Chapter 269

Chapter 269

Without new fuel, the enjoyment people got out of coming down on someone for their scandal was bound to run out. The public had already wrung all the fun they could out of Eugene’s controversy and were starting to grow sick of it. Thus, they were very excited by this new twist in events.

They hadn’t lost a target for their criticism—they’d simply replaced it with a new one.

- The production team did that? They must be out of their minds

- Where do people like this even come from? Who are they to pick on the staff?

- Is this the legacy of that fiasco of a TV show LOL

- What is this, a Mafia game? I wasn’t ready for this twist

- The staff member must have been so scared. Good thing they recorded what was going on T_T

The topic was on everyone’s lips, even though the production team was not famous like Cha Eugene. Idol Incorporated was a very well-known series, and the second season had been the most catastrophic flop of all time. The internet was elated to learn of the production team’s past, treating it as though some juicy, controversial secret had come to light.

All the better to attack the production team, they made Cha Eugene a victim overnight. His new treatment was similar to how Park Moondae had been lifted onto a pedestal, all the better to curse at Eugene.

- Cha Eugene didn’t deserve all that hate. It was because of these psychos. I would have lost my mind in his shoes

- I feel so bad for him

- I have a feeling the production team leaked that footage. Maybe what happened in that recording is the reason they hated him

└ Holy crap…

└ Oh my gosh, it would be shocking if this were true…

All was smooth sailing as the production team was slowly villainized until their reputation was much worse than Eugene’s had been not all that long ago. And as the tables seemed to turn, quite a few fans and other people aware of the situation only felt worn down by it.

- People were criticizing him without even checking to see if it was true LOL. And now this? I don’t know man, I’m disappointed

- I asked everyone to stay neutral, but they said the video was indisputable evidence. It obviously wasn’t. Why didn’t you just wait a little…? All you had to do was wait

└ Things seemed so clear-cut then, to be honest. Can’t blame the ones who hated on him

└ You seem to be a fan. Just be happy with how things turned out. That’s probably the best way to take this. These bastards will never change

Even if it was hard to accept what had happened, there was nothing to be done about it. Eugene had managed to bounce back from a seemingly doomed situation, and questioning that was extremely risky. There were plenty of people who wanted nothing more than to justify their criticism of him.

As a result, even the fans who had his back refused to complain and just accepted the new turn of events as netizens hated the production team, mending Eugene’s reputation at the same time. His recovery gained momentum, and this was only accelerated when the agency released a simple statement.

[“He did not want to harm any third parties”… T1 Stars reveals statement regarding TeSTAR Cha Eugene’s stance]

- He wasn’t able to come out and say what really happened because he wasn’t aware the voice recording existed, and he thought the staff member might be criticized if he made a statement

└ T_T Gosh I’m crying

- More power to you, Eugene. You’re such an amazing person. I don’t get why you have to suffer through all this. Wishing you only happiness henceforward…

- That’s amazing. I don’t think I could have held my tongue like that

- Good thing the staff reported it. This is proof you have to treat other people well

Some people, of course, had read between the lines and noticed something seemed off, even if their suspicion was fueled by unhappiness with Eugene’s recovery.

- But why would Eugene push the camera down? So we’re supposed to believe that the production team was stupid enough to push a camera in the staff’s face as they did that? I don’t know

└ It was probably during filming. I doubt it mattered who they were pointing the camera at since they were going to edit everything out anyway

└ Wow, you just want to criticize him, don’t you? Didn’t you see the transcript?

└ I wonder if the production team is paying people to defend them now LOL

- If they had a transcript, what were they doing, waiting for five whole days? They handed it over to the press, right?

└ This person is going to be sued by T1 Stars soon, guys

Such people, of course, were firmly driven out by Eugene’s fans, who had returned to his defense with a vengeance.

Eugene’s fans spread the news far and wide, as if making up for the helplessness they’d experienced over the past five days. They did their best to ensure he didn’t fall victim to criticism again.

- The Idol Inc. 2 production team hasn’t dropped the habit of ruining people’s lives yet?

