JayB's POV
"They are ready for you, Mr. Kim." Park Sooyoung said as she entered the room.
It's been 9 months since I went on hiatus. During that time, I spent it by working with Kim Jiyeon and Park Sooyoung in tracking down all the people on the list that Jiyeon gave me. Yes, Park Sooyoung as in Joy of Red Velvet. She apparently called me up and asked for an explanation after JYP Entertainment announced my hiatus. I ended up telling her the truth for her to believe that I wasn't going on hiatus because of the reason that the company provided to the media. It was also good to have someone I trust by my side and not just Jiyeon. And what better way to do it than have your best friend work with you. The company made gave an excuse using my mental health as a reason for my long-term absence. The media and the fans bought it though, and were very supportive towards my "mental recovery".
As a result, Kei, Joy and I ended up going on hiatus at the same time with the same reason. This was a very important moment not just for me but also for my family. Even my siblings joined in on the hunt. Fortunately, their fans also supported them. They were far more concern to see us healthy than forcing us to be on stage. It was quite different in the previous world because the "fans" of idol groups would treat them as objects as if it was made FOR them. That's why they sexualize them and treat them as if they had an opportunity to marry their biases. Which was disgusting if I say so myself. Thankfully, fans in this world were much more supportive.
Kei did her best to become an agent on my behalf as she went on missions under Kim Doram not knowing that she was already working with me in taking him down. We tried our best to hunt them down without alerting them. In the process, I also asked for help from the members of Alpha. Thankfully, they were happy to offer their help despite their busy schedules.
"Thanks, Ms. Park." I gave her a smile before I slowly stood up.
Kei then entered my office and stood beside Sooyoung. At first, it was hard to get these two in the same room without them grabbing each other's necks. Now, they were both here and were supporting me as our 9-month long battle was coming to a close through this press conference that we prepared. Though it was a press conference, I would be staying in a room where a microphone would deliver my message in an altered voice to the conference room. It was to protect my identity. A live feed would then show me what was happening inside the conference room.
Kei smiled at me but it was obvious that she too, was nervous. "Are you ready?"
I sighed. "Let's get this over with."
We all walked towards the room that we prepared and readied my microphone. Joy and Kei were looking at me anxiously. We all know that after today, the chaos would start. I was sure that our stocks would certainly decrease but I already found a way to counter it. We already had the authorities on standby outside the different companies that we had all over the world. Anyone inside the company had no idea what I was about to announce. The only people who knew were my Father, my Mother, my siblings, Alpha, JYP PD-nim, Kei and Joy. It was to avoid the leak of information. Hopefully, no one can escape them. We've already submitted the evidence to the different authorities around the world which was also difficult since laws were different in every country. Good thing Jeong Do was there to help me with it.
Once Joy gave me the go signal, I gave her a nod. "Ladies and gentlemen, board of the directors, employees of Kim Group, good afternoon. My name is Kim Jinbo, the 2nd son of Kim Stephen, and the heir of the entire Kim Group. Today, I have asked all of your supervisors, managing directors, managers and other forms of upper management to halt all activities for the time being in order for everyone to listen to this announcement. I'm sure all of you are either confused or curious as to what is happening. I will answer it in a few minutes and I hope that you would lend me your ear as I am about announce something very important."
I gave Kei a nod to signal all responding authorities to swoop inside the companies and arrest the people who were part of the coup. There were thousands of them globally. I just hope that there's a prison big enough to hold them all. Kei pressed a button that would give the signal.
"In a few seconds, the authorities will start raiding our buildings, companies, retails, and other forms of business establishments that we have all across the globe. Do not be alarmed, don't panic and please remain calm. I have given permission to these men to do so. In fact, this is the very reason why I am addressing to you this announcement. After months of hard work, a handful of my colleagues and I have gathered enough evidence to arrest a certain number of people who were planning a coup against Kim Group. If you are part of them, please do not resist. I have given the authorities the permission to shoot anyone who does." I announced.
In front of me was a live feed of all our businesses around the world being in turmoil. We would lose our stocks, investors and billions of dollars because of this. But it was a small price to pay rather than losing all of it. My father gave me the approval of doing the press conference on his behalf since I am the successor to the whole company, and because the board members and the investors trust my decision the most. Besides, I would find out who was loyal to our company after this battle was over.
After pausing for a while I continued. "To our most trusted and beloved investors. I know that you will lose trust in us the moment we reveal this to the world, but I hope that you will not see this as a moment of weakness, but a moment of sheer pure power and strength from us. I hope that this will set as an example that NO ONE can mess with the members of Kim Group. Especially against the prodigy of business. If anyone dares to defy us again, we promise you, we WILL show you the meaning of destruction and defeat. We WILL show you what it means to be helpless. We WILL make sure that you will not be able to see the light of day again."
