Chapter 268

Chapter 268

I quickly formed a hypothesis. The production team behind the TeSTAR documentary were the same ones who had tried to clean up their name after the failure that was Idol Incorporated 2. Not only had they taken clips of the most crucial parts of a video they’d shot while breaking the contract, they had tried to smuggle it away, causing it to leak in the end. I was quiet for a moment.

These motherf*ckers—but no, I need to stay calm. The more I thought things through, the more indignant I felt.

I need someone to talk this through with. The rage was clouding my mind and affecting my judgment. I needed to maintain objectivity. I spoke to the member most capable of cool-headed reason at this point in time.

“No wonder…”

When Big Sejin heard what I had to say, the amiable look on his face vanished. He finally seemed to understand what was really going on.

“They were so hell-bent on crafting some kind of story. Strange for a documentary.”

“Yeah.”

There had been actual staff on their team who specialized in documentaries, and we’d mistaken their fervor purely for passion for documenting. That sort of energy was supposed to be used in variety shows. In the end, our documentary was interesting, but after the mess they’d made, they needed to be held responsible.

We should destroy their careers for this. I never wanted to see a variety show or even an informational show with a variety show twist, from them ever again. I pondered what we should do. There existed one method that was the simplest and most convenient.

“Why don’t we tell T1 about all of this?” I said.

“Uh, don’t you think they already knew that this was the production team behind Idol Inc. 2? They probably got to work on the documentary precisely because they worked for T1.”

I shook my head. “That’s not what I’m talking about.”

“What do you mean, then?”

“I want to sow doubt regarding what happened.”

A slight change in the agency’s viewpoint of the incident would make the company wary.

I’ll tell them that they tried to sneak away sensitive footage about your artists, perhaps to sell them to another company or strike some kind of deal. The doubt I was talking about was suspicion that a serious betrayal had taken place—not a mistake, but a fully intentional attempt at making a profit. It had been proven possible during the spy incident with Goldie #1’s agency. The bigger the company, the angrier they got once they began to think someone had made a fool of them. Then all I need to do is give them that impression.

After quickly explaining this, I added, “They’ll think their generosity was repaid with betrayal, and it’ll probably make them even more angry.”

I would slowly take steps to make T1 think that the production team they’d saved after the fiasco that was Idol Inc. 2 had become avaricious, forgetting what T1 had done for them.

It wouldn’t even be a complete lie. T1 would then handle things on their own, making sure that those production team bastards never got any mainstream work again. They’d probably even think that it didn’t matter if the accusations were false, since the doubt, on its own, would be enough to upset and annoy them. It happened commonly enough that small studios like them would just vanish. The end result would be clean, powerful social despair for the team who had betrayed us.

Big Sejin rubbed his chin, then smiled wryly. “To be honest with you… I think it’ll work. You can be pretty persuasive.”

“And? You have more to say, right?”

“Well, doing this won’t really benefit us, will it? It’ll just be revenge.”

Big Sejin shrugged. “I think someone like Bae Sejin, for instance, will be moderately happy with it… but if we do it that way, it will be up to T1 to take action, and that’ll be that.”

“Right…”

He was right about the latter, though I wasn’t sure that Bae Sejin would be satisfied with this outcome. There would be backlash from this plan.

It would end here. I wouldn’t be able to bring them up again in an attempt to clear up Eugene’s name. Any pressure from T1 would naturally appear to be unjust from the public’s point of view, and it would combine unfortunately with the current controversy surrounding Eugene.

- Eugene was acting entitled to the production team, but now T1 is doing the same thing LOL

- Wow. Like company, like idol, huh?

People would make comments like this, and we’d get the opposite of the intended effect. Things needed to be handled quietly and privately if we were going to end the production team’s careers without anyone coming to their defense. That would be the wise thing to do.

So why the f*ck do I dislike the idea so much? Big Sejin was right. I slammed my fist against the armrest of the sofa.

“I don’t like that,” I said.

“Yeah, I thought you might say that.”

It annoyed me to think the bastards would just tell themselves they’d succumbed to unfair pressure from a large corporation. Besides, even if I didn’t bring this up to them, T1 probably suspected the production team already. If they had intelligence, they would have come to similar deductions.

I’d only be stirring the pot, nothing more. And I had to admit that even after raising such a fuss, Cha Eugene would probably get no practical gain from it.

Sh*t… I tiled my head back against the top of the sofa. I needed to ruin those bastards’ lives somehow. I couldn’t let it go.

“Whoa, now, Moondae. Want some iced water?”

“No,” I said.

I need to think. Was there a way to punish them while also helping Eugene?

I found myself saying, “Could we frame them?”

Was there a way to throw the bastards to the proverbial wolves instead of Eugene?

Big Sejin’s voice was unreadable as he replied, “Well, that would be amazing, of course, but…”

He thought it was unrealistic. He was right. That they had been the team from Idol Inc. 2 would not matter to the public. They would only say that I was trying too hard to stir them up.

