Novelist Running Through Time - Chapter 81

TL: KSD

The chairman of Baekhak Media Group is the ‘second son’.

And according to the ‘primogeniture’ system, a tradition far older than the history of South Korea itself, the estate should be passed on to the eldest son.

Primogeniture is not an outdated custom.

Why is a custom a custom?

Because it has been around so long that it has taken root in people’s minds. It is incomparable to laws that fluctuate over a dime or a bottle of liquor.

Laws must be enforced, but customs are naturally followed.

To break this custom, the second son outmaneuvered the eldest son.

After intervening in the presidential election and failing in a 50% chance gacha, which led to the eldest son being imprisoned, the second son managed to touch upon the legitimate portion of inheritance for the illegitimate family, thus acquiring the management rights of the Baekhak Group.

Although he couldn’t prevent the dirty civil war between brothers from circulating in the media, that was a story from before he became the chairman.

Now that he’s chairman, the ‘second son’ has taken control of the media in the country.

Of course, Baekhak Group is not the only media in Korea.

However, controlling over a third of the media power, able to deliver a fatal blow to any other media outlet at any time, is virtually no different from actual domination. Was the United States ever the strongest nation by conquering the whole world?

Therefore, no journalist or scribbler dares to babble about Baekhak’s events.

As evidence, despite the fact that the ousted brother attempted suicide in prison and was discovered by a guard, failing in the process, not a single media outlet covered the story.

That’s what power was.

Having seized the group through a bloody internal conflict, the ‘second son’ now has to continue fighting to maintain this power.

The situation is not favorable. The president still looks at Baekhak, his enemy, with unfavorable eyes, and all media, like a conquered colony, eagerly awaits the day they can topple Baekhak and gain independence. Not to mention other conglomerates coveting the power and capital held by Baekhak.

With numerous external enemies targeting Baekhak, even within the group, the views on the chairman are unfavorable. A retribution that the usurper must bear.

Thus, the second son’s wrinkled gaze turned towards Baekhak Entertainment.

In the astronomical value-creating media industry cycle of Baekhak Group, the factory producing celebrities was an absolutely indispensable strategic facility.

Especially, leaving it in the hands of Baek Seung-won, a collateral family member whose loyalty had not been proven, was too risky.

Side EP-Princess Maker

The atmosphere at the company was terrible, with suspicious suited men wandering around the building like zombies, continuously kidnapping someone.

Naturally, a hostile gaze poured towards Baek Seol, the leading invader, but Baek Seol, too distressed to claim her innocence, grumbled and complained to us.

Baek Seol, dressed as sophisticatedly as if she were at a Booker Prize reading event, whined in a way that was contrary to her appearance. We were more accustomed to this side of her.

“I’m just a figurehead…”

As Director Baek Seol instructed-

“Didn’t I tell you to stop, Author~nim?”

Baek Seol said that borrowing the power of the headquarters and showing off at the Booker Prize reading event was the root of all problems.

At that time, Baek Seol, an unknown editor and translator, could not stand the unfair oppression and contempt from Japan and stood up resolutely, revealing her noble lineage to the world.

Because the Japanese kept picking petty quarrels, she contacted her uncle in the strategic planning office and gathered Korean reporters to focus all attention on the issue.

She even came out as a chaebol.

So, if we were to summarize the incident in one sentence, it would be:

-How dare you insult Baek Seol, the princess of Baekhak!

“How did it end up like this?!”

Baek Seol jumped up, splashing soup from the udon on the table all the way to my cheek due to her abrupt movement.

I wiped the soup off with a tissue and sought agreement from Lim Yang-wook beside me.

“Doesn’t it seem right?”

“It did have a bit of a secret royal inspector Park Mun-su vibe. Is it called hidden power flex these days?” (TL: Park Mun-su -> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Park_Mun-su)

“A translator hiding her lineage?”

“Turns out, the ordinary new employee was actually a genius translator from a chaebol family?!”

“Hmm…”

Nevertheless, thanks to Baek Seol’s outstanding performance, the Booker Prize reading event concluded successfully, but that’s where the problem began.

