Chapter 16

Chapter 16

Raise Three Idols Well And They’ll Launch a Confession Attack.

Episode 16: Uh, That Works.

[‘The Fragment of the Future’ has been used!]

In the scene shown by the Fragment of the Future, Gyeoul looked dazed and couldn’t finish the recording properly. Using that as an excuse, Yoon Jeong was bullying her.

She took antidepressants and sleeping pills, looking at her smartphone a bit, and then crying herself to sleep.

It looked like she was suffering greatly, which was heartbreaking.

In those scenes, the attitude of Yoon Jeong and the other members towards Gyeoul was hard to see as that of colleagues.

It seemed like she was being bullied.

It was a pity.

I thought I should share some practical tips on how to deal with people who’d shun her, considering our past.

But objectively, it wasn’t that important to me.

“So where did ‘No Financial Gain Restrictions’ go?”

I thought the future scene had no elements that could make money or provide useful information.

Where did my lottery numbers go?

“The urgent matter right now isn’t Gyeoul, who got a job, but me, an unemployed bum! Damn it, System Window!”

It wasn’t that I couldn’t gain financially from the future I saw.

But it was weak.

At best, it looked like Alcest, which included Gyeoul, would succeed, positively affecting SS’s stock price.

From a long-term investment perspective, it was good information, but my ambition wasn’t small enough to be satisfied with such a stable investment.

“No, damn it, System Window. I used the Fragment of the Future, not Gyeoul, right? Then you should give me information I can use!”

I whined, knowing I couldn’t communicate with the system.

It was a foolish hope that something might drop, like the regression candy last time.

[Cheon Jonghoon did not pay the rightful price for the deal. Take Gyeoul, who is being bullied, and trade her with someone else!]

[Reward – Jukebox on Fingers]

Then, a quest popped up like a lie.

“Thank you so much! System Window, loyalty, loyalty!”

I immediately knelt and gave thanks.

After bowing deeply three times, I calmly read the quest.

But something was strange about the content.

It was hard to grasp the meaning at a glance, as it used provocative words but was vague.

Take Gyeoul away and trade her again? What nonsense was this?

How could I take Gyeoul, who had already signed a contract and joined the debut team?

…Huh? Come to think of it, Gyeoul was being bullied.

As that thought crossed my mind, it felt like every neuron in my brain was sparking with electricity.

The vague sentence that came to mind quickly solidified into a concrete plan.

Using bullying as an excuse to break Gyeoul’s contract.

Even if SS tried to use the contract as leverage, it didn’t matter.

The contract I read said that the contract could be terminated reasonably due to such company reasons.

It didn’t matter if SS used its power to threaten.

We could counter by publicizing the case.

Once I succeeded in taking Gyeoul away, the rest was simple.

No one wanted Gyeoul as much as Cheon Jonghoon, but Gyeoul’s high value didn’t change.

Recalling the memory of the last round, finding a trading partner was not difficult.

I was sure of it.

This would work.

The reward wasn’t bad either.

Based on my experience from the previous round, it grants me the talent to play any song with any instrument.

There would be ways to use it, such as substituting for a session man who runs away.

The only remaining obstacle was my conscience.

My conscience, feeling burdened by the current situation where I had to commit an unethical act, asked.

‘But is it okay to take away what has already been traded and sell it again? Wouldn’t it make Cheon Jonghoon resent me?’

I answered.

Screw it. He hit me first.

I closed the job site I was blankly looking at and started to concretize the detailed plan.

To proceed cleanly, I had to prepare some things.

And three days passed.

I dressed in the rented suit and headed to SS’s practice room.

“Is this really okay?”

My sister, who was wearing the rented suit and gold-rimmed glasses, looking intelligent, asked me.

I wasn’t sure what she was asking was okay.

Did she think the clothes didn’t suit her?

“Yeah, it’s fine. It suits you well. Clothes make a woman! If you go on a blind date right now, you’d definitely get asked out for a second date.”

“Not that, idiot! Is it okay for me to pretend to be a lawyer?”

Oh, that’s what she was talking about.

“It’s fine, sis. I’ll do all the talking anyway.”

I wasn’t expecting a big role from her.

“You just need to hand over a business card and say, ‘This conversation will be recorded.’ Once the termination is decided, we’ll hire a real lawyer.”

I didn’t need legal advice on the contract.

I knew all the relevant knowledge needed right now and had studied the differences from ten years ago just in case.

In fact, having such an expert might be an obstacle.

Because I planned to mix a bit of illegality and nonsense to snatch Gyeoul away quickly.

So it was enough for my sister to just set the mood.

“I don’t know why we’re doing this even after she left.”

“Oh, so are you going to ignore that Gyeoul is being bullied? We’ve been eating together for two weeks.”

My sister frowned and grabbed her forehead, as if her head were throbbing from my words.

“Ugh, the sin of being born as this guy’s sister.”

“Then am I the blessing of being born as your brother?”

As I laughed heartily and joked, my sister snickered and roughly ruffled my hair.

My sister was easy as expected.

We got out of the parking lot and headed to the C annex, where Gyeoul’s practice room was.

We passed the front door and entered the inner lobby.

A security guard was blocking the gate.

I brazenly tried to pass the gate past the security guard.

Of course, the security guard caught me.

