You Have Been Defended [EN]: Chapter 495

#495

“ICIJ?”

After I shared the information I received from Kim Chan-young and brought up the ICIJ [International Consortium of Investigative Journalists], everyone tilted their heads as if they were hearing it for the first time.

The reason the ICIJ became known in Korea was when it exposed the list of hidden account and paper company owners in the British Virgin Islands.

That’s next year’s news, so it’s not strange that it feels unfamiliar to them.

However, Choi Jong-hyun, who was a journalist, is different.

The name ICIJ shouldn’t be unfamiliar to him. As it is an international organization for investigative reporting, there should be some connection to the path Choi Jong-hyun is taking now, so he should have been interested at least once.

“Ah, perhaps you don’t know about it?”

“No, I know it. But why are you suddenly talking about them?”

“I was wondering if you had ever thought about joining.”

“I left Iljung Ilbo to do investigative reporting, but, how should I put it… I’m in a state where I’m sick of belonging to any organization, so I didn’t really think about it. Well, if I hadn’t met you, Attorney Cha, when I left Iljung Ilbo, I might have looked around to see how to start investigative reporting, but I met you, and thanks to the cases you brought me, my broadcast grew, right? Well, I can’t exactly call it formal media, but I’ve gained some recognition in Korea. So, I didn’t think about it.”

“I’m asking because I don’t know well, but if Reporter Choi were to apply there, is there a possibility that they would reject him?”

At my question, Choi Jong-hyun laughed as if he was dumbfounded.

“Attorney Cha, I think you’ve forgotten because I keep relying on you and doing internet broadcasts. I’m the youngest journalist award winner. Huh? Journalists call it the Korean Pulitzer Prize. Me? That’s how good I am!”

“I didn’t mean to belittle you, Reporter Choi. I was just asking if it’s difficult to join.”

“…Ah, is that so? My inferiority complex was the problem. Sorry.”

He scratched his cheek as if embarrassed.

Then, Kang Min-jae put his arm around Choi Jong-hyun’s shoulder, grabbed his arm tightly, and widened his eyes.

“Inferiority complex? What’s wrong with Jong-hyun that he feels inferior?”

“When I hang out with you guys, I can’t help but feel inferior!”

Choi Jong-hyun screamed.

He seemed to feel ashamed of confessing the inferiority complex he held deep inside.

So, he desperately sought out his colleague.

“Right, Bong-joon? You guys keep forgetting. Our Bong-joon is also quite something. Remember Apollon? He’s been neglecting stocks these days because he’s suddenly investigating Wooshin with me, but he was a legend in the stock world. No? It’s not ‘was.’ He’s still a legend. Of course, people in the securities industry probably just think he’s a loudmouth, but anyway, he’s not someone to be looked down upon!”

“I’ve never thought that Jo Bong-joon is someone to be looked down upon, and I’ve never forgotten that Jo Bong-joon’s nickname was Apollon.”

“No, that’s not what I mean. He also has quite a bit of money, although it’s tied up in stocks! Huh?”

“No, hyung [older brother or male friend]. Why do you keep making people feel pathetic……”

Jo Bong-joon, who had been quietly sitting, mumbled while sipping soju [Korean distilled rice liquor].

“And I’ve never felt any inferiority complex looking at these guys. I just think of them as people from another world. Hyung, do you feel inferior looking at Warren Buffett? You don’t, right? Tae-shik, do you feel inferior looking at Warren Buffett?”

Tae-shik, who had been sitting quietly on the sofa, asked blankly.

Jo Bong-joon sighed.

He seemed to think he had chosen the wrong person to ask.

In fact, I don’t think Warren Buffett is the only problem.

I also have to consider the possibility that Tae-shik doesn’t know the meaning of the word ‘inferiority complex.’

“Anyway. I don’t feel any inferiority complex.”

“Okay, I was just being pathetic by myself. Happy now?”

“Anyway, so you’re saying that joining the ICIJ is possible?”

“I don’t know, really. But why suddenly the ICIJ?”

Choi Jong-hyun asked, wiping his fingers covered in snack seasoning on the table.

I was relieved that we seemed to be returning to the original topic, but the oil stains left on the table following the trajectory of his fingers bothered me.

This is why I vehemently opposed having drinks at my house.

It’s all Kang Min-jae’s fault.

He insisted that we should have a housewarming party since he was living in my house, giving them an excuse to plot how to have a drinking party at my house, which is one of their daily routines.

I pulled out a wet wipe and wiped the dirty area in front of him on the table, wondering how to bring up the story.

Anyway, since the ICIJ’s tax haven project isn’t known yet, I can’t say let’s join in advance to prepare for that time.

“It’s going to get dirtier anyway, why bother wiping it?”

“……I’m just wiping it because it bothers me. Anyway, the ICIJ is a globally prestigious investigative reporting group, and since there are no ICIJ regular members among Korean journalists, I thought it would be helpful for Reporter Choi’s career if he joined. And from now on, we need to move on to the next stage, and we can’t rely on internet broadcasting forever.”

“That’s true. That’s why we developed our own site through the National Intelligence Service.”

“Yes. But to be honest, I think the function of the media is lacking. We are not an organization composed of various journalists, and we are only digging into Wooshin, so it can’t be helped……”

“So, Attorney Cha, you’re saying that we need to have a more professional feel, rather than just me and Bong-joon acting up.”

“That’s right. Of course, if we light the fuse and all the media rise up, it won’t be difficult to go to a special prosecutor. But Wooshin will keep trying to muddy the waters, and we need a driver to keep the handle and tow us to our destination.”

