A/N, I changed the plot and after Jisung's one will be Johnny's because the transition is smoother-- and then Hendery. I hope you guys enjoy it nonetheless and this story will be touching on morals, the silver lining, the rich, the poor, and the privileged, and last but not least, about family and the lengths, you would go for your family members. Good and bad. 

If you're here, I would advise you to read the previous stories because Jisung & Johnny's will both be season finale until we dive back into chill WayV romance. 

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I can feel your heart hanging in the air
I'm counting every step as you climb the stairs

It's buried in your bones, I see it in your closed eyes
Turning in, this is harder than we know
We hold it in the most when we're wearing thin

-Hurricane, Fleurie & Tommee Profitt

[The Lee mansion]

Mr. Lee was worried. He and his wife, the parents of Lee Haechan, the people who were on the top of the pyramid of Lee Enterprises—a business that had so much range, it was hard to keep tabs on everything they owned. Mr. Lee and Mrs. Lee glanced at each other when Haechan paced around the room, their son stressed at the current situation. Lee Haechan was appointed as the CEO and Mr. Lee, being the chairman knew that he was worried.

“I don’t get it.” Haechan finally said, plopping down in front of his parents who shared a glance. “Why are they purposely laundering money through our business? They could have chosen an easier way. This isn’t about profit, Father. This is something else.”

“It’s probably because they think that our company is big and it would be hard to keep track of the money coming in and out—”

“Bull.” Haechan snapped. “Why would they blackmail us then? If they really wanted just profit, why would they go through everything to bring in dirty money and then blackmail us? This is about revenge.”

Mr. Lee paused, chewing on his bottom lip when Haechan chuckled.

“It’s not like you killed anybody,” he mused, Mr. Lee, blinking when his wife choked on her tea. “Anyway, I have decided that I will not give them the power over us. I told the public that we are going through an investigation and will be updating everything to do with it. I even published the blackmail letter. Transparency is the way to go.”

“Mhm…” Mr. Lee droned on as Haechan continued to speak.

“And I also put Jisung and that… journalist on the case. I have to help him in his career, hopefully, they’ll both find something out.”

“You put Jisung on the case?” Mr. Lee asked, his eyebrows furrowing. “Park Jisung? The Jisung that is Jung Jaehyun’s wife’s brother? The son of the Park’s?”

“We know only one Park Jisung,” Haechan pointed out before stopping. “Why do you look so worried? It’s not like anything will happen to him—”

“Uh…” Mr. Lee swallowed. “Just, how long do you think this case is going to be? Why didn’t you put someone else?”

“Jisung told me that he wanted it, so I agreed,” Haechan asked back before standing up. “I have to go, Father… and Mother. The wife is home and it’s our anniversary. Got to spoil the wife.”

“Okay.” Mr. Lee replied, nodding. “You could have just asked her to move in here with us, you know we love her.”

“Father, it’s weird,” Haechan said simply.

“Yes, but—”

“Honestly, it’s weird. And stop staring at me like that.” Haechan bent down to kiss his mother on the cheek before reaching out to shake his father’s hand. “I’m off.”

And with that, Haechan had finally his heel and walked out of his father’s study, leaving the older Lee’s basking in their own silence. Mr. Lee stood up, the male going over to his desk before he reached for the phone, dialing a few numbers when his wife chewed on her bottom lip.

“You’re calling them?”

“Yes...” Mr. Lee breathed. “The past is catching upon us.”

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The Kim’s arrived first, the parents of Kim Doyoung and Kim Bunny. They were so self-absorbed… Always has been, Mr. Lee thought as they pecked each other on the cheek and they, like the Lee’s, got married at a very young age because it was arranged. Mr. and Mrs. Kim seemed to already know why they were called, both of them taking a seat.

Then came Mrs. Na, the mother of Na Jaemin, the female coming in with her eyebrows furrowed. The question that she said when she spoke was “Another one?” to which the Lee’s nodded, the Kim’s huffing. They were used to this, but it scared them just the same.

Then came in Ms. Jung, Jaehyun, and Muffin’s mother, the doctor as usual without her husband. Her husband did not know anything about it and she wore the pants in the relationship, the woman sitting down in the Lee’s study when the door opened and another couple came in.

The Suh’s, Johnny’s divorced parents, taking a seat silently when finally, the last person came through the door and they greeted her sullenly.

“Park Jisung’s mom,” They said, the woman counting the people. As usual, they were missing two people who were there that night, Park Jisung’s mother sighing when a screen flickered and they saw Mr. Wong, their old friend from Macau, adjusting the camera.

