Chapter: 07
In the president’s office at Hansan Media, the view of Sangam-dong spread out beyond the window like a panorama.
President Choi Mincheol was sitting on a comfortable sofa, yet he was sweating profusely as though he were sitting on a bed of thorns.
It was because of the plagiarism scandal that had recently turned the Hansan Media competition upside down.
Sitting across from him was the benefactor who had perfectly resolved what could have become a complete mess, CEO Do Igeon of Dipflix Korea. And seated in the most prominent seat was Chairman Jung Yoonjoon, head of Hansan Group.
Hansan Media was a key new business that Chairman Jung was pushing forward with the future of the entire group at stake.
Yet after such an ambitious competition had been marred by a scandal like this, President Choi felt as though his lifespan were being shortened in real time.
“I heard that if it weren’t for CEO Do, the name of Hansan would have been dragged through the mud and become the subject of gossip among the market’s rumor-mongers.”
At Chairman Jung’s solemn voice, President Choi nervously lowered his head even further.
In fact, when the plagiarism dispute with DBS Broadcasting Station first erupted, the dominant opinion internally had been to cancel the winning work altogether in order to minimize the risk.
Once a plagiarism controversy broke out, it was obvious that it could turn into a mudslinging battle, and there had been opinions that it would be better to select another work from the beginning rather than tarnish the company’s image.
If that had happened, the work announced first by DBS Broadcasting Station would have survived.
But Igeon, who had participated as one of the judges, had personally vouched for writer Min Yoonseul’s work, putting his own name on the line.
‘The short film that appears in the script was filmed by me. I made it together with writer Min when we were in university.’
It was also Igeon who personally took the lead in gathering the working-level PDs from Hansan Media and DBS Broadcasting Station, secretly sharing and comparing the winning works from both competitions.
Fortunately, Yoonseul had perfectly preserved an enormous record of her writing process, from the initial planning proposal to the treatment, recent scripts, and revision logs arranged chronologically.
And astonishingly, it was confirmed that the third draft among her revisions was identical to the manuscript submitted to the DBS competition under the name Min Sara.
The veteran PDs who read the two scripts alternately reached an easy conclusion.
The difference in their level of completion was so enormous that the two works could not even be placed on the same level.
“There’s no need to worry about it, Chairman. I was simply lucky.”
At CEO Do’s humble words and demeanor, a faint smile spread across Chairman Jung’s lips.
“Actually, Dipflix is also reviewing a contract with writer Min. We’re positively considering investing in Insomnia as well.”
“Oh? Really? A new writer that Dipflix has taken an interest in… It seems she must be far more talented than I thought. If it weren’t for CEO Do, we nearly would have let such a valuable writer slip right through our fingers.”
At Chairman Jung’s words, President Choi, who had been the first to order that the work be excluded, felt his lips go completely dry.
“She sounds promising. If I attend the awards ceremony this week, I’ll be able to see the writer’s face as well, won’t I?”
“Yes, Chairman. Writer Min Yoonseul has given us her final confirmation that she’ll be attending the ceremony.”
President Choi, who had been sitting quietly on the side and waiting for the right moment, quickly answered.
At that moment, the smile disappeared completely from Chairman Jung’s face.
His eyes, trembling with confusion, turned toward President Choi.
“…What did you say her name was?”
“Pardon? Ah… Writer Min. Yoon. Seul.”
President Choi answered slowly, emphasizing each syllable.
Chairman Jung’s mouth quietly fell open.
The name Yoonseul brought back a fragment of a memory from the past.
‘Executive Director, if we get married and have children someday, what would you like to name them?’
‘Hmm. How about taking one syllable each from your name and mine? If it’s a boy, Hyejoon. If it’s a girl, Yoonseul. What do you think?’
‘I like it. Jung Hyejoon, Jung Yoonseul… Both are such beautiful names, Executive Director.’
The woman with whom he had once whispered about such a brilliant future together had given him a unilateral breakup barely a month later and disappeared from his life forever.
‘I don’t want to be insulted by the Chairman anymore because of you, Executive Director. He says he could never accept a woman like me as his daughter-in-law. He even told me not to naively think that if I had a child, he would accept me because it would be his blood. He said that child would grow up hearing that they were an illegitimate child for the rest of their life under a stepmother. I’m ending this.’