I took a deep breath to calm myself.

Right. I should put aside wishful thinking and be practical. I could make the production team’s lives miserable whenever I wanted. Now that I knew it was possible, I would put the option aside for future use.

And the only thing that will prove somewhat useful to Eugene will be… I’d considered this same problem many times over by now, but there was no such course of action at the moment. I would instead think in the long term. I needed to release something that would reassure Eugene’s fans and encourage them to stay when they inevitably grew tired of people harping on about this controversy.

We need someone who can talk about the way Eugene usually acts. What I needed was a witness.

“We have to collect testimonies,” I said.

“Testimonies? Oh, you mean regarding how nice Eugene is and all that?”

“Yes. We could use them later.”

“Yeah… That sounds like the best option for the time being.”

Naturally, if we released it in a quick and timely manner, there was at least a chance it would improve things in the long term.

Big Sejin smiled wryly. He didn’t seem entirely happy.

Maybe I’m just trying to persuade myself that I’ve figured this out… Tutting, I tossed my phone onto the sofa.

Big Sejin patted me on the back. “Moondae, good work. Don’t worry about it too much.”

“Yeah.”

I was really craving a beer.

***

Four days passed. As I’d expected, there was no big turnaround in public opinion coming about as a result of the passage of time. The gossip was less loud than it had been on the first day, since no more information had been released, but there were now plenty of people who were dragging out videos from Eugene’s past and saying things like, I knew there was something wrong with him.

As planned, people from shops that TeSTAR often visited or people we had worked with in the past sometimes uploaded vague posts in his defense or posts that seemed to have a hidden meaning. Most of them were just shoved aside with mocking comments about how the agency was trying too hard.

If Eugene shows up at a concert under the current circumstances… I didn’t know what would happen. The internet would cuss him out if he seemed fine and talk about him if he looked worse for wear. I sighed and put down my phone. My head was hurting.

“Moondae, I’m sorry. Can you take a call?”

“…?” Sure.”

The manager who’d been sitting in the corner came over and handed me his phone.

I don’t know anyone who would contact me through him. Despite my fatigue, I was puzzled.

The manager whispered, “It’s… a member from Miry-nay.”

“…!”

A few possible reasons she could have gotten in touch flitted through my mind.

Wait, don’t tell me… I brought the phone to my ear.

“Hello, this is Moondae.”

“Hello, Moondae!”

It was the same member I’d spoken with in the past.

The girl who debuted in second place on Idol Inc., if I remember correctly. It had been a while, but our situation was too urgent to waste time with pleasantries. I jumped to the topic at hand.

“I’m assuming you called me for a reason. Am I right?”

“What? Oh, yes! I was actually asked to call you, you see…”

My guess was close to being confirmed.

Running out of patience, I said, “Was it one of your group’s concert staff?”

“…! Wh-what? Well… uh…”

I got the answer I wanted in the end.

“Yes. You’re absolutely right!”

We hadn’t brought every staff member who had worked with us in the US to Japan, since Japanese concerts tended to require more staff from Japan. Instead, our old staff were sent to work on Miry-nay’s small American tour, which the director had arranged. The member of staff that this girl was talking about was likely to have worked with us when we were filming the documentary.

She continued staunchly, though her voice was shaking, “Uh… This person helps us with cramps and stuff like that… She worked with you during your concerts. She heard that you were looking for testimonies…”

Right.

“Well, she said that she needed her privacy to be protected no matter what happens…”

“Of course, that’s a given,” I said.

“Yes!”

She gulped, then finally got to the important part.

“She… has a voice recording.”

F*ck yes. I gripped the phone in my hand tightly.

The masseuse… She’s the one who was with us when the documentary production team was annoying Eugene! Yes! This is it! If I used this evidence, nearly half of the people who were criticizing him now would change their minds.

“Moondae?”

I need to keep calm.

Confirmation needed to come first. I recovered my cool and said,“What kind of recording are we talking about here?”

Please tell me you have evidence of the production team harassing Eugene.

“Uh… well…” she replied, seeming uncertain.

I wasn’t expecting what she said next.

“Well… Eugene protected her, it seems.”

Wait, what?

***

The staff member who had taken the recording had told the Miry-nay member the following. The documentary production team had attempted to get interviews from various staff to tell the story they wanted, not just the TeSTAR members. This included the masseuse.

“She apparently refused, since the members’ physical condition and that sort of thing are sensitive information.”

She had requested that the production team get permission for the interview from Eugene himself, but they had no doubt assumed they would be refused, given the way Eugene was acting. And so they’d taken to questioning the staff repeatedly and trying to get them to let information slip by mistake. It had been quite stressful, but the masseuse had put up with it for a while, since the situation hadn’t really allowed for her to request help.

