12 Hours After

Translator: Khan

Editor: Aelryinth

I looked at HTS with my arms crossed as the market closed. [Invictus Investment Holdings +7.2%.]

It was 3:30. The market closed, and I relaxed. There was an article on HTS. [The rumor that Chairman Han Sang-hoon bought back shares of Invictus Investment Holdings was found to be true. It had a seven percent increase for today.]

I glimpsed it and came back to see the market capital of our company. [… three trillion and four hundred thirteen billion dollars; four hundred forty billion dollars of SHH Group; three hundred twelve billion dollars… ] It was definitely over four trillion dollars.

‘Surely today is a day that deserves to remain in economic history, even if it’s only for a moment…’

However, this stock price would not last long; it was because I artificially raised it by releasing money. Right now, even if the rating was up, it could go down anytime.

I picked up the phone and called President Jang. “President Jang, you didn’t pay for it today, did you?”

“Mr. Chairman, I’ve been waiting for your call, and I have not bought any shares back today.”

“Yes, then, please defend the share price as much as possible tomorrow so that it won’t fall further below -3% from today’s closing price.”

“Yes, I see, Mr. Chairman.”

After finishing my instruction, I went to my mailbox. ‘Anyway, since I’ve met the requirements, there must be a guide, right?’

As I expected. There was a final grade guide in my mailbox: [P Class Guidebook.]

‘This is my last hope. If something doesn’t change here, there is no hope for Se-hyun. Please…’ I thought, and waited until eight a.m. the next morning.

——————-

Seven o’clock, the next morning…

I went to the hospital where my wife and son Se-hyun were hospitalized early. My wife complained to me when she saw Se-hyun lying on the bed in the hospital bed.

“Oppa. So when did you get a call from the U.S.? How long do I have to wait?” Ah-young asked, because I had told her the reason for the delay was that I had contacted a top-notch medical staff in USA.

“They said that they would contact us by this morning. Let’s listen to them and decide today, whether we operate here, or go to the U.S. to have it done.”

Actually, there had been an answer a half-hour after the inquiry. ‘The results of the surgery are almost the same in the U.S. and Korea. When it comes to pediatric surgery, Korean doctors with good hand skills may perform better.’

I was going to decide by looking at the guidebook that would come at eight o’clock today. Ah-young turned to Se-hyun at my words and stroked his head. It hurt my heart to see it. In the meanwhile, the alarm went off at eight o’clock sharp. I stopped by the bathroom for a moment and accepted the email guide. ‘Publisher Class Guide.’

I read the class guide carefully.

‘Really?’

After being in shock for a while, I soon came back to my senses, came out of the bathroom, and headed back to the hospital room. I called Ah-young, who still looked sorry for our son, “Darling.”

“Hmm?”

“I got the call from the United States. They said that it would be better to do it here. Let’s operate today.”

————————-

In front of us stood a middle-aged man with a little thin hair on top. He was Choi Moon-seok, a top authority on pediatric brain tumors and a professor with the most surgical experience.

I said to him, “I heard the sooner the better. Is it possible to do it today? If you can produce the best results, I’ll pay all the expenses.”

At my words, Professor Choi said, “I see. Mr. Chairman, I’ll schedule the surgery right away this afternoon, at 5:00 p.m.”

Ah-young asked, “How long will the surgery take?”

Choi replied thoughtfully, fixing his glasses, “About 12 hours… Maybe longer.”

Ah-young once again looked at our bedridden son, Sehyun. Our young baby’s twelve hours of major surgery seemed to have worried her. When I saw her expression, I said, holding her by the shoulder, “Don’t be anxious. Everything’s going to be fine.”

Ah-young nodded, holding my hand, taking comfort at my words. I once again left her and my son in the hospital room. I walked across the hall, through the exit, and out into the parking lot. There was my car, the Bentley, in the parking lot. I opened its door and said, “Notebook!”

Secretary Park, seated inside, gave me the laptop that I had prepared.

I said, taking the laptop, “Please stand outside for a moment.”

Nodding, Park stepped outside the car and closed the door. I turned on my laptop, caught the Wi-Fi, and went to my mailbox.

