As her lies were exposed, everyone laughed at her. They looked down on her and said she was shameless because she was a liar.
Ji yong and his friends were also disappointed by her lies and wanted to break off their friendship with her.
She even dreamt that her closest friends and relatives were disappointed by her actions. Their only perception of her was that she was a liar.
She felt as though she completely lost the honor of being Young Lady Jeon.
People would no longer look at her with admiration.
They would look at her as though she was a joke.
In the dream, there was a crowd humiliating her. "How is she the Young Lady Jeon?. How could she commit such a shameful act of taking credit for someone else's work?"
"That's right. Guess you can never know completely."
"She's so despicable that it's disgusting."
"How could she be addressed as Young Lady Jeon? Let's call her Young Liar Jeon instead."
The crowd insulted her again and again.
She felt as though her head was going to explode.
When she woke up from the nightmare, she felt that she could still hear those insults.
She was close to a mental breakdown during that period.
She was afraid.
She was afraid that her dream would become a reality.
She was afraid that the girl that saved Ji yong would suddenly appear and expose her lies in public.
When she recalled the period when she was so insecure, she tensed up and asked, "Was that night... that important to you? What I'm trying to say is... If I wasn't the one that saved you, you would still like me and treat me well, right? You would protect me and help me, right?
"GD, if someone else saved you that night, you would still like me and treat me well, right?"
As she spoke, she could feel herself getting afraid for no apparent reason.
She was afraid as she had a premonition that she was going to lose something important to her.
But why should she be afraid?
The girl that night had disappeared.
Also, it was such a long time ago, she must have changed.
Who would recognize her?
Also, Ji yong was unconscious at that time. He wouldn't have known who that girl was.
Or else, he wouldn't believe that she was the one who saved him.
He had never doubted about it for such a long time.
She had nothing to worry about.
No one would know the truth about what happened other than that girl and her.
And that girl would never appear in their lives ever again.
She was going to carry this secret to her grave.
Ji yong... must never find out what really happened.
However, there was no reply from him.
All she could hear was Ji yong's breathing.
Fear gripped her even more.
She bit on her lip. Anxiously, she clenched her fist with so much force that she bled, but she didn't notice it and continued asking, "GD, why aren't you answering me? Did you hear what I said?"
"Nancy, why are you suddenly asking about this?" Ji yong finally replied after a long moment of silence.
Nancy felt that something was amiss even though he sounded the same.
She took a deep breath to calm down and continued, "I was just curious."
"You haven't answered my question. If I wasn't the one who saved you that night, but someone else instead, what would you do?
"Would you fall for that girl because of this?"
"Weren't you the one that night?" Ji yong didn't bother answering her question. "I don't bother analyzing hypothetical situations."
"But..."
"Nancy, you're the one who saved me that night. You were the first person I saw when I opened my eyes, and you were completely drenched beside me. Your eyes were red while you called my name repeatedly.
"I don't know how to answer your previous question. But if you weren't the one who saved me that night, I'd be very disappointed. Nancy, I hate it when people lie to me.
"It's all the more painful to be lied to by someone so close. So, please don't lie to me. Otherwise, I don't know what I'd resort to."
Nancy's expression stiffened. The hand gripping the cell phone stiffened as well.
Although she couldn't see him, she could feel the coldness in his voice from across the line.
...
The Kwon family.
By the huge pool.
The housemaid stood by the side and held a glass of iced cold water to him. Ji yong received it and took two sips as he looked at his cell phone screen. He then placed it on the table.
The housemaid then handed him a peeled grape. "Young Master Kwon."
Ji yong looked up and waved her off. "Leave these here. I don't need anyone to serve me, leave for now."
"Yes, Young Master Kwon."
He'd just showered and had a white towel wrapped around him as he lay on the deck chair by the pool.
His toned chest and legs were revealed.
He was rather fair, and his skin had a cooler tone to it. He looked rather like a vampire in the sunlight.
Unlike most rich second-generation heirs who looked weak and had a lack of exercise, he was pretty well-built.
This group of them had high standards for their health and body.
Before the housemaid left, she stole a glance of the man lying there and felt her heart race.
Young Master's figure... was so good.
Those muscles... made her heart race.
Especially the defined abdominal muscles. She'd counted them before—eight packs!
