Chapter 203. A Very Scary Christmas For Some (3)

– The white snow falls on–
“Waaa—!”

The mood at the World Cup Sports Complex was reaching its peak.
The audience was waving their hands when Kim JiMin sang the carol, and she also became energized and sang even better.
General manager of STN, Jung GyungTaek, sighed in relief as he watched Kim JiMin sing.

“I was worried about the event since the accident happened and all, but… Eunha isn’t lacking at all compared to Eddios. Thank you, Director.”

Lee HyunJi, who was watching the event as well, waved her hand.

“Not at all. In fact, I’m sorry we caused you trouble.”

As the event reached its final parts, General Manager Jung GyungTaek looked much more at ease.
He almost despaired after hearing about Eddios’s accident.
However, World Entertainment had sent over other artists of their company to compensate and there were no problems with the event.

“Usually, many people just forget about it when there’s an accident… World sure is different, though.”
“Different, huh. That’s a nice word. Thank you for saying that.”
“Oh, no. In fact, I’m thankful instead. You saved my life.”

After the event, General Manager Jung GyungTaek gifted World with a coffee machine and some coffee capsules that STN produced. Lee HyunJi tried to refuse, but she had to accept it as the other party would not take no for an answer.
With lots of luggage, Lee Hyunji got in the van with Kim JaeHoon and Kim JiMin.

“Director, shouldn’t we visit the hospital?”

Kim JiMin asked carefully after the van departed.

“I also think we should visit.”

Kim JaeHoon agreed as he was also worried about Eddios.
Lee HyunJi told them to wait for a little and called KangYoon.
She got the answer that they were hospitalized and were currently resting in a VIP ward.

“They’re hospitalized in a VIP ward. Okay, then. Let’s make a visit. There seems to be a separate entrance as well, so we should be able to visit without causing a disturbance.”
“Okay.”

When they arrived at the VIP ward, they saw that the members of Eddios had a room for each of them.
The girls said that they were fine with rooms for two, but KangYoon had gone with expensive VIP wards due to security problems. As VIP rooms only had one bed each, they had to be separated.
Lee HyunJi and her company headed to Jung MinAh’s ward first since she was the leader.

“Are you alright?”
“Yes. It just surprised me a little, but I’m doing fine.”

Jung MinAh didn’t have any injuries, thankfully.
When she asked about the current state of the other members, she answered that most of them were just bruised at best. The fact that their faces weren’t injured were also very fortunate since their face was like their life as they were celebrities.

“Where is the president?”
“He went out saying he had to smoke. Sheesh, he really should quit smoking.”

Jung MinAh grumbled since she didn’t like KangYoon smoking.
Soon, Lee HyunJi visited the other wards.
She came back to Jung MinAh later, but KangYoon still couldn’t be seen.

“He still hasn’t come back?”
“Not yet. Should I call him?”

When Jung MinAh took out her phone, Lee HyunJi shook her head.

“He should be doing something now. Let’s not disturb him and wait.”
“Yes.”

There was no way KangYoon would stay still in the current situation. Since she knew her well, Lee HyunJi focused on calming everyone down.
Since Lee HyunJi and the other two were in Jung MinAh’s ward, the other girls also gathered here.
Everyone had calm expressions, but some of them were still shaking.

“My dear. You girls must be hurt.”

Lee HyunJi stayed up the night of Christmas as everyone else couldn’t fall asleep easily.
Meanwhile, KangYoon was calling someone in a smoking room located some distance away from the hospital front.

“…Okay. Thank you for your permission.”
– Not at all. In fact, I’m thankful that you’re so open to negotiating the settlement money.

The other party sighed out in relief. This was the driver that crashed into Eddios’s van.
Since this was 100% his fault, he would be fined hugely if negotiations didn’t go well, but he was thankful since KangYoon was so open to negotiations.
As this was a celebrity van, KangYoon could take the role of negotiating.

“I hope we can meet in better conditions next time. Also, be careful driving.”
– Okay, but as for the pixelization…
“We’ll put our effort into it. Also, the footage will only be used for broadcasting. I will make sure that no one can identify you.”

After the call, KangYoon called ‘Mivelish’, the company he requested the video editing for.
Although it was the middle of the night, his call got through since he had notified them beforehand.

