Breaking Rules

RULE # 47: BE CAREFUL

Tales of Old

Yang Goon didn't need to look out his car window to know that in less than ten minutes, he was going to step inside the plush office hidden inside an old derelict warehouse in Hongdae that only few dare enter.

The building itself stuck out like a sore thumb against the flashing lights and LEDs that have begun to illuminate the club strip but everyone in the area respected that building (Foreigners are immediately warned to be very cautious). Evil befell those who didn't.

He was a witness to that particular brand of evil.

"Please... think this through again" he appealed to Mai just this morning as they sat together during breakfast. She had dropped by his apartment to cook for him as today is, she joked, "an important move for her career".

"Papa" Mai answered in a stern tone "I thought you will not ask that again from me?"

Looking up the ceiling, he massaged his eyes as though he had tired them from editing voice recordings - that usual gesture that meant that he didn't like what he was doing but had to push on because something good might come out of it.

"Mr. President" the woman called him, the first time in a long long time. YG looked at her strangely and saw something glinting in her eyes "Please do this for me. I ask nothing more."

Those words brought back to him memories of the very first time he had met her. She was a discovery to him, a woman that Brothers Entertainment had been trying to woo for the longest time but had been as elusive as the Big Foot monster to them.

Her dream was to nurture the underground scene for Asian women in L.A. and took no heed of the offers to work abroad at the time. However, he had seen clips of her performances and knew he had to talk to her at least. As Mai had once reminded him, he believed that "Recognizing a star doesn't take a long time" and it took him just one song from her to know that she wasn't someone that anyone could just pass by.

She also paved the way for him to discover other talents. Danny, Teddy, and even her cousin Eun Ju from Swi.T., who was now a part of Moogadang – a woman who was special to him in more ways than one.

They had not immediately treated one another as father and daughter but she had always been respectful to him. When she had asked him to give Teddy and Danny a try, those were the same words she had told him... "Mr. President, please do this for me. I ask nothing more".

Was she trying to evoke the memory of the results of that decision?

He had been immensely happy to have taken both men under his wing. There had been hardships, he knew – Teddy and he had a falling out but in general he was happy for how Teddy had grown into a man who could also discover and produce talents such as 2NE1 and Big Bang.

"Do you want to tell me that everything will be alright in the end?" he asked her.

Mai nodded "It almost always does end up alright Papa."

He wanted to tell her that "almost" wasn't enough for him but knew determination when he stared at it. There was nothing else he could do.

"We are here Mr. President" his driver announced. He took in a deep breath before going down the car.

"Mr. Yang Hyun Seok?" A guard in a black suit asked him.

"Yes."

"Mr. Song has been waiting for you. Please follow me."

He plastered on his dead-pan expression and took in everything that would show his apprehension and slight fear. He wasn't a man who usually felt fear but he had not been able to sleep for the past month since Teddy had visited him.