Anger
30 Ways: SpartAce
The news broke out. The production team staff called an emergency meeting.
Strict orders to stay at home. Her manager Sun Mi was summoned to the company.
For the first in a long time she had absolutely nothing to do. All prior schedules had been cancelled. It was two in the afternoon and she was still in her loose t-shirt and baggy sweatpants from yesterday. Her face felt slightly swollen from all the sleep.
Ji Hyo busied herself with getting something to eat, then lounging on the sofa watching old cartoons. Then finally unable to bear her curiosity, she grabbed her laptop and typed in the first portal site she could think of. After a while, she gave up and curled back on the sofa with her phone in hand. She had known exactly what the articles would say. She didn’t know she had bothered reading them, much less the comments.
She hated it, for lack of better words. The bitter anger, the pity. Actually, anger she could handle. She took pride in her work, her honesty, and if people chose to feel angry over that? Then it was their problem. But pity made her feel so weak, bitterness creeping in like regret. And no, Song Ji Hyo would not regret.
She sighed, checking her phone for the third time that afternoon. For all the noise on the web, her phone was awfully quiet.
Chang Joo came to her house. She would much rather he didn’t, but there were eyes everywhere now so they didn’t really have a choice. He was a decent man- eager to please and charming when he wanted to be. But right now, dressed sharply in a suit and tie, the man meant business. He cast a questioning glance at her choice of wardrobe, now a casual t-shirt over worn blue jeans she had hastily changed into, but said nothing else on the matter.
“So?” Ji Hyo began finally.
“It’s hasn’t been… easy to handle things so far. It’s a lot bigger than we’ve anticipated.”
“I see. Are we going to do anything about it?”
“I haven’t made an official statement about this. Obviously for now, your variety appearances are stopped, as well as any other activities.”
“But we can’t just stay in hiding hoping the issue will go down. We have to make an official statement as soon as possible–”
“That’s the terrible thing about scandals. We lose the advantage of presenting a proper explanation. Look, the pictures that the reporter took of us are pretty incriminating already. What the public wants aren’t explanations, they just need a confirmation.”
“I know.” At one point, she had admired his matter-of-fact-ness, even though the words occasionally grated against her unpleasantly. “I’m saying, that we should respond honestly. There is no point in denying at this point, so we might as well face it head on.”
Chang Joo nodded. “I’m planning an official statement at the press conference tomorrow. That we are in a relationship, but that this will not affect your position in the show in any way. I’ll have a word with Jo PD too privately.”
“I appreciate it, but you don’t have to handle this alone. Chang Joo-ssi, wouldn’t it be better if I went with you to the press conference then? Just in case they sneak in any more questions. Maybe it’ll even better for publicity to show that we are in this together.”
“No, it’ll be better if you stay here. The public opinion of you isn’t the greatest right now and I don’t want you making any mistakes.” Ji Hyo flinched. She was not some amateaur who would say something that would put them both in an even tighter spot.
“This is about your reputation, Ji Hyo, but this is my company that I’m talking about.” Chang Joo said gravely. “I woke up this morning, and the stock prices had dropped quite a bit. Public opinion determines quite a lot for how much companies are willing to pay to use our members. If I had any inclination that this was going to get this big, I would have started preparing, something, anything– those PDs of yours are milking your loveline for all its worth, and this news comes in and breaks that overnight. If you had given me any kind of notice–”
“What kind of notice was I supposed to give? I was doing my work, playing this role that I received the best that I can. You were the one–” Ji Hyo inhaled and grit her teeth instead. “I said back when we first started dating, that there was a chance that something like this could happen, but you agreed. And we both, put off making that initial announcement.”
“And now here we are.” Chang Joo ran a hand through his hair, eyes glued to the floor. Not even looking at her. The starry-eyed Chang Joo that had courted her seemed like such a stark difference than the man in front of her in the moment. “I thought you’d be better than this, what with being in the business.”
Ji Hyo couldn’t keep the annoyance out of her tone. “I thought you’d handle it better than this as well but looks like we’re both disappointed.”
“Ha, well. How do I know that none of that on screen chemistry that your loveline’s so famous for isn’t actually anything? The public sure seems to believe it, that’s why they’re so disappointed–”
“People believe anything they want to believe. Do you even know how many times I’ve been asked questions regarding my relationship status? And how many more times I’ve said that we are just colleagues? I don’t want to hear this from you.”
Chang Joo let out huff of disbelief. Was he laughing or crying? It was hard to tell. “Oh, for ’s sake. You think you’re so great now that you’re a little popular, is that it? Of course, the one time you’re actually in a half-assed successful program, you just had to go mess it up. Of course it had to be when you we were in a relationship with me, and not the hundreds other people you up to.”
Ji Hyo froze. There was pure venom in her eyes. “Say that again, I dare you.”
And like that with an inhale, all trace of that hurt from earlier disappeared from Chang Joo’s face. Instead what remained was a painfully cold mask. “Face it Ji Hyo-ssi. You’re a C-class actress. There’s no way you could have made it to half of your roles without hav–”
“–Shut up.”
“–ing to seduce whoever was giving them to you. You should grateful that I still signed you on when there were such rumors–”
“I said, SHUT UP!”
“Do you know what they’re saying about you now? Plastered all over the social media?”
“Don’t– ing make it sound like this is all my fault. I worked hard to get where I am, I’m proud of what I’ve achieved. I’m not taking any of that back, so don’t make things out to be what they’re not!” It hurt. It hurt so much. She wished she could retort with something e
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