Chapter 83: < Protect – Episode 82 – Scandal [2] >

As soon as rumors about their dating came out, Jang Seol Hyun acknowledged it as if she had been waiting for this. She wasn’t the one who revealed, it, was she? She was so quick that that suspicion also came to mind. Hosoo Entertainment’s main office was busy with calls from advertisers, reporters, and fans. The two of them were the ones who caused the trouble, but other people were busy cleaning it up. But they didn’t feel that they did something wrong since they were being compensated well.

As soon as Ahn Soo Ho entered Star Tower, Oh Joo Kyung greeted him, but she didn’t seem that surprised.

“Where’s Seol Hyun?”

“She’s coming in right now.”

“Did she really acknowledge it?”

“Yes, Sir.”

Since they turned off their phones to block out the noise, they had no choice but to communicate through managers.

“You don’t seem that surprised.”

“That’s because we sent out the article.”

“Ha.”

Ahn Soo Ho laughed. Oh Joo Kyung and Jang Seol Hyun must have spoken ahead of time.

“Last night, we received a call saying a dating rumor article was going to be released. So she told them to make it big if they were going to do it anyway.”

“Who? Seol Hyun?”

“Yes, Sir.”

They definitely talked about it ahead of time. He laughed bitterly in response to the sound of a knock.

“Come in.”

“Hehe.”

Jang Seol Hyun poked her head in and laughed.

“Next time, tell me before you cause an accident.”

“I didn’t know. Agh!”

She screamed when Ahn Soo Ho pulled her cheeks.

“Do we have to hold a press conference?”

“As soon as possible.”

“Oh yeah?”

He frowned and went deep into thought in response to Oh Joo Kyung’s response.

“We should tell both parents so that they don’t get surprised.”

“I already did that.”

“Should I be proud?”

He patted Jang Seol Hyun on the head who looked like she was proud of herself.

“What does the public think?”

“It doesn’t look good.”

“Tell me in more detail.”

Oh Joo Kyung opened her tablet in response to Ahn Soo Ho’s question.

“Ahn Soo Ho, that son of a bitch.”

“Anything good?”

“No, Sir.”

“Not at all?”

“No, Sir.”

After asking, again and again, all he could do was to let out a sigh. Since Jang Seol Hyun was over a decade younger, he couldn’t say anything in response to the insults, but it wasn’t like he wasn’t a catch either.

“In the Western world, there are plenty of couples with big age gaps. Why are they being like that?”

“Because this is Korea. The advertisers are angry as well.”

“Are they pulling out?”

“No…but they have something on us now.”

They were like hyenas who tried to pounce at whatever they could get. As many people Hosoo Entertainment had on their side, there were many against them as well.

“How are we going to deal with it?”

“How about we hold a press conference and then appear on a talk show?”

Ahn Soo Ho looked back at Jang Seol Hyun. This didn’t seem like something that could come out of Oh Joo Kyung’s head. Jang Seol Hyun quickly explained.

“If we consider what happened in Hollywood, isn’t it normal that we’re dating, Soo Ho?”

“It’ll be dramatic, but people will only continue to curse…Hm, let’s give it some time. Did you book a place for the press conference?”

He looked back at Oh Joo Kyung.

“At Daesan Hotel.”

“Isn’t that too obvious?”

It was his relationship with Kim Dae San that was special, not Daesan Group and his company, but Oh Joo Kyung used her former company to their advantage. When the interphone rang, he pressed the button to answer it.

“Chairman Kim Dae San is on the line.”

“Okay.”

Ahn Soo Ho pressed the blinking number 3 button and then answered the phone.

“It’s me.”

“You thieving son of a bitch!”

“Old man, go to sleep if you have nothing else to do.”

“Haha!”

Kim Dae San laughed as if he was in a good mood.

“It looks like you’ve been scheming behind my back.”

“It turned out that way.”

“Did you greet each other’s families?”

“Dating doesn’t mean that we…we’ll get married.”

He changed his words as soon as he saw Jang Seol Hyun’s glare.

“What is this about, old man?”

“You need to help Na Hee.”

“Na Hee? Didn’t we agree to just watch over her?”

“Things have gotten worse. You knew, didn’t you? You turned it down because you knew it was complicated, right?”

It was just a guess, but he didn’t deny it. It seemed as though Daesan also sent men to look into the truth of Han Chae Kyung’s case. Seeing how they found out the truth quickly, they must have employed a famous detective agency.

“I don’t want to be bothered…”

“I heard you’re interested in broadcasting companies.”

As soon as Ahn Soo Ho complained, Kim Dae San came swinging in with an offer.

