When Myungsoo stepped inside the familiar skyscaper, he knew something bad was up to happen. A line of employees was making their way out of the front door while carrying a carton on their hands. "What is going on in here?" He mumbled, frowning as he watched them moving further and further. Then suddenly, Myungsoo felt himself being pushed aside violently, like someone was purposely hitting him on the shoulder. 
"What the...?" Myungsoo said, disgruntled then turned around to look at that gutsy one. 
"You selfish bastard!" 
Yup, that one dared to call him that. "What?" He widened his eyes in disbelief but soon changed into a viperous fury, everyone working under this company should've known it better than pissing the president's successor off. "Who are you? Which department are you working at?"
Much to Myungsoo's astonishment, the guy just smirked smugly. "I'm working at the unemployment department, sir." With that, he gave Myungsoo one last bump and left the scene.
And then, as he registered the sarcastic statement, Myungsoo rushed through the grand lobby toward his office while receiving some more fatal laser shooting from people who were more than willing to shower him with their subservient bows the previous morning.
"Soo Ji-sshi, what is happening?" 
The muffled sob prevented the asked girl from giving her boss the answer he was dying to testify. "Bae Soo Ji, what is freaking wrong with you and everyone this morning?" He huffed, his stomach was doing somer-sault from all the possibilities and none of them seemed to be very bright. "Pledis had bought all of our stocks and now we have one hour left to pack all the stuff before they kick our out of this building, quoted from their reprensentative, that jerk!" She hiccupped dramatically. "Can you imagine us waking up in the morning, going to work just to be spitted in the face that we don't have that job anymore?" Soo Ji paused between her tirade and gave him that accusing look. He wouldn't be so surprised if she said she actually wanted to spit in his face right now. Yesterday, when Myungsoo said he couldn't do it, he already prepared for this. But even in his worst nightmare, he couldn’t imagine that it would be this fast. It was just a day ago that Myungsoo learned about the bankruptcy and that stupid come-with-a-pride benefactor and that he refused to compromise and his dad decided to disown hi… damn, Myungsoo forgot about him. He cursed under his breath as he ran away from Soo Ji's nonstop babble. "Da..." Myungsoo stopped in the middle as he witnessed a fit of wrath washing over the office like a tornado. "You bunch of losers! How could none of you stop them before i come?" Mr.Kim dumped the papers into his subordinates' demean heads "Contact Pledis's president and ask for 3 days, no,... a week before I could, we could find a solution..." His thunderous voice trailed off and everyone there knew exactly that the solution he was mentioning was unfindable. He looked down at his bare hands and mumbled almost nonsensical thing to others. "I spent my whole life struggling for who I am today, how could everything turn out like this?" His lips was trembling as he facepalmed, some tears trickled inconspicuously through the cracks of his fingers. Myungsoo's heart tugged at the sight. The tough man who he always looked up to, the most self-righteous and most adamant man Myungsoo had ever known. He was standing there, looking smaller than ever while crying pathetically,couldn't deal with the biggest fiasco of his life. "Dad, I'm..." He walked over to his father, although Myungsoo didn't know what was the right thing to say, "I'm sorry" probably?, it'd be better if they had each other's back. But then all the good intention was demolished instantaneously and mercilessly when a slap flied across his cheek, the skin to skin collision was so impetuous that Myungsoo's ears were almost dysfunctional for a few seconds. "It's all because of you and oh-how-can-i-tie-the-knot-with-someone-i-don't-know."Mr.Kim hissed. "If you had agreed to marry that goddamn girl" He grabbed Myungsoo's collar with an obvious force, his bloodshot eyes peering into him menacingly. At that particular moment, Myungsoo thought his father looked so much alike to a rabid beast which was about to tear its prey apart. Myungsoo fixed his gaze on the ground the whole time, qualms engulfing his conscience entirely, leaving his limbs completely numb and ready to be beated up by the elder man."then SM, my SM..." Some seconds passed but everything that fell out of his palate was just some inarticulate pant. His eyes stretched to their limit while his mouth agaped in a desperate attempt to take in more air. His hand unconsciously d his left chest, but the sickly heart inside didn't stop squeezing the life out of his body. "Dad, dad,..." His son's panic shout faded away into a string of meaningless sound as the whole world collapsed around him. ...

#

"How is he now, doctor?" Myungsoo almost jumped on the man in white blouse.

