12 Hours After

Translator: Khan

Editor: RED

I opened the door quietly. There was no one in the company.

‘And so it is.’

It was 7:50 a.m. now, an hour and ten minutes ahead of rush hour. The reason why I came

so early today was because the “Diamond Class Guide” would come at eight o’clock today.

Yesterday, CKD Entertainment was officially taken over by Invictus Investment. At that time,

there was a call from Customer Service that they would send me a guide at eight this

morning. I sat in my seat and took a long, deep breath.

It was always the same; at this point, I used to feel a little nervous. 7:55. Five minutes left. I

snapped my fingers and stretched. But then, the door to the president’s office opened, and

Secretary Seo poked his head in.

“Hmm?” He looked inside the president’s office.

“What? Without knocking?”

He was appalled when he heard my voice. “Boss, are you here? I’m sorry, but I didn’t know you

came to work early, so I thought I just left the light on yesterday.”

“Oh, I came to work early because I had something to do today.”

“You did, I’m sorry.”

Ji-hoon was not wrong since I usually came to work after ten o’clock. However, I came early

today without any special notice.

“It’s okay. Instead, don’t let anyone in before 9:10 a.m. today. Okay? I have to concentrate.”

“Yes, I see. Boss, today, CKD… you know there’s something scheduled at OH Entertainment, right?”

“Yes. That’s why I came to work.”

——

Ji-hoon closed the door, and the “Diamond Class Guide” came after a while. I clicked on it without hesitation.

[Diamond Skills Guide]

[Congratulations, Han Sang-hoon, who has been promoted to Diamond Class. You can use the

points and enhance each skill by investing them. The cooldown time of the active skill is thirty days, a period equal to the subscription period. There are four different skills available for the

current Diamond Class. Skill points currently not allocated are seven.

People Search Lv3 (Active skill – three points required)

There is one more slot for searching for people. It will be available with other passive skills

applied.

Ranking News Lv2 (Active Skill – two points required)

In a specific category out of the news in 12 Hours (Days, Months, Years) After, you can receive first and second place news with high cumulative view counts in an hour (a week, a month, a year). It’s available twice. It will be available with other passive skills applied.

Future News Lv3 (Passive Skill – three points required)

You are going to receive another 12 Days After news at the same as 12 Hours After. Its format is the same as existing news, and active skills are also available the same way. This passive skill is overlaid with other passive skills.]

The first step in the guide was skill selection. It was familiar because it was the third time.

Skills such as People Search, Ranking News, Future News were also familiar, but Additional

News item that sent one more news in the evening had disappeared.

‘That’s, uh, level one must have been full.’

I looked down at the scroll and noticed a new skill.

[Infiltration Report Lv1 (Active Skill – seven points required)

We will send a reporter to a specific target. The reporter will conduct a 30-day intensive

investigation into the target and bring in one article that will not be reported to the established

press after thirty days. When you are sending a reporter, you can specify what to

investigate.]

‘Infiltration Report…?’ It was an interesting skill. I read the explanation over and over again.

‘The reporter will bring it in a month? Not immediately after he or she writes the article?’

It was quite different from other active skills. It also felt outside the rules to bring an article that

would not be reported by established media.

‘How do they want me to use this?’

The problem was that I needed seven points to take the skill. I had seven points, but I

needed all of them to take the skill. If I got this skill, I would have to give up the rest instead.

‘Seven points… but with this explanation, I don’t understand what it is. What does it mean that I

can investigate and I can specify the target?’

I called Customer Service, because they had been explaining the system well, apart from

everything else.

– How are you, Mr. Han Sang-hoon?

I immediately asked, -What’s the target for Infiltration Report? Is it only humans or are most people, organizations, countries, and unique names possible?

– Anything can be the target of Infiltration Report.

– Then, is it possible to investigate stock prices, exchange rates and oil price fluctuations, too?

– Yes, it is.

‘If that’s the case, I could be a rich man without having to do stock trading separately. If I could

learn the information one day sooner, even for a single day…’

– And when will the reporter let me know? Thirty days from now… will the reporter let me know

within thirty days?

– The reporter will let you know thirty days after you activate the active skill.

– So, what if I ask the reporter to tell me the oil price after thirty days?

– Thirty days later, the reporter will give you the oil price at that time. If you ask for the oil price forty-five days later, the reporter can’t tell you that. A correspondent can only uncover past events.

I grabbed my forehead. ‘They don’t give it to me for free. I think that this skill seems to be

focused on the article not being reported by the established media.’

– What does it mean by an article that won’t be reported in the established media?

