The Congressman Bows Low

Cha Jae-rim opened his mouth after a moment of silence.

“Why can’t you make a decision right here and now?”

“Do you think company matters are that simple? I have superiors too.”

“You mean the higher-ups could kick you around?”

“Of course. Your plan would certainly blow the case wide open, but it’s not valuable enough for me to put my neck on the line for.”

Cha Jae-rim nodded slowly.

“Then shall I add one more piece of bait?”

“…What do you mean?”

[Now it’s your turn to set the pace. It’s okay to be a little arrogant. Be as arrogant as you want. That guy is endlessly strong towards those who are nothing special, but endlessly submissive towards those who are something.]

Cha Jae-rim crossed his legs with a smile.

At that moment, Cha Jae-rim momentarily forgot his own situation and became more like Goo Young-jin.

Cha Jae-rim blurted out casually,

“Congressman Kim Shin-doo.”

“Hmm?”

Suddenly, an unexpected name popped out of Cha Jae-rim’s mouth.

Reporter Han Ho frowned.

“Despite being young, he was the ruling party’s spokesperson and silenced the opposition without letting them get a word in edgewise. He’s quite a force to be reckoned with.”

The congressman Cha Jae-rim spoke of was a rising political star in the ruling party, known for his eloquent speeches.

He was also a figure who had a rather uncomfortable relationship with the Far Eastern Economic Daily.

Reporter Han Ho crossed his arms with a frown.

“But?”

“He’s young, smart, righteous, loves his wife, and is approachable. He’s popular.”

“Why are you suddenly telling me about him?”

Cha Jae-rim said calmly,

“But he has an illegitimate child.”

“What, what are you saying?”

“A man who wielded high moral standards as a weapon to ruthlessly attack others actually has an illegitimate child.”

Reporter Han Ho had no idea what Cha Jae-rim was talking about.

He had suddenly mentioned Congressman Kim Shin-doo and was now spouting some kind of ridiculous rumor.

Reporter Han Ho was so stunned that he was silent for a while.

Then, he chuckled.

“Look, Cha Jae-rim.”

“Yes.”

“I think you’re promising things recklessly because you’re desperate right now, and that’s going to put you in trouble. You don’t know what you’re messing with…”

Cha Jae-rim cut Reporter Han Ho off abruptly.

“I’m not promising anything recklessly. Do you think I would make something like this up, even if I had nine lives?”

“How do you know that? Even I don’t know, so how do you know for sure?”

A ninth-rank, spouting nonsense.

“Yes, I can understand why you’re skeptical. But does knowing the reason truly matter?”

“What are you basing your belief in that on?”

“…Hey.”

“What is it?”

Cha Jae-rim looked straight at Reporter Han Ho.

“Please stop speaking informally to me.”

Reporter Han Ho burst out laughing at Cha Jae-rim’s words.

[Hahaha! So you can be quite arrogant when you put your mind to it. Good, keep it up.]

Intimidated by his forceful words, Reporter Han Ho involuntarily shut his mouth for a moment.

He clenched and unclenched his fists under the table to calm himself down.

And then he spoke again, pretending to be calm.

“What if we know about it but are looking the other way for Kim Shin-doo’s sake?”

Cha Jae-rim snorted at that.

What nonsense.

“The Far Eastern Economic Daily looking the other way for Kim Shin-doo? You need to be more realistic when you lie.”

“What…?”

“If the Far Eastern Economic Daily could send just one politician to the guillotine, who would it be after President Kim Dae-jung? Kim Shin-doo, of course.”

“…”

“Kim Shin-doo isn’t just a thorn in your side, he’s a stake in your eye. You have the information but you’re just going to look the other way? That’s impossible, absolutely impossible.”

Cha Jae-rim’s deduction was accurate. There was no need to go through a logical reasoning process.

Cha Jae-rim simply knew it.

Because the one who had uncovered that secret about Kim Shin-doo was none other than Goo Young-jin.

And just like now, Goo Young-jin had leaked that information to the Far Eastern Economic Daily, ending Kim Shin-doo’s political career.

