12 Hours After

Translator: Khan

Editor: Aelryinth

Tak Joon-gi furrowed his brow and blurted out, “What?” He must have understood, but he pretended as if he hadn’t.

I once again said, “Implementation of justice.”

“What the hell are you talking about?”

I glanced at my monitor. There on the desktop, there was a file of Tak Joon-gi. He would not know, even if he died, that the file with his name on it was now on my computer’s desktop.

I spoke to him, “I’m going to expose all your misdeeds to the press today: deflecting corruption charges, managing stock manipulation funds, tailoring and encouraging suicide in the midst of it. In fact, it was just murder. I will expose everything that happened in the past in Go-young Food and Bisang Construction.

When the name of Go-young Food came up, his eyes bulged, “No… that’s… how…” ‘How did you know?’

But it was my secret, getting the future news, to get a glimpse of everything that had happened in the past. It was my secret, my own power.

Mr. Tak was shaking before that power. Fear had dampened his spirit. “Don’t do that. What the hell… Why… why would you do that? What are you getting from… Is that what you…”

“Well…” I chose something to tell him for a moment, but somehow, it was like what I had said to the Customer Service before. -Why did you give me this power?-

-Think of yourself.-

It occurred to me to think of myself. It was strange. So I told him, “Maybe it’s like… the nobility’s duty, noblesse oblige. I think it’s like that. As it’s usually the nobility who have power, it takes more power to implement justice…”

“What the hell are you talking about?” There were many questions with “what” that he had been repeating.

Therefore, I let him know exactly. “Tak Joon-gi, you were born rich in Suyeon Group. Money, of course, is power. You could have done anything with it. If you had had a little good heart, you could have lived by the code of noblesse oblige. Don’t you think so? Huh? You could have helped the helpless with money, and no matter how much you ate, no matter how much you used, you could have spent your whole life using it.”

I went on. “If not, you could have lived for yourself. If you had studied, you could have studied abroad; if you had exercised, you could have hired the best trainer, and you could have done the arts, couldn’t you? You had plenty of time and money, but instead, you used that power to rob weaker people in a very mean way.”

I swallowed once and then said last, “And yet, you don’t know you were blessed, yet you’ve treated people who were born poor like dogs. No, you should not. You must not. A lot of people aren’t given the least chance; they’re struggling to catch the least chance. But have you taken away even that? I can’t stand to see it, so I’m going to fix all that for you. That’s the implementation of justice.”

He shuddered. “Even if you do… what do you think will change? It’s a world of the law of the jungle, anyway; nothing will change just because you’re doing it!”

“Yes, you might think so. The world is different for everyone who sees it. But even if you think so, you shouldn’t have attacked me. The law of the jungle? That’s good. Do you think the man you’re looking at, sitting in front of you, is weaker than you are?”

I glared at him as I said that. He did not say anything. I shook my head and said, “I’m sorry, but no. Considering what’s happened so far, you will know. You and I have fought, and who’s been winning? You’ve always won before, and you thought you’d win again… However, you picked the wrong opponent this time. You picked the wrong one! You chose me.

“So. I mean, let’s make it something that didn’t happen. I picked the wrong one, so let’s make it as if it did not happen.”

I laughed dumbly at his remark. “No. What do you mean, if you fail to bet, it’s common sense that you pay. If you’re a stock trader, take it for granted. Don’t beg me! What else have others, who you have taken all their money and life from, had to complain about? I don’t think so.”

He spoke with a complete abandonment of his face, “I… I did wrong. So forgive me. Let’s just… let’s make it something that never happened. Huh? Everything that’s happened so far…”

-It is too late for you to plead now. President Jung So-young has already received the data from me. It could be floating on the Internet even now.-

I replied to him, “I’m sorry, but it’s already too late. Go find a lawyer. Well, you might avoid life imprisonment. The courthouse is loose these days. You might get out when you’re seventy.”

When I said that, he seemed to be tearing at his face with both hands for a moment, then leapt to his feet. His face was flushed with anger. He had been asking for forgiveness just now, but the sorrow was not there any more.

“All right, the implementation of justice, whatever… let’s see if it works! I know that Oracle News is under you. Do as much as you can, even I don’t know how much you’ve got, son of a bitch…” he trembled and cursed.

