Chapter 234

Chapter 234

Bae Sejin stared down at his phone with haggard eyes. Most articles being posted online that stoked the flames of anxiety on purpose were being taken down by the agency. Or at least that was what the company was claiming—Bae Sejin didn’t agree.

Isn’t this happening just because there’s nothing else to write about? The agency had blocked access to any information about the accident, so the journalists had run out of facts. Indeed, the agency was desperately stopping the press from releasing information about the former manager’s involvement. The press eventually reported that the accident had happened due to “neglect behind the wheel by a former manager who was soon to resign.”

This isn’t right. Bae Sejin balled his fists. A few of the members had questioned the staff and figured out how the former manager had managed to gain access.

“The staff employed by the venue weren’t told about the manager change… They let him through because they thought he was coming in late after running an errand elsewhere during the day.”

In other words, the agency’s failure to inform the relevant people that the manager had been fired was part of the reason the accident had occurred in the first place. The agency was well aware of this, and Bae Sejin’s instincts told him that this was why they were so desperate to keep the information from leaking, even going as far as to request help from headquarters to keep the truth hidden.

Even now, the agency was facing criticism from all sides for failing to protect its artists properly. The blow would be fatal if more information were to come out, and they were stalling for time as long as they could until things quieted down a little.

They should be more worried about Moondae’s recovery… if they have time to waste covering their own asses. He had no expectations of them anymore, though. If a few of the members hadn’t lost their sh*t, the agency would already be making plans for a six-member group.

They disgust me… Bae Sejin pressed a hand over his mouth. He knew it couldn’t be helped, but Bae Sejin was sick of the agency’s ruthless capitalism. It was clear they viewed the group as nothing but a means to income. They didn’t even seem to care about the safety of their artists, since it didn’t affect them. He’d seen similar behavior all his life, and he was tired of it.

Accidents like this are so common in this industry! How was it that the same thing kept happening over and over? This agency was essentially no different from his previous one—the ostensible difference was that this one was positioned well as a “legit” agency. Bae Sejin pressed his hand over his mouth until his fingers turned white.

I need to find a better agency. There had to be agencies run by good people out there, people who valued basic human decency. There had to be.

Just three more years, and… Bae Sejin nearly sank into an endless mental loop, but thoughts of Moondae pulled him out. He was still unconscious. Bae Sejin let the hand holding his phone flop weakly to his lap. No matter what plans he tried to make, he knew that they would only work out if he had Moondae at his back.

He’s so good at handling things like this… It’s almost like he’s been doing it all his life. Bae Sejin had never met anyone his age who possessed such seemingly superhuman capabilities. Moondae had talent, confidence, and bravery. Those traits alone made him the perfect entertainer… but he was also socially adept. Bae Sejin had felt inferior to him all throughout the audition show, but that hadn’t been the case after they’d debuted. He’d seen no point in drawing comparisons anymore.

And he helped me out a lot, too… He’d once claimed that he would pay Moondae back one of these days, but he’d never really been sure how he was going to do so.

I always doubted that Moondae would ever need my help. And Bae Sejin had deemed that every time he tried to help Moondae in some way, the execution had simply been poor. But this time, Bae Sejin really had to do something. Moondae was still in a coma, and the other members were either physically or emotionally in pain. None of them were functioning at their best.

As for me… I’m used to being tired and worn down. In the past, being tired and touchy had been a constant in his life. This was why he needed to be the one to step up in their current situation. He moved his hand away from his mouth, his eyes gleaming.

I’m going to do it. He picked up his phone, finding a specific email address. He began drafting a message. His hands were shaking.

I’m the only one who can do this! Bae Sejin gritted his teeth and pressed send. He wasn’t sure this would accomplish anything, but he believed that it was the right thing to do. Sighing, he leaned back in his seat. Running a hand over the hamster-patterned phone case that had been a gift from a fan, he tried to stay calm.

[♬♪♩~ ♬♬♪♪]

His phone was ringing. Bae Sejin quickly checked the screen.

[Seon Ahyeon]

Bae Sejin took the call, suddenly unable to breathe properly.