Sooyoung was smiling from ear to ear. Kei was giving me a thumbs up with tears in her eyes. She has suffered all her life under the clutches of my uncle. Today, she was finally officially free from that grip. It was good to see her this happy. But I'm not done yet.
I smirked as if the person was in front of me. I noticed that Joy and Kei flinched the moment I did. I guess it's that smile again. "I'm sure that you might be thinking that a crime this organize cannot function without its head. And that's why I'm going to reveal to you the person who planned it all. The head of this coup d'état is none other than the director of Kim Group, Kim Doram. Throughout the years, he has kidnapped and bought children to train them to become spies while planting bombs inside their bodies to make sure that they would not betray him. He then planted these spies and have done a lot of crimes under the company's name. Crimes such as prostitution, embezzlement, murder, human trafficking and many more. All the evidence leading to these were given to the necessary authorities. There is no way out of this. All the evidence that we have gathered are concrete."
I cracked my neck a little since I was trying to control the anger that was welling up inside me. I then leaned forward so my voice would be clear. "So if I were you, I would give myself up. Now, I hope that the media are still listening and have written every word that I have uttered clearly. That is all. Thank you for your time."
The conference room from the monitor was in chaos as a bunch of reporters were raising their hands for some questions. Thankfully, there were already pre-made answers for them. Sooyoung will hand them down later on.
I then removed the voice changer which alarmed Kei and Joy a little. I raised my hand to stop them from approaching me. I was smiling like a madman. Finally, after months of anguish and sleepless nights, I can finally put him in his rightful place.
I turned the microphone on again, "Oh… and Kim Doram?"
I could feel the silence from the other room as they waited for what I was about to say. I smiled widely. "I'm coming for you."
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"JayB-ya! It's been ages! How are you?" Sungjae asked through a video call with some of the 95 line members.
I haven't been in contact with them since the hiatus. All I told them was that I had to deal with some things in my company since it can't be dealt virtually. I needed to be hands-on about it. Sungjae was most concerned with another person though. Park Sooyoung, AKA Joy, which is now his official girlfriend, was jumping in the boat with me on my quest, and that was what worried him. At first, they fought because Sooyoung wouldn't tell him anything. I made him understand that telling him meant endangering his life. Which made him more protective over Sooyoung. In the end, Sooyoung did something that made him understand. To this day, I still don't know what it is.
It's been almost two weeks since the incident and I was watching the news as Kim Doram was being brought to the most secured prison in the world -- the new and improved Alcatraz prison. It was satisfying to watch. It's finally over for now. Kei said that there might be more people who might attack the company in the future. But after this, they might have to rethink their strategy. And when they do attack, I'll be ready for them.
"I'm great actually." I replied.
Wheein then joined in on the conversation. "So that's why there were a lot of police officers roaming around the city earlier. Your company was doing the biggest raid in this world's history!"
"Was that you on the television, JayB-ya? The one announcing to the world?" Jimin asked.
I nodded. "That's right. I still need to keep my identity a secret to the rest of the world."
"Well, your secret is safe with us." Jeonghan said.
"That's right." Joshua agreed.
Suddenly a voice from their line yelled, "Ya! Hyung! What are you doing?! We're heading out in a few minutes! You're still not ready!"
S. Coups chuckled. "We better go. Seungkwan-ie's nagging at us again. See you soon, JayB-ya."
"See ya." I replied.
"So when ARE you coming back? The industry misses you. In fact, your fans probably miss you." Hwasa said.
I chuckled. "Don't give me that. I'm pretty sure the industry is so happy about Alpha not being THAT active for 9 months."
I could see Wheein rolling her eyes. "Don't mind her, JayB-ya. It's just her way of saying she misses you."
"Ya! Jung Wheein!" Hwasa shouted.
All of them laughed as the conversation went on to a different topic. After spending some time with them, I ended the call as I closed my holo-computer and plopped down on my table. A few seconds later, I felt something cold touching my neck. I jumped up in fright only to see Kei with a satisfied smile plastered on her face.
I groaned as I took the drink from her hands. "I told you to stop doing that."
"You told me to stop doing a lot of things." She replied.
I rolled my eyes before popping the soda can open. "That's because most of the things you do are either annoying or VERY annoying."
She chuckled at my comment. "Oh please, I know you like 'annoying'."
"Whatever." I was pretty much tired after today. I didn't have the energy to even argue with her.
