I Became the Eldest Daughter of 10 Siblings - Chapter 103

When morning came, the world was covered.

Not with pure white snow, but with the Yeon Sangho Gate.

People talked in unison.

"Did you see this? The Yeon Sangho Gate."

"You'd be a spy if you didn't know about that. Everyone's going crazy now."

"They were such creepy bastards."

"I really didn't see them that way. This is why you can't trust anyone in this world. They were just pretending to be nice in front of the camera, putting on an act."

The entire Republic of Korea was engulfed in anger and shock. The public who checked the articles couldn't hide their astonishment. Their names were plastered all over internet communities and social media.

[Real-time Trends]

#YeonSanghoGate

#Criminal_YeonSangho_Withdraw

#Demand_Severe_Punishment_for_YeonSangho

The hashtag 'Yeon Sangho Gate' instantly took the top spot in Twitter searches.

In their fan cafes, posts certifying leaving the fandom appeared, and posts certifying burning albums and photo cards spread like a trend. Some even sent condolence wreaths to the agency.

This incident also drew attention overseas. Because such high-profile singers in Korea were involved all at once, foreign media like BBC and CNN all reported on it simultaneously.

Various YouTube wreckers and media outlets were also engrossed in dissecting the incident.

[Those who held entertainment stocks must have been drinking soju straight from the morning. As soon as the market opened today, KG Entertainment's stock price started with a gap down, and instantly hit the lower limit.]

[It's reported that reporters tried to contact Yeon Sangho's group multiple times, but none of them answered.]

[Industry insiders are reacting, 'What was bound to burst has burst.' Yeon Sangho had been living as a party animal with his acquaintances since the year before last...]

And people's attention turned to Reporter Nam Euibeom, who had caught this unprecedented scoop.

-The rumors circulating yesterday turned out to be true after all

-But who's this reporter who got this scoop?

-Reporter Nam Euibeom? Who's that nobody?

-Seems like he's a young junior reporter, a complete rookie, but he managed to catch a big fish.

-Oh, Nam Euibeom? Isn't that the guy? The e-sports reporter who got fired after being marked by SUC.

└He wasn't fired, just transferred departments, right? From the Industry Department to the Social Affairs Department.

└Wow, so he caught such a big fish after being demoted? A blessing in disguise.

-I'm curious about how Reporter Nam obtained the USB...

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In an office building located in Yeongdeungpo.

The reporters' room of Gukson Ilbo's Social Affairs Department was busier than usual. Reporters were sweating profusely answering phones at every maze-like partition.

The gist of the incoming calls was, of course, inquiries related to the Yeon Sangho Gate.

The social affairs reporters repeated the same words like answering machines every time they picked up the receiver.

"Follow-up articles are in preparation."

Seeing the reporters' room that had turned into a call center, Lee Seongjin, Nam Euibeom's senior, clicked his tongue.

"Is this the Social Affairs reporters' room or the Blue House situation room?"

"Don't just stand there watching, go help out too, you idiot."

"Oh, Department Head! You're here!"

The Sigyeong Cap came in, scratching the back of his head. Looking at Lee Seongjin, he said with a laugh escaping from his blunt nose.

"You must be feeling pretty jealous. The maknae you used to hound like you were going to eat him alive has dug up a pearl."

"Ah, Department Head. I'm not that petty. Back then, I was harsh on him because it pissed me off that he wasn't adapting and was just drifting around."

"Your face says you're so jealous you could bite your hand off, as if I'd believe that."

Lee Seongjin let out a short sigh.

"...Yes. Honestly, I am jealous."

At that moment.

The editor-in-chief of Gukson Ilbo came running in with a broad smile. The corners of his mouth, like earthworms, were rising as if they would ascend and become dragons.

In his hands were expensive whiskey and a tower of paper cups.

"On a festive day, you should be raising glasses, not receivers! Forward incoming calls to voicemail and come here to have a drink!"