“Yeah, what’s the—”

He heard a handful of excited voices over the line. Bae Sejin waited patiently and balked as he pieced together the fragments of what he could hear.

“W-wait, wait! What did you just say…” he stammered. He ran from the meeting room without even finishing the sentence. His heart was racing.

***

After I activated “Nectar (S)”, my vision went white, and I suddenly found myself floating in a completely colorless void. I felt more like I was being drawn somewhere, however, rather than just floating in place.

Is this the opposite of what I experienced when I entered the dream? Everything had been pitch black then. To put it simply, I wanted to believe that I was in the process of waking up. I tried to cross my arms, only to realize that I couldn’t really feel my body. It was strange, but this had been the case for quite a while now.

How long do I have to wait? Then color appeared in the white space. It was more like a wave of color. It appeared in the distance, and felt like a representation of abstract things such as emotions and thoughts. The odd waves washed over me, and I felt something powerful thrumming through me, my entire body vibrating.

Then it happened.

I blinked and found myself looking at Moondae’s fansite master, who was staring down at her phone. She had been taking Moondae’s pictures since the audition show, before his debut. She’d been clutching her phone, distraught, ever since she’d heard news of the accident. The woman didn’t even seem capable of producing tears. She was writing a social media post at three in the morning, after seeing news of Moondae’s operation.

- Please pray for him

Her trembling fingernails clattered against her phone screen.

What in the world is going on here?

Next, I saw a pair of siblings. The older sister, who had puffy eyes from crying, was in a heated argument with some people on the internet who were making jokes about TeSTAR’s accident. Her little brother, instead of picking a fight with her or joking around like he usually did, was sitting next to her and backing her up. Citing some unrelated medical knowledge mostly gleaned off the internet, he tried to insist that Moondae was likely to get better…

The waves were growing hot.

A graduate student had been getting a cup of coffee in the corner of her lab when she saw the news. She spilled it. She wailed at the top of her lungs, oblivious to the coffee that now covered the ground.

Her colleagues at the lab rushed over, confused, but they soon understood what was going on and sympathized with her. Some of them secretly thought her behavior was foolish, but she obviously felt so strongly that they felt the urge to console her, even if they talked behind her back later.

The stories didn’t seem to end.

The office worker and fansite master who took photos of both Lee Sejin and Moondae tutted at the industry’s reaction to TeSTAR’s accident, disappointed that they would never learn. She couldn’t hide her anxiety, however, and she took a day off from work the next day, saying she was sick. Instead, she settled in to wait for more news about Moondae…

Why was I being shown all these things? There was a woman who’d gone to an idol concert for the first time in their life. Someone who’d moved from idol to idol before finally settling on Moondae. Someone who had been a fan of the May Bridegroom.

There was also someone who’d cheered for Moondae during the audition show, only to forget about him for a while, and another who had liked another TeSTAR member, but had come to like Moondae, too.

There was a person who didn’t like Moondae much but was still worried about him, as well as a person who’d purchased albums in bulk and collected all of Moondae’s photocards…

My head spun.

The experiences and thoughts of all the people who knew about TeSTAR’s Moondae glittered around me like the stars visible in a clear, night sky in the countryside. Worries, sadness, thoughts, and emotions that were complicated, simple, and powerful all at the same time filled my heart. It felt like they were gently taking hold of me. I didn’t understand how I could feel so connected to people I hadn’t ever met in person.

I wondered briefly, Am I Moondae? No. This was not the right question.

TeSTAR’s Park Moondae… Is that idol really me? There were plenty of celebrities who adopted an alias and a new identity when they debuted. Those people, however, probably didn’t see themselves on TV and think they were a different person from them. Was Moondae just a made-up character in my mind, just like the May Bridegroom?

No… That wasn’t the case. Moondae wasn’t me—he didn’t represent all of me, but he sure was a part of who I was. All these emotions and thoughts might not be entirely mine, but there was definitely some common ground between us.

Therefore, it wasn’t wrong for me to assume this much.

These are all people who want me to wake up.

