106: Chapter 106 I'll make them rot in jail

Ahn Sohee stood at the entrance of the hospital room, holding a food container, her entire body frozen.

She saw Min Sunye lying on the bed, sleeping soundly, with even a faint smile on her lips. This was the first time in nearly a year that Ahn Sohee had seen her Unnie sleeping so peacefully.

Meanwhile, Song Tianhao sat on a chair by the bedside, one hand held by Min Sunye, the other supporting his forehead, his eyes closed as if he had fallen asleep.

Morning light filtered through the gap in the curtains, casting a layer of pale gold light over the two of them.

Ahn Sohee's fingers tightened abruptly, the handle of the food container digging deep red marks into her palm. She stood there, unable to move forward or backward, her mind completely blank.

She remembered last night, when Min Sunye had cried on the phone, saying, "Sohee-ah, I don't think I can hold on anymore," remembering those dark, hopeless days in the USA, and the pale pink scars in the bathroom.

She set down the food container gently, her movements light, without making a sound. Then, she took a deep breath, walked to Song Tianhao's side, and touched his shoulder.

Song Tianhao opened his eyes almost instantly.

His gaze was clear, lacking the confusion of someone who had just woken up; it was as if he had been awake for a while and was simply resting his eyes. Seeing Ahn Sohee, he raised an eyebrow slightly but did not move; Min Sunye was still holding his finger.

"President," Ahn Sohee's voice was very low, trembling with suppression, "Could you come out for a moment? I want to talk to you."

Song Tianhao looked at the sleeping Min Sunye and gently withdrew his finger from her palm. Min Sunye frowned in her sleep but did not wake up. Song Tianhao stood up, tucked the blanket in for her, and then followed Ahn Sohee out of the hospital room.

The corridor was very quiet, the lights at the nurse's station were still on, but there was no one there. In the hospital at five in the morning, even the air felt chilly.

Ahn Sohee did not stop in the corridor but headed straight for the balcony at the end of the hallway. That was a place for patients and their families to get some air. The glass door was half-open, and the morning wind blew in, carrying the chill of early winter in Seoul.

She pushed the door open and walked out; Song Tianhao followed.

The balcony was small, only about five or six square meters, with two plastic chairs. Ahn Sohee did not sit down but turned around to face Song Tianhao. She was wearing a thin knitted cardigan over a simple T-shirt and jeans, looking exceptionally fragile in the cold wind.

"President," she began, her voice trembling even more than before, "What did you do to Sunye Unnie?"

Song Tianhao looked at her. Ahn Sohee was the youngest member of WG, only eighteen years old this year. She was the cute member of the group, always smiling, her eyes curving into crescents. But at this moment, there was no smile on her face, only a kind of desperate seriousness.

"I didn't do anything," Song Tianhao said. "She was emotionally unstable last night, so I talked to her. Later, she got tired and fell asleep, and I just stayed with her."

"Talked to her?" Ahn Sohee's voice suddenly rose, then immediately lowered, as if afraid of waking the person in the room. "What did you talk about? Enough to make her hold your hand while sleeping? President, do you know how long it has been since Sunye Unnie slept properly?"

"When she was in the USA, she could only sleep for two or three hours a day, and even then, she relied on sleeping pills. After returning to the country, she suffered from insomnia night after night. I would wake up in the middle of the night and always see her sitting alone in the living room, sometimes sitting there all night long..."

Her eyes turned red, but she bit her lip, not letting the tears fall.

"President, please don't lie to me. I know you mean well, but Sunye Unnie... she cannot handle a second injury. If you just want to play around, please let her go. She has already..."

"Already what?" Song Tianhao interrupted her, his tone very calm. "Ahn Sohee, do you think I signed WG just to play around?"

Ahn Sohee didn't speak, just looked at him, her eyes filled with vigilance, suspicion, and deep fear.

Song Tianhao sighed. He pulled a cigarette case from his pocket, took one out, twirled it between his fingers, and then put it back. This was a hospital; he couldn't smoke.

"Last night, she told me about what happened in the USA," Song Tianhao said, looking at the sky that was gradually brightening in the distance, his voice very faint. "The manager hit them, the producer sexually harassed them, and Park Jin-young knew but was powerless to do anything. She said she felt dirty and asked me if I despised her."

Ahn Sohee's body trembled violently.

"How did you answer?" Her voice was as small as a mosquito's buzz.

"I said, the ones who are dirty are them, not her." Song Tianhao turned his head and looked at Ahn Sohee. "I also said that I will protect her, and protect all of you. As long as you are at Sky Entertainment for one day, no one can touch you."

Ahn Sohee's lips were trembling.

"President..." her voice choked up. "Do you know? When we were in the USA, one time, Unnie almost..."

She couldn't continue, and the tears finally fell, hitting the concrete floor of the balcony in large droplets.

"One time, I found her in the bathroom." Ahn Sohee wiped her face with the back of her hand, but the tears wouldn't stop. "She was sitting on the toilet, holding a utility knife, and there was... blood on her wrist. Not much, just a few cuts, but they were all new, and the old ones hadn't healed yet... She said she was too tired, so tired that she didn't want to live anymore."