– …Okay. We’ll start editing immediately.
“You said that rendering it will end by morning at the latest, right?”
– Of course.
“Please take care of it then. Don’t forget to pixelate the other party properly.”

After the call, KangYoon had a look at the time and saw that it was getting past 2 a.m.

– Eddios’s traffic accident. Eunha and Kim JaeHoon make up for the gap.
– Eddios’s traffic accident. Celebrity vans can ignore traffic signals?

He called journalists he knew and asked them to be as moderate as possible in the articles, but he only got the reply that it would be hard to do so without proper evidence.
For now, the situation couldn’t be reversed easily.

‘Man, I’m craving another smoke.’

After lighting up his cigarette, KangYoon consoled himself as time slowly passed.
When he had a look at Eddios’s fan cafe, Aries, there was a discussion about whether it was speeding or not, as well as comments that prayed for Eddios’s safe recovery. There were also comments that were disappointed with World Entertainment.

‘Yeah, let’s just hold on until morning.’

Looking forward to the time this would all change, KangYoon consoled his bitter feelings.

***

The next day.
After receiving the video early morning, KangYoon uploaded the video to World Entertainment’s website.
The video showed how another vehicle crashed into Eddios’s van so the internet erupted into a hot discussion.

– Eddios’s traffic accident. Another car crashed into them.
– Eddios hospitalized after another car crashed into them. Fortunately, there are no major injuries…
– Eddios gets into a traffic accident, but the event goes as planned… Company teamwork shines through.

The general opinion shifted drastically after the dashcam footage was revealed.
It was a complete contrast to when the accident had just taken place.
Moreover, the fact that World had sent Kim JaeHoon and Eunha to fill Eddios’s gap became known, and the fact that KangYoon had them hospitalized in VIP wards also became known as well.
After it became known that KangYoon had settled with the other driver, most of the bad comments had disappeared.
Instead, the spears were pointed towards Hidden Catch this time for writing misleading articles.

– It was BS again? Hidden Catch is even using traffic accidents for their profits now?
– Everyone, this just shows how trashy journalists are these days.
– Hidden Catch just isn’t trustworthy anymore.

The portal sites now became hot with the truth behind Eddios’s accident as well as the articles that Hidden Catch had published.
The dissatisfaction with their misleading articles had exploded now.

– Celebrity paparazzi are getting overboard. Is it fine to let them be?
– Misleading articles are ruining celebrities.

Moreover, the other journalists and news companies wrote about the battle between World Entertainment and Hidden Catch, so the situation now became known to many people.

“President, the ad companies are pulling out. Just this month, there’s…”
“…I get it so you can leave the report there.”

President Yoo MyungHoo waved his hand in annoyance when the manager in charge of ads carefully spoke.
However, the manager couldn’t stay still as he was worried.

“We’ve lost nearly 50% of our ads compared to last month. They’re saying that putting ads on a non-trustworthy site may affect their products as…”
“I get it so get out already!”

President Yoo MyungHoo shouted.
His eyes were filled with annoyance.
After sighing, the manager left after putting the report on his desk.

“World, World…!!”

At this rate, his company would be shaken.
He gritted his teeth as everything went bad after being involved with World Entertainment.

***

Due to the traffic accident, Eddios did not participate in any of the end-of-year award ceremonies. Many fans found it unfortunate and wished them to have a quick recovery.
Kim JiMin received the new artist award, while Kim JaeHoon got the golden disk prize as his album sales were within the top 3 of all artists.
After the busy 2012 went past, 2013 arrived.
Mid-January.
The court judged that Hidden Catch’s speculative articles had indeed defamed Eddios and affected their album sales.
30 million won (30,000 USD) in compensation.
It wasn’t a large amount, but the court acknowledged that Hidden Catch had damaged World Entertainment with false and speculative articles and also that they used malicious interpretations in their articles.
Once news about the court case was released to the public, they would no longer be a properly functioning news company.

“So we didn’t get that much for compensation for the damages.”

KangYoon sighed as he thought that the compensation was too little.
Then, Lee HyunJi shook her head.

“They told me that they can get more money out if you give them more time. What are you going to do?”

Hearing that, KangYoon shook his head.

“This is fine. Hidden Catch has lost all reliability as a news source anyway. Any more than this will not benefit us.”
“I guess. Anyway, it won’t be easy for them to prepare that much money. I heard that they lost more than 80% of their ads.”

