06. Father-in-law's Threat

"President Lee, you shouldn't worry about it. The viral scandal will die down within a few days"

That was what Mirae had told him and something Taeho had truly believed but that was a week ago. Things weren't any better, it was worse. The media really seemed hell bent on milking out the most out of this scandal. The opinions had turned over from lover boy to sleazy womanizer. Every few days, they would uncover another one of the paparazzi shots of him with different women even if they were dug up from thirteen million years ago. Things went south real quick after that. It was still a wonder how rapidly things change on the internet these days, it's as though people say one thing and quickly jump over to the next in the next minute. The same people who tweeted in favor of him were now typing away on how slimy he looked and seemed. They were putting him as memes and sharing tiktoks condemning him for his actions as though they had every right in the world.

Taeho was quite aware of his ways with women. But he wouldn't call himself a womanizer. He has been with women with whom he made clear that it wasn't a serious matter. Truthfully, he hadn't been in any serious relationship with anyone ever since she happened. He didn't want to get into the true semantics of it. It remains that the women he was with knew what they were getting themselves into and it was mutual when they ended things. He made it clear that he was married to his work.

[Text from Haeson: My movie cast announcement has been pushed back for another week. Fix this ASAP.]

Taeho sighed and dimmed his phone, slipping it into his inner coat pocket. He sat a moment in the spacious modern office for another minute of silence before he reached in for his phone again. He compulsively opened twitter again.

Giseok had made sure to delete his post immediately from twitter but then the netizens worked better than any security service. There were already screenshots of the posts that were still circulating around all forms of SNS. Taeho refused the letter he once wrote to her. He didn't want to read it. Reading it would make it very real and not to mention that it was embarrassingly long. He probably made a comment about her 'beautiful feet' somewhere in there. What mattered was the fact that he needed to move on. But still his instincts still tingle with every notification ringing at his attention, maybe deep down he was searching for a clue. Something along the lines of her coming out to the media, and reaching out to him.

Whether she does reach out or not, what mattered to him was that everything should remain unchanged.

And the media digging into his past wasn't certainly helping at all.

The door clicked open and Taeho looked up, immediately putting his phone away and standing up. A characteristic old man in his late fifties slowly walked in the room, taking his time to shut the door behind even though it would eventually open when his assistant brought the drinks in. With sleek white hair and sharp slanting eyes, a frowning mouth to add to his expression, Jung Haemoon silently walked in his office. It was a spacious office with modernist designs with a minimal touch. There was a sofa set in the middle of the room and his table chair set up north, just in front of the sofa set. Money was certainly put into the interior designs. The velvet certainly had the smell of money under his butt now that Taeho thought about it.

"Father, how do you do?" Taeho greeted, bowing deeply to his fiancee's father.

The old man critically eyed him up and down before he settled down comfortably on the sofa opposite Taeho. There was a reason why this man was the reigning top tech owner even before tech was even mainstream. He was an enigma. This man could sell anything, even used toilet paper if he liked. Taeho invested a certain amount of his time, a huge chunk of his life into figuring this man out so that he can defeat him. It took so much of his life to fight against this man and he didn't even know why he was fighting. It was such a thrill to go up against someone who had this much control over the market.

"I have seen the news, Lee Taeho."

Taeho nodded solemnly. But surely not the tabloids? They published a new story slamming his reputation and his promiscuous adventures every other day and it surely has worked its purpose– driving Taeho crazy.

"Yes, the news has been crazy. The internet is amazing nowadays."

"You own a tech company, you would know that."

'Yes, father."

"Are you doing anything about it? It would rather be unseemly to cancel the wedding at such a point."

"I am doing everything I can. I have a specialized team working on it."

"Listen, Taeho." Haemoon looked over to the door as his assistant had just entered. He coolly waved the young man away and turned his attention back to Taeho, "I understand. There's no way I would not. I would never pass up a good woman."

Taeho smiled cordially, holding back a judgmental cringe. He has never been with women for the looks. It might sound much worse, but he only did it for his company. It has been quite a while since he truly felt something like attraction for a woman without the thought of his company intruding his mind.

"But Haeson is my princess. She is my child, my baby. I love her to death and I only want the best for her. I chose you for the man that you are with your company. SS corps is my child too and I know what you are going through. I wouldn't allow such a thing to hurt my daughter and now I know that Haeson is hurting."

"Yes, father."

"I understand that you will take care of this immediately. If this continues to affect my children and their careers, I would have to step in. I know you understand that as well."

"I understand that, I will fix this."

"If this worsens anymore, I reckon that it won't be good for Phoenix Tech or for you. I would have to reconsider handing SS corps to you."

"If that is what you wish, father"

"Now you get that I don't wish to do this. I want you to be my heir as well. But if Phoenix is affected by this scandal, it would no longer be the leading company. I just think that there's no profit in that."

Minutes later, Taeho walked out of the office with a fresh look on his face. His company was in trouble and he was going to save it, like he always does. He was getting his Midas' touch back.