"She said she was sorry to us, sorry to WG, sorry to everyone who had expectations for us..."

She was shaking all over as she cried, curling into a ball as if she wanted to hide herself.

"That night, I held her and we sat on the bathroom floor all night. I told her, Unnie, you cannot die. If you die, what will I do? What will we do? What will happen to WG? She said, 'I'm sorry, Sohee-ah, I'm sorry...'"

"But the next day, she acted like nothing had happened, smiling and saying good morning to us, smiling as she went to practice, smiling as she faced those disgusting producers. President, do you know that feeling? Watching the person closest to you Acting in front of you, Acting so well that you almost believe she is really okay..."

Ahn Sohee lifted her head, her face covered in tear tracks. The morning wind blew her hair, strands sticking to her face, making her look exceptionally fragile.

"President," she looked at Song Tianhao, a near-crazed look in her eyes. "Can you really save her? Can you really make those who hurt her pay the price? If you can, I... I can do anything. I can sleep with you, I can be your mistress, I can... I can..."

As she spoke, her knees bent, and she was actually about to kneel.

Song Tianhao's reaction was faster than hers.

Before her knees touched the ground, he had already reached out, grabbed her arm, and pulled her up forcefully. Ahn Sohee was light; he used almost no strength, but she was trembling all over, like a leaf in the wind.

"Ahn Sohee, listen to me carefully. The price I want is not you."

Song Tianhao's voice was cold, as cold as the morning wind. "It is you, it is Min Sunye, it is Kim Yu-bin, it is Park Yeeun, it is Woo Hyerim—it is all five of you living well, living like human beings, living happily, and living out the lives you were meant to have. That is the price I want, do you understand?"

Ahn Sohee stared at him blankly, tears still falling, but the madness in her eyes gradually faded, replaced by a vacant emptiness.

"President..."

"I signed you not because I liked your faces, nor because I liked your bodies," Song Tianhao let her go but still held her arm, afraid she would kneel again. "I signed you because you are Wonder Girls, the Wonder Girls who once stood at the pinnacle of South Korean girl groups."

"You shouldn't be like this now; you shouldn't be bullied, looked down upon, and certainly shouldn't feel dirty."

He took his phone out of his pocket, opened an email, and handed it to Ahn Sohee.

"This is a threatening email sent from the USA, from that manager of you and Min Sunye, and that producer. They said if WG dares to speak about what happened in the USA, they will make it so we can't survive in South Korea either."

Ahn Sohee looked at the email, her face turning pale bit by bit.

"But unfortunately," Song Tianhao put his phone away, a cold curve appearing on his lips. "They threatened the wrong person. This morning, I already had my lawyer sue them."

"Sexual harassment, personal injury, extortion, intimidation—I will make them rot in prison, and make it impossible for them to survive in South Korea, in the USA, or anywhere in the world. That is my answer. Are you satisfied?"

Ahn Sohee looked at him blankly, as if she didn't understand what he was saying.

"President, are... are you really..."

"Really." Song Tianhao let go of her arm, took a pack of tissues from his pocket, and handed her one. "Wipe your face, you look ugly."

Ahn Sohee took the tissue and wiped her face mechanically, but her eyes remained fixed on Song Tianhao without blinking.

"So, you don't need to kneel, and you don't need to sell yourself." Song Tianhao turned around, looking at the brightening sky in the distance. "You only need to do one thing: take good care of Min Sunye, take good care of yourself, and take good care of WG."

"Three months from now, I want to see you standing on stage, letting everyone know that Wonder Girls is back, and better than before."

Ahn Sohee gripped the tissue, her fingertips turning white.

"President," she asked quietly, "Why are you doing so much for us? Are... are we worth it?"

"Whether it's worth it is not for you to decide, nor is it for me to decide," Song Tianhao said. "It is for time to decide. Three years from now, five years from now, ten years from now, when you stand at a higher place and look back at today, you will know whether you were worth me doing this."

He paused and added, "And I believe you are."

Ahn Sohee's tears fell again, but this time, it was a different kind of tear. Not sadness, not despair, but something she hadn't felt for a very long time: hope.

"President..." she choked out, "Thank you... really..."

"Don't thank me," Song Tianhao said. "If you really want to thank me, thank me with the stage. Thank me with the way you stand under the spotlight, with your singing, your dancing, and the ability to make everyone shut up."

He turned his head and looked at Ahn Sohee, his gaze very serious.

"Can you do it?"

Ahn Sohee nodded vigorously, like a bobblehead.

"Yes! We can! We definitely can!"

"That's good." Song Tianhao smiled, a faint but warm smile. "Now, go back to sleep. Your Unnie needs you, and you need to stay clear-headed. The next three months won't be easy."

"Yes!" Ahn Sohee stood at attention, gave a non-standard military salute, and then suddenly remembered something. She took her phone out of her pocket. "Oh right, President, I received an email this morning, it's all in English, I can't understand it, but the sender seems to be..."

