chapter three.

It seemed to her that everything was happening way too fast for her to process anything.

It was only a week ago when she was pulled out of her summer college course when she found out about her uncle's death. Three days later she was confronted by one of Korea's most powerful men at her uncle's funeral. A day later she was asked to take her uncle's place as CEO of SM Entertainment. It was approximately only 4 hours ago when she had confirmed her decision to the public and 2 hours later she was pulled into a bathroom stall by her new (self proclaimed) best friend slash assistant. Then 10 minutes ago she had bumped into what she felt like was her prince charming at her own debut.

And now, 10 minutes later, she was being scolded by her (self proclaimed) best friend slash assistant (and now) slash umma.

"AIGOO. WHAT AM I GOING TO DO WITH YOU?" Kyungie had screamed at the top of his lungs at the ruined dress. Sung Hee silently chuckled as she sat in one of the bathroom stalls, practically .

"And you Miss CEO" he turned his attention to Sung Hee, "Next time, before you go flirting with a cute guy, tell me so I can prevent your dress being ruined and a scandal happening even before you begin working!"

"Bwoh? It wasn't my fault, he bumped into me first!" she responded, "Wait.. what?"

Kyungie scoffed at Sung Hee's naivety, "Tsk. And you think you're ready to take over this business."

"That boy that you were about to flirt with is from one of the hottest boy groups in this decade.

"Is it DBSK? SS501? Super Junior? God I didn't know... there are too many of them!" Sung Hee groaned while Kyungie sighed.

"No. SHINee. You know... the guys that swept the new male group category when they debuted? They're like wanted in every country in the world." as Kyungie explained all Sung Hee could do was look in confusion. 

"C'mon you don't know Noona Neomu Yeppeo?" he cooed the melody of the song.

"Don't you mean Ahjumma Neomu Yeppeo?"

"No." Kyungie glared at Sung Hee, "You're an ahjumma for not knowing them."

"Actually I bet some ahjumma's know more about KPOP than you." Sung Hee scoffed at Kyungie's remark.

"Anyways you're getting me off topic. You were about to flirt with CHOI MINHO. As in your employee SHINee's Choi Minho. And you should know, despite not knowing your KPOP idols, that dating an employee is a NO-NO."

"So say no to Choi Minho?" Kyungie nodded in response.

"But what about you? Amber said that you were flirting with that beast. Isn't that a NO-NO?"

Kyungie screamed in horror at Sung Hee's remark, "First off his name is YOSEOB, second he is not a beast-- his group is name is BEAST, and third off  Yoseob isn't from our company so I can happily flirt with him all I want. GAAWD someone needs to give you lessons about idols." 

Sung Hee lowered her head as Kyungie looked furious. Although he continued his rant there seemed to be no sound emitting from his voice. She stayed quiet, thinking about all the words the younger boy said. It was true, she was completely clueless about the people around her; if she was going to survive in this industry it was important to know every thing and every one.

Now thinking about it she felt more doubtful and insecure about her abilities. It dawned on her that she probably looked foolish trying to be friends with female idols and visibly liking her own employee; those types of things were impossible to do in an industry like this, these people are just normal humans-- they are supposed to be glorious, untouchable, powerful beings.

Well they may not be that big of a deal, she realized that she exaggerated their importance a bit too much.

"Knock, knock." a voice rang through the continuous stream of Sung Hee's thoughts. A tall girl entered the bathroom holding a garment bag over her shoulders.

Kyungie stopped in the middle of his rant, smiling at the girl, "Ah you finally made it! Quickly, let me see what you've brought."

The girl obeyed Kyungie and handed over the garment bag. ping the package revealed a short, one sleeved emerald green dress.

Sung Hee looked over at the mysterious girl; although she seemed cute she had a bit of a cold aura around her. She also could tell that she was quietly analyzing her too.

"Good choice dongseng!" Kyungie raved in approval, "You should go back now and get some rest. Tell your unnies that there'll be a meeting with the CEO tomorrow."

The young girl's face lit up in excitement, "Ok oppa!" she bowed to both Kyungie and Sung Hee before turning around.

"Oh by the way Lee Soo Man-ssi is calling for her." pointing at Sung Hee, "He says that they want to meet her."

