After the drug scandal was exposed, Sunmi hid at a friend's house, too afraid to make an appearance. Especially after seeing her mother suffering on her behalf, she felt slightly guilty.
However, she never imagined things would continue to amplify. In the morning, everyone was talking about the drug scandal, then, by the time afternoon came around, the media started spreading news of Sunmi being violent at school. At just 14-years-old, she had instigated others to beat up a female classmate until her left leg became disabled. Afterwards, she changed her name and moved to Seoul.
As soon as this news was released, everyone was stunned. Who would of thought, a 14-year-old child could be so bad. On top of everything, the police quickly proved that the person that took drugs was Sunmi. And if that wasn't bad enough, they also found out that her parents had changed her age to two years younger in fear that she would be locked up for violence. In reality, she was 16-years-old when the incident happened, which meant, right now, she had just passed 18!
In an instant, Sunmi's name had been completely tarnished in South Korea. Not only this, police were searching everywhere for her.
Looking at all the explosive news, Sunmi was in a complete panic...she walked back and forth inside her friend's house in fear. She no longer had anyone to lean on and no one to turn to; what was she to do?
Her friend was also a model. They met during the Model Search Competition. After seeing the disgusting things Sunmi had done on the news, she grabbed all of her belongings and threw them in front of her, "Leave, Sunmi. You are shocking. I can't believe I actually helped you defame Y/N in the past, only to be slapped so badly in the face..."
Sunmi was completely out of options. Seeing her friend no longer wanted to help her, she immediately knelt on the floor and begged, "Tzuyu, I beg of you, don't kick me out. If I go out there, I'm dead. The reporters and police won't let me off."
After hearing her words, Tzuyu sneered before picking up her phone and calling the police, "I must have been blind to become friends with you. If you don't leave, then just wait here for the police to come to you."
Seeing Tzuyu ready to call the police, Sunmi immediately stood up and tried to snatch the phone out of her hand. Tzuyu sensed her movement and quickly pushed her away. Sunmi stumbled a little before falling to the ground. However, her face scraped past the corner of the coffee table as she fell, leaving a bloody gash across her left cheek...
Sunmi instinctively placed her hand to her left cheek; she was in so much pain she almost knocked out. However, her friend did not get off the phone. Afterwards, she also called the ambulance before saying to Sunmi, "When the police arrive, I will truthfully tell them how you got hurt, because I am not like you." After speaking, she pulled out her medical supplies to try and help stop Sunmi's bleeding.
Of course, with such a long horizontal gash across her left cheek, unless she did plastic surgery, she would definitely be left with a hideous and obvious scar.
7pm. The police finally arrived at Tzuyu's home and captured Sunmi. As for her injury, Tzuyu recalled the entire incident from start to finish.
Such an honest and clear-minded child was immediately praised by the netizens.
Not only this, maybe because of karma, out of all the places that could have been injured, Sunmi was actually injured on the face. The netizens ridiculed that she had used her face to cause so much trouble for Y/N, so now that she had been injured on the face, it must be a punishment from God.
What goes around, comes around!
As for Sunmi's mother, after watching her daughter being captured, she fainted and was sent straight to the hospital overnight; her pre-existing illnesses worsened.
The entire of South Korea was reporting on Sunmi's news. A young 18-year-old girl had so many hidden secrets, it was frightening. The news made many people reflect on themselves, especially in regards to parenting.
Jisoo was also at the hospital. Via the TV in her room, she paid close attention to the development of Sunmi's news. At this moment, apart from being shocked, she was extremely scared...
Since Sunmi's fate was so pitiful, she couldn't help but start to worry about herself.
She had just lost her job and her household's main source of income had ceased. Yet, her mother was paralyzed in bed. Although she had a younger brother, he only made enough to fend for himself. From now on, what was she to do?