"Your father is still comatose. His heart failure is in a very severe condition and you'd better find the way to resolve the problem that causes him this when he awakes before..."He patted the young man's shoulder, insinuating Myungsoo's biggest fear. The woman observed her son from afar, whose feet was still rooting to the floor as if he hadn't done anything elsewhere in his entire life. Despite not being able to lip-read their conversation, she understood the situation perfectly. His father or his...whatever impeded Myungsoo from marrying Miss Park. She knew it was Hyuna, but the thing was that she could never get the slightest idea of how her son was still so blind clinging onto that piece of hope after already so many years; she had a fiancé for Peter’s sake! The old lady wanted to shake her son so hard so that he would stop daydreaming and do something practical. Something here would mean not being famished and residing under Han river bridge, as their property would be confisticated in a couple of hours, the prospect sounded quite conceivable tho. But no, she just stood there in an absolute composure as ever; "Because everyone knows" she thought."How much he worships his father." With that, Mrs.Kim walked pass her son to the emergency room. Their eyes never met once. Myungsoo's façade was just as inscrutable as the dizzying whiteness of the surroudings but inside, there was a turmoil, a battle between the delusion of the woman he’d never have and the unsconcious man lying in there whose life utterly counted on him. After all, she was indeed a delusion, while if he kept monologizing like a maniac like this, his father would soon turn into an illusion too.Grabbing the car key tightly, Myungsoo flounced off in a nick of second. It was an unfair fight in the first place.                         

     #

Jiyeon flicked her fingernails distractedly as she looked outside the window; it wasn't that Jiyeon was captivated by the flowery garden. The gardener had a bad taste to be quite honest, which meant she was just killing her time while waiting, for that certain someone to come and beseech her. And when he did, Jiyeon swore that she'd savour every glorious minute of it. Just a little payback, she thought, for how you damaged my intact dignity. I used to be so carefree and truly believed that life was all pink; and see what I got. Being dishonoured in the most mortifying and relentless way a prideful young girl could ever endure. Jiyeon had been so scared to fall asleep because whenever her eye-lid drooped down needily, the snark named Nightmare would kick in and degrade her sanity to no end. Everynight, the scenario was just the same. The same pricking stare coming from the same beautiful eyes, the same pretentious smirk quirking up on the same beautiful lips. The man haunting her dreams was so sinfully beautiful that it disgusted her immensely. Jiyeon knew she was ruined cuz no matter how desperately she tried, she could never find her true self back again. It was gone with him. Never, huh? Yeah, I'll make you can never escape from me anymore. Jiyeon would be lying if she said that nervousness didn't gnaw her a bit inwardly but heck, she was confident in herself; in this perfect little machination. After all, it didn't actually do harm to anyone so "machination" might sound a tad rhetorical; so how about terming it as "ruse" instead?

Flashback:

Jiyeon slided a thick envelope across the table as she gazed at the middle-aged man, the whole scene smelled melodramatically like a business negotiation which was partly true cause money was involved and played the main role as well. Not breaking the eye contact, he handed her a file. "I brought everything you asked." His voice was faint and quivering.

"But please don't destroy SM. Mr.Kim was very kind to me. He accepted me into the company when I was jobless and my kids were..."

Contempt emerged from every cell inside of the young girl. "He's kind to you but you still sell him anyway. So stop acting like the most loyal dog out there, adjussi." Gripping the file on the side of her waist, Jiyeon wore her shades back and whisked out of the place

#

"I have a secret of SM to reveal."

"How can I know that you're trustworthy?" The man on the other line yawned unbashfully. He received hundreds of phone calls like this per day.

 "I'll send you the evidence proving that SM isn't doing very good lately." She paused, tantalizing.

"I'm listening." Jiyeon could even picture him straighting up his oversized body while perking up his bat-like ears, and this made her snigger."I won't be so surprised if Kim Soo Man is found jumping down from his beloved SM in a near future. The amount of money he owed the other investors is unbelievably huge."

"Which mean...?" He said suggestively.

"He's broke and now indebted."

"How much do you want to sell us the source exclusively?"

"It's for free. Just make sure everyone in this Seoul read your newspaper tomorrow." A beep sound welcomed him as the anonym disrupted the connection.

#

"Dad, have you heard about SM?" Jiyeon asked, which was needless since she could peek easily at the collossal headline "SM empire is facing the possibilily of being overthowed. No more Big 3?" In front of the cover of the paper Mr.Park was holding.

"Yes, I did." He replied absent-mindedly.

"Didn't you feel anything?"

"Why should I? Like the title said, no more big 3 and it won't do anything but benefits us."

"What if I say I want you to save SM?" She held her breath.

"You-what?" He choked on air at his daughter dead serious face.

...

"Young Master said he couldn't marry you, miss, and Master was very angry that he yelled at him that he didn't want to have Young Master as his son anymore."