“How bad is it?” That was what the man said through the screen. “Should I demand Hendery to come back to Macau or?”

“Not yet,” Mr. Lee said, standing up before he sighed. “I heard he’s doing fine; the blackmail was actually for my son and my company. I called for a meeting simply because I fear that the person may try to hurt our children.”

“I see the other Lee isn’t there,” Mr. Wong, Hendery’s dad said, scanning the room. “After he put up that ice cream shop, he disappeared from our friend group. To protect Mark, I’m guessing.”

“So, did you. Hendery never hung out with our children,” Mr. Lee said and Mr. Wong scoffed.

“I did what was best for my son, why do you think I made sure he stayed in WayV Street instead of the N-CITY district? However, I heard that your daughter is pregnant, Kim,” he said, directing his words to Kim Doyoung’s parents who nodded. “Better be careful, you know what happened to the other Lee’s. We don’t want any more miscarriages,”

“We’re keeping Bunny under a close eye,” The Kim’s said before pausing. “We have to talk about it. We’ve been trying to run away for far too long.”

“Let us talk about what kind of things have happened,” Mrs. Na said. She was always the soft-spoken one, but her loyalty knew no bounds. “When Jaemin was in summer camp, someone put a bloody letter under his pillow. I took him out early because of that. He was eight.”

“And Jaemin’s girlfriend… Yahoo, do you call her? Is she safe?”

“The girl is an introvert. It’s good, she keeps him at home,” Mrs. Na said, breathing in. “But Jaemin knows—”

“What?” Mrs. Jung stood her, raising an eyebrow. Oh, she was a tough woman, being a doctor and all. But she never told Jaehyun and her daughter about what happened more than a decade ago. “You told your son?”

“He saw the letter,” Mrs. Na said mildly. “I didn’t tell him what happened but I told him that someone was trying to hurt me and his family. Why do you think Jaemin has always stayed in Korea and never moved anywhere even if he was accepted for programs? He thinks he has to protect me.”

“He’s a sweetheart,” Mrs. Lee said. “Same with Haechan. The boy doesn’t know why we keep bodyguards with him—”

“You sent him off to Thailand,” Mr. Kim pointed out and Mrs. Lee smiled.

“Do you honestly think that he was sent there alone? One night he got into a fight and broke a bottle on top of a man’s head and that was the night he met his current wife. Why do you think the man never ran after him? Robert and Pete were there to clean up his mess.” Mrs. Lee sighed. “We always had people trailing him.”

“Of course. For good cause,” Mr. Kim said, nodding. “Why do you think Bunny has anxiety? After the day she got kidnapped, Doyoung has always blamed himself. One moment she was there, one moment she was gone.”

“That’s why Bunny always thinks of running. We taught her that. In times of fear and worry, run away. She loves dogs and lizards but can’t stand snakes and toads and she came home with a stray dog one day. She had grown attached to those animals.” Mrs. Kim continued. “Doyoung doesn’t know, of course, but our son has always made sure to take care of his sister because of that incident.”

“And the year she was kidnapped, a letter came before, right? How did you find her?”

“Yes. We should have taken it seriously and no; we did not find her. We tried and she was gone for 3 days but she suddenly came back home, scared and sobbing.” Mrs. Kim sighed before her eyes went to the Park’s. “I heard you sent your daughter to New York when the letter came.”

“We did,” The Park’s replied simply. “Same as the Jung’s. Jaehyun went on an exchange for a year, didn’t he?”

“He did. Mark Lee, too,” Mrs. Jung replied. “Lee—the poorer Lee, sent his son to Canada. It was so sudden but I’m sure he got a letter that year. Besides, when Mark came back, his parents weren’t even home but he was in our house because his father was trying to throw whoever sent the letter off.”

“This is why we let our kids date each other. At least we trust each other’s children.” Mr. Park sighed.

“We got divorced because of this,” Mrs. Suh snapped. “Because of all your mistakes. I had to make sure Johnny was in Chicago every summer. Johnny quit law school and decided to become a policeman because apparently something happened but our son wouldn’t tell us why.”

“And why are you here together?”

“Johnny is my son,” Mrs. Suh replied, glaring at them. “Both of our sons and if he gets hurt over your lack of accountability, I will make sure all of you go down.”

“It happened so long ago— It’s a past we have to erase.”