She had to quickly find a job. Fortunately, in the eyes of the outside world, they believed she had resigned willingly from HYPE rather than fired. So, she didn't expect it to be hard to find a decent job. However, she never imagined, the police would end up asking her in for an interrogation. Since there were so many witnesses at Night Color Bar that saw her arguing with Sunmi, it was unavoidable that she too would be suspected of taking drugs...
Jisoo desperately tried to explain the situation, but the police insisted on giving her a drug test. At this moment, Sunmi's incident was already at the cusp of public opinion, so with Jisoo being taken in by the police, the public couldn't help but suspect Jisoo also took drugs.
The two were quickly enveloped in their stinky reputation together.
Inside the icy cold police station, Jisoo had no friends or relatives she could contact. In the end, she bet on Hyunjin and gave him a call. At first, she had given up hope, but as the clock ticked over to the second half of the night, he finally appeared.
After all that she had been through in the past 2 days, Jisoo's self-esteem had been completely deflated. So, she didn't care about the humiliation as she said to Hyunjin, "Bail me out. In exchange, I will tell you an important secret."
Hyunjin scrunched up his eyebrows as he instructed his lawyer to bail Jisoo out before leading her to the car.
She was silent at first. In the end, she couldn't hold back her tears any longer as she burst out crying in Hyunjin's car.
Hyunjin looked at her. Without saying any comforting words, he simply handed her a tissue.
"I can't compete with Y/N...I admit defeat," Jisoo said with a choked up voice. "I've decided to leave South Korea. I can't go up against her, I can only hide."
"You don't need to..."
"Yes I do, Hyunjin," she dried her tears and lifted her head to look at him seriously, "In order to prevent President Kim from kicking you out of HYPE, you must suppress Jong-In and Y/N. Otherwise, as soon as Jennie trains up someone new, she will heartlessly make you leave. As for the secret I promised you, the secret is, Y/N has someone backing her."
Hyunjin was shocked.
"Editor Lin told me this...and reality has proven, what she said was true. I really don't want to throw myself back in the mess. Whoever it is, seems to have already been angered by me. This secret, maybe you will have some use for it. Of course, no matter who the person backing Y/N is, we at least know she is no longer single. I'll leave this secret with you. You've helped me so much in the past, let me pay you back this once."
After hearing this, Hyunjin pulled out a gold card from his wallet and handed it to Jisoo, "No matter where you go, you need some money just in case."
Jisoo looked at Hyunjin as tears suddenly trickled down her face, "What's the point of all the fighting? In the end, all I'm left with is nothing...hopefully what I've told you will come of use!"
Hyunjin's expression was slightly complicated. Especially after witnessing Jisoo's defeat, he had an indescribable feeling in the depths of his heart. So, when he opened his mouth no words came out. After Jisoo quietened down, he finally asked, "Where do you want to go? I'll take you."
"No need..." she shook her head. "Hyunjin, although I've done so many bad things to you behind your back over the years, all that I've done is because you made me abort our child. So, I've never felt that I've owed you anything."
After speaking, she pushed open the car door and left. As for Hyunjin, who was left behind - his mind was in a mess.
Child...that's right, all the problems started from that child. But, this is the entertainment industry, no one wants to end up like Jong-In and Jieun.
Amongst the darkness, Hyunjin sneered slightly. If over the years, he hadn't secretly helped Jisoo, did she think she'd achieve such a high status with her prideful attitude?
He couldn't deny that he still had feelings for her...but there was no way he'd turn back.
At present, the power in HYPE was equally divided; he had Hua Yuan and Jong-In had Y/N. As for Lisa who was previously under the control of Jisoo, she was temporarily in the hands of the Vice President. From the looks of it, the battle for the best resources was about to start.
So, Y/N has someone backing her eh?
Doesn't everyone have someone backing them?
If the person backing Y/N was really that powerful, Y/N would have surpassed her current status a long time ago. Hyunjin felt, the information Jisoo had given him, wasn't of any use.
In conclusion, during the confrontation between Sunmi and Y/N, she simply had to lift a finger without a word; all she did was present the results of her drug test and Sunmi was dealt with quickly and efficiently with a stable level of exposure - Y/N was indeed a strong opponent.