“I know what you mean. Besides, Wooshin is even doing organ trafficking overseas, so it’s not just a matter for the domestic media to talk about, and it needs to be noisy in Japan as well. If we join the ICIJ, we’ll have the opportunity to cooperate with Japanese journalists. The ICIJ might even treat the Wooshin issue as a project. Human trafficking is a problem that directly threatens human rights.”

I nodded.

Fortunately, it seems that I have made a sufficient appeal without talking about the tax haven project.

“I need to ask the international reporters about it. Hmm, so since we’re talking about professionalism, what do you think about expanding the staff of our broadcast?”

“If expansion is possible, I think it’s good to do it. But at this stage, the most important thing is to distinguish between trustworthy and untrustworthy people, and it’s difficult to find trustworthy people in a short period of time when we only have things left to explode, so expansion is virtually difficult. That’s why we need foreign journalists who are not influenced by Wooshin, a giant domestic power.”

“The domestic media has long lost its function as a watchdog and has become a pet dog, and many journalists are sick of this industry. Well, from the big media companies, they are forgetting the importance of exposure journalism and are competing to reduce their international and investigative departments. If you see that, who wouldn’t feel that way? There’s a truckload of people sighing.”

I know that one journalist is not enough to have the image of a professional media outlet.

Like the saying in the political world that if you can’t refute the message, attack the messenger, the entire history of the Jungdo family members, Choi Jong-hyun and Jo Bong-joon, who took the lead in this, from when they crawled on all fours to the present, will be thoroughly dug up and torn to pieces.

If you dust, something is bound to come out.

If things are revealed one by one like that, it was clear that the credibility that had been built up would quickly run out, given the characteristics of our broadcast, which is operated by a very small number of people.

So, we were actually focusing on making the whole world move through exposure, rather than the function of the media.

We have been obsessed with grasping the truth that even a giant power would have a hard time burying and preparing the grounds to prove it.

Choi Jong-hyun hadn’t said it until now, but now that he’s bringing it up, it seems that he’s been thinking about expanding the staff to secure professionalism and improve the image.

“There may be many people who think that way right now, but I doubt how many of them will be able to withstand Wooshin’s persuasion and threats.”

Kang Min-jae, who had been listening to Choi Jong-hyun’s story, opened his mouth.

“Min-jae is right. And even if we find someone who doesn’t give in to persuasion and threats, for example, our opinions may differ in terms of methodology, which may lead to internal strife and create a situation where we give them something to attack.”

“That’s right. That’s why I’ve been thinking that expanding the staff seems necessary, but in the end, I’ve been thinking negatively……. As Attorney Cha said, I think it would be good to submit an application to the ICIJ. No, I have to submit it. Expanding the staff is unconditionally good if we can do it, and the safe direction right now is that side. Of course, there’s the problem of whether they’ll accept me……”

“What’s wrong? Why are you suddenly losing confidence?”

Kang Min-jae filled Choi Jong-hyun’s glass with beer and patted him on the back.

“You’re the youngest journalist award winner. You’re the Korean Pulitzer Prize winner!”

“I’m going to try to use that……. Ah, I suddenly remember acting up on the broadcast.”

“They won’t be able to find all of those broadcasts anyway, and there aren’t any Korean members there, right? They won’t know you were acting up. They’ll mainly review what the broadcast covered, what kind of exposures were made, and what results were achieved.”

Kang Min-jae tried to boost Choi Jong-hyun’s morale, but he didn’t say that he hadn’t acted up.

However, Choi Jong-hyun didn’t notice that and seemed to gain confidence.

“Attorney Cha suddenly brought up the agenda, so I’m saying this, but how about moving our broadcasting platform? That platform was good for attracting attention in a short period of time, but staying there tends to blur the professional image.”

“Ah, that’s right. Bong-joon and I have been talking about it all along, but we haven’t been broadcasting these days, so we’ve just been thinking about it. We were going to ask the two of you for your opinions and wrap it up, but we haven’t had a chance to ask.”

“When we first started broadcasting, other domestic video sites were more dominant than YouTube, so we just uploaded videos to YouTube to increase traffic a little bit, but YouTube’s growth is amazing. Everyone’s watching YouTube on the subway since smartphones came out. It might be good to grow it on YouTube. I think they also support live streaming there.”

I wanted to say that it has grown amazingly compared to the past, but it is nothing compared to the growth that will happen in the future, but I kept my mouth shut.

When I first suggested uploading videos to YouTube, I just casually suggested that it would be good to upload them to multiple platforms.

It’s been less frequent these days, but Choi Jong-hyun has been asking me if I’m possessed by a god whenever I say something.

Anyway, it’s welcome that they are moving the platform to YouTube.

“Come to think of it, didn’t Attorney Cha mention YouTube when we were listing the sites to upload our broadcast videos at first? At that time, I just thought, well, it’s good to have as many as possible. It seems that Attorney Cha really has great foresight, when I look at it.”

“That’s right. If we hadn’t uploaded the videos there, there would be a lot of illegal copies by now. When I look at other BJs [Broadcast Jockeys, or streamers], they’re all suffering from illegal copies. There are already so many illegal copies on YouTube that they made their own channel and uploaded videos, but the views aren’t coming out. Attorney Cha, but you didn’t know that YouTube would become so popular when you said that, did you? If you knew that too, you’re really possessed by a god.”

Is the exorcism starting again?

It looks like I have to show them that I cut my foot while riding a knife to make them believe that I don’t have any spiritual abilities.

I thought I had parted ways with the general god, but it seems that he is still by my side.