It was the first reorganization of <9 O’Clock News Prime>.
‘The Other Face of SNS, Romance Scams’ became the first item for ‘Lee Hyeonwook’s Prime Focus.’
— Camera standby, cue.
“Many of you these days take photos of your daily lives and post them on your SNS accounts, right? But are you aware that these activities can make you a target for crime? Today’s news, ‘The Other Face of SNS, Romance Scams,’ is brought to you by reporter Lee Hyeonwook.”
As the main anchor, Kim Dusik introduced my first segment and called my name.
I knew that during the meeting, he had sneered at my item, questioning if this even qualified as news.
So what?
I didn’t need his favorable reaction anyway.
Evaluating the value of news is the viewers’ prerogative.
“We will approach you with news that goes one step further. We can become friends with anyone at any time. Being online is no exception.”
I first showed the positive side of online communication.
— A case where neighbors, after seeing an online post about a child disappearing from a playground, all stepped forward together to find the child.
— A story where a report was filed thanks to an SNS post featuring photos of an illegal breeding farm for dogs and cats.
— A heartwarming tale of a student who couldn’t attend an academy due to difficult family circumstances and asked a difficult math problem on SNS, only for many seniors to kindly explain it in the comments.
They were stories that warmed the heart just by listening to them.
Now it was time to bring up Ms. Kim Hyeonja’s story.
I continued calmly.
“Then, if you met this person online, would you be able to trust them?”
I displayed the messages Ms. Kim Hyeonja had received from Richard, Richard’s photos, and information on other accounts using the same photos as Richard, with appropriate mosaics applied.
“‘I’ve fallen for you. I want to get close to you. I’m coming to meet you.’ You would be wary if you heard these words from someone you’ve never met, right? However, SNS contains a lot of my information. The food I eat, my appearance, the scenery of my life, and so on. One can deduce my tastes, age, and where I live.”
I continued speaking while looking at another camera.
“Scammers use this information to approach and win my favor. Once a relationship of trust is formed, intimate feelings can arise even for a stranger. Once they become close, these people demand that you lend them money. This type of fraud is called a romance scam.”
I explained it as simply as possible for viewers unfamiliar with romance scams.
In particular, I emphasized that romance scams are sophisticated crimes targeting psychologically vulnerable people. In other words, I stated that anyone could fall victim to it if they became a scammer’s target.
Afterward, I provided information on typical approach patterns of romance scams, things to be careful about when communicating with strangers online, and how to report it when financial demands are made.
And so, my first broadcast ended.
After leaving the studio and returning to my desk, I opened my reporting notebook with a light heart.
Expecting the contents to have changed properly.
However, the reporting notebook showed something completely unexpected.
[November 16, 20XX. Ms. Kim Hyeonja, in charge of cleaning the 6th floor of KCN Broadcasting Station, was scammed of her entire fortune by a lover she met through a messenger. Resigned to pursue her dream.]
What is this?
What on earth did I change?
My question was answered as soon as I finished work and arrived home.
“Reporter boy, you’re here?”
“It looks like Reporter Lee has finished work.”
“I watched the news with Hyeonja unnie. You look even cooler and more amazing on screen, reporter boy. Hohoho.”
“I was too nervous to watch my own story alone. My sister here asked to watch it together, so I came.”
On the day the two of them drank together, I had received thanks from the landlady.
She said it felt like she had found her lost sister and thanked me about ten times.
I just thought they had become close while drinking.
But that wasn’t all.
“Reporter Lee. Thank you so much. For not making me look like a fool.”
“What do you mean by that?”
“You know. I was in a perfect position to be cursed at, saying I got into that mess because I was an old woman chasing after men…”
“Unnie, why would you say such a thing?”
I nodded and spoke.
“That’s right. There is almost no one who wouldn’t be fooled by a scammer determined to deceive them. It’s not your fault; it’s the scammer who is bad.”
“…But do people really think that way? That’s why I can’t tell you how grateful I was that you said that on the news. I thought I wouldn’t be able to hold my head up, but I wasn’t.”
Following Ms. Kim Hyeonja’s excessive gratitude, the landlady spoke while waving her smartphone.
“Reporter boy, look at this.”
Familiar words appeared on the smartphone screen.
— Romance scam.
— Lee Hyeonwook’s Prime Focus.
— SNS fraud.
— Online fraud.
— KCN News.
— News Prime.
…
The landlady skillfully touched the screen again and showed me a new page.
“There’s stuff like this too.”
[A few days ago, I taught my parents how to use SNS. Like in today’s news, they’ve been posting selfies, food photos, flower photos, etc., so I must tell them to be careful.]
[I almost fell for a similar scam. I just ignored it, but after seeing today’s news, I should report it to the police.]
[The person in the news almost had a huge problem. I hope all the scammers in the world go bankrupt!]
Many titles of posts on community boards and cafes were related to my news.
Was the landlady someone who could catch these online reactions in such a short time?
“Were you always good with computers?”
“Me? Not really… no, look at this too. Hyeonja unnie and I joined the reporter boy’s fan cafe. I heard our Yeongsu made this fan cafe? Anyway, we joined and saw that a ton of people who watched the 9 o’clock news earlier joined as well.”
It was true.
I thought the news about romance scams might be ignored because it was unfamiliar, but it wasn’t.
I saw many comments thanking me for letting them know something they didn’t know and saying they could be careful thanks to the news.
