Trembling Petals
A tranquil afternoon.
Yoon Eun-jung leaned back into the plush sofa, eyes fixed on the tablet balanced across her lap.
Her hair was pulled into a tight ponytail. She wore an oversized boxy t-shirt that draped loosely over her frame and tight dolphin shorts that clung to her curves. It was the kind of unguarded, carefree look she would never show the outside world—far from the elegant, formal outfits she wore for public appearances.
Sunlight filtered gently through the curtains, bathing the living room in a soft golden glow. A languid, peaceful atmosphere filled the space.
It was, in every other respect, a perfect day.
Except for one thing.
Beyond the windows stretched a stunning view of the Han River, yet her gaze remained locked on the screen. The usual calm intelligence on her refined features had been replaced by something sharper—disbelief mixed with irritation, absurdity laced with resentment.
She scrolled slowly, scanning the headlines. Every single word made her frown deepen.
[Exclusive X-File] 550 Billion Won Historical Drama: The Secret Contract Between the Ballon d’Or Star and the Chungmuro Goddess?
[Urgent] Namgoong Min’s “Emperor Casting”—The Truth Behind the 550 Billion Won Dedicated to Lead Actress Yoon Eun-jung.
Namgoong Min Bets Four Trillion Won in Cash on a Beauty? Uncovering the Yoon Eun-jung Special Treatment Scandal.
The titles alone were enough to make her scowl.
How creative. Maybe they should quit journalism and start writing fiction.
The actual articles were even worse. They painted the project not as a drama but as some personal gift from Namgoong Min to claim her as his lover—an emperor showering his beloved with riches in a tawdry romance. Sensational, vulgar speculation flooded the comment sections.
“Ha… seriously.”
Unable to hold back any longer, Yoon Eun-jung set the tablet down on the table with a sharp thud.
Her head throbbed. She pressed a hand to her forehead and leaned back into the sofa. The faint, refreshing scent of lilies drifted from her body.
What is this… Why are they looking at me like this? Just because I got the role without an audition? They’re making it sound like I only got here because of the CEO’s money or connections… like some actress who slept her way up.
She covered her face with both hands. The more she thought about it, the hotter her anger burned.
It’s common for writers or directors to pre-cast roles and extend offers. It’s rare for a CEO to step in personally, but when the agency is producing its own content, it actually makes perfect sense.
Her clear, porcelain skin flushed slightly with a mix of indignation and rage. Yet beneath the frustration, another emotion stirred—curiosity about Namgoong Min’s true intentions.
As her feelings shifted, her cheeks grew warm for an entirely different reason.
Did the CEO really… have no personal interest in me at all?
The same sensational headlines and speculative content that had angered her moments ago now planted question marks deep inside her heart.
The unprecedented production scale. Namgoong Min’s declaration that he wasn’t even thinking about recovering the budget. And those warm eyes he had turned on her during their meeting.
The memory pulled her back to that moment in the conference room—how her body had reacted unconsciously beneath his gaze. The way her nipples had stiffened under her blouse. The warm dampness that had soaked into her panties. And what had happened later that night when she returned home and stepped into the bathroom.
Her cheeks burned hotter. Without realizing it, her hand had drifted down to rub gently below her navel.
I wonder… what does the CEO think of these articles right now?
Yoon Eun-jung glanced at the tablet on the table again. The provocative headlines still glowed on the screen. The irritation remained, but deeper in her chest something else was growing—affection, a fluttering heartbeat that refused to be ignored.
She let out a slow breath and sank further into the sofa. Sunlight from the window washed across her face, illuminating the complicated tangle of emotions even more clearly.
The longer it lingered, the more that feeling unsettled her.
This is starting to feel like a schoolgirl crush…
By now her fingers had unconsciously slipped lower, brushing against that sensitive place.
The practice room for girl group Blossoms at Four Square Entertainment’s Square One label still radiated heat from their intense choreography session.
The members sat in various corners, sipping water or wiping sweat from their faces as they caught their breath. On the surface everything looked normal, yet a subtle, unusual tension hung in the air.
No one spoke first, but every pair of eyes kept drifting back to the same thing—phone and tablet screens filled with the latest scandal articles about Yoon Eun-jung and CEO Namgoong Min.
Leader Ju-young finally broke the silence. She set her phone down and muttered, “This is really getting out of hand. Why slap such trashy headlines on a 550 billion won project? A ‘secret contract’? Come on.”