“Erase?” Mrs. Suh asked, almost shrilly. “All of you have been getting threats, death threats! And it’s not to you, but our children! Hendery, Doyoung and Bunny, Jaehyun and Muffin, Haechan, Na Jaemin, New York and Jisung… Johnny! Our children’s lives are on the line for something all of you did years ago and because of how cowardly all of you were. I’m tired of living in fear—”

“And you think we’re not?” Mrs. Jung snapped at the woman. “I’m tired, too! What happened that night haunts me and it will continue to do so but unless you were there, you have no right to tell us how we could have dealt with it. We were eighteen and we were young and afraid! We had a future ahead of us—”

“This isn’t the time to fight,” Hendery’s father said from the screen, rubbing his forehead. “Haechan’s father… Lee.”

“What?”

“You said your son got a letter.”

“Yes. And apparently, he put Jisung and a journalist from KBS on the case because Jisung wanted it—”

There was a clang and everyone turned to see Jisung’s parents blinking rapidly at the news. They didn’t know this, but the new information was enough to make their heart palpitate.

“My son? Why didn’t he tell us this?”

“Because you know full well that Jisung wants to climb up on his own,” Lee Haechan’s father clipped. “And your daughter, Jaehyun’s wife, is pretty much very strict on him.”

“Yes, but it’s dangerous!” Mr. Park said. “My son is going to go places with a girl who is a nutcase and— Tell Haechan to take him off the case!”

“No, it’s too suspicious. I will send someone to follow them. That being said, Johnny is on it, too. The case was handed to his police district. Haechan trusts him.”

“I heard from Johnny, that’s why I’m pissed. But my son is a righteous man and I know whatever I say will just spark suspicion,” Mr. Suh said, shaking his head.

“So, what is the conclusion?” Hendery’s father asked and everyone jumped, forgetting that he was still there. “Where do we go from here?”

“We protect our children,” Mr. Lee said. “We make sure they never find out. We use our money.”

“And if they do?”

“I wouldn’t know how to live with myself. They can never find out.”

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I keep thinking back to when I first met Park Jisung.

It was the day I realized, nothing ever comes easy.

Unless you're rich. 

That’s the one thing I was always sure of and I had always worked hard. Because in a world of competition, there are two types of people. The rich and the poor—and even if I wasn’t poor, I wasn’t rich so I definitely had it worse than others.

To top that off, I always felt like I was meant for great things. You know when you have a dream and you just want to chase it without any regrets? Yeah, so that was when the hustle started. I told myself I wouldn’t choose the business path like how my parents wanted me to. They wanted me to go for education, be a professor… maybe even law and accounting.

You can never go wrong with the corporate world.

But I wanted to write about the world. I wanted to write about politics and bring everything to light and so I went into Journalism at YG University. I worked and studied and I had very good work ethic if I say so myself. I wasn’t smart, I had to work hard to get good grades and I had an average score until I finally graduated.

I was ecstatic until found how hard the workforce was.

My grades weren’t enough and media was a field where everyone needed connections.

And the first time I met Park Jisung was when we were sitting in the waiting room. He didn’t look nervous, but he was reading a script in his hand I turned to see him staring at me. I blinked, my eyes going down to the tag that was on his shirt.

“Park Jisung, Reporter.” Was what it said and I looked down at mine that said my name and the word “Journalist” beside it. We were applying for two different positions and Park Jisung reached out, a hand removing a blue thread from my sleeve, his eyes turning small as he gave a small “Ahah!”

I frowned at him and he straightened his back, turning to me to apologize.

“It was bothering me since before,” he said, flashing me a very wide gummy smile. Unlike him, my hands were sweating and I was nervous, Park Jisung humming to himself before the door opened and someone called out his name.

He stood up, giving me a small smile before going into the room. It wasn’t long before I ended up in another room, the head of the Journalist department of MBC looking down on my resume. I could already see his small eyes running over my body when I felt a shudder. He cleared his throat, putting down my resume before he spoke.

“I see that you do have mediocre grades,” he said before breathing. “You do know that in this industry, it’s all about…. Trade off’s.”

Tradeoffs?

His words made me raise an eyebrow. I knew about sacrifice and I knew the number of time journalists had to give in order to give out quality work but the way he said it made me narrow my eyes at him.

“Trade off’s?” I asked, leaning backward. He stared at me and I refused to look away, the head of MBC smiling.

“You know, there are simple things very beautiful women your age can do in order to achieve career progression in a small period of time.” He smirked. “Unless you want to keep staying at the bottom—”

I blinked.

