Chapter 245

Chapter 245

It had been a while since I’d last had a serious conversation with Chungwoo.

I think this is the first time since I woke up. Actually, no. Before the coma, I’d kept my distance from him because of that darned “reveal the truth” feature. I supposed that meant it was much longer ago than I’d initially thought.

Though I’ll have to allow the system to show me some other truth before long. I briefly thought about the pop-up, then cast it from my mind. I had time to deal with that. In any case, after I’d woken up, I’d left him be for a while since he didn’t seem to be doing so well. I knew from experience that badgering someone when they were going through it would lead to trouble. And that was why I hadn’t expected Chungwoo to take the initiative and arrange for us to have a conversation like this as soon as the concert was over.

“Would you like a nonalcoholic drink?” he asked.

“Uh… sure.”

I accepted the can of alcohol-free beer he handed me. I opened the can, finding both the sound of it cracking and the feel of the beer rushing down my throat refreshing.

“You really enjoy beer, huh?” he said.

“Yeah, I guess.”

I didn’t usually have a huge hankering for alcohol, but I couldn’t deny that I felt the urge to drink from time to time. I wasn’t sure if Chungwoo was trying to make me comfortable or was just being polite, but he cracked open an alcohol-free beer for himself as well.

Our conversation began with gentle vibes, which made it easy to get down to what needed to be said.

“Have you thought about the lawsuit?” he asked me.

Well, I suppose it’s about time this topic was brought up again, since the concert is now over. I was honest with him.

“I have, yes, but… I don’t think our popularity will hold for more than half a year at the moment. We’ll lose our momentum.”

“You make a good point,” he said, quietly drinking his beer. “Losing a year right now… won’t be the same as a year ten years from now.”

He was right. This was an issue that worried anyone in their industry, working a job where the time spent at the top of their game was always short and sweet.

Is this matter worth abandoning the peak of our golden days?

Chungwoo had been an athlete, so he was probably used to thinking in this way. He smiled wryly. “I don’t think Sejin has given up yet. He’s been asking around about a lot of different issues, meeting with a lawyer, and things like that.”

“A lawyer?”

“Yeah. I think he’s been texting one.”

Bae Sejin had been practicing for the concert like his life depended on it. When had he found the time? I felt surprised, but at the same time, it left a bitter taste in my mouth. He’d wanted to go through with a lawsuit more than anyone else, not a concert. And yet, I’d been so desperate to survive that I’d insisted on going ahead with the charity concert.

He must have been frustrated with me. The way I saw it, he’d been very patient because they’d been granting the wish belonging to someone who had nearly died. We drank our beer without speaking. I was the first to break the silence.

“First things first… We should call Sejin here.”

“Right.”

We needed to involve the person who was all for a lawsuit for the conversation to make any headway. I texted Bae Sejin.

[Hey, could you come to Chungwoo’s room for a bit? We’re talking]

I noticed when the message had been read. There was no response, but I heard footsteps scurrying closer, followed by a cautious knock on the door.

He’s such an easy guy to read.

“Come in,” I said.

“Oh. Y-yeah, sure!”

I opened the door for him, and then the three of us settled in to talk.

“We were discussing the lawsuit,” I said.

“O-okay.”

“So, you’re still of the opinion that we should sue the agency, right?” I asked.

“Yes…” Bae Sejin said, tensing a little. His response, however, was given calmly.

Seems like he’s not going to go red and start shouting this time…

“They got a warning from the National Human Rights Commission, but all they did was pass the blame on. The director hasn’t even been replaced! The way things are going, nothing is going to change! They’re just biding their time, waiting for things to quiet down!”

Never mind. He’s still very upset. The agency was being very docile at the moment, but Bae Sejin had a point—the director hadn’t been fired. But in truth, it was better this way.

“I think it’s more convenient for us to keep this director around,” I said.

“What Why?”

I replied calmly, “He’s very likely scared.”

“…?”

“He won’t be able to do anything against us now. He’ll have to constantly be on his guard, watching to see our reaction. The situation has reached a point where that’s unavoidable for him.”