The news I reported was generating a meaningful reaction online.
I could clearly see PD Ji Minsu’s delighted face.
My heart was also filled with joy.
“It’s all thanks to the two of you. I was able to report this because our ma’am suspected the scammer first and had the courage to tell me. And I haven’t forgotten the credit of our landlady for speaking well to her.”
I was sincere.
My heart swelled at the thought that I would continue to see the smiling faces of the landlady, whose face often cast a shadow, and Ms. Kim Hyeonja, who had left the broadcasting station after being scammed in her previous life and whose whereabouts were unknown.
Moreover, since the reaction to the news was good, I felt I had received sufficient reward.
However, Ms. Kim Hyeonja made an unexpected statement.
“Reporter Lee, I have more to say.”
There was a separate, definite reward for me.
“I’m going to quit the cleaning job at the broadcasting station and try starting a business here in Yangju with my sister.”
“A business?”
Is this the reason for resignation mentioned in the reporting notebook?
“Hohoho. That’s right. We’re going to try a business. I heard the sweet potato latte the reporter boy gave my sister every dawn was so delicious? Unnie said let’s try selling that together.”
“Sweet potato latte?”
It felt like the conversation was flowing in an unpredictable direction.
“There are so many cafes popping up these days, right? I’ve visited a few when meeting friends, but they aren’t really places for people like me who are sixty. But you have to go to those places to meet people. So, I want to run a cafe that people of our age can visit.”
“A cafe?”
Suddenly?
“We’ll sell sweet potato lattes, and I really like black sesame, so we’ll sell things like that too.”
“But unnie, will there even be people who like black sesame?”
“It’s because people don’t know the benefits of black sesame. Do you know how good black sesame is for hair loss? If you chew a spoonful of roasted black sesame for 5 minutes every morning, hair loss is over.”
“Even so, we can’t just sell black sesame.”
“We should try everything that can be made with black sesame. Make black sesame lattes like sweet potato lattes, and for rice cakes, if you put them in a mold called a waffle, they become more savory. Oh, right. Have you tried black sesame as bingsu? If you grind milk for the ice, it’s finer. I eat it every summer, and it’s truly amazing.”
Is this… perhaps a traditional Korean dessert cafe?
A Korean dessert cafe with the potential to become a global franchise expanding across the world?
“Reporter boy, what food to sell is Hyeonja unnie’s idea. This is something I thought of separately—how about if we teach people our age how to use smartphones for free at such a cafe? ‘Learn for free if you buy a drink.’ Something like that.”
Looking at the landlady waving her smartphone, I made up my mind.
So I said just one thing.
“I will invest in your business.”
“Invest?”
“Yes. So please speak comfortably to me from now on. Because you’re becoming a CEO to me.”
I felt like things were moving in an interesting direction.
To think that the trend of young people seeking honey cookies and rice cakes with a grandmother’s taste would happen later, and that this was the lady’s dream!
“But unnie, can the two of us really do this well?”
“You said you ran a gukbap restaurant. Doesn’t that make you an experienced hire?”
“Even if business is mostly the same, it differs depending on what you sell. I’m worried if we can do well immediately since we haven’t visited cafes often.”
“Then, shall I try to find an invited lecturer for you two?”
Instantly, I thought of Han Jiwon, who made drinks with a tired face every early dawn at the KCN broadcasting station lobby cafe.
“Ah, I’ll introduce you to a business expert as well.”
I should also borrow K’s dedicated accountant.
I should request Accountant Hong Seongmin, who had made a name for himself as a conscientious accountant for self-employed people in my previous life, and whom I had quickly contacted and introduced to K before he became fully famous.
The atmosphere of the <9 O’Clock News Prime> reorganization was good.
The reaction on the viewer board was positive, and the viewership ratings rose.
PD Ji Minsu said the viewership for my segment was the best.
“If you had been the anchor, these high ratings would have appeared from the start of the news! Anchor Kim Dusik is walking around with his chest puffed out, thinking he got good reorganization results because he’s great on his own!”
That’s exactly how Kim Dusik should be.
I hoped Kim Dusik would act exactly like that.
Because Kim Dusik needs to climb higher.
Revenge tastes best when you drop them just as they think they’ve climbed as high as they wanted, or when they think they’re right in front of their desired destination.
Hehehe, I laughed without realizing it.
Seeing me like that, PD Ji Minsu sighed.
“Sigh, you’re really carefree. Anyway, what’s the next item?”
“Sunbae, you know I can report independently without reporting the items.”
“I know, I know. You’re the only reporter since the opening of KCN who does that, so there’s no way I wouldn’t know. What I asked was…”
“I know. You’re asking because you’re curious.”
“If you know, then in a more pleasant~ mood, let me know first. I can know in advance, right? Hmm?”
“Sunbae, I’m too busy with the next report. I’ll be going now.”
“Stingy, so stingy. Still, he’s the main pillar supporting our <9 O’Clock News Prime>, so I should let him go quickly. Go on, go report.”
After roughly soothing Sunbae Ji Minsu, I hurried out of the broadcasting station.
The place I headed for the next report was K’s recording studio.
[December 31, 20XX. Luna Prism member Harin commits suicide due to depression after suffering from sponsor rumors.]
[Sunbae Kim Dusik’s instruction to write the article more provocatively. I don’t think I should do that…]
The protagonist of the next incident in the reporting notebook was someone I could meet if I went to K’s studio.
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