Second-oldest Ha-yun shook her head in agreement. “Right? Going on about an ‘emperor’s gift’ just because of one casting decision… It’s so low-class. I feel bad for Eun-jung unnie.”
Ju-young crossed her arms with a cool expression and continued, “We went through endless rumors when we first debuted too. This industry is like that. The more perfect someone is—like the CEO—the more rumors stick to them. We should just ignore it.”
Both Ju-young and Ha-yun, the more experienced unnies at twenty-five and twenty-three, took a firmly negative stance toward the flood of scandal pieces. They had gathered enough real-world experience to know how baseless most rumors were.
The younger members, however, reacted differently.
Sixteen-year-old maknae Ji-an pouted, lips pushed out. “Still… if the CEO went that far for her, doesn’t it mean he sees Eun-jung unnie as really special?”
Nineteen-year-old Su-bin chimed in right away. “Exactly. And even if it’s true, so what? Aren’t celebrities and CEOs allowed to date?”
Ju-young shook her head with a pitying look, as if wondering what she was going to do with these children.
“Hey, hey. Even if that were the case, would he push her so openly? The CEO isn’t stupid. If anything, he’d keep it secret.”
Ji-an puffed her cheeks in a sulky expression. “But… we’re the company’s very first idol group and he hasn’t visited our practice room even once…”
Ha-yun let out a small laugh and made a playful swat at Ji-an’s head. “Aigoo… Remember how much attention the CEO gave us during debut? Now that we’re in our second year, he doesn’t need to come all the way to the practice room anymore.”
“True. It’s not like we’ve earned enough money to carry the whole company yet.”
“Exactly. He even settled our accounts before recovering the investment costs. When you add up the money poured into our albums, music videos, and everything else, we’ve probably only just started turning a profit.”
The conversation between Ju-young and Ha-yun drifted naturally from the scandal into settlement figures and investment returns.
A little distance away, two members sat quietly, seemingly uninterested in the chatter.
One was Shin Ju-ri, the group’s center. At twenty years old and 172 centimeters tall, she possessed model-like proportions and served as the team’s visual ace. Her bright, confident personality paired with unexpected cuteness made her the most popular member among fans.
The other was Min Seo-eun, twenty-two. Though 167 centimeters tall, what truly drew every eye was her overwhelming F-cup figure. Her pure yet glamorous beauty had earned her the reputation of “first in visuals.” She had her own dedicated fanbase, but her painfully shy personality kept her popularity at the bottom of the group.
Both girls stared silently at their phones, lost in their own thoughts.
Shin Ju-ri lounged against the sofa, phone in hand, but her eyes weren’t really focused on the screen. Her fingers scrolled automatically while her mind wandered elsewhere.
Why did it have to be Eun-jung unnie? I acknowledge her acting ability, but… is there really a personal relationship like the rumors say?
Despite her usual confident demeanor, the articles had painted her heart with shades of jealousy and anxiety. She bit her lip and unconsciously gripped her thigh beneath the dolphin shorts. Her long, slender legs and firm, pale skin grew even whiter under the pressure of her fingers. A faint rose scent rose from her sweat-glistened, graceful body.
Across from her, Min Seo-eun sat curled in the corner, holding her phone so close it nearly touched her chest. Her normally timid face looked even more troubled than usual.
She had been harboring a quiet, long-standing crush on Namgoong Min that stretched all the way back to his days as a soccer player. That history made her reaction to the scandal different—filled with anxiety and the bitter thought that it could never be her.
If it’s someone as beautiful as Eun-jung unnie, it wouldn’t be strange for the CEO to like her… But is that really all there is to it?
Maybe… there’s been other contact we don’t know about…?
Despite her innocent and introverted nature, a slightly dangerous curiosity began to fill Min Seo-eun’s mind.
If I changed my approach… instead of just suffering in silence, if I became more proactive… would the CEO finally look at me?
Still clutching the phone to her chest, she became aware of the full, heavy weight of her own breasts beneath her fingers. The realization that this was her greatest weapon, the surest way to make him notice her, brought a fresh flush to her face.
It was as if she had been caught doing something naughty. Her heart raced. She pressed a hand lightly to her chest, feeling the frantic beat. A delicate jasmine scent slowly spread through the air around her.
The rumors swirling around the CEO and Yoon Eun-jung acted like a spark, igniting the hidden desires and ambitions the girls had kept buried deep inside. To them, it felt like the first signal of a new beginning.
