12 Hours After

Translator: Khan

Editor: RED

[Politics – What is the report card of Mayor Joo Sung-won one year after re-election?

Economy – The rich-get-richer and the poor-get-poorer, the deepening gap between the Seoul metropolitan area and the locals.

Society – What is the solution to the escalating conflict between the genders?

Life/Culture – Avengers 4 set a new box office record.

IT/Science – Susung Electronics 10 Review.

World – Hunger in Africa is no longer true, but obesity is a growing problem these days,

Sports – Which baseball team will advance to the 2019 postseason

Entertainment – A young playboy won the competition in the Masked Dance King.]

I saw the headlines a year from now without much thought. Money or not, the year-later news was interesting.

‘Mayor Joo Sung-won must be doing well. The conflict between genders is a big problem these days… It’s getting bigger. Will Avengers 4 be released next year? The Masked Dance King is still popular next year. I haven’t seen it in a while…’

In the meantime, my telephone rang. I picked up the phone.

Secretary Seo asked carefully, “Boss, that… Are you done with your work?”

I glanced at the time. It was 9:20. I had a meeting at 10 o’clock today. I closed the mailbox and said, “Yes. Let’s go now.”

“Yes, boss.”

——

I put on my jacket and left. The formal name of today’s schedule was the merger celebration. This was to celebrate CKD Entertainment and OH Entertainment becoming a family and making a fresh start. That was the superficial reason, there were actually two reasons for the event.

The first was to show my face, as the real owner of this company, and the second to show that as the second real owner, I was officially delegating power to President Kwon Oh Hyuk.

Because of Jang’s concern, ‘CKD Entertainment’s directors may complain,’ I was asked to step forward and line them up. It was like the old king appointing a new lord of the realm in front of the nobles.

‘… I delegate my power to President Kwon Oh Hyuk to be the new lord of the realm.’

Of course, in modern times, the king was the majority shareholder, the nobles were the directors, and the lord was the president, but the original structure was the same, although it had been transformed into a language based on capitalism. It was a line-up by power.

—————–

On the way to Cheongdam-dong, where OH Entertainment was located, I saw a luxury car in my eyes while waiting for the signal. From the front of the SUV to the solid-looking body, I liked it. I asked Ji-hoon, who was holding the wheel, “Secretary Seo, what’s that car?”

Following my finger, Secretary Seo answered right away. “That’s a Bentley Bentay.”

I didn’t know when I was in school, but Seo was a high-end car lover. He knew more about luxury models than I did, though he could not afford to buy them.

“Really? That’s a Bentley. I like that one.”

“It’s a Bentley, boss. It’s the best in the SUV’s.”

‘How much is that?’ I was going to ask that, but I just said without asking, “Well, then call the dealer. Buy one for me with the same blue color.” I’d achieved my Diamond Class and I thought that as a prize for myself.

Secretary Seo replied without a word, “Yes, I see, boss.”

I looked at the car for a moment while the signal was running. ‘It’s so pretty…’ But I was on my way, a car in the back took over as Bentley edged ahead. By the way, the car was quite familiar; it was a black silver Mercedes van as tall as a man.

‘That must be…’ It was the car that Oh Hyun-joo was riding in that time when she came to Choo Hospital. I wished it could be, but I was not sure since other celebrities could use the same ride.

Seo said to me, “We’re here, boss.” He drove into the parking lot of OH Entertainment’s office, and the car followed us in it, too. Secretary Seo pulled over to one side. In the meantime, the van also parked about three space away.

‘That must be…’ I tried to get out of my seat and see who was getting out of the van. But before that, Secretary Seo, who was sitting in the driver’s seat, shouted first, “Oh… Oh Hyun-joo. Boss!”

It looked like Oh Hyun-joo. ‘In the end, we meet again.’

I wondered if she would recognize me, or how she would react if she found out. I opened the door and got out. Holding the car door, I looked at the van. Oh Hyun-joo was walking this way with the elevator making a clumping noise.

She was still a great beauty, like her face was shining. Maybe it’d been a long time, but I still couldn’t adapt myself, only managing to stand firmly. And then, our eyes met.

“Huh?” Her eyes grew bigger. At a glance, she recognized me. She looked at me and said, “You… right?”

I laughed instead of answering. President Kwon forgot me, but she didn’t. I slowly approached her. “We meet again. Nice to see you again.”

She looked at me with her mouth covered, like a group of girl fans. “No, really. Why are you here? How did you get here?” She didn’t seem to know I was the owner of this place.

A man appeared from behind her. “What is it is?”

