Chapter 5 - The Show Must Go On [Part 1]

Chanyeol's Condo Unit

5:00 AM

He wasn't particularly a morning person, but he's already awake in this ungodly hour. The reason? His phone. 

Particularly his social media account. It was exploding. He knew this was going to happen. 

Who was he kidding? He just kissed the nation's little brother. The people's beloved actor, singer, model, idol, or whatever you call him— and apparently, he, Baekhyun, was for the masses. Chanyeol knew the guy was pretty popular. He'd see his face all over Korea during his birthday. He was already expecting a huge backlash from the guy's horde of fans. What he didn't expect, though, was the chain of emails from his business partners. Why would his business partners be equally upset? 

Ah. 

The masses will start to boycott Legacy Korea.

They were upset with the sudden explosion of the news and that they already wanted to cut their ties with Legacy Korea. Now, the funny thing about this is that the news Big Hit released was still not confirmed yet, Chanyeol is now starting to face the aftermath of the scandal.

He sipped his morning coffee, he needed something warm and soothing to calm his nerves down before he decided to open his business Twitter account. He had a private Twitter account, but only the people close to him knew of that one.

"ert! You're taking advantage of our Baekhyun and forcing him to do things! You'll pay for this!"

"Know your place, ert!"

"Die you erted old man."

"You're an old cow trying to eat young grass. I am disgusted."

"Just because you have money doesn't mean you can take advantage of our Baekhyun!"

Most of the tweets are similar though, it's about him being a rich old ert. It had been 4 hours since the time the news exploded, and it's still trending. 

He closed his eyes and pulled his bangs up. Yes, he was expecting the news to be huge, but not this huge. Was Baekhyun even that big of a star? And what was the matter with his fans calling him an old ert? 

Excuse you, but Chanyeol is still young, 29 years old is still young. Their Little Brother is nothing better, he's already 27 years old. For goodness sake, Baekhyun was only two ing years younger than him! 

He shifted from all the toxicity of Twitter and switched to Gmail. He was surprised that some of his business partners we're already awake at 3AM and had been sending him warning letters. 

The letters were stating that if he won't deny the news, they will pull out their share from his company and will cut their ties with Legacy Korea— which is bad news.

A really terrible one.

Imagine, all his years of hard work is going to be shattered by a kiss. Yes, it was good, but not worthy enough to sacrifice the company he had built from scratch. 

To say that Chanyeol was mad is an understatement. He was furious, it's still ing 5:00 in the morning, and this is what greets him. He can already picture out how his day is going to look like. 

He took a peek outside from his condo unit's window, and he can already see 3 vans, all white, parking in front of it. He had the upper hand on this one since his unit was in a position where he could clearly see the building entrance.

The media is starting their move. 

Kim ing Heechul! Chanyeol knew that asking help from K.H. Entertainment was going to bite him sooner or later. He never expected it to be this soon.

This is all for that one favor he was willing to give to the President. Chanyeol admits that this was partly his fault. If he didn't utter anything about giving the Entertainment President a favor back then, none of this could've happened. 

But had he not told Heechul about the favor, would Legacy Korea be a thing? Would it be as relevant as it is today? 

He shook his head, closed his eyes, and buried his face upon his palm. 

What a huge ing mess.

But this is already happening now. His company is already starting to sink, and if he doesn't do anything, it's going to be fully submerged in the dark and cold ocean.

Just thinking about it is giving him shivers. The horror of rebuilding the reputation once again. Building partnerships. Legacy took him 9 ing years to build, and it cost him his entire youth.

He needs to think of a solution. And he needs it fast. 

Think Chanyeol!

Think!

He closed his eyes and breathed in and out slowly. He should clear his mind and asked himself questions. These are the ones he would always ask whenever his company is on the verge of bankruptcy.

So Chanyeol, What is the problem?

Negative Reputation and Backlash

And what do you usually do to counter these kinds of problems?

Chanyeol couldn't answer.

He still couldn't think of anything. 

Should he start building another business? He can, but that's too time-consuming. 

He needs to come up with a solution fast. 

The morning sunshine came. Still, no solutions and the media have already taken up the entire area at the entrance of his unit's building.

He was busy replying to the emails one by one when his phone rang. It was his Japanese friend who's living in Germany, Mackenyu.

"Yes?" Chanyeol asked, confused as to why Mackenyu is calling. He could've just sent him a message on social media.

"How are you, Chanyeol? I heard you're having quite a tough time." 

"Yeah. I guess the news had reached Germany" Chanyeol rubbed his nape, uncomfortable with where the topic is leading to.

"Man, I know now's not a good time for you. You've been trending on social media for a few hours already. And I'm guessing it had already affected your business. But I have good news for you. Someone just contacted me and asked whether you're up for a partnership."

"Partnership? In the middle of this chaos?"

"Yeah— about that," Mackenyu paused for a bit. "It's not a Korean Company," you could picture out Mackenyu's unsure face. He knew Chanyeol preferred to focus on the local market.

"Dude, you know how I feel about international partnerships. I don't think it's the right time. I'm still not confident in handling orders on a global scale. Legacy is still starting out. And I don't think foreigners are ready for Legacy's designs."

"What do you mean starting out?! You're already on the field for 9 years. People here love your designs. They order them online and handle the shipping fee— just so they can wear Legacy Korea. They WANT your designs."