Her Young Master had great looks and figure and graduated from a renowned university. And he was the only heir.
He really was the chosen one.
She felt like not many girls in the whole of Seoul City could be worthy of the Young Master.
If Young Master didn't have a manic disorder, he would've been perfect.
But even with this disorder, he was still a very eligible man.
Just with his status as the Young Master of the Kwon family, he was already an ideal catch for a lot of women.
However, although Young Master looked very much like a playboy and always had different women around him, those who knew him well would know that he was still keeping a lookout for his ideal one.
He was always changing female companions because none of them had truly touched him yet.
To put it crudely, they were just companions in bed.
Young Master had high standards. In fact, the only woman he'd ever taken seriously was probably Young Lady Jeon.
Young Lady Jeon was indeed compatible with him in terms of her educational level, looks, family background, and more.
The only issue was that Young Lady Jeon wasn't fond of the Young Master.
Sigh. Who would Young Master's other half be? What kind of woman would she be like?
After the housemaid left, Ji yong swirled the ice in his glass and recalled the call just now. He narrowed his eyes and then made another call.
The other party picked up. "Young Master Kwon."
"Help me check something out."
Ji yong placed his glass on the table and tapped his fingers on the surface. After thinking through it, he said calmly, "I want to investigate something that happened 10 years ago."
...
Jennie's news was taken down very quickly.
Lisa had activated the Public Relations Department of the Manoban Corporation, and in less than half an hour, the verified accounts had taken down their reposts, the "hot search" topic got removed and, soon after, many users' accounts were deactivated.
It was such huge news, but it vanished almost without a trace.
It was so quick that some netizens hadn't even found out what really happened.
It was as if none of it took place.
Even the "related topics" were shut down.
A few netizens found that as long as they typed the words "Jennie" or "Mistress Jennie," their posts couldn't be sent at all.
Hence, they could only use other symbols in order to make their point.
You Lack A Girlfriend: Damn, who else is in the same situation as me. I can't post anything on Weibo once the words "Jennie" is in it. Did Young Master Kim do this? That's so cool.
Your Smile Is Pretty: Me too. I typed her name just now and couldn't send the post at all. I thought it was my internet connection at first, but it seems like everyone is facing the same problem. And I saw that the Qiao and Kim searches have been taken down. The verified accounts took them down too. Is that Kim guy that awesome? How does he do this, won't it cost a lot?
You Are Actually Ugly: I don't think money is enough for this to happen. Maybe spending a sum would get them to take the "hot searches" down, but it can't possibly be enough to get the huge verified accounts to remove their posts too. I doubt the Kim Mandate is powerful enough for that. Unless... that Qiao girl has another backing? Could it be Young Master Kwon chipping in?
Little Cutie: This Kim-Jen woman is too powerful. Not only did Young Master Kwon help her clarify the situation, he even helped to take all the news down? Gosh, when has Young Master Kwon been so attentive and thoughtful to a woman? Is she really his girlfriend? Honestly, she does look pretty, like a little goddess that all men would want to dote on. It wouldn't be surprising if Young Master Kwon really liked her.
A Lemon: She does look pretty good, but I wouldn't call her a goddess. She has makeup on. If she really is so good-looking, she should take a selfie, bare-faced. If a bare-faced selfie can look good, then she really is good-looking.
A netizen actually went to dig out Jennie's recent album and really found an unedited, bare-faced photograph of her.
The photograph was taken close-up, and it captured every detail of Jennie's face.
It was so clear that they could see her fine hairs in the photograph, but couldn't find a single flaw.
And it was obvious that she did not have any makeup on in the photograph.
Bare-faced.
And still, her facial features were exquisite. Her lips were red and her teeth were white... and she looked even more like a goddess than with makeup on.
Once that netizen posted this photograph, the user who previously asked for her bare-faced photo did not comment further.
This photo alone caught the attention of many online.
There were tens of thousands of likes and over 10,000 comments.
Many of them in the comment section mentioned that Jennie seemed so goddess-like. And a good number also asked for her Weibo account so they could follow her.
At the end of it, not only did the rumors not bring Jennie trouble, it even got her more popularity.
Before this blew up, she had about 30,000 followers.
Now, she had close to 140,000 of them.
Jennie hardly posted selfies on her Weibo account. In the hundreds of photos, only three or four were selfies.
