Y/N didn't return to the hotel!
This was the news the paparazzi relayed to Jennie and Hyunjin.
The two were still at HYPE late in the night. They looked at each other and asked the paparazzi, "Did you find out where she went?"
"We were afraid of being exposed so we didn't dare to get too close. It was only when we discovered her room light hadn't turned on that we got a little suspicious."
"Continue to keep an eye on her. As soon as you see any form of evidence, don't let it go!" Jennie hung up the video chat and turned her head to ask Hyunjin, "What do you think Y/N is doing at this time?"
"What else could she do? If she's not in her room, apart from fooling around with a man, what other reason would she have to be out?"
"There's no point talking about it, we need to capture evidence of it."
With the photo of Y/N flirting with the male model in their hands, they had complete confidence in the South Korean paparazzi they had hired.
At the same time, the reporter from Hour Studio also noticed something was abnormal; Y/N did not return to the hotel.
Jong-In and Mina's rooms were both lit up, only Y/N's room was still...
He immediately thought about the incident at the airport in the US.
Since there were so many hotels, he was better off waiting at the airport. Maybe God would give him a pleasant surprise!
.....
When working, time seemed to drag on forever, yet, the couple's time together always seemed to pass with a blink of an eye.
The two hours was short and hard to come by.
The couple did not go anywhere during this time, they simply remained in the manor kissing and hugging; they didn't want to waste a second.
"The hotel booked by HYPE has 4 paparazzi staying in it. Before you returned today, I already spoke to the manager and had a look at the surveillance cameras. Their movements completely mask yours," Jimin said before leaving Y/N.
As the hotel was booked by HYPE, there was no way Jimin could be rest assured. So, he made sure to check the safety of the hotel, first thing.
After hearing his words, Y/N quickly recounted the incident at the church earlier that day.
"I've already instructed Lu Che to look into these people, don't be afraid."
Y/N gave a gentle laugh as she shook her head, "I'm not afraid at all. I just want to know if these people are from the media or...from HYPE. Even though I'm not sure what Jennie's motive would be."
Jimin gently stroked her hair without a word.
He was gradually opening the doorway to JinHit for Y/N...
"No matter what her motive is, it's never a good thing; you need to be careful. There is still some time before you need to go back to work, have some rest in the manor."
"I'll escort you to the airport first," She offered.
Jimin held onto her shoulders and shook his head, "Do you want to see how tired you look? Listen to me...when I have time, I will fly back over."
Y/N did not insist. She simply placed her forehead against his and enjoyed the last moments of affection.
So, in the end, Jimin arrived on his own and left on his own. Hour Studio's reporter stood guard at the airport and saw Jimin arrive wearing sunglasses. But, he had no idea, Jimin was the man he'd been waiting for!
He simply sighed to himself, JinHit's CEO is indeed a legend!
Lu Che's information came through: the paparazzi that were following Y/N was from South Korea and were an extremely professional team.
Lu Che also found out they were in action because they had met with HYPE's Artists Director, Hwang Hyunjin.
The answer was obvious.
Jong-In's expression was abnormally upset; he suddenly realized a lot of things. Back during his incident with Jieun, although the incident was exposed by Jisoo and Hyunjin, the substantive evidence came from the hidden flashes that followed them around. In other words, was that Jennie's doing?
Now that Jieun's incident was well in the past, did Jennie want to play the same trick again?
She had already taken Jieun's life, did she also want Y/N's?
"I'm not sure what those people managed to capture."
"I really liked President Kim at one stage, I felt she was competent and strong like a heroine. Who would have thought she'd turn out to be as cruel as a wolf," Mina couldn't help but sigh.
Y/N sat on the hotel bed, she was immensely calm. No matter how ruthless Jennie was, it would never stop her determination to become an international supermodel.
Although Jennie was ruthless...Y/N could be even more ruthless.
Seeing Y/N remain silent, Jong-In was slightly terrified. After being around her for quite some time, he had developed a certain level of understanding towards her. Even though she was quiet like usual, one could decipher her mood through slight variations in her silence.
For example, when she was with Jimin, her silence carried with it a relaxed and comfortable mood.
When with outsiders, her silence made her feel unapproachable.
And at this moment, Y/N's silence had reached a stage where one should be terrified. The more she didn't speak, the more it meant she was thinking of a way to strike back.
Jennie had already pushed things this far; Y/N's future would definitely not be at HYPE.
"What do you plan to do?"
"What else could I do? I'm just going to let her take as many photos as she wants..." Y/N smiled slightly like she didn't care. But Jong-In knew, if Jennie was a mantis, then Y/N was an Oriole.
"All you need to focus on right now is to walk the HOPE show to the best of your ability. Everything else, is not as important as this."
"But, I don't think Jennie will let me appear on the runway. Right now she is tossing up between using me and destroying me," Y/N's mind was clear as she lifted her head and looked into Jong-In's eyes, "If you were Jennie, which would you choose?"
"The thing is, I don't think she's captured anything yet..."