That was around three years later, in 2001.

There was no way that the Far Eastern Economic Daily would know about this information now.

At the time, Goo Young-jin had done it for a very common reason.

Kim Shin-doo, who was in the same party, branded Goo Young-jin as an evil relic of the old guard and ousted him, harboring ambitions to become the party’s next presidential candidate.

Goo Young-jin easily defeated Kim Shin-doo, who had picked the wrong opponent.

Kim Shin-doo paid the price for choosing the wrong opponent and died politically.

Goo Young-jin had told this to Cha Jae-rim as a cautionary tale.

In the rooftop room in Anam-dong, the scenario for the downfall of the ruling party’s young rising star was created.

[Kim Shin-doo is at odds with the Far Eastern Economic Daily, so this should be enough to get that Han guy moving.]

“Is it really okay to mess with such a big shot just to avoid getting punished by the audit office?”

As Cha Jae-rim’s unease grew from hearing the plan, he asked in a hushed voice, causing Goo Young-jin to burst out laughing.

[A big shot? If that punk is a big shot, then what am I, sitting right here in front of you? It’s ridiculous to call that little upstart a big shot.]

“W-well, but…”

[Yeah, it doesn’t make sense. It’s like using a whale as bait to catch a minnow.]

“…”

[But do you think Han Ho, and the Far Eastern Economic Daily, would even twitch a whisker if this wasn’t a big enough scandal? Not a chance.]

“Yes, how foolish of me. It’s the great Far Eastern Economic Daily.”

[So don’t hold back, don’t be afraid. Charge forward like a rhinoceros!]

Let’s do it.

Cha Jae-rim leaned back against the back of his chair and said,

“The existence of the illegitimate child would be a fatal blow to Kim Shin-doo, but it wouldn’t be enough to end his political career.”

“…”

Was he really listening to this nonsense from some nobody of a civil servant?

Reporter Han Ho couldn’t make sense of it.

But since Cha Jae-rim had already put Kim Shin-doo on the hook, he couldn’t help but listen.

Cha Jae-rim continued speaking calmly.

“However, the circumstances of that illegitimate child are quite dire.”

“Dire?”

…Ah.

Reporter Han Ho realized that he had accidentally used informal speech and quickly added a suffix to the end.

“Kim Shin-doo is a truly terrible person. The least he could do is provide some kind of support for the child that he fathered.”

“Is he not even doing that?”

Cha Jae-rim nodded.

“Yes, he’s using his position as a carrot to force the child’s mother to keep quiet. Implying that if she opens her mouth to the media, he’ll set thugs on her and her son to tear their mouths open.”

“Wait, how do you even know all this?”

Cha Jae-rim did not answer Reporter Han Ho’s question.

“So the child’s mother won’t open her mouth easily. You’re going to have to use your skills as a reporter.”

“…”

Reporter Han Ho was now half-heartedly following along with Cha Jae-rim’s words, almost giving up.

“If she’s given two assurances: that this will definitely destroy Kim Shin-doo, and that you will help her and the child receive economic benefits in the future, she will probably open up.”

This method had been proven effective by Goo Young-jin.

“Kim Shin-doo, who acts like a perfect gentleman, actually has an illegitimate child and is shirking all responsibility.”

“Yes.”

“How on earth do you know this…”

“Don’t ask me how I know. I won’t answer. Let’s not waste time with pointless things.”

Reporter Han Ho sighed.

“Fine. If this is true, it’s a top news story. But I can’t write an article without evidence.”

“Why not? You’re a great writer.”

[Hey! Don’t get carried away!]

Oops, Cha Jae-rim belatedly regretted speaking too honestly.

Reporter Han Ho frowned.

“Look here, Cha Jae-rim.”

Cha Jae-rim quickly changed the subject back to the original topic.

“Oh, I apologize. Evidence is easy to obtain. You can go to the mistress’s address and interview them.”

Reporter Han Ho was also not an amateur who would waste precious time on useless emotional outbursts.

He also returned to the original topic right away.

