The world didn't end. It reconfigured itself around the undeniable fact of them. The "Kang-Lee Manifesto," as the press had dubbed it, became a case study in crisis management and a cultural flashpoint. For a week, they were unavoidable—interview requests, talk show invitations, even a satirical sketch on a popular comedy show that, to their surprise, portrayed them as a power duo rather than a scandal.
Ha-ru and Jin-woo declined almost everything. Their one concession was the business magazine cover. The photo was simple: the two of them in Ha-ru's office, not facing the camera, but looking at each other across his desk, caught in a moment of quiet conversation. The tension was gone, replaced by an easy, profound intimacy. The headline read: THE UNLIKELY ARCHITECTS: HOW LOVE AND INTEGRITY ARE REBUILDING AN EMPIRE.
