Lucy was sitting in the meeting room when a completely new person walked in. She got up and bowed to him as a sign of respect. She always had to think about all the etiquette she learned in school. Lucy looked around.
"He is not coming. He is working," the man said and reached out to Lucy, shaking her hand.
"I'm Man Siwon, the CEO of MSW entertainment." Lucy was stunned that the CEO himself actually came to talk to her. Suddenly, she felt that something was wrong.
"Is everything okay? Did someone mess up?" she asked, hoping it wouldn't be true. Actually, when the CEO showed up, Lucy got a bit scared. Messing around was okay, but if there were losses or problems, she had to take care of them. But thankfully, the CEO smiled at her.
"Yes, I wanted to thank you," he said, and Lucy frowned, confused. She had no idea what was going on.
"The security guard you have hired was pretty good. We finally managed to find two sasaengs that were following Sunjun. We were actually in a deadlock situation with those fans." He started explaining and made himself comfortable, leaning backwards. So it was probably for a longer time.
"I know. You can't touch them or anything. There might be a backlash online. But if you don't do a thing, there will be a toll on Sunjun's mental health and online backlash too. This way, he was a stranger hired from outside. Easily disposable, you can put all the blame on him," Lucy finished, crossed arms on her chest, and leaned back again. She might have looked stupid, but she was not.
Since her childhood, she was taught what, when, and how to do things. Especially in the public eye. Whatever you do, it might affect the image and political career of your father. And that's something you don't want to do if you want to survive in your family.
"So, when he tackled her, and she fell down. Do you mind that we have fired him?" he asked. Lucy sighed and shook her head.
"I know why you did it. I'm not saying I agree, because I think someone should protect your artists. Have you noticed that some fans are concerned? About their safety?" Lucy wasn't talking about C-land specifically, but about all idols and artists overall.
She saw many videos on the internet when the idol was tripped down, begging fans to let him through. Grabbed by the hair, mobbed to the point that no one could walk through and the way was completely barricaded, or the surrounding property was destroyed.
"I have no obligation to explain it to you here," he said, frowning. To Lucy, he sounded arrogant. But she didn't care enough for him or any of this to make him think more. She explained something he definitely already knew.
"So because he made us a few problematic headlines. You should repay us." Now, Lucy got it where he was going from.
"Hwa?" she shook her head, stunned by his behavior. Even more when CEO Han nodded.
"Tell me, what exactly should I do?" Lucy straightened her back and raised her head. She must have looked really conceited, but that was the purpose.
"He wants you to teach him English, and later maybe more languages. He said you speak a few of them." Lucy raised one of her eyebrows. Few? Fuck, that was belittling her. Does her ability seem like not enough?
"I may speak a little more languages than you," she said and snickered. They obviously didn't like her at all. Lucy wondered why it was…
"So, will you come and teach all five of them?" Lucy stopped herself from frowning. All of them? All? What was she, a teacher?
"Neither Korean nor English are my native languages. I think you can find someone more fitting…" Lucy tried to get away again, but she didn't know how deep in the trap she was.
"Look, Hwa's contract will soon expire. He is making me a lot of money. I will promise him whatever he wants just to keep him here. You are right. I would find someone more…" he looked at her from head to toe before finishing.
"... fitting rather than you. But he wants to win the bet, so tell him you are SEA, go home and we all will be satisfied." Lucy gritted her teeth. There was something else to be belittled by her own family, but this fucker just plainly degraded her. She swore at him in Czech, calling him names looking him directly in his eyes.
"I'm sooo sorry. I was so excited I forgot to speak Korean. What a pity you don't know the language. You would have gotten to know more interesting things." Lucy smirked, enjoying her small win. Because the CEO looked ugly. All her respect and etiquette flew out of the window just like that.
"It sounded like swearing," he accused her directly, but Lucy just smiled sweetly.
"Oh my, I would never dare to swear at you. In any of those languages I know. Maybe I might teach you some of them too so you could identify swear words. You will get a discount from me. I'm not really sure you would be able to afford my time." She placed her hand in front of her mouth as if she shouldn't have said that, but her eyes were definitely sparkling with flames.
"You need to teach them in private so no one would see your face… and hair…" He attacked one more of her insecurities. But Lucy was on fire. She didn't want to be there. They called her here and made her stay, threatening her. So there was no way she would be obedient.
"Oh, come on. At least I have hair. And come on. They are an awesome color. Many of your female idols are trying to achieve my hair color because it looks good." Lucy blatantly looked at his balding spot that was obviously forming in the middle of his hair. And giggled with a hand in front of her mouth.
"If I could, I would send you back to your country. Just for this remark." The CEO gritted his teeth and growled. Lucy suddenly excitedly jumped from the chair, scaring the shit out of him. She grabbed his hands.
"Oh, please do it! I would love that!" she exclaimed excitedly. He was speechless, just staring at their joined hands before quickly untangling them. Then grabbed the papers he brought in and slid them before her.
"Sign it," he grunted, and almost threw the pen at her. But Lucy just grinned, took the papers, and then carefully, and painfully slowly, read through the papers. If she didn't understand it completely, she would use her phone, so it took a really long time. To her surprise, there was nothing wrong with the contract. She was even getting paid, but she had to keep quiet about all of it.
"I do not know why I had to go to such lengths, even contacting the ministry, just to get here no one like you," the CEO mumbled when Lucy went through the contract. She just chuckled, took the pen, and signed it.
"Well, I'm not obviously no one if you had to go to such lengths and dragged me here from my country…" Lucy slid the contract back to him and walked away from the room. She was being so disrespectful. But a person like him didn't deserve any respect from her. Respect had to be deserved rather than obtained by age or position.
And she could always talk herself out of it, saying that she had no idea, because she was a foreigner.