- Cha Eugene stopped them from bullying someone, and he got thrown under the bus for it

- No wonder nobody came out with an explanation. Was it because it would ruin the studio that used to make Idol Inc.? LOL that’s so cheap

The fandom had always been good at handling this sort of thing, and their active involvement had a massive effect on the way the public received this. And whenever someone rebelled against how quickly everything was happening, an article would be released with more information to add to the situation.

[Idol Inc. 2 production team has provided a statement]

[The staff was mistaken (see photos and statement)]

[T1 seems to have finally cut ties with nasty studio]

When this same process had repeated itself several times, the controversy had begun to run out of steam and was slowly disappearing. By the end of it, Eugene emerged clean and clear of any blame.

***

I read through a recent article regarding the documentary controversy, and the comments section.

[“Hooligan studio” set to close? Film J closes down website (21)]

The comments numbered under a hundred and consisted mostly of emotional outbursts that didn’t amount to much.

“Hmm.”

I looked up from the screen.

“I think we can safely say it’s over and done with.”

“Phew!”

“Wooooooooot!”

“Thank goodness, Eugene…”

The members groaned and sank to the floor dramatically. They’d mostly refrained from accessing the internet in order to keep in top condition for our performances, hoping things would work out for the better. This is how they usually tried to handle scandals.

This wasn’t even about them, and they’re making such a fuss. I stared at Eugene, who was sitting on the sofa holding an open can of beer.

He put down the can and said gravely, “You’re a genius, Moondae.”

Well, aren’t you a smooth talker? It seemed my manipulation of the evidence had left a deep impression on him.

“Thank the masseuse. All I did was pass the recording onto the agency.”

“Of course I’m grateful to her, too! I’d love to send her a gift or something…” Eugene said in English.

“No. Don’t you dare. Just be thankful.”

If people found out, they would be concocting all kinds of stories about that, too. T1 would make sure to reward the staff member in some way. It was best that we stayed out of it.

“Um, okay,” Eugene said with a nod. He handed me the can he’d opened politely.

“…?”

“It’s got no alcohol in it! Enjoy! Thank you very much.”

“Yeah…”

I realized that it really did say “0.0% alcohol” on the can. Now even Eugene was giving me non-alcoholic beer. Feeling slightly bitter, I raised the can.

“Moondae! Cheers first!” Big Sejin said.

“W-wait! I haven’t opened mine…” Ahyeon said.

Huh. I waited briefly before touching cans with the other members, who all seemed to think it was very important. They all suddenly seemed to shed their fatigue, faces stretching into grins.

“This is nice! The food tastes even better now that we’re less worried. Isn’t that right?” Big Sejin said.

“Yes! The room service at this hotel is amazing,” Raebin said.

We were all crowded together in the same hotel room, since today was the one day a week we shared the same room, per Chungwoo’s team-building suggestion. Since the tour in Japan had ended, we were having a little wrap-up party to celebrate that as well as Eugene surviving his scandal. I shrugged, staring at the food and drinks scattered about.

I think the original plan was to do more, though. It seemed the agency had planned for us to do an encore concert at Tokyo Dome, but that had been scrapped after Eugene’s controversy and our subsequent wariness. That meant we were going home tomorrow—not that we would be getting any rest.

“Let’s put on a great encore concert in Korea as well,” Chungwoo said.

“Sounds good!” Big Sejin said.

There would soon be an encore concert held in Korea, which was a good thing for the fans back home, who would be feeling weary after the drama of the past few weeks.

In that sense… It was pretty unlucky that the controversy broke while we were doing our dome tour. Footage of performances in Japan hardly ever made the rounds—other than written fan accounts and hazy photographs, for the most part. Eugene would have been able to perform at Tokyo Dome without much cause for concern. It was a good thing the articles had been released prior to our new performance. I mentally went over the concerts we’d performed during this tour.

The tour itself was great, as usual. While performing in Korea always felt the best, there was something to be said about performing overseas.

There’s always at least one instance of a song being translated to the relevant language, or we perform a famous song from that country. That’s always fresh and fun. I enjoyed my beer—though it had no alcohol in it—and thought about our performances with a leisureliness I hadn’t been able to feel in a while. I also just sat back and listened to the others talk.

“Eugene, we know it can’t have been easy for you. You did a great job performing, too. Good work. I’m sure the audience enjoyed it.”

