Chapter 70 |
‘Phew, I almost ruined myself.’
That’s what I thought when I checked the individual vote totals.
I almost got stabbed in the back while helping a guy who was drowning.
I almost lost the first place to Lee Hwayoung.
People love growth narratives. Especially now that the program reached its latter stages and the audience had a better understanding of each cast member.
The scene of Lee Hwayoung, who was unable to participate in the group performance due to injury, returning with significant growth, was more than enough to provide the audience with a dramatic emotional satisfication.
[1st place: HAN SEUNGBEOM] [2nd place: LEE HWAYOUNG]
The excited audience naturally cast their votes for Lee Hwayoung, and in a somewhat biased vote, he achieved a record-breaking number of votes. Had my fandom not been firmly established, the situation could have been dangerous..
It’s an undeniable that songs with an intense concept or ones that evoke strong emotions left a deeper impression on the audience, so, in truth, bright and cheerful songs like those of our team were at a disadvantage in the live competition.
For example, it’s like he was coming at me with a knife, trying to take my head off, while I was fighting back with just my bare fists.
Of course, I didn’t lose, since I was a transcendent being who could crush those rookies like dogs with just one hand.
Do you think I will lose after dominating this industry for so many years?
Ha, seriously. That’s ridiculous. Go and sleep some more, you little newbie.
“Hey. Can we talk for a minute?”
As my inner aggression towards Lee Hwayoung grew, someone tapped me on the shoulder. I checked the person’s face and let out a ‘Ugh‘ sound.
‘Come on, seriously, give me a break.’
It was Kang Baeyoung.
***
Kang Baeyoung and I moved to avoid the cameras.
‘He’s probably trying to hold me accountable for what I did during the mid-term evaluation.’
Still, the fact that he singled me out instead of calling everyone in—probably because he didn’t want to get completely ignored by the members again like last time—made me want to laugh.
The only reason I came here was because of the camera. From our most recent clash, I came to the very annoying conclusion that this guy might have a tendency to act out on camera. Better to deal with him here than end up trading blows in front of the gathered trainees and the cameras set up at every angle.
‘And I’m also getting tired of putting up with it.’
I was going to verbally beat this guy today.
With that vow, I sat down on the couch in the corner room and opened my mouth, “Speak.”
“Be honest. You planned it all, didn’t you?”
“What?”
I wanted him to be clear about what he was blaming me for: was it the humiliating last-place result, or losing his part? Neither was my fault, though.
“I’m talking about the mid-term evaluation! You could have easily adjusted it like in the first and second missions, being considerate of the members, but you did it on purpose, didn’t you? Just to make me look bad in front of the trainers.”
“…….”
“Why don’t you say something?”
Okay, so it was true that I did want to make him look bad. But it was bugging me that he was pinning all the blame on me, and I was too pissed off to just admit it. So, I decided to say only the things Kang Baeyoung would hate to hear.
“I didn’t fail to adjust. Your skills are just so lousy you couldn’t even notice.”
“What?”
“What if it had been Lee Hwayoung who forcefully took the center position? Or Do Yuda, the guy you look down on so much? Would it have turned out like this?”
“That’s…….”
“You have no charm. Your physical appearance is lacking. You can’t sing. Even the dance you used to brag about as your specialty looks awful to me. If you’ve got nothing else, at least your personality should be decent, but it’s just as bad. With all that, who would even look at you?”
As the harsh criticism came out as if it had been waiting, Kang Baeyoung stood frozen for a moment, then quickly recovered and shouted out in reporse.
“That’s because you’re clearly favoring Do Yuda. If you’d looked after me the way you did Do Yuda, I could have done just as well! I even saw on the last broadcast that you gave Do Yuda extra practice, but I was the center and you couldn’t do that for me?”
“Because you didn’t earn that position through your skills. And I don’t like you.”
“Hey!”
“Tell me, how can you expect me to treat you the same as Do Yuda? You should be reflecting on your mistakes and practicing harder, but instead, you’re just throwing a tantrum. Why should I show any consideration to someone like you? Do you even know how many hours that guy practices every day?”
He didn’t have even half of Do Yuda’s talent, and yet he dared to demand my consideration while putting in barely half the effort. The sight of it made me furious. As expected, he couldn’t answer my question and just ground his teeth in silence.
I pushed him lightly on the chest, putting some distance between us.
“I won’t adjust to someone who’s incompetent. I don’t want to do a shitty performance. So, stop making excuses and go practice. Who knows, maybe if you practice until your nose bleeds, your mediocrity will be hidden a little.”
“…….”
And I tried to leave the place, leaving the guy who was glaring at me with his fist clenched in anger.
But then a small voice, almost inaudible, entered my ear.
“I clearly warned you, you’re going to regret this.”
Those words, which I would have normally just ignored, felt like weights tied to my feet. When I turned around, Kang Baeyoung was forcing a smile, his limbs trembling nervously. It was as if he was facing a huge event.
I asked, my mind racing at the sound of that strange laugh, “What?”