When he spat out a curse, Jang Geun took another step forward. I raised my hand to stop him. Today was not a day for physical struggle.

Tak Joon-gi opened the door and left my office.

After he went out, I thought for a moment about him and President Jung So-young. Although Jung was a strong woman, Tak Joon-gi was a tough opponent too. ‘Well, if there’s any chance that Oracle News can’t let it out…’

Oracle News had some stake in the Internet, but that was it. It was not treated as a major yet. ‘If Oracle News is interrupted… maybe it’ll take longer…’

I didn’t like that. That madman was crazy and I didn’t know what he would do. I rolled my head for a moment. ‘In the 12 Hours After of today, there was news about him…’

But I couldn’t be sure a hundred percent sure about that. Even if the news was up, it might not be headline news. Director Tak Joon-gi might once again use his power to escape like a loach, like a lizard. It was a matter concerning several important people, including prosecutors, the police, and even media conglomerates. If they cooperated and played defense, Oracle News might end up fighting alone.

‘It should not be this time. I’ll definitely cut off his breath this time.’ I picked up my cell phone and found the phone number of Lee Won-jae. I tried not to get him involved, but this couldn’t be helped. I called him right away. Tiriri Tiriri Tiriri. As soon as the call waiting was over, I spoke in a low, solemn voice, “CEO Lee Won Jae.”

“Yes, CEO Han. What’s the matter?”

Before I went straight to the point, I brought up the old conversation. “Do you remember what you said before? Do you still think I’m going to be stronger than the third generation of other chaebols?”

“Yes, of course.”

“Then come and prove it.”

“Yes? What is it?”

“Come and bet. Show me all the chips you have, and bet where I want you to bet as a sign of loyalty.”

“I don’t know what that means, but… I’ll be there soon.”

—————————

Opening the door, CEO Lee Won-jae came in. Maybe it was because of the rush, and his face turned red, so he looked more like Kaiji.

“CEO Han.”

“CEO Lee.”

I showed CEO Lee Won-jae a file of Tak Joon-gi on the desktop. He understood me right after he saw it.

“… it’s a bomb, a nuclear bomb.” He was sensible enough to read it and call it a nuclear bomb. I said mortar, but it was a similar nuance.

I spoke to him, “So, are you going to help me drop the bomb?”

He looked at me and said, “What do I get from this?”

“My trust.”

“Trust…?”

I nodded, “Yes. If you do this, you might go head-to-head fighting with Suyeon Group. I’ll trust and support you. You chose me over Suyeon Group.”

“… can I have a moment to think about it?”

“Sure.”

He stood for a moment in front of the glass with a panoramic view of Seoul outside the president’s office. Perhaps that was the most important moment, for him to choose me, or the Suyeon Group. If he failed in this bet, he would lose his chance to make his way to the majors. I watched him for a moment. He was in the greatest agony of his life.

He came to me about three minutes later.

‘Three minutes… a little short for a life bet.’

He said, “Let’s do it. No, I’ll do it. Based on this data… I’m going to publish an article through all the media that I control.”

He made a good choice. There was also a saying, ‘They think for a long time, and they make a wrong move.’ However, if it was a good decision, what about three months or three minutes?

I spoke to him, “I’ll email you the file.”

He nodded, his mouth tight, “Yes.”

“Yes, then. I hope you will take good care of it.”

“Yes. In return, I hope you’ll take good care of me from now on.”

I nodded, “Yes, of course.”

‘There is a famous quote by French philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre: “Life is the C of B and D.” Life is the Choice between Birth and Death. Life is a choice every time. Whether it’s stacked or not, people go on choosing their own life every time. Of the choices, one of the important things is when you choose a person. Who are you going to be friends with, who are you going to be courting, who are you going to marry? One’s life fluctuates as one decides.’

Today was the day when the lives of the two people who chose me changed a lot. I approached the window and looked outside. I thought, ‘The fate of the two men is divided here. One chose me as his enemy, and one chose me as his companion. Since the two men’s choices are the opposite, the results of the choices will be stark as well. I’ll bring one down, and one up, like the god of fate holding the scales of balance.’

I looked at my palms, and opened and closed my hands twice, before looking out the window again.