Chapter 105

Chapter 105

One of the managers returned to tell us how things had unfolded.

“He tried to make a police report?”

“Yes. He kept going on about how we’d assaulted him... He really had us nervous for a second there.”

The more senior of the managers wiped the sweat from his face, muttering about how they’d narrowly avoided a strange article coming out just ahead of our comeback. Then he grumbled, “Why’d that idiot contact his dad, anyway? Tsk.”

He was referring to the second manager, who wasn’t present. Said manager had gone with Lee Sejin to go talk with the higher-ups at the agency.

“How did his dad get into the lobby?”

“Little Sejin said he wanted to head to the practice room on the way back from the hospital, so they came to the agency before going back to the dorms. The guards recognized his dad today and they let him in when he said he was one of the members’ dads.”

“Aha!” Big Sejin exclaimed though he didn’t look particularly happy about this explanation.

Maybe it’s because this isn’t an issue we can neatly nip in the bud. Family-related controversies were almost impossible to distance oneself from, even if the member involved cut ties with the troublesome family member. Worse still, the man had gone so far as to cause a scene in the lobby, which meant he was no ordinary troublemaker. There was plenty of potential for future trouble.

“In any case... I’m sure Little Sejin was pretty taken aback himself. Be nice to him when he gets back,” the manager said.

“Sure thing.”

“All right.”

Between his ankle injury and now his family problems, needless to say, he was having a hard time. The members nodded easily enough, but they seemed to have their own thoughts on the situation.

It wasn’t long before Lee Sejin returned to the dorm, still wearing his soft cast. The situation was no different from a few days ago, except this time he came in alone, but there was one other difference that we noticed right away. He was wearing a determined expression.

All the members seemed to take note of this and spoke up hesitantly.

“Sejin, uh... How’d it go?”

“Are you okay?”

“Good. I’m perfectly fine,” he said gravely, coming inside and heading for the kitchen, where he went about getting a glass of water.

He gulped down the entire thing in one go. Putting the cup down on the table with a loud clank, he took a deep breath.

“I’m going to take out a restraining order against him... Tomorrow.”

“A-against your dad?”

“He’s not my dad! He divorced my mom when I was little and he never had custody of me, that bastard!”

A few of the members seemed taken aback, never having heard him swear like this before.

“Do you have evidence?”

“I’m not the one I’m requesting it for. It’ll be for my mother.”

Lee Sejin sighed deeply and began to explain the situation. “Turns out he started contacting my mom when I began taking off a little as a child actor. He’s been forcing her to give him money ever since.”

His mother had apparently never told him about the situation. He’d only heard about his actions for the first time recently.

“When I took a hiatus from acting, he contacted her less often... But he started making demands again after I appeared on Idol Inc.” Lee Sejin swallowed loudly, his voice trembling slightly. “I just thought... they’d divorced because they had their differences. She sent him money because he said he was in a tough spot...”

The amount of money his dad demanded had slowly grown, accompanied by subtle threats and verbal abuse. “He started calling her almost every day after the midpoint in the show since it was doing so well.”

All the color drained from his face as he thought back to the situation that had been unfolding at the time.

Was that why he grew so touchy around the time of the third team battle? He’d already been emotionally rattled at that point.

“Then, I had a long conversation with my mom during the holidays and she finally told me the truth.”

His parents had really divorced because of his gambling problems and because he was a violent man who had continuously threatened her for money.

A brief, worried silence fell.

“Then why are you still in contact with him at all?”

“I-if I acted rashly... it might cause problems for my mom... or you guys again. I already had that issue with my old agency.” He gritted his teeth, rubbing his eyes with his fists. “I decided not to run from this problem and I wanted to handle it by myself as best I could... Not that it worked out very well.

“I want to apologize to you guys in advance. Once I take out the restraining order, news articles might start coming out about it. The agency did promise to do their best to prevent that from happening, but...” He hung his head. “If it becomes a problem... I’m sorry.”

“Sejin, you don’t have to apologize for something like that.”

“I-it’s really o-okay!” Ahyeon reassured.

As the members rushed to comfort him, Big Sejin spoke up with a gracious smile, sounding sorry for him. “Uh... You know, this whole situation really sucks. But I don’t think a restraining order will be the end of it. Have you considered other options, too?”

“I know...” he said, swallowing nervously. “That’s why I found out... Where he goes to gamble.”

“Oh! H-how’d you do that?”

“Does it really matter? I’m going to report the establishment.”

“Whoa!”

“He’ll go to prison. In the meantime, when I get paid I’ll move my mom to a better house.”

“Wow!”

The underage members gaped at him with wonder. I thought wryly, Illegal gambling only gets you a fine, doesn’t it?

Even if a person was sentenced to prison time, it usually resulted in a suspended sentence. There was also the issue of whether the police who took the case would even believe him.

“He’ll probably get out on probation, don’t you think?” I said.

“Probably not. He was part of a crooked gambling operation. He worked in the gambling house. I recorded everything he said to try and scare me. He was talking about gangsters and everything... If necessary, I can send the recordings anonymously to the police.”

I’d assumed that the problem at hand was a simple gambling addiction, but it seemed the man actually had criminal connections. I could understand Lee Sejin’s desire for revenge and why he was choosing to execute this plan, but I had the feeling it would only make things worse.

If his dad goes around saying that he’s Lee Sejin’s father, then sh*t will really hit the fan. Cutting all visible ties with him still seemed to be the best bet.

Hmm. An idea suddenly came to mind.

Though I’m not sure if he’ll agree to it. I could make a suggestion, at least.