“But that didn’t work, either… so a few of them grew more aggressive, and they threatened her.”

Eugene had noticed this and came to her aid immediately.

“He was extremely firm about it, apparently.”

And given the nature of her job and the bastards who often tried to take advantage of her, the masseuse had gotten into the habit of constantly recording what was going on around her. She’d done so at this moment, too.

“She felt really grateful for his help, which is why she gave it a lot of thought before bringing it up with me.”

The industry is sensitive to recordings like that. She was probably worried about her job security. Even so, she’d been touched that Eugene had come to her aid, and she found it hard to watch the current situation unfold, which was why she’d come forward.

I folded my arms.

“…and that’s what I was told.”

“Oh! I remember!” Eugene said cheerfully.

“You remember?”

“Yes! A big cameraman scared a staff member! They were pushing for more even though she refused, so I told them to stop— Whoa! Raebin, are you nuts?”

“You should have told us about that right away, damn it!”

Nobody did anything to stop Raebin from slapping Eugene, but Eugene was indignant and shouted in English, “H-hold on a minute! No one would believe me, even if I did tell them about that. What does that have to do with me swatting at the camera?”

You naive little idiot.

“We can make them related,” I said.

“What?”

“Just you watch.”

With the members present, I made a call to the agency. I’d already gotten my hands on the recording.

***

Five days after the video of Eugene leaked, he had already become old news, the topic worn to the bone. The controversy had its run, and people now sought additional enjoyment by trying to guess where the video had actually come from.

- This was obviously leaked by a staff member haha

└ I think so, too. They were probably biding their time after the sh*tty way Eugene treated them, then they finally broke

- How bad things had to have gotten for them to do that at the risk of being sued!

- If the agency announces a lawsuit, we’ll have a classic case of corporate browbeating on our hands. Who knew this would happen? It’s sad to see

The agency hadn’t reacted yet, and the public had assumed that this was basically an admission that Eugene was in the wrong.

- They’re not saying anything because they don’t have any excuse for his behavior LOL

- This is obviously because they can’t deny the video is real

- Why aren’t they even trying to claim it’s fake? LOL

The vague posts from the staff meant to defend Eugene had far less impact than the short, powerful video clip. There seemed to be no room for further discussion, as the controversy was soon going to be considered cold, hard truth.

- I think this is about Cha Eugene (link)

It was at this moment in time that a new article appeared. It wasn’t focusing on Eugene, however.

[Controversy on the set of TeSTAR’s documentary… Concert staff’s account revealed]

[Another case of overbearing production staff? Piecing together the truth about TeSTAR’s documentary production team]

The articles were accusations leveled at the TeSTAR documentary production team. Said articles were released by a press agency that was infamous for invading celebrities’ privacy but had also gained credence thanks to those same violations.

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[(Exclusive) The reason one of TeSTAR’s concert staff has come forward… “The monster created by the broadcast station”]

In January of 202X, TeSTAR began its world tour. At the same time, they were filming a behind-the-scenes documentary of the process. (Photo)

The TeSTAR members featured in the documentary were portrayed as truthful and earnest. But we must ask the question of whether the same could be said of the filming process. A staff member submitted a recording recently.

[…]

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The article exposed how forceful the production team had been, and focused especially on how rude they’d been to the staff, who were easy prey to them.

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Production team member: Didn’t you hear what I said? Why aren’t you saying anything?

Staff member A: (silence)

Production team member: You’re not even saying yes or no. Could you be any less cooperative? If this documentary is a flop, you’ll be to blame. You hear me?

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The true intention behind the article only surfaced in a later part, which connected the damning video of Cha Eugene with the recording. The recording and the video hadn’t actually been taken at the same time, but the article made it seem as though they had been.

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Production team member: I asked you a damned question. You little—

Cha Eugene: (Running over and pushing the camera down) Enough!

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It was the magic of editing at its finest. Not even the production team, however, could do anything to prove that this was a false representation of events. The recording was real, and the original files for the videos were gone.

More compelling still, the article did not mention Eugene again, maintaining a neutral tone by asserting that the situation must have been very bad for an artist to intervene. The article seemed more accusatory in nature than defensive of Eugene.

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We conducted a private investigation and were able to determine that the production team didn’t actually specialize in documentaries, but variety shows. They were the team behind Idol Incorporated 2 […]

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As the final nail in the coffin, the article revealed that the production staff were the same team who worked on Idol Incorporated 2, which had failed due to its over-the-top dramatics and focus on spicy content. The message was clear: they were more than capable of bullying people to get the footage they wanted.

There is more than enough reason to criticize them. It was basically a shot taken directly at the production team. Someone was obviously determined to turn the tables and subject them to the criticism that Cha Eugene had been suffering.

- My god, they’re the ones who made Idol Inc. 2?

- F*ck, I have chills

They’d succeeded.