At first, Chairman Jung had not searched for Seulhye because he was hurt by the thought that she had coldly abandoned him.
But before even a month had passed, he began desperately searching for her.
Yet he could not find a trace of her anywhere.
Then, after several years had passed, when he finally managed to find her, there was an unfamiliar man and a child beside Seulhye.
‘You got married?’
‘Yes. I’m happily living with an ordinary man who loves me, and we have a child. So please forget about me now, Executive Director, and meet someone good.’
The memory of the woman’s final expression, so peaceful that he could not even bring himself to resent her, made his heart ache as though it were being carved out with a knife.
“Chairman, are you all right? Your complexion suddenly became so pale…”
At President Choi’s urgent voice, Igeon also looked at Chairman Jung with concern.
“I’m fine. I simply became deeply lost in an old memory for a moment.”
Chairman Jung waved his hand away with fingers that trembled faintly.
Even though it had been more than twenty years ago, the moment he heard the name Yoonseul, the memories of that day came vividly rushing back as though they had happened yesterday.
She must be living well somewhere.
Chairman Jung rubbed his dry face, his expression unbearably lonely.
[Let’s write the contract. Come to the company.]
That was the text Yoonseul received from Igeon three days after sending him the synopsis and treatment.
Yoonseul was stunned.
Even in her previous life, she had particularly little luck with OTT platforms.
Her works had simply been more suited to the domestic market.
But it wasn’t that she had never wanted to reach viewers around the world.
So she felt a little excited.
“You’re writer Min Yoonseul, right?”
When Yoonseul arrived at the lobby of Dipflix Korea’s headquarters, a female PD who appeared to be in her late twenties recognized her.
She showed Yoonseul around the inside of the building.
The enormous posters displaying original content and the stylish interior caught Yoonseul’s attention.
A short while later, they headed to the ninth floor, where the CEO’s office was located.
As she followed the secretary inside, Yoonseul saw Igeon sitting at his desk, working.
With his sleeves rolled up and his eyes on a tablet, he looked exceptionally impressive.
“CEO, writer Min Yoonseul has arrived.”
“Oh, please come this way.”
Igeon spotted her and stood up.
Yoonseul sat across from Igeon at the conference table.
With a gentle smile, he handed her the contract.
She had already reviewed it through email, but it offered terms far beyond the highest level normally given to a new writer. Furthermore, he had adjusted the contract period so that she could begin serious scriptwriting work after finishing Insomnia.
Yoonseul looked back and forth between the contract and Igeon’s face before unconsciously voicing the question that had been lingering in her mind.
“You offered me this contract after reading my work, right?”
Igeon let out a small laugh.
Then his deep eyes, filled with a hint of mischief, settled on Yoonseul.
“Did you perhaps think I offered you the contract out of ulterior motives because I was interested in you rather than your work?”
“Ah, that’s not what I meant…”
“I can’t say there are absolutely no ulterior motives. But this contract was decided after thoroughly considering its business potential and taking the opinions of the directors into account.”
‘I can’t say there are absolutely no ulterior motives?’
Those words alone caused Yoonseul’s thoughts to become noisy.
“But there’s one thing that concerns me… Writer Min Yoonseul, are you perhaps in a situation where you need help right now?”
“No. Why are you suddenly asking me that?”
“A work inevitably contains a part of its writer. But the work you sent me this time was quite different from the writing of the Min Yoonseul I knew.”
Yoonseul took a deep breath.
She felt as though a disgrace she wanted to hide had been exposed.
Min Yoonseul had returned to life carrying the hellish memories of being betrayed by the mother and older sister she had believed were family, as well as by her husband, and suffering a miserable death. She could no longer be the same Min Yoonseul he remembered.
He had seen straight through the resentment and coldness hidden within Yoonseul’s writing.
Why does this man keep making me feel so strange?
“No. I just… wanted to challenge myself with a new genre that was different from what I usually write.”
“Then that’s a relief.”
A clear look of relief passed over Igeon’s face.
Seeing that, Yoonseul realized that he had genuinely been worried about her.
Even in the past. And even now, you’re such a warm person, Mr. Do Igeon.
As Yoonseul finished signing the contract with that thought in mind, Igeon stood up and said,
“Come somewhere with me.”
And so, they arrived at a place Yoonseul had never expected at all.
