Chapter 273

Chapter 273

Let’s take a moment to organize what I know. Ahyeon had just had a very bad reaction to the current #1 contestant on the new season of Idol Incorporated, since he’d froze and began to sweat profusely.

“Are you all right?”

“I-I’m all right…”

He was basically just parroting what I’d said back to me. He eventually fed me the excuse that he had a stomach ache, but I didn’t believe him for a second.

He was fine until he saw that ballet video. I didn’t ask him to explain then and there, however, since I could already guess what was going on.

I wasn’t the only one to notice that something was amiss with Ahyeon.

“Moondae, what were you guys watching earlier?” Big Sejin asked.

“What?”

“In the van.”

After we returned to our dorm, our schedule for the day all over and done with, he immediately questioned me about what was going on.

He was sitting right behind Ahyeon, wasn’t he? He must have overheard the conversation.

I sat down on the edge of Bae Sejin’s bed, which he hardly ever used, and said, “A video of the number one ranking contestant on the current season of Idol Inc.”

“Oh, that guy…” Big Sejin said, perhaps having watched the episodes that had aired already. He slowly grew tense. I could only assume he’d put together the dots, the same as I had. “He studied ballet, right?”

“Yes.”

This guy had a very similar background to Ahyeon. In truth, I was pretty convinced I had already figured things out.

- Seodam attended an arts middle school while learning ballet T_T He’s a ballerino, can you believe it?

- Chae Seodam attended Sehwa Arts Middle School? He probably knows S. A. H. then. They don’t have that many students attending

People online were already starting to talk about it. Both were from the same middle school, and judging from Ahyeon’s reaction, it seemed this guy had contributed in some big way to the trauma he’d experienced there.

“Oh… what a mess.” Big Sejin had already looked him up online and was now frowning. “This guy must be out of his mind. What was he thinking, applying for an audition show?”

“Maybe he’s a little… different.”

Or maybe he’s smart. I intertwined my fingers.

“There’s probably no evidence he did anything wrong.”

“But there’s a witness,” Big Sejin responded. “People made fake photos of me. What makes you think they won’t with him? He’s ranking first, as well.”

I said nothing.

“There’s going to be all sorts of accusations against him.”

No.

“They would have already surfaced, if that was going to happen,” I said. Then I told him what I’d found myself. “This guy started to catch people’s eye right from the first performance when they did the theme song. He was basically center, and he’s now in first place. He’s also gotten a lot of screen time on the show.”

“So if any accusations were going to be made, they would have been made already?” Big Sejin asked.

“Yes.” I tossed my phone onto the bed. “But there aren’t any. Not even rumors.”

I’d looked through anonymous sites and private accounts, but there wasn’t a single rumor to be found. He was clean. He had made no enemies other than Ahyeon.

“Ha…” Big Sejin sighed. After a moment of silence, he finally said, “This isn’t going to be easy.”

“You’re right.”

If we were going to try to do something about him, we should have done it before the first episode aired. The guy already had a sizable fandom amassed around him, and they were the vicious sort you’d expect from a fandom born to an audition show. If it came out now that he’d bullied Ahyeon during middle school, and he was forced off the show, most of his fans would turn their fury on Ahyeon.

I could already picture the comments.

- My favorite up-and-coming star just fell off the charts because of a stammering little fool! I am so f*cking upset right now. This is a lesson to stay away from people who have a victim complex and a weak mind

It would go something like that. There would also be people who were doubtful or suspicious for sure. In the current situation, Ahyeon had the advantage in the public’s eyes, being a top-tier idol. They might think he was taking revenge for his unhappy student days.

- Frankly, if Chae Seodam had really bullied him, would he have applied to the same audition show?

- Everyone else is praising Seodam, but then he comes along and claims he was bullied. Is it just me, or is there something off about this?

- I think he’s only doing that because he knows he can ruin Chae Seodam’s life with all the fans he has. It’s not like there’s any evidence…

With controversies of this sort, it was very difficult to make out who was actually in the wrong, and a single piece of circumstantial evidence would be enough to sway public opinion. I was forced to come to an unwelcome conclusion.

“If we expose him now, Ahyeon will suffer for it.”

Big Sejin seemed about to say something, but he bit his lip instead, smiling bitterly. “But if we leave him be right now, Ahyeon will have a hard time, won’t he?”

I remained silent.

“That’s what you’re worried about, right, Moondae?”

He was correct. At this rate, someone was sure to ask him at some point during an interview or show if he knew this Chae Seodam.

Not good. This was very bad. It wasn’t about whether the guy was a success or not, but whether Ahyeon would be able to stand his presence without giving away that he was upset by it. Would Ahyeon be able to say hello to him, chat with him, and laugh along as we went about our activities on music shows, variety shows, end-of-year shows, and so on? This was a red flag when it came to his future activities.

