The Uncrowned King of the Peninsula

Chapter 235 The truth is in my hands (two in one)

At the award ceremony, the atmosphere became increasingly heated as each award was unveiled.

Most Influential Headlines of the Year

【Interview with the Best Person of the Year】

And so on and so forth.

Lee Ji-eun, wearing a shiny white gauze dress, appeared and disappeared on the stage, skillfully leading the atmosphere.

However, everyone at the scene couldn't help but focus on who would win the most important news award.

"It should be Reporter Pei, right? I don't think anyone can compare to his news reports."

"I think so too. Everyone I know voted for him. They think he's a rare journalist with a conscience."

"Yeah, yeah! Reporter Pei is so handsome!"

"Yeah, I think you're being crazy, you little bitch."

"Isn't that possible? Being handsome is also a part of strength!"

Amidst the discussions, people's eyes would from time to time look at the handsome figure on the left side of the first row.

The awards ceremony, warm-up programs and speeches were carried out alternately. Twice went on stage together. As the big-name artists who arrived today, they received the East Asia Annual Influential Group Award.

Lin Nayeon, who was still under the company's punishment period, did not have the opportunity to give a speech to express her gratitude for the award, and stood at the edge waiting obediently.

But it's okay this way. She had a formulaic sweet smile on her face, her eyes darting around the audience, secretly looking at Pei Yongjun who was sitting upright, and blinking secretly, hoping to get a comforting look.

As a result, Bae Young-jun's eyes were always focused on Minatozaki Sana who was giving her acceptance speech, and he didn't even look at her.

cut!
What catches your eyes?

Lin Nayeon, feeling like she was winking at a blind man, subconsciously pouted, but suddenly heard cheers from the audience.

She was stunned for a moment, and Kim Da Hyun next to her secretly poked her and whispered, "Ouni, I took a picture of you."

The director on the scene just now cut the screen to Lin Nayeon and captured her pouting. The cute little expression aroused cheers from the audience.

Lin Nayeon quickly waved and smiled brightly at the audience, revealing her white rabbit teeth, looking full of innocent energy.

She looked around and saw Pei Yongjun smiling at her from the audience.

When their eyes met, Lin Nayeon felt a little happy in her heart, and followed her teammates off the stage after they finished their award speeches.

Lee Ji-eun next to them smiled and waved at them. Somehow, Lin Nayeon felt guilty and quickly lowered her head and quietly slipped off the stage among the nine people.

IU continued to move forward and presided over the agenda of the award ceremony with a smile.

Amidst much anticipation, the award ceremony finally came to the ninth award, which is also the most important award - the Dong-A News Awards.

"Well, the selection committee conducted a week-long public vote on the eight candidates to reflect the public's approval of each candidate. Now let's take a look at the results."

IU smiled and took two steps to the side, pointing to the big screen behind the stage.

The portraits of the eight candidates changed on the screen one by one, then fell to the bottom edge, and the number of votes they received popped up one by one.

"Reporter Jung Sung-ra of the Gyeonggi Observer, 18273 votes."

"..." Lee Ji-eun opened her red lips slightly and uttered a name one by one. Every time she said a name, the supporters in the venue naturally applauded and cheered.

One after another, until the eighth.

"...Finally, it's reporter Bae Young-jun from Han River Sports," Lee Ji-eun paused, her gaze gliding across the audience expectantly, her voice slightly raised, "29 votes!"

A huge number of votes suddenly popped up in the middle of the screen, then turned into a long data bar, and the votes of the other seven people suddenly became insignificant.

There was cheering from the audience.

"Bae Yongjun! Bae Yongjun!"

Under the leadership of the Hanjiang Sports Newspaper, his name became popular.

Kwon Eun-bi felt a little embarrassed as she followed everyone in shouting, but she found that Choi Sulli next to her was staring at Bae Yong-jun's portrait on the stage, and without caring about her image, she put her hands in front of her mouth and shouted Bae Yong-jun's name.

As if she noticed Quan Enfei's gaze, Cui Xueli turned around and took Quan Enfei's hand with a smile, "Enfei, let's go together~"

"Let's cheer for editor-in-chief nim!"

There was an indescribable happy smile on her face, and her big eyes were shining.

Concubine Quan Eun-fei was stunned for a moment, then she started laughing, as if she had received great encouragement, and shouted along with everyone else.

The atmosphere suddenly became lively.

"It's what everyone expected, hahaha." Lin Bingxian also clapped his hands, laughed, and said to Lin Bingxun beside him, "I can finally rest assured."

