scandalous; jaemryeong

01 • moment

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01 • moment

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six hours earlier

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One coffee clunked down in front of Eric Nam.

"Triple, venti, soy, no foam latte," said Chaeryeong. "It's your favorite."

Her coworkers, Han and Dahyun, looked on uneasily as Eric looked up, his brows raising dangerously.

"Did you memorize my order?" he said, voice low. "Were you planning to be late to this meeting?"

Chaeryeong cleared her throat. "It's a very good latte."

Eric glared at her. She held.

After one angry moment, he let out a hiss of defeat and reached for his coffee, taking a long gulp. A triumphant smile played on Chaeryeong's lips as she sat.

"Christ," muttered Eric. "I needed this."

Dahyun leaned forward. "Who were you hunting down last night, Chaeryeong?"

"Hwang Hyunjin." Chaeryeong tucked loose hair away and sat down. "He didn't leave the Vanity After Party until four, so I had a bit of waiting to do."

"A bit?" scoffed Han.

Dahyun looked at her sympathetically. "Don't tell me you followed him back to his apartment."

"He was with Karina the whole time."

Han winced.

Dahyun's eyes widened. "I thought Karina was supposed to be with Na Jaemin."

A sharp series of bangs rung out. Eric patted the table impatiently.

"I want evidence," he demanded. "Not gossip."

"Here. It's on my computer."

It was a Tuesday morning. The sun had already risen, bathing their small meeting room in daylight. The Daily Daebak offices were quiet. The others were out doing interviews.

The crew of the Daily Daebak were a humble unit of six reporters headed by a sleep-deprived Eric Nam, whose well-respected place in journalism had propelled the Daily Daebak to mild success. When Chaeryeong had applied for the job, she'd been fresh out of college, naive about the world, timid and lost in the chaos of truth and lies. Here, somehow, she had found purpose.

"Christ," said Eric again, sipping his coffee. They had all gathered around Chaeryeong's computer as she clicked through photos of the notorious Hwang. "Now this is a story."

"It's payback," Han agreed.

"Payback?" asked Dahyun.

"Hwang and Na Jaemin were costars in Scarlet Prince," said Chaeryeong. "After the accident with Na's sister, they stopped shooting for a while, and the delay screwed up Hwang's tight schedule, so he got upset, harassed Na, and got his manager to blackmail the producer so they couldn't fire him for it."

Han made a disgruntled noise.

"Payback," said Dahyun, nodding.

"Alright, good." Eric clapped his hands together. "Dahyun, you're in charge of writing this up. Han, finish up the Jung story so we can move onto something more relevant. Chaeryeong, I want a story on Yoo Karina and Na Jaemin as a follow up of this one."