12 Hours After

Translator: Khan

Editor: Aelryinth

I donned a shirt, put on a jacket, and wore a bow tie instead of the usual long tie. Then I stood in front of the mirror and looked at myself.

“Ahem…”

Today was the second anniversary of Invictus Investment. It was a huge event attended by not only our employees, but also key members of our affiliates, and was actually a year after the first time I thought of having dinner with a few executives at a restaurant near the company on the first anniversary. Naturally, I was the main character of the event, as the founder and CEO of the company, and the owner of a 100% stake. I picked up the script lying in front of me, sat down in a chai,r and read it out again.

“Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. I’m Han Sang Hoon, CEO of Invictus Investment. Today, I welcome you who have come to our company’s foundation ceremony.”

Thanks to my practice starting a few days ago, I could speak well without missing a single letter. If I was not too nervous, I would handle my turn well.

‘I did a great job in front of the TV cameras seen by tens of thousands of people. Let’s not get too nervous about this in front of my company’s people and affiliates.’

That was how I held myself together. In fact, it was highly likely that the people who were the most nervous today were not me, but the executives and employees of the affiliates. It had been a long time since they had a chance to see me, because I had a house on the roof of my company and I was not very well-traveled outside Invictus Investment. Among them, there would be people who would bring me a bundle of presents, and prepare comments to make themselves look good.

‘But I won’t change anything for them… No, come to think of it… There was a case like Blue E&M. There are certain, crucial times when a gift or flattery works.’

When I appointed a CEO or an executive, I actively looked into the future through the People Search, but there were many times that the ability of a person was not much different from the others. If A and B were alike, I chose one of my favorites, because I was human, too.

‘At any rate, today, they are going to bother me. It is to be expected. Everyone’s going to stick to me or Vice President Jang looking for one more word. Let’s just do what I need to do. By the way… about Hyun-joo, how do I deal with that?’

The issue of the scandal was still unsolved.

‘What if she says something weird in my ear today? Can I say no?’

If I came with Ah-young, the temptation might be blocked in the first place, but since the previous threat from Tak Joon-gi, I had never brought her into public view, to protect her personal identity.

Ah-young also didn’t tell anyone that she was the girlfriend of a man worth four billion dollars. When she took the announcer test, she told me, “Don’t put any strange pressure on the broadcasting company when I take the test. I want to do this with my own ability.”

In fact, if I put pressure on them, it would be to stop her… She succeeded, anyway.

‘Ha… What should I do? No, I’m the only one who needs to be strong. No matter how tempting Oh Hyun-joo may be, I just have to refuse,’ I thought as the phone rang. It was a call from Secretary Park.

“Boss, are you ready?”

“Oh, yeah. I’m going to take the elevator now. Wait for that and catch it. Let’s go down together.”

“Yes, boss.”

I came to the elevator of the penthouse with the script in my hand and pressed the down button. The elevator came up and stopped at the ‘P’ level. I was the only one who could get in and out of the ‘P’ floor in this building. The elevator went down and stopped once on the middle floor. There was Secretary Park, who got in when he saw the elevator coming down from the “P” floor.

“Let’s go.”

“Yes.”

I took Rolls-Royce’s car key out of my pocket and handed it to him. On reflection, I would probably ride the Bentley or Rolls-Royce because it was an official ceremony attended by people from the affiliates. The blue Bentley Bentayga was one of my favorites.

‘It was in the picture.’ It was creepy that it was in the future news. Most of all, someone had filmed it. I asked Secretary Park, “How’s the paparazzi cutoff going today?”

“Very good, sir. That’s what I’ve been doing this morning.”

“Good job.”

Soon after arriving at the underground parking lot, the door opened and I walked out toward the parked Rolls Royce. As I was riding the Rolls-Royce today, there would have to be a change in the correction news.

However, I did not receive it again, because of the rule that correction news would only come out once a day.

——————————-

“… ladies and gentlemen, I hope you enjoy the event and meal prepared tonight, and have a good evening. Thank you.”

At my words, there was thunderous applause.

Those in the front row, from the executives and employees of Invictus Investment, Hyun Young Pharmaceutical, OH Entertainment, Jiwoo Entertainment, to the Blue E&M directors; all the high-ranking people were applauding hard. Anyway, power and money were scary. Those who were old enough to have a million dollars or even ten million dollars, were clapping their hands hard, as they were afraid I would not see them being enthusiastic.

I bowed slightly to them and stepped down from the podium. On the way down, I saw Kim Jun-hyung and Oh Hyun-joo, who were the MCs today. At any rate, they were both handsome and pretty, and seemed to draw attention from the people around them, especially Oh Hyun Joo, showing off her gorgeous beauty to the point that they could feel it. She came in a dress that was quite chest-deep today. It was a heartbreaking dress that literally demanded attention. I thought as I came down from the podium, ‘Huh… this could be big trouble.’