[P. 12 Hours After]

There was an email that I had received after achieving my final grade this morning. I scrolled down to the bottom. There was a new active skill, ‘Publishing An Article.’

I looked at the skill for a moment and recalled the guide I had read this morning.

[Publisher Class Guide]

[Congratulations! Han Sang-hoon, who has been promoted to Publisher Class. You are finally on the final grade of the future news. Congratulations! Unlike the ratings below, Publisher has an ability beyond God. Your ability is infinite. Don’t forget that there’s only one huge responsibility followed by great power.]

[There is only one skill currently available in the Publisher Class. Skill points that are not currently allocated are a hundred points.]

[Publishing An Article Lv1 (Active skill – a hundred points are required)

It published a new article. The publishing is not limited by letters and probability, and as soon as it is published, it changes the universe in time for the event in the news. The news that has been published does not appear in the future news again, and the universe, changed by the publication of the article, does not appear in the future news as correction news. There is no limit on the number of times.]

‘There’s no limit for letters, probability, and the number of times…’

It was just a divine ability. I clicked ‘Publishing An Article.’ A window in the shape of an A4 paper appeared in front of me. There were two lines of sentences:

[Probability %] [Enter an article.]

But there was a probability part. ‘No, it says that there is no limit, right?’

I checked the time for a moment. It was 11:04 a.m. I wrote down an article.

[There was a shower around 11:10 a.m. today in southern Seoul.]

It was a very short article.

[Probability 2.4%]

The probability was 2.4 percent. It was less likely that Se-hyun would undergo surgery and survive without aftereffects. I left it as it was and pressed the “Issue” button. Then a warning message appeared, [The probability is too low. Too low a probability could bring chaos to the world. Do you still want to issue it?]

A warning message appeared, but did not seem to stop it. I was going to issue it but changed the article a little bit. [There was a local shower for about a minute around 11:10 a.m. today in southern Seoul.]

The revised version increased the probability rate to 4.3%. I issued it here. Looking at the time, it was 11:07. I waited for three more minutes. But in three minutes, outside the car, there was really a shower. I could see Park standing close by, and then evacuating to the hospital overhang.

‘This is how it works.’

I came back and pressed the ‘Publishing An Article’ button. This time, I wrote an article for my son. [The operation of a brain tumor on Han Se-hyun, the son of Han Sang-hoon, chairman of Invictus Investment, has been a huge success. Han Se-hyun, who was diagnosed with malignant brain cancer not long ago, had the operation for a brain tumor and fully recovered from the surgery he received at Gangnam B Hospital.]

The probability was 4%, as I had seen before, but in the meantime, I had a different idea, ‘Wait, why don’t we have the surgery?’

It said, “There is no aftereffect,” but perhaps there would be some surgical traces left. I changed the article. [A miracle happened once again for Chairman Han Sang-hoon of Invictus Investment. The brain tumor of his son Han Se-hyun, who has been fighting it, disappeared before the surgery. Choi Moon-seok, the doctor in charge of Han Se-hyun, said, “This is a miracle and a unique case to report to the medical community.]

The probability was 0.0003% after writing it that way. It was simply impossible. But nevertheless, I pressed the “Issue” button as it was. [The probability is too low. Too low a probability could bring chaos to the world. Do you still want to issue it?]

There was a warning tone, but I ignored it and published the article. How could there be chaos in the world when our innocent son was healthy? When I wrote the second article, it stopped raining outside. Looking at the clock, it was exactly eleven ten.

——

“I hope you’ll take good care of my son, then.” “Please take good care of him, Professor.” We said, holding Choi’s hand.

Choi nodded and said, “I’ll do my best on my honor.”

——————

We sat in a waiting chair outside the operating room and decided to wait for our son to come out after twelve hours. However, about twenty minutes after Choi had entered the operating room, the door to the operating room opened, and Professor Choi walked out of it. I was dull, but Ah-young got up in surprise.

“Professor! What is going on?”

At her question, Choi was embarrassed and puzzled, “I… I don’t know what to say…”

His stammer made Ah-young misunderstand. She was on the verge of fainting, but he avoided the situation with his words, “I began to operate, but the tumor was missing from the video. I checked a few times to see if I saw anything wrong. The tumor’s really gone. The structure of his brain is the same as that of a normal child.”

