Translator: Elisia
Editor/Proofreader: Wojo
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The paparazzo’s eyes narrowed.
Just a little while ago, she thought she was in a situation where she would be arrested, but hearing that they came to negotiate instead, her suspicion made sense.
“Really? How much are you offering?”
“We’ll adjust the amount as we talk.”
Lee Soo-ah said that for now.
In fact, Lee Soo-ah didn’t really know how much these kinds of “photos” were worth.
She knew that according to the logic of capitalism, if many people wanted to buy something, the price would go up.
She also knew that secret dating photos of famous celebrities or scandalous pictures of foreign royalty or nobles were expensive — that was the extent of her knowledge.
In reality, under normal circumstances, it would be too expensive for Lee Soo-ah to buy with her personal money.
Just because someone was a child of a large corporation didn’t mean they had enormous wealth like Sara.
Although there were some assets in Lee Soo-ah’s name for various reasons, they weren’t exactly her personal wealth but rather “set up” in her name for convenience.
If the person demanded a ridiculous price, in the tens or hundreds of millions, it wouldn’t be easy for her to buy it.
However, she had a certain level of confidence.
That person was absolutely not in a “normal” situation right now.
“You know it won’t be cheap, right? I’m probably the only one who’s been following around the Eugene Group heiress to take photos. And besides….”
The paparazzo looked her up and down from head to toe.
“I know which family you come from, but do you really think you, as a student, could buy this with your own money?”
Thinking the situation had reversed in her favor, the paparazzo said that with a smug look, as if she had forgotten they were standing in the middle of an amusement park.
A few passersby gave them curious glances.
Although it wasn’t like there were no foreigners around, it seemed they found Lee Soo-ah’s foreign-looking appearance combined with her fluent Korean a little interesting.
“But you won’t be able to sell it for a high price.”
Lee Soo-ah said that directly to her face.
“What?”
Her brows furrowed.
Did she think highly of her photography skills?
“There’s nowhere left to buy those photos anymore.”
Lee Soo-ah said calmly.
“What? What are you talking about? How would you know?”
Since the day her father called her in to show her the article with the pictures of her and Sara, she had checked internet articles daily without missing a day.
Although she didn’t check physical newspapers, these types of photos usually appeared in internet articles before they were printed.
But ever since then, not a single article about Sara came out.
Sara continued to hang out with her friends, both inside and outside of school.
Whether going to school or leaving, she was always with them.
Nowadays, she didn’t even bother taking a car home, so it would’ve been much easier to take pictures of her while they walked.
And during that time, it wasn’t as if she didn’t show affection.
On the contrary, as time passed and she felt less embarrassed, she became much more natural with skinship, even hugging and linking their arms easily.
“You’ve been taking pictures consistently until now, haven’t you?”
Surely, she hadn’t stopped taking pictures.
Since it was her livelihood, there was no way she wasn’t planning to sell them.
But no one bought those photos.
The story of a rich young heiress being gay was enough to become a source of gossip among the people for a few days, whether it was true or not.
But that’s all.
After all, she wasn’t a celebrity, and there wasn’t any rule saying she couldn’t date anyone.
High schoolers dating wasn’t such an unusual story.
If Sara were a trainee from an entertainment company or a child actor, it might’ve been a different story.
But to the public, Sara was just a “rich ordinary person.”
Even if they knew she had a lot of personal assets, people didn’t think Sara would move those assets herself.
They wouldn’t think she was fighting with her mother, nor would they care that Sara had been horribly abused since she was a child.
Of course, if such stories were revealed all at once, their reactions might change.
But with just one “dating photo,” such stories wouldn’t come flooding out.
The photos didn’t contain any context, and the articles were just brief explanations of the pictures.
Yes, it’s not that the story wasn’t newsworthy at all.
The girl sticking by Sara wasn’t just Ha-neul.
If they continuously posted pictures and wrote follow-up articles, there would be more buzz than there was now.
“The rich young heiress is dating multiple girls at once, and one of them is an heiress of a well-known company.”
It wasn’t great, but it was the kind of content they could use when there was nothing else to write about.
But the media didn’t use that story at all.
Lee Soo-ah could guess why.
“Was there pressure from a company? Eugene Group? Or Homyeong Group?”