"Not necessarily..." Y/N was referring to the incident with the male model. As long as Jennie wanted to, she could even use such a small encounter to destroy Y/N after careful planning.
"Just focus on preparing for the show. Everything else...I will handle it," he reassured.
Y/N smiled; she trusted Jong-In, but not 100%. In this entire world, the only person she could trust entirely was Jimin.
"Y/N, I didn't know you were in such a difficult situation. Do you think the reason why Jennie is stalking you, is partly because she thinks Lu Che and I are just covering up for you and you are the actual one that is related to JinHit?"
After hearing Mina's question, she shook her head, "No way. If Jennie was suspicious of my relationship with JinHit, it wouldn't have been difficult for her to guess what my relationship with Jimin is. From the start, she has never expected that Jimin would be interested in me at all."
"Why?"
"Because Jimin has no interest in her. In her eyes, if Jimin has no interest in her, then how could he possibly waste his time on a small model like myself."
Deep inside...Jennie was an extremely self-centered person.
She never allowed others to be better than her and didn't allow others to jump out of her control.
"How arrogant!" Although Mina felt a little better after hearing Y/N's words, she knew Y/N had worked hard to cover up her relationship with Jimin and wasn't at the stage to reveal it yet. So, after returning to her room, she decided to send a message to Lu Che.
After sending the message, she felt she was out of her mind as her face reddened and she lay on the bed.
"How about we live together?"
Lu Che was in the middle of dealing with some documents. Upon seeing Mina's message, he received a huge shock. He immediately replied to her with a whole heap of question marks; this low EQ man actually thought Mina had sent her message to the wrong person!
"Aren't we engaged? Let's pretend to cohabit...you already have my keys after all. How about you drop by every now and then?"
"Are you out of your mind?"
After Mina and Jong-In returned to their respective rooms, Y/N pulled open the curtains in her room and savored the view of London at night.
She thought to herself, whatever way Jennie decided to challenge her, she would throw the same method back.
But, what if Jennie wanted to take her life...
.....
The next morning. Y/N was awoken by a knock on the door. She expected it to be either Mina or Jong-In. However, after she got changed and opened the door, standing in front of her was the young male model from the previous day.
"I finally found you...beautiful Asian long legs..." the man reached out his hands for a hug. But, Y/N quickly dodged to the side.
"My name is Gabe, I really want to get to know you my goddess; you are so sexy."
Y/N did not bother to respond to him as she closed her door in his face and called Jong-In.
At this time, for a man like this to appear in front of her, Y/N couldn't help but tie it back to the people at HYPE...
Jong-In easily sent the male model away before entering her room, "You are currently being followed. For an indecent person like this to cling to you out of nowhere, it's definitely suspicious."
Even Jong-In had noticed something was off, how could Y/N not know?
"Jennie is really closing in!"
Not only this, Hyunjin, who was even more sinister than Jennie, knew deep down that Y/N was not easy to deal with. If things were to continue to drag on, she would definitely retaliate sooner or later, so Hyunjin did not ask for Jennie's permission and placed the photos in his possession directly online.
The headline read, [Y/N's 'High Moral' Mask Teared Down; Caught Flirting With a Male Model].
At the same time, the article suggested that the writer was an insider; it hinted that he knew Y/N had a boyfriend but was flirting with the 'back-view dream man' and seducing a male model overseas. Seeing her three-timing, he couldn't continue to stand idly by.
Y/N was famous for being aloof from the world. So, with this 'lustful' claim, the netizens were quickly fired up and throwing in their insults.
Female celebrities were always treated differently to male celebrities. Even if a male celebrity had rumors like this, it would easily be overlooked, but...when it came to female celebrities, even if they were innocent, people would still latch on and refuse to let go. On top of everything, the rumors would easily be turned into a scandal and be brought up time and time again.
Lust!
Everyone was caught by surprise; Hyunjin threw his attack too quick and too ruthlessly.
Especially because his attack was related to a lustful topic and this was something men often searched online, the popularity of the article, quickly flew to the top of search rankings.
At this time, Jimin's flight had just landed...
After seeing the article, Jennie's face turned terrifyingly red. She grabbed onto the entertainment magazine and stomped over on her high heeled shoes to Hyunjin's office and threw it in front of him, "Why did you make this decision on your own?"
He put down the documents in his hands and stood up from his chair as he explained, "Because, if we continue to wait, we will only be met with Y/N's counterattack."
"She is a careful schemer. With the evidence we have in our hands, it is already enough to destroy her. Since that is the case, why should we continue to wait?"
Jennie did not reply to Hyunjin. Actually, she felt that his actions were right...but she didn't like people that made their own decisions without her consent!
Y/N was currently in London. As long as HYPE didn't do any PR and let the scandal continue to spread, all that would be awaiting Y/N was the netizens disgust and destruction.
"Don't forget, Y/N was even capable of pulling herself out of the 'bed-climbing' scandal."
"This time, I definitely won't let her recover. I'm well prepared." After speaking, Hyunjin presented a whole stack of information for Jennie to see.
If Y/N tried to retaliate, he would pull out another piece of information to slap her in the face!