I remembered him after looking at his face: Oh Hyun-joo’s manager. He had taken my business card. His eyes were bigger than hers. “No… you… really?”

I looked at him for a moment.

He looked back at me and muttered my name. “That… Han Sang-hoon… Han Sang-hoon?”

Oh Hyun-joo said, looking at his manager, “Yes, Han Sang-hoon, my lifesaver. You remember that, don’t you?”

At her words, the manager shook his head and said, “No… Ms. Oh Hyun-joo…”

“Yes?” When the manager’s expression was alarmed, Oh also noticed something strange. She looked at the manager and me alternately, and asked, “What’s wrong?”

When asked, the manager looked at me and read my countenance, “I, uh… hasn’t our company changed owners this time?”

“Yes.”

“The new owner of the company… is that Han Sang-hoon.”

“Yes?” Oh Hyun-joo looked at me with big eyes. They seemed to be bigger then when she first saw me.

———————————–

“Then, there will be a word from Han Sang-hoon, president of Invictus Investment, which has become the parent company of our company.”

It was my turn. I took the manuscript I had prepared and went forward. I had almost memorized it, since yesterday, as it was so short.

“… I’ll make sure we don’t spare our full support, including large-scale investment.” I had a few cliches of platitudes nevertheless. There was a thunderous applause every time my words finished. Far away, the singers in their twenties and thirties dyed in yellow and green, the people who were well-painted with pomade, and the bald directors in their forties and fifties applauded harder than others. It was an interesting landscape.

I went on to more formal talk. It was all right, because this position had always been a ritual in which the king revealed his face and offered his lord the land. Ceremonies were the most important thing in form.

“In the future, we will actively communicate with President Kwon Oh Hyuk…” While I was talking, I caught a glimpse of Oh Hyun-joo on one side. Everyone in this place was looking at me, just like Oh Hyun-joo. When I saw her, of course, she kept eye contact with me. I said for a moment without taking my eyes off her. “I’ll try to grow this company even further.”

Clap clap… Oh smiled and clapped. By the way, the manager behind her was a bit suspicious. He clapped his hands, but with his head down. It reminded me of Kwon, who hit his fingertips with his head down.

‘What’s wrong with him?’ With that thought, I finished what I had prepared. “OH Entertainment’s directors, employees, and artists, please take care of the company well.”

Clap clap… I came back to my seat with the applause. My turn was over and the ceremony continued.

“This time, we are going to welcome Kwon Oh Hyuk, who will lead our merged OH Entertainment. There will be a word from the new president.”

Kwon climbed onto the podium, held down the microphone a little, and began to speak, “Today is a very special day. Announcing OH Entertainment’s new beginning…”

As expected, it was not very interesting. I glanced back at Oh, pretending to listen to Kwon’s speech. Oh was looking at Kwon, who stood on the podium instead of me. She looked quite happy.

‘How long have they two been working together? I’m sure they are happy now because they met unknown to each other, and President Kwon has become a big man in charge of CKD Entertainment.’

But then the manager looked at me, and flicked his head around. This was the second time.

‘It’s weird. Is there something wrong with me?’ I pondered over the reunion in the parking lot that had just been there.

‘No, really. Why are you here? How did you get here?’

‘Yes, Han Sang-hoon, my lifesaver. You remember that, don’t you?’

When I thought about the conversations, Oh Hyun-joo remembered my name and my face. However, she apparently didn’t even know that Han Sang-hoon was the new owner of the company.

‘Have she been busy filming lately?’

It could be understandable since I didn’t take over this company under my own name, but I took it over through Invictus Investment. Although the notice was published and an article was published, only one or two of six articles published used my name. If people around her didn’t tell her, she wouldn’t know. But the manager knew I was Han Sang-hoon.

‘No… you… really?’

‘That… Han Sang-hoon… Han Sang-hoon?’

And he also knew that the new owner’s name was Han Sang-hoon. He just didn’t know they were the same. His response was similar to Kwon’s. There could be nothing wrong with him in the process. We just said hello to each other in case we were late in the ceremony.

I went a little further back in time. That day, that night, when I thought about it, I remembered him taking my business card instead.

‘Don’t tell me… Intercept? Did he take my business card and throw it away?’

It made sense to think so. She took my phone number to thank me, but I never heard from her.

‘I spent the whole day waiting to get a text message!’

I looked at the manager again. He was away from his seat. Just in time, Kwon ceremonial speech was ended. “… our OH Entertainment hopes to take advantage of this and become a global entertainment company.”

Then, people started to applaud and I also clapped. I didn’t hear a single speech, but I mechanically clapped along.