I went to meet my uncle, Kim Doram. He has been asking the guards for me. When I went to visit him, he immediately broke down. Or at least, pretended to break down. The person was practically begging me not to put him in prison. After denying his demands, he then threatened to kill me and cursed at me while going berserk and hitting the guards in order to try and escape. Fortunately, Atlantis' prisons were really high quality
Oh yeah… we're in my office here in Atlantis. Which explains why I have a holo-computer on my desk.
Kei then cleared her throat. "So what now? I'm planning to head back to Korea to formally end my hiatus. Do you still need... anything?"
It made me chuckle. "You could have gone with Sooyoung-ie weeks ago. I heard that your group is preparing for a comeback."
"That's right. But somebody has to watch over you." She replied.
It made me roll my eyes while I head over to the nearest trash bin. "Whatever. I bet you just needed an excuse to stay with me."
"That's true." She blurted out which made me miss my shot at the trash can.
I slowly turn to her with a serious face. "Kei… we talked about this."
"I know, I know. I just..." She paused and sighed for a while before she continued. "I still feel pretty guilty about what I did to you years ago." She replied.
"We both know that you had no choice because of the bomb inside you." I told her as I picked up the can and threw it inside the trash bin.
She then started walking towards the door. "I should have just told you everything and died while doing so."
"Don't say that. We both know that the moment they detect that, you'd explode and Kim Doram would have escaped, or worse, he could have moved forward with his plans." I angrily said.
She smiled at me. "It's nice to see that you care."
I sighed. "Kei… Seriously... Whatever happened to us… it's all in the past now. Let's just be friends. You know I'm REALLY grateful for what you did for me and my company. You KNOW I am. But you know... let's just stay as friends."
She turned her back against me. "Alright. I can work with 'friends'. And don't get all mushy on me. It's so weird. Besides, it's the least I could do after what I did to you."
I gave her a smile before she gave a smile of her own. She then cleared her throat. "So what are you going to do now? I mean, now that it's over. What other plans do you have?"
A flashback took me back to the day that I told Alpha the truth.
Jeong Do shakily stood up as he asked, "What? What do you mean?"
"Tell me you're joking." Yo Chul-hyung was surprised with my sudden announcement.
Zee was about to cry as his lips were shaking, "Would you say that again, hyung? I think my ears went deaf fo-"
"Seiji-hyung, I'll leave Alpha in your care when I'm gone." I turned to look at Seiji-hyung as I ignored Zee's question.
Seiji-hyung scoffed as he slammed his hand on the table. "You must be out of your mind! Why do you even need to leave?!"
"Guys… let him explain himself first." Matt-hyung said. It was obvious that he too was just as shocked as everyone. He was trying to be the level headed person in the group right now.
The rest of the members piped up as they turn to me waiting for an explanation. It was really a serious atmosphere at that time as I told them everything that happened in Miami, the truth about Kei and everything else. I also showed to them the recent evidence that Kei and I have gathered just by ourselves.
"So you and Kei have been pinning your uncle down all this time?" Jeong Do asked.
"That bastard, Kim Doram! I knew something was off!" PD-nim shouted angrily as he punched the table with his fist.
"Why didn't you just tell us back then?" Jiwoo asked.
I sighed. "I didn't know if it was safe yet. Now that we've confirmed that it's safe for you guys to know, I decided to tell you."
"It's about time. I was worried that you would just leave without a reason!" Zee exclaimed.
I chuckled. "So… is it okay to ask for help?"
"Hold on. Why do you need to go on hiatus?" Seiji-hyung asked.
He's probably worried that he'll take over as the leader temporarily. "Hyung, I can't supervise my company and try to gather evidence if I'm not there. I can't just entrust this to anyone. That's why I need to go on hiatus."
"Then we'll all go on a hiatus." Matt-hyung suggested.
I shook my head. "I thought about it too and suggested it to Kei, but she said that my uncle knows who you are. If we all go in a leave of absence, he might know that something's up."
"So how in the world are we going to help?" Dominic asked.
I leaned forward to whisper to them. "There are already plenty of spies in every business that I have. We also think that there are spies in JYP Entertainment. I want you guys to be my eyes and ears in the industry. I also want you to check your companies if they already got inside there as well. If I need any more hands-on help from you, I'll contact you through Zee-ya."
After discussing it some more, we all agreed on the plan and decided to go with it. Although we didn't want this, they were really supportive of me.
After thinking about what happened that day, Kei gave me a confused look since I haven't responded to her question yet. I chuckled before giving her the happiest smile I could. "I need to get ready. There's somewhere I need to be."
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Zee's POV
"Ah! I wonder why the director wanted us to go back to the beach." Seiji-hyung said.
