A Name Long Buried
The executive office of Hansan Media commanded a panoramic view of Sangam-dong spreading out below the window like a living map.
CEO Choi Min-cheol sat on a plush sofa, yet sweat was pouring off him as though he were perched on a bed of nails. The cause was the plagiarism scandal that had recently set the Hansan Media competition ablaze.
Across from him sat the man who had rescued the near-quagmire of a problem with flawless precision — Do Lee-gun, CEO of Diflix Korea — and at the head of the room sat Chairman Jung Yoon-joon, the patriarch of the entire Hansan Group.
Hansan Media was the new business into which Chairman Jung had poured the group's very future. For such noise to erupt out of a competition he had ambitiously prepared, CEO Choi felt as though his lifespan were being shaved down in real time.
"I heard that if not for CEO Do, the name of our Hansan would have been dragged through the mud in every market watcher's mouth."
At the chairman's solemn voice, CEO Choi bowed his head even deeper, fidgeting uncontrollably.
When the plagiarism dispute with DBS Broadcasting had first broken out, the prevailing opinion internally had been to cancel the Grand Prize selection entirely to minimize risk. A plagiarism controversy, once ignited, was certain to become a muddy brawl, and it was argued that rather than staining the company's image, they should simply pick a different work from the start.
Had they done so, the piece that DBS had already announced would have survived.
But Lee-gun, who had served as a judge, had stepped forward and staked his own name on guaranteeing Min Yun-seul's work.
'The short film that appears in the script — I shot it. Back in university, with Min Yun-seul.'
It was also he who personally convened the working PDs of Hansan Media and DBS Broadcasting, arranged for the two competitions' winning scripts to be shared and compared in strict secrecy, and led the entire verification process himself.
Fortunately, Yun-seul possessed a perfectly preserved timeline of her creative records — from the earliest planning documents through the treatment, the recent drafts, and every revision log in between. And astonishingly, it was confirmed that the third revision draft matched the manuscript that had been submitted to the DBS competition under the name Min Sa-ra.
The veteran PDs who read the two scripts side by side reached their conclusion without difficulty. The gap in polish was so vast that the two works could not possibly be placed on the same plane.
"There's no need for concern, Chairman. I was simply fortunate."
At the CEO's modest reply, a thin smile spread across Chairman Jung's lips.
"As it happens, Diflix is reviewing a contract for Min Yun-seul's work as well. We're also viewing investment in Insomnia favorably."
"Oh ho, is that so? A rookie writer Diflix has its eye on…. She must be far more talented than I imagined. If not for you, CEO Do, we might have let this precious writer slip right through our fingers."
At the chairman's words, CEO Choi — the very man who had been first to order the work excluded — felt his lips go dry.
"I look forward to it. If I attend the awards ceremony this week, I'll finally get to see this writer's face, won't I?"
"Yes, Chairman. Writer Min Yun-seul has given her final confirmation that she will attend this ceremony."
CEO Choi, who had been holding his breath beside them and waiting for the right moment, answered quickly.
In that instant, every trace of amusement vanished from Chairman Jung's face. His eyes, wavering with confusion, turned toward CEO Choi.
"……What was the name you said?"
"Excuse me? Ah…… Writer Min. Yun. Seul."
CEO Choi answered slowly, pressing down on each syllable.
Chairman Jung's mouth quietly fell open. The name 'Yun-seul' had dredged up a fragment of the past.
'Executive Director. If we get married someday and have children, what would you want to name them?'
'Well, let's take one character from your name and one from mine. A boy would be Hye-joon. A girl would be Yun-seul. How does that sound?'
'I love it. Jung Hye-joon, Jung Yun-seul…… they're both so beautiful, Executive Director.'
The woman who had once whispered that luminous future with him had, less than a month later, delivered a one-sided farewell and vanished from his life forever.
'I refuse to keep hearing the Chairman's humiliating remarks because of you, Executive Director. He says a woman like me could never be accepted as a daughter-in-law. He told me not to fool myself into thinking that if a child came along, he'd accept it as his own blood. He said that child would grow up under a stepmother, branded an illegitimate child for the rest of its life. This is where we end it.'