“But that alone isn’t enough evidence that those people are directly related to Kim Shin-doo.”

“If we interview them, Kim Shin-doo will deny it. Then we just have to bring him onto the stage.”

“Onto the stage?”

Cha Jae-rim thought for a moment and then said to Reporter Han Ho,

“Isn’t a genetic test possible?”

“A genetic test.”

“I think it’s possible. If we commission it to a foreign agency. Then the relationship between Kim Shin-doo and the illegitimate child would be scientifically proven.”

“Where is the illegitimate child?”

Cha Jae-rim opened the cap of the marker on the table with his mouth.

And then he began to write on the back of the copy of the document he had handed to Reporter Han Ho.

Reporter Han Ho read haltingly as the words were written.

“Dongducheon-si, Jihaeng-dong, Gyeonggi-do…”

Cha Jae-rim stopped writing there and put down the pen.

Naturally, Reporter Han Ho’s gaze turned towards Cha Jae-rim.

What do you mean, you’re not going to write any more?

A silent protest.

“I’ll give you the rest of the address later.”

“Later!”

“How can I trust you? Take care of my complaint first.”

“I’ll write the article, so give it to me now.”

Cha Jae-rim slowly shook his head.

“No. If this breaks first, no one will care about my complaint. Take care of my business first.”

“…”

As Reporter Han Ho didn’t give him an immediate answer, Cha Jae-rim took back the copies he had brought with him.

“If you don’t want it, then forget it. It’s not like the Far Eastern Economic Daily is the only newspaper in the world.”

As Cha Jae-rim made as if to leave, Reporter Han Ho hurriedly grabbed his wrist.

“Wait.”

“Answer me quickly.”

Now Cha Jae-rim was looking down at Reporter Han Ho.

“Is this for real?”

Cha Jae-rim had a bad feeling about Reporter Han Ho’s question.

Surely that damn old geezer Goo Young-jin wasn’t tricking him again.

Goo Young-jin sensed that gaze and chuckled.

[On my honor, it’s real.]

Only then did Cha Jae-rim reply forcefully,

“It’s the real deal.”

“If you’re playing with me, you’ll pay for it tenfold, twentyfold.”

“Even if a ninth-grade civil servant without any backing were to make fun of you personally, how could he possibly make fun of the great Far Eastern Economic Daily?”

Reporter Han Ho stared at Cha Jae-rim for a long time and then slowly nodded.

“…Alright. I’ll write it.”

Cha Jae-rim smiled.

“Thank you. I’ve taken up a lot of your time. I’ll be going now.”

Cha Jae-rim got up from his seat and bowed his head politely.

As he was about to leave, Reporter Han Ho called out to him.

“Jae-rim.”

“Yes.”

“I have just one more question.”

“Yes, of course.”

“Why did you contact me of all people? Out of all the many reporters, why me?”

“What do you mean?”

“I’m just curious.”

Cha Jae-rim smirked.

“I was just drawn to you. That’s all.”

Some ghost told me to.

He couldn’t say that.

Cha Jae-rim bowed his head once more and left Reporter Han Ho.

Reporter Han Ho couldn’t help but smile as he watched Cha Jae-rim’s departing figure.

Cha Jae-rim took the elevator down to the first floor, passed through the lobby, and went outside again.

Cha Jae-rim turned around and glanced at the Far Eastern Economic Daily building.

And then he asked Goo Young-jin,

“Oh, by the way. Why did you choose that particular reporter?”

Goo Young-jin smirked.

[Because he’s a sharp knife. I know that guy well.]

“Really?”

[He’s a bloodhound who’ll stop at nothing if he smells a scandal. The kind of guy who’ll do anything to make a name for himself.]

“He did seem like the kind of guy who’d do anything for a scoop.”

[But there’s nothing to fear when you’re the one holding the leash. After all, he’s not a big shot yet; just a mid-level reporter hustling for his next meal.]

“He was the perfect choice.”

[The perfect choice.]

Cha Jae-rim left the Far Eastern Economic Daily building with a light heart.