I massaged my temples.

“This isn’t easy, is it?”

Then we heard a click as the door opened.

“What are you guys doing?”

“Oh.”

Bae Sejin entered cautiously, luggage in hand, but quickly noticed the vibe in the room and hesitated.

“It’s nothing. We just had something to talk about,” I said.

“Yeah. Nothing important!” Big Sejin said.

“If you say so…” Bae Sejin didn’t look convinced, but he said nothing as he switched blankets and gathered some books, before swiftly leaving the way he’d come.

“Hmm…”

Big Sejin had figured it out on his own, so there was nothing I could do about it, but telling the other members before Ahyeon was able to bring it up himself would only make him feel bad.

Big Sejin got up, dusting off his hands. “Moondae, we’ll need to give this matter some more thought.”

“Yeah.”

We reached a silent agreement, but it quickly became apparent there had been no need for secrecy. The others figured it out soon enough.

“Guys, did Ahyeon… say anything to you about the current season of Idol Inc.?” Chungwoo asked.

“What?”

“He seemed so nervous when he saw it on TV.”

T1 was advertising the new season on all the shows they were investing in. The two youngest members had sat next to a gloomy Ahyeon, their eyes darting from the TV to him with worry.

“Ahyeon looks so unhappy! I think he’s ill!” Eugene said.

“I’m sure it’s the provocative nature of the show, bringing back his past trauma… I know! Why don’t we report the current season to the media regulation agency?” Raebin suggested.

“Let’s not take it that far. Calm down,” I said.

“Yeah, idiot! It’s about a person, not the show!” Eugene said.

“A person?”

“Yes!”

Then Bae Sejin said, “You two were talking about the show recently, weren’t you? That guy did ballet. Don’t tell me Ahyeon…”

“Yes. You’re probably right,” I said.

“Y-yeah.”

So all six members had reached the same conclusion and started thinking about how they could handle the situation.

On the day Ahyeon left for a solo photo shoot, we sat down and discussed the issue.

“Well, we could start by making an anonymous accusation… but no. Ahyeon’s not involved with the guy in any way right now,” Chungwoo said, nodding to himself.

The others also nodded, expressions serious. No one else had any other ideas, however. This was unsurprising to me.

There’s nobody here who’s ever experienced anything similar. Most of them had never been involved with school bullying, on either side, so I wasn’t sure what to think. Even Bae Sejin, who was the least social of us, had apparently shut out all the other kids in his grade during his school years, instead of the other way around.

“Hmm. Why don’t we start by spreading rumors?”

“I think that’ll only make the guy’s fans rally behind him. Won’t that be giving them ammunition to rally and fight against any official accusations that might be made at a later point?” I said.

“Wow. That’s a persuasive point,” Big Sejin said resentfully, throwing his head back.

Bae Sejin spoke up next, tense. “Do we have no social media records or anything?”

“Do you mean on his personal social media accounts?” Raebin asked.

“Yes. People like that always blab all over social media, wanting attention.”

It wasn’t a bad idea, but I shook my head.

“He scrubbed his social media,” I said.

“A-all of them?”

“Yes.”

He’d deleted every single account, and six months ago, at that.

He must have done it as soon as the announcement for the new season went up. The guy was pretty smart, at least in this respect.

“So… that means there’s almost nothing we can do right now. And we have no evidence,” Chungwoo said.

“That’s right.”

Gloom settled over us, but then Eugene suddenly threw his hand in the air.

“Let’s hear what Ahyeon has to say!”

“Ahyeon?”

“Yes! Let’s ask him if he wants to do anything. That’s what’s most important!”

“Hmm.”

We’d been avoiding bringing it up for fear of making him uncomfortable, but this was actually the best solution. Now that all the others had also noticed, it would be silly not to discuss it with Ahyeon.

And if we want to do anything, we need to take action now. The longer we waited, the more famous this guy would become. The new season was growing more and more popular as controversy earned more interest.

As expected, the contestants were not more skilled than in the previous seasons, but the production team had made full use of what they had, recognizing which of them to disqualify and which of them to keep on the show. They’d put together a strong narrative.

Ryu Seorin, in particular, seemed to be a really talented writer. Her experience with K-NOW had only made her smarter. The show was more popular than the previous season, which had produced Miry-nay.

We have to do something. And fast. The situation would get completely out of hand if we waited until the next ranking announcement.

I guess the only thing to do is just ask him. I nodded.

“I’ll try talking to him about it, since I’m his roommate.”

“Um, all right.”

“And since Ahyeon might be scared if it’s just Moondae, I’ll join them!” Big Sejin said.

I’m sorry, what? Shockingly, nobody objected to this. I began to wonder what image of me these guys had in their minds.

Regardless, I got to work as soon as Ahyeon came back from his photo shoot and returned to our room to go to sleep.