In other words, a shift in the power dynamic had occurred. The artists signed with their agency had nearly died, and now, we had grounds for a lawsuit. The facts spoke for themselves. He’d probably taken a verbal lashing from headquarters already, and he had a lot of work to do if he wanted to retain his position.

I crushed the beer so it was easier to throw out later.

“That means we’ll get as much leeway as we want from now on, no matter how scummy we think they are,” I said.

“I-I didn’t say they were scummy…”

“Hmm. Let’s just say they’re not exactly conscientious.”

Bae Sejin was silent for a moment. I wasn’t sure if he was shocked or just unsure of what to say. He eventually spoke in a more resigned tone, “Right… If that’s what everyone thinks…”

At this rate, Bae Sejin would cave to the majority, just as he did when we’d put off making a decision about the lawsuit in my hospital room.

He seemed to hesitate for a moment, then said, “To be honest, I’ve been thinking that if we sue them and win, we’ll be setting a great precedent.”

You’re thinking that far ahead?

“But you’re right. I should just focus on doing my part for the team instead of wasting time on this.” He hung his head. “I’ll give up on the idea.”

“Wait…” I said.

I hadn’t meant to pressure him. Rather, I’d wanted to persuade him to my way of thinking, or at the very least, commit to completing the lawsuit in as short a time frame as possible should we decide to sue. I hesitated for a moment, but Chungwoo spoke up gently before I could.

“Not everyone thinks that, Sejin.”

“Huh?”

“I’m fine with going ahead with a lawsuit,” Chungwoo said.

What?

Bae Sejin’s head shot up. “R-really?”

“Yeah.”

You bastard, didn’t you just agree with me when I said a lawsuit would cost us too much time? Wait a second… I remembered what Chungwoo had said to me.

“You make a good point.”

Oh. I stifled a groan. He was good at staying neutral.

Come to think of it, that’s how he was in the hospital room, too.

Chungwoo continued evenly, “And I think you’re doing your part perfectly as one of the older members of our team.”

I decided to back him up on this.

“I agree. Don’t worry about the lawsuit. I’m just not certain it will go well for us, is all,” I said.

“You two…” Bae Sejin seemed touched, but he soon pulled himself together and cleared his throat. “Ahem… In that case… wh-why don’t we ask the others? We can see if they’ve changed their minds!”

“Right. Sure,” I said.

“All right,” Chungwoo agreed.

Moments later, the other members arrived.

“The lawsuit? Uh… I thought we’d decided against going through with it. Haha,” Big Sejin said.

“I-if we sue, will our next album be postponed indefinitely?” Raebin asked.

“I want to do promotions! That’s what I like doing!”

There was no contest here. Even Eugene, who’d been all for the notion before, had turned his back on it. No doubt performing at the concert had re-ignited his love for performing.

Bae Sejin sat on the floor, a bitter expression on his face as he ruminated over his defeat.

I feel sorry for him.

Ahyeon looked nervous, having remained neutral until now, but he eventually raised his hand and said quietly, “I-if we sue… D-do we have to take a break?”

“That’s correct, Ahyeon,” Chungwoo said.

Ahyeon looked cautious as he said in a tiny voice, “I-if it doesn’t take too long… I think a lawsuit is a good idea.”

What are you saying?

I immediately asked, “Ahyeon, did you want to take a break or something?”

“Huh? Y-yeah, of course…” Ahyeon said, avoiding my gaze.

What do you think you’re doing?

“Wait, wait. So Ahyeon, you want to sue just so you can get some rest?”

“Y-yes. The concert went well, and everyone r-reacted well. I think it would be g-good for us to prioritize our health a-and rest!”

Big Sejin quickly said, “Well, in that case, we can just rest! Why don’t we take two or three weeks off before starting work on another album?”

“Wow!”

“Take time off how?” Eugene asked.

“We’ll eat tasty food and have fun!”

“I like the sound of that!”

All of them seemed on board with the idea. I could see Bae Sejin was trying not to glower at Big Sejin. Even if Ahyeon had agreed to a lawsuit, he wouldn’t have won the majority vote. The question now was, what did I think of this plan?

I considered it briefly, drinking a mouthful of fake beer from a new can. Then I said, “Recuperation sounds good.”