"No, I don't think that's enough reason to go international."

"Take a look at the bigger picture, man. People here don't care about who the company owner dates. That's just a dating scandal, it'll go away soon. Right now, your market, the Koreans, may not buy anything from Legacy Korea. My man, you just dated a no-go artist. I live here, but I know how conservative Asians are. I think this is a great opportunity for you to start expanding your market. Make Legacy, International, I'll help you, and you know that"

Chanyeol and Mackenyu's conversation was longer than expected. Most of it was comprised of Mackenyu convincing Chanyeol to go international. 

"Alright, I'll give the partnership a go." 

“Aaaand?” 

“I’ll make Legacy International.”

The conversation then went on smoothly after that. Chanyeol hired Mackenyu's Marketing Team for Legacy’s International Expansion. As for the partnership with Privy, he also left the job to Mackenyu.

The guy was right. As of the moment, his Korean customers are still coming at his throat from the scandal. Going international has promising potential. Plus, the chances of it succeeding, is pretty high. Also, he trusts his friend’s marketing skills. He knows the international waters more. 

Chanyeol had also worked with him before on a few projects, and he can say that the guy is pretty efficient. He could say that hiring him is one of the smartest moves he had made today so far. 

That's one problem down. Now he can focus on dealing with the problem in front of his building. How should he walk out without getting caught? 

Right before an idea could pop out, President Heechul sent a text, saying he shouldn't answer any questions right now.

Chanyeol had a feeling that Heechul is doing this again for his good for nothing son Jongin. Heechul was always cleaning up after his son's mess. Oftentimes Heechul had to pay millions just to keep his son's name clean.

This time must be the same. It was after President Kim's office visit when he heard about the rumor. 

Chanyeol heard from his ever workaholic Secretary, Jin Ah, that President Kim's son was caught kissing someone. She even showed him her, excuse for him for the word, cleavage, as she presented Chanyeol the shot of President Kim's son kissing someone. 

Our young CEO couldn't really understand why Jongin would do such a thing. He was already happily married to the younger sister of the Jungs. 

Why would he cheat? 

But then again, that's out of Chanyeol's business. 

Big Hit Headquarters

10:00 AM

"Tae, can you get the Legacy's statement regarding this matter? You go with Hobi and you…" Jin still had not finished talking, but Taehyung had already zoned out. 

This was all his fault.

If he had only ignored what he was hearing that time. If he went out right away. If only he didn't film and shot what was happening, none of this could've happened. 

Big Hit really hit big this time. Their office had been very busy since their clock in. Their social media accounts are flooded with praises. Imagine being able to get an exclusive scoop of K.H. Entertainment's asset Byun Baekhyun. 

But weird as it is, Taehyung is not happy. Wasn't this his dream? Letting people know the whole truth?

Then why is he feeling guilty? 

Why does he want to revert time and is wishing that none of this is happening?

He contributed big to Big Hit. In fact, the people's trust rating for their small company has skyrocketed to the top. It was supposed to be a great achievement for someone who just became a regular employee, right? But why doesn't it feel satisfying? It doesn't feel like it's a huge achievement?

He checked the article's comment section, but he immediately went out of the page. He couldn't stand what he was reading— it was just horrible.

The section is filled with hate, disgust, disappointment, and anger for his beloved idol. There were a few comments directed towards Legacy's CEO, but that's not the half of what Baekhyun had gotten. People were bashing Baekhyun non-stop.

He is a fan, and yes, he is deeply hurt with what Baekhyun did. He got disappointed with his idol. But he was more disappointed with himself. With what he did. If only the picture had remained unseen, then none of this could've happened. If only he kept Baekhyun’s affair with the Legacy’s CEO a secret, then it would have remained a secret. 

Certainly, he can keep a secret or two if it meant peace for both Baekhyun and Legacy's CEO. This was a very destructive thing for both parties. And it is all his fault. Kim Taehyung's fault. 

If only he wasn't a nosey person, none of this would've happened. 

His idol is also a human, someone who also wants to experience love and be loved. Baekhyun kept it a secret because he wanted privacy for both of them. Legacy's CEO could've featured Baekhyun's designs for his annual fashion show to make the latter happy. 

It would've been a sweet gift for his beloved, a secret gift for the one he loves. But he, Kim Taehyung, just broke their privacy. He just exposed their sweet and subtle love story to everyone.

How could he be very selfish? Taking praises from everyone around him when it was the very thing that has dragged his own idol down. 

The guilt he's feeling is very heavy. 

So heavy, it hurts. 

Author's Note:

I'm really for the very very very very late update, once again, I've got caught up with adulting and has once again been job hunting. The lack of comments is also another factor, shoutout to efiana for commenting, I know its been so long since you've commented but your comment is the sole reason I pushed through this update. Hopefully the next chapter will be posted next week around thursday or friday. I've already found a great way to write and I've already started writing the next chapter.

Hopefully I will pull my own weight up, and not get disheartened with the lack of comments and interactions since its a really bad habit. Afterall, I've written this for my own entertainment. 

The upcoming chapters are something to look forward to. We're finally going to have the ChanBaek interaction that I've been dying to have. 

Also, weird as it is but at this point I really feel so much about Taehyung's Character. Not so much about Chanyeol but we'd have to look forward in the future. Thank you for reading up until this point. 

See you next update & Enjoy your day!