported by the public.

By the way, the most prominent figure in the opposition camp who shouted ‘This is political oppression and target investigation!’ was So Kang-sup. He drew ahead of Han Sang-hoon and Lee Soo-won, and came in second. [Joo Sung-won 48.2%, So Kang-sup 30.7%, Kwak Ji-won 21.2%]

To be honest, I thought of him as such. -Yes, it’s a targeted investigation, but wouldn’t I find something if I investigated him?-

How could all the politicians in our country be the same? If there is no corruption, can’t they do politics without corruption? I was not sure if there was anyone who wouldn’t show up any matters if I sent Crow to investigate for three months. So, to be honest, I was a little tired because there was no one who had no weakness. Not even Mayor Joo Sung-won, who I was pushing in my heart.

‘The extramarital child… the extramarital child…’ Following the last controversy over Me Too movement, he had a lot of scandals with women. I recalled the time when I had gone to Seoul City Hall and met him. If I thought about it, the first impression I had when I met him was ‘He is as handsome as any trot singer.’

He was really handsome for his middle age. In addition, he had a fantastic political career as Gyeonggi Province Governor and Seoul Mayor, and would become the next president. Women deserved to stick to him, but at the same time, he had a clean, familial image.

During interviews and during documentaries about him, he used to come out as the perfect husband who loved his wife and his two sons. So Mayor Joo Sung-won had a little boring but exemplary image.

That image was a mixed blessing. There was solid evidence that a lawmaker, Han Sang-hoon, enjoyed with his secretaries in the past, but the public didn’t care all that much.

‘I knew that guy would do that.’

‘He did it when he was in the prosecutor’s office, and he would do it when he became a congressman.’

No one was talking about his retiring from politics. Some of his supporters would say, ‘Heroes enjoy the pleasures of flesh, and he could do that! Did he have sex with three secretaries? He had a great spirit.’

In the case of Mayor Joo Sung-won, however, his image was so clean that if he even touched a secretary’s butt, he would be nailed to the cross and surrounded by the crowd.

‘Is it good or bad to have a good image?’ While I was thinking about it, Crow eventually brought a report on ‘Joo Sung-won’s extramarital child’.

“This is what you asked for, CEO Han.”

For some reason, I don’t want to see this report. That was because I liked Mayor Joo Sung-won first of all, and second, I was a little tired of seeing dirty politicians. I thought for a moment, taking Crow’s report envelope. ‘What else do I do when the real thing is out here? Do I have to send him, too? Or, do I have to let him off? However, I sent them to hell as soon as their corruption got caught? Yeah, that does not equitable… but… if I blow him, someone else will pop out. What about him? Will he be clean even if I dig up stuff on him?’

At any rate, this was an endless question. ‘I hope not…’ I accepted the report in the envelope, thinking about it. After reading it carefully, I sat on the couch thinking about it for about half an hour, then picked up my phone and called Vice President Jang.

“What’s up with you, boss?”

“Didn’t you tell me that you have a direct line to contact the Seoul Mayor last time?”

“Yes, there is a man who worked for a securities company who has gone into politics, and is with Mayor Joo Sung-won. He is like a private economic tutor to Joo Sung-won.”

“Oh, really? So I guess he’s one of his closest aides?”

“I suppose he is.”

“Then, tell him to give my message to Joo Sung-won secretly.”

“What’s your message to him?”

“I want to see the mayor because of his daughter in the U.S… Just tell him that.”

“Ah, I see. Mr. President.” Vice President Jang said nothing more, started to hang up, and suddenly said one more word to me, “Mr. President.”

“Yes?”

“But Mayor Joo Sung-won… doesn’t he have two sons?”

“Oh, yes, so… Think of it as some kind of code, and just tell it to him that I’d like to talk to him about his daughter.”

Even this time, Jang seemed to think the boss was doing something weird, and he answered with a slightly curious voice, “… yes, sir.”

—————

On June 2020, I met Mayor Joo Sung-won at a traditional tea house near Seoul City Hall. “It’s been a long time, Mr. Mayor. Ever since I won a prize… It’s been almost a year.”

Mayor Joo Sung-won greeted me with a big smile, “Yes, CEO Han Sang-hoon. How have you been?”

“I have been good.”

“Good for you. Have a seat,” He offered me a seat and said, “Aide Kang, you should go out and have a cup of tea.” He had the man next to him leave the teahouse.

I nodded to Secretary Park, who was slightly apart. So in the end, there were only Mayor Joo Sung-won and me in the teahouse. Now, this tea house was the perfect place for the mayor of Seoul to have a private meeting. It was a long cylindrical structure, but the place where it was located was hard to see from anywhere, making conversation impossible to steal.

‘Well, when everyone in Seoul knows his face… It’s worth having a place like this.’