“We need to make sure a criminal offender like that can’t just go about using your name, even further down the road. He could possibly get involved in another fraudulent operation after he gets out of prison, using your name for credibility,” I said.

“...!”

“Why don’t you just completely cut ties with him?”

“H-how would I do that?”

I spun my finger in a circle. “You could change your surname. Adopt your mother’s name instead.”

He coughed, completely taken aback by the suggestion.

“That way there will be no link to your dad at all.” I refilled the glass of water he’d been drinking from. “Calm down.”

He gulped the entire glass down again, then muttered in a daze, “I... I never thought of that.”

Eugene and Ahyeon nodded blankly beside me.

“Me neither.”

“S-same here.”

Big Sejin quickly tapped away at his phone, reading for several long moments, nodding to himself. “Yeah! It looks like you don’t need your dad’s permission if you’re of age. He’ll still be asked for his opinion on it via mail, but I think it’ll be fine if you apply right after you report the gambling house and things get hectic for him.”

An odd look appeared on Lee Sejin’s face. “That means... It'll take some time. I can’t change my name in the middle of our comeback promotions...”

That is a useless worry.

“You can start using your new name right away as your stage name,” I said.

“Oh, he’s right. You can change your stage name first, then file for a real name change at a later point!”

Raebin exclaimed. Lee Sejin still looked a little stunned.

Well, it’s not an easy decision to make, I guess—suddenly changing your surname. Though it’s kind of ironic, thinking that way myself. Both my surname and first name aren’t even my own. In any case, he’d built his career since childhood going by his current name and there were plenty of reasons why he might feel reluctant to change it.

Maybe he’ll even disagree. The moment I had that thought though, Lee Sejin nodded gravely.

“Okay! I don’t care what my surname is.” His eyes were burning with determination.

That’s the same look he was giving his smartphone a few days ago. I guessed he’d been boiling with a desire for revenge then, too. Be that as it may, the members applauded his bold decision.

“Yeah!” They all cheered.

Lee Sejin turned his head away shyly.

That’s decided, then.

I advised, “Be sure to tell the agency that any articles need to specify that the divorce was totally your dad’s fault. They shouldn’t give too many details, just enough that readers are able to guess at what happened.”

The articles needed to not attract negative attention or leave room for doubt. The agency could probably handle it fine without our intervention, but there was nothing to lose from being careful.

Lee Sejin seemed to be thinking deeply about something. “You know, I noticed this last time, but you... Never mind.”

“Huh? Go ahead,” I said.

“It’s nothing.”

Well, all righty then.

Chungwoo smiled awkwardly and said, “In addition to all the reasons we’ve already talked about... I think it’s a good decision. Taking your beloved mom’s surname is much better than using one that belongs to such an awful man.”

“Yeah...” Lee Sejin replied.

“Regardless, thanks for making such a tough call. It can’t have been easy.”

“It wasn’t that hard.”

Lee Sejin had probably used up half a year’s worth of social fuel and thus had returned to his usual gruff ways.

“O-okay, I’m going to call the agency and tell them what we just discussed.”

“Okay!”

“I’m glad things seem to be settled,” Raebin said.

“Thanks...” Lee Sejin said.

“Hehe.”

“Good job!” Big Sejin said, smiling. He still didn’t seem to like Lee Sejin all that much, but at least he didn’t seem irritated with him anymore.

And Lee Sejin was too preoccupied with the situation at hand to find Big Sejin unpleasant.

That’s good. Now we just need to avoid forcing them together without good reason. A question came to mind as a peaceful mood settled over us.

“Come to think of it, what is your mom’s surname?”

Lee Sejin’s ears went red.

Huh?

“Bae...”

“I’m sorry?”

“It’s Bae!”

And so, in quite the roundabout manner, the child actor Lee Sejin became Bae Sejin. People had already called him this in the past—Bae short for actor in Korean—but now it was his real surname from his mother. He seemed happy enough with it, which was a relief.

In the end, it was the same name people had already been using for him, he just came to it in a different manner, which was pretty interesting, conceptually speaking. But this wasn’t even the most surprising aspect of the whole incident.

That honor went to an article Bae Sejin brought me a few days later.

“This is it!” He looked excited, which was rare for him, as he shoved his phone in my face.

I read the article.

========================

[Operators of an illegal gambling house in XX City arrested... Drugs found on site]

: The Gyeonggi Bukbu Provincial Police Agency released a statement on the 12th that a 43-year-old male and five others had been arrested on the 11th for running an illegal gambling operation in the basement of a building in XX City.

In addition, 2.2 kilograms of illegal drugs in the form of pills were found on site [...]

========================

I stared at the phone with surprise.

“What do you think? We won’t have to worry about him for a few years, at least. Don’t you agree?”

“Yes...”

The problem really seemed taken care of. The drug dealer I’d worried about so much had been neatly caught.

***

Several days later, Bae Sejin was freed from his soft cast, replacing it with a flexible ankle guard.

The teaser for the music video will be out at midnight. Its release signified the start of our promotional cycle. A decision I’d been delaying for some time also loomed over me—the distribution of my remaining points.

Status window. I had three points available. I would leave one for use in an emergency and use the remaining two now. The problem was I didn’t know where to allocate them.

“Hmm.”

I didn’t need to think long before coming to a decision.

Before I leveled up my stats, however, I needed to get something out of the way first.

“Hey,” I said.

“Huh?” Chungwoo replied.

“What do you think about switching to a new salon?”

I wanted to utilize the same strategy I’d used during Idol Inc.