Pay With Your Heart

494 Incoming Scandal

Saved Eun-sun?

Dan-Han strolled across the hallway in silent ponder, Chang-wok and a few executives following behind in a train as they headed for the conference room where the reporters were waiting.

Dan-Han knew he shouldn’t be thinking about Ji-Tae and his stupid rants, but something kept reeling his mind to it.

Ji-Tae was baldly crazy but as crazy as he was, he wasn’t one to utter baseless words, especially to someone he might have an interest in.

He had noticed the lecherous stares he darted to Eun-sun when she wasn’t looking. And though he might have approached Eun-sun intending to rile him, Ji-Tae had somehow grown some interest along the line, despite how fleeting it would be.

He couldn’t remember there ever being a situation that Eun-sun needed saving, and Ji-Tae or anyone else came to her aid, except—

Dan-Han came to a halt as his face turned grim.

There was indeed such an incident.

When Eun-sun was attacked and poisoned.

.....

Jae-Hyun had received the antidote in a package from an anonymous identity which turned out to be fabricated, and every attempt to find the sender had proved abortive.

Rapid thoughts speared through Dan-Han’s head as he made connected dots of whatever he could.

The mysterious caller, who had called him with a digitally altered voice, was Ji-Tae.

He could still remember the content of their call.

~~~~

“I trust you received my present.” The voice had asked and cynically laughed. “I know you think I’m involved in this because I’m not. I’m only trying to be a good Samaritan. Well, now you owe me a favor.”

“You owe me your life.” Dan-Han had snarled, and the voice cackled.

“Indeed, I owe you one, but I’ll take care of it for you. It’s on the house.” The person had said, causing Dan-Han to frown as he realized someone had indeed taken the person responsible for Eun-sun’s attack.

“I’m not your enemy, president Lee. I am only a friend of your enemy. And I had my present set for you this weekend, but it’s a shame I might have to wait. I want you fully concentrated on the game I want us to play.” The voice had said.

“Take good care of the girl, President Lee. I’ll be after you when she wakes up, and I’ll help you to clear off the person you’re looking for. It’s my small contribution to you.” The person said while Dan-Han had attentively listened to the background around the voice, but he had come up with nothing.

“I hope we can be friends in the future after I win our little game.”

“Sure you can, but only after I stand over your grave,” Dan-Han said and ended the call.

~~~

The ‘present’ he had mentioned wasn’t the antidote that had been sent, but the man who had attacked Eun-sun and had been sent to him in a body bag.

The favor he had claimed to owe had to be the antidote or the man he had sent over.

The present he had set for the weekend was supposed to be the containers of substandard materials, but there had been a delay, and Eun-sun’s incident had happened.

Being the friend of his enemy only confirmed Ji-Tae was indeed working for someone who was at odds with him.

Taking care of the person, he was looking for? That person was Kwon-Nara. Kwon-Nara had been the mastermind of Eun-sun’s attack, and Ji-Tae had her.

He had her all these while. And how was he going to take care of her?

Dan-Han couldn’t believe he had missed this all this while.

He turned to Chang-wok, “Where is Ji-Tae?” He darkly questioned.

“I...I don’t know.” Chang-wok stuttered at the rapid change in the man’s demeanor.

“Find him!” Dan-Han ordered. “And bring Eun-sun to me. I want her in my line of sight.”

“Sir, is there any problem?” Chang-wok asked, reflecting the question on the executives’ minds as they looked at him and amongst themselves with worry.

It wasn’t unusual to see Dan-Han in such a mood or speaking with such coldness, but the grimness about him was unlike what they were familiar with.

Dan-Han’s scowled at the man. “Do as you’re told, and try reaching Ms. Kwon Nara again.” He ordered, and Chang-wok bowed before sprinting to get his tasks done.

Getting a hold of Kwon-Nara had been abortive in the past weeks, neither by calls nor her various social media handles.

She was once a fashion model before the incident between them happened six years ago. But upon sending her away, she ventured into brand influencing until she returned and miraculously became an investor in his project.

Dan-Han took long strides as he continued towards the conference room while the others hurried after him. He whipped out his phone and called Tae-Ho.

“Boss,”

“Tear Ji-Tae’s house and that downtown condo he hides, the cabin by the beach house, tear it all down and bring me Kwon-Nara. The bastard has her.”

“Yes, boss,” Tae-Ho answered, and Dan-Han ended the call.

Dan-Han had no more interest in attending the interview. He wanted to be actively involved in looking for Kwon-Nara as she was a loose end he was yet to tie.