“H-huh? Sejin?”

“Yeah, Ahyeon! Come over here and have a seat!”

Ahyeon looked surprised but sat down on his own bed without any suspicion.

“How did the photo shoot go?”

“Well, I think it went all right!”

After exchanging a bit of small talk to ease him into it, we finally got to the point.

“Ahyeon, do you know the guy in first place at the moment on Idol Inc.?” I asked.

“I-is it obvious?”

“A little.” It was very obvious, but I softened the blow.

Ahyeon tensed, seemingly taken aback. Then he nodded slowly. “Yes. W-we attended the same middle school.”

I was direct with him. “He’s the one who liked seeing you get hurt, right?”

“…!”

Ahyeon swallowed nervously and agreed. “Y-yes.”

I knew it.

“But I’m… I’m not sure.”

What?

“M-maybe it’s just because I’m so overly sensitive. Th-there’s bound to be people in life who… just don’t like you. I-I’m just not very good at dealing with that sort of thing—”

“Wait,” I said, cutting him off. “If he didn’t like you, he could have just stayed away, not picked on you.”

“I-I’m not even sure if… he really picked on me. He didn’t… hit me or anything.”

“What did he do, then?”

“H-he was always smiling… but he didn’t seem to mean it. S-strange things happened often…”

“For example?”

“M-my shoes disappeared… That caused me a lot of trouble… He came to me a few days later, telling me he was grateful I let him borrow them. I-I didn’t remember lending them to him, but he was smiling when he gave them back.”

“Yeah.”

“H-he would laugh when I messed up a technique, but when I turned to look, he’d just be chatting with someone. I might have been too sensitive…”

Wow. What a disgusting bastard. Ahyeon was his only target. Why was it necessary to hate someone to this extent, and be so crafty about it? It would probably have been easier to deal with him if he’d been the normal sort of bully who used physical violence.

Big Sejin, who’d been listening from beside us with an odd look on his face, asked quietly, “Ahyeon, were you the top student? And he was always second place?”

“Huh? N-not always… but sometimes.”

“Hmm. He was sometimes in first place, too, right?”

“P-probably?”

Big Sejin grinned. “Okay! Well, Ahyeon, he was picking on you, I’m afraid to tell you. You’re worrying about the wrong thing, though! He was jealous of you!”

“R-right. Th-that’s what Moondae told me, too.” Ahyeon nodded pretty calmly. “A-and my therapist told me that even if it wasn’t bullying… It wasn’t wrong of me to feel hurt…”

That therapist of his is sure worth every penny they’re paid.

“I-I’m much better now! I was just surprised to see him again like this.”

“Of course. That’s understandable.”

Ahyeon seemed to recover his composure more and more as he spoke, growing more relaxed. The two of us, however, were not in a particularly good mood.

“I’m off to sleep, then! Don’t worry about that bastard, Ahyeon!” Big Sejin said.

“Yeah!”

“I’m going to get some water,” I said, following him out.

We closed the door behind us. As soon as we were in the living room, Big Sejin said, “We aren’t going to be able to find any evidence for this. It’s embarrassing to admit this, but… I think I’d have chosen the same tactic if I hated someone so much I could hardly stand it. I’m sure he was nice to the others—I’m 100% sure of it.”

“Go and get some sleep for now. I’ll think it over,” I said.

“Yeah… You get some sleep, too.”

I patted him on the shoulder and sat down in the living room.

“Hmm.”

I need to calm down and think this through again. Chae Seodam was quite crafty. He was socially skilled and knew how to manipulate his peers. That he’d targeted Ahyeon told me something.

He’s very competitive, eager to succeed… and has a strong inferiority complex. That meant he had an over-inflated ego and a lot of pride in himself. I knew exactly how someone like him would act under these circumstances.

He’s already gotten rid of his social media presence, and there are no testimonies from his fellow students. He was probably confident he had removed all possible roadblocks to his success. I could use this.

Too much confidence usually leads to making mistakes. It was eleven at night right now. It was late, but idols who were in the midst of promotions were usually awake. I made a phone call, and the person on the other end quickly picked up.

“Hello.”

“Yes? Huh? Moondae?”

I’d called one of Miry-nay’s managers. I wanted to speak to the member who’d taken first place on the audition show.

What was her name again?

“If you don’t mind, may I speak to Jung Yulki?”

“What?”

The manager seemed shocked, but I managed to convince him that I wasn’t calling just to make pointless chit-chat.

“Hello, Moondae!”

“Yes, hi.”

“Nice of you to call! What is this about?”

“Do you remember our conversation about Idol Inc. a few days ago?” I asked.

“Oh, of course!”

I gripped the phone more tightly and lowered my voice. “You said you’d seen some nasty contestants then… Are some of them really popular now?”

“Yes! How’d you know?”

Great. This is a good starting point.