The editor-in-chief's sweet command.

The reporters who had been answering phones, bowing like ripe rice plants, hung up one by one. Some employees were secretly unplugging phone lines.

The editor-in-chief handed out paper cups filled with whiskey to the reporters. It was a victory toast.

The Sigyeong Cap, who received a glass, stuck his head out like a turtle and asked.

"What's this?"

"Ballantine's. I've been saving it to crack open on a day of celebration like this."

"Thirty?"

"Yeah, you idiot, 30 years old."

"You didn't switch the label, did you?"

"What do you take me for, you bastard. I might be good at killing your articles, but I don't have a habit of serving fake booze on festive days, you punk."

The editor-in-chief raised his glass high with an excited voice.

"Now, everyone's worked hard running busily all year. Thanks to you, from tomorrow on, we'll be called Joongang, Dong-A, Chosun, and Gukson."

A refreshing laughter swept through the reporters' room.

"Leave work early today and wet your lips with this. Double portions of Korean beef!"

The reporters let out cheers. Their dark-circled, colorless eyes seemed to regain vitality, shimmering with color.

"Anyway, enough talk. Cheers!"

"Cheers!"

The paper cups in their hands clashed in the air.

The editor-in-chief, savoring the bitter taste left on his tongue, poked the Sigyeong Cap's side.

"How do you think today's traffic count will be?"

The Sigyeong Cap answered, downing his whiskey in one shot.

"Of course, it'll be bursting. It's only been half a day since the morning paper came out, but we've already broken visitor records. Earlier, the homepage server even went down."

"Haha! It's a celebration, a celebration. Now I see it's not the Industry Department but the Social Affairs Team 1 that's keeping our newspaper alive."

The editor-in-chief looked around with eyes searching for his favorite son.

"By the way, where's our youngest who caught the big fish, our Nam the Fisherman? My lips are itching to kiss him right now."

"He's at the police station press room. He's probably busy taking notes on the police chief's briefing."

The editor-in-chief smiled brightly, showing his gums. The gold tooth embedded in his molar shone like a gold medal.

"That kid's even doing the final tempering excellently. But the main character can't be missing from the festival. Don't do that, tell him to come to the company right away."

At that moment, Lee Seongjin's eyes widened as he was talking to someone on his mobile phone.

Lee Seongjin covered the lower microphone with his finger and said in a whispered voice.

"I just got a call from tvL. They want to invite him to the newsroom."

"Who?"

"Reporter Nam."

"The noon newsroom? Right now?"

"Yes. Today."

The editor-in-chief checked the time on his gold watch and clicked his tongue.

"They must have been in quite a rush too. Only an hour left until standby? For now, tell them we'll fix it."

"Will it be okay? The tvL newsroom is broadcast simultaneously on TV and YouTube, so the chat window is visible too. It's such a big issue that the whole nation will be watching, what if he makes a slip of the tongue?"

The Sigyeong Cap objected, folding his arms.

Lee Seongjin, who was listening, chimed in.

"That's right, Chief. He'll be drained of energy in real-time just by sitting there."

"What else can we do? We need to make a decisive move at this point. If we polish him well, he'll be a star reporter. Since we're pushing him anyway, we should pin a star on him even if we have to pluck one from the sky. If it goes well, he'll ride a flower palanquin, if not, I'll ride a funeral bier, that's all."

Then the editor-in-chief put his hand on the Sigyeong Cap's shoulder and whispered.

"By the way, about that Nam Euibeom kid. How did he catch Yeon Sangho's tail? It was a tail that major media outlets couldn't catch even after years of effort."

"...Well."

"We need to know how he obtained the USB! That's what will move readers with our journalism. That's the reason calls are pouring in from everywhere right now."

"I don't know."

"Tsk, are you doing this to me? We need to push forward aggressively while it's timely to be called a newspaper of principle. Are you still going to hide it from me when the granary is wide open?"