He didn't believe that there would be anyone capable of saving her.
.....
"Dear God, I never expected Y/N to appear so aloof from the world on the surface, yet deep down she is so lustful."
"I already heard previously that every time she goes overseas, she never stays in the hotel organized by her agency. Where could she have gone? She must have found someone to satisfy her lust!"
"Didn't she say she had no boyfriend? Previously, on HT's interview, I already felt that there was something ambiguous going on between her and the 'back-view dream man'. Was I the only one that felt like she was seducing a married man?"
"I told you guys ages ago, there was something wrong with this slut. Yet, so many of you claimed she had a high EQ."
"She's almost being crushed into a paste. Isn't she just a model? Does it make sense for her to hog the top of search rankings?"
"I reckon that woman is currently lying under a foreign man in pleasure!"
In an instant, there were so many comments attacking Y/N that the server almost crashed. As for the media company that released the news, they had never seen an article being forwarded so rapidly; they were smiling from ear to ear.
"Let that slut stay in London and never come back."
After the release of the scandal, media companies quickly contacted HYPE to see if they were aware of Y/N's current state. However, Hyunjin responded with a simple, "I'm not sure."
On top of everything, HYPE did not do anything to subdue the matter. This suggested to the public that HYPE had decided not to do any PR for Y/N, which also meant that she indeed had something wrong with her and they had no choice but to give up on her.
The media also contacted Jong-In. At this time, he was watching Y/N practice her walk. He had no idea what they were talking about, so he instructed Mina to do some searches online.
Mina looked extremely displeased. As she handed the information to him, her neck had flushed red.
Jong-In took the phone from Mina's hand and had a quick glance before gesturing that he would take care of Y/N. He also instructed Mina not to let her find out; right now, her main priority was HOPE's show.
Mina tried her best to subdue the anger in her heart as she looked at Jong-In and did an 'OK' gesture with her fingers.
He walked outside with his phone. As he stood in front of the church, he gave Jennie a phone call, "President Kim, you sure are calculative."
"Y/N is sure unlucky. After struggling for so long, in the end, her name was tarnished by her own company."
"Are you happy now that Y/N's reputation is blackened like ash?"
"Kai, even if we give up on Y/N, there are still thousands of other Y/N's. The only reason she has ended up like this is because she asked for it," Jennie scorned. "If she knew how to behave and was a little more obedient without being so opinionated, right now, she would have such a promising future. She wouldn't only be offered a show like HOPE's, even better jobs would all be hers...At this point, she can't blame anyone!"
Jong-In took a deep breath; he suddenly felt bad for Jennie, "Y/N simply wanted to chase her dreams, she never wanted to hinder anyone. So...sorry, Jennie."
She could sense there was a deeper meaning to Jong-In's words as she gradually scrunched up her eyebrows, "What do you mean?"
He hesitated for a moment before asking, "Was Jieun pushed to death in the same way?"
Hearing these words and hearing the name that hadn't been mentioned for quite some time, she was dumbfounded for a little bit before scoffing, "I'm sure you know better than I do how Jieun died. As for Y/N, I want to throw her into a place of no return."
Jong-In felt he no longer had anything to say to Jennie, so he hung up. However, this phone call had not resulted in nothing; he recorded the entire conversation!
Afterwards, he accepted phone calls from the Seoul media and told them, "None of what you've heard is the truth. I hope the media can maintain their professional ethics and not insult other's innocence."
.....
JinHit's CEO's office. After returning to Seoul, Jimin had only just sat down inside his office when he saw the viral scandal online. He immediately gave Jong-In a phone call.
"Jimin, don't worry, Y/N doesn't know about it yet and I intend on leaving it that way. I won't let it affect her appearance on HOPE's show..." he told Jimin. "Plus, I have a recording in my hands that proves Jennie purposely defamed Y/N..."
"Take good care of Y/N, don't let her mood be affected. Also, send me the recording..." Jimin replied.
He, at this moment, was different to how he appeared in front of Y/N.
It was only now that Jong-In experienced the Jimin that the public spoke of; he was the ultimate king with an unchallengeable power.
"I will send it over now," Jong-In understood that keeping the recording in his own hands would never have the same impact as giving it to Jimin. So, Jong-In directly sent the recording to him; he completely forgot about the part where he mentioned Jieun's death.
After receiving the recording, Jimin gave it a listen, cut out the part regarding Jieun and handed it to Lu Che to handle.
"Place this recording in the hottest spots online for one month with an eye-catching headline. Make sure not to let it come down from the hottest searches."
"The headline can be: [So, Y/N is Being Defamed Because She Offended You...]"
"One month?" Lu Che was a little surprised. Did that mean HYPE would be awaiting their destruction?
"One month! On top of that, instruct some media companies to extract specific phrases from the recording and get a team to spread them. We should help President Kim get some publicity."
"Doesn't she want to experience ultimate power? I'll give it to her!" After speaking, Jimin handed his phone to Lu Che. "Remember, if anyone tries to buy the top spots, then suppress it with double their offer. I want HYPE's news to be up there for one month!"