“No, no sir,” Mr. Kim Taeguk laughed, “It was a group effort by everyone. I’m just happy that the inquiry has almost come to an end without the media getting wind of it and turning it into a circus,” Mr. Kim smiled, “Yes sir, according to the plan, we’ll start the preparations immediately. Everything should go back to how it was before in less than a month sir.”

Mr. Kim tapped his foot idly as he listened to the voice on the other end of the line. To think that a member of the board of directors had called him on his personal line to inquire about the progression of things, he really was moving on up.

“Well the media are only focused on news that sells and nothing sells better than celebrity gossip. Yes we’ve had a few sniffing around the courts, trying to get some clerk or other to tell them what’s going on but we’ve managed to keep them quiet. This will all blow over soon.”

How could they have been so stupid? Kim wondered. Getting into a political intrigue was bad enough but getting caught? He really had expected more from the board members. Well they weren’t all bad, he supposed. Only four of them had been indicted on suspicion of siphoning money into a slush fund for a coalition of politicians wiring the money through a series of both local and overseas SM bank accounts. But four was enough to sink the ship that was SM. A company that was known to employ criminals even merely suspected criminals wasn’t one that could prosper anywhere but even less so in Korea.

Kim around spun his chair to face the large window set into the wall behind his desk, only half listening  to what was being said, as he fixed his gaze on a flock of birds flying in formation in the distant pale blue sky. The board executive on the other line, a certain Mr. Yoo hung up, finally satisfied that he and his cronies were still safe from public scrutiny.

He sighed. And to think just a few months ago he had been troubled by his inability to come up with a plan to cover up the scandal that could quite easily have destroyed SM entertainment’s credibility and standing as one of the top three entertainment companies in the country. He wasn’t one to toot his own horn but his plan had worked flawlessly…well the revision plan had worked flawlessly anyway, he corrected himself.

His first plan to use Super Junior’s antics on stage to create a scandal had admittedly backfired, causing the group to fall under serious fire from the censorship boards and hardcore conservative parents. He still cringed whenever he thought of the anger he’d drawn from the higher ups when the initial reports had come in.

‘We pay you to fix problems, not create them!’

‘Get your head on straight and fix this’

But he had eventually saved the day. He and his team now had everything under control. Siwon and Hyoyeon were playing their part, diverting or more appropriately drawing all the media attention as Korea’s sweethearts and his men on the ground were doing their part to keep any curious reporters from asking too many unnecessary questions about private company matters.

Maybe he’d ask for a bigger office on the top floor once everything blew over, he smiled at the thought.

***

“Where are we going?”

“Guess,” Siwon shook his head and momentarily too his eyes off the road to look at her.

“You know I’m terrible at that kind of thing,” she said, “Tell me.”

“Three guesses, if you don’t get it then you’ll have to wait and see where we’re headed.”

Hyoyeon leaned her head on the headrest and tried to think of where Siwon’s surprise date would be.  She had spotted a picnic basket in the back seat, which meant a restaurant date was out, a picnic would mean they were going somewhere scenic with good picnic spots.

“Jeju?” she asked despite knowing that it was too far to drive for a day trip.

He laughed, “Are you that eager for round two?” he asked with a wicked smile.

Hyoyeon’s face flushed, she guessed again, “Hanla?”

“Ay I wouldn’t take you hiking for a date,” he replied, “We’ll save that for when we’re one of those old couples you always see on TV with the matching backpacks,” he added.

Hyoyeon tried to hide her smile. She liked it when he talked about their future, like it was some definite destination not some maybe.

“Mm…okay I think I got it this time. Anapji?” she asked.

“Close…it’s a historic site,” he replied.

Hyoyeon laughed, “That isn’t much of a clue.”

“It’s all I’m giving you. I’ll give you one more guess.”

“Are you sure it’s not Hanla?” she asked mostly just to see him quirk his eyebrow.

“Yes, I’m sure. You’ll just have to wait and see,” he replied with a smile.

“…I don’t really mind anywhere we go, it’s always fun when I’m with you.”

It was Siwon’s turn to colour. The statement was innocent enough but coming from Hyo, who was still quite guarded about expressing how she felt (even with him), it felt like a full on confession of love. He took one hand of the steering wheel and placed it as surreptitiously as he could into his jacket pocket, running a hand over the small leather bound box that held a gift he’d spent nearly three hours shopping for the week before.

He put both hands back on the steering wheel an involuntary smile forming on his lips.