Baek Seol’s recognition had skyrocketed excessively.

The public went wild for the appearance of a super-genius royal beauty translator with looks, ability, and lineage all in one.

An Instagram account documenting every bread Baek Seol had eaten over the past ten years quickly secured a celebrity-level following.

Even after Baek Seol was assigned to the strategic planning office, the discussion on how to utilize her recognition never ceased.

Then, the chairman’s order to target Baekhak Entertainment came down.

The strategic planning office, comprised of the top elites of Baekhak Group, made this assessment:

-It would seem too crude to just replace CEO Baek Seung-won of Baekhak Ent., so how about we call it an organizational system innovation for global standardization?

-Wouldn’t it be too old-fashioned to have it directed from the top? Isn’t there a more youthful and MZ-like method? (TL: MZ here is Gen MZ)

-How about we say this innovation proposal was put forward by a young professional of international repute in the cultural industry?

-Ah, where would we find such a person?

-Right there, in the corner of the office.

-Oh.

Baek Seol, who was observing from a distance as if it was someone else’s story, shook her head in horror, but she, being merely a parachuted figure, had no say in the matter.

The uncle who had parachuted her in had no intention of stopping her from becoming famous, seeing it as beneficial, and Baek Seol’s biological father had returned to being a carefree building owner, unable to endure corporate life despite finally being integrated into the main family.

In the end, Baek Seol, with no one to support her, became the spearhead of the invasion into Baekhak Entertainment…. That’s the story.

Anyway, she seems to be suffering quite a bit.

Her drunken ramblings are proof of this.

“I went to those snooty colleges!”

Baek Seol, completely drunk, slammed down her highball glass forcefully.

And then, she swayed her body like riding a carousel horse, slurring her words.

“I should have attended the reliable Seoul National University! Instead, I went to those snooty colleges on the other side of the world! I don’t have anyone on my side at the company!”

Lim Yang-wook, who couldn’t ignore the misery of academic background, joined in.

“Right. Right… College is important…”

“Right? Isn’t it?”

“If I hadn’t gone to a no-name school, I wouldn’t have rotted in the basement parking for two years… My hair would have been safe too…”

“Really, an Oxford diploma isn’t worth anything?!”

“I wish I could wake up back in high school. I’m confident I would study hard for real…”

Watching the two adults slowly going mad, I shook my head in disbelief.

For your information, even if you go back to childhood, you end up not studying that hard.

Not that anyone would believe it.

* * *

The unstable political situation over the management rights of Baekhak Ent. continued until I started my summer vacation.

It lasted for about two weeks.

During those two weeks, all sorts of things happened.

The most shocking was when it was revealed that the reason the headquarters staff had separately called some employees of Baekhak Ent. was not to dig out Baekhak Ent.’s weaknesses.

It wasn’t an interrogation. It was a temptation, ‘Baekhak Ent. is going to be shattered into pieces to create individual companies; would you like to become the CEO of one of those companies?’

Whether because of that incident or not, it is said that CEO Baek Seung-won quietly visited the chairman’s residence soon after.

What happened there is unknown.

However, what is certain is that the next day, CEO Baek Seung-won’s shares were all gone in the corporate disclosure of Baekhak Ent.

Other than that, everything returned to as it was.

The pressure from headquarters disappeared like a lie, and CEO Baek Seung-won remained in his position as CEO, although now he was purely a salaryman CEO.

I could not possibly imagine how CEO Baek Seung-won, who had raised a company from the ground up for decades (though he might have been paid for it), felt having it snatched away in a single day.

What I felt, observing these series of events from a step back, was

that art is bound by capital.

It wasn’t just watching the headquarters’ vicious behavior to secure more money.

Even amidst the war for control, seeing Baekhak Entertainment functioning normally was an enlightening experience.

Discussions of whether the company would fall apart continued, yet Baekhak Entertainment operated as usual.

Singers sang, idols danced, actors acted, and Kim Byul shot commercials.

The show did not stop.

“Of course.”

