Chapter Thirteen #2
‘Okay, Bujangnim . Haeboja [Let’s do it]! Let’s inform your team and see how we can milk this. Yoojin gija is getting what he wants, so it’s only fair that we gain some mileage from it, too!’
Wow, that’s all it took to convince him. Timira!
‘ Geurigo , Bujangnim, get our styling team on, as well. I don’t wish to look less impressive than a football star in photos!’
Haneul is laughing, but Mr Choi can sense emotions hidden behind his happy countenance.
Aniyo, aniyo, that’s just a suspicion. I’m sure Rodrigo is not related to Daepyonim’s accident in Japan. No way! Even though they are of somewhat similar age … no no! I will not dwell on a mere suspicion, nope!
Mr Choi takes his leave from Haneul and walks out of his cabin feeling like a burden has been lifted off his shoulders.
Inside, Haneul crumples a sheet of paper into a ball, dribbles it for a few seconds before kicking it straight inside the trash can as Mr Choi watches from the outside, marvelling at his boss’ skills that seem to have collected no rust in all these years.
* * *
Everybody at the SecondSkin office is taken by surprise when they find out about Haneul and Rodrigo’s joint interview.
The tension between them hasn’t gone unnoticed, so everyone is naturally curious to know what has brought this about.
Especially the marketing department that is as curious as it is excited about this coup of sorts.
‘Bujangnim, tell us, won’t you? How did you manage this?’
Choi Seongjae’s team is thrilled about their boss having secured this interview.
They knew that the PR department was lining up interviews with Rodrigo, but the idea of interviewing together with their handsome but media-shy chaebol CEO seemed too good to be true so it had never even been floated.
And now their boss had gone ahead and done the impossible.
Mr Choi, uncomfortable with the admiration being showered upon him, is only able to manage a nervous smile.
‘I didn’t do anything. Just so happened that the reporter bumped into me and we got talking …’
He looks sideways at Hanee, who is at the coffee vending machine brewing a cuppa.
‘… you bumped into Yoojin gija? That notorious hound? Bujangnim, have you known him from before? Is that why he approached you and not the PR team?’ his team interrupts.
Mr Choi looks flustered and it shows when he speaks.
‘Er, well, yes, I mean, yeah, sort of,’ he answers vaguely.
He looks at Hanee yet again who picks up her coffee and noiselessly walks out of the pantry without so much as even a glance at him.
‘Seonbae, did you hear?’
Hanee is now back inside Timira’s cabin holding two steaming mugs of Americano.
‘Heard what, Honey?’
Hanee fills her in. But finds herself unable to tell her that it began when she spotted Kang Yoojin lurking near the office.
She doesn’t need to know. Daepyonim has clearly stepped up so her history with Rodrigo would not be made public. She has no need to feel guilty about it. Daepyonim has done what any man in his shoes would’ve done.
Timira doesn’t at all like the idea.
This one’s going to spiral. My gut is never wrong.
They’ll fight over me, uff, Helen of Troy feels!
Oho, focus, Timira. Focus! Why has Haneul even agreed to this?
Rod is only going to try and irk him. Oh, god!
I have a really bad feeling about this. And why has Haneul not told me about this?
Why am I only hearing this now? Does he have a habit of hiding things?
Is that why he is being vague about Bali?
Haneul and Timira have not spoken since their awkward run-in with Rodrigo and Mina over the weekend.
Haneul had sent her texts and tempted as she was to read them, she did not.
Between Bhaskar’s doubts and Haneul’s unexpected confession, Timira was torn.
That night, she had finished her coffee in exactly five gulps and excused herself, feigning a headache.
She left the table in a flash and walked out of the restaurant at the speed of lightning.
Not Haneul, not Rodrigo, not Mina … she hadn’t waited for any of them to make a move and had literally run out of the hotel hell.
She had spent the weekend sorting her head.
She was sure that Haneul liked her and that she felt about him the same way.
So, she decided to speak with Haneul face-to-face and discuss what happened in Bali.
She came into work this morning having firmly decided to straighten out Haneul’s story.
‘But how can marketing set up an interview without running it by us? Honey, place a call to Choi Bujangnim, please!’