“What’s got you smiling?” Hyoyeon asked.

“This,” he said momentarily pulling both hands a little way from the steering wheel and fanning them out, “Everything.”

She smiled understanding exactly what he meant.

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“Where the hell is he?” Sunwoo slammed a fist on his desk unconscious of the pain that shot through it at the impact.

“I…I don’t know,” the assistant manager he had addressed cowered.

“What do you mean you don’t know? It’s your job to watch him…”

“He told me he was going out earlier but he promised he’d be back in an hour at most…” the assistant chewed on his lower lip, “He did the same thing last week but he came back in time for his schedules.”

“It’s been four hours, I’ve had to call and cancel two contract negotiation meetings today,”

“He said…” the assistant stopped short.

Sunwoo eyed him suspiciously, “Said what?”

“He said you and the legal team always handle everything during the meetings so there’s never really a need for him to be there anyway.”

 “Does he think this is a game?” he paused then settled heavily into his chair, “You can leave.”

It had been two and a half months since the ‘Come to Play’ episode in which Siwon and Hyoyeon had confirmed the relationship had aired. In that time the coverage of the young couple had taken on new scope.

Which shops did they visit? Which restaurants did they eat at? What kind of couple accessories were they wearing? The interest in other celebrity relationships had also exploded, leading two other entertainment companies to try to cash in on the attention that dating celebrities could yield by announcing that their top stars were also in relationships with an impressive amount of success.

Sunwoo thought it unwise to parade Siwon’s and Hyoyeon’s relationship mostly because the plan had always been to have them end their relationship. There were too many variables to account for in terms of fan reactions and media speculation if they made the relationship seem real and marketed the two as a couple only to have them separate. But upper management (ironically) seemed to think otherwise, despite the fact that it was them who had formulated the unspoken no dating rule that all promoting SM idols were obliged to follow, they were all for allowing Siwon and Hyoyeon to run around playing house.

In all honesty, he couldn’t remember ever seeing Siwon happier than he had been over the past weeks, which was good. Very good, in fact. Photo shoots went by better as his expressions were more relaxed and natural, CF shoots went by smoother despite the usually long hours with no tantrums and irritation…it was a win win…except for when he decided to play hooky, much like he had today, or when he was so busy texting his girl friend that he didn’t listen when he was being spoken to.

Sunwoo picked up his phone off the desk and punched in Siwon’s number. One ring, two, three, four…ten, eleven rings…

The line then seemed to connect only for an automated voice to come through, “The number you have dialled cannot be reached. Please try again later.”

There was no point getting upset though. It was already half past three in the afternoon, he had already cancelled the last remaining schedule and there was no work to be done. The 6th album release wasn’t for a few days, the music video had already been shot and was in post production, the boys had rehearsed for their live performances as much as they could…He was in the clear today, there really was nothing that he was obliged to do.

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Hyoyeon sighed in awe as she and Siwon made their way through the main entrance on the grounds of Kwanghallu pavilion. They had driven for two hours from Seoul to get to the pavilion.  Scattered around the grounds were a few tourist groups and a number of local families and couples, the tourists were snapping photos of everything, posing cheesily in front of the main building of the pavilion, a beautiful Korean style pergola ornately painted in rich yellows, oranges, reds and vibrant greens and blues while the locals…were doing much the same.

Siwon then pointed to a grassy knoll near the pergola and they made their way to it, picnic basket in hand. Once they’d spread out the blanket Siwon had her relax as he set up the picnic.

“Did you make all this?” she asked picking up a small bowl of colourful salad.

“Are you impressed?”

Hyoyeon smiled, “I am.”

He paused thoughtfully, “How impressed?”

“So impressed I’ll ignore the sticker at the bottom of the dish that says ‘First Class -Catering by Hwang Mi” she winked.

“Can I still get a ‘job well done kiss’?” he pointed to his cheek.

“Here?” Hyoyeon felt her cheeks warm at the suggestion.

Siwon nodded and moved closer to her pointing to his cheek again, “Getting them to put fresh gaebul in there was really hard you know,” he pouted.

Hyoyeon looked around, feeling shy about the small but very public display of affection, there were a number of people spread around but none of them were looking their way, everyone had come here to do their own thing.

“You’re a bad influence,” she laughed.

She leaned forward to kiss his offered cheek but right before her lips touched his skin he turned and her lips met his. For a second she didn’t move then as realisation dawned she pulled away abruptly.