Kim Byul commented on this. There was a bit of arrogance in her tone, perhaps from having shot some commercials.

“We are professionals, aren’t we? No matter what happens in the company, schedules must go on, right?”

“Hmm…”

“We’re not even company employees, so why should we be swayed by the company’s affairs? I find it stranger that you’re asking such a thing.”

Thanks to Kim Byul, who called me to a shaved ice café under the pretext of boredom (but actually to brag about shooting a commercial), I had these thoughts while enjoying free shaved ice.

Perhaps because Baekhak Entertainment was somewhat like my first job, I felt a growing sense of internal affinity.

The office of the Publishing Management Task Force Team in the basement parking,

The grand office of the Publishing Management Department,

Various cafes and convenience facilities I visited with Kim Byul,

And even the CEO in white suits who often appeared in the lobby,

All these things provided me with a sense of stability I had never felt before.

Could this be the fondness that develops for one’s first job?

But Kim Byul clearly defined what my job was.

“Hey. A company is not where you work, but where what you create is sold and you are managed. You’re an artist. We are artists. The show must go on! Don’t you know?”

“You’ve become quite arrogant just because you shot a commercial?”

“Ahem!”

The veteran actor (who was in her first year of high school) who suspiciously enjoyed showing off, blushed slightly and coughed awkwardly.

Due to Kim Byul’s job nature, her appearance changed like a chameleon every time we met. This included her aura. Depending on the project she was working on at the time, she felt like a completely different person, a curious human being.

So, this consistently arrogant personality made me feel that the person in front of me was indeed Kim Byul. It was kind of her identity.

And the fact that one in ten of her pieces of advice was worth listening to was also part of Kim Byul’s identity.

“Anyway, don’t worry too much about what happens in the company. You should definitely be careful about contracts being deceitful, but it’s not good for celebrities to get too involved in office politics. We should spend our time honing our bodies and minds. We’re people who perform art through our bodies. If you have talent, the rest will naturally follow. It might seem like those with connections get ahead at first, but after ten years, it’s ultimately talent that determines your place…”

I quietly nodded, tucking Kim Byul’s advice into a corner of my mind.

Then, Kim Byul smiled awkwardly.

“But it’s true that our company has been pretty chaotic lately, right?”

“Indeed.”

“I’ve even thought about changing agencies. My contract is ending soon. I’ve considered moving to an agency that specializes in actors… Sigh. But just thinking about getting my mom’s permission drains my energy so I can’t do it.

What about you? Are you thinking of changing companies?”

“Me?”

I let my imagination run wild for a moment.

The scenario was predictable.

As soon as I mention leaving the agency, the lament of an octopus, crying buckets while gripping my head with eight tentacles saying we’d all be doomed without you.

The thought made me chuckle.

“I don’t think I’ll be changing companies for a while.”

Looking back.

I shouldn’t have said that……

* * *

The dispute over the management rights of Baekhak Entertainment ended anticlimactically with CEO Baek Seung-won’s white flag surrender.

The headquarters secured firm management rights over Baekhak Entertainment, and CEO Baek Seung-won, in exchange for becoming a salaried CEO, preserved the company he had built over decades.

Thus, the hastily assembled, baseless department known as the “Organizational Innovation Headquarters, Human Resources Innovation Department” found itself adrift, as Baek Seung-won surrendered as soon as the headquarters drew their sword.

But a drawn sword must cut something.

“We were never a means to threaten CEO Baek Seung-won but a department created with a pure heart to innovate the organization of Baekhak Group.”

-To prove this, the sword was swung.

And it was sharp.

So sharp, in fact, that it cleanly excised the ‘Publishing Management Department’ from Baekhak Entertainment and transferred it to Baekhak Publishing.

This was the result.

“Congratulations!”

“Welcome! Author-nim!”

“A real literary figure has arrived! For real!”

“He’s smaller than I thought…”

“So cute…”

“Look over here! One, two, three!”

“Please take care of us, Author Moon!”

I was transferred to Baekhak Publishing.

“…….”

However, Lim Yang-wook was nowhere to be found there.

*****

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