12 Hours After Chapter 85

Translator: Khan

Editor: Aelryinth

“When you were in CKD… were there any sexual offerings or something like that?”

I spoke softly . It was a very low and small voice, but when the words came out, Kwon opened his eyes wide and looked around . He was afraid there was someone listening, but I'd already seen to that when I was talking about stocks earlier . There was no one sitting around here .

Instead of answering my question, he said to me, “Why are you asking such a question?”

I grabbed the ham on my front plate and said, putting it in my mouth . “Someone's talking . He used to be offered sexual services by CKD, but now he is sorry since he doesn't get any sexual offerings,” I invented deliberately . Actually, Tak Joon-gi didn't say that directly, but he was inferring that . When I brought up the story like that, there was a reaction .

“That's… that's… . ” Kwon blurted out his words and wondered what to say . As before, he had no talent for lying .

I said in a confident tone, “There were sexual offerings, weren't there?”

As I spoke, Kwon couldn't say anything . It was a silence to admit the truth, but that was not enough . I questioned him, “Are there still?”

When the word “still” was told, he finally opened his mouth, “No! No, it doesn't happen now . Never . ”

“Was there before?”

“I'm not sure if there was, but when our company was a subsidiary, they had a request . I refused until the end, but it's true that there was such pressure . ”

Thanks to Kwon's protection, it certainly seemed that celebrities belonging to OH Entertainment had been shunned, including Oh Hyun-joo .

“Is Do Chan-ki the one who asked for it?”

“We were a subsidiary, but we were still another company with a very different system . Do Chan-ki was the only one who could make such a request . ”

I recalled him in front of me during the negotiations . I frowned and said, “He was also being discriminated against for sexual reasons… he sent others to that place . ”

At my words, Mr . Kwon opened his eyes wider . Maybe he thought I didn't know that CEO Do Chan-ki was gay .

“Well, it's a common case . Black people who are discriminated against for being colored do slave rap . When they get hurt, they get to be annoyed, but it's human beings who easily bother others . ” Kwon once again remained silent . “Well, I see . Anyway . That's not happening right now, is it?”

“Mr . President, I can tell you that at the risk of being the president . There's been pressure now and then, but… I turned it down . ”

“Where does that pressure come from? Exactly . ”

“PD, senior press officials, or chaebols . ”

“Is there a Suyeon Group among them?” I said, thinking of CEO Do Chan-ki . But that was wrong .

“… there was no Suyeon Group . ” I thought it was odd, but he added a word, “But I don't know . Most of the chaebols… they usually contact us through their agents . Everyone is watching these days, they don't want to get hurt .

'Well… I see,' I nodded .

Kwon noticed my countenance . I didn't mean to blame him, but the atmosphere seemed to have gotten too heavy .

I said to him, “I see . I was just curious when I heard that story, but I'm glad it doesn't happen anymore . ”

“Oh, yes…”

I stood up and said, “Then let's go to the board of directors . ”

“Sure,” said Kwon, as I stood up .

I said a word to him in case, “Oh, by the way, what I said about the stock… It's not official . It's not even fixed yet . Whatever you do, it's your choice, but… I never said anything . ”

Just in case, because I could be caught doing insider trading . I, of course, saw him only once during the hearing before the appointment of the president, but even that ended in suspicion, so I'd better be careful .

Kwon took my words as they were and said, “Don't worry . Mr . President . Actually… I recently bought an apartment and can't afford it . I've already got enough loans . ”

“Oh, did you?”

Then there was nothing to watch out for . I left the Budae Jjigae restaurant with him and walked slowly toward OH Entertainment, three minutes' walk from here . As we were on the way, a familiar van was passing through the alley we were walking through . The high black Mercedes van was Oh Hyun-joo's Mercedes .

“Oh, that?” I said, looking at it .

Kwon confirmed, “That's right . She's back from shooting 'The Running Star' . ”

“Oh, did Oh Hyun-joo appear in the Running Star?”

The Running Star was one of the national entertainment shows airing on Wednesday evening: a talk show with very high ratings . I rarely watched TV, but it was a program I watched .

“Yes, she went out with her fellow actors to promote a movie . ”

“Oh, I see . When can I see her?”

“She filmed it today, so it'll probably be out in about four weeks . ”

“Oh, I see . ”

Then it was time . The Benz van suddenly stopped on the side in front of us . Oh Hyun-joo got down from there and ran over to us, waving . “Hello, Mr . CEO and Mr . President!”

She always had a great look, a beauty that seemed to make the whole world beautiful, a beauty that shone with its own light . She ran to me like a puppy welcoming its owner and asked, “Mr . CEO, what are you doing here?”