“You…”

“What?” he smiled cheekily, “I’m a bad influence remember?”

And the dimples that dotted each of his cheeks immediately made her forget what she wanted to say.

“Let’s eat!” he settled close to her and opened each dish in turn setting a pair of chopsticks in her hand for the small bites and a serviette in the other for the sandwiches.

“I’ll eat it well!” she replied, reaching for some of the gaebul salad.

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“Mr. Park…what do I owe the pleasure of meeting you again?”

“Let’s not pretend you’re happy to see me,” Park replied casually settling into the seat opposite Taeguk, “I tried to get a meeting with the head honcho in PR and he wouldn’t give me the time of day. So I figured the guy who gave me the biggest scoop of the year would be willing to give me a little of his time…”

Taeguk sighed and made a mental note to tell the secretaries at the front desk not to let strange people into the offices,“ We already settled our affairs Mr. Park.”

“Yes we did…but I’m here on another matter.”

Sunwoo raised his eyebrows in curiosity.

“Don’t you find it a little strange how easy going your bosses upstairs are being about two of their idols being caught in a compromising situation? I mean your company practically invented the guide book on how to raise an idol star…and public fondling is a definite no-no in that book.”

Sunwoo nodded vaguely, unsure what the reporter was driving at.

Park snorted, “Are you really going to play coy with me?”

This time Sunwoo shook his head, he really had no idea what the older gentleman was talking about, “Listen, if you’re going to keep talking in riddles I’m going to have to ask you to leave, I’m a very busy man-”

“My goodness! You really have no idea,” Park smiled, “Looks like the shoe is on the other foot,” he murmured as thoughts of Siwon’s surprise at being set up by his own manager filtered through his mind, “You must at least know that a few of your executives are currently under investigation for managing a slush fund for a number of politicians facing an inquiry don’t you?”

Sunwoo shook his head, “They’re not under investigation, they’re just being questioned?” he clarified.

“Is that what you think it is?” Park asked, his eyes twinkling mischievously, “Come now, Mr Kim, you and I both know that there’s more to it than that.”

Sunwoo shifted uncomfortably in his seat, with Park’s beady shifty eyes focused intently on his he felt like a deer caught in some mountain lion’s sights. Dealing with this line of questioning was definitely not on his pay grade.

“I believe the legal team would be more helpful with regards to answering your questions…”

“Are you seriously telling me you bought the whole censorship board drama?”

Sunwoo didn’t reply, he only shuffled some papers on his desk disinterestedly. But his curiosity was piqued.

“I questioned most of the parents involved in the legal suit against SM…none of them claimed to have filed the original letter of complaint with the censorship board. Each family was convinced that it was some other member of the group that had filed the complaint. Where then do you think the censorship boards got the tip off from?”

“You must have made some mistake…”

“I don’t make mistakes,” his tone was low and serious, “I interviewed the lawyer that was representing the families and he gave me the contact details of all his clients, all fifty two family members. I spoke to each family in person…” he paused, “Who do you think tipped off the media?”

Sunwoo opened his mouth to reply then closed it, his mind blank. For months it had nagged at him. The sudden burst of interest from all quarters about the fan service at the Super Junior concert, the censors talking about how such overt sensuality was erting the youth of Korea, as if the youth needed any help on that front, even though before that no one seemed concerned with what went on at the concerts. All this followed by the decision to create the illusion of a relationship between Siwon and some fortunate or unfortunate trainee, a decision that had then been changed to a relationship between Siwon and Hyoyeon.

Mr. Park watched Taeguk’s expression with barely suppressed glee, the young man was finally beginning to piece the information together, information that the manager had up until this point forced himself to ignore. Taeguk’s reaction convinced him that he was at least on the right path toward uncovering the biggest story of his career.

He soon stood and swaggered out of the office, “Call me if you find out anything, Mr. Kim.”

Taeguk drummed his fingers over the wood of his desk over and over.

‘Could Mr. Park be right? He wondered. Meaning that the drama of the past few months had been completely orchestrated to cover up some bigger scandal? It certainly made sense. He exhaled loudly then leaned back in his chair.  This was huge and he had a decision to make.

Save the proverbial SM ship by informing PR and legal about Mr. Park’s interest in the ongoing legal proceedings or let it sink and try to cash in by working with the reporter as an inside informant.

_{Sorry it took so long to update this story for those who are following it. I had actually thought of just ending it with the last chapter but I got another idea and decided to write it out and see how it goes. Happy reading.}