‘Bujangnim, what’s going on? What is this I’m hearing about a joint interview of Daepyonim and Rodrigo?’ she demands to know from Mr Choi.
Mr Choi tells her perfectly rehearsed lines. ‘Timira-ssi, but look at this as an opportunity! It’s going to be great. What a coup, is it not? Daepyonim has never been interviewed before!’
Then why now? Why does he, all of a sudden, want to be in the news?!
‘Seongjae-ssi, I hope you know what you are doing! If there’s trouble later, PR is going to have to clean up. You better have everything under control, Bujangnim!’
Timira has never before addressed Mr Choi with his first name. He can tell she is worried.
‘Don’t you worry, Timira-ssi. Daepyonim will do a fine job. He knows this is great for the brand, and for the company, he is willing to do anything!’
For you, he is willing to do anything , he thinks to himself.
Timira cannot disagree.
Two hot guys in one frame. What’s not to like?
* * *
‘Baeman Seonbae! Yoojinimnida. Kang Yoojin. Nal gieoghae
[Baeman, this is Yoojin. Kang Yoojin. Do you remember me]?’
Yoojin has dug up details of the journalist who had initially broken the story about Haneul’s accident in Japan.
He seemed particularly pleased to read the byline of the story.
Fishing out his phone, he dials a number on his list of contacts.
Expectantly, he greets the receiver with an unusually bright ‘Yeoboseyo!’
‘Uri mannal su iss-eulkka [Could we meet, please]? I have to check something with you … yes, yes, I’ll come to your office … in a couple of hours?’ Yoojin is speaking urgently, hopefully.
It’s 5 p.m. now. The sun has almost set, everything is covered in its pink-orange afterglow. Yoojin is waiting for Nam Baeman, sports editor at SBC News, in the parking lot. He walks towards a trash can with an ashtray and lights a cigarette.
Nam Baeman is the journalist who broke the story about a young Korean footballer being attacked in Japan in an apparent racist incident.
Yoojin is keen on worming out of him the identity of this boy.
He has known about Rodrigo’s identity for a while now, ever since he was signed on by Seoul Stealers FC.
It had taken him months but he had dug up nearly every detail of Rodrigo’s life.
‘Seonbaenim, butakhamnida [I request you]! All I need you to do is tell me if I’m right. I have a hunch, but it’s unconfirmed.’
Baeman looks visibly uncomfortable and chides himself silently for having agreed to meet Yoojin.
I ought to have known he wasn’t just meeting out of courtesy. He’s grown up to be a pest, I really shouldn’t have expected better!
Baeman and Yoojin had grown up in the same neighbourhood. The latter would follow him around as a child and later walked in his footsteps by going to journalism school and picking a career in media.
‘Yoojin-a, I’m sorry, but I don’t think I can help you. There was a reason the story was killed. What sort of journalist am I if I am unable to stay true to my principles?’
‘Hyung, jaebal !’
‘I’m sorry, Yoojin-a.’
‘At least tell me who your source was, eh?’
‘Reveal my source? Which journalist would do that? Would you?’
‘To you? Anytime!’
‘Well, don’t. Take my advice and don’t. Protect your sources, always!’
‘Hyung, please. Just tell me this much. Was the kid a chaebol adeul?’
‘So what if he was? How is that even relevant anymore? Don’t go stirring up trouble now, Yoojin! The kid must be living a regular life—I sure hope he is—leave him be!’
‘But this isn’t about him, don’t you see?’ Yoojin smiles with a wicked glint.
‘Geurae, whatever tickles your fancy, Kang gija. I must take your leave now. I have a 6 p.m. bulletin.’
‘ Ye , hyungnim . Thank you for meeting me! Gomabseo ,’
Baeman pats his back affectionately. ‘Stay out of trouble, Yoojin-a! And for God’s sake, quit smoking, will you?’
Yoojin enjoys being reprimanded and smiles shyly.
‘ Ganda !’ Baeman waves him goodbye and runs back into the building. For a man pushing fifty, he’s still lithe and has no trouble sprinting back.
As soon as he’s out of sight, Yoojin pulls out his phone and places a call.
‘Yeoboseyo! Mina-ssi? Can we speak briefly? It’s a little urgent … not for me, but for you. And Haneul-ssi.’
* * *