– It’s an article that literally won’t be reported by the established media. This includes personal

privacy, corporate account books, and national secrets.

I thought it over. ‘Can that make me money?’ It sounded like fun, but I was not sure if it could

make money.

I asked a few more questions.

– What happens to people with the same name?

– Unlike People Search, you can specify the subject of investigation. You can give specific

instructions to the correspondent through age, affiliation, gender, etc.

– Is there a case where a correspondent fails?

– If the content of the investigation doesn’t exist, the correspondent will return empty-handed.

– What if I told him to get the secrets of the universe?

– The correspondent will provide the article only within the limits of human knowledge. The correspondent is human.

‘What?’

Here the atmosphere suddenly died down. I thought it was a ghostly, magical living being

that was a god or a devil, because he was a correspondent for the Future News, and I was

disappointed that they were human.

It might be better for me to buy a reporter for that money. If I gave them a few

hundred thousand dollars to investigate, there would be reporters who would jump into

flames.

– Then wouldn’t it be better if I hired and used a correspondent for money?

– Our correspondent is very, very capable.

– Who’s that correspondent? Let’s look at the profile.

– That’s a secret.

‘I see. Mr. Zero.’

I shook my head. It was interesting, but I was not sure if I should take this skill right now.

I had seven points. This would allow me to upgrade Future News Lv3 and Lv4. Then, in

addition to the news in 12 Hours After and 12 Days After, I would receive four news

articles, including the news in 12 Weeks After and 12 Months After, and the probability of

making money would be increased significantly. Furthermore, it would be also possible

to combine items, such as Ranking News of 12 Weeks After and People Search of

12 Months After.

‘It’s definitely a way to make money. But… the Infiltration Report looks funny, I can’t

make money with it… No matter who I spy on, If the correspondent does something

wrong, I will go to jail. I’m still short of money. I’ll take the skill next time.

‘All right, let’s upgrade the Future News this time, and receive the news 12 Weeks After

and 12 Months After.’

As I was about to turn off the Customer Service window, I suddenly asked one more question.

– What happens if I change my name? Can I continue to subscribe to this news?

I asked this because I wanted to change my name if the lawmaker Han Sang-hoon got too good. But a somewhat shocking answer came back.

– Subscription contract will be terminated if the subscriber’s name is changed.

– Why? The same person is being renamed.

– We’re using only the name when you applied for Silver Class. We can’t keep the service under the changed name. In this case, you must re-sign with a new name.

– What about the contract again? Is it in the Customer Service?

– Please find our ad and contact us again.

– Find the ad?

– Yes, sir. There’s only one ad. It’s created randomly on crosswalks all over the world.

‘No way! How can I find a randomly generated card on crosswalks all over the world?’

– I know the number on the ad.

– Our number changes when a subscriber’s contract is over.

I thought I would try to use the People Search better, but if I changed my name, the news would be cut off.

‘I should become famous myself.’

– All right. Thank you.

– Yes, Mr. Han Sang-hoon. Thank you for your subscription.

After leaving the Customer Service, I upgraded Future News to Lv3 and Lv4 as I had decided.

“Congratulations, sir, you have been upgraded to the Diamond Class.”

A stream of cliched congratulations came out, and a Master Class guide appeared below. I carefully scrolled down.

‘They won’t get any higher subscriptions, will they? It’s too expensive now.’

[Upgrade your news to Master Class! What you need to upgrade your grade to the Master Class is to control five listed companies in your country with a $10,000,000 subscription fee and qualifications.]

Fortunately, the subscription fees did not increase further; the conditions and qualifications increased from one company to five.

‘Five… Yeah, that’s all I can do.’

I already had people and systems. Now I would make more money, buy another company, and repeat it. According to Customer Service, the Future News had a total of nine grades: bronze, silver, gold, platinum, diamond, master, grandmaster, and two others. The Diamond Class was the fifth, and only the middle grade. Customer Service said something was going to come out of the eighth class. I didn’t know what it was, but I wanted to upload it quickly.

‘All right, I’m halfway there. I’ll go to the upper class soon. Five or ten… If I have money, there is no class I can’t buy. Money is all it takes. That’s the demerit and the merit of capitalism.’

It was 8:55 and I received two more news items than usual: 12 Hours After D, 12 Days After, 12 Weeks After, 12 Months After…

‘All right. I can make a long-term plan with this.’

I clicked on the news 12 Months After. First of all, sports news came into my eyes.

[Sport – What baseball teams will reach the 2019 post-season?]

2019. I read other article titles more meticulously. It was far-fetched future news, unlike what I’d seen so far. News that seemed to be nothing at all might also be money…