Was he serious?

It wasn’t rocket science and I knew what he meant, my tongue poking the side of my cheek before I narrowed my eyes on him.

“I’ll pass, thank you,” I finally said, the male looking surprised at my answer. “I’m pretty sure my skills can be beneficial somewhere else—trade off’s or not.”

And with that, I stood up and grabbed my resume, fuming before I went to the door and exited the room.

When I reached the front, I saw that Park Jisung was there, smiling up at a couple when my eyes almost popped out of my sockets. I recognized the older man and I froze, Park Jisung speaking to both of them.

“Noona, Jaehyun Hyung… They accepted it. They didn’t even ask me any questions; they took one look at my resume and they said I was an amazing fit!” he said excitedly and I looked down at the resume in my hand that I was clutching. “I’m heading to the bathroom first. When I come back, we can celebrate with everyone!”

“Of course,” his sister said and I saw how she turned to her husband.

Jung Jaehyun was famous, or so to say, he was widely known for his fast-growing start-up in South Korea—also securing countless investments in terms of digital marketing and new applications. I still had no idea what the nature of his business was, but I knew that he was a very smart businessman and he was in alliance with Lee Enterprises, friends with the Kim Doyoung and Kim Bunny, and also aired Nana’s bar and restaurant multiple times on his website to the point it got a five-star rating.

Jung Jaehyun and his wife were experts when it came to selling and marketing.

“You asked someone to accept him, didn’t you?” was what Jung Jaehyun said, his hand reaching up to press against his wife’s cheek. “I know you know someone in HR.”

“Do you honestly think I would let them turn Jisung down?” His wife asked and my heart twisted in envy. Oh, the privilege and how they had it easy. “Make sure he doesn’t know about this. He’s happy and I want to keep it that way.”

“Why would I ever tell him his sister literally used her connections to give him a job?” Jaehyun asked, rolling his eyes.

“It was either this or make sure Haechan hires him.”

“Nepotism at its finest,” Jaehyun mused when he turned and our eyes connected. I froze, forgetting I was staring at him when his wife followed his stare, her eyes settling on me. I quickly brought my eyes to the ground, clearing my throat awkwardly when there were footsteps and Jisung appeared.

“I’m back! So, I called a few people, and Sungchan Hyung, Mark Hyung, and his girlfriend are drinking today. They said that Taeyong Hyung just went to pay him a visit to get Yuta hyung’s girlfriend a divorce lawyer—Uh….” He paused. “And apparently, she lost her memory so Sungchan Hyung is ready to pull the abusive environment card.”

“Right,” Jaehyun said, chuckling. “Well, Jisung. Maybe we should go celebrate you finally getting employed.”

“I can’t wait to get news to report about! I hope I become a great reporter,” Jisung chirped, his sister wiped his face with a wet tissue as they all exited the building, leaving me there defeated with the results of my interview.

I hated rich people.

I hated how privileged they all were.

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I didn’t hate them for long, though.

The next day I went into KBS, I was accepted on the spot and I was over the moon. It seemed weird that they would simply just give me something so easily when a week after, I was told that there would be a collaboration with KBS and MBC for a particular case that everyone was buzzing about.

Lee Enterprises was getting blackmailed.

Transparency had made the news scatter everywhere and I remember being called into a room with a few other newcomers when I saw him again—Park Jisung, his eyes bright and fueled with determination when both the head of MBC and KBS began to speak.

“MBC is known for their reporters and KBS is known for their journalists. With this collaboration, we will be partners with police and investigators to find out who the person trying to blackmail Lee Enterprises is,” The head of MBC said. “This is a good chance because if you are able to practice your skills and ace this task, you will automatically be promoted. Lee Enterprises wants someone who will handle this task seriously.”

Why weren’t they giving it to their very expert reporters and journalists then?

I sat behind all the journalists in front of me and I saw that none of them were raising their hand.

The real question was, why wasn’t anyone jumping toward the opportunity?

I was about to raise my hand when my friend grabbed my hand and I looked at her, the female frowning at me.

“Are you crazy? Do you know what will happen if you take the case? Don’t you understand what they are trying to do?”

“What?” I had no idea, Kang Sora rolling her eyes.

“Look, it’s a case given by Lee Enterprises, one of the biggest business organizations in Seoul. The only reason why they are giving it to newbies is because they know it’s going to be a long and hard case and if they don’t succeed, they will be blamed for it. If you take this, you’ll get all the blame if something goes wrong. Why do you think all our chief journalists turned it down?”