“Wow!”

“R-really?”

“Yes.”

I was past my biggest hurdle, anyway. There was still some time before I would have to “reveal the truth,” so I didn’t see any harm in relaxing a bit until then. The accident had been a big deal, after all.

And they had a really hard time because of me. The moment we’d gotten out of the hospital, I’d planned a charity concert and invited the most popular idol group in the industry to be our guest.

I was desperate to survive, but in their eyes, it looked like I was insisting on a lot of hard work for no good reason. The reasoning I’d used to persuade them had been effective, but this was still true.

I briefly thought back to the conversation we’d had at the time.

“We need a talking point.”

“A talking point?”

“Yes. We need people to talk about us because we’re idols, not because we were involved in an accident. And the discussion about us will only get more heated if there’s some sort of conflict involved as well.”

“Hmm.”

I’d argued that inviting a rival group was one of the best ways to do this, and my plan seemed to have lit a fire in the other members to some extent. I was thankful for this, since the results had been good.

And we followed through, tying up all the loose ends after the concert. The donation and the photos had been well received, and public opinion regarding TeSTAR would remain affable for the time being. While I didn’t really like that VTIC had also benefited, we’d still managed to make it look like we were challenging the champions of the industry without taking it too far enough to displease our audience.

However, we were bound to come up against them eventually after TeSTAR grew even more popular. I just made it happen sooner. We’d milked the concert for all the advantages we could. My conscience demanded that I be a little more yielding now. Even if I couldn’t allow a lawsuit to eventuate, I wasn’t going to stop them from resting if they wanted to.

And as for the lawsuit… I think we can still manage to get what Bae Sejin wants without one. Ideas slowly began forming in my mind.

Sitting opposite me, Chungwoo smiled. “I’m in agreement, too. We need some time to recuperate. What about you, Sejin?”

“Yeah, that sounds fine…”

“So everyone agrees, then.”

The mood in the room grew peaceful. Big Sejin snatched up one of the beers that had been in front of me and opened it.

I’ll be patient with him, I told myself.

“It’ll be Chuseok soon. Why don’t we take a break before we each go home for the holiday?” Big Sejin suggested.

“I-I like the sound of that!”

As they began discussing where they wanted to go with excitement, Raebin raised his hand.

“Huh? What is it, Raebin?”

“Well… Should we tell the agency that we’re putting all our schedules and preparations on hold?”

This wasn’t a bad idea.

“We don’t have anything in our schedules for a while, anyway. There are just a few videos for the fans, I think.”

“I see! Then we’ll just cancel the videos for the fans… uh…”

Saying that out loud makes it pretty awkward. Thankfully, someone came up with a neat solution.

“Why don’t we show the fans how we’re resting? We’ll take it easy and just ask them to install some unmanned cameras!”

“I’m not sure the fans would be all that interested…”

“Well, it might not be much fun, but that doesn’t matter! That’s just how it is with relaxed travel content! I think it’ll be fine since we did such a great job with the concert.”

This was right. Making content during our break wasn’t a bad idea. Agreement came from all sides. I personally wanted us to try a different theme this time, though.

Emptying my can, I said, “But we’ve already done travel before, in our previous reality show.”

“Oh, right.”

“Great point!”

Odd looks appeared on their faces as they thought back to Idol Working Holiday, when we’d gone around selling hotteok.

I folded my arms. What other types of well-known, more relaxed variety shows are there? Something that fits in with our need to recover. Something easy to make that isn’t about traveling—Oh, I know. Chicken feet.

“Why don’t we do mukbangs?” I asked.

“Mukbang?”

It was a form of content that had proven to be successful. I thought back to my Idol Inc. days, and I clearly wasn’t the only one. Big Sejin laughed out loud.

“That’s our chicken-feet-loving Tibetan fox for you! Wait, Tibetan? I know! Let’s mix in animals, too! What other keywords are there?”

“N-natural scenery?”

“That sounds good.”

And soon, after we brainstormed keywords related to rest and relaxation, we suddenly had a variety show idea.

TeSTAR convalescing in the countryside.

At that moment, we had no idea where the hastily cooked-up variety show would take us.