"Huh? Who is it Hyun Jung?"

"The other CEOs. YG, JYP, even Bi-ssi! They want to meet Sung Hee-ssi personally." Hyun Jung smiled prettily causing Kyungie to squeal in delight.

"Aigoo you're too cute. Now go before I allow you to go see Krystal and regret it." Kyungie pushed the younger girl closer to the door. It seemed that Hyun Jung's eyes widened at her friend's name and mumbled something that Sung Hee couldn't hear as she was now passed the door.

Now that the bathroom was occupied by Kyungie and herself again, the younger boy looked at the barely clothed CEO and smiled again. Sung Hee could already expect what would happen between the two of them. She didn't mind being pushed back into a bathroom stall and be (practically) violated by him in an effort to be clothed as she had bigger and more nerve-wracking things in mind.

5 minutes later Sung Hee was back to square one. She could feel the piercing stares of everyone in the room as she walked over to the velvet roped area where the biggest men in KPOP were sitting. Every step she took she could hear her heart beat louder in her ears. Eventually her eyes met a familiar gaze that only calmed her heart by a centimeter.

Beyond the velvet rope was a room deep inside the venue that only contained a few men and no women, except for her. The most important men were sitting down at a round table filled with empty glasses and heavy laughter. Lee Soo Man caught the sight of a newly dressed Sung Hee, who obviously seemed intimidated by the men around him, as she beckoned for the hand of her (unofficial) assistant.

"Annyong hashimnikka. I am Heo Sung Hee, the temporary CEO of SM Entertainment. I will try my hardest to continue the legacy of my uncle. Please treat me well." she nervously announced her presence, causing the laughter among the men to cease to exist. She gave a 90 degree bow and proceeded to sit next to Bi Rain, founder of J. Tune Entertainment. Kyungie quickly and  happily sat next to her, making it obvious that he was stoked to be close to someone so famous. The other CEOs and founders mumbled their greetings and then became silent.

Despite the exclusive room being filled with such big men with loud voices, Sung Hee's arrival had calmed down the atmosphere, almost to the point of pure silence enveloping the room. Sung Hee worriedly looked at Soo Man for some help in such an awkward situation but denied any efforts to do so-- obviously pushing her to act like a CEO instead of a little girl.

"So..." she quietly began. She could see all of their ears perk up to her voice, but they themselves did not seem so interested in her. "I-It must be a hard job keeping idols in order, huh?"

Deep, stern eyes looked at her and quietly responded with 'yes' and 'yeah' or just a nod of their head. This only concerned her more.

Sung Hee continued to sit in her chair uncomfortably, trying to get into the minds of Park Jin Young, Yang Hyun Suk, Lee Hyo Yeon  and other CEO's within the table, but ultimately failing miserably. Again, every movement she made caused their eyes to follow, like a cat watching the mouse. They wanted to intimidate her and without a doubt it worked. She looked towards Soo Man once more for help but he dared not to stare into her eyes. She sighed in defeat and looked down, now avoiding the gaze of the men in front of her.

"Hmm... she lasted longer than Young Min did." Sung Hee's ears perked up at the new voice. Looking up she could see the CEO's faces turn from stone cold to a warmer smile.

Hyun Suk turned to Hyo Yeon and they both chuckled, "I remember when Young Min was first appointed CEO he couldn't keep his head up for more than 10 seconds."

"Soo Man-ah, she really is a good choice after all. I think I would've at least fainted if I was in her position." Jin Young patted Soo Man on the back and smiled brightly at Sung Hee.

"I think I did faint when I was in that seat." Bi Rain followed also smiling. Sung Hee looked at all the men, with their brighter expressions, and scratched her head.

"Can someone explain to me what's going on?" Kyungie bluntly asked, reading Sung Hee's mind.

Soo Man stood up from the table, "This was just Sung Hee's initiation to the major CEO's. It was just a test to see how she would react under intimidation and surprisingly she did well."

"We don't do this often because most of us are too stubborn to leave our positions." Jin Young joked.

"I wouldn't have expected her to start a conversation after our cold response to her." Hyo Yeon spoke, "In my time as DSP CEO I've never seen someone keep their head up for so long under our circumstances. I'm impressed."

