Jade was furious at Nana for a good reason.
"You know what this would do to your career, right? Are you even thinking with that brain of yours or are you letting your pussy do the thinking again?"
Nana knew she had to swallow whatever shade Jade was throwing at her. She was didn't want to be remembered for this but if it comes down to protecting herself and Jay from scandals to making sure monsters like those who started filming people were stopped, it was a very easy choice.
"I can't let this keep happening to people. I have to speak up for those who can't do it themselves."
"Why does it have to be you though? Do you really not know what this country is like? They would victim-blame and slut-shame you while Jay gets celebrated for fucking the most beautiful face of 2015! It would make sleazy directors think you are a fuck-for-a-role actress. Everything you worked hard to establish during your comeback would be overshadowed by this!"
"I will do this with or without your help." Nana was adamant but hopeful. The Jade she knew for three years now would never let injustice against women continue.
"You are so infuriating. Where is the selfish diva who gets people fired for not getting her requests met? Are you trying to act in real life now? No one is going to be on your side. No one is going to believe that you were the victim here. All they would do is to fap to your sex video, shame you as a woman, and think that you are doing this to hop on the Me Too movement." Nana didn't want to even imagine the first thing that Jade mentioned. But it was part of the life of an actress who places the roles that she does. Even as an idol she was subject to objectification that was beyond what she could stomach.
"People always talk shit about me and do unthinkable things while watching me do even the least sexual thing, how is this time any different?" She was trying to keep her cool but she was not able to keep her voice from cracking.
"Stop trying to pretend that you can handle this on your own. For as long as you are our artist, we will help you. After you become a free agent, we can talk about how you can pay back for the legal help we would give you. But if you get into any more scandals after your time with us is up, we won't help you anymore." Jade was not budging but Nana figured it was the most honest promise she ever heard in her entire career. She's been lied to and thrown away by her former companies that being in Simon Global felt like justice was given to her. Sadly she was not able to keep the relationship going because she let fame get to her head. This was her penance for that arrogance.
"I want to tell them what happened but I don't know where to start. So please just help me get started and I can handle the rest of it."
"Handle the rest of it, my ass." Jade called someone over the intercom, "Hannah, my office please. Thanks." Jade had a sharp tongue when people needed it but for the most part she was very respectful to her employees, something Nana missed.
Hannah Eun walked into the office in her typical crisp lady suit and bowed to both Nana and Jade in greeting, "You called for me, Boss." Everyone called Jade that because she exuded both the mafia aura of being a ruthless leader of an organization and because she hated office titles the most. For the most part in Simon Global people just called her Boss. Team leaders called their employees by their names and employees were encouraged to do so. Titles were only used when talking to each other when there were outsiders who needed to know the titles of the people present. The first name culture was something that Jade insisted on so that everyone would make an effort to know who they were talking to at all times.
"Hannah, I need your help with the Jay Park situation." Hannah nodded and went over to the conference table to hook up her notebook.
"We already prepared some of the possible scenarios and statements Nana can make." The first slide had a photo of the #MeToo hashtag and a micro-cam. "We can make use of the existing issue of the molca* videos and the Me Too movement to get Nana at the center of a better branding. If she is able to rally more people against molca videos then she would be able to get rid of the issue of her being filmed having sex. There isn't much legal issue about her doing that but then the moral dilemma can be that some of the brands would let her go because she has a sex video in the first place. However, if she is at the center of the Me Too movement in South Korea and brands drop her, they risk the wrath of millions of women who would see it as a misogynistic act against a victim of male pornographic consumerism."
"Next." It was clearly not an option that Jade wanted to do.
"We can go the classic route of denial and just keep quiet about it." The slide has the photo of Nana with a finger over her lips. "AOMG's Jay Park already signed an NDA regarding their personal involvement. He said that he would sue the people who took the video for the invasion of privacy and would be representing himself. We can file for the same case but we would have to be open to the possibility that Nana would be called in as a person of interest due to her being the other party."
"Do you think that is a safer option?" Nana asked Hannah. The latter was an expert on public relations and image risk management, so her opinion about what to do is vital in winning against anything that can erode personal branding.
"Nothing is a safe option at this point." Hannah showed them the next slide. "Or you can retire." The next slide was a mock-up of an article with the headline "Nana Retires as Actress Due to Sex Scandal" with a photo of Nana at a photo line surrounded by reporters.