“Oh, I have a board meeting today . ”

She put her hands together and said, “I see!” As she seemed a little tense, it seemed that this was something good to her .

Kwon asked her, “What about the shooting? Did you do well?”

“It was great . The producers and MCs were so nice to me . I had a lot of fun filming without any pressure . ”

'There are four MCs for the Running Star, and all four are men . A man has no choice but to be nice to her by instinct . Her beauty is so magical . '

'Ah… the world is unfair…' I felt a little sad to see her beauty .

'The world is so unfair that someone may try to die, but if a woman is born with the same beauty as her, most of the men who exist in the world, and even women who are not jealous, are easily obedient .

'Perhaps it is more powerful than money . They say that if they show babies a picture of a handsome and beautiful woman, even the babies prefer them . I think everyone would like her . '

She stopped next to me and started walking in step with us . “What were you two talking about?

To be honest with us, we were talking about stock insider trading and sex offerings . But I couldn't tell such a story in front of her .

“Uh… I mean…” Kwon was caught off-guard here as well .

I replied, “We were talking about the board agenda . ”

We walked to the side of her van . Oh Hyun-joo's manager greeted me first, “Hello, Mr . CEO,” and then greeted Kwon, “Hello, boss . ”

Oh Hyun-joo said goodbye to us there, “I'm going to go to lunch . I haven't had breakfast, and I'm hungry because I've been filming . ”

I opened my hand and said to her, waving from side to side, “Yes, goodbye . ”

On the contrary, Kwon gestured up and down, “Yes, go in . ”

“Yes, then, work hard,” she said and got back in her van .

When I recovered my consciousness, there were quite a few people around me .

“Wow! Did you see her? It's Oh Hyun-joo, Oh Hyun-joo . ”

“Really . The real her is prettier . ”

There were also words about Kwon and me .

“Why are those people pretending to know Oh Hyun-joo?”

“Well… I guess he's a rich guy . Did you see the watch?”

“Which one?”

“The hairy one . ”

“Huh, is he her boyfriend?”

Come to think of it, there was a tax on her beauty, a tax for being famous . That was right . She almost got stabbed by a stalker… I thought of that time after a long moment and laughed .

“The strategy for the second half is to do this, so is there anyone else with something to say?” As the board meeting was going on, I raised my hand only once . About half an hour after the board meeting of directors began, I raised my hand and everyone's attention was on me .

“Oh, Mr . CEO . ”

“It's nothing much . There's the Idol Management 108 for this summer, right? I want to put a lot of our trainees in there . ”

“We've got two who will appear on that show . ”

Two? Two was too few .

“Aren't there more trainees? Try to find out who can go, and get as many as possible into the show . ”

The reason for my stubbornness was simple . I'd seen the news at least ten times in the entertainment category of 12 Months After . I'd never seen such frequent news in the entertainment category before . In other words, it would be a big topic that would hit the entertainment industry this year . It might be a good opportunity for OH Entertainment, which had failed to have a girl group hit in recent years .

“There are some girls who are not very good at it…”

“It's okay to be a little short on their skills . It could be an issue . Of course, I'm sure our board members have good eyes to see, but… think about it . How many people read a prize-winning novel in the spring literary contest, where professors are on the panel of judges? Instead, tens of thousands of web novels are judged by the number of views . Times have changed . ”

All the directors listened to me . I went on to say, “Consumers' assessment is more vital than professionals' assessment . I think this Idol Management 108 is going to be a huge hit . Of course, you'll need to raise their skills to the highest level before that, but then you'll have to leave them up to the public to evaluate . Singers… especially if they're an idol, they may not survive even if they are good at it, but only survivors are the ones who are really good at it . ”

The directors were not able to argue with me . It was because the idols they had produced in recent years had failed, rather than I was right; it was the main reason for them to be silent .

The director who was in charge of idol groups said, “Yes, then, we'll change our policy according to CEO Han Sang-hoon says . We will send out more trainees to Idol Management 108 . ”

I now looked down at the report with my arms crossed . To be honest with myself, I didn't think much of it anymore . I'd seen the future news and I'd said everything I wanted to say . But this was just one thing I would do . OH Entertainment would be cruising this year .

[Idol Management 108, a trainee Lee Joo-hyun got into the top 12 . ]

[The rank of Lee Yoo-jin from Nove Entertainment is suddenly raised . ]

[Idol Management 108 is about to confirm its debut members; who will be in the final members?]

'I've been watching dozens of these articles . By now, I'm sure there's a lot of correction news on what I just said on the way . '

I clasped the air a couple of times and opened my palms . It was as if the future were in my hands .

Chapter end