I felt overwhelmed. Their emotions washed over me like a wave, leaving me drenched. The blank white space was suddenly dripping with color, and I tasted salt on my tongue—maybe it was the taste of tears. It was a euphoric experience.

This was the delectable taste of living. As I was surrounded by the warm lights, I rose upward. I could see a bright light shining far above me.

[Nectar (S)]

- Activation successful!

***

A ragged gasp escaped my throat. My limbs felt heavy, like I was neck-deep in mud, but the air tasted sweet.

Is it daytime? My vision was bleary, perhaps because my eyes had been shut for so long. My ears were apparently functioning just fine, however.

“Park Moondae!”

“M-Moondae!”

I recognized who the voices belonged to—Big Sejin and Ahyeon. They should have been focusing on their own recovery. What were they doing in my hospital room?

Still, I’m grateful. I endured the hands fumbling at my head and shoulders, as well as the ear-splitting screams. I felt very happy.

My vision finally cleared, and I could see the medical staff removing the devices attached to my body. To my surprise, all six members were in my room.

I guess this is the perk of having a private room. It was impressive that seven adults were crammed into the same room and there was still space for the staff to maneuver around. As for why we’d found ourselves in this situation… some of the members had apparently been visiting me when they noticed a change.

“I thought I-I saw M-Moondae open his eyes for a second… So I called y-you guys over just in case. Y-yes, I spoke to the nurses…” Ahyeon said.

“Oh, really… Thank you,” I said.

“D-don’t mention it!”

I wondered what he would have done if I hadn’t woken up, but I didn’t say this out loud.

I’m smarter than that. I couldn’t ruin the mood as they burst into tears and celebrated. Besides, it was nice to see them again.

I was being gentle with them, thanking them softly, when Big Sejin shouted with a red nose, “Moondae, want to eat some melon? It’s so damned sweet!”

“Oh, okay.”

He’s perceptive. I gave Big Sejin a surprised look.

“Oh, Moondae, aren’t you impressed that you have such a considerate friend?”

“Something like that,” I said.

His usual nonsense really made it feel like I was really back. Big Sejin looked surprised by my easy agreement, then raised his arm dramatically. Covering his face, he began to sob with great exaggeration.

“How touching!”

I had a feeling he was really crying, and only making so much noise to hide it.

I guess I was in a pretty serious condition. Judging from what I saw earlier, I had an operation for sure… I expected the medical staff to appear and say that it was a miracle, but they said nothing of the sort. I wasn’t feeling all that bad, either. I’d assumed the Nectar had healed my body, but maybe I was wrong.

Don’t tell me I’d have recovered in time even if I hadn’t used the trait. Maybe I’d overreacted. In any case, I was back, and that was all that really mattered. I liked the current me.

Eating the melon that was served to me as a special snack, I tried to puzzle out the current situation. My brain was sluggish, though, probably because I’d only just recovered consciousness. Then I saw it. Eugene was all but drooling at the sight of the melon.

“Want some?” I asked hesitantly.

“It’s fine! You eat as much as you can so you can get back your energy!” He sounded energetic. The hug he’d given me earlier had nearly squeezed the air out of my lungs. It seemed he hadn’t changed.

Raebin looked like he had a lot to say, but was crying too much to do so. I’d leave him be for the time being.

The person I should be talking to right now is…

“Come to think of it, what day is it? And what happened to the former manager who caused the accident?”

…someone who will answer these questions for me.

“Moondae…”

“Oh, yes.”

Surprisingly, it was a rigid Bae Sejin who replied. “I need you to hear me out before we get into all that.”

“Right.”

Bae Sejin took a deep breath before explaining, “The agency… didn’t want any news to leak about that man.”

“Oh.”

This much I’d expected.

I’ll be able to take advantage of that at a later point. All that mattered was whether the bastard that had been behind the wheel was ready for prison time. But then, fists clenched, Bae Sejin said something completely unexpected.

“So I made an anonymous report to the Human Rights Commission!”

“…?”

“I told them everything that happened!”

“…?!”

You… did what?