Well, that made sense.

“Then I’ll just have to succeed.”

“Really? That’s your conclusion? If you don’t and you end up in hot water for finding something you’re not supposed to, you might even get sued. These people are rich, man—”

“I’ll take it,” A voice said and Sora stopped talking, the female looking up and when I followed her actions, I saw Park Jisung with a hand in the air. I could have sworn I saw a sigh of relief from the head of MBC. “Someone told me it’s best that I take it. I’ll take it… it’ll be my first.”

“Oh, of course. Of course.” the head of MBC gave a dry smile. “Of course, you know them, personally. Well, one from my side. KBS, any journalist interested in—”

“Me,” I finally said, everyone from my side of the room looking at me. “I’ll take it.”

“Finally,” the head of KBS said, smiling. “We’ll wrap it up. Park Jisung and you there, meet in the meeting room.”

I fought the urge to roll my eyes.

I had a name, goddamnit.

But I found myself in the meeting room, Park Jisung greeting me like I was an old friend, the male waving at me. I fell on the seat beside him, our bosses coming in with a cart of files that made my eyes almost pop out of my sockets.

Files.

A whole lot of them.

“These are all the financial information of all of the Lee Enterprises. Credit and debit, all their daily transactions. Business account. You will be reporting any new suspicious activity to Moon Tae-il. He is Lee Haechan’s newly appointed financial advisor—”

“Oh, Tae-il Hyung!” Jisung exclaimed, flipping through the papers. “This is a lot.”

“And you also will be working alongside Police Captain Johnny Suh. His division was given the order to aid you both in anything you need.”

“Johnny Hyung!” Jisung echoed and I frowned.

How does this guy know everyone?

“You will be reporting back to me weekly,” my boss said and I nodded. “They have put their hopes on us and I’m sure there is a list of privately hired detectives that Lee Haechan has hired but he believes that putting everything out into public diminishes the power the blackmailers have. I want an article every time there is an update or new information. If you do this well, KBS will attract new viewers and readers so I want you to try your best.”

“Okay. Someone told me to go for it so I did,” Jisung mumbled, looking up to smile at my boss. Her eyes softened and he smiled at her. “Anything else?”

“For you, you report to me. I want you on call and on the go. Just because you know them personally does not mean I will go easy on you.” Jisung’s boss said and he nodded. “You will still be working on the team when they need you but do prioritize this.”

“Sure,” Jisung replied, shrugging. “Sounds like a plan.”

When they left, I sat there with Jisung flashing me a smile.

“So, KBS,” he began. “When would you like to start?”

“Well, MBC,” I answered, grabbing one of the files and opening it up. “Now.”

And that marked the day I ended up working with Park Jisung, him and his relationships with other people dragging me down a long ride.

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

2 months after

I was driving the van that was sponsored by MBC, my hands turning the wheels expertly.

It had taken me a while and I lied to them when I said I could drive a manual vehicle but it all worked out and finally, I was the one who drove Jisung and I around. The night before, I found a lead and I was very excited to show it to Jisung. Lee Enterprises was under hot water and everyone in South Korea knew that. It didn’t matter that Lee Haechan wanted everything to be transparent… what mattered was that they were accused of laundering money and we had to find where the money was from.

Of course, it had been two months and we got bits and pieces of it. Like certain times and how the money was laundered into the business but Lee Enterprises had acquired so many businesses back in 2021 when Lee Haechan came back, it took countless nights and video calls with Moon Tae-il for me to actually find a pattern.

But today, I had woken up from a ding, my phone vibrating under my pillow as I rolled to the side and grabbed it. I answered it, Jisung’s face coming up onto the screen, the male squinting into the camera.

“KBS!” he was saying and I grunted, wiping away the drool from the side of my face. “KBS, wake up! I need help.”

“What do you need?” I had asked, frowning, Jisung turning the camera down to his pants to show a big rip and my eyes widened. “What… How did that happen?”

“I was trying to get a better view,” he mumbled. “But my pants ripped and we’re going live in thirty minutes. We’re on-site and I need new pants.”

“Go buy new ones.”

“I can’t, if the cameraman goes and comes back—KBS, can’t you just come?”

I had groaned, Jisung giving me his puppy eyes when I hopped out of bed.

“Where are you? What news are you reporting today?”

“It’s a small piece. A memorial. A building that had collapsed more than forty years ago and people are coming to place flowers on the site. Look… Forge