The whole series of incidents about Rose Young kidnapping and drugging Jin Liwei with the intention of sexually violating him, Jin Liwei managing to defend himself before she could succeed in her nefarious plot, Rose Young being arrested by the police, and then finally her being rescued by an unknown organized group right under the Chief of Police’s nose—all of these dominated the news under sensational headlines nationwide.
It had been days since all this happened but everyone continued talking about it. News columns, TV and radio programs, talk shows, and internet personalities even invited experts to have in-depth discussions about the topic. It didn’t matter that these so-called experts never personally met any of the people involved. As a result, most of the “in-depth” discussions were nothing more than general analyses of what happened to Rose Young and Jin Liwei, and in extension, to Iris Long. Dragging Iris Long’s name, one of country’s hottest celebrities in the past couple of years, was guaranteed to generate interest. Hence, the media always made sure to add her name in all these stories.
Even some international news reported the story as well due to Jin Liwei’s identity as the billionaire President-CEO of Jin Corporation, China’s current largest multinational company. The news story was also heavily covered in Singapore where the Youngs had cemented their status in the business world and high society thanks to their control of Jin Corporation’s Singaporean branch.
Inside his office at Jin Corporation’s Singaporean branch with an impressive waterfront view in the Central Business District, Romeo Young was yelling at the PR Department to hurry up and fix the Young family’s fast deteriorating image.
Yes, he was using company resources to solve his own family’s problems. He didn’t find anything wrong with it at all. The Youngs had been doing this for years.
They had already long believed that the entire Singaporean branch of Jin Corporation was theirs for the taking. After all, it was their family who worked tirelessly to help establish the Chinese company in Singapore, one of the Four Asian Tigers alongside Hong Kong, Taiwan and South Korea which developed into high-income economies in the early twenty-first century. In short, Singapore wasn’t an easy place for just any company to survive and succeed. It was one of the most competitive economies in the world.
Without the Young family, Jin Corporation wouldn’t have established itself so firmly in Singapore. This was what Romeo Young and his entire family believed. They might not own the company’s Singaporean branch but all the power to control it was in their hands.
Romeo Young pointed an angry and threatening finger at the PR Department Manager who was close to tears but was just holding it in due to her fear of being fired if she let herself cry.
“Support my daughter’s story of having a secret love affair with Jin Liwei, do you hear me?! Since it has already come to this and with such concrete evidence against my daughter, there’s no need to try cleaning her tainted image anymore. That will only backfire on us. Those damned videos are spreading like wildfire on the internet! They keep on popping up like a pest infestation no matter how hard we try deleting them. The only realistic solution that we can do right now is to minimize the impact my daughter’s scandal has on the image of my Young family.
“This is what we’re going to do. Paint Rose as the type of woman who turns into a hopeless fool when it comes to love. Also make sure to emphasize that it’s Jin Liwei who kept on giving her false hopes and empty promises to leave that damn starlet wife of his, Iris Long. It doesn’t matter that we don’t have any evidence to back this story but if we spread it enough, more people will definitely start doubting Jin Liwei’s integrity.”
One of the PR manager’s newly hired subordinates muttered under his breath, “Is this okay? Jin Liwei is our company’s CEO. It doesn’t seem right to smear his name and reputation when he literally co-owns the company that is paying our salaries, not to mention that it’s clearly not his fault but your daughter’s that everything is a mess right now.”
“You!” Romeo Young was almost spitting fire as he glared at the new hire. “How dare you?! I’m the one in control of the company’s branch in this country! You’re fired!”
“Apologize now,” the PR manager whispered to her subordinate in a hurry.
The young man, however, was stubborn. Although he felt intimidated by Romeo Young, he still straightened his back and stuck to his own moral values. “Fine! Even if you didn’t fire me, I would’ve quit this rotten branch today anyway! I applied to this company because I admire CEO Jin as a business leader. He’s a role model for young business professionals like me. That’s why I was so happy to finally pass the grueling interviews and work for Jin Corporation—my dream job—but I didn’t expect that the Singapore branch is filled with corrupt, fake kings who are lording over a piece of a kingdom that isn’t even theirs in the first place!”
His immediate superior, the PR manager, was already panicking and tried to stop him several times but to no avail. Needless to say, Romeo Young was furious.
“You’ll regret spouting those audacious, nonsensical words! I’ll make sure to blacklist you in this country’s business industry. You’ll never find a job in your field as long as I, Romeo Young, remain in my position. Mark my words!”
The young man’s expression trembled but he remained steadfast in his values. “Nonsensical? I only said the truth. Also, the world doesn’t consist of only Singapore, Mr. Young. And I believe that justice will prevail in the end. This is not the Jin Corporation that I signed up for and I feel no regret in leaving it. Goodbye.”
He moved to leave but turned back again. Then with a youth’s courage and daring, he gave Romeo Young two middle fingers. “Go to hell, sir. And oh, your daughter is a slut. All hail Jin Corporation! Fuck the Youngs!”
Before anyone could react, he bolted out of the office like he was running for his life. He ignored the enraged shouts after him. Then he laughed out loud even as tears threatened to fall from his red eyes.