As I was thinking, Mayor Joo Sung-won, poured tea on my glass tilting the kettle. “Well… you want to talk to me about my daughter…”

“Well… there is no one to hear and the place is good, so I’ll tell you straight.”

When I said that, he began to concentrate on my words, his eyes gurgling. So, I spoke frankly, “It is I who recently blew up Rep. Han Sang-hoon and Rep. Lee Soo-won.”

Phu-hup! Upon hearing the remark, Joo Sung-won who had taken his mouth to the glass, spat out while drinking tea, something not proper to his dignity.

I handed him the tissue on the table and said, “Are you all right?”

Mayor Joo Sung-won took it and said, wiping around his mouth, “Oh yes, it’s a little shocking news…”

“Yes, well, I understand. Can I just keep talking?”

Mayor Joo Sung-won nodded.

“There are a lot of reasons, but… first of all, I think they’re basically not qualified to be president.”

“Oh, yes, did you?”

Mayor Joo Sung-won looked at me with great tension. In fact, he was the one who had been brought the most joy for the past month. His biggest political opponents, the greatest stumbling blocks to becoming president, fell on their own, receiving a fatal blow leading to their retirement from politics. He might have been thinking, ‘I’m no different than a president already. Next year’s presidential election is a piece of cake. I should prepare a plan for a second term in four years.’ However, in front of him was the man who had dumped his political opponents… but he had asked to meet him because of his daughter. It looked complicated in his head.

I told him, “In addition, they were people who were against my interests. even if they were elected. Do you understand what I mean?”

“Ah… I got it.” He was very nervous.

“But in the meantime, one of my informants brought up the problem of your daughter.” I took a piece of paper out of my arms and handed it to him. There was a girl who looked like Mayor Joo Sung-won, tanned. “Her name is Rachel Ling. She seems to have been adopted by a Chinese family in the U.S. That’s good because it’s more natural than being adopted by a white or a black.”

Mayor Joo Sung-won mumbled with the picture in his hand, “This is the first picture I’ve ever seen.”

At this point, he confessed. Well, he might have guessed it when I had called him here.

He told me, “So… what do you want, CEO Han?”

I spoke to him, “To be honest, I also have a complicated mind. I’ve investigated all the presidential candidates, and they’re all dirty. So I was wondering what to do, but… I just don’t know what politics is. I’m a businessman, and I am going to choose my interests.”

“Interests?”

“Yes, I thought… Mayor Joo Sung-won could talk to me freely as president in the future. That’s what I thought.”

The remark slightly brightened the tone of Mayor Joo Sung-won. “Oh… did you?” He spoke to me now with a polite tone, “Then what do you want from me…”

I looked at him, and said, “I don’t think ‘What do you want’ is appropriate to say in person. Well, wasn’t the country noisy in the past because of the influential persons behind the curtain? I don’t want to be that kind of person.”

He nodded as he listened to me silently.

“All I want is… just… I want you to subscribe to one more news.”

“News”?

“Yes. Among the Internet news companies, there is Oracle News. I don’t know if you’re familiar with it, but…”

Mayor Joo Sung-won cocked his head. He didn’t seem to know.

“It’s a bit of a small newspaper… but anyway, please pay attention to it, from the news to the editorial.”

“From the news to the editorial?”

“Yes. While you are in politics, please read the Oracle News every day. A politician cares about the media. Isn’t that a good thing? It’s a kind of communication.”

Mayor Joo Sung-won nodded, “You’re right.” There wouldn’t have been any other option since he was in a risky situation, and his career was facing an end.

“Then, I would like you to subscribe to it well. It’s Oracle News. If you do well with that, I’ll take you through the presidential race.”

He was the man who would be president in the first place, but I put on airs here that I would make him like that.

Mayor Joo Sung-won stood up and said, “I would like to ask you a favor, CEO Han Sang-hoon.”

I laughed and got up and took his hand, “No, I’ll beg it of you.”

———

After the meeting with Mayor Joo Sung-won, I called CEO Jung of Oracle News in a car Secretary Park was driving.

“Yes. Sometimes I’ll need to touch some editorials in my own way. Are you all right with that?”

“Of course, sir.”

“Oh, yes, then, please understand that.”

“Yes, boss.”

With that, I had set up a channel to send a message to the next president of the Republic of Korea. I would write an article on Oracle News, and the next president would see it. It was a perfect request method, without a beginning or end.

‘Okay, with this, for the next five years or nine years, politics is on my side.’

I looked out the window from the back of the car. The car driven by Secretary Par was passing by the Banpo-daero. I could see the Han River and the buildings outside. I looked at it, held my hand, and opened it. I just realized that I had birthed a dark secret to control South Korea beyond Seoul.