Lee Soo-ah took a step closer to the paparazzo.
Despite the talk of “freedom of the press”, this country was still a capitalist one. As long as you followed the minimum laws, a person could make and spend money as they wished for their desires.
And it was possible to spend money to hide unfavorable information.
It was hard to directly threaten the press.
The press was still “the press,” after all.
They wouldn’t hesitate to ruin someone’s life for crossing them, or even just for being annoying.
But even the press couldn’t go against companies much bigger than them.
Because, in the end, the press was also a “business” that existed to make money.
No matter how many newspapers they sold, or how many views their online articles got, without advertisements attached to them, no money would come in.
The price of a single newspaper was too cheap to make a profit from, and readers didn’t pay just to view online articles.
And of course, the companies that paid the most for advertisements were the few top-ranking groups in the country.
Choi Na-kyung of the Eugene Group cherished Sara in a twisted way.
Even if she had to ruin Sara with her own hands, she would never let anyone else do it.
Or maybe she just didn’t like seeing her target flirting with others.
The successor of Homyeong Group was engaged to Sara.
Even though they didn’t get along, they hadn’t officially broken off the engagement and still planned to marry once they became adults.
If too many articles came out now, there would still be talk even after the marriage.
In fact, it might blow up even more then.
It might benefit Homyeong Group if things blew up unfavorably for Sara at that time, but for now, it was just an unpredictable bomb.
Of course, they’d prefer to keep things quiet.
And—
“Or, is it Lee Won Enterprises?”
Yes, and Lee Won Enterprises.
Though it was much smaller compared to Eugene Group and Homyeong Group, that didn’t mean they weren’t clients of the media.
They were still a solid company that would always be mentioned in the rankings of large companies in the country.
If you offended just one of these three companies, it might still be okay.
Media outlets would prefer articles that get high traffic anyway.
But if three major companies, two of which were monsters with countless subsidiaries and affiliate companies, were disgusted by a story that might not even create much buzz, it wasn’t worth it.
The fact that the article wasn’t taken down already was a miracle.
“It’s fine if you refuse here. I’ll just find another way.”
It would be more troublesome if she refused, but it wasn’t like there were no other options.
Lee Soo-ah said that as she stared straight into the paparazzo’s eyes.
“But I wonder if you could sell it elsewhere after rejecting this offer.”
“…….”
The paparazzo looked down at Lee Soo-ah with a slightly defeated expression.
“……Selling it right here on the spot, that’s a bit….”
Was she saying that she wanted to properly negotiate the price?
Since Lee Soo-ah couldn’t pay right away either, she nodded in agreement.
“Alright, then. Should we exchange contact information?”
Lee Soo-ah smiled as she said that to the paparazzo.
*
That took a while.
Seeing Yang Hye-in and Soo-ah walking over from a distance, I thought that to myself.
Of course, I couldn’t say that out loud to the girls.
I was a girl myself right now, after all.
‘Right now?’
“…….”
I pressed my lips together tightly.
Oh, I guess I already had my mouth closed.
……Still, sitting here for a while did make me feel much better.
“Sorry, we got lost….”
Soo-ah, who had lightly jogged over to us, said that.
Her face was bright—ah, no.
Let’s not think about it any further.
I stood up from the bench.
“Then… shall we head somewhere else?”
At my words, everyone nodded.
“Let’s go to the flower garden up there.”
Ha-neul said that as she naturally took my hand and pulled me along.
“Are you sure? There aren’t many rides up there….”
“It’s fine, it’s fine.”
So-hee said with a laugh.
“We came here to have fun together. Being together is the most fun part.”
Soo-ah nodded in agreement with her.
“…….”
At that, I couldn’t help but smile.
And I felt a slight tinge of guilt.
Actually, I had noticed how much these kids were enjoying themselves earlier when we were on the rides.
There’s nothing more disappointing than going to have fun somewhere and not being able to fully enjoy it because of one person.
But no one complained.
Everyone was looking out for me.
Instead of leaving me behind, they were trying to find something we could all enjoy together.
……Yes, everyone was looking out for Sara.
‘…….’
Sara didn’t say anything.
But I felt a strange warmth in my chest, as if something had lit up there.
It wasn’t just my imagination.