My seat was at the very front of the event hall. It was the place where Vice President Jang, President Kwon Oh-hyuk, Chairman Shin Jae-eun of Hyun Young Pharmaceutical, President Kim Jung-kyun of Blue E&M, CEO Chung So-young of Oracle News, and CEO Lee Kang-hyun of FutureSync sat. When I got back to my seat, Kim Jun-hyung and Oh Hyun-joo exchanged lines as they hosted the event.

“So far, there has been a greeting from CEO Han Sang-hoon of Invictus Investment. That was a very good speech. What’s next? Hyun-joo?”

“Yes. Next time, there will be a performance by Jiwoo Entertainment’s representative girl group Nine Tails, which is becoming a global group reaching beyond Korea, China, and Asia.”

As top actors, the two MCs did well. If I thought about it, it was an event with a script and a screenplay. While I was looking at the two, I glanced over at Kwon Oh-hyuk, sitting on my left. He was looking at the two MCs in satisfaction. He deserved it, too. President Kwon Oh-hyuk was expanding OH Entertainment with the two of them.

‘Well… yeah. They are his two most reliable people.’

I turned my eyes back to the two again. Oh Hyun-joo was the one who caught everyone’s eyes, even if she was just walking the street. However, she was indeed really pretty today.

———————————-

After the event, the dinner followed. There were some adjustments at the table. Vice President Jang went to meet other company directors, and the older chairman Shin Jae-eun apologized and asked to go home first, saying he felt uncomfortable. Then two MCs, Kim Jun-hyung and Oh Hyun-joo, took the two seats that were now open. Oh Hyun-joo sat right next to me in the seat of Vice President Jang. As soon as she sat down, she smiled and greeted me.

“How have you been, Mr. President?”

I received it in a slightly quivering voice, “How are you, Hyun-joo?”

“Yes, thanks to you.”

The word “thanks” was customary as usual, but her words contained sincerity. Thanks to me, she was hosting this event as an MC. I’d been a fan, and there was a good story with her, and I would have said something nice if I had been normal, but I could not be close to her because of the scandal news. I turned to the other side, where Chung, the head of Oracle News, was attached to the handsome Kim Jun-hyung.

“I watched the drama with pleasure last time. Jun-hyung, whenever I look at you, I think your acting skills continue to grow.”

“Haha, thank you.”

I wanted her to be associated with the single Kwon Oh-hyuk, but unfortunately, she didn’t even turn her eyes to him.

‘Well, I guess she has a taste for younger men.’

Anyway, her eyes were too high, and it was hard to get married at her age. Chung was also a woman with a rather pungent charm, but there might have been a reason why she had not married. Then, Oh Hyun-joo asked me one more time.

“I know you’re busy, Mr. President, but do you still do judo these days?”

“Ah, I don’t have time to practice judo, but I run lightly.”

“Oh, I see. I am sorry to hear that. A CEO who’s good at judo is really cool.”

‘Is this how the scandal starts?’

I said, pointing back at that thought, “I have a friend around me who is better than me.”

Behind me was Secretary Park, standing like a pillar.

She looked at Secretary Park and spoke in a peculiar soft voice, “Aha, I see.”

I answered in a dutiful manner, “Yes.”

But then, suddenly, Oh Hyun-joo brought her face near my ear, and whispered something to me in a small voice so that even Secretary Park could not hear it.

———————————-

“Let’s go, boss,” Secretary Park awakened me.

“Ah… yes.”

I looked at the banquet hall where all the events of the second anniversary of the Invictus Investment were over, and thought, ‘I shouldn’t do this next time. No, I can’t do it at all… Every two years… No. I’ll do it every five years.’

After the meal, all that remained were countless handshakes, greetings, and much flattery. I had to suffer for a whole day because they’d try to leave a strong impression with me. It was expected, but it was still a tough day.

I said with a long sigh, “Hu-huh. Let’s go.”

I glanced around the banquet hall. I wanted to know where Oh Hyun-joo was. But she was not visible in the banquet hall. Maybe she got out first. On the way to the hotel’s parking lot with Secretary Park, I recalled the words she had whispered in my ear. ‘Thank you very much then, Mr. President.’

She didn’t try to seduce me, but just gave her sincere thanks to me. So, in the end, nothing happened. I now headed to the Rolls-Royce with Secretary Park, not the Bentley. The scandal in the news appeared to be the hoax of a rogue paparazzi.

‘But if it’s on the future news, it’s definitely newsworthy. I will see the news tomorrow. If anyone’s poking me in my name, they’ll never work as a journalist again.’

I had been struggling for a few weeks because of this, ever since I had gone abroad. I felt like I had bit the dust. Secretary Park ran first and opened the Rolls-Royce’s back door.

“Please get in.”

“Yes.”

Just then, a blue Bentley Bentayga passed slowly in front of our car. I naturally looked at the people riding it. All I could see was the right side and the person who came into my eyes was the one sitting in the passenger seat, Oh Hyun-joo.

“Uh…?”

It was only then that I realized… there was one more person at this meeting who drove a blue Bentley Bentayga. A stupid reporter thought it was my car, so he wrote an article naming me!