09. Spin A Story

"I am not doing that." Taeho said with finality, shaking his head.

"But President Lee—"

"Mirae, that's enough."

Giseok and Mirae glanced at each other helplessly. They couldn't understand where he was coming from. Not at all. There was something about Taeho. As much as he liked to appear the cool, aloof, and smug CEO that had control of everything and the solution of any situation up his sleeve if problems were to prevail, they couldn't ignore the fact that he was always bearing the load of everything in his lives and more. He seemed to have something weighing down on his shoulders sometimes even as he tried to hide it as much as he could. But they could clearly see and know that this man had quite a lot of baggage. Maybe he wasn't hiding it as much as he thought he was doing it, but even the women he went out with seemed to reach out to him, trying to coax him out, trying to 'fix' him and trying to get him to tell them what was going on in his life. Anyone who knew Lee Taeho also knew that he was as stubborn as a mule, maybe even more than that.

He was as tight lipped as he could get and he hadn't even shared much of his past with his best friend, Giseok, the very person he grew up with. Of course, Giseok was bothered by that too but what else could he have done? If Taeho wanted to put up appearances, he wouldn't force anything against him.

Taeho had been as excited as Giseok when Mirae told them that she had figured it out. He was excited to expand his views and listen on how to get over this stupid because it was truly perplexing to him, he couldn't find a way to deal with today's generation and netizens if he tried. All he knew was business, and tech and how to build up a company but clearly not how to deal with keeping the youngsters from ruining his life.

"We need to make the best of it. I think we ought to spin the best love story out of this." Mirae began, scribbling something illegible on a note pad. The two men frowned as they crouched over the low coffee table in front of the sofa set with Mirae kneeling down on the floor as she supported herself with her elbows on the coffee table which was an expensive sort of see-through glass.

"Make the best out of how Taeho is a womanizer?" Giseok asked as he jerked a thumb towards the man beside him, earning him a distasteful look from said man.

"Thank you." Taeho mumbled, signaling Mirae to go on.

"I figured we have to take this and spin it into a story out of this, and that is how I came up with this. We need to make it seem like President Lee was heartbroken after his relationship in highschool and he came to Seoul to start fresh—"

"Taeho, is that what happened?" Giseok asked, his face melting with emotion. Mirae rolled her eyes at this and motioned her thumb, slicing her neck as she mimicked a dead expression.

"No, that's not something needed here. Mirae, continue."

"So President Lee started afresh in Seoul but he couldn't forget the lady from his poem—"

"Don't call it a poem."

Mirae sighed, "Okay, the love letter. So he couldn't forget her so he starts focusing on his company and the reason he goes out with all these women is because President Lee couldn't get over her. He has been searching and searching for that woman who is for him, the one to get him out of the slump. That's where Haeson Unnie comes in, the love of your life."

The triumphant look on Mirae's face was quite easily evident. She had been feeling quite useless ever since Phoenix has shot up the charts, even as the company became busier. They could hire about anyone now to do any minor job, even interns so the load was off the people on top of the company. All they had to do was bring in more business, look after quality control and overview of their subordinates, which happened in a board meeting every month. Other than that, they just had to throw their signatures around and just show up at parties. The corporate life comes easy when you are at the top.

"Interesting, why do you call Haeson as Unnie but I don't hear you call Taeho Oppa anytime?"

The triumphant look disappeared and her face fell flat as she glared at Giseok silently. The guy grew flustered under her eyes and mumbled an apology as he looked away. Taeho was silent, frowning as he thought it over.

"That sounds plausible. I'll give it a go. Pull up our contact at Dispatch, we shall get one of the top journalists to write up the article and release it ASAP."

"Ah no, President Lee. It would be quite clear that it is the work of our contacts. The netizens aren't some dumb robots so tehy will figure out what it means immediately. We need more direct action."

"Direct action?"

"The netizens hate when someone is practically trying to catch on to their popularity. If you try to take it and try to bask in the attention, they will lose interest more quickly than when you were slinking around and avoiding the reporters. We shall go on TV, or any major Youtube channel, we shall make an appearance."

"Hmm, you know the netizens quite well, that's impressive."

Mirae cleared her throat and looked away, almost sheepishly. Taeho hardly complimented anyone and even if he did, it came too rarely. Like an endangered species.

"Fine, good. We will do that. Contact anyone in the TV industry or those youtube channels you're talking about."

"But Sir, there's one thing we must also do."

"What is that?"

"We'll bring the lady to join as well. It will be more effective."

Taeho frowned, "What lady?"

"The lady you wrote the poem to."

Taeho sighed, walking away immediately, "No, we are not doing that. I'll go up alone. And it's not a poem, goddamnit."

"But sir—"

"NO" Taeho sternly stressed as he turned his back on them and simply got to staring at the skyline.

Giseok looked between Mirae and Taeho, his lips quivering as he slowly opened his mouth.

"Tae—"

"Shut up and get out, both of you."