"That is the worst-case scenario, for sure." Nana sat down and tried to hold back her tears. "I don't want to retire. I worked too damn hard to get back what I lost when Pledis let me go. I can't go back to square one all over again. I am too old for that shit."
"The keep it in your pants clause doesn't look so bad right now doesn't it?" Jade's mocking voice made Nana close her eyes in anger.
"Boss, this isn't the time to say shit like that." Hannah was one of the few people in the company who can call out Jade for her bluntness. "We have to choose based on what works best for Nana's image and the company's image. Cube could get harassed by association if this goes on for too long. That company has too many scaredy-cat shareholders. It might affect the stock price of Simon Global Group's other companies too."
"Nana needs to realize that her actions have a severe domino effect. Even Sleepy wouldn't scratch an itch without telling me." Jade was relentless. As a public figure herself, she's been through enough major scandals that doing things on a whim is no longer a possible course of action for her. Nana just realized now that Jade had been controlling everything in her life to the point that Nana was no longer living in a world where she had the option of making mistakes.
"I am going to choose option one." Nana clenched her jaw in determination. "If you want to drop me because of that choice, then so be it. It's ride or die for me this time. I am going to make sure those bastards go to jail. I will gather everyone they victimized and we would fight this thing together."
Jade turned to Hannah, "Game plan for option one, please."
"We go to the police and tell them what happened is something that was consensual and then we formally request for the people who took the video to be investigated. Giving the information of the location as well as the time of the encounter can help the police figure out who, among their list of suspects, is a part of the crime." Hannah then showed a press conference lay-out, "Then we hold a press conference here and ask reporters of reputable news outlets to hear what Nana has to say about it. I'll write the speech with her so that it wouldn't sound too rehearsed."
"What about the questions by reporters? How am I going to handle all of that?" Nana was worried about that the most. South Korean journalists were among the vilest at times when it comes to scandals and press conferences.
"If they ask you about Jay Park just tell them that you developed feelings for him for many years now and that your relationship with him was still starting out. Stress that you have a lot of affection for him and that resulted in you and him have intimate relations at that time. But due to your busy schedules and lack of privacy, the two of you decided that it would be too exhausting to continue a romantic relationship and parted as friends." Nana nodded as Hannah listed down the things that could be asked and what she could say in response.
"Write all of the scripts and prompts down so that she can remember what to say." Jade was overly cautious. "You are good enough to remember movie scripts so this wouldn't be too out of your depth."
"Got it. Thanks, Hannah. I'll call you to work on the speech." Nana gave Hannah a hug.
"Go with her now. Don't waste time trying to get your mind ready for it. You won't be able to sleep and eat well until this is all over so might as well get the important things rolling. We'll have the press conference tomorrow after we go to the police and make the report. The sooner we act on it the sooner the media can spin this out of their news cycle." Nana wanted to take a day but what Jade said reminded her of the grim reality. "If you drag this out, we won't be able to legally help you anymore. So make use of Simon Global's resources as much as you can while you still can."
Hannah shook her head as she unplugged her laptop from the projector. "You are too tough on people sometimes, Boss. It's going to bit you in the ass someday."
"Right now me being a softie in the past is what's eating up my revenue. So get going before I kick you both out of my office."
"We love you too, Boss." Hannah smirked and guided Nana out of the office.
Jade popped her head out of the doorway before they could get very far. "Oh and Nana,"
"Yes?"
"Take a pregnancy test just to be sure." With that last order, Jade disappeared back into her office.
Nana couldn't believe that insane request. She looked at Hannah and asked, "What if I am pregnant?"
"Well, would get more sympathy and win this case even sooner. No one would drop a pregnant woman from their branding especially if she is fighting for the rights of South Korean women."
"But what if I don't want to tell people I am pregnant?" She was suddenly mortified of the fact that she might be pregnant while dealing with all of the hate.
"Then we just keep it a secret from everyone, easy." Hannah sounded like she's done this before. Nana wouldn't be surprised if she has.
"Even from Jay?" She was astonished by Hannah's suggestion.
"If you want to, yeah," Hannah said point-blank. "In South Korea, no one is going to blame him for knocking someone up. He'd probably get fistbumps everywhere he goes. But you would have to be slut-shamed for being a single mom."
Nana knew that one test could very well make this the worst day of her life or the luckiest one. She just didn't know if she was ready for anything.
===
Molca
Secretly filming or photographing another person is called "Mollae Camera" in Korea. The word mollae means 'secretly. ' Its abbreviated term, "Molca," is often used to describe criminal voyeurism.
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