Because she had cast him aside so mercilessly, Chairman Jung did not search for Seul-hye at first. But before a single month had passed, he was wandering the streets looking for her. Yet no trace of her could be found anywhere.
Years later, when he finally managed to find her, an unfamiliar man and a child stood at her side.
'You married?'
'Yes. I had a child with an ordinary man who loves me, and I'm living happily. So please forget me too, Executive Director, and meet someone good.'
Recalling that woman's final expression — so serene that he couldn't even bring himself to resent her — made his heart ache as if it were being carved out with a knife.
"Chairman, are you all right? Your complexion has gone so pale all of a sudden……"
At CEO Choi's urgent voice, Lee-gun also studied his face with worried eyes.
"I'm fine. I was merely lost in old memories for a moment."
Chairman Jung waved his hand dismissively, his fingers trembling faintly. It was a stale affair from more than twenty years ago, and yet the moment he heard the name Yun-seul, the memory of that day came back to life as vividly as if it were yesterday.
She must be living well somewhere.
The face of the chairman as he wiped his dry hands looked utterly forlorn.
It was the text she received three days after sending Lee-gun her synopsis and treatment. Yun-seul was dumbfounded.
In her past life, she'd had a peculiar streak of bad luck with OTT platforms — her work had simply fit the domestic market better. That didn't mean she'd lacked the ambition to reach audiences around the world, though. So her heart fluttered, just a little.
"You're Writer Min Yun-seul, I presume?"
When she arrived at the lobby of the Diflix Korea headquarters, a female PD who looked to be in her late twenties greeted her by name. The woman gave her a tour of the building. The enormous posters lined with original content and the sleek, stylish interior captured Yun-seul's gaze at every turn.
Before long, they headed up to the ninth floor, where the CEO's office was located. Following the secretary inside, Yun-seul spotted Lee-gun seated at his desk, absorbed in work. With his sleeves rolled up as he studied a tablet, he looked impossibly handsome.
"CEO, Writer Min Yun-seul is here."
"Ah, this way, please."
Lee-gun rose from his seat the moment he spotted her. Yun-seul sat down across from him at the conference table, and he slid the contract toward her with a gentle smile.
She had already reviewed it over email, but the terms far surpassed any standard for a rookie writer — treatment of the very highest caliber. On top of that, the contract period had been arranged so that she could dive into full-fledged scriptwriting once Insomnia was complete.
Yun-seul's eyes darted between the contract and Lee-gun's face, and before she could stop herself, the question in her heart tumbled out.
"You made this offer after reading my work, right? That's the truth of it?"
Lee-gun let out a short laugh. Then his deep eyes, glinting with mischief, settled on her.
"Did you think I proposed this contract out of pure self-interest — after seeing not the work, but Min Yun-seul herself?"
"N-no, that's not what I meant——"
"I won't claim there's none at all. But this contract was decided after a thorough business review, synthesizing all of our directors' opinions."
'Won't claim there's none at all'?
That single remark turned Yun-seul's mind into a noisy riot.
"But there is one thing that's been bothering me…… Min Yun-seul, are you in a situation right now where you need help?"
"No. Why would you suddenly ask me that?"
"A work inevitably carries a piece of its writer inside it. But the piece you sent me this time was very different from the Min Yun-seul I used to know."
Yun-seul sucked in a sharp breath. It felt as though a shameful secret she'd buried had been exposed. Min Yun-seul — who had returned from the dead carrying the hellish memory of being betrayed by the mother and sister she'd trusted as family, and by her husband, and of dying a wretched death — could no longer be the Min Yun-seul who lived in his memory. He had seen straight through, in a single glance, the vengeance and chill hidden inside her writing.
Why does this man keep making me feel so strange?
"No, it's nothing like that. I just…… wanted to challenge myself with a new genre, something different from what I usually write."
"Then I'm relieved."
A vivid light of relief swept across Lee-gun's face. Seeing it, Yun-seul realized that he had genuinely been worried about her.
Back then, and even now — you really are such a warm person, Do Lee-gun.
As Yun-seul finished signing the contract with that thought in her mind, Lee-gun rose from his seat and said,
"Come with me. We're going somewhere."
The place they arrived at was somewhere Yun-seul had never expected.