Chapter 195 - Chance Encounter

For the next few days, Mirae and KJ put all their efforts in the upcoming comeback of Six X. 

"The pitch is too low!" KJ scolded one day. The members of Six X Lee Dami, Kim Yuna, Shin Jimin and Jang Norah were at the studio, preparing their new song. "Yuna, you've got to lower your pitch," KJ instructed.

"I can't help it, sunbae!" Yuna complained. She was a mousy haired girl with a fair skin. Her powerful voice was almost on par with Jinhyun's and is a very popular singer. "My voice has too much power."

KJ sighed. "Jimin, give a demo of that line with a lower pitch," he ordered. Jimin was the lead vocalist. She was a black haired sultry beauty with cat-like eyes. Her vocals were almost as good as Yuna's but she lacked the high pitch range of the former and hence, is assigned as the leading vocal. However, her dance skills were impeccable in the industry and had constantly topped the best dancers category.

"Aye sunbae!" she exclaimed and wore the headphones on her ears. She inched closer to the mic and sang.

"Why did I fall for the bad boy?

What made you so different then?

When you turned out to be my nightmare now…"

"You sure this comeback will be a hit?" Jang Norah asked KJ. She was the youngest member and the designated visual of the group. Her strikingly sharp features and hazel eyes were a rarity among the entertainment industry and she was a highly demanded model for commercials and dramas. It was another thing that she could not act.

"That's what we've been assured," Dami replied. Her tattoos were now more prominent as she was wearing a sleeveless t-shirt. Her entire arm was tattooed with a thorny rose plant mixed with motivational quotes from different books. She was the main rapper of the group and its leader. She lacked good vocals but her rap verses were very popular and she was the epitome of the cool girl image in the country.

"We've been out of work for two years!" Norah pointed out. "People already forgot about us."

"Well, then it's our job to remind them," KJ replied as he increased the volume. "Jimin, go lower," he added to the singers inside the recording room. Jimin gave him a thumbs up and sang at a lower pitch.

"Your wife seems to know what she's doing," Dami commented.

"She does," KJ replied. "Her knack for business is better than mine."

"Will you be alright though?" Dami frowned. "Going against Ash like this? He may be disgraced but he knows the entertainment business well. Plus, if the rumors are true about his s.e.x scandal, then there's a chance that he got his clients to invest in his business."

"Hm," KJ merely said. He tried to keep an uninterested face but what she said was true. Ash did use or rather blackmail many of his clients to invest in his business. The man was growing more dangerous day by day. They had little means to stop him other than confronting him head on in business. But they were nowhere closer to cracking the mystery of the Cartel's leader. 

Meanwhile, Mirae was left to clean up CEO Ahn's mess.

"You're telling me that he had been selling the shares of Mystic Entertainment to the leaders of the Cartel for years and no one suspected a thing?" Mirae exclaimed in fury as she threw the file across the room. The activities of CEO Ahn were hidden for a long time. Even though she knew that he was blackmailed by Ash into doing so, the damage he did was too intense.

"CEO, the shares were sold discreetly," Psycho informed her. "He made them look like business investments."

"We need to buy them back," Mirae said. "He sold off almost twenty percent. That's not a minuscule number."

She thought intently. Getting back those shares would not be easy since the Cartel members would never give them up easily. 

"Bring me a list of names who own those twenty percent," Mirae ordered. "And call...call SD."

"The doctor?" Psycho frowned. "What will he do in this?"

"We need information on these people," Mirae replied. "Only SD can give us that...if he wants to."

Inwardly, she prayed that SD can give away the information on those people. She needed bargaining ch.i.p.s to negotiate with them. Or straight out blackmail. Either way, she needed to get those shares back.

"It will take some time since they use dummy companies," Psycho said. "Meanwhile, you'll have to attend a mall's inauguration. You've already postponed it last time and they accommodated your schedule. But you can't back out now."

"Can't someone else attend it?" she asked in despair. "Does it have to be me?"

"Nope," Psycho said cheerfully. "It must be you, madam."

Mirae groaned. She hated such gatherings where all the snooty socialites would attend. She hated mingling with them. The memories of how those people abandoned her family after her parents died, were still fresh in her mind. People who used to flock around her and her mother Sohee, left her side once her mom and dad passed away.

"It's for the company's benefit," Psycho probed, reading her mind. "CEO, these things are inevitable."

"Fine," she gritted. "I'll...I'll go. Get the car ready."

Psycho bowed and headed out. Mirae groaned in frustration but she had no choice. She must attend.

….

The shopping mall was located at the heart of the city. It was almost ten storeys high and was dubbed as the powerhouse of brands. Named as the LION Mall, it was owned by Mystic Entertainment. Numerous celebrities owned their personal line of retail shops in it and its inauguration attracted media furore. 

When Mirae arrived, she was surrounded by the camera flashes and the reporters blocked her way.

"Ms. Mirae how is married life suiting you?"

"Are you two going on a honeymoon any time soon?"

"Is KJ still mistreating you?"

A brand new shopping mall is opening and all these people could think of is my honeymoon, Mirae winced inwardly. Dealing with the media was not her favorite part of the job.

"I am here to inaugurate a mall not talk about my personal life," she said bluntly with a smile. "Now if you'll excuse me."

She slightly nodded and walked on, politely pushing back the paparazzi. Her bodyguards aided her and made way for her to keep going. Once she reached the steps, she was greeted by the organizers. One of them, Kim Choa, came forward to greet her. 

"I'm sorry about their questions, madam," she apologized. "The media persons are quite dense when it comes to celebrities."

"Not at all!" Mirae assured her with a smile. "Let's start the inauguration."

Choa nodded and led the way. The front entrance had a ribbon tied for the inauguration. Mirae was handed a pair of scissors while the paparazzi clicked the pictures. She smiled for the cameras before cutting the ribbon.

A huge roar of applause was heard throughout the room and Choa announced the official opening of the mall. 

"Madam, please do visit some of the stores," Choa requested. Mirae wanted to refuse but obliged since she was the CEO of Mystic Entertainment and she must put up a positive image. Cringing inwardly, she maintained her smile and agreed to visit the stores.

To her surprise, it was not a bad experience. As Mirae went from store to store, she was welcomed with warm smiles by the staff. They showed her their collections and explained their business models to her. Mirae took in all the information, learning how they make their businesses work even within a niche market.

"These designs are amazing!" she complimented one of the owners. "These are handmade?"

"Yes," the owner said proudly. "And ethical too! These are manufactured by hand and are made by women from rural areas. We do not have any factories and outsource our production to them. They produce the clothes and we sell them here. They received fifty percent of the revenues in return."

"That's an amazing idea!" Mirae replied in wonder. "Who thought of that?"

"It was Kwon Jiwon, madam," the owner replied. "This store is partly owned by him."

Mirae was even more surprised to hear that. "He really is admirable," Choa commented. "Your husband."

"Yeah…" Mirae smiled. She had been regretting her rash judgment of him during their initial days. But the more she got to know about him, the more she was proud of him.

Maybe I should get him something, she thought. 

"If I may," she started. "Can I visit the rest of the stores by myself?"

Choa blinked in surprise. "And if you could keep the media away," Mirae added as a request.

"Are you sure, madam?" Choa asked. "Will you be alright?"

"I…" Mirae leaned in closer. "I want to buy something for KJ and I don't want them to film me," she whispered.

Choa smiled. Newly weds, she mused. "Alright," she agreed. "I'll tell them to go away."

With that she went off to address the media and announced the end of the program. The media men grunted in disappointment and began to pack up their things. Mirae quietly slipped out and ventured on her own. 

There were many shops inside the mall and she had no idea what to get him. "Watch?" she wondered. But knowing how punctual KJ was, she knew he hid a stash of watches somewhere in the mansion. He already had the finest clothes, so that would be useless as well.

What do you buy for a man who already has everything? She wondered. 

She stopped in front of a designer suit shop when she heard someone calling her from behind.

"Ms. Mirae!"

She spun around to see a familiar figure approaching her. Her face broke into a smile.

"Sunye!" she exclaimed.