"He said that!? Well well, Plan B all the way."

…

“What do you want me to do, Miss Park?"

"Buy them all, not leaving a single one."

#

Let's just see you'll be this defiant for how long...

 "Miss, there is Mr.Kim Myungsoo wants to meet you." She turned around upon hearing the voice of a servant. "Bring him in." A sinister smirk "adorned" her lips as Jiyeon made herself comfortable on the sofa. Soon, a male figure appeared from the half-open door. Never pulling her eyes away from the newcomer, Jiyeon raised her voice lightly.

"Would you like some coffee, Myungie-ah? Or orange juice?"

"No thanks. I won't stay long." Myungsoo replied, he looked so lost like a puppy in the middle of the grand room that made Jiyeon want to burst out laughing yet run to him at the same time. Oh man, can this even get funnier? She mentally wiped a tear off her eyes as she let out a slight but unmistakably mocking intonation. "Don't be too aloof, Myungie-ah, especially when you're going to require something from me, isn't that why you're here right now?" The said man had a hard time swallowing his saliva but still managed to make out an answer. "Tea, please."

 "Naeun, you heard Mr.Kim." Jiyeon said with an alarming tone, which awoke the maid immediately from the enthrallment caused by the beautiful stranger in front of her. This man, she swore, was a living doll. Despite the weary countenance he was wearing, Myungsoo still looked so flawless that Jiyeon almost succumbed to the excruciating desire to just throw herself at him shamelessly. Keep cool, you little minx, he is about to offer himself under your feet so take it slow.The chided girl scurried out of the room immediately as she didn’t want anything bad to happen to her and left the two others face to face. The air was stiflingly thick that the tie on Myungsoo's neck was strangling him in his own imagination.

"Make yourself home, Myungie-ah." Does she really need to call me like that repeatedly? His eyebrows knitted but say nothing anyway then sat down in another couch.

"Good, now tell me, what do you want?" She hastened. Jiyeon sure did enjoy having Myungsoo within her eyesight but the was being a bit too long for her very liking. "I accept the proposition." Myungsoo said emotionlessly though his interior system didn't work with the same serenity. "And what proposition are you mentioning by the way?" She asked innocently.

"The marriage."

"With whom?" Myungsoo gnashed his teeth; are you ing kidding me? The foul word was just about to slip out of his tongue but Myungsoo had successfully hold it back at the last second. "I, agree, to, marry, you."

"I've never forced you to do me such a favor."

"Sorry, scratch that." Myungsoo never felt more grateful to his mother for training him to keep up a poker face “even when all you want is to disembowel that one son of a ”.In this case, it was a . "I want to marry you."

"That's better." Jiyeon grinned widely and invaded his personal space in the most dainty way ever. The distance was just merely a few centimeters that their bodies was basically grazing against each other but he was wise enough to not flinch away. As he predicted, she made some effort to molest him by rubbing along his thigh. Kim Myungsoo was never a scaredy-cat with teeny-weeny guts and yet he was literally shuddering at the very moment...And then a God-knew-where-it-came-from premonition descended upon his head made him wonder whether he was signing some kind of a death contract or not. Myungsoo was yanked out of his thought when he felt her finger going higher and higher from his legs toward his crotch.

"Stop!" He grabbed her hand, the idea was just too gross on any other day. “Jiyeon-sshi, it comes with a condition."

"Of course." Jiyeon leaned against the armrest as she straightened an invisible crease on her skirt. "Ask your father to buy all of the stock Pledis is keeping from us. Then give it back to me. By the end of tomorrow."

"Easy." She chirped and her hand began to wander around again. "Sorry. I've had some paperwork to do." Myungsoo stretched his legs out and stood up. "-And-the wedding plan, we'll discuss it later after I have my SM back. See you later, Jiyeon-sshi."

"It's Jiyeon." She moved toward him.

"..." Myungsoo had that adorably confused look on his face when she brushed her fingers along his suit.

"You should get used to call my name informally from now on, Myungie-ah." And she wiggled an eyebrow as a sign of anticipation yet commanding.  

"Good bye, Jiyeon."

As soon as Myungsoo was gone, Jiyeon pressed the calling button of her cell phone and a voice answered her right after one beep. "Make an article tomorrow saying that the whole thing about SM's is just hoax. And that SM and JYP are planning for a longterm cooperation, which will be consolidated by the marriage between their heir and heiress at the end of this month." The phone call ended quickly with no more as the order was loud and clear. You just did actually sign a death contract, Kim idiot Myungsoo.