“I told you last time. I’m interested. But there are too many things to deal with first.”

“I’ll help you.”

“Oh, yourself?”

“Deal?”

“Deal.”

He noticed a sense of desperation hidden beneath his youthful way of talking because Kim Dae San was really worried about Kim Na Hee. Blood really was thicker than water. After ending his call, Ahn Soo Ho looked at Oh Joo Kyung.

“Daesan will be helping with the broadcasting companies. Since the old man is handling it himself, I’m sure it’ll happen.”

“By old man…do you mean the chairman?”

“Yeah.”

“Oh, that’s good. I’d better tell the task force right away.”

In Korean society, Kim Dae San still had more influence than Ahn Soo Ho. As soon as Oh Joo Kyung left, Jang Seol Hyun snuck into his arms.

“You’re not mad, are you, Mister?”

“Mad? Why?”

“Because I acknowledged it without talking to you first.”

He kissed her forehead.

“This will be more detrimental to you than me. You might lose all your sponsorships. Will you be okay with that?”

“I don’t care.”

“I thought you were going to keep me fed.”

“Oh.”

Jang Seol Hyun looked troubled, but then she smiled.

Daesan Hotel became a regular place for Hosoo Entertainment to visit. Only Korea and Japan showed a lot of interest in the top stars’ news and depending on the top stars’ level, the press conference was different as well. Luckily, there wasn’t too much backlash from the fan’s clubs, but among the Korean men, he was treated like a traitor.

The press conference was no big deal.

Ahn Soo Ho dressed plainly as possible and sat with Jang Seol Hyun while holding her hand. Dodging all sorts of questions from reporters was her specialty. However, there were also questions they couldn’t avoid.

“When do you plan to marry?”

“As early as next year, the year after that at the latest.”

Jang Seol Hyun sounded vague, so Ahn Soo Ho spoke up first. He held her hand as she showed surprise.

“Did you greet each other’s families?”

“We’ve set a date to do so.”

“When is that?”

“That’s a secret. Why would we tell you?”

“Haha.”

Quiet laughter could be heard. As soon as Ahn Soo Ho held the mic, the vibe of the press conference livened up again. Since Jang Seol Hyun was a celebrity, she would have more opportunities to speak in other interviews, but Ahn Soo Ho was hard to meet in such a setting.

“Do you plan to have children?”

“We’re not even married yet. Should we be having some?”

“Haha.”

Ahn Soo Ho made them laugh once more.

“What do you think about the rumors claiming that you set up your company in order to date Seol Hyun?”

“You won’t believe me even if I deny it. Well, it turned out this way.”

“What do you think about Hwang Min Wook’s list and celebrity sponsoring?”

“That was his personal choice, but that’s not allowed in my company.”

“We heard you have a lot of Hollywood connections.”

“But none with females starting today.”

“Haha!”

Ahn Soo Ho’s interview skills weren’t bad.

He answered each question in a witty way. It was difficult for public TV channels, but cable channels managed to get the press conference live on air. The producer smiled brightly in response to the viewers’ bulletin board.

They look better together than I expected.

Isn’t Ahn Soo Ho too good for her?

He’s tall, has money, and his face wouldn’t be bad with makeup.

Who are you to evaluate Mr. Ahn? Go to the washroom and look in the mirror, you bastards!

At first, everyone treated him like a thief, but now, they were acting like Jang Seol Hyun was the one who stole him away. No matter what they were saying, the two of them went up to the suite room of Daesan Hotel after the press conference.

They changed their plans to greet each other’s families while they were at it. The parents of both sides already got acquainted with each other before they visited. Ahn Dae Man showed off his sociability by becoming close to Jang Seol Hyun’s parents.

“Come here.”

The pre-marriage greeting was pleasant.

Ahn Soo Ho saw a different side to his father. He was definitely bluffing half of the time, but he was good at lifting the mood. After a few drinks, both sides got drunk, relocated, and talked about all sorts of things. Since they rented out the entire floor, it was big enough for all family members to stay the night.

“This is nice.”

Ahn Soo Ho, who was looking out the window with Jang Seol Hyun in his arms, expressed his satisfaction. Since they formally greeted each other’s parents before actually starting to date, the order was all wrong, but they were still happy.

The next day, he had a meal with Kim Dae Chan.

“I should have gone to greet your parents yesterday. I feel bad.”

“You can see them at the wedding.”

“Anyway, congrats.”

“You look happy, Dae Chan.”

“Your life is over once you’re in the married club. Welcome to hell!”

“I’m not married just yet.”

