Chapter 27
Rättvik, Sweden
Sobriety House
Manager Jang Min smiled as she took a seat in the living room of the private suite. In her hands was a digital tablet with the latest tabloid story referencing her client on it. She knew the pictures would come in handy, she just wished they could have released them sooner in order to stir up some good publicity for her client.
As it was, Hwang Sang-Hee was still working on his sobriety and not making progress as quickly as his Manager would like. In order to stay relevant and not to lose the public’s interest in On the Moon Swings Love, things needed strategically leaked.
Hwang Sang-Hee came out from the bathroom in a bathrobe. “You are smiling as if you are up to something,” he commented, taking a seat on lounge chair across from her.
Min handed him the tablet and he took it then scrolled through the article. “Just keeping you relevant and the victim of course.”
“Thank you from refraining from publishing the picture of me slapping her,” he dryly commented.
“You are welcome, but you are well aware that I would never do anything to jeopardize your career like you are hell bent on doing yourself,” Min said. She was aware that her client wasn’t amused in the least with her tactics. “The story will stir the hornet’s nest and cause the public to be even more interested in the film than they were before.”
He looked form her to the article and actually took the time to read it. “You cannot be serious,” he complained, looking at her. “You were not permitted to go with a romantic angle, and that is exactly what you did. I would never, and I mean ever, entertain a relationship with Myo Mi-Sun. It is a struggle to even kiss her on screen!” he said disgustedly then shivered.
Min shook her head. “You pay me to protect you, Sang-Hee. The pictures, when looked at without context, look as if you two are having a lover’s spat. With a little editing, the ones of her yelling look as if she was yelling at you as you walked off instead of her pleading with security to let you go. What you ever did to that little girl to get her to protect you as she does I’ll never know.”
Sang-Hee shrugged; that was a good question. He and Myo Mi-Sun weren’t friends, didn’t have the same social circle, and they only talked when working together or working a press junket. Their chemistry on screen was impressive, it transcended to the red carpet and in interviews. But they had nothing in common, didn’t talk outside of work, and yet she was constantly running interference for him for some reason.
There was only one possible reason for that.
Dramatically he sighed. “The poor, foolish girl is in love with me, obviously. She truly is not a professional if she has allowed her mind and heart to get confused as what is reality and what is script.” Mockingly he wiped away a tear. “Oh to see the look on her face when that fragile little orphan’s heart breaks will be worthy of the tabloids indeed. Perhaps that’s something you can arrange,” he baited.
Min chuckled. “But of course. It is why you pay me as handsomely as you do.”
He gave her a look. “I suppose. There are other reasons.”
“Mainly it is because I make your scandals go away,” she reminded him. “You need to figure out your sobriety so we can get back. There are only so many juicy stories I can leak before Chairman Hu pushes back and throws you under the proverbial bus. The little arson incident allowed us time before I had to pull from my arsenal, but that was wrapped up quicker than I would have liked. It’s as if they got in front of it before it could be exploited, but I don’t know how. That isn’t how Chairman Hu operates and that’s concerning.”
Sang-Hee dramatically groaned then stomped his feet. “Why do you have to speak so cryptically?!” he whined. “I am too sober to make sense of your weird conspiracy gibberish. Who cares if the old man finally did something to get in front of the tabloids?! Why does that matter to us? Better question, why does it affect us? Huh? Huh?”
Min cocked an eyebrow and he instantly closed his mouth. “It matters to us because if Chairman Hu finally got someone that is nearly as good at diverting scandal as I am, it means someone will be able to do the exact same to you as I’ve been doing to Myo Mi-Sun. You are not smart enough to get in front of the scandals that you foolishly find yourself in,” she reminded him and he glared at her. “You are a grown adult that acts like a petulant child when he doesn’t get his way. And I am here to make sure it doesn’t come back on you when it blows up in your face.”
He sulked down in his seat and pouted. “I am not a child,” he grumbled under his breath.
“You are, and that is why the women love you,” Min reminded him and he smirked; vanity was the easiest sin to exploit. “You need to act your way out of this sobriety house in order to get back on set. These new developments are too difficult to handle remotely. I need to be back in Seoul in order to get the team working on this. Chairman Hu is up to something, I know it, and I’m tired of waiting to dethrone the old man. His retirement rapidly approaches, and I will be the one to pushing him from his throne in order to do it.”
Sang-Hee clapped excitably; he loved it when his terrifying business manager was evil. She terrified him with just how scandalous and heartless she was, and any time he was on the receiving end of her irritation he was quick to turn her attention elsewhere.
“How do you plan on doing that?” he asked as more of an afterthought. “Chairman Hu is scandal free, his reputation is golden in the industry, NuStarr Talent Management is the most highly sought after representation in nearly all creative industries, so how do you plan on forcing him into retirement?”
Min smiled and she looked unbelievably evil when she did. “Have I taught you nothing, Hwang Sang-Hee?” she mused. “The easiest way to topple Chairman Hu from this throne is to crush his heart. Whether it’s his actual heart or metaphorical, it won’t matter. I will destroy him one way or another. It won’t take much now. I will destroy his reputation, take all of his clients, and burn NuStarr down around him. And his precious niece will be the means to that destruction,” she said as if it were obvious.
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