“Good work.”

Even Bae Sejin took a turn awkwardly patting Eugene on the back. Was this the power of alcohol? I stared blankly at them, not thinking about anything in particular. When they noticed this, they suddenly took to complimenting me too, much to my surprise.

“You too, Moondae.”

“Yeah… You were… uh… amazing, too.”

“…?”

Big Sejin suddenly burst out laughing. “Hey, what’s with that look on your face? You were the one who made the biggest fuss!” he said to me.

“Fuss?” I asked.

“Yeah! You threw your phone and punched the sofa and everything! It was something. You remember, don’t you?”

I thought back to my behavior for a moment.

He’s right. I groaned.

“I was just annoyed,” I said.

“And why were you so annoyed, huh? Hmm? Because you were deeply worried about our Eugene here. That’s why!”

It wasn’t. I’d just been upset that we’d seemingly had no way to combat the unfair accusations.

Big Sejin, who’d thrown his arm around Eugene’s shoulder, was grinning from ear to ear. “Our team vibes are immaculate!” he said.

Well… All right. When he put it that way, it wasn’t like he was entirely wrong. I hadn’t expected to feel such a sense of belonging in this group. You could never discount the impact of emotions.

In the end, I laughed and said, “Yeah. I was worried. Of course I was.”

“…!”

I said to Eugene, “You did a good job, hanging in there the way you did.”

Things would have been many times more difficult if he’d freaked out or given up. We’d been able to cover for him because of how calm he remained. He was quiet, giving no response.

Come to think of it, he didn’t talk to any of the others, either— My train of thought was interrupted by Eugene’s sudden loud sniffling.

“…!”

“E-Eugene?”

Instead of responding, he grabbed the person next to him by the hair.

Raebin dropped his glass of champagne, shocked to find Eugene’s hand fisted in his hair. “Hey! Cha Eugene!”

Eugene burst into tears. Not even Ahyeon stopped him, however, since this was the first time any of us had seen him cry over this

“Hmm…”

Kim Raebin seemed to quickly accept his fate, too.

“Oh…”

Eugene cried for quite a while, clutching his friend’s head. It was a cathartic night for us.

***

It was the next day, and we were already on our way back to Korea by the time Raebin decided he would forgive his friend for pulling his hair, considering the emotional situation.

“Eugene could have been forced to leave the group entirely. I can understand how worried and anxious he must have been.”

He was right. This was probably the same reason T1 had cut ties with the studio as well, since the incident could have damaged the group’s reputation badly. For them, they stood to gain more from preserving an idol group that was influential and producing astronomical profits, over some minor studio whose performance was flagging. Not that the criticism of Eugene would not return, of course, though far weaker than it had been.

- Still, I don’t like the way he got physical like that

- It’s hard to say Eugene did the right thing there. He seems impulsive

People would probably still say things like this. Controversies of this sort never quite vanished once they’d occurred. He would have to be much more careful not to cause another one like it.

It will be hard for him.

The biggest problem was that the fandom’s solidarity had shattered. Most fans of the group itself had criticized Eugene and were now apologetic, relieved, or weary. This tension could be alleviated with a good piece of content. The issue was his personal fans.

I doubt they’re going to recover easily… Eugene’s fans seemed to be in a state of deep shock, since many of the other member’s fans had immediately jumped to push for Eugene’s removal from the group.

- Those people have known Eugene’s personality and how he behaves for years, and yet they tried to get rid of him as soon as the controversy broke. I am so upset. Was it so hard to wait for a statement before coming down on him?

- They want Eugene to go solo? Perhaps that would be best. Better than him staying and dealing with these disgusting fans

- This just doesn’t feel right… We’re not asking anyone to support him. The people who criticized him actively were obviously in the wrong, weren’t they?

- He almost never makes any trouble. Those people must have hated him a lot to come out of the woodwork immediately and say the group should drop him LOL

It was hard to blame any one side, since this was all happening because of a handful of unfortunate factors combined, but for the same reasons, the differences between the fans had worsened.

We’ll have to do something about this, too… It seemed we’d have to take advantage of the upcoming encore concert in Korea in more ways than one.