"After winning the grand prize, I let it go. I let it go. Hahaha."

Liu Zhimin looked at Pei Yongjun's boss who was sitting in front of her and smiling happily, and looked at Pei Yongjun who remained unmoved amid the applause and cheers, and curled her lips.

"Tsk~ Just pretending, you must be very happy~"

She hesitated for a moment, then clapped a few times, as if giving Pei Yongjun a great deal of face.

Lee Ji-eun also smiled on the stage, waiting for the cheers to die down before continuing. "So, based on the results of the public vote, we have selected five exceptional candidates."

"They are……"

Three of the eight candidates' portraits were hidden, leaving five, arranged in a circle, with major news events involving the five people displayed in turn.

The cheers and applause gradually died down. Smiling, Park Min-soo glanced to his left at Bae Young-jun who was staring at the stage intently, then looked at the photo of Bae Young-jun on the big screen on the stage, showing the smiling and high-spirited man, and shook his head with a chuckle.

"Dongjian," he looked at the eager and almost uncontrollable Kim Dongjian standing aside, "Let's get started."

"Start? Okay!" Kim Dong-gun's eyes lit up.

Amidst the cheers for Bae Young-joon, he couldn't bear it any longer and said, "I'll release the news in 10 seconds."

"Okay," Park Min-su clicked his tongue twice, as if sighing, "Why bother? There's nothing I can do if you go against me like this."

His fingers tapped on the armrest of the chair beside him, waiting for the net he had designed for Pei Yongjun to fall from the sky.

------

"Reporter Zheng Chengluo nim reported on the demolition of the Gyeonggi-do Fisheries Market in 2024..." On the stage, Li Zhien introduced the journalistic achievements of the five candidates one by one.

Liu Zhimin was bored and couldn't help yawning. He lowered his head, took out his mobile phone and checked the various fan groups he had joined.

As she looked at it, her white and tender fingers sliding across the screen suddenly stopped.

"Hmm?" Liu Xunjie looked at Liu Zhimin who suddenly stood up beside him and hummed in confusion, "Zhimin, what's wrong?"

Liu Zhimin stood there blankly without answering at all.

"Zhi Min?" Liu Xunjie looked at the eyes cast around him, reached out and pulled Liu Zhi Min's arm, but he didn't expect that the phone in Liu Zhi Min's hand fell to the ground as soon as he let go.

"Oh, what's going on, you..." Liu Xunjie frowned, bent down to pick up the phone for Liu Zhimin, but happened to see the content on the phone screen.

"This..." Liu Xunjie was also stunned for a moment. He quickly glanced at it and immediately took out his mobile phone to look at it.

Liu Zhimin sat down, took the phone from him, stared at the content on the screen with wide eyes.

Breaking News! Is this rising star a conscientious journalist, a cold-blooded murderer?

On the mobile phone screen, there was a freshly released press release, which came from the KBS online news section.

"...In recent days, Bae Yong-jun, a reporter for the Han River Sports Newspaper, has rapidly become a celebrity, reporting on a series of eye-catching and explosive news stories."

"Some even say this is a rare example of conscience in the news industry."

"It's true that reporter Pei Yongjun's speed and volume of news reporting are astonishing, bringing him enormous attention. However, behind all this, we can't help but ask, what is the cost?"

"With this question in mind, we gradually discovered his true self hidden beneath the guise of a journalist known as the 'national conscience.'"

"…In late December 2017, Bae Young-joon was filming a celebrity while following him and invading their privacy. In an attempt to gather information, he struck a fan named Kim who was waiting to support the celebrity."

"A fan had a broken hand and was hospitalized... The reporter ignored everything, showing how cold-blooded she was..."

"…Medical staff at the scene took photos of the license plate of the car involved in the accident. We checked and found that it belonged to the Han River Sports Newspaper. We can see from the surveillance video that Bae Young-jun was sitting in the car."

The miserable photos of Jin Dayong curled up on the bed were taken one after another, as well as the car license plate number and the surveillance footage along the way, in which Pei Yongjun's profile could be vaguely seen.

"According to reports, he's a favorite to win the ongoing Dong-A News Awards. Allowing such a cold-blooded journalist to win such a prestigious journalism award would be a disgrace to this honor. We will continue to monitor this matter..."

Liu Zhimin's heart was pounding.

Why is this happening?

Didn’t Bae Yong-joon settle the matter?
Didn’t he film the video of Kim Dong-gun and Kim Dayong’s private transaction?