Because of the incident, Y/N's trustworthiness was once again increased. So, Top-tier offers flooded in, including many major brand endorsements.
As a result, Y/N's schedule, under Jong-In's arrangements, became completely packed. Except for the 3 days she currently had off, the following month would be spent busy attending multiple jobs.
The night before heading to Moscow for Her Vision's shoot, Jong-In was on the phone with Y/N, "Tomorrow we will have a quick meeting at HYPE to confirm all your upcoming plans. Are you sure you won't be heading to the airport with me for the 1pm flight to Moscow? What if something happens?"
Y/N was packing her and Jimin's luggage. She turned to look at the busy expression on her man's face as she smiled, "I will handle it."
"If something goes wrong, then from now on whenever we schedule a public event, you will have to listen to me."
"Nothing will go wrong," Y/N replied reassuringly.
"Remember what you've said."
Compared to other artists, Y/N's self-discipline definitely put one's mind at ease. So, Jong-In did not push any further. After all, Y/N had already been in the industry for 8-9 years and was well aware of how things operated.
She hung up the phone as Jimin also put down the documents in his hands and approached her from behind. He breathed in her scent as he wrapped her into his embrace.
"I haven't showered yet..." Y/N resisted a little.
"I don't mind," Jimin responded in a deep voice before reaching out his hand to gently stroke her soft flowing hair. "I've looked at the jobs Jong-In has accepted for you. They are indeed helpful while you are on the rise. From what I see, he seems to have a good control of fans and has a team of well-experienced helpers. Our 'Little Miss Y/N' is no longer a disregarded 'stray child'."
Y/N turned her head and looked into Jimin's obsidian-like eyes as she chuckled, "Does that mean Big Boss can finally relax?"
Jimin lowered his head and placed his chin on her shoulder, "Towards you, I can never be relaxed."
"And that's why under such tiring circumstances, you still intend on accompanying me to Moscow for my magazine shoot," Y/N gently stroked Jimin's cheek as her heart ached.
"It's snowing there, don't forget to pack a few extra pieces of thick clothing," Jimin smiled. He disagreed with the word 'tiring'.
That had to depend on who he was going with!
......
The entertainment news on TV was focused on Sunmi's injury, disfigurement, and her capture after taking drugs. As for her mother, she was also taken in for investigation after it was revealed she had changed Sunmi's age. The netizens felt an infinite mix of emotions; an average young girl had actually done so many outrageous things. Now that she was disfigured, they naturally felt, she was no longer worthy of using the name 'Mini-Y/N'.
The only thing was, there were no longer any mentions of Jisoo. After all, she was only an ex-manager of HYPE, even if she could no longer be a manager, she could still change careers. However...the most recent instructions Jimin had given to Lu Che, was early that morning when he told him to use the most subtle methods to contact all companies in related industries. He declared that anywhere where JinHit was involved, Jisoo must not be hired; preventing her from taking even half a step into the entertainment industry.
Without her high wages and special treatment, he wanted to see how she was to continue being evil and prideful.
The next morning, Jong-In drove Y/N to HYP Entertainment for a meeting. Just as they were about to head into the meeting room, they heard a crisp cry, "Y/N."
She lifted her head to see a light blue figure heading her way. As a model, this person was naturally tall. As for her face, she had clear-cut features with a well-defined jaw. Her slightly blue pupils made her appear charming like a foreigner.
It was Lisa!
Simply looking at her walking posture, one could not see through her personality, but hearing her tone of voice, it seemed she was quite a friendly person.
"Hi," Y/N greeted, nodding her head.
"Are you here for a meeting?"
"Yep," Y/N obviously found it hard to withstand her sociable personality.
"In that case, fighting! I've seen your shows, you're amazing!"
Y/N smiled without making any more responses as Jong-In pushed open the meeting room door and said, "Let's go, we are going to be late."