“Arrogant bastards like you need a proper education. I’ve been wanting to bury someone with a proper lesson, and this is perfect.”
‘….Proper education?’1
When I frowned, not quite understanding what he meant, Kang Baeyoung pulled out his phone from his pocket and smirked.
“Have you heard of sniper post?”2
“…….”
“People’s psychology is really strange. They tend to believe the person who speaks up first. No matter how much you try to refute it later, they’ll just think it’s all excuses.”
And on the phone that Kang Baeyoung had tapped with several times, an anonymous community site was open.
“Doesn’t our noble Han Seungbeom know about this? Exposing the bullying within the Refreshing Concept team from the third mission of Survive IDOL. How’s that? Isn’t the title great? I’ll send you off with Do Yuda, who’s been just as arrogant as you.”
As soon as Do Yuda’s name was mentioned, my heart sank.
I wasn’t afraid of engaging in a war of public opinion. I had been dealing with Kang Hyukwoo, a big shot in the entertainment industry, the whole time, so there was no way I’d be scared of facing a mere rookie. Besides, the stuff he was planning to post was so ridiculous that it would be easy to prove my side of story.
I would be fine. Although there would be some damage, it would only be temporary.
‘But Do Yuda….’
Every allegation requires time to be addressed. This meant that the side that brought up the issue first would gain an advantage in terms of time. There would be a gap until we could release a statement and overturn the public opinion.
During this time, we obviously wouldn’t receive any votes and would be bombarded with an unprecedented amount of hate comments. I, with my high number of votes, could endure it, but for the others, their survival might be at risk.
— I wish this guy would just die. It fu*king pisses me off to see him shamelessly living with his head held high after killing his own father.
— He really makes it obvious that he grew up without a mother lolol I cheered on him because I felt sorry for him, but tsk tsk.
What if Do Yuda were to be in that situation?
‘No, that should never happen.’
This was both self-destruction and a gamble. Kang Baeyoung, who had survived thanks to some good luck and benefits, must have known well that he couldn’t win against the remaining trainees who had a solid fanbase.
‘He’s trying to raise his recognition.’
By attacking the hot topic figure, Han Seungbeom, it was a way to make his name known and, with a bit of luck, even gain some votes. Once this kind of story surfaced, the public would start to become fiercely protective of the victim, and often overlook or even praise their most unattractive aspects.
Of course, if the situation were to reverse, he would end up being criticized, but since Kang Baeyoung’s ultimate goal didn’t seem to be succeeding as a celebrity, he didn’t seem to care much about that.
There were plenty of places where you could make money with mediocre recognition, such as BJs and influencers.
“Try experiencing it yourself.”
“…Wait!”
Before I could even take the phone away, Kang Baeyoung’s hand pressed the post button. Horrified, I snatched the phone from his hand and stared at the screen.
But there it was.
[This post has been deleted.]
On the white screen, there was only one strange phrase.
“…….”
It was gone. Kang Baeyoung’s post had disappeared without a trace.
I pressed refresh, wondering if there was an error.
[This post has been deleted.]
[User access has been blocked.]
The page, which had turned white and then returned, still displayed the same message.
At that moment, I felt a coldness creep into a corner of my heart. It was a more chilling sensation than when I heard he was going to upload a sniper post.
‘Don’t tell me.’
With a sense of denial, I left the page with the sniper post and returned to the homepage of the community.
[I am reporting that Kang Baeyoung, a trainee on Survive IDOL, committed school violence. (Proof photos attached)]
[Kang Baeyoung was a perpetrator of school violence in middle school.]
There was not a single mention of Kang Baeyoung’s sniper post, and in those few seconds, the story about Kang Baeyoung committing school violence spread and took over the entire community.
‘What the hell is this…….’
The content of the revelation wasn’t that surprising. Looking at Kang Baeyoung’s usual behavior, I could roughly guess what his school days were like. If a media war were to break out, I was prepared to dig up everything about his past and use it against him.
But before I could even move, the whole thing blew up.
‘What kind of change of heart did the victim have?’
Compared to a typical revelation, the timing was too different. I couldn’t understand why the scandal broke out right now, at a time that was so advantageous for me.
“That’s why you shouldn’t have made me angry.”
Kang Baeyoung, who was smugly watching my stiff expression, seemed to still not know what had actually happened. He smirked, as if he thought I’d fallen into despair because the situation he’d anticipated had come true.
Bam!
At that moment, someone suddenly burst through the practice room door.
“Ye-yes, understood. I will take action immediately.”
It was the main PD, his face stiff as stone. He was on the phone with someone, and his expression looked somewhere between angry and terrified, cold sweat dripping down his face.
Before I could say anything, the main PD walked past me and stopped in front of Kang Baeyoung. After hanging up the phone, he stumbled over his words and spoke.
“Trainee Ka-Kang Baeyoung, go back to your room and pack your belongings. You’ll be leaving the facility today. We’ve already notified your agency.”
“Yes?”
Kang Baeyoung asked dumbfoundedly, and the main PD shouted again in a threatening tone.
