Commonly referred to as Baekhak ‘Media’ Group, Baekhak is a giant media conglomerate that dominates various media outlets in South Korea.
It essentially means a nationwide gang of thugs.
However, in the proudly authoritarian state of South Korea, where the tradition of controlled finance and press guidelines flourishes under an imperial presidency, no matter how much a gang of thugs flaunts their power, they are still within the palm of Buddha’s hand.
As recent cases have shown, no matter how much thugs swagger, Baekhak Group cowers when the government merely hints at the ‘cancellation of the comprehensive programming channel’s re-approval’.
But Japan is different.
The political and financial landscape of Japan is a bit more sinister.
It’s not that Japanese people are more sinister than Koreans, but that a parliamentary cabinet system is more sinister than a direct presidential election system.
Without even needing to put his grandfather’s honor on the line, he resolved the issue with flexible thinking, not unlike the famous detective Kindaichi Hajime. (TL: Reference to ‘The Kindaichi Case’)
Now, all that remains is the clean-up.
All that needs to be done is to show the director, who chose to adapt a Korean author’s novel instead of a Japanese one purely out of fandom, the ‘bitter taste of the organization.’
This is not merely Yohei Iwamoto’s personal opinion. Rumors were already high within the company.
That unpatriotic traitor betrayed the company…?
What good is making a good movie if there’s no company loyalty…?
Is he possibly a Zainichi? (TL: ethnic Korean in Japan)
Of course, the situation slightly changed when ‘Gitar’ came in first place.
“Damn it! I knew you could do it!”
“A genius director has emerged from our company!”
In this situation, Kyosensha also had to slightly adjust its policy. After all, flexible business thinking is the lifeline of a company, isn’t it?
So, they had to jump on the bandwagon.
The ‘Gitar’ bandwagon.
Fortunately, the original novel ‘Gitar’ was already being published in Japan. This was because it had been contracted before the controversy surrounding the Booker International Prize.
Naturally, thanks to the movie adaptation effect, it was selling like hotcakes, and in fact, this was essentially the only profit the author and the publisher could make.
In this industry, the movie profits are split between the production committee and the distributor anyway.
And the production committee was essentially funded solely by Siedehara, while the distributor was not the Hitokawa Group but a monster from the neighboring industry that monopolized the film sector.
Moreover, even the director couldn’t get a piece of the pie, so how much could the publisher get? If they were bitter about it, they should have put their name on the production committee and invested.
Therefore, the publishing revenue turned out to be the only source of money.
Yohei Iwamoto devised a wicked plan to embezzle those profits.
Recalling the cold-faced chaebol princess he encountered at the Booker Prize ceremony…
“Why would I do her any favors…!”
He never forgets an insult. The sharp blade prepared for the cruel witch who turned him into a mere sideshow at the Booker Prize ceremony was ready.
Yohei Iwamoto’s bloody revenge began.
It aimed to minimize the revenue heading to Korea. For this, all sorts of terrifying and sinister methods were employed.
Yohei Iwamoto was a senior editor and translator at Kyosensha. He had both the ability and political power to translate novels by Eisaku Siedehara, a Nobel Prize in Literature candidate.
Burning with vengeance, he personally retranslated ‘Gitar’ from start to finish. He even improved the quality significantly.
In return, he subtly siphoned off some of the publishing profits.
But the revenge didn’t stop there.
He couldn’t tolerate the poorly produced books that the Koreans had made to cut costs, so he re-bound them in a luxury lineup.
He used Hitokawa Group’s distribution network to display them extensively in bookstores nationwide, redesigned the book covers to match Japanese sensibilities, leveraged Kyosensha’s political clout for bookstore promotions, ran TV ads, planned events linked to theaters, included book-related gifts, created character merchandise, made limited edition books to commemorate the movie adaptation, placed banners on online bookstores, begged the singers of the movie OST to leave positive comments on social media, produced an e-book version, controlled critics’ opinions, and held post-publication events at the publisher level.
And in return, he took away the publishing profits.
Thus, Yohei Iwamoto sent only a few remaining pennies to Korea after he had completely plundered everything.
The completion of cruel revenge.
What kind of expression would that cold-faced chaebol princess make?
A dumbfounded look? A face full of anger? Or perhaps a look of resentment?
Whatever it was, it was a pity he couldn’t see her face in real-time.
Lim Yang-wook’s expression hardened as he checked the publishing profits that had come in from Japan.
This was no ordinary matter.
It was significant enough to necessitate a complete overhaul of the pre-planned future business direction.
Originally, Lim Yang-wook had planned to expand into the American market.
The goal was to cover the decline in domestic popularity due to Moon In’s excessive image consumption and to achieve results significant enough to make Baek Seol the CEO of Baekhak Publishing.
Lim Yang-wook had even reluctantly lowered the Taegeukgi in his heart for this sole purpose.
But today, even the Stars and Stripes, which he had raised after lowering the Taegeukgi, slowly descended from the flagpole in his heart.
The Star-Spangled Banner thus descended from Lim Yang-wook’s heart.
Instead, the Hinomaru, the Japanese flag with the red dot, gradually ascended.
No! You crazy bastard!
Aren’t you ashamed to face your ancestors!
His last shred of patriotism tried to stop him, but the temptation was too great to resist.
“How many zeros are there…?”
Behind the dazed Lim Yang-wook, who was sitting in front of the monitor, the cheers of the Publishing Management Headquarters staff shouting ‘Long live the Division Head!’ echoed.
The year passed, and as a new spring arrived, several changes occurred in daily life.
I became a third-year middle school student, moved to a slightly larger studio, and so on…
But the biggest change was that Ma Ki-hoon, who had graduated from high school, got his driver’s license.
“People might think it’s your own car.”
Although Ma Ki-hoon graduated this year, he had repeated a year in middle school, so he could have gotten his license earlier. In fact, he already had his license.
However, neither the school nor the company had allowed Ma Ki-hoon to drive a car, as there was a social convention against high school seniors driving.
But as a high school graduate, Ma Ki-hoon was freed from all the constraints that bound him.
As a result, Ma Ki-hoon was sitting in the driver’s seat of a van loaned by the company.
Getting to drive a luxury van as his first car after getting his license—Ma Ki-hoon certainly had some good luck.
His eyes still sparkled as he looked at the shiny driver’s seat.
“Hey, In-seop. Can I use this car to drop Hye-jin off at school just once?”
“Just don’t let Department head Lim find out.”
I chuckled softly, watching Ma Ki-hoon laugh like a boy even though he was now an adult.
But Ma Ki-hoon, who had taken care of children while playing the role of an adult since he was a boy, quickly snapped back to his duties.
“Okay, what time do we need to be at the airport?”
“The flight to Tokyo leaves at 12:40, so we should get there by 11:30 at the latest.”
“Alright. Off to Incheon Airport!”
Our destination was Japan.