It's been two weeks since our vacation/reality TV show for the company called Away To Escape started. Throughout the week, we had plenty of challenges together with our labelmates. It was also a chance for us to get to know each other and as well as a time to refresh ourselves from the stress. It's been hard without JayB-hyung. Although Seiji-hyung has been doing a great job, in terms of music production and choreography, JayB-hyung was really efficient with it. It made us realize how difficult it was for him. Zhang also felt pressured with the song he made called Spring Fairy. It was an RNB song that he originally wrote. Although it was not as close as to what JayB-hyung could make, it still made its way to the top of the charts.
Well, at least we had a month to enjoy our vacation. It was also a chance for some of the members to date their girlfriends in the company. Also, a lot of our labelmates publicly declared their relationships during the trip as well. It was a really fun time. We were already at the peak of our vacation. Tomorrow, we would be going through extreme sports and in the evening, we'll be meeting all our labelmates as our leaders would start an open forum for the company. It was the time that we get to express all our frustrations not just towards the company but to our members if there were any. Or even to fellow labelmates. It was a chance for us to deepen our relationships with one another.
"I actually don't know. They just gave us a mission card that says we need to head to beach to meet someone." I replied.
"I wonder who it is." Jeong Do-hyung pondered.
We waited there for about 15 minutes before another one of the writers approached us and handed a mission card with a bunch of eye blinders.
Yo Chul-hyung got the card and decided to read it out loud. "Put on the blinders and try to guess who the person that you're meeting today is. You have 3 tries. Fail, and Alpha will be doing the dishes for the entire company."
Out of excitement, we hastily put on our eye blinders and begun discussing among ourselves. Once we finalized our top 3 we let Seiji-hyung say it.
"Alright! Our first choice is… it should be one of our labelmates so… Choi Yujin-ssi of CLC."
"No actually." The director replied.
"No? Hmm… then is it… Kim Seolhyun-sunbaenim from AOA?"
The director chuckled. "Nope."
"AHH! Who is it?!" Seiji-hyung screamed.
"Relax, hyung. You're hurting my ears." Zhang complained.
"Sorry… who is it? Are we going to go with that one?" Seiji-hyung asked loudly.
I could hear Yo Chul-hyung sigh. "Like we have a choice. There's so much to choose from."
"Junmoo-nim… please give us a hint." Dominic pleaded with the director.
The crew laughed from our reactions which made the director give in. "Alright. It's not one of your sunbaes."
"It's not?" I asked.
"Then it must be one of our hoobaes, am I right?" Matt-hyung asked.
No one from the crew confirmed.
"That must be a 'yes', hyung." Jeong Do-hyung deduced.
"So it's either Twice, Day6, CLC, Oh My Girl, or Monsta X." Dominic-hyung added.
I sighed. "There's still so much to choose from."
Jeong Do-hyung then tried to get our attention. "Ah! Ah! AH! I got! If they want us to meet this person then it must be important. Someone that can contribute I guess. Or someone who can spend time with us guys. So the male idol groups?"
Jiwoo then shouted. "So either Day6 or Monsta X!"
"Right! But how can a hoobae of ours be able to contribute?" Matt-hyung asked.
"I guess it has something to do with physical skills that can match us." Jeong Do-hyung answered.
"I vote for Wonpil-ssi." Zhang said.
"If Zhang-ie says it's Wonpil-ssi then I'll go with Zhang-ie." Jiwoo said.
Seiji-hyung sighed. "Should we just go for Wonpil-ssi?"
"Just get it over with, hyung." Yo Chul-hyung said.
"Alright… we choose Kim Wonpil-ssi." Seiji-hyung confirmed.
The director clapped loudly and we all cheered. I tried to remove the blinders but the director stopped us. I was curious as to why he did. "Did we get it right?"
The director chuckled. "Unfortunately, you didn't"
"Great… so we'll be doing the dishes for our labelmates." Seiji-hyung complained.
"That's almost 20 different groups with PLENTY of members." I groaned.
The director then continued. "Don't worry. You have one more person who'll help you guys with your tasks and missions from now on."
"Really? Who?" Jeong Do-hyung asked.
"Take off your blinders and find out." The director ordered us.
We all did as what he said and the sun's brightness blinded us for a few good seconds. When it was clear enough to see, there was no one in front of us except the crew. We thought that they were tricking us.
Suddenly, I felt a tap on my shoulder. I turn around to see a familiar face which made my eyes widen. The man then gave me a huge smile. "Hey Zee-ya… Did you miss me?"
Tears started streaming from my face. "JayB… hyung…"
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