“It’s all over. Hurry up, pack your belongings and leave this place!”
“What do you mean by that! I’m just getting started! Listen, I just posted on the community….”
“No. I’m not at curious about what Trainee Kang Baeyoung has to say at all. All that matters right now is that Trainee Kang Baeyoung is involved in a school violence scandal.”
“…School violence?”
“It was reported that you bullied Kim Jiseong, who was in the same class as you in middle school. You know his name, don’t you? The victim has revealed his identity and presented evidence photos to support his claim.”
Kang Baeyoung seemed to recognize the name mentioned by the main PD and immediately turned pale. Then, snapping back to his senses, he clung to the main PD.
“PD-nim, I can’t leave like this. You know how much I want to be on this program. Why are you doing this to me! Are you actually siding with Han Seungbeom?”
The main PD, clutching his head like someone suffering from a terrible nightmare, squeezed his eyes shut and shouted, “If your dream was important, you should have been more careful. You shouldn’t have done something so reckless like this. Don’t you know how scary people can be….”
The main PD told Kang Baeyoung that he shouldn’t have done something so reckless ‘like this’.
It was a very strange thing. The crimes Kang Baeyoung committed were from the past.
Don’t they usually say you shouldn’t do something so reckless like ‘that’?
I felt that something didn’t add up. It seemed like the main PD was condemning Kang Baeyoung for ‘what he did today‘ rather than ‘what he did in the past‘.
‘Don’t you know how scary people can be?’
And he was shaking with fear, as if someone was watching him.
At soon as I noticed that fact, I was able to realize the true nature of the fear that was growing deep within my chest.
It was ‘that person’.
This was definitely something that ‘that person‘ did. He acted exactly the same way as when he was with ‘Seo Yutae‘.
“…….”
But there was something I couldn’t understand.
‘That person’ wasn’t the kind of person who would be interested in a program like this. This program was nothing more than a place where kids who hadn’t even debuted yet were desperately struggling.
There wasn’t a single person in this program that could attract his interest.
Why?
‘…Someone who could attract his interest?’
My chest pounded like I’d been hit in the head.
“I told you. You need my help.”
As I stood there blankly with my ears covered, the main PD, who had returned after away Kang Baeyoung, grabbed my arm.
“Trainee Han Seungbeom.”
“…Yes, PD-nim.”
I could see myself reflected in the PD’s pitch-black eyes.
As soon as I saw it, I had a hunch.
“He asked me to pass this on to you. Let’s see each other ‘again‘ soon.”
Ah, I guess I got caught, after all.
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Translator’s Corner:
- I translated it literally but the meaning doesn’t really explain well in English. The word used is 참교육, True/Proper Education. I need to make the sentence more flowy so I use proper instead of true. The prefix ‘ true- ‘ is added to education to mean ‘true and correct education‘.
While it kinda started as good phrase (maybe?), this phrase has gained a negative connotation in recent years, often associated with bullying or violence, because when “true education” is used, it’s often involving physical or emotional punishment as a means of “correcting” someone’s behavior. The english slang would be similiar to “schooled” (negative way). ↩︎
- Sniper post (저격글) / sniping post: Sniping is an act of targeting someone secretly in war and aiming for them to shoot them, so in internet communities, this is using your blog or SNS to curse, sneer, or personally attack someone. Whether it’s a joke or sincere, it’s a bad thing to do. Sniping posts that spread personal information are strictly illegal.
In idol industry, this kind of post is quite common because people are getting too comfortable being anonymous that they’re starting to make up things about idols. The thing is, a lot of people usually fell to this lies because idols are often seen as public punching bags so they’re happy when they got a reason to hate. Even if it’s not true, it will spread and cause damage to the said idol reputation.
And maybe it’s because I’m an old-gen stans and don’t know much about current idols, but K-POP stans nowadays have zero media literacy that all kind of anon accusation without proof is easily believed. It’s funny though. Compared to my stanning days where I need to go to internet cafe to watch MV on youtube, everyone is having access to Internet more easily today. But even though people can open internet anytime to crosscheck an information, almost no one did it. They just believed whatever an anon said as long as it’s in line with their personal feelings. The entertainment industry has actual proven criminals and cheaters who’s still thriving in their career, yet for idols, your reputation could hit rock bottom just because an anon who actually don’t know anything about Korean making up things on internet and people accepted everything they said as truth. ↩︎
HERE COMES SNEEK PEEK OF MY #2 FAVORITE CHARACTER. You might probably meet him in … maybe 2 weeks? idk, the weather is really cold lately and my body auto-immune system is not build normally I hope I don’t get sick sjkdsdhfjkvkjfd
I’m quite surprised myself to see I already reached chapter 70 … I started this because I was sad since my homemates were all leaving to get back to their hometown, so I did this (my current hyperfixation that didn’t have an active tl on NU) to distract my mind and it was working so well lol I can’t even remember I am sad anymore since I’m busy giggling thinking about Han Seungbeom (I’m starting to get delusional hoping they are all real) (Han Seungbeom best man alive).