He had no idea what Ji-Tae had in store for her, but if she were to die, he’d prefer if she died by his hands.

That would be the retribution for what she had done.

But as much as he wanted to do it himself, this meeting was far more important, as well as Eun-Sun being in front of him.

His eyes impatiently drifted towards the door in wait for Chang-Wok. The PRO director addressed the journalist while they waited for him to climb the podium.

He was about to do so when Chang-wok hastened into the room without Eun-sun following behind.

He frowned. “Where is she?”

“Speaking with her Chairman Kim. She’ll be here soon, but first, President Lee, you must see this.” Chang-wok hurriedly passed his iPad to Dan-Han.

Dan-Han looked at it and his brows furrowed when he saw the recent post on Kwon-Nara’s social media account, which had been inactive in the past couple of weeks.

It was a picture of her holding a pregnancy test and an ultrasound result, with the caption, ‘A new life created out of love.’

Following that was a picture of them together. He was holding her arms and staring her in the eye.

They were in close proximity, and the picture had been taken at an angle that showed them in a compromising position as if he was whispering into her ears while she tried to hold back a smile.

Beneath it was another caption, ‘The best baby for the best father.’

“When was this posted?” He asked as his eyes searched for the time of upload.

“About two hours ago.” Chang-wok nervously answered.

“Has Eun-sun seen it?” He asked, and Chang-wok shook his head.

“Make sure she doesn’t. I’ll talk to her about it myself.” He wasn’t scared there’d be any misunderstanding, but he didn’t want her to feel upset or worried.

“But sir, what about the reporters? Someone could ask if they find out.” That’s if they haven’t seen it already. Kwon-Nara wasn’t a celebrity, but she still had a reasonable number of followers and being an ex-model, something of this magnitude would spread like wide fire.

“I think we should cancel and reschedule,” Chang-wok advised. This was already looking like a huge scandal. As a matter of fact, it was already a huge scandal; one would taint Dan-Han’s name if not been handled immediately.

He didn’t need to ask if the pictures were real or if something had transpired between the boss and Kwon-Nara because he was certain Dan-Han only had eyes for Eun-sun.

Dan-Han observed the reporters and sighed. There was no way he was going to avoid this. Even if he canceled the press conference now, he wouldn’t be able to avoid the myriad of reporters that would harass him after now or the articles that would trend after.

“We’re not canceling anything. Call Tae-Ho and ask him to find Kwon-Nara as soon as possible. And tell Eun-sun to wait in my office and stay with her.” He ordered, and Chang-wok nodded.

Just as Chang-wok had feared, Kwon-Nara’s post had gone viral, and the reporters repeatedly asked about it.

“I’ll not be answering questions outside the centenary projects, and anyone who presses further will be in communication with my lawyers.” Dan-Han threatened with careless care of what the threat might mean for him.

He didn’t care what everyone else thought; he just wanted to talk to Eun-sun about it. Trust wasn’t an issue in their relationship, but they hadn’t been in a situation like this before.

And by God, he was going to kill that bitch, Kwon-Nara, whenever he laid his hand on her, whether or not she was pregnant.

“Dan-Han, what is this?” Eun-sun asked the moment Dan-Han stepped into his office. The press conference was shorter than expected, and she guessed he had hurried back because of the news.

Dan-Han sighed as he closed the door after Chang-wok hurried out.

“I don’t know what’s going on, but this is as much of a surprise to me as it is to you.” He told her as he walked to his desk and plopped on the chair.

Eun-sun walked towards him and handed him her phone. “Remember this day, right?” She asked, and Dan-Han nodded as he peeked at it.

“A few weeks ago at the lobby.” He answered. He remembered vividly.

It was the day he had stopped Kwon-Nara at the lobby, and Eun-sun had arrived in the company of Ji-Tae. Though they were at odds at the time, he could still remember the cold way Eun-sun had looked at him.

He picked up the phone and looked at the picture again.

Who and how was this picture taken? Had Kwon-Nara, or rather, had Ji-Tae, set this all up?

The picture was real but was the pregnancy real? But even if it was, he wasn’t responsible.

“I’m going to kill that girl when I lay my hands on her.” Dan-Han drawled while Eun-sun intently looked at him.

Dan-Han sighed as he pushed his hand through his hair.

“What?” He asked when he observed Eun-sun’s gaze on him.

Eun-sun sighed as she looked at the picture before staring back at him. “Why would she claim the pregnancy is yours in the first place? To what end?” She curiously inquired.

.....