"Yeah" Hyun Suk agreed, "I'm excited to see what you have in store, kid. My groups will definitely be pleased too."

Sung Hee blushed as the men around her began to get up, one by one, from the table-- each congratulating her with words of advice and handshakes galore.

"Welcome to the jungle, Sung Hee. I hope you can handle the pressure this entertainment will give you. You'll see that the idols aren't the only ones that get hurt here. I hope you'll survive." Bi Rain finished shaking her hand, then Kyungie's, before leaving with the other CEO's. Soon the room behind the red velvet rope was empty.

Except for Kyungie's high pitched squeal. He jumped around the room in delight, treasuring his hand as if it was gold.

Sung Hee giggled at the sight of her assistant's joy, "I'm gonna go get some air for a sec, ok? I'll catch up to you at dinner."

Through the glass doors, the night's cold air had happily greeted Sung Hee, as she approached the venue's balcony. There was no light except for those that radiated from the venue itself, so she couldn't see if anyone was there. Nevertheless she still walked forward to the railing and the view of Seoul.

She sighed. This roller coaster ride of tonight's event had made her feel tired. She honestly had no intentions of finding Kyungie nor eating dinner but instead wanted to just go home and snuggle up to her warm bed; she (figuratively and literally) felt cold while being here, but she had to for her uncle's sake.

"It's only gonna be for a year and then you can be free." she murmured to herself. Rubbing her bare arms to keep herself warm, she allowed her neck to relax and her head to rest on the railing. She stared at the lights of Seoul and stood quietly, taking in the chaos around her.

"Here, have this." a voice from her behind her whispered, it was deep and masculine. She turned around.

Holding a black suit jacket, a man with black hair and even black-er dark circles stared at an obviously cold Sung Hee. She shook her head in rejection but he still insisted to give her the jacket.

"Ah I didn't know I wasn't alone, it's okay. I'm going inside soon. I'm sorry for disturbing you." she quickly spoke, furiously bowing at the same time. The man laughed at the sight of her hasty behavior and walked over to her. She froze as she watched him drape his jacket over her bare shoulders. Sung Hee couldn't help but also notice that under his dark circles laid a pair of pull, pink lips.

The mysterious man now stood next to Sung Hee, shoulder to shoulder, and also stared at the lights of Seoul, "This party must be a bit overwhelming for you, huh?"

Sung Hee silently nodded, not daring to stare into his alluring eyes and lips. The man laughed at her inability to maintain her stares.

"By the way, you don't need to return the jacket, as long as you tell me your name."

She blushed, "Heo Sung Hee. I'm th--"

"The new CEO of SM Entertainment." the man finished for her, she blushed even harder, "No one told me that the new CEO would be this beautiful but also very shy."

"A-ah no I'm not shy just... what did you call it?"

"Overwhelmed?" Sung Hee nodded in approval.

"Yeah that." she chuckled to herself, "and what about you? What's your name?"

The man stood silent, averting his gaze from her, "Just call me Yang. You don't really need to know who I am."

"Ah. Don't be such a cold man Mr. Yang." she joked while Yang just smiled, still averting his eyes. "Let's get to know each other! We can be friends. Here let's start with this: what do you do?"

As Yang began to open his mouth, both of them could hear someone calling for Sung Hee.

"Noona!" a familiar tall boy came running into the balcony. Grabbing Sung Hee's hand he started to drag her away from Yang. "Dinner is ready and everyone is looking for you. C'mon!"

Sung Hee looked over at the lonely Yang and frowned. At the same time the man nodded in agreement for Choi Minho to take the lady away.

As his sight of the two people decreased, Yang smirked at the feeling of his fluttering heart and turned back to the lights of Seoul.

author's note: ah finally the third chapter. so much stuff to pack in for one chapter! should have i separated it into another one? haha no... you guys would've killed me. anyways i see all of you are way too excited for the announcement of the group so i think i'm just going to make a post dedicated to the members, rather than writing a chapter first. by the way i'm sorry i'm so slow. i'm trying to juggle everything (school, family, fanfics) but thankfully i have the support of you guys! please continue to read and comment and i promise to post faster! bye bye~