She opened the email and handed it to Song Tianhao.

Song Tianhao took it, glanced at it, and his expression darkened.

It turned out to be a legal letter from the USA, but it wasn't suing them; instead, the producer and manager were counter-suing WG, claiming defamation and demanding five million dollars in compensation. Otherwise, they threatened to leak dirt to the media, claiming "WG acted like divas in the USA, didn't cooperate with work, and even seduced the producer."

"Heh," Song Tianhao sneered. "Cornered dogs jumping over the wall."

He took out his own phone and dialed a number.

"Attorney Lee, I'm sending you an email, it's a legal letter sent from the USA. Tell them that Sky Entertainment officially announces we will fully contest the lawsuit and file a countersuit, suing them for malicious prosecution and extortion."

"Also, contact The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, and all mainstream entertainment media in the USA. Tell them Sky Entertainment has a report on the systemic discrimination and abuse of Asian artists in the American entertainment industry, and ask if they are interested."

On the other end of the line, Attorney Lee gasped. "President, wouldn't that be too..."

"Too what? Too ruthless?" Song Tianhao said. "If they dare to touch my people, they must be prepared to be bitten to death. Do as I say. Money is not an issue; what I want is for them to be ruined."

"...Understood."

Hanging up the phone, Song Tianhao returned the phone to Ahn Sohee.

"See that?" he said. "This is how I handle things. If they want to play, I will play with them, until they go bankrupt, until they can't survive in the industry."

Ahn Sohee looked at him, her eyes filled not only with gratitude but also something else—admiration, and perhaps awe.

"President, you..."

"Alright, stop with the 'you' this and 'you' that." Song Tianhao took off his suit jacket and draped it over Ahn Sohee. "Wearing so little, what if you catch a cold? Your Unnie still needs you to take care of her."

The jacket still carried Song Tianhao's body heat and his faint scent. Ahn Sohee gripped the edge of the jacket, her fingers tightening slightly.

"President," she said quietly, "Your jacket..."

"Borrowing it to you, return it to me tomorrow." Song Tianhao waved his hand. "Now, go back. Min Sunye should be waking up soon; go keep her company for breakfast. I had Manager Jang send over some porridge; it's in the food container."

"Yes..." Ahn Sohee nodded, turned to leave, but stopped and looked back at Song Tianhao. "President, aren't you coming?"

"I have things to do." Song Tianhao said. "I'll come by later. You eat first, get some good rest, don't think about anything today, just eat and sleep, understand?"

"Understood."

Ahn Sohee held the jacket and trotted back to the hospital room. Song Tianhao stood on the balcony, watching her disappear at the end of the corridor, then took out a cigarette and finally lit one.

The smoke dispersed in the morning's cold wind, quickly vanishing.

He was halfway through when his phone rang. It was Park So-yeon.

"Oppa," her voice was very soft, with the nasal tone of someone who had just woken up. "Where are you? I heard Sunye is hospitalized. Is she okay?"

"She's okay, resting." Song Tianhao said. "Why are you awake so early?"

"Couldn't sleep, worried about you." Park So-yeon paused. "And worried about her. Oppa, Sunye... was she... in the USA..."

"Yeah." Song Tianhao didn't hide it. "She was bullied, it was quite serious."

There was silence on the other end of the line for a few seconds.

"Then what does Oppa plan to do?"

"Already had the lawyer sue them." Song Tianhao flicked the ash. "I want those people to be unable to survive in the USA as well."

"Do you need my help?" Park So-yeon said. "I have a few friends in the USA, in the media, I could..."

"No need." Song Tianhao interrupted her. "I'll handle this. You focus on preparing the new song, we're recording next week, don't get distracted."

"But Oppa..."

"Soyeon," Song Tianhao's voice softened. "Trust me, I can handle it."

There was silence on the other end for a moment longer, then Park So-yeon's soft laughter came through.

"Got it, Oppa is the best. I won't bother you then. Come back to rest early when you're done, don't be too tired."

"Yeah."

Hanging up, Song Tianhao finished his cigarette and turned to go back to the hospital room to check on her. Just as he reached the corridor, he heard hurried footsteps coming from the stairwell.

Park Hyomin rushed out of the stairwell, her hair a bit messy, wearing a simple hoodie and jeans; it was obvious she had come in a hurry.

Seeing Song Tianhao, her eyes lit up, and she walked over quickly.

"Oppa!" She threw herself into Song Tianhao's arms, hugging him tightly. "I heard Sunye was hospitalized, it scared me to death, I thought something had happened..."

"It's nothing, just resting." Song Tianhao patted her back. "Why are you here? Don't you have a shoot today?"

"Pushed it back." Park Hyomin lifted her head, her eyes red. "Is Sunye okay? I heard she last night..."

"She's fine, sleeping." Song Tianhao said. "Keep your voice down, don't wake her."

Park Hyomin quickly covered her mouth and then lowered her voice: "Oppa, so you were here all night?"

"Yeah." Song Tianhao nodded.