“Excuse me. Only company personnel can enter there. Do you have a prior appointment?”

The Confucian instinct I had learned for decades wanted to answer the guard’s gentle question politely.

But I couldn’t do that.

I was an angry guardian mad to the core about Gyeoul’s treatment.

I couldn’t see anything right now.

I would charge through everything.

After self-hypnosis, I looked at the security guard with blazing eyes and spoke.

“I am here as Gyeoul’s guardian to protect her from being bullied. Are you stopping me now? Is that action in line with upper management’s policy? If it’s a personal judgment, can you take responsibility? I plan to report this to the media.”

When the word responsibility was mentioned, the guard took a step back with a sullen expression.

The plight of a salaried worker.

“Then first, let me verify your identity…”

The guard’s request was reasonable, but if we dragged time here and it reached Cheon Jonghoon’s ears, the situation could get complicated.

I decided to handle it quickly.

“Ha, do you think I don’t know that you’re trying to buy time like that?”

“I’m Lawyer Seon Dalrae. This conversation will be recorded.”

My sister’s good assist.

Seeing my sister’s face, who looked like a money-crazy lawyer, the guard silently stepped aside from the gate.

We quickly went in before he could change his mind.

“So what are you going to do now?”

My sister asked, her face hardened to look like a cold lawyer.

It was reassuring to see her doing her best in any role.

“I’ll make Gyeoul cry.”

“What nonsense is that again?”

It wasn’t nonsense.

“In fact, there’s no substantial evidence that Gyeoul was bullied. They aren’t careless enough to be caught on CCTV.”

Even in the future, where they were actively promoting, the bullying controversy didn’t seem to spread, so they wouldn’t leave evidence.

“The debut team has their phones taken away by SS, so there’s no way to film. So Gyeoul won’t have any evidence either.”

“Then how will you prove she was bullied? According to you, they wouldn’t inflict visible injuries either, right?”

“That’s why we need to make Gyeoul cry. The victim’s tears are the evidence!”

I kindly explained to my sister, who looked at me with a dumbfounded expression.

“We don’t need to prove Gyeoul. The debut team and SS need to prove they didn’t bully her. If they don’t want to prove it, they’ll experience how many reporters and gossipers will jump in based on suspicion alone.”

“Is this guy really crazy?”

“Do you think it will work?”

“Yeah, it seems like it will.”

With shared certainty, we headed towards Gyeoul’s practice room like a runaway train.

We flung open the closed door and entered the practice room, where Lily and Coco were resting while drinking water.

I asked them.

“Where is Gyeoul now?”

“Gyeoul?”

Coco dumbly asked back, as if wondering, ‘Who is this person, and why is he asking this question?’

But Lily behind her stiffened her face and avoided eye contact, as if something was bothering her.

I sensed the scent of a big catch.

My sister also seemed to sense it and glanced at me.

I nodded slightly at my sister and then started the interrogation.

“Lily, you’re hiding something, right?”

“…Huh? Me? No! I’m not hiding anything.”

“Haha, Lily, can you handle your statement now?”

As I gave her a signal, my sister recited civil law, special laws, and various articles and clauses like a spell, threatening Lily.

It was a meaningless string of words to anyone who knew about the law, but it was enough to scare the 14-year-old Lily, who was experiencing this situation for the first time.

“…Sob, sob, she might be in the storage room where cleaning tools are kept… I have nothing to do with this.”

Lily finally burst into tears and confessed.

We quickly ran after confirming the location of the storage room.

“Han Gyeoul. Are you kidding me right now? When I said to change the choreography formation to a diamond, how did I tell you to move?”

“…You told me to move back.”

“Right, you remember well. But moving to the left means you want to bump into me moving to the right, doesn’t it? Or do you just want to mess with me?”

She wasn’t wrong.

Because Gyeoul and Yoon Jeong did bump into each other.

But it was a wrong demand from the start.

Due to the nature of the choreography that required quick positional changes, Gyeoul had to move sideways to get into position for the next move.

If Gyeoul moved back to avoid Yoon Jeong, she wouldn’t be able to perform the next move properly.

The correct solution was for Yoon Jeong and Gyeoul to practice crossing each other sideways without bumping into each other.

However, Yoon Jeong only demanded Gyeoul avoid her on her own and showed no willingness to cooperate.

Yet Gyeoul didn’t point that out.

She just apologized.

“I’m sorry, unnie. I won’t make a mistake next time.”

Yoon Jeong poked her chest with her finger as if pushing it.

“Next time? How?”

Every time Yoon Jeong poked Gyeoul’s chest, Gyeoul staggered.

It looked like she was about to cry, but Gyeoul barely held it back.

Seeing that annoyed Yoon Jeong, she raised her hand with full force.

“How will you handle it next time?!”

“There is no next time.”

Then a man appeared and grabbed Yoon Jeong’s wrist, stopping her.

Gyeoul looked at the man who held her with one hand and stopped Yoon Jeong with the other, catching her as she was about to fall.

It was Seon Taeyang.

Since joining the debut team, Gyeoul had been holding back her tears.

Because she wanted to be the person worthy of Taeyang’s trust.

Her frequent crying didn’t match Taeyang’s expectations.

“…Taeyang ssam.”

But the moment she saw Taeyang’s face, she couldn’t hold back her tears.