How come it was exposed anyway?
Talking broke?
Or does the other party still have a trump card?

Liu Zhimin didn't know why things turned out like this.

She suddenly looked to the left side of the first row and was about to remind Pei Yongjun, but she found that the figure sitting on the chair had disappeared at some point.

"Where is this... person?"

"Don't tell me you went to the bathroom!"

Liu Zhimin anxiously started calling Pei Yongjun.

In the conference hall, the commotion gradually spread like a virus.

A few people happened to see this news, and then it spread like wildfire.

At this time, Lee Ji-eun on the stage happened to introduce Bae Young-jun.

The various news reports about Pei Yongjun on the screen seemed strange and ironic in the face of the news that suddenly broke out, which made people wonder.

The commotion was growing more and more pronounced.

Lin Bingxian and Lin Bingxun also got the news. They leaned against each other with panic on their faces.

"Oh, what's going on?" Lin Bingxun asked.

"I don't know. I think there must be something else going on." Lin Bingxian shook his head.

"You really don't know?" Lin Bingxun watched as the award ceremony he had high hopes for was about to be given to Pei Yongjun. If he really was the cold-blooded reporter mentioned in the news, then he would be doomed.

"Really! Really! No matter what, we can't let the situation get any more chaotic. We have to find a solution quickly." Lin Bingxian actually had no idea, but he had no choice but to support Pei Yongjun.

"Okay, let's talk later!" Lin Bingxun looked around anxiously. Seeing Li Zhien still introducing Bae Yongjun on the stage, he raised his hand and grabbed his phone and ordered, "Quick! Tell IU to stop introducing them and let Twice perform immediately!"

"quick!"

Lee Ji-eun on the stage had already noticed the change in the atmosphere below the stage, but she didn't know why, so she had to try her best to mobilize everyone's emotions.

Just as I was muttering to myself, the director's panicked voice suddenly came from the headphones.

"Jieunxi, please stop the introduction immediately, move on to the next stage, and let Twice start their performance early."

"Jieunxi! I'm not kidding. There's an emergency. Please let Twice start the performance immediately."

"Well, that concludes the introductions of the five candidates. As for who will be the grand prize winner," Lee Ji-eun's expression remained unchanged as she smoothly moved on to the next part of her speech. "First, please enjoy a lively song. Let's welcome Twice!"

With a smile on her face and clapping her hands, she slowly stepped aside and retreated to the backstage.

The nine members of Twice filed onto the stage beside her. For some reason, Nayeon kept looking at her nervously. Li Zhien didn't have time to pay attention to her at the moment. She turned around and grabbed the staff member at the stage, "What's wrong? What happened?"

"IUxi, look at the news that just happened..." The staff member handed over his cell phone with a panicked look.

IU took the phone, glanced at it, and immediately opened her eyes wide.

This……

How to do?
Something big has happened.

She couldn't help but stick her head out and look at the audience, only to find that the handsome figure had disappeared from the seats in the first row.

IU was stunned for a moment, then immediately turned around and ran backstage.

"IUxi? Where are you going?" The staff member was startled and shouted at her back as she walked away.

"Lounge! Be right back!"

Wearing high heels, IU disappeared deep into the backstage, leaving behind a few stunned staff members standing at the side of the stage.

What, what is going on?

On and off the stage, staff members were coming and going in a hurry, and the scene was in a state of panic that was visible to the naked eye.

There was a lot of discussion in the audience, and many people had lost interest in enjoying the show.

Park Min-soo sat in his seat, a smug smile on his face, as if he had everything under control. "Dong-gun, go and bring the person over."

"Director, Bae Yong-jun is missing." said Kim Dong-gun.

"So what? What if he runs away after being disgraced?" Park Min-soo shook his head and said to Kim Dong-gun word by word, "As for us journalists, we have pens that can chase people to the ends of the earth and will not stop until we die."

He laughed amidst the chaos.

Behind him, in the VIP box on the second floor of the auditorium, Bae Yong-jun stood by the window, looking at the chaos in the audience, his eyes cast towards Park Min-soo, who seemed to be smiling in the center of the first row.

"Yongjun," Yu Qinghao said with a smile on his face, patting his shoulder, "I'm here to help you, don't worry."

Pei Yongjun turned around, looked at him, and suddenly laughed.

"President Yu, thank you for your kindness, but..."

"no need."

"The truth is only in my hands."

Pei Yongjun's eyes sparkled.

(End of this chapter)