And the netizen actually found it.
Every Weibo post she made went from having a few comments to hundreds or even thousands of them.
Although this wasn't that many compared to highly popular actors, this was a significant increase for Jennie.
She was at the level of an online influencer.
In the office.
Seeing the number of followers go up, Jennie widened her eyes.
Just a half-hour ago, she'd been scolded by so many people online.
And now, her Weibo account was gaining followers?
What was going on?
She rubbed her eyes a few times and even suspected that she'd seen wrong.
"What is it?" Lisa patted her on the head and asked her when he saw her shocked expression.
"I... I have so many followers now..."
More than a hundred thousand followers!!
This was a stunning figure for a newbie actress like her.
And what was most important was that these were all actual fans and people. They weren't blank accounts or bought fans.
This was the first time Jennie saw a six-digit figure in her follower list.
She was so confused.
Lisa looked at her cell phone and nodded. "That makes you so happy? I can buy you another 10 million fans, you want that?"
"No!"
Jennie was shocked by his suggestion and afraid that he'd really get someone to do it for her. "Please don't buy fans for me, I don't want that. I'm not popular enough. If I have 10 million fans, everyone will know they're bought.
"I want real fans, not bought ones.
"I trust my capability. I'll earn them on my own."
Lisa smiled and said, "Mm, I believe my baby has that capability too."
Jennie couldn't find any of the rumors on Weibo anymore.
Not a single one.
Just a half-hour ago, they were all over the place.
She couldn't believe the Manoban Corporation's Public Relations' power...
Someone knocked on the door.
Lisa said "Come in," and Jackson pushed the door open.
He saw his Boss and Young Madam holding each other...
Gosh, would Chairman Manoban be able to work productively in the future?
Would he be as efficient?
Jackson took a few steps forward but stopped at a respectable distance from them.
"Chairman Manoban, Young Madam's rumors and news have all been taken down. Relevant topics have also been shut down. We've just found out that the users blowing up the matter were all employed by the same company.
"That company is one of the biggest in the industry and has a great influence on the popularity of topics and celebrities online. Many of the artistes became 'hot search' topics because these bought users blew things up as told. I've already got someone to dig deeper into this. We should be able to find the person behind these rumors soon."
"Mm." Lisa nodded. "I have another dinner appointment tonight? Postpone it for me to a day that I'm free."
Jackson was left speechless.
He knew this was the case.
With Young Madam around, Chairman Manoban didn't have the heart for socializing whatsoever.
The power of love and beauty indeed!
"Yes, Chairman Manoban. I'll get to it right away."
What else was he to do with this boss of his, who was already too distracted from his work?
Lisa glanced at his watch and then shut his laptop. "Alright, that's all for now. You can leave work now."
Jackson nodded and took his leave, for fear of becoming an extra presence.
Lisa stood up with Jennie in his arms. "Baby, what would you like to eat for dinner?"
Jennie smiled and said casually, "Hot pot? Do you dare go with me?"
Lisa's brows furrowed for a bit when he heard the words "hot pot." But he nodded anyway and said, "Sure."
Jennie caught that split moment of his reaction and tried to stifle her laughter. "You really want to accompany me for that? You don't have to force yourself, you know. I can go with Rosie another day."
"I'm not forcing myself." Lisa pinched her cheek lightly. "You have a husband, you don't always have to look for your friend to accompany you. I feel like I'm still not as important as Rosie in your heart."
The man sounded a little aggrieved in the second half of the sentence.
Jennie was speechless.
Oh no, was he... jealous of Rosé now?
She would understand if he was jealous of some other man.
After all, there was some rivalry between those of the same gender.
But, to be jealous of a woman?
Gosh, this man was getting too much.
...
Leaving the Manoban Corporation.
They eventually decided to go to a French restaurant.
The Manoban Corporation was in the heart of the city, and so was the restaurant. It took roughly 10 minutes to get there.
Halfway through the journey, Lisa received a call.
After hanging up, he turned in the other direction at the next junction.
Jennie was confused. "Aren't we going to the French restaurant? Why are you..."
"Mom just called, she wants us to go home for dinner."
Lisa turned towards her and explained, "Grandma says she misses you and wants to see you. You'll be off to another city for your shoot in a few days and it'll be a long time by the time you're back. We should go and pay them a visit before you leave."
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