Lee HyunJi smiled in ridicule.
More than 80% of the ads had disappeared from Hidden Catch’s website.
The remaining ads were mostly adult ads and loan ads. Not only that, but their view count was also decreasing so they weren’t able to get much ad revenue. There was also the compensation money on top of that.
It was practically their doom.

“Let’s end this here. I don’t see the need for our artists to be mentioned in news articles for these kinds of things any longer.”

Lee HyunJi agreed to KagnYoon’s words.
World Entertainment had nothing to gain even if they tried to squeeze more out of an already sinking company.
She looked for documents about Kim JiMin’s album that she had prepared to give to KangYoon, but then she seemed to have thought of something and looked at him.

“Oh, yes. President, you said you were going to America next week?”
“Yes. Since we’re done with the big matters, I think I can leave for a week. Even though I’m a busy man, I should attend my sister’s graduation at least.”

Lee HyunJi gave KangYoon some papers as she received a cup of coffee from Jung HyeJin.

“Is Miss HeeYoon coming over to Korea then?”
“Yes. I told her that it was okay to keep studying there, but she told me she wanted to start making songs properly.”

HeeYoon was coming to Korea.
Lee HyunJi was also happy that their exclusive composer was coming back to Korea.

“Looks like everyone will be happy. They now have another person to consult their songs with.”

KangYoon asked Lee HyunJi to take care of the company while he was away and stood up from his seat.
He was headed towards the rooftop when his phone suddenly started ringing.

“JooAh!.”
– Oppa! How have you been?

A high pitched voice rang from his phone.
KangYoon replied joyfully.

“I’m still as ever. What about you? What were you doing until now?”
– Man, I just arrived back in Korea. I’m heading over there now.
“You’re coming here?”

Her sudden visits had changed. KangYoon burst out laughing and shook his head.

“Sheesh… okay, I’ll be waiting then.”
– That’s a bland reaction. I’m going there even if you tell me not to. I also have something I want to talk about with you.
“Jeez. Fine.”

After the call, KangYoon headed towards the rooftop.
The rooftop was empty and was filled with the frosty winter wind.

‘Once HeeYoon comes, I’ll have her work on MoonHee’s song for a while. Also…’

KangYoon was organizing his plans when the door to the rooftop burst open and someone came out.

“Oppa, I’m here!”

When he turned around, he saw JooAh.
KangYoon was about to wave back at her, but he saw that she had thinned out.

“JooAh, why have you lost so much weight?”

KangYoon was surprised to see JooAh so skinny.
However, she shook her head as though it wasn’t anything much.

“Nah, it’s nothing. I had a tight schedule recently. Ah, I finally got some time to breathe.”
“But still, you’re… have you been to the hospital?”
“Nah, I don’t need to. I’m fine.”

JooAh acted strong, but KangYoon spoke with a serious expression.

“Didn’t you push yourself too far?”
“Well… a little? Nah, I’m fine. I’m here for business today.”
“For business?”

When KangYoon looked surprised, JooAh replied with a grin.

“HeeYoon’s graduation is approaching. You’re going too, right?”
“Well of course… are you going as well?”
“Of course, a friend of mine is graduating. Since you’re going as well, let’s go together.”

She showed him the plane tickets as though she had booked one already. She showed him two first class tickets.
KangYoon’s eyes widened.

“You’re giving me a ticket too? This is…”
“Nah, don’t mention it. We aren’t strangers.”

JooAh gave KangYoon the ticket.
KangYoon was about to refuse since first class tickets were expensive, but JooAh smiled and spoke.

“I’m not giving this to you for free. Just… help me out a little when we get there.”
“Help you out?”

That made KangYoon feel more at ease.
He asked what it was about, but she didn’t answer him.

“It’s a personal matter. I’ll tell you once we get there. Oh, I have to go to the company now, so see you later.”
“Already?”

It hadn’t even been ten minutes since she had arrived.
KangYoon pitied JooAh. However, she smiled at him as though he didn’t need to be worried.

“I’ll call you later.”

JooAh rushed down the stairs cheerfully.

‘Just how is MG managing their artists?’

KangYoon felt bitter after seeing that she had lost so much weight compared to before.

***