"No, we really don't know either."

The Sigyeong Cap asked Lee Seongjin.

"Seongjin-ah. Do you know?"

"No. I don't know either."

The Sigyeong Cap covered his mouth and whispered to the editor-in-chief.

"All we know is that Han Yujin was involved in the process of obtaining it."

"Han Yujin, Han Yujin... Who was that again?"

He muttered Han Yujin's name like a sutra, then snapped his fingers with an "Ah."

"That girl who does internet broadcasting?"

"More precisely, she's a pro gamer."

"I know. My wife is so crazy about her, saying she's like the lost youngest daughter, my ears are about to grow calluses."

Hearing this, the Sigyeong Cap chuckled.

"Maybe you had an accident 20 years ago? In Jamsil?"

"You crazy bastard. But how does Reporter Nam have any connection with Han Yujin to be hanging out with her?"

"He was originally in charge of e-sports, you know."

"Ah right, I forgot that Reporter Nam came from the Industry Department."

The editor-in-chief raised his pinky finger.

"So, is she Reporter Nam's girlfriend?"

"I don't think so. There are so many entertainment media outlets burning the midnight oil trying to dig up Han Yujin's dating rumors, if that were the case, I would have already heard some intelligence."

"...I guess you're right."

The editor-in-chief, rubbing his round chin, nodded his head lightly.

"Anyway, tomorrow's morning paper front page is coming out strong too. Let's write a follow-up article after hearing from Reporter Nam about how he obtained the USB, detailing everything. Come up with a headline. Ah, and while we're at it, let's praise Han Yujin too."

"What? We can't do that."

The Sigyeong Cap shook his head firmly.

"Why not?"

"Han Yujin's team is ELF, right? Our newspaper's main sponsor is SUC, do you think they'll sit still?"

The editor-in-chief let out a groan.

Certainly, praising Han Yujin, who was the most prominent player in the rival team of the sponsoring company SUC, carried a big risk.

He emptied one bottle, taking three straight shots of the whiskey he had brought. Soon, as if he had emptied his mind too, he wiped the amber whiskey from his mouth and said.

"No. We should hoist the sail when the wind blows and go at full speed. The contract period with SUC is almost over anyway, we can look for other sponsors if needed."

"Well, I'm not too keen on SUC either."

The Sigyeong Cap crumpled his paper cup and shuddered.

"You don't know how severe their tyranny is, if an article deviates even slightly from their taste, they demand corrections, deletions... They're just stained with external pressure and tyranny. They're just called a big company, but inside they're no better than a soy sauce dish, those good-for-nothings."

"Right. I've had quite a headache being stuck in the middle too. Just look at Reporter Nam, he was banned from SUC's press room and kicked to the Social Affairs Department."

"So do you have any sponsors in mind?"

"...Should we just go with ELF?"

The Sigyeong Cap frowned and gasped.

"We don't mind, but isn't that too lacking in business ethics?"

"In a field where they manipulate us over a single article, business ethics my ass. There's a saying that today's enemy can be tomorrow's ally, you know."

"You'll have to weigh it carefully."

"For now, let's eat some humble pie for a while..."

"Um, I've arrived!"

A panting breath was heard at the entrance.

Nam Euibeom was catching his breath, clutching his shoulder bag. His sweaty bangs were drooping like an old shuttlecock.

"Oh my, my baby is here!"

"...Oh, oh, Chief?"

The editor-in-chief brightened up and hugged Nam Euibeom with open arms.

"This kid is a gem, a gem! I was wondering when that person would come when I said my luck in my later years was good, and here you are at last."

"Thank you, Chief."

"Well, since we're on the subject, Euibeom-ah."

"Yes?"

The editor-in-chief wiped Nam Euibeom's forehead, drenched in beads of sweat, with the back of his hand.

Then he raised the corners of his mouth and said lightly.

"You, go on broadcast."