“If you get divorced, your positive image will be done for, and you’ll become the country’s son of a bitch. This is why open dating is scary, you punk.”

He was exaggerating, but he wasn’t wrong.

“I heard from my father. Public TV might take some time, but cable is easy.”

“I should probably start with cable, right?”

“Yeah. Public TV producers have a lot of pride, so they’re hard to deal with.”

The conversation didn’t go on for long because Kim Dae Chan was busy as well as Ahn Soo Ho.

“Let’s have a drink sometime.”

“Sure.”

Someone approached him as he sat at the table alone. Seeing how Logan didn’t stop them, they either had an appointment or they knew each other.

“I’m about to die here!”

Kim Soo Jung sat across from him and yelled.

“Where’s Seol Hyun?”

“She’s sleeping.”

“They do say pretty girls sleep a lot. What did you do to her that she’s still not getting up?”

“You know my stamina.”

He responded to the witty question with a witty answer.

“If you’re taking medicine, share it with Chul, too.”

“Stop the nonsense. What is it? Do they want an interview?”

“Yeah.”

She confidently took out a question sheet and pulled out her recorder.

He had to push back his meetings by an hour for this. Jang Seol Hyun and Ahn Soo Ho’s dating rumors were hot, and the government probably wanted this issue to go on for a long time. He didn’t want to go along with it, but this was good for Hosoo Entertainment’s awareness as well.

As people came down to eat breakfast, more and more people recognized Ahn Soo Ho. When Kim Soo Jung was finished, she took off right away. Seeing how rude she was, Yoon Chul must have been having a hard time. She wasn’t just a bad personality but a total slap in the face. But that didn’t mean she was a bad person. She was just the opposite of feminine.

Despite the line between men and women being more blurred, definitions of masculinity and femininity still existed, which was separate from gender equality.

When Ahn Soo Ho got back upstairs, Jang Seol Hyun was sitting on the bed. Her eyes had no focus. He looked at his watch. Since he was late by an hour anyway, he thought he might as well take his time. When she saw Ahn Soo Ho, she opened her arms wide. She really liked to be hugged.

After entertaining Jang Seol Hyun all morning, he greeted both sides of the family in their respective rooms and then went to work by noon. When he got there, Kim Yoo Seon was waiting. The way he was overexcited reminded him of what he looked like a few days ago as well.

‘Déjà vu?’

This is how he looked when he brought Kumiko, who he knew as Ahn Da Sol.

“CEO Ahn! Please give Emily and Rachel to me!”

“People aren’t objects.”

“Pardon?”

“I’m just kidding.”

Kim Yoo Seon showed a sour look in response to Ahn Soo Ho’s lame joke, but then he changed his expression.

“They must be pretty talented.”

“They’re not just pretty talented! They’re ready to debut as singers!”

“But they don’t speak Korean that well.”

“Oh.”

“Or target them for the English speaking countries.”

“Hm, wouldn’t that be difficult?”

If Emily and Rachel debuted in the States, it wouldn’t look awkward at all.

“The biggest problem is that the American music market is different from that of Korea.”

“And we don’t even have a base.”

“That’s right. And above all, their dream is to become idols…”

Even though Ahn Soo Ho didn’t know much about the entertainment world, he knew that the trends were different in all regions. If a person would go to the States and acted cutely as people do in Korea, they could get dragged away. Americans thought that stars had to be cool and confident wherever they went.

“Start giving them lessons.”

“Yes, Sir.”

Ahn Soo Ho took out his phone as soon as Kim Yoo Seon left.

“Alexa.”

“You finally got involved in a scandal, Soo Ho.”

“What can we do? What’s done is done.”

Alexa was sarcastic, but he got out of it.

“How many of her articles did the desk get rid of?”

“Over twenty.”

“What about Yoon Chul?”

“They probably halted over ten investigations from up top.”

They started to keep Kim Soo Jung and Yoon Chul in check. Since they were doing things according to the regulations, they couldn’t really do anything. The Death Note that Ahn Soo Ho rolled out was very impactful.

“Spread it all over the internet.”

“Ms. Kim and Mr. Yoon might be suspected.”

“Are you stupid? Spread the ones that they haven’t touched.”

“Then they’ll suspect you.”

“So what?”

Ahn Soo Ho smirked.

“What’s good about law-governed countries…”

Since he got hit once, he was ready to hit them back a hundred or a thousand times more.

“Is that something that can be done with belief alone?”

Ahn Soo Ho was happy to use exposure tactics.

“Let’s see who goes down first.”

< Protect – Episode 82 – Scandal [2] > The end.

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