“So… my Sehyun is…”

At Ah-young’s words, Choi said, scratching the back of his head. “He is perfectly healthy now. Maybe it’s… I think this is a miracle that should be reported to the academic world.”

It was just like what I had written. Ah-young, hearing the words, looked back at me and shouted,

“Did you hear that, oppa? He said it’s a miracle! Sehyun is healthy!” Even though I had caused the “miracle” myself this morning, I was moved by her voice.

——————————

I sat in the chairman’s office and looked out the window. In downtown Seoul, I could see my territory at a glance. I looked out the window for a long time.

The telephone was ringing. I went up to the phone and answered it.

“Mr. Chairman, it’s a call from President Jang.”

“Okay, put me through.”

Before long, I could hear Jang’s voice, “Mr. Chairman, there’s a bad thing going on.”

He spoke urgently, but I took his words calmly, “What’s going on?”

“It’s Haejo Fisheries that we invested in. An ocean fishing boat was hijacked by pirates near the Indian Ocean. Although it has not yet been revealed to the media, there are rumors that there are casualties. If this turns out, I think the stock price is going to plummet.”

I got some keywords and wrote them down in my head, ‘Haejo Fisheries, Indian Ocean, hijack, pirates.’

“Yes, I see. Don’t worry too much. It could work out unexpectedly. Well, the pirates were nice, so they just let them go.”

“Pardon me?”

“No, just don’t worry too much about what didn’t happen.”

“Oh, I see. Mr. Chairman, I’ll look at the case and report it again.”

“Yes.”

There was another phone call coming in, frighteningly enough the moment President Jang’s phone was finished. This time, it was Secretary Lee.

“Mr. Chairman, Maverick Turner, president of SHH Electronics, has requested a call.”

“Okay, put me through.”

Soon, I heard the unique, foreign voice of President Turner.

“Mr. Chairman, it’s me.”

“President Turner, what’s the matter?”

He spoke with his voice down, “It’s not about my company, but it’s about my brother.”

It was about the U.S. presidential election. Senator William Turner recently won the first place in a vote of the party’s primary, and was nominated for president candidate according to my own will.

“Please keep talking.”

“My brother said he wants the chairman to come to New York once more and help him before the presidential election. What do you think?”

I told him, “Oh, I see. Well… I’m so busy that I can’t go to America… Tell him exactly what I’m saying, ‘I’m so busy in Korea that I can’t go to America. I understand the anxiety ahead of the presidential election, but don’t worry too much. My prediction is 99.9% sure of your winning the election.’ That’s how it is.”

At my words, Turner was a little bit nervous, but he answered, “Ah… Yes, I see.”

However, just after putting my phone down, I got another call. This time it was the cell phone in my pocket. I lifted it and saw it was Ah-young.

“Yes, Ah-young, what?”

“Oppa, we are scheduled to go to an amusement park this weekend with Seo-hyun and Se-hyun.”

Not long ago, Seo-hyun turned six and Se-hyun five. Both were very healthy.

“I know.”

“But according to the weather forecast, there’s a lot of fine dust today, so I think it would be better to put off.”

“Well, by the way, wasn’t Seo-hyun and Se-hyun both very excited? Wouldn’t they be disappointed if we postponed it suddenly?”

“That’s true, but there will be a bit of a dust storm, and I don’t want to take the kids out.”

“Well, let’s wait a little longer. We still have three days left until our trip. The weather forecast is often wrong, right?”

“That’s true, but…”

“Let’s wait until the day before. If there is too much fine dust on the day before, let’s go to the aquarium.”

“I got it.”

After I finished talking to my wife, I stretched out long. I had many things to do today, as a human and as a god.

I turned on the computer and opened my mailbox. The email ’12 Hours After’ came to me as it always did. I opened the email and scrolled down. Then, I clicked ‘Publishing An Article’ button at the bottom. In front of me, there was an empty sheet of A4 paper. I looked at it, took a deep breath, and then began to type.

I created the future. I created the miracles.

The End