Lisa watched as Y/N entered the meeting room, she had a deep look in her eyes. At this time, her assistant gave a grunt of ridicule before speaking, "This new A-Grade model doesn't know how to measure her own position. Out of all the models in HYPE, Danni is the only one that doesn't need to bow down to you. Who does Y/N think she is?"
"Watch what you say," Lisa warned her assistant softly.
"Jisoo's resignation was obviously planned by Y/N, Jong-In and President Kim. As for the Vice president, he's useless, he has no ability to seize any good resources. Y/N has caused us to lose Jisoo!"
Lisa did not respond. Isn't Y/N going to Moscow for her magazine shoot? She was familiar with the photography team often used by Her Vision: they had previously shot a big commercial together.
It was fine that Y/N didn't bow down to her, but the incident with Jisoo, she wasn't going to let it go just like that. Especially since all along it had only been her and Danni that fought for resources. How dare Y/N appear out of nowhere and take the best manager? What right does she have? And who does she think she is?
"I know you don't like to socialize, but the way you acted in front of Lisa just then, was too cold," Jong-In said as he pulled out the chair for Y/N to sit on. Although he knew Y/N had a cold personality, Lisa's status was at a level where others had to show some respect to.
Y/N lifted her head and looked at him. She spoke with a sense of ridicule, "If I'm friendly to her, does that mean she will forget that I caused her to lose her manager? Are you confident that she hasn't put the blame on me?"
"You should forget your pride..." Jong-In responded seriously.
"My pride is already forgotten."
Kai was stuck for words as he helplessly shook his head, "You entered HYPE in such a high-profile way, plus you are currently very popular. You are the biggest competitor for Lisa and Danni, that's why we need to be careful."
Put simply, she was standing in more and more people's way. Since the industry was full of both open and hidden rivalry, she should at least try and make her opponents hold back a little when throwing their attacks. Although Y/N's eyes were clear...she was a bit cold.
As they sat in the meeting room, both Jong-In and Y/N were surprised to find, Jennie had invited Hyunjin to join in on the meeting.
As the topic of Y/N's love life was brought up, Jennie once again reminded Y/N and Jong-In to be careful. Most importantly, she placed the focus on Hyunjin. She knew he and Y/N had gone up against each other previously. She didn't care about what happened in the past, but from now on, she wasn't going to allow Y/N to be schemed against by her own people.
"Hyunjin, everything related to Y/N isn't just Jong-In's problem. As the Artists Director, you also hold some responsibility. If anything happens to Y/N, you will go down with her."
Hyunjin frowned but still nodded at Jennie, "I understand."
In the end, Y/N and Jong-In left first to go to Moscow. After they left, Jennie looked at Hyunjin and tried to resolve the issue between them, "I know Jong-In has left a huge impact on you. I hope you can let go of the past. I still need you."
Hyunjin looked at her. He wasn't sure how sincere she was, so he tested her, "I want to know who the person backing Y/N is. What kind of fearful power does he possess?"
"Power?" Jennie shook her head and smiled. "What power do you think Y/N has apart from the Lee family's power? If she was so powerful, would she require the help of HYPE to help her slowly advance? He has no such power."
Hyunjin and Jennie's thoughts were the same. But, he was still suspicious, "If that's the case, then why did you allow Y/N to remain in a relationship?"
"What's so bad about it? When the time is right, we could even use it to divert the public's attention from a scandal. I can't guarantee everything for HYPE will always be smooth sailing."
As expected, Jennie wasn't so kind-hearted...
"Then, have you seen the man?"
"No. But, I don't think it's someone that can be revealed. Y/N is extremely secretive, so I tried to look into it myself...however, I still have not figured anything out."
Hyunjin looked at Jennie, his eyes contained a sense of ridicule.
As for her investigation. Just because she wanted to look into it, did that mean Jimin would just sit around and let her investigate?
Most importantly, how dare she try to use Big Boss to divert scandals. What right did she think she had?