3
JISOO'S POV
The legal team left first but both CEOs stayed.
Sungho sat down at the head of the table and folded his hands, looking between Minjae and me with the expression of someone who had made every single decision affecting our lives and was only now telling us of them.
"The plan is simple," he started. "You don't confirm. You don't deny. But you stay visible together and let the public draw their own conclusions. We'll coordinate the appearances through your managers."
Minjae's manager nodded solemnly from where he sat along the wall.
"For how long?" Minjae's voice was tight. It wasn't really a question. His voice had a flatness to it that said he was already done with everyone in this room.
Nothing from the taunting and carefree man who sat with me last night at a bar. It was almost like…a flip had been switched.
"Six months minimum."
Minimum?!
"No." Minjae deadpanned.
Everyone looked at him. He hadn't moved an inch. He was still leaning back in his seat, looking at Sungho with an almost bored expression. "I'm not doing six months of whatever this is. Sort a statement, deny the rumors, and let's move on. That's the cleanest option."
"The cleanest option," Sungho stated pleasantly, "would have been not getting photographed at 2am."
Minjae shrugged casually at Sungho. Something I would never dare to do. "Respectfully…that's not my problem to fix. We have teams to manage things like this."
NOVA'S CEO leaned forward. "Minjae-ya, the numbers this morning aloneㅡ"
"I don't care about numbers."
"Your next album rollout does." A pause that felt too heavy. "You know your last release underperformed in projections by eighteen percent. You care about that or you wouldn't still be sitting in this room right now. Think about the rest of the band."
Something shifted in Minjae's jaw. Subtle. But I caught it.
I had been sitting quietly through all of this, watching, and somewhere in the back of my mind, the word 'Underperformed' was doing something interesting. NOVA was…underperforming? As inㅡ Kang Minjae, the center of the group that everyone compared us to, the one that made our declining numbers feel worse by existing and his company was here, using album projection as leverage.
Interesting.
I filed that away subconsciously.
Sungho turned to me. "Jisoo-ya, any concerns?"
I thought about the conversation we had yesterday and I leaned forward, my voice now a whisper. "What happens if we say no?"
He smiled but it didn't look real. "Well, we'd have to revisit some of the adjustments we made to your contract this morning."
There it was. Confirmation that they would kick me out.
My gaze slid back to the table. "So…the renewal clause?"
"Contracts reflect current circumstances and circumstances change. So will contracts."
The room was quiet. Minjae glanced at me again but this time, I didn't look back. I kept my eyes on Sungho and kept my face completely neutral even though what I actually wanted was to put a table through the window.
This was never a conversation. This was never two companies asking for co-operation. This was them telling us what was happening and dressing it up as a discussion because we were easier to manage when we thought we had a choice.
"Fine," I bit out.
Minjae looked at me sharply but I ignored him.
"Fine," I repeated, this time steadily. "Six months."
Minjae exhaled sharply, running his fingers through his dark silky hair. "Whatever."
Sungho nodded as though we had just had a very productive meeting. "Your managers will handle the scheduling. First appearance will be during the week. Best to start out early."
Both CEOs left, Sungho promising to hand me a schedule in a bit.
Then the door closed and I was left alone with Minjae.
He turned to me almost immediately, an unimpressed look on his face. "You're truly an idiot, Jisoo. You know, I expected it from you but seriously?"
I tried not to meet his gaze. "It's not like we had a choice."
"Definitely not after you agreed, we didn't." He deadpanned.
It wasn't that easy. He didn't know what refusing would mean for me. I would lose everything. Maybe he was that valuable to his company but Sungho would throw me under the bus the first chance he got.
But he didn't need to know that.
So instead, I jabbed lower. "NOVA is underperforming, huh? So much for claiming you don't need this too."
His jaw tightened and he stood up, eyes blazing. "You think this will remain roses and sunshine, Jisoo?"
"Of course not." But my voice was barely a whisper.
He stepped closer, reducing the space between us and I stumbled back instinctively. "Six months, eh? Let's just be clear on one thingㅡ This is strictly professional. I'm not your friend and I don't need your personality, just your co-operation."
"I know that."
"Just to make it clear."
He said nothing, just grabbed his phone off the table and stepped away. "Well then."
Then he walked out without a word, leaving me staring blankly at the door.
Less than an hour later, Sungho called me into his office, sliding a piece of paper to me.
My gaze landed straight on the event due in two days.
"A fan meet?" I gasped incredulously.
He shrugged. "What better way to soft-launch this than a fan meet?"
"This feels way too early."
Maybe they could shift it to a later date or something, I was already overwhelmed as it is.
"Jisoo-ya…" he started, his voice soft and low. "You don't get it. You're bringing in money for this company now. You must do everything right. And that means whatever I say, okay? I understand the market better."
Words struggled to crawl up my throat but I swallowed them back down. "Understood."
But I didn't truly understand any of this.
When I got back to my apartment, I lay down, my mind spinning. Everything came crashing down at onceㅡ the fury, the humiliation, the specific coldness of being told your career is only safe because it's useful to someone.
My phone buzzed and I picked it up, staring at the notification blankly.
A follow notification for my Instagram account that had suddenly gained ninety thousand followers in the last 24 hours.
@RealKangMinjae
He had never followed anyone outside of NOVA.
Strictly professional, he called it.
Guess he was already getting into the act.