Eyes trailing upon the newspaper headlines, Kim Heechul sipped his newly brewed black coffee, its warmth spreading down towards his throat. Nothing but a sweet taste of victory, for an old man like him.

Everything is in its rightful place; the media, the people and most especially the news.

Jongin, his son, was a handful person to handle. You hold him tight and he’ll bite, hold him loose and he’ll escape. Heechul gave him everything he wanted, he even gave him more than what he wanted, but that ungrateful child does not have an ounce of gratefulness for his poor old father.

Just the night before, Jongin had announced his intention for the seat as an assemblyman. And just as Heechul predicted, Jongin made it on the newspapers.

No kidding, but Heechul spent millions just to keep his son’s reputation clean. And mind you, Jongin is not one who’s clean. He made sure he tainted his name, you know, just to get even with his father. Too bad for him, his father knew how to control people. Jongin’s name remained pure.

Heechul chuckled, tossing the newspaper back to the table and continued to sip his coffee. His son is too young to go against him. Too naïve to get even with his father.

---

“I’ll do whatever I want and I will not marry that girl!” Jongin slammed his fist against the table. His father did not answer, instead, he slid a brown envelope towards Jongin and gestured that he open it.

Stupid old man was even smiling which irked Jongin.

Upon opening the envelope, he saw a copy of his beloved’s birth certificate. His hands were trembling as he went through all the other documents contained in the envelope.

“You’re smart enough to figure out where I am going, right?” Heechul finally spoke, clipping his long brown hair upon his ears.

“How can you do this to me?” Jongin voice was cracking and his eyes were clouded with tears, but even so, he crumpled envelope and threw it to his father.

“Wow, the amount of respect you give me is astounding” Heechul chucked, slowly walking closer towards Jongin.

“Don’t come near me you monster” Jongin took a step back. He could not bring himself to look straight to his father’s eyes.

This is not his father. This is nothing but a selfish old monster that ate his father little by little.

“You love him don’t you?” Heechul prompted as he sat upon his table and played with a plastic rose he decorated on top of his table. He knew he had Jongin in the palm of his hands.

---

Once again, Heechul picked the newspaper up and read the article again. He felt very proud as he went further unto the news. He, Kim Heechul, just took his first step towards his dream. For the first time in forever, he felt tingles upon his palm. Once again, he felt excited.

Bzzzt

Bzzzt

His phone vibrated. He checked the caller’s ID first before he answered. It was from his dear friend Leeteuk, asking about the news.  Heechul felt happy, who wouldn’t when the remarks on the newspaper were nothing but praises for his son. Look even his dear friend is calling him for the great news.

“No— I mean his Scandal”

There was silence.

Wait a moment.

Jongin? The Kim Jongin? In a scandal? That had to be the greatest joke in the history.

But then, Leeteuk sent him a link.

From the link, he saw a snippet and a blurred photo. And from the bottom of the snippet, he saw the source.

So it was a news article from Big Hit. Lame, he had heard of Big Hit and their ‘honest’ news; and they’re pretty known for that. How come they’re spreading false rumors now. Heechul’s instincts were spot on right when he decided not to see them as his competitor after all.

A small fish, challenging a fish twenty-times bigger than itself. Heck Big Hit aren’t even a part of the big three and they had the guts to write an article about one of the big three’s son? He scoffed; Big Hit must be in for a death wish.

As he clicked the article, half of him wanted to laugh because a small puppy thinks it could bring a lion to its knees. Wrong. A puppy remains a puppy.

He waited for a few moments for the page to load. Lol and their page takes forever to load. As expected from a small fish.

As he read further into the article, a hate directed towards himself started to build. How could he be so stupid?

Written on this very  article, is his son, kissing his goddamn ex-boyfriend. He could not even bring himself to say that the photo was photoshopped because his son’s face was crystal clear.

He threw his coffee mug in rage, he did not mind the nasty spills it made across the floor. His attention was directed towards the comment section. As expected, it was filled with nothing but bad comments about his son. His son’s pure and untainted reputation will go down just like that?

Hell no!

Stupid Kim Heechul! How could he skip that part of the plan?

How could he, the mighty Kim Heechul, skip that part of the story? That one loophole he thought was harmless. Would be the very reason his plan is going to fail. How could he not consider him? How could he forget about his son’s ex a boyfriend. The kindest man on the face of the earth, who had the heart, kind enough to forgive his stupid son for marrying a woman with a name.

No offense to his son’s ‘ex-boyfriend’ but if he was the one being ditched by his boyfriend for a woman with a good name, he deserves no forgiveness.

This is why he did not back this plan up. Holy guacamole, he thought that level of kindness and patience did not exist.

The main reason why Heechul was enraged, as if he wanted to kill someone. This is not his son’s fault. No. Clearly, this one is his own fault. This was supposed to be the most flawless plan he had ever come up with. So flawless, that he did not even bother creating a plan B. It was supposed to be that flawless.

Stupid god-like kindness.

With his son’s reputation now tainted, his son’s candidacy is at stake. If his son will not be seated in the chair, his plans are all going to fail. And he does not tolerate failure.

He needed to formulate a plan right now. A plan where he need not to call up for a press conference to deny the scandal. No! Denying it would only strengthen the people’s doubts for his son. He needed to have something bigger— no, actually he needs something so small and irrelevant.

So irrelevant that it would start a buzz among the citizens. A buzz that will eventually become